LAFOLOT

As I was growing up, I had an unwarranted fear of spiders, bees, lightening bugs and just about any other flying or crawling insect. It was frustrating, because I didn’t have as much fun as other kids, due to always running into the house!

If a bee, or other flying or crawling insect was on or near me, and anyone was standing next to me – WHACK! I would involuntarily hit the other person in trying to rescue myself from this small creature.

If I was in a car, it would get dangerous! I would either scream and hit the person next to me, or have to pull to the side of the road and get out of the car.

At age 49, I had a major enlightening moment! This is the time I MOVED FORWARD, took early retirement, started my LAFOLOT business, and developed an appreciation for LIFE in ALL its forms of expression. HA HA HA!

I was now able to sit or stand or just BE next to a spider and admire it.
I was now able to allow a Bee to BE. I could allow a bee to fly around me, walk on me, buzz near my ear, dive into my salad as I sat at my LAFOLOT display table, at an outdoor event. IT WAS A WONDERFUL, NEW FEELING!

I have shared this NEW ME with many others, when I am promoting myself, my business, my book etc. I give others HOPE in achieving the same FREEDOM!

So, last evening was rough. For some reason, my Alpha Male cat ‘Buddy’ was restless. As a result, I couldn’t get to sleep. He kept fussing and whining and wanting attention. I never figured out what was bothering him. When I finally got to sleep, I was AWAKENED at 4:00 or 5:00am by my Omega cat, ‘Fonzie’. Meowing and Meowing and running around to get my attention; wanting his the bathtub spigot turned on, since THAT is the way he insists on having his water!

So, I get up at 8:00am and make my healthy, ENLIGHTENED PERSON, breakfast. I am very exhausted from lack of sleep, but I need to be up since a Handyman is supposed to call and stop by my house to fix some items.

I make my Herbal tea -
Pour my cranberry/pomegranate juice -
Make my Romaine Lettuce Salad with Lite Zesty Italian Dressing – Slivered Almonds, Chopped Apples and Cranberries.

I sit on my sofa with my breakfast items on a side accent table.

I’m enjoying the beautiful sky, the bright shining sun, the birds, my pets FINALLY calming down and resting, Steve Halpern Healing Music CD…

I hold my salad bowl in front of me while sitting on the sofa.
As I finish my salad, put the bowl on the side table; I move to lean forward to get off the sofa:

SCREAM, WHACK!, FALLING BACK ONTO THE SOFA!

WHAT WAS ‘T H A T T H I N G!!!!!’ that plopped onto my lap that I just WHACKED! towards the sliding glass door window – that fell behind the curtain?

My Alpha cat Buddy is now in FROZEN, EMOTIONALLY AWARE, HEIGHTENED SENSES mode – obeying his owner’s reaction!

I start to LAUGH OUT LOUD! I realized I had dropped a cranberry on my shirt as I was eating the salad, and it fell on my lap when I went to get up! When I saw the dark THING my tired brain immediately reacted!

I’m LAUGHING and LAUGHING and LAUGHING! My poor cat Buddy is slowly staling the curtain at the window. I talk to him and let him know IT’S OK! It’s JUST A CRANBERRY!

I continue to laugh, due to FATIGUE, EXHAUSTION AND LACK OF SLEEP as well as JUST LAUGHING AT MYSELF!

I’m thinking – OH YES! ENLIGHTENED ONE! Whacking a cranberry!

So – per the RULES OF ENLIGHTENMENT . . .

repeat Step 1. – Release Ego.

Highlighted – er uh – Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Live Life! Laugh Often! and keep an eye out for killer cranberries!
Live Life in A-Maze-Ment!
www.lafolot.com
[this blog may also be viewed at Vibrant Nation under blog circle name: Helenoflafolot]

When you can LAUGH at the amazing spiritual lessons that are going on around you, no matter how absurd, joy comes to your heart!

I started out the day, peacefully and productively. I was so proud of my positive way in which I dealt with the latest ‘Loonie-fields’ condo board actions! As I shared, previously, about bringing my NOW ILLEGAL birdbath into my home as a water-reflection bowl for candles; I got to enjoy mini rainbow spots all over my dining room walls and ceiling as the sun passed through the votive candle holders yesterday!

So, there I was, sitting at my computer, looking out my PEACEFUL view of daffodils, birds, a beautiful gray stone wall surrounding a church cemetery when: da dun, da dun … da dun da dun… JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS SAFE!

