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a whirling dervish

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I’ve always been fascinated by pictures of whirling dervishes. In the winter of 2007 I went to Kripalu Yoga for a weekend. www.kripalu.org It was a stormy, snowy, cold few days, and a weekend with many fallen trees and places without water and electricity. Even so, Kripalu was bustling with activity. Carolyn Myss was there for a weekend seminar, and although there was no power or water where she stayed, she was a good sport. And I’ve got to say this about her, she’s a fiesty one. www.myss.com

About the whirling dervish: There were planned and unplanned activities on Saturday evening at Kripalu, and one of them was listening to HuDost. www.HuDost.com Their music and singing – their songs, were perfect for that evening. And as we listened and enjoyed, a whirling dervish came out from a side door twirling in front of us and the musicians. Oh, yes! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Beauty, ease and grace was what the whirling was all about with hands and arms appearing to float in the air. The whirling continued as songs were sung and music played. I was mesmerized; it was enchanting.

Then the whirling dervish exited, and was no where to be seen. HuDost continued playing, and suddenly the whirling dervish appeared again. If HuDost and the whirling dervish could have played until sunrise, I would easily have stayed. And when it was over, I didn’t have the presence of mind to inquire about HuDost and the whirling dervish. I bought HuDost’s CD and when I listen to it I imagine the whirling dervish with the tall hat, flowing white skirt, twirling aound and around with beauty, ease and grace, maybe not even touching the floor.

I’ve always thought that one day I’d have to travel to Persia (Persia is a beautiful name and I’m not letting it go) to glimpse a whirling dervish. Thank you, Kirpalu. The weekend was magical. Perhaps I’ll have to travel to Persia to sit for many hours simply watching. I will put that on my list of things to do.

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old photos

I have a collection of photos that need frames. To find the right frame takes time. It’s easy to not hear what’s calling when in a hurry. So, I remember that patience will guide the picture to the right frame. It always does. Recently I inherited pictures that go back to 1918, the 1920’s, 1940’s, and onward. If I stay long enough with the old pictures I feel very relaxed. I get pulled into a different time when life was simple and seemingly more innocent. I look at the faces of the people. Many have died; I sit for awhile with the photos. It’s very quiet in my apartment at the moment. There’s no music, no tv, and no voices – except the ones in my head. I like it this way. If I stay quiet long enough my whole body becomes entirely quiet and the voices eventually go away.

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“To be empty, completely empty, is not a fearsome thing; it is absolutely essential for the mind to be unoccupied; to be empty, unenforced, for then only can it move into unknown depths.” – J. Krishnamurti
www.jkrishnamurti.org

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having what it takes

Millions of people watched the academy awards this past week and some got caught up in the glamour of it all, and maybe were a little envious. It’s easy to see how this can happen since in today’s world celebrities seem to reign supreme. The media report, without let up, on the lives of celebrities – their grand homes, clothes, elaborate parties, travels, private planes, plastic surgery, personal trainers, political views, and, unless your own life is lacking, a lot of the time it’s all so tiresome.

On the other hand, those who envy celebrities perhaps don’t realize the amount of discipline involved in being one. Among other things, celebrities have to acquire the ability to feel comfortable in this kind of setting without always feeling breathed upon, they have to develop thick skin, and also figure out what it takes to have staying power because it can all unravel if they can’t handle it. And, along the way, they realize that the media are your friends, or not, depending.

Living life as a celebrity being on display, having to nod to photographers lest you look less than your best in tomorrow’s magazines, newspapers, and tv reports, being judged for having or not having, is a balancing act. Have you noticed that the celebrities who manage to live their lives powerfully and graciously, appreciating what they have and giving back in some way, have a feeling about them that’s relaxed, that says they’re happy, and those who haven’t figured it out look forlorn and employ drastic measures to be noticed.

Before envying a celebrity, or the lifestyle of one, let’s dig deeper. Really succeeding is having the insight to enjoy life at the top, to give back, and to not take it all so seriously. And hats off to a celebrity who has learned what it takes to happily pull that off.

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“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” – Carl Jung

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palm reading

Have you studied palm reading? Once you do you’ll most likely catch yourself frequently glancing at hands, yours and others. When you look at your left palm you’ll notice it’s different from your right one since the left and right indicate the unconscious and conscious part of us. The length of our fingers and thumbs, the length between the joints of our fingers, the lines on our fingers and thumbs, the shape and size of our nails, the space between our fingers, the space between our fingers and thumbs, etc. are all indicators of what’s been our experiences, and where we’re headed. Also, nicely etched on our palms are our heart, head and life lines, our fate lines, chains, islands, stars, forks, dots and lines along our palms, all indicate things about ourselves. When something changes in our life, it’ll be recorded on our hands. Neat! Right?

If you were ever to begin studying palmistry, chances are your research and reading would be different from mine. I’ll just tell you what I’ve read: ‘William G. Benham, author of The Benham Book of Palmistry, is considered the father of modern palmistry (reissued 1988, New Castle). “Benham turned palmistry from an esoteric art into a codified science with its own laws and principles.” What a marvelous hobby palm reading is, or to take it a very big step up, after a lot of studying, what a fascinating career it could be if someone is so inclined.

