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the holidays, they are coming

The few weeks before Christmas is an interesting time of year – planning, shopping, buying, partying, praying, cooking, helping, wondering, hoping, singing, decorating, traveling, eating, drinking, – with urgings to celebrate Christmas and the New Year in a big way. Our cities, towns, villages are alive with brightly colored advertisements, merry music, santa, shoppers carrying bags of gifts. It’s a tricky time of year in that getting caught up in spending can happen in a flash. It’s hard to ignore the joy of it all.

However, not being over our heads in credit card bills from holiday spending is a beautiful way to live, and a great way to begin a new year. That means we have to be creative in how we celebrate the holidays. They’ll be a lot more joy in our hearts if bills are not weighing us down. We just need an open heart, a smile, a little imagination, and a readiness to do things differently.

Also, there’s this wonderful word called gratitude; it’s written about a lot lately. I’m sure there have always been people who daily express gratitude in the silence of their hearts. Though now it’s become a way of life for many. Maybe it’s because we see so many who lose so much so suddenly, or maybe it’s because we see so many who have so much wanting so much more. It can get complicated, if we let it. Gratitude, simplicity, balance, staying in tune with our hearts, can give us the true meaning of the holidays. Otherwise, you know, it can get crazy, if we let it.
So, can we say this about the holidays, if you’ve got it, this is a great time to flaunt it; if you don’t, why would you.

Riches are not from abundance of wordly goods, but from a contented mind. – Mohammed

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank You,” that would suffice.
– Meister Eckhart

The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden
because of their simplicity and familiarity. – Ludwig Wittgenstein

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thanksgiving 2008

Did you somehow filter the outside world long enough to think of all the reasons to be thankful on this Thanksgiving 2008? Sometimes it’s tough, esp. when we see photos of people in California losing all the stuff they hold dear, or the people in places such as Mumbai (formerly Bombay) losing their lives in the blink of an eye.

Because we live at a time when tragedies are all too frequent, and easily come alive in our homes at the click of a button, we can at least learn from them so that they help us understand all the more that each day is a gift to be lived as masterfully as we can until it’s time for us to move on to our next journey. I think the next journey is also a gift, and the beauty of that gift depends on how we’re handling the one we have now.

Our amazing world presents us with many ways to grow in body, mind and spirit. This morning on aol I read Michael J. Fox’s words about living with Parkinson’s disease in an interview he gave in People Magazine. He said: “You either get Zen with this [stuff] or you lose your mind. Having the disease is part of an amazing life. And not an ‘otherwise’ amazing life.” He clarifies, “It’s part of what makes my life amazing.”

I find that lately the word “amazing” is used frequently. It’s a wonderful word.

www.holidays.net/thanksgiving/
www.michaeljfox.org

amazing, adj. 1. causing wonder and amazement; possessing uniquely wonderful qualities.
www.wiktionary.org/wiki/amazing

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allowing the natural

When we start to trust it it’s easy to see that nature provides beautifully for us according to the way it most likely was meant to.

For instance, apple cider vinegar’s versatility appears to be endless. I purchased Dr. Earl Mindell’s book, AMAZING APPLIE CIDER VINEGAR, a few years ago, and am always surprised at the ease in using vinegar for all sorts of, shall we say, things. Dandruff? This from Earl Mindell: “Simply pour full-strength vinegar on your head and work it into the roots of the hair, then wrap your head with a towel; let the treatment work for a full hour before washing your hair. Repeat the procedure as many times as necessary to do away with dandruff and itchy scalp for good.” Warts, calluses? Apply apple cider vinegar on a cloth and adhere to skin, or apply on a band aid mornings and evenings until the area is wart or callus free. Have patience; it works. Now people in the know who write about acv say taking 1 tablespoon in a glass of water 30 minutes before meals, among other things, aids in digestion.

In past years when a recipe called for fresh ginger and I was new to buying it, I couldn’t think how else to use the rest of it. Now I know that when it’s grated it can be added to just about anything. For tea slice a 1-inch piece and steep it for 10-15 minutes – drink hot or cold. Good to know because ginger’s benefits are powerful. I once took a cooking course in Manhattan taught by Virginia Lee. She said that ginger stays fresh when kept in a jar of sherry. She and Craig Claiborne wrote a cookbook worth having.

