URBAN: Relating or belonging to the city.
SHAMAN: Somebody who acts as a go-between for the spiritual and physical realms,
and who is said to have particular powers such as prophecy and or healing.





Welcome to the August issue of my Blog...
www.TheUrbanShaman.blogstop.com

The theme for this month is:
Forgiviness & Reconciliation

I hope you all enjoyed the first issue of my blog and it is my intention that you all recieve some inspiration from the information I have gathered to make life just a bit easier. I would love to hear from you! If you have any inspirational stories or information that you would like to share with the rest of us, email me at: TheUrbanShaman@aol.com

Life is not just a journey... make it an adventure!
ENJOY! & Much love to you all...

Gail Oliver (theUrbanShaman@aol.com)







The Practice of Reconciliation and Renewal
Beginning Anew

As human beings, we all make mistakes. Our unskillful thoughts, words, and actions cause harm to ourselves and those around us. Often when we hurt others or are hurt by them, because of our pride we make no effort to reconcile or renew our relationships. Without reconciliation, we cannot deepen our understanding and we only cause more suffering.

Our practice is to renew our relationships on a regular basis. Every week we have time to go to concerts, cinema, shopping and many other activities, but we rarely find the time to renew our relationships with people who are close to us, our family members, friends and colleagues.

The practice of beginning anew is a practice of reconciliation. Beginning Anew can be practiced between two people or as a group. As one person speaks, the other person practices deep listening without interrupting, allowing the first person to speak from the depth of his/her heart.

In Beginning Anew we have three steps: sharing appreciation, expressing regret, and expressing hurt and difficulties.

In the first step, sharing appreciation, we practice to recognize and acknowledge the positive attributes of the other person. Every one of us has both wholesome and unwholesome seeds. When we express our appreciation for the other person’s positive qualities, we give them the opportunity to recognize the positive qualities in themselves. At the same time, we water these very qualities in our own consciousness. We practice in the same way with our partner, husband, wife, friends, and other people in our life. We can share appreciation with each other at any time.

The second step of Beginning Anew is expressing regret. We take this opportunity to share with the other person our regrets for the things we have said or done that may have caused them pain. This requires humility and the willingness to let go of our own pride and pain.

The third step of Beginning Anew, we express our own hurt with mindful, loving speech, without blaming or criticizing. We speak in such a way that the other person can listen and receive our words. If we blame and condemn the other person, his/her heart will close and they will not be able to hear us. We ask the other person to help us to understand why he has spoken as he has, acted as he has to cause us so much pain. Perhaps at a later time he can share with us so that we can understand more deeply. If a strong emotion arises in us while we are expressing our suffering, we should simply stop and come back to our breathing until the emotion subsides. The other person can support us by following his breathing until we are ready to continue.

We can enjoy practicing Beginning Anew with our partner, our family, our friends or our colleagues regularly. By doing this practice we will prevent small misunderstandings from accumulating. Rather, we will take care of them as they arise. At the same time, we cultivate our awareness and appreciation for the positive qualities our loved ones bring to our life. With understanding, all things become possible.

“Creating Peace” by Thich Nhat Hanh






Transforming Your Beliefs

Your beliefs create your reality. Beliefs are assumptions about the nature of reality, and because you create what you believe in, you will have many “proofs” that reality operates the way you think it does. For instance, a person who believes that the Universe is abundant will act in such a way that he/she experiences abundance, and a person who believes that money comes only from working hard will receive money only from hard work. Each will have many experiences to prove that their “belief” about reality is really a “fact” about reality. You can change what you believe and thus change what you experience.

To discover a belief, look at a past or present situation in your life. This may be a problem or challenge you are dealing with, or something wonderful you have created. Ask yourself, what would a person who created this have to believe in order to be in this situation? If a person were unable to pay his bill, constantly getting reminders from loan companies and avoiding phone calls because of them, what would he believe about reality to create this circumstance? He might believe that he didn’t deserve to have money, that paying bills was a real struggle, or that life was hard.

Your beliefs about money determine how you attract it, spend it, and relate to it. Do you believe it is possible to make money doing what you love to do? Or do you believe that making money requires hard work and struggle? If there is something you want and you do not have it yet, you may have a belief that is keeping you from having it. Within every belief you are living out there is a seed of the opposite belief that you haven’t yet manifested. Within the belief that you don’t deserve money, lies it’s opposite- the belief that you DO deserve money. As you take your attention away from the negative belief and begin activating the positive one, you change what you experience.

When you release what ever beliefs that are keeping you from achieving your full potential, the beliefs that no longer serve you and choose your own operating principles. You can then choose what beliefs, thoughts, concepts, and images you want. Again...Your beliefs about money determine how you attract it, spend it, and relate to it.

Affirmation:
MY BELIEFS CREATE MY REALITY.
I BELIEVE IN MY UNLIMITED PROSPERITY.

"Creating Money" by Sanaya Roman






A Quick Understanding of the Kama Sutra... The Art of Love... Part 2

Reconciliation with The Head VS. The Heart Debate

The head and the heart are two distinct parts of the body that in the West, are a cause of psychic disunity. But the Temple of the Body, through compromising many parts, is in fact a Divine Unity. We speak of the “heart ruling the head” when someone seems to have lost all common sense and is prey to emotions. The head is said to rule the heart when the mind is calculating and unmoved by human feeling. In both cases, one center dominates at the expense of the other. This dichotomy of the head and heart always produces a breakdown of intimacy in a relationship. It is completely incompatible with the selfless ecstasy of Tantric love.

