Greetings!

An unfortunate byproduct of following the spiritual path, for many seekers, is the desire to leave the world altogether. In fact, it is precisely this desire that has brought many of them to their inner work in the first place.  This is a trap.

You Are Loved, Lovable and Worthy of Love ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

I am sitting in a downtown Starbucks. It is not designed to hang out in. It has hard metal seats and tiny row tables. It's across from a city park, where city denizens live.

A woman comes in with a huge stroller and a tiny toddler.  Her daughter has a grey T-shirt with a big strawberry on it. She is a bright spark of light amongst beings who have accumulated many shades of gray.

I see a lot of diversity, but not a lot of happiness.  There's a lot of pain on the streets outside of Starbucks.

Real World Manifesting ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

Think about all the things, people, and situations that you've created in your life. Some you can validate that you created - you graduated from high school, you got into college, you chose that (even if it wasn't the college of your choice, you made it happen).  If you got married, you chose that (even if you chose to get divorced later - and you chose that, too).

It's harder to validate that you chose being born, and you chose the family that you were born into.

Pure And Simple Happiness ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

Whole Foods opened it's very first store in Tacoma yesterday and I was unbelievably happy.  We've lived here for 18 months and I've been trekking to Seattle almost weekly for my organic fruits and veggies.

I could rave on about the store - it's enormous, it's bigger than the one in Rockville in the DC area where I'd shop when caring for my mom - but it isn't about the store, it's about the feeling.

It was pure and simple, childlike joy.

Values and Worth ©2015 Joan Newcomb

What's most important in life for you?  Where do you focus 90% of your attention? What do you spend most of your money on? Do you feel satisfied with your life?

The answer to these questions may - or may *not* give you a clue about your core values.

Effortless Inner Manifesting: Boots ©2015 Joan M. Newcomb

Ten days ago I was in Stockholm, for the first time since 1978.  My main
focus was to take my Mom's ashes to the house my family lived in back then.
 I didn't really have any other agenda.  It was the last part of a
sixteen day trip, four countries, four languages, three currencies.

In the back of my head, though, I thought about Laplander boots.