Here is my precious Norma dog. I share about her on Facebook too.

Norma, did you make that stinky?
Norma, did you eat that?
You sure you didn’t make that stinky?

The question is:

Is it saving in the garden or saving the garden?

There certainly are a lot of life changes happening out in the world right now. I personally think chaos can bring clarity, although I do not buy into fear mongering.  I don’t think it’s time to go dig a hole and put your head in it. I think it’s time for us all to become more connected. (Yay Twitter!)  It’s time to be connected to the Earth, to your souls, to your creativity and to your colon (like I wrote in the last post).

On the fear and panic side, I was urged to watch this movie Collapse, which I did on Netflix.  Here’s the trailer:

Ages ago I would have been really freaked out and scared by that movie and wondering where in the world I was going to move to, and quickly.  But I have since witnessed people who are so convincing to others because of their emotional connection to what they think they know based on their own fears, that they freak people out when they actually don’t have the facts.  I’m not saying there isn’t valuable information in the film, and out in the world for that matter, my point is being clear about facts instead of fear.  There are so many who preach to you until they’re blue in the face, convinced they know all the answers and have “the truth.”  You have to follow your own heart and gather facts for yourself.  I bring that up because I’ve been witnessed it first hand, so I urge to you to take what works for you and leave the rest.  You know what’s best for you if you really listen to your heart and soul.  (maybe I should write about how to get better at that)

That said, the best message I got from the film above is to grow your own food.  For me, that was the best and most important part of the film and is really the only reason I’m bringing the film up!  I think we should learn how to garden for fun, not out of fear.  That is why I’ll be sharing my own process on here!

Grow Your Own Food

My mother and grandmother have the green thumbs. I on the other hand, can write about it.  I’ve rarely stayed in one place long enough to have a garden in my life.  But this year I will and I’ll blog about my trials and errors in an effort to help those of you who are like me, green thumb challenged.

First of all, I’ve written about getting over your fear of starting a garden even if you’re in the city in my Downsizing post.  There are some amazing garden packages on GroOrganic.   I know, some of you will suck in a breath of shock at some of the prices of staring a garden but believe me, it’s cheaper than buying your food in the long run.  Start paying attention to food prices when you visit your market.  They are going up up and away from many budgets, especially fresh produce.  The sad thing is that though fresh veggies and fruits are by far the best choice, yet sometimes the processed ones are simply cheaper.  For many families, the purse is the boss and many forfeit their health for the cheaper food.  But I’m telling you, it can make you sicker in the long run. Spending money on your food and food growth can be categorized under health, wellness and preventative medicine too.  It’s worth it, spend money on your food and wear your clothes another season or ride your bike more to save on gas.  Your food is important.

Savings Tip:

Even though I haven’t broken ground yet on my garden since it’s covered with snow at the moment, I’m paying attention and finding information on ways to save (and to share).

Say AHH: One fun way that all of my RN friends will love is buying a value pack of Tongue Depressors.  Yep, I said that. They are so cheap and you get tons of them. You can use them as markers for your various plant groups by writing on them with permanent market.

That way you don’t do what I have been guilty of and go buy all kinds of expensive fancy things just to make it look pretty.  It will already be pretty, it’s a garden.  Have your children color the wood to make it stand out among the plants.  There’s some good playtime that also helps the household, bonus!

Build it Yourself: If you don’t have the money to buy gardening packages from places like GroOrganic, build it yourself!  Become a little Martha Stewart and blog about how you’re kicking butts with your electric saw.  Or maybe you live where the soil is fantastic and you don’t need to have raised beds.  Start digging!  Well, when the time comes.

Plan Your Patch: Save by planning.   GroOrganic has a garden planner that I’m using that is very inexpensive compared to what you’ll save by planning out your patch.  I’m the first to admit that I’d go out and buy half the store like shopping when I’m hungry. I’d have seeds coming out of my ears, with high hopes and big plans of having the best most beautiful garden in town. Then reality would set in that I just planted enough for a small army and it’s overgrown and a mess.  If you’re like me with that old save-the-world complex, shhhh, be still for a minute.  Start small.  Feed yourself first before you take on feeding the village.  Planning out your patch before you even buy seeds or starter plants is super helpful and if I dare say - necessary.

Can’t wait to get my hands dirty!

