Closing this blog! January 16. 2010
NEWS, professional and personal - and a book review. September 9. 2009
Hi!
Hope all is well with you! Life is picking up speed (again) over here, though most of what I'm doing is on the hush at the moment. I can say that I'm focusing a lot on my writing, and it's moving. Nicely. More on that soon.
I can say that my case study from the Hot Mommas Project is being published in Essentials of Entrepreneurship, 6th Edition, edited by Norm Scarborough, published by Pearson Prentice Hall. The 6th edition isn't out yet, but you can see the 5th edition here. Exciting!
And on a personal note, for those of you didn't hear yet, I got MARRIED! My Mr. and I are very happy, as are the girls. If you wanna congratulate us, you can send a donation to my Gratitude Games Paypal account: info@GratitudeGames.com. As with an family, we could use a leg up on our game here. Combining lives is not the easiest of projects!
And, we'll be donating 10% of any financial wedding gifts to Doctors without Borders. It's one of my favorite organizations. Take a look at their website if you have a chance! So, you can feel good twice, and so can we. 
Enjoy the review below. And, enjoy the book, once you buy it. It'll be worth every cent. It's a gift you can give yourself, that will, once again, make you feel good twice. Read on to see why.
In peace, and gratitude,
-LaSara
http://www.lasarafirefox.com / http://www.GratitudeGames.com
Do you have serious fitness goals, AND obstacles to overcome in reaching them? Here's the answer: The Real Sexy, Smart, and Strong by David Patchell-Evans - Wiley - 9/9/09 - BOOK REVIEW
David Pathcell-Evans's new book, The Real Sexy, Smart, and Strong, is another one of those messages that the universe delivered to me right on time. As someone who experiences stress- and depression-induced chronic pain when I'm down (in my case a side-order to living with bipolar disorder), "Patch's" message of successes in fitness against the odds really had an impact on me.
His personal story is also not just engaging, but emotionally
affecting. A person who lives with chronic pain himself, I believe
him when he says that it's possible to live a physically, spiritually, mentally engaged
life even when you feel like you can't move a muscle. Seriously.
Patch's daughter was diagnosed with a severe form of autism at an early age. In The Real Sexy, Smart, and Strong, Patch explains how his experience in overcoming debilitating pain helped him to support his daughter achieve a life that is way beyond the prognosis and predictions made for her upon diagnosis.
In The Real Sexy, Smart, and Strong, Patch offers his story as inspiration, but more importantly he offers seriously helpful instruction in getting your land-legs under you! Working from where ever you are this book is bound to help you set and achieve your own health and fitness goals.
Another notable thing about Patch is his amazing generosity. Not a percentage, but all the proceeds from the sale of Patch's book are going to research on autism.
I've only had the pleasure of reading the advance chapters so far. Once the book is available for review I'll be sure to give a more complete picture of what Patch has to offer. For now, let his writing speak for itself. Enjoy the excerpt below.
EXCERPT:
Now that you’ve got the big picture, here’s a bigger one.
When people first start an exercise regimen, they often judge themselves harshly. They focus on their short-comings or on how far they have to go, rather than congratulating themselves on showing up, seeing the great gift they have given themselves, and acknowledging how far they have come.
I have found that exercise has not only been a source of physical joy, but it has provided me with moments of spiritual connection as well. I have frequently said that your body will thank you for exercising—you have more energy than you’ve ever had before and your body will feel fantastic. Sometimes you get an even better surprise—the gift of feeling that your mind, heart, spirit, and body are truly one. . . .
The health of your body influences what you experience in your mind. There is no mind/body split. If you can engage your whole spirit in the pursuit of fitness—not just your intellect, not just your emotions—but instead everything inside you that is truly you, you’ll discover what it is to be a whole person.
Your body needs and wants exercise. Your mind needs exercise. Your heart (the loving part of you) needs exercise. Your spirit needs exercise. All aspects of you live within your body. All these parts of you allow your soul to be free because when your body, mind, heart, and spirit are in sync, you resonate with life itself. You really can experience fitness for the soul.
