Goodness Graciousness

On Death and Eternity and Love

2009-08-21T16:18:00.005-04:00

Last week my brother Jack died. I was with him as his breath slowed down to a hush, then stopped as he gently left this world.

His body is now ashes but he lives inside me. His example of goodness will remain with me. Our lifetime of memories has been part of my spiritual development. Our love is as tangible and binding as the strongest cords. His presence is certainly not gone. And, like the ripples from a stone thrown in a quiet lake, his compassion and kindness will continue spreading love and gentleness for eternity.

I recall a quote by Helen Keller...

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

I do not know what happens when we die.

There are so many stories, teachings, religious doctrines, and myths.

Perhaps we go to an ultimate judgment, or maybe we return for more lives, maybe we go through the tunnel to the exquisite light or are transformed into a spirit totem.

I suppose any belief is as good as another so long as it brings peace and comfort to the bereaved.

I don't know.

What I do know is that the love we have for our loved ones doesn't end at death. The memories we share and hold dear do not evaporate. The essence of our loved one and their impact on our lives remains beyond death.

Is life eternal?

Perhaps the very question is beyond what we can fathom but in my mind, I believe that our very life transformed the universe. Whatever we have brought forth, created, or caused set the universe on a new direction, never to be undone. The kindness we extended, or the harm we caused impacted existence. Every action, word, thought was a transformation of energy, taking some matter/energy and creating something new out of it. So, yes, I believe our lives are eternal.

Does our spirit continue on?

Again, of course I don't know. We have a long history of human guesses but as far as I can tell, (or my personal guess) is that our spirit or essence or consciousness, again transforms. While an earthly experience consists of a spirit housed in an ever-changing human body, perhaps without a material form, it can expand and flourish without bounds? Maybe at death, we are really transformed into a glorious essence without concern for the physical?

I don't know but if the past 13.7 billion years of our universe's history is any indicator, I'm guessing what comes next is more amazing than anything that we can imagine. Seems to me, the universe is filled with surprises and never stops outdoing itself. I'm sure there is magic and brilliance ahead.

The next experience is still a mystery to me. What is not a mystery is the beauty of love and life. Death cannot take away ones legacy, it cannot take away memories, it cannot take away love.

So, to my dearest brother... I love you.

Thank you for living a full and beautiful life. Thank you for making this world so much better. For giving your gifts so generously. For exemplifying graciousness and goodness in each moment of your life. For demonstrating what it means to love others; how to bring peace to the present, and how to live a noble and honorable life.

I will miss you!

Emotional Freedom, Judith Orloff's Fabulous New Book

2009-08-17T15:05:00.006-04:00

I’ve been a big fan of Judith Orloff for some time now; since I first read, Positive Energy, and partook of Judith’s amazing ability to blend science with spirituality.

Dr. Orloff’s latest book, Emotional Freedom; liberate yourself from negative emotions and transform your life, is another truly original and outstanding book.

I could not put it down.

A clinical professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, Dr. Orloff is taking neurology to the next level, integrating science with spiritual and intuitive energies; transforming our ability to heal and ultimately discover internal peace.

Whether you are in an emotionally great place and wanting to deepen your life experiences or whether you are in a state of stress, anxiety, depression, anger, (or any number of negative emotions), you will find new ideas, new insights, and new approaches to heal your spirit and live in a state of love.

For example… you will discover your “emotional type,” learn how to cope with criticism, quiet fear, build patience, overcome jealousy and envy, manage loneliness, reprogram depression, and this is just the beginning. Virtually every negative emotion that plagues our lives can be transformed and released, literally eliminated from our experience.

Judith shows us how. She takes us through the biology and physiology of emotions, (in a very easily understood way; no medical degree necessary), and gives us practical action steps to transform negativity into something powerful and positive. We learn to tap into our intuition, reprogram negative emotions, attract hope, and so much more.

Emotional Freedom is filled with nuggets of wisdom, charts, diagrams, exercises, personal experiences, stories, and practical action plans to help us understand how to live a positive and fulfilling life. Written in Judith's very personal style, readers will connect to her not only as a brilliant physician but as a caring friend.

As I read Emotional Freedom, I found myself continually being fascinated at the science of emotion, and simultaneously feeling an eager hope as I contemplated our ability to literally transform negativity into a positive energy.

One of my favorite tips, (or dozens), in Emotional Freedom is Dr. Orloff’s, Seven Rules for Compassionate Communication. If everyone in the world could utilize this one little Action Step, I am quite certain our world would be a different place. I really enjoy clear and simple techniques that can make huge differences in our lives. Emotional Freedom is filled with them.

In the final pages, Dr. Orloff writes, “My fondest wish is that this book ignites an excitement in you about this experience, that I’ve inspired you to rebel against whatever opposes love.” (p 376). Well, Judith, you have definitely inspired me and ignited an excitement in my life.

Thank you for the gift of Emotional Freedom.

Conversations With Richard Bandler and Owen Fitzpatrick, and The Keys to Life

2009-08-08T21:13:00.010-04:00

Conversations with Richard Bandler, is packed so full of insights, ideas, exercises, quotes, stories, knowledge and wisdom that it is difficult to know where or even how to begin to tell you about this incredible book. How about I begin by telling you a few, of the many things you will discover as you open the pages...

You will read about life-changing inspiration and how to reject failure; you will learn about the lies of psychology and how to become unstuck. You will discover how to beat sadness and battle stress. You will learn how to deal with challenges, anxiety, and depression. You will be reminded to laugh and to love. I could go on and on.

Virtually every page has some nugget of truth, a fabulous quote, an inspirational story, or a completely new insight. In addition, of course, you will learn about Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. Richard was one of the co-founders of this breakthrough technique to change lives and in his book, he shares numerous aspects of NLP such as triggers, anchoring, calibration, and many more.

What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming? If you are unfamiliar with NLP, briefly it is, "An attitude, methodology, and technology that teaches people how to improve the quality of their lives. It is an educational tool that teaches people how to communicate more effectively with themselves and with others. It is designed to help people to have personal freedom in the way they think feel, and behave." On a more practical level, as a mental health counselor I find NLP a practical and powerful resource for positive life change.

But, let me go back to the book...

Many books on self-change are not much more than an author telling us how successful and wonderful she is and how you too can be successful and wonderful if you follow her advice. Or how, if you only act on a few special secrets, your life will be perfect and all your dreams will come true.

Conversations, is not such a book. Not at all. Even considering the fact that Richard Bandler literally transformed the field of self-change and is considered a genius by people the world over, this book is not about following Richard or becoming a devotee of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Rather, it is a book about finding one's own inner strength, and learning how to embrace life in its fullness.

Conversations with Richard Bandler, is more than a conversation with Richard Bandler. While it is filled with questions posed to, and answers from Richard, it is really the story of Owen Fitzpatrick, as he puts the knowledge he has acquired from Richard, his mentor, into practice. So rather than a manual, guide or how-to book Conversations is a story of life.

And to be clear, Owen Fitzpatrick is himself an expert on Neuro-Linguistic programming and self-change.

With every book that I read I like to focus on one key point or finding that resonates strongly and supports positive change in my life. Conversations was full of insights that I found personally beneficial. Allow me to share just one.

Humor and laughter are necessary, healing, and a beautiful part of our humanness. Sometimes I forget this essential truth. Richard and Owen continually remind us how lovely it is to approach life with a lighthearted sparkle, to find the humor in the silliness of our journey, and to laugh.

We are bombarded with books, movies, programs, theories, and advertisements, all claiming to have the answers to life. It seems there are more "experts" than we can count, all claiming they have the secret to happiness and success. But as I read and ponder, I am less impressed with the bling, the power, the fame, than I am with those who I find that show true examples of living a beautiful life.

For me, success is not about wealth, power and ego but about learning to embrace life in a way that is healthy and loving; it is living with honor, integrity, and kindness. Or, as Richard and Owen might say, it is living with emotional freedom.

Richard and Owen don't just give us incredible information and knowledge, they share their personal journeys. While I have never met Richard and Owen, and am not privy to their personal lives, I find their outlook on life admirable and honorable. I enjoy that Richard talks about his lovely wife of nearly thirty years and how important his marriage is to him. I enjoy Owen sharing his remarkable journey as he demonstrates how to deal with the disappointments as well as his accomplishments.

This book is not just another self-help book filled with self-aggrandizement and ego boosting. It is a work filled with insights that can help us better-manage our journey and discover personal freedom and one that I highly recommend.

The Way to Live.... My Top Ten Maxims for Life

2009-07-30T10:33:00.005-04:00

In this world, it is not always easy to make decisions; hings are not always black and white and making choices can be complicated and confusing.

So, it is nice to have some guidelines; little reminders on how to make the best choices.

Here are ten of my favorite maxims for life:

1. Always take the high road.

2. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

3. Walk gently upon the earth.

4. There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.

5. "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." Plato

6. "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein

7. "The best way to predict your future is to create it." Peter Drucker

8. "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." Dalai Lama

9. "You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him." Leo Aikman

10. To thine own self be true." Shakespeare

One more just for fun...

"Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." Philippians 4:8

Seeds that Change Lives and the World

2009-05-10T08:46:00.007-04:00

"In April, we cannot see sunflowers in France, so we might say the sunflowers do not exist. But thelocal farmers have already planted thousands of seeds, and when they look at the bare hills, they may be able to see the sunflowers already. The sunflowers are there. They Lack only the conditions of sun, heat, rain, and July. Just becaue we cannot see them does not mean that they do not exist."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

We may not see the blossoms of the seeds we plant today but they exist and as the sunflowers change the landscape of Tuscan hills, so do will each seed of goodness change lives and brighten our world!

The Dalai Lama and Mahatma Gandhi Give us Guidance for Life and Living, and How to Heal the World

2009-05-07T09:00:00.006-04:00

During a time when out world is focusing on how to win wars, fix the economy, save bands and bail out businesses it is important to keep in our hearts and minds that which is of utmost concern, the true necessities of life.

The Dalai Lama reminds us,

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."

While we may not have the answers to all the questions humankind is currently facing, we do have solutions for the challenges of life. We, each of us, can contribute to healing the world. We can participate in bringing forth peace and happiness, we can make a difference in the lives of our loved ones and those in our communities, even our sisters and brothers throughout the world.

How?

John Lubbock give us the answer:

"Do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being."

And Gandhi:

"To give service to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer."

At times, when the problems of our world seem overwhelming, even insurmountable, I'm reminded to step back and make a little difference in my tiny corner of the world.

Mahatma Gandhi writes,

"I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love."

May we work together for unity and love!

Darling artwork by Julie Brockett

Could you use a Moment of joy? A Little Bit of Brightness? Do you Want to See a Smile on your Face?

2009-04-18T12:38:00.004-04:00

My Addiction and How to Create a Beautiful Life

2009-02-25T12:29:00.007-05:00

I confess.

I have an addiction.

Some people are addicted to alcohol or drugs, some are addicted to shopping, gambling, or pornography.

My addiction is a little different. What is it you ask?

Collage making.

Yep, whenever I need a break, want to relax, or feel an urge to create I make a collage.

While my addiction may not actually, technically qualify as a true addiction in the most medical sense of the word, (I can stop if I want, and my collage making has never interfered with my life), still, at times I am pretty passionate about my hobby. I am a member of various groups, enter contests, and connect with collage makers all over the world.

It all started about ten years ago when I was studying art therapy and made my first collage out of paper, magazines, and pictures. All I can say was that I was hooked. I've made hundreds of collages and will most likely make thousands more.

And, now that there are online collage making sites, well, it makes it all the easier to indulge in my "addiction".

At this point I am not ready to give it up and haven't joined CMA (Collage Maker Anonymous... I'm making this organization up if you are wondering), but who knows what the future will hold?

Yesterday while engaging in my collage making activities, a thought came to me...

Life is a collage.

Let me explain.

When I make a collage, I gather pictures, symbols, designs, artwork, photography, quotes, and poetry from all over the world, and put them together in a new way, adding my own artwork and thoughts to bring forth something completely new. I build on what others have brought forth.

And, in making my collage, I add my own artwork, thoughts, and creations to the world for others to add upon.

Is this not life?

We take the information that has been gathered throughout human history, teachings from our schools and communities, ideals from our families and belief systems, and combine them into our individual minds, then we add our unique experiences, perspectives, and personality to create something new.

Then, as we live our life, we in turn bring something forth for others to add upon.

Our very lives are collages!

Now, there is a secret for creating a fabulous collage and it is the same secret to creating an incredible life.

To create a beautiful collage, I look for the most beautiful pictures I can find, the quotes that touch me deeply, the artwork that moves me. I discard the rest. Then I add my personal artwork and creativity.

Similarly, to create a beautiful life, we must seek out that which we believe will add goodness to our experience. We discard the rest. While, of course we live in the real world and can't eliminate all the ugliness and cruelty, but we can remove ourselves from some unhealthy situations and environments, we can release that which creates anxiety and destruction, and we can block or limit much of what diminishes our personal world and relationships.

Then we add our unique creativity to our experience.

Now, an important key to collage making for everyone who will attempt it: One NEVER, ever copies the work of another. It is unconscionable.

Similarly, we are not meant to be robotic clones just repeating what others require or demand. We are here to bring our unique creativity and creation to this world; to bring forth something for others to add to and build upon.

Most of us aren't going to create some new technology or write a brilliant philosophical work that will change the world, but all of us will bring something new to this world. Whether we bring forth more kindness, care, and joy, or more destruction, hatred, and violence is up to us.

We can ask ourselves, what will we embrace to create our life? What will we release?

How will we use our unique perspective and experiences to create something fabulous?

Will those who follow us have something lovely upon which to build?

Our life is a collage, the only question is, how beautiful will it be?

Death, Dying, and Living

2009-01-30T09:47:00.004-05:00

It is rare that I write about my personal life but my thoughts are calling to be written.

Currently, my father is undergoing cancer treatment for Lymphoma. He is an exceptionally healthy man for his age and treatment will most likely be successful, but his experience on this Earth is limited.

Over the holidays I got to spend a few weeks with my father and siblings, (my mother passed on a few years ago), in my childhood home. I live on the other side of the country so do not get to visit nearly as often as I would like, so the time was enormously valuable. We had Christmas dinner together, enjoyed each others company, met with long time friends, and cleaned out old boxes of memories left in the attic.

My father and I had several discussions about life, as we always do.

One thing particularly struck me and keeps percolating in my brain.

How will you feel when you come to the end of your life?

I look at my father and realize how peaceful he is, how he radiates the energy of a man who has lived an honorable and beautiful life. He has the peace that only comes from having carefully lived a life of integrity, honesty, and care.

There is not a person who knows my father who doesn't think he is an outstanding human being. There is not a person alive who has anything other than the highest regards for my father. There is no one who who doesn't honor the life of my father as exemplary and outstanding in every way.

How many people have this sort of peace when they leave this life?

When I asked my father what his greatest accomplishment or achievement was, he responded, "I have a great family". He didn't mention his awards and medals from his service in the army, nor he didn't mention his extraordinary success as a business owner.

He lived his life so as to have no regrets. He was the best husband he could be, taking care of my seriously ill mother for years on end. He was the best father he could be, instilling us with the values of honor and decency. (I'm pretty sure I heard the words integrity and honesty before I knew my alphabet).

In all areas of his life he lived a noble life, treating others with respect and kindness.

If you were to ask my agnostic father what religion he is, he would say that his religion is kindness; in every way his life exemplifies this.

Now that I am home and back to my regular routine, I am reminded to live a life of nobility and honor. I hope that when my time here is finished, like my father, I can feel the peace of knowing I lived a good life with no regrets. I hope, like my father I can leave this world feeling it is better because I visited. I hope, like my father, my family and loved ones know how much I love and cherish them.

One of the gifts we receive from those who are ahead of us in life's journey, is the awareness to live without regrets. We can make changes while we are young. We can heal wounds and restore relationship. We can alter our course, eliminate bad habits, and embrace more of what is truly important.

We can choose today to live and outstanding life.

Today, I reflect on the end of life to remind myself how to live.

Thank you to my fabulous father!

A My New Quote for the Year..... A beautiful way to live all summed up in one paragraph!

2009-01-05T09:43:00.005-05:00

The following quote is going on my vision board for the year!

I'm going to memorize it and use it as my new mantra for those times when I am not living in my highest good!

"Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

Make all your friends feel there is something in them.

Look at the sunny side of everything.

Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best.

Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

Give everyone a smile.

Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others.

Be too big for worry and too noble for anger."

~Christian D. Larson

So simple....and certainly life changing; spend so much time embracing goodness that there is no time for any negativity in your life!

The Most Important Ten Questions to Ask Yourself

2008-12-09T19:22:00.004-05:00

Have you ever asked yourself, "What is wrong with me?"

Or, "Why isn't my life better?"

Or, Why is everyone else so lucky?"

Or, "Why did my parents do this to me?"

My guess is that most of us have asked similar questions now and then.

If you have, then you have most likely come up with some good answers to your questions.

The problem is, the answers may not be exactly true. In fact they may be very far from the truth. In addition, they probably lead you to feeling negatively about yourself, your situation, and your life.

As you answer these questions, you confirm in your mind and spirit that there is something wrong with you, that your life is not going well, and that there is someone to blame for your problems.

See, as human beings, our brains developed a deeply ingrained propensity (and an amazing skill) to answer the questions we ask ourselves.

Right or wrong we answer the questions... it seems our brains are not so interested in the right answers, only that there are answers.

So guess what? If you ask yourself what is wrong with you, you will find the answers. If you ask yourself why you always have problems, you will provide yourself with an answer. If you ask who is to blame for a difficulty you will find someone.

On the other hand, if you ask yourself how you got to be so wonderful, you will come up with an answer as well. If you ask yourself how you became so talented, you will discover some people to thank.

With that in mind, it is valuable, perhaps essential for a healthy life to ask yourself the right questions.

Here are ten questions to ask yourself... ten questions that will get you positive, productive, and beneficial answers.

1. What am I grateful for?

2. What gifts and talents do I have to share?

3. How did I get to be so fabulous and amazing?

4. What is right with me?

5. How did I get to be so lucky/blessed?

6. What do I need to embrace or change to live as my best self?

7. How can I make a positive difference in the world?

8. Who influenced my life for good?

9. How do I envision my ultimate future?

10. Who needs my love and care?

Now just listen to yourself answer these questions... (no, "I don't knows" allowed).

If we become aware of the questions we ask ourselves, and consciously revise them by asking the great questions that bring forth positive, healing, and helpful answers, we start moving in a whole new direction.

The Universe Like You Have Never Seen It Before... Really!

2008-11-24T08:39:00.009-05:00

Would you like to see what the Universe actually looks like? Would you like to know how the universe began? Would you like to know how it came into existence?

