5 ways to create more good for ourselves - #2 focus on our thoughts and especially on how we want to feel

Candace Pert was a neuroscientist (she passed away a few months ago) whose amazing career included two excellent books "Molecules of Emotion: Why You Feel the Way You Feel," with Deepak Chopra and "Everything You Need to Know to Feel Good".

In the early 90's while serving as the chief molecular biologist at the National Institutes of Health she made an amazing discovery that thoughts are real, physical things.

She found that every thought we have (and emotion it produces) has a unique neuropeptide associated with it. Our body produces that unique neuropeptide every time we think that particular thought and experience that particular emotion. These neuropeptides are amino acids produced by the hypothalamus (the control center) in our brain.

Every time we think a thought our hypothalamus translates the thought into billions of neuropeptides that are uniquely associated with the feeling we experience by that thought. Our bloodstream is just flooded with this stuff. 

These billions of neuropeptides join with our cells by inserting themselves into a special receptical in each cell's membrane - just like a key fitting into a lock.

Each neuropeptide receptacle on a cell's membrane is designed to fit just that one particular peptide and no other. So once that neuropeptide finds the right receptacle it gets absorbed into the cell (the cell that literally creates our physical body).

Dr. Pert discovered that over time our cells develop more and more unique receptacles based on the neuropeptides they are most frequently capturing. Our cells even begin to crave these familiar neuropeptides (the ones they have built those unique recepticals to receive). Our cells start telling our hypothalamus to produce these particular peptides because we have developed an actual physical need for them.

So, our cells are not craving stuff that feels good (meaning good thoughts and good emotions) - our cells are craving thoughts and emotions that are familiar.

This gives the need for us to "focus on the feelings we want to have" a whole other impetus. It also helps to explain how focusing on how we want to feel rather than focusing on what we want to get actually works.

(also the law of attraction which is much, much bigger than The Secret and operates more like a tuning fork with like attracting like)

Focusing on a goal always brings up resistant thoughts - Why aren't I there yet? Why don't I have that yet? Why does she have that and I don't? What if I don't get it? What if this never happens for me? This is the "what we resist persists" problem with attracting what we want.

Focusing on a goal also requires us to actually have a goal in the first place which means we have to know what we want which is the place we might get stuck because we often don't know what we want in the first place.

Luckily, we don't have to know what we want. We only have to know how we want to feel and all of us, every single one of us already knows that. We just have to get our hypothalamus to start creating the right neuropeptides and our cells to start producing the right keyholes!

Now our cells may have had decades creating all these keyholes for chaos and shame and fear and guilt and grief, but we can start building new keyholes today - right this minute. We can start focusing on how we want to feel (regardless of what is happening in our lives) today.

How might this work? Well, let's say we have a goal of making more money, but we can't really see how we can do this or what this would actually look like. So, we don't worry about that part (worry thoughts will just produce worry keyholes in our cells and we will literally become made of worry).

If we want to attract more money we think about the feelings that extra money would bring us which could be : safety or freedom or joy or peace or being loved or cherished or attention (which I've heard is the number one thing women want from men) or appreciation (which I've heard is the number one thing men want from women) or some other thing or all of these things.

We make a list of the emotions we want to feel.

(always write lists out by hand and use script since there is more energy in our physical makings and more fluid movement with script writing - I have heard some schools are no longer teaching script - maybe they have forgotten we all need to be able to sign our names and our unique signatures come from writing script letters a hundred, gazillion times)

We spend time each day with this list feeling each emotion. 

We think about things we have experienced before or we just make stuff up - our body doesn't know the difference. We just feel what it feels like to be secure - to have enough money that we can take care of everything we need to take care of easily. We feel what it feels like to be happy and joyful. We dance around our studios and bedrooms and kitchens. We breathe deeply from our bellies with this stuff.

We also notice when we feel these emotions throughout the day (and we will start feeling them more and more) and we savor them.We don't wait for something to happen to feel a good emotion, we just feel them for no outside reason at all.

(think about that Meg Ryan diner scene in When Harry Met Sally, you know the one I mean, we need to really savor these emotions that we want to feel - other people will just want some of what we are having)

When we notice a negative thought coming in - we catch it before it produces the negative emotion. We let that thought go - we replace it with another thought - one that produces the emotion we want to build keyholes for-

the kind of emotion we want to feed our body; the kind of emotion we want our bodies, and lives, to be created from; the kind of emotion we want to attract more of.

