Welcome to the May issue of my Blog... www.TheUrbanShaman.blogstop.com
The theme for this month is:
Mindfulness
I hope you are enjoying these blogs... It is my pleasure to share this information to you all. Please pass this information to your friends and family... or email me to join the mailing list if you are not in my database @ TheUrbanShaman@aol.com ...
Also, if you have any suggestions for future blogs... Use the “comments” button on the bottom of this months blog... or email me at: TheUrbanShaman@aol.com
Life is not just a journey... make it an adventure!
ENJOY! & Much love to you all...
Gail the Groovy
This is a thoughtful passage my friend Ralph from Rotterdam sent to me last week... and I am passing it on to you all!Promise Yourself Each Morning!
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel there is something in them.
To look on the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and to have a smile ready for every living creature you meet.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world - not in loud words, but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the world is on your side as long as you are true to the best that is in you.
©Societas Rosicruciana in America
Being Present in Mindfulness
Touching deeply is an important practice. We touch with our hands, our eyes, our ears, and also with our mindfulness. The first practice I learned was to breathe in and out consciously, to touch each breath with my mindfulness, identifying the in-breath as in-breath and the out-breath as out-breath. When you practice this way, your mind and body come into alignment, your wandering thoughts come to a stop, and you are at your best. Mindfulness is the substance of the Buddha. When you enter deeply into the moment, you see the nature of reality, and this insight liberates you from suffering and confusion. Peace is already there to some extent: the problem is whether we know how to touch it. Conscious breathing is the most basic Buddhist practice (that we all can benefit from) for touching peace.
Making Peace
We can practice in the same way with our eyes. Our eyes are wonderful, but we usually take them for granted. Every time we open our eyes, we see thousands of marvelous forms and colors. Those who are blind may feel that if they could recover their sight they would be dwelling in paradise, but we who have good eyes rarely take the time to appreciate that we are already in paradise. If we just take a moment to touch our eyes deeply, we will feel real peace and joy.
Touching each part of our body in mindfulness, we make peace with our body, and we can do the same with our feelings. There are many conflicting feelings and ideas within us, and it is important for us to look deeply and know what is going on. When there are wars within us, it will not be long before we are at war with others, even those we love. The violence, hatred, discrimination, and fear in society water the seeds of the violence, hatred, discrimination, and fear within us. If we go back to ourselves and touch our feelings, we will see the ways that we furnish fuel for the wars going on inside. Meditation is, first of all, a toll for surveying our own territory so we can know what is going on. With the energy of mindfulness, we can calm things down, understand them, and bring harmony back to the conflicting elements inside us. If we can learn ways to touch the peace, joy and happiness that are already there, we will become healthy and strong, and a resource for others.
I Am There for You...
The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When our mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love. When your beloved is suffering, you need to recognize their suffering, anxiety, and worries, and just by doing that, you already offer some relief. Mindfulness relieves suffering because it is filled with understanding and compassion. When you are really there, showing your loving-kindness and understanding, the energy of the Holy Spirit is in you. Mindfulness is very much like the Holy Spirit. Both of them help us touch the ultimate dimension of reality. Mindfulness helps us touch Nirvana, and the Holy Spirit offers us a door to the Trinity.
Living Buddha, Living Christ
by, Thich Nhat Hanh
All photos by Gail Oliver © 2007
Welcome to the April issue of my Blog... www.TheUrbanShaman.blogstop.comThe theme for this month is:Love Your Mother... EARTH!This is the month we celebrate "Earth Day"... Which should be celebrated and remembered daily... I know, I know, we are seemingly being bombarded with Green this, Green that... But in reality, we should have been paying attention to our habits of consumerism and waste decades ago.
I liken what is happening to "CAUSE and EFFECT" and now we are seeing the effects of our causes... Weird weather, energy shortages, drought, wildfires, melting ice caps, animals dying of starvation and pollution exposure, and the list goes on and on...
This month, and from this point on, let's be conscious of our consumption and make mindful choices. We may not ever be able to reverse the processes we've started, but we can slow them down and hopefully reach a healthy balance for future survival.
My Question to you is:
"What can you do now to be a conscious visitor on this great planet?"
I have provided a few easy changes you can make for a better environment and better health in this month's blog... A good sourse for Green living tips and information contact: Union of Concerned Scientist at: UCSUSA.org. They have many eNewsletters for the asking and provide the latest in discoveries that effect our health and the planet and offer avenues for change.
Remember! We only get one Mother... Earth, treat her with love and she'll take care of you and yours. Treat her bad and she'll make life miserable...
Please pass this information to your friends and family... or email me to join the mailing list if you are not in my database @ TheUrbanShaman@aol.com ... Life is not just a journey... make it an adventure!ENJOY! Much love to you all...Peace N' Blessings,Gail Oliver
B.Y.O. BagFiled under: Reuse, Paper, PlasticsThis is common practice in virtually every other country but our own. The U.S. uses 100 billion plastic bags annually, consuming about 12 million barrels of oil. As less than 1% of plastic bags are ever recycled, using a sturdy reusable bag will eliminate hundreds to thousands of plastic bags over its lifetime. That spells huge savings to your state, city or town. Take California for example: it costs taxpayers $20.5 million to collect and landfill plastic bag waste each year. And that's not counting external costs, such as pollution, risk and threat to marine life, etc. San Francisco and soon Los Angeles (will) have bans on the use of plastic shopping bags...If you don't have a reusable bag around the house, most conscious food stores have them for sale... These canvas bags are reusable and washable. For more information, visit:earthwisebags.comreusablebags.comJunk Mail ReduxFiled under: Water saving measures, Paper, Junk mailI get Junk mail, we all get junk mail, but you can put a stop to it... According to 41pounds.org, since last summer several hundred Green Guide readers paid $41 in return for a junk mail reduction kit and a promise to help you drop your junk mail by as much as 95% in 4 months. The savings from those few hundred participating readers came to 205 trees and 72,000 gallons of water. It's a tip of the iceberg for sure, but has me excited.41pounds.org is not the only organization which for a fee promises to help you reduce your junk mail. Greendimes.com which charges $3 per month and automates the process of removing your name from junk mail lists. Because the smallest actions, such as donating to charity or purchasing items from a catalog or web site, are enough to put your name on yet another list, Greendimes is constantly checking lists for your name, and their list of junk mailers is constantly updated.You don't need to work with a service to reduce your junk mail. You can also register online for the national Do Not Mail list at www.the-dma.org/consumers/offmailinglist.html though you should be warned that it is only free by postal mail. The online opt-out method costs $5, but I'd recommend the online method, since while you are there, you can put your email addresses on the Do Not E-mail list, and stop the flow of unsolicited commercial e-mails that pile up in your email box.And if unwanted phone solicitations are the bane of your dinner hour, you can register online at www.donotcall.gov, to be removed from their list.I'm determined to simplify my life, and in an age of information overload, I have found reducing the flow of junk mail wherever it flows, is a small step that yields great rewards every day.Websites:www.the-dma.org/consumers/offmailinglist.htmlGreendimes.com41pounds.orgClean the Air in Your HomeFiled under: Vacuum Cleaners, Indoor air pollutants, Air pollutantsI relish the coming of each season, including winter, except for the fact that we have to batten down the hatches to keep the fresh, but cold outdoor air out. The air indoors can fill up with unhealthful pollutants unless you are careful. Some of us are especially sensitive to common allergens, including pet dander and dust mites. New high tech vacuums with a High Efficiency Particular Air (HEPA) filters trap 99.97 percent of particles down to 0.3 microns in size, and blocks them from being spewed back out into the air, as happens with most vacuums. HEPA filters also help trap flame retardants, phthalates and toxic pesticides found in household dust.Not everyone needs a vacuum with a HEPA filter. A medium efficiency machine may suffice if you or someone in your family is not an allergy sufferer or have asthma. Check out last months blog for nontoxic cleaning products... OR, you can try one of the many different household cleaning products that reduce "Indoor air pollutants" which the EPA has deemed more toxic than outdoor pollution. Most can be purchased at major supermarkets and Target.Some options are:Method Cleaners-www.methodhome.comSeventh Generation Cleaners-www.seventhgeneration.comMrs. Meyers Cleaners-www.mrsmeyers.comPlanet-Safeway/VonsTrader Joe’s-Cleansers and personal productsSave Energy, Eat Organic, Whole foods,
