Reflections at Cocoa Beach

This magnificent world and it's beautiful places...

We are meant to enjoy them. 
Credit for many of these photos belongs to my Wonderful sister Jessica LaCasse.

Our day at Cocoa Beach was more than an average or typical excursion to the shore.  I would like to share it so that others can benefit from the way life happens to us and how we can aid it in delivering all the JOY and HAPPINESS we can manage to receive.  Having LOVE and LIGHT means GIVING love and light.  Sharing these moments with those around us is our calling...and unless we answer it we will never feel fulfilled.  No one can hide from life.  If you hide you suffer.  You must have faith and move your feet.

Like footsteps in the sand, the days of our lives are short. 

About 6 years ago, I decided to plan my first family vacation.  Our destination was Walt Disney World Florida.  I used the internet for booking the hotel, and I bought the tickets at the Disney Store.  I booked our airline tickets online also. I carefully considered where we would be and when we would do things.  I placed myself "mentally" in the moments and pictured us walking, eating, standing in lines, getting caught in a passing rain shower.  I asked myself, "realistically, how long would this activity take?" I created lists and itineraries.  I packed items we would need...I planned for a year.  It was the first time I had ever planned anything and implimented it.  To my great pleasure, everything manifested mainly as I planned it to.  The few things that did not go accordingly, involved airline travel and the unusual occurrances that sometimes cause delays when travelling by air.  I catalogued those few blips as learning experiences and would use them in future planning. 

So while I was living out this first-ever planned event that I created for my family, I had the oddest observation:  Creating something in your mind and then living it out, is a GREAT and POWERFUL thing.  I loved how it felt and I really wanted more of it.  After that, I began to plan regular vacations both large and small.  I liked planning so I planned parties and any other thing I could get involved in.  I love to plan.  I love creating that experience and then becoming a part of the vision and feeling it really happen.  First is the simulation (the mental) and then is the ride (the physical).

Just an aside here, but this technique of envisioning or imagining something and then actualizing it, can work for anything from changing your image, to transforming your career, to flying in a rocketship!  If you can dream it and see it in your mind's eye, you CAN achieve it and create it in your own life!  Sometimes we just get so caught up in seeing things "as they are", that we neglect to rely on our inner vision to create what we REALLY TRULY DEEPLY DESIRE. We can create what we really, truly, deeply desire by first holding it as our vision for ourselves.  If we want to be seen as an artist, first we MUST see ourselves as it, and then we can change the world's perception of it... and soon everyone will see it too.  I love to Plan and write.  I want people to see me as a Planner and as a Writer.  So I am becoming what I have already seen for myself.  Actualizing will generally require a leap of faith of some sort.  For me, I had to leap "out" of what I was "locked-in-as" in the eyes and minds of others.  This was necessary for me to release my "old dream" and embrace the new one.  Writing about these things that I am experiencing, while simultaneously experiencing them, and really allowing myself to be as present and in-the-moment at it as possible, is no small feat for me.  It takes mental and emotional strength to stay focused and be generous and loving to others and provide for the family while I do these things. 

When I returned from that trip to Florida, I decided with much gusto in my heart that I was going to LIVE in Florida.  I needed to live in Florida.  I wanted to live in Florida.  Moving there became my passion and my focus.  I studied the entire state and decided that I wanted to move to Brevard County Florida because in my opinion, this was a place I could really feel at home and connected to nature... and still be close to all the points of interest that mattered most to me which included Talent Agents, Disney and AAA headquarters (at the time I worked for them).  I studied the school districts carefully and determined that I wanted to live in a lovely town called Melbourne Florida.  My second choice:  Cocoa Beach.

Everything I knew about the area I had learned from the internet. The closest I had ever come to it in proximity was being in Orlando.  That is, until yesterday.  Yesterday I fulfilled a long-time dream to visit and explore the entire area and although one day is barely enough to scratch the surface, it was a day full of blessings because every twist and turn of fate delivered a special morsel for me.  When you study something, it becomes familiar, and you know things and feel things and believe things about it.  I happen to love reading maps and I study them for fun.  Working for AAA, I spent a lot of time studying maps for pleasure.  I became thoroughly knowledgeable of the entire region of Brevard County Florida.  I know it from tip to tip and isolated the spots I planned to visit one day.  I had no idea that a glitch in my sister's GPS programming would deliver it so beautifully for all of us!  Best of all, and equally as unexpected, was making the trip with my sister and all the kids! 

Instead of sending us up rt 95 from Jessica's home in Port St. Lucie, we were routed using A1A, the Scenic route...which instead brought us into Brevard at the South tip of Satellite Beach and through Sebastian Inlet and Satellite Beach and right through the heart of Melbourne as we made our way to Cocoa Beach!  I was so happy I nearly cried.  My gratitude was so overflowing.  I had the most wonderful day of virtually my whole life.  I explored... in awe of how the natural beauty of these places far exceeded that of my imagination.  Experiencing Melbourne...breathing in the smell of the air there and listening to the sounds there...was powerful for me.  It changed me.  I realized I DO have a powerful connection to this place and to the Atlantic Ocean.  I have always feared the ocean but yesterday I found myself wishing I knew how to surf and had a board because I would have just kept drifting further and further.  I enjoyed watching the surfers out there catching the waves and the boogie boarders (like us).  The sun was hot and the air was moist with humidity.  I felt completely serene.

My favorite event of the day, was driving through the neighborhoods and communities along the way to the beach.  there were endless miles of homes and shops and motels and hotels and condo communities and then parks and beaches and bridges.  People here are very friendly for the most part.  One of the stops we chose for the venture was Ron Jon's Surf Shop.  I had read about it and wanted to see it a year or so ago.  It was fun and colorful and sparks the imagination of Surf and Beach lovers...all Floridians love the Beach and Surf.  Why else would you be at Cocoa Beach anyway?

In conclusion, I will say that My weekend was powerful.  My relationships feel more energized now because I believe and accept that I have been given this gift...this amazing ability to create and to manifest. 

A quick manifestation story for you:  After feeling the heavy riptide and experiencing the HUGE waves, I wished we had boogie boards but we had only brought one...a very small one.  A minute or two after I said aloud: 

"When we go to Ron Jon's I am going to get a boogie board", this woman came over to Annika and Billy and said: "You can have my boogie board".  No idea why she gave it to us...she just did.  But something tells me...I have a feeling...it was all about intention.  Be careful what YOU wish for...

Lilac