An Intention for my College Bound Daughter

I pray for strength. I pray for kindness.  I pray for patience.  I pray for enduring acceptance.

Please, Holy One, keep her safe from harm. May my daughter meet people that fill her life with laughter, good, clean, safe fun and life-long friendships she can count on.  May she be filled with your light and love so she attracts only that into her days.  Help her identify struggles quickly so the universe may bring her the solution she needs without pause. May He Who Is To Come enter her life for the first time this fall.  Let him be a brilliant young man who thrives on an impeccable work ethic.  Bring his unmatched character and never-critical self to shift her heart. When she needs space to be alone in reflection, he offers the time before she asks.  When she needs closeness and affection, he holds her in timeless silence.  He is tactful, considerate and gracious.  Those who meet him are instantly drawn to him.  He honors her wisdom as equal to his own. He never harms her emotionally and absolutely never physically.  His respect for her is unending.  This is my intention for my daughter, my glorious offspring.  Her grace is our gift.  Her happiness our perpetual quest.

shift the trajectory of the energy of the world

As I wait right now for my beautiful 13 year old son to arrive home safely from school, I was finally able to cry while watching this video. I have not felt the same since Friday. When we send our children off to school in the morning, we trust they will come home to us each afternoon.  We are indeed at a crossroads in human existance.  I pray to God that in some small way, we Christians can shift the trajectory of the energy of the world for our children and our children's children so love will "flash mob" constantly in their lives.…..Watch the video below all the way to the end for a warm surprise.

Blessing, Peace and Healing love this holiday season to you

...http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Vnt7euRF5Pg&vq=medium

Unconditional Alan

Tonight as I left Alan's room with a quick hug and a hand grab, I barely looked back to see him wave goodbye as I passed through the doorway. Then, suddenly, after I had taken 10 steps out into the hallway, something made me turn around and go back into his room. I walked toward him. He gave me a puzzled look. I put my arms around him, laid my head on his right shoulder, placed my right hand on his left shoulder and held him. Quietly. I said nothing. I just held him for at least two minutes. “I love you buddy,” I finally said as I pulled away to return home to my family. I love you buddy. Unconditionally. Without waves or scratches in mirrors. I just love you.

Thanksgiving 2011

On this Thanksgiving weekend, I am thankful for my wise, witty, wonderful daughter. At times, we swipe the wind right out of her sails. She is patient with us. We are patient with her. She is spreading her wings. We want her to stay our little girl. Safe, obedient, rule follower little girl. I love her for growing up into a respectful, wise, loving young woman.

I am thankful for my silly, super-charged handsome son who is so intense when he focuses hard on the things he loves. He is my intense reader that plows through book after book after book. He is my snuggler at 12 years old who still holds my hand when we walk side by side.

I am thankful for my home, my husband, my friends and family. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for life. Now, Lord, help me find my place in the world of the gainfully employed…please.

Consolidated Love

-by deliberate deborah

From the 2012 NYT best seller,

Universal Intentions

The universe does not revolve

Around one kind of love.

The energy is miracle-making

It’s power unimaginable until

Fully absorbed and accepted.

Thank you Great Spirit

For blessing us with multiple loves.

Friends, family, lovers, children

Our hearts expand, our souls rejoice.

Their love consolidates around us

Lives touch ours and go.

Lives penetrate ours and stay.

Angling through arteries

Clasping corners of compassion.

Timeless love, emotional love, soul-filled love,

Romantic love, parent-child love, and universal love

Consolidate into a saving grace.

Love another with ego-less intimacy

And consolidated love will find you

In return.

Emotional Intimacy

I used to think loneliness was the worst of silent enemies and the lack of companionship is the worst burden we could bear in our lives. But today I realize that while most of us have a number of companions in our lives, the lack of emotional intimacy is the silent killer.

We all deeply need that tender, heart-glowing feeling that sweeps over us when a bond is being formed with another. When you can look into each others eyes, say nothing and know they authentically are aching to hear what you have to say - good or bad. Emotional intimacy - when another person will work at loving you the way you want to be loved. Romantic or platonic intimacy is a treasured gift indeed and I seek more of it. I ask for it to appear more frequently in my days. Today, is my son's 12th birthday...my youngest child is in middle school this year...as he grows older...I grow more.... reflective, relevant and responsive to those around me.

Thanks for keeping me regular (LOL!)

To my friends who check my blog regularly, even if you are not an official "follower," I thank you! When I know someone else's routine is counting on MY routine to write something new, I am more likely to follow through and put my words in the world. Thank you for your support and friendship!

To my fellow Pisces's (you know who you are) here are a few recent shared horoscopes...

1) You're sensitive, Pisces, and impressionable. You may not appreciate the intense atmosphere building, but it may be just what you need to get motivated. Yes, you're about to face a lot of pressure, but you can handle it. No more planning, no more delays, no more staring off into space. Buckle down and get your work done.

2)Have you ever thought about writing or working for a company in which you can use your excellent communication skills, Pisces? The planetary alignment emphasizes writing and communication. It's time to show the world that you have a gift and that people can count on you to do a great job. Think about the publishing business.

In the zone

I am in the zone when writing
For love of the words it reaps.
I am in the zone when teaching
For love of the youth I reach.
I am in the zone when laughing
For love of the company I keep.
I am in the zone when giving
For love of community runs deep.
I am in the zone when listening
For the love of God...I leap.

I went to an all day retreat yesterday where someone read my palm. The lines said I am blessed with "off the charts" intuition that goes mostly untapped and creativity that gets pushed aside too. The other lines say I am a healer - a humanitarian. I ask for your NRG this week that I may find clarity around my life’s mission sooner rather than later. I will do the same for you...as we all move through this world trying to seek out "what we want to be when we grow up?" may we support each other on that quest....or maybe, I'm the only one who struggles with this question....????

Find your very own Biltmore

My coffee cup was nearly exhausted of its precious Sunday morning flavor as I picked up the Travel section of the Star Tribune today. It is Mother’s Day. While my son Jakob watched morning cartoons in his grey and white jammies and tweenager daughter Krista slept like a Lake Superior rock, I read the Star Tribune from front to back page. Section by section my palms cuffed the paper and ink. As the words filled my mind the images filled my soul.

The story Biltmore’s natural grandeur, May 10, 2009, by Jim Buchta, inspired me to encourage women everywhere to find their way to a Biltmore mansion of their own. So many of us are full time moms, full time employee, part time dreamers, writers, entrepreneurs and visionaries. We barely pause to contemplate how full time plus full time plus part time anything can add up to sanity. We just plow through our days. George Washington Vanderbilt, the wealthy industrialist who conceived the Biltmore mansion, the largest home in America, reconnected with his dreams and visions in his “summer home.” He moved quickly through his demanding life, chaotic schedules, too-short days and sleepless nights, only to slow down in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina where his European-inspired home brought him peace a century ago. Today it offers rejuvenation to millions of weary reporters, suburban housewives, and honeymooning couples each year.

The Biltmore is symbolic of finding spaces and places to reconnect with dreams and visions of our own. The tasks of life will continue to slush through every moment we possess unless we make time and space for creativity and invention to take root. I bet George’s best thinking happened on that mountain. I would guess it was precisely because he rested once in awhile that his dreams were realized and empires were built.

I wonder if he ever had laundry to do. Piles of laundry stacked three baskets high trip me as I crawl into bed at night. The sweet stench of bleach-laden, toilet scrubbing hands pierce my nose recalling the chores I completed yesterday. And, the overflowing bill rack waits patiently as I reorganize it but can’t shrink it until payday. These are the signs of modern times.

So what is the connection to the Biltmore mansion? Just as George built Biltmore, so we must build places that put our minds at ease. And, we must go to these places to reenergize. Doing so will make us better mothers. Taking ourselves out of the kitchen and into a peaceful place in our homes allows us to “build-more” in our lives.

In my den, a teal cloth banner drapes a cluttered bookshelf. Atop the cloth, a glass proclaiming “Smart Women thirst for knowledge” holds the cloth secure. Printed boldly in brown and white, an image of a dove with an olive branch and the word Peace communicates its purpose in my den. Other than the chair where I sit there is little else in this room. “Mommy,” my son steps in to ask, “are you sitting in your peace room for a while?” “Yes, dear. I will be out in a few minutes.”

People talk of fear-based safe rooms in their homes. I talk of love-based Peace rooms. This room, sans television, radio, DVD player or any other such distractions offers me a Vanderbilt escape at the bargain-basement cost of zero dollars and zero cents whenever I need a boost of energy, a rejuvenation of spirit, a reconnection to myself. I read. I write. I stare out the window. I meditate. I breathe. Whatever I need in a quick, calming moment, I find it here in my Peace room. It is my “happy place.” It is my Vanderbilt Biltmore mansion.

The coffee cup is empty now. I am done putting a few words on a page. I am ready to start my day. I will give my undivided attention to my two beautiful children on this day that celebrates them and their life. My little dose of Biltmore today, has provided me, in my own family home, the inspirational space that I needed to move me through the week ahead and perhaps closer to the dreams and visions in my head.

Peace. The Time has Come

For your children’s adult intimate relationships to succeed, you must show them what a successful, loving relationship looks, sounds, and acts like. For your children’s relationships with each other to blossom, you must model friendship with your siblings. To create a home different than the one you grew up in, change the way you respond to what happens behind closed doors. Fill the space with love and peace. Avoid chaos and anger. Identify your triggers – those things that set you off on a yelling rampage or make you run and hide. Learn to addresses the triggers respectfully, calmly, peacefully and without quick whipping words and judgment. Only then can you create calm instead of chaos in your adult family while staring your childhood baggage in the eye and telling it where to go. Let the peace the world so desperately needs begin with you - in your home – in your neighborhood in your “Main Street.”

And, if you fail as often as I do, respond like this: Apologize to your children and start over. Tell them your goal is to foster calm instead of chaos and peace instead of pain. Allow them to respectfully remind you that this is your goal. Allow them to be a part of your goal and your soul. Allow them to teach you as much as you are trying to teach them.

SUNRISE. SUNSET. Taken off the coast of Kona, The Big Island, Hawai'i by my daughter Krista.

Prayer for our Children
adapted by Deborah Sakry Lande from Marianne Williamson’s Illuminata


Dear Almighty Creator,

There are no words for the depth of our love for these children
We pray for their care and their protection
We surrender them into your great, mystical hands
Please, dear Creator, send your angels, spirits and guides to bless them always.
May they be protected from the darkness of our times.
May they always see You at the center of life.
May their heart grow strong
May all they do both love and serve others
May they live their lives for the greater honor and glory of our Creator

We surrender, Great Spirit, our parenthood to You.
Make me the parent You want me to be.
Show me how to love most patiently, to be there for my children most fully.
To understand profoundly who they are as individuals and what they need.
May this family be a blessing unto their lives now and forever.
May they learn here values and principles of love and righteousness
May they learn from me kindness
May they learn from me strength.
May they learn from me the lessons of power:
That they have it and must surrender it to You to be used for Your purposes
For thus shall you be gladdened
And thus shall we be free
To live most fully and love most deeply.
That is my wish
That is my prayer for them and for me forever
Amen