BOOK: 4 Easy Ways to Ignite Your Love Life and Fatten Up Your Wallet July 8. 2009
I'm happy to report that 4 Easy Ways to Ignite Your Love Life and Fatten Up Your Wallet, by Chriss Barr of Palm Beach Feng Shui, is a really accurate title for
this book! And, it's a quick, easy, and enjoyable read.
I'm also a venture partner, and because I do like the book so much, have contributed a gift (amongst the many) that you'll receive after purchase.
In reading 4 Easy Ways to Ignite Your Love Life and Fatten Up YourWallet I was glad to find out that me and my husband's direction are identical. Me 5, him 8. But since we're male and female, it equals out, in some way.
I don't understand the whole back-drop of the bagua or any of that, so I don't know how that lucky coincidence works, but it's not the only one that leads to a relationship that works.
At any rate, luckily, we have the same favorable directions.
Success is in the southeast for us; this information will be great for redesigning my office; face SE. the advice is to look at awards, accolades, reminders of success in that corner. Since i have the ultimate freedom in that room it'll be great to apply these steps! And, easy-peasy!
My health has been up and down, so in my bedroom I'll create an altar
in the favorable health direction; the south-east. Even tho it's in my closet, I think it's great. I had an alter in there that had all the recommended colors, without even knowing it.
My cat liked the spot it was in; too much. So, I'll clear another space and set it up again, with even more favorable items, and more consciousness and intent about improving my health.
The health info on my favorable direction was so right on, it was uncanny. Down to the headaches that are sometime the bane of my existence!
In the rest of the house, I'll find little ways to balance the energies, though some will be pretty impossible to construct at this time. BUT, should we move, I will certainly think about ways to draw in these VERY accessible ideas.
The book is easy, yet doesn't feel watered down. I love the simple, calm, approachable focus, and the worksheet at the end of each section.
I highly recommend this book. I'm sure you'll be glad to have these easy suggestions at your fingertips to help make this year a bountiful and easy one.
Best of luck in love and prosperity, in 2009 and beyond!
What's Your Body Telling You? July 8. 2009
techniques that I learned in my neuro-linguistic programming training;
I always call it Communicating with Your Body.
I'm not sure where Steve learned the technique, but he's written a whole book on it! The books is called What's Your Body Telling You? My only regret in sending this note out is that I didn't write the book first!
I hope you'll do the same.
Peace, and Gratitude.
New Column Installment Up at Elephant Journal July 4. 2009
Today's news... June 30. 2009
Today has been grand in many ways...
1. I have a brand-new parenting column at Elephant Journal. I couldn't be more pleased! Pleas go read, reflect, and respond!
2. The Mr. and I have chosen to make it official. We've chosen a date, and my sweet friend Ariel Gore is doing our ceremony! We couldn't be more charmed.
3. I've started quite a hub-bub on my facebook profile, about hijab, burqa, religion, women's rights, human rights, and more. See for yourself, and join in the fray.
4. And, last but not least, I have more reviews up at my Babeland sponsored For Women Only page! Go check it, and have yourself a wonderful evening!
Peace.
Finding Balance in the Extreme: Working with Bipolar Disorder chosen as this week's lead case study at Hot Mommas Project June 27. 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE from Kathy Korman Frey of the Hot Mommas Project - mentoring for women and girls -- LaSara Firefox, MPNLP, case study:
Finding Balance in the Extreme: Working with Bipolar Disorder What can a young woman or girl can learn from this?
PLEASE FOLLOW LINK (any of the blue text - as in, the whole section of the article I've posted,) AND COMMENT AT THE HOT MOMMAS PROJECT BLOG! They want and need your feedback to create a more complete mentoring and teaching program. Thank you!
tags: bipolar, entrepreneurship, family, gratitude games, LaSara Firefox, mental health
by hotmommas
Finding Balance in the Extreme: Working with Bipolar Disorder
Hot Mommas Teachable Role Model: LaSara Firefox of The Ecstatic Presence Project and Gratitude Games June 20. 2009
Hot Mommas Teachable Role Model: LaSara Firefox of The Ecstatic Presence Project and Gratitude Games
Your Weekend Inspiration: LaSara Firefox. Welcome to the Hot Mommas Project Learning Series. Our project makes everyday people’s stories “teachable” through our case wizard at www.HotMommasProject.org.
