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clean by alejandro junger


What can we do for body mind spirit this year that will have a permanent positive impact on our lives, and on Planet Earth?

Perhaps we can start with detoxing. Have you heard of the book CLEAN by Dr. Alejandro Junger? It’s an exquisitely-written book having all that’s needed in the way of information, including recipes. Yes, imagine that, recipes, which means we get to eat while reaping all the benefits of detoxing. in addition, the writer keeps us motivated, there’s plenty of support, and, to boot, he inspires us. What more do we need? Nothing, except commitment on our part. Detoxing is a priceless gift we give ourselves, and I’ve not read a book on this subject quite as interesting and exciting as CLEAN. Alejandro Junger, M.D. is a cardiologist who early in his career went from being a specimen of health to being stressed, bloated, tired, having headaches, and being depressed. He had many good reasons for temporarily chucking everything in search of the cause. And that’s exactly what he did, eventually regaining complete health. He tells us his story so that we can benefit, and learn all the reasons for detoxing (liver, kidneys, gall bladder, colon, etc.). CLEAN, I think, is a labor of love.

It’s been over a year since my daughter Sumi forwarded an email to me with information about Dr. Alejandro Junger, saying that Gwyneth Paltrow had talked about him on her blog, www.goop.com Then this past December, I was on a train heading for Penn Station when my daughter-in-law Alicia called clearly excited about a book called CLEAN, which she had borrowed from a Hot Yoga friend.

And so, it seems like the perfect way to begin implementing a permanent positive impact on ourselves, and then Planet Earth, because when we’re in top shape things become clearer, and that’s putting it mildly.

Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself

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brad warner, zen buddhist


I hadn’t heard of Brad Warner (although he seems to have many people reading his blog, listening to his music, and attending his sessions on Zen teachings) until reading about him in Tricycle Winter 2011 magazine. www.tricycle.com. “What an interesting guy,” I said to myself as I read on.

It’s refreshing to depart from the usual way of doing things and look at another way – Brad Warner’s way, and I intend to read more about him on his blog: www.hardcorezen.blogspot.com


It seems that there’s a whiff of criticism in the air about the way he practices, and, in general, lives his life. We live in a world that likes to criticize sometimes. I’m thinking though that what’s important here is that he’s helping people and teaching people, and that, one would think, is the bottom line.

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madan lloyd


It’s taken a long time for me to read The Watkins Review Mind Body Spirit, Issue 27. Since this past summer I’ve been transporting it by way of tote bag, suitcase, hand always thinking I’ll find a cafe, enjoy a delicious cup of coffee, and read. However, with this magazine it’s not that simple, the reading of it doesn’t get very far because many of the articles are worthy of consideration as they’re not the kind that allow going from page to page, and then casting out the magazine. They seem to want to be read, and savored throughout the day, and somewhere along the way, the question becomes, why are they special in my life?


This morning I began reading DIANA’S LEGACY The Death and Rebirth of a Monarchy by Madan Lloyd who “is the UK Co-ordinator for the New Earth Olympics 2012, a free-to-enter online video competition in 12 categories, running concurrently with the London Olympics.” The following is an exquisite, not-to-be-missed website pertaining to this: www.neo2012.co.uk All of a sudden tears started welling up in my eyes because the writer, after lovingly writing about the former princess, takes an abrupt turn – still tying in with the idea – just taking it in an entirely different direction. It’s a powerful piece of writing; it keeps in mind love’s power, while it touches upon this Planet’s heavy topics.

And he mentions Prince Charles, and William and Kate, and then writes: “. . . and we all badly need a real live fairytale love story like this one, not least because the happy ending is the timely and definitive demise of an empire built on lies, deceit and outrageous abuse of the sacred process of education, by which every man, woman and child on Planet Earth – regardless of race, creed, colour or social status – possesses the divine right of equal access to all information and instruction regarding how to make the very best use of this precious human life.”

And then, in his poetic style, he writes: “. . . as a bright new sun rises at the end of a long, dark night when corporate predators – most notable of banking, oil and pharmaceutical persuasion – preyed mercilessly on every innocent life they could entrap within the deadly web of their economic and media manipulations.” – I somehow lost it for a few minutes. And I had to wonder, why tears when reading this particular article?

I think it’s a special person who can write about corruption, greed, power – those topics that especially weigh heavily on us – while managing to keep an eye on the importance of every human being and, or course, on the power love can play in the world. A writer with heart and new wisdom has the ability to touch upon heavy topics using few words – the right words – and having those words stab at the reader’s heart – in a good way.

The next article in The Watkins Review: Eros, Buddha & the Spectrum of LOVE, an interview with ANDREW COHEN; GURU and KEN WILBER: PANDIT which took place at the Boulder Integral Center. I wonder what you’d think of this interview. If you don’t have the magazine, and want to read it, check out www.watkinsbooks.com

Are you having a beautiful day? I hope so.

