Monday, September 29, 2008

Miracle Cross of Light- Patrice Karst- Just Love!


My website will tell you the story behind the whole cross miracle. But I just thought it might be fun for you to see the cross moving-- there is a candle behind it and we are just holding the glass in front of it...We were goofing around the other night playing with a camera and decided to show you the cross--- sorry the music runs out (we are just learning)-- in the silence just get peaceful-- enjoy and remember this is a Cosmic Healing Cross here to bring hope to all humanity and it is not and I repeat, is not to be claimed by any one religion except perhaps-- the religion of Love. The only True religion there is!

just love!

Patrice Karst

www.patricekarst.com

Sunday, September 28, 2008

My Most Excellent Day--

          
Lots of magic today, The universe tossed out a few bones. Apparently some of the noise that I have been making got heard? -- Good Sunday morning bonding with Coco my wiener ( dog!) and a no rush , no hurry breakfast, (yummy homemade half hour real oatmeal with all the trimmings) while reading Holy Cow with a crazy looking picture of Krishna wearing sunglasses on the cover, all about another wild woman chick sister traveling through India -- my kind of book.  so there I am all cozy comfy, in my sleepy cloths munching happily away while watching  riveting news shows complete with all the silly puppet talking heads discussing the bailout plans and the election-- Another blog altogether!
It was just one of those all around "hey life ain't so bad" morning.

Then it got even better-- I had a very hopeful conversation with a super cool and  big player in the world meaning he actually really does know what he is doing in business etc. He got me! He truly seemed to get who I am and what I am  up to and saw the vision that I have for Just Love-- And maybe, just maybe he can find me the investor that could take us to the next level. In the publishing world which is a world full on No's-- a "Maybe" is a beautiful thing-- the necessary stepping stone to the exalted "Yes!"

Then I get a call from my excited husband Mark and 14 year old stepdaughter Marisa who have just left the  parking lot of a Ralphs where they suddenly started seeing twenty dollar bills flying in wind - no kidding, one else around to claim them-- just money floating free ( if that is not a dream come true by God- then I don't know what is-) So they collect five of the magic floating twenties and bring their 100 dollar booty home! A positive sign!!! Money floating- Jeez - That's a universal kiss, some more hope, some faith.

The rest of day continued with a series of auspicious unfolding events. I write an email to a CEO of a big children's books website just to introduce myself and she emails back that she and her little girl are big fans of my kid's book, The Invisible String and will I come and be part of a huge children's book festival next weekend?-- Yes I will, thank you! --) 
I just love it when stuff comes organically like that, wonder-like gifts of gold- instead of the constant hustle- promote- publicize that is so much of an author's life--(that is the one's  that like to eat).

So by now, I'm walking along feeling pretty good ( which quite frankly beats the mood that I have been in recently-- if you follow my blogs, I'm sure you would agree?)and I happen upon a lady in my hood who needs change for her parking meter and all I have is dime to get her through the ten minutes she needed to get more change and she tells me she is on her way to the Sacred Music Festival Finale on Venice Beach. The what?  Oh yeah, The Sacred Music Festival. A very cool event that goes on here in LA every year. I never made it to any of the incredible concerts that were going on all over town the past few weeks, cause I've been in one of my "reclusive writer" phases.

Well, well, well what a culmination of a most excellent day. There I am at sunset on the beach by my home-  with the most love-vibey group of cool cats in every color and get up in the rainbow of humanity right here all around me. Bagpipes and drums, dancers and whirling dervishes, Polynesian story dreamers, Brazilian wild women and Rastafarian's all mixed in with the ever present westerners all decked out in their "use for every spiritual event"chic yogic flowy whites. All of us OMing while throwing flowers as offerings into the sea, while the music played and the dancers twirled and the drummers drummed and the waves crashed and the sun set -- now all thigh deep in the water and incense and sage burning and right as the suns last little glow went below the horizon, a cheer from the thousands of us present roared out like none that I have heard before-- and it was all for peace and love and hope. There was look in peoples eyes that seemed to know just this one thing...  that the Trumpets of Change have sounded and a New Day is coming.

I knew it and so did they.