and support your local Farmer’s MarketsFiled under: Packaging, Fertilizers, Factory farming, Food miles, Organic agricultureYou can drive less, turn off lights, and buy energy efficient windows and appliances, but did you know that buying organic food will also help reduce our nation's energy consumption? According to a decades-long study, organic farms produced more food per unit of energy than conventional farms.I prefer home cooked meals using fresh basic ingredients rather than over processed and packaged foods. The many health reasons to start from scratch are well known: processed foods contain a number of preservatives, colorants and additives that are both unnecessary and unhealthy, first among them are salt and sugar, of which Americans consume too much and which can lead to obesity and high blood pressure. But few of us think much about the excess energy spent on things like packaging and additional transport and manufacturing processes. For instance, a one-pound box of processed macaroni and cheese requires nearly seven times as many kilo calories of energy to produce than it provides as food. I don't make overly elaborate meals, particularly on busy weeknights. Simple menus, fresh ingredients - this works, is fast and always tasty.Cold Water WashingFiled under: Energy efficiency, Energy saving measuresNot sure whether it would be a good idea or not, but thinking I might save a little energy, earlier this year I thought I'd try cold water to wash and rinse my clothes. I use a washing machine of course and pre-soaked anything that had been stained. I found my clothes got as clean as they had in hot or warm water, but much to my pleasure, they also looked and felt more like new. This little change spelled savings in more ways than I'd expected.I prefer to line dry some clothes for the same reason – less wear and tear on the fabric from the hot dryer - and am glad to know there is an major energy benefit to my doing that as well. Less Gas/Electricity comsumption!Save a Tree, or Two or ThreeConservation, Waste reduction, Paper, Recycled paper, deforestationIf a tree falls in the forest and there's no one chained to it, should you still use it to blow your nose? The average American uses 50 pounds of tissue paper per year, and that equals a lot of felled trees if every pound comes from virgin pulp. That statistic has been a bee in Greenpeace's bonnet for months, and last week, the activist group blockaded Kimberly-Clark's regional office in Italy, demanding the company stop clearcutting Canada's ancient, old-growth Boreal forest to make its disposable tissue products.Now, you don't have to make a special trip to Italy to demand action, but we should all be paying a little more attention to what's flushing through our pipes. While paper recycling facilities really don't want your used tissues or toilet paper, you can still seek out recycled-content paper products. Look for the highest content of "post-consumer waste," or PCW, since "pre-consumer waste" doesn't do much to stem the flow of paper entering landfills.Marcal products are entirely recycled, and although they have a relatively low PCW content, that brand is the one most commonly found in conventional grocery and drug stores. Natural food stores will provide you with a greater selection of products with a higher PCW content, offering brands like Seventh Generation, Earth First, and--at Whole Foods only--365. If you're really dedicated to the cause, online retailer Green Earth Office Supply (www.greenearthofficesupply.com) sells a Finnish brand of toilet paper called Heron's, which is 100 percent PCW and even comes without the pesky, albeit recyclable, cardboard roll.
Information reprinted from The Green Guide © The Green Guide, 2006
Welcome to the March issue of my Blog... www.TheUrbanShaman.blogstop.com
The theme for this month is:
Spring has Sprung
This month is in celebration of Spring... the season of rebirth. It is a great time for Cleansing not only your home but a natural opportunity to cleanse Mind, Body and Spirit...Please pass this information to your friends and family... or email me to join the mailing list if you are not in my database @ TheUrbanShaman@aol.com ...
Life is not just a journey... make it an adventure!
Much love to you all...
Peace N' Blessings,
Gail Oliver
Spring is the season of birth and rebirth. It is the season when life and inspiration arise once again from the darkness of winter hibernation into the light of the sun. It is the time for new beginnings. It is the time for us to honor our inspiration and creativity. For inspiration, like breathing, needs faith and intent, before the beginnings of creativity can happen, and creativity is the essence of life becoming itself, in every form, again and again and again.It may be easy for many to delight in the Energy of Spring, sometimes it seems difficult to empower the Spring within ourselves, especially when we seem burdened by the stress of our lives and responsibilities. But Spring is just the season to remind us to renew our commitment to the beauty and blessings of Life. It is the season meant to renew our Faith and Intent in our own New Growth, our own New Creativity, our own New Healing, our own New Risk-taking, our own New Love, our own New Paths, our own New Life, which, both physically and spiritually is always unfolding.
Spring requires that we replace complaints with intentions, despair with hope, stagnancy with movement, death with rebirth, then we can join in harmony with the natural life-affirming characteristics of the season. Spring is a time for cleaning out and ridding our lives of the things, clutter, people and situations that no longer honor Our True Divine Natures. It is a time for a renewed love of life, renewed confidence, new ideas, reinvention of self. It is a time of fresh starts, new relationships, new friends, it is a chance for the rebirth of a “new you”.
Welcome Spring with open arms and most importantly, an open heart.
And you thought Spring Cleaning was just about your house......
Spring is also the perfect time to cleanse your body. After the long winter, it is good to rid yourself of the toxins that have accumulated during winter. Colon Cleanses and Juice Fasting are very beneficial to better health and have a lightening effect on mind and spirit. During the transformative process of cleansing our body, the effects spread throughout many areas of our life. There is often improved clarity of mind that develops. Emotional cleansing and subsequent insights also happen. Spiritual awareness is sometimes profound. We are more sensitive to subtle vibrations of people, situations, emotions, and nature. Intuition is enhanced and procrastination disappears. With new energy and focus, we may want to clean up our room, our home, or office we may even want to reorganize and clean up our whole life.
Seasonal Eating in Spring
Diet therapy in traditional Chinese medicine is based on the principle that humans are an inherent part of nature. One way to align with nature is eating according to seasons, for as the natural world fluctuates with seasonal changes, so do we. Spring is the time for growth and renewal. As it approaches, Chinese diet theory suggests we should consume foods that help transition into this season:
Leafy green vegetables (chard, spinach, kale, mustard greens, bok choi)
Young plants such as asparagus, pea shoots and chives
Sprouted beans and grains (alfalfa, clover, mung bean sprouts, wheat grass)
Flavorful herbs like rosemary, dill, and basil
Light teas: green, white, rosebud or chrysanthemum
In Chinese medicine, such foods are filled with the energy of spring and particularly useful as we enter this season. Best ways to prepare these foods are lightly steaming or sautéing (cooking briefly over high heat), so they retain the most nutrients and are easier to digest.
It also is appropriate during spring to avoid heavy foods, since they tend to bring the body into a sinking, passive, inward-moving state. Foods to avoid in spring:
Heavy or fatty meats
Greasy or oily foods
Foods high in salt
Now Spring Clean the House!
