Part I – Sleep Meditations

Last night I could not sleep whatsoever. Out of complete boredom I tried to relax my mind through meditation. I chose to do the breathing technique which is very relaxing, because it teaches you how to breathe correctly sending more oxygen to your lungs and brain. This is how you perform the technique.
Inhale deeply making your tummy balloon outwardly as far as it will go. Then, exhale fully letting all the air escape slowly as you blow it out of your mouth, and using your stomach muscles, pull your tummy inward, or toward your body, until nothing more can release. Do this several times SLOWLY and sleep will creep over you. It crept over me last night and I slept like a newborn baby afterwards.
TIPS: 1. If you begin to feel light-headed or woozy while using this technique, STOP IMMEDIATELY!! The objective here is to sleep, not to faint! You may need to slow your breathing even more than what you already have. You can also implement the following which everybody can benefit from: Try to inhale to the count of seven. Hold the breath to seven. Finally, exhale to the count of seven. You shouldn’t feel like passing out if you count slowly. 2. Finding a few minutes each day to breathe this way can give you more energy during the day resulting from the excessive oxygen gained from meditation practice. You can feel more awake and alert during the day permitting you to accomplish more and to be more efficient at your tasks. It takes all of 10 minutes out of your busy days.

If the above technique does not work for you for any reason, maybe the next meditation technique will appeal to you on the basis that most everyone knows how to meditate with imagery. A common imagery exercise involves imagining that you feel happy, comfortable and relaxed in your favorite place. You are listening to calming sounds and smelling calming scents. The following is an extension of that.
Sit or lay in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and imagine a bright white light moving over your body relaxing it at the same time. It begins at your feet. The light relaxes your toes, then your heels. It moves to your ankles, your calves, going up your legs to your knees, then your thighs. It travels upward relaxing your hips, fingers, hands, arms and elbows simultaneously your stomach relaxes slowing your breath. The white light covers your chest and shoulders. It goes to the neck, your jaw, lips and teeth and tongue, nose, your eyes, your ears, forehead, and lastly, it relaxes your scalp and hair. Now that your entire body feels nice and relaxed, shift your mind to a large, beautiful room decorated with blue carpet that stretches as far as the eye can see. Aligning the far freshly painted white wall about every 10 feet are columns made of gold. They sparkle so brilliantly they blind you when looking directly at them. Paintings of Egyptian women from centuries ago adorned in elegant jewelry hang on another wall. As you slowly cross to the center of the room you stop at a large table clothed in a royal purple cloth. What appears to be the most elegant wine glasses you’ve ever seen stand on every inch of the table leaving only the skirt of the cloth visible. Suddenly feeling a little thirsty and worn-out from walking half the room’s distance, you wonder what is inside the glasses. Glancing at the them you realize that different colors of contents fill each one. You choose the glass holding your favorite color of liquid. You swallow half the contents in a single gulp. Now feeling sleepier you sit on the lush, blue carpet. You drink the rest of the delicious liquid. You then realize that you are laying on the carpet. Laying there, it occurs to you that the liquid heightened your sleepiness. Now feeling comfortable, you see that your glass is full again. You look up to see an angel staring down at you. Its large, golden, airy wings sit you up. They hold your heavy body upright as the angel puts the glass to your lips helping you drink the contents once more. You prepare your body to collapse from being horribly exhausted, but instead, energy floods your body. The angel gives you more to drink, then immediately after finishing the contents, you land up back where you began. Open your eyes feeling refreshed.
TIPS: 1. You can also use this meditation to fall asleep. Meditate to the part where you fall to the carpet. I tested it up to that point and the outcome worked incredibly well. 2. If you find that this particular meditation gives you the energy you anticipate, practicing it daily can benefit you in the long run.

Whisky or Wine?

Smart girls do the talking
Pretty girls do the walking as
guys come flocking to them, gawking.
Optimists exude perky
while, to cynics, water looks mirky
But to me, it’s all quirky
how people act the same, yet different.
Curious how a person burns bright
when another burns brilliance!

And why’d her finger shine
a month after my ex and I hoaxed
we’d be together forever?
Am I more like a shot of whisky and
she more like a sip of expensive wine?
Smooth, elegant flavors come to life
personifying the few ounces as a gush oozing strength and spontaneity,
though, wine, so fine and valuable, evokes irresistibility!
Is this how you view she and me?
Or is my cynicism rising slowly?
Yes, a cynic, I am!
Smart and a sexy walk, it’s probably your Sam.