Ha Ha! Two men, one with a notepad, examing my plant hanger with silk flower basket outside my office window. (delete explitives here – ha ha) – NOW WHAT! I had my sliding glass doors open, so I went over and asked: IS THERE A PROBLEM? BECAUSE IF THERE’S A PROBLEM, TELL ME NOW – SO I CAN REMOVE THE OFFENDING PLANT HANGER AND POT SO AS NOT TO ADD TO THE 10 LETTERS THE BOARD HAS ALREADY SENT ME – AS WELL AS BEING TOLD I’LL BE FINED! The men said, oh no no no, we’re just walking around to check things.

I said, ‘Well, I read your letter and removed all the mums and daffodils per the note to remove all perennials from the grounds around the buildings. What else is it that is a problem so we can take care of it, so I can have some peace!’ They said, oh no, we don’t know anything about that. I said: ‘Well, I guess you haven’t read your Board letter.’ ha ha (How was I doing with my spiritual growth in this moment? hmm?) Gotta laugh at myself!

So, I realize I need to take a deep breath and calm down. I get myself focused, and get ready to go ‘out and about’ to pick up the paper to see my Book Signing AD, stop at the grocery store and then head out to lunch. I accomplish all this in a gradually more calming manner. I even got to try some of my uplifting, motivational talk with a friend’s daughter who recently lost her job, lost her boyfriend and relocated to the area. Isn’t it said, if you’re feeling down, reach out and help someone else? So, I felt good that I took the focus off myself, long enough, to help another soul.

Then, I thought to myself – I need a mini-vacation. If you got to read my CHUCKLING WITH THE DUCKS blog from last Fall; I decided to head over to Boiling Springs Children’s Lake (Central PA area of USA).

My intention was to sit in the same spot as before (I noticed the HA HA HA black marker letters were no longer there). My intention was to SIT, BE STILL, AND ALLOW NATURE TO CONTINUE ‘BEing’ around me. So, I find a nice spot on the gray stone step right down at the water level. The lake is fed by a natural water bubble, bubbling up from the earth. It was great. It was within a foot of me, where I sat!

I knew if I sat there long enough, even though it is a big lake, eventually the ducks, geese and white swans would slowly come by to visit. I knew all I had to do was relax and BE. I even got so relaxed as to remove my sneakers and socks (It was 74 degrees fahrenheit out!).

So, there I was, just BEing. Far from the madding crowd (ha ha). Ah, yes, *sigh – breathe in and out – far from thoughts of the Loonie-fields condo board ….. *sigh – ah yes – breathe in and out – just BEing – yessssss – birds twittering, flying, chirping…
feel the peace …

“HEY, HAVE YOU SEEN ANY SNAKES!” (laugh out loud) A red headed, freckled kid about 9 years old comes stomping towards me from the road. I look up and smile, telling him no, I hadn’t. I like kids and like talking and joking with them, so I didn’t mind.
The hilarious part is, (as I got up to help him look around for snakes and dip my feet in the cool refreshing water) he started to get more and more exaggerated with his LOVE of violence with animals! He let me know he had two days off school for the holiday.
He started to describe, in detail, the most deadly snakes of the world; how they bite and bite and bite and watch their prey slowly die! He went on and on and on! [WHAT HAPPENED TO MY PEACEFUL MOMENT?]

I asked where he had learned so much about snakes? He proudly revealed he had gone to the library! I told him that was great. He was frustrated that he had recently had to do a report on an animal for school. He said it had to be on the Polar Bear. I said, don’t you like Polar Bears? He said no, but all the GOOD animals were taken. He said he was 24th on the list to pick an animal and all the: SNAKES, LIONS, TIGERS – the good animals that kill stuff, were taken! I said, ‘Oh!’ (Was I talking to a future Charles Manson, here!) I said: Next time, if you want an interesting animal, try a rat or cockroach – they’ve been around since prehistoric times. They are amazing creatures. They adapt to all situations. HE WALKED AWAY! (laugh out loud!)

So, then – back to my PEACEFUL just BEing. Ah yess….. some ducks started to come towards me… a black bird… ah yess…. just BEing – then…. ‘JUMP DOWN TO THE GRAY ROCK NEAR THE WATER’S EDGE demanding: WHAT’S THIS!’ A woman coming behind the child, stating: THAT’S SEAWEED! (What seaweed was doing along the rock’s edge of a lake, I don’t know. ha ha The older woman was caught off-guard by the child’s question. She then said: ALGAE) Along comes another woman, who sits on the step directly behind me.

