Archive for May, 2008

End Times
Are these the end times people have been talking about and predicting for, oh several thousand, years? How did we get so lucky as to live in these exciting times?

Why
What makes everyone think the end of times is coming, anyway?

1. Gas shortages
2. 2012 is fast approaching
3. Food shortages
4. Economy is tanking
5. Predictions are lining up
6. Global Warming
7. etc.
8. etc.

Analysis
Let’s do a little mental match-up, shall we?

"Evidence" of "end times"	Cause	Reasons	Possible Solutions / Alternatives
Gas Shortages / Rising Gas Prices	Humans	Humans control the earth’s resources and encourage dependency upon certain ones.	Find alternative means of energy and travel.
Approach of 2012	Humans again	Humans predicted that the world would end in 2012.	Live life to the fullest now and always and you will enjoy every moment along the way. There are never any problems in the now, if something comes up you just deal with it, right, no problem.
Food shortages	Yup, those Humans	This is multi-faceted and probably filled with opinions so let’s try a few: "over-population" causing a larger portion of earth to be used for housing instead of farming while conversely also causing a greater need for MORE farming (catch 22); global warming causing problems with growing crops; industrialization of our food sources; deterioration of quality and amount of top-soil for growing	People can buy organic and bio-dynamic food; start growing their own food organically or bio-dynamically; start or join an organic or bio-dynamic co-op, etc.
Tanking economy	You guessed it, Humans	Humans control and manage most money and exchange systems on earth.	Do more exchanges, don’t buy as much, make what you can, grow your own food, support your local economy, etc. If you’re a manufacturer, make your products with "Planned Longevity" instead of "Planned Obsolescence".
Global Warming	?	Well, we can blame the humans but this probably isn’t the first global warming on the earth.  I heard that some scientists think global warming would be happening anyway, humanity is just speeding it up.	My understanding (since I’m not a scientist in this lifetime) is that an ice age comes after global warming so let’s all buy some skis and wool underwear.

What’s really going on anyway?
Do YOU think you know what’s going on? I think most people agree SOMETHING different is happening, life just doesn’t look the same and things seem to be speeding up. Things really are coming to a head but why? Some say the planet and humanity are evolving. That’s what I’m choosing to believe. Just find a belief that works for you and go with that. I don’t think it really matters and if we "delete the need to understand" then we can live more in the moment and enjoy life, being here now.

Planned Longevity
That would be the opposite of "Planned Obsolescence".  Just imagine if everything was made to last for several generations. We wouldn’t need to keep replacing things, they would just last us our lifetimes and the lifetimes of our children and hopefully their children. This would lead us to not using as many resources, not filling up land-fills, being able to follow our dreams and have more relaxed times since we wouldn’t have to work much.

Those Humans
So, if most of the things that are pointing toward end-times are caused by humans then what are we worried about? Just get those humans to do things differently and most of our problems are solved, right?

General suggestions for living in these times:

1. It would certainly help if everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, remembers and feels that we are all ONE and what affects one of us affects all of us.
2. Fill our consciousness with evidence of Well-Being and refrain from listening to anything that is fear-based.
3. Remember the next seven generations in all our decisions, which is a naturally benefit of living from the heart.
4. Learn to live more from your heart (study the Living from the Heart e-paper) so you can feel balance and harmony during times when others are panicking and be able to send love, appreciation, compassion, forgiveness, humility, understanding and valor to those who are experiencing fear.
5. Heal your issues now so you are heart centered instead of fear based when the heat gets turned up. (You know what happens to impurities in metal when they boil the metal, right? It bubbles to the top and is released but it has to bubble to the surface to get out.) Do this by telling the Universe that you do want to heal and following your guidance to those things to do to get you the healing you need.
6. Remember to love and forgive, love and forgive, all the time, especially yourself and your loved ones.

Keep smiling!

My interview with Deepak Chopra
I was thrilled when New Visions asked me to interview Deepak Chopra in 2007. One of the very first healing books I read was Perfect Health and I still do some of the exercises I learned in that book. We connected on the phone for a paradigm shifting 15 minutes and here are the results of the interview:

Intro
Deepak Chopra brought our awareness to the mind/body connection through the marriage of science and spirituality and continues to facilitate our evolution and ultimate enlightenment through his new book, Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment, and his many efforts to raise the consciousness of humanity through projects like the Alliance for a New Humanity. A gifted, insightful, and best-selling author, inspirational speaker, teacher, and storyteller, people all over the world have been uplifted and forever changed by his groundbreaking works. You can catch his Wellness Radio Show on Sirius Stars 102, visit the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, if you missed him live at the Mind Body Spirit Expo in October 2007.