(yes, I'm dangling participles all over the place - ignore this)

Now, again this isn't about pouring pink paint over our problems and pretending they don't exist (as Marianne Williamson says) - sometimes we are going to get mad or feel overwhelmed or sad or scared - once the thought has brought on the emotion, we let our bodies feel it, then we let it go - breath it out with a pulse breath.

We move on to a better thought and an emotion we want to have. We let our bodies chow down on that.

I turned my entire life around very quickly many years ago with just this step and meditation. I have gotten out of practice but am back on the wagon .. will report on what develops.

next up part #3 necessary stillness

Astrology Forecast for Creatives | Week of April 24th - an INTENSE look back

bold dreams by multicurious

We have Mercury stationing retrograde in Taurus on Thursday - we will really start to feel this on Tuesday (back up your computers NOW).

This will make five planets retrograde until Jupiter finally moves direct in early May - yes this is BIG!

Mercury rules communication and the movement of information. When he is moving backward (from our perspective) these things get scrambled. More on Mercury here.

Communication includes not only verbal conversations, but the way we think, speak, learn, write, use language and the tools we use for these things: letters, maps, appointments, schedules, classes, books. It also rules telecommunication - publishing, email, sales, public relations and advertising and the tools we use here: computers, cellphones, mail deliveries, shipping, transportation, roadway. Mercury also rules our earliest learning environment which translates over to - our siblings, our neighbors and our local neighborhood. All these things can be a bit like scrambled eggs now. Double check everything.

Retrogrades are an excellent time for the "re's" - revise, re-do, relearn, restore, reinvent, retreat - you get the idea.

When all these planets go direct this summer we are all going to fly forward at 100 miles per hour!

I remember when most people had never heard of Mercury Retrograde and now it seems like poor Mercury (planet of communication and MAGIC) is being shamed/blamed for everything that goes wrong!

This is probably because 1. the internet has exposed many more people to astrological teachings 2. most people are moving so fast any sort of slowdown feels like a problem  3. it's a convenient excuse when stuff falls to shit (pardon my french), especially stuff that would normally be considered our fault :)

It's best to imagine Mercury leaning conspiratorially toward us, "OK, we've gone as far as we can go at this point in time - we need to backtrack a bit to recheck a few things, gain a little more experience and allow the stuff we've lined up with to catch up with us".

Remember unlike what is reported in the book The Secret we don't just decide and the universe responds. We align ourselves with the energy of the thing we want/need/think about/believe in/spend time on/spend energy on/talk about, etc in the invisible realms and then it shows up in the appropriate form for us.

We don't have to create our reality based on instinct like an animal - doing the exact same thing every year. We are gifted with imagination and free will choice. We are always in partnership with life and co-creating our reality.

Our subconscious wants to repeat the past - just like an animal does (remember we are not craving what feels good, we are craving what feels familiar - see this post on the work of Candace Pert). So we will get the same thing we've always gotten when we do the things we've always done.

I have a friend who has had 4 jobs in 5 years. She is always in a state of indecision - should she go or should she stay? She tells me she is tired of having to decide - all she wants is a permanent job.

But her thoughts, words and actions keep recreating the same situation. How does this happen?

First she worries/complains about her current job alot - whatever that job happens to be at the time. The hours are too long. The pay is too low. The field is not where she really wants to be.

She is continually sending out little currents of energy for something else to come along. And because she is an excellent manifester (and we all are) - it does.

Then because she is a pro-active kind of person she puts the ball into play on the physical realm. She hears about a new position, she makes a call. She makes a call, she goes on an interview. She goes on an interview, she gets a job. Then she must decide again - should she stay or should she go? Then she decides and within a few weeks starts the cycle all over again. She thinks life is sending her all these choices and she is tired of having to choose. She complains about the cycle not even realizing she is the one creating the cycle!

Retrogrades allow us to break cycles. We have to backtrack. We get re-routed. Retrogrades offer the opportunity to slow down and re-work a few things. Decisions will not be made quickly now. Deals fall through. Stuff and people from the past come back for connection (and often closure). Things will not always run smoothly. And that's OK because when things run too smoothly we all go on auto-pilot and auto-pilot is just not cutting it anymore for any of us.

