Archive for Stress Lesson – Page 2

YOUR PHONE RINGS AT A PARTY… “Hello? Hello?”

by ButterflyMoms
August 26th, 2011

Wherever you go this week remember that YOU are a part of the AMAZING ButterflyMoms community! Know that you are not alone, that you don’t have to effort in life. LIVING is NOT EFFORTING. If you are efforting you are GOING THE WRONG WAY. Come every Friday to connect and feed your soul…It’s the part of you that is absolutely PERFECTLY YOU! :) ! YAAAAY!!!

This week’s ButterflyMoms updates…

*Just finished our 13th week in a row of ButterflyMoms Workshops!!!!! My beautiful baby daughter Sophia lived for 13 months and because it was the 13th one everyone who came got a certificate for a free Reiki session! We also did a wonderful meditation that everyone love, love, loved. Don’t miss out on all the fun…Come next Thurs, September 1st at 8pm!  783 Washington St, Holliston. Plenty of FREE & EASY PARKING in back. Only $25 or just $20 if pay through Paypal http://bit.ly/mS7c70

*We sold yet another ENTREPRENEUR MOM EXTRAORDINAIRE book this week to the wonderful attorney Janice Wilson who is putting the city of WRENTHAM, MA on the ButterflyMoms map. YAY JANICE FOR SUPPORTING MY DREAMS! THANK YOU!… See the cool list of all the countries and states where people have bought books…*To feed the soul of a friend buy them a copy by CLICKING HERE NOW… http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

*Just finished my Reiki III Master Certification last week in Rhode Island. Have already done some long distance healing to people who don’t necessarily believe or even know what it is but the results were wonderful, because Reiki is wonderful. One was in Lisbon, Portugal, the other two were in Hudson, MA. I feel very happy to have accomplished this! Next comes teacher training :) !

SAVE  THESE  DATES…FOR YOUR HEART :) !

 

√  WHIP OUT your calendar and write down Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 21-23 you have a date with yourself in Vermont at the beautiful Lareau Farm Inn for the first “EVAH” ButterflyMoms Fall Retreat! Price is only $299 if you pay before October 2, after that it goes up to $365 which includes all the workshops, materials, most meals and lodging. There are a very limited number of spots so don’t be on the outside wishing you had booked it! Just book it now and be done with it! YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!! TALK ABOUT REJUVINATING YOUR SOUL!!! WOW! For a flyer send me an email maria at butterflymoms.com :) !

 

√  On the 10th anniversary of 9-11 there will be a ButterflyMoms Healing Share on Sunday, September 11 from 4-6 pm at the offices above Brick House Realty. For more information please send me an email maria @ butterflymoms.com. This is a way to shift the energy of our planet from the horrors of 9-11 into healing and love. Bring a donation to the food pantry. Event is Free. Kids are welcome.

 

√  I will be speaking at the DreamFactory Luncheon on Thursday, September 22 from 11:30-2:00pm. The topic is IGNITE YOUR BIGGEST DREAM! It will be held in Framingham at the Bella Costa restaurant (147 Cochituate Rd). Lunch for 1st time attendees to the DreamFactory Community is only $25 (the lunch is VERY yummy!) If you have a business to promote and would like support around that this is a wonderful community to belong to…To sign up: http://www.cantorconsulting.com/Programs/tabid/298/CategoryID/68/Default.aspx

 

 

Now onto the ButterflyMoms blog…

 

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLYMOMS!

WOW! When you are on your path, you start noticing and seeing how life shifts!

When you were very little, you played in the world. As you began to grow, the good opinions of others also grew.  You noticed that you would be rewarded for certain behaviors and punished for others. You began to follow a line of behavior that comes from the OUTSIDE of YOU, instead of INSIDE. This has worked for millions of years of human existence because it truly helped us simply survive….but now…Now we live in a different world where the OUTSIDE voices have run amok!