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thanksgiving day


Now seems a good time to prepare for the thanksgiving part of the day, and have it be a real awareness of gratitude. We all should have the specially prepared food down pat with all the help from magazines, cookbooks, etc. The food of: roast turkey (or, if we’re in the south, deep-fried turkey), the kind of gravy and stuffing we want to eat at least once a month, cranberry sauce, mashed or roasted sweet or white potatoes, green beans, or brussel sprouts, or collard greens, warmed bread/rolls, a drink for toasting, and then there’s the dessert, with tea or a special kind of coffee and, oh yes, perhaps a few drops of Amaretto in it.

Truthfully, I don’t usually remember to say a thank you before meals, and when I do I’m aware that’s it’s done quickly, and not as thoughtfully as it should be. So one recent morning I decided to say a proper thank you for my breakfast which consisted of Gaia chia in a glass of water, and later coffee, and toasted bread with butter and jam. The interesting part is that once I started with the thank you I couldn’t stop. Never did I suspect that so many were involved in this simple breakfast.

The coffee, Organic Fair Trade Shade Grown Ethiopioan was purchased at Trader Joe’s. I began thinking of the people who plant the organic coffee beans (my knowledge is limited; I could only imagine), and carefully supervise it, the best beans are considered, coffee is transported by truck to the marketplace, negotiations, purchasing, packaging, the traveling to selected stores (what does all that take?), trucks arrive at stores, coffee is stored, or placed on shelves by the employees. Then we, the customers, arrive, and pay the cashier. It’s bagged, and off we go. And that’s only the coffee.

Then I noticed the Wedgewood cup and saucer, a gift that came from Japan, the plate from Indonesia, the knife, the wheat sandwich bread from Metropolitan Bakery in Philadelphia, the jam from France, the butter from Iceland, the cinnamon sticks for the coffee from Viet Nam, the French Press, the toaster. How many people were involved before this simple breakfast found its way to my table?

It’s not necessary to say thank you to everyone involved, of course, – the Creator is the important One. Though I discovered that thoroughness has it’s own reward, and sitting quietly for a one-time thorough thank you brought a heightened sense of awareness to what those words mean. And after all these years, on this Thanksgiving Day I’ll finally be able to say a heartfelt thank you.

I want to wish you all an enjoyable, full-of-laughter, satisfying Thanksgiving Day. And where ever you find yourself, whomever you’re with, and whatever you’re eating, enjoy thoroughly.

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hybrid foods


When I go into Whole Foods and see the words, “seedless strawberries” and “seedless grapes” and “seedless watermelons” and “seedless raisins” etc. I wonder what exactly is going on with the altering of our food. Those “hybrid foods” are full of unnatural sugars, chemicals, and pesticides. They have no nutritional worth. The people who have taken it upon themselves to alter our foods are, shall we say (it’s important here to use the right words), a greedy bunch. The Creator made these perfect foods to nourish living creatures. Those who are mindlessly tampering with Earth’s bounty to make themselves rich are serving no one, not even themselves. Eventually, the greedy ones will have to pay the piper for thinking that the Earth is theirs to do with as they please.

This morning I picked up the book, Agartha by Meredith Lady Young and read the passage:
“While the use of chemicals has forced larger production, it is hollow production, for there is no integrity in this kind of bloom or grain. It exists without the permission of the plant. The plant is forced to produce-not allowed to produce-and herein lies the difference. Because violation of plants by this force-feeding method actually shortens its life cycle and eliminates any joy in the production process. Nature’s usefulness as a continuing food source is becoming diminished. The food which is produced is filled with the artificial, negative aspects of creation and lacks the overriding positive energy infused in the natural growing cycle. Even the water is becoming so acidic and filled with pollutants that basic water replenishment is no longer possible. How can health be produced from plants which are prevented from having a proper relationship with the essential elements which provide for joyful and complete growth? How is man to know that the planet suffers if he is deaf to any perceptual interchange?”

Agartha was published in 1984. I can only imagine what the greedy ones have done with our food since then.

Is there anyone who understands how the greedy ones can put money before living beings? Life is short, living at the expense of others is risky. Maybe they don’t believe in an afterlife, or in karma. Maybe they’re wrong. Maybe we need to find a way to set them straight so that Planet Earth will thrive once again. Does anyone have any ideas?

* * * * * * *

Greediness, an excessive, extreme desire for something, often more than one’s proper share.
www.dictionary.com

www.livingfoodsinstitute.com/resources_articles_3.php

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the good news at ode magazine is . . .


