Author: Kimberly Kingsley

My sister-in-law Amy tells of a yoga teacher who once said, “Be where your at…. on the mat.” It didn’t matter that she said the part about “on your mat,” because Amy had already had a profound moment with the “Be where your at” part.

Sometimes it’s difficult to be where your at. Today is one of those days for me. Discouragement is in the air and I’m trying not to breathe it in. Writing is good medicine for me. When I’m done with this entry I will work on my book – trying to remember that passing moods are no excuse to stop expressing oneself.

A little boy close to our family is being treated for neuroblasatoma, a rare form of cancer. He is such a strong, beautiful spirit. The treatment is harsh. Luckily they have a blog where Noah’s grandmother regularly posts how thing are going. It is www.noahnelson.org.

Please send your prayers and loving energy in the direction of Noah and his family. As his grandmother said in her last post, they are all heros.

Yesterday I was teaching at SCC. The students are fresh and open – really awesome. One lively student asked about a relationship that she doesn’t feel is working. She expressed confusion about whether her boyfriend really cares or not.

I drew a communication pie on the board with only 7% verbal and the rest nonverbal, which is one statistic on the subject. I told her that in order to see if he cares, she should get rid of his words and see what’s left. She and another equally lively student simultaneously repeated: “Get rid of the words and see what’s left.” I think they got it.

I never thought that quoting Babyface would be so rewarding! I’ve enjoyed the comments from some of you who felt moved to jump in on this one.

The theme of my website is “Express Yourself” and it seems a few of us are putting ourselves out there – which I love. The truth is, I always teach and write about what I am personally working on, and writing some lyrics from Babyface’s new CD was as much me as anything else.

It came from the “juicy” part of me – my soul, rather than my spirit. One of the things I’m enjoying about being years into my spiritual practice (or maybe it’s just the maturation process…) is what feels like spirit permeating my cells. In this place everything feels spiritual. Duality is giving way to integration. So I’m celebrating whatever helps me express this universal life that moves through us – and at the moment it’s Babyface.

“You be rulin with a certain shade of cool, I don’t know nobody half as fresh as you. I be checkin your behavior, baby you got so much flavor, sometimes I want to call you juicyfruit.”

– Babyface

I am at the point with this blogging stuff where I have run out of eloquent things to say. I guess this is why people say that blogging is different from other writing, because at a point – if your going to write fairly often – you just have to say whatever is on your mind. Whatever is real in the moment you are writing.

Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with a well known writing coach. I plan to talk with him about the book I’m working on and various questions about the publishing world.

In the meantime, I am already starting to think about my next book – so it goes for writers I suppose…

I was very moved when a man riding his bike in the midst of complete destruction from the hurricane made the following comment to a reporter, “Man, I dare not complain about anything…”

I have adopted that mantra for myself every since hearing this man who obviously had nothing say something so laced with gratitude.

At the level of spirit we are all connected. That is the only thing that gives me peace when I think about the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.

Along with sending a few bucks, I am praying for love, a deep sense of inner peace, and hope to fill the people who now have nothing.

I know in my heart that the whole world will send them financial and spiritual support like we did for the tsunami victims not that long ago.

I’m hoping that this outpouring of love will provide healing to the South and to the world even beyond what is required to get through the crisis – sort of the way a scar develops additional tissue to protect the area of a healed wound.

Last night my cousin Heather and I went to see a movie. After the movie, we went to Starbucks for a late night coffee. We started talking about life and the various worries we’ve had over the years. It seems like everyone has something – one certain trouble that causes them to go round and round.

This year has been relatively worry free for me – I actually made a conscious decision to just do my best each day and to give the rest up to the universe or God to “meet me half way.”

The results have been miraculous. I have peace of mind every day and it has possibly been the best year of my life so far!

I believe that worry can be an addiction in itself – the way that we distract ourselves from what’s real. At the mental level it completely blocks the flow of life. So my commitment is to steer clear of worry and instead listen to my core self and do what it says. That way there will be no need for distraction.

School started this week. My daughter Anna started 2nd grade and I am back teaching at Scottsdale Community College. I saw kids going away to college on the news – yes the news – and it made me realize how quickly time passes. Soon Anna will be in college. Part of me wanted to tell her “STOP GROWING NOW!” Once I realized that my yelling would not help, I realized my job is to appreciate her everyday.

That was the advice that my dad gave me as a child when our dog Rum died. In the midst of my sadness I said, “Dad, what do you do to prevent feeling like this – just not get a dog?” He said, “No, you simply enjoy it as much as possible while you have it.”