No Joints, No Judgment

Welcome friends! I'm so glad that you've chosen this guide to help you on your journey.

Just a bit of housekeeping – as it says above, we have no cannabis. This is not a book about cannabis. If that's what you're here for, sorry. You might as well keep reading since you already bought the book.

Secondly, as my mother pointed out when I first told her the title, we will not be judging people or "stoning" ourselves here. There will be no statements about getting better, fixing yourself or being broken in any way. We all have a journey. Yours is yours and mine is mine. We are all the stars of our own stories and no matter what challenges life brings, you can always count on your powerful spirit to keep you going. You can always do a comeback tour.

I first started learning about using the energy in stones to enhance my own energy when I was in my late twenties in New York City, in a store in the West Village. I was ooing and ahhing over jewelry when I picked up an amber ring. The woman behind the counter took out a book and started reading the "properties" of amber – Increases life force ... finding inner freedom ... energetic protection from negative forces (Source: The Pocket Book of Stones). I was like "Sign me up. I want all of that. I'll take it." In hindsight, it was a great way to sell jewelry.

Salesmanship aside, the experience opened my eyes to the idea that there is something very precious in semi-precious stones. Something more precious than their financial value. Until then, I looked at everything other than a diamond as being a space holder until my diamonds arrived. The day I put on that amber ring was the day my Hippie Diva was born. It was the first day I began to consciously work with the energy of stones.

Since then I have learned a great deal more about the power of stones and crystals. I have learned how to find healing of body and spirit. I have learned how to create the life I dreamed of. I have learned to create a life that rocks.

It was while sitting in a weekend workshop run by my friend Jenn August, I realized that it was time to write this guide. I decided to write it because of the numerous conversations I find myself in with friends and strangers about stones over the years. It happens no matter where I am: in the security line at the airport talking to a TSA agent, at the farmer's market buying my greens for salad, with the librarian of a school I was touring, at 30,000 feet with the pilot sitting next to me – conversations about stones come up. I'm never really sure how it happens, it just happens. Regardless of where the conversation starts, we inevitably end up talking about stones.

Once you get me started, I have a hard time stopping. I think that's why people are so willing to ask me questions. I'm very open about my connection to stones and openly descriptive about the role they play in my daily life.

I figure if I have this conversation everywhere I go, it would be more useful to write it down so people can read it for themselves. There are a lot of people with questions and I simply don't have enough time to talk to everyone.

So, following is my offering to help you on your journey. It is my hope that you will find it useful, educational and a bit entertaining. I've had a blast working on it!

Joyfully yours, R

Everything Begins with Gratitude

My mother taught me a long time ago that it was important to be grateful for everything that I had. That meant I had to say thank you, this also meant I had to write thank you notes after every Christmas and birthday. I can honestly say I didn't really appreciate the intention behind it until much later. When I got older, that's when I came to understand that when you don't express gratitude, when you take your gifts and blessings for granted, you can, and more than likely will, lose those blessings.

For your life to be blessed by gratitude it must be two things – you must be genuine and abundant in your expression. You must find opportunities in every day to feel true gratitude for the moments of grace in your life.

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.

– William Arthur Ward

Be Genuine

Feel gratitude for every moment something went your way, an issue was resolved, or something arrived in the nick of time. Feel gratitude for the people that blessed you in big and small ways. Feel gratitude for your Self and the gifts that you have given yourself over the last couple of days.

One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings ...

-Carl Jung

Life has many lessons to teach and they are sometimes not the easiest lessons to learn. Sometimes we find ourselves focusing only on the challenges. If you find that the only things coming to mind or out of your mouth are the challenges and injustices of your life, then taking time to focus on gratitude can truly manifest a great change in your life and perspective.

Be Abundant

How often do you express gratitude? To be abundant in our expression means we must go well beyond anything we've done in the past. By taking time out of each day to express gratitude for what we have experienced, we open ourselves up to continue to receive wonderful blessings. If you are continually grateful for what you have already been given, you will find your life continually filled with reasons to be grateful.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

– Melody Beattie

Gratitude is a Habit

I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude.

–Brene Brown

Like any other habit we want to create, we have to practice at expressing gratitude daily.

Gratitude must be Expressed

While having the gratitude is powerful, expressing that gratitude is what puts that power into action.

If you feel gratitude for something that someone has done for you or offered to you, say something. Say thank you.

'Thank you' is the best prayer that anyone could say. I say that one a lot. Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.

– Alice Walker

Be genuine in your expression. Once I was accused of humble bragging. I was appalled at the idea that by me pointing out the good things in my life I was somehow making people feel bad about their own. Then I shifted. I realized that some of that was...