Now you can! (I've linked the video below)

Within the last year, scientists have brought us to the point where we have a very clear picture of what this universe looks like... and you can see it!

As we receive images from the Hubble and other space telescopes we are seeing the universe as it was billions of years ago and with this information scientists are able to put together a rendered, computerized model, based on photos of this very universe, as if we are seeing it from outside (if such a place existed. We can even "glimpse" dark matter for the first time in the history of the world. Well, we can't really see it because it doesn't respond to light but we know its patterns and structure.

Today, (as in right this minute as you read this), we are discovering more about this place in which we find ourselves.

Did you know there are an estimated 100 billion galaxies in our universe? That is a large number, difficult to conceptualize so it may help to realize that this number is about equivalent to the number of grains of sand on the Earth. In other words there is a galaxy for every grain of sand on the planet.

And each of these 100 billion galaxies has about 100 billion stars.

In other words, there are about 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in our universe.

The number is incomprehensible.

And, of all those stars there are many, perhaps most that have solar systems with planets circling around them. Who knows how many planets are out there? What sort of other life forms might exist?

So, if you want to see the very latest images and models of the universe, I invite you to watch a fabulous video of a brief presentation by astrophysicist, cosmologist, and Nobel Prize winner George Smoot, shared by TED Talks* and Serious Play.

It is truly stunning.

See the Universe as you have never seen it before.... Click here!

*If you are not familiar with TED talks (Technology, Entertainment, Design), now may be a good time to check it out. Each year a the TED conference, TED gathers invited speakers from around the world to share their latest research, designs, and creativity with the world. The twenty minute talks are video taped and placed on the TED talks website for all of us to see. This is a fabulous way to keep abreast of all the latest information bubbling into existence the world over.

One Hundred Trillion Moments of Goodness

2008-11-19T17:56:00.006-05:00

There are about one hundred trillion cells in the human body. Put another way, you are comprised of approximately 100,000,000,000,000 cells.

This is pretty amazing.

But what astounds me even more than this huge number is that all these cells came from two; two cells from which all one hundred trillion cells in our body have emerged.

Now, as amazing as this is another little fact that I can hardly get my brain around is that, those two little cells that come together, divide into four. Those four cells divide into eight and so on it goes. And, in only fifty divisions, the whole of the human is created.

Only fifty divisions and two cells become 100 trillion.

I can't quite get over this.

It seems impossible and yet, it is the reality of the development of the human.

It got me thinking.

What if for every good event that came into our lives, we doubled it. For each smile, we gave two. For every kind word, we spoke two. For every good deed, we gave two.

We double each wonderful moment, every second of kindness, all those brief encounters that brought us peace.

In only fifty encounters, there would be 100 trillion wonderful moments of goodness.

Hmmm.... I'm going to try it.

How Wonderful It Is.....

2008-11-05T09:50:00.004-05:00

How Wonderful It Is... by Jennifer

100 Tips and Tricks for Women over Forty, (or Fifty, or Sixty, or Seventy, or Beyond) to Feel and Look Absolutely Fabulous

2008-10-27T11:24:00.008-04:00

This post is in honor of all the wonderful women who have given me a great example of how to move into middle age with respect, dignity, and grace.

While our culture may send the message that life for women, stops at twenty five, we all know that life gets better as we get older. I mean who would want to go back?

This post is not about being what others want you to be or trying to fight off the aging process, nor is it about succumbing to ill health and giving up.

It is about being your best self, feeling good about who you are, and going through our life transitions with grace!

So for all those women over forty, fifty, sixty, seventy or more, here you go....

100 tips and tricks to help you feel wonderful, look beautiful, and live vibrantly at any age:

1. Smile! Smile a lot! Nothing is more attractive than a genuine heartfelt smile!

2. Get a lot of anti-oxidants into your body. The more you get these amazing nutrients into your body, the more they can get rid of any unwanted poisons!

3. Don't wear short skirts – just above or just below the knee is about right. This length is the most flattering for most women.

4. Earrings can add a nice touch to your look. A simple classy pair of earrings can jazz up the most casual outfit.

5. The darker the lipstick, the deeper the wrinkles appear. Too shiny is going to run off your lips; too matt is going to look like chalk. Go for a softer natural glossy look.

6. Keep your hair shiny. A wash in glaze, a conditioning serum, or a spray gloss makes your hair reflect the light and adds a little spark to your look!

7. Dark pants are more flattering for nearly everyone. Yes, this is true. Just look around! Unless you want to really show off your lower half, stay away from large, bold, and bright prints and designs.

8. Unless you are twenty pounds UNDER weight, straight legs are a no. They may be in style but this doesn’t mean they look good.

9. Move your body. We can’t all run a marathon, spend three hours a day in the gym, or have a personal trainer. But we can all move. Do whatever you can do. Step it up. Go outside your comfort zone and push yourself a bit. You will feel better!

10. Get enough sleep! There is no better beauty tip. We all know how we look when we have to function on less than adequate sleep. Eight hours is about right!

11. Eat some nuts every day. They are full of all sorts of great nutrients! Yes, they have fat but the good kind! Try a handful of walnuts or almonds when you need a snack!

12. Eat fresh and whole foods. Organic and local produce is the best when possible! Try natural farm eggs, or range fed meats. Move from canned or frozen to fresh. Skip all the processed, additives, fake garbage, and fast food and eat actual foods that have energy from the sun!

13. Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. I know we all know this, still it is one of the most important keys for feeling well and lively.

14. Take some really seriously deep breaths every day. Conscious breathing, filling your lungs and exhaling slowly is a renewing habit to get into! Each morning before you brush your teeth, or on your way home from work, schedule in a few deep breaths.

15. Exfoliating your skin is a must! Get that old tired dead skin off your form and allow the fresh vibrant skin to shine! There are great products on the market and expensive doesn’t always mean better. Some over the counter products you find in the drugstore are just as effective as the high end and pricey alternatives.

16. Stretch your form. Yoga, Pilate's, or the stretches you learned in high school gym class are good options. Your body needs to keep those ligaments flexible and in good condition.

17. Teeth whiteners are quick and easy! A five day over the counter treatment is an easy way to remove decades of tea and coffee stains!

18. Dark or vibrant nail polish makes finger and hands look aged. Stick with a nice neutral or have a French manicure.

19. Perfumes and body sprays are a nice way to add a touch of care and pleasantness to our day. What is your favorite scent? While some perfumes are glamorous and expensive, you can find nice alternatives or natural scents for much less.

20. Exercise your eyes. At least once a day, take a minute to look in every direction, roll your eyes around; during the day look close then into the distance several times. Keep those eyes in good shape.

21. Elastic waistbands are seriously out! They may be comfortable or easy to wear but they can't help but make you feel and look really, really, frumpy. Today you can find nice comfortable clothing without the need for stretchy waists.

22. Suntan pantyhose, popular in the eighties (or was that the seventies) are out of style. If you feel a need to wear hose with dresses, try dark tights, fish nets, or a fashionable opaque.

23. The length of a sweater, jacket or blouse should not be the same length of the sleeve. If they are you look like a box.

24. If you are a large woman, don't wear little tiny prints, if you are very petite, stay away from huge prints.

25. Lighter colors are seen first. In other words, wherever you wear the lightest color will appear the largest and stand out the most. A general rule: wear the lightest colors on the areas you want to draw attention to, the darkest colors on the areas you want least attention.

26. Wear clothes that fit you well. If something doesn't quite fit, don't buy it or have it tailored. You may be surprised how inexpensive it is to have a skirt hemmed or a blouse taken in.

27. Eliminate those foods you know do not agree with you. Your body is trying to tell you it does not want that particular food. If pizza always gives you heartburn, don't eat it.

28. A great haircut can do wonders for your mood and for your sense of style. It may be a good idea to have fewer haircuts but pay a little more for a really fabulous look.

29. Wear sunscreen! The basic rule should be, keep your skin covered with sunscreen if you are leaving the house. We all know how the sun creates wrinkles and brown spots on our skin. No need to encourage this.

30. Engage in those activities that brighten your life. We can get busy, or we can get lazy... either way we may forget to do what we love. Think of all those activities throughout your life that you enjoyed and re-engage!

31. Focus on your assets. Many women don't exactly love their bodies but we can usually find one or two or even three things we like right? Maybe it is your full lips, or soft hands, or long neck. Whatever you can find put all your attention there. Highlight it. Think about it. Remember it. Draw attention to it. The more you are focusing on the great things about yourself the less you will worry about the less than wonderful!

32. Get rid of all the make-up, hair supplies, and extra stuff you have around that take up space and create clutter in your dressing area. Go through your lip stick and throw out all those outdated colors that you never wear. Dump old bottles of whatever that you don't use. Do a major overhaul and only keep what you love and need!

33. Gray hair can look fabulous! If you don't color your hair, make sure to keep it healthy with a stylish cut. If you do color your hair, most women look good with a color similar to their natural color. Too dark or too light can look odd, fake, and even draining.

34. Sparkles, designs, and other attention grabbing designs on your butt do not help you look young. Truly they don't! They make you look, well, never mind. Stick with sleek and chic not trendy and cheap.

35. Capris are really unflattering. They are about the worst fashion design anyone has come up with. Long walking shorts are a good alternative.

36. Fresh fruits and vegetables are important for anyone who wants to be healthy and vibrant. A nice large salad or a minimum of five servings a day will help you feel great!

37. See your health care professional. Make sure you get a nice check up every year. I know it is not the most enjoyable way to spend your time but it is important, possibly life saving!

38. Meditate every day. We hear this all the time and it is true. Taking time each day to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and spend some time in silence is a must for anyone wanting to live a full life.

39. Dressing like a hooker doesn't look youthful, it looks silly and tawdry (even on younger women). Of course older women can look fabulous, sexy, and downright hot but it doesn't happen by showing off everything. It happens by creating a sense of allure and interest.

40. Get your mammogram. I know, I know. It isn't fun. Do it anyway!

41. Yes, less is more… definitely. The more you cake on the foundation the more it settles into wrinkles. The ten coats of mascara don't make your eyelashes look long it makes them look heavy and plastic. The ultra bright red hair color doesn't look wild and sexy, it looks like paint. Bright orange or red streaks on your cheeks look more clown-like than glamorous. Less is more... make it a mantra!

42. A little highlighter under the arch of the eyebrow and at the inner corners of the eye is a great tip for brightening and opening the eye.

43. Take your vitamins. Go for the best, most natural and healthful you can afford or find.

44. Unless you are playing volley-ball or a running track, short shorts are a seriously bad idea for pretty much everyone over twelve. If you are over forty, even in great shape they just make you look desperate. You want to look appropriate and chic not like a teenager.

45. Long straight hair parted down the middle went out with Marsha Brady! If you love long hair, make sure it is cut and styled well and in nice condition! Short hair if cut well can look very hip and youthful, but if it is cut in an old and matronly style it will create a very tired and old fashioned look!

46. Only purchase clothes you love. If you have to convince yourself that it is a good purchase leave it on the rack. Too often we have closets full of clothes with nothing to wear. If you want to feel great, wear clothes that help you feel and look your best.

47. Eat a few slices of avocado every day. They are so packed with essential nutrients that they should have their own food group!

48. Enjoy your loved ones. There is nothing like being around those who love to brighten your life and make you feel alive! Demonstrate your love to your partner and family, play with grandchildren or pets, reach out to your friends. It is what life is all about!

49. Have great posture. Stand up with your shoulders back, tummy in, bottom tight. Sit up straight. Practice what it feels like to keep your body in alignment. This alone can help you feel and look better almost instantly!

50. Take care of your medical needs. Have you been putting of a procedure you know you need? Do you have symptoms that need addressing? Don't put off taking care of what might get worse and become more problematic in the future.

51. Wear colors that you know look great on you. You will feel better just by wearing them. If you have blue eyes why not find a great vibrant blue? Or if you know you look good in dark red, why not purchase your next sweater in cranberry? Older women are not stuck with black. In fact in some instances black can be a little harsh. Notice what tones you love, what colors help you feel fabulous!

52. Create a mission statement! Remind yourself why you are on the earth, what you are here to do, and what you want to accomplish while upon the earth!

53. Have a massage. This is a fabulous way to give yourself care. While a massage may seem pricey, most of us can save five dollars or so a month to have a massage once a year. In fact give up a latte, energy drink, or candy bar once a week and see how quickly you could save up for a real treat!

54. Eat your fiber. Most people get only about eight grams of fiber a day when we should be eating about 25 grams or more! You will be surprised at how wonderful you feel when your body is getting the right amount of this vital substance. (Make sure you are drinking your eight glasses of water)!

55. Three quarter length sleeves are attractive on most every woman. It is a most flattering look for nearly all older women. A slight A-line skirt is a nice flattering style for most women.

56. Visit the dentist. If you can't make it the recommended every six months, at least go in once a year to make sure your teeth, gums, and mouth are in good shape.

57. Don't buy clothes just because they are on sale. They may be inexpensive but if they are going to hang in your closet, take up space, or look terrible on you, don't waste your money!

58. Share your wisdom. The longer we live the more experience we have to help others. I’m think the world can use all the help and wisdom we can get from our elders.

59. The length of hair is less important than the style. While many women feel they look better with an updated style, it is important that you find a style that you love and that works for your lifestyle. Bangs add a youthful and flattering look for most women regardless of age.

60. If you are bottom heavy, look for styles that emphasis the shoulder. Boat neck tops, a puffy shoulder or even a small shoulder pad in the garment can help create the illusion of better proportions.

61. If you are top heavy, look for styles that emphasis the hip. Again, working toward creating balance, extra pockets, gathers and material in the lower area help.

61. Improve your food choices. Have you considered going vegetarian? Have you tired eating more raw foods? Eliminating dairy? Giving up fast food? Maybe go organic? We can all improve our eating habits and there is no time like the present to start! You don't need to eat perfectly every day for the rest of your life but you can pick one way to improve right this very minute!

62. Go for quality not quantity. Better to have two really fabulous sweaters than a closet full of not so nice, frumpy, and matronly ones. And great quality doesn't always mean super expensive. But cheap is cheap and you don't want your clothes falling apart after one wash!

63. Wear the right bra! You won't believe how important this is. Don't go for the frilly, flimsy, faddish, or fancy. Go for the FIT! Find a bra that truly fits you, keeps you in good form, and supports your body properly! You won't be sorry for this investment! I promise!

64. Turtlenecks and hip scarves are a great option for women who feel they need a little camouflage for their necks. V necks look good on most everyone. They elongate the neck line and help to bring attention to the face. Stay away from the plunging revealing necklines (in public) unless you add a little cami underneath.

65. Show your confidence. One of the best things about older women is their sense of self confidence. Ask anyone... confidence is sexy!

66. Pointy shoes are flattering but too pointy can look ridiculous. If you can't wear them and walk normally, they are not the right shoes for you. A small one inch kitten heal is a nice option for women who want the look of a high heel but the comfort of a walking shoe.

67. Eliminate a bad habit. We all have them, but some may impact us more than others. Why not quit smoking? Stop using alcohol? Eliminate a TV addiction? Might it be good to reduce the online purchases? Reduce the ice cream consumption? Get help with a gambling problem?

68. Keep your mind engaged. Every day make sure you are learning something new. Play board games, do Sudoku or crossword puzzles. Play computer games. Just don't let your brain muscle atrophy!

69. Lightweight fabrics show every little bulge, roll, ripple, and dimple. Heavier weighted material can help hide a million little flaws. When in doubt, check it out before leaving the house.

70. Think classic not faddish. Purchase clothes that will last a while rather than those items of clothing that will be out of style next season!

71. Start your day on a positive note. Listen to great music as you get ready for the day. Play a motivational CD on your way to work. Do the sunrise salutation upon awakening. We know that how we start the morning often creates a tone for the day, so do whatever works for you!

72. Do what you can. As we get older we have a tendency to not do what takes effort. But keeping up with what we can will keep us healthy. Lift, stretch, and reach.

73. Most women look best in sweaters, blouses, and jackets when the length is between the waist and the crotch.

74. Guess what, wearing clothing that is too small does not make you look smaller. It does the opposite. Guess what else? Holding onto clothing a few sizes too small and wearing ridiculous stuff until you lose those extra pounds, is not helping you lose weight. It is only compounding the problem. Better to pack away the clothes that do not fit, purchase a few items that help you feel fantastic, and if you lose the weight you can open the box of smaller clothes. If you don't loose weight, you can donate the clothes to those who could really use them.

75. Wide leg, trouser style pants look best on most women. Long pants look best and give you the longest line when they cover the shoe but don't hit the floor.

76. Read up on Menopause. Whether you are in peri-menopause, going through the change or are post menopausal, you probably noticed some new physical and emotional challenges. While many women struggle through these years, there are a lot of options to help with all the various symptoms of the change of life. Don’t underestimate how this change may affect you!

77. Ultra frosty eye shadow, florescent lips, and sparkly cheeks are just plain unattractive on anyone older than seventeen. Best leave the sparkles for Tinkerbell and fairy princesses.

78. Vertical seeming, stripes, and details elongate the torso and are flattering on most women. The reverse is also true; horizontal stripes and patterns widen the body and are usually less flattering.

79. Dirty shoes, ripped clothes, and unwashed anything don't exactly look chic, classy, or attractive. If a garment is stained, torn, or looking shabby, clean it, mend it, or toss it.

80. Get rid of clothing that makes you feel and look old. Worn out dresses, stretched out sweaters, faded pants are just not going to help you feel vibrant and youthful. Even just seeing this tired garments hanging in the closet makes us feel old. Throw them out!

81. Release unhealthy relationships. If you have friends that are harming your mental, emotional, or physical health, now is a good time to let them go. We all want to be loyal friends but when our lives are in jeopardy, it is time to move on.

82. Show your style. Too many fashion designers want women to look like they think they should rather than let women express who they are through their clothing. If you love something and feel great in it, and know you look wonderful don't let a fashion dictator tell you otherwise!

83. Stop watching depressing shows on television. Just eliminating this one little life diversion is sure to get you moving in another direction and feeling better about our world.

84. Accessorize with flair. If you have classic clothing, you can add trends to your accessories. Or if you prefer clothing in neutrals, why not add some color with fun bracelets or necklaces? If your style is a little too romantic or funky for a total look, use your accessories to add a little extra flourish!

85. Try shape wear. Of course today we have all sorts of underwear options that can smooth and shape the body. While many brands certainly work well, they also may be rather uncomfortable and restrictive. See what works for you.

86. Travel. I'm not suggesting you must travel the world, or even spend lots of time traipsing around your country. But get out and see what is around you. Visit the sights. Take advantage of what is around you. I'm willing to bet there are places in your area that you have not visited. Remember how important it is to say moving, learning, and engaged.

