Plan "Be" Part II ... BELIEVE it BEFORE you see it

Wonderful, positive steps are now part of our 'visible' reality ... that "I can see it, they can see it" reality that we humans often mistake for the ONLY reality.  The New Moon in Aries, the sign and potent energy new moon of new beginnings and new stories is half-way through its month-long cycle of action Jackson.  I've taken to deciding to choose better-feeling thoughts consciously and consistently.  Deciding that I could believe the Earth Day Celebration was some thing I COULD do is a wowser example of 'Believe it BEFORE you see it!"  We have been on a long journey of swhirling and disconnected reality and more than enough suffering.  Other blogs, now at rest, have filled with those stories.  They served us by finding out in oh so many ways what we did not want.  Today, I am in a different place and appreciation and believing is fueling our good news.  Our good news today will gear us for the expanded good we can't yet see.

So ... this post is Plan "Be"  Part II ... BELIEVE it BEFORE you see it.

Where is she going with this?  (I often wonder myself) 


First, to believe it before yah see it. Start with what I do see as BEAUTIFUL, 'AS I DREAMED IT COULD and IS' stuff. 

• A GOOD dentist appointment HAPPENED.  Yeh, anyone can relate to that statement!  Who loves dentists?  Well, folks with MCS often can't do dentists.  I haven't been to a dentist I could afford; in an office that was not impossible to breathe in; with a chair-side manner that spoke "kind and caring" for many years.  Yesterday I met, sat in a chair and was engaged with a young dentist and his assistant who spoke that "kind and caring" language.  I can afford to pay for some of the treatment I need, with due diligence and wise decisions.  THIS IS A VERY MAJOR 'Beautiful' thing.  I will need to decide the next steps and dates for work, and I get to have options, I believed it before I met young Kenneth Killpack DDS and his assistant Tom, and front desk woman Angela.  Now, it's happening. 
• MASSAGE.  I had my first massage of the year.  Another MAJOR 'Beautiful' thing.  I met "M" last summer.  Over the months Pete and I have gotten to know her more and more.  Pete does fix'ems for "M" and in return, there is $ and trades ... like this massage.  "M's" home is a mostly-benign alternative to 'usual' structure and her willingness to make adustments to the conditions I need to stay in her presence and her home add to the 'BEAUTIFUL' thing experience.  A long, slow and loving chat and massage (while she used my organic coconut oil) added to my "Plan 'BE'" ... I believed I could get a massage.  Armed as I was with my own sheet, air-out yoga mat and my mask ... I was able to be massaged and cared for withOUT using any of my arm-full of 'Be Prepared' stuff.
• DINNER INVITATION FOR EASTER.  This is another big step in my Plan 'Be"  Part II.  Easter Sunday Dinner is something we haven't celebrated or expected to be 'able' to enjoy for many years.  Things are changing.  We're been invited.  Pete and I talked about it.  We accepted.  We're going to do some more talking and preparing for the inside-event, and then the next experience in our Plan "Be" will unfold.

BE-4 TIME(this expression is something I haven't heard in my head for a very long time.  But, in Hawaii, my grandpa and the elders often talked about 'before time', times they remember and that we young kids couldn't see)

 ... My Journey here to a place where positive healing experiences happen more often began (and continues) with knowing what I don't want.  Here is a short, but potent piece of a letter written by a woman living with MCS.  I received it through the grapevine and offer it as a gift of education.  A beginning for some, a continuation for others.  BELIEVE IT BEFORE you see it!  Becoming Fragrance Free in 2023 will mean attending to this kind of education from folks living with the affects of a world that's not FF. 'TAKING 5' Steps in your own dear life will include Noticing things like this kind of request from a friend, or a friend yet to be.  Read this and see where it fits into your journey:

B R  writes

...which leads me to my final point about this: most folks with MCS are in a constant struggle to navigate our daily lives. if we are able to go out, we face a continuous barrage of life-threatening chemical exposures. because MCS affects not only our bodies but our cognitive abilities and emotions, we often cannot express or identify that we are being made sick by one particular product someone is using. so if we do take the time to let you know that something you’re doing is making us sick, please respect that and don’t make us tell you twice, or g-d forbid, more than twice. it’s incredibly painful for us to find that people who purport to be our friends or allies, who express the desire to be near us, do not take our basic needs seriously and even cause us harm after we have expressed that there is a problem. if you are struggling with a solution, please let us know so we can help you resolve it, or if that’s not possible, so we can stay a safe distance from you until you get it resolved...