Oh and "God's little sweet icing on Patrice's good day cake" was this... I check out the countries that are beginning to visit my site since I just launched it-- every day a new country or two shows  up on my cool little tracking system that tells me this kind of stuff and I get downright giddy to see that " my message"  like the traveling gnome is indeed going global. . 
Anyway, India my true -true- true Mother Country! My Beloved India showed up... Somewhere, someone in India tuned in and spent 18 minutes traveling in my little word- the site-- An Om Shanti and big Namaste to that... 
So like I said--it was a very good day--- they deserve equal press--  Heck in my case -they deserve very bit of press they can get.

Maybe I'm on an upswing--  For tonight, I'll go with that...


Just Love,

Patrice

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The sad and annoying email that I woke up to...

Okay so I wake up this morning to a "mass forwarded" email from a friend--

It was a montage of photos from around the world of people suffering terribly. Done with clever little captions like..."If you think your salary is low, how about hers?" Complete with the horrible pathetic image of a sad tiny girl begging in the street-- The implied message of the email was that those of us that are not dying on the street, burned half to death, being held captive without a crime etc, should stop complaining and be grateful. Sounds like a nice message yes?? Well, I had a very different reaction to it-- I was appalled.

Here's why--

This assumption that seeing truly horrifying images of our brothers and sisters across the globe being tortured, starving, at war, limbless, wailing out in pain is supposed to make me feel grateful for what I have or in this case don't have! Wrong.

These images don't make me feel grateful and appreciative... They make me want to die, to scream, to bellow out to God, " Come on already -Fix our mess!!!

 I don't get it-- the message we are supposed to get looking at these images is what?.. " Oh God, look at those poor suckers-- wow- I sure feel grateful -- I'm not them..Whhheee!  Let's go have a nice big lunch and a walk on the beach and celebrate how lucky I am!" Hugh???

Seeing suffering sure as hell has never served to make me feel better about my life...Maybe it works for some - not me.

Of course, we need to know what is occurring in the world, absolutely--So that maybe we can get to some solution to the horrors in every nook and cranny of this Earth, but to assume that the reaction I should have upon seeing the grief of my global family  is to make me feel happy and grateful is lost to me...

The day that I will be truly happy and grateful is the day when there is no more suffering for any of us. In the meantime, I can pray, I can donate, I can cry, I can think and discuss and try to see what can be done.

But please don't send me an email that shows a tear stained, all mangled bones starving child lying in a gutter in Calcutta and a caption that says, "are you complaining about not getting a good nights sleep--he wishes that he would not wake up." And think that this will make me feel "lucky" and therefore real giddy about my day.

 None of us are "lucky" to live on a planet where this kind of suffering is happening, tolerated and accepted as the status quo.

God, I want to go back to bed--
just love
Patrice

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Thoughts on the "Self Help" movement

Sunday morning, September 21, My Desk, Santa Monica, CA, USA, North America, Earth, Milky  Way, Beyond --

Just ate a big bowl of spaghetti and sauce and it's not even 10:00 am. We're off to a great start. Have a miserable cold, Coco won't stop barking, weighed 127 lbs which is 12 too many. I feel frizzy, frumpy and frazzled. Oh and lest I forget my 100k debt from listening to my inner voice and following my bliss and creative calling-- now that worked out well.
 
And so today as I sit here in all my cynical, miserable and fat glory- I thought that I would share.
 
Ah, God bless me...the one thing I do always seem to excel at is sharing what the f--k is going on with me at any given time in all it's nitty gritty detail.
So from the horses mouth herself comes some truth from this particular  "self help/new age/teacher/author".  Are you ready?


We have really shitty days too! 


There are a handful of us that are willing and in fact insist upon letting you-- our readers, students, fans, clients and audiences in on all of this. Many of our peers, however don't.
I don't know why-- maybe they fear that if you really knew the truth, that we are just like you --  you might not think we have something valuable to teach-- or that you wouldn't buy our books or come to our seminars... Maybe there just isn't a whole lot of humility out there anymore. 
 Lucky for me, I have tried my best to keep it as "real" as I can, not trying to  be anything other than who I am...I can't screw up- "fall from grace" if I am just "doing me"- right!. 