87. Floss your teeth. In the hecticness of life, flossing is not usually at the top of the list of things we must do. However, our teeth don't last forever so we need to do what we can to keep our teeth and gums healthy for as long as possible! One minute a day.. that is all it takes!

88. Moisturize your body. As we age our skin changes; it gets thinner and dryer. To help your skin remain healthy, moisturize it. Use whatever works for you but get into the habit of using a wonderful moisturizer twice a day!

89. Show your collar bones. Most women, have a nice shoulder and collar bone area. Clothing that highlights this part of the body is often quite flattering and draws attention upward to the face.

90. Get involved in life. Join a neighborhood club. Visit local historical sights. Become a docent. Find a way to keep up your interests and activities!

91. No ugly shoes allowed. Today you can find great styles of shoes that are totally comfortable. I can't think of a better indicator that a woman has given up on herself than when she starts wearing seriously ugly shoes because they are "comfortable"! Comfortable does not equate to ugly! A pair or two of fabulous shoes is better than a closet full of unattractive shoes that give you blisters.

92. Love your loved ones. We know that being with loved ones helps us emotionally, mentally, and even physically. Demonstrate love to your family, play with your pets, and do what you can to keep those relationships alive and thriving!

93. Dance. Moving your body, learning new steps, and getting your blood flowing is a wonderful way to keep young and vibrant. Look for classes in your community, purchase a used CD, or just find a time when you are alone and take a few minutes to dance when no one is looking! You will feel great!

94. Most women are flattered by styles that accent the smallest part of their torso which is usually right under the breasts. Jackets that close at the midriff, shirts that have empire seeming, or dresses that flow from this area are almost universally attractive.

95. Serve others. There is no better way to feel great about yourself than giving to those who need a little extra support and care.

96. Be at a healthy weight. While we don’t need to worry about looking like a twenty year old, we do know that dozens of health problems are associated with an unhealthy weight.

97. Eat your berries! Everyday, make sure you are eating blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, pomegranate or some other dark berry. Your body and mind will not thank you enough!

98. Worrying too much about wearing the latest trend makes no sense. As women get older they tend to not want to spend enormous amounts of time shopping. So, shop carefully and purchase items for the long term.

99. Grow older gracefully. This doesn't mean you give up on yourself, ignore grooming, and fade into the dark. It means that you mature with grace. You make life transitions with dignity. You respect who you are. You live in each phase of life in the best way you can.

100. Be yourself. As the saying goes, "better to be a first class you than a second rate someone else"! VERY TRUE!

With gratitude to all the fabulous women who are beautiful examples of what it means to mature with grace,

Jennifer

p.s. I have some pretty amazing women readers so if you have something to add please feel free to share your secrets, tips, and wisdom!

Artwork by one of my favorite artists, Mary Cassatt

Ten Ways to Feel Better About the World Right Now!

2008-10-13T10:17:00.009-04:00

Over the last few weeks, we have listened to all sorts of bad news facing our world. Tumbling stocks, failed banks, lost jobs, and a world in crisis.

Many of us have never faced a serious recession and are feeling concern even fear as we contemplate what is to come over the next few years.

The concern, negativity, and worry can impact us in ways we may not even recognize, from feeling anxious and tired, to experiencing anger and frustration.

All of these emotions take their toll on our bodies, our minds, and our spirits, and, we often take out our subconscious worries and unhealthy concerns on those we love.

Most of us are not in the position to physically, significantly impact the world's banking structure, the powerful governments, or the fluctuating price of oil, however we can alter our attitudes, our emotions, and our approach to our current situation.

So, here are ten ways to help us feel better about the world, right now.

1. Turn off the TV. Stop the constant flow of the news media inundating us with concerned messages and the nastiness of the political campaigns.

2. Make a gratitude list. Start focusing on all the great things in your life. Write these down and don't stop until you have at least a hundred things. The more are minds and hearts are focused on the good the less room there is for the negativity.

3. Participate with nature. Get out and take a walk, work in the garden, visit a park, or play with a pet. Nature can be a means of reconnecting with truth, reviving ones heart and spirit.

4. Play. If you are lucky enough to have children nearby, play with them. Children are not concerned with the price of gas, which politician is desperate, or what stocks are going down. Moving into a child's work can restore hope while we remember what is important in life. If children are not nearby, find some friends and play a board game, get some play dough, or go to a park and watch young families having fun on the playground.

5. Enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Notice. Observe. Become aware. Pay attention to the sounds of loved ones, the colors of nature, the smells of fall. Reflect on why you smile, what touches your heart, what keeps you alive.

6. Create something. Creativity is an amazing healer; whether you enjoy art, music, poetry, woodworking, cooking, gardening, building something, etc., it doesn't matter, what matters is that you bring forth something. And, no you do not have to be artistic to create something. (smile) The point is not to make some incredible work of art but to acknowledge and embrace a part of you that yearns for expression.

7. Set some goals. Now is a great time to make some plans for your life. Write down what you truly want; create a collage to remind yourself of your passions and hopes; read some books on personal development. Whatever helps you move toward fulfilling your dreams and accomplishing your desires is great!

8. Embrace your spiritual, religious, or philosophical truths. Most of the world's faith traditions have an element of hope that can often be enormously beneficial during difficult times. Are there scriptures, poems, myths, or stories that give you a sense of hope? Today would be a good time to revisit these.

9. Pray, meditate, or embrace silence. There is no time like the present to commune with the Divine or experience Source. Whatever your belief system, quieting the mind and moving into a quiet contemplative state can bring great peace to a troubled mind or worried soul.

10. Help someone! With much of our world cutting back in donations and spending, now is a FABULOUS time to donate your time, help a neighbor, or engage in little acts of kindness.

We often fear a crisis; it can paralyze us, fill us anxiety, and keep us in a stagnant state.

However, I recall the Chinese symbol for crisis... it translates to, "dangerous opportunity."

Our current situation is a time to release the danger and embrace the opportunity; to move away from the hurt and pain and find what is healing and beautiful.

Difficult times are those times we reflect on where we are and where we want to be. We reconsider our choices, analyze our behaviors, and ponder our path. It is time of struggle as we grow and evolve.

What opportunities are ahead?

Where do we want to go?

How can we bring forth a new world?

I want a President who.... ten qualities and characteristics

2008-10-07T17:56:00.007-04:00

As the citizens of the United States of America face an upcoming election we are noticing quite a nasty election filled with nonsense and misleading even deceptive claims as various leaders vie for the highest office in our land.

Believing that the more we hold in our hearts and minds a vision of what we want and where we want to go, the more we will move to that reality, I hold a vision of the kind of leader I want for my Country.

Here are ten qualities and characteristics I would like to see in a President:

1. I want a President whose basic conduct and behavior is exemplary and beyond criticism; a leader who is honest and filled with integrity and decency.

2. I want a President who surrounds her or himself with other knowledgeable, informed, and truly decent human beings.

3. I want a President who, as we move into the twenty-first century holds a clear vision of what is possible for our Country's future.

4. I want a President who cherishes our constitution and the ideals of our founders including freedom and equality for all.

5. I want a President who is aware of, and understands the daily and diverse challenges we all face, including the struggles of our economny, improved education, health care needs, etc.

6. I want a President who is knowledgeable and informed about world affairs; the current difficulties as well as those that lie ahead for our planetary family.

7. I want a President who cares about our Earth, its inhabitants and the future of our human existence.

8. I want a President who is respectful of the many cultures, races, religions, belief systems, faith traditions, and philosophies of our human population.

9. I want a President who doesn't make decisions for her or his own self-aggrandization or ego, or to pad the pockets of his or her friends, but who bases decisions on what is best for our country.

10. I want a President who can lead our country with honor, who can restore hope for the future; one who holds a vibrant vision of peace and prosperity for all.

While obviously I would love to have a President who reflects and embraces my personal opinions of the various issues, and it would be wonderful to have those in power match my ideals and beliefs in all cases, but more than this I want our President to be a visionary, a decent person who reflects honor and goodness.

Lets vote!

Why Setting Goals is a Fabulous Idea...Amazing Research will Motivate You

2008-09-09T10:09:00.010-04:00

We all know we should set goals.

We know they are good for us, important to our success, and even necessary to accomplish much in life.

This is nothing new.

The problem comes when, even knowing how important goals are, we fail to set them, write them down, and actually get working on them.

Human nature is often filled with delays, objections, laziness, and procrastinations... we just do not always do what we know is good for us.

Sound familiar?

I came across some amazing research several years ago that instilled in me a strong desire to set goals. It has been a powerful force in my life.

I need to remind myself of this right now, so thought I would share it with any of you who may need a little spark of motivation as well.

So consider this post a friendly reminder and motivator to help you set and achieve your goals!

In the inspiring book, What They Don't Teach you at Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack, writes of a Harvard study, "conducted between 1979 and 1989 asking graduates of the MBA program, "Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?"

"It turned out that only 3 percent of the graduates had written goals and plans. Thirteen percent had goals, but they were not in writing. Fully 84 percent had no specific goals at all, aside from getting out of school and enjoying the summer.

"Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers interviewed the members of that class again. They found that the 13 percent who had goals that were not in writing were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent of students who had no goals at all. But, most surprisingly, they found that the 3 percent of graduates who had clear, written goals when they left Harvard were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent of graduates all together. The only difference between the groups was the clarity of the goals they had for themselves when they graduated."*

The conclusion of many experts is just having goals, and writing them down is a powerful motivator to accomplishment and success.

Of course this alone is not enough but it seems that the very first step of clarity of goals often sets one on the path to achievement.

Do you have clear goals?

Have you writing them down?

Do you look at them every day?

I know I am revisiting my goals and getting clarity on where I want my life to heads.

Without a goal we are often wandering in the wilderness, unsure of where we want to go. Once we set a clear goal we have a direction. We have taken the first step to embracing our desire.

*This summary of the Harvard research is taken from Brian Tracy's fabulous book, Goals, How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible. I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in success in life.

Why Setting Goals is a Fabulous Idea...

2008-09-09T10:09:00.001-04:00

Appreciate Life and Loved Ones... They can Be Gone in a Moment

2008-09-03T09:06:00.006-04:00

Last Christmas my family did not receive our usual Christmas card from our dear friends, the Walkers.

We have been family friends for many years but as if often the case, living across the country from each other, our interaction has been reduced to a Christmas card and a brief get together every few years.

The missing Christmas card and family picture did not give me much concern knowing how busy life is during the holidays.

However, last week I learned the reason we didn't receive our Christmas card.

I'm still in shock.

Life can change in a minute.

Jeff and his son went shopping at Trolley Square, a down town shopping center in Salt Lake City Utah to purchase some Valentine presents for his wife Vickie.

While he and his son were enjoying the time together, a man showed up with a gun and held it toward the son's face. Jeff stepped in front of his son to protect him, and the gunman shot him in the face killing him instantly.

In a few seconds, the lives of this fabulous family were forever changed.

While I do not like to think about the horrible events that occur every day throughout our world, this incident has reminded me to appreciate each moment of our lives.

I am reminded how fleeting life is.

I am reminded to express appreciation and gratitude to my loved ones.

I am reminded to live each moment to its fullest.

I am reminded to remember what is really important in life.

Mostly, I am vividly reminded to express my love to my family and friends.

May we learn from the tragedies and sorrows of life.

You are the Rainbow

2008-08-19T09:08:00.009-04:00

I woke up before dawn and drove up the windy deserted back road to the secluded waterfall.

Snoqualmie Falls, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State had been a favorite place of mine since I was a child, long before it had become the tourist attraction it is today.

Although I had visited the falls scores of times throughout my childhood, still it was a magical and meditative place for me.

While later in the day there would be crowds of visitors, snapping pictures and enjoying the beauty of nature, no one would be visiting at this early hour. The sun had yet to rise and the area was deserted.

I had the falls to myself along with the woodland creatures who lived there.

I walked up the path to the area created for sightseers to get the most spectacular view; an overlook that reached out over the falls. It was created to give the illusion that there was nothing beneath you and it certainly achieved its purpose.

This particular Spring day was the perfect day to see the falls in all their glory. The water poured over the rocky ledge providing any onlooker with the full effect of the power and glory of a waterfall.

As often as I have visited Snoqualmie Falls, I will never get used to its majesty or magic.

The roar of the water was deafening; much louder that the roar of a jet plane, it surrounded me and I felt it vibrate into my soul.

The power of the water falling was so intense that the spray burst several hundred feet high. Within moments I became completely drenched from the spray of the water as it splashed onto the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

The sky was getting lighter and I knew dawn was about to break. I found myself not wanting to move and and shut my eyes to experience the falls without sight.

As I opened my eyes, there was the sun brilliantly rising from behind the waterfall.

There in front of me was the largest rainbow I had ever seen. I felt like I was in the rainbow, or the rainbow was me. The rainbow wasn't out there across the horizon, but in and on me. I was a part of it.

In a flash of awareness, I realized how similar this rainbow is to our human experience on this planet.

We look at a rainbow as a thing, out there somewhere, but in truth it is the image we see as billions of tiny drops of moisture reflect light. Each little drop has the totality of the experience, yet as these little drops comes together they brighten our world with their collective reflections.

So too in our world. Each of us is the reflection of light. We are not separate from the experience of light but are the manifestation of its energy and beauty.

While in a rainbow, each drop of moisture transforms the suns energy into color, we each transform the suns energy into our life.

Everything, EVERYTHING we bring forth in our lives is a demonstration of how we are transforming the sun's energy.

Like the water droplets, we are a means to take the light and bring forth something new. We can transform energy into a smile, an act of kindness, a poem, or a gentle touch.

In fact, there is nothing that exists on our planet that is not a transformation of the sun's energy.
While we have yet to discover how much choice other life forms have in their use of energy to create, as humans we have the sense that through consciousness and awareness we can decide how we want to transform energy, and what we want to bring forth on this Earth and into the Universe.

What I believe is that like little droplets each of us is part of something more grand than we can imagine.

Together we create the Rainbow.

This event happened several years ago while I was living in the Northwest. Today I live in Virginia.

The Absolutely, Positively, 100% Guaranteed Way to Improve Your Life... and it is FREE!

2008-08-09T09:28:00.006-04:00

Have you ever counted all the self-help books on the shelves of a book store? Or noticed the numbers of audio programs available to help with any problem? How about all the books on religion? Psychic healing or wellness?

We live in a day when there are virtually unlimited sources to teach us how to have a better life.

We could spend hundreds of lifetimes trying to learn all the knowledge that is available to help us have a better life.

Not to discount any of the amazing ideas, beliefs, programs, and techniques available, there is one absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed way to improve your life. It is free and anyone, anywhere can do it.

And... we all know it.

We have heard it since we were children. It is a law of the universe that can't be denied.

Here is it.

As you sow, so shall ye reap.

Put another way... if you want to improve your life, sow more seeds of goodness.

If you want to be happier, sow more seeds of happiness.

Simple, I know. But powerful and true.

While we are just beginning to understand the working of our universe, this law of the harvest does seem to be true.

What you give out you get back.

To put this in modern day application...

Your life is a reflection of the seeds you have sown or the actions and behaviors in which you have engaged.

If you want a better, more fulfilling, happier life, sow more seeds that bring happiness and fullment.

If you want your children to improve their behavior, sow more seeds of good parenting.

If you want your relationship to be healthier, sow more healthy marriage seeds.

If you want people to be more friendly, sow more friendly seeds.

You get the picture.

Do you want to see if this law is true? Here is a way for you to prove that the law of the harvest will work for you:

Take one day, (today is a good one), and see how many goodness seeds you can sow. At the end of the day, look back and see how you feel.

Now of course some seeds take longer to bloom than others, and not every seed is going to all of a sudden burst forth into a huge tree, still, you will reap the rewards of your seeds by the end of the day. And it will be only the beginning.

What kind of seeds can you plant?

How about a bunch of smile seeds? A phone call to a loved one? Maybe words of kindness to the store clerk? How about some words of gratitude to your children? Or a bit of extra gentleness to your beloved?

I bet you could easily sow a hundred seeds in one day if you put your mind to it.

Whatever needs improving in your life, find some seeds to sow and you will be surprised at how quickly your life starts improving!

With love and peace,

jennifer

The Stick that Turned into a Person

2008-07-27T10:14:00.006-04:00

I know it sounds impossible but it is true.

A stick turned into a person.

Let me tell you the story.

Last year, in May of 2007 I had a stick. It didn't have any roots, or leaves, or flowers; it was just a stick about a foot long.

Well, I knew it may be a special stick so I planted it in rich soil from my garden near an wrought iron trellis in the back of my home outside my kitchen window where I knew it would get plenty of sunshine.

I made sure it got a lot of water and gave the stick special nutrients to make it happy. I checked on it every day and watched to see if it had any magical qualities.

Nothing happened for a few months. Still, I watered my stick, I fed it, and carefully attended to it.

Finally, one day I knelt down to check on my stick and noticed a few little specks of green dotting its sides. I knew there were special things to come.

After several weeks leaves started popping up all around my stick, in fact the stick started growing and turning green.

The stick grew and grew until it was nearly as tall as me. Then the truly miraculous thing happened. Little berries started to appear on its small branches. The stick continued to grow and brought forth a few dozen of the juiciest raspberries one could eat.

Now, a year later my little stick has become a very large plant filled with enough raspberries to make a few pies and a couple of jars of jam.

And here is the miracle. As I eat the berries, they turn into me. They become me. The raspberries actually change into me as their particles transform into my body.

Now, each day we take into our body all sorts of foods, (and a whole bunch of stuff that is not food), but it all becomes us.

Do we ever stop to think about what is actually happening as we bring into our body nutrients? The food doesn't go through us but turns into us.

The vitamins in my magical raspberries become my vitamins. Its life gives me life. It sacrificed its life for me.

Put another way, the stick and the raspberry transformed sunlight into a form I could take into my body to live. In turn I will tranform that very sunlight as I go through my day bringing forth whatever I will.

I can't get over this.

That little ordinary stick, somewhere deep inside its DNA was awakened as I provided a space to allow it to blossom, and in turn, my stick provided me with life giving, life sustaining nutrients.

Ahhh, life is a miracle.

Blessings and peace,

Jennifer

Strenghening your Weakest Point - Joseph Campbell Quote

2008-07-16T16:39:00.004-04:00

"The Universe always strikes you at your weakest point because thats what most needs strengthening."

Joseph Campbell

How to Heal the World in Fifteen Minutes

2008-07-12T09:02:00.005-04:00

The world is filled with organizations, religions, think tanks, medical experts, and a host of people trying to figure out how to heal our individual lives; our families, our communities, and our world.

