Tami Close, EFT, Fun Coach, Speaker and Author

Oh, painting the majestic backdrop for the proposal scene….

Before I get to that, I wanted to give you a brief background of how this relationship came to be.  In January 2007, I had a session with a friend, who combines energy healing and massage.  During this session, I had a very powerful vision of a man with dark hair and a huge smile leaning on a car, and he said, “I’ve been waiting for you.  I love you and support you.” 

I was caught a little off guard, but knew that this man would show up soon, and he did….two months later.

Our adventures began on March 28, 2007 as I was introduced to this man who was going to show me what true, authentic love looked like, felt like, tasted like.  I had no idea what was in store as this sort of love evaded me because I evaded it.  I had much to learn about myself through my marriage and through other men who showed up after my divorce as my teachers.  These men came so that I might experience the aspects of me that were not loving, the aspects that were scared.  I’m so appreciative of all of the men who came before because without them, I wouldn‘t have seen myself through the mirrors they were holding.

Carlos and I met on match.com and I finally understood all the relationships that had come before where everything seemed so hard, so difficult.  With Carlos, everything is easy, and laughter is our foundation.   Our relationship is like a stand up comedy routine, and silliness is embraced.  Remember, I had done a lot of healing work on myself, and now was opening up and allowing the ease of this relationship to flow through me.  And the first time we met, he said, “I’ve been waiting for you, and I support you.”  The love part came later. 

No more swimming up stream…..

Fast forward to December 7, 2008 on the airplane from Seattle to Cancun.  Carlos took out a book from his bag and gave it to me, and said, “Here, I know you like to read and saw this book, When Love Walked In.”  While I was reading, I paused and said, “You know we’ve been dating for almost two years and I’m so grateful for you.  I’m in awe of our relationship each day.”  He then said, “Well, you haven’t found it so I guess I’ll show you as what you just said, I wrote down.”  In the book he had hidden a
love letter, and here’s what it said:

“Dear Tami,

For almost two years now, I’ve observed a daily increase of wrinkles around my eyes and I must say you are to blame.  Anyone else would frown about this, but I wouldn’t change a single one.

They are the signs of continuous laughter and of the hundreds of unexpected smiles you’ve caused me to have.  I wouldn’t change a single one.

We came together at a time when we were both a bit down and at a time when we truly needed a buddy.  Someone we could share with, someone to cherish, someone to truly love and someone that would truly love right back.  I’m happy to call you my buddy.

We share the same values, have similar interests and have a deep commitment towards each other and at making things better for us everyday.  We don’t need much, but we have a lot to offer.  We don’t expect much, but we delight in the simple things.  So many things we have….I wouldn’t change a single one.

I am extremely happy that you are in my life.  I love your humor, your silliness, your playfulness and the love you offer me.  I don’t have words to express my appreciation for the love you give the kids (Carlos has cats)….thank you.

I am excited about our future together and despite the minor setbacks that keep us partially separated, I’m not worried.  We have and will continue to see it in a positive way.  Our time will come….soon.

Thank you, Tami, for being so wonderful.

I love you,

Carlos”

WOW!  This is who Carlos is!  Of course, I was bawling with emotions from the beauty that exists in these words.  

Now, to paint a funny picture….

On the plane, I had a middle seat with love, laughter and romance on one side.  On the other side is logic, analysis and hurting my brain….a man from Russia placed match sticks on my tray and wanted me to figure out the math problems he had so delicately placed in front of me.  Math hurts any day, but especially on vacation.  I mean, there were square root problems and “just move one match to have both sides equal each other.”  Ouch!  I choose the love side !

We arrived in Cancun and woke up the next morning to take our place on the hot, sunny beach under a grass hut.  There is something about putting my toes in the sand that is electric for me, and this sand was like pudding….not grainy, just very smooth.  Thus, I was in my element.

The waves were a little rough, and hence, made it a little challenging to cool off in the ocean.  I kept leaving the comfort of the lounge chair to walk up the stairs to the pool and jump in the cool water.  Finally, I suggested to Carlos that we move to up to the pool so I could just walk two feet, rather than go up and down the stairs….okay, the little whiner in me that wanted to roll out of her chair into the pool.

Carlos said he was very comfortable and didn’t want to leave his lounge chair on the beach. I agreed and kept up the routine of stairs, pool, stairs, pool.  Throughout our time on the beach, Carlos commented on the treasures….the little sea shells and collected some for me as mementos. 

Towards the end of the afternoon, I had just cooled off from the pool and was about to lay down on my lounge chair, and Carlos said, “Let’s look for some more treasures.  Come help me.”  I got up and began to pick up sea shell treasures.  When Carlos said, “Oh, my gosh, I think there’s a big rock in the sand.”  And I said, “That’s very interesting.”  And didn’t pay too much attention as I was looking for more treasures.  Then I watched him pull a big bag out of the sand, and I said, “That’s odd.  What is that?  I wonder what’s in it?”