Ode* has come up with another marvelous idea, and it’s this: us giving as much attention to, or better yet, replacing the negative nightly news by clicking on their new website in which the editorial staff takes a “look at the most authoritative news sources for stories that focus on solutions rather than problems.” Hence, “a balanced media diet.”
odewire.com

How can the negative nightly news uplift the human spirit? It doesn’t; it can’t. This from Ode: “Research suggests a positive news diet supports your health in this challenging world.”

Ode’s editorial staff wants to remind us that, “Our automated semantic filter is not perfect. Judging values is hard for a machine.” And so they welcome suggestions to “improve the technology” by sending comments to: editor@odemagazine.com

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! -an “around the clock and around the world” news of what’s working in our world.

I hope you’re all enjoying a beautiful day.

*Ode changed its name to The Intelligent Optimist.

* * * * * * *

And the day came when the risk it took to remain closed in a bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
– Anais Nin

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jean houston

Lately when logging on to aol I see blog postings by well-known people who offer excellent information, and today Dr. Jean Houston – “Scholar, Philosopher, Researcher in Human Capacities” – posted “3 Keys to Living the Life You Want.” I can’t resist reading anything written by her. And so I read on and then clicked the print button as a few people will be happy to find a copy in the mail.

A lot of people have been writing about the global shift that’s taking place right now in all areas of life on earth. It wasn’t long ago when most of the writings were foreboding, interspersed with a few who wrote that the shift was ushering in great happenings and that we were to sit tight, trust the process, and lead a more compassionate life. The people reading what the foreboding articles and books had to say thought it was time to say their prayers and goodbyes because it seemed that death and destruction, and anything else of that ilk that the reader’s mind could imagine was on the way. If the mass consciousness buys into the doom and gloom we’re in big trouble.

However, the good news now from the experts writing – those who study all the angles of these matters and concerns and write from an intellectual, and perhaps spiritual view – is that something quite different is taking place and we can expect, after the global shift that’s presently taking place, a future that’s positively amazing, one that has previously not been experienced in the entire history of the world, one that will allow us to live life freely with new meaning, while recognizing and respecting our connection with all living things, including Mother Earth, and, additionally, to bring our own offerings to the world’s table confidently and fearlessly.

Jean Houston notes the reasons for people not being able to identify their life purpose, or, if they have, to not be able to fulfill it. She mentions our social systems and the way they are set up, and our limiting beliefs, and living our life within our “small story” that confines us to a “small self.” Her wonderful posting can be read on her websites, and it just might sing to many hearts.
www.destinyandyou.com
www.jeanhouston.org
along with The 3 Keys to Discovering and Living Your True Purpose – a Free Global Teleconference and Gathering with Dr. Jean Houston Tuesday SEPTEMBER 13, 5:30 pm PT Listen live by phone or online or download the recording anytime.


Jean Houston’s Mystery School is in it’s final year.

I hope your day is a lovely one.

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looking at the world through rose-colored glasses

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Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, what does this mean exactly? I’ve heard the expression a handful of times, and so, for once and for all, decided to find out where those words originated. It seems though that no one knows the origin, and explanations tend to vary. So perhaps the origin is not as important as looking through those rose-colored glasses.

Years ago I picked up a very simple and very small book written in 1940 by Frances Wilshire in which she gave a no-nonsense reason for looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. I liked what she wrote, and so I tried it out. Now some people think that when you see the world this way you’re creating a lovely little la la land for yourself, and that you’re somewhat of an idiot. No matter, I try to keep them on because what Frances Wilshire wrote rang true for me. Will they ring true for you? Well, you can only know by looking through them yourself.

When we were at the Jersey Shore Sumi gave her copy of O Magazine to me, and as I turned O’s pages, there, in wonderful big red letters, were the words, “In Praise of Rose-Colored Glasses” and under the caption was written: “The world we live in is a hard, scary place, and only getting worse. So do what Martha Beck does: Get out there and enjoy it.”

In the article Martha Beck writes of feeling guilty for looking at the world through rose-colored glasses when all systems on our planet appear to be going to pot. And so for years she couldn’t sustain a happy feeling when looking through those rose-colored glasses.

Then she wrote: “But over the years, as I’ve seen what leads to positive change and what doesn’t, I’ve become a sort of joy hound. I now agree with the poet Jack Gilbert: ‘We must have the stubborness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of this world.’ and she wrote: “This isn’t narcissistic pleasure-seeking. It’s the way to make your own life work and give your best to the world.”

To the above, I say, Yes! Because when we’re steeped in fear, in negativity, our life becomes heavy, and a negative pattern promotes more negativity. On the other hand, focusing on the good that we see in the world tends to bring more of the same.

