Charla Dury, Author at Mind KEY

Spirit Animals/Power Animals

February 23, 2016

Are you seeking an answer to a question? Facing a daunting situation? Remember, you have a Spirit Animal waiting in the wings to help you through whatever situation you face. When clients come to me for a Shamanic oracle card reading seeking solutions to their problems and questions, first I guide them to choose a Spirit Animal to help them in their quest. Their Spirit Animal will possess the traits they will need in the situations they inquire about. I utilize Power Animal Cards to assist clients in their choice, but meditating, observing nature and being aware of your dream time are all ways to find your Spirit Animal. During my Shamanic Drum Circles, participants find their Spirit Animal through guided meditations accessing the Lower World while...

Love isn’t about need–It never was

February 12, 2016

Lifestyle, Relationship

Lisa M. Avila, D.C.is a new contributor at Mind Key. As a Certified Applied Kinesiologist working and living in New York, Lisa brings her unique viewpoint to bear on the Mind Key Community. *************************** I read a Facebook post recently that gave me tremendous pause...

family & kids Love and sex relationship with self relationships

Keeping the spark alive – Long terms relationships are hard

February 8, 2016

Health

Jon and I cycling at Red Rocks park in Las Vegas My husband and I have been married for twenty years and together for twenty eight. That's a long time. Its hard to keep things fresh when eventually, everything has a low point like I mentioned here. If you go out onto the internet, there are so many websites and articles that give tips and tricks on how to keep it fresh, to keep the spark alive, to rekindle the romance. Date night for the Durys before sushi and comedy One of the most common threads is planning a date night. Date nights are awesome. And I'm not talking about Date Night, the movie (although your date night could include Date Night, laughter is also awesome.) They can consist of something as...

relationships romantic relationships

Getting back on the “Wheelbarrow”

February 3, 2016

Creativity

so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens - William Carlos Williams As a part-time professor of English, I teach this poem every semester. Keep in mind many of my students have not been in a classroom for a number of years. The wide-eyed looks of bafflement never cease to put a big smile on my face. Never mind that every time I teach this poem it’s around 7 pm on a weeknight. I am fried, and so are they. Still, this poem tends to spark a much welcomed blaze of conversation. I have to make it clear in the beginning of the lesson that this is, in fact, the ENTIRE poem. Much of William’s work is obscure but widely read and taught. “The Red Wheelbarrow” has...

poetry

Positive Self Talk

February 2, 2016

Energy, Lifestyle, Relationship

We've all heard of the power of positive thinking, but do you believe it? Really believe it? Stuart Smalley - SNL I think we all remember Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live. He's one of the first thoughts that comes to mind when I think about positive self talk. His mantra, "I am good enough. I am smart enough. And doggone it, people like me!" might sound ridiculous, but it's not. In The Science of Self Talk, a blog posted on NPR in 2014, several studies regarding brain-body connections are sited saying that how you see yourself effects how you relate to the physical world. And how you talk to (and about) yourself, either out loud or in your head, effects how you see yourself. Think about that. If you "see" yourself...

relationship with self

Checking in on my New Year’s “Un-Resolution”

January 27, 2016

Health

My "Un-Resolution": I Didn't Improve One Damn Thing. As the month comes to a close, I'm wondering how many of you kept your New Year's Resolutions. Maybe some are still at it. Maybe some lasted a week, and then your life got busy. Maybe, you were like me, and it was just another day and you are good enough the way you are and you are just going to "keep on, keeping on". Whatever the case may be. Good for you. Day-to-day living can be stressful. I feel like most days, if I didn't scream in my head at least fifty times some swear word, it wasn't that bad of a day. I just keep taking one day at a time, try to be positive, handle problems when...

resolution

It takes two weeks to create a habit

January 26, 2016

Health, Lifestyle

Start small. Make small changes. New Year's resolutions are difficult to maintain. Gym rats always say that January is the suckiest month to be in the gym. All of the newbies with resolutions clog the gym arteries with their good intentions. February 1st, they can breathe again because everyone has given up. Its getting close to February 1st, have you given up on your health goal? Any habit, based on scientific studies, takes 2 weeks to create. During the first two weeks, its a choice. After two weeks, it has become a habit. So start small. Replace one soda a day with water. Replace one crappy snack with an apple. Take a ten minute brain break and walk outside, or even stroll around your building. Meditate for 2 minutes...

