I Heart Huckabees

Oh how I love this movie. Here are three simple reasons to love it already:
1. Jason Schwartzman
2. Dustin Hoffman
3. Lily Tomlin

Do you really need to know any more? I don't think so, but I guess I'll give you some more information.

Jason Schwatrzman is a lost twenty-something looking for meaning in his life. He keeps running into the same guy over and over and wants to know if it's a coincidence or something actually meaningful. Enter Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman, a married duo who called themselves "existential detectives." Hilarity and some deep lessons ensue.

Rotten tomatoes gives it 61%, but I say a solid score in the mid 70's would be much more fair.

The Volcano

I was reading for someone the other day, and she was having quite the spending problem. She was cashing in her retirement savings to pay off her debts incurred from buying unnecessary things, and she wanted to get the behavior under control. "I think I've got it," she said. "I've just been buying too many clothes. I just need to stick with what I have."

When I read further and asked her guides, they said that her spending habits correlate directly to how supported she feels in her life. When she feels unsupported, her spending skyrockets.

We all do this very often. I eat too much because I just love food. I drink too much because I just love to be happy. I shop too much because I just love a good deal. But the reason we have trouble breaking these habits is because these things, these temptations, are not the problem. They are only a symptom of a bigger problem.

This is a common complaint of western medicine. Let's say you have an anxiety problem, and the doctor subscribes medication. Great. Now you don't have anxiety. But where is the anxiety coming from? Unless you figure that out, you will be popping pills for quite a while.

These subconscious worries manifest in all kinds of ways: compulsive behaviors, aches and pains, even serious illness. So how do we get to the bottom?

Meditation. Hypnotherapy. A reading? Maybe. There are many ways to discover what the underlying problem really is. In fact, the answer is within ourselves and all we need do to discover the answer is spend a little time with ourselves asking the big questions. Then just wait for the authentic answer to come rising out of you.

To Ponder

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
~Mother Teresa

The Universe

This is a scene from I Heart Huckabees. Have I ever told you how much I love Dustin Hoffman? He's a dreamboat.

Anyway, in this scene he is trying to explain the connectedness of everyone in the universe. If you watch the whole movie, there's more discussion of this idea. It's really true. We're all made up of energy, and we have the optical illusion that we are contained in our bodies and that everything is separate when in actuality our energy is not just contained in our body and all of our energy is connected.

Cute CUTE Cute Kid

I wish I could embed it! But embedding is disabled. This kid is so adorable. It's worth the extra 2 seconds to click for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fVDGu82FeQ

A few of my favorite things

Dear Tea,

Oh how I love thee. Let me count the ways.

• I love that you come in thousands of flavors for my thousands of moods.
• I love that in the summer you are refreshing and crisp.
• I love that in the winter you warm me up, especially while reading or staring at my Christmas tree.
• I love that you are cheaper than wine.
• I love that you are less fattening than ice cream.
• I love that scientists have proven that you are good for my body, although I would partake anyway even if you weren't. But thanks for the bonus!
• I love that you come in cute packaging and have unique little bags to boot.

Tea you are nearly perfect, but seriously, what's with that English tea? Rough day or something?

Oh dear sweet Jesus and Buddha thank you for tea.

Love,
Brittany

Oh Universe, You Know Me So Well

As I was researching for a worthy charity to donate to this Christmas, I came across Children International.

The awesomeness sounded too good to be true. I would get to sponsor an individual child to help with medical care, food, education, and family costs. In exchange, I will get letters, pictures, and information from my child. I can even give extra gifts at birthdays, holidays, or just because. Afraid of any fraudulent scams, I checked around online to make sure that CI was a reputable charity, and they're actually in the top 10 charities in the U.S.

One divine sign seemed to be that the monthly contribution is $22, which is my master number and makes its presence known in all areas of my life.

So, here's how they got me. They said, hey, if you want to give it a shot, give us your address and we'll send information on a child that needs to be sponsored. Alrighty then. I can just check it out and see.

So my package came yesterday, and of course the child they assigned to me is from India. Oh India. I smiled and put my check in the mail without even reading the whole packet. The universe knew they would get me hooked if my child was Indian.

