Having Fun Discovering Your Roots

Read an article in The Costco Connection (dated Nov/Dec 2009) titled: Discover Your Roots - Going Online to Trace Your Family Tree, by Paul Lima.

http://www.costcoconnection.ca/connectioncaeng/20091112?pg=35#pg35

The main outline of the article described how to get started and offered a few suggested sites.
I really liked Paul Lima's get-started list:

1. List all of your known relatives.
2. Interview your relatives, beginning with the eldest, and collect the names of all of their known relatives and place of birth and death.
3. Conduct research into family names on the internet.
4. Use Internet genealogy message boards to connect with others tracing similar family names.
5. If family information is not online, review records in church parishes located where relatives were born, married and/or died.
6. Document and organize what you find.

 I've always been interested in wanting to complete a family genealogy project - and do realize that this isn't something that can get completed over a weekend... hence why I've probably been putting it off. But time isn't sometime I can just retract and so making this a priority in my life (while I still have important key people around) probably needs to be brought forward.

I've also just recently embarked on a new business adventure - which kind-of fits in perfectly with this type of project. I'm a new consultant for Heritage Makers (www.kreativescraps.ca). HM is an online digital scrapbooking website (tool) that would allow me to meet all of my Family Tree needs; by allowing me to Tell My Story in my very own Heritage Story Book.

Coming back to The Costco Connection (dated Nov/Dec 2009) titled: Discover Your Roots - Going Online to Trace Your Family Tree, by Paul Lima - I'd like to provide a listing of some of his suggested genealogy website of choices:

www.1930census.com General reference for US Federal Census

www.ancestry.ca Canadian family history records online

www.archives.gov The National Archives and Record Administration (US)

www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/index-e.html Library and Archives Canada, with excellent advice for beginners

www.ellisisland.org American Family Immigration History Center @ Ellis Island; site includes genealogy and passenger search tabs


www.familysearch.org Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints genealogy records and resources

www.freebmd.org.uk British ancestry site with parish birth, marriage and death certificates from 1837 on

www.immigrantships.net Volunteers focused on transcribing passenger arrival records and publishing work online

www.genuki.org.uk Census figures from ever country of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and other resources

www.loc.gov Online home of the Library of Congress

www.myfamilyinc.com Includes Genealogy.com and Ancestry.com, with more than 7 billion names and 26,000 searchable databases

www.ourroots.ca History books about pioneer towns and profiles of citizens

www.pier21.ca Canada's equivant to Ellis Island

www.rootweb.com Part of Ancestry.com


www.shipslist.com US

www.usgenweb.com US

Your Life is A Story, why Not Bring It To Life?!
Preview some our Heritage Templates:

http://www.heritagemakers.com/templateGallery.cfm?page=2&sort=communityShareDate&series=0&category=heritage&membershipType=all&searchQuery=

Here's a specific Heritage Book example:
http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectID=974682&productId=1&sponsorID=585234





Sign up for FREE here: www.kreativescraps.ca

How the LOA Saved our Dog! :)

Here's the scoop, in the recent past I haven't really been living the LOA (Law of Attraction) simply because I allowed myself to succumb all of my mind-chatter and its stories.
They're very convincing, you know?! lol...

However... in the more recent past, like this past week - I was like (in my head), OK that's enough! What you're telling me isn't making me feel any better and everything around me is screaming negativity! So my choices were either a) continue digging in this hole, which obviously wasn't leading anywhere; or b) just stop digging and re-orient myself.

As some people know, I don't always put my words into actions right away again cause I allow myself to procrastinate and mongol over things sometimes for too long.

This week however I just stopped. I didn't think about it, I just stopped.

So what's been going on... hummm... well alot! :)
But first here's a short story:

I've never had a pet growing up, cause we'll ...we just didn't have one. And so I'm not the type of person who felt the need to have pets. ....blah blah blah... fast forward to now...

