Austin's Eagles

We've made it and Koda and I love to take walks in our new neighborhood. So many beautiful trails and flowing rivers! Koda loves to swim in them. We have seen quite a few eagles lately- and so...

The Eagle represents spiritual protection, carries prayers, and brings strength, courage, wisdom, illumination of spirit, healing, creation, and a knowledge of magic. The eagle has an ability to see hidden spiritual truths, rising above the material to see the spiritual. The eagle has an ability to see the overall pattern, and the connection to spirit guides and teachers. The eagle represents great power and balance, dignity with grace, a connection with higher truths, intuition and a creative spirit grace achieved through knowledge and hard work.

A symbol of the holy spirit, which flies, as it were, through the mind (air) from the higher nature (heaven) to the lower nature (earth) and soars aloft to the self (sun).

Lovely. Just Lovely.

The Businessman and the Fisherman

There was once an American businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Mexican village. As he sat, he saw a Mexican fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore and noticed that the fisherman has caught quite a number of big fishes that is known to be a delicacy. The American was really impressed and asked the fisherman, "How long does it take you to catch so many fishes?"

The fisherman replied, "Oh, just a short while."

"Then why don't you stay longer at sea and you could catch even more?" The businessman was astonished.

The fisherman simply does not agree. "This is enough to feed my whole family," he says.

The businessman then asked, "So, what do you do for the rest of the day then?"

The fisherman replied, "Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fishes, then I would go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I will take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I will join my buddies in the village for a drink, we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night. My days are ever so complete and carefree."

The businessman does not agree with his way of life and offered a suggestion to the fisherman.

"I am a PhD holder graduated from Harvard University, specialising in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you have to spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fishes as possible. And when you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fishes. As you go on, you will be able to afford to buy more boats, recruit more fishermen and lead a team of your own. Soon you will be able to set up your own company, your very own production plant for canned food and do direct selling to your distributors. At that time, you will have moved out of this village and to Mexico City, and then expand your operation to LA, and finally to New York City, where you can set up your HQ to manage all your other branches."

The fisherman asks, "So, how long would that take?"

The businessman reply, "About 15 to 20 years."

The fisherman continues, "And after that?"

The businessman laughs heartily, "After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, by then you will be rich, your income will be coming in by the millions!"

The fisherman asks, "And after that?"

The businessman says, "After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning and catch a few fishes, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!"

The fisherman was puzzled, "Isn't that what I am doing now?"

So, what does one really hope to achieve in life? Do we really need to work so hard in life? What do you hope to accomplish in the end?

Updates from Erika: Pursuing a Dream (or Two)

Dear Friends and Family Near and Far:

With much excitement and anticipation I am writing to you fill you in on some major life changes. Over the last year I have done some deep soul searching and have come to a decision to finally pursue a lifelong dream of a career in alternative medicine. My good friend Carla reminds me that this is something I have talked about for over 10 years, becoming sidetracked by climbing the corporate ladder with a career in corporate training. As I looked toward the next 10-15 years though, I could not find the required passion to continue to pursue this direction.

This summer I began to send away for information on Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture schools, having much success with it when healing my foot and becoming more and more intrigued by it. I visited 6 different schools here in CO, Chicago, and Austin before deciding on the Academy of Oriental Medicine in Austin (AOMA). I will live with my good friend Kerry there and Koda (my 8.5 month old cockapoo) will enjoy the doggy door and fenced in yard as well as her 2 miniature pinchers. I am VERY excited about living in Austin- where the lifestyle, music and arts will fit with my creative interests. My contact info is:

5624 Republic of Texas Boulevard

Austin, TX 78735

Phone: 512-529-7037 (all other numbers are no longer valid)

I left my job in early November and began a program in early October to pursue another dream of becoming a certified yoga instructor. By mid- December I will have enough hours to begin teaching a hatha/anusara style of yoga. My goal is to teach yoga in the Austin area (and hopefully to teens) while I take classes.

Mom will be my co-pilot when I leave CO and head to Michigan on 12/14. We will then venture from there to Austin on 12/27 where my Dad will join us for New Years. Classes begin Jan. 4th!

Along with this transition came a very sad loss of my dear cat Mars. I finally lost him to kidney failure on November 28th. I miss him so much but he had a great life of 19 years- 8 of which I was blessed to learn from his grace and dignity.

Thank you all for your thoughts and blessings as I make this important transition in my life. It is an auspicious time- one that I could not do without the support of people like you. To my CO friends/family- I will miss the proximity but will always have you near in my heart.

Happy Holidays to you and yours during this lovely season. Lots of love and blessings and please keep in touch,

Erika

P.S. You can find my "personal statement" written as a part of my application process to school to learn even more about my journey toward this decision.

Personal Statement- Acupuncture School

Erika Schultz

Personal Statement- AOMA Application

October, 2009

My acceptance that I would one day have a career as an alternative health professional came about three years ago as I innocently was cleaning my living room. I heard the career counseling guru on the T.V. make the simple statement, “take a look around your home at the publications you subscribe to and the books you read. That is what you are passionate about.” I paused for a moment and performed the mini exercise. That’s when I noted the plethora of books on how to improve one’s experience of life, a Natural Solutions magazine, a copy of Yoga Journal, and an issue of BusinessWeek. I found the fire of discontentment within me flicker for a moment as I silently acknowledged that I would one day have the career I really wanted in integrating mind, body, and spirit to help people achieve optimal health.

BusinessWeek

The first 10 years of my professional career were really about climbing the corporate ladder. It was a fast and fabulous journey with as many successes as heartaches. With an undergrad degree in Psychology and Family Studies, I fell into a career as a corporate trainer and instructional designer of soft skills training programs (sales, leadership, service, etc.). I learned the profession by taking risks and using my common sense. My “teachers”- former bosses, co-workers, etc. were often commented on my ability to learn things quickly and conduct myself with diplomacy and tact. I set the intention fairly early on in my career that I would one day become a manager. The last three years of my career were spent in that capacity- allowing me the opportunity to experience firsthand the many different personalities that I instructed others on how to handle effectively. It was a great learning experience for me, but as I continued my way up, my passion and drive for the ego driven world of Corporate America quickly began to dwindle.

Natural Solutions

While I was learning the ins and outs of how to be an effective manager, I was setting forth on a somewhat unintended personal journey towards my true calling. It began while on a business trip- when I inadvertently stepped into a 2 1/2 feet deep hole. I broke three bones in my left foot and had to have two plates and six screws implanted. It would be a long recovery with countless x-rays, physical therapy and to help alleviate the pain and scar tissue- acupuncture. It was the second time I would seek out this treatment in my life, and each time I was amazed at the results I was receiving. A year later I would have a second surgery to have the hardware taken out. More pain and more acupuncture to the rescue.

Admittedly, at the time, I did not think “oh, this is great- now I want to become an acupuncturist.” It would take take me a good two years to make good progress physically and emotionally- as the injury literally had stopped my fast-paced lifestyle in its tracks. It was not until I began to return to my yoga mat that the pieces began to come together.

Yoga Journal

Very Yang by nature, the Yin of my persona began to surface when I made my way back to the yoga mat. It was an attempt to continue the physical healing I had been doing but more than that it was the journey for healing my heart. The injury had forced me to slow down enough to really take inventory of my life and to think about what I really wanted. But I knew I had to get my head out of the way and for once allow my heart to really guide me. So I stopped processing and just kept showing up to my yoga mat. Eventually one day- without much thought really- I began to send away for Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture school information. And since that time, I have not looked back. Over the course of several months, I conducted a pretty thorough search of six different schools in Denver, Chicago and Austin. Prior to leaving for Austin, I told myself that I would have to really like one of the schools I was going to visit in order to deter me from going to Pacific College in Chicago. As it turns out, I did. AOMA had a nice mix of small but large, comfortable but not contained, and I really enjoyed the faculty I met at the open house. Everyone seemed very down to earth and as one woman in the open house group commented- everyone seemed really happy. And though I visited during a heat wave in the middle of the summer, Austin really seemed like a great place for me. So I gave notice to my employer about a month ago and began the process of becoming a certified yoga instructor to help me transition and prepare for this next journey. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I have both feet solidly planted on the ground and am walking the path I was intended to tread.

As I read “Between Heaven and Earth” I become more and more excited about delving into the intricacies of Chinese Medicine. I am thoroughly amazed by how interwoven the concepts of mind, body, and spirit come together to perform true healing within the ancient practice. I am confident that my education at AOMA will help me build the credentials and relationships I will require in order to build an effective holistic wellness practice and become an instrumental voice in health care reform.