Yes, we start off listening to our inner voice then somewhere it switches to such a degree that we don’t even know if we still have one anymore. If you are alive, you have an inner voice, no matter how silent you think it has been. That precious voice is your INTUITION, the very first GPS in the universe. ITS PURPOSE is to guide you towards YOUR PURPOSE. So what happens when you ignore it? You know what happens. You start wandering aimlessly through the world trying this and doing that but not really ever “fitting” anywhere.

Imagine that you are at a party in the middle of nowhere with no ride. Assume this is a vvvvvvvery loud party with people talking, laughing, yelling, and loud music. Your phone rings. It is someone who wants to give you important directions. You can make out a few words but most of it is incomprehensible. Let’s say that the caller is giving you directions on how to get to your happiness, your life’s treasure, your purpose. What do you do then? Do you stay at this party and keep trying to piece what is being said? Do you turn off the music? Do you tell people to be quiet? Do you move to a place where you think you can hear better? When none of this works what do you do? Do you start to get angry and start blaming…the phone, the people, the party, the noise, your situation, the caller, your hearing?

TAKE A DEEP BREATH! If you are a fan of mysteries like James Bond (or Austin Powers) ;) where you were wondering how he would get out of his predicament, let’s apply those powers of figuring it out here.

No matter what you believe, what label you give it, we all come from SOURCE ENERGY. SOURCE ENERGY is constant. It never takes a day off, never has a blip in the matrix. The more you can become aware of that SOURCE ENERGY the more you can HEAR/SEE/FEEL/KNOW what your next step is. BTW, SOURCE ENERGY is the one calling you at that loud party.

Now you might be wondering, “WHY WHY WHY would SOURCE ENERGY be calling me when I’m at a vvvvvvvvvvery loud party!? How inconsiderate!” The key here is that all that party noise is what you create in your life. That represents all the STUFF you keep adding to be able to live the life others have told you (directly and indirectly), you are supposed to live…. “good grades”, “good schools” “good job”, “good husband/wife”,  “nice house”, “2.5 kids”…and a dog. WE are all GUILTY of FILLING OUR LIVES with all the things(both activities and items) that are supposed to make us happy. We do it for a while, might even do it for a long while but it’s like wearing shoes that are a tad bit too big/small. It might look fine on the outside but on the inside it does not FEEL GOOD. Sure you can cut off your feelings and “suck it up” (as we say/insinuate to our kids and ourselves) and walk in those shoes anyways for a while. Some even do it their entire lives because after a while they are just numb all over. They kill their feelings because they want to hear the message. SIDENOTE: This is typically when DIS-EASE (diseases) start entering the body.

So HOW do you start listening to/ connecting with SOURCE ENERGY? Think of your day today. It is most likely filled with STUFF you “have” TO DO. REMINDER TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH HERE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :) ! FEELS GOOD!

If you choose to CARVE OUT time in your day for a moment, a minute, a string of moments to still your mind you will get to this place where you connect to SOURCE ENERGY. The word MEDITATION “scares”, or maybe it more “annoys” people because to the mind it is has the perception of being “boring”. I was (and on certain days still am) one of those people. I never grew up with it. Did not know what it was or HOW to do it. I now see how wonderful of a gift it can be. There are a million different ways to meditate. It is worth taking the time to explore which one works best for you. It can be as simple as getting on YOUTUBE and doing a guided mediation on there with someone who looks worth listening to, for you. Meditation is so important that we do meditations at the ButterflyMoms Workshops and will also be doing it at the Retreat in October. (I soooooo hope you join us.)

Most of the things on your TO DO LIST will drain you, putting:

 √ Play with Meditation today

will feed your soul.

Great big hugs,
Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

PS   HEY! HEY! I CO-AUTHORED A BOOK! YESSIR I DID! The following is a list of places where ButterflyMoms live who bought our wonderful book MOM ENTREPRENEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE… Buy one so you can put your city/town/country on the list like so many other beautiful ButterflyMoms have!