In Western mystical traditions, one frequently encounters the idea of “renouncing the flesh for the sake of the soul”. This is, in reality, a hopeless endeavor. For whatever is repressed will inevitably erupt, usually at the most inopportune moment. The Tantric way teaches that we must use all our endowments of mind, body, head, and heart, on the Path to Liberation. Through the consecration of all parts of our being to an exalted purpose, we integrate them into a whole. In this way, the emotions and passions of the heart can be transformed into the joy of transcendent ecstasy. This transformation takes place through the interplay of the head and heart, reason and emotion. The Tantric image of this process in the heart’s “fire of emotion” melting and distilling the head’s “waters of wisdom”.

The notion of exchange and mutual enrichment is an essential ingredient of Tantric lovemaking. It makes possible a true exchange between lovers. The path of Tantric love encompasses all aspects of the emotions and intellect. It leads to an experience of cosmic ecstasy through awareness of the Universal Self in both partners.

"The Alchemy of Ecstacy" by Douglas and Slinger







The following is a chapter from my book: Real Food Chioces...
Available in pdf format at : GailFOliver@aol.com

Organic vs. Conventionally Grow

How Can You Tell The Difference in The Market?

When shopping in the market for produce, most have little stickers on them that have a code on them. Organic foods codes are five numbered codes that begin with the number 9 (for example 94473). Conventionally or industrial grown produce have a numbered code that begins with a 4 (for example 4776). And Genetically Modified foods have a numbered code that begins with 8 (for example 8334). Organic meats, dairy and poultry must carry a green and white label with USDA certification on it.

Organic Foods
And Why Should Your Care?

Organic foods, produce, fruits and vegetables have in recent years become big business and have spawned specialty markets and Organic Food coops. Funny thing is that basically the farmers have gone back to basic farming techniques and grow produce products that are unadulterated. Organic meats and poultry are grown in open spaces (cage free and open range). Not factory type pens with deplorable conditions that can be found on some conventional farms and ranches.

Organic foods are regulated now to insure their purity. The farmers must follow strict practices in farming to claim their product as "Certified Organic" Livestock provisions in a ruling in 1997 by Congress and recognized by the USDA, requires that all sick or injured animals be treated with medications that are only approved to be certified organic. In 2002 the USDA began certifying that all "Organic" meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products must come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. These animals also cannot be fed animal byproducts, such as feathers or other ground up animal parts. Would you eat your cousin? For a dairy farm to be certified as organic, it’s cows must be allowed among other things to graze on grass that hasn’t been subject to pesticides. These organic meats and poultry bare a label that is green and white with USDA on it for identification. Organic vegetables and fruit must be grown without using conventional pesticides and fertilizers and defiantly no irradiation techniques.

The USDA now requires organic items meet one of four new organic categories and be
labeled the following:
• 100% Organic (self explanatory)
• Organic (meaning it contains 95% or more organic ingredients)
• Made with organic ingredients (at least 70% of the product is organic)
• Contains organic ingredients (the word "organic" cannot appear on the
front of the packaging)

Combined information may be taken from "the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. www.avma.org,
"Organic Food Labeling Rules, Help Guide the Health Minded". By Eleena De Lisser, Wall Street Journal, August 2, 2002

Conventionally Farmed Foods

Conventionally grown foods are foods grown with the addition of Pesticides, Hormones and Antibiotics. These foods include fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, poultry and dairy products.These chemicals pose unknown threats to your health because their effects are not documented. However, avoiding commercially grown foods have been known to alleviate the symptoms of certain diseases. After all you wouldn’t spray Raid on your food and eat it would you?

Unfortunately, the rinsing non-organic foods will only remove some surface pesticide residue, but not the pesticide that was absorbed into the produce as it was grown. Some of the most severely tainted types of produce also known as the "Dirty Dozen".


The Dirty Dozen…

Fruit/Vegetable
Strawberries
Bell Peppers
Potatoes
Apples
Celery
Cherries
Imported Grapes
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Raspberries
Spinach

According to the USDA Nectarines and Peaches had as many as 45 different pesticides on and in them. Strawberries and Spinach, as many as 36… yuck!

Some of the least pesticide tainted commercially grown foods are…

When Broccoli was tested for pesticides, 17 multiple pesticides were found, far less than Spinach with 36. The five fruits least likely to have pesticide residues are: mangos, bananas, papaya, pineapples and kiwi, unlike peaches with 45.

Least Tainted Foods…

Fruit/Vegetable
Avocados
Mangos
Broccoli
Asparagus
Sweet Corn
Onions
Kiwi
Sweet Peas
Pineapples
Cauliflower
Papaya
Bananas

Information compiled from USDA Pesticide Data Program

I don’t know about you, but knowing this information helps me to decide what to put in my body temple. Even if you just replace the "Dirty Dozen" with organic produce, you will feel better about your choices. Or involve your family in a project, start a fruit and vegetable garden in your backyard like Grandma used to do. Involving your children teaches them the importance of healthy food choices and teaches responsibility and pride of accomplishment.

Non-organic meats and poultry present the issues of growth hormones and antibiotics. Although "they" claim that the amount of hormones used in commercial livestock isn’t enough to harm humans, I have noticed a trend in children reaching puberty at 9 years old…It is also documented that hormones in foods accelerate tumor growth in humans. Antibiotics, in foods present a problem by rendering them sometimes useless in case of emergency (antibiotic resistant infections). hummmmm.

For a copy of the complete book, Real Food Choices... email: GailFOliver@aol.com