DIY Coconut Salt Scrub Recipe

January 22, 2016

Health

doTerra representative, Jane Morba, offers us a recipe for a coconut salt scrub that can incorporate your favorite essential oils for glowing, more vibrant skin. What You Need: 1 cup organic virgin coconut oil 1 cup Pink Himalayan (or Epsom) salt 1/4 cup Fractionated Coconut Oil (may substitute grapseed oil) 15 drops of your favorite essential oil Directions: 1. Melt coconut oil in microwave or over a double boiler. 2. Once melted, remove from heat. 3. Add Fractionated Coconut Oil and Pink Himalayan Salt into melted coconut oil. 4. Stir until combined. 5. Add essential oils. 6. Let sit until coconut oil solidifies, stirring every 10 minutes. Tip: Put in refrigerator to speed up the cooling process. 7. Stir until well combined and store in an airtight container. 8. To use, rub on skin and rinse with warm water. - See...

Health

Everyday aromatherapy: smells that take me away

January 20, 2016

Uncategorized

I grew up splitting my time between the suburbs and the mountains. My parents split when I was little and my mom stayed in the suburbs and my day moved to the mountains. When I’d visit my dad, I always enjoyed the smells of the mountains. To me, the smell of the mountains is the heavy scent of pine, melting snow in the soil, fresh cut wood, fires from chimneys and Colorado moss growing on the rocks. Any one of those smells today trigger a calming effect on my mind as well as my body. Along my current walking route (in a warehouse district of town) on my lunch hour, I pass a small group of pine trees. I breathe in deeply and smile while passing every...

soil

Angelic Essentials’ Tracie Yates tells her “Origin Story”

January 19, 2016

Uncategorized

Guest blogger Tracie Yates, owner of Angelic Essentials, explains her essential oils experience from the beginning. While new to the business side of oils, Tracie believes they should be an integral part of every well-balanced life. Tracie Yates *********************************************** I discovered the benefits of essential oils 13 years ago. At that time I was going through a very traumatic time in my life, my marriage was falling apart, my business was struggling and my rock, my daddy, had just passed away unexpectedly. A young lady introduced me to the oils when she saw how deeply I was grieving. She told me there were oils that could help relieve the intensity of my grief. Although I did not buy this claim at all I decided to give it a...

Connection between mental, emotional and physical health

January 12, 2016

Uncategorized

Mental and emotional health play a larger part in your physical health than you might realize. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as a: state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. They say that there is no health without mental health. Googling the words "mental health physical health" returned about 197,000 results in under one second. There have been thousands if not millions of studies surrounding the connection. I can vouch for the connection in my own life. Between July of 2012 and March of 2013, I lost 40 pounds walking, dancing with my kids and the Xbox, and riding my bike. I felt pretty good, even though I still wanted to lose about 20 more pounds. I...

mental health

How Affirmations Can Keep Us On Track To Our New Year Resolutions

January 11, 2016

Uncategorized

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them ~Albert Einstein Hi everyone, my name is Barbara Steingas. Just after graduating college, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, an autoimmune disease deemed incurable by traditional western medicine. The first several years I followed the gastroenterologist’s advice andtook the prescribed medicines that were supposed to control my symptoms. However, I continued to spiral downward until I was a walking skeleton from not being able to really eat, and had excruciating vaginal-rectal abscesses. As a last resort, the gastroenterologist suggested a new treatment option: take an immunosuppressive medication, but due to my frail state, the doctor said there was a high risk that if I contracted a cold it could potentially turn into...

weight loss

Holiday traditions through the (your) ages

December 24, 2015

Uncategorized

Its interesting how Holiday traditions morph as we move through the stages of life.When I was a kid, we ate chili and opened all of our gifts on Christmas Eve and Christmas day was just Santa stuff. None of the Santa stuff was wrapped. I'd spend New Year's weekend with my dad's family and do Christmas with them then. My husband's family opened one gift on Christmas Eve (always new pajamas) and then the rest of their gifts on Christmas day and I think they wrapped their Santa gifts and they were under the tree in the morning. When he and I got married, we realized that you have to somehow meld traditions. So, while my mom was alive, we'd go over to my mom's on Christmas Eve and open all of her gifts and...

tradition

Breathing through holiday stress

December 23, 2015

Uncategorized

The holidays are a hectic time of year for us all. Even for those who don’t celebrate a winter holiday, the roads, restaurants and malls are crowded and your friends and loved ones are probably running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I know I am!With holiday stress on top of everyday normal stresses, life can get pretty overwhelming. Remember to take a moment for yourself. I know, I know, that seems impossible! I don’t have a moment, you might say. It may seem like you don’t. But when you’re stressed out and overwhelmed, what kind of support are you providing to your loved ones and those around you? What kind of support are you providing to yourself? You don’t have anything to...