Seems like we all love Facebook (well, most of us) and even our parents have profiles!  But there are many ways to use FB that you may not know unless you read the many how-tos or follow the Facebook news like any good tech nerd does.  I happen to be a nerd, but even better than that I know many other nerds so I get to learn little tricks usually right when they happen.  One that has been available for awhile is linking to another Facebook profile or a page in your status.  It’s a great way to do a shout-out for someone or something you love.  When you do that, it shows up on both your wall and the wall you love.   It’s very simple and you only use @ in front of the name.

I noticed a few of my friends were asking about how to do that so voila, here’s a video for you.

http://www.youtube.com/angelashelton

Feel free to message me about other things that may trip you up like How in the world do you use Twitter?

I certainly don’t know everything, but I’ll share what I do.

By contributor Joann Shelton

It is springtime in the park.  The new leaves on the trees are vibrant green.  Daffodils and narcissi dot the banks of the small lake where ducks have gathered to swim.  The flowers’ exhilarating fragrances beckon memories.  Sounds of quacking ducks, songbirds, and laughing children are carried through the air; and my heart expands as I breathe deeply of the love of life.

Children feed the ducks while proud parents watch from nearby benches in the warm spring glow.  Angela, my four-year old daughter; takes bread from my hand and runs off to join in while I sit with the other parents.

Angela enthusiastically flings pieces of bread into the swarm of quacking ducks.  Soon her little arm loses its rapid rhythm.  The bread is gone.  She begins chasing the baby ducks, attracting the annoyed attention of many parents, who turn to glare at me.

I know Angela will probably start to wail if I physically intervene.  Instead, I start to silently sing HU, an ancient name for God.  I often do this in times of stress to help me remain clam.  I ask what I should do, and open myself to guidance.  Divine Spirit whispers, “Be patient.”

I smile apologetically at the concerned parents as though everything is all right.  Soon Angela stops chasing the ducks and wanders toward me with a pouted lip.

I put my arms around her and ask, “Why are you chasing the ducks?”

“I want to take one home,” she says angrily.

“Well, Angela, if someone was chasing you and trying to take you away from your mother, would you want to go?”

“No,” she admits, looking down at the ground.

In a moment of inspiration, I ask, “Does the little duck know how much you love it?” as I stroke her hair.

She gives no response, so I continue, “If you tell the duck you love it and you will leave it with its mommy, maybe it will let you pet it.”

She looks up at me with her beautiful hazel-green eyes:  pools of familiarity and knowingness.  Suddenly she blurts, “OK,” and quickly runs to the ducks.

Angela squats down and puts her hand on the ground.  Then, to the surprise of everyone, including me, a baby duck walks right into her palm!

The parents and I gape as she pets this tiny, fluffy baby duck.  Time stands still for the exchange of love.

Then the little duck hops off her hand and goes back to its mother.  Angela, beaming with joy, runs to me with outstretched arms.  She hugs me tightly for a long, long time, while parents and children applaud and cheer.

Love touches everyone and everything, as my heart soars on this glorious spring day.  I silently thank the Holy Spirit and sing another HU.

Joann Shelton lives downtown Asheville, NC where she walks everywhere, tweets four letter words @fourletterwords and is finishing Back Road Girl, her autobiography.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Norma is having a hard time staying inside since all she wants to do is run, jump in the lake, run again.  I put ear muffs on her since she’ll get a sweater too dirty and wet.  She kept the ear muffs on, didn’t even shake her head.  I’ll try to get her to stay still for some more pics.

Watch the Happy Turkey Day video for some laughs along with blast from the past.

Have a lovely day with people you love!

Oh I just had to share this one.  There is always truth in comedy. Why oh why are people stuck in repeated cycles? I know, I know! (she says with her hand eagerly raised)

Perhaps comedy can help.

Break-ups: The Series — Tim & Emily from Ted Tremper on Vimeo.

Watch the series on Breakups.us!

Have you ever had someone tell you that they “just know” what you should be doing with your life?  They say they have a feeling, a hit, an intuition about what you should or should not do with your career, love life or relationships.   I’ve heard some crazy stories of sociopaths gaining control over people that way.  I had an experience with a guy who said he had my entire life figured out.

“You shouldn’t marry that guy.  He’s not the right guy for you,” he said and then gave a long dramatic pause while I let that sink in.  I wasn’t letting anything sink in, I was wondering what in the world he was talking about and then realized I had on the ring that I wrote about. Ah, dude, I bought this myself to make a point. But I didn’t say anything and just let him continue.