The first woman asks directly, as she sees my shoes and sneakers sitting on the wall to my left: FEET TIRED FROM WALKING? The little girl joins in: WHY DID YOU TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF!? (laugh out loud)

I said: ‘Because I’m a stressed out older woman who is working on relaxing.’ The older woman laughed. Then, an older gentleman (seemed to be a friend of the older woman) joined them. He came over to observe the little girl poking her stick at the: SHE ANNOUNCED – IT’S SEAWEED, GEORGE! IT’S SEAWEED! He said, Oh? (I had to laugh). Then, the little girl decided she needed to get up and down the steps by squeezing through the 2 inch space between the step I was sitting on and the wall. I was happy to accommodate. I thought it was funny. At one point, she was holding her stick with GOOPS AND GOOPS of dripping SEAWEED on it, about an inch from my head. The older woman asked her to not drip the GOOP ON THE LADY. (that was nice)

From listening to the foursome, it appeared the woman sitting behind me was the mother of the little girl. The mother had a back problem and had to take sitting breaks while walking around the lake. The older woman may have been a friend or grandparent.

I just had to laugh. I thought to myself while the little kid STORMED in with the SNAKES! question and the little girl who JUMPED freely off the wall down to the rock where I was sitting (along with the older woman talking to the girl’s mother about: MURDEROUS birds outside her window, knocking eggs out of a nest and killing the birds) – WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

I laughed to myself, and asked the question: ‘What am I learning here?’ I thought, ‘I drove AWAY from the Condo People to get some emotional and mental relaxation and I start to get VISITED by SNAKES, AND KIDS AND PEOPLE, OH MY!

Well, Dorothy, you didn’t have to leave Kansas to learn the lesson! I knew, when I got there, if I JUST SAT – the birds, swans, ducks and geese would softly, quietly, eventually float or fly over to me. I then realized, if I JUST SAT – the little boy with his snakes, the little girl with her seaweed goo, the woman with the murderous bird stories, eventually CAME and WENT!

After I realized this, I noticed the buds had started to sprout on the cherry blossom tree to my left. I noticed green buds appearing on the tree to my right. I noticed the Beautiful White Swans had suddenly appeared within viewing distance of me!

All I had to do was BE. Just BE. Sometimes loud little boys with stories of KILLER snakes appeared; sometimes little girls with Seaweed Goop, and sometimes blackbirds, ducks, geese or swans… but THEY ALL came and went.

It appears I experienced all the lessons of the Bible, Budhist Mindfulness, Rumi, and other great sources of inspiration – just by BEing at Children’s Lake in Boiling Springs this afternoon. As I type this, a little bird is working its way through the grass outside my window…. it came and now it is going. My cat Kitty stopped by to visit and lounge across the keyboard so I would pet her furry belly while she relaxed… then, she left…

Thanks to ALL that visited me today!
Living life in amazement!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
LOOK OUT! IT’S A SNAKE COVERED IN SEAWEED GOO! …just kidding!
Highlighted Ha Ha Helen Szollosy of LAFOLOT
Living in the moment…
www.lafolot.com
[this blog post may also be seen at Vibrant Nation - Blog Circle name: Helenoflafolot ]

Are you having a little trouble staying focused?
Does your mind wander?
Are thoughts flying in and out of your head due to your Busy Bee schedule?

Well, try; I said TRY to get centered and focus on this day’s Highlighted Helen of LAFOLOT Motivational Moment video:

FOCUS ME.mp4

Inspired by the likes of: Professor Irwin Corey, Lily Tomlin and Robin Williams

SEE, if you can, THE MESSAGE – wrapped within the collage of movement, rambling and messiness. Stay focused, now!

I’ll bet the message will work itself into your busy thoughts, and at some point in the day, come out as a laugh or a giggle. Then, you’ll get focused!

My video motivational messages are MEANT to be imperfect. IMPERFECTIONS are remembered!
Think about LIFE in general. Don’t people look for the 4 Leaf Clover vs. all the 3 Leaf Clovers?

Do you stay FOCUSED on a Picasso painting trying to figure it out vs a landscape that gives a feeling of ahhhh.

My intention is to motivate and inpsire others – MY METHOD is with messiness, mayhem and getting you to remember the thougth due to the imperfections.

HAVE FUN STAYING FOCUSED!

