Archive for March, 2008
Zen Shorts
March 31st, 2008
What this book is about
In this beautifully illustrated book, three children meet their new neighbor, Stillwater, a panda who teaches them Zen through the example of his life, his experiences with them and the stories he tells them.
My experience
I really enjoyed reading this to my daughter and she enjoyed the stories of the children’s experiences with the panda and the stories he tells them. She’s 7 so she had a lot of questions afterward.
Law of attraction caution
For those of you who don’t want to read anything to your children that they don’t want to experience you should know that one of the stories the panda tells is about a robber. Of course, the person being robbed (the panda’s uncle) gave the robber everything he had (which was only his robe) since the robber obviously needed it more than he did.
Conclusions
I really enjoyed reading this book and look forward to reading the other ones that are available or getting the stuffed panda. The pictures are beautiful and the stories inspiring.
View book details at Amazon: Zen Shorts
Spring (New Year’s) Resolutions
March 21st, 2008
Start something new
Today is the first full day of Spring. Now is the real time for making "New Year’s" resolutions. (Read a little history.) The energy of Spring is the time for new beginnings. Now is the time when nature and earth energies support us in starting new things. Think about it. Plants are starting to blossom, birds are starting to sing, build their nests and lay eggs; the whole world (or at least the northern hemisphere) is starting anew. Doesn’t it make sense that nature would also support humans in starting new things now too? Think of all the extra energy now.
Make your New Year’s Resolutions work … in the Spring
If you tried a New Year’s Resolution in January only to fail, challenge yourself to try it again in the Spring. I bet it will be easier for you to stick to that resolution and achieve your goals. I’ve always had more luck starting something in the Spring. I feel an invisible force propelling me forward in whatever I start at this time. I also feel a renewed inspiration for things I’ve been working on through the winter.
Try it! Feel and see the difference it can make.
Posted in Messages
Did You See that Recession Go By?
March 6th, 2008
What is a recession?
A recession by its very definition ("a decline in economic activity") is that people stop spending money. That’s what causes a recession. People only stop spending money if someone makes them think they need to. We can only go into a recession if enough people stop spending money. Why do people stop spending money? Because someone tells them that we are in a recession. It’s a catch 22. You can only have/start a recession if people believe it. I think recessions are caused by the power of suggestion and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not one I want in my reality.
Advantages of a recession
Well, people who do have money during a recession can spend it to buy stocks at a "discount". Then when the recession ends they can sell them at a profit. There is a more spiritual upside, if we choose to take it. Perhaps the suggestion of a recession will cause people to wake up to the dysfunction of the human mind, which Eckhart Tolle talks about in The Power of Now and A New Earth and is discussed in the Living from the Heart paper.
Seeing the illusion with the help of recessions
Let’s use a little analogy: Eckhart tells us that relationships aren’t meant to make us happy but we can use them to achieve enlightenment. Going with that premise, let’s use the "scare" of a "recession" to awaken us to the dysfunction of the way our society functions here in 2008 and start to see the light through the cracks of the illusion. Allow your feelings around the recession to bring you into the present moment and look around you. Where are you? Is everything in your immediate vicinity functioning properly? Do you have most everything you need? Are you comfortable and have enough food in your belly? Is your heart beating in your chest, pumping blood and nutrients to your body’s cells? Is air coming in and out of your lungs freely? Are the moon, sun and stars free for you to look at, enjoy and bask in?
You see and experience what you look for
Personally, it doesn’t look like people are hording their money. I see plenty of people at the malls and shopping online (Yes, you can see it online. Just look at Amazon’s ranking of book sales for today). Why are mini-malls going up all over the country if no one is spending money? (Okay, spending no money is a depression and no one is reporting a depression, I’m just exaggerating so you get the point.) 
If you want to experience the abundance and prosperity of this planet you have to see it. Look around you. Look at the abundant number of people there are, look at how much money Oprah has, count the seeds on a strawberry, count how many trees there are in a forest or how many needles are on one pine tree then multiply that by how many pine trees there are on the planet. Holy, smokes, count how much information is on the internet. Are you getting the idea? This planet is abundant with everything a human body could need and Abraham (Ask and It Is Given) tells us that the planet will make whatever we need. Victoria Boutenko, in her groundbreaking book, Green for Life, tells us that the soil will create the nutrients a plant needs if they aren’t already present in the soil.
What are we paying for then?
When you buy an apple at the store you aren’t actually paying for an apple. Nature gives us apples for free. Heck, they grow on trees and fall to the ground! We are actually paying for someone to plant the apple seed and grow the tree, water the tree and pick the apples, pack the apples in a crate and deliver them to market, receive them at the store and put them on the display for us to buy. Count how many people who you helped support when you bought that apple, but no matter how you slice it, the apple was free. You were just paying for people to grow it and deliver it to you. Got it?
What to do
I still stand firmly as a believer in following ones’ own individual guidance. (As explained in The Secret and Ask and It Is Given.) Decide what’s important to you and what you want to be, do and have. Your guidance will then guide you in all deliberations to be, do and have what you want.
What I do
When I think about spending money on something, I tune in to my guidance and decide how I feel. I think about both making the purchase and not making the purpose and go with my internal guidance as to what to do. It’s the only way to be sure that what I’m doing will turn out the way I want it to based on what I want to be, do and have. (Neale Donald Walsch explains this in Conversations with God.)
Have an awesome day and follow your guidance.
Prosperity and Abundance RULE! You are meant to be great and have all your needs met. The Universe isn’t cheap, look at all the diamonds it puts in the sky just for you to look at and enjoy.
Posted in Commentary
A New Earth on Oprah’s Book Club
March 1st, 2008
A New Earth on Oprah’s book club
Oprah has been studying this type of material for 20 years and now she is brought it into the mainstream by making A New Earth the next subject of study for the Oprah book club. The study of this book started on Monday, March 3, 2008 and it was a monumental event on the internet.
If you missed the class
Oprah offers a summer time study guide online at the Oprah book club.
Read Dawn’s review: A New Earth