Dawn Do you think we’re close to reaching critical mass in the desire for peace and a balanced life existence on this planet?
Deepak I’m not sure. I don’t know the answer to that question. I think with the technology that we have, information technology, and internet, and media, and newspapers, and television, and movies, and music, and entertainment, we have the capacity for sure. And one of my goals is to try and use this capacity. We’ve created a website for our foundation [Alliance for a New Humanity] called www.anhglobal.org and the goal of the website is to help accelerate that critical mass.

Dawn Many people believe earth is a focal point in the Universe at this time. Do you think there’s a grand plan for this planet and the people on it?
Deepak I would like to believe that, yes. I would like to believe that the Universe is becoming self-conscious through this planet, yes.

Dawn Your newest book is a fiction about Buddha. How important has Buddha been in your life?
Deepak I grew up with Buddha’s teachings and the stories, and the fiction element is only what happens in the mind. The rest is actually based on actual facts.

Dawn What did you most want to get across with Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment?
Deepak That the capacity for enlightenment exists in all of us.

DAWN This isn’t the first time you’ve employed the fiction format. Tell me how fiction and poetry can be powerful mediums for conveying spiritual principles and ideas.
Deepak Fiction and poetry are the only way to get to the soul on a personal level. You can never get to the soul through non-fiction. In fiction you reveal your innermost dreams, fantasies, longings, fears, demons, and everything that’s really important to you. You cannot do that in non-fiction. So, fiction and poetry are a raid (I don’t know what he meant or what words he actually said here.) on the inarticulate.

Dawn Tell me how your relationship with Siddhartha changed through writing this book?
Deepak My relationship with Siddhartha was always a very intuit relationship but I realized also that when Buddha conquered Mara, that was not an external demon, that was his own self.

Dawn Do you subscribe to the belief that humans used to have many more powers and abilities such as enlightened ones like The Buddha and Jesus?
Deepak I think a few humans did but the vast majority of humans have always been like they have been now, yes.

Dawn Do you think we have devolved?
Deepak I don’t, no. I think we are evolving, actually.

Dawn Do you believe enlightenment is our goal?
Deepak Yes, I believe enlightenment is the goal of every human being.

Dawn So how can we achieve that?
Deepak Through the practice of, what in India we call Yoga. The yoga of being, the yoga of love, the yoga of karma and the yoga of knowledge.

Dawn Your books Life After Death: The Burden of Proof and Power, Freedom and Grace seem to be linked. If the mind lives on after the body does that mean the mind is part of the soul or at least linked to it?
Deepak Yes, mind is an expression of the soul and the body is an expression of the soul and the mind as well, as is the world. So the first level of existence is consciousness which expresses itself as Universal Soul, then collective soul, than personal soul, then mind, then energy, and then body and then Universe.

Dawn So does the mind stay with the soul after death?
Deepak Unless one is in the state of unity consciousness the mind is always an individual aspect of the soul and has the seeds of memory, karma and desires.

Dawn I see that you have partnered with The Wild Divine Project for their most recent release: Wisdom Quest. What brought you to that project?
Deepak I just think that the Wild Divine people have the best, most amazing way of expressing subtle ideas and abstract notions. I’ve been working with them for a while.

Dawn You’ve covered many arenas in your career. What do you look for when you decide which project to take on next?
Deepak The only thing I really look for is that, will this help in our personal and also in the collective evolution of others.

Dawn Many skeptics started living a more spiritual life with your groundbreaking work into the link between science and spirituality. What made you realize there was a link?
Deepak I’m a scientist by training, and then of course I practice my own personal disciplines of meditation and going inward and I could see that science was looking for the same thing only it was looking outside and spirituality looks inside. But when you go far enough you end up in the same place.

Dawn Do you have an ultimate life goal or are your goals an evolutionary process that change with time?
Deepak They’re always an evolutionary process that change with time and also with what’s happening in ones’ life.

Dawn What is your greatest joy?
Deepak My greatest joy is creativity, maximum creativity.

Dawn You have known a lot of uplifting people over the years. Who made the most impact on you?
Deepak I think of all the great teachers, maybe Krishnamurti was the most important for me.

Dawn With your brilliant marriage of spirituality and science you’ve always been on the leading edge of evolving thoughts and ideas in our world. What’s on the horizon for humanity?
Deepak I think a quantum leap into the next stage of evolution would be what I would like to believe. You know that Rumi poem, “When I die I will soar with angels, when I die to the angels, what I shall become you cannot imagine.” So I think, awakening of dormant potential, insight, intuition, creativity, imagination, the power of intention, conscious choice making, and ultimately expressing that in the harmony of the Universe.

Dawn What’s on the horizon for you and your work?
Deepak I’m finishing a book called The Third Jesus, and then I’m doing The Missing Years of Christ. I’m also doing a book called Dr. Buddha: The Alleviation of Human Suffering which will be very practical, and something on feminine leadership, so I have lots of stuff going on.

