Pacific Madrone

Magical trees are abundant in the Pacific Northwest. This one lives on Chuckanut Island in the middle of it's own little bay just south of Bellingham. I have kayaked to this island multiple times but today I arrived on one of Hard Drive Marine's landing craft. Mark & I were invited out for a promo photo shoot and the weather was absolutely perfect for it. We love being on the water and have spend most of our lives on or around boats. Neither of us was sure what the plan was exactly but Mark ended up driving one of the smaller boats with a shark on the bow. I was fortunate enough to go for a hike on the island and take photos from up on top of the sandstone sculpted island. 

I have so much on my to-do list but it was definitely worth jumping on this opportunity to get out on the water on one of the warmest winter days we've had so far. I captured some more amazing images and I only hope I have time to edit and do something good with them. I feel very blessed to be living in the Northwest and able to do the things I do.

$20 bill

I'm still disturbed by the fact that I heard something fall out of my pocket this evening and didn't check to see what it was. I'm bothered by my lack of ability to respond properly when this situation occurred. A sweet boy came up holding a $20 bill and told me he found it under the chairs where we were just sitting. I checked my pocket remembering the sound I heard as it hit the ground and recalling how I had stuffed it there the day before after my friend Kay bought a hula hoop from me. I checked my wallet to make sure I hadn't put it away but forgotten. I took the $20 from him and was grateful but honestly I can't remember if I said thank you. I was too busy checking to make sure it was actually mine though I already knew that it was. I was shocked honestly and thrown off my ability to respond. Afterwards I thought maybe I should have just let him keep it as a Thank you for being honest. Either way, I am grateful he returned my lost $20 bill to me. Just another reminder to stay present in the moment, I think my mind was somewhere else or I would have handled it better. At least I know there are still honest people in the world.

Speaking of honesty, who hit that button today? The one that sent out the "False Alarm" to Hawaii? And why did that happen? Can you imagine the nightmare everyone experienced today in those moments between the warning and the recall? It's hard for me to believe that it happened and I feel deeply for all those people who had to experience it directly. Talk about a shocker. I was shocked by some silly little mishap with a $20 bill. I'm just thankful it was a false alarm and a massive tragedy was avoided. I really hope something good comes out of this. I think about how life can change so drastically or end so quickly. Better make the most of the unknown time that we have. I'm sending out lots of love to everyone all over the world right now and praying that we all can see clearly to make the most out of what is most important in our lives.

999

I saw a lot more eyes today so maybe I haven't gotten the full message yet. Eye Wonder...

999 also appeared repeatedly today... in fact it seemed everywhere I looked there was another sequence of those same numbers. Technically I know what it means but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with that information.

I guess I'll just keep moving forward with eyes open and hope the path will be revealed along the way.

Yoga was definitely good for me today, I went to Flow Motion out in Ferndale to try the Infrared Hot Yoga class and the heat felt wonderful. I'm doing my best to trust and have faith that if I keep doing the things I love everything will work out.

Symbolic

Life is symbolic, do you notice all of the symbols that make up your reality?

Guidance is all around us if we just pay attention to the often odd ways our questions can get answered. 

I have been seeing eyes recently. Usually it's animals or numbers but lately it has been eyes. First it was a tattooed eye on instagram followed by multiple other encounters that I didn't think too much about. Then I was walking down a trail that I had never been on before and turned around to see this eye. That's when it hit me to look up the symbolism on "the eye" but then I saw eyes all over a woman's running tights too. Why was I noticing these eyes all of the sudden?

When I searched for meaning I found a plethora of information. What struck a chord with me the most was how they are related to honesty and clairvoyance. I have been dealing with learning to trust my intuition above all else and I think this was just confirmation from the universe that I'm on the right track and to keep paying attention. 

Eye's have always been fascinating to me and since I stopped drinking over two years ago my perception has shifted dramatically. The clarity and truth of the the saying that eyes are the window to the soul resonates with me. When I look into another beings eyes I see much more than I could ever put into words. At times it jolts me into an alternate reality where knowing is more powerful than what I can see. I have to do a reality check to make sure I am not dreaming as the sensation is close to feeling lucid in a dream. 

We are so much more than these magical bodies of flesh and bone. I can see it in our eyes. We are spirits in a physical world here for multiple reasons but mostly to expand our awareness of the great mystery that is life while experiencing it from a myriad of perspectives. I think I used to drink so much to keep this extrasensory perception at bay. There's things I know that I don't know how I know and stuff that I see that I have been taught is impossible. How is it I exist in this world of time and space with these feelings I can't seem to explain?

The all-seeing eye, the eye of god, a symbol of great spiritual truth, awakening, divine providence. I know there is something going on, something much greater than what we see and I believe awakening is happening on a grand scale. I'm pretty sure it can't just be happening within me but I know I must play my part for it to happen too. We are on the verge of a breakdown and a breakthrough at the same time, the shift is occurring, people are opening their eyes. Let's let love rule once again on this amazing planet. There is more than enough for all of us but we must take care of each other and this earth.

Marathon

I fully admit I am afraid to commit to doing another full marathon but part of me really wants to do it in spite of my fears. I’ve only done one full one once and I like the idea of doing another but I understand the amount of time and dedication to training it takes. 

There is so much I hope to accomplish this year. I wonder if this fits with my overall plans. I’m scared and excited. I may need to spend some time and write it all out then contemplate the big picture. 26.2 miles seems like a long way to run but then I think of all those ultrarunners out there who do that distance for training runs. How do they fit it all in to their lifestyle?

If they can do it so can I? But then I wonder why... why do we run? Why do I run? I love the benefits of being a runner for sure but why do I want to push myself to go farther? And faster? Why do I always want to do more? Pushing myself to see how much I can accomplish, how far past my comfort zone am I willing to go? There must be a good reason for all of this.

Isn’t that the beauty of being alive?

62 days

Straight. Practicing French and writing a blog post every single day. I almost forgot today. How long do they say it takes to create a new habit?

I keep thinking about things I forgot to add into my Love vs Fear book proposal. I keep crossing tasks off my to do list. Time keeps flying by so fast. 

I realized too today when renewing my ElevenNW domain that I had bought I AylaJoyLove.com. Last time I looked at domain names it was taken, haha, by me. Too funny.

Thats all for now. Goodnight. 

Always Something

If it isn't one thing it's another. There's always something that happens that keeps us on our toes. I guess that's why we are here... to overcome our challenges. To face our fears. To explore how deeply we can love in spite of it all. The endless adventures that keep us going.

It's never boring that's for sure. In fact can be quite frustrating depending on how we look at it. The context and our beliefs have a lot to do with how we perceive things. I want to keep an open mind. I want to believe that no matter how much I don't understand why certain things happen the way they do that they happen for some reason and the best I can do is to make the best out of it all.

When you really think about it, it's pretty amazing to be alive. Thats it. Challenging or not the fact that we are living, breathing consciousness is in itself a miracle of sorts and definitely something to be thankful for. 

Lake Samish

I love to run, most of the time, some days feel better than others. Today was very wet at the GBRC Lake Samish Runs and I was thankful I was only doing one loop around the lake. The 1/2 marathoners started first and us 6.5 milers went 15 minutes later. I was soaked by the time I was done but it was still fun. There was even nice hot greasy bean juice generously provided by Fidalgo coffee all morning. The steamy liquid warmed me right up after the race as I went inside to take more pictures where it was dry. I dream of being faster some day but I was happy enough to just get out and run today. If it weren't for the Greater Bellingham Running Club I probably would have been lazy on this damp winter day.

Awe Shuksan

Aw shucks, I had some brilliant idea for what to write here but suddenly I'm feeling extremely tired.

Mount Shuksan always inspires me with it's sheer beauty and obvious awesomeness.

I had a wonderful day doing readings at Simply Spirit during Jill Miller's psychic fair today. It really helped me to feel validated that I can see clearly. I just have to learn to trust myself consistently and be honest with what I see. Since I graduated from the yearlong Clairvoyant training program I have missed going into the reading and healing center on a regular basis. Today made me realize how much I want to be doing readings for people. I want to help, it felt good and I would love to figure out a way to do things like this more often. It was my first time being paid for readings too, (which I would have happily done for free) but it also made me feel like the real deal. I wonder if I could do this professionally?

Jill is a wonderful teacher, an amazing reader and great healer and I'm very thankful to know her. She has helped me immensely in my own personal growth and I would highly recommend her services to everyone. I love the fact that this community has such a valuable resource. I know I have overcome a lot of my own fears by having readings done and even by doing readings for others. It's amazing work.

Shh...

Shh...

it. I'm trying something new with formatting here on Squarespace. I'm not really sure what to write either. I just put dinner in the oven after baking two different batches of gluten free muffins. There's a lot of items on my to-do list that I would like to cross off however I'm running out of energy. So that's it for today blog writing streak day #58.

Daring to Dream

Here we go... I've done my research. I've poured my heart and soul into writing this proposal for HayHouse and I hope that my dreams will soon come true. Even though it scares me to think of what may happen after I send it off tomorrow I just have to trust that whatever happens will be meant to be. I've put in the effort and I will keep on dreaming of bigger better things as I continue the journey that is my life.

The original title was going to be Bonsai or Microcosm but after hearing James Van Praggh speak at the writers workshop I changed my mind but had no idea what to call the book. When I was on the plane flying home from Hawaii it dawned on me that the whole story was really about Love versus Fear. Often times I avoided doing things I loved out of fear. Fear that I wouldn't be trusted by the ones I loved the most. I sacrificed the things I loved to make things work in so many relationships I found myself in.

Love gives us the courage to face our fears but often times the fear of losing love can also create more fear. Especially in relationships, which it almost seems as if my whole life I've been learning about Love and Fear from some of the people who have been closest to me. From this I've also learned that above all else it's important to love and to trust myself first. I'm the only one that knows whats best for me and the truth always reveals itself eventually no matter how much fear we have regarding scenarios in our lives and our personal relationships.