Some commonly used household cleaning products may contain hazardous ingredients such as organic solvents and petroleum based chemicals. The EPA has found that these chemicals may contaminate our ground water and present a problem to waste water treatment facilities. Also, most often hazardous products are not disposed of properly and are land filled or incinerated where they release their toxins to the environment.
As a result of these concerns, many Americans are rediscovering the safer and just-as-effective natural household cleaning solutions that their mothers and grandmothers used. Natural cleansers are quite simple to put together and can be made in large quantities. You might want to store batches of these natural cleansers in gallon water jugs. Don't forget to label the jugs!
For the budget conscious, you’ll be happy to note that making your own cleansers from natural sources is going to lower your household bills by quite a few pennies. The ingredients are items you probably already have around the house. If you don't have these items handy, they are inexpensive and readily available in your supermarket or in any drug store.
Important: Just because these cleansers are natural doesn't mean you shouldn't wear gloves. Please slip on some rubber gloves - the kind you use when doing the dishes.
Natural Cleansers
All-purpose Cleanser: Mix 1/4 cup baking soda (or 2 teaspoons of Borax) with 1/2 cup white vinegar. The baking soda deodorizes, cleans and scours. It also softens hard water. The white vinegar cuts grease, stains and wax buildup and cleans mildew (see below). Note: this solution works great for water deposit stains.
You can also use straight Borax instead of the baking soda and white vinegar. In addition to cleaning, scouring and deodorizing, Borax disinfects.
Bathroom Mold Cleanser: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mold can literally destroy the very thing these spores are growing on once they connect with a wet or damp spot. Mold spores cause allergy-like symptoms, and may exacerbate asthma.
To eradicate mold, mix one part hydrogen peroxide with two parts water in a spray bottle. Use the 3 percent hydrogen peroxide that is available for a few dollars at any drug store or supermarket. Spray the bathroom areas and leave to dry for an hour. Rinse the areas off.
Soap: Avoid using a soap containing phthalates, parabens, synthetics or petroleum distillates. Check the label. If you prefer a solid bar soap, go for a clear soap without perfumes.
If you prefer liquid soap, most health food stores carry liquid Castille soaps made with organic oils and mentha arvensis (the plant from which mint oil is extracted). Adding two squirts of this soap to two gallons of hot water will provide ample cleansing power.
Here are some other relatively common household problems and the accompanying cleaning regime:
Carpet shampoo - When it's time to give your carpet an overall "fluffing up" that only comes from fibers that are thoroughly shampooed, use cornstarch. Sprinkle liberally. Wait 20 minutes and vacuum your carpet.
Carpet stain removal - Mix equal parts white vinegar with water in a spray bottle. Spray directly onto stain for a minute or so. Let dry for about an hour. Wipe with a sudsy sponge. (Use the natural soaps mentioned above.)
Clearing away lime deposits - White vinegar will also wipe away lime deposits in your teakettle. (Lime deposits are scales and encrustations of calcium or magnesium compounds ground into powder.) To remove lime deposits, add 1/2 cup white vinegar and 2 cups of water to the kettle. Gently boil for a few minutes. Wait until the kettle cools down a bit. While it's still warm, rinse the kettle with fresh water.
Furniture polish - Add a few drops of natural lemon oil to a few cups of warm water and pour the solution into a spray bottle. Mix well and spray onto a soft cotton cloth that you've dampened slightly. Note: Do not leave the cloth sopping wet. It must be merely damp. Wipe your furniture with the dampened cloth. Wait a few minutes and wipe again with a completely dry cotton cloth.
Mildew remover - Mildew is a mold-like micro-organism that can grow on leather, clothing, the ceiling … even paper. And like mold, it often grows on bathroom stalls. You can safely remove mildew by using undiluted white vinegar. Use a sponge and don't wipe after applying.
Polishing vinyl and linoleum floors - To polish these floors safely and with noticeable results, pour a capful of baby oil to the cleaning water. (Most floor surfaces can be cleaned with a part white vinegar, part water solution.)
Rust remover - Sprinkle some salt directly onto the rust. Squeeze a lime over the rust until it is well soaked. Leave the mixture on for about three minutes and scrub off the residue with a piece of lime rind.
Toilet bowl cleanser - Pour 1/4 cup baking soda and 1 cup white vinegar into the bowl. Let mixture set for a few minutes. Scrub with toilet brush and rinse. You can also use two parts Borax and one part lemon juice.
If you have a basin that really needs scrubbing, you may use straight bleach, although bleach should never be mixed with any other solution, except water.
Water rings - If your lovely wood furniture is sporting spots, these rings have seeped into the layer underneath the topcoat, but not the finish. Use either mayonnaise or toothpaste applied to a damp cloth. Any brand will do. Once you've removed the water rings, buff the entire surface.
© 2006 Doityourself.com
Welcome to the February issue of my Blog...www.TheUrbanShaman.blogstop.com
Happy V. Day
The theme for this month is:
L O V E... in honor of Valentine's Day
I hope you are enjoying these blogs... It is my pleasure to share this information to you all. This month’s articles are about the different meanings of "Love"... There's 3 you know... and because of the theme this month...
"Heart Health"
Please pass this information to your friends and family...
Pass the Love around!
.
Also, if you have any suggestions for future blogs... Use the “comments” button on the bottom of this months blog... or email me at: TheUrbanShaman@aol.com
Life is not just a journey... make it an adventure!
ENJOY! & Much love to you all...
Peace N' Blessings,
Gail Oliver
Agape Love
No Strings Attached
Love. It's such a simple word. And such a complex emotion. Even when we desire to love in a simple, uncomplicated way, love has a way of twisting itself back on us, catching us unawares. It's not easy to keep the different kinds of love, the different kinds of relationships, in their proper contexts. Even when we desire with our whole hearts to pursue love it is often very difficult to keep from falling in love.
Love does not like to sit still while we neatly pigeonhole it. There are an infinite number of ways we can love people, art, nature, and God. The lines may be fairly easy to see in some kinds of love, but the lines differentiating the love for a friend and the love for a lover are extraordinarily complex.
The goal or result of love is not always marriage. God, judging from the way he set things up in Eden, and the way he made us physically, no doubt intends most of us to be married, but that’s not to say that loving friendships between men and women aren’t also good and right.
Sometimes our feelings fall totally on one side of the line or the other, but more often I've found the differences to be quantitative rather than qualitative. In other words, it's not the kind of love that differs so much as the degree. The deep but unromantic affection we can feel for a friend (which we may call phileo), can very easily be transformed into a compelling, dramatic, romantic love (eros) with appallingly little rhyme or reason. There doesn't seem to be a way for us to tell our hearts to switch gears, or to stop our feelings at a certain point. Our affection for a friend and our romantic love for a lover both issue from the same spring.
When someone starts discovering our spirit and heart in the pursuit of love, spends time with us, gives of himself or herself; becomes involved in our life, we sometimes can't help falling in love in the process of growing to love, even when we are pursuing love with a pure heart. That's all right if the other person is also falling in love. But what if he isn't? What if he's still operating within the context of phileo love? With all our good intentions about pursuing love, what are we to do when eros starts to eclipse phileo in our hearts?
If we understand where our friend's heart is at, we probably don't even want the intense feelings of eros to develop, knowing that it will just make things difficult. It often makes the continuation of the friendship virtually impossible, even though we really desire to be free from the pressures of those kind of feelings and to return to the easiness and the freedom of phileo. But what on earth are we to do with those emotions?
