Project Goddess retreats

I came to Italy to connect with the Goddesses.  Italy has such a rich history of ancient Egypt  Greece, Rome and so many other civilizations, mermaids, fairies, gnomes, it's truly magical.  

 Not to mention the most fertile and bio diverse landscape.  It's like all of Mother Earth's energy is pumping in this peninsula.   

I'm organizing Goddess retreats here. 

 Somehow, spirit opened a portal for me and I stepped through.  

First Sunday lunch in Italy

Today was my first Sunday in Italy.  Sundays in Italy means traditional big family gatherings with delicious home made foods.  Everyone dresses for the occassion and family members come from other cities in Italy for this once a week reunion festival. 

On Sundays, the shops close early.  Except for the morning farmers market where everyone is out greeting each other Buongiorno, buying fresh seasonal produce for their big meal of the week, meeting for cappuccini, it is very quiet in Guardia.

I have been fortunate on many occasions to be invited as a guest at Adelina's for Sunday Pranzo. Lina is a traditional Nonna, she cooks everything by hand, from pasta to cheese, breads, salumis, limoncello and her famous cheesecake.  She grows her own tomatoes to make passato by hand or sun dried tomatoes that she collects and dries on a basket mat that her great grandmother used.  There is eggplant for melanzane parmagiana, zucchine flowers to be stuffed with Lina's own ricotta, squash for roasting with her potatoes and peppers also for stuffing.  The olive oil for dipping her stone ground semolina flour bread comes from her olive orchards and her wines come from her vineyards.   I love Sundays at Lina's.

On many occasions I organized group lunches and dinners for some of my guests so we can taste the wines and experience good classic Italian cooking by Lina, who also teaches cooking classes where we learn to make pasta by hand. 

I asked Lina to please put together a nice Sunday lunch for me.  Surely she was cooking for her family who visits from Rome on the weekends.  Even though we could not be together in person, i have been looking forward to her cooking for 6 months.  

When I heard that 3 other Americans also arrived and had to do 14 days of quarantine, I thought about hiring Lina to prepare and deliver lunch for all of us.  Everyone loved Lina's cooking, we used to always have lunch at her home and remembered her spreads during Vinalia, which we will also miss this year, since we are confined at home.  This would be a good opportunity to help each other.  With very few tourists coming this year, budgets will be tight.   

Lina and I worked on a menu, after I got everyone's food preferences and dietary restictions she came up with:  Antipasti of melenzane parmigiana, stuffed peppers, zucchini proscuitto rollups.   Handmade Pasta alla bolognese, roast pork with roasted potatoes, peppers and squash from her garden.  garden fresh tomatoes and cucumber salad and her famous cheesecake for desert.  Accompanied by some of her fresh baked semolina flour bread, a bottle of her own olive oil and a bottle of red wine.   You know, the usual, she said.

 

Everyone was very excited and getting hungry as I kept us up to the moment on Messenger with photos Lina sent from her kitchen.   The meals were delivered by Adelina and her son, Amedeo, in sweet picknic baskets.  She also included and a bag of fresh fruit and veggetables from her garden.  What a feast,  we have enough to eat for days!

When I called Lina to tell her how happy everyone was,  I started to feel my heart expand and tears poured down my face.    Its amazing how the flavors of home, mixed with the distinct smells in the air brought on a flood of memories of my life in Italy and in this medieval village.    With everything changing in the US, and the realization that nothing will ever be the same.  I felt the stress of the past 6 months finally leave my body.  I didn't realize how tense and fearful  I was,  so afraid I would not make it back home to Guardia for at least another year!  I just couldnt believe I was really here until this meal and it brought me back home with the bite of pasta alla bolognese.   

When I thanked her, I started to cry, I was so emotional.  I shared my appreciation for all she does, that living the way she lives is rare and something to be cherished.   Im not sure she sees her way of life as a priveledge, the way I do.  The truth is everyone should be living this way, close to the earth, in harmony with nature.  I am so grateful to say Italy is my heart's home and I followed my heart home.

InterDependence Day

On this 4th of July, our celebration of Independence, there were no fireworks, no beach parties, no gatherings. Many people were angry their freedom was infringed upon. I didn't miss any of it since this is the first time in 5 years I'm in the United States for Independence Day. So, I sat and watched the full moon and contemplated the true meaning of freedom.

I see people clamouring for their freedom to do what they want no matter if it harms others. This is a very selfish interpretation of the concept of freedom. The very word Independence connotes a fierce individualism that is the cornerstone of American's right to be free. For them its all about Me, me, me.

But what about the freedom to do what is in alignment with your heart. It takes great courage to hear and listen to your heart. Most of us are caught up in our head or other people's agenda's, we can't even hear our heart's calling. It takes even greater courage to take action and follow your heart, follow your passion, follow your soul's true calling.

I call for a name change to Celebration of InterDependence. When you follow your heart, you are in alignment with your own freedom without infringing on the freedom or welfare of others. Then the Pursuit of Happiness applies to all.

