Inside this new love, die.
Your way begins on the other side.
Become the sky.
Take an axe to the prison wall.
Escape.
Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.
Do it now.
You're covered with thick clouds.
Slide out the side. Die, and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign that you've died.
Your old life was a frantic running from silence.
The speechless full moon comes out now.

- Rumi

Translation by
Coleman Barks

Contact Ron Smith at Avant Garde in Branford for Movie Listings and further information.

203.481.8443

Avant Garde - Salon, Spa, Holistic Center
328 East Main Steet
Branford, CT.

With Quartz Crystal Bowl and voice toning, Randeane brings Hathor, Tibetan, Japanese, and Mechizedek healing energy to her work.

Bringing her gifts to:

Guilford - 1st Friday of
the month.

Cromwell - 2nd Tuesday of
the month.

Middletown - 3rd Thursday of
the month.

East Haddam - 4th Tuesday of
the month.

For more information regarding any of these locations, or to find out about cancelations due to inclement weather, please contact Randeane at: 860-345-4226

For more detailed information about times and locations, please visit her website:

Randeane's Website
(Though not updated recently due to her busy schedule, the times and locations are accurate.)

Cost at these locations are all $10/blissful visit.

7:00pm Social
7:30pm Sharp, Event

$15

For more information, please contact Ron at:

Avant Garde - Salon, Spa, Holistic Center
328 East Main Steet
Branford, CT.

203.481.8443

Does something feel amiss?

I might be able to help. Contact me for a remote healing session.

~

$1/ minutes

~

Remote Healings do the same work as In-Person Sessions. Their aim is to bring alignment and wellbeing to the recipient.

Feedback from the owner of one of my clients:

I wanted to tell you that our cats, Kako and Teka, seem SO relaxed today and their eyes look different. More bright and shiny. They seem so laid back it's THAT noticeable. THANK you for working on them. I truly appreciate it. My husband noticed a huge difference in them when he came in from work while I was still sleeping. They came out to greet him and he said he forgot they were getting worked on until he was staring at them because something seemed very different about them. ;)

Churie

Maia Lynd
PO Box 377
Middlefield, CT 06455

Please note my new email address:
celebrateyourlight@gmail.com

203.543.5670

Maia's website

East Haddam, CT

Susan's Fine Salon & Gathering
www.susansfinesalon.com

Branford, CT

Avant Garde - Salon, Spa and Holistic Center
www.avantgardect.com

Somehow they multiplied. We now have three birdfeeders outside our glass doors and one more on the way. So we placed a small bistro set inside the doors. This is where me and Bob have our breakfast.

I suppose, delighting in these kinds of pleasures means we're getting old, however, how better to spend time than watch "bundles of innocence" magically appear out of the blue when the rest of the world is frozen?

Wishing you many moments of unexpected bliss.

maia

PS. One may not think it all that magical, as we bait them with food, however I am firm with Einstein on this one, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

...So the fact that I produced yet another Tidbits... that too is a miracle :)

How do you feel about New Year's Resolutions?

Do they get you thinking about all the things you messed up; how you fell short and what you could have done better?

They do to me.

This year I decided I wasn't going to go there. Instead I sat down and thought about all the things I had done that I was pleased about.

Everything from planting an herb garden - which has been far more gratifying than I ever expected - to starting the Shamanic Apprenticeship Program, to getting married, to having a new puppy.

I did a lot of things right last year, and in my book, those are the things that matter.

So what did you do right last year? What decisions have served you well; what are you most pleased about? How did 2011 create an even better version of you than before? And how exactly do you intend to celebrate this?

I don't know about you, but I'm having a large piece of really dark chocolate. :)

This month’s topic is about Presence.

Wonderful. Like watching birds eat seeds?

Something like that…

Often times it is taken for granted that one is present in one's own life, however humans have a mind that makes it possible for them to exist and function without being an integral part of their own lives. They manage to live many years, with their only understanding of life as paraphrased by their minds. One can live the majority of one's life primarily in the presence of past events and future concerns, instead of in the presence of one's own unfolding life.

The reason for this is because one's self, one's sense of self is paramount to the psyche and cannot be negotiated, and to give oneself fully to the present moment means to allow one's understanding of self a great deal of fluidity. This takes trust. The reason children find it so easy to be present and to be trusting is because their frontal lobe is undeveloped and with that, their sense of self. Having an undeveloped sense of self, there is no self to feel threatened, no self to feel lost or to be questioned.

The key here then is Trust. When one has built enough trust in life, when one feels so well connected with all that is that one is able to release one's need to define oneself, then one can fully emerge oneself in the present moment, just like a child.

It is Trust that allows one to be fully present in the unfoldment of one's life. To be present in the moment is most valuable as this is where your life is. This is where your power of transformation and manifestation lies. For all things, great and small, the present moment is not only your greatest asset; it is your only asset.

Our advice to you then is: do not struggle with being present, work on your trust. Be present in small doses at first; with your breath for instant, trusting the air to be there for you; be present with a rock and trust what it tells you; trust things that are easy to trust. As your trust grows you will find it easier and easier to be present.

To be present in the moment and to trust life, there is no greater joy. It is in truth, what Joy is.

… so I’m doing good then, with the birds?

You are doing great. :)

I started this Apprenticeship program last year and would like to offer it again this year.

The aim of the program is to help us grow in mindfulness:

• To achieve a deeper understanding of our connection to everything around us.
• To become a more loving and accepting participant in our own lives.
• To know, on a deeper level, our integral part in the unfoldment of our lives.

This is what a couple of students had to say about the program:

Sarah

I took Maia’s Apprenticeship program and it has been a life changing event for me. Even though I felt I didn't have enough background in this type of work, Maia made it all very accessible. It becomes a way of life, a whole new way of looking at things and experiencing nature. I am most grateful for my cohort of colleagues, “paqos”, with whom we develop a deep spiritual connection. – Debra

For those interested in learning more about the program I welcome you to a

The meeting will end when all questions have been answered (which I think came to about two hours last year). Please bring your calendars as we will agree on dates and times for our classes.

*) A One-Year program where we meet for four full weekends (with the option of a shorter Meetup in-between classes). It includes "homework" and is based on the teachings and cosmology of the Q’ero Shamans of Peru. Included in the program are rites of initiation in the lineage of these medicine people and the creation of a “Mesa” (medicine body).

PS. Last year I started off by calling the Program "To the Shaman the Cup is Always Full." Which turned out to be a bit cumbersome. However there is great truth in that statement and I feel that it is at the heart of what Shamanism has brought me... a sense that my cup is always full.

According to Shamanic beliefs everything has a spirit, and all spirits are of equal value. A cup is not half full, nor is it half empty... it is always full. Half of the cup contains the spirit of the water, and the other half, the spirit of the air. There is reverence and appreciation for all of life's expression. Acceptance and gratitude flows in where judgment and blame used to dwell.

Another movie I wanted to share with you. This one is read by Thich Nath Hanh, chanted by brother Phap Niem.

The work came from a CD/book called Graceful Passages: A Companion for Living and Dying, and it could be purchased by going to wisdomoftheworld.com