As a writer and a hypnotist, I end up sitting a lot through out the day. Sometimes, I have to set a timer to make sure I get up and move around! It’s really important to remain active. Our bodies were designed to move, so moving is a great way to honor your body. Diet and exercise are important partners in achieving/maintaining a healthy weight as well. But how much exercise, and how intense?

Years ago, I was wide awake at 3am and watched these two ladies dance and pitch their new workout program, Yoga Booty Ballet. Funky yoga and ballet? Sign me up! I bought the programs and began a new way of thinking about exercise and my body with Beachbody programs. One of the concepts that came out of my Yoga Booty Ballet series, was the idea of working a little each day on becoming the next best version of yourself. Little changes every day lead to big goals down the road.

COVID changed our lives for ever, and as a result I had to make changes in how I do business. I had to rethink what I wanted out of life and reshape a few goals I had set for myself. Some of them I wasn’t sure about. They seemed stupid, silly, or just plain impossible. I decided that even though my new goals were lofty, I had to try. If I just broken them down into small enough steps, I could achieve them. But then I had my doubts. Could I do it? I’d never done anything like this before. What if I failed?

Lately, I’ve experienced mental fog - big time! I’m juggling a lot of different projects right now, and my mind always seems to be racing from one thought to the next…and then poof! Whatever I was just thinking about is abracadabra…gone! We’ve all experienced mental fog. As a hypnotist, I help my clients deal with this all the time, but sometimes I need a reminder on how to alleviate the symptoms so I can work at my maximum effectiveness!

Doug and I celebrated the 3rd anniversary of meeting each other this past Friday. We met through OKCupid.com, which is not all that different from how millions of others meet potential boyfriends and girlfriends. What was different about us, was HOW we went about it.

Yesterday, was an amazing day. Doug and I began our day having an amazing breakfast buffet with our “chosen family” at Paradise Lakes Clothing Optional Resort. We then we headed to the pool area to relax. At 1pm, the owners of the resort and several guests poured several bottles of Mr. Bubble into the conversation pool.

I think everybody has THAT song, that when they hear it they are magically trance-ported to another world. I know whenever I hear Anyway You Want It by Journey…I’m back in junior high (young people: it’s what we had before Middle School). Whenever I hear Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf, I’m cruising the southwest side of Cleveland, Ohio with my bestie Todd Stuart in my 1984 Chevy Cavalier drinking a nasty beer called Little Kings (young people: do not drink Little Kings and drive). Whenever I hear KC and The Sunshine Band, I can’t help but think of thinking how cute KC was, performing on Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve with those hot bell bottom pants and platform (boogie) shoes.

For 18 years, I was a professional people watcher, also known as a “comedian.” I got paid to watch humans and report on the weirdness of what they do in the funniest way possible. After many years of training, I now simply walk into any room and in one glance can put together someone’s background.

The Ghosts of Crafts Past...my mother used to get me all kinds of craft things when I was growing up. She loved sewing and crafts, my family members loved sewing and crafts, so it was just a natural progression that I did them too. Somehow, the crafting gene that was supposed to be transmitted genetically by my DNA skipped a chromosome and passed me over. When I did paint by numbers, it was supposed to be like coloring, only my landscape painting was really drippy...and required the furniture to be professionally cleaned.

Last year I began taking a series of courses with Robert G. Smith who teaches Eutaptics, which is a brilliant combination of Hypnosis, NLP, and Tapping. I love his combination of these techniques because it gets results very quickly, but more importantly, I get to use my sense of humor in order to help my clients get those changes. I completed my Level 1 Eutaptics Training last week, and look forward to starting Level 2 in July. I want to share with you one of the lessons I took to heart while going through my Level 1 training, and that is The Upper and Lower Models of the World.

To say I had an unusual upbringing would be an understatement. While my friends were headed to conventional vacation places like Disney or Cedar Point on a Memorial Day Weekend, my parents would pack up their 1926 Dodge Brothers Touring Sedan with a picnic basket (complete with a portable liquor cabinet)(it was almost okay to drive a little tipsy in the 70’s) and ride off to something like The Milan Melon Festival in Milan, Ohio. On the way home we’d hit The Blue Hole which was a huge blue hole in the ground that was deeper than the Marianna Trench. Of course, know one knew who Marianna was much less her “trench,” so making irresponsible claims like that was pretty safe.

“‘We must hurry!’ said Mr. Wonka.

‘We have so much time and so little to do! No! Wait! Strike that! Reverse it!’”

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory is one of my favorite books of all time. An eccentric recluse chocolate factory owner and innovator sends out 5 Golden Tickets out into the world to tour his factory, with the secret goal of finding the next owner of his factory.