UNITED STATES

California

Anaheim 1

Fullerton 1

Sacramento 1

San Bruno 1

Connecticut

Greenwich 1

Yalesville 1

Florida

Fort Lauderdale 1

Kentucky

Louisville 1

Maryland

Chestertown 1

Massachusetts

Ashland 2

Bolton 1

Holliston 13

Hudson 4

Medway 3

North Easton 1

Sherborn 1

South Grafton 1

Watertown 1

Worcester 3

Wrentham (NEW THIS WEEK! THANK YOU JANICE WILSON FOR ADDING YET ANOTHER TOWN TO OUR EVER GROWING LIST! HOW COOL! )

Missouri

Lee’s Summit 1

New York

Scarsdale 1

Stony Brook 1

Ohio

Dublin 1

Rhode Island

Newport 1

Vermont

Waitsville (Mad River Valley) 2

AUSTRIA

Wien, Austria 2

IRELAND

Dublin, Ireland 1

ITALY

Rome, Italy 3

JAPAN

Tokyo  1

PORTUGAL

Santa Maria (Azores/Açores)  1

SCOTLAND     

Greenock

SPAIN

Madrid 1

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*To buy your copy Click here now…http://bit.ly/gRxe4U


*Mark your calendar to read ButterflyMoms EVERY Friday!

*Share the ButterflyMoms blog with your beloved friends! Spread the love!  www.butterflymoms.com

NOW HIT the “Like” button below: because you can! :)

Categories Awareness Lesson, Stress Lesson, The Basics of Life
Comments (8)

Wiggle At Your Own Discretion….

by ButterflyMoms
August 5th, 2011

Our guest speaker Paula Mark and her kids. SHE ROCKED THE HOUSE!!!

Good Morning Dearest Beautiful ButterflyMoms,

Here are this week’s important yet “wicked” fun ButterflyMoms updates…

*Just finished our 10th week in a row of ButterflyMoms workshops! WHEW WHO!!! This week had the beautiful Paula Mark of Holliston who runs Doe Hill Farm. Since we have been talking about the first three chakras she brought in the herbs that accompany them. We learned about infusions and concoctions and had a great time tasting and smelling them. It feels awesome! Next week we are doing something different. We’re continuing our 11th class again next Thursday, August 11th, 8pm.

Wait, there’s more…GREAT NEWS! For those for whom Thursday nights don’t work I’m going to teach ONE Wednesday night class on HOW TO MANIFEST WHAT YOU WANT from 7-9pm. See if this will work better for you. :)

Both workshops will be held at 783 Washington St, Holliston. Plenty of FREE parking in back. Only $25 at the door or just $20 if you drop off a check or pay through Paypal… http://bit.ly/mS7c70 .   If you have been thinking about coming just do it…Come to feed your soul! You will be soooooooooooo happy you did!

*SAVE THE DATE. I’m thrilled to let you know that we are having our very first ButterflyMoms retreat!!!! This time in Vermont. Save the date on your calendar for the weekend of October 22, 2011! You probably want to take that Friday off so that you have even more time to yourself!!! :) TALK ABOUT REJUVINATING YOUR SOUL!!! WOW! :) More details to follow!

*For the 17thth week my computer and website issues are still a work in progress. My computer is now in the hands of the fifth computer guy, maybe the fifth time is the charm, eh? Please keep sharing the site to friends.

*No books sold this week. *To buy your very own personally autographed copy Click here now…http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

Now onto the ButterflyMoms blog…

Good Morning Beautiful ButterflyMoms!

We are experiencing the middle of summer and I’m personally sensing a SHIFT. Are you? I have taken enough classes, read enough books, seen enough soap operas (both real and on TV) ;) and lived enough to know that TRUE happiness comes for being present in the moment. Not to be rude but I don’t really need a long-bearded “guru” to tell me that, but KNOWING and DOING are two different worlds. What I do need is gentle and sometimes not-so-gentle reminders of being in the moment, where all of LIFE’s JUICE is! And I, for one, ENVISION myself living life in a JUICY WAY! How about you?