Taurus establishes our sense of values, worth and security. With Mercury retrograde in Taurus these are the things we will be dealing with. What do we need to re-do before we move forward?  

Taurus is an earth sign so physical things can be lost/broken- keep track of your money, your cellphone, your credit cards now.

Someone recently asked me what he should rework while all these planets are retrograde - just rework whatever isn't working!

This is a very productive week. On Monday, the Moon is in Sagittarius we will be seeking a little adventure and really wanting to believe in something. On Tuesday, the Moon goes void at lunchtime so get stuff done early. Just before the Moon goes void she makes a positive aspect to Venus, so the void Moon will be a good time to work on (not launch!) something involving love, money, women or beauty (Venus themes). Wednesday and Thursday the Moon is in Capricorn - we will want to get down to business now. On Friday, the Aquarius Moon is great energy for the genius/rebel/criminal to come out and play.

Venus will move into Taurus on Friday giving Taurus themes (and our own natal and progressed Taurus houses) an even greater emphasis.

More on this later in the week! xo all

Today's Astrology Forecast | November 20, 2019 - a load off our mind, the indecision ends, moving forward from this deeper/more intimate and more honest space

The Moon is in solid, practical Virgo now - we are nurtured through taking care of the day-to-day stuff, getting things organized, dotting our i's and crossing our t's, being of service to others. Other people will be, too.

The Moon trined a retrograde Uranus at 3:12AM EST (maybe we wake with an "aha!" moment or practical, yet creative ideas about how to change or improve something) and goes on to sextile Mercury at 4:32PM EST (rational/reasonable conversations that move situations forward).

This is a couple hours after Mercury stations direct - Mercury retrograde ends at 2:12PM EST - so talks, communications, contracts, commerce, all get green-lighted now. 

We are ready to move forward with what we KNOW after this back and forth of the last few weeks. The beans have been spilled (secrets out). The information thoroughly plowed through.

Any ways we have misinterpreted/misunderstood the FACTS are apparent now. We are moving forward from this space of greater clarity.

Mercury won't be covering totally new ground until December 7th, so there will still be some clean-up to do. Our Moon in Virgo today will help.

Ceres move into sober Capricorn means she is squaring Chiron now. Cycle of life issues, tough love nurturing that feels more like punishment, situations that are outside our control are particularly painful and trigger other/older times we stood up for ourselves or allowed ourselves to get angry or had to tackle something all alone.

Throughout 2019 we have had Saturn on the South Node in Capricorn. We are CLOSING out some very big cycles that have carried us, and our ancestors, through many centuries. The South Node has lightened our load, but it can feel like we have lost things we still need - but we do not for this next part of our journey (I know we might still not be seeing how this is possible, but it is). 

We could be dealing with fear and grief over the fact we can't go back. Regrets. The stuff behind us isn't even there anymore.

Keep in mind the North Node is in Cancer, allowing our vulnerabilities to show/moving toward what feels like home/what makes us more HUMAN brings out the best in our Capricorn house that is being unrooted.

We have been/are being moved away from primal attachments and Saturn (as us) hangs on to things, he doesn't let go. Our bodies - and Saturn rules our 3D reality - are genetically programmed to crave what is familiar (see the work of Candace Pert and others), so this can be painful and challenging work.

There is a certain comfort in sitting in a situation that is never going to work out - that allows us to play comfortably small, but with Jupiter moving into Capricorn in just a couple weeks - whatever we are carrying is going to get BIGGER. Fresh starts will grow, but so will our winter asses - and business challenges, bad-marriages and financial quagmires - whatever we carry with us.

(it is human-nature to crave change, BUT we want to pick and choose what changes - we want a fun, and profitable creative business (for example), but we still want to sit on the couch with an asshole boyfriend who treats us like crap on Saturday night and watch the tellie - it is situations like this where we split ourselves into multiple people that pull us out of our integrity - in this example wanting other people to value us/what we create when we don't value us - so we are teetering on an unsteady ladder just waiting for a strong wind to knock us on our ass - with Mars in Scorpio until the end of the year the potential for self-sabotage greatly increases)

Whatever we think has happened to us

whether we have been humbled or humiliated - this is the part that is up to us.


xo all

photo by the talented Mrs-White

FULL Moon Lunar Eclipse in Pisces | cry me a river ...

cry me a river by julie de waroquier

We have a BIG T-square Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Pisces today.