Follow your dreams with Mind Key!

December 17, 2015

Uncategorized

Mind Key is all about finding inspiration to follow your dreams, to live your healthiest, happiest and most passionate life. For many of us, that includes the creative pursuit of writing and being involved in the writing process.Following on the heels of Danielle’s awesome Chimera novel pitch and a wildly successful 2015 NaNoWriMo, we here at Mind Key would like to offer our lovingly crafted writing and editing services. These services would be a perfect gift for yourself or a loved one this holiday season and come in many forms.Charla DuryThe Mind Key writing team can provide story editing services, pointing out your writing strengths as well as possibly needed story edits. Your novel, story or writing project doesn’t even need to be complete for...

NaNoWriMo novel writing

I’m thankful for weird stuff

November 25, 2015

Uncategorized

I am thankful for my incredibly stressful job.I pull my hair out and rant and rave about how much work I have and how hard it is to stay organized and how badly deadlines and waiting for others to do things sucks. I look at other’s salaries and salivate. I look around my office and wonder where my head’s at. I walk to the printer or the front area and forget why I'm going there on the way. I stress on work when I'm home and wish I had a work laptop so that I could get more done. I worry about stress in my office and the changes that are happening so quickly.But I'm thankful I have a job and work with mostly awesome...

stressful job

Online Dream Interpretation

October 13, 2015

Energy

I don’t have a Shaman or a psychic on hand every time I have a dream. In fact, I just plain don’t have either of those folks in my life. I do, however, have dreams. As we all do. We may not remember them when we wake up, but we all dream.Since I don’t have a live dream interpreter handy, if a dream is weird, troubling or interesting to me, I turn to www.dreammoods.com. There are a multitude of websites that claim to be the “correct” interpretation of your dreams, all backed by someone or other who says they know. I chose dreammoods because #1, it was the first website of its kind that I had seen, #2, It has a dream “dictionary” where images...

Wild Flowers are God’s Make-up – a Photoblog

October 7, 2015

Creativity, Energy, Lifestyle

My family and I took a road trip a few years ago to the Grand Canyon. It was Spring Break for the kids and it had been less than a year since my mother had passed away. I was depressed. Really depressed. I did my best to put on a good face, but I spent a lot of time staring blankly out of the truck window, watching the still barren landscape of southwest Colorado pass us by at 65 mph. “Wild flowers are God’s make up,” I told my husband. I think I scared the man, because he jumped. I hadn’t said anything in a while. “What?” he asked. “Wild flowers are God’s make up,’ I said again. “They’re the blush that God puts on to show that...

art environment

Shamanism for Dummies

October 1, 2015

Uncategorized

While the vast majority of members and subscribers of Mind Key, the concept of Shamans and Shamanism may be very familiar, there are those of us out here who are clueless. So, I decided to do a little research.According to Wikipedia… Shamanism: A practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered statesof consciousness in order to perceive and interact with a spirit world and channelthese transcendental energies into this world. A shaman is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolentspirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual and practicesdivination and healing.Ecuadorian ShamanNow, when I think of a shaman, the first image that comes to my head is an old, Native American man, grizzled and peaceful,...

Mindfulness

July 30, 2015

Uncategorized

Mindfulness.Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines mindfulness as:1: the quality or state of being mindful2: the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis; also: such a state of awareness When I think of mindfulness now, I think of yoga, meditation, hot tea and incense. And calm.Calm is a difficult concept for me. With all of the roles I play in my life and the hecticness of my calendar, I don’t makeenough time for myself. As an aside: Notice I said make instead of find time. There’s enough time. As much as I joke that I could use more hours in the day (couldn’t we all?) if it’s important to you, you’ll find the...

mindfulness yoga

Charla’s story of Mind Key – Charla Dury

July 20, 2015

Uncategorized

I’ve been blogging off and on for nine years. That’s right, I said 9 whole years! I started on MySpace (can you believe that I mentioned MySpace to a younger coworker today and he had no idea what I was talking about?) and I gained a tremendous following. Over 300 subscribers. I blogged about family, friends, life, politics, love, kids, poetry (and poetry games) and personal experiences. Pretty much anything. Except fiction. I read fiction, I don’t write much of it. Sadly sinking MySpace I blogged on MySpace for a few years, making many new friends along the way. I created Charlapalooza and Walk The Word (incredibly attended and insanely popular poetry games,) was picked up as a weekly poet on TheBlueDoodle.com and, with...

novel poetry The Mind Key Anthology

I love to cook!