Of course, I was a little curious as you don’t expect to find a bag buried in the sand.  Then in perfect Carlos style, he pulled a ring box out of the bag and got down on his knees and opened up the ring box and said, “Will you marry me?”

And let the bawling begin…..

I kneeled down beside him and hugged him for what seemed like an eternity, and was in shock of this entire experience.  That he would have planned this and wouldn’t move from the designated hidden treasure spot.  He had buried it and was guarding it as he wanted this experience to be perfect.

And it was…..

Then a few minutes later, he said, “Now, would be a good time for your answer.”  Through the tears, the emotions of appreciation, of gratitude, I had forgotten to give him the answer.

And the answer is………YES!

Of course, I teased Carlos that he didn’t move from that spot for two reasons:  1) to guard the ring treasure and 2) to embrace the other treasures on the beach--no, not the sea shells, the women who chose to go topless.

As I told my great niece, Megan, magic occurs at any age, and she wrote back that I’m living proof of it. 

Carlos and I have not set a date yet, but will most likely be in the summer with some sand and hot weather….and my large extended family and friends.  

And the theme at the reception…who nose….maybe clown noses!

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How do you beat the heat?  Look at how you can include a friend and make it more fun....



Well, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and today is July 28, 2009, and we are experiencing record temperatures.   What does this mean exactly?

We don’t have air conditioning because we don’t need it.  Having said this, when we experience temperatures in the high 90’s and close to 100, we have to think of creative ways to cool ourselves down so we don’t bite anyone’s head off. 

Do you remember Saturday Night Live and the segment called, “Simmer Down Now.”  That’s what I’m talking ‘bout.  It’s time to simmer down now. 

As a fun coach, I love to open up into that sense of play, and only come from that state of being.  And I teach others to do the same.

Now, you might have heard me describe that we already come born with imagination, fun, play, laughter and creativity.  Thus, everything we need is already within us.  Yet, we may have buried these innate elements, and now we just pull them out of our closet, and come out so to speak, and play.

Think of all the things you did as a kid to beat the heat.  I remember running through the sprinklers, playing in irrigation ditches, sucking on popsicles, sliding on slip-n-slides, swimming in pools, water balloon fights.  We created all sorts of things to simmer down, and we did them for hours. 

Now, just do the same things we did as kids.  Think creatively and you’ll be able to beat the heat.   Get those creative juices flowin’ and be “cool!” 

Go on and wet yourself!

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I know, I know, just bear with me as I describe what this means.  Just put a smile and your face, and your eyeballs as you keep reading.....:)  

We’re all familiar with home equity.  You own a home, and when you’ve owned it a certain length of time, you can borrow from the equity, the money, in your home.  This equity equals the difference between what is owed on your current mortgage and the amount that the house is worth.  This equals $$$$$. 

It seems pretty simple, right?

Now, given that scenario, think of home equity in a different way.  You are the source of everything that you desire, you are the home that you seek, and you have equity, money, building up that can be utilized for future use.  With this said, you have money in your home that is awaiting your vibrational alignment, your “feeling” place.  This is the place, the God within you, that commands all things to become visible.  You are the home that you seek, and to quote my most favorite movie, “There’s no place like home."

Well, what in the heck does this mean?

When you see the difference in money between what is owed on your mortgage and the amount your house is worth, you KNOW the money is there.  You don’t question it, doubt it, or think any negative aspect about it because you see it. 

Likewise, with the scenario of you being the source of everything, you use the same principles and KNOW it is there.  Now, you may not be able to see it visibly, but you KNOW it’s there.  Once your feeling place of your desire is congruent with your belief, it activates your own equity called an ATM (automatically thinking money) machine. 

Like Abraham-Hicks says, “You have vibrational equity waiting for you in a future experience.  It is there pulsating, and gaining power to come to you as long as your “feeling” place is a match.”

The Universe acts upon the “feeling” place in order to make the invisible become visible.  It is our vibration within, our “feeling” place,  that sets up this scenario. 

Now, we’ve all heard the word “faith,” but this word can be difficult to grasp as we don’t fully appreciate what it means to have faith, except to believe in something that isn’t visible yet.  If you just do a switcharoo and replace faith with imagination, it becomes a better way of practicing how to grasp it, and KNOW it. 

Imagination and faith are synonymous, and doesn’t imagination feel better?

We’re all born with imagination, but we may be practicing imagination to get what we don’t want.  Worry is imagination in reverse because when we worry, we actually activate our imagination to bring us what we don’t want.  It would be like driving a car, and having a plan where you want to go, but the car is always in reverse.  Yikeorama!  How frustrating would this be?

