Monthly Archive: November 2005

I had an incredible day.

I was asked to go to court in support of a homeless person I didn’t
know, so I went.  Actually, on Sunday I found out that another
person who has been involved with Asheville Homeless Network was also
going to be in court… and I found out when I got there that they were
both in the same courtroom.  While sitting in the courtroom
waiting, yet another friend came in… he had been attacked by a person
he was giving space to in his home, and the guy told the cops he was a
drug dealer (which he isn’t) — so the violent person gets a
misdemeanor charge and my friend gets a felony charge.  Lots of
interesting facets to this case, but I shouldn’t go into that here.

When I left the courtroom, I went to the bank to deposit a check I’d
gotten for AHN.  As I got home, there was a message from my
wonderful friend, Carolina, asking to meet me downtown.  I spent
about an hour on Pathways Seminary paperwork, then went out to go meet
her… and ran into AHN Treasurer H.L..  I went back in my
apartment to get the business cards I’d printed out for him, and spent
some time talking to him about our incorporation papers, which I mailed
in Saturday.  He then drove me to my meeting with Caroline.

She was as wonderful as always.  And she always makes me feel
better just being around her.  Some others of her friends dropped
in and I got to meet them.  And before I left, my
acquaintance/friend Robin Cape, who we just helped get elected to City
Council, came in, and introduced me to her husband.  We then
talked about several things, including getting approval (when the new
Council takes their seats) for a Tent City.  She asked me to work
up some information about tent cities around the country and send it to
her email.

I headed for home, and ran into Jesse, another person who has been
involved in AHN, and talked to him for a while, then headed home again
and ran into Son Heart, another AHN member and talked with him for a
while.

After getting home, I did the research, and sent out two emails to AHN
and one of those to Robin.  Then I got ready for my Recovery Inc.
meeting, which it was my turn to run.

We had a good meeting, although there were “only” 5 people there. 
I walked there, and walked back.  Logged in over 11,000 steps
today 😀

Came home and visited with John, and watched House with him.

Now I’m home and being beseiged by all my friends on Messenger.

Like I said, it was a good day.

Hugs,
Me

O Mother! Let all my speech be your prayer; let all my crafts and
technology be your worship and be the mystic gestures of my hand,
adorning you. May all my movements become your devotional Circle. May
everything I eat or drink be offerings to you.  Let my lying down
in rest and sleep be prostrations to you. Mother! Whatever I do, may
all that become a sacred service and worship for you.
– Adi Sankara Hymn to the Divine Mother

Bombed out again.  Sigh.

===

You know quite well deep within you,
that there is only a single magic,
a single power, a single salvation . . .
And that is called loving.
Well then, love your suffering.
Do not resist it, do not flee from it.
It is only your aversion that hurts,
nothing else.

– Herman Hesse

This Is My Life, Rated
Life: 6.9
Mind: 7.8
Body: 5.9
Spirit: 9.2
Friends/Family: 5.6
Love: 4.3
Finance: 5.6
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

That Love bar is on it’s way up right now, but I didn’t want to
project.  The Friends/Family bar is a cross between questions
about my family while gowing up and my friends now, not really
something they should be mixing.

