It’s funny how some dates just stick in the mind.  Today, for instance, I remember as Kim Davis’ birthday.  Kim was my first real friend.  We met in first grade and were pretty much inseparable all through grade school.  We both loved Nancy Drew books!  Every year Kim had a slumber party and each one was better than the last.  Even when my parents divorced and I moved to a new neighborhood, I still went to Kim’s party.  One year, I think it was in 6th grade, I met my friend Carolyn there.  Kim and I drifted apart sometime in high school, but Carolyn and I are still very close friends today.  We don’t get to see each other very often, because she lives in Boston with her family and I’m in Los Angeles with mine.  But each time we talk it’s as if no time has gone by at all.  

Through our friendships, we can learn about ourselves.  I am so grateful to Kim, and to Carolyn, and all the friends who have taught me so much over the years.  You are a blessing!  Thank you!

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

Most people don’t know this about me, but I am a soap opera fan.  Yep, I admit it.  I have been following the life of Erica Kane since she was in high school, and I was probably in the 6th grade.  How I got hooked on soaps I don’t remember.  But I do know that I love the stories, the relationships, the drama!  And I also know that it helps to keep real life in perspective.  Our day to day dramas, a clogged dishwasher or a failed math test, pale in comparison to being trapped on an island, or being accused of murdering your sister’s lecherous fiancé.  And there are some interesting philosophies that we can apply to our lives, too.  As Scarlett O’Hara so aptly put it: “Tomorrow is another day.”  Soap heroines face floods, heartbreak and jail time and wake up the next day with their lipstick perfectly in place.   These are strong women, who go after what they want – they can be a cosmetics executive one day and an international spy the next – there are no limitations in their world.  Silly as it may sound, we can learn from that.  Erica, if you can do it, I can do it!

http://www.SoapsRock.com

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

My step-daughter is coming to visit us this month, so I’ve been busy getting the guest room ready for her.  The “guest room”used to be Freddy’s room, but since he’s going off to college now it seems to have taken on a new purpose.    While Freddy’s been away, Greg and Brian and I have all kind of used the extra space for storage, and it is amazing how much stuff we accumulate!  It has felt really good to just go through and sort out and give away so much of what we really don’t need to hang onto.  More breathing room is an important concept in both Feng Shui, and Vastu.  Clutter in our living space creates clutter in our mind.  When it’s cleaned up we can think more clearly, and function more efficiently.

Now I’m on a roll!  I plan to tackle the closets, the cupboards, the drawers, any space that needs clearing.  The big question is how long this stepped-up state of organization will last in my hectic household.  I can see myself going through this same process all over again when Brian goes to college!

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

Every once in awhile I see a movie that just blows me away.  This year it was “What the Bleep! Do We Know.”  It’s part adventure, part romantic comedy, part documentary.  There’s really no movie to compare it to because it is completely original, at least I haven’t seen anything like it and I have seen a LOT of movies!  The subject it tackles, consciousness, is so vast, and so profound, that I’m sure the “industry” is surprised that this was attempted at all.  And yet, “What the Bleep!” is not only both charming and thought-provoking, it is also well-received by audiences!  Now that’s something that Hollywood understands.  When a low-budget film starts making some big-budget money, producers take notice.  Hopefully now we will see some more spiritually oriented movies as this one breaks new ground.

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

Have you noticed all the Christmas decorations up in the shopping malls?  They’ve been up since Halloween.  It seems like it’s getting earlier and earlier every year.  This really is a wonderful time of year, but it also stresses me out.  I see those decorations and I am reminded of all the things I haven’t done yet, and all the things I think I “should” do but will probably not do.  I start making “the lists”in my head and I look at the calendar and wonder how it’s all going to get done.

But then I take a deep breath and remember the newfound joy that I have discovered in simplicity!  I don’t need to burden myself with “should”, I can choose what I want to do, and enjoy doing it.  I might bake some cookies, or I might buy some instead.  There is no holiday sheriff who will come knocking on my door if the lights don’t get up this year!  I can choose to wander the mall amidst the happy shoppers, or find serenity at home in the many online stores.  One day at a time; it’s still November, and I haven’t figured out Thanksgiving yet!

