Sunday, December 5, 2010

Come visit me on Face Book!

Hi Peeps,

Happy Holy-Days to one and all!

For now, I find myself rarely coming here these days--If you would like to see more of my day to day ramblings come and visit me on Face Book- http://www.facebook.com/patricekarst

And if you would like to order my books-- please purchase here or go to
Amazon.com: Patrice Karst: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

Have a blessed Winter and I will see you back in the new year - I hear that 2011 is going to be OUR best year ever!

Hang in there, keep the faith and of course JUST LOVE!

xo,

Patrice

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

The Spiritual Rebel's Rant!


I began my spiritual journey over 40 years ago. A little girl in England, longing to understand the mysteries of the cosmos...
This was long before there was a new age, metaphysical, organic, green, yogic, self-help movement where “being spiritual” would become more like a fashion statement, a hobby- something to check in the things I like box. A lifetime before it would coalesce into trendy commercialism, an enterprise, a me me me path with a phony sounding vernacular.

Back in the day, that Magical Pandora’s box, down the rabbit hole - into outer space journey that describes the mystical path, the search for the Divine, the awakening of Higher Consciousness, had incredibly little to do with what we could “manifest”, it wasn’t about what we could get, it was about something, well, deeper.

I’m in rare form today as I sit drinking my standard mocha with the whip, in an over air conditioned Malibu Starbucks reflecting on all that bothers me about our community lately– I do that a lot—reflect.

Look, it’s a beautiful thing for me to witness the shifting of the masses. The fact that spirituality has become the new mainstream means that we are headed in the right direction– and thank God for that.
It’s just that this watered down, sugary sweet and “holier than you” façade of being spiritual because it’s hip to, makes me cringe as it plays itself out in a variety of increasingly annoying, insincere and competitive ways.

Take Face Book for example and the oh so holy and oh so dull “tooting my own horn cause I am so enlightened” posts like—“I am living in gratitude today for the oneness of the light and the blessings all around me in the now and the in the heart of my being in spirit of the peace and the truth of the oneness of the light…. or one of the horrors I recently read, “ Ready, aim, higher!!!!” Spare me.

For the love of God, what is wrong our tribe anymore? All this spiritual correctness is so whitewashed, generic, tired and ultimately boring.
No flavor, spice or personality. I like that in a person, a personality.
Can we all please get over ourselves right now, Please!

And another thing that bares pointing out—since I’m apparently on a roll here
We can affirm (till the cows not only come home but leave to go on a vacation again!) but if our affirmation and Spirit’s plan (also known as our Destiny) don’t line up, then sorry mate, we’re out of luck because there is one law that reigns supreme above all others— and that would be all others. THY WILL BE DONE. And even if we have watched The Secret 20 times in a row taking notes, even if we did set our highest intentions while sitting in the seven sacred pools after our green tea colonic cleanse, even if we “ just know that we deserve it”— (and you’ll probably hate me for this) but if it isn’t in the cards doll—no matter what you do, It still isn’t going to happen.
Heck, we wouldn’t even be given our next breath if it were not for the Will and the Grace of God.

This spiritual egotism, pride and arrogance is missing the whole point. We all need some humility and we need it fast.
And, I’m really begging now, will all the “Count your blessings, watch everything you say, raw food police” please stop your babbling.
Quite frankly, who asked ya? I’ll decide what to count how I choose to speak and what to eat-- thanks very much.

Study the lives of all the great saints, and you see that most of them suffered terribly emotional pain in their longing for the Divine. They were downright depressed, miserable. People, they were indeed (shudder to imagine) feeling just a tad bit negative.
Somehow that makes me feel better. A whole lot better. Because lo and behold! I also suffer and sometimes a lot. And blinding news flash here--- so do we all because we are in fact Human. Humans feel. And we are beautiful within all that feeling. Radiantly, magnificently, beautiful.

Since when, I ask myself, did being real, become “un spiritual?” and when did sadness become less holy than joy?
Yet these days we are told over and over in a never ending variety of ways that we are somehow being “spiritually incorrect” if we do anything other than follow some generically prescribed “happy no matter what façade”.