Turmeric has finally found its place in the American spotlight, and recently I read on aol’s news page, (from David Servan-Schreiber’s book as reviewed in Prevention Magazine), that turmeric is “the most powerful anti-inflammatory today.” Good to know. Not used to this spice? Well, it takes a bit of time sometimes for one’s taste buds to savor the new; continue to use and eventually you’ll think, hmm, this dish needs more turmeric.

On that same site I read that “the active compounds in garlic are released when you crush the clove, and they’re much more easily absorbed when they’re combined with a small amount of oil.”

Henry is someone I met in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. He had been a merchant marine for many years, and in his 50s decided to study Chinese medicine and acupuncture in Hawaii. He was very popular in Vilcabamba. There were evenings when a group of us sat outside the cafe facing the plaza listening to Henry, and gathering information. I remember he said that to know whether you have parasites spit into a glass of water – if spit sinks you have them. Parasites? There are many helpful books on detoxifying. Something we all should do – every year it gets easier and easier to rid toxins from our bodies. Yes, it does.

Peroxide tries to compete with apple cider vinegar; its uses are many. It’s an excellent mouth wash, toothbrushes can be soaked in a cup of peroxide to kill germs, it can rid kitchen counters and wooden cutting boards of bacteria. Adding a little in water when watering plants keeps them healthy. Add a cup of peroxide instead of bleach to a load of whites in washing machine, spray on mirrors to clean them. I bought a spray cap for the peroxide bottle and spray just about everything in sight. So watch out when visiting my place. Just kidding.

Soon I’m going to bake chocolate chip cookies. And this time I’ll replace the white and brown sugar with Stevia. www.stevia.com Stevia has been used in Japan for 50 years. And in “Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and China it’s been used to sweeten food and tea for centuries. Stevia is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, with virtually no calories, and 1 teaspoon of the liquid is equal to 1 cup of sugar.” August 2008 www.prevention.com

Should you want a list of natural physicians in your area, the website is: www.acam.org, the American College for Advancement in Medicine, or call 800 532 3688. And for allergy screening and treatment the website is: www.aaem.com the American Academy for Environmental Medicine, or call 316 684 5500.

And let’s not ever forget the tremendous power of our thinking in helping to keep us healthy.

“If I had to leave my children just one piece of advice, it would be to live in the moment.” – Nicholas Evans, Writer

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a simple description of a friend

My friend in Thailand sent an email to me yesterday. I always like reading them because he talks at length about the adopted country he so much enjoys, and the new precious Thai family he married into. I’d say he’s along the same lines of Cloris Leachman – no ordinary person. How does one describe one who is no ordinary person? Well, I can describe the little things about him, and perhaps the little things about a person tell the biggest story. I’ve noticed that when he travels he never mentions the negative of any country. He writes at length about all the things he likes, – the people, food, beautiful sites, great, simple places to stay to learn the ways of the country, the how-to of getting around. He doesn’t seem to buy into anyone telling him what he can and can’t do, especially as it pertains to his personal life – that which he’s quite capable of deciding all by himself. He doesn’t listen to what can and can’t be done when a certain age is reached, or at any age for that matter. Categorizing and/or labeling life is not his thing. He lives, explores, enjoys being alive, and, if you were to meet him along the way, I bet you’d be glad you did.

He’s been around the world. If someone were to hand him a container of soap for additional sanitizing of hands, he’d give it right back to them. If he happened to be watching tv and a drug commercial appeared he’d casually mute it. Why allow that into one’s psyche? – I can hear him say. On second thought, that would be me saying that. He would simply mute it.

Yes, no ordinary person is he.

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tai chi

It was in Rittenhouse Square Park in Philadelphia that I noticed someone gracefully practicing Tai Chi. I stood to the side trying to not stare. Stare I did, however, as his movements were easy to watch — hands seemed to float delicately and powerfully, and torso and legs moved with ease. I wanted to stay and watch and forget about the things I was supposed to be doing.

I began learning Tai Chi with a video and then a CD — for sure it’s not the best way to learn. The positions feel really good though and there’s a quiet pleasure in doing them. I’ve barely begun, but I have a feeling this form of exercise is the right one for me. The basics are learned, and then integrated. The positions “tone muscle, firm the body, and enhance flexibility.” Eventually, I want to find a Tai Chi instructor. First though I’ll try to understand a little of the how-to of it and try to loosen up a bit.

Have you found what you enjoy doing?

www.taoist.org
www.nccam.nih.gov/health/taichi

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is it time to detoxify?

