ALEX NOBLE - WRITING JOURNAL-2015

You Are A World Changer! - Bill Harvey

 

Start activating change where you are now

 

From Bill Harvey's Blog At:

www.mindmagicprogram.com

What’s my evidence that you’re a world changer? You read my stuff. That’s my evidence.

I get an interesting if fuzzy picture of who reads this blog from the people who thank me for it. And from some indirect measures, such as how rarely people leave public comments, instead emailing me; what does this tell us: private types who read in this blog information that is also kind of private. It’s about the inner life. Inner, not outer, means that it isn’t something people talk about. If they’re going to talk to me about it, they don’t want to do it publicly.

Aristotle considered the inner life the most important thing to Humanity. If he saw what Acceleritis has done to shrink the inner life down to the smallest part of one’s existence, he would become depressed.

No One Deserves Love More Than You

 

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”

- Buddha

The Sole Purpose of Our Existence

 

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human
existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."
- Carl Jung

 

POETRY: You Reading This, Be Ready - William Stafford

"Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life.

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?"

 

- William Stafford

The New Diary - Tristine Rainer

 

 

The New Diary is about a completely modern concept of journal writing. It has little to do with the rigid daily calendar diary you may have kept as a child or the factual travelogue you wrote to recall the Grand Canyon. Instead, it is a tool for tapping the full power of your inner resources.

The New Diary is as much for those who already keep a journal as it is for those who have never kept one. It does not tell you the "right" way to keep a diary; rather, it offers numerous possibilities for using the diary to achieve your own purposes. It is a place for you to clarify goals, visualize the future, and focus your engergies; a means of freeing your intuition and imagination; a workbook for exploring your dreams, your past, and your present life.

It is for everyone seeking concrete methods for dealing with personal problems. It is for women and men interested in achieving self-reliance and inner liberation, for artists and writers seeking new techniques for overcoming blocks to creativity.

 

Are You Ready for Abundance?

 

 

 

 

 

Are you ready to allow more sparkling abundance and prosperity into your life?

It's time to release blockages that impede your progress. Most people think that becoming more prosperous has to do with external conditions. However, there is a spiritual secret . . . it truly starts within YOU.

You absolutely DO have the power to turn your life around, and this high-voltage course will accelerate your path into glorious, magnificent abundance. The journey can be fun, easy, and joyful!

 

Unleash Your Inner Millionaire!

 

From: Formula for Success - Where Science Meets Spirit

 

http://www.formulaformiracles.net/Audio-Programs-and-CDs/Unleash-Your-Inner-Millionaire.html

 

Have You Experienced Instant Healing?

Have YOU experienced instant healing?

 

Brent Phillips was a successful MIT-trained engineer who experienced a miracle change when his arm (immobile and frozen at the elbow after a surgery) healed in an instant after a single session of the holistic technique Theta Healing!

He was so transformed by this experience that he gave up his career in technology and dedicated all of his science and engineering talent and experience to master instant healing and personal holistic transformation. Today, he shares the magic and miracles of Theta Healing^TM with his students and clients around the world.

 

 

 

Full Information About Brent Phillips, Theta Healing, and Available Programs at:

www.thetahealingla.com

 

What is Theta Healing^TM?

 

Theta Healing^TM is a holistic healing technique which directly addresses your subconscious mind to fix the "bugs in your software", allowing miraculous instant healings and profound transformations. Whether you seek to transform your health, your finances, your relationships or your spirituality, Theta is a surprisingly fast and easy way to make permanent, lasting, and effective changes in your life.

NON-PROFITS: Effective Frontline Fundraising

 

 

Jeffrey Stauch is no slouch when it comes to asking people for money—and he shares how he gets it done in his new title, "Effective Frontline Fundraising," recently published by Apress.

Stauch got his start by canvassing for political groups on the streets of Boston and quickly progressed to his current position as a prime fundraiser for a prestigious New England College. “Asking for $5—and getting it—takes about as much skill and guts as asking for $1 million,” said Stauch. “The principles are the same. And anyone can learn them.”

