Where is Eva Rawposa?

Things are settled back down since I got back from Chicago yesterday, but I had been feeling the full spectrum of emotions. The eerie thing is that I have begun experiencing beauty even in pain. I’m starting to *truly* and *fully* see that every single supposed mistake teaches me what I need to learn the most.

I am not playing a game of hide and go seek with my emotions as they come, either. Instead, I feel every emotion as it comes. Full throttle.

On my last day in Chicago, I managed to miss Bikram yoga two times… thanks first to a missed train (I took the green line instead of the brown line), and second thanks to a really wonderful conversation I didn’t want to end. I followed up said conversation by running top speed with my bag and my 17 layers of clothing for about 7-10 blocks to the train station.

I would have made the yoga class, but I was running back and forth on Superior Avenue instead of Chicago Avenue. That’s what I get for being in a rush!

So, I barely missed class and in the heat of the moment and in the cold night air, I ended up phoning a friend of sorts (this one is a long, private story I’ll have to skip the details on… I’ll just say I think that call was my final life line and used far too soon). So, I phoned my “friend” while standing on the wrong street. I was left out in the cold (literally and figuratively) and managed to leave a blabbering voice mail. Fun, fun.

So begins my Story of Hilarium… I won’t say it’s hilarious, as it would seem from the title. But included in it are some lessons, some laughs, a happy ending… you know, all the good stuff my favorite stories include.

My other friend (the one I went to Chicago to visit) wanted to meet with me for as much of the couple hours until the next yoga class. She found a coffee shop nearby to meet at, which she was directing me to over the phone. It was while I was speaking with her that I discovered the yoga studio was not missing; I was just on an entirely different street! (Obviously – Ha!)

I managed to laugh at myself and my situation with her. I was feeling some loss and pain and used Humor as a clever escape vehicle. She and I had the funniest of conversations. That’s what I got for skipping steps out of the train station like a crazy person on a mission, using my last life line way too early, and skipping pain for laughter. Not bad.

She kept joking at my state of Delerium, and I told her it was mere Hilarium. Finally I landed at a Starbucks, cozied myself on the sofa, texted a bunch of silliness to that same friend (who was on the train and enjoying the heck out of it, called me “dynamic” and a “riot”, just the ego-stroking I needed in my state of Hilarium). I texted two other dear friends who I knew would “get it”. When my bud got to the Starbucks, we joked some more.

Honestly, I wanted to skip yoga but had no choice because I am on a 60-day yoga challenge. The heat in the room (105 degrees + 60 percent humidity + 90 minutes, for those of you who haven’t tried Bikram yet), mixed with the release I always feel in there, got to me. My emotions (the ones all that laughter stuffed down) came out of the bottle, and I managed to cry in the class.

I am a somewhat more advanced student, so I was standing in the very front mirror in a room that fits 70 yogis at a time. Crying. On my knees while everyone else was standing. I wasn’t sobbing or anything, and they probably just thought the class was THAT difficult for me. Either way, that 90 minutes was less than stellar.

I left the class and met with my friend to go to the John Hancock tower for the best view (and the best bathroom) in Chicago. While on the bus, I said some mean things and emptied the rest of that bottle of Emotions.

Enjoyed the view. Packed my belongings. Worked on raw food computer stuff until late. Woke up at 4 something to fly out. Got to the plane and JUST the right woman was waiting in the chair next to me.

We had an AMAZING conversation, exactly what I needed. She’s a single mom with two kids of her own and a foster daughter. She had missed a flight and all sorts of other crazy things, to end up sitting right next to me on that plane. It’s a wonder we met to have THE Perfect Learning Conversation. She lives in Simpsonville, South Carolina. Have you heard of it? I lived there for awhile as a kid. That’s where she lives, but she was flying into Charlotte. Uncovering that commonality is how we got to talking more.

She’s scared of flying, so it’s also a wonder she was even flying from California at all. We talked from before the plane lifted off until it landed, then all the way to where she had to go to the parking lot and I to my connecting flight.

If it weren’t her story to tell, I’d share all the details of her life that made me think so highly of her. She is a warrior in her own right, just from living her life in a way that is true to herself. I managed to learn from her lessons and life. I saw some people and some things in my life more clearly than I ever have, thanks to talking to this woman.

This might be one of the first times I’ve ever truly learned from another person’s experience. I know now, for sure (maybe I already did?) that there are no coincidences. This is a conversation I needed to have. A woman I needed to meet.

I am enjoying this ride. I am loving life. Loving my mistakes. Loving myself. I am happy with where I am. No need to look forward or back. I am allowing the Story of Hilarium to be ongoing, as I see it in the moment.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Here in Florida enjoying the very warm weather today and still counting down the days (7!?) to the Raw Vacation in North Carolina next week.