I see so many masks being worn, so many costumes so many disguises. And all this sad fake “positivity” has resulted in a lot of folk feeling very, very much alone we have not been a truthful lot at all. And it is tragic.

And that’s where I seem to rush in. For whatever reason (and I am sure this could be analyzed ad nauseum) I feel that I have no other choice than to somehow do my part in balancing all this goody two shoes/ Pollyanna idea of what a spiritual seeker is supposed to walk and talk like, out.
Patrice’s version of, “Spirituality for the rest of us.”

I’ll admit it. I’ve always been a bit of a radical, the gal who feels the need to bring the ridiculously obvious Elephant in the living room to light, to call the emperor out as naked, when he is so clearly is. I am the one in the post office that rolls her eyes at the scene when the service is ridiculously slow, who sends food back in a restaurant when it sucks and oh yeah, who speaks up in a meeting, if no one else does (and they rarely do) even if it is yucky, even if it will make me unpopular or make things slightly uncomfortable for a moment until the unnamed emotionally charged collective Zit bursts and everyone finally gets to breathe again.

Frankly, I wouldn’t feel the need to do it so often or so intensely if more of my brothers and sisters on the path, would just take up the baton and run with it. I wait, no truly, I wait, often until the last possible second, silently praying to all that I hold Holy to see if just this one time, someone will thrill me, let me rest this one out, and speak the heck up!

And sometimes, to my utter delight, they do.

My everyday heroes are those brave and wondrous and therefore interesting to me people that have a voice. An authentic one. That they dare to use. Those who bless us all with their willingness to tell us the truths of their lives. Even the ugly parts, especially the ugly parts. Whether their voice is heard in a book, a film or at the deli.
Spiritual heroes have canojes.
They are generous of spirit. They share their honesty, therefore their souls. That’s what heroes do—they share.
They don’t answer; “I’m fine and you?” When they’re sad or scared or lonely and they are the truest spiritual teachers that exist.
They’ll never be criticized for not “walking their talk” because their talk is for real. Nor will they ever come crashing down from Grace because they never put themselves on any self-imposed pedestal to begin with.

You see, ultimately, all we can ever really offer our fellow travelers upon this confusing, brilliant, spinning planet, is our truth, all of it. Who we are, what we stand for, what we really believe and yes, what we FEEL as we dance or stumble through our lives.

There is a sublime quote from The Buddha that spells it out so well, " There are three things that can’t be hidden for long: the sun, the moon, and the Truth."

In the end, being real, matters.

just love,

Patrice

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Well, Mission Maui is Over! 0r Aloha Ha Ha Ha...

Hey Guys,

I don't even know where to begin....

Let's just put it this way.....I HAVE BEEN THROUGH HELL AND BACK AND I SURVIVED. They say that moving to Maui is a very different experience than going to visit. No truer words have ever been spoken. From the moment the plane landed till the moment another plane took off for Los Angeles 2 1/2 months later ( with me on it!) everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

From splitting up with my husband within weeks of arriving ,to the sugar cane burn that left a thick layer of brown red dirt for weeks over every surface in my house to the giant flying cockroaches to having no money and no jobs and tourism way down and people leaving the island in droves because of the suffering economy there to the unrelenting wind for weeks at a time that made me feel crazy to my growing intense depression as I looked out at the ocean and realized that I was a 5 hour flight from everyone and everything that mattered mostly including my 17 year old son on the mainland with his dad that made me realize that I couldn't handle an ocean separating us.... You momma lions know what I mean--- if we had to, we could walk miles to reach our children if they needed us ( but I can't swim 2500 miles!) and when you are running out of money on a little island and you are there with your car and your stuff and the wind and the bugs and your sad and your scared and your about to turn 50 and you feel alone--- well, you get the idea...