How do I describe my relationship with a country I've never been to? Well. It started in college when I met a group of friends who are of Indian descent. Then they took me to their dance performances, helped me try their food, and taught me about their culture and I was hooked. It also didn't surprise me when I did my first past-life regression and was taken to a lifetime in India in the early-mid 1900's. Oh India, I love thee. I watch Bollywood movies and eat samosas and am in love with a culture that is rich in spirituality and love for life.

It was fun to see the universe support my endeavors. I hope that maybe you'll consider sponsoring a child through Children International and see what message the universe has for you.

A few of my favorite things

We have sooooooooooo many things to be grateful for. All of the little things add up to a pretty charmed modern life, and I find that the more positive I am, the fuller and more joyful my life is. Also, hello, the law of attraction means that positivity attracts more positivity. Focusing on blessings attracts more blessings.

I originally thought I would just blog about things I love through the holiday season. But why not blog about it all year round? Henceforth, from now on, I shall dub thee "blessings" throughout the blog.

So today's love and gratitude goes to ONLINE. SHOPPING. Oh Lordy be, what would Christmas be like without amazon.com?! I love it. I've got my house booties on, I'm in a sweatshirt, I'm browsing and looking at reviews . . . it's shopper's heaven. If I remember that my sister likes chocolate-covered peanuts at 1am, bam, I can buy them straight away. And if I ever venture out and go shopping in the outside world, I am always wondering what I would find online instead.

If I run into what seems like a good deal on, say, a CD, I can't bring myself to buy it in the store because I always wonder,"But what's the price online? And what do the reviews/ratings say?"

I love reading reviews. I don't buy anything without checking out the reviews. I read reviews on cell phones, books, lamps . . . nothing is beyond the check-able.

Yes, there's something to be said for throwing on your cute winter coat and staring at all the lights and trees and santas as you make your way through the mall. But there's just so much stuff out there. I get so overloaded by all of this stuff. Online shopping can shut out temptations from useless purchases like "Oh! Cute scarf!" when in reality I already have five others at home.

So many of today's blessings weren't around even 20 years ago. I always marvel, thinking in wonder, "How did they do that?!" I can't imagine wandering around town for hours with my shopping list. Yet, that's how it was done for many a year. Here's to the millenium, right?

La Bella Vita

Thanks to Silvia for helping me out on that train reference. The scene was from Under the Tuscan Sun. Believe me when I say that I spent a good 15 minutes looking for the actual clip on YouTube--couldn't find it. Instead, I'll throw out the trailer and hopefully get someone to rent it this week.

What a delightful movie. This is most definitely a chick flick as I can't get my husband to sit through the whole thing. (He gives it a solid effort for about 30 minutes and then stealthily wanders away to the computer.)

When you're going through any life transition, this movie will make you feel better. Rotten tomatoes has it at 61%--I would say the solid late 70's would be a much more accurate rating.

I watched this movie two nights before my own trip to Italy just to get pumped up. The lovely truth is that Tuscany is just as gorgeous as it looks!

Destiny of Souls

As a self-proclaimed book nerd, I thought I should perhaps be including some "what's on Brittany's shelf" posts on here. Destiny of Souls by Michael Newton was recommended to me by a lovely woman at the Minneapolis Expo. I checked it out from the library and flew through it in just a few days.

Dr. Newton is a certified hypnotherapist and he uses hypnosis for the express purpose of exploring life between lifetimes. Yeah. Let that sink into your head a bit. Life between lifetimes.

This is a great comprehensive exploration of the afterlife. It includes insights into how our loved ones try to contact us after they have passed, as well as information about our soul clusters, guides, and evolution as souls. It is truly excellent.

What I found to be marvelous and affirming is that the same information derived from his hypnotherapy sessions are the same insights I've gathered from personal readings when connecting with those who have passed.

My one disagreement would have to be with his discussion of angels. In one paragraph, Dr. Newton tries to suggest that there is no such thing as angels. He explains that what at first appear to be angels turn out to just be regular souls. Okay, well, let's think about this. The only real definition of an angel is a worker for God who has never been in human form. They don't really need wings or halos to be angels, now do they? Does the absence of wings or halos mean that they are just spirits? No. It is fully possible for an angel to appear without wings. I would say this is a place where he should have just kept quiet.

This is an excellent read for anyone curious about the afterlife, reincarnation, life purpose, heaven, and/or hypnotherapy.