Our bodies are truly amazing. What do you see when you look at the palms of your hands? It’s impossible to say until you begin unravelling what they are offering up to you.

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dried split pea soup for a change

I can’t eat lentil soup anymore. The reason is I made so much of it last winter, sort of overdid a good thing. Now I’ve got to let it rest. There are plenty of different kinds of soups, but I don’t easily shift gears in the soup department. Actually, there’s tasty, hearty, and easy to prepare pea soup. It’s hard to get it wrong. If you’re inclined to add too much water it’s simply not as thick – less water makes scooping it up with delicious slices of crusty bread, or great tasting crackers, easy. And it’s pure delight to open the refrigerator and see lots of it.

So I scooted over to a nearby organic market and bought a package of dried split peas, and  two bags of vegetables, and added a few pieces of delicious-looking sushi to the cart. It was a sleeting, cold, dismal kind of evening. The kind of evening that found customers hovering over the dessert counter for comfort. Yes, it seemed a perfect evening for preparing pea soup and having its fragrance greet every room.

It was cold – definitely not a night to linger outside. I scurried back, and soon began chopping a big onion, diced 1 clove of garlic, and 6 carrots, and into the pot they went. Then I sifted through and rinsed 3 cups of dried split peas and added two cups of water for every one cup of dried split peas, 5 whole cloves, and Celtic salt and pepper to taste.

Adding a sliced steamed yam. and a few pieces of dulce is a nice touch. Look at the beauty of the colors before taking your first taste, and enjoy.

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jerry and esther hicks

Have you checked out the website of Esther and Jerry Hicks recently at www.abraham-hicks.com ? Jerry and Esther Hicks wrote the LAW OF ATTRACTION, ASK AND IT IS GIVEN, THE ASTONISHING POWER OF EMOTIONS, and that’s not all. They have a busy and delightful website packed with information. If you’ve seen the movie, THE SECRET, you might be interested in listening to a video about its beginnings. You can do this by clicking on: More From: AbrahamHicks Abraham Reveals The Secret Behind “The Secret” – Esther Hicks.

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looking outside the box

Kevin Trudeau’s book, NATURAL CURES “THEY” DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT, has sold over 10 million copies. It’s a #1 New York Times Bestseller. It’s also an eye opener. Have you read it? I started to last week.

That said, I don’t want to become a bore again. I used to talk to friends about this ‘n that way of doing things regarding healing, and I got weary of seeing their eyes roll way up into their sockets. Now I understand that just because I like the subject doesn’t mean everybody does. I think I’ve corrected that fault because sometimes a friend will say, “You knew that and didn’t tell me? And I’ll say, “Yes, because you, my friend, gave me the hairy eyeball whenever I talked about looking outside the box for anything having to do with healing body mind spirit.”

There’s magic out there and at times we need to look outside the box, or as someone said, “Get rid of the box.” It’s that simple.

Imagine!

 

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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

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oprah and eckhart and a 10-week online web event

Eckhart Tolle’s book A NEW EARTH: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose was announced as new pick for Oprah’s Book Club, and together Oprah and Eckhart will have online Web classes in order to study A NEW EARTH, “. . . but not as an academic subject or in order to acquire new theories or beliefs.” www.eckharttolle.com

Oprah’s worldwide classroom begins on Monday, 3 March, at 9/8c. It’s a free Web event. You can reserve a seat and find out what you need for the first class at www.oprah.com

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tom cruise and a video

I saw the Tom Cruise video. Someone forwarded a website. I watched it, and noticed there’s something not quite right. The interviewer is cut out, and TC seems to be rambling on and on, looking slightly crazed because the whole of it is missing. That said, what I want to ask is: Why do many people find so much pleasure in defaming “public figures”? When adults make fun of other people, criticize, joke after joke at someone else’s expense, they’re not really adults. They just look as if they are. You would think that once someone reaches adulthood, they have far better things to do with their lives than to focus on the lives of others. Not only focus, but to try to take them down – people they don’t even know – who have every right to their personal views without being slandered and made fun of by the silly ones who can’t find other things to do in this fascinating world.

Tom Cruise belongs to an organization called Scientology. So what? Is he going around killing people? Is he going around slandering anyone? Is he starting a war? Is he making life difficult for anyone? It would seem that what he does with his personal life IS HIS BUSINESS. Those that slander say, well, he’s a public figure. In their minds, this means a public figure is theirs to prey on without limits. Hmm! Something’s not quite right here.

Will someone please tell all those slanderers to get on with their own lives. Perhaps concentrating on another somehow relinquishes them from working on themselves, improving themselves, and maybe in the process bringing a little more love and harmony into the world.

We have so much to learn about ourselves, the world, the universe. Wouldn’t it be more important to concentrate on those things than to put our attention on causing disharmony? It’s not humor when the joke is biting someone. Humor is fun and is not done at the expense of another unless it’s with their approval, and they’re laughing, too. It seems the train has gotten off the track and we’re sliding down into the muck.

“. . . He took all the time needed to bring fo