YUP this is definitely me! ;)

This week after years of procrastinating, my husband Doug and I went to the Ashram in Millis, Massachusetts and took a yoga class there. Now I’ve been doing yoga for a very long time, longer than most on the east coast and whenever I CARVE out the time for it, I feel sooooooooo wonderful! I feel like I’m connecting to the fun part of me, the deeper more present part of me.

Now two nights before I had seen EAT, PRAY, LOVE (book is better but movie is good too) and I had that vision of her there in my mind. I like Julia Roberts’ energy so it was a reminder that yoga is fun and for me to CONNECT with that fun!

My yoga class was taught by the beautiful Victoria Haffer, the Ashram's director! She is sooo great at what she does!

Honor thy "toesies"... it should be one of the Commandments

So there I was at the Ashram in Millis in this STUNNING room. I was sitting in a pose with my knees bent in the position most of us call the BUTTERFLY…did not get that HIT until now, WOW! DUH! The Butterfly! Ahhhhhh….never a dull moment!

So in this position the soles of my feet are together and as I’m looking down I see my toes and especially the bottom of my toes…that started me thinking, no, not thinking more like wondering while I was OBSERVING my “toesies” (as my 3 year old Isabella would call them). For a few PRECIOUS MOMENTS I was completely mesmerized by them. They seemed to wiggle at their own discretion. They seemed really happy and childlike to me. I noticed I had never REALLY noticed them, especially the bottom of my “toesies”. I thought about all the thousands and thousands of miles they have helped me move from one place to another. REALLY take that in for a moment. I let myself feel what it would feel like if I had not had that ability. In those few precious moments I was in my own blissful world, being present and loving every moment.

Sometimes in a world full of people who are SLEEPING or going through life on AUTOMATIC PILOT, only something huge like drugs, sugar or Disneyland can bring some satisfaction but really THE SECRET is much closer than most of “the advertisers” would lead us to believe, just look down at your “beautiful” “toesies”, notice them, wiggle them, love them and thank them for all the happiness and adventure they have brought and continue to bring to your life….This is being in the present moment. This is the recipe for how joy and meaning gets invited into your life…I invite you to send out YOUR INVITATION every moment you see your BEAUTIFUL TOESIES!  :) !!!!!

Great big hugs,
Mariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
:)

PS   HEY! I CO-AUTHORED A BOOK! WOW! The following is a list of places where ButterflyMoms live who bought our wonderful book MOM ENTREPRENEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE… Buy one so you can put your city/town/country on the list like so many other beautiful ButterflyMoms have! :)

UNITED STATES

California

Anaheim 1

Fullerton 1

Sacramento 1

San Bruno 1

Connecticut

Greenwich 1

Yalesville 1

Florida

Fort Lauderdale 1

Kentucky

Louisville 1

Maryland

Chestertown 1

Massachusetts

Ashland 2

Bolton 1

Holliston 12

Hudson 4

Medway 3

North Easton 1

Sherborn 1

South Grafton 1

Watertown 1

Worcester 3

Missouri

Lee’s Summit 1

New York

Scarsdale 1

Stony Brook 1

Ohio

Dublin 1

Rhode Island

Newport 1

Vermont

Waitsville (Mad River Valley) 2

AUSTRIA

Wien, Austria 2

IRELAND

Dublin, Ireland 1

ITALY

Rome, Italy 3

JAPAN

Tokyo  1

PORTUGAL

Santa Maria (Azores/Açores)  1

SPAIN

Madrid 1

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Have a fabulous week!

*To buy your copy Click here now…http://bit.ly/gRxe4U


*Mark your calendar to read ButterflyMoms EVERY Friday!