Thank you JT and DP and DR for extending the grapevine :)))

EARTH DAY 2011 Bayview, WA "Take 5"

Here we are  decked out in winter gear for our first ever EARTH DAY 'Clean Green' time.  Our funky, fun FRAGRANCE FREE IN 23 Table featured the Clean Green stuff of our simple life here on Whidbey Island:

• A very worn and used-for-many-reasons shower curtain backdrop
• Well-off-gassed colored construction paper cut-out in letters
• Clothes line
• Wooden clothes pins for pegging up the TAKE 5 STEPS
• Straight pins for holding the letters on the shower curtain in place
• The funky 5-finger hands for TAKE 5 (steps toward Fragrance Free) came from a pulled out of the recycle pile
• Our TWO BASIC CLEANERS:  baking soda and two kinds of vinegar sat on the table along with
• The Reverse Osmosis Water Filter we tote everywhere we've lived
• Years of being a teacher working on a shoe string; and a tall man handy with string & tools pulled things together for EARTH DAY, 2011

We ...
Never sat down.
Met some great people.
Made new friends, and I met folks Pete has been talking about for months.
Weathered drizzles, wind and cold.
Managed the drift of a community not yet fully fragrance free.

Life is ... a journey

Many thanks to Prescott who is among many things our South Whidbey Tilth friend for the photos.  So fun to be part of the neighborhood, part of Whidbey and part of the great big beautiful Earth.

We love this place PLANET EARTH!
Mokihana and Pete

PLAN "Be" ... Believe, Be Positive, Be Prepared

BELIEVE

It's EARTH DAY CELEBRATION Saturday on Whidbey Island and the April showers and fog  are here. It's still early here on Whidbey and there's a chance the showers and fog will clear enough to set up our FRAGRANCE FREE IN23 Table outside.   This table is our first venture BACK into the public with our 'Freedup Life'.  My recent history has included the Dance of Avoidance as the one action to refuel from years of survival mode.  Nearly a year of recovery in the woods of South Whidbey has really made believers out of us:  healing is believING!

BE POSITIVE

I spent the last few days getting ready for this celebration:  FUN STUFF and involvement.  This blog was launched, a visit to the celebration sight gave us an idea and a visual scene of 'YEAH, THIS COULD HAPPEN HERE.' 

BE PREPARED

Life happens and we co-create it.  I believe both of these beliefs.  What I know about being out in the public is I have no control over what others wear, how they ouclean themselves or their clothes.  We also know that the inside venue is a building diffiult for me to experience. No blame!  I just know in past experience that I have diffiulty breathing in the old Bayview Hall.  Can't breathe?  Can't be.

So ... our PLAN "Be" is to have this post for you in case we (my family ... Pete and me) cannot be at the celebration.  Instead of us in the flesh, there is supposed to be a bunch of postcards with our blogspot address to get you HERE.

If we happen not to be at the Bayview EARTH DAY Celebration we'll  be HERE ... That's us outside our QUONSET IN THE WOODS.

If we miss you at the EARTH DAY CELEBRATION ... don't let that stop you from TAKING 5 Steps to FRAGRANCE FREEDupness IN 23.  Read on from this post and check out  the rest of this blog.  

Believing, Being Positive, and Being Prepared it ought to be Earth Day Everyday.  It's all right.

