Tag: Asheville

Simplicity in All

On By Moments with MillieIn Essay10 Comments

Sometimes you find that one soul who shows you a piece of yourself you did not know was even there.  This person can come in for a moment but the impact can last a lifetime.  At times their entrance into your life needs no words, just a glance, a gesture, or a slight touch.  Just having them come into your existence is enough to make you realize what happiness really is inside.  Life is all about the simplicities and the grace of our unions.

I can recall moments of people who have appeared as angels into my space when I wasn’t having a good day.  This has been in a check-out line, at a red light, on an isle in a store, passing by in a park, trekking up a mountain hike, or just entering our place to look at the pond.  The energy in their eyes or in their silence has spoken volumes.  These lapses in time make me aware of our interconnection with each other.  We are all small threads weaving in and out of a giant quilt.  We are all different colors, textures, and composition.  Each interweaving in the fabric allows a degree of separation, but we are all connected by the giant cloth of Divinity.

I was at a store in Downtown Asheville this morning.  I needed to get down from the mountain, be with civilization, get my Starbucks chai latte, and buy some candles (which is one of my favorite vices).  While in the isle an older woman walked by, saw the array of colors and smells in the cart, looked up at me and gave me the biggest smile, while raising her eyebrows.  I had ten different sizes and colors lined up by smells.  In that moment we laughed when she exchanged a look like, “Girl, are you expecting a power outage?”  In our silence, with huge smiles, we had a connection.  She went on to another isle. I continued my smelling routine of checking every autumn candle on sale.  As I was paying I saw she went back to the candles and picked some of the same ones that I got.  It took one moment, a few seconds, to see how happy those fragrant candles made me.  I am always giddy when I get anything with comforting smells for the house.  Happiness is contagious.  Her presence filled me with joy, and I hope that in my excitement she also filled with the indulgence of delight.

We tend to constantly hold our breaths when we are running around doing errands.  Unfortunately, we are so involved in our own minds that we forget to notice the existence of another in our realm.  With technology at our fingertips we tend to interact with the gadgets easier than with a live person.  It is impossible to know when that one angel or person will enter our space.  I bet that if you think back you can truly remember many times when a child smiled at you from a shopping cart at a store.  Their laughter was so contagious that you found yourself laughing back.  And, those seconds are precious.  They are magical.  Whether it is from a handsome man, an elderly woman, or a child, the energy exchanged is God-like at its simplest form.  Never take these moments of sheer joy for granted.  They remind us that life is sweet, kind, and beautiful.  Just like my candles, let the simplicity light up your day.

Much love and light to all!

Confessions of a Chocoholic

On By Moments with MillieIn Essay13 Comments

chocolate

Pleasure is underrated. I have a pretty good life. I live in the most spectacular place of the Appalachians. We own a wonderful retreat center. We get to indulge in nature as much as we can. But sometimes, we try deeply to avoid simple pleasure due to an unjust sense of responsibility. I love watching children dive into their desires. They can get into a piece of chocolate cake with such immense guiltless pleasure and a part of me envies that relentless behavior. When did we forget to indulge as adults? When was the last time that the diet went out the door, play took over, and food once again became an aphrodisiac. Chocolate: scrumptious, devouring, yummilicious…ahhhhhh! Is there anything more enticing and primitive as the tongue unraveling a great piece of excess cocoa, twirling in pure ecstasy begging for more?

Yesterday my best friend and I took a short drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway. It started out beautiful but the weather soon turn into fog and rain. We turned around with coolness impregnated on our skin from the open convertible. She said she wanted chocolate. She had been watching the movie Chocolat  for a few nights. After some silence and a subconscious suggestion (I am so easily influenced that it is sickening at times) I answered, “Let’s go get chocolate in downtown Asheville. Let’s go to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.” Like two insane hungry Thelma and Louise we found ourselves inside the cafe.

We ordered two hot chocolates with lavender and honey. We shared a carrot cake for breakfast and a chocolate cake called Quitessential for lunch all in one sitting. The experience was exquisite and sublime. I remember a line from the movie Chocolat, “I could do with a bit more excess. From now on I’m going to be immoderate—and volatile—I shall enjoy loud music and lurid poetry. I shall be rampant.” I might add I shall be free to do whatever I please while eating guiltless amount of real chocolate…!

Each mouthful was a chattering divulging ecstatic experience. The explosion of bitterness, softness, and sweetness all in one mouthful was overwhelming. I sat in front of my friend, fork dancing in the air, eyes shut as if conducting an orchestra mesmerized by the essences of all the senses combined with the drink. If I was to pick a moment to die…well that would have been the perfect exit to my life. That would have said something valid about love and chocolate. It was that divine. All their desserts are organic and one munches with the belief that it’s good for you because it is. How can something that Godly be anything but divine!

What can we celebrate in life if not the simple taste of living to the fullest, through food, drinking, loving and sharing? From the moment we embark in this journey we are surrounded by excess and limit ourselves on a daily basis. Walking into that lounge, the smell of confection, sugarplum, frosting, lavender, and childhood memories recollect of a chubby kid on her tip toes pointing to the glass of bonbons allows anyone in a moment to fall in love with chocolate all over again. Doesn’t chocolate fix just about anything? As Charles M. Schulz says, “All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”

Once we were done I walked out intoxicated. I was in such a sugar high that I had to stop and compose myself laughing at the gratification of the moment. I sat in the car in divine light telling myself that the dessert was the best pleasure I had experience in a long time. My friend, laughing in her own mystical moment of extraction, rejoiced in the decision of breakfast and lunch in one sitting. Everything looked sweeter and joyful on the way home. Our hearts and tummies were full of mischievous actions like children who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. “Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.”~ Dave Barry