We have medications, programs, spiritual leaders, therapists, philosophies, rituals, ceremonies, and doctrine all focusing on ways to make our world a better place.

I applaud them all. Anything any one can do to improve our situation is honored and respected.

However, our world of 6.5 billion people is complex. We don't all have access to clean drinking water, let alone funds to attend the latest self help conference. While there are thousands of fabulous books that provide help and insight, many of our human family are more concerned with putting food in the mouths of their children than they are finding money to purchase a book.

The religions of the world, while many provide peace and comfort to members, often simultaneously create conflict, division, and even violence toward each other.

The latest therapies or medical care may be helpful for some, but again they are expensive, often experimental, and the much of the world is left without care of any sort.

We can't all read the great philosophers, attend the best universities, or even understand the complexities of some religions.

What are we to do?

Is there a way to heal our lives? Our world? Is there something every single person on the planet could do that didn't cost any money, that didn't require traveling, great amounts of time, a large investment of energy? Something the old and young, male and female, rich and poor, healthy and sick can do? Something that wasn't limited by one's color of skin, cultural heritage, religious orientation or philosophical belief?

Is there something that is largely missing in our lives that may give us a new approach?

I came up with one answer, (although I am sure there are others)...

Fifteen minutes each day of silent contemplation and intention.

That is it.

Whether one is inclined toward prayer, meditation, communing with nature, or sitting in silence and stillness, I believe fifteen minutes a day holding an intention to live more consciously and graciously would change the world.

It requires fifteen minutes. That is it. Fifteen minutes a day to heal our world.

I know it sounds too simple, too ordinary, too boring. It isn't a miracle cure or a divine revelation, or a fabulous invention or discovery. Just a simple way to change our lives and the world.

Now, I'm not suggesting each and every problem will evaporate over night if we all start meditating or praying. (Although it could). What I do believe however is that the problems of our world are directly correlated with lack of care, attention, and conscious living.

The more I contemplated this idea over the last several weeks the more I am convinced that there is not a single problem we face that won't be eliminated, or at least vastly diminished if we live more consciously and with greater care.

Spending fifteen minutes each morning with the intention to live more carefully and conscientiously gives changes our minds, our hearts, our actions. Suddenly we see others differently, we notice how are actions effect others, we find ourselves observing the world in a different light.

In this world of instant everything, from pudding to communication, it seems we have nearly forgotten what it means to live. We are so busy with running, texting, calling, emailing, and catching up that we may have lost sight of the meaning of life.

We eat without even noticing (or knowing) what we are putting in our mouths, our conversations become superficial, our relationships unimportant, our creatively non-existence. Our lives become robotic like as we miss the meaning and purpose of existence. And our unconscious living is reflected in the problems of our world.

My heart tells me that the more we live with awareness, the more our world, and our individual lives will heal.

Try fifteens a day of silent contemplation with the intention to live more consciously... you never know how it might change your life... and the world.

Are you a Rebel? The World Needs You!

2008-07-02T07:45:00.006-04:00

Are you a rebel?

Growing up, my connotation of a rebel was one of a wayward teenager who dropped out of school, wouldn't get a job, and spent their lives high and out of touch with reality.

In many respects being a rebel has a negative connotation, yet I have a sense that today we are in great need of a few. In fact, I feel certain without some serious rebels our world will not heal.

What is a rebel?

In part, the American Heritage dictionary defines a rebel as:

To resist or defy a generally accepted convention.

To feel or express strong unwillingness or repugnance.

Do we need some rebels? Absolutely!

Are there accepted conventions that are not healthy for humanity?

No question!

Are you willing to express strong unwillingness or repugnance at some of what is common and accepted in society?

As I look around I observe common and accepted, even celebrated behavior that is clearly unhealthy, even destructive to individual life, our planetary family, all of life, and even our very planet.

To rebel against something doesn't necessarily mean we fight against it, it means we refuse to be a part of it. We disengage from it. We eliminate it from our experience.

I believe the way to remove the darkness from our world is not to fight darkness but to bring light. In addition, we can decide today to not add more darkness by refusing to encourage or support the darkness. We can make a commitment to not engage in that which clearly harms our community, our world, and our lives.

So, what sorts of common everyday traits of our society might you be unwilling to accept?

Here are ten ways to rebel against common and accepted attitudes and behaviors*:

1. An unwillingness to partake of the the violence that permeates our society.

2. An unwillingness to celebrate the objectification and exploitation of women.

3. An unwillingness to worship money, power, and fame.

4. An unwillingness to take into my body substances that are harmful and poisonous.

5. An unwillingness to engage in the voyeurism, used for entertainment.

6. An unwillingness to place human extravagance over the creatures of our planet.

7. An unwillingness to honor gluttony and greed.

8. An unwillingness to support the gruesome, salacious, and tawdry.

9. An unwillingness to follow the crowd, lower one's standards, and accept the status quo.

10. An unwillingness to forget, dismiss, and ignore the pain and suffering of others.

The world is in need to those whose heart feels the light, who sense the impulse for transformation, who glimpse a new way of life.

We need people who will take the hero's journey, mythologist Joseph Campbell spoke of; those who will leave the safety of the tribe and discover a new way. The world needs people who are strong, secure, and creative who don't engage in the ordinary, common, and comfortable but who can rise above it all to bring us an expanded world view, one of health, peace, and kindness.

So.....are you a rebel?

*Of course there are many others!

The Day I Danced with an Angel

2008-06-20T15:39:00.009-04:00

The day started like all school mornings. Dawn was breaking, our puppy needed to go out, and our week day routine was getting underway; nothing particularly unusual.

I couldn't image that this day I would spend a moment in heaven.

I was slicing a banana to put over Cheerios, while my son was upstairs getting dressed and ready for school. While I was pouring orange juice, my beautiful son with Down Syndrome quietly slinked half way down the stairs and peeked over the banister, his impish face filled with anticipation and unexpected surprise he said,

“Mom, do you want to dance?”

He had the biggest, sweetest smile on his face, his almond eyes as bright as the morning light sparkling though my kitchen window.

“Of course,” I exclaimed. We were running a little late that morning but who could pass up such an offer?

I quickly met my son on the stairs. He grabbed my hand and led him to his room. There he got out a CD and played the heart-warming song, sung by Ella Fitzgerald, “We’re the best of friends,” from Disney’s, The Fox and the Hound.

He held my hands and we danced together.

My son's smile reflected pure joy, his whole body radiated love, his giggles were the sounds of heaven; his sparkly eyes filled my heart and soul with pure joy.

We swayed to the music, he spun me around like a ballroom dancer. We looked into each others eyes and shared one of the most beautiful moments of my life. A moment I will never forget.

When the tender song slowly came to an end, my son gave me a big hug and said, “Mom, you are my best friend.”

Who knew that on this ordinary day in June, I would experience heaven and dance with an angel.

To read more about my son, I have an Angel!

Where is Joy? Not Where You Think!

2008-06-18T13:07:00.006-04:00

Humankind has been taught a lie.

We have the mistaken belief that if we only find the activity, person, object of our desire we will find joy. Not so.

This is a myth, a creation of the ego, a completely false understanding of life.

It is destructive and actually impedes are joy.

We may find momentary pleasure in various activities, (be they healthy or not), and certainly we experience joy as we engage with loved ones or accomplish a goal, however, the object, person, or accomplishment is not what gives us joy; the joy is what we bring forth to the experience. The joy is inside, created in our self shared with the world.

For example, think of a flower bringing forth a beautiful scent for the gardener to experience. The flower creates the perfume. The perfume is not external to the flower but is an essence of it. And miraculously, the flower's scent is captured by the gardener, allowing the fullness of the flower to manifest.

So too with humankind. Our "scent" is our joy. What is within us comes forth, comes out of us. Our very essence is extended as we interact with the world. What is in us, what we are is that which materializes into being. Experiencing joy is not in something other than us, but is experienced as we bring that which is deep within us into reality.

Eckhart Tolle wrote,

"When you say, ’I enjoy doing this or that’, it is really a misperception. It makes it appear that the joy comes from what you do, but that is not the case. Joy does not come from what you do, it flows into what you do and thus into this world from deep within you."

If we are searching for joy in something "out there" we will be lost. We will not find it because it is not somewhere out there to be found. And joy will not awaken through an activity that gives us pleasure but will manifest as we bring joy to our world.

What if a life has no joy? What about those depressed, filled with sorrow, living in emotional pain?

Of course there are chemical imbalances and neurological disorders that get in the way of joy and can create serious illness, and there are those whose lives are filled with difficult challenges and heartbreaking sorrows.

But trying to overcome the sorrows of life by indulging in an activity, or getting more possessions, or finding the "right" partner, will be an effort in futility. Better to notice where one can bring their joy, their creativity, their purpose.

The more one finds a way to bring forth the beauty that is within, the more joy is experienced.

So where does that leave us? How do we find joy?

We find it by contributing our gifts, by sharing our uniqueness, with others, with the world.

The Secret to Managing the Sorrows of our World

2008-05-19T17:57:00.006-04:00

There are those days where the problems of the world seem overwhelming, the sorrows too much to take into my soul.

We see the suffering of millions of our fellow human beings in virtually ever continent on our planet; natural disasters, human heartbreak, and violence seem ubiquitous.

At times it is just too much to bear, what do we do?

Chan Khong shares her secret:

"If we just worry about the big picture, we are powerless. So my secret is to start right away doing whatever little work I can do. I try to give joy to one person in the morning, and remove the suffering of one person in the afternoon. That is the secret. Start right now."

I hold her words in my heart...

The Soul of a Genius - Mozart

2008-04-16T07:02:00.006-04:00

“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”

~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

In a world that is desperate for healing, for answers, for goodness, for peace, may we remember that the genius required for transformation is not in our scholarly research nor in our brilliant brains, but in our heart.

Love, love, love!

Violent Children....Are you Shocked?

2008-04-09T17:10:00.006-04:00

Several times today I heard newscasters and viewers expressing shock over some of the horrific news concerning our violent children.

We hear...

* Eight teenagers arrested for beating up a classmate and video taping the incident to play on You Tube.

* A class of third graders creating a plan to kill their teacher.

* A middle school girl getting beaten up by classmates for her stand on illegal immigration.

* Two children, eight and ten, crushing the hip as they beat up a classmate.

* Students trying to beat up their teacher.

* Out of control bullying, young people going wild, and children killing children throughout the country.

I wonder why anyone is shocked?

I would be shocked if we did not hear such stories.

As horrific as these are, they are only a reflection of the violent society in which our children exist. Given the movies, video games, advertisements, and music to which our children are exposed how could we expect anything other than violent children?

Do we somehow think our children can emerge from such a violent culture as ours without embracing what we celebrate?

Do we think children are not soaking up the messages we boldly and carefully them?

Are we oblivious to what they have downloaded on their Ipods? What their games are teaching? What their music is suggesting?

We adults seem surprised by the children who are only reflecting the culture we gave them.

Who is to blame?

We can blame parents but certainly the parents cannot possibly watch their children every moment of every day.

We can blame schools but they are having to compete with a media more interested in making money than creating healthy children.

We can blame children but they are a product of our world.

We can blame the entertainment industry, or peers, or some political or religious misfortune or malfunction.

Or we can realize that the point is not blame but on healing the problem, restoring a sense of care, and finding peace.

It is time each of us individually, and as a community and society and world family decide we will not support the violence permeating our culture and destroying our children.

It is time we decide we will no longer tolerate a world filled with harm and cruelty.

It is time we take a stand and stop supporting, financially and emotionally those aspects of our society that are hurting our children.

So long as we teach our children violence is the way to manage life, that hurting others is acceptable, that physical harm is appropriate and normal, we will have violent children.

Enough is enough!

Some research from the Federal Trade Commission demonstrating how the media is working to target our young people with material deemed inappropriate for their emotional health:

Marketing Violent Media to Children

A brief summary:

Movies: Of the 44 movies rated R for violence the Commission selected for its study, the Commission found that 35, or 80 percent, were targeted to children under 17. Marketing plans for 28 of those 44, or 64 percent, contained express statements that the films target audience included children under 17. Plans for the other seven movies were either extremely similar to the plans of the films that did identify an under-17 target audience, or they detailed plans indicating they were targeting that age group, such as promoting the film in high schools or publications with majority under-17 audiences.

Music: Of the 55 music recordings with explicit content labels the Commission selected for its review, the Commission found that all were targeted to children under 17. Marketing plans for 15, or 27 percent, expressly identified children under 17 as part of their target audience. The documents for the remaining 40 explicit-content labeled recordings did not expressly state the age of the target audience, but detailed plans indicating they were targeting that age group, including placing advertising in media that would reach a majority or substantial percentage of children under 17.

Games: Of the 118 electronic games with a Mature rating for violence, the Commission selected for its study, 83, or 70 percent, targeted children under 17. The marketing plans for 60 of these, or 51 percent, expressly included children under 17 in the target audience. Documents for the remaining 23 games showed plans to advertise in magazines or on television shows with a majority or substantial under-17 audience.

Watch your Thoughts with Care - Buddha Quote

2008-04-09T09:49:00.005-04:00

"The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings."

Buddha

How to Make Your Path Smoother

2008-03-31T09:53:00.004-04:00

How do we make our lives easier, simpler, less stressful, filled with more peace, happiness and joy?

The world is filled with ideas, theories, and techniques to make life better.

We have thousands of religions, political ideologies, and ancient and new philosophies.

We have remedies, pharmacological intervention, and hundreds of substances, some illegal and harmful all intended to bring us peace and happiness.

We have those behaviors that many of us falsely think will bring happiness but are in fact a very poor imitation, like gambling, porn, and shopping addictions.

We have books, articles, and research filled with a myriad of theories, ideas, and approaches to make life better.

Still, happiness and joy seems to elude much of the world. While individuals may find beauty and peace in their particular beliefs, the world seems largely to find happiness and joy elusive.

Is there an answer?

We know how the brain works, how substances impact our bodies, how horrible addiction is and still we persist. We know our world suffers from wars, anger, abuse and on we go. We have thousands of years of wisdom, modern day research and yet we still fight and harm one another.

I do not know much, but I know one thing...

......the more we live to bring kindness into the world, the better life is.

Myrtle Reed writes,

"If we all tried to make other people's paths easy, our own feet would have a smooth even place to walk on."

Today, may we do our best to make the path easier for others, and in our efforts we just may find we have made our own path smoother.

Namaste!

The Crisis Facing Girls and Teenagers

2008-03-20T09:03:00.007-04:00

American girls and teenagers are facing a crisis!

Of the hundreds of teenagers and young women I have worked with over the years, body image issues may be the most damaging and difficult for girls in our society. They are often at the heart of depression, anxiety, self esteem, even suicide.

As a society we must rethink the message we are sending our girls, teenagers and young women, we must take a good hard and honest look at what we are promoting, what we are encouraging, and what we are celebrating!

"Today, the body has become most girls' primary project, creating a degree of self-consciousness and dissatisfaction that is pervasive and often dangerous."*

A few statistics to give us a glimpse of what is going on...

Ten percent of the girls in our country are suffering from an eating disorder.

One in four teenage girls is a life long carrier of an STD.

Thousands of girls are "cutting", using razor blades and knives to harm their bodies.

The suicide rate among girls 10-19 is literally skyrocketing out of control.

From Psychology Today,

"There is an epidemic of low self-esteem, because parents haven't had the time it takes to build it. That has left adolescent girls prey to body image issues, so that none ever sees herself as good enough no matter how slim.

The compare/compete dynamic is out of control right now: who is the hottest girl, who's the most popular, the dumbest, the biggest dork?"

We have a society filled with a most unhealthy message that is literally destroying our girls! We must wake, take note, and realize what we as a society have created.

Take a few seconds to get a quick glimpse of what our society has promoted...

Onslaught.... by Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Is it any wonder we are in crisis?

What can you do?

First, become aware of the messages being sent to the girls and women of our society! Notice what messages girls are inundated with each and every day!

Psychology Today, in an article on Depression in Teens and Girls suggests, "Appreciate how different their world is from ours, and expose yourself to the culture your kids are immersed in. Look on it as an anthropological exploration. Ask kids what's hip and what they are paying attention to. Watch a half hour of MTV for a couple of weeks. Ask your kids to show you some of their favorite computer games and video games. Look at the magazines teen girls read. Go online to good teen websites."

I view the solution to the problem from two perspectives.

1. Eliminate the negative.
2. Encourage the positive.

Let me elaborate.

Eliminate the negative.

Become an activist! Let your opinions be known!

Refuse to support those companies who send messages to our girls that their value is in their bodies; their sexual attractiveness to men.

Refuse to watch television shows that are sponsored by those companies.

Refuse to shop in stores that send unhealthy messages to young people.

Refuse to purchase music videos that promote the unhealthy sexualization of women.

Send a quick email to those companies who you find offensive and let them know of your displeasure.

Do not comment on physical appearance, either positively or negatively. The goal is to not have a girl focus on her body.

In other words, do what you can to eliminate the unhealthy and harmful messages!

Encourage the positive

As parents we can encourage young women to become involved in healthy activities. For example, we know the more girls participate in sports the higher their self esteem. Similarly as girls are involved in service organizations, community projects, and creative outlets they feel better about themselves.

Support those companies who are responsibly promoting their products.

As parents, do your best to promote healthy viewing and media. Notice the great films that do not exploit and objectify women.

Take every opportunity to demonstrate and promote truly beautiful women... women of every age who are healthy, happy, fulfilled, and contributing to this world in truly positive ways! No need for beauty to be associated with body appearance or the shape and size of a form!

Study the lives of truly great women who have made a difference in this world! Read the biographies of women who have truly changed our human society! Learn about great women! Purchase books, visit museum, fill your home and life with positive role models.

In sum, we have created a society that is unhealthy and destructive for girls and adolescents. It is a crisis. We are headed down a path that is increasingly worsening without an observable end.

When will we wake up and realize what we have done? When will companies put the health of our young people over profit? When will the media stop promoting unhealthy messages? When will marketing firms stop objectifying woman as a way to promote their products? When will we as parents stop allowing the unhealthy messages come into our homes?

It is my deepest plea and prayer that we can promote and celebrate health, goodness, and kindness; and embrace women as lovely human beings regardless of their appearance. It is time we honor and support those people, companies and organizations that are working to make a difference in this world.

A few additional resources:

A must read book, The Body Project, by Joan Jacobs Brumberg helps us understand what is happening to our girls and teenagers in this sexualized society.

The Dove Campaign for Beauty is one of my favorite organizations. Dove is a company truly doing its best to promote a healthy approach to beauty and life. They are responsible in their adds, careful in their approach, and truly working to encourage self-esteem in girls, teenagers, and young women.