It lays out like this - we have the Sun in Virgo at 24 degrees (we also have the North Node of our collective destiny in Virgo). We have the Moon in Pisces at 24 degrees - we have the Moon conjunct Chiron (the space of our wounding and the bridge between restriction and freedom, and maybe why new things are so often birthed by pain) in Pisces (and the South Node of what we are collectively releasing and leaving behind also in Pisces). We have all of this squaring Mars (in Sagittarius and also the space where Saturn is still hanging out). I'll put all of this into english, too, I promise. :)

Full Moons bring energy to a "peak"; to a culmination, maybe to an ending. Eclipses eclipse something out; we get re-set. If you have planets or points near or on 24 degrees Pisces or Virgo your life will be very, very different in 6 months (lunar eclipses play out over 6 months). For everyone else this eclipse is bringing something to a peak, culmination or an ending. It will be complex and we will probably be asked to be compassionate toward ourselves and other people. Emotions will be running high now.

With Chiron sitting with the Moon this is probably going to hurt a bit .... and instead of turning away from what hurts - it is the time to let our defenses down and feel it. We don't have to understand or figure things out. Pisces dissolves. Pisces feels. Pisces is a water sign and heals through wetness - blood, sweat and tears (I would avoid the blood though if possible). If we want/need to cry, and even if it turns into one of those big old ugly cries that has our eyes all scrunched up two days later and people looking at us funny, it's time to cry. You will probably not need me to tell you this though .....

There could be losses, accidents - things beyond our control. Or maybe the controls are still in our hands, maybe we can still steer the ship away from the rocks, maybe .....

Old patterns and ways of thinking and being are very seductive. Our physical body craves, not what is good for us, not what it actually needs - but what is familiar (see the work of Candace Pert and others). 

Whatever fantasy crap is standing in the way of our growth (and the collective's growth) needs a swift kick in the ass now. 

We'll try to remember we need this when we are being kicked in the ass.

(and I'm not talking martyrdom - that crap is part of the Piscean fantasy and the way we keep ourselves separate from others - it needs to go, too)

This Moon culminates the New Moon from two weeks ago, the Pisces New Moon from March 8th and reaches forward from the Eclipse cycle we've worked with since spring 2015. Lots of things are impacted here because one thing brings us to the next and where things start and end aren't really where they start and end. Look at the ultimate beginning "thing" - a baby. The baby doesn't start when she is born, she doesn't even really start when she is conceived - she is set into motion long before that. We can see that right?

If we've been toughing something out and carrying some load that is bending our back into a pretzel - this would be a good time to set it down long enough for us to feel for a moment what we could feel like without it - who we would be without it - what the world might look like if we are standing up straight.

If the tears now make everything a big black, mascara-y blur - we will narrow our focus (Virgo) and remember that every ending, even one that is fated like an eclipse ending, always ALWAYS carries the seeds of a new beginning and the best thing about our Virgo North Node is that a fated beginning will come from doing the next step thing, the thing that is already right there in front of us.

There is a leap of faith here to release the past.

With slippery Pisces the results this Full Moon brings could be unpredictable. We think we are getting X and we really get Y. Our energy could flow here and there and much of it could be wasted (especially with Mercury still retrograde). If something leaves now though, there is no stopping it.

Since this is a Lunar Eclipse a woman might leave or bring news of a change of direction or ending.

As always get out and walk in the Full Moon energy - if you can walk near water or be in water (yes, a bathtub totally counts here), even better!

Now a quick look through the signs (Sun and rising). 

If you know your Virgo house for the solar Eclipse (two weeks ago) and your Pisces house for the Lunar eclipse (today), use the houses (number in parenthesis) for best accuracy!