It’s impossible to get through the day without hearing or reading something about detoxifying, at least in my world it’s that way. Today aol had a blurb on Oprah’s 21-day detox, and mention of her daily posts on her blog. It rang a bell because I’m preparing for another cleansing session – the benefits are so great – physical, mental, spiritual – providing one pays attention to what’s happening by clearing time for stillness. Rushing about and carrying the same ole stress load changes the meaning of detoxifying, and tends to curtail what could be a powerful time. I say this because Emi gave me a few pages of an article in Elle, more or less about fasting and the various methods. One person said when talking about The Master Cleanser: “It was surprisingly filling, but the experience was isolating. . .” and, he continued, “And inconvenient. After the salt-water, I couldn’t leave the house for at least two hours. If you know what I mean.” And I say, of course, that’s what happens when fasting. (I have only this one page and no author or date, but it must be current if it came from Emi.) www.oprah.org www.elle.com

My ideal scenario when detoxifying would be to be near the sea; walking in the water, walking in the sand, time in the sun, staying happy, meditating, attention to what the within is saying, and being grateful for the experience. And yours?

Detoxing is agreeing there’s lots to be gained from the experience, and remembering what these things are. Focusing on a specific food, or drink (like coffee. Ha!), will create an internal tug of war. The thing is that doing something for a limited time should be a snap. Right?

A lot of people don’t believe detoxifying is important. They feel in their gut that it’s not for them, and that’s fine. Theirs is a different path. If something’s pulling you toward it, however, maybe that something is from within and is trying to get your attention. Perhaps then it’s important to go with that feeling.

Know what you’re doing and why, read and research. There’s a lot out there in the market place in recent years. And there’s the tried and true, also. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

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imagine

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
– Mark Twain
www.twainquotes.com
www.marktwainhouse.org

The above quote can be used for almost anything we want to accomplish in our lives, whether it be changing jobs, changing profession, dropping out of school, returning to school, marrying, deciding not to marry, having children, adopting, deciding not to have children, staying together, deciding to divorce, losing weight, living abroad, founding an organization, buying an apartment or house, letting go of grief, investing in our health, changing beliefs, – it can be a very, very long list. And that’s a very good thing. People who have been at the crossroads of transition, help us to believe and trust that we can all do what they’ve done.

“You can have, be, and do whatever you will or desire. The only thing stopping you is the accumulation of negative thoughts and feelings which you are subconsciously holding. Remove those, and you remove the blocks to your accomplishing whatever you wish in life.

Remove those, and you will find happiness, satisfaction, and joy beyond your wildest dreams.

Remove those, and you are free.” – Lester Levenson

“Too often people set their lives by the calendar. It takes all the fun out of life.”
– John Glenn

“Security is not the meaning of my life. Great opportunities are worth the risk.”
– Shirley Hufstedler

“Walk down as many roads as possible.”
– Phil Cousineau
www.philcousineau.net

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rev. michael bernard beckwith and rickie byars beckwith

Spending a day in a workshop with Rev. Michael Beckwith and Ricky Beckwith on Friday was a day with lots of sunshine, even though it was cloudy and misty outside. Being Fearless was the name of the 11,12,13 April event sponsored by Omega at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. And on Friday, Sumi, Emi and I attended the Pre-Conference Intensive with Michael Beckwick who nourished our souls as we listened, meditated, prayed, sang, asked questions, heard the answers and left singing. And we listened to composer and singer Ricky Beckwith’s beautiful songs and voice, heard her utterly contagious laugh, enjoyed her ability to elicit more from the topic being discussed, and were tickled pink by her humor.

Spending a day with Michael Beckwith who lives from a spiritual center quickly opens one’s heart. The questions asked by participants and the answers that unfolded allowed for those aha moments which usually don’t come so easily when we’re on our own to ask and answer.

The Keynote speakers for the weekend were: Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, Rickie Byars Beckwith, Mia Farrow, Zev Kedem, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Anne Lamott, Caroline Myss, Valerie Plame Wilson, Noah benShea, Tara Brach, PhD, Seane Corn, Debbie Ford, Erica Ariel Fox, Carla Goldstein, JD, Andrew Harvey, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Gurushabd Singh Khalsa, Stephan Rechtschaffen, MD, Douglas Stone, Rev. Claude AnShin Thomas, James Van Praagh, Iyanla Vanzant.

