Love Rocks Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten

See the Love Rock story here. This post was written several months ago when the adventure started, and I saved it for the right time...which is now.

Well, I don't have any pictures of my giving away these three Love Rocks.

Love Rock Seven "Energy Follows Intention" I gave to my gyrotonics teacher. It exemplified the movement we work on.

Love Rock Eight "I Feel It Too" I have so far kept, but want to give it to someone who feels the same as I do AND is physically present near me and so far that hasn't happened to me. Most of the people I feel this way about are far, far away...and in the blogosphere. Sending it to someone takes away some of the spontaneity of giving away this particular rock. But I hold it in hope!

Love Rock Nine is "Touch Heals", which is so true...I have not yet given this one away for reasons similar to Love Rock Eight!

Love Rock Ten is "I See Angels", which I almost gave to James, the man who fixed my phone system here back in November. And I almost gave it to another man I met, Miguel, on vacation. They were both angels to me in different ways. But giving the rock to them didn't really seem to be right then, so I wait for this one as well...

Thus ends the Love Rock story, but the journey continues. Thank you, Kim!

~Photo by LoveHubbie Mark

Love Rocks Number Three (Revisited) and Six: Be Brave and Enough

See the Love Rock story here.

I wanted to leave these two Love Rocks in a very special place---Dragon's Teeth Labyrinth on Maui. I have many lovely photos of this labyrinth, so if you're interested in them, see here and here and here for the best. These are all pictures of Dragon's Teeth during the day, but by the time we got there this time it was dusk...by the time we left it was totally dark.

I started out by "charging them up" on my ceramic labyrinth:






At first I'd thought I'd just keep the "Be Brave" rock. By the end of this restorative vacation, though, I felt like it had reminded me of what I'd needed to know and I wanted to pass it on to someone else. So I walked into the center of the labyrinth, where people often leave offerings---that's not really the right word---better is "special material things that remind them of their intention in walking".





I left "Be Brave" and "Enough" with some other, more conventional rocks there. The "Enough" rock fit perfectly because during that trip, it reminded me yet again that what and who I am is enough. And also because, during the trip I'd said "Enough!" to some ways of doing and being that were self-defeating and that I'd become friendly with since I'd lost my way recently. It was a poignant labyrinth walk for me.







I walked out in the dark:





I hope that someone finds these rocks and that they have special meaning for them, as they did for me.

~Photos by LoveHubbie Mark

Love Rock Number Five: Shine Your Light

See the Love Rock story here.

I decided to leave this Love Rock near one of my favorite places, a condominium in complex in Lahaina on the island of Maui which overlooks Lahaina Harbor. This is what the view looks like:




and this:




and this is the condo itself:




You are always looking out at the ocean.

So I went out on the lanai, after having a quiet time during which I placed the rock on a ceramic finger labyrinth:




I set in on the banister of the lanai. Looking straight down you can also see the complex's pool, which has two humpback whales painted on the bottom of it. (I wanted you to know that these were not just real whales swimming by---they look so realistic!)





I decided I wanted this rock to reside in the Pacific Ocean, maybe to wash up someday for someone to find.



So I enlisted LoveHubbie's help, and he threw it as far out as he could.



So in this way I felt as though something of me was left in one of my favorite places on earth.

The light is the show there, and when we stay we generally don't do anything else but stay on the lanai and watch the nightly entertainment (sunset) and the morning light and the changes---the sparkling water at different times of day, the honu (turtles) that pop their heads up, the whales further out.

I generally schedule this at the end of our vacation (like this time) so that we can prepare for re-entry. LoveHubbie has usually relaxed enough that he can enjoy more contemplative activities. I always feel as though I shine in Maui. I feel most like myself there. It was the perfect Love Rock for this time!

~Photos by LoveHubbie Mark and Me

Love Rock Number Four: Do What Makes Your Heart Sing

See the Love Rock story here.

I took Kim's Love Rocks to Hawaii with me in November. The first one I left was in Princeville on the north shore of the island of Kauai. Kauai is drop dead stunning---old, and dripping with mana. Lush, green, and the wettest place on earth. It rained there almost constantly while we were there, but really, I didn't mind.

Here is a picture of me in the pool on one of the sun breaks:



The pool is surrounded by lava rocks that were used in its construction.