"It's a Different Time"

People say that things never change, but this is the furthest from the truth. 

If you have done any healing work to heal your trauma, you know that healing works in cycles.  Trauma doesnt disappear, but you learn to heal it so it  has less of an affect on you.  You might still get triggered, then you feel bad for a while, but you get up again, each time it gets better, you don't react nearly as harshly you did before seeking treatment.  It takes time but eventually, you no longer lash out in anger, hatred and violence or shut down and become numb.

Its the same with society.  So much has changed in the past 400 years.  Black people were kidnapped from their home in Africa and thrown into slavery,  then the Civil war broke and eventually Lincoln emancipated slaves but he was shot before there was a plan to integrate black people into society.  That is when this country took a huge step backwards with the Jim Crowe segregation laws that kept blacks marginalized for 100 years.  

For a 100 years, black people did not have any rights!  

Then, in 1968,  Martin Luther King gave black people hope and the Civil Rights Movement was born.  Unfortunately, he was shot and and so was JFK and we took many a step backwards and forwards over the past 50 years...until Obama became president and he gave hope back to blacks and all of us who were ever marginalized.  Unfortunately, the current administration didnt do anything except undo every good thing Obama got passed in spite of the Republican congress.

Now, its like what Reverend Sharpton said yesterday at George Floyd's memorial service..., "Its a different time" he said.   During the Civil Rights Movement,  mostly black people were protesting,   now, there are people of all colors, ages taking to the streets in peaceful protest saying "No Justice, No  Peace."  There are people all over the world protesting for Justice.   They are coming to our aid.   

There are many more people in support of peace than against.

Yes, there is still police brutality as we see on the videos, but with technology, the truth can no longer be hidden.  We are not going to stop until the police officers are held accountable for their brutality....and "Qualified Immunity" is reformed.   After that, we will have to tackle the lax gun laws, another problem where change is hugely overdue.

So next time anyone says things never change, you can tell them they are wrong about that.

Black Lives Matter. All Lives Matter.

We were just getting ready to peak our heads out after months of being indoors because mother nature sent us to our rooms.   We had a chance to contemplate what we truly valued, we longed for connection, peace, meaning, purpose.   

We vowed to be aware of how our actions affected the planet, animals, trees, oceans, all of nature.  And we knew we didn't want to go back to the way things were, we were stressed,  we had no time for the important things in life, no time for our families, no time for our passions, no time for ourselves.  

We woke up and got a taste of what freedom really is.  Even though we were stuck in our homes, even though we were not free to go out and work, spend money, go to restaurants, see loved ones and travel, our minds were finally free, our spirits were finally free and we reconnected to ourselves, the one we have been most neglecting.   

But not all of us were in this boat. Not all of us were priviledged to have this luxury to stay home and contemplate our reality.   But we all, as human beings, should equally participate in this universe with mutual love and respect.  We are not ready to come out of our rooms.  

Because there are other lessons to be learned before we can go out into the world and declare a new beginning, a Renaissance, to create a future for our children, grandchildren and their's to come for generations.   

Because there are still parts inside that need to be healed.  There are still people who have not tasted the freedom we were tasting.   We can't even pretend to care about nature when we, as humans, don't see other humans as our our brothers and sisters.   

We can no longer turn away from the senseless killing of innocent lives that matter.   

Black lives matter.  Black lives shaped the fabric of who we are as American people,  so much of our beautiful culture is black.  When are we going to embrace our blackness?  Now, it is time.  

And while we are at it,  when are we going to embrace all the ethnic diversity that makes this great country so great?   Hispanics, Asians, indigenous people, Jews, Muslims, Christians,  Buddhists, Hindus, Athiests and so many more.  Because this diversity of ethnic culture is who we are, we all shaped the fabric of America. And we are all the reason why America is so great.  

There is room in America for every person of every color and creed to live out their dreams, with access to education, health care, shelter, protection, clean water, clean air, clean food.   When are we going to wake up to the fact that we all matter?  

And women of every color, we are actually the majority of the population!  Why have we accepted this?  We have all been bullied into believing we are not worthy.  But it doesn't help to accuse the minority of little white men with little white hearts, who only feel big when they dominate everyone else, because even they deserve love.  

But read this.  They are not the majority.  The majority are us good people.   Its time we come together and love each other and love ourselves and yes, even love our abusers who didn't get any love from their fathers and mothers.  We are so strong together.  We got this.  

Too Busy to Live - Life in American Cities

They kept us so busy, we were unable to know our real talents, we never truly knew ourselves.

They kept us too busy, we were  unable to take up a hobby we always wanted to.  

They kept us so busy, we were unable to know what makes our hearts sing.

They kept us so busy that we never took a deep breath to listen to our hearts. 

They kept us so busy, we didn't ever cook for ourselves and our health suffered.

They kept us so busy, we hardly had any time with our families, and the kids are all grown up now.