I was over it, and it was time to admit that the Maui adventure was just that, an adventure but it was not HOME. and so, I shipped the car, the dog, sold all the furniture that I had bought there and arrived at LAX at 4:40 am --

To add insult to injury, I sent out a pretty pleading email to my "circle" explaining my plight and that I needed a "soft place to land and be loved up a bit" ,well let me say here that the results were not staggering as far as offers went which really put me into a downward spin as I once again realized that I am ALONE.... my crazy mother and brother ( no really!) don't count as family and my friends are scattered ( I have moved so much in my life it is no wonder that I feel so displaced) and my son left momma at 13 to go live with "dad".

Heck it was me and Coco ( my beloved wiener dog and best friend) on the bed eating Denny's take out on July 5th ( my 50th birthday!) at the Extended Stay America in Woodland Hills( little furnished motel type rooms with TV and Internet and little kitchens that let you have your dog!)...

Yikes! It is one weird place--their "handle" is... "Extended stay where you can stay and stay!" Needless to say there are a lot of "transitioning folk" here and apparently, I am one of them!


There is so much more that I want to say--- I haven't written in so long and as my fingers move across the keyboard I feel somewhat alive again but I am also tired so I will close for today saying this....

God, I am so happy to be back on the Mainland. That said, I LOVE MAUI and if everything hadn't fallen apart, maybe my experience would have been very different. Yet it is said that Maui is a powerful teacher and that whatever needs looking at in your life, "She" will bring to the surface ( like I haven't been looking enough???)

Maui did what I had asked her to do ( just not in the way that I imagined) I asked for sanctuary and healing-- Sanctuary apparently is an inside job and healing comes in many forms.... I had to go to"paradise" to realize that it has to be within first. And so that is what I am now working on... My "pain body" as Eckhart Tolle speaks of in The Power of Now has been "feeding" on me for far too long ( it has had a lot to grow real big on with my "story") and before I leave this world, my goal is to find happiness, create it, bring it to others, live it and breathe it and by God, that is my new Mission. And if it took my Maui fiasco to bring me to this moment, then She did her job and now I am going to do mine. When you hit a bottom in your life, as this surely is-- there is a level of surrender, humility, compassion that goes beyond anything I have ever experienced. God and I are tight right now... and I am very ready for the promised miracles that come from this place.

What I learned in Maui about living with Aloha has forever been embedded in me-- I met so many living/giving angels in Maui and I will miss that so much, so many beautiful souls all iving in one place...Now I am here in the " city of angels"-- Los Angeles ( though most people here just don't know it yet) and I will be one of them. One day, I will offer sanctuary for people that need it. I will be that girl that never turns a blind eye to a plea for help. The only thing that matters to me now is kindness, the only true and ultimately meaningful spiritual practice ever. I am here now to love. Period.

Watch me.

Just Love,

Patrice

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Mission Maui Complete!

I am here and it is magic....

No really, MAGIC. I have met more angels in the one week I have been here than the past many years in Los Angeles. There is something here that just seems to bring out the goodness in people. Or maybe they just remember what a traumatic move it is and bend over backwards to help other souls that have made the leap.

That said, at times I feel like a scared little kid that is at sleep away camp for the first time, is God awful homesick, and wants mommy and daddy.

We had a rough crash landing, as the house we rented on Craig's List sight unseen was a dump. This created some manner of havoc you cannot even imagine as we locked up and left the house to search for digs at a hotel where we could regroup and figure out what the hell to do next. Bear in mind, I, in my usual obsessive compulsive way had changed everything to the now rejected house and knew I had some serious damage control to do to re- do everything I had done and find us a home. And don't even get me started at the pain of my doggies being in quarantine for the next 3 months. I have felt so guilty for that. Luckily I can at least visit them and I just keep telling myself it is just a matter of time till they come home and run around the yard that we got them..because.....

Long story short-- after five intense days and nights of some serious panic and freakouts, we found our dream place on the North Shore of Maui just where we wanted to be. Gourgous deck with panoramic views of the ocean and mountains, huge spacious and yes our own coconut trees to boot.

Stepdaughter teen Marisa has discovered her "inner surfer" and cannot leave the water.... I mean seriously 5-6 hours a day boogie boardind the big waves at Paia Bay with the big boys. She is HOME. Mark is pretty blissed out himself.