Mokihana and Pete



We Love This Place Planet Earth in (at least!) 23 Ways

Three years ago the world we knew became a place without safety. Life as we'd known it was quickly being erased by choices made by people we loved, people we didn't know and people we used to be.  More important than all the choices other people were making, our choices and beliefs would need re-honing.  We were living in our faithful green Subaru, and all definitions and beliefs had to be reassembled.  We have survived, and now begin a new journey and story of healing and well-being.  We have learned a few things, let go of even more things, beliefs and attitudes, and share some of our daily practices here at Fragrance Free in 23, on Earth Day, 2011.  We think it's a perfect time to offer what we're found and you can choose which of these offerings vibrate to your beliefs about 'home'... YOUR home and OUR home EARTH!

What is this blog?

Here's a place to take notice of what you do at home now, and open up your beliefs and actions to move incrementally to a FRAGRANCE FREE, CLEAN LIVING, FREED-UP 2023.  We'll lay out the things we do in our life of healing from the affects of MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivities), and offer resources that work for us.  WE INVITE You, viewers and readers, to ADD your stories, experiences and love for Earth practices here, too.  Use the COMMENT tab at the end of each post to grow these '(at least!) 23 Ways we love Planet Earth.'

It will take practice to get from here to there.  Change takes time, and when we began conceiving this blog in early January, 2011 the image of our twin  hanai mo'opuna (spirit-connected grandbabies) inspired me to look toward their future.  If by 2023, more and more choices and decisions were influenced by a fragrance-free attitude what a wonderfully different and freed-up world those teen aged mo'opuna would know!

Here's a snip from a report that makes a case for being FRAGRANCE FREED-UP.  See what you think

 Change in beliefs and thoughts take time, 2023 is a decade away.  Much will need to be done, education and community change will take time and commitment.

 "...Today a wide range of products are sold using the same general theme as the Marlboro ads: life is better; and your clothes, body and house are cleaner, fresher, more desirable if they smell nice. However, the invisible and unlabeled ingredients that make you or your house cleaner, fresher, or more desirable are not listed on any product label. A recent analysis of 6 top selling laundry products and air fresheners found "nearly 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were emitted from the products and five of the products as the average non-smoker was to the risks of second-hand smoke. When ignorance is replaced with knowledge, a large segment of the population will respond with a demand for clean and safe air in the workplace. In the United States and Canada, an increasing number of clinics, schools, public buildings and meetings, buses and workplaces have declared their institutions fragrance-free: a paradigm shift is beginning...

Link here to the whole report 

An April 16th, 2011 Earth Day Celebration and opportunity to share information with folks in our Whidbey Island, WA community fuels the timing of this blog.  We hope there is something here to aid your love of this Planet, our home.  Add your own '23 or however many' lists and actions.  Let us know if there is some way we can help.

My email address is mokihanacalizarATgmailDOTcom make connect.  We'd love  to hear from you!

Mokihana

Take 5 FREED-UP PRACTICES at a Time

The simplicity of 5 ... let's take the steps to '23'

5 at a time

We'll leave 5  ideas, experiences and practices that work for us or work for others who we know.  These Freed-up Practices will give you things to consider, chew on and implement or adapt to meet your current vibe ...  that place where sense and well-being match.  Take what you like, leave the rest or leave it for another day.  Some of these Freed-up Practices (most of 'em really) will ask to be patiently tried, lived with and amended before it and you are a match.  Ho'omanawanui 

Follow us here and add your comments along the way.

1.  NOTICE what you do with what you have, and why you do it.


This is all about you:  what you do; what you have, and why.  Everybody has stuff and that's where we had to start when life as we'd known it washed away like drawings in the sand. Our lessons have been tough, but they have honed us good and plenty, over and over again. 

This is THE step to FREED-UPness.  Take whatever time you need, but do make time to NOTICE and record what you discover.  Our experience has been ... don't act on what you find at this point.  Just notice.  It's very much  like the process of effective change-making found in wise traditions across the Earth:  AWARE, ACCEPT then ACT. 

2.  TWO SIMPLE & CHEAP Cleaners:  BAKING SODA &  VINEGAR


While you're noticing what you do, why you do it, and what you do it with ... here are two simple, non-toxic, scent free cleaners that work for the Earth and Earth's beings.  Baking Soda & Vinegar, the awesome duo we use for almost everything.

