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23 november 2006

It’s almost here. Are you ready for the feast? We’re blessed to be able to celebrate in any form we choose. I read The New York Times once a week. That’s enough to know the happenings. Then I look for other ways to gather information about the world. Again I say we’re blessed. Some families are traditional and enjoy celebrating in the same way every year. For others the holiday is never the same. Some don’t have family, and for them there is a smorgasbord of possibilities waiting. Should you find yourself alone this year, don’t be lonely, go out, find happy places, mingle, celebrate with strangers. Or, if you choose, be with nature. Another, altogether different way to celebrate is to stay home and be in the silence of the day. Whether celebrating with family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, nature, or in the silence, it’s a time to say thank you throughout the day for Life and for all that Life offers. Life, it’s fascinating; it’s challenging and often beautiful. How will you do on 23 November 2006?

“If the only prayer you say in your whole life is “thank you,” that would suffice.” -Meister Eckhart

“The most difficult thing – but an essential one – is to love life, to love it even while one suffers, because life is all. Life is God, and to love life means to love God.” – Tolstoy, WAR AND PEACE

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hospital food

And then there’s hospital food. It looks as if it could be somethng special – certainly it should be nutritious, and something to look forward to, –but, alas, it’s hospital food brought in on a cart, on a tray, packaged, cellophaned, covered. For healing, it should lift the spirits. In the twinkle of an eye this could easily change. Of course, there’s this other consideration, change doesn’t come quickly in many institutions. Yet, the ordering and preparing of nutritious and delicious foods could happen. Foods to anticipate, to enjoy, to heal when the cart comes to a patient’s room. It should happen. It could happen. How difficult can this be?

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to not imitate

Did you happen to read Tijn Touber’s column in Odemagazine July/August 2006? He wrote about watching the Beatles Anthology for 10 hours, and, while watching, he noticed the “look in the eyes of the girls” in the audience. It was almost as if they couldn’t deal with the emotions they were feeling. And as he listened again to their songs, the writer said he was struck by the beauty of their originality, and originality was in much of what they did. And originality is what our civilization is now lacking. Tijn Touber reminds us in his column that the Maya calendar stops in the year 2012. And we know what is suggested by this. However, this is not about gloom and doom. It’s about seeing the world with new eyes, to not be imitators. We have to find a way to inspire ourselves, to bring a newness to the world. to bring a beautiful vitality back to civilization. Otherwise, why go on? At present we’re “rehashing.” We’re saturated with copies of everything. What will inspire us to be creators? Perhaps we need to unclog our mind to get to a place that will allow us to bring about a radical change in the way we interpret life.

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procrastinate, or not

Many of us procrastinate. It seems though that if we don’t do what’s before us to do, what’s before us to do will catch up with us – eventually. And when it does, we’ll have to deal with the things of the past, along with the things of the present. And since we’re doing in the present what should have been done in the past, we’ll not do it as well. When we work with the energy that’s there at the time, things are accomplished more easily, life is smoother. Procrastinating, brings us into a different energy field.

On the other hand, there are those times when we need to wait. However, we don’t want to confuse those times with doing what’s before us to do. You’ll know the difference. Those things that have to be done, when done, will feel as if a burden has been lifted. Ah, such a good feeling. If there’s doubt as to the right course to take, wait, become aware of signs, of feelings you have, listen. You’ll know when the right time is.

Experiment and watch.

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hospitals

I read that in Greece, once upon a time, hospitals were true healing centers. Music played throughout the grounds, carefully chosen colors lent beauty to the eyes of patients; flowers, plants and herbs were everywhere. In other words, there existed a beautiful center for true healing to take place. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that this would be waiting for us should we require the services of a healing place?

Hospitals, for the most part, cause great stress and anxiety to anyone having to be there as a patient. Even when visiting a patient, one can pick up the disquieting energy there. While visiting friends in hospitals, on different occasions, some nurses said they’d been working two days straight, because the hospital was understaffed. Who wants a nurse dispensing meds when she’s not slept for two days? That’s only one of many anxiety ridden problems. How is it that so many hospitals are screaming that they’re understaffed? What’s going on at the helm? Are you overcome by a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you hear the word hospital? It should be the complete opposite. When we need to be in a hospital, we should think pleasant experience so that we can heal beautifullly.