*Share the ButterflyMoms blog with your beloved friends! Spread the love!  www.butterflymoms.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Categories Awareness Lesson, butterfly, butterflymoms, Life Lessons, Stress Lesson, The Basics of Life
Comments (6)

Millions of Tiny, Little CHOICES

by ButterflyMoms
July 15th, 2011

Dearest Beautiful ButterflyMoms,

Here are this week’s important ButterflyMoms updates…

*Started our ButterflyMoms Chakra workshops and welcomed some new faces. Thank you Denise, Kerri, Jennifer, Mary, Christine and Susan and  to Karen, Raquel, Nancy, Ellen, Maria, Nancy, Karen, Karin, Hilde, Christine, Donna, Jess and Gaynor who were there in spirit! We’re meeting again next Thursday, July 21st, 8pm at 783 Washington St, Holliston. Plenty of FREE parking in back. Only $25 at the door or just $20 if you drop off a check or pay through Paypal… http://bit.ly/mS7c70 . :)  Come to feed your soul!

*For the 13 or 14th week my computer and website issues are still a work in progress. Please keep sharing the site to friends. I apologize for the hiccups.

*No new books sold for MOM ENTREPRENEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE this week. Third week of no book sales. All potential book buyers must be on vacation… I hope they come back soon! ;) . Keep putting your dream out there too!

 

THIS WEEK's BUTTERLYMOMS WINNER... Kerri Miller holding her! prize!!

 

*We had our second ButterflyMoms blog contest and picked the winner last night at the ButterflyMoms workshop. (drum roll) Envelop please…And the winner is…. the beautiful KERRI  MILLER of Holliston. Kerri has attended all seven of the ButterflyMoms workshops!!!! YAY KERRI! I guess all the power of attraction exercises are paying off, eh?! ;) Kerri Miller is a Holistic Health Practitioner and Feng Shui Master, coaching those seeking better health by integrating Nutritional Coaching, Energetic Healing,  Aromatherapy! More contests coming in the fall!

Now onto the ButterflyMoms blog…

We’ve all heard the saying, “Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans.” Well that is JUST how my morning went. In the middle of writing my blog I heard a H-U-G-E thump. I don’t know if you have ever heard the sound of a body falling…even from a very short distance. It is a very eerie sound. I heard this sound this morning…It was one of our exchange students who had an infection on her leg and did not let us know. She was in severe pain and did not sleep at night at all. She was exhausted and literally passed out downstairs in the kitchen at like 6am this morning! Long story short she is fine after six hours of an ambulance ride, working out insurance from another country, CAT scan, blood samples, injections of morphine, shots of novocain, draining her wound, saline drip and antibiotics, standing in line, booking a follow up appointment and getting prescriptions.

The day was filled with emotion! Being in the hospital not knowing if she was ok or not triggered when I was there five years ago when Sophia died. I have to admit that a lot of times when I’m with other people around, I SWALLOW MY FEELINGS about her death, about missing her. I don’t know if I think people don’t want to be “bothered” or “cannot handle it”. I also FEAR that if I start crying it will trigger THE ABYSS OF PAIN that parents who lose children KNOW in their cells. It is almost PALPABLE, this pain. I know it is not real but when you are IN IT, it feels like the most real things in the world.

Just like every day, my day was made up of millions of tiny, little choices. Today I chose to FEEL my grief when it came up and not BURY it somewhere inside. I cried in front of Laura, Doug, about four nurses, two doctors and one waitress. At least FOR TODAY I let go of what others would do or say. I FELT THE FEELING and THEN EXPRESSED IT…this time is through tears…other times is through HUGGING.

Hugging Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick

I HUG a lot because each time I do it gives me the opportunity to CONNECT with another soul and show my GRATITITUDE for being here. I have found in this lifetime that we as humans have a tendency of neglecting our bodies, a lot! Hugging allows people to GROUND themselves and BE PRESENT. Most people LOVE hugs because it brings them to their present moment. I have a suspicion that when people don’t like hugs it’s probably because it triggers a past moment instead of a present one.