Live life in A-MAZE-ment … even if it’s a little out of focus!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
Highlighted Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT
www.lafolot.com

As a motivational speaker, I give a talk called ‘Seeing With New Eyes!’ People have asked me to share more about this.
Well, being ME!, I have found that I like using visuals, movement, rhythm and rhyme to get a message across. This is my style; it may not suit everyone.

I like talking about looking at life in Mirror-opposites. For example, do you SEE uphill as bad or good? Do you SEE downhill as bad or good? If you are considered to be ‘upwardly mobile’ in the corporate world, are you happy or stressed? How do you SEE the experience?

A You Tube video is worth a thousand words! So sit back and watch my visual/auditory version of: DON’T BE A ‘STEWIE’ BE A ‘DO-IE’ or ME! flipped upward is WEeeeeee!

Click here to view the: WE-ME You Tube Motivational video

this has been a mini Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT – Highlighted Helen Motivational Moment!
at least, that’s how I SEE it!
Have a beautifully, Flying Free kinda day!
Live Life! Laugh Often!
Live Life in A-MAZE-ment!

Helen – Living BOLD and in Italics!
www.lafolot.com
[this post can also be seen at Vibrant Nation under Blog Circle name: Helenoflafolot]

Ha Ha Helen … living in the moment..

I just LOVE talking to toddlers; or should I say ‘let them talk AT me, ’cause I have NO clue what they are saying!’

I was at my favorite Thai Palace restaurant this evening. There was only another couple there with their two kids.  I like sitting off in one of the ‘warmer’ rooms – away from the cold windows.  Hence, older toddler/boy decided to allow his Spider Man automatic vehicle into the room where I was dining.

With no one else around, I just started talking/playing with him. His toy vehicle – with Spider Man at the wheel – was slowly making its way across the room towards the restrooms…

I was stating boldly – Go! Spider Man! Go! Go! Go!
This caused the little boy to start to Chatter away at me in Toddler Talk.  I have no clue what he was saying – BUT – I have become Quite Proficient in keeping conversations going with these beautiful souls.

I just Nod, Raise my eyebrows in total interest and wonder, interject an occassional ‘Oh! Is that right?’ or ‘WOW!’ or ‘Ohhh Myyyyyy?’ depending on the inflection or tone of the Toddler talk.

It seems to work, because they’re always satisfied and they keep on talking away.  This was the case with the toddler/boy.

His mom got up and stood in the archway from the other room. She started to ask him not to bother me.  I let her know it was OK, I was having fun!  She had heard me ask him a few times, if he knew the Spider Man song?  She was telling him to ‘respond to the lady’s question.’  He was so busy talking, he didn’t really care WHAT I was saying! hahahaha

So, I start to sing him the Spider Man song:  Spider Man, Spider Man, does whatever a spider can… spins a web, any size… etc etc.
He just looked at me in stunned silence. HAHAHAHAHA

The mom said: ‘The song is different now, that’s the one I know, too.’  I laughed and said: Oh! I guess you don’t know the old people Spider Man song. 

Well, it didn’t phase the toddler-boy, he just kept jibber-jabbering away.  The funny part was – he would present his talk directly TO me – with a very determined look – telling me ALL SORTS of things. 

Heck if I know what any of it was!  His mom smiled occassionally getting a kick out of it.

At one point, his little toddler sister, named Riley – came in to join him, as well as the dad.

Little toddler-boy came over with his Spider Man all-terrain vehicle and pointed to an area near the steering wheel asking: What’s this?
I said: It’s the steering wheel.

Well – he wouldn’t buy it – it wasn’t enough.  ‘No!’ he said, pointing to the area in the MIDDLE of the steering wheel; ‘this’.
I said: ‘OH! THAT’S THE SUPER SPIDER SHOOTER!’   [hey, he caught me off guard.  I thought I did pretty well.] ha ha

He said: ‘WHAT does it DO?’
I said: ‘It spits out sticky spider web stuff to grab the cars in front of him.’

He bought it!  Am I good or what!

ahahahahahahaa
The mom thanked me.  I said, ‘No problem! Since the kids don’t have to come home with me, I have no problem PLAYING along while they’re here!’

Then – they were on their merry way…

Toddler Talk…. it’s all GIBBERISH to me.

Ha Ha Helen of LAFOLOT
In the Moment….
Live Life! Laugh Often!
www.lafolot.com
[This blog can also be read at Vibrant Nation under blogging name: Helenoflafolot]