 

The Poet Dreams of the Mountain - Mary Oliver

"Sometimes I grow weary of the days with all their fits and starts.

I want to climb some old grey mountain, slowly, taking
the rest of my life to do it, resting often, sleeping
under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks.
I want to see how many stars are still in the sky
that we have smothered for years now, forgiving it all,
and peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know.
All that urgency!  Not what the earth is about!
How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only.
I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts.
In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall."

- Mary Oliver,

"The Poet Dreams of the Mountain"

MoreThan Singing, More Than Speaking - With Jocelyn Rasmussen

 

 

www.morethansinging.com

 

MORE THAN SINGING, LLC is committed to creating a world where:

• People have affordable access to tools and information to help them realize and develop the power and beauty of their voices.

• People feel comfortable to sing which supports self-esteem, expression and harmonious community.

• Singing, recognized as a complement to wellness and growth, is utilized to improve concentration, imagination, productivity and emotional balance in diverse settings.


W H Y   I S   I T   M O R E
T H A N   S I N G I N G  ?

Jocelyn hears more than singing in the human voice. She hears the beauty of a life speaking its truth and passions, the resolution of a human spirit in word and song.

 

See Biographical Information About Jocelyn, Below:

 

 

Visionaries, Inc - Award Winning Public TV Series Since 1995

 

 

 

Full Information and Listing of Each Year's Programs Since 1995:

 

www.visionaries.org

 

Since 1995, Visionaries, Inc. has been producing Visionaries documentary series for public television. Hosted by Sam Waterston of Law & Order, the documentary series highlights the rarely told stories of nonprofit organizations all around the world that are working to make a positive difference in their community and beyond.

Visionaries' production crews have traveled across six continents and to more than 50 American cities to profile the extraordinary work of true philanthropists- people dedicating their lives and careers to the service of others. From Refugees International to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and art museums to humane societies, Visionaries tells the stories of individuals dedicated to changing the status quo in an effort to promote positive coexistence. The documentaries seek to inspire vast audiences, serve as catalysts for positive social change and promote philanthropy on a global level.

 

How Coyote Got His Wisdom

 

Alex Noble - Writing Secrets: What to Do When Your Muse Leaves Town

 

 

Alex Noble

 

 You want to write. You intend to write. You almost wrote something yesterday, but… You know you have worlds to say. But all you can do is stare at the blank page. 

Stare, stare, stare. You feel stuck, empty, useless, unworthy, ridiculous, a pretender in the world of ideas. You feel shame, guilt, despair.

Nothing comes.  If feels as though your Muse has left town for Mozambique, with no forwarding address and her cell phone number is no longer in service. What to do?  There is a name for it, and your condition is called “Writer’s Block.”

The good news is that there is a cure.

Time for a Change?

Assignment:  Find a sanctuary and get very still.  Shut down your Monkey Mind and get in touch with whatever your body is feeling. Focus on the idea of a positive change. Ask your God, your Muse, your Angels - whomever you listen to - to tell you about an area of your life where you would benefit from a change. Identify that change with as many specifics as possible. Think about what you need to do to make that change happen, and outline the steps you need to take. Visualize what it will feel like when you have actually made the change, and are in your new chapter. Imagine yourself celebrating. Write Now! GO!

 

 

Visionaries: Sages & Scientists Symposium

 

 

 

 

 

Presented by the Chopra Foundation, this Third Annual International Sages and Scientists Symposium, being held from March 3 to 5, 2012 at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, will address some of the most urgent questions facing our future evolution, including:

 

• Are we in the midst of a major paradigm shift in science?

 

• Is there an ultimate reality?

 

• Does consciousness conceive, govern, construct and become the physical universe?

 

• Is the universe becoming self aware in the human nervous system?

 

• Is the next stage of human development conscious evolution?

 

• Do we have the ability to influence the future evolution of the cosmos?