The Giveaway
How perfect that this week’s giveaway is from a book a mom lovingly made for kids… to trick/win/get them into loving their veggies. Click HERE for a full book review and some of the ridiculously cute pictures.

Rules for entry:
1/ Post your answer to the following question below: What do you (or would you) offer to possibly trick kids into treating their bodies to some raw food?
2/ Be a subscriber of Raw News Bites (the weekly tips and recipes sent out via email). You can subscribe at www.rawnewsbites.com, and when you do, you will automatically have the chance to download the e-book “Around the World in 10 Easy Recipes”, for free.

That’s it!
xxo Eva

Lately, I have had some unusually unlucky things happen. Here are just a few examples:

1/ I moved down the street. The phone company made me change my phone number even thought I was in the same area.

2/ Immediately after I got the new number, I was sexually harassed. I changed the number.

3/ The voice mail on the new number wouldn’t work. I talked to 7 (yup, seven) people at AT&T about the problem. Finally, I was told that they would send me a PIN, by mail, that I would get, at some point. So, because I am frequently at events, I couldn’t give out the phone number for business contacts! I’d get voice mail but be unable to check it.

4/ I decided to go with a voice mail system that both myself and my assistant could check from different locations. Sounds great, right? It was recommended to me by a professional I trust. I mean, really trust. But then, after a day, the number stopped working. (Which of course I had forwarded to my whole newsletter list and put on my website.) It had a message saying “This is not a working number.” Great.

5/ I found out that I was 1 of 5 people in the entire company affected by some weird thing.

6/ I needed new contact lenses but am not close to the place I got them before. The fax machine broke when they needed to fax the prescription to the new place. I am wearing my glasses, not contacts, as I type this.

7/ I got sick. I don’t get sick. But it was a detox. I’ll write separately about that because I think it could benefit some of you.

8/ The internet wouldn’t connect on my pretty new, very high quality computer. Then it randomly started working again when someone else touched it (really, just touched it, didn’t even *do* anything yet). This was someone who just wanted to help.

9/ The keyboard on my phone stopped working. Actually, just the L, the comma, the O, the I, and one other letter. Random.

10/ The CAPS lock button on my computer’s keyboard, along with a few letters, stopped working. For several days. That’s been fun, to say the least.

So, as I was walking to the office from home, I thought… Hmm, after all these weird things, I should write an “ode to my keyboard” with all the funny letters. It would be funny. Then I was smiling and thinking to myself… maybe I just need to flip the switch. Is this my own energy causing this?

Because, usually, everything just *works* for me. Well, since I went raw anyways. I’m just happy. I have energy. I don’t get sick. If things go wrong, I laugh and smile and don’t mind and make fun of it. But not this last few weeks. I’m questioning things. I’m trying to figure it all out all of the sudden. Why aren’t some things working? What needs to go? Clearly, something in my life is dragging me down. [Could it really be ME?]

I was thinking on that same walk, that I’m kind of like Job, in the Bible… but then I realized… Ha! Not really. Way worse things happened to him than me. Can’t be a drama queen, you know? And then I thought of how, he got through it and praised God even when things were going wrong. I mean, really wrong.

And usually I don’t bring much religion into my classes or my blog or whatever… but this was a pivotal thing for me… Am I still praising life and God and the good things that are happening? I know I *should*… but what is “should” anyways? It’s just a word for things we don’t want to do but do because someone out there told us to. That’s what it means to me.

And frankly, I’m not big on “should”. I’m big on benefits and reality and making my own rules. Just because I *should* say thank you, doesn’t mean I will… but I try to be genuinely thankful for the time and love people put into things they offer to me… and in that case, I thank them. Make sense? Ha! Maybe not. Well, that’s how I do things. And it works for me.

So, I was on this walk. Which, I was on the walk, because my mom has my car. Her brakes (on her pretty new Toyota) randomly went out on her the other day. Which means I’ve been car-ting her around, and she’s been borrowing my car. Which is why today, I was walking instead of driving to the office to get some things done. Which is when I thought about writing an Ode to My Keyboard. And then was wondering why these things keep happening.

And I decided to flip the switch. To be grateful and expect the best. And I did.

So here I am, writing what was supposed to be an Ode to My Keyboard. After several days of issues with the CAPS lock key… after I flipped the switch in my head, it is working now. I came on here to make fun of the situation. I didn’t expect the keys to just *work* again. Like magic.

So, I’m writing this partially for my own personal entertainment. Partially because the newsletter is late again. Thanks to computer problems. Again. But more than that, I like to share. And I hope it will help someone out there. If you have read this far (bless you), I have a question for you…

Do you need to flip the switch?

Because if you do, it turns out it’s pretty easy. Take the time to think… do you expect the best? Because you deserve the best. Really.

xxo Eva