I felt so like myself here...we spent two weeks in Princeville, and I feel like it was there that I "remembered" who I was and made decisions about how I wanted to spend my time back here at home. So the rock I left there was "Do What Makes Your Heart Sing":




I left it on a lava rock in a secluded part of the pool for someone else to find. I hope it inspires them the way it inspired me.





~Photos by LoveHubbie Mark

Love Rock Number Three: Be Brave (!!)

Here is a video (3:46) I made while packing for vacation while my Internet connection was down:




It is of some significant for several reasons. For one, Miss Porcupine makes a return appearance. For another, I didn't give my love rocks to the two repair guys (Internet and phone) who came today. One was truly a Repair Angel, and the other was simply a very nice guy. I chickened out! I shook the hands of both of them, and promised them home-cooked meals if they ever had to come out again. I thanked them profusely.

This forced me to see how being brave is a muscle, and my muscles have become flaccid lately from lack of use. I tend to use my vacations sort of like I suppose most people use mental hospitals after nervous breakdowns---I wait until I have no more resources to draw upon, then I go on vacation---where I relax, restore, and re-create myself. Right now I feel like a weak shadow of who I am.

I know better, but yet I repeat this pattern again and again. Neither myself nor LoveHubbie knows how to pace ourselves with well-spaced time for work and play. We work, burn out, keep working for many more weeks or months, watch our lives start to disintegrate, keep working, and then...off in the distance we see the vacation. So we have hope. We keep working but we now have a goal. Not just us, but the staff at LoveHubbie's office thinks, "If we can only hold on until then..." Then we get there. Finally. We go on vacation. Everyone gets a break.

We remind ourselves of who we are. We are in Hawaii. We talk about never leaving Hawaii. We decide to come home anyway. We BMW (bitch-moan-whine) about how hard re-entry is. And then we repeat the cycle.

Gosh, but I want to do this differently this time. I want to be brave enough to create the kind of life I truly want while I am in Hawaii. And to bring it back here. And to do things differently.

Your prayers and/or good, positive, creative energies are actively solicited...

See the Love Rock story here.

I'm Back!

Whoa! I've been caught in the netherworld for the last three days with no Internet service...but I'm back up now and recorded this video that I'd hoped I'd get to post---yippee! I'm saying goodbye in it, but I should get to post a time or two more if my Internet connection holds out :) This video is 5:27 long:

Sacred Life Sunday: Be Gentle with Yourself (Love Rock #2)

I gave Love Rock #2 (Be Gentle with Yourself) to my local friend J., who is going through a difficult divorce. I went to dinner and a movie with her last night and almost forgot, then gave it to her at the last minute. I think it's important that she be gentle with herself, that we all be gentle with ourselves. There is enough harshness in the world, and there are enough harsh people. Let's be different.

See the Love Rock story here.

~Photo by Elizabeth F. via CuteOverload

Love Rock Number One: Focus On What's Right

How important is this? It is vital to focus on what is right with our lives and to look at those things with gratitude. So, I gave away my first rock (video is 1:43):

Rock My World!

Kim Mailhot, the Queen of Arts, sent me ten rocks, to do with whatever I saw fit. Here and here is where she writes about the rocks. What a creative idea! A way of spreading love around...

So I made this short video (2:36) about the rocks. One thing I promise when you see it is that your hair will never looks worse than mine at the video's start...so you now need never feel like you need to look any special way in making a video. I've busted that myth forever. For-EVER!



For the next few days, I'm going to make little videos about what I do with the rocks. It should be an interesting journey.

One thing, already interesting, is that one of my rocks is a BE BRAVE rock. I don't know if Kim knew how much the BE BRAVE project means to me. Here is my BE BRAVE summary from the first season of BE BRAVE, and my first post from the second season of BE BRAVE. That second season has languished lately, and I've realized that I'd forgotten all about it. Not just the second season, but about being brave. I have indeed moved into survival...again. So this rock was a great reminder. When I saw the rock in the video, I "misread" it because I "mis-saw" it, thinking it said, "Be Here". I'm all for being here, for being present, but I also want to be brave. So guess who is going to get that rock?

Here is one of my favorite BE BRAVE posts, the Libby Sauter video, one I've watched again and again and again. If you haven't seen it...or even if you have, watch it now: