Looking for my Liebchen

Liebster award

(note: this post was edited to correct a few details about nominated blog authors.)

I was nominated for the prestigious Liebster Award! I’d like to thank Dreams In Alaska  for her nomination. I’ve just recently discovered her blog when I was tooling around WordPress. She was most gracious in her award to me, and I appreciate her gesture.

Answering the questions posed to me by Dreams in Alaska:

1. What was your first thought when you read you were nominated for the Liebster Award?

Wow, I’m honored!

2. What has been the best part of your day so far?

Receiving energy work from a group of very talented friends, in which my kundalini was jumping!

3. Do you believe in soulmates?

The past life regression work that I do has taught me several things. There are people that we are intended to meet, fall in love with, and spend some time. That time can end, and if it does, another person may be scheduled for us to meet and fall in love. So in that sense, there is no one person that is the one-and-only forever and ever. But I also know that there are people we can fall in love with lifetime after lifetime – but not every lifetime. It happens often enough that we feel a deep connection whenever we find them. I think this is what most people think of when they mean soul mates. There some people out there that hype it up to a disproportionate level of importance, though.

4. If you could meet any celebrity or politician to ask them one question, who would it be and what is the question?

Honestly? I’d like to meet St. Francis of Assisi and ask him to teach me everything he knows. Sorry, but you asked!

5. What is the first thing someone notices about you when they meet you?

Hmmm. Some people comment that I seem very … intense. Or serious.

6. What inspired you to begin a blog?

I was guided to by my spiritual teachers, and then encouraged by the only person I discussed it with (my youngest daughter).

7.  Has your blog developed in the way you originally intended?

No, but I suspect it will make a change in direction soon. Plus, I’m starting another blog, dealing solely with animals, at spiritualserviceofanimals.wordpress.com. It’s half-done now, and will migrate soon to spiritualserviceofanimals.com.

8. What is the quirkiest thing about yourself?

I have a deep, active spiritual practice, but I still use foul language occasionally. I find it oddly satisfying.

9. What is the last book you read and did you enjoy it?

The most recent one is Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O’Brien. And yes, I enjoyed it. I felt like I’d discovered a kindred spirit. My cockatoo loves me almost as much as Wesley loved Stacey. Thank goodness my cockatoo is more easily deterred from mating with me.

10. Make up one word and define it.  Who knows; it may be in the Oxford Dictionary one day!

Colorami – this is the unusual swirling colors that I see when deep in meditation, usually combined with some sort of energy moving through my body.

According to the official instructions, I am to name 11 random facts about myself. I am not keen on this, and will list a few random facts that will not amount to 11. Please don’t count.

• I hate even the smell of coffee, and don’t drink it; I drink tea.
• I’m on my third marriage, which has lasted 17 years so far. I see the first two marriages not as failures, but as a testament to my belief that I believe happiness is important and my willingness to take risks.
• I believe that animals are conscious beings. Rocks and plants are too, but they are a little less conscious.
• I first realized that organized religion was flawed when my childhood minister told me that animals did not have souls. I wondered if he had one.
• I have ridiculed people in the past for things that I now realize are a good idea.

My nominations for the Liebster Award:

1. Streams of Consciousness – Brenda Marroy is one of my favorite bloggers whom I’ve followed for quite some time. We’ve had similar hardships and found a place of peace. I highly recommend her insightful blog.

1. Fearful Dogs’ blog –  discusses humane and conscious dog training techniques. She advocates knowing why a dog reacts as he/she does rather than just treating them all the same.

1. Dolito – Miss Dolito is an animal communicator in Taiwan. She is a spiritual leader as well, and leads spiritual retreats frequently to sacred places. Her telepathic conversations with pets often reveal cheeky advice about their owners’ love life, work ethic, personal habits, and family life. It’s amusing, revealing, and humbling.

1. Birds and Everything Else  – This is a graphically beautiful blog that displays outdoor photography by HJ Ruiz.

1. Standing Out in My Field – Dr. Standingoutinmyfield is a Biology professor working on her post-doctoral degree, and I always learn something in every blog. Her photos are stunning and her hand-drawn art is beautiful. She’s very physically active, and I get tired just thinking about how much she runs and bikes in unusually inclement weather. I suspect that she’s slightly masochistic (or just has a really high pain threshold)!

1. Raising Daisy  –  is about a charming Havachon dog. She’s a bit hyper-active and recently tore her ACL when she got a little too enthusiastic in her running and jumping. With the help of a great medical team, she’s recuperating from her surgery and regaining her old lifestyle a little at a time.

1. Inscendence – is an insightful and contemplative blog dedicated to “lead soulful lives of connection, reverence, mystery, grace, and wholeness.” I find real depth here, and encourage you to take a look.

1. Marking Our Territory – Will and Eko’s romps through Chicago and beyond are just plain fun. This man and his dog are wonderfully matched in energy and temperament. Will’s videos are just about the only web videos I watch on a regular basis, as I prefer to read rather than watch a video. But Will’s blog and videos are comical and just plain fun! I often catch my husband watching them over my shoulder, so they must be good.

1. Love and Feathers – This blog is about a cheery woman and her equally cheery cockatiel. These two seem well-suited and seem to enjoy each other a lot!

1. Underneath the Shell – This blog is written by a high school teacher about her beloved turtles. I enjoy reading about lots of different animals, and she does not disappoint me. I’ve met some surprising turtles in my time and invite you to get to know hers, too.

1. Mommy Mystic –  is a mindfulness and meditation instructor as well as a mother and energy healer. Her blogs are insightful and calming – she’s no drama mama! She is economical with her time, writing a few posts per month, and making sure they are worth the readers’ time rather than dashing off several posts a day. I love this approach and encourage you to take a look.

Here is my brief list of questions to the recipients of the Liebster award:

1. Where was your favorite place to live, and why?
2. What books you are currently reading?
3. Do you think it is better to be honest or kind?
4. If you had one day in your life to live over again, would you rather live a day in which you want to change the outcome (like to avoid a mistake) or live a day that was so terrific that you’d like to do it again?
5. If you watch television, what is your favorite series?
6. What is your favorite song of all times?

Recipients – here are the official rules:

Here are the rules for you, should you choose to participate in the virtual award party. If you are too busy, don’t believe in such things, or don’t want to bother – that’s OK. This is meant to be a way to introduce each other to our blogging friends, no more. I’ve found some of my favorite bloggers this way; so it’s all good!

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (The easiest way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3. Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

(Click here for the official rules)