Can we suppress them and get back to the easy relationship we used to have? Do we just stop seeing our friend because it's too painful? Do we weep and rage and get bitter because he or she made us fall in love and had no intention of following through on it? Do we just hold it all inside and try to pretend it isn't there so we don't scare him away? What do we do?
First of all, if it is true that our love is based on a quantitative rather than a qualitative foundation, to hope that we can banish eros in favor of phileo is not very realistic. Once our care has grown beyond an affection to a deeper love, how are we suddenly going to empty out some of that feeling unless we lie to ourselves? (We can do that simply by trying to make ourselves believe that we don't really care that much, or by dwelling on his or her faults and weaknesses in a way that's totally out of proportion. Needless to say, it's a very unhealthy, unloving way to solve the problem, but it's also quite common.) And the other alternative, to stop seeing each other, is certainly one way to avoid the problem, but not solve it, or grow from it, or learn whatever the Lord is trying to teach either of us through it.
A related problem enters the picture here because we're all so conditioned to the "love-and-marriage" syndrome. That is, that they're supposed to go together, especially in the Christian ethic where marriage is the only legitimate option beyond friendship. From there we have sometimes made the mistake of thinking that it is the only legitimate option for people who respect, care for, and love each other.
Instead of relaxing in the knowledge that it is perfectly possible for a man and a woman to have great respect for each other, to care deeply about each other and even to love each other without getting married, we get a mite over-anxious, perhaps, about the "Is this the one?" question. And that produces that "weirdness" which results from expectations — expectations of having the relationship lead somewhere, of being loved, of being fulfilled, of being cherished and cared for in a special way. These expectations rob a relationship of spontaneity and unselfconsciousness; they make us terribly preoccupied with ourselves and an imagined, even planned — for — future; they rob us of the freedom to enjoy each other with true agape love. And as soon as expectations start taking over our minds, the pursuit of love is doomed, because at that point we are no longer seeking the other person's total good, but seeking our own satisfaction. (1 am talking here about expectations which arise out of one's own selfish desires-in spite of communication between the two and the tenor of their relationship. If one of them is leading the other on, however, or being less than honest and straightforward about his or her feelings and intentions, that is another situation entirely.)
The key to the solution of this problem lies not in our fighting the fact that we love someone, not in trying to love less in order to get back to phileo but in trying to love more, to get beyond eros to agape, the kind of love the Lord has for us. The exciting and beautiful thing about agape love is finding out that you truly can love someone very deeply and yet allow him complete freedom to respond to you in whatever way God leads him to respond.
This type of relationship demands a kind of freedom that is impossible when we are bound by expectations. It requires a love that isn't concerned with the fulfillment of our own ends. This in turn requires trusting God to fulfill those needs.
The goal or result of love is not always marriage. God, judging from the way he set things up in Eden, and the way he made us physically, no doubt intends most of us to be married, but that's not to say that loving friendships between men and women aren't also good and right. We don't love just one person during our lives; we love many, in varying degrees and in many ways. Love is not a rein sum game in which the more we love one the less we can love others. Rather, the more we learn how to love one the more we are able to love others.
We need to legitimize love between men and women who don't feel the Lord is leading them into marriage. (I am definitely not using love here to include sexual love.) We need to understand that it is all right to love a friend. Such friends often help to fill those deep needs for love and affection before we do find that one person we'd like to marry. And that's OK. That's what we're here for — to help each other out, to love each other as Christ loves us.
But this type of relationship demands a kind of freedom that is impossible when we are bound by expectations. It requires a love that isn't concerned with the fulfillment of our own ends. This in turn requires trusting God to fulfill those needs.
What it comes down to, then, is, first of all, how much do we really love that person? Do we love to the point that we want him to be part of our life, that we need him in order to be fulfilled and happy? Or do we love him enough that we want him to be happy, even if it means without us? Do we love him so much that we think we'll die without him? Whose interests are we seeking to serve — his or ours? How much do we really love him? Enough to pray that for him to have the the right woman to be his mate, even if it might turn out to he someone else? Enough to put concern for his happiness above our concern to have our own needs fulfilled?
And what kind of love is it, really? Is it the love that bubbles forth from a full vessel, a vessel overflowing with the love which pours through us from the Universal Spirit (GOD)? GOD is Love... and LOVE is all. Or is it a result of our own lack of spiritual fruit, so that we look to someone else to give us love, joy, and peace, rather than looking inward or to GOD Spirit? If it's that kind of love we won't be able to truly pray for our friend's complete happiness — we'll be too concerned for our own. That kind of love is born not only of a lack within ourselves but of a lack of trust in ourselves. Real love is not found outside of ourselves but within ourselves.
So the next concern is, how much do we trust ourselves? Do we really trust The Universe to supply all our needs? Do we trust GOD love for us and his knowledge of what the absolute best is for us, as well as for the one we love?
To the degree that we trust, and allow Spirit to direct our lives and our relationships, we can be free from the leech of expectations and free to let the Lord love that person through us. And the degree to which we yield ourselves as vessels, allowing him to fill us with his life and his love, allowing him to transform us into his likeness — to that degree, and that degree only, will we be able to love with true agape love.
And if we can trust him, if we can yield, we can then pray wholeheartedly for our friend's happiness, secure in the knowledge that Spirit is going to fulfill all our needs (not necessarily all our wants), and we don't have to depend on a person to do it. We can say with our whole being, "I love you, and there are no strings. I just want to be around to support you in whatever way you and the Spirit wants me to. I want to pray for you, share your burdens and be involved in your life because I love you, but I'm not expecting anything from you. I simply and truly want to see you happy and fulfilled." That is the pursuit of agape love. That is serving rather than being served, and loving rather than being loved.
By Lia Fuller O'Neil Originally published by Discovery Publishing, the publications ministry of Peninsula Bible Church, Palo Alto California. Visit at www.pbc.org/dp/index.html. Used by Permission.
In the spirit of this months holiday, Hallmark, Ftd and Govinda's as it may be... We need to know when our heart is breaking... literally!
So here are the warning signs... Go to: TheUrbanShaman@blogspot.com October Edition to get the article on Heart Healthy Antioxidents
Heart Attack Warning Signs
Some heart attacks are sudden and intense — the "movie heart attack," where no one doubts what's happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren't sure what's wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening: *Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain. * Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. * Shortness of breath. May occur with or without chest discomfort. * Other signs: These may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3053#Cardia_Arrest
Go Red For Women
The American Heart Association is challenging one million women to stop heart disease and Go Red. Women can take action against their No. 1 killer by taking the Go Red Heart CheckUp. An online, 10-year risk assessment, the CheckUp will help women calculate their risk of heart disease. Take the CheckUp and learn how to make healthy habits part of your daily routine.