ARIES (Virgo in the 6th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago was about your health and your vitality, maybe some change in your day to day situation or day to day functioning or an issue with a pet, co-worker or employee - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 12th) today is about this being "time to go", maybe a move or relocation? events could show you how you sabotage yourself

TAURUS (Virgo in the 5th) the New Moon two weeks ago was about peaks, endings and culminations with creative projects and how you show up creatively, could be changes or endings with a romantic partner or with children - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 11th) today is about changes, endings and culminations with friends and groups and your emotions around them or some adjustment around that 'big dream' you carry for yourself

GEMINI (Virgo in the 4th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago brought changes in your home and family, maybe a physical move or family member left or moved in, maybe some kind of trauma at home, something you needed to just 'deal with'. This could also be something about your mother or your belief about your mother. - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 10th) today is about your career and reputation in the world, whatever peaks, culminates or ends within this space is meant to go now, so something new can be built. This could also be something about your father or your belief about your father.

CANCER (Virgo in the 3rd) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago was about changes in your mental thinking, your attitude, your communication, maybe a peak, culmination or ending with a sibling, neighbor or within your neighborhood - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 9th) today is about deeper emotional insight and truth or maybe a peak, ending or culmination or the release of a belief related to education or travel or a wedding or someone or something from or at a distance.

LEO (Virgo in the 2nd) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago could have brought possible losses of money, maybe a check didn't show up or you didn't get your money's worth somehow - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 8th) today is about a financial loss of some kind or inheritance debt, some kind of debt or tax coming due? something impacting 'other people's money', maybe a change regarding your spouse's income. This could also be about sex or reproduction; a peak, ending or culmination

VIRGO (Virgo in the 1st) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago will impact your entire life for the next 6 months - big changes ahead, release and let go of whatever is not needed - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 7th) today is about a possible rude awakening with a relationship, maybe someone leaves or some karmic connection/debt releases - some peak, ending or culmination regarding a partnership

LIBRA (Virgo in the 12th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago released a karmic debt - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 6th) today is about self reflection (try to flip depression to self reflection and don't repress your emotions), your health, your day to day operations, something is peaking, culminating or ending here, this could also be about your pets, co-workers and employees

SCORPIO (Virgo in the 11th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago likely brought a peak, culmination or ending within friendships or associations or maybe something in the way of your big dream gets removed or the dream itself evolves through release or loss - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse today (Pisces in the 5th) is about romance, creative projects, children - something here reaches a peak, ends or comes to a culmination. Time to let go.

SAGITTARIUS (Virgo in the 10th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago brought changes within your career and reputation in the world - there will be big changes in this area within the next 6 months! This could also be something about your father or your belief about your father. The Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 4th) today is about emotional changes within your family, possible losses within the family, your home or 'base'. This could also be about the release of a belief about your childhood, what 'home' is or something about your roots. This could also be about your mother or your beliefs about your mother.

CAPRICORN (Virgo in the 9th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago brought changes in your education or travel plans or with what is foreign, maybe the removal of a belief system and access to greater knowledge (opening of crown chakra) - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 3rd) today is about letting your emotions open your mind, a challenge for Cappys! learning to trust your gut intelligence, maybe a peak, ending or culmination in regard to communication, intellect, something with a sibling, neighbor or your neighborhood

AQUARIUS (Virgo in the 8th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago was about death, divorce, surgery, sex, deep discoveries, reproduction something about taboo experiences - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 2nd) today is about the loss of something valuable but the loss brings freedom .... what belief about 'security or safety' is standing between you and freedom? what do you really value?

PISCES (Virgo in the 7th) the New Moon Solar Eclipse two weeks ago  was about the loss of a close relationship or belief around a relationship - the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Pisces in the 1st) today is all about you, you will feel the wounding and healing here, take it easy on yourself, meditate don't medicate, get some exercise and skip the alcohol, don't overeat, get healthy. Your life will be so different in 6 months!

If you need assistance determining houses let me know! Eclipses work themselves out over a six month period although big events often happen at the eclipse and, I often find, one month to the day before or after.

Also something about Full Moons and Pisces - it's a time to 'let go'. It isn't a time to 'move on'. The 'letting go' and the 'moving on' times are two different things - we get all screwed up when we push them together like they are one big thing.

They aren't. 

This is how we dis-honor our feelings and try to bypass grief and we get ourselves out of 'right timing'. This is just the time to 'let go' - nothing more ....

Happy Harvest Moon everyone! xo all

North Node into Leo | South Node into Aquarius - being visible

The skies shift today.

