Approaching the eleven-year memorial of Wendy Soltero’s murder and my self-preservation instinct finally kicks in.
Tag Archive: Spirituality
Come Alive
“In what areas of your life are you preparing to live?” asks Jonathan Mead for Day 6 of the Emerson “Self-Reliance” project.
Post-It Question
My biggest challenge of the moment stated and solved. Day 4 of the Ralph Waldo Emerson “Self-Reliance” project.
Zuzu Irwin Dreams With Jellyfish
The first installment in a new Zuzu’s Petal series, Zuzu Irwin’s Global Safari, that explores an amazing encounter at the Long Beach Aquarium in 2001 and its reverberations to today.
Intimate Strangers
The first in a series of reflections on the incredible Dialogue 2010, curated by Rose Deniz and on the topic of hybrid identities and location.
Why I Don’t Celebrate Halloween Like I Used To
When I first moved to Europe going on seven years ago I was bummed that I felt they didn’t really celebrate Halloween, American style. Dressing up, spider webs, pumpkin carving, creepy music, Trick-or-Treating…Halloween was always my most favourite holiday. I love costumes and basically will use any excuse whatsoever to dress up. Movie premieres, themed…
The Bane of Forgiveness
Here in Europe we have this amazing cream called Bepanthen that is phenomenal for healing wounds without any resulting scarring. Doesn’t matter how you got the wound, scrape, burn, but if you use Bepanthen on it you absolutely will not scar. I got to thinking that maybe forgiveness is like that cream. If you don’t…
In Memoriam
Eight years ago two planes flew into New York’s World Trade Centers killing thousands. I remember my then-boyfriend waking me up to tell me what had happened. It was 8am in California and so I laughed at the news, thinking that someone had pulled a Fight Club and destroyed two empty buildings. When he reminded…
The Trauma Fairy
I am pretty sure I’ve discovered a new fairy who has been in my life for some time now. I’m calling her The Trauma Fairy, and my belief is she goes into our minds while we sleep and erases things that are just too awful to remember. One of the more dramatic times she visited…
The Ties That Bind
Five years ago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I met an amazing Californian Phillipina woman and we became fast friends, seeing in each other kindred spirits. Interestingly enough, it was the same year I met Paolo Coelho who told me: “Always keep your heart open; it will bleed, but it will heal.”…
LOST in symbolism
The Season 6 finale of “LOST” featured a gargantuan statue of the Egyptian crocodile-headed god Sobek. Being fascinated not only with “LOST” but also Egyptian mythology (I even took a how-to-read-hieroglyphics course a few years back) I figured it must mean something. *Builds a mountain out of mashed potatoes* Sobek was worshipped in ancient Egyptian…
Preparation
Everything we do in life requires some level of preparation. Our jobs, our hobbies, our dinners. It gives us a chance to get all our ducks in a row before moving on with a project, and even the smallest amount of preparation tends to make the end result better. What’s strange is that I’ve been…
Developing compassion as a way of life for you and your children
His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, “Genuine compassion is based on a clear acceptance or recognition that others, like oneself, want happiness and have the right to overcome suffering. On that basis one develops some kind of concern about the welfare of others.” Compassion is the ability to see all fellow human beings as equal…
A Love Letter to Pfaff the Pfooter
Written on a postcard of your Fairy Challenger oracle card, #56: “Plant your feet,Bend your knees,Sway with the bumps and lurches of life.” Where a stamp shaped like a hole in my sock could go:PragueJanuary 23, 2008So basically you’re saying that I should go through life with the same principle as standing on a tram:…
A Love Letter to Wounded Knee
Written on a sepia-toned postcard of blood-stained snow: The heart of mineburied with youburns with the acheof injustice. Where a stamp could go but there is only sadness:Pine Ridge POW CampDecember 29, 1890I am haunted by your history.
A Love Letter to Bad Fairies
Written on a Brian Froud-esque postcard of the eerie park at Karlovo Namesti: Even whenyou are badyou are goodto me. Where a mushroom-shaped stamp could go it says:Prague 2, Nove MestoNovember 5, 2008I realised that in Prague there is a huge difference between places with bad energy and places with bad fairies. I’m lucky enough…
A Love Letter to Giselle
Written on a postcard made from the Enchanted DVD box: Iwannabejustlikeyou. Where a stamp could go but your song will deliver it:October 31, 2008Andalasia, across from The Valley of ContentmentYou are so lovely an inspiration.