Go To:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000There are 70 years of research into men’s heart disease. But only in the last 5 years have we really come to grips with the fact that heart disease in women is so different, it’s practically......a different disease entirely!That’s right:• Heart disease in men has a lot to do with plaque buildup. But in women it has everything to do with hormone levels after 50.• The stress test, the gold-standard for detecting heart disease for men, doesn’t work as well for women.• Cholesterol levels in men are an important risk factor. But 75% of women with heart problems have low cholesterol! For women, the levels of “C-reactive protein” are much more significant. This is easily checked. Statin drugs rob you of the coenzyme Q10 women especially need to protect their hearts. (You’ll discover a better way—a woman-wise way—to lower your cholesterol in a minute.)• Heart protection. Men should take an aspirin a day. But aspirin blocks a woman’s production of hormones known as prostaglandins. And prostaglandins are an important part of stress management for women! Women do better on enzymes such as bromelain and papain. (More on bromelain in a moment)• Blood pressure. We now know how emotions affect blood pressure. Stress pushes blood pressure to dangerous levels. And we know that women can use visualization, meditation, yoga and many other techniques to reduce their blood pressure very successfully. Women who are adept at working with their emotions usually don’t need the heavy-duty blood-pressure drugs that men often require.• Heart attacks are quite often “silent” in women, meaning there are no physical symptoms. At the most they get an ache, not the crushing pain common in men. That’s why men get rapid treatment in the E.R., while women are often given a prescription for “gastrointestinal distress”—and told to go home and get rest!!• Supplements. Women need folic acid, vitamin B6, and coenzyme Q10—deficiencies in these vital heart nutrients are significantly more common in women.“One day, men, too, will benefit. But today, it is our turn. Today the big health breakthroughs are woman-wise cures—cures discovered by women, with women... for women.By Susan Lark, M.D., pioneer of woman-wise cures
It's All About LOVE!
Welcome to the December issue of my Blog...
www.TheUrbanShaman.blogstop.com
Happy Holidays!
& Happy New YOU!
The theme for this Year End Blog is:
Happy New You!
Tools to be who you are meant to be and make the New Year a prosperous and productive one...
I hope you are enjoying these blogs... It is my pleasure to share this information to you all.
Please pass this information to your friends and family... or email me to join the mailing list if you are not in my database @ TheUrbanShaman@aol.com ... My intention is to start a bi-monthly publication to support wellness in our communities...
.
Also, if you have any suggestions for future blogs... Use the “comments” button on the bottom of this months blog... or email me at: TheUrbanShaman@aol.com
Life is not just a journey... make it an adventure! ENJOY! & Much love to you all...
Peace N' Blessings,
Gail Oliver
Intentions Versus New Years Resolutions....
Gail Oliver © 2006
Now that we have survived Act 1 of our Holiday celebrations, it’s time for Act 2, New Years!
It is now when we tend to make our New Years Resolutions (NYR’s). It is the time of year we promise ourselves to do better, be better and try harder. We make lists and mental notes, we meditate and pray to do better in general. A time for a fresh start, after all, it’s a New Year... We can start with a clean slate. We make plans to workout at the gym, get a new job, a new partner, a new lease on life, and many other promises we usually can’t and don’t keep let alone accomplish. To me NYR’s are an exercise we do annually to cover up the things we let slide all year. It’s a way of gracefully cleaning up our act so to speak. How many of your 2006 resolutions did you keep this year? What happened?
Life has a way of getting in our way and sabotaging our hopes, wishes and desires... We get busy with life and they become our back burner projects... Our resolutions soon become distant memories. How many times have you made the same resolutions year after year after year and still haven’t seen them to fruition? I know I am guilty. Maybe we all are.
So here are some tips to perhaps help to keep your resolutions. First we may need to go backwards before we go forward... and perhaps we can start with a new language.
Years ago, I started my New Years Celebrations by doing “My Year in Review” a kind of acknowledgment of what I accomplished over the last year. You see our accomplishments are just as important as what we are planning next. We tend to forget how powerful we are because we are speeding to the next great thing without realizing what we did. Now I know dwelling in the past robs you of the present, but that’s a subject for another blog... But when you actually remember what you have accomplished, good or bad, no matter how insignificant or profound... Write them down! As you write, you may find that you begin to realize how powerful you are and be amazed at what you done, how you’ve grown, how much courage you exhibited in a crisis... how much grace you have under pressure. By this acknowledgment, perhaps will build more courage and have more clarity and a new found conviction to aspire to even loftier goal than first imagined. We tend not to give a second though to what we’ve accomplished because we are so busy planning and plotting and living. But this simple exercise will give you more confidence to go forward and know that you are a powerful spirit having a human experience and anything you can imagine you can create with clarity, determination and courage... But you already know that! Look what you accomplished last year!
Intentions/Affirmations & Mantras
Intentions are interestingly important to the path you take in life. Setting intentions is like making goals for yourself. New Year's Resolutions are an example of a goal, the difference is, an intention is remembered and thought upon daily. A goal is usually written or thought and soon forgotten when life happens. An intention is powerful. They are action oriented, the word intend, is: something that someone plans to do or achieve. It is the quality or state of having a purpose in mind. Basically you have to set an intention to achieve a goal.
An intention is a process of putting thoughts into action and with effort, seeing the results manifest as a truth for you. You have the control and responsibility to make it happen. If you don't put the energy into it or make the determination to achieve your intention, it won't happen. When you ask someone: What is your intention? on any matter. They, provided they have integrity, tell you exactly the course of action that they plan to take to achieve their goal and/or what they are going to do about the matter.
An Affirmation is different in the sense that they assert something as being true whether are not it is true. It is a positive statement asserting that a goal the thinker "wishes" to achieve is already happening. To me affirmations require a bit "faith" and belief, to become true. They leave the control and power outside of your self. A kind-of brainwashing of yourself into a certain mode. I have seen them used as a sort of mantra while in meditation or prayer. At some point you need to put your faith into action.
A mantra on the other hand is a sacred word, chant, or sound that is repeated during meditation to facilitate spiritual power and transformation of consciousness or condition. It is like an affirmation in that it can be an expression or idea that is repeated, often without any thought about it, and closely associated with something (changing consciousness level or attaining something).
A few years ago, I met a Tibetan Monk, he and his group were on tour raising consciousness about the plight of Tibet. They spent a week at a Spiritual Center I attend and practiced their ceremonies and customs. They chanted and created a sand mandala, which is an intricate geometric pictorial design that represents the Universe and is used in Buddhism and Hinduism. As the week ended, they performed the ceremony of destroying the mandala (representing the impermanence of all things) and collected the sand to be used for a blessing for the waters in our nearby ocean. It was a wonderful experience. When it was over I asked a monk, what are your beads (a Mala) for? Because there was a methodical way he manipulated them in his hand. He explained what they were used for and then surprised me and handed them to me as his gift to me. He told me to hold them in my hand and flip one of the 108 beads one at a time. As I did this he said to recite a mantra or in my case an intention or affirmation for each bead. He also said that if my conscious mind was not convinced, eventually my subconscious mind would be. There are mantras that are like affirmations and intentions, a statement, and then there are bija or seed mantras, they are one word mantras. Both are usually recited in Sanskrit, a Ancient language practiced by Hindus and some Buddhist.
What do all of these have in common?
They are all tools that enable us to reprogram our thinking. They help us to focus on the things you want in life and a way to do them the with positive determination to achieve our dreams.
I like setting intentions as a theme for a meditation, and that's what I use daily in my spiritual practice. I set my intentions in my mind and then write them down. I place them in my journal, or in a frame in my prayer space, and this reminds me of my goals as I focus. When used as the theme for meditation, I read and think my intention in my mind and center myself on that intention, I then go within and get quiet. It has been my experience that all creative ideas and solutions to problems come from this quiet practice. Some of the best and brightest minds; Einstein, Bell, Beethoven, practiced some form of quieting the mind meditation for clarity and to elevate their creative process.
Here is my favorite exercise for the “My Year in Review” You will need your journal or I have found reading you old appointment book helps for reflection and a notebook or notepad to write your accomplishments and intentions in and keep.