More immediately felt could be the Sun (in Taurus) trining (brakes off) Pluto (in Capricorn) at 19 degrees at the same time Juno (partnerships) stations retrograde at 18 degrees (in Capricorn).

Juno retrogrades have us re-looking at our relationships and commitments. In Capricorn, this could also be about our relationship to authority and to the power structures that support us.

Relationships and commitments are ripe for "re-structuring".

Juno stations at 18 degrees and Pluto is at 19 degrees. She doesn't quite meet up with the planet of transformation before she turns around. Whatever is happening here we (via she) aren't quite ready for this!

They finally catch up with each other in mid November. That's when the relationship transformation (Pluto) is confirmed. In the meantime, the next 6 months are a crucial period to figure this all out. Then in the fall, the power structures/allegiances shift. We had the Sun trining (brakes off) Juno yesterday, so much of this stuff will fall into place. In November, power will shift - major relationships/commitments can start, outdated/dead relationships will finish.

(since Capricorn rules government it will be interesting to see how much this transit factors into our current political machinations)

We also have the Nodes changing signs today.

Since the Nodes are points and not planets the energies are more collectively felt. On the other hand if we look at the North and South Nodes in our natal chart, and their houses, we will find how remarkably well just these two points mirror our entire story. Babies born for the next 18 months will carry these energies for their entire lives. And we all have a new "north star" to work with and new energies to release or transform.

My first astrology teacher said the North Node is unfamiliar space where we "make steady progress over time" and the South Node holds the familiar, comfortable tools we use to make that progress happen (it also stores the barbed wire and banana peels we use to trip ourselves up).

With the South Node in Aquarius and the North Node in Leo - we need to do Aquarius better so we can do Leo better.

And since our bodies are craving what is familiar (see the work of Candace Pert and others) the North Node can make us uncomfortable. That's OK, comfort can be over-rated anyway (except for right now during Taurus season - I even grocery shopped in slippers yesterday).

We will talk about this alot over the next 18 months.

For now, have a look at your natal chart (astro.com). Go to free horoscopes (top), natal chart. Look for not only your Leo/Aquarius polarity, but also the houses that hold your Sun and Uranus (the rulers of Leo and Aquarius) - let's say you have, like me, a 3rd house Sun and a 10th house Uranus - google 3rd house astrology then 10th house astrology - to see what themes those houses reflect, this will give you an idea of what you have to work with (and what stands in your way): Aquarius, and where you can make progress now: Uranus. Email me if you can't find this and I will tell you what houses to be looking at and what Leo/Aquarius polarity is in your chart.

Growth will come when we move from aloofness toward passion,

from an outsider to an insider perspective (this isn't about selling out or losing our own unique mindset, but watching from the sidelines isn't getting us anywhere, we need some skin in the game now),

from unique idea to creation, 

from the audience to the stage,

from being detached about an outcome to proud of what we have accomplished or attempted, 

from trauma, chaos and PTSD toward influence, effectiveness and leadership.

I read an article about Melania Trump's Instagram feed from before her husband was running for President. There is a certain mean spiritedness to the article I do not like, but the photographs and story they paint of Melania's "backseat" life are fascinating.

(will be interesting to see what she does with the next year and a half)

They sadly remind me a bit of my family album from when my daughter was younger. Not the chandeliers or skyscrapers though - ha!

For years I had thrown family photos into boxes and then a couple summers ago I took them all out to put them in albums. Seeing how few photos I was in was eye-opening, especially since I have so few photos of my own mother. I know I took alot of the photos but couldn't I have spent five minutes learning how to use the automatic timer or handed someone else the damn camera.

Lesson to all moms and grandmoms out there - we can learn alot from the millennials - get yourself in the damn picture! Get a selfie stick. Grab the kids. Whatever it takes.

I think this Leo North Node will be all about "photo-bombing" for me.

You can expect to see me everywhere.

I might even show up in your family photos ("Wait, is that Cat behind Aunt Dorothy at the family picnic? I didn't even know she liked tuna salad sandwiches.") - don't hate me for this.

I am just doing my part to move the collective forward by doing my "Leo".

I promise to comb my hair and check my teeth for poppy seeds first.

xo all