The following are a few links to get involved in a movement intending to promote a healthy message to girls and young women!

If you would like to help young women find their true beauty and raise their self esteem, click here: Get involved!

To help your daughters and their friends, click here: Moms and Mentors!

A special site filled with activities to boost the self-esteem of girls and teenagers: Self Esteem Zone

*The Body Project

Six Billion Paths to Peace - Join Me

2008-03-09T10:41:00.003-04:00

The most wonderful Shinnyo-en foundation has created a world-changing project of which we can all be a part:

Six Billion Paths to Peace

"The mission is to inspire people worldwide that the small selfless actions they take in their daily lives often times have a tremendous positive ripple effect that can bring greater harmony to the world. For many of us, a path to peace is about performing selfless acts of kindness, which in return often inspire others to do the same. That’s why the Shinnyo-en Foundation launched the Six Billion Paths to Peace Initiative."

Does it sound like a wonderful project?

If you want to be a part of this fabulous endeavor, simply go to Six Billion Paths to Peace and share your ideas on how to spread goodness. A few simple sentences then click send! That is it.

Then... the fun part! On March 20, in Times Square NYC there will be a gathering to celebrate the Six Billion Paths to Peace Initiative. There on the Reuters board for all the world to see will be all the ideas people have sent in from around the globe to spread goodness and kindness on our planet!

Please join me in this effort to bring an awareness that the world is filled with good people wishing to make a difference!

My little quote I added to the collective thoughts on kindness...

"Spread seeds of kindness wherever you go and know a garden of goodness will emerge!"

I'm convinced that every little step we take to bring forth a world of peace is making a difference!

I invite you to join with me and others throughout the world in sharing our Paths to Peace!

With love,

Jennifer

One more thing, if you like the idea you are tagged to spread the word!

I created this watercolor mandala to reflect my hope as we join together to spread light and love to our world. Feel free to use image if you wish. Click on image to enlargen.

Kindness, Beauty, and Truth

2008-03-01T08:34:00.002-05:00

"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty, and truth."

~Albert Einstein

Watercolor by me

The Best Beauty Secrets on the Planet

2008-02-25T11:44:00.007-05:00

We women are bombarded with thousands of products claiming to help us appear beautiful, young, and attractive to others. We are told that one magic potion or some special formula will make us look fabulously gorgeous, unbelievable glamorous, and young forever.

But I believe that the most wonderful, powerful, and authentic beauty secrets are free and available to every woman in the world.

Let me share them with you!

A genuine smile. There is nothing in the world more attractive. A smile is worth a hundred times more than the most expensive sparkly lipstick. Many years ago I came upon some research attempting to discover what made a woman attractive. The researchers showed hundred of men pictures of all sorts of women and asked them who they would ask out for a date hoping for a long term relationship. It was overwhelmingly clear that the women who were smiling were the ones men found attractive.*Regardless of shape, hair color, height, or any number of measurements, it was a smile that was compelling.

Bright eyes. While we may be misled to think that beautiful eyes are created with the thickest, luscious mascara, a new make-up technique, or the right color eye-shadow, bright eyes filled with wonder, interest, peace, curiosity, and concern capture us. The eyes are the window to the soul, they entreat us, compel us, and connect us to one another.

Health. Now, I am not talking about those who are fit and trim, and in perfect shape.... I mean those with a healthy outlook on life, those who care and respect their form, those who have a balanced and centered life. As humans in spite of the greatest care we may not always be in optimum physical, spiritual, and/or emotional health (I believe we need the difficult challenges to grow and develop). But if our underlying sense of self is healthy, if our worldview is one of peace and strength, we can go through the difficult times where our health is challenged with dignity. I've seen the beauty of those who face death with gentleness. I've seen the heartbroken remain beautiful as they hold onto hope and faith amidst enormous difficulty. I've seen those struggling with serious health concerns retain the self-respect and honor that reflects the beauty within.

Graciousness. I can't think of a much more beautiful trait than graciousness. That loveliest of qualities that helps us feel accepted, cared for, and loved. Graciousness is a dignity filled with respect, concern, and acceptance. It is embracing the highest human qualities while releasing the base and tawdry. Graciousness is ultimately ennobling and fills us with reverence for life and each other. When we are in the presence of a gracious person, we feel the wonder of their beauty and feel beautiful ourselves.

A tender gaze. There are few things in life that fill us with peace and love and joy as a tender gaze. Looking at others with love and care is more attractive than all the beauty products humans could ever create. Whether a mother gazes upon her newborn, or lovers gaze upon their beloved, a tender gaze must be one of the most alluring abilities of all.

Hands that reach for others. There is a deep alluring grace in those whose lives are dedicated to service, care, and support of those in need. It is as if the souls that live to care and love the world are filled with the very essence of what is beautiful. I do not know of anything more wondrous, majestic, and glorious than seeing the compassion of one human for another.

A radiant aura. When all is said and done, true beauty is clearly not a provocative form, a mask or pretense, or glamorous sexy clothing we put on our form. True beauty is a positive, healing, nurturing energy that IS us.

True beauty is the pure energy that radiates from our hearts.

Whether you are a young woman who may have bought into the myth of what the world is trying to tell you is beautiful, or if you are a woman moving into a phase of life where the world is telling you, you are no longer beautiful, my hope is to remind us all that we do not have to buy into the superficiality of masks and outward appearance to be valuable and beautiful.

While it is important to care for ourselves, to have respect for our forms, and to honor our bodies; and it is lovely to appropriately attend to our outward appearance, may we not forget that our true beauty is inside, radiating peace, joy, care, and love to the world.

*This post is not attempting to give advice on how women can attract a man. I use this research to support the idea that there is more to true beauty than what the world seems to think.

The Best Things in Life are Free

2008-02-12T14:34:00.000-05:00

In a world that seems crazily hungering for things, possessions, and stuff, I thought I would list some of the best things in life... the things that are free!

Smiles, compassion, bed time stories, Sunday breakfasts, honesty, friends, hugs, support, kindness, a walk on a beach, growing, belief, glimpsing a sunrise, holding a new born baby, comfort, shooting stars, listening to the wisdom of our elders, seeing a butterfly, calling a sibling, breathing deeply, looking into the eyes of our beloved, singing happy birthday, gratitude, passion, coloring with a child, the flickering of fireflies, listening to awaken us to dawn, hope, standing up for something good, caring, sunsets, sharing a poem, good memories, learning something, forgiveness, lovely dreams, laughter, tenderness, love songs, decency, a pat on the back, sharing a special treat, sleeping in a soft bed, family, acceptance, accomplishment, sitting by a fire in winter, finding a seashell, dedication to a cause, moonlight, compassion, finding animals in the clouds, listening to the questions of a child, clear water, forgiveness, family dinners, bubble baths, children's recitals, flowers, love making, fancy chocolates, silence, snow angels, starfish, dancing, devotion, making a difference, God.

Love the World Enough to Change it

2008-02-09T07:37:00.001-05:00

"The world does not need tourists who ride by in a bus clucking their tongues. The world as it is needs those who will love it enough to change it, with what they have, where they are."

~Robert Fulghum

Watercolor mandala is my work

Remembering Silence

2008-02-01T17:13:00.000-05:00

Music is powerful. It can bring tears to our eyes, inspire us to new heights, and elicit wild passion.

Yet, as a musician, I am intricately aware of the silence of music. It is the silence that allows the notes to be heard. It is the space between the notes that create the song. It is the quiet between the sounds that allow the music to become.

So too with life. We go and go and go. We try to catch up, keep up, and keep moving. We have a million things to do, places to go, goals to accomplish.

Might we forget that the beauty of life is in the reflection, the reverberation?

The silence of life is the space between the actions. In this silence is the appreciation, the contemplation, the experience of life.

At times I feel a sense of anxiety permeating society. As if there is never enough time, never enough money, never enough energy... do we forget that life is more than filling our experience with things? Has life become more like noise than music?

To experience the song of life is to allow the silence to ring.

A quote by Jean Arp comes to mind:

Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation.

Perhaps it is time to slow down and experience the silence.

Perhaps in the hecticness of life, we can remember the beauty of existence is not noise but a song.

Thank You, my Charming Gardeners

2008-01-28T13:45:00.000-05:00

It has been several weeks since I have posted a thought on this blog.

I have received such tenderness, care, and kindness from so many readers and wish to express my deepest appreciate and gratitude.

A quote by Marcel Proust comes to mind...

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

As I contemplated the kindness I received over the last few weeks, this quote came to me. I painted this sunflower mandala during a meditation, reflecting on the blossoming of our souls, and the goodness of those of you who have added so much to my life.

I do not know much about our existence on this earth, but I do know that love, compassion, and healing thoughts are life giving. Our souls blossom around those who bring us joy.

To all of you who have given me encouragement, hope, inspiration, and thoughts of care, may you feel the love I have for you... you are my charming gardeners.

Jennifer

No One in the World Like You

2008-01-08T12:31:00.000-05:00

"At bottom every human being knows well enough that he or she is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Turning Water into Wine - a Miracle

2008-01-06T11:19:00.000-05:00

Most Christians are familiar with, what is considered the first miracle Jesus performed, turning water into wine.

Briefly, in the Gospel of John, the writer tells us that during the Wedding in Cana, Jesus' mother alerts him that the wine has run out. Jesus asks the servants to fill the containers with water, then miraculously he turns the water into wine.

Could it happen? Was this a true miracle? Can water become wine?

Without taking anything away from the faith and beauty this miracle provides to many believers throughout the world, let me share an additional thought concerning this miracle.

Could it be that this miracle was not to just share a particular event but a story to give us a reminder of the miracles of life?

The miracle of water becoming wine is the miracle we see every day.

The water that nourishes grapes on a vine becomes the grapes.

The water on our planet turns not only into grapes, but into oranges, apples, lemons, melons, grains, vegetables, and even us.

Put another way, the water we drink doesn't just flow through us, it becomes us.

Whatever we eat is transformed into us. Whatever we breathe is transformed into us.

The particles in air and water are not other than us, they become us. They are us.

When I read of the miracles shared in religious texts throughout the world, I find myself wondering if they are not given to us as reminders of what is life.

Life itself is the miracle.

Nothing is supernatural... it is that nature is miraculous.

We may not understand the intricacies of life, of existence, of this world of which we are a part, but there is something deeply holy about allowing ourselves to stand in awe of this miracle of which we are a part.

As we nourish our bodies with life giving water, perhaps we can take a moment to reflect on the miracle at Cana, and remind ourselves that we are transforming the water into our very existence.

Life is the miracle. Existence is the miracle. We are the miracle.

Whale Watching in the Atlantic

2008-01-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

Whales are amazing. Truly, absolutely, utterly amazing.

Last week I had the fabulous opportunity to participate in a whale watching expedition in the Atlantic ocean, to observe the humpback and fin whales as they make their annual trip through the Chesapeake bay to South America to mate.

On the voyage, our guide shared his knowledge of whales and I gained a new love for these giant creatures.

For the past few days I found myself pondering these whales and reflecting on their lives, their communities, their ability to communicate. I found myself wanting to learn from them, wanting to know how they have managed to create a society of peace, wanting to understand how they feel as humans have emerged on this Earthly scene.

In hopes that others may share my enthusiasm and interest interest in the creatures of our world,I thought I would share a few fascinating facts about these cetaceans that fill our oceans.

Interest whale facts....

Whales closest ancestor is the hippo. Their common ancestor existed 54,000,000 years ago, and 50,000,000 years ago, these mammals slipped into the oceans.

Whales never completely go to sleep? Since they must consciously breathe, (they actually choose when they will take a breath), they can never fall asleep so only one hemisphere of the brain sleeps at a time, while the other half rests.

The sounds, clicks, or "voice" of a whale can travel under water for many miles. These creatures have an intricate language and amazing ability to communicate.

The milk of mother whales is squired into her young, similarly to cows, and is the consistency of cottage cheese so it will not dissipate in the ocean water.

Whales are of two varieties, baleen whales do not have teeth but have a sifting system that removes salt as they swallow huge amounts of ocean water filled with krill. In one mouthful, some whales can hold as much water that would fill a two car garage.

Other toothed whales have teeth and eat larger fish and squid.

Whales as mammals do indeed have hair although it is not always easy to see. Some of the bumps we notice on whales are actually hair follicles.

The Sperm whale has the largest brain in the animal kingdom.

The Blue whale is the largest animal in the world. The largest on record was 209 tons. They eat as much as four tons of krill a day. Estimates are that 99% of all blue whales on the earth have been killed by humans, their only known predator.

The lifespan of whales is similar to humans, averaging from about 75-90 years.

Some whales migrate over four thousand miles each way, to mate in warm waters.

There are times where we humans get thinking we are extraordinary creatures, and of course we are, but sometimes we may forget that this Earth is filled with other extraordinary creatures as well.

Maybe whales, with their large brains and amazing abilities have knowledge we are yet to understand. Maybe their consciousness, while different than ours is more advanced in some ways. Certainly they know how to live more peacefully with each other.

I do not know... but I do have a sense we can learn from the other creatures that share our planet.

We may forget that we are the new ones on the scene. Humans, having only existed for some 150,000 years, have come into a world that was already inhabited by most of the creatures of our planet.

I find myself pleading and praying for the survival of the whales. Their future is largely dependent on the choices we make concerning how we treat our planet.

A New Year, A New Soul

2008-01-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

"The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul”

G.K. Chesterton

Happy New Year!

My Grown-up Christmas List

2007-12-22T11:27:00.001-05:00

For a world in need, my Christmas Wish.

With blessings and love to all,

Jennifer

The Sun of a New Evolutionary Culture is Rising....

2007-12-21T14:55:00.000-05:00

"The sun of a new evolutionary culture is rising, uniting the mind of a scientist, the heart of a mystic, and the soul of a pilgrim to forge a new humanity!

"For too long, our world has labored under the polarized worldviews that pit us against ourselves and each other."

We see this crisis, born of a split worldview accelerating, separating, and deepening.

And with this realization comes the consciousness of an awakened heart, an inner call for a new world.

May we stretch towards the sun, even while we deepen our roots in the soil.

May we radiate the news that we are interconnected.

May we create bridges of understanding and acceptance.

May we call forth a luminous future, filled with hope and possibilities.

May we understand that spirituality is grounded in both anceint truth, modern science, and all of nature.

May we expand our vision, increase our efforts, and live our personal truth in fullness.

May we hold a vision of a global culture that is peaceful, sustainable, and whole.

May we find the stillness, respect, and love that will heal lives and our world.

Inspiration for this post comes from a recent fund raising card sent to me by IONS.

Fabulous painting by the incredible,Laura Bolter!

The Holiday Season.... How to Make it Authentic

2007-12-20T11:28:00.000-05:00

Do you ever feel like Christmas is no longer meaningful?

Do you question the goodness of continuing the Santa story?

Does Christmas feel like a time of gluttony and greed or outdated rituals and unhealthy habits?

Do you find challenging the desire to celebrate the holiday season while not buying into the nonsense of commercialism?

Recently, I've had several readers asking questions regarding how to make Christmas more authentic and meaningful. After reading my friend Dave's amazing blog, Wandering the Ether, I decided I would share a few of my personal attempts to make this holiday season more authentic, and to blend my personal awareness,* with the common cultural traditions that may not fully capture my heart.

My intent is to present some ideas and examples of ways my family has expanded our celebration of the season, and integrated cultural traditions, stories, and rituals into our personal, perhaps less traditional experience of life.

I encourage everyone to embrace the rituals, stories, myths, and religious traditions that make their lives meaningful and lovely. Whatever brings beauty and goodness into our lives is obviously something to treasure and enjoy and honor. I do not think there is 'a' way to honor the season and am profoundly aware of the lovely spirit that accompanies this time of year in many faith traditions.

This post is created for those who are rethinking some of the traditional ideas and wanting to create something more personally fulfilling and meaningful.

First, if you are wanting to make the season more meaningful, I would suggest answering three questions:

1. What does this time of year mean to you?

2. How can you create experiences to honor this?

3. Are there any cultural traditions that detracts from the beauty of what the season represents to you?

Once these questions have been answers you have a framework upon which to build or create your particular ways of honoring this time of year.

Our rituals and traditions hold the meaning we give to them. Symbols and stories can be embraced, reinterpreted, or reinvented as we put our particular creativity upon them. In addition, we can completely eliminate those activities that are not in harmony with our world view.

Let me give you a few specific examples of what we have done in our family.

Santa Clause.

I struggled with the idea of telling my children a pretend story was real. The Santa story is so much a part of a child's Christmas that is seems Ginchlike to even allow the possibility of not going along with society's pretense.

On the one hand, children are not necessarily emotionally harmed by the story, and it is a magical, delightful fairytale; on the other hand, it felt uncomfortable to promote a myth as reality; in essense, lying and asking them to release reason to believe in the impossible magical, while trusting me to help them know truth.

Our solution is to embrace the Santa story as a joyful Christmas game. Santa is not a real man who has flying reindeer, and gives toys to good children, but a wonderful man dressed up in a costume to remind children how much they are loved by the world. The story becomes a little play in our home, and one child gets to play "Santa" and help put out gifts during the night to surprise the rest of the family. Other children get to play the elves and help wrap or decorate gifts. We have moved the Santa story into the realm where Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, and other folk stories reside.

Gifts.

I'm guessing most folks in the modern world sense that present giving is out of control. What was once a time for sharing tokens of care and love has become a time of gluttony, greed, and unrealistic and expensive expectations.

While children find Christmas morning one of joy and wonder as they open their beautifully wrapped presents we want the season to represent something more. We want the season to represent the goodness of life, the wonder of our world, and the beauty of each other.

We decided to continue with gift-giving with a few specific guidelines. We would only give gifts that would bless the lives of the recipient and add goodness to the world.

For young children, we attempt to give gifts that stimulate their creativity, strengthen their self esteem, and increase their connection to all of life.

For older children, grown family members, and loved ones, gifts are given to create wonderful memories of togetherness, unite us with the world, and inspire and uplift each other.

Christmas trees.

The Christmas/Yule tree has long been a tradition, going back thousands of years, however the meaning seems to be absent as we focus on having decorations that look like they were designed by the lastest most famous artist.

I enjoy doing any form of interior decorating but we decided to again, find a way to bring meaning back into the symbolism. In our home we love to bring the outdoors inside and enjoy the idea of greenery as part of our winter decorating, so we have two trees..... filled with memories.

One tree is a collection of mementos and decorations collected as we visit various friends and places, and participate in meaningful activities. The tree reflects the love and insight we have experienced from people and events that have blessed our lives.