The project is housed at the George Washington University School of
Business (CFEE). Students – and your peers – want to learn from you. ... (more)
Our Featured Inspirational Story. Today we feature
the incredible story of LaSara Firefox. I guarantee you’ll take
something away that changes your perspective. I first read LaSara’s
case when she submitted it for the inaugural Hot Mommas Project case
competition, for which she was one of the winners (look for her case in
PINK Magazine and Prentice Hall’s Essentials of Small Business Management).
I was humbled by her combination of honesty, intelligence, and
vulnerability. She is a leader not just among women, but in the mental
health and entrepreneurial communities as you’ll see below. She has
literally picked herself up by her bootstraps. If she can do it, we can
too.
1. Read the case (pasted below) LaSara Firefox & The Ecstatic Presence Project & Gratitude Games
“Finding Balance in the Extreme: Working With Bipolar Disorder“
2. Make a comment
A Bodhisattva Meditation for Cultivating Loving Compassion for the Self May 29. 2009
A Bodhisattva Meditation for Cultivating Loving Compassionfor the Self
by LaSara Firefox, MPNLP, www.lasarafirefox.com
Gate gate, para gate, parasam gate, bodhi svaha.
The one responsibility of the bodhisattva is to not cause suffering.
The one commitment of the bodhisattva is to love all beings pervading space and time, regardless of any beings ability to return, or even receive, that love.
We've all been in situations where we have offered love to someone unwilling to return that love - for instance, we still love our child, even when in the a rage of differentiation she yells, "I hate you, mom!". We often call this unconditional love.
Those of you who have made a practice of cultivating compassion have probably intentionally cultivated love for someone who has withdrawn their love, or someone who doesn't agree with out beliefs or lifestyle, and therefore, at least on a hypothetical level, does not want your love. These maybe political or historical figures. Or they may be estranged family.
My largest break through in the depth and breadth of this commitment was when I realized that *I* was one of those beings pervading time and space, that deserved the love of my bodhisattva self, even when I was incapable of returning, or even receiving that love.
That it was the responsibility of my awakened self to address suffering, and the root of suffering, in my own life. It was my commitment, in my awakened heart, to cultivate loving compassion for my "imperfect" self - the one that was attaching to, and therefore being the cause of, my own suffering.
Sound tricky? Well, it is, and it isn't.
This is a great practice for days when your heart feels stuck or bruised, you're feeling a lack of self-love, or are feeling unable to forgive yourself for some past or present participation in the creation of suffering; that of yourself or another.
The ironic part of holding on to the guilt of being a cause of suffering, is that we continue to cause suffering through our attachment to the guilt!
It is not the negative emotion that causes the suffering. Nor is it the act that caused the suffering itself - whatever that act may be - that causes the suffering. The attachment to the suffering, in any form, is the root of the cause of suffering.
Truly, attachment to joy or pleasure, or any emotional state, is the root of the cause of suffering, but addressing that is a practice for another essay.
The way I've come to see it, the true work of the bodhisattva is to release ourselves from suffering, and the attachment to suffering. To engender the attitudes of enlightenment, and slowly, overtime, become proficient; and to do this work for the benefit of all beings.
Here's the practice, in three easy (or sometimes, not so easy) parts.
Part I: Two Ways of Generating Pure, Compassionate Love
1. Commit to the thought of not being the cause of suffering to yourself, or others. Release attachment to any suffering that has been caused in the past, by you or any being, or may be caused in the future. Release attachment to suffering itself.
a. Commit to pure, compassionate love for all beings pervading time and space. Start generating this love by feeling it in your body, if possible, and then growing that love with each breath.
b. Some times this approach may be out of reach, so instead, imagine some being you love easily - your child, your pet, your beloved, your best friend - enveloped in a soft, glowing bubble of your compassionate love for them. Breath by breath, grow this love until it fills your whole sense of time and space.
Part II: Recognize That You Are a Being That Deserves Your Love, Whether You Can Return, Or Even Accept, That Love.