 

• How does our understanding of consciousness as pure potentiality enhance our capacity for intuition, creativity, conscious choice making, healing, and the awakening of dormant potentials such as non-local communication and non-local sensory experience?

 

• How does our understanding of consciousness also enhance our capacity for total well being—physical, emotional, spiritual, social, community, financial and ecological?

“If you find the above questions intriguing, you are most welcome to join me and my colleagues as we go deep into dialogue about our emerging future,” said Chopra, founder of the Chopra Foundation. “Everything will be examined from the perspectives of both sages and scientists with the goal of finding common ground.

“At the end of the symposium, we will summarize the current understanding of the issues that deeply affect all of us at the core of our being. We aim to propel scientific investigation and research in the areas of consciousness.”

The Chopra Foundation is requesting a donation of $1,995—$1,000 of which is tax deductible—for general participation, after which registration will be complimentary. Contributions to the Symposium will be used to support collaborative research on the realization of consciousness, carry on the Foundation’s other charitable work, and pay expenses for the

program.

Accommodations are available at The La Costa Resort and Spa. Please register online at http://www.choprafoundation.org and use the promo code #54E883 or call (800) 854-5000.

When making a reservation, please mention “The Chopra Foundation Sages and Scientists Symposium” to receive the special discounted rate: $169.00 per night. This rate excludes resort fees and taxes, and is based on availability.

Our Vision: Rediscovering Humanity's Niche

It is time to create new stories, and rediscover our place in the global web of life!

Come visit A New Story Foundation:  www.anewstory.org

 

Envision the earth's life-sustaining processes as a beautiful and diverse web of interrelationships--a kaleidoscope of patterns, rhythms, and connections whose very complexity and multitude of possibilities remind us that cooperation, sharing, honesty, humility, and love should be the guidelines for our behavior toward one another and the earth. -- Ecosustainability student   Our Vision - Rediscovering Humanity's Niche: Following the lead of author Daniel Quinn, we believe that modern society has lost its way.  Humans have abandoned the tried and true survival mechanisms established over thousands of millennia, forgetting that they were once a fully-integrated member of the global ecosystem.  We believe that the tired old story modern society tells itself has seen its last days, and that the global self-deception is about to be exposed for what it is.  We believe it is time for new stories, stories that tell of the rediscovery of humanity's place in the global web of life.  We envision a time when these new stories depicting humans within nature, and not separate from it, will be the human story.

Want to Change the World?

 

 

Change the Story!

Duane Elgin

The next five to ten years represent an unprecedented break in the human journey. We are between stories, or the guiding narratives, that serve as beacons for our collective future. For example, the “American Dream” that pulled the U.S. forward for at least three generations is fast becoming the world’s nightmare as the excesses of consumerism produce climate disruption, the depletion of cheap oil, growing income disparities, and more. Instead of a different “dream,” people want wide-awake visions of real possibilities told in ways that are believable and compelling.

We face big challenges and it will take an equally big vision to transform conflict into cooperation and draw us into a promising future. The most difficult challenge facing humanity is not devising solutions to the energy crisis or climate crisis or population crisis; rather, it is bringing images and stories of the human journey into our collective awareness that empower us to look beyond a future of great adversity and to see a future of great opportunity. Stories of great transition offer alternative big-picture perspectives that place our time of transition in a larger context and illuminate a promising future. These narratives are of universal concern, simple and relatively easy to understand, emotionally powerful, and able to call forth our higher potentials; and all involve a time of profound initiation and deep transformation.

 

How to Write a Memoir - William Zinsser

 

 

Be yourself, speak freely, and think small

By William Zinsser

 

One of the saddest sentences I know is “I wish I had asked my mother about that.” Or my father. Or my grandmother. Or my grandfather. As every parent knows, our children are not as fascinated by our fascinating lives as we are. Only when they have children of their own—and feel the first twinges of their own advancing age—do they suddenly want to know more about their family heritage and all its accretions of anecdote and lore. “What exactly were those stories my dad used to tell about coming to America?” “Where exactly was that farm in the Midwest where my mother grew up?”