July 9, 2015

Health

I'll say it again, I love to cook. I love to eat, too, so that works out well. I love trying new foods, I even love grocery shopping. I love to explore the grocery store (found bottles of clam juice today.) A few years ago, I subscribed to E-Meals. I got this awesome Groupon that gave me twelve months of meal plans and grocery lists for like $30 or some equally shocking amount. I was all gung ho to use them. They came by email each Thursday. Sweet! New food possibilities! Then I realized that I live with a bunch of guys who choose to have limited flavor pallets. Sad. I looked at the awesome recipes and my running diatribe sounded something like this...

Campfire cooking – the stew to beat all stews (cooked on a campfire)

June 30, 2015

Uncategorized

Over the Mountain in Estes Park, COMy family likes to camp. We're pretty outdoorsy and, in Colorado, we're near to great mountain retreats.Pelican at Bear Creek Lake Park, CO at dawn One of my favorite meals (and easiest to prepare at the campsite), is campfire stew. The best part? Everyone prepares it for themselves, the way they like it, so no one’s able to complain about the ingredients! That's important when you're camping with kids.I do suggest some pre-camping prep, but I’m good with that. Here’s a list of ingredients I pack for the stew (all diced into bite sized pieces): Stew beef Chicken Onions Carrots Celery Pre-cooked potatoes. To make things easier, most stores sell the mirepoix – pronounced meer- pwah - (onion, carrot and celery...

Where I learned to love Editing – The Teacher Student Relationship

June 23, 2015

Uncategorized

No, no, no! Latin is good!Mr. Vargas, you suck. You got my Latin-loving hopes up and I feel like I was taught wrong. Let me explain. Mr. Vargas was my seventh grade English teacher. He wore polyester, drove a banana yellow corvette and he taught English. Now, this was before they called it "Language Arts", before there were any ESL classes, before IB classes and before reading and English were separate classes. You took English. Only English. And you learned about the English language. We conjugated our little 7th grade hearts out! For what seemed like hours and hours I'd work on my homework. I'd write essays and decode poetry and take furious notebooks full of notes.I am sure that this is where I...

In a Nutshell: Fiction and Life Parallels

June 8, 2015

Uncategorized

Last week on Mind Key, the blog, your Mind Key writers explored fiction and life parallels. In Meet the Community: Danielle Rose on Tuesday, Charla introduced you to Mind Key's creator, Danielle Rose. "I've been talking to trees and faeries ever since I could remember," Danielle says. Her connection to the fae and to nature has taken her down life's path less traveled.As a mom of two girls, Danielle is perpetually on the go, but she’s always focused on what she has found most important, homemade family dinners, playing outside and reading. “I've been reading my favorite chapter books aloud since my youngest was about six months old," she said. "Today, both of my girls adore all of my favorites and that means...

Spirituality based on Film

June 3, 2015

Uncategorized

Spirituality based on film. I find myself shaking my head. While films like Avatar definitely encourage thought, I find it hard to lend credence to cosplayers or regular, everyday people who would worship at the “tree of Utraya Mokri” were it real. Phrases like “I see you” have crept into the language of our society with stealth. I have to admit, I like that saying, though.Star Wars is another film whose principles have gained many followers. The Star Wars memorabilia area at Comic Con was by far the most popular with my family last weekend. The films have actually spawned many discussions in my household. Being surrounded by boys (including my husband) who love the series, we’ve talked a lot about the story...

Sith Sithism

Meet the Community: Danielle Rose

June 2, 2015

Uncategorized

We each have the ability to change our life, create our future, heal ourselves,and achieve our dreams.Danielle Rose is many things, but conventional is not one of them. She identifies herself as a writer, herbalist, intuitive reader and faerie healer, but she's so much more."I've been talking to trees and faeries ever since I could remember," Danielle says. Her connection to the fae and to nature has taken her down life's path less traveled.Danielle grew up in a dark place. "I don't really remember much about my childhood anymore, probably because I've blocked a lot of it out," Danielle says. In a family plagued by emotional abuse, Danielle turned to her connection to nature and to her writing and journaling as a way to actually heal."This was a huge breakthrough for...