Stage 1:
1. Set some quiet time aside where you can sit in a comfortable position, undisturbed for a while. I sometimes take the time to go to the beach for the first part (my favorite place... never crowded on New Years Eve), or just stay at home. Then relax all your muscles and take 5 minutes to center yourself with the breathing technique of Balanced Breath. (Your inhales and exhales should be equal in duration. Count 1-2-3 for inhales and 1-2-3 for exhales.) Connect with yourself before beginning this exercise.
2. Think back to January of 2006 and remember what was happening in your life... Good, Bad, Large or Small... Did you help someone? Did you move? Did you run into an old friend? ect... Heck what were you doing then up until now... WRITE IT ALL DOWN! and be VULNERABLE! Did you inspire someone, did they inspire you? Did you get a new job?
This is your life...
As you write, you may be surprised at all you accomplished. I do this every few months and it is amazing what you learn... For instance, last year (almost exact to the day) I ran into a dear old friend. While we reacquainted ourselves, I mentioned that I taught Yoga and Wellness. He gasped and politely reminded me that although that was good and I know you like to help others, but... you are an artist and a good one... Your God given talent. In turn that inspiration led me to restart my graphic design business... Now I do both.
Write Everything!
3. Contemplate and read your year in review and contemplate some more. Do not rush the process. Through your experiences, what did you learn? How did you handle any challenges... could you improve in any areas? What are you grateful for? (I thanked my friend for the inspiration just yesterday.) And then contemplate some more...
4. Now own it! It’s your life!.... next.
Stage 2:
Now, repeat step one in stage 1. (you can stay at home for this one).
Center yourself and sit comfortably and undisturbed for a while... Breathe and center yourself again...
1. Now that you are quiet, think what is it that you want in your life. You
can have anything in this life you want it's your birth rite. Your
thoughts and aspirations have power.
2. Now right down an intention for yourself. Be realistic first time out.
But be diligent. (example: I will move to a new home...)
3. Place your intentions on a list, a post-it or a card and strategically place
them where you can reflect on them daily. Repeat your intentions as
often as you can. You can even find the object of your intention and cut
out the picture to reflect on daily with your intention (this is called
creative visualization).
4. Make a commitment to see your intention through, plan how you can
achieve it and handle your business.
5. Now if you haven’t started one, here is a prime opportunity to start a
journal. Record the process and progress in your journal that you make
and what you accomplish over the next few days, weeks, months etc.
6. As you accomplish these intentions, remember to have gratitude for
them... and write down what you are grateful for (lessons learned,
obstacles, challenges and how your overcame and persevered).
7. As you live from time to time change your intentions as you achieve
them. You will be amazed at how full and fruitful your life will be.
Enjoy!
Welcome to the November Issue of my Blog
The theme for this month is:
Gratitude and Thanks...
Thanksgiving is Everyday!
I hope you are enjoying these blogs... It is my pleasure to share this information to you all. This month’s articles are about “Gratitude” How an “Attitude of Gratitude” Can Change Your Life...
Please pass this information to your friends and family... or e-mail me to join the mailing list if you are not in my database @ TheUrbanShaman@aol.com ...
My intention is to start a bimonthly publication to support wellness in our communities... And I Need Your Support :) .
Also, if you have any suggestions for future blogs... e-mail me at: TheUrbanShaman@aol.com
To see back issues of my blog or any you’ve missed , go to: www.TheUrbanShaman.Blogspot.com
Life is not just a journey...
make it an adventure! ENJOY! & Much love to you all...
Peace n’ Blessings, Gail Oliver
Thanksgiving and Gratitude...
by Gail Oliver © 11-2006
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this month, I was compelled to share with you the practice of gratitude. Gratitude is an attitude that should be incorporated into our daily lives...
Become habit 365 days of the year.
Gratitude is an emotion, which involves a feeling of emotional indebtedness towards another person; often accompanied by a desire to thank them, or to reciprocate for a favor they have done for you. In a religious context, gratitude can also refer to a feeling of indebtedness towards a deity.
You may be grateful for everything in your life, your health, your family, your friends, your partner, a beautiful day, a brilliant sunset or what ever you can think of.
As you give thanks...you receive.
By acknowledging your gratitude for things, you open yourself up to receive more in life. It is the Universe’s good pleasure to bless you and make sure you receive all that you need and desire. Giving gratitude gifts the giver and the receiver.
Psychological research has demonstrated that individuals are more likely to experience gratitude when they receive a favor that is perceived to be (1) valued by the recipient, (2) costly to the benefactor, (3) given by the benefactor with benevolent intentions, and (4) given gratuitously (rather than out of role-based obligations) Research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to subjective emotional wellbeing. In people who are grateful in general, life events have little influence on experienced gratitude.
Previous paragraph...(e.g., Bar-Tal, Bar-Zohar, Greenberg, & Hermon, 1977; Graham, 1988; Lane & Anderson, 1976; Tesser, Gatewood, & Driver, 1968). (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). (McCullough, Tsang & Emmons, 2004).
From a Buddhist point of view, the Pali word which we translate in English as gratitude is katannuta. The word katannuta consists of two parts: kata which means that which has been done, especially that which has been done to one, to oneself, and annuta which means knowing or recognizing. So katannuta means knowing or recognizing what has been done to one, that is to say knowing and recognizing what has been done to one for one's benefit. Hence the connotation of the Pali word is rather different from its English equivalent. The connotation of the English gratitude is rather more emotional(we feel gratitude, etc.) but the connotation of katannuta is rather more intellectual, more cognitive. It makes it clear that what we call gratitude involves an element of knowledge - knowledge of what has been done to us or for us for our benefit. If we do not know that something has benefited us, we'll not feel gratitude.
Have you ever awakened in the morning and were full of thanks for the beauty of the morning? Or have you ever been blown away by an amazing sunset, the smell of a fall day, the site of a loved one? Life is full of magic moments and experiences to be grateful for, just the fact that I am alive does it for me. One of the most profound things I have discovered with this attitude of gratitude is, I have no use for anger or resentment in my life. When faced with a challenging situation that would normally just piss me off... I now, instinctively do my best to rise above any negative reaction I may have and find a positive solution. Life will always challenge us, but I find that the challenges in life are a gift to us and an opportunity to grow and build character... to become the powerful beings we were meant to be.
Another gift from this practice is the ease of which life is experienced. You are put in sync with all things in the Universe. Life becomes easier, and obstacles become smaller and more manageable in the grand scheme of things. As you express gratitude, you are in a way rewarded with opportunities big and small, coincidences of sorts (if you believe in them of course). You are in “The Flow”.
To practice Gratitude is easy. I write at least 5 things I am grateful for from the day in my journal before retiring each night.
I’m grateful for my health.
I’m grateful for the opportunities I have.
I’m grateful for my friend that called today.
I’m grateful my family is safe.
I’m grateful I am alive!
Sometimes when I experience something I conceder to be a miracle in the moment, I acknowledge it right then and there... out loud or quietly. Even when I experience a challenge I say thanks and the situation becomes defused. At the risk of sounding nuts, I have also been know to sing what I’m grateful for when alone. Whatever works!
To be Grateful in every moment of life is easy when you realize that life must not be taken for granted. Every breath is a gift. We must realize that the happiest moments of our lives and the most challenging times are equal blessings deserving of our appreciation and gratitude. Gratitude for the ability to be a witness to our lives and still enjoy the journey. When we can come to understand that good or bad, happy or sad, we have the opportunity to appreciate these experiences... We learn our lessons and can be grateful for every precious moment we have. When we practice gratitude, we have no room for the negative aspects of life and life can become the dream we always imagined.