Our second tree is a filled with our children's art work tenderly saved over the years. The tree has several hundred little decorations made from all the treasures and projects our children have made as they journey through life. Each year as we come together and fill the tree with the beautiful reminders of their development and wonder, we are reminded again of the gift of life, the blossoming of each little soul, and the joy that fills our lives as each child shares his or her gifts with the world.

Again, however one chooses to honor and celebrate the season is not as important as finding meaning and beauty that adds goodness to your life.

If honoring the birth of baby Jesus fills your life with peace and joy then it is blessing your life. Similarly, if creating rituals or traditions to remember the human spirit and our connection to life is meaningful this too is lovely. Or if remembering the gifts of ancestors and carrying on their ancient traditions deepens one's experience of life it will bring a depth of beauty to the experience of living.

The point of this post is about celebrating the season in a way the brings peace and joy to you and your loved ones.

It is about creating rituals and traditions that feel honest and authentic, embracing stories and ideals that bless your life and support your particular worldview.

It is about taking the ancient human traditions and expanding them to better fit the current human journey, or possibly reminding us of these early human stories and why they were originally created.

However you celebrate this time of year, may your traditions, rituals, and stories fill your world with goodness and graciousness!

With love and peace to all,

Jennifer

Thank You....

2007-12-20T08:30:00.000-05:00

I'm so grateful for the kindness extended to me over the last few weeks.

My delightful friend, Amel, author of, Amel's Realm, as kindly awarded me the, Your Blog is a Treasure Award. Thank you so very much Amel!

My thanks to the darling Robin, lovely author of The Spirit Knows Best for the, Be The Blog Award!

My deep appreciation to the darling Titania, fabulous author of Finding Life's Enchantments, for the, Thank you for Being my Friend, award!

My dear friends Francis, author extraordinaire of Caught in the Stream, and Dave, author of the amazing Wandering the Ether, have graciously awarded me with the Colors of Friendship award.
Thank you so very much!

Winter Solstice

2007-12-19T08:52:00.000-05:00

One of the most miraculous of all of our human abilities, is represented in the Winter Solstice.

Today, even school children understand the first day of Winter, the seasons, and the cycles of our world however, the very fact that this awareness came into the minds and hearts of our ancient ancestors is nothing less than miraculous.

In fact I can hardly comprehend this discovery, so long ago.

While animals the world over are obviously attuned to the cycles of life, humans, (so far as we know), are the only creatures who honor, celebrate, and revere the heavens and their gift of life.

When did humans discover that there was "a" day where the sun stood still? How did they come to know that each year the days grew longer and then one day, they grew shorter again? How long did it take for them to realize that this event took place on a regular cycle? When did these early people start asking the question, "How did I get here," and, "What am I doing here?"

This awareness in the heavens was important enough to our human ancestors that the world over, communities built enormous edifices to honor this day, the Winter Solstice.... The day when the sun was reborn.

Newgrange in Scotland, Stonehenge in England, the Pyramids, and many other architecture wonders are found throughout the world, dedicated to the rising of the new son. How long before humans had the ability to create such wonders did they start wondering, questioning, and pondering their lives?

Today, we largely take for granted our life giving Sun, the cycles of our earth, and the fact that knowledge of our solar system is common, but it was not always so.

As we study the history of humankind, there seems a reverence for the wonders of life that literally filled the minds of our ancestors. These early people were focused on survival and the continuation of their species as all animals but somewhere, somehow, they moved into an awareness that they were part of something much larger. They discovered that it was our Sun that provided the gift of life. They came to realize they were alive.

They noticed and they wondered.

Could it be that these very characteristic of the human gave rise to our ability for self awareness?

In the noticing came questions and wonder. And in the search for answers came stories, came architecture, came art, music, and myth. Humans moved into a new world... a world where they could not only simply respond but could create.

This is nothing less than astounding.

While much of the world celebrates various religious and cultural traditions this time of year, beneath all the stories, beneath all the rituals, songs, gifts, is one common truth... the truth of life.

However you celebrate this time of year, whatever religious or secular stories, myths, truths, rituals, and traditions you embrace, at the core, The Winter Solstice, perhaps the very foundation upon which all other Winter holiday celebrations are actually based, is a time of hope.

It is a time to remember, that we are a part of something more grand than our individual every day lives.

It is a time to ponder the connections to our past, to honor those who came before who noticed, created, and gave us a foundation upon which to move into further awareness.

It is a time to acknowledge the gift of life.

It is a time to reflect on the truth that the world over, the sun rises for all.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Swimme 6: The Current Moment

2007-12-16T17:56:00.001-05:00

We are in the middle of an Planetary event we are just beginning to understand; a time unlike any other in the history of our world.

We are at the end of an era and in the end, we are also at the beginning of a new period.

What sort of creativity is required to birth a new geological era?

What is our role as humans?

How can we move into a new way of life?

Please take a minute to view this amazing clip to get a glimpse of what is happening on our Earth and how Humans can bring forth a new world.

To view the previous five video clips in this series please notice the left sidebar where Brian's videos are shared.

How to Grow your Heart Three Sizes Bigger

2007-12-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling:

"How could it be so?"

"It came with out ribbons! It came without tags!" "It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."

"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

And what happened then? Well...in Whoville they say,

That the Grinch's small heart Grew three sizes that day!

From Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Peace Crane, Forgiveness, and Hope

2007-12-09T19:33:00.000-05:00

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit some wonderful sites in New York City.

Among the most touching and emotionally overwhelming, was my visit to the 9-11 memorial.

Many have seen the photographs of the place where the World Trade Center Buildings once stood. It is difficult to describe the emptiness and utter destruction of the once vibrant block in the heart of this bustling city.

As I explored this scene, one of recent utter despair, my heart was flooded with varying and almost competing emotions. Sorrow, compassion, heartache, and deep pain, right along with determination, passion, healing, and vibrant hope.

The most powerful moment, a moment I will never forget, occurred as I visited Saint Paul's Chapel, directly across from the construction site for the new buildings that will replace the World Trade Center.

Immediately following the 9-11 attacks, St. Paul's Chapel became the site where hundreds of volunteers came together to bring relief to the rescue workers. Touring the chapel, now a memorial of sorts, my heart felt enormous gratitude for those many people who worked to help each other during this time of sorrow... reflecting the spirit of humanity, love, compassion, and care.

As I viewed the many exhibits commemorating the tragic event, I noticed what seemed like colorful ribbons, streams of rainbows hanging in a display across the chapel. I moved across the room and as I got closer, noticed the rainbow ribbons were not ribbons at all but in fact hundreds of paper cranes in beautiful colors hung together to form a long chain. There were dozens and dozens of these paper crane chains in various colors and patters striking in their ancient beauty.

Then I read the caption explaining the significance of these beautiful paper crane chains.

Hundreds of school children, adults, and families in Japan had created these lovely chains offering peace and love to the families of those who died in that horrible attack of 9-11, and to our country.

Among the most cherished were some paper chains from the survivors of Hiroshima.

The tears I was holding back could be restrained no longer.

I wept.

These Japanese survivors, (and their families), of a horrible American bombing many years ago, found it in their hearts to forgive, to offer their strength and compassion as they extended love and peace to us.

The forgiveness and compassion exemplified what it means to be a part of a human family.

The story gets even more touching when we remind ourselves of the origin of the paper crane as a symbol of peace.

"After the US atomic bombing of her home city, Hiroshima, Japan, Sadako Sasaki contracted leukemia. She vowed to fold 1,000 paper cranes but completed only 664 before her death at age 12. Her friends folded the rest, and the paper crane became a symbol of world peace as well as long life."

"Paper Crane, I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world."

~Sadako Sasaki, age 12

This Christmas I will add a peace crane to my tree in memory of the many people throughout the world who show us what it means to forgive, to love, and to live in peace.

May the peace crane visit us all.

How to Make Peace Cranes!

Image and quote found here!

Wish Upon a Star - You are Tagged!

2007-12-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

Do you believe in miracles?

Do you believe in possibilities?

Do you believe in the Mystery?

Do you believe in the Great Spirit? In God? In Source?

Do you believe there is more to existence than we imagine?

Do you believe it just might be possible that dreams can come true? That prayers are answered? That miracles are real?

If so, you are invited to participate in my new tag,

.....to wish upon a star!

This season is a time to recapture the magical light of life! It is a time to remember what is possible. It is a time to reflect on hope for humankind.

Remember the song from Disney's Pinocchio?

When you Wish Upon a Star.

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

What if our deepest dreams did indeed come true? What if that which we held in our hearts came to be? What if our most holy prayers were answered?

Just think of the magic, the miracles.... Just think.

What would we have to do to have our dreams come true?

First we would have to dream.

Next, we would have to believe.

And, finally, we would have to allow the magic and miracles of life to happen.

So, if you are reading this, you are tagged...

......to wish upon a star.

If you could wish upon a star and have your dreams for humankind come true, what would they be? What would you wish for? What is in your heart for our world and for each other?

This tag is for sharing our wishes for humankind. It is about bringing our dreams into a form that is more tangible, real, and concrete. It is about gathering our energy together and sending our wishes and hopes into existence. It is about praying for divine assistance and support as we bring new light and life into our world.

So, if you are reading this, you are invited to wish upon a star. Whether it means you pray to Heaven, hold an intention in your heart, chant a mantra, sing a song, dance a dance, write a post, draw a picture, share your dreams or......

...wish upon a star!

May our wishes come true!

With love and peace to all,

Jennifer

Image found here.

How to Attain a Worthy and Harmonious Life

2007-11-30T21:24:00.000-05:00

As the holiday season commences, and many of us try to hold the true spirit of the season in our hearts, I'm reminded of a quote by Einstein,

"Human beings can attain a worthy and harmonious life only if they are able to rid themselves, within the limits of human nature, of the striving for the wish fulfillment of material kinds. The goal is to raise the spiritual values of society."

While we are inundated with the ubiquitous message to purchase presents, buy gifts, and spend our money on things, may we hold a reminder in our hearts, that happiness is not a result of the external or superficial.

The celebration of the winter solstice, of the birth of Jesus were not intended to be a time of gluttony and greed. In fact quite the opposite is true.

Contrary to this modern cultural phenomenon of commercialism and out of control spending, the celebrations of the past were those of reverence, hope, peace, and reconnecting to Source.

It was a time to honor and celebrate existence, new beginnings, the vibrancy of life, and the hope of humankind.

As December begins, may we start each day with a moment reflecting on peace and hope, may we hold in our hearts the holiness of life, may we remember that this season is a time to raise the highest values possible in humankind.

Image of Winter Solstice found here.

My Prayer of Long Ago

2007-11-23T20:28:00.000-05:00

Overwhelmed by the sorrows of the world, I knelt by my bed, tears flowing, I prayed, "Dear God...."

Pouring out my heart, pleading to the Divine to heal the suffering and broken-hearted, I begged for their peace, for their health, for their happiness.

In an instant, filling my soul an awareness permeated my heart, a whisper as strong as a storm....

"My hands are your hands.

My feet are your feet.

My eyes are your eyes.

My voice is your voice.

My heart is your heart."

In the briefest of seconds, the message was clear, as clear as the brightest dawn.

I had prayed as if a host of heavenly angels would bring truckloads of rice and beans and oranges to the starving.

I had prayed as if some magical fairy-dust would be sprinkled over the earth suddenly creating clean drinking water for the billion of our family members who have none.

I had prayed as if God would come down to earth and shower the broken hearted with hugs and kisses.

I had prayed as if one wave of a magic wand would free the enslaved children of the world.

I had prayed as if a Divine being would suddenly appear and give us the cure for the ills of our world.

In that split second, I knew that all the blessings for which I prayed must be brought forth through the kindness, concern, care, commitment, and love within each of us.

While we look heavenward for answers, inspiration, guidance, and hope, might we not forget that we are the instruments of God.

We are the vehicles for peace, the messengers of love, the conduits for healing.

Whether we think of God, or Source, or Spirit, or Universe.... I have the sense the answers to our challenges are not found somewhere out there, in another realm; as if we have nothing to do but pray for divine intervention.

I believe that as we embrace the holiness within, we realize the answers to the challenges are found in our united efforts to bring peace and love into existence. Our pleas are answered with our hands, our feet, our eyes, our voice, and our love.

May we bring forth the goodness of God.

May our prayers be answered.

*This life altering experience happened many years ago, but still rings in my heart as true for me.

Image found here.

Balance, Gratitude, Sharing, and Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T09:24:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving is a lovely day for many of us in the United States.

It is a day to remind ourselves of a time long ago when the early European settlers feasted with the first Americans. It was a time where two diverse groups came together to celebrate life, to share their unique gifts, and to acknowledge the goodness in each other and in life.

Today, my family took the day off and visited the home of the very first official Thanksgiving feast, the Berkeley Plantation. I feel fortunate to live in a very lovely part of Virginia where I have the opportunity to enjoy many historical sights. The Berkeley Plantation is a gorgeous attraction full of amazing history and beauty.

Most amateur historians consider the first Thanksgiving, the feast held in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621 because Edward Winslow described this event in his book, A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Actually the Thanksgiving feast had already been an established tradition, the first recorded official Thanksgiving held in America on the James River at what is now the Berkeley Plantation.

As I strolled the historic grounds, threw stones into the James River at the very place the ships docked on the shore, and toured the home still standing after all these years, I found myself reflecting on the events of the last few hundred years.

This very land upon which I walked held the first Thanksgiving in America, and soon there after, saw a horrific battle between the Native Americans and these same Europeans killing. Nearly all the newcomers were killed. Later the area was again settled, the land cultivated and over a hundred slaves required to build the beautiful three story brick mansion. This land would be the scene of a huge and bloody battle during the Civil War, with over 120,000 troops fighting on what is now a gorgeous garden overlooking the river. During the Civil War, the plantation was nearly destroyed; of the 1,400 wooded acres, all but five trees were cut and used for firewood. And then, years later, the run down plantation was purchased by a wealthy family from Scotland and completely restored to its original beauty we see today.

Today the plantation comprises a majestic home, many additional weathered buildings, a working farm, pastures full of sheep and hundreds of gorgeous wooded acres along the James River outside of Richmond.

It is tranquil, peaceful place, holding a history of destruction and hope, cruelty and care, death and rebirth.

And after all those years filled with life and death, joy and pain, sorrows and dreams, once again we celebrate Thanksgiving.

It is easy, as we join together with loved ones and celebrate all that is good in our lives, to forget the hardships, challenges, and horrors of our Country's past.

As I bask in the loveliness of this day of Thanksgiving, rejoicing with gratitude and giving, I must also acknowledge the hardships and sorrows that have existed along the way.

While I truly treasure all the loveliness of this day, I must not forget the sorrows, for to deny or repress them somehow gives the impression they did not exist.

They did.

I take some time imagining that very first Thanksgiving when hopes were high and dreams were vibrant. And I wonder how those Native Americans experienced the foreigners arriving on that River so many years ago.

Today, after nearly four hundred years, we enjoy the traditional feast with family and friends, and take time to appreciate the bounty we enjoy.

I ponder this day of rejoicing and am reminded of the importance of the balance of life as we embrace gratitude and giving.

Thankfulness without sharing seems vacant, and giving without appreciation can feel elitist.

I sense that in true gratitude there is a flowing of goodness to others, and in true sharing there is an awareness of deep appreciation for the gifts of life.

This Thanksgiving, as I spend a day reflecting on those feasts of long ago where two communities came together to share their gifts, and celebrate, I'm reminded to more fully express my love and appreciation through giving and caring.

I'm reminded that we can move beyond the challenges and overcome the horrors.

I'm reminded that just like this old plantation, we can learn from mistakes and begin a new chapter in the history book.

I'm reminded to hold a vision of hope like the early settlers of long ago, and to balance that vision with respect and love for those whose lives are different than mine.

I'm reminded to give more, to appreciate more, to care more, and to love more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a Year to Celebrate!

2007-11-19T08:41:00.000-05:00

This is an anniversary year... a time to celebrate and dance!

What are we celebrating you ask?

Two hundred years ago this very year, in 1807, a law was passed in the British Empire to end slavery, The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.*

This is most certainly an event in which to rejoice!

To be clear, for two hundred years, prior to this monumental act, slavery had been outlawed by various other progressive Countries and Colonies including Japan, Lithuania, Russia, Portugal, Denmark, Scotland, Vermont and Massachusetts, and Canada.

However Great Britain was a wealthy trader of literally millions of men, women, and child slaves, and a powerful military and economic force during the eighteenth century. Outlawing the slave trade in this wealthy country was a monumental moment in human history!

Here is what we celebrate....

After four thousand years a consciousness began to emerge such that humans found a new compassion for others, where there had been none. What was considered normal, moral and even Godly for some, for the previous four millennia, relatively overnight felt cruel, despicable and unconscionable!

A new awareness literally burst into our human hearts!

This is truly astounding!

To get a feel for this transformation, lets go back in history for a minute.

The institution of slavery predates recorded history. Our earliest written documents, the Mesopotamian law, The Code of Hammurabi dated, 1800 BCE, discusses slavery as an institution already well established and accepted. The practice has continued throughout the world for virtually all of human history... until just a few hundred years ago.

What made the change? How did this transformation take place? Could a change of this magnitude happen again?

Not only do I believe a change of this magnitude can happen again, I think it will... this example of slavery seems a remarkably beautiful demonstration of how our consciousness expands, how compassion deepens, and how our individual lives can bring forth a more intimate, caring, and loving world.

So, what happened?

Did the powerful elite rulers impose new laws? Was there a new religious guru? Did some monumental event happen on our planet?

No... nothing like that.

The change took place in individual hearts. One soul, then another, then another began to feel something stir within them. Their intuition, or light bubbled up inside their hearts giving a glimpse of what is possible, a taste for a new way of life... a world where human beings are free.

Somewhere inside of men and women, there came a knowing that this practice of owning other humans was hurtful, cruel, and degrading. What was the norm became horrific. What was ignored became apparent. What was unseen became clear.

I reflect on the difficulties and challenges we currently face... a world largely unconcerned with the harm we are causing our planet and its inhabitants. I think of the poor job we are doing feeding the children of this Earth, the killing we do in the name of goodness, and the ubiquitous objectification of women, among many other struggles.

Can it change? Yes! No question about it?

What will it take?

It will take each of us living our truth. It will take each individual with a heightened sense of goodness or care to bring her or his light forth in whatever way is possible. It will take the energy, the beauty, and the heart of every single person touched by goodness to hold to a more loving, caring, and compassionate way of experiencing existence.

In each moment we can choose to live a more holy or healthy life. We can choose to not support those aspects of our society or culture that promote harm or degradation of the human. We can remove violence from our lives, from our homes, from our associations. We can donate, share, volunteer. We can care for the earth and each other. We can make our individual lives a conduit for the highest light and peace possible!