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

There’s a Catholic church down the street from me.  When I go for a walk I can hear the bells chime on the hour.  It’s really very beautiful, I feel like it adds to the peace of the neighborhood.  It’s amazing how quiet it can be sometimes around here.  But then a helicopter flies by, or a car alarm goes off, and it disturbs the stillness.  So I got to thinking, what are we contributing to the stillness: noise or music?  Our words can be kind and gentle like the church bells, or they can be harsh like an alarm.  In our mindfulness, do we watch what we say, and the way we say it?  Our voices carry with them messages and meaning.  Through our words we can hurt, or we can heal.  Think about what we are saying about ourselves by the words we choose to use.

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

I live in California, in the U.S.  It’s Autumn here now, but you can’t really tell.  People here wear flip-flops on their feet to the grocery store pretty much year-round!  My husband is from Australia, where it is now Spring.  Seasons change wherever we are.  Change is natural, and yet, how often do we fight it?  Mark Twain once said that the only person who welcomes change is a wet baby!  Change can bring with it a freshness, a newness, a beginning.  There are so many transition times in life where change is thrust upon us.  Growing up, certainly.  I see change in my teenagers everyday and I feel like time is going by so quickly!  Moving, changing schools, marriage, divorce, re-marriage, babies, step-children, jobs, careers, losses, it’s just a part of life as we know it, a part of being human and living in this world.  Some things we can’t change.  But we can change how we deal with each situation.  We can see change as an opportunity to learn and to grow.  We can use the experience to learn more about ourselves and our world.

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

As most of you know, coffeytalk is one of four newsletters that I write.  It all started with Wisdom News four years ago, and then last year I added coffeytalk and What’s Your Dosha, and just recently I’ve been doing Family Everyday.  It has been amazing for me to see the growth of this community, both in terms of involvement on the discussion board, and numbers!  I started with just a few friends from my address book, and now we’re up to about 22,000 subscribers all together!  While this is wonderful, in terms of e-mail newsletters we’re still relatively small.  I’ve been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point”, and thinking about how we can get to that crucial place where our little seedling can become a full-fledged tree.  Is it just slow and steady, and a matter of being patient? Or is there some event that needs to happen to set off a chain reaction that allows us to reach for the sky?

So, let’s get back to basics.  How many friends in your address book would benefit from Wisdom News or coffeytalk?  If each of us gets just a couple of people to subscribe we can grow our numbers exponentially!  And that just helps all of us because we’re all connected, we can learn from each other.  The more contributions we have to the discussion board the better because there are more opportunities to learn and grow.  And maybe in our community we’ll find some happy surprises.  Anyone out there know Oprah? ?

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

I seem to have more time to read in the summer.  Whether it’s on a plane, or at the beach, it’s nice to have a book to get lost in.  I have so many books in my bookshelves, I seem to be more ambitious than I have time for!  I came across an old favorite, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”My son Brian read it last year in his high school English class.  I remember reading it in high school, too.  The copy I have is a hardcover one from my mother, dated 1960, and it says it’s the“23rd impression.” This was the only novel that Harper Lee wrote, and she won the Pulitzer Prize for it.  I don’¢t know how many editions there have been since then, or how many total books have been sold.  But I do know that I’ll be reading this book again this summer, and loving it even more after all these years.

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)

I like to cook, but I’m not one to make a big production out of it.  For me, simple is best.  Whatever is easiest!  I mean, really, who has time anymore?  But fast food is not an option, and restaurants are expensive, and they take too much time, too.  So, since cooking is a necessity we might as well have fun with it!  Every May my family gets together for one big birthday party, we have 3 people with May birthdays, and we also mix Mother’s Day in there and kind of take care of everyone with one celebration.  Grocery store cakes are just too sugary, and I wanted something homemade.  I found this Bundt cake pan that solved everything!  All I did was make a cake-mix cake, (super easy!) baked it in the fancy cake pan, and when it was cool I sprinkled some powdered sugar on top.  We served it with fresh fruit and it was a big hit with everyone!  My little Brian was so impressed he’s already requested another one, in chocolate this time.

Lissa Coffey’s online newsletters and article content may be reprinted provided the following credit line is included:

Lissa Coffey is an author, media personality, and the founder of CoffeyTalk.com (Reprinted with permission Copyright © Bamboo Entertainment, Inc.)