A Moveable Feast

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young (wo)man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, For Paris is a moveable feast." Ernest Hemingway

I've been working on relationships lately, namely: the one with myself. I planned this little summer getaway to Paris at a time when I really needed something to look forward to and plan about, and now the reality of it is almost upon me. I've got my house rented, I've got my summer dresses and my sandals bought, I'm finishing up the last weeks of the school year and I am so entirely happy. I can't wait to see what and who Paris will bring into my life. Each day is a powerful gift. Each moment, each thing I bring into my life is entirely of my (and your) own choosing. There is something so entirely free and delightsome in that fact.

So many people on so many paths to life. Last Sunday I went to the United Church of Christ with Alisa. It was a church with an awesome band (singing songs about the Long haired socialist Jew), a woman pastor, and a message that finally resonated with me. It's been a long time since I've attended a church where I didn't disagree with anything that was being said. The Pastor got up and gave us a message. Most Christians idealize the idea of being a sheep. Jesus is the shepherd. In the book of Matthew it talks about how Jesus needs to separate the sheep from the goats. The pastor got up and admitted that she herself is a goat. She was always going on unknown paths, not conforming to the crowd, not doing the things that maybe she was supposed to. The goats always seemed to have more spunk and spirit. They'd climb to the high cliffs and they'd forge their own paths. She also reminded all Christians that there truth isn't the only truth and that all of us on earth have different paths, but we're just trying to reach the same ends. One big beautiful tapestry of interwoven faith and beliefs.

I think my whole life I've been trying to be a sheep and I've been trying to let Jesus be my Shepherd.

The reality is, I'm a goat. Plain and simple.

Certificate of Authenticity

I woke up this Sunday morning to so many beauties. The first snow fall of the season. All my left over blooms from September are dowsed in slushy snow, along with a white layer on my neighborhood. I've been down with a bad cold, but it couldn't stop me. I bundled up and went for a walk. As I walked alone on the quiet Sunday streets, I thought about living an authentic life. I read one of my dear friend's posts this morning and felt so much love for her and her husband's relationship and their growing family. These two are authentic in every thing that they do, and I encourage each of you to read her beautiful tribute. it will brighten your morning (the post dated 10/12).

Yesterday, as I was looking at my site meter, I saw someone from Pakistan had googled "find my soul mate" and they came upon that post I did a few months ago. Another person from Greece googled "I've found my soul mate and he is 30 years older than I am" and I felt happy that she had found her soul mate, but I really wondered what she thought google could give to her. So many random things typed into google every day--is that where we go to find life's answers these days? I have wondered that, does Google have all the answers to our questions? So, I decided to give it a try. I googled "Authentic Living." 

Here are a few great links I found:

Authentic Living: Creating a Life You Love
What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?
Who are you, really – and how can you be that unique expression of yourself?

We live in a world that is calling us into a search for authenticity, a quest for balance. In our jobs, we are searching for meaning as much as money. In our relationships, we are asking for spiritual and emotional connections, not just the physical presence of another. In our families, we are looking for ways to grow happily and love deeply. In our finances, we want to spend our money mindfully, achieving abundance and moving beyond greed. In our world, we want to live in harmony with the environment. In our daily lives, we are looking for ways we can make a difference. Spiritually, we are looking for that which resonates at a soul level. In our hearts, we are looking for our essence: what makes us unique and what it is that we hold in common with others.

We are redefining what success means, moving away from traditional standards of work and money toward a more soulful life focused on personal fulfillment, social conscience, and creating the chance for a better future for everyone on the planet.


Wow, isn't that powerful? Imagine if we all just woke up and began living our lives by focusing on our spiritual connections and awakening to the power of gratitude and action?

I also found this article "Six Principles of Authentic Living"


So, my questions to you---How important is it to you to live authentically? How do you daily strive to live this way?


(And, out of curiosity....what is the craziest thing you have ever searched for on google?)