Practice The Attitude of Gratitude 365 Days a Year.
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.” —Buddha
"Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart."
—Seneca
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.”
—Meister Eckhart
“The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.”
—William James
I Appreciate All That I Am and All That I Have.
All of you have heard at one time or another, “Be appreciative; say Thank You.” What is the true value of gratitude? Gratitude acknowledges your power and ability to create. It focuses your attention on what you have, and what you pay attention to increases. It is a constant reminder to yourself of how abundant the Universe is how you can trust it’s unending flow. Appreciation is a state of mind that magnitizes money and abundance to you.
Think of your subconscious as a small child. Have you ever noticed how children respond when you praise them, how much harder they try, how their faces light up with joy and their eyes sparkle? Every time you give thanks to yourself for something you have created, that little child within you lights up, sparkles, and wants to do even more for you. Every time you say, “That wasn’t good enough; you could have done better,” that child closes down. Just like a child who is criticized, your subconscious loses confidence and courage. Appreciating yourself and thanking the Universe motivates the child within you to create even more good in your life.
Appreciation is reflected in your attitude, and your attitude can either magnitize or repel money. You may have noticed that many successful businessmen write “Thank You” letters or send gifts to those who assist them. Thanking the Universe for your abundance, either by mentally saying “Thank You” or acknowledging your gratitude aloud, will multiply your prosperity.
Every time you say “Thank You” to yourself, you instill confidence in your ability to create the things you want. Begin thanking the Universe for every small thing that comes your way, appreciate how far you have come and all that you have already accomplished, and you will overcome your fears and doubts. Give thanks for all the things you take for granted— the place you live, the friends who love you, the food on your table. Do not label what you have as inadiquate, but instead begin thanking the Universe for it.
From “Creating Money” by Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer Ph.D...
Saying Grace... Giving Thanks Around the World.
Sharing food is the most universal cultural experience. Expressing thanks for food was humankind's first act of worship, for food is the gift of life from above. In every culture there are sacred beliefs or divine commandments that require honoring the giver of life--God or the divine principle--through acknowledging the sacred gift of food. By admitting us to his table, God became bound to us in a unique relationship. By admitting God to our table, we experience the love and beauty of that relationship.
The gods command prayers of thanks for food. The Bible has several citations: "And thou shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord your God'' (Deut. 8:10). The divine origin of the words of the Koran are better appreciated if you understand that the Koran is to Muslims what Jesus--not the Bible--is to Christianity. A verse from the Koran, the words of Allah, the God of Islam, as recorded under divine guidance by the Prophet Muhammad instructs Muslims on the sacred origins of food and the requirement for food prayers: "Eat of your Lord's provision, and give thanks to Him'' (34:15).
While some people may believe that "grace'' is a Christian or Western notion, the etymology of the word shows otherwise. The theological notion of grace infuses the entire meaning of thankfulness. Grace is the unmerited love of God and the presence of God in us. This presence of divine love is gratuitous. Gratuitous (given freely) comes from the Latin gratuitus (grateful) and derives from the Latin word for thanks (gratia), found in many languages; Old French, gratus (thankful); Sanskrit, grnati (sing praise). Grace in Greek is charis (charisma). Charismata is the power of the Holy Spirit. A grace is the thanks-to-God utterance before or after a meal. Food has always been recognized as the unmerited gift from God. Grace is the divine reality underlying all religion and faith--that is, God's loving generosity. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is hesed (loving kindness). In the Tao it is found in the love of the Hindu triad Brahma, Vishnu, Siva. In Christian theology, grace is the human transcendent activity of God in every creature.
Whether that expression of thanks (gratia) for the gift of spiritual and physical food is voiced in a tribal ritualized saying or uttered silently or sung eloquently, a person's intrinsic spiritual nature imposes a recognition that the very food before him or her is sacred and mysterious and comes to him or her from the beyond.
Consider: The first interhuman act of the newborn child is to experience satisfaction through food. In the first hour of life our senses may transmit ephemeral sight, sound, or touch quanta, but it is the initial ingestion of milk from the mother that constitutes the first interhuman act: nourishment. The immediate response to this nourishment is a systemic and psychic satisfaction, and the hunger-gratification cycle begins at that instant and continues throughout life. The just-born infant's first human experience is a "gift'' of milk in response to its sucking instinct and food need, a gratifying experience that has an impact on the infant's psyche on its deepest level. This gratis experience is irrevocably imprinted on the newborn's uninscribed mind and is the primordial unconscious analogue to voiced prayer. Our first common human emotional experience is the gratia response for food.
The ritualized saying of food prayers in thanks for God's bounty is an acculturated experience derived through social and religious practices. This "imposition'' of formal prayer saying is a confirmation of our first primal food experience. It gives form to expressing thankfulness that reaches immediately back to our first minutes of life and is something inherently cognate within us. The gratia experience we encounter as infants is transformed and intellectualized over time into an appreciation of food as both spiritual and physical nourishment that is acknowledged in the gratis prayer.
There are four principal types of thanksgiving grace: the silent grace, the spoken grace, the sung grace, the signed grace. I thought it would be nice to include an adult and child's signed grace, they have a beauty all their own. See for yourself.
An intriguing example is two prayers of thanks that, according to the Bible, Jesus offered at the Last Supper. We don't know if the prayers were voiced or silent. Jesus' exact words (if they were spoken) were not recorded by the authors of the New Testament. In the course of the Last Supper, the Bible tells us, "Jesus gave thanks'' to God in heaven. The first grace was intoned before Jesus drank the wine, and the second divine gratia before he ate the bread. These two thanksgiving prayers of Jesus are sacred mysteries.
The Dead Sea Scrolls document another fascinating prayer of thanks that was a sacred rite of the Essenes, the authors of the scrolls. (Essene means "pious one.'') This ancient esoteric Jewish sect existed from the second century basmalah formula bismi-Llahi-r Rahmani-r-Rahim, "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.'' Basmalah is never omitted before a Muslim meal; it is the equivalent of saying grace. The meal is never ended without uttering the hamdalah, the "praise God.'' The hamdalah (colloq. hamdullah) is the required ending response to the basmalah. The Prophet is clear on the motivation for saying grace: "If you are thankful, surely I will increase you'' (Koran 14:7).
In the Hindu belief, food cannot be eaten unless it is first offered to God. It then becomes prasad (sanctified or observed as holy), something to be eaten that was blessed by God. Hinduism puts great emphasis on the loving reliance upon God. An example of this is seen in prayer 5 from the Bhagavad Gita (Song of the Lord), the most sacred religious text of Hinduism. The Gita is found in the Mahabharata, an extraordinary Sanskrit epic that dates from the second century Eucharist is derived from the Greek eucharistia (thanksgiving). In the celebration of Holy Communion, the consecrated bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him'' (John 6:56).
Food and associated prayers play a central role in religions of the Far East. Confucianism, founded by Confucius in the sixth century Tao meaning "the Way''). Taoism is based on the annual rotation of the seasons and the harmony and balance of nature. In the Tasze, the great sacrifice in the huge Altar Park (the largest altar in the world), offerings of food, rice spirits, and other gifts are placed on the altar and the spirit of heaven is invited by means of a sacred hymn to descend to the altar. Sie-Tsih, the gods of millet and corn, are worshiped in a spring and autumn sacrifice. The modern Chinese expedient gratia before the banquet meal, Duo xie, duo xie (a thousand thanks, a thousand thanks), is merely the cultural evolution of worship chanted to the many food gods of Chinese antiquity: Chi Ming, Ching Ling Tzu, or Chung Tso. A witty and sophisticated saying in cultural circles that has the elegance of quoting poetry is (Ren Yi Shi Wei Tian), "People perceive food to be almost like God.''