I have 4 wonderful grown-up children and we've had a dog for the last 8 years! He is part of the family, so I might as well say I have 5 children! wink wink... hey I still have to feed him and clean up after him, so I counts! lol

About a little over a year ago, our dog started this thing above his neck. It's like a big ball (covered in fur) growing beneath his skin, it was hard, however didn't hurt or bother him - it was just there. So, last year at his check-up the vet took a look at it and told us we need to get him operated on, to get it removed, and it was going to cost us over $1000.  

Discussions and decisions needed to be made, and at that time (last year) - we just couldn't do it (pay the $1000) so we opted to do nothing. Besides it wasn't bugging him, it wasn't hurting him (when we touched it), the only indicator that it was there and that something was 'incorrect' was the fact that we could see it - the lump.

Fast forward to ....about 3 weeks ago. Lump is now bleeding a little and kind-of looks like there's a crack / open scar on this "ball" sticking off the top of our dog's neck. So we call the vet and have him brought in for a check-up, again.

Again the vet reminds us that they told us a year ago that this needed to come out... ya ya ya I know, heck if I had money growing on trees, it would of got done a year ago! So in my head - I'm focusing on the lack of money. Anyways, vet checks the dog tells us again the same story... and we have him booked for the end of the month. In the meantime, she prescribes him some steroids and antibiotics. And schedules a follow-up visit in 10 days.

So the 10 days later comes around (yesterday) and my hubby goes in with the dog to see the vet. She again proceeds to tell him that we need to move ahead with the surgery...blah blah blah. So she checks the dog, and decides to shave around this 'lump' to get a clearer view.

** Warning gross part here: during these 10 days, the opening that the blood originated from cracked open even further and was now really visible. During this time, stuff was gushing out at times where we needed to wipe him down. It was also emitting a smell... and it wasn't purtty! ;) **

Once she was done checking him, she (the vet) left the room to go fill out some paper work. My hubby then proceeded to tell me that the dog's lump-thing was bleeding a little so decided to wipe it clean, and that's when the dog started doggy-shaking (like he was trying to get something off of himself) and ...ended-up shaking the gunk that was filling this 'lump' out!

Yes, he (the dog) rejected this stuff out of himself, and plop out it flew! Yikes, and ...yuck! Glad I wasn't there to see this, that's a blessing in disguise! :)

So my hubby calls the vet back in to explain what just happened. And she proceeds (in awe!) to acknowledge that never in her 30 year career has she ever seen or heard of this happening!

...The surgery is no longer needed. Can you believe that?!

Now we just need to keep the area that has this hole clean and covered till he can get back in to get it stitched-up! Yes you heard me correctly - the whole thing got naturally resolved!! Yay, I love the Universe!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

So what does this all mean - what was the moral of this / my story?

For me, this meant - STOP worrying about stuff you can't do anything about and allow nature to do its job! Don't keep wondering about the how this? how that? what about this? what about that?... and to just ...allow life.

Become a spectator in your own life - and enjoy the ride!  :)

I was focusing on the wrong things, giving power to the wrong areas of my life.
Once I shifted, and STOPPED believing my stories, things changed - I changed.

"If you don't like something change it, if you can't change it, change the way you think about it." ~ Maya Angelou

The Five Agreements (Toltec Wisdom)

The Five Agreements:

 1. BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. DON’T TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. DON’T MAKE ASSUMPTIONS Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are tired as opposed to well rested. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

5. BE SKEPTICAL, BUT LEARN TO LISTEN Don’t believe yourself or anybody else. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear: Is it really the truth? Listen to the intent behind the words, and you will understand the real message.

The Four Agreements slowly helps you to recover your authentic self, and the real you starts to awaken. With The Fifth Agreement comes the complete acceptance of yourself just the way you are, and the complete acceptance of everybody else just the way they are. The reward is your eternal happiness. The Fifth Agreement is made with words, of course, but its meaning and intent is beyond the words. The Fifth Agreement is ultimately about seeing your whole reality with the eyes of truth, without words. 

As Don Miguel says, “By practicing the Five Agreements, what you are really doing is respecting everything in creation. You are respecting your dream; you are respecting everybody else’s dream. If you use these tools, your effort is really for everyone, because your joy, your happiness, your peace, and your heaven are contagious. When you are happy, the people around you are happy too, and it inspires them to change their own world.”