Now, we get to activate our imagination in a much more productive way so when we get in our car, we arrive at our destination, and it is a fun and smooth ride.   Bumps actually hurt our hiney, and we want to preserve this part of our body.  I mean, how would we sit in the drivers seat if not for our hiney?  When we have a smooth ride, it’s a more fun way of existing, don’t you think?

Imagination is the leader, and the physical world follows….

Imagination is activating our home equity, our internal ATM, to imagine what we want.  And as we live from this vibrational alignment space, it WILL become visible.  It’s the way God designed it.   He intended that we live from joy, from happiness, from laughter, and believe that what we want will show up.  It’s from these positive feelings that we call forth powerful forces that exist in the non-visible realm.  Thus, well-being is our only focus!

With this said, I saw a segment on TV featuring, JK Rowling, author of Harry Potter.  I was so captivated by her process she used.  She only lived from her imagination when she wrote the books.  She led from her imagination, and her characters became real.  Thus, it was automatic that her book series would go where it did because her imagination intended it to be this way.  And she supercalifragilistically activated her internal ATM….WOWZA!  She had no idea of the life it would take on, but coming from her activated imagination, it had to be this way. 

I know it’s easier said than done to practice believing in something that you can’t see.  But our physical senses don’t tell the truth.  God would never intend for us not to be abundant, and it’s only through imagination, that innate gift bestowed upon us, that will bring it into sight. 

Thus, activate your imagination to only envision what you want, and keep practicing.  Live from this space and watch how your internal ATM starts spewing out $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, and you live cha ching all day long! 

You better buy a larger purse or wallet now in anticipation of its arrival!  Now, go cha ching yo bad self :)

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Oprah and I share something in common as we are both huge fans of the Wizard of Oz, and this year, 2009, happens to be the movies’ 70th anniversary.  I remember as a child waiting in anticipation for the Wizard of Oz to be broadcast on TV in the Spring around my birthday.  We didn’t have DVD players where you could watch it over and over.  Hence, it was only to appear once a year, and it was just like the Christmas feeling with heightened excitement flowing through me.  When Spring arrived, I was glued to the floor in front of the TV, and immersed myself in this imaginary world.  I was captivated by the movie and didn’t realize the messages that were being broadcast to me at that time, and since then I return to those messages time and time again.

Follow the yellow brick road….

When I stay in my high vibrational alignment, I am on my yellow brick road.  It lights the way for me and I KNOW it because I feel so great…those feelings of joy, happiness, fun and laughter dance with me.  And I also know contrast.  I KNOW when I’ve taken a detour through the poppy fields laced with poison and the dark, scary forests because I feel differently….those feelings of fear, worry, frustration and “I’ll bite you myself“ behavior. 

Thus, I KNOW how to get myself back on the yellow brick road--the paved, sparkly road, where skipping and singing is the norm and I show off my bloomers (thongs in present day) under my blue dress, and it’s easy and fun.  Easy and fun is my mantra and I will ask myself these two questions before undertaking something:  1)  is it easy?  2)  is it fun?  When I’ve answered both these questions in the affirmative, the yellow brick road magically appears before me. 

I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too….

When the yellow brick road doesn’t appear, it’s because my fears have clouded my vision.  My fears have and still can create all sorts of wicked witches, my conjured thought forms, and I can allow these demonstrations to push me off my yellow brick road as I buy into their “realness.”   When I look at someone or something and become scared by the story I tell myself about it, I then enliven it with incredible power, and it becomes HUGE.



The image of wicked witches is complete with dark green faces, warts and pointy noses and power beyond belief.  They fly on their broomsticks, and write “Surrender Tami” in the sky, and they even have their trusty flying monkeys at their side ready to wrap me up in their long tails and throw me around.  Where’s a banana when you need one?

Run, Tami, run…



I run like heck away from them.  Yet, when I run away, they seem to take on this bigger than life power and they always catch up to me.  I KNOW that I’m creating the wicked witches and they’re not real.  They are alive in my imagination because I have believed something other than who I KNOW I truly am, and when I switch my vibration and turn around, face them and stick out my tongue and laugh with a little spit thrown in (my version of water being thrown on them), then the wicked witches have a meltdown and reduce their size, and disappear altogether.   Facing them, laughing and speaking my truth is the only way to make them disappear.  

Richard Bach explains it nicely in the book, Illusions:  “We are all fakes on this whole world, we’re all pretending to be something that we’re not.  We are not bodies walking around, we are not atoms and molecules, we are unkillable, undestroyable ideas of the Is, no matter how much we believe otherwise…” 

I’ve always had what I was searching for….

Once upon a time, I became a searcher and explorer and looking for what I felt was missing, and now I KNOW differently.  Everything I need is inside of me and as Dorothy so eloquently says in the movie, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it.”