Today I allowed myself to FEEL SAD and it did not send me to the ABYSS OF PAIN I so fear, at times. This journey has a lot to do with trust. The only power we have is CHOICE. When I try to CONTROL things Igive away the only power I’ve ever had, that is the power of CHOICE! When I’m in my present moment and feeling what comes up I CREATE an OPPORTUNITY to raise my quality of life by allowing ENERGY to NATURALLY FLOW. Blocking ENERGY leads to nothing but grief and pain.

I invite you to PLAY with whatever feelings come up for you…FEELINGS ARE WISDOM, it is how the universe communicates. When I FEAR MY FEELINGS I BLOCK MY FLOW OF ABUNDANCE! Just noticing when I do it….and the consequences I receive for FLOW or  LACK OF FLOW. CHOICE is the key. The key only exists in the PRESENT MOMENT. May you remember to savor your “NOW”!

Great big hugs,

Maariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
:)

The following is a list of places where ButterflyMoms live who bought our wonderful book MOM ENTREPRENEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE…

UNITED STATES

California

Anaheim 1

Fullerton 1

Sacramento 1

San Bruno 1

Connecticut

Greenwich 1

Yalesville 1

Florida

Fort Lauderdale 1

Kentucky

Louisville 1

Maryland

Chestertown 1

Massachusetts

Ashland 2

Bolton 1

Holliston 12

Hudson 4

Medway 3

North Easton 1

Sherborn 1

South Grafton 1

Watertown 1

Worcester 3

Missouri

Lee’s Summit 1

New York

Scarsdale 1

Stony Brook 1

Ohio

Dublin 1

Rhode Island

Newport 1

Vermont

Waitsville (Mad River Valley) 2

AUSTRIA

Wien, Austria 2

IRELAND

Dublin, Ireland 1

ITALY

Rome, Italy 3

JAPAN

Tokyo  1

PORTUGAL

Santa Maria (Azores/Açores)  1

*To buy your copy Click here now…http://bit.ly/gRxe4U

*Mark your calendar to read ButterflyMoms EVERY Friday!

Share the ButterflyMoms blog with your beloved friends! Spread the love!  www.butterflymoms.com

Categories Awareness Lesson, death, Death of a Child, Journeys, Life Lessons, loss, Loss as a Powerful Life Lesson, loss of a child, Parenthood, Sprituality of Motherhood, Stress Lesson, The Basics of Life
Comments (9)

Mandy Heliotis and Sophia Schmidt… NOW WHAT?!

by ButterflyMoms
June 17th, 2011

Dearest Beautiful ButterflyMoms,

Here are this week’s important housekeeping issues….

*Last night we had yet another ButterflyMoms Manifestation Class. We fed a lot of souls. :) Because it feels so good we’re having another one. We’re meeting next Thursday, June 23th, 8pm at 783 Washington St, Holliston. Easy to get to on Rt 16 & FREE parking in back. Only $25 at the door (still let me know you’re coming because space is limited) or just $20 if you drop off a check or pay through Paypal… http://bit.ly/mS7c70 . It’s a simple first step to get back to the happy you…so grab on to it! :)

*My computer and website stuff was put on hold due to our Mandy’s passing. My intention is to address it this week so I will be better at answering your emails. ;)  For right now it is what it is. ;) …My gentle reminder again to SURRENDER! continues ;)

*We sold zero MOM ENTREPRENEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE books last week. If it has been your intention to buy a book please do so this week by clicking here… http://bit.ly/gRxe4U. A list of where in the world books have been bought by other ButterflyMoms is at the end of this blog. It’s a pretty spectacular list of places. When you buy a book yours is added too!