Hugs,
Me

Slowdown Therapy

1. Slow down. You are not responsible for doing it all yourself, right now.
2. Remember a happy, peaceful time in your past. Rest there. Each moment has richness that takes a lifetime to savor.
3. Set your own pace. When someone is pushing you, it’s OK to tell them they’re pushing.
4. Take nothing for granted: watch water flow, the corn grow, the leaves blow, your neighbor mow.
5. Taste your food. Nature provides it to delight as well as to nourish.
6. Notice the sun and the moon as they rise and set. They are remarkable for their steady pattern of movement, not their speed.
7. Quit planning how you’re going to use what you know, learn, or
possess.  Your gifts just are; be grateful and their purpose will
be clear.
8. When you talk with someone, don’t think about what you’ll say next. Thoughts will spring up naturally if you let them.
9. Talk and play with children. It will bring out the unhurried little person inside you.
10. Create a place in your home, at your work, in your heart where you can go for quiet and recollection. You deserve it.
11. Allow yourself time to be lazy and unproductive. Rest isn’t luxury; it’s a necessity.
12. Listen to the wind blow. It carries a message of yesterday and tomorrow-and now. NOW counts.
13. Rest on your laurels. They bring comfort whatever their size, age, or condition.
14. Talk slower. Talk less. Don’t talk. Communication isn’t measured by words.
15. Give yourself permission to be late sometimes. Life is for living, not scheduling.
16. Listen to the song of a bird; the complete song. Music and nature are gifts, but only if you are willing to receive them.
17. Take time just to think. Action is good and necessary, but it’s fruitful only if we muse, ponder, and mull.
18. Make time for play – the things you like to do. Whatever your age, your inner child needs re-creation.
19. Watch and listen to the night sky. It speaks.
20. Listen to the words you speak, especially in prayer.
21. Learn to stand back and let others take their turn as leaders.
There will always be new opportunities for you to step out in front
again.
22. Divide big jobs into little jobs.
23. When you find yourself rushing and anxious, stop. Ask yourself
“WHY?” you are rushing and anxious. The reasons may improve your
self-understanding.
24. Take time to read. Thoughtful reading is enriching reading.
25. Direct your life with purposeful choices, not with speed and
efficiency. The best musician is one who plays with expression and
meaning, not the one who finishes first.
26. Take a day off alone; make a retreat. You can learn from monks and hermits without becoming one.
27. Pet a furry friend. You will give and get the gift of now.
28. Work with your hands. It frees the mind.
29. Take time to wonder. Without wonder, life is merely existence.
30. Sit in the dark. It will teach you to see and hear, taste and smell.
31. Once in a while, turn down the lights, the volume, the throttle, the invitations. Less really can be more.
32. Let go. Nothing is usually the hardest thing to do – but often it is the best.
33. Take a walk-but don’t go anywhere. If you walk just to get somewhere, you sacrifice the walking.
34. Count your friends. If you have one, you are lucky. If you have more, you are blessed. Bless them in return.
35. Count your blessings – one at a time and slowly.
– Unknown author

The trouble is most of us would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
– unknown

Why aren’t you happy? It’s because ninety-nine percent of everything
you do, and think, and say, is for yourself — and there isn’t one.
– Wu Wei Wu

Our past is a story existing only in our minds. Without a sense of
connection to deeper, more noble ideas, we are doomed to a desperate
struggle for things that fill us up: the job, the relationship, the
looks, the body. We are tyrannized by a belief that we are inadequate.
– Marianne Williamson, A Year of Daily Wisdom

Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we have learned. The
spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love
back into our hearts.
– Marianne Williamson

The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect he becomes an
adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he
forgives himself, he becomes wise.
– Aiden Nowlan

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
– Will Rogers

Sacred space is within us. Not in our body or brain cells, but in the
volume of our consciousness. Wherever we go, we bring the sacred within
us to the sacred around us.
– Michael S. Schneider

Your attempt to find love outside yourself always fails, because you
cannot receive from another something you haven’t given to yourself.
When you withhold love from yourself, you attract others into your life
who are doing the same thing. The experience of unconditional love
begins in your heart, not in someone else’s. Don’t make your ability to
love yourself conditional on someone else’s ability to love you. Don’t place
faith in the conditions that surround love or in the form in which it
presents itself. For these are impermanent and subject to the
vicissitudes of everyday life. Real love does not change. It exists
independently of the form through which it expresses. The Source of
this eternal, omnipresent, formless Love is within you. This is where
your faith must be placed, for this love is as certain as anything you
will ever know. And once It is firmly established in your heart, you
will never need to look for happiness outside of yourself.
– Paul Ferrini, Love Without Conditions

