Charmed Monday Minute, Feb. 26

Greetings, all... Do you ever have one of those days you can’t quite catch? I’m having one today. I’d volunteered to lead a meeting this morning at 7:15 and it totally slipped my mind until 6:50 when, sleeping in by decision and by choice after a very busy weekend, I remembered. With 4-minute dressing (we all know it’s possible under duress) and a taxi, I would have made it except that I’m dog-sitting Aspen who is fourteen years old: she looked at me this morning and said with sufficient earnestness that she may as well have had words: “I have to go.” So, I was late; somebody else led the meeting; and I got a delayed start on meditation and the gym and my precious “plans” for the day. Upshot #1: I have to get up at 6 every day of my life. One of my friends says, “The world gives itself to those who get up at 6.” I’m beginning to see what she means. Upshot #2: I am not in control. I knew that, but ya know, sometimes you just need a reminder. All in all, I’m good, though, and hope you are, too. William is visiting his mom so I spent a large part of yesterday organizing a closet and the bathroom I share with my stepdaughter. It was never formally made to work for two until yesterday. Now there’s this wonderful sort of “breath of feng shui” about the place. Tomorrow I plan to refrain from working, except for a couple of coaching sessions, and get the bedroom in glorious order. It’s such a sense of accomplishment to know that the energy is flowing as it should and I can just flow with it. I’m feeling the need for more of this kind of thing since my new book, Fat, Broke & Lonely No More, will be out in just three months. This is a time for me to get centered spiritually, and supported mentally and physically with order in my environment and a lot of rest and “stored-up health” before I go on the road. Some of you have asked if there’s anything you could do to help with the book launch. Thank you so much for asking. I’ll put together a list of things and add them to next week’s Charmed Monday Minute. But this is this week, so let’s start with...

Happiness of the week: My new red rubber boots. Now, this may sound like a small thing, but after nearly seven years in New York with wet feet in the rain and cold feet in the snow, I am overjoyed to have found lightweight rubber boots. (I had a pair before that I threw in a trash can when the sun came out: they were like wearing boulders.) These make me want to say, “C’mere, slush and puddles! I’m up for you!” Product(s) of the week: Everybody knows that blueberries are super-anti-oxidants, and some studies have indicated that eating a cup of blueberries a day can protect against Alzheimer’s. The only problem is that conventional blueberries can go for $4 a pint, organic $6, even when they’re in season. Therefore, I was pleased to discover Wyman’s Fresh Frozen Wild Blueberries (www.wymans.com): a whole bag (15 ounces) is under $4 at my health food store. Since they’re frozen, they won’t go bad, and wild blueberries are higher on the anti-oxidant scale than their cultivated cousins. I use these in smoothies mostly, but you can thaw and serve them on cereal or as a treat. If you want to have a berry-blue dessert, I’ve discovered another products for dressing them up: Soy Whip from a company called Soyatoo! It’s a completely nondairy whipped cream. I wouldn’t call it a health food exactly, but it only has 10 calories in 2 tablespoons; it has 0.5 grams saturated fat and no trans fat; and if you don’t eat dairy, it will make you very, very happy. (It’s imported from Germany by a company called Ceres Organics: www.ceresorganics.com.) Quotation of the week: “Replace your negative thinking by substituting positive memories for the ones that haunt you. Get a long piece of paper, just like when you were in school doing a report on westward expansion. Using colorful markers, write a time line of all your past successes. Most importantly, leave the right side empty so you can fill it in with future triumphs.” – from Younger by the Day, © Victoria Moran, 2005, HarperSanFrancisco

Book of the week: The Life Organizer: A Woman’s Guide to Mindful Year – Tips, Stores & Prompts to Focus Your Needs and Navigate Your Dreams, by Jennifer Louden (2007, New World Library). (Find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble) A lot of you know Jennifer Louden’s work (The Woman’s Comfort Book, The Woman’s Retreat Book, Comfort Secrets for Busy Women), and if you know it, chances are you love it. She has a way of speaking to women in our real lives. In her new book, she’s tackled our whole lives and done a masterful job of it. For starters, The Life Organizer is a gorgeous book, one you will want to give as a present. It’s exquisitely designed with different-color pages---yummy. And the nourishment packed within those pages is top-notch. Here’s her description of life organizing: -Coming into the present -Asking for guidance, help, support -Listening ,receiving, opening -Applying, taking the next step -Seeing if the path you’re taking fits you, feels right, and aligns with your values -A structure for learning from your inner experience And the 5 steps she offers for implementing these: 1. Connect 2. Feel 3. Inquire 4. Allow 5. Apply This is a book you’ll keep with you, use and re-use, and come to cherish. For more about Jennifer’s workshops, coaching, and more, visit www.lifeorganizerbook.com.

Link of the week: Do you have teens at home? If so, take heart: it will pass (Not that my daughter was ever a typical teenager, but still...) My friend Judith Sachs, who was my roommate years ago at a speaker’s convention, is now editorial director of a new magazine for the parents of teenagers. It’s called ParentingTeensOnline (www.parentingteensonline.com) and there’s no topic it flinches from. The current issue cover story is on “Hooking Up” (in case you don’t know what that is, it’s teens having sex with friends without any commitment, like practice sessions for a real relationship), and there are other articles on subjects like teen depression, taking a “gap” year after high school, and even one on figuring out if your young teen is ready to babysit. If you look around the website (which is really nicely designed, by the way), you’ll find helpful articles on Myspace.com, college scholarships, teens and grandparents, and much more. The best thing is, you can get a subscription to this great online magazine for just $10 a year, and every month, you get a new PDF issue in your email box, which you can print out, read online, or email to a friend.