Writers are the custodians of memory, and that’s what you must become if you want to leave some kind of record of your life and of the family you were born into. That record can take many shapes. It can be a formal memoir—a careful act of literary construction. Or it can be an informal family history, written to tell your children and your grandchildren about the family they were born into. It can be the oral history that you extract by tape recorder from a parent or a grandparent too old or too sick to do any writing. Or it can be anything else you want it to be: some hybrid mixture of history and reminiscence. Whatever it is, it’s an important kind of writing. Too often memories die with their owner, and too often time surprises us by running out.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

The Rosette Nebula is not the only cosmic cloud of gas and dust to evoke the imagery of flowers - but it is the most famous. At the edge of a large molecular cloud in Monoceros, some 5,000 light years away, the petals of this rose are actually a stellar nursery whose lovely, symmetric shape is sculpted by the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot young stars.

The stars in the energetic cluster, cataloged as NGC 2244, are only a few million years old, while the central cavity in the Rosette Nebula, cataloged as NGC 2237, is about 50 light-years in diameter. The nebula can be seen firsthand with a small telescope toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120214.html

 

Visionary Jacques Fresco - Paradise or Oblivion: The Venus Project

Paradise or Oblivion: A New Documentary from Jacque Fresco’s Venus Project

From New Paradigm Digest:  www.newparadigmdigest.com

 

http://www.thevenusproject.com/

Paradise or Oblivion details the root causes of the systemic value disorders and detrimental symptoms caused by our current established system. This video presentation advocates a new socio-economic system, which is updated to present-day knowledge, featuring the life-long work of Social Engineer, Futurist, Inventor and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco, which he calls a Resource-Based Economy.

The film details the need to outgrow the dated and inefficient methods of politics, law, business, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, and use the methods of science, combined with high technology, to provide for the needs of all the world’s people. It is not based on the opinions of the political and financial elite or on illusionary so-called democracies, but on maintaining a dynamic equilibrium with the planet that could ultimately provide abundance for all people.

Paradise or Oblivion, by The Venus Project, introduces the viewer to a more appropriate value system that would be required to enable this caring and holistic approach to benefit human civilization. This alternative surpasses the need for a monetary-based, controlled, and scarcity-oriented environment, which we find ourselves in today.

*This is NOT the “major motion picture” that The Venus Project is working towards but rather is a 52 min. documentary to introduce the aims and proposals to new people. Paradise or Oblivion will be released in March 2012 and we will post a link to the documentary as soon as it is released.

In the meantime, if you are not familiar with the work of Jacque Fresco and his Venus Project, here is a link to his highly informative newsletter and The Venus Project site. Fresco is one of the most brilliant minds of our time and his visionary proposals make total sense. He just raised funds to hire a screenwriter to develop a feature film that can inform the world that a solution exists to humanity’s challenges. This film cannot arrive too soon. Like Buckminster Fuller before him, the world is fortunate to have his brilliant mind and heart in service to life. NPD will continue to update readers on Jacque’s progress as it means our progress.

Indigenous People's Message to the World: Myth & Story Audios from Better Listen

 

Excellent audio files from some of our leading scholars on great myths and stories. Hear James Hillman, Ram Dass, Thomas Moore, Coleman Barks and many others...

http://shop.betterlisten.com/collections/myth-story

 

 

About the Featured Audio, The Indigenous People's Message to the World:

 

About this program: BetterListen! was called in to document on audio, the lectures and cultural music presentations at The First World Conference of Indigenous Peoples in 1992. The result is this award winning program produced by David Ison, endorsed by The United Nations, Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly and now available for the first time in digital format. 

"This is our chance to listen to a message from people closely connected to the Earth. The industrial world has put their very existence at stake. Stop and listen to their world!" - Mickey Hart (Author of Drumming at the Edge of Magic and Planet Drum, drummer with the Grateful Dead.) 

"This authentic product is a "Who's who of ritual tribal music and ceremony" - Publishers Weekly. 