This year, especially, I’ve stopped searching.  I have everything I need, and it is within me to awaken with my imagination to play with, pretend and to have fun.  I have used my imagination to conjure up wicked witches chasing after me, and now consciously use my imagination to create everything I want, not what I don‘t want.  I express gratitude and appreciation for that which I KNOW I already have.  When I enliven things I want with my imagination, then my physical world becomes a match to what I’m imagining and brings it into visibility.   The physical world follows the imaginary world, it does not lead. 

Think about it….

We are born with an active imagination and ability to play and pretend.  It isn’t anything we have to go to school to learn.  It is within us and always has been. 

Somewhere along the way, we hid this innate ability from ourselves because it didn‘t seem appropriate in adulthood.   We chose to believe something else.  We adopted someone else’s persona, someone else’s standards, and this gift within of Infinite potential went untapped.  We were adopted and didn’t even know it, and we wonder why this stirring within us longs to find out who we really are and why we’re here. 

It’s still there just waiting to be remembered, waiting to be given the “go ahead” to create the world as you want it to be.  Be as little children and evoke the power within, and watch your outer world reflect the imaginings of your inner world.

Children do not play to “get something,” they play because it feels good to play.  Likewise, we are to be like children and get lost in the playing and lose all sense of time and create things because it feels good. 

Remember when you played as a child…..

A few years ago, I was walking along the beaches in Oregon over a Thanksgiving holiday, and watching children at play.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and many children were playing in the water creating motes with dragons and alike, and I wanted to join them. Now, according to my standards,  the air temperature was about 50 degrees and the water temperature was about 45 degrees, and to me it was cold.  Yet, these children didn’t set that same standard.  Their imagination was so active, the concept of judging temperatures didn’t exist.    

It was their parents who shocked them into a different way of thinking: “You must be cold, and you must be hungry!,” I heard the parents exclaim.  As I watched very attentively, and because these children had no concept of what their mothers’ were stating, they all had the perplexed look on their faces as their belief didn’t reflect the same “fact.”  Thus, their responses were unanimous, “We’re not cold, and we’re not hungry.  We want to keep playing!”

This was a great reminder for me to fully appreciate the power of imagination, and what we can learn from children.  When we imagine something, we are to have no concept of anything else that would say otherwise….no matter what someone else thinks.  We are to enliven it, envision it, pretend it, play with it because it feels good!  Remember, the “temperature” presented was only a thought in someone else’s mind, and doesn’t reflect it for anyone else.   What a valuable lesson!

The munchkins….

You just can’t think of the munchkins without smiling.  The lollipop kids are my favorite.  Sing along with me, “We represent the lollipop kids, the lollipop kids, the lollipop kids, and in the name of the lollipop kids, we wish to welcome you to munchkin land.”  Doesn’t that make you feel good?  And, yes, they did inhale…the helium added another element of fun. 

I love laughing, and I love being with people who make me laugh….who just want to BE silly and BE one with fun.  These munchkins epitomize laughter and they created their entire world called munchkinland.

Stand up if you like practical jokes…..

One time when I was a corporate trainer for a financial institution, we had a culture, which included the FISH Philosophy, and one of the components of the FISH Philosophy was “play time.“  Can you imagine how great it was for me to be in this space of being a kid?  I got to create play time for the employees and the members.  I had to be “reeled” back in many times because in someone else’s mind, I carried things too far.

Bring on the practical jokes….

One time I decided to “pay back” Larry, a co-worker, for messing up my desk, and I really wanted to make it stick…or stink.  In keeping with the FISH Philosophy theme, I had gotten a “real” fish head from the Pike’s Place Fish Market in Seattle and kept it in the refrigerator for just the right moment, and the right moment appeared.
 


When Larry left for a 3-day weekend, my training co-workers and I decided to sacrifice the fish head and some cans of tuna as well.  We placed the fish head and opened cans of tuna in Larry’s office and left with that feeling of a job well done.

Something fishy’s going on here….

Unbeknownst to us, record temperatures were being forecast for the 3-day weekend.  Thus, you can imagine the smell that was brewing in Larry’s office, but the smell didn’t actually stay in his office.  The pungent smell decided to travel and permeate the entire teller area and lobby of the financial institution. 

With this said, when I arrived at the financial institution on Tuesday following the 3-day weekend, I was met with fans ablaze to try to dissipate the odor, which was making the tellers sick.  Many reported feeling very ill and, in turn, the odor hit the members who came to the teller windows as well.  It took quite some time for the odor to disappear, and during that time, my boss called me into her office and told me that sense of play went too far.  Would I do it again?  I think you know the answer!

And history was made….

I recently saw one of the trainers who helped deliver that sense of play with me, and she said, “Remember, when we played that joke on Larry.  That was so much fun!“  That joke is mentioned still to this day, and that was over six years ago.  And I remembered how to play. 

Embracing laughter and fun is exactly what we are to do.  Remember, be like little children and play and laugh….uncontrollably. 