We can't move into new house for another 9 days so we are at a tropical rental cottage called Bamboo Gate. Today I opened a checking account at the Bank of Hawaii, got a prescription filled at the local pharmacy and it began to dawn on me--I live here now. I live in Maui. It was not a move for the faint of heart and took almost all that I have but I gotta tell ya, from 2, 100 miles out in the ocean from California, the adventure has just begun.

I promise to get my lazy ass to post pictures as soon as we move in. I haven't even begun to explore or even have much chance yet to really soak in the fact that I now live here on this beautiful island, but I will- trust me, I will.

For now, I wanted to at least check in and say Aloha! We have arrived...

Much more later,

and always...

Just Love!

Patrice

Sunday, April 5, 2009

From Madness to Maui

Okay so I know I kinda suck in that I have been in hiding for many weeks now--

MUCH HAPPENED!

I will fill you in later ( I promise-- just let me settle in a tad) on all the incredible sequence of events ( including the sudden dropping dead of my father) (Sorry for the lack of grace in description there, but as a tyrant, abusive father, I didn't feel the need for a softer gentler description)...

Oh Lordy there is so much to share--Bottom line cause I am still not quite ready to dive quite yet into my usual long winded blogging sphere....


I am moving in 10 days to Maui....To the most beautiful trippy, hippy, artsy, surfer, magical little town called Paia on the north shore of Maui. Husband Mark and Step daughter teen Marisa are in tow and we lift off on April 15.

I am checking into "Hospital Maui" for my everything healing , my 50th birthday present to myself and to Mark ( who just turned that big corner)

To the land of rainbows, and mystical mountains and the next part of our destiny.

To a land where Aloha is said all day and one of it's meanings is Love-- you gotta love a place where "Love" is spoken out loud and inside to each and all, day every day...

So much more to say, to explain, to share, to question, to ponder with you all...

Patrice's big tropical adventure and what that really means

The Islands called--And I am answering.

Aloha..which by the way is the epitome of

Just Love

Patrice

Friday, February 27, 2009

On Moving to Maui

Meandering around Maui and wondering if it makes any sense to move here?


First that question and then this -- the voice within wails out ( and oh I truly do love this part of me) " Who the fuck cares if it makes sense girl?" I mean it's not like "making sense" has ever worked out for me -- I can never quite master that one. And thus, I am thinking that maybe making sense is one way over rated son of a gun who certainly never took the leap over thousands of miles of Pacific to live a life of trade winds, clear warm waters, magic all around and the feeling that even if one is broke as currently ( notice currently) in the case of yours truly-- at least broke in Paradise feels like a grand adventure--- broke in L.A -- face it, feels like--loser!

And sooooo I am on a mad and wonderful campaign across Maui in each of the four directions, feeling the vibes and checking out all nooks and crannies, scenes, dreams and communities to decide just what part of this mysterious and magic Island, I might indeed call home---

Husband and stepdaughter are flying out to join me tomorrow to come and check it out!!!!! I tested the idea to him on the phone when I realized that I really did miss him. And I'll be darned and delighted if he didn't book tickets and is on his way! You gotta love a man that does that! Even though I had come here thinking it might be a good place for me to move to have some separation-- Lo and Behold, I actually find that I want him here with me!

Hey, maybe taking the leap together, to go live the dream, to "act as if", might just be the re-bonding medicine that we need--that or we will kill each other. But I digress...

Being a boat/water dude an all, he will be in his BLISS over here. My 14 year old stepdaughter however is another question. I am just praying that Mother Maui will cast a love spell on Marisa that will create her begging to move here. I plan to work on her and give her the best time ever when she gets here and with God's grace she might make a buddy or two and realize it could be awesome to move here. Bottom line, who is kidding who here? I have my work cut out for me.