I’ll quote another passage because I can’t write it any better. Here it is: “. . . We must admit there will be music despite everything.” Or as Pablo Neruda wrote,

Take bread away from me, if you wish,
take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.
…it opens for me all
the doors of life.

And this, “The more you defy your innate negativity bias, building from your strengths, finding relief, and embracing delight wherever you can, the more you become a walking cyclone of peace. The repercussions of one person living in stubborn acceptance of gladness are incalculably positive. Become that person, and you’ll find that in spite of everything, there is music. . . .”
www.marthabeck.com

Read the entire article (don’t skip, “the so-called 90-second rule”) in the September 2011 issue of O The Oprah Magazine, and then test out those rose-colored glasses
www.oprah.com

* * * * * * *

“To enter the Spiritual World, in imagination put on rose-colored glasses, and through them you will be able to expand your thought of beauty into fuller expression, by seeing everything in the color and hue of perfection. Then you are seeing in the light of beauty, with Spiritual vision.” – Frances Wilshire

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kristin zambucka, the mana keepers

The world is a neutral place Kristin Zambucka wrote in her wonderful book The Mana Keepers. Neutral, I like that, I said to myself. Other writers have used different words to get the same message across to us, and since we mirror whatever’s going on within ourselves, a variety of writers are necessary for all the different ways we humans have of perceiving life.

The people who write in this fashion are trying to tell us that moment by moment, consciously or unconsciously, our thoughts are creating our life. And when we wrap our mind securely around this thought it’s an Aha! moment. And then what? -the mind asks, and it thinks of the responsibility associated with getting this thought into motion. Where to begin? -it wonders while all along wanting things to stay the same. Too late! There’s no pretending in this matter; it’s the right time and the seed is planted.

And so a new show is being created, and as it develops it gets more exciting. Although sometimes there’s a desire to close the show because it takes too much effort to keep it going. But the nagger within insists on continuing because it knows that eventually it’ll be a hit.

The time to be lazy and sloppy, well, alas, it’s over, because once this thought is deeply heard, the within becomes unrelenting in its desire to unfold, and the voice within haunts with the words: moment by moment, consciously or unconsciously, our thoughts are creating our life.

* * * * * * *

“Our remedies in ourselves do lie which we ascribe to heaven.” – Shakespeare

“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” – Otto Rank

“Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot, it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance.”
– As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

“We choose our joys and sorrows before we experience them.” – Kahlil Gibran

“. . . We have underestimated ourselves tragically. We are sadly mistaken when we see ourselves as merely temporary bodies instead of timeless spirit; as separate suffering selves instead of blissful Buddhas; as meaningless blobs of matter instead of blessed children of God.”
– Essential Spirituality by Roger Walsh

“All day long the thoughts that occupy your mind, your secret place as Jesus called it, are molding your destiny for good or evil, in fact, the truth is that the whole of our life’s experience is but the outer expression of inner thought.”
– From the Pen of Emmet Fox

“You may be surprised at what seclusion with God will do for your mind, body and soul. . . . Through the portals of silence the healing sun of wisdom and peace will shine upon you.”
– Paramahansa Yogananda

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thinking about bees and thinking about skin

Finally an answer to the puzzle of why bees are dying off in developed Western countries. After many scientific studies it’s been realized that “one group of agricultural toxins – neonicotinoid pesticides – is a major contributor to their rapid demise.” It’s good to know that bees are returning to the four European countries that have banned these products. Check out the websites urging us to help save the bees.
Thank you, www.NaRichmond.com for the information.

and thinking about skin:

Parabens or any ingredient that ends with this word – affects hormones

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) – toxic contaminant

Sodium lauryl, or laureth, sulfate – contaminant that may cause skin damage

Triclosan and triclocarban antibacterials – present potential thyroid concerns

Triethanolamine (TEA) – contaminant that may trigger allergies

Dimethylol Dimethyl (DMDM) hydantoin and Imidazolidinyl urea – preservatives that release formaldehyde

Fragrance and dyes – may cause allergies or cancer and affect the nervous system

Methylchloroisothiazolinone and Methylisothiazolinone – preservatives that may cause allergies and affect the nervous system (Phew! Need to watch the spelling of those words).

The following website will guide us in learning about products that won’t harm our skin:
CosmeticsDatabase.com

* * * * * * *

“The situations, circumstances, events and relationships that you encounter in your life are a reflection of the state of consciousness you are in. The world is a mirror. If you are anchored in your nonlocal self the whole world is available to you.” – Deepak Chopra, The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire

“All the greatest beings who have ever strolled through the Earth’s gardens have been people of transcendent faith. Every one of them had a tranquil attitude and a calm belief in the helpful powers of invisible forces. These forces are always available to everyone!” – David Wolfe, The Sunfood Diet Success System