1. Once you have filled all of time and space with your love, recognize that you are a being already released from suffering. That you are enveloped in your own pure, compassionate love. And in being filled and surrounded by your compassion, you are surrounded by the impartial, unconditional, compassionate love of all time and space.
There is no separation between You - the bodhisattva, that awakened being generating this love - and you, the self sitting and being held in it, regardless of your ability to return, or receive, that pure love. That love unattached to anything you think you have been, or think you may be. Anything you think you have done, or think you will do.
2. Allow that pure compassion, unattached to any outcome or past experience, to hold you securely in the awareness that you are already fully present. Fully perfect. Fully awake. Fully free from suffering, and the attachment to suffering.
Part III: Release Attachment to the Practise Itself
1. Stay in this state for as long as you are able, without clinging to it. Attachment to joy, pleasure, or comfort are also the root of suffering. Be present, not attached.
2. If you lose your way in the practice, return to the place in the practice where you became distracted. Perhaps there is some work there to move through. Or, perhaps you just got distracted. Or, perhaps there is a part of you that's unwilling to receive that love that is being generated. Don't attach! Move fluidly to the points of the exercise that are within reach, and continue working towards compassionate love for all beings.
3. If tears come, let them come. And let them go. If laughter comes, let it come, and let it go. If euphoria comes, let is also go. If pain comes, let it arise, and release. Let yourself be exactly as you are, exactly where you are. Cultivate compassion for every emotion that arises, and then release it.
4. Don't forget to breathe.
May this act, and all acts, be dedicated to the liberation and awakening of all beings. Bodhi svaha.
I dedicate these works, and all works, to the unfolding of awareness. May this act serve me, as it serves all beings, through the revelation of awareness. May my increasing awakening to presence serve to bring awareness of presence to all beings throughout space and time. So it is.
About the Author:
LaSara Firefox, MPNLP, is a coach, author, educator, and game-designer. Her latest project, Gratitude Games, has been featured in international media. LaSara helps her clients find balance in their lives, and alignment with their personal and family-held values. She teaches and coaches internationally.
LaSara’s primary certification is in Neuro-Linguistic Programming/Patterning (NLP); a discipline that uses language and neurology - and the relationship between
the two - to create resilience, healing, and positive, lasting change.
LaSara is mom to two amazing daughters, and wife to an outstanding man. She and her family live in California. To learn more, visit http://www.lasarafirefox.com.
My Grandfather's Flag May 26. 2009
My Grandfather's Flag
©LaSara Firefox, Memorial Day 2009
My mother grew up
with photos
of a dapper dresser
and memories of
comedy acts, shared songs of Scotland
her dream visitations
the strongest vestiges
of the man she called Daddy
He died in World War Two
A Scotsman by birth,
American by the choice
of parents looking for a better life
He came to this country at seven
bright red curls
and a brogue
that
from what I understand,
he never lost
My mother was seven
The year he left
became a tank-gunner
fighting on the "right side"
of the "good war."
Many years later
on the Peace March
for Global Nuclear Disarmament
My mother
mysteriously
tracked down
after years of waiting
for confirmation
some recognition of her
most heinous
loss
was given a
purple heart
in recognition of the red blood
her father spilled to protect
the land he called
his home
My mother's mother
was a woman I called Grandma
but only met a few times
She never fell in love again
after George, her husband,
burned to death
the tank he manned
becoming it's own
crematorium
there wasn't even a body to send home
Last year my Grandmother died
My mother received a box
unceremonious cardboard, innocuous
holding her father's
only remains -
an artfully
folded
flag
a clan tartan and crest
a purple heart.
We touched the flag,
hand sewn,
perfect
folded just that way
since 1944
and prayed silently.
Somewhere tonight,
a seven year old girl
awaits the return of her daddy
from foreign soil
Or
on foreign soil
May he return whole
Let no more daughters wait
a lifetime
for a flag
a pin on a purple ribbon
a pile of letters
May no more widows mourn
alone and brittle
hopelessly awaiting
yet still sitting
for 75 years
at a window she knows
will never be filled with the awaited
return. 
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