Nikki Starcat Shields's Blog, page 44
July 18, 2013
Thriving in the Heat Wave
Dryst jumping in the river to stay cool.I love summer. Bring on the hot weather! I know, I know, my joy is annoying. So many people are bothered by the heat, it’s irritating to them when I say I love it. But, poor summer, someone has to be in love with her heat waves!
I think I was a jungle cat in another life. You know, the ones that enjoy water. It would explain why the humidity doesn’t really bug me, I love to swim in the river, and I have great night vision. It also covers my ability to sl...
July 16, 2013
Being a Rock
This year has been one of growth and transformation for me, on a very personal level. I’m flowing through my life with more joy and ease. Even when difficult things happen, I’ve been able to keep my center and do what I can to help the situation. My default settings have been set to a higher vibration.
Apparently the Universe thinks I’m ready for further growth. I had an astrology reading last week from a dear friend who is also a wise astrologer. It seems some intense planets are parked in my...
July 14, 2013
The Looking Glass, Again
My friends and family are mad – in a good way. I often say that if you’re not weird in some way, well, you’re just not all that interesting. In my community, we’re weird in a colorful variety of ways, as the photos below will attest.
This is the second year I’ve participated in the Mad Tea Party over at A Fanciful Twist (which is one of my very favorite blogs!). And the second year, unbeknownst me me in advance, that the date has aligned exactly with our annual Big Backyard Bash. It’s not surp...
July 11, 2013
Self-Love Maintenance
The winter of 2011 is when I first got started, in a focused way, on a quest to learn to love myself. More than two years in, it’s going amazingly well. Loving myself has made such a huge difference in my life! I’m more joyful, less stressed, and more accepting of life’s vicissitudes. I’m also much more fearless when it comes to pursuing my dreams.
I just finished a new book called Cultivating Self-Love, and had a fantastic time writing it. I know without a doubt that it’s an excellent book. I...
July 9, 2013
Blog Readers for Blog Readers
Besides being a blogger myself, I love to read blogs. In fact, I recently found that there are about 80 blogs I follow! Luckily they don’t all post regularly, or I might be over my head in words. Not that I have a problem with that.
Anyway, since the Google Reader was discontinued, I had to find another blog reader app to use. A few of my favorite bloggers recommended Blog Lovin’, so that was the first one I looked into. I liked almost everything about it, but it turns out that they have no ap...
July 8, 2013
Starcat’s Favorites: Memories
This past week was heavily steeped in memories. Quester’s Dad passed away last fall, and this week the family gathered for a private memorial. We spent our time together sharing stories, toasting his presence in our lives, and scattering his ashes in the ocean at his most beloved place. At the same time, we were also creating new memories: swimming in the lake, creating and enjoying a BBQ feast, sharing s’mores around the fire, and enjoying the company of family members we don’t see often. It...
July 4, 2013
Embracing Freedom
It’s Independence Day here in my little corner of the universe, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on freedom. I’m an Independent in the political sense, though for the most part I’m not interested in writing about politics. I’m more passionate about personal growth and self-discovery (as you may have noticed).
I’m an independent being in many ways. I like to think for myself, and discover ideas and ways to live that work best for me. I’m not interested in conformity, even if it’s conforming...
July 1, 2013
Dreaming of the Sea(food)
Last night I had a single bite of lobster dipped in butter. It tasted delicious.
Some background: for probably about 20 years, I’ve been what I’ve considered vegetarian. For the first 13 years of that, though, I would occasionally eat fish or seafood. Not often, maybe once every three months or so, and usually for convenience, when I was at a restaurant or visiting non-vegetarians. In 2006, I had a dream that caused me to reconsider, and since then I haven’t eaten any meat at all, including fi...
June 22, 2013
Starcat’s Favorites: Busy Caregiver
I did some research on archetypes recently for my Cultivating Self-Love e-book. During the process, I found this fun website where you can take a quiz to find out some of your archetypes. Please note, this is a very basic quiz, just to get you started – there are lots of other archetypes beyond the ones they list. Anyway, my results were: 33% Creative, 25% Spiritual, 22% Caregiver, 20% other.
This week I’ve been a very busy caregiver, and my creative side has also kept me hopping. I’m very exc...
June 21, 2013
Musings on Friendship
Happy Summer Solstice! Tonight I’ll be celebrating the arrival of summer with a delightful group of women. I joined a Pagan women’s group this past winter. It meets twice a month in a local Unitarian Universalist church. I attended sporadically at first, but now I’m a fully involved member, and I love it. The experience got me musing about female friendships.
Ever since I was a child, I’ve felt like I didn’t quite “get” the friendship thing. Early in my life I was shy, and I’m sure that didn’t...