LOLAMEP (laughing out loud and maybe even peeing)….thank you to my friend, Lindsee, who gave me this card which had this printed on the outside.

The ruby slippers….

“Dorothy, you better hold onto those slippers as they must be very powerful. Otherwise, she (The Wicked Witch of the West) wouldn’t want them so bad.“  These are the words expressed to Dorothy by Glinda, the Witch of the North, as we were led to believe that the ruby slippers had power and could be used as protection against the Wicked Witch of the West. 

And we were led to believe that Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man went to see the Wizard to get the things they felt were missing and would give them their power back.   Did The Wizard really give them the heart, the brain, the courage? 

The Wizard, who was an ordinary man, explains to the group that they already had what they had been searching for and only need things like medals and diplomas to confirm that someone else recognizes it.

We don’t take anything or anyone and enthrone it….

We’re great magicians hiding our power from ourselves, and thinking that someone else, something else has it.  It is our consciousness that creates everything we experience and nothing outside of us has any power.  It’s what we “think” about the thing or the person that gives it power. 

And then the Scarecrow asks Glinda a powerful question, “How come you didn’t tell Dorothy?” referring to Dorothy being able to go home all along.  And Glinda replies, “She always had the power to go home.  I didn’t tell Dorothy at first because she wouldn’t have believed me.  She had to discover it for herself.”

It is through this self discovery that we awaken, it cannot be otherwise.  Someone can tell us something, but we can’t be open to receive the message until we discover and remember it.   

From the book, Illusions, “Learning is finding out what you already know.  Doing is demonstrating that you know it.  Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you.”  And I do love teaching that you already know these things, you have simply forgotten. 

Somewhere over the rainbow…..

I love this song!  Yet, I’ve stopped my search for any place, but here.  There isn’t a place beyond the rainbow that will lead me to nirvana, and there isn‘t a person that will do this for me either.  I create the vision of what lies beyond the rainbow from this place within my consciousness in each moment, and when I become a home body and imagine, play, pretend, have fun, then my dreams really do come true.

Ding, dong the witch is dead…..

I am home, and it feels great!

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Keep reading as I illustrate what Oprah is trying to say.....

In January 2009, Oprah did a segment where she was interviewed about her issue surrounding her weight.   We all know that this has been a painful experience for Oprah for all of her adult life, and extremely frustrating that she can’t figure out how to maintain her ideal weight.

She loses, she gains, she loses, she gains…and the yo yo type of existence is still here…..

She expressed extreme frustration mentioning the fact that here she is again still talking about her weight, a place where she didn’t want to be.  Yet, during the interview, it was a revelation to her that what she thought was a weight issue turned out to be a love issue.  She could identify where she wasn’t loving herself, and this awareness led her to take a different course of action based on this new awareness.

She mentioned that she was really good at “giving” love to others, but she didn’t know how to do this for herself.  Oprah is definitely known as the Queen of Giving, but not to herself, her own VIP.

I thought about this in terms of everything in our life, and when things are not lining up as we would like them to, it comes down to a love issue, and then we are to ask ourselves this question, “How can I be more loving to myself?”

I certainly know this in all facets of my life, and am aware when I’m not loving based on how I’m feeling.  I call it falling in love…with yoself first. 

When I have something show up in my experience that I didn’t really want, I know that fear crept it.  As the Course in Miracles illustrates, “There is either a call for love (fear) or an extension of love, but not both!” 

Thus, the unwanted experience is my teacher as the lesson is to bring love into being.   I do know this, but sometimes I forget who I truly am as a loving being, and it zaps me, and I become unbalanced.

And that darn ol’ fear becomes the grim reaper….yikes!  And it can take me down a hard, long, windy, bumpy, muddy road, and scares the bejeesus out of me.  And I’ve done this in relationships, in my finances, and in my health.  And I’ve come to know me and love me in a whole different way when I remember who I truly am as the essence of love, then I bring myself back to the easy path. 

Whew…..

Thus you can see, the true focus in life is to stay centered in the love you have for yourself, and in that love, your desires of things you want start marching toward you.  This profound appreciation and gratitude for yourself will evoke all the powerful forces that you have at your command.  Loving ourselves really begins in our mind, and then we align everything in our experience from this love.  This includes health, wealth and relationships.

Can you see that everything in our life is a love issue?   When we know that things are flowing well in all aspects of our life, it is because the overflow of what is within is flowing out to all that we see, hear and touch in our physical experience.  Our vibrational feelings of love cannot help but connect to all that is in our physical presence. 

Love begins at home, and this home is our center, the core of who we really are.  We practice loving thoughts that emanate from our home because if I want things in my physical experience to reflect this love, then I must be love, I must have love for myself.  It cannot be otherwise. 

It makes sense right?