The above was quoted from: http://in2deep.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/the-fifth-agreement/




About a year ago, a wise woman strongly suggested that I read The Fifth Agreement. However since I hadn’t read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, I started off with this book first. Once completed, and it was a fairly quick and easy read, I started venturing in to its sequel The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz and his son Don Jose Ruiz. Given that the original book was still fresh in my mind (having just finished reading it), I was able to scan-read ¾ of the book in order jump right in to the newer stuff – the fifth agreement teachings!

The Fifth Agreement which is “Be Skeptical, But Learn to Listen” brings us deeper, to another level of understanding, in our ‘dream’ world.

A quote from the book reads:

“When the truth sets you free, the symbols you learned are no longer ruling your world. Then it’s not about being right or wrong, or good or bad. It’s not about being a winner or loser. It’s not about being young or old, beautiful or ugly. All that is over. It was nothing but symbols.”

How much more in-depth can you get than that?

Our entire world, everything we know, we know because of how we perceive it; and how we perceive it - roots to how we were ‘domesticated’.

The words we use originated from somewhere, from someone. That someone, a human decided to call the warm puffy thing that just came out of the oven: bread. And this word “bread” - only captures its meaning in the language it’s made to be shared in. If I was to go to China, and say “bread”, the word only has meaning to me; so it’s not real. If I was to find bread and point to it, this is real – it’s there (the bread), however the words (symbols) used to identify things, aren’t. They’re created by people for agreement purposes.

Another meaning for symbols comes into play when describing things – let’s say a dandelion. If I was to describe the dandelion, the words that I use to associate to this object are rooted to my history and my perception of dandelions. I may think/believe they’re beautiful wild flowers, and that’s it. Meanwhile, someone else might not reference dandelions as objects of nature, but make note that dandelions have purposeful meaning in the medical field.

Which brings me to – judgement. Judgement can be a viewpoint perceived from what’s been ‘recorded’ in your mind… which brings forth the fifth agreement:

BE SKEPTICAL, BUT LEARN TO LISTEN Don’t believe yourself or anybody else. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear: Is it really the truth? Listen to the intent behind the words, and you will understand the real message.

Is what’s in my mind truth? Is what I believe about something actually correct? Why do I think this way, why do I like (or dislike) something? …and is what I ‘perceive’ as ‘being right’ actually ‘right’? Aha, this then becomes the ‘real’ question… What is the truth?

The truth is the truth and there isn’t any need to reveal it because it will always be there, it’s the truth, thus there’s nothing to uncover. What’s not ‘truth’ is the fog over our eyes veiling our ‘dreams’; convincing us to conform to other people's interpretation of their truth.

Your truth, and my truth – may very well be the same, or maybe not; either way who’s to say we’re not both right? We both originate from the same source, our core ‘structure’ is the same – what is different is our ‘mind-recordings’, our beliefs.

Allowing yourself to listen and not believe, especially not believe yourself (your mind-chatter) – you come to learn to listen to meaning, to the words behind the words: The message.

This does indeed lead you to a talk-less / listen-more dream-style. Sometimes allowing our mind-chatter to come to life with words, influences more mind-chatter to be created; and this is when we need to revert back to agreement #1:

BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

We’re all one. Our core energies and mind-intentions are intertwined. Which is why/how we’re here right now. Our combined efforts bring together awareness and openness – which alone can be done, and is being done – however togetherness allows us quicker truth awareness.

Change your world, and the world around you changes.

The truth doesn’t need to be forced upon anyone, people will get it when they need it, and they’ll get what they need when it’s needed. …because if we recall: The truth is the truth and there isn’t any need to reveal it.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Opening your awareness and allowing yourself to view things outside the norm is living the fifth agreement. Stop the mind chatter, don’t believe what you believe, and question everything around you -- so that you can get the real message / meaning being presented to you.

On that note, how are you messaging? What kind of messenger are you?

View an excerpts of the book The Fifth Agreement here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Fifth-Agreement-Practical-Self-Mastery/dp/1878424688#reader_B00352B41E

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/the_fifth_agreement_book_excerpt

Video from HayHouse: