Thursday Inspirations Number 11. Finding yourself.

This is specifically dedicated to my best friend this week.

#1.  If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.

#2.  Dear me, before you can truly love someone else you have to learn to love yourself.

If this last one is true, which I believe it is, you need to consider who you want to be and how that person will help the world when you start to create yourself.

Posts may soon go on break again.

We are moving at the end of the month and I'm not sure if we will have internet service right away.  I'll try to keep up with posts as much as I can.  After we move and we have internet service I will start posting reliably again.   Tuesday training tips are officially on break until we are moved.  They take a lot of time and I advertise to get questions.  I don't want to promise anyone an answer and not be able to give it.  But I'm TOTALLY on board to start them again because they are one of my favorites and I love helping people for free.

Wednesday Comedy. Cars

What am I going to do with my life?

   This is a question I've been asking myself lately.  Not in a negative way at all.  I haven't been sitting around despairing about where my life will go and how to find something useful to do.  Rather I've been looking at life and all its opportunities and wondering how in the world I will choose the one that will help others and make me happy.  I want to do something to help people but my gifts are with animals.  After a lot of time spent thinking and comparing I've finally combined everything I love into a "perfect" future for me.    So, here goes my best in describing what my plans are for the future.

Of course, there are always things that could completely ruin or change these plans.  Stock market crash for example.  (This week was apparently the worst week in four years.)  Zombie apocalypse, government population control.  But, I'll never have a chance to make a change or help anyone if I sit around worrying about everything that could prevent me and in the process prevent myself.

  My plans may seem too elaborate.  They could have been much simpler if it were not for my strong ambition and drive for power.  I'm fine with a simple job at first, but as time goes on I want to increase my efficiency by employing people and branching out.  I never want to be someone with a strictly paperwork job.  I want to be involved in the bigger jobs and accessible to the public.

•    The revenue production of the whole operation will be based in a horse boarding operation.   This will be a full care operation with grain, blanketing, turnout, and possibly even vet visits included in the board.  This will be run by a barn manager, grooms, and probably an on site trainer.  
•   On the side will be a board and train facility for dogs.  This may be for the average dog owner or directed towards training service dogs.  This will hopefully produce some revenue as well.  I would employ caretakers to care for the dogs needs while I do the training sessions with the dogs and possibly work with a co-trainer.
•   The most important part to me will be an animal assisted therapy and rehabilitation center.   This will be for helping people recover from emotional and possibly physical trauma through animals.  I will probably spend most of my time managing this.  I wanted this to be a non-profit which is why I decided to combine it with my other interests.  We would need someone qualified in counseling psychology to help people directly.  I have not yet decided if I would like to become qualified myself or employ someone else.  If I use hippotherapy to help people recover physically I would need a physical therapist to work with.

  There are two basic types of animal assisted therapy that I would like to combine in my operation for optimal recovery in both time and fullness.  The first type involves trained therapy animals that go with patients during their recovery process and are a great emotional support.  The second type involves patients working with animals that are going through similar trauma and helping each other recover.  This helps people through their recovery because they have a sense of usefulness and the benefit of seeing someone else struggle through recovery.  The second type also helps animals recover and be placed into homes.  And often the people who help them through their recovery are the ones who adopt them and they go on helping each other after therapy.  

•   Since I would like to apply both types of animal assisted therapy my property would also function as an animal shelter.  We would accept all sorts of animals that need rehabilitation before they can be placed in homes.  As a trainer I would offer direction and the patients would offer support until they are recovered enough to be adopted out.

Better pics from the trip!

Mom sent me pictures from her phone. I'm not going to bother to label them all.  But they are interesting things we saw on our trip.  Again, many of them are from the Earthhaven eco-village.  This post demonstrates clearly that my mom is better at photography than me.  :)  And she also has a better camera on her phone.

Paper plate flowers.

Asheville

Drum circle in Asheville square.  (triangle)

Commercial kitchen "failure" turned art wall/teen hangout.

Solar home

Bamboo

Aronia berry.

Vytex

Community kitchen

The chakras and phases of the moon were on the sides of this bridge.

This pyramid was built into the side of the bridge and had all sorts of cool stones in it.

The kids played a lot of this at grandmas house.

Black mountain

I'm back!

  Our spur-of-the-moment trip to see my great-grandmother turned into a months long vacation spent in Ohio and North Carolina.
 
I have some pictures from the trip.  Mostly from our time spent in North Carolina even though that was a minority of the trip.

So here's chronologically.

Entering Indiana on the way there.

    A little story here.  After we got into Indiana we had to stop for the night in Terra Haute.  Overall it wasn't that great but I had an interesting experience with a kitten while we were there.  We were sitting and a little kitten who was suffering from hunger and fleas came over to us and sat on my lap.  It left an impression on me because I've never been a cat lover since I was six.  Something changed in that moment and my entire trip was filled with encounters with kittens and cats that has forever changed the light I see them in.  

While we were in Ohio we went to Lakefarm Park.   Its a large functioning farm that is open to the public and offers lots of demonstrations daily.  We saw this cute little 4 day old calf while we were there and my brother said he "wanted to bring this cute little animal home".  :)

We visited Black Mountain North Carolina and this cool chair was on one of the little streets.

We bought this GIANT peanut butter cup!

This cute teashop was in Black Mountain and its where we got the iced matcha above.

   While we were in North Carolina we toured the Earthhaven Eco-village.  The next pictures are all of things I saw there.  

Cool bridge.

They have a free store where people drop off what they don't need and pick up things they need.

Here's another one of my kitten adventures.  While we are the village this little siamese ventured out of the woods and played with some of the kids.

This is one of the beautiful hand built homes.

   Our visit wasn't all fun.  We got into a little fender bender when we got back to Ohio.  

The intersection.  (parking lot of course)

Our van.

We're all okay and waiting for the insurance companies to sort things out.

I'm still really busy now that I'm home cause we still have to move.  We are moving just across town though.  I'll do my best to get back to my regular posts but it might be a bit before I am in the swing of things again.