People will come and go in your life. Some people will treat you well.
Others will treat you unkindly. You will accept the love that is there
and see lack of love for what it is, a cry for help from one who is
hurting. You will encourage others to find the Source of love within as
you did, knowing fully that you cannot fix their little problems. The
tragedy of their lives can only be addressed by their willingness to
look within their own hearts and minds. One who loves without
conditions places no limits on his freedom nor on anyone else’s. He does
not try to keep love, for to try to keep it is to lose it. Love is a
gift that must constantly be given as it is asked for in each
situation. And the giver always knows when and to whom the gift is to
be given. There is nothing complicated about the act of love. It only
becomes complicated when one starts to withhold love, and then it ceases
to be love that one offers.
– Paul Ferrini, Love Without Conditions


We practice compassion through acts of forgiveness, releasing
resentment, anger and hurt. We understand forgiveness when we realize
that every act is either an expression of love or a call for love.
– Mary Manin Morrissey

Truth does not fight against illusions, nor do illusions fight against the truth. Illusions battle only with themselves.
– from A Course In Miracles

Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and
gravity… we shall harness… the energies of love. Then, for the
second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
– Teilhard De Chardin

=====

I pray that we learn to love more and demand less – so that our
cooperation with each other will be our ever-present reality and
consciousness.

I pray that our minds may become more flexible and that we all graduate from power intelligence to love intelligence.

I pray that we experience our common humanity and that we understand
that all of us are more alike than different. I pray that I realize
that my life won’t work well unless your life works well – that our
lives on this planet are deeply intertwined.

I pray that each of us finds the joy of heart-to-heart living and being
– that our minds learn to create perceptions of me and them, not me
versus them.

I pray that we be honest with each other – so that person-to-person trust may be created between all of us.

I pray that we learn that we have one world and that we no longer create hostilities across national boundary lines.

I pray that we learn to disagree without throwing each other out of our
hearts and not keep ourselves upset over our differences.

I pray that we learn to settle arguments in non-violent ways – that we
learn to listen to one another and truly hear – so that all armaments
become obsolete.

I pray that we no longer play with devices that can destroy life on this planet – that we have no loaded nuclear pistols.

I pray that we outgrow our nuclear adolescence – that our passions and our destructive technologies not overwhelm us.

I pray that all aggression and killing be as outdated as all forms of
human folly – so that we may create a wonderful fulfillment of our
human destiny together.

I pray that we learn to forgive – for our own sake – for a heart hardened with hatred is too heavy to carry.

I pray that we act less impulsively so that love and wisdom may guide our actions.

I pray that we take responsibility for the way we feel and that we not
blame others for the separating emotions we create within ourselves.

I pray that we learn from our great fund of human experience and that
we not suffer from making the same mistakes over and over again.

I pray that we realize that there can be more than enough on this earth
for all of us – so that we do not separate ourselves through greed.

I pray that we learn to experience that beauty in ourselves and each
other – and that we feel deep appreciation for the many good things we
have.

I pray that we hear the message that GOD IS LOVE – so that we no longer separate ourselves in the name of religion.

And finally, I pray that we open our hearts and learn to live together
on this globe – so that we find our birthright of a LOVING LIFE.

God Bless.

– Ken Keyes, Jr. – but I’m praying it too

Top 12 Reasons That Gays Should Not Marry

1. Homosexuality is not natural — you know, much like eyeglasses, polyester, indoor plumbing, and birth control.

2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. As
we all know, infertile couples and old people shouldn’t be able to get
legally married because, after all, the world needs more children to
increase its population of six billion plus.

3. Obviously, gay parents will raise gay children — after all, straight parents only raise straight children, right? Right?

4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage is
allowed. I mean, Britney Spears’ 55-hour marital romp was so deep and
meaningful.

5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed
at all, right? (Oops — I kinda forgot about “women are property,”
“blacks can’t marry whites,” “only husbands can initiate divorce” and
“birth control is illegal.”)

6. Gay marriage issues should be decided by people, not the courts,
because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have
historically protected the rights of the minorities.