Now onto the blog…

All the initial “funeral” attention is over. Although it has only been a little over a week I have found that this is one of the hardest phases of mourning. My world has totally shifted again HOWEVER most everyone else is still living their lives like before. They have moved on. They have enough OTHER THINGS in their life to “forget”, those closest to Mandy don’t have that luxury. Wherever we go we see her face. At random moments we remember her smell. We feel her around us but oftentimes feel helpless to connect. How do you communicate with someone who no longer has form?

Joy Dorsey and Rhys Thomas...Two Very Talented Healers and Teachers!

I am in my second year of school for this at the Rhys Thomas Energy Medicine School. I am much better than I used to be at connecting to things that have no form but still realize how very, very little I actually know. For me, specifically, I have a double dose of AWARENESS right now because in just a few days, on June 22, it will be our Sophia’s 5th Anniversary of her passing. It sounds cliché but I KNOW they are together. I mean I know that Sophia helped Mandy with her transition. As I write this there is a part of me that is FLASHING a big red WARNING light saying, “Don’t talk about this! What are people going to think.” Well, in my experience with everything I have studied and gone through, for me this is all true. I think the more people know about this the more we can get on with the business of enjoying the precious little time we have here in this lifetime…so I continue…

When we first got the call last week it was to say that Mandy had been hurt in a car accident and that it was dire. At that point she was already dead but we did not know that. I immediately sat on my couch and attempted to “tune in” to Mandy’s energy field. We do this in class for practice but this was the real deal. I desperately wanted information. In class I find myself blocking and even belittling my abilities because I see how much better others are at it than I am.  (Sidenote: Oftentimes we are our own worst enemies. We are our own BULLIES stomping any possibility of success. Notice when your BULLY comes out and how it affects your life.)

When I tuned in I got that there was something wrong with her wrists. I got that she was surrounded by lots of angels with lots of blue in the background like the magical ceiling at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. I got that she could not breathe. I was so IN THE MOMENT that I asked Sophia to go to her and see if she could see anything.

Beautiful Mandy :)

It felt like Sophia had been with me all along – I just had not really noticed but when I brought awareness to it she was right there. Instantly I saw Sophia was in the scene “sitting” IN Mandy’s lap. Sophia  kept evaporating or turning into something other than form. I could tell she was trying to hang on but there was nothing to hang out to. There was no emotion with this just information. It was all very matter-of-fact.  That is all I got. I went back to Doug who was at the kitchen table desperately trying to call someone – anyone – to get more information about our beloved Mandy. I described what I saw and said, “I got nothing.”

Haunting photo I took of Mandy and Sophia...So Beautiful!

It was only later that I found out that Mandy had broken both wrists in the crash and she died pretty instantly. We think she broke her neck which would have caused her to stop breathing. Mandy was already dead by the time I tried to connect with her so the message I got was there was nothing there was accurate. The fact that in my moment of grief that I reached out to Sophia and got such a simple, yet powerful, message, gives me much solace.

This has been a very rough week but also a very POWERFUL one. I want to take from Mandy’s death not the cliché reminder TO ENJOY each moment we are given. We have heard that so many times that maybe we will do that for a few minutes/hours /days but after a while we DEFAULT to the “BUSY”. We don’t like to stay in the uncomfortable. We like to FILL in the gaps of silence with STUFF, THINGS, GADGETS, CALLS, TELEVISION, BUSY WORK, IPADS, IPODS, etc., so we don’t have to be. These pretty shiny things are wonderful in moderation but we have let them FILL OUR EXISTENCE. We don’t know where they begin and we end.

Jamie and Mialotta...two cousins making new memories

The gifts that Mandy has brought me this week are many. I got to CONNECT with her friends and even members from my family that I did not bother to connect with on a deep basis because life was just too busy. Well, DEATH blows the lid off of BUSY!!!!!