 

The Educated Heart - Robert Bly (FREE Download!)

 

FREE DOWNLOAD AT BETTER LISTEN!

 

http://shop.betterlisten.com/products/the-educated-heart-by-robert-bly

 

During this talk, Iron John author Robert Bly gives a delicate and lively view of the fantastic flowering of feeling in 12th Century Provence. The feeling thought, developed from Arabic, Gnostic, and Albigensian sources, blossoms as love poetry famous at that time. In this recording, Bly distinguishes between the literal mode, the psychological mode, and the mythological mode, and locates the “Amor” or ecstatic love in the latter, which led to Sufism among the Arabs. Bly’s recitation of Provencal poetry brings to awareness the terrible loss we suffered when these traditions were uprooted and destroyed.

Author Bio and Links

95 Questions to Help You Find Meaning & Happiness

 

Assignment: For the next 95 days, beginning today, answer one of the questions below. Do not skip any of the questions.  Make it a goal to create a "Book of Answers" to these 95 questions, which you can share with friends, and maybe even self-publish.  When you have finished the 95 questions here, make up 5 of your own questions, and answer them, so that you will have a total of 100 questions.  Have fun! Write Now! GO!

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95 Questions to Help You Find Meaning and Happiness

 

 

by Marc

“At the cusp of a new day, week, month or year, most of us take a little time to reflect on our lives by looking back over the past and ahead into the future.  We ponder the successes, failures and standout events that are slowly scripting our life’s story.  This process of self-reflection helps us maintain a conscious awareness of where we’ve been and where we intend to go.  It is pertinent to the organization and preservation of our long-term goals and happiness. The questions below will help you with this process.  Because when it comes to finding meaning in life, asking the right questions is the answer.

   1. In one sentence, who are you?
   2. Why do you matter?
   3. What is your life motto?
   4. What’s something you have that everyone wants?
   5. What is missing in your life?
   6. What’s been on your mind most lately?
   7. Happiness is a ________?
   8. What stands between you and happiness?

EARTH MYSTERIES: Are Ancient Pyramids Waking Up?

World's Pyramids Beaming Energy To Mysterious Space Cloud ?

 

Although NASA covered up the strange photon cloud that's now enveloped the solar system, the word has leaked out from some scientists.

And now, as the ominous cloud approaches it's affecting the sun and planets in measurable ways.

Amazingly, as the bizarre energy invades our space, some of the world's most famous pyramids are generating intense energy.

Several incredible incidents of visible power beams shooting skywards into space towards the region of the alien photonic cloud are well-documented.

At the same time, people around the world began hearing and recording frightening sounds—noises that seem as if the Earth itself is moaning and wailing.

All the phenomena—including measurements of the never-before-seen gigantic electrification of the turbulent sun—seem to be centered on the deadly photonic cloud that some have called a 'potential Doomsday space event.'

Pyramids beam energy to approaching space cloud

Ancient pyramids awake after centuries, millennia of slumber

Tourists screamed, others shot hasty videos with their camera phones as the Mayan pyramid rumbled. But no earthquake followed, instead a brilliant beam of light shot skyward into space as awed onlookers gasped, wondering what it meant.

 

 

RIP: Whitney Houston

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a Fan:

This lady has inspired more people in the Music industry then anyone else. She set the bar at a level very few could reach. My prayer for you Whitney, I pray you find peace and contentment in death. The struggles of addiction are real. The pipe had a hold of you very tight. But nothing can break the hold God has on you. You are at rest. The media will do there thing and people who turned there backs on you in the industry will jump on the band wagon. Your music will live forever in the Fans

National Public Radio: eTown

Check your local NPR FM radio station for times.

 

etown’s mission is to educate, entertain and inspire a diverse audience, through music and conversation, to create a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable world. We’re heard from coast to coast on NPR, commercial, and community stations. Like old-time radio variety shows, every etown show is taped in front of a live audience and features performances from many of today’s top musical artists as well as conversation and information about our communities and our environment.