So just who I am anyway? Well, amongst other things,  just another struggling soul here on Earth that does somehow, amidst- it- all know , believe and see amazing glimpses of what lies beyond the veil of illusion. That is what I am here to share. That as painful and hard as life can be, there is something Wondrous guiding us all Home. On a day like this it is good for me to remember!
But this whole "spiritually correct" thing just irks me sometimes---guess I am just a  mouthy little rebel....My fairy tale hero was the boy who yelled out "But the emperor's Naked!" So  it's a no brainer that I have always had so many challenges as an author/speaker out there in the whole "spiritual fashion' path...There is just so darn much in-authenticity in it. Alot of Elephant in the bloody room and no one be talking!
  Amazingly there are actually a handful of truly enlightened beings alive at this time-- those that have managed ( through  countless lifetimes) to achieve sainthood and lift off beyond the mundane physical reality and maintain that state of bliss utterly and completely even though they are still in a body. I have been blessed to have some close time with some of these masters and be been blown away-- beyond any words can express. 


But the rest of us-the teachers, healers, guides, self-proclaimed gurus, speakers, authors and writers are  just as "screwed up" if- you -will as everyone else-- We are all in the same boat and yes, some of us are indeed great teachers/speakers/ thinkers/artists/promoters/ creatives/visionaries-- Still, I think that it begs to be stated that we are not, I repeat are NOT any more " spiritually advanced than you are!"  And I hope that just knowing this fact might help you actually feel a bit better.
 
In our less than magnificent days, we scream, we cry, we question, we have body issues, and dramas and traumas, we are bitchy, we have our rage, our vanity and our fears--  we mess up, are painfully immature- we lose faith yet find it again-we are indeed still Human.

What is so absurd and hypocritical in the, "oh so organic" set is that the very message we are supposed to be sharing-- the message of love-- when told from a holier than thou platform, ends up making people feel small, diminished,  often worse about themselves.

Do any of us during our difficult challenges really need one more arrogant, " I -have- all- the answers,- because- I -wrote- a- book- expert-no matter how many weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list", giving us a hard time because we are not loving ourselves unconditionally today?
 
I don't know about you, but jeez aren't we allowed to have our frumpy, frizzy frazzled day and still be okay? Isn't that Holy too? Doesn't God live in our midst no matter what! Is that Okay with you oh exalted expert that I feel like sh-t today. Can't you just love me anyway??? 
If we are love and loved, then why- oh -why are we constantly being told  by all the "teachers" what we are doing wrong????


That said-- here is my statement of Truth to you -really to us all.

You are Beautiful. In the very middle of  your worst  days, and troubled times of no faith and less joy-- you are Beautiful. You are loved, you are perfect, you are a beloved child of the Creator. Even when you eat crap and don't exercise and are having a "judgemental" moment and act crazy and feel insane- you are Beautiful. Even if nothing has changed and you still haven't had that one "brilliant spiritual breakthrough" that will, " last this time for sure"-- you are Beautiful. Even if you still see the cup half empty , have negative thoughts and haven't yet manifested the abundance that "if only you had done it right" would have surely come to you you are Beautiful... are you letting this in?   You, yes you and me and even" them," the pompous, self righteous , preachers themselves are.......BEAUTIFUL.


And so I call now for a revolution! It is high time that we all cut ourselves some collective slack, ease up, be nice, have fun, do our best, stop posing, start hugging and be REAL.
Now THAT would be worth paying to hear, reading about, being told--Yes?
Patrice here Sunday morning--trying to keep it real for ya....  big group hug!

Later Gator,

just love!

patrice

Saturday, September 20, 2008

the shopping spree

"Beauty is only skin deep. The real beauty is what is inside of you not what is on the outside. I'll buy clothes when I lose ten pounds, have the time, one of my books sells a million copies..... anyway shopping is a superficial waste of time and money that you are way beyond."
 

These are just a few of the ditties I lived with for much of my life, what I call my "yoga pants " mentality. It hadn't always been this way, as a teen and into my twenties I was a different animal ,but the fact that as a writer working from home for the past several years....had left me a beyond a fashion disaster, it had left me a mess! I had somehow pulled it off by scrummaging through the chaos of my closet on those rare occasions when I actually had to find an outfit, but for the most part I needed a big overhaul.
 