7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours,
the values of one religion should always be imposed on the entire
country. That’s why we have only one religion in America — the one
true religion, you know.

8. Gay marriage will make people gay — much in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy
behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has
legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

10. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model
at home. That’s why single parents are forbidden by law to raise
children.

11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual
marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to
new social norms — after all, we haven’t been able to adapt to things
like horseless carriages, or voting women, or doubled lifespans, or men
walking on the moon, cell phones, computers or anything like that.

12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with
a different name are better, because a “separate but equal” institution
is always constitutional. Separate schools and water fountains for
African-Americans worked just as well as separate marriages for gays
and lesbians will.

Creator, open our hearts
to peace and healing between all people.

Creator, open our hearts
to provide and protect for all children of the earth.

Creator, open our hearts
to respect for the earth, and all the gifts of the earth.

Creator, open our hearts
to end exclusion, violence, and fear among all.

Thank-you for the gifts of this day and every day.

Alycia Longriver – Micmac Nation

I had a wonderful experience last night.  I pray that it repeats
and deepens.  I would make it so, but another is involved and has
a choice.

Hugs,
Me

It is enough that one surrenders oneself. Surrender is to give oneself
up to the original cause of one’s being. Do not delude yourself by
imagining such a source to be some God outside you. One’s source is
within oneself. Give yourself up to it. That means that you should seek
the source and merge in it.
– Sri Ramana Maharshi

Question: What stops me from enjoying my life more?

Answer: You have habitual patterns, like a number of people, where you
focus on the negative, you get involved in the negative, and you get
fascinated by it.

That’s one of the elements that negativity has on our consciousness –
fascination. It has an attraction, a glamour, and it holds our
attention. It’s allowed to do that, to have energy that our
consciousness responds to, but we’re larger than whatever the
negativity is. So we have the ability to transcend it. Always, that
ability is there. The more you know that ability and direct it to
overcome, the less the negativity impacts on you. You may find that
you’re simply directing your energy into what serves you, into who you
are.

– John-Roger, from Heart Journal

One key thing really makes this work – and you can do this with the
Mystical Traveler or Jesus Christ or the Buddha or your little daughter
or whoever – and that is to fill yourself up inside with them. You
think of them with so much love that if they were there, you would kiss
and love them straight to God. You fill up with so much, with their
essence, that you enter into it.
– John-Roger, from Walking with the Lord

Love can sometimes take you into some pretty divey places, under the
name of love. But if you really go under love, it will protect you.
Isn’t it nice to know that you don’t have to be afraid of one thing and
you’re still protected?

Sometimes when you are losing weight, you get to look at some things
that were put in you – “unloving” and maybe “afraid” are going to raise
their heads and go, “Hello there.” You need to be willing to look them
in the face, stare them down, and let them fall away.

– John-Roger, from “Another Look at Adoption, Adopting Yourself”

If you were free of your self judgment you could rest on the laurels of the Beloved who is you.
– John Morton

Hatred of evil does not diminish evil, it increases it.
– Gary Zukav, The Seat of the Soul

If you are losing a tug-of-war with a tiger, give him the rope before he gets to your arm. You can always buy a new rope.
-Max Gunther

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.
– Herman Hesse

Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.
– Pete Seeger

A sage doesn’t reveal the Way, not because he keeps it secret, but
because it can’t be revealed. Hence his words are like footsteps that
leave no tracks.
– Ch’eng Chu

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.
– Marcel Proust

See, that’s all you’re thinking about, is winning. You’re confirming
your sense of self- worth through outward reward instead of through
inner appreciation.
– Barbara Hall, Northern Exposure

You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
– John Wooden

Just as each flower has its own unique color – even though it
originates from only one light – each individual, although unique in
appearance, comes from one essence as well.
– Wayne Dyer, Everyday Wisdom

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness,
that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who are we to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? As we
let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to
do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others!
– Nelson Mandela