Dawn How about your children?
Deepak My children are working with me on many projects. We have a media company and we work together producing documentaries, movies, comics, book comics.

Dawn Comics for adults or children?
Deepak They’re about superheroes drawn from mythology. You can check Virgin Comics and you’ll see them: mythical Devis and Devas and all that.

Dawn Are they from India or all different nations and cultures.
Deepak They are mostly from India right now.

Dawn Do you plan to expand out into others?
Deepak Yes, we are already. But the ones out there are mostly from India.

Read my reviews of:
Power, Freedom and Grace
Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment

What this e-paper is
In our study of the Living from the Heart e-paper, from the Event Temples website, When-Which-How is described as When you use the six heart virtues, Which one(s) you use and How you use them. The When-Which-How Practice Guide goes more in-depth into the whole practice of living from the heart.

Living from the Heart – Background
In case you haven’t read the Living from the Heart e-paper yet, I’ll tell you a little about it. It talks about the evolution of humanity and the planet and explains how we are evolving toward living more from the heart. We can help humanity and the planet evolve more gracefully and easily by living a more heart-centered life. The paper itself includes techniques on how to strengthen the heart virtues within yourself and then you are able to send them out to other people, situations, animals, etc. that could benefit from them. Eventually the Event Temples website will have internet “gatherings” where those of us who are working with the heart virtues “gather” and intentionally send heart energy to situations, areas or people who need it. It’s a powerful practice and one that can help make your life nicer now and the shifting "birth pains" of planet earth easier for you to handle when they happen. As the “heat” gets turned up, living a heart-centered life will make it easier for us and we can make it easier for others as well when we are living from the heart.

When-Which-How
So, this guide gives background and explains why we want to master the use of the six heart virtues. It uses situations from every day life and how they can be used. The results are educational and often humorous.

Situations
The sample situations presented cover a broad range of scenarios that might affect many different types of people. It is explained how their day, or situations, go without using the heart virtues and then “rerunns” the day showing how it would have been different if the person in the sample had practiced the heart virtues. We learn how it would have affected their experience and the experiences of those around them creating more harmony and love.

My experience using the guide
I found that, even though I had understood at an intellectual level the When-Which-How practice from the Living from the Heart e-paper, I really began to practice it more in my daily life on a regular basis after reading this guide. My practice was further enhanced after listening to the interviews with James, the creator/founder (download the audio interviews in the What’s New section of the Wingmakers website). Now I am practicing the heart virtues almost constantly and feeling wonderful. Practicing it a lot helps me to catch myself when I start to feel negativity and I immediately come up with a virtue to feel immediately and it shifts my energy back to the heart. I just love it!

Read my review of the Living from the Heart e-paper
Download the free When-Which-How Practice Guide from the Event Temples website

Mother’s Day
Sunday, is Mother’s Day. We celebrate the woman who carried us, raised us, nurtured us, taught us about life and helped shape us into who we are. We thank her for the special place she made for us in her heart and we are grateful for the embodiment of Divine Mother that she represents in our lives. We are special and the woman who helped us come into this world knows that, whether she is in a physical body or not.

Mother earth
The earth is also our Mother. Look at everything she gives to all of her creatures and creations: unconditional love, nurturing, healing, evolution, food, birth, death, and more. She supplies all our needs and forgives us if we forget who we are. She helps to bring us up and returns our bodies to the dirt when we are done with them. Sitting upon her green grass we can give up all our cares to her and she will heal us. She is magnificent and loving. Let’s love her back and spend as many many quality hours as we can with her.

Divine Mother
All woman have the spark and motherly love of Divine Mother, whether they have children of their own or not. I’ve seen girls (and some boys), even children, show the unconditional love and “mothering” of Divine Mother. It is something women are blessed with. Paramahansa Yogananda said the thing he loved best about all women was their Motherly Love. It is our gift to the world. Divine Mother’s love comes to all of us no matter what, it is unconditional and we don’t have to earn it. She loves us through thick and thin, no matter what we do. That is the gift of Divine Mother.

Something new
What can we do to show our mother we love and appreciate her? She has given us a part of herself and rarely asked for anything for herself in return. My mother came up with a wonderful way of thanking her mother for bringing her into this world. On her own birthday my mother sent her mother beautiful flowers along with a lovely card. So, on the day she celebrated her own birthday she thanked her own mother for her life and all she had done for her. She would even do this for her former husband’s mother. It’s quite a lovely way of thanking our mother for what it took to bring us into this world. Another uncommon gift is to make a donation in your mother’s name to a charity near and dear to her heart. Tell her all about it in your card and ask the charity to send her a thank you note. Time together with your mother is also nice so consider taking her out for an event or meal together. Show her love in any and all ways that you can.