herbalism members writing

The Old Soul

May 28, 2015

Uncategorized

When our third son was born and we looked into his eyes, we could feel it. Jakob had an old soul.Our first two boys were normal (and awesome, of course) babies. New, cuddly, and learning things for the first time. With Jakob it was different. Jake knew and still knows things before his time. Jake, studying for the 2008 electionHe was walking at eight months, because I think he expected it of himself. Being surrounded by so many walking people, he figured he should be doing that, so he did. He decided he should walk down stairs at eight and a half months. He biffed it big time, but he reached up, grabbed the railing and stepped off into nothingness like he knew exactly...

spiritual

In a Nutshell: Meet the Community

May 25, 2015

Uncategorized

Last week, we met several new members of the Mind Key Community.In Meet the Community: Dr. Kevin Hall, Dr. Kevin talks about his views on his health modalities. “There are people that looked up at the starts and just saw stars, then there are those that looked up and saw constellations,” Kevin said. “I’m a constellation seer.” Read more about Dr. Hall on his website, Do Well Be Well.In Bringing Visions to Life: The Dream art of Dana Bree, we got to know artist and graphic/website designer Dana Bree. “I have always loved to make art, draw and paint what I see in real life as well as give voice and image to my dreams,” Dana said. “I have always had...

members

The origins of Charlapalooza and what it means to me

May 12, 2015

Uncategorized

Charlapalooza is a blog game that sprouted on my old Myspace blog back in 2006. I was writing a semi-successful blog about life, the universe and everything and wanted to be more interactive with my audience. Back on the Space, people would actually comment on blogs but I wanted more. I figured that I enjoy challenging myself and, since I am NOT a poet – or don’t think of myself as one – but love words, I decided this would be a good way to do it. So, I got my friend Medussa on board and we called for topics from my many blog subscribers. Lots of people showed up!Suggestions ranged from the serious to the silly and Medussaand I furiously wracked our brains...

poetry

Charlapalooza 2.0 is open for suggestions!!!

May 11, 2015

Uncategorized

Awesome Charlapalooza banner!!!Welcome one and all to Charlapalooza 2.0!!! Charlapalooza is a blog game where a challenger and I take suggestions of topics on which to write poems. Begun on myspace circa 2006, we're resurrecting the game for Mind Key. To see some of the old suggestions and poems we wrote way back when, check out my warning post from last week. This week my challenger is Danielle Rose. She and I will be writing poems based on your suggestions. We have decided to go with a website called Formsite for both the suggestions and the voting. I've embedded the code below to allow you to suggest right here in the blog.Whew! This is so much more darned work! (Mostly for Danielle. Even though this is called...

poetry

Make sure the kids wear coats – A Mother’s Day Blog

May 6, 2015

Uncategorized

Kids walking to the bus in the snow“Make sure the kids wear coats,” my mom said.I sat there speechless, the cordless phone in my hand, watching the 6 AM news. The weather guesser was predicting 15 degrees with a -3 wind chill. Was it possible that my mom actually thought that, after my 17 years as a mother, I wouldn’t know to put a coat on my kids when it was cold? “OK mom,” I said after a few beats. “We will.”******At the time (nine years ago) I was so angry with her. How in the ever loving hell could she think that we wouldn’t put a damned coat on our kids when it was cold? Did she think that we were so irresponsible...

Connectedness – The Human Experience

April 22, 2015

Uncategorized

Have you ever been sitting in a movie theatre and felt a kinship with the character on the screen? Ever had something hit a little too close to home? Have you read a book and wondered how they knew what was going on in your head? There’s a reason for that. I’m going to call that reason “The Human Experience.”No matter your station, your race, religion, sexual orientation or creed, if you have “this” experience, “this” will almost inevitably happen. Cause and effect of the human kind. Human experiences encompass birth through death and everything in between and they are fact.If you live to a certain age, you go through puberty. Male or female, puberty is hard, no matter what. If you are in...

My Views on the Camp NaNoWriMo Challenge on Mind Key

April 14, 2015

Uncategorized

Me.NaNoWriMo has been a thorn in my side since I started blogging years ago. My writer friends would say Join NaNoWriMo, Charla! Join NaNoWriMo, Charla! Just the mouthful should have told me how difficult this challenge would be.I don’t write novels, which is the main focus of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month) but I do write. I write personal stories on my blog. Every once in a while I throw in a bite of fiction or a puff of poetry, but personal stories and experiences are my forte. So I figured I didn’t qualify for NaNoWriMo. I mean, why would I? I can barely find time to readnovels, certainly not to write them! But then I joined the Mind Key Community. Being surrounded with so...

writing

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