Yesterday, I got to wear a Halloween costume that I made. Doug and I came up with the theme, I tried to find a costume from the store but none of them fit. I ended up finding a sewing pattern for the costume I wanted, picked out the fabric, and made the costume to fit me. It took maybe 6-8 hours between shopping for fabric, cutting the fabric, and sewing the costume. The day of the event? I heard stuff like “You made your costume? You must be so talented.”

Some years ago, I met a lady who was a Chinese medicine physician. We met at Hypnothoughts and struck up a conversation about how we use hypnosis. She mentioned that she used hypnotic techniques to ask her patients what their symptoms and personal history were. She noticed she had a several clients that had various pains in their breasts, or undetected breast cancer. In nearly all cases, these women had “mommy issues,” miscarriages, abortions, and/or given up babies for adoption. Her clients with endometriosis were often sexually abused.

Even though I may look like a “New Yorker,” Cleveland, Ohio is where I spent the first 25 years of my life. For those of you from Cleveland, I grew up in Berea, Ohio.

Berea…Berea…you just met a girl from Berea! (to be sung like “Maria” from West Side Story).

Some years ago, I met a guy named Dave at Hedonism II in Jamaica. For those of you who don’t know, “Hedo” is a clothing optional resort with strong swinger tendencies. Not everyone who goes is a nudist, not everyone who goes is a swinger, but those who are both have a lot of f**kin’ fun. I happened to be single the last time I was there, and all I say is what happens at Hedo stays at Hedo.

Doug and I were looking forward to seeing our friend Mark yesterday. I met Mark several years ago at a Law Of Attraction Meet Up Group, and just liked his energy. We gave him a tour of the place and wanted to show him one of the condos we bought a few months ago. When we got to the top of the steps, our elderly neighbor “J” was slumped over the table on his porch, and a young lady named “K”, the neighbor on the other side of his condo, was trying to get him to respond but a little unsure of what to do next.

Some years ago, a dear friend of mine asked me how things were going.

“Everything’s great! Why do you ask?”

He then said he had noticed that I didn’t seem very happy. I was going through the motions, but without my usual joy and enthusiasm. He then got more personal, and asked how things were with my then relationship. I got quiet. I wasn’t happy in my relationship and my friend knew it. I had been struggling with my unhappiness for many years. From the outside, it appeared that I had no reason to complain about my life. I had all the things most people could ever want! I had a successful partner, a nice house, a fun career…but I was miserable. Being an emotional person, I felt something was wrong but I couldn’t express what it was.

Today’s blog is for myself. I’m in the midst of some major life changes. While I’m confident everything will be okay in the end, these next few months are going to be critical for myself and my partner. We’re both being pushed beyond our limits in many ways, and it’s important we stay focused on our end goals so we don’t get overwhelmed by the numerous little speed bumps and potholes that just pop out in front of us when we least expect it.

As a comedian for nearly 19 years, I’ve navigated some pretty tough waters in comedy. Comedy is based upon “free speech” and “freedom of expression,” yet my entire comedy career I’ve been told what I can and can not say on stage.

I hate saying “No.” I hate the feeling of disappointing someone I care about. I hate the feeling that I might be letting others down because I can’t jump right in and help out. I hate being put on the spot and the feeling of being pressured to do something I just don’t have time to do. But you know what I hate worse? Weaseling out of something I shouldn’t have accepted in the first place, because I knew damn well that I didn’t care enough about it and/or didn’t have the time to do it!

Working as a hypnotist pretty much means I'll never have a dull day of work ever again. My clients spill their guts to me about injustices in their past, and often times those guts include someone who has wronged my client. Whatever that person did, it affected their life significantly and they're having a lot of trouble forgiving that person what they did, or forgiving themselves for allowing that person to do that to them. Finding peace in forgiving that person is a huge step towards healing yourself.