My motherly wish for my children
As a mother I hope to raise my children to be happy, healthy, confident, self-sufficient people who are significant contributors to the betterment of our world and the Universe. I hope they live their dreams and never have regrets. I want them to know they are loved, that we are all One, that the Universe supports them, that they are prosperous beyond belief, they deserve to have whatever they want in life, they can do anything and everything they want. I want them to realize the value and rewards of sharing what they have with others and appreciating the magic, beauty and miracles of life. I want them to realize their Divinity and become Highly Evolved Beings in this lifetime, if that is what they choose. Above all, I want them to be content and at peace. I want for them what they want for themselves.

How I do it
I teach them, through my example (and probably too many words but I’m working on that) to live the Grandest Version of the Greatest Vision they have about themselves. I am constantly learning, growing and changing and when I do something not in line with Who and What I want to be, I own it. I consider what contributed to the behavior not in line with my Highest Vision about myself and figure out how to avoid or change what I do so it doesn’t happen again. See, I’m a Constantly Healing Individual, C.H.I., Chi, energy, get it? Tee-hee-hee.

My wish this Mother’s Day
What is my wish for Mother’s Day? I want to spend the day with my family sharing light and love in harmony with each other and the world. If we can spend the day seeing the God essence in each other we’ll go a long way to seeing the God essence in every living thing (which everything is) and creating heaven on earth.

My mother
My mother is one of my loyal readers and has introduced me to many things that have worked for me over the years. A lot of the things she told me about, you can find reviewed here on this site. One of the philosophies my mother taught me is, "If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all." I agree and this is how I run my website.

My mother’s gift this Mother’s Day
Since my mother’s birthday is May 13th it has frequently fallen on Mother’s Day. I make it a point to spend just as much on my mother as I would spend over two gift giving holidays. She and her husband have made a point of filling their home with things that contribute to its function as a spiritual sanctuary, a nourishing place for their souls and support for their lives as they live into the Grandest Version of the Greatest Vision they have for themselves. It is my pleasure and joy to support them in their endeavors so I usually find something supportive to add to their collection.

New Mother’s
I sent my sister, a new mother this year, the Callanetics DVD so she can get back in shape quickly. I’m sure this was appreciated right after she had a baby.

This year
So this Mother’s Day find something nice to do for your mother that you’ve never done before. Be the person you always wanted to be. Be true to yourself, honor your feelings and truth and go out into the world with your head held high, loving all as yourself. Show your mother you care about her and the gift of you that she gave to the world. Love her, no matter what, even if your past isn’t everything you wanted it to be. Remember that we choose our life experience and how you see life’s events goes a long way towards what you bring to yourself in the future. In other words, you can choose to see your life’s events as there to help you grow, evolve and have the experiences you came here to have. Non-judgment and acceptance will go a long way toward inner-peace and happiness. The Dali Lama said that pain is inevitable but suffering was optional. So true. Healing yourself and your relationships will go a long way to eternal peace on earth. “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” Gandhi. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Love, Light, Prosperity and Peace,

Seems like a sweet idea
When I first looked into this website my first thought was, "What a nice idea for someone to come up with." I thought it was a small website with a nice, singular mission. It’s so much more. Little did I know how in-depth the information and programs were. My word, someone put a great deal of time, thought, energy and above all LOVE into this endeavor. It is my pleasure to share it with you.

Official day of global love
May 1st is Global Love Day. The Love Foundation, which initiated the idea of Global Love Day, has as its mission to inspire unconditional love through certain programs. The site goes into it in great detail. Basically they are trying to help foster the idea that we can share love all year long and have set May 1st as a day for "consciously focusing on love and what it means to you."

Communities
There are community events all over the world planned for this day. Your group or community can submit your Global Love Day event on The Love Foundation’s website. There are different events for schools and universities to participate, organizations and corporations, too. Different communities have made proclamations and greetings proclaiming May 1st, Global Love Day.

My love day/year
I’m going to do a lot of heart breathing, since that always helps me feel more love, and start a program of looking for love all day long. I’m going to start by making a list of 10 loving experiences that happen to me during the day. Each day I’m going to find more things to feel love about and by the end of the year I’ll be coming up with 50 things that I saw with loving eyes that day. To make it work I’ll write them down as they happen.

Founder’s Global Love Day address to the world
Harold W. Becker, Founder and President of The Love Foundation, Inc uploaded his 2008 address to the world. It is truly an inspiration and an ideal we can all work toward manifesting for the world. Bravo to Harold W. Becker and thank you for inspiring us!

So, now that you know, what are you going to do for Global Love Day?