When Oprah said her weight issue is a love issue, it is a call for love.  And this call will be heard by the Universe, and as long as she has sustained vibration of love, then things that pertain to her ideal weight will be felt, and automatically come to her.  

This automatic pilot is set in place, and it becomes easy only when the vibration and our desires are a match.  The Law of Love is the only thing that is sustainable!

Take a moment and visualize this…..

Every point on our body is consciousness and so is everything in the Universe.  Think of these points as suction cups, little receptors, ready to suck up whatever we are feeling internally.  Thus, when we emanate love, our suction cups are filled up and are saying to everything out there, “Gimme some lovin’” and the Universe responds by saying, “Right back at ya,” with some powerful desires of what we want in our lives. 

Having said this, love does suck, and you can show yourself how much it sucks by sucking up all the love you have for yourself, and extending that “sucky” love to everything in the Universe.

Fill up your suction cups today so you bring in what you want, and have fun!

I certainly love to have fun and play with clients.  Does this resonate with you? 

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Two years ago, I was on Thanksgiving holiday and walking on the beaches of the Oregon Coast.  Now, the air temperature was about 50 degrees and the wind was blowing hard.  Even though the sun was shining in all its glory, I had on a winter coat as to me it was cold. 

Given that it was Thanksgiving, there were many families on the beach, complete with children in tow.  While walking and admiring the scenic experience, I was mesmerized by three children playing in the tide pools.  Now, if you know anything about the Oregon Coast, the water temperature is approximately 45 degrees.  When you hear this temperature, we adults may automatically say, “Yikes!  That’s cold.”  Yet to these three children, “cold” wasn’t in their realm of possibility. 

I couldn’t take my eyes off the experience that I created with these children.  It was meant for me, and I paid attention.  These kids were running through the water, splashing and laughing, in their bare feet and t-shirts and shorts.  The temperatures didn’t affect their sense of play.  Thus, they had no concept about the temperature until their moms said, “Oh, you must be cold and you must be hungry, you better stop playing.”

When the moms made this statement, the kids stopped their play momentarily and said, “No, we’re not cold and we’re not hungry,” and they continued playing.   When I saw the look on their faces as they responded, it was as if an alien had spoken a foreign language, and they couldn’t understand the message being communicated.   The kids’ experience was different than the parents, and they weren’t buying in to any other beliefs.  

What I learned from this experience is we are to remember who we are in the pure bliss of being child-like.  We are to exist for the pure enjoyment of being to create, to imagine, to fulfill our desires at that moment.  We are to get lost in the “playing,” and play for play sakes, and that’s it.  There is no outcome to be produced for the production lies in the experience in the moment. 

We remember playing as children, and embracing each moment in the creation of it.  When we built a fort, all of our imaginations put together would pull from cosmic sources unbeknownst to us, and unfold the materials for our creation.  In this magical arena, we didn’t ever say, “I can’t do it.”  We knew we wanted something to happen, and thus, we MADE it happen. 

In the summer time, I remember creating a haunted house in my garage, and knowing people would pay to come into the haunted house.  I enlisted the help of a few neighbor friends and we created all sorts of gooey stuff from our imagination, and the materials came into our experience just by merely thinking of the “haunting” effects that people would experience.  We knew it would be great, and from this greatness, every conceivable force was at our side helping us.  We didn’t even accept a notion that it would be hard.  That concept didn’t exist!

Think back to being a kid, and how wonderful it was.  Now, bring that “feeling” into the present.  That’s how we are to “live” as adults.   This is exactly how life is, and how we are to exist as adults.  

We know that existence when we allow those experiences to just “be” for the enjoyment of the moment, and we also know contrast.  In our adulthood, we try to get to somewhere else because in our minds this somewhere else offers happiness, a freedom from where we currently are in our thinking.  This elusive “somewhere else” prevents us from being in the space of this moment, and pretend it, imagine it and have fun with it.   We think we’re supposed to do x so that we can create y. 

We didn’t realize that we’re to do x for the pure enjoyment of doing x.  The y will naturally open up from the “feeling” of doing x., and it’s loving every moment of being with x that y will manifest. 

For whatever reason, we adults adopted a presence of being that was all about a belief system of “working” at a job.  And we centered everything around this “job.”  We kept hearing, “You must get a job!”  We believed that the job would be our ultimate “saving” grace, and would be the catalyst to guarantee whatever we wanted in our lives. 

Is that belief true?

No, a job will not guarantee anything.  It is our alignment with Source Energy, our feeling place, that guarantees everything. 

We came equipped with imagination, play, fun and laughter (feelings aligned with Source Energy), and we thought that as we entered adulthood, we were supposed to leave all this behind and be “serious.”  And we accepted this belief, and we honored it.

“I am an adult, therefore, I must act like an adult.  I must grow up and face all the adult things.  I must be a man!”

Wow!  What a belief to take on, right? 