Is it ok to take your child’s money?

My only sister came over with the purpose of dropping off my nieces whom spend every other Saturday night with my parents and me.  Esperanza of five years and Adalicia of eight years love coming over, but their mother prefers to maintain her distance from her family on grounds to avoid their “judgments” about her decisions, which impact her children.  Contradictory to my younger sister’s belief that we do not support her actions, and are therefore against her, support has never ceased from being given by any of us.  In fact, guidance and advice is at her disposal, except she perceives opposing ideas as a means to judge.  Ever since she broke up with her children’s father, paranoia stemming from a lot of misunderstandings and false accusations strewn about by all parties, even as far as three years post-break up, has enveloped her mind.  Simultaneous to typing the earlier sentence I pondered the notion that perhaps her quick misjudgments, which imply her family’s obstructive attitudes, convey no relation to paranoia, but instead, to a representation of something deeper, like the fear of closeness.
Although, whether or not my sister suffers from paranoia is not really the issue at hand.  Rather, the main issue encompasses a question which led to an unnecessary, one-sided, heated fight on my sister’s behalf.  For she viewed my opinion on the question below as bizarre.  Her opinion, on the contrary, struck me not only as bizarre, but as unconventional.

CALLING ALL PARENTS
Your opinion is being requested! Please answer the question below:

(SCENARIO): Your child turns eight-years-old.  You invite your family along with your fiancé’s family.  Counting everybody altogether you realize how big the party will be.  Your fiancé’s column of the guest list includes eleven people and your column is filled with 33 people.  44 people represents a low average of people you usually invite so it does not pose a problem.  Well, no problem until now.
Having been a single-mother for nearly three years you have difficulties completing certain transactions on your own.  Child-support might be an option but you told the Father not to pay up, that you will see him in court.  (More about the Father in a later post.) You wonder how you will afford a party since you are an adult and your mother nor your grandmother no longer hand over free money.  It occurs to you to ask your mom for a loan, however, you are unsure of how to approach the subject for you have separated yourself so far from your mother that you do not know how to even have a regular conversation with her anymore.  You give up on the former idea by deciding to skip a bill payment instead.
The birthday party finally comes round and your child mostly receives gifts in the form of heartfelt cards covered with cutesy animals and filled with easy cash so that the child could pick out something he or she likes as opposed to getting toys and clothes he or she refuses to play with or wear.  Then everything becomes messy in the closet.
Okay.  Let’s say that out of all the five dollar bills, ten-dollar bills, and maybe one twenty-dollar bill your child ends up making somewhere between $30 to $40.  Now for the question!

(QUESTION): Your funds diminish from gathering all unspent means to throw a birthday party for your boy or girl whom turned eight.  You remember the $40 resting in your child’s “Secret Box” under the bed.  In need of money you finally decide to dash into the bedroom, to grab the money, and to exit the room holding $20 as you run to the grocery store.  Never do you intend to replace the money you took.  Whenever your child brings up the “lost” $20, you shrug it off by suggesting that he or she search for it.  You say the same words every time the “lost” money is brought up.  Also consider that the child is well-behaved.
Now, please say whether you agree or disagree with the Mother’s actions to take the twenty bucks.

In my opinion the Mother ought to put back the money she took.  The mom would be stealing and lying by not returning it, which makes her hypocritical.  There are certain rules that both parents and children must abide by.  Stealing and lying are crimes when taken too far for a reason.  (Yes! Lying in court is perjury.) Besides, you cannot expect respect from your children if you do not believe them worthy enough to respect as well.
The above ran through my mind, though not wanting to anger my sister, I continued with the notion that it was wrong for her to take Adalicia’s money.  One point made happened to be that people gave the money as a gift to Adalicia, they did not give it to my sister to do with it as she pleases.
As for my sister’s opinion, she made it clear how broke she had been and could not afford groceries.  Putting back the amount taken was unimportant because she pays for everything including: nice clothes, shoes and backpacks, not to mention, almost any toy inquired by Adalicia.  In fact, she carried on by insisting that taking the $20 was not stealing, though, she could not explain why not.  She blew up at me and the conversation moved to her issues with me feeling sick…  But I will stop before I say something I might regret.  I love her but she and I have grown apart throughout the past three years.

CIAO!

Iveta