“I’m intuitive and I can tell you right now that I’m getting the nudge to warn you not to marry this guy. He’s not right for you.  Now, I can talk to you and be there for you. You need someone who is spiritually connected.”  Then he proceeded to get angry.  “I know you’re just with this guy for his money (cue my inner belly laugh), but he’s not right for you.  You know, the thing is, is that you don’t know what’s right for you.  You’re not listening to your inner gut because you don’t know how to.  You need to listen to what I’m saying.  You don’t know what you need.  You’re confused about everything and need some guidance. You know, I do mentor people.  I can tell you right now that I have very strong intuition that you should not marry this guy. He will just take you and not let you be yourself anymore. He will lock you away (ah, you talking about yourself buddy?), he will not let you shine. I will let you shine.”

Some intuition dude.  This isn’t even a real diamond.

It made me think of the stud Dimitri and his “knowledge” about women:

All I can say is listen to your own intuition, love up on the healthy people in your life and send them thank you cards.  Take notes when crazy stuff like this happens because it can sure inspire a giggle, or at least some amazement about crazy people.

While watching Ohdoctah on his Wednesday show, the topic came up of how to be a better person.  I think the key is following The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book of Be Impeccable with Your Word, Don’t Take Things Personally, Don’t Make Assumptions and Do Your Best but I’ll add some more.

1. Be Healed ~ Don’t be a Sick Jerk

It is far too easy to take things personally when you are still caught up in old drama from your childhood, a relationship gone bad, the last election or whatever else you’re still holding onto.  People who have not healed pull down shades and see new experiences through old fears, anxieties and pain and all it does is repeat the cycles they think they are trying to avoid.  Pull up the old shades and see life with clear eyes.  Healing is possible and there are plenty of pathways out there. Find your own path to healing and realize that you’re not the only person in the world going through pain.  You have the power to create a new reality when you are healthy in body, mind and spirit.  Do it.  Keeping your issues alive only makes it difficult for you and for everyone else around you.   You can do better for the planet by healing yourself and then inspiring others to do the same.  You are that powerful, so be healed!

2. Make More Love

Duh. Love makes the world go round, do more of it.  Making love doesn’t always mean having sex either.  Hug more.  Smile at someone on the street. Be nice. Do loving things like plant a garden. Dive deep within your soul and find what you really love to do creatively and do it.  Paint a picture and give it as a gift.  Take photos of beautiful places and share them.  Tell someone that you love that you love them.  Send nice tweets.  Call your mother (except those of you raised by wolves – in that case adopt a new good mom and call her).

3. Send Thank You Cards

It takes very little time to send a handwritten thank you note to someone who you met, who helped you, or who you just like.  You can write on someone’s Facebook wall too, but there’s nothing like an old fashioned hand written note.  If you forgot how to write by hand, practice.

4. Do Something that Helps the World

Stop complaining and do something useful.  There are far too many people spending far too much time complaining about what’s wrong with the world or how they were wronged by something or someone and they take up too much air and Internet space.  You don’t have to start your own organization, you can go volunteer at one that you like.  Leave an abusive relationship.  Stop abusing people.  Learn a new trade.  Learn a language and travel to expand your mind.  Do not procreate if you are unhealthy.  Mentor a teenager.  Stop using plastic straws.  Don’t ask for a plastic bag.  Ride your bike.

5. Repeat Steps 1-4

Repeat the steps like you would repeat an affirmation until suddenly you’re like – Wow, I’m a better person and I like myself and the world around me!  Thank Goddess.

Ever wondered why things seem to disrupt in your life when things are all the sudden going wonderfully? When you decide to move forward and into a new paradigm, sometimes all hell breaks loose.

Rev. Beckwith speaks so well about that disruption.  Watch the whole thing or fast forward to his speech.   So inspiring!  There is lovely moment between a couple about to get married too.  I love this service.

Do you have a big ego? I’ve certainly been accused of it. I mean, do have AngelaShelton.com. I just saw that quite a few people bought I heart Angela Shelton shirts and it made me ponder ego since I’ve heard from oh about four haters about how I have such a big ego and don’t care about anyone but myself, especially due to the fact that there are those shirts on my site.  I wear mine with a grin by the way because of the story behind it.