Today, I'm reminded of what is possible, and I honor and celebrate those whose consciousness sparked a new world! And I bow in gratitude to those many souls who are in fact bringing forth a new awareness into our human consciousness. Women and men who are making a difference, living their truth, honoring life in their unique and glorious ways!

We can indeed create a new world.

It has happened before!

For those who would appreciate an inspiring, uplifting true story, Amazing Grace is a fabulous, touching movie sharing the events of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in Great Britain. I highly recommend it!

*What was begun a few hundred years ago is not yet finished. While slavery is diminishing on our planet, it is estimated there are still 27,000,000 slaves in our world. May our prayers and actions eliminate this horror from our Earth.

The Most Beautiful Thing We Can Experience - Einstein Quote

2007-11-18T19:30:00.000-05:00

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

~Einstein

Adding my own humble thoughts to those of Einstein, I would say that the most beautiful thing we can experience is love, which in many regards is an essence of the mystery.

I experience love and the mystery as one and the same; the wonder and awe we feel as we allow the emotion of love to permeate our body/mind/spirit is the mystery.... or a manifestation of the mystery.

I have the sense that love is the mystery emerging in our human form. In other words, the very creative essence of the Divine, or Source, or Mystery is expressed in the human through love.

Could there be anything more beautiful than this?

I can't imagine it.

Reach for the Stars

2007-11-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

As a young girl, I had a colorful star-filled poster in my room that said...

"Better to reach for the stars and miss, than reach for a mud puddle and make it!"

Today, I find myself reflecting on this, my childhood mantra, and notice how its message is one I continually appreciate.

What is it in our humanness that occassionally stops us from reaching for the stars?

Do we sometimes take the easy way thinking the road to goodness is too difficult?

Why might we give up before we begin?

Do you ever feel overwhelmed as if the problems of life are too big?

Are our dreams, hopes, and visions fading into darkness?

If you have found yourself reaching for a mud puddle, chances are you will get covered with mud.

If however, you reach for the stars, you just may discover.....

...you are stardust!

You are Stardust

Image found at Cal Tech

Beginning the Day, Intentions, and Prayers

2007-11-15T16:14:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of each yoga practice, it is customary to take a few minutes to get in touch with one's breath, relax into the moment, and bring to the mind the intention for the practice.

The intention is a conscious thought bringing to the mind, body, and, spirit what one is expecting or intending to experience during the hour or so of the practice.

During the practice we may be reminded to revisit that thought or the intention as we allow our bodies to heal or strengthen in ways beyond what we may consciously be capable of.

And at the end of every practice, once again, we take a few minutes to reflect on our intention, silently expressing gratitude for our bodies, our minds, and our abilities.

I often consider yoga a practice of life, not in the sense of practicing a musical instrument but an hour of conscious expression, finding balance and harmonizing my mind, body and spirit.

Expanding the idea of a conscious intention into our daily lives, how would it be if each morning we began our day with a few minutes contemplating our intention for the day? Might we notice ourselves coming back to that intention throughout the day... reviewing, reflecting, and reminding ourselves what we are expecting the day to bring us?

Perhaps our intention is to live a day without judgments?

Maybe we could decide to not react to anyone regardless of others' behaviors?

We coud intend to bring a smile to every face we see?

Or, release any negativity that may find its way into our lives?

Could we decide to remove all violence and disrespect from our day?

Listen to our body for guidance on how to live or heal?

Maybe we could intend to bring a positive essence into the life of our beloved?

I find, expressing intention is a way to live more consciously. It is a technique to move us into a life of awareness. Beginning our day with a specific purpose or expectation helps us live in the moment and make our life one of purpose.

Beginning the day with an intention for the day, reminding oneself of the intention throughout the day, then reflecting on the intention in the evening brings a new experience into our often unconscious and habitual lives.

Whether one chooses prayer, meditation, sticky notes with affirmations, yoga, or a positive self help CD, beginning the day with a specific intention may be a small shift that can make a beautiful impact on one's life!

What is your intention?

Image found at Greenhouse Holistic!

The Wonder of You - Deepak Chopra

2007-11-14T08:21:00.000-05:00

Take one minute to watch this video and become filled with wonder!

Deepak explores the mystery of your body in its growth from a single cell to a symphony of activities guided by an inner intelligence that mirrors the wisdom of the universe.

This clip is provided by The Institute of Noetic Science which is one of my favorite organizations in which I am involved. Gathering and engaging in research throughout the world, they are on the cutting edge of consciousness studies!

You are Nothing... or rather, Nothingness, also know as Pure Generativity, Seamlessness, Zero Point Energy Field, and Infinite Potentiality

2007-11-13T14:22:00.000-05:00

Look around you... up, down, outside your windows, across the street, notice everything you can see.

Now, if you take all the empty space away from everything in your sight, you have a speck of matter smaller than a grain of salt.

In fact, as a human being, you are 99.99% emtpiness, or nothingness.

But, what is most magical, fascinating, and truly wondrous about this simple fact is, in this realm of nothingness is EVERYTHING.

Put another way, what we think is nothing is the space where everything emerges. Or, what appears as a vacuum is really the possibility for everything. It is full.

I know this takes a while to sink in.

This idea seems contrary to our Newtonian minds nevertheless, it seems clear the universe displays properties and tendencies quite different than what was once embraced as truth.

Let me delve deeper into this idea so we may ponder the implications of what we are discovering about our universe and ourselves.

Nearly one hundred years ago, scientist theorized that the quantum vacuum, or the space of nothingness was the realm from which matter came into existence. Twenty years later, this theory was tested, measured, and found accurate. Scientists discovered that in a space where nothing exists, particles and energy would come bubbling into existence. Rather than thinking of emptiness as nothing, it was actually bursting full with every possibility.*

There are many names for this phenomenon... space-time foam, pure generativity, seamlessness, zero point energy field, Bohm's Implicate Order, to name a few. My personal word choice is perhaps less scientific but resonates with my experience of life... infinite potentiality.

Regardless of what language we use, all the above terms describe the realm from which existence blossoms into reality.

What is astounding is that this realm is 99.99% of what we are.

We may be created with various measurable material, or matter, but this comprises a very, very small portion of what we are.

So, what does this mean for us? Why is this important information?

Of course the implications are going to be the topic of research and philosophizing for many years to come, but at this early stage of wonder, my reflections are simple:

1. Our natural state of Happiness. Enlightened thinkers throughout the ages have taught us that the natural state of the human is one of happiness. As I contemplate this realm of Source and how in a very real sense it is our natural state, I wonder if indeed the state of pure generativity, or infinite potentiality is that state of happiness. In other words, who and want we are is 99.99% the realm of happiness, or peace, or pure generativity.

2. We are of the same essence. I toy with the idea that our physical forms are much less separating than we imagine and often experience. Knowing that we are all created as a state of infinite potentiality, in my heart I get an awareness that there is much more to our connectedness than we can possibly grasp. We are the same essence in different forms. I picture a room full of colorful balloons, and know that while they are separated and each is unique, inside each balloon is filled with the same air. Could it be that we too, are forms to express and experience a particular adventure?

3. We are the universe.If the entire universe is comprised of 99.99% nothingness, and we as humans are comprised of 99.99% nothingness, then we are the universe. We can use different language depending on one's world view... we could say we are of the divine realm, or, our essence is Source, or, we are made in the image of God, or we are reflections of holiness.

However we say it, the idea is profound.

There is more to life, more to love, more to peace than our previous human understanding has comprehended. With the exception of a handful of spiritual masters and great philosophers, who felt, intuited, or received inspiration, conderning the larger picture, most of our human ancestors did not contemplate the idea of oneness with all of existence, or the world as a form of the universe.**

Today, we are discovering a new world view that provides us with a fresh understanding of who we are, and how we can better live on this Earth.

My hope is that as we come to hold this new picture that is emerging into the consciousness of the human, we will release the competitive nature so ingrained in our species. Perhaps we will learn to care for others as ourselves? Maybe we will expand our love for those we do not even know, knowing they are another reflection of the divine?

And, maybe a new awareness will bubble forth from this divine realm filling our lives with goodness, hope, care, and peace.

It is my prayer.

*Matter that comes into existence quickly disappears before it can be measured but we can measure its effects.

**Acknowledging the great sages and brilliant souls who shared their wisdom and insight with the world.

Image found here!

Thanks....

2007-11-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

My humble thanks to Fjorday, outstanding author of Hiraya: Endless Journey, for the fabulous, You're an Amazing Blogger Award!

My gratitude to the delightful Amel, author of Amel's Realm, for the Super Star Award, The Be The Blogger Award, and the, Winning Attitude Award!

Your One Purpose

2007-11-12T12:59:00.000-05:00

Why are you here?

Do you have a mission? A purpose? A reason for being here?

Philosophers, religious leaders, scriptorians, and spiritual masters have given us plenty to ponder in this regard.

Some believe we are here as a test, to try our faith and prove our obedience. Others may believe we are here to determine our place in the hereafter. Some may think we have karma to work through. There are those who believe our earth life is to gain experience and learning so we may become God. Still others may believe it is all random chance, a throw of the die.

I do not claim to know the ultimate answers to the mysteries of life. But here are my speculations, guesses, and contemplative thoughts to add to the discussion.

As I look at the very intricacies of our universe, the history of existence, and the world in which we find ourselves, it seems ultimately there is one thing the universe asks of each of us.

To blossom.

That is it.

Oh there may be other things going on, I am certainly not one to know but somehow, beneath it all, there is an essence of blossoming in all of life, and in all of creation.

As everything else in our known universe, at the core of existence is a desire, need, or impulse, to shine forth, to emerge in fullness, to blossom.

It seems clear the universe holds onto that which is valuable. Further, it is apparent to me that a very foundational perhaps primal essence of the universe is to bring forth what is possible. I cannot image our species not conforming to the universe in this way. As a creation of God, or Source, or the universe, would it even be possible to be something other than what is the universe?

The universe, through nearly fourteen billion years of differentiation and complexification has brought forth the human. Each different. Each unusual. Each unique in all the universe.

If the universe didn't require, or hope, or desire the individual expression of each of us, the universe would have created something much different. The universe would be a place where there were no differences, no creativity, no wonder.

But we find ourselves in a particular type of universe that has created existence to show itself.

To blossom.

And, what is most fascinating about our unique human ability is that, in many ways, we can blossom however we wish. While we have our DNA to provide us our potential, instincts, and propensities, and obviously we are influenced by our surroundings, environment, and cultures, nevertheless, we have the opportunity and ability to blossom in very unique ways.

When we plant a mustard seed, an acorn, or a tulip bulb, we can be quite certain the plant that will emerge through the dirt will be perfectly consistent with the seed. There is little variance, and that which is there is a result of outside influences, (unless there is a consciousness of which we are unaware which is a real possibility).

But, humans are rather different. Our DNA determines many traits but with this foundational genetic material, in many respects, we can become what we desire. In other words, we have the potential to create ourselves, to blossom as we wish.

While other life, (and non-life) forms and creations are largely blossoming in a very deterministic way, influenced by their surrounding, with limited opportunities to consciously alter their behavior, humans can, in many respects, have a conscious choice in how we blossom forth.*

We can brighten the lives of those around us, or we can perpetuate anger and violence. We can live a life of healing or destroy a life through destruction. We can move toward graciousness, or we can embrace the tawdry. We can bring a smile to the face of those we encounter, or we can fill our world with complaints and criticism.

We can bring into our universe whatever we desire to show forth. In some ways this seems more than remarkable.

We become the creator and the creation of our unique story.

And not only can we create our lives, we can support, encourage, and help others shine forth in their own unique way.

We can decide how we want to show ourselves.

Our one purpose on earth may just be to blossom.

*I qualify this knowing there are many people in our world today who have little choice, little opportunity, and little support, care, and love.

Peony image found at J&J photography.

Swimme 5: Life to Human

2007-11-11T10:05:00.001-05:00

I invite you to listen to my mentor physicist, Brian Swimme as he shares how our species emerged and what it means to be human.

He speaks of our unique and wonderous abilities to wonder, to be astounded, and to play.

If you haven't watched the first four videos in this series you may enjoy viewing them as well. They are linked in the left sidebar.

Enjoy!!!

How Henri Dunant Changed the World

2007-11-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

If you are like most people in the world you may not have ever heard of Henry Dunant but most certainly his life and legacy have impacted our world in remarkable ways. His goodness, is truly legendary and his example is one that fills me with hope.

Henri was born in Geneva in 1828 into a wealthy and religious family. As a young man he devised a business plan to exploit a large piece of land for commercial gain. Young Henri decided to go directly to Napoleon III to request permission for water rights for his land. Henri found Napoleon in Northern Italy in the midst of one of the most bloody battles of the 19th century, the battle of Solferino.

Henri witnessed the destruction, the sorrow, the heartache, the despair and misery that accompanies war. He spent time attending to the wounded and caring for the disheartened.

And Henri got an idea; an idea that would change the world.

Henri devised a plan where the Nations throughout the world could create a society to care for the wounded during war time. He worked and worked, wrote a book about his plan, and on February 7, 1863, Henri founded the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, today known as the Red Cross.

Henri traveled across Europe gathering support and backing for his plan and in August of 1864, twelve nations met and signed an International treaty, commonly known as the Geneva Convention.

His work continued for the next ten years as he worked to expand his organization, moving it toward relief work for those in need. His dream materialized in unimaginable ways.

But Henri lost all his money and found himself destitute. He moved to a small Swiss village and lived in near obscurity for thirty eight years.

In 1895, nearly seventy years old, Henry was found and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Henri, ill and alone remained in his hospice dwelling for the remainder of his days. He did not spend any of his fortune but gave it to those who cared for him and to philanthropic organizations.

Henri's vision became a reality.

More than governments, more than religious leaders, more than powerful presidents of companies, Henri showed us how to release our ill constructed barriers and care for one another.

His vision was to help those in need regardless of their country of origin, their race, religion, social status, color of skin, or philosophical leanings. Henri showed the world how to move beyond our differences and embrace each other as a human family.

In a world that often idolizes the rich and powerful, in a world that seems consumed with money, glory, prestige, and adoration, I often reflect back to our example of Henri.

He was a simple man who had a vision and worked to change the world. His legacy is not in his fame and fortune.

His legacy is how he changed the world.

May we follow in his footsteps.

Michelangelo and the Angel in the Marble

2007-11-07T17:04:00.000-05:00

Several years ago, I was asked to teach art appreciation to a classroom full of children.

It was left to me to decide how and what I would share but my hope was to ignite an interest in art, in creativity, and in sharing their unique gifts. My thoughts immediately went to Michelangelo.

Among the most creatively gifted and talented souls ever to exist, Michelangelo stands out as exceptional.

I often ponder his work, his life, and his brilliance. He lived simply, even humbly. He embodied and exemplified what it means to feel the Source of creativity that flows through our universe, and into, or through our human form.

And so, with twenty-five fourth graders, and Michelangelo as our hero, I began our art class.

First the children were to tape a large piece of paper on the under side of their desks. They then got out their crayons, lay on the floor under their desks, and began to draw a picture on the paper taped under their desks.

It took about two or three minutes for the children to realize how difficult this exercise was. Their arms became tired, they couldn't quite draw as well as usual, and they had all sorts of difficulties.

After our little experiment, I explained that Michelangelo worked on his back or standing painting above him, from morning until night for four years, on a little make shift scaffolding several stories high, at the top of a very large cathedral... the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo did not just paint the ceiling but used plaster to create his masterpiece. There was no electricity, no lights, no air conditioning, and no heat. He was tired, sore, exhausted, often overcome with the fumes of the plaster.

Yet, Michelangelo created. On and on. He didn't stop, hardly rested, didn't complain. He created.

And like Michelangelo's sculptures each child is a masterpiece.

And like Michelangelo himself, each child has the ability to create and bring forth their gifts to shine in our world. Few of us will create a Sistine Chapel, but all of us will change the world.

We know Michelangelo for his many incredible sculptures, his architecture, his frescoes, his painting.

But of all the incredible, holy accomplishment brought forth by Michelangelo one idea stands out for me more than all else.

It is the way Michelangelo experienced the world, and expressed his personal creativity.

He didn't see himself creating something new, he saw himself discovering, and unwrapping what was already there. He did not take credit for the beauty he brought into our world, but felt the beauty was there for releasing. His job was not to do the actual creating but to allow what exists to be shown.

Some of the quotes I have collected by Michelangelo speak to this profound idea.

Michelangelo writes,

"The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has."

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it."

"Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I accomplish."

"The best artist has that thought alone which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell to free the figures slumbering in the stone."

"The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image."

As I contemplate the life, the magnificence of what Michelangelo has given us, I'm reminded that everything is here for us to discover, release, unwrap, and bring forth.

Perhaps our journey is not about a determined event, accomplishment, or experience but more about finding the beauty that is already here, already within.

Could it be that as we live and explore our individual lives, we have the ability, the potential to bring out the beauty in others? In ourselves? In our world?

Might each moment be an opportunity to discover the beauty that exists if we only have eyes to see, a heart to feel, and the imputes to find?

Are there angels in the marble waiting to be set free?

Creativity and Creation

2007-11-06T14:39:00.000-05:00

Have you ever thought of an idea but failed to implement it?

Have you ever hoped to do something significant but procrastinated?

Have you ever wanted to create something but didn't have the courage?

Have you ever wished for a reality but didn't know how to proceed?

In my personal life I would answer yes to all of the above.

I have a sense that I am not alone. It seems common to dream, hope, wish, envision, and even desire something but fail to bring our ideas into reality.

Recently I found myself being literally flooded with ideas, visions, and dreams to begin a project, and create something wonderful, and yet, I find myself stuck in the thinking/dreaming/wishing phase.

Perhaps out of fear, insecurity, or lack of courage, knowledge, and expertise....regardless I'm stuck.

Now don't get me wrong... I find this flood of creativity we all experience a fabulous, wondrous ability of our species. It is truly magnificent to say the least.

Yet, the possibility is not the actuality. The wish is not the reality. the dream is still the fantasy.

Today as I contemplated my "stuckness", I went to one of my favorite and always inspiring book, Free Play; Improvisation in Art and Life, by Stephen Nachmanovitch.

I found a quote that I needed to read. Stephen writes, "There is a gigantic difference between the projects we imagine doing or plan to do and the ones we actually do. It is like the difference between a fantasied romance and one in which we really encounter another human being with all his or her complexities... A person may have great creative proclivities, glorious inspirations, and exalted feelings, but there is no creativity unless creations actually come into existence."

What truth he shares.