Baking Soda
Here's a link to a VERY COOL article  about " BAKING SODA" printed at Blogher.com.  Blogger Beth Terry starts with this: (Read the whole article, it's worth it!)

"What's so great about baking soda?

1) It's cheap. On Safeway.com, a 1 lb box is $1.40. But I save money and packaging by buying it from the bulk bin at my local natural foods store, filling up my own reusable cloth bag. That way, it's only 89¢/lb!
2) It's simple. One of the ways I try to protect my health and that of the planet is to buy products that contain the lowest number of different ingredients possible. Baking soda is just about as simple as you can get. 

3) It's non-toxic. Need I say more?

4) The packaging is plastic-free. With my method, there's no plastic at all. Otherwise, it comes in a biodegradable/recyclable cardboard box.
5) It's versatile. Baking soda has over a hundred uses and can substitute for many other more expensive products.

Vinegar

A few Simple Need to Knows About Vinegar:

There are Two (Basic) Types & Many, MANY uses for each. 

1.  White Distilled Vinegar can be used for cleaning, scrubbing, washing nearly everything and your body as well. 

Here are just a few of the things you can do with white distilled vinegar (link above for a whole website of vinegar stuff)

To shine chrome sink fixtures that have a lime buildup, use a paste made of 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar.

Make your own scouring cleanser by combining 1/4 cup baking soda with 1 tablespoon liquid detergent. Add just enough white distilled vinegar to give it a thick but creamy texture.

Clean counter tops and make them smell sweet again with a cloth soaked in undiluted white distilled vinegar.

Clean and deodorize a drain by pouring in 1 cup baking soda, then one cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so, then run hot water down the drain.

Deodorize the garbage disposal by pouring in 1/2 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup hot white distilled vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes then run hot water down the disposal.

NOTICE THIS:  when you are buying white distilled vinegar READ THE LABEL.  Some brands include petrochemicals in the processing ... it's not every bottle, but they're out there.  Buyer we educated!

2.  Apple Cider Vinegar

We use apple cider vinegar just the way we'd use white vinegar WITH THESE ADDED considerations:

• Buy organic, because we use it on the food we eat
• Use apple cider vinegar diluted for washing food/fruit/veggies
• If you wash windows with apple cider vinegar it will streak more than white

Two Fingers is all Paul McCartney needed to play this tune WHILE he WHISTLED (I love this man!) when his baby was born ...

 

 3.  WATER, we ain't much without it

We've been in a lot of places in America and the Hawaiian Islands.  The water in the taps are a toxic zone. Don't drink it, wash with it, play in it.  Plastic bottled water is only a dit away from tap, so try this instead:

INVEST if you can afford it, in a portable or whole system WATER FILTRATION system.  We've packed up our portable filters and taken them where ever we'd been.  When there was more money, we NOTICED what we did, why we did it, and with what we did those things.  We NOTICED filtered water was important to maintaining well-being. 

4.  PRODUCTS you might not need anymore

If you're NOTICING, you have probably come to the place where at least one product could go.  This is a place where AWARENESS leads to ACCEPTING.  It's a big step between Awareness and Accepting, and there's room for celebration here.  Recognize the movement and say YEAH!  OR Yeah?




5.  RE:-using, -ducing, -cycling in new ways

Now you're ready to ACT. 

Re-use those food jars, fill 'em with bulk nut butter, seeds, nuts, grains
Re-duce the packaged stuff you usually buy
Re-cycle as a last ACT rather than a first reaction ... it does take a lot of energy to turn a recyled jelly jar into a new jelly jar.  Why do it?

There you go 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.  Take 5 at a time and you're one your  way to a FREED-UP Life. 

Over time the sidebar of this blog will include links and resources for more information and experiences.  If you know there's something/some information that's worked for you give us a shout, email us and we'll be happy to share the wealth.



Aloha,
Mokihana Calizar and Pete Little