In the July/August 2006 issue of Odemagazine, there’s an article, Healing by Design, by Kim Ridley. It’s a big breath of fresh air. The article mentions a book, THE ARCHITECTURE OF HOSPITALS, and explains that it is “an international collection of ground breaking studies, essays and hospital designs published this summer by the Netherlands Architecture Institute.” Right now changes are being implemented. The “radical rethinking” that is responsible for this transformation is underway. Finally, people with the ability, understanding, compassion and power to change existing conditions are doing just that. www.odemagazine.com

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osho

A couple of years ago I was in Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center and had a book by Osho. A salesperson tried, when seeing the book, to convince me that I didn’t want to read a book by Osho. He was getting all caught up in his words in trying to convince me of this. I left not understanding what he was attempting to say. Obviously he had strong opinions about this.

I didn’t buy the book but, I found it again in a used bookshop and bought it without someone looking over my shoulder. The book is called COURAGE THE JOY OF LIVING DANGERIOUSLY. It’s probably not what you think it is from reading the title. But it’s an interesting title. It’s fun to read and it’s stimulates the mind to see life in a different way. And no matter – if it resonates, if it dances, if it feels right, opinions contrary to yours – get it, do it, enjoy it. www.osho.com

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the misplaced key

Are we really born with the ability to sabatoge our selves? Or do we learn this along the way? Is life really supposed to be as complicated as some of us think it is, whether consciously or unconsciously? Once we’ve become adults we can pretty much interpret life in our own fashion instead of living robot like. We’re blessed to have freedom, but if we don’t know it’s our birth right, it’s as if we don’t have it. and then we’re in a prison of our own design in which we’ve temporarily misplaced the key that will release us from the prison of our own making. That’s what’s been written many times over by many people using different words.

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born female

Maybe how low can mankind go should have been the title of Bob Herbert’s writing of a report released from the United Nations, in the 2 November issue of The New York Times. It was sad, ugly and disturbing to read about the millions of women and girls all over the globe who are murdered, mutilated and raped for the sole reason that they were born female. “The Game of Life” to the many men around the world who murder, mutilate, and rape women and girls seems to be how low can I go? With all the problems that need fixing in this world, why does this problem even exist? How did it ever get to this stage?

I would be lost concerning these kinds of issues if I didn’t believe that what we do in one life will reflect on our next. If I didn’t believe this, I’d be inclined to say that these men should meet with similar circumstances, in other words, the exact proportion of pain, humiliation and emotional turmoil for them, too, in this lifetime.

Much of mankind is good, and, that’s the reason after reading this, you have to grab a magazine and book indicating that this is so, and that a lot of men in the world are involved in making changes. Unless you look for these stories you won’t find them-certainly not in our daily newspapers.

How did it begin-this thinking that men could perform hideous acts on women and girls. Better to not wonder as the mind will take you in directions that, once there, cause havoc with your thinking and prevent forward movement. It’s better to ask, what has to happen to end the brutality against women and girls.

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about halloween

I never really liked halloween. It’s only recently that this thought surfaced because I didn’t consider it one way or another before, but now I know. I’ve nothing against seeing the wonderful, creative costumes passing by this time of the year, but I never really liked halloween. The day after posting this, I saw fun, creative costumes everywhere. And the feeling is happy. Maybe there’s a change of mind here. Change, it’s always in the air. There are signs all around indicating who’s inspired by this day, and who’s not. For some children costume planning begins weeks before halloween. Others will grab any kind of cloth a few minutes before it’s time to leave, throw it over their shoulders, and claim to be superman. Then there are the houses, some are nicely decked out in the best of halloween decorations weeks before the day. Others have a pumpkin placed on the steps the day of, and still others, nada. And it can change in a heartbeat. Those who once were the big planners lose interest, and the suddenly superman warms up to the day and begins winning prizes for the best costume.

And so it is.

Enjoy, or not.

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our ‘dead” equipment

Is it true that computers are made to last only a year? That’s what a friend of mine was told when she called about her computer that suddenly stopped working. No help at that number. She kept calling, kept asking. Finally someone to her rescue. Your IBM computer will reload when you press F11. She did and it did. Simple bit of information. Important bit of information.

But could it be true? Computers are made to last only a year? In the Yoga+ November, December issue, page 34, did you see the picture of the sea of dead cell phones? The picture was called, “Cell Phones #2, Atlanta 2005: From Intolerable Beauty, by Chris Jordan” What a photo! What a sight! Elizabeth Royte’s article on page 32, You and Your Garbage (And Me and Mine), gives us suggestions on ways to discard things we no longer want, how to get our names off junk mailings, etc. What’s happening?

www.chrisjordan.com www.chrisjordanphotography.com