I find one of my most frustrating of all experiences is the gap between what is in my heart, what I feel and envision, and what I can express or bring into reality.

I wonder if this is a phenomenon permeating our world?

We all want our world to heal. We want to rid the planet of suffering, pain, sorrows, and heartache. We know what the problems are. We see ubiquitous horrors covering the globe.

Yet we still may feel stuck, unsure, unclear how to proceed.

I wonder if we are looking for "the" answer as if there is a well planned out solution.

My sense is the solutions, the future, the story is untold because it is unknown. It is yet to emerge and we, each of us, will determine how we go forth. We will decide what will happen in the next chapter.

Nachmanovitch writes, "There are no prescriptive solutions, no grand designs for grand problems. Life's solutions lie in the minute particulars involving more and more individual people daring to create their own life and art, daring to listen to the voice within their deepest, original nature, and deeper still, the voice within the earth."

I sense the healing will occur as we each listen to the voice within and dare to sing out.

Oh.. that we may be daring.

That we may listen to our voice within.

That we may listen to the voice of the Universe.

To read more about the wonderful book by Stephen Nachmanovitch, Free Play

Unmediated Interaction, Spooky Action Theory, Quantum Teleportation, and the Web of Life

2007-11-04T15:45:00.000-05:00

We live in an amazing world... more amazing than we can possibly imagine.

And, we are constantly discovering new dynamics, new interactions, and new phenomenon.

One new discovery that completely revises previous understanding of life is the idea of unmediated interactions.
Until very recently, it was thought that all interactions were the result of a mediator. In other words something would not move unless there was a cause or interaction.

Scientists glimpsed the theoretical possibility that there could be an unmediated interaction but obviously it seemed quite impossible. Einstein called this theoretical phenomenon, the, Spooky Action at a Distance Theory, and did not embrace it as reality. At the time, there was no way to scientifically test the theory so it remained just speculation until recently.

Just a few decades ago, as physicists found ways to test the theory, they did.*

Guess what they discovered?

There is indeed an interaction between two objects separated in space with no mediator.

In other words, two objects, separated in space instantaneously relate to each other with no known or measurable encounter or mediator.

In many ways this is a revolutionary, perhaps a revelatory idea.

It seems likely that everything, EVERYTHING is somehow connected to everything else in the universe.

To put this another way, we are entangled in ways we have yet to discover.

Bringing this to our immediate lives, our behaviors, perhaps even our thoughts may affect everything else that exists.

Contemplating the ramifications of this idea is beyond the ability of my brain, but it does make me careful, conscious, and aware of my life.

While the idea that we are separate, individual, and perhaps isolated, is common, it seems inconsistent with what we are discovering. The worldview that harmful behavior affects only the immediate people involved is becoming obsolete with more understanding of our universe.

Might goodness, in the moment actually transform our world in ways we cannot measure? Might what you are doing this very moment influence something across the planet? And, how might our negativity change the lives of others in our world?

There are many questions resulting from our new understanding.

And so, we take this new reality into our lives and reevaluate how our existence impacts the greater whole. We become mindful that each thought, each behavior, each action may in fact move, alter, influence others in ways of which we are completely unaware.

Ahhh.... there is more to our story than we know.

*To test the theory, physicists separated coupled electrons and measured the spin. While interacting, if one electron spins up the other spins down. What was discovered is that even when separated, the electrons instantaneously altered their spin as if they were interacting, without any form of mediation.

Tags and Thanks

2007-11-03T23:04:00.000-04:00

I would like to thank my darling friend Jackie at The Painted Veil, for the, "Bloggers with Integrity," award for this site and my Good Bags site.

And, my gratitude for the, "You make me smile award," given to me by the very kind and fabulous astrologer, Joyce Hopewell.

Darling Ellen, author of the beautiful blog, Positive Communication, has tagged me with a very important meme to which I would like to respond, "What cause do I support."

There are so many fabulous organizations doing wonderful things to help our world and our human family. I've blogged about several that I support and love.

Beyond specific organization, in my personal life I long ago decided to dedicate my time and abilities to helping survivors of abuse, and those with special needs.

As a therapist, much of my work has been with survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. In addition, in hopes of breaking cycles of abuse I have worked with children from violent homes as well as abusive men and women.

Along with this, much of my volunteer work is to support and advocate for those with special needs.

My deepest gratitude for such kindness!

Living Well

2007-11-01T20:16:00.001-04:00

Fill you heart with kindness,

Fill your body with laughter,

Fill your eyes with tenderness,

Fill your visions with hope,

Fill your hands with service,

Fill you mind with wonder,

Fill your imagination with possibilities,

Fill your moments with kindness,

Fill your days with joy,

Fill your life with holiness,

Fill you soul with goodness,

Fill your spirit with joy,

Fill your prayers with gratitude,

Fill the world with peace,

Fill the universe with love.

Aspire to All that Is Pure and Good

2007-10-31T17:50:00.001-04:00

Say little, and love much; give all; judge no one; aspire to all that is pure and good.

~White Eagle

Our Birth Moment

2007-10-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday.... at least it is the day I came into the world in this form.

But this morning I ponder a different birthday; or more precisely, a "birth moment."

It was a birth moment we all share... the moment when the universe emerged 13.7 billion years ago.

The moment when the primordial fireball brought forth all the matter and energy that has ever or will ever exist.

A birth.

Think of it as our collective, original birthday.

Of course our mothers brought us into this world but it was the primordial fireball that originally birthed everything that is or will ever be, in our universe.

Until very recently, the model of our universe was one of the universe as an event, a "thing," perhaps even a backdrop or stage for the human. Scientists and religious leaders alike held the opinion that creation was a specific, particular occurrence in preparation for the human. The Earth was a place upon which the human was placed.

But today a new picture emerges. We now know that the universe is not a thing or an event.

It is a story; a creative, ongoing, continuously flowing, unfolding narrative.

And we have been here all along.

Not in this form but here, nonetheless.

How do we know we have been here since the beginning? Because nothing is or can be added to the universe. Material and energy transform, transfigure, and transmute for sure, but we are without the possibility of anything being added to, or removed from, our universe.

The moment of original birth is over... now it is a time for growth, creativity, continual emergence; and always transformation.

So, how did the universe give birth?

Going back to the very first moments of our universe....

From a tiny singularity as small as a pin point, the fireball burst forth from nothingness roaring into existence reaching temperatures of perhaps a trillion degrees.

Within the very first tiniest fraction of a second, as the roaring fire cooled it began expanding, not into space but creating space.

As the universe began to cool matter and antimatter came together, annihilating each other but in their destruction bringing forth photons, or pure energy.

As the universe cooled and expanded, it brought forth neutrinos, electrons, and quarks which are the building blocks of matter as we know it.

As the universe continued to expand it cooled to about 3,000 billion degrees Kelvin, a new phase of the universe began bringing forth composite particles such as protons and neutrons.

Within a minute or so the universe had cooled sufficiently to bring forth the first atoms, helium and hydrogen which today fill our universe.

And from the moment of the birth of the universe, the energy has continually transformed itself, eventually creating us. And everything, EVERYTHING we bring into existence is another transformation of that original energy.

From this original material and energy, has come forth not only everything we experience but much, much more beyond our imagination.

Everything that will ever emerge will be a transformation of the original fireball.

When we hear a symphony, see a rainbow, touch a baby, smell a rose, speak of love, we can remind ourselves that all of it began with the opening of the story billions of years ago, at birth.

The very same energy that emerged from the fireball is the whisper of a butterfly, the web of a spider, and the smile of a child.

And so, we celebrate our collective birth moment.

I can ponder the beginning of our story for a life time.

And, maybe we, as sentient, self-aware human beings are the universe pondering itself?

And, a very happy birthday to our amazing friend Sam Chan incredible author of Acquiring Wisdom!

My World You Created

2007-10-28T21:23:00.001-04:00

Last night, it dawned on me.

You have created my world!

You see, some time ago, as periodically happens, I was disheartened by the sorrows of life. I took into my heart the pain felt by war, heartache, and cruelty. I felt overcome and filled with sadness at the treatment of our planet, each other, and of life.

And so I dreamed of a perfect world.

I dreamed of a world where humans are kind to each other. Where we support, care, and love one another. Where we are filled with compassion toward life. Where the Earth is cherished. Where children are cared for, the elderly are honored, women are respected, and men are honorable. Where goodness floods the world and where graciousness fills our souls. Where we are a human family.

And then last night I realized I had found such a world.

Right here.

For an hour each day I play in this fabulous world!

When I get on my computer and begin to read the touching, encouraging, and inspirational words and thoughts of my cyber friends, I indeed find myself moving into the world of my dream.

As I read each of your blogs, I find myself humbly involved in a world filled with goodness, care, kindness, and love. I feel a trust, a concern, a depth of care beyond the everyday experience that seems so prevalent in our world.

I feel a delightful passion and prayerful energy emanating from the comments, ideas, and articles written by my cyber friends. While we may not be from the same background, religion, or country, we all are embracing and sharing the holiness and goodness we understand and experience in our own ways.

I am vividly aware of my encounters with a truly outstanding group of people who are bringing into existence a brilliant light and a gentle peace.

While I visit my favorite sites, I know I will not be immersed in cruelty, degradation, or decadence. I will not find the tawdry salaciousness so prevalent in our society. I will not be inundated with the distractions of greediness and gluttony. I will not feel the uneasiness associated with unhealthy behaviors and addictions.

Instead, I will be uplifted, invigorated and inspired!

In this cyber world of mine, I am continually encouraged, taught, helped, and supported.

Those of you I have found throughout the world who share your lives, your knowledge, your wisdom and insight, have given me the world of my dreams.

You have given me a world filled with goodness, care, kindness, love, concern and gentleness; a world in which I am humbly grateful to exist.

And so today, I thank each of you for bringing my dream world into reality!

With love and gratitude to all,

Jennifer

*Oh, and just in case you are wondering if you are included as one who has created my world, the answer is yes!

Awaiting the Dawn

2007-10-27T22:17:00.000-04:00

"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door."

~Emily Dickenson

With hope in our hearts, with expectancy of delightful surprise, and with a sense of heightened expectations, we open every door of wonderous possibilities, and await the dawn.

Sunrise found at Vladstudio.

Bending the Map and Changing the World

2007-10-26T16:35:00.000-04:00

Last week I read a fascinating book, Deep Survival; who lives, who dies, and what makes the difference, by Lawrence Gonzales.

Gonzales does a brilliant job of exploring the history of adventure disasters and delving into enormous amounts of research, to give us a splendid overview of how to survive.

While, Deep Survival, is about extreme adventures, I found myself comparing these daring escapades to our current world situation.

Let me explain with an example.

When hikers set off on a daring adventure to climb a mountain, and then become lost, there is a very predictable and consistent process through which they go which determines, to large extent whether they will survive or not.

First, the deny they are even lost, assuming they will recognize where they are just around the corner... and they keep going.

Next, they will, "bend the map." They start to create their reality to match what they think is supposed to exist. In other words, they try to make their circumstance fit the map. The may think the river dried up, or a boulder moved, but they create a false sense of security... and they keep going.

Then, when they can no longer find a way to make their true environment match their mental map of their location, they move into the reality of being lost.

What happens next can make the difference between survival or death.

Acceptance.

If lost hikers become filled with anxiety, believing they will die, giving in to the lost-ness, panicking over the unknown, and holding onto the fear, they most likely will not survive unless others rescue them.

However, if these hikers can adapt to their surroundings, move into their current situation, figure out a way to manage in their specific environment, and live with the idea they will do what they can to live, there is a great chance, against all odds they may survive.

How does this relate to our world?

I wonder if we are in some ways lost.

It is as if collectively, the humans of our planet have been living in such a way, evolving, developing, expanding for a very long period, and have come to a place where we are unfamiliar with our environment. We don't know where to go or how to get there. The world no longer looks as it once did, and we are interacting with others and with our planet in ways never before experienced in all of life.

Some people are still denying we are even lost. They do not see that humans are living in unhealthy and hurtful ways. They may deny problems even exist, or minimize them to such a degree that they are hardly noticeable. They continue on with their lives as if nothing is the matter.

Then there are those who are, "bending the map." People who realize there are problems, but who are trying to create the world to fit their model of what was. They may think the problems of our time are due to not living as in days of old... so they continue with primitive or archaic models, holding onto the idea that a return to an earlier time is the solution.

And there are those who have moved into the final stage. The crucial and perhaps defining moment of survival.

Acceptance.

When we finally realize that our planet is withering, humans are suffering, the world is in a precarious situation, we have two options.

We can either give up, assume a position of hopelessness, live in fear and hope someone is going to save us.

Or, we can move into a realm of adapting, figuring out ways to overcome our challenges, and creating a new way to survive... to live.

I have the sense that we, as a species must first recognize that the answers to our current challenges are not found in the distant past or in an outdated model, but must be discovered, invented, and created.

But, we can't continue as if we are not lost.

We can't pretend the human is not harming our Earth, each other, and all of life.

We can't give up.

We can't just hope someone will save us.

What we can do is learn from the past, gather the wisdom of the ages, accept our new world reality, listen to our hearts, and move into a place of hope and creativity.

The way to survive, to overcome is to search the depths of our hearts, live each moment with kindness and care, decide to make our experience one that adds to the goodness of life, and finally, embrace our challenges with acceptance, hope, love, and peace.

May we find our way.

Moving Prayerfully

2007-10-25T17:09:00.001-04:00

A thought that often comes to mind during my yoga practice is the idea of "moving prayerfully."

While we often typically think of prayer as a set verse spoken to God, possibly a plea or supplication to the divine, "moving prayerfully" has a somewhat different meaning to me.

It means, living a prayer.

Not talking a prayer, but living one.

To move prayerfully means our very life becomes a prayer. Our prayer is in our giving, receiving, sharing, caring, accepting, understanding, and loving.

Our lives, the very way we live is the communion, the dedication, the hope, and the faith.

And with this awareness is a sense of being a part of the divine or Source, in gratitude for existence.

For secularists, it means living life aware of the glorious essence of what we are a part. Recognizing the gifts of nature for which we receive, acknowledging our life has meaning as we spread goodness and kindness.

It is easy to get so busy with the daily needs of life, that we forget what we are truly doing or even who we are.

Moving prayerfully helps us slow down, find peace, and notice life.

When we find ourselves anxious, fearful, uncertain, or out of balance, we can breath deeply, and take a few moments to prayerfully move.

We do this as we become aware of the moment. We remind ourselves of that of which we are a part; reflect on our actions and thoughts, live in the present, and notice our intentions and behaviors. Move into the realm of goodness, care, and compassion.

And in that stillness of thought, we live our prayer.

Purple lotus found here

Your Attitude

2007-10-24T17:00:00.000-04:00

An attitude is infectious....

Is yours worth catching?

The Amish: Releasing Hochmut and Embracing Demut

2007-10-23T08:15:00.000-04:00

This past weekend my family took a fabulous trip through Northern Virginia into Western Pennsylvania.

If you have never visited Western Pennsylvania in October, you may want to put it on your, "what to do before I leave this life," list. It is truly a breathtaking picturesque area of our Earth.

As we drive through the rolling, multi-colored hills, we can't help but notice the familiar horse drawn buggies, slowly making their way on the sides of the road. We are stepping back into a time long past.

This is Amish country.

I've been fascinated by the Amish since I was a child, and still today am at once intrigued and mystified by their lifestyle. While I obviously do not embrace many of their teachings there are two that I particularly admire and honor:

The rejection of hochmut and the embrace of demut.

For those unfamiliar with the Amish and the concepts of hochmut and demut, let me briefly explain why I admire and respect these people.

But first, a little background and information for those unfamiliar with this religion, culture, and society.

The Amish are a group of Swiss-German people who immigrated to the Colony of Pennsylvania during the eighteenth century. Today, they remain as they have been for the past three hundred years rejecting modern society and removing or isolating themselves from the rest of the world. They still speak the language of their ancestors...a German dialect called, Pennsylvania Dutch.

The Amish religion began in Europe by founder, Jacob Ammen. They broke away from the Mennonites and are a sect of the Anabaptist, or those who disagreed with the idea of children being baptized.

Today there are approximately two hundred thousand Amish in several different parts of Northern United States and Canada.

The Amish use few modern conveniences, allow education to exist only to the eighth grade, have numerous strict and defining rules, and shun those who leave their religion. They dress in uniform, participate in traditional long held customs, and have largely removed themselves from the modern world.

They certainly stand out as unusual and archaic in many ways.

They also have adopted some truly honorable ideals and in some respects can be our examples.

The two teachings of the Amish, that I find noble are, a rejection of hochmut and the embrace of demut.

Hochmut is the word for pride, haughtiness, and arrogance. Rejecting hochmut means to reject placing oneself over another. It means to release and remove the human desire to feel better than others, to judge others, or to fill the ego. The Amish society is one where no one is honored as above or demeaned as below another. Individuals and families are encouraged to be on the same level and there is little to encourage pride of any sort.

Demut is the concept of submission, humility, or, "letting be." It is often considered the spirit of giving up one's will to God, or accepting divine will. In addition, Detmut gives the sense of "allowing," and calm. It is the opposite of demanding, forcing, coercing, or manipulating and is one of the obvious teachings emulated in the tightly knit communities of the Amish.

The Amish are a gentle, caring, and quiet people. They live simply and authentically and more than most, live in harmony with our planet. They do not force their ways on others and are amazingly self-sufficient as they take care of their own and do not rely on government help in any way.

In the never-ending quest to embrace goodness, perhaps we can follow the example of these kind and gentle people as they teach us about rejecting hochmut and embracing demut... as they exemplify what it means to release the ego, accept life, live in meekness and humility, and remove pride and egotism from our lives.

And if you ever get a chance to visit Western Pennsylvania in October, make sure to go!

Photos were taken by me with the exception of the Amish buggy... The final picture requires some explanation! We stayed in a lovely Inn in the middle of nowhere and when we came out the door in the morning found ourselves stepping into this herd of cows from a nearby pasture!

The Most Important Human Endeavor... Giving Beauty and Dignity to Life

2007-10-21T20:05:00.000-04:00

"The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life."

~Albert Einstein

In the daily experience of life, it seems that we may forget what is the human endeavor.

It is not to accumulate possessions. It is not to rise in power. It is not to rule others. It is not to inundate our lives with meaningless activities, fill our minds with crass and crude humor, or waste our days with selfish pleasure seeking stimulation.

The human endeavor is to create a life of true and honorable beauty, and bring dignity, respect, care, and compassion into existence.

As Einstein eloquently states, we further the human endeavor only as we strive for morality, as we live with more consciousness, and as we fill our hearts and minds with kindness and love.