Aunt Mimi, Aunt Nini and James

I got to meet and savor some of her beloved friends including James, Danny and Billie. I got to connect with my other niece, beautiful Nicole, and nephew, beautiful Daniel who are much younger and who were in that cloud of grief that many adults don’t understand. It is a hard place for kids to be. Fortunately or unfortunately, I’m a bit of an “expert” on kids and grief so I let my instinct take over. I showed them that I REALLY saw them through a few things we did together. I could see the difference it made for them and it surprisingly made a HUGE difference for me! WHAT A GIFT!!! Now we have pledged to write letters to each other for a whole year. No emails or boxes, just a simple letter written between us. Mialotta and I have already sent the first one. It contained in the letter fun math problems (because Daniel is working on his math skills), stickers and some of the funnier Sunday comics…funny I had not read the Sunday comics in years…I used to LOVE it!!! Yes, another simple gift…AND there were many other gifts…

I got to see my own daughter process some of her grief from her baby sister’s death and that of her beloved artistic cousin. “Whose going to give me hugs and kisses like Mandy does?,” she said sobbing. I got the gift of meeting Mandy’s beloved high school art teacher who is starting a scholarship in Mandy’s memory. :) Mandy would have LOVED that!!! You could easy tell she loved Mandy very much! Amy spoke about how Mandy loved her art and often came back to mentor other kids. I invited Amy to read ButterflyMoms this week. I hope she is reading it right now! ;)

Stan shared his poetry, his memories and his heart

I got the gift of connection with a long-time friend of the family Stan from Manhattan who is a dearheart and whom I’ve gotten to know over the years through FB. I got to connect with some of the family’s old friends/neighbors especially Tonya and Lou who taught me the gift of being present with someone’s grief, with just showing up and holding the space for a bereaved mother to simply cry her heart out for the child she will never again hold. I got the gift of deeply connecting with my brothers-in-law, a studly group of gentlemen with hearts the size of the Empire State Building. I got the gift of connecting to Valerie, Carrie and Evelyn who showed what true friendship and support is all about. I got the gift of connecting with my Sophia on a whole new level that I will continue to explore. There are many, many, many other gifts that I received and even more that I will receive from our beautiful Mandy.

Photo of Mialotta taken by Mandy Heliotis

I cannot change her death but I can live my life in a way that honors what she stood for, all that courage to be authentic, all that passion, all that love, all that vision, all that creativity, all that connection, all that presence. I can increase my AWARENESS of when she is around and how she still influences the world through the magnificence that we call MANDY!

One of Mandy's paintings...sooo much talent!

I invite you to live your life in the present moment and see all the wonderful gifts around you!!! BREATHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! :) FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL! LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLOVE!!!!

Great big hugs,

Maariaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
:)

The following is a list of places where ButterflyMoms live who bought our wonderful book MOM ENTREPRENEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE…

UNITED STATES

California

Anaheim 1

Fullerton 1

Sacramento 1

San Bruno 1

Connecticut

Greenwich 1

Yalesville 1

Kentucky

Louisville 1

Maryland

Chestertown 1

Massachusetts

Ashland 2

Holliston 11

Hudson 4

Medway 3

North Easton 1

Sherborn 1

South Grafton 1

Watertown 1

Worcester 3

Missouri

Lee’s Summit 1

New York

Scarsdale 1

Stony Brook 1

Ohio

Dublin 1

Rhode Island

Newport 1

Vermont

Waitsville (Mad River Valley) 2

AUSTRIA

Wien, Austria 2

IRELAND

Dublin, Ireland 1

ITALY

Rome, Italy 3

JAPAN

Tokyo  1

PORTUGAL

Santa Maria (Azores/Açores)  1

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Categories Awareness Lesson, butterflymoms, death, Death of a Child, grief, Journeys, Life Lessons, loss, Loss as a Powerful Life Lesson, loss of a child, love, reaching out, Salomao, Schmidt, Sophia, Sprituality of Motherhood, Stress Lesson, The Basics of Life
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