A Love Letter to Soma Witt
Written on the buffalo hide Shaman’s rattle that is your voice: This is the slow painful rasp of healing incomplete. Where tobacco smoke will take this: October 24, 2008 Memory Lane I need more of you.
A Love Letter to Getting Over It
Written on a postcard featuring the word lingering: I am unable. Where a stamp should go: October 24, 2008 My heart It’s almost that day again. I miss you, Wendybird. How’s River? Did you meet Heath yet?
A Love Letter to Steerek H. Love
Written on the tapestry of your kindness: There is a God-like qualityto your infiniteand loving patience.Where you brand everything with tender care:October 20, 2008 and alwaysPragueI am the most happy that it is you who will always be by my side.
Your reactions to Heath Ledger’s death
I always felt a strange and strong connection with Heath Ledger. It became even stranger and stronger when I found out that he has almost exactly the same birthday as me. Same day, month, year and almost the same time even. I felt it was some sort of sign. When I found out about five…
Death Of A Young Man
I always felt a strange and strong connection with Heath Ledger. It became even stranger and stronger when I found out that he has almost exactly the same birthday as me. Same day, month, year and almost the same time even. I felt it was some sort of sign. When I found out about five…
To Be Or Not To Be A Vampire
Prague is a demanding city. It gives so much, but it also takes a lot. Energy, life, money. These things exist in abundance here, but they also flow away so quickly. Prague is a vampire’s city. Shrouded in gray for more than three-quarters of the year, it is the perfect place for those who really…
Signs And Wondering
Since Wendy passed away, I have lived my life following signs from the Spirits. Especially during my time at the UN and in Spain it seemed as if every decision I made, the course of each of my days was defined by signs. Signs were everywhere. It got to the point that even people who…
Good Omens, Bad Omens
The year 2008, and so far six months living in Prague. Today is the first day the Sun has broken through the cloud cover and pierced the shield of this vampire city. I haven’t written for ages, and I think it was because my last blog incarnation of The TripWire went stale and my ideas…
The Stranger In Me
Although it’s been weeks since I’ve seen it, I’m still thinking about the movie The Brave One. Jodie Foster repeats throughout the film that after the horrific trauma she went through, it was like a new person emerged in her. Someone who was capable of doing things that she never would have dreamed of doing…
Turkish Delight Volume 11: Stilettos and Headscarves
All around the world, we see examples of vast gulf between the theory and practice of religion. A warmongering Christian American president, who seems to not understand the basic tenets of Christianity that are peace, love and tolerance. Muslim fundamentalists who do not seem to understand or follow the teachings of Mohammed, the Prophet, who…
Goddess Uma
I have always believed that there is great power in names. A vibration that not only shapes the person but also invokes a distinct type of energy depending on the name. I have noticed that certain names do not bode well for me. There are names that have had such good energy in my life….
The Silver Lining
While I was devastated to get fired for the first time in my life, each day that goes by I am beginning to understand that the job experience itself has a much greater spiritual significance than I ever would have thought. The job taught me that integrity, while a quality most of us strive to…
Heroes
do you ever get the feeling that you are meant for something more? not just something more, but something great? something amazing, something extraordinary. a feeling that is more than just a feeling or a hunch; something deep down into the dark core of you that tells you that you are special. that you are…
How “Babel” and Uma Are Connected
Many people compared Babel to Crash and Magnolia because of its story line about the intersection between the lives of disparate groups of people, and on a superficial level the comparison is valid. But what made Babel stand apart from every other film was the fact that it showed how we are all connected not…
Work Will Set You Free
I feel like the Turkish Daily News came into my life for a few specific reasons, and namely the people I connected with while I was there. Also, it gave me something to keep my mind focused on with Uma being in the hospital. I think if I were home alone all day it would…
Fairy Tales Can Come True
In typical Arian fashion, I have (and do have) loads of dream jobs whose importance will shift depending on various factors in my life. It was always a dream to work at the UN, and while I didn’t get paid for my work I had that dream job for almost three years. I always wanted…
The Fortune-Telling Rabbit and Other Turkish Delights
The Fortune-Telling Rabbit Not just any rabbit, mind you, a White Rabbit with blue eyes brimming with wisdom. The wrinkled old keeper of the Rabbit told her my name, she looked me over and chose my fortune. It was on a piece of cream colored paper and outlined the very problems I had been experiencing…
Can Writing Change the World?
Do you think that writing can change the world? Do you think that writing can lift the soul from darkness? Do you think that someone else’s words can effect a change in your own heart that helps you yourself to make the world a better place? I am not talking about the entire planet. I’m…
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