It all seems pretty much a no brainer as far as ever other issue. When all else is said and done, and if for some unfortunate reason, if I am not fully rolling in enough dough to sustain myself with all my creative" trying to make it" projects and I gasp have to get a normal work a day job ( maybe a hotel, timeshare, who knows what?) AT LEAST, I will be living my dream and able to chalk another one of those wishes on the list of Patrice's life off. The community by the way that I have always craved seems to be here... there is a camaraderie over here of folks that are a true tribe of beings just grateful to call Maui home. And refuges from the Mainland all with something they wanted to find or to leave and Maui is one heck of a beacon of light- I tell ya! Then again maybe I will be so happy finally escaping from L.A that the Goddess of Prosperity and the Blesser of Book and Movie deals and all manner of Successes will find us here and we can live well and have a few more creature comforts ( like enough money to fly back if we want to!!!)

It is friggen Beautiful here ( no words do justice) It just feels warm and real and Aloha and something about the distance between here and the mainland makes all things seem new again,.... all things seem ...possible.

Is this running away, escaping, pulling a geographical, -- won't I be taking all my issues, burdens, sorrows bla bla bla with me? YES and your point is???? Damn it I need a new adventure and I think I am going to go ahead and give myself that gift. Sell and give away almost everything and bring me, Coco, my laptop, clothes and maybe Mark and Marisa and hop on over.

As I sit here breathing the warmth of hope and looking across the sparkling sea with the palm trees swaying and the green majestic peaks of Maui.... All that comes to mind is one big YES!

Oh and if the economy never recovers and all Hell breaks loose --I gotta say at least there are mangoes and avacados falling off of trees , bananas everywhere and plenty of fish to be caught- We won't go hungry ...

Just Love!

Patrice

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Down the Rabbit Hole We go.... Adult Indigos, 2012 and the Love Revolution that is Underway

As I continue down-the-rabbit-hole of wonder on this spiritual path that I have been on for almost half a century now, the wonders continue at a breathtaking rate. The world as I knew it has changed and the LOVE revolution is most assuredly underway. 

My mission continues to become tweaked and crystallized for me . What I  offer up now is my truth and experience  as I report in for duty by sharing my personal unfoldment  as I/WE participate in that of Planet Earth's!

I would love for you to join me as we share these unprecedented changes together. As we go through it all -- all of it-- the tests, trials and tribulations, the ecstacys, the agonies.

 And me? A gal ( perhaps similar -- or not!-- to you ) , who has known all her life that there was something so tragically wrong with how this current Earth plane works-- this odd, dense, thick orb I found myself stuck  on. A stranger in a strange land. That remembered a place of such utter magnificance and joy--- so filled with Divinity and warmth-- I have suffered with longing for that home ever since.

It is so weird ( also known as perfect) how things are revealed to you at just the time that you are ready for them, apparantly!  After all these years as a spritual seeker, writer, student....I find out that there is actually a name for my  lifelong ailment and that indeed there are others ( thousands of others- though still a tiny minority! ) all over the world, like me. The Indigo Adults...

I am being guided to start communicating with you now-- more by the use of You Tube videos. I need to get real in only the way that eyes, voice, expression and movement can. Though I love the medium of writing, I am feeling the need to share in a way that words alone can't quite touch. I look forward to having you see me soon.

On my videos-- I will talk more about my discoveries regarding all this-- suffice to say, I finally understand what my spiritual "sadness/depression" has always been about. So many many things finally falling into place. Patrice's cosmic jigsaw puzzle ( if you will) has found some missing pieces. Who knows? Perhaps through my story, I might be of service in helping you find some of yours.

 Of this, I am certain, our mission is being quickened-- 2012 draws closer and  The Great Battle between Light and Dark-- Good and Evil is well underway and reaching a pivitol moment, we reach a cosmic critical mass. 

All of our suffering and homesickness has not been in vain. The trumpet has sounded and we are being called to order.   WE signed on to be here at this crucial time in Humanity's Evolution and to in fact remind each other that it is NOW and that we CAN bring Heaven to Earth. No, really! Really, Really, Really we can! 

 The way is Love.  The way is Truth. If God/Spirit is capable of all things--(And we know He/It is!)-- then it IS not only possible, it is in fact, our destiny.

and way overdue...

more to come, sweet ones.

Let us remember no-thing else....

JUST LOVE!

Patrice