CHANGE IS GOOD! RELAUNCHING BOLD CONVERSATIONS

Exciting news!

Bold Conversations has relaunched at Bold Conversations dot com. I createded a better way to be at service through my writing, my travel and my spiritual focus.  The site does this through wonderful visuals, better navigation and all that other good web stuff that is mostly over our heads.

Please visit me at  Bold Conversations dot com.  PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW SITE IN ORDER TO FOLLOW MY BLOG. When you subscribe on the new site you will receive a free download – 12 Questions That Will Change Your Life.  You will also be able to have access to new material to help you engage your own bold conversations. From now on I will be posting on the new site and hope you will come join me there.

Here is our new logo.  That will give you a sense of what is in store for you when you visit the new site.

In Gratitude

I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to the people who helped me with this new site.  They were patient, they listened and the delivered on their promises. I feel like they are truly partners for our community.  And we did it all by email and phone and Skype!

Katie Myer at Professional Yogi was the WordPress web developer.  As a yogi she understood the essence of what I write about and my commitment to serving others.  As a “user experience strategist” she advised and coached me on how to create a site that was attractive and user friendly.

Maureen O’Neill, graphic designer at Moxie Web and Design and On Fire Coaching.  She listened, was highly intuitive and very responsive to my feedback. She created the logo and the graphics for the sliders. Her keen eye for design and balance added to the overall look of the blog and the download materials. She held the consistency of the brand and look throughout all her work.

Thanks especially to my followers and readers who inspired me to take this bold step to redesign and declare my intentions to the blogsphere.  You inspire me. When I read your comments and your blogs, I sense a community of writers and human beings who are connecting virtually and energetically.  Heartfelt thanks to all of you.

Please visit the new site and subscribe so I can continue to inspire you, to serve you and to share with you my travels and how spirit can move us all.

Blessings. See you at Bold Conversations!

A Perfect Moment – For Mother’s Day

I can’t say enough about my mother.  I’ve written about her before and unlike many people  I know, my relationship with her as always been special and intimate.

On this Mother’s Day I’d like to share something I wrote in 2004 and later put into my book EveryDay Epiphanies.  Women juggle many roles and we are often torn between these roles, not to mention the fatigue we can feel trying to do everything.  What I wrote about has to do with pausing to notice a perfect moment with my son.  For all the mothers reading this, regardless of your children’s ages, regardless of how many roles you play, pay attention to these moments. Once they are passed, they are gone forever. I am fortunate enough to have had a son who insisted on my pausing in my life to recognize many perfect moments.  Blessings to all the mothers. Enjoy this post!

A Perfect Moment

“Can you cuddle with me?” he asks. It’s 8:35 p.m.  It’s more than a half hour past his bedtime and school looms tomorrow. This is after the nightly ritual of stalling.  First pajamas that are too itchy; they need to be changed.  Then come the bathroom rituals, peeing and brushing of teeth and washing of hands.  Finally, it’s time for bed.  “I’m thirsty.  This water is too warm.  Can I have ice in it?”  At last snuggled down with all his “guys”, so many stuffed animals and critters I wonder how he fits into his bed.  I sing him his “Goodnight Joseph” song.  No night’s sleep can begin without the comfort of his special song.  I pull the covers over him, leaving the room as I wish him sweet dreams.  Then he asks, “Can you cuddle with me?”

I think of the dishes that need to be washed, the laundry that needs to be folded, the email which needs response and the husband watching football wondering if I’ll be back down or not.  Then I allow myself to feel my soul’s wish.  “Aha!” my heart says, “a perfect moment!”  I allow myself to recognize the question for what it really is, a request to connect, to express intimacy, an opportunity to nourish both our souls.  I think about my day, the rushing around, and the intensity of my focus in my conversations, the giving, the taking, and the choices I have been making all day, all week.  I am at another crossroads.  I have been fortunate.  My soul recognizes this perfect moment and tells me to choose wisely.  I wonder how many moments I may have missed today in my juggling.  Will I choose this one or will this one be lost forever?

