Happiness is... Reading Runes at Spirit Wise

Hello to you!

I am excited to announce that I have joined the team of readers and healers at Spirit Wise.

Spirit Wise is a metaphysical store in Centennial, CO. Not only do we carry a variety of incense, candles, and oils, Spirit Wise has some of the most beautiful jewelry I have seen. If you wish to check out the website, it's  www.spiritwisegifts.com.

You may know that I used to work there - on the floor, teaching classes, and reading runes. It was one of the most influential periods of my life, and I have missed that community connection.

Starting February 3rd, I will be at Spirit Wise on Wednesdays, helping customers and offering rune readings.

If you'd like to schedule a reading (between 11:30 am and 6:30 pm), please call Spirit Wise 303-730-2974.

Or just stop in; I can show you my favorite stones.

And yes, I have done a rune reading for the Aquarius moon.  It is HERE.


I hope you're having a great day!
-Lila

Well, this is a fine mess...

...and I mean fine as in small, thin, insubstantial in feel. (I'm going to have to look that up for my word for the day.) Difficult to pick up, difficult to contain, slippery. And tangled.

 I am in the middle, or the end, or possibly the eye of the tornado (is that the one with water?) staring at all the possiblities around me. Do I want to blog, for myself or others? What about coaching? What about Rune Readings? What about, what about, what about...

And with my blogs, I have so many options also.

And let us remember (please, let us remember) that I have stories I WANT TO WRITE! It's almost like I'm waiting for something, but I can't see what it is.

Okay. Inhale, exhale. Just keep moving forward, following the ideas that pop into my head, and seeing where they lead.

I hope you're having a great day!
-Lila

What aren't I doing?!!!

Okay, quick update, cuz if you've been keeping track, you'll notice a lot of activity all of the sudden.

I decided to add two new blogs - because I wanted them for me, and cuz I'm a writer, and cuz I'm really practicing putting my writing out there - one called Today's Practice... which is kind of akin to Life in Runes, except there are no runes. Just intentions for the daily practice. The other called Literal Logophile, which i just discovered I had named LoBophile. With a B. As in, a person who loves words but doesn't spellcheck her stuff.

Which is pretty accurate, actually. Maybe I should leave it. Hmm.

Anyway. I am also fixing up the first page of UnicAllen.com to reflect all the new stuff. I want to have it be prettier. I want to bring in more viewers and some income. (Yeah, lots of income. Yay income!).

I hope to get back to doing rune readings at least once a week. And I might actually post a meandering thought any day.

It's been an interesting Dark time (which doesn't actually fall in the winter. It's before winter. Kind of strange, since winter is the fallow time seasonally. But maybe it's not. The dark hour before dawn. Something to ponder. Back to me.) and I am looking forward to a lot of happy, writerly activity.

As always, thanks for being part of the journey.

-L

Oh, hello.

Hello to you!

Yes, it's been a while. A long while. I seem to have dropped out of sight - which would be a literal thing, wouldn't it, considering we're discussing blogs.

I have been practicing focusing on my writing... from a professional angle. I think I have posted about this previously (in Meanderings), about the Writers' Group session in which the question was posed - what does it mean to be a professional writer? 

And of course, I further took that to, do I WANT to be a professional writer? Am I happy when I am writing? The answer is, yes. Yup. Uh huh. Ja. Da. You betcha. Let's do it. Come on!

So, I have been practicing being a professional writer. Focusing my time. Scheduling my time. Honoring my time. And connecting with writing communities - on twitter, on FB, by newsletter and post.

In October, I did an excellent job of sticking to my time table. I have it in two parts - Structure and Writing. Interestingly, I haven't been getting much writing "writing" done... instead, my writing hours are occupied with fine-tuning Destiny Foretold - which means making sure I have a glossary set up, that I am spelling all the names the same, and that my time-line is meticulously tracked. This is important for two reasons - 1) there are two other books in the series and I need to be clear about what happens where; and 2) I am searching for agents. (hello, Agents!)

The search for agents is more involved than just sending a properly worded query letter - at least for me and my happiness. I realized (finally!) it's not just about someone liking my writing enough to help it expand. It's about connections. It's another version of finding my people.

I can do this. I am doing this. Yay me!

So, that's a quick glimpse into what I'm doing these days. Practicing professionalism. Next step, scheduling household matters around my writing. Blogging soon to follow. And maybe even the occasional Life in Runes. (Yay multiple streams of happiness!)

I imagine you're practicing your happiness on your own interesting journey of transformation and growth. If you're like me, it's a matter of remembering to breath. And knowing, each day is a new day with new choices.

I hope you're having a great day! I know I am.

-Lila

Newsletter - Virgo 2015

Hello to you!

I apologize for missing last month. It was a standard Lila pattern -- write it,  edit it, and never send it.  I plead a massive amount of processing.

But what were I processing,  you ask? 