If you are ever in Asheville I urge you to visit the French Broad Chocolate Lounge on Lexington. Indulge for a few moments. You won’t regret it. https://frenchbroadchocolates.com

Floating in the Universe

On By Moments with MillieIn Essay13 Comments

I am always checking out new holistic modalities. Anything that challenges and betters mind, body and spirit has my full-undivided attention. The deeper we travel into our awareness the healthier we become. It doesn’t stop with massages, biofeedback therapy, cranial sacral therapy, hypnosis, and psychotherapy (to name a few). My best friend and business partner, Bobbie, heard from a friend about Flotation Therapy. We began researching it and found a spa in Asheville called Still Point Wellness that has a salt water floatation chamber. She made an appointment for both of us. Bobbie went a few days ago and came back giddy. She didn’t share much of her experience as not to cloud mine. I couldn’t wait for my turn. The thought of being in complete darkness, sensory deprived, floating over a ton of Epsom salt for an hour and a half filled me with an intoxication for my sense of adventure. I had done research for several days about others’ experiences: the highs, the psychic awareness, relaxation, self exploration, meditation, healing of aches and pains, long term healing, and so many other yummy conscious journeys. I was definitely not disappointed!

This morning I ventured to Downtown Asheville to a quaint spa near my favorite Starbucks. It was suggested that I didn’t have caffeine before getting my session (a killer for me in the morning time). The place was exceptional. Their office staff consists of this beautiful young woman who makes you feel like you’ve been long lost friends forever. I love that! She explained several things about the chamber. I was glad before arriving Bobbie had shared some details of first impressions. She asked to please give it a try when they opened the door to this dark room. Having suffered from claustrophobia for most of my life that initial exposure of darkness with a closed door is daunting. The smell of salt water felt like being out to sea. Once I was inside, naked, my body feeling light, I took a deep breath and everything melted.

I cannot explain what really happened to me without sounding like a way-over-the-top hippie. Once I began floating I had no perception. It seemed that every conscious feeling, emotion, reflection,thought, or sense of reality was shut outside the room. It is the darkest physical place I’ve ever been in. For an avid meditation practitioner it is heaven. I don’t know what happened but I was transferred to outer space. Now, you are definitely thinking she’s on something! I was in Oneness. I felt like Sandra Bullock on the movie Gravity. With eyes wide opened I began to see the universe. I began to understand the beginning…. And, this is where I leave you with my experience. Yours will be entirely different. All I can say is that the deprivation of sound, substance, and light allows the floater to experience everything (s)he is and is not.

I can understand why floating therapy has become popular as spa places are popping up in many large cities with these floating rooms. I can see how anyone can get hooked. The high one receives from those alone moments weightlessly moving through darkness is profound. As I was driving back up the mountain, taking in the gorgeous summer views, I had a thought: how does a person who can’t be alone stay in that room for the first time? How can that person stand the thoughts that must come and go as time stops? I can shut anything out of my brain. I can go to total nothingness, the chamber was the most incredible place to coincide with my mind. But, I am aware that our society cannot let go of thoughts. We are programmed to constantly be stimulated. I was filled with giddiness just like Bobbie. I even skipped on my Starbucks Latte. It wasn’t necessary. I was on a psychedelic high that can only be explained as the release of toxins, emotions and all that triggers the mind and body. I was on the best spiritual journey that money can buy. I was in my own retreat, ashram, and vacation for 90 minutes. Don’t believe me? You try it and see if you feel otherwise! But, be aware that once you are in there time stops and the only person you have to answer to is you. Sometimes that’s what is needed to heal. If you are honest with yourself this chamber experience can be the beginning of getting to know the real you.

www.stillpointwellness.com

81-B Central Avenue, Asheville, NC

828-348-5372 opened Monday-Sunday 10 am – 8 pm

The Natives are Here

On By Moments with MillieIn Essay2 Comments

 

As I write this I sit comfortably on a seat in a corner table inside of Starbucks near Downtown Asheville.  Jazz music is playing on the store speakers and the wonderful people of this town parade in and out with complacent self-esteem.  There is a peaceful quality to the natives here.  They aren’t in any rush to get anywhere.  The way they aspire through their fashion flair speaks volumes of their grounding energy.  This place exudes a sense of self and individuality I haven’t witness in many places.  Even the workers – “baristas” take their time with passing eloquence as they prepare each cup of java or tea. It seems it is all in the art of allowing the moment to take its course, rather than pushing and shoving it with resistance.  The people are just like the brewing of coffee or tea…they take their time in the “now” without truly rushing the process.  It’s all in the comfort of ease.  The rhythm seems to move to the jazz music  – a melody that dances throughout the streets of Asheville.

I can’t remember the exact moment I felt at home in this little gem of a town.  The first time we came was May 3, 2010.  Two months later we were living up here.  I think it was immediate.  We came into downtown to eat while staying at the motel we now own.  I never seem to fit anywhere other than the country side of Ireland.  Here I felt that sense of finding my ground again.  I now joke that I am a high-class hippie:  I like showers, perfume, heels and indoor comfort.  But a part of me has acquired that demeanor of “whatever ” (on most days).  It’s difficult for family and friends to understand since they knew me before I became a native to this magical land.  I have been countryfied.

Asheville is composed of people who have come to visit and found themselves being called to move here.  It’s magnetic.  There is a sense of belonging, loving, and nurturing in this earthly civilization.  These natives know that this is the real world.  Everything out there is not!  But then again Western North Carolina is mystical with all the natural elements of mountains and waterfalls.

I hope you come here, if you haven’t already, and witness firsthand the love from this deeply rooted community I get to call home.  It’s not just the arts or nature.  It is the people that draw you in with their welcoming smiles.   Asheville is definitely a happy place!