Now, I would have you entertain a remembering of this child-like behavior, and embrace what is our inherent equipment of imagination, play, fun and laughter.  Use it on a regular basis for that is the perfect alignment with Source Energy.  We inherited this equipment, and it’s our right to claim it as adults.  Once this inheritance is claimed, it opens up abundance beyond anything we can imagine. 

The abundance naturally pours out from the child-like behavior .  And like Albert Einstein says, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  Imagine your life how you want it to be, and watch out world!

Be as little children as this “feeling” place is what Source Energy had in mind when it was designed.  These feelings are the place to go to “meet and greet” our desires.  

We’ve heard “meet ups” being mentioned in social networking arenas, but the supreme “meet up” is aligning feelings with Source Energy.  Thus, go to your “meet up” place in every moment, and meet up with your feelings of being a child.  In this place, your Source energy will meet you desires, and the results will be seen in the physical world.

And I like to wear my hat, “I don’t wanna grow up,” complete with propeller on top, because it allows me to remember being child-like. 

Today, go play a practical joke on somebody, and allow all the laughter to flow from that experience.  Even if you get in trouble, it's so worth it!  You got in trouble as a child, right?  And you didn't die, right?  Yup, so worth it!

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As a fun coach, I get to experience laughter on a regular basis.  Is this fun, or what?

Watch the video and see what I used for an underarm deodorant.  Creativity is the answer!




What happens when we laugh?  What do we get to experience in our bodies?  How do we feel?

I know what laughter does for me, and that’s why I do it on a regular basis.  I feel absolutely incredible and energized when I laugh.  I want you to feel energized too so keep reading as I share my true story to tickle your funny bone. 

First, according to French neurologist, Henri Rubenstein, “One minute of laughter can give the body up to 45 minutes of therapeutic relaxation.”  Just imagine what ten minutes can do.

Did you know that laughter can contribute to weight loss?

When you laugh, you burn calories according to experts at Vanderbilt University, and the more you laugh, the more you burn.  Those little endorphins know exactly what they’re doing.  They’re saying, “Come here little fat cells, come to mama.”  Those endorphins have unstoppable written all over them, like The Terminator, eliminating those fat cells with a vengeance.

Want more endorphins?  Start laughing! 

Here are a few more endorphins for you…something to tickle your funny bone, and it’s a true story.

Once upon a time, I was dating a guy named, Doug, and that’s his real name.  We were e-mailing back and forth one day, and feeling a little spontaneous, made the decision to meet within minutes of the e-mail.  I hadn’t seen him in two weeks as he had been out of town so was very excited at the anticipation of our rendezvous. 

We said, “Get ready, get set, go!” meaning that once we hung up, we were to get in our cars and make the drive to meet, which was a 45 minute drive for both of us.  Thus, I left the house in a hurry!  As I was driving, I was quickly doing a check:

Shaved legs -- Yup!
Brushed teeth - Yup!  --- cheated on this one…quickly did a brush through right before I jumped in the car
Painted toenails - Yup!
HOT outfit - Yup, Yup!

Okay, I was ready.  I cranked up the CD, and continued to drive feeling pretty good.  Then realized I had forgotten one check point as I caught a whiff of my underarms.  Oh, my gosh!  It had been such a hot day, and I forgot to do the underarm check. 


Yikes!  Odor alert!  I was definitely stinky!

With one hand on the steering wheel, I rummaged through my purse checking for lotion, or anything I could rub on my underarms.  I started to panic a little as I wanted to be the epitome of a HOTTIE, and a HOTTIE cannot have underarm odor.  I mean, it’s one of the laws in the HOTTIE creed.

Surely, there had to be something down in the depths of my purse….something, anything.  My creative juices began to flow when I felt the tin container..  “Hmmm, I’ve never tried using this as an underarm deodorant.  Is it possible?”  Well, I’m a person who likes to think outside the box, and this was definitely thinking outside the box…or outside the tin so to speak.

I quickly took one out of the tin, and put it on my tongue to wet it, and then rubbed it on my underarms.  Then I smelled my underarms to test it.  I could still smell a hint of BO with a little twist of cinnamon, so I licked and rubbed again.  There was still a slight odor, but the cinnamon was becoming more predominant.  This called for more licking and rubbing. 

There I was on Highway 16 heading to Tacoma, Washington, lickin’ and a rubbin’ for most of the 45 minute drive.  Did it do the trick?

Yes, Altoids saved he day, and Doug never knew.  He said, “You smell cinnamony,” and I said, “Thank you!” 

Altoids….they’re not just for fresh breath!

You lost some weight with that one, didn’t you?  Laughter is the best medicine.  Spend some time tickling your funny bone, and watch the Universe respond in amazing ways!

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Embracing right here, right now can be one of life’s challenges.  Yet, it can also be the most freeing experience when we break free from our past focused on regrets or our future focused on worries and, hence, always looking towards an outcome.