COUNTDOWN TO VICTORIA'S NEW BOOK, Fat, Broke & Lonely No More: Your Personal Solution to Overeating, Overspending, and Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places ...13 weeks and 3 days!

Happy week, all!

My very best,

Victoria Moran

Charmed Monday Minute, Feb. 19

To my lovely readers and friends: Gosh, I appreciate you guys. Thanks so much to all of you who read this and to those who send Joya (charmedassistant@aol.com) such nice emails.

I had an amazing experience: Valentine’s Day was day #10-in-a-row without any headaches (for those of you who missed it, I had Novocain-gone-wrong back in November, and it left me with recurrent head pain). I wrote in my journal that my new treatment protocol was “a miracle.” That afternoon around 4, the miracle ended and I was struck with another migraine-like episode. It was so discouraging since I thought everything was under control.

Anyway, I lay down, hoping to be okay by 6 when William and I were to leave for dinner. I wasn’t. We cancelled the reservation. I was hoping against hope that I’d be okay by 7 so we could go to A Chorus Line on Broadway; we’d had the tickets for months. But I just couldn’t raise my head. At 7:15, however, something happened. I sat up. Then I got up. I said to William: “I have to push through the pain and go to that show. If not, I feel as if the darkness will win.” In adorable pragmatic guy fashion, he said, “I don’t think it’s the darkness: it’s a headache.”

I didn’t recognize myself. It was like I’d been possessed, but in a good way. Not only was I having a migraine: the weather outside was deplorable – we were in the middle of an ice storm, lots of wind, and temperatures just high enough to ensure that there’d be big puddles of slush. I don’t do well in weather like that. On most such nights, I’d have welcomed an excuse to stay in. But there was a fire inside me. I didn’t have time to put on makeup or anything, so I just threw on clothes, tossed an extra pair of shoes and socks in my bag (I knew I’d have wet feet upon arrival), and we trudged out to fight for a cab. We finally flagged one and made it to the theater. My head still hurt, but my soul felt magnificent. I kept thinking of that phrase, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” only it was, “Get thee behind me, headache and ice storm and anything that would like to hold me back.”

The show was terrific (the curtain call was worth the price of the tickets: they came out in rhinestone suits and did a good old-fashion kick-line) but the triumph I felt deep inside was even better. I told William on the way home, “I haven’t felt like this since I went bungee-jumping.” He looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about but as if he loved me a lot anyway. And I’ve felt stronger and braver and more ready-for-anything ever since.

Happiness of the week: The dogs of New York. There are all different kinds, all different sizes, and they’re so adorable in their winter jackets. More than that, they are like love itself wrapped up in dog suits. Next week I’ll get to dog-sit my beloved Aspen (left) who now lives with my daughter. I can hardly wait.

Fun and funny link of the week: Actress, comic and author Cathryn Michon (who is also my adorable friend who is funny and gorgeous and has the best energy this side of a PowerBar factory) is starring in the hilarious movie, Cook Off! It’s the story of people who compete in a million dollar cook off, sort of like Best in Show at a cooking competition. The film is based on her book, The Grrl Genius Guide to Life, and is premiering at this year's Aspen Comedy Festival. She and Wendi McLendon-Covey (Clemmie from "Reno 911") play sisters from Blue Earth, Minnesota who are competing against each other and are dubbed "The Venus and Serena Williams of the Cook Off." The cast is a cavalcade of comedy all-stars including: Diedrich Bader (Napoleon Dynamite), Stephen Root (Office Space), Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers), Melissa Peterman ("Reba"), Mo Collins (The 40 Year Old Virgin), Markie Post (There's Something About Mary), Gavin Macleod ("The Love Boat," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"), Louie Anderson ("Life With Louie"), Marcia Wallace ("The Bob Newhart Show," "The Simpsons"), and way too many more to name here. It premiers this month at the Aspen Comedy Festival. Here is the link. Go! You’ll be glad you did! Laugh of the week: Joya (that’s who you’re writing to when you send something to charmedassistant@aol.com) sent me this link when I was stressing over getting used to a new computer and operating system. It’s a very funny short clip about a guy in the 1600s who was having a hard time getting used to this new-fangled invention, the book: YouTube video

Question of the week: I would love some information on how best to envision the reality we create, while remaining open to what God, the Goddess, and the Universe believes is best for us. In particular, I am planning a move that I’m excited about, but it involves my whole family so I feel a lot of responsibility for it working out all right. – A. Dear A – I relate so much. When I wanted to move to NYC, I had a husband, a daughter, and three stepchildren to think of. When something is right, though, it seems to fall into place for all concerned. That has been my experience anyway. I also know what you mean about the conflict that sometimes seems to exist between my desires and God’s will. I believe that our desires (unless they’re perverted by greed or addiction) are planted in us by God. We’re supposed to go after them. Sometimes they morph into something else, or we get a blessing different from but greater than the one we thought we wanted. I think that lovely prayer ending some people use – “This, God, or what You know is better” – is a beautiful safety valve. When you make a vision-map and put something spiritual in the center, that’s a reminder that all your desires are fine to have, but you don’t see the whole picture; none of us does. As long as we recognize that and know that we’re supposed to go forward as we see fit, yet ever be willing to shift gears as the Higher Power directs, we’ll do just fine. And bless you – and your family – in your new home. -- Victoria

COUNTDOWN TO VICTORIA'S NEW BOOK, Fat, Broke & Lonely No More: Your Personal Solution to Overeating, Overspending, and Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places ...14 weeks and 4 days!

Happy week, all!