Well, death and grief is at the top of the list, as I recently finished my volunteer training for Denver Hospice. The varied ways humans feel and express is a continued source of amazement for me.

Naturally, the training led to processing my personal griefs and deaths. We did an exercise - the time line of loss. And we listed, on this time line, all of our losses. Of course, at my awesomely enlightened age, I know that loss doesn't just include death. It includes all the changes we go through, and all the things - homes, cars, jobs - we attach too and eventually release.

In fact, it reminded me of Inside Out. (And if you haven't seen the movie, this is a bit of a spoiler.) When the main character went through something huge, something that required new tools to deal with, she ended up releasing a lot of her childhood attachments, crumbling foundations to rebuild something new and stronger. I think, as we grow and expand our experiences, we do the same, constantly. We build, redesign, tear down, rebuild, redecorate, release, rebuild… Perhaps all of us have a fantastical Escher-like construction inside to represent our most stable foundation.

So, to sum up, I've been processing loss and learning (most importantly?) there is no time-line for grief, and no exact pattern for grieving. And that loss affects more than just the relationship between me & the one who died. I've been finding a peace with a lot of changes in my life. Which, naturally, signaled an explosion of new things to process about myself.

What else I want for, with, and from my writing; the comfort of cargo pants; changing taste buds; that I have certain habits in new situations. And realizing I like my self-improvement process better than anyone else's. 

Which of course led to more processing about my personal truths, perspectives, goals for the future.

Obviously, the processing, and the growing hasn't stopped. It might never. But one of the things I processed about my writing is I really like it. So much, I'm now practicing how much time to give where. Meandering? Stories? So much to say, but what do I really, really want to share? And how?

Meanwhile, here's the next newsletter.

Let's hear it for adventures, the kind we look back on with a kind of dazed and hazy memory and scratch our heads and say, "I worked through that? I so rock."

I hope you have a great month!
-lila

Happiness is... Cancer 2015

Hello to you!

Another month. Another newsletter. We might actually have a trend!

After the whirlwind month of being outside of my home, I had a month of establishing new habits & patterns, practicing what works for me in the production department.

One thing I found is I have been shying away from the word "work". I mean, it has such difficult connotations. "I'm going to work" sounds like "Time to make the doughnuts." Trudge, trudge, trudge.

Also, shades of things perceived in my past, is what I do "real work"? Writing, counseling, being spiritual… doesn't that all fall into the slacker category? Like musician, actor, soccer mom, volunteer?

But if I take away the perceptions of work as an obligation, a prison, a cage of someone else's forging; and if I take away all the derogatory voices, "work" is simply a word.  Dictionary.com  defines it as: "exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something. Productive or operative activity. Employment, as in some form of industry, especially as a means of earning one's livelihood."

Do I consider what I do all day to require exertion or effort? Yes. And discipline. And organization. And focused concentration. And… (okay, we got it!)

Am I producing something? Or accomplishing something? Of course.

  I have produced blogs, published books, written stories and songs and plays. I have read the runes for the public (LIR) and for clients. I have given classes on runes and Wiccan.

   I share perspectives & possibilities. Expand the universe. Champion Uniqueness. Advocate Equal Rights. Entertain. And, of course, find Happiness. (pretty nice accomplishments.)

Am I industrious? More and more every day.

Is this the means for earning my livelihood? Yes, please.

So, am I working? Yes.

Therefore, I can be paid. Yay me! Because money is good. I like money. Money is my friend.

I currently have two goals which require money:

   to attend the Threshold Gathering in Oregon in September;

   and to have my work feed me in actual terms as well as metaphysical ones.

So, I am asking for money. In exchange for my work. Here are the options available so far.

  The blogs Meanderings & Life in Runes have a button at the top that says Pay Now. This is a way to tip, thru Paypal, in $1 increments. If you've enjoyed my words, I invite you to express your feelings with an exchange of cash. Thank you.

  The books can be purchased online as well. You can find all the links on Storytelling - which I expect to expand, as I add more books, more versions, and the ability to order directly from me.

  I do offer personal rune readings, Happiness coaching, and classes. However, I'm still practicing how to present and deliver these through the website. So if you are interested please send an email to lilaallen@unicallen.com.

I'd say it's time for me to get back to work, but this is part of the work, so I'll say, “Time to take the next step!”

I'll leave us with this thought to ponder: What effort do you exert in order to produce something? How much of that effort is for your livelihood?  And, of course, as well as money, does this effort bring you happiness?

I said four... (as seen in Newsletter).

Yeah, no, you didn't miss a newsletter last month either. We're trying again, again. Yay me!

This has been a terribly interesting month; feel free to insert whatever adjectives in there you wish. I would say I've run the gamut of emotions and intentions. Happily, I have ended the month still desiring to do what I'm doing - and hopefully do more of it! Time (have I said this before?) to bring the focus to the writing again. Yay! Joy! Excitement!

So, let's see if we can get this to the presses!

I hope you're having as much fun as I am!
-Lila