Cathy Brooks talks about what Ego and Responsibility and being careful what you share on the world wide web or what I call the Bizarre Bazaar. I actually love when I hear haters say that I’m an egomaniac because when they find out the truth behind why that logo exists in the first place, it can a big pill to swallow.  In the vein of watching what you do and do not share online, I’ve shared oh, pretty much everything outside of my private love life.  After traveling with my doc and my book for years I shared on stage that I was a self-mutilator and I committed to ending self-abuse. That’s when I was gifted with that I heart Angela Shelton logo.  My friend Jennifer Welker jazzed it up a bit and that’s the one on the store.  For me that logo has such a deeper beautiful meaning because I kept my commitment. I haven’t hurt myself in over six years and I’m wear my shirt proudly.

My documentary is one of many projects I’ve made and I have plenty more to come, but that doc has a lovely spot on the shelf of my creations, although I’ve always said and will continue to say that Searching for Angela Shelton came not from me, but from Spirit. I was certainly channeling something very deep when that project was born and it’s an honor to have changed my name years ago to Angela Shelton.  Making that movie sent me through the ringer, caused me to lose everything from some so-called friends, all my savings, my house, and almost my life.  It also lead me down a path of healing, as it has done for many, and has made me better artist. As I create new projects, the healing that was caused by that movie stays with me.  For the people who have followed the journey, it gives me great joy to show victims of abuse that there is a time when you move on and the trauma is no longer a part of your life.  I see those shirts and I think about that time long ago, when I used to hate myself and had to deal with so much crap from the past.  Now, my past trauma doesn’t even come up in my life.  Life continues to get better and joy is endless and by the way, it’s abundant and there is no limit to love, joy and happiness. There’s enough to go around. It’s not like one person heals and takes the lottery ticket for others, living a life full of glee is possible for all.  It’s a matter of making a choice and a commitment.  I am so grateful to those who have followed this journey from the beginning, who know me and understand my bigger plans.

Thank you to those who sport the shirts, I love Angela Shelton too.  Thank you.

Ah, marriage. I’ve written about it before and had my share of proposals too. This week at the Looking for my Sister event I got to meet a fellow dynamo named Regina. We were both wearing very nice wedding rings I might add. I confessed first that mine wasn’t real and I wore it for affect, and it matched my earrings. She started jumping up and down, excited and asked me how and why I did that. I told her I got this particular one after speaking to a group of college girls about the obsession of getting the ring and the dress. I suggested getting your own ring so I had to practice what I preached.

Regina was elated and showed me her ring (much bigger than mine). We exchanged rings and took pictures. Then she told me how she bought one every year!

“Oh, girl, I get one every year and I have a Dedication to Myself Engagement.”

“What? That is so awesome!”

“I know it is, I get a dress too.”

“No! I want one. I’ve never done that.  Do you register too?”

“Now that is a good idea!  I’ve never thought about that. I just take myself out to dinner and get a ring and a dress.”

“Well, add a party with your friends and register. We need to call Target and have that added to the possibilities.”

I love it!  She’s sending me a picture of the ring for this year. It arrives on Monday.  I just love it.   Of course the Catch 22 is that as soon as you let go of any attachment, the real thing shows up but that’s an entirely different story.  Go marry yourself!

I was working with a consulting client on a creative project she’s putting together and something wonderful came up that I had to share.  I was sharing meditation techniques to use and mentioned the importance of her writing down all that was going on with her during her process even though she may not use it in the final product.

She mentioned not being able to talk about her past since it involved abuse and I told her that I wasn’t interested in her past; I was interested in the future glimpes she got of her future in her past.  I think it’s important to not stay focused on the past trauma, but rather  remember and acknowledge the glimpses of light in the painting of your life to help you move forward. I believe much of the creativity we receive is by reconnecting with our inner child and even if that child was abused, neglected or perpetrated on, there are still flashes of light, awareness and reassurance that happened along the way if you look for them.

I asked her to write about whatever glimpes of reassurance she had received and she suddenly had the memory of climbing to the top of a massive tree when she was a wee tyke of four.  If was a huge accomplishment for her that had stayed in her mind for years.  That experience had taught her that she could do anything. She’d even written about it before.  Ah ha!  I told her to gather up those writings and read them again.

After working in the trauma and recovery field for so long, it’s amazing how much time is spent on the trauma itself.  When you step back for the story of the trauma for a moment and look at the full picture, sometimes you can see that you actually climbed the tree!

If you climbed it then, you can climb it now.  Climb that tree and be sure to go to the top and enjoy the view.

I love it when stories of intensity lead to happy endings. I’m excited to share this one and it’s an honor to be able to consult on creative projects that I support and care about.  Keep creating!