Shinto is the old native religion of Japan that reveres ancestors and nature spirits. Derived from the Chinese Shen-Tao (way of the gods), Shinto's central belief is kami, God, the sacred power that infuses animate and inanimate things. Amaterasu is the most eminent of the Shinto deities. She is the beneficent sun goddess who taught mankind the cultivation of food. Inari is the grain god. Norito prayers petition the gods for good harvests. The Setsubun ceremony celebrates the start of a new season of seeds and planting. Its rites involve Neolithic rituals that survive today in technofuturist Japan. A cornucopia of rice, cakes, fish, and vegetables are sacred treasures placed on the altar expressing thanks for the bounty of the earth.
Buddhism's history is rich with reverence for food and thankfulness for its nourishment. The great prince Gautama Sakyamuni experienced full enlightenment while sipping a cup of milk-rice as he meditated the doctrine of nirvana under the Tree of Enlightenment, the Bodhi Tree. Buddhists have used prayers of blessing and offering in everything from the cultivation of crops to the dedication of each plate of food to the betterment of humanity. As exemplified by the Buddhist prayers, food can be truly blessed only when the one giving thanks has lived a life of service to both the universe that has given the food and those who suffer and are without food. Buddhism commands thankfulness for food by its "vow to live a life which is worthy to receive it''.
Native American Indian tribes share a common reverence for the earth and all that is given from its bounty. Animals, harvests and water must be accepted with thankfulness in rituals and prayers. Respect for the food gift is often expressed by asking a plant or animal that must be used for food for its forgiveness in taking its life and explaining why its death was necessary. In Native American thought, human beings are dependent upon the earth, not master over it.
Civilization is synonymous in every sense with the growth of agriculture. Cultivating crops predated the invention of the wheel and writing. The existence in the belief of the power of the first fruits or grains has provided the world with many rituals, beliefs and festivals. The festival calendars of antiquity are based on agriculture. Our modern calendar descends from ancient agricultural calendars.
The cultivation of plants for food, as opposed to the use of plants as they grow naturally in the environment, marked the evolution of humanity from a user of food to a producer of food. The three main Israelite feasts recorded in the Bible are in part, harvest festivals, in which multitudes of Jews brought fruits and vegetables to the Temple in Jerusalem: Pesach, a feast at the beginning of the barley harvest; Shavuot, a summer feast of the end of the wheat harvest; Sukkot, the autumn ingathering of grapes and cultivated fruits. Of the six major sections of the Mishnah, the first collection of Jewish law (elul, "to reap, harvest'') is the twelfth month in the Jewish year.
In the Old Testament the breaking of bread symbolized the immutable bond in relationships among all people. The Covenant was reaffirmed through deeply profound meals and feasts. The Hebrew word for covenant (b'rith) has etymological origins in the Hebrew notion "to eat.'' The ancient Jewish prayer has been intoned in Jewish homes over the centuries. It is a grace before the meal and is recited before eating the first morsel of bread.
The Jewish liturgy is full of the idea of divine grace interceding to aid humanity. Grace is Ahabah Rabbah and thanksgiving Shemoneh Esreh. The liturgy requires separate blessings (b'rachot) for various categories of food. The blessing over bread (the hamotzi) differs from that of cakes and cooked grains; fruits and vegetables have their own blessings, as does wine and fragrances. Inviting poor people to have food with you makes your table an altar and the meal an atonement. Martin Buber helps us realize that our very table is sacred: "One eats in holiness and the table becomes an altar.''
There are many ways to analyze and classify food prayers: by country, by culture, by language, by religion, by God, by food, by sacred imagery--to name a few. We have divided the prayers here into two broad classifications: food prayers honoring God or gods and food prayers extolling the bounty on earth. All civilizations and all religions through all ages associate food with God or gods; all primitives nonbelievers associate food with a supernatural power or spirits. All recognize the earth's bounty (crops and food) as a reflection of divine goodness.
Food prayers to the gods are created for many reasons: making one's wishes known, honoring the dead in order to show reverence for life, reconciling God(s) with humanity in order to bring good fortune on earth or to assure a place in the afterlife.
The recognition of the earth as sacred manifests itself in the ritual and religious life of communities as petitional prayers by the laborers, chants for seed planting and crop proliferation, ceremonials for laying out plots, transmittal of family tradition, and reflection on the concept of home and hearth. Central to all cultures and religions, food is a sacred gift that is the supreme and universal bond of all friendship.
The world's quest for happiness operates within a context of reverence for God through an inimitable link to food. In this uncertain age when ethnic differences divide people, we should strive to embrace our common humanity that is expressed so succinctly in food prayers. These prayers talk to us with the wisdom of the ages and teach us that we are all one family, all one mystical soul. Food prayers throughout history may be seen as evidence of our profound sense of awe in the face of the infinite.
http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/german/books/butash/bless/introduction.html
The Kama Sutra — Part 4
Continuation of Self Examination from October...
Self examination starts with the observation of one’s relation to the things and events of the world. Try to view all experiences as connected to one another and to oneself; notice the fine details and cultivate as inquisitive but detached attitude. Examine whatever comes to you and try to understand the causes behind each situation and your actions in it. A simple procedure for self-examination is to sit comfortably in front of a mirror, close your eyes, and empty your mind of all thoughts. then gradually begin to open your eyes, looking at the reflection in the mirror as if meeting that person for the first time. See what sort of impression you make on yourself. Notice how changes in your facial expressions are linked to thoughts and emotions. Gradually enter into rapport with your mirror image, gently relaxing your face while maintaining conscious control of breathing. If you notice negative qualities in your reflection, make a careful adjustment of attitude and emotion, using the breath to stabilize the psyche. Imagine that you are replacing a negative quality with a positive one, and try to feel the “new you” as real and lasting. Then gradually close your eyes and concentrate on assimilating the experience, imagining it as pervading your whole being.
By knowing yourself you can come to know others. Don’t criticize others before correcting faults in yourself. Only through self-examination can you develop real insight. Real insight requires courage and rigorous honesty. An attitude of constant self-examination will quickly overcome inner obstacles to growth and generate a marvelous potential for Tantric love. Self-examination is the most direct path to the experience of non-duality and mystic awareness. Only in that experience can a physical relationship take on lasting meaning.
From The Alchemy of Ecstasy by Nik Douglas and Penny Slinger
Welcome to the May issue of my Blog... www.TheUrbanShaman.blogstop.com 
This is a thoughtful passage my friend Ralph from Rotterdam sent to me last week... and I am passing it on to you all!
Being Present in Mindfulness 
The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When our mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers. If you love someone but rarely make yourself available to him or her, that is not true love. When your beloved is suffering, you need to recognize their suffering, anxiety, and worries, and just by doing that, you already offer some relief. Mindfulness relieves suffering because it is filled with understanding and compassion. When you are really there, showing your loving-kindness and understanding, the energy of the Holy Spirit is in you. Mindfulness is very much like the Holy Spirit. Both of them help us touch the ultimate dimension of reality. Mindfulness helps us touch Nirvana, and the Holy Spirit offers us a door to the Trinity. 