Then, ( and don't ask me how this happened) one morning I awoke with an epiphany. Things needed to change. I was still an attractive (albeit not showing it) and not yet totally over the hill 49 year old woman. By God, it was time that I embraced life and myself again by buying some clothes!
 
This however, presented some major obstacles. Number one, I didn't have a clue where to begin. I had barely stepped foot in a retail store for years. I never read magazines, never paid attention to what was "in," didn't even know my size, certainly didn't have a lot of money and had a closet overflowing with crap from 20 years ago ( mostly from hand me downs friends gave me after cleaning out their closets)! I couldn't even tell what was in there let alone what was salvageable. This was going to be an interesting process.
 
The first thing I decided to do was purge. If I didn't love and I mean LOVE an item, it went into a big garbage bag for the homeless. The first two items were hard, "you may someday want to wear the orange sequined mumu." Then it became one of the most cleansing, exhilarating and freeing experiences I have ever allowed myself to have. I put on the radio really loudly and started tossing. Through closet, drawers and shoe racks, leotards, belts and purses, old nighties and "good" coats out they went. No questions asked...Bye bye! Even makeup drawers and jewelry boxes were sorted through. Nothing was spared, I was on a roll.
Three days and ten full giant bags later, left with just a few truly pretty and long forgotten treasures I now had no choice, I had to shop, or spend a lot of time naked.
 

And so phase two began....."The Spree." Armed with three rarely used credit cards and a number I conjured up of $1,500.00 I considered this splurge an investment in my future ( who knows who I might attract) therapy,( it was bound to help my self esteem) and a financial affirmation ( maybe by dressing great I would somehow manifest more money) I forged into the unknown depths of my local shopping mall.
 
At first it was dizzying...literally. The colors, the signs, the noise. Which store? Which sale? What was my fashion style? Did I want to be trendy, sophisticated, artistic? How the heck to even begin? What deals were really best? What were my darn colors anyway...was I a spring, winter, grey fog? HELP! No wonder I hated this and had avoided it so much of my adult life. I must have not been born with the gene all other women seemed to have been...the shoppers gene. I wanted to run home, hide, move to Bali and live in a bathing suit and a sarong, I wasn't cut out for this, I was outta here......
 

Before bolting though, I decided to have a little lunch and calm myself. One Chinese chicken salad and a fresh iced tea later. I felt different, a little mellower and decided to go into just one store and see what happened.

What can I say? It was as if the years of imprisonment unlocked the gates and my "inner shopper" was freed, unleashed and running wild. I began! One shirt opened up a new world and the hours flew by. I shopped, I charged, I found deals upon deals, I mixed this with that and that with this and hauled it all home . Almost instantaneously, I caught the bug, the excited adrenaline rush of finding the perfect belt to go with that dress. Wow a twenty dollar skirt reduced form forty nine!! God, I look good in pink!
 
Realizing that if I was to look good on the outside, I had better look cute underneath too (you never know, maybe someone else might actually see it one day) I also bought beautiful lacy lingerie. And then of course I needed the right shoes, jackets, work out clothes, makeup...you get the idea. Within one week, I knew the mall better than the best of them. I could tell you who had what on special and where the cutest bathing suits were. I had walked into my womanhood and joined the ranks of those for whom the mall, boutiques and catalogues were a spiritual experience. I had been reborn. For a thousand dollars. I was new.
 

Hauling those dozens of bags home and putting my new friends in their rightful places. I felt alive, excited about the future and the possibilities that abound. Now I know that for some of you , this may sound silly, overdue, indulgent or even dangerous, but for me it has been a most excellent adventure. For the first time I now notice what other women are wearing, ask them where they found said items, a whole new language of bonding has opened up. I make mental notes of what I like or don't. The reactions from the outside world,  neighbors, men, strangers has been fascinating...they actually look at me. I am no longer invisible. It may have taken decades to really "get it" but get it I did. Though I still know in my heart that it is what's inside that truly counts, I now also see that it is a primal, feminine, right to want to look good, and to let yourself pursue that desire. To enjoy the mirror, shop with the girls, and to let your self buy that new leather jacket that you "just have to have '. And you know what.... I must admit, I like it!