They kept us so busy, we had no time to nurture ourselves, we felt much older than our age.

They kept us so busy, we had to wake up at 3am every day take better care of ourselves, we told ourselves we can sleep when we are dead.  (Irony)

They kept us so busy, we didnt have time to create our own businesses and become the entrepreneurs we always dreamed of, in control of our time, and building consious businesses that value humanity and the planet.

They kept us in fear of each other.  What if we stepped into not being afraid of intimacy, of being vulnerable...and we finally found the love our lives.  

What if we all stepped into our god given talents and started creating ...creating the life we dream of, creating the planet we deserve.

What if we stepped into following our desires and taking actions to make our dreams come true, no longer just wishing for one day... that never comes.

What if we didnt make that call when we thought about that person and now you never can again.

The Power of Intentions and Rituals

The power of movement, meditation, slowing down, dropping into the sensual body through touching an object or our own skin is to sooth and comfort our nervous systems.  

Writing/journaling helps digest  and process our thoughts and emotions, so our  brain can make sense of the information that comes through us.  

This time is best used to reconnect to our core, our truth, our soul, our self.  The stillness within is where we feel most at peace, we feel joy, and stillness.  Even if surrounding our core are emotions like sadness, lonliness, despair, we can get underneath these layers of feelings by relaxing and sinking inside ourself where the stillness resides.  

At first, the layers may seem difficult to penetrate.  The cells are closely knit, muscles are cramped, breath is shallow, blood isn't circulating freely because  trauma from the past sets in the body and lodges there creating emotional and physical pain.

But with gentle, loving attention, gentle full breathing into those parts slowly dislodges the grips of pain, and past memories.  

By breathing into the cracks in between the tightness we can heal ourselves.  With each breath brings oxygen and blood to wake up our body's own natural defenses.   With each long exhale, the grip releases, opens subtly and we can sink even deeper into those cracks, separating out the strands of healthy tissue and sink deeper into the core of who we are without any of the trauma that built up over the years.   

This is how the body heals the lifetime of collected trauma and even inhereted trauma in our DNA passed down through generations of hurt.   We have a chance to heal all of this and rediscover who we really are, our true self, a clean slate like the innocent babe we came into this world, full of potential and wonder that for so many of us was not allowed to be nourished and allowed to flourish.

Well we can do that now for ourselves, reparent those lost parts of ourselves and Find Our Self, where you are, now.

With some daily rituals, done with gratitude and desire, intentionally, you can break through the armour.   It takes time and patience and courage but we can support each other on our individual journeys.  Our journey to our self, our rebirth, our Renaissance.

Today, I did my meditation before getting out of bed.  Lying down, flat, nothing more than some deep breaths, feeling the oxygen give life and energy to my waking body.  

Allowing my subconscious mind space to express before the waking mind takes over with a list of to dos and chores.   Feeling my skin with my fingers, the cool morning air on my skin, waking up my senses with slow touch, slow breath, slow thought.  

Allowing desire and sensual pleasure to bubble up and take form.  I asked myself, what do I feel like wanting this morning?  Some sadness came up during this ritual and rather than push it away, I welcomed the feeling and gave it space to express itself.  I had been feeling sad about news of a new coronavirus case discovered in my home village in Italy, just 2 weeks after their strict lockdown had eased up.  This was very discouraging and disheartening for me.  The plan to return felt further away.  I felt the sadness and lonliness, disappointment wash over me.  

At the same time, a desire sparked to go for a walk, another morning ritual I do with pleasure and grace, not out of obligation, if I feel I must do it, I don't do it. it has to come from desire.   There are things in life I must do and I do them,  but my morning rituals must come from desire not habit, not obligation.   

The walk did me a lot of good,  I realized I had been mourning the loss of the way things were.  But I also do not miss the busy stressed out life I had.  And now there is this journey inward,  to meet my soul, my core that is always with me so I am truly never lonely.  

I have allowed myself to cultivate this relationship with my self as I have had the opportunity to do this over the years during my 6 month stints in Italy, but there was always a slight tinge of guilt, self-indulgence and judgement, feeling lazy if I wasn't do something productive.  The curse of our western life.  

Well no more!  Now, with gratitude for the priveledge I have to take this time for myself and track it and see where it leads me, and be witnessed and hopefully inspire others to take this walk with me and together we will change ourselves, connect with each other and to others on a similar journey and create a powerful tipping point that aligns ourselves to our soul, our planet and a course to end the suffering on this planet.

  

My intention for this day is to be intentional with each moment, I know I will stray so setting reminders every 20 minutes to take a time out, breath deeply,  stretch and move my body, nourish my body with good wholesome foods prepared by me, drink cool clean water to stay hydrated, take my supplements to keep my digestive track healthy so my immune system is healthy.  Clear my thoughts of anything that is not loving and judgement free.  Create, write, share, engage, work, be present, go within and turn off all outside noise and negative distractions.    

What are your intentions for today?   And together we can create the Next Renaissance.