As Eckhart Tolle eloquently says that all we have is this moment.  In addition Tolle says that if we treat the now as a means to an end, an obstacle or an enemy, we strengthen our negative reactions because we’re attached to something besides this moment.    Having said this, our thought conditioning can be such that we live in an existence of past/future, rocking back and forth in that realm. 

Let me use an analogy of the past/future existence with a DVD player.  We have just put in a movie to watch and we grab the remote to take control of how we watch it.  We press play for only a moment, and then we remember an experience from the past.  This triggers some negative emotions and our finger automatically presses “rewind.“ And in our hypnotic state, our finger is stuck as we watch the movie go backwards and replays the scene by scene event that triggered the emotions.

As our hypnotic state continues, we suddenly press “fast forward,“ and thrust ourselves forward to the future because we’ve just thought of something to worry about.  In this manner, our movie shifts frame by frame as our finger is stuck on this button. 

Ouch!  Can you imagine watching a movie and constantly pressing either the rewind or the fast forward button?  It would make for a very frustrating experience, wouldn’t it?

I’ve done this, and it isn’t fun because I never get to experience playing for the sake of playing.  I’m worried about the future or judging the past.  Not fun to exist like this….yikes!

This is the scenario we set up every time we don’t press “play,“ and live in the moment of right now.   Once we embrace right now, we do an activity for the sheer pleasure of it.  We are inspired, we are motivated and we lose ourselves in the doing because we feel good, we feel happy, we feel joy.   It’s not what we do, but the essence of why and how we’re doing something.  We don’t look towards the future, at an outcome, and say, “I’m doing X because then I’ll get Y, and when I get Y, I’ll be happy.” 

Our happiness exists right now as we embrace fun, laughter, imagination and play.  Just like children play for the sheer pleasure of playing, as adults we can remember this innate gift and Just Press Play.

Now, go do something and play.  Dance like you mean it, laugh like you mean it, make a funny face like you mean it.  Have fun playing because it feels good, and everyone else will feel good around you because you played. 

What would it be like to come home and have your children ask you, "What did you do today?"  And your answer is, "I played!"

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Easier said than done, right? How do I just be myself and not get caught up being who I really am not?

Let's see if we can get to the bottom of it…..

Recently, I was talking to a client about a situation that we all face, and that is who am I when I’m in relationship with someone else. As we were talking, it was apparent that she came face to face with herself during an event, which she hosted.

My client was alarmed by a woman who was at the party, and that this woman didn’t maintain eye contact with her, and wasn’t really talking to her. Thus, my client became judgmental of the woman, and thought she was rude. And my client was spun up for a few days after the event.

How many times has this happened to you?

For me, it has happened numerous times. I become aware of someone not doing something or not saying something that I think he or she “should” be doing or saying, and then I become angry with him or her. Having said this, I create all sorts of judgmental thoughts spinning around in my head. WOW! It’s similar to the spin cycle on our washing machines when it‘s unbalanced….spinning around, and around, and around, and knockin‘ and rockin‘ all over the place. Man, is this exhausting!

What happens in this scenario is we become someone that we’re not, and our ego personna, who we are not, gets fed by our judgmental thoughts, and the ego loves it. It’s like it craves our negative thoughts for its existence, and will stop at nothing to get us all “spun” up.

Can you just imagine the ego laughing at our expense, and saying, “WOW! This is so much fun to see her or him create a cyclone effect. It’s such a blast. Let’s keep this going as long as we can.!”

Yikes!

For my client, it was the perception that if the woman would just change her behavior according to the rules set forth by my client, then my client would be okay and could then relax. Yet, the woman didn’t know what the rules were, and didn’t even know there were established rules. There was no sign: “Please maintain eye contact at all times with the host, and please talk to her at least 20 times. These rules are strictly enforced. If you do not comply, your behavior could negatively impact the host, and could even require hospitalization or really strong shots of whiskey. And you will not be asked back.”

What a picture, right?

Our self esteem is always at risk as we allow the ego to constantly mess with who we really are. When we don’t know who we are and who we want to be in each moment when we’re in relationship with others, we will be knocked around as a result. The “needy me” takes over because there is something that we need someone else to do or to be. We look outside ourselves when it’s actually going on inside of us.

When I know who I am and who I want to be no matter what, I’m not concerned with my perception of anyone else’s behavior. I allow myself to relax and feel the flow of enjoyable conversation. I don’t have to try and fix anyone else because there is no one to fix. Everyone is perfect just as they are, and my only responsibility is to myself to be who I am.

When I allow myself to be who I really want to be, then I allow others to be who they are. It’s a more enjoyable way to live!

Don’t let your ego spin you ‘round. Give some lovin’ to yourself and calm down the “needy me.” And you’ll actually save on visits to the emergency room….and whiskey too!

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