Then again, as I write this—I’m still in the yoga pants! Makes me wonder do things ever really change?

Just Love,

Patrice


Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Homesick

Woke up again today--

Funny how that happens. It is getting so weird to me. Maybe cause I have been here so many years now on the planet (49) that must have something to do with the general malaise this morning. It just all seems so archaic somehow..Wake up -eat- work-play- pay-shower- back to sleep. Yes, Yes, of course there are brilliant, shiny, wonder- filled moments sprinkled in ( thank God!) but seriously- do any of you know what I am talking about?
 It's not that I am not grateful to wake up- it just seems that the time in between each morning seems to be moving faster and faster and before you know it, I'm up again. It's just odd-- Oh and don't even get me started on the whole having to get in a machine to drive get places. It is as if I can remember a time when all I had to do was imagine where I wanted to go and, poof! I was there. 
It's strange to remember a place that cannot be explained. Love was the air. And all were happy. No money worries, health worries, on and on... Just Bliss- really! It is that memory that has fueled my journey through this life. Earth is interesting but not my home. Home is better.

Later-

Just Love,

Patrice

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

ramblings about love


So, a few more ramblings about love…


I am no scientist definitely not an intellectual ( thank God!) I don’t know technically , specifically, how the whole thing works- quantum physics- the field, the vibratory realms, the hundredth monkey effect — whatever–But we don’t need to know how it works— It just does!

 We have been told by all the greatest beings since time began that LOVE can move mountains, and planets and by God they can’t have all been wrong! Right? We have been told in so many different ways that when enough of us humans catch the LOVE wave and carry it on then ….The whole crazy test will be over and we will all PASS. Summer Vacation Forever!!!!! Let’s rally the troops…. We’re not reinventing the wheel…just reminding one another to get it rolling again—and fast! ……like right now….

That is what we are here to do– just love! If we are not living our entire life giving and receiving love as our number one priority– then we are missing the whole point and in fact WASTING our LIFE..and I mean wasting our life!. I don’t mean to be so harsh but Jeez… come on folks …. we know this deep inside —- we've read the books- gone to the seminars—heard it all before..Well… Time to start living it 24/7 and test out the theory… No Gurus, crystals, chants needed ( though they can certainly help ya get in the mood) what you absolutely do need is just one big ready to be used HEART!
As you actually begin to do this –you will start to Experience MAGIC…

You won’t believe the incredible things that will unfold— I mean full on trippy unbelievably cool occurrences—there is something to this love energy.. I tell ya…trust me on this one… are you willing to try? Do you dare to test out the Divine law once and for all. If love is the highest vibration — then let’s plug in big time daily!…. Love can melt the coldest, most wounded, desperate heart what else, I ask you can do that?..
Now here’s the caveat…You gotta really open up your heart and mind cause if you close down either one you will not never be delivered on magic flight outta here. This is the greatest knowledge of knowledge. Open mind—Open Heart = best party in the Universe. You can’t buy your way in- talk your way in- Sneak your way in — one way- one way only You Just Love your way in…

And here is the real clincher if you can even try to imagine—There is indeed a way that we could all transcend this oh so tired three dimensional plane and rocket into the fourth dimension— No money worries, health issues, no suffering at all—This is real people—We just never all collectively pulled it off and the signs are all there that we can create the shift of the ages right into the Golden Age I tell you…. And I am telling you with every cell in my being that if we “get this” this just love thing- really get it and really make an effort at doing it and reminding others…The Great Healing Of Our Planet will happen right before your eyes…


I recently had an incredibly painful situation occur and my heart felt broken open– the big old lump in the throat and the whole deal. I gotta tell you it was not easy to “just love” but after my head and face and throat hurt form crying and contorting. I was so exhausted that there was nothing let to do but lay down. It then that I realized I never again wanted to make myself feel that “sick” with emotion…I started to allow the pain to just sit in my heart and throat without judgement or trying to change it…It took some time and about a thousand face kisses for the my wiener dog Coco but lo and behold! that old magnificent heart started to open again. If you let you heart close down when someone does something awful– you are letting the “bad guys win” DON”T!!

Just Love!!!
Patrice