June 2000

“Can you cuddle with me, please?  Two minutes?”  Ok, two minutes.  “No, I meant five, no ten minutes.”  I lie down next to the wriggling bundle wondering if I won’t fall asleep within ten minutes myself.  We spoon together, his little body fitting back around his source, my womb.  We warm each other.  He feels like honey melting into warm milk.  After sometime, he turns his body to face me, throwing his arm around my neck and kissing my face.  “I love my momma”, he whispers as he pulls my face towards his with his little arm.  This perfect moment is ours. All the dishes, the laundry, the email, and even the football fan are forgotten in that moment of intimacy.  Of course I’ll cuddle with you, I whisper, for as long as you want me to.  What other answer is there?

© 2004 Alicia M. Rodriguez   Excerpt from EveryDay Epiphanies: Insights for Living with Purpose

To all the Mothers and those soon to be and those who mother others (male or female), enjoy your day. Drop me a line here and let me know about any perfect moments you can recall as a mother.

The Butterfly

“I glimpsed heaven in a butterfly.”

To Dance, To Sing

“My soul wants not from the earth

My soul wants not from humanity

My soul wants only to be free to love,

To dance and to sing

The music of the cosmos.”

Finding My Way Back To Myself

When I woke up this morning I decided to take the day off.  I’ve had a week full of 12-15 hour days, non-stop all day long trying to jam more into a day than is humanly possible.  When I get on one of these rolls I can’t seem to stop.  I am extremely productive but it takes a toll and I don’t notice it until later when I wonder where “I” went.  After a week of human doing I chose today to be a human being.

Despite being very productive I can acknowledge that I lost my way.  I became disconnected from the softness inside, from the sensation of being at peace with myself.  Last night I decided that I was not setting my alarm clock and would begin the weekend early.  When I woke up today and looked outside I saw a beautiful sunny day with a cool breeze blowing and an invitation to get outside and walk.  I committed to honoring and reconnecting so I could find my way back to myself.

So here is what works for me.

Cleaning.  Yes, the Zen of housework.  There is something very calming to cleaning my apartment (while I am doing the laundry).  It feels like I am cleaning out the whole week’s worth of heavy energy too.  There is a rhythm to my housekeeping and when everything is bright and shiny I feel refreshed and calm.

Dancing.  I will share a little secret.  When I clean I crank the music and dance like no one is watching – which they are not.  It releases energy and puts me in a great mood.  And it makes cleaning much more fun.

Moving.  My day started with yoga in my living room then a walk outside.  It continued while I was cleaning the house and dancing.  Paradoxically, moving all day long created inner stillness.  I’d been in my car or office attached to my desk all week so giving my body the gift of movement was repaid with a sense of well being and a release of tension.

Nature.  I spent some time at the water’s side.  I gaze at the gentle ebb and flow of the waves.  I notice the shades of blue on the water that mirror the sky as it changes tones.  I listen to the osprey’s whistle and the scolding from the ducks as I inadvertently interrupt their walk.  In that stillness I reconnect to the earth and the water and feel myself coming back again; the softness, the lightness and the expansiveness of my spirit begins to lift and dance in the breeze. The world falls away in those moments.

Music.  Music has always had a profound effect on me.  During yoga I played the Gayatri Mantra from The Essence by Deva Premal and breathed with the cadence of her beautiful chanting, opening my lungs to the prana flowing with my in and out breath.  As I cleaned I danced to Moby, Calvin Harris and Florence Welch, Civil Twilight and the Latin sounds of Pacifika and Shakira. I reflected listening to The Gabe Dixon Band, Toby Lightman and Missy Higgins.  And I found profundity and inspiration in the soundtrack from The Last of the Mohicans.  A very diverse day of music reflected all my moods and honored all the emotions I had set aside this past week.

Writing.  This may sound strange as I spent much of the week writing copy for the upcoming redesign of Bold Conversations.  Many a very late evening into the wee hours of the morning was spent at the computer pounding out words trying to stay connected to the essence of what I want to express on my blog site.  But what I was craving was what I’m doing now.  Writing from the inside out fully the witness to my life and reflecting on what it takes to find myself in the middle of chaos and busyness and work deadlines and life challenges then make my way back.  I am here now.  I have found my way back.

Welcome home.  I missed me.

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What do you do to find your way back?  Please let me know in the comments area. I’m curious!