If days were freer and unscheduled, and the above-mentioned people available for longer stretches of time, attending all the workshops would add greatly to the way one perceives life. Oh yes, methinks so.

Sumi, thank you!

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john perkins, psychonavigation

Last November 2007 I bought a book at Robin’s Bookstore, the oldest independent bookstore in Philadelphia. Something coerced me into picking it up and perusing it. I had another book in hand, but found myself purchasing and walking out with THE WORLD IS AS YOU DREAM IT Teachings from the Amazon and Andes, by New York Times bestselling author of CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, John Perkins. I cried as I read many of the passages, and cried even more when I read the Epilogue. If you were to read this book I think you would understand.

In an interview On Spiritual Travel, Shamanism, and Consciousness, with Dennis Hughes, Share Guide Publisher, is written: “John Perkins spent three years in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and then became a consultant to the United Nations and World Bank, then a businessman in my own right. . . .” The interviewer asked him to give a definition of shamanism, he said his favorite short definition is:

“A shaman is a man or woman who journeys to other worlds in order to obtain power, wisdom and energy from those worlds to affect change in this world. When we talk about other worlds, we can use terms like the unconscious or the subconscious – there are a lot of different terms that can be used.”

At the end of the interview he said:

“The shamans like to tell us that Mother Earth isn’t in danger, this idea of needing to save the planet is ridiculous. That human beings aren’t going to destroy the planet. But the planet may just shake us all off like a bunch of fleas. She’s giving us a lot of warnings right now. El Nino as a message is a great gift. Climate change, the fires that have swept through the Indonesian rainforest, the drought which for the first time ever has hit the Amazon, are all amazing warnings. Receding glaciers. . . and so she’s giving us a message and this is a very exciting time for human beings to live in and to react. Because we don’t want to be shaken off. Yet it really doesn’t matter a whole lot if we do get shaken off, for we know that everything shapeshifts. We never die, we never leave. Einsteinian science confirms that matter and enery never leave they just change – they shapeshift. But since we’re getting these messages from the earth, it’s an incredibly wonderful opportunity to be able to respond to the challenge.”
www.shareguide.com
www.shareguide.com/Perkins.html

John Perkins’s organization Dream Change Coalition leads trips to the Highlands of Ecuador to work with the Shuar and Quechua and he gives workshops in the USA and in Europe. On the back cover of the book is written:

…Now these shamans are turning their wisdom and power to the problem of curing a new kind of illness-that created by the industrial world’s dream of dominating and exploiting nature.
John Perkins tells the story of these remarkable shamans and of the U.S. medical doctors, psychologists, and scientists who have gone with him to learn the techniques of dream change. These shamanic teachings have sparked a revolution in modern concepts about healing, the subconscious, and the powers each of us has to alter individual and communal reality.

John has used the knowledge he gained from master shamans, around the world in his successful career as a management consultant, president of a US energy company, and as founder of the Dream Change Coalition, an organization that inspires executives to clean up pollution, reshape corporate goals, and form Earth-honoring partnerships with indigenous cultures. www.dreamchange.org
www.johnperkins.org

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the essence of what is

Photochopped – tampering with a human being’s original features and form. To change a human being so that s/he is thinner – maybe the word is gaunt – and/or more attractive, takes away from the original. The photochopped look has no depth as the essence of a living human being is missing.

When the icon of perfection displayed on a daily basis is inauthentic, how can this be a good thing? And anyway, the original is far more interesting than the photochopped version. Our own features are a unique creation. There are a variety of things to do with the original while leaving one’s essence intact. The authentic way is beautiful; we just don’t know it because there’s so much coming at us saying otherwise.

And speaking of tampering with, all the information in those mainstream magazines geared at women and men are exhausting to read, many pages dedicated to opinions and then, in a month’s time, they change. They say: Wear this and . . . Go here and . . . Do it this way and . . . Say this and . . . Exercise like this and . . . Eat this and . . . Use this and . . . How are we going to take on other things when we get feelings from these mags that we need help for everything?

I have an idea . . . Let’s start trusting ourselves, observing, checking out what’s right for our own needs, and create according to what works for US. Because being a carbon copy is no fun. The things we could accomplished if we weren’t obsessed with nonsense, boggles the mind.

(This post written because a young woman died recently when she checked into a hospital for a tummy tuck and a few other things she thought she needed to look beautiful.)

“Joy and openness come from our own contented heart.” – the Buddha