 

2012: Mayan Prophecies and Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is Much More Than an Entertaining Mayan Story or Myth

By Sandra Musser

The Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl and his twin brother came into being through virgin birth to the goddess Coatlice. He represents the Morning Star. But, the real story is found hidden...between the lines.

This Mesoamerican deity has been worshiped at least since the time of the Olmecs. Kukulcan or Ququmatz were the Mayan names. Quetzalcoatl (ket-tsul'kwot-ul) was Aztec, for the deity Feathered Serpent. For simplicities sake, I'll use this name throughout, because the Aztecs left us more information.

Source:  http://www.2012-spiritual-growth-prophecies.com/

Empowering Ways to Find Peace in a World of Chaos

 

How the Power of Forgiveness Can Heal Your Life

 

Assignment: Before reading this essay, think about who you need to forgive, take notes, and decide to forgive them. Write Now!  GO!

 

 

 

By Sandra Musser

The healing power of forgiveness is the key to peace, health and happiness.

So what makes forgiveness so powerful? True forgiveness releases a feeling or emotion we consider negative from our psychic through understanding. Many understand the concept of forgiveness, but don’t incorporate true forgiveness into their lives. They say the words, "I forgive you." But are quick to remind the other person of the atrocity they committed when convenient. This is not forgiveness. True forgiveness has no conditions and is complete.

"...see forgiveness as the natural reaction to distress that rests on error, and thus "calls for help." Forgiveness is the only sane response...Unjustified forgiveness is attack. And this is all the world can ever given. It pardons "sinners" sometimes, but remains aware that they have sinned. And so they do not merit the forgiveness that it gives. This is the false forgiveness which the world employs to keep the sense of sin alive...If you can see your brother merits pardon, you have learned forgiveness is your right as much as his...Forgiveness recognized as merited will heal." A Course in Miracles

Source:  http://www.2012-spiritual-growth-prophecies.com/

 

 

Best Place for Self-Publishing Your Books! Lulu!

Full Information on the Lulu Publishing Services at: www.lulu.com

With Lulu, the leader in self-publishing, there is a size for all your projects. Whether you're making a comic book, novel or business presentation, we've got the perfect size. Get Started >

Zenpreneurism 3.0: A New Manifesto for Entrepreneurs

 

From New Paradigm Digest: www.newparadigmdigest.com

 

In his little treasure of a book. Allan Hollinder, the father of Zenpreneurism, shares his lessons on living a soulful and integrated business and personal life. There are many great business books, but few pack in as much wisdom in 45 pages.

Allan supports readers in redefining what real success means from the accumulation of more and more money to identifying and sharing our authentic soul’s calling as well as our love, compassion and gratitude, attracting and welcoming our experiences, and leaving an honorable footprint on the planet.

As Buddha said “Deeds done in harmony with one’s path of life are those which bring clarity, peace and harmony to the doer”.

The Joy Diet - Martha Beck

Photo: Eric Tucker

I had just traveled home from Singapore to attend my sister's wedding. Now, a week later, I was back in Asia. My circadian rhythm was bewildered by two massive time-zone changes, so I was pleased to stumble across a magazine article about overcoming jet lag. The key, it said, was scheduling food intake. Travelers are supposed to eat at certain times and strictly abstain from food the remainder of the day. The article listed "feast/fast" schedules for several travel itineraries. I eagerly looked up mine. The chart said something like "feast, fast, feast, fast, fast, feast," as if the author were sending a message in some kind of dietetic Morse code. But in my bleary-eyed incoherence, I misread the words. I thought the prescription said "feast, feast, feast, feast, feast, feast."

I felt a spontaneous smile ripple through my whole body. I was authorized for constant feasting! As an American female, I was accustomed to thinking that the occasional ounce of chopped celery was a righteous and appropriate diet. The word feast brought back memories of childhood Thanksgivings, when I was too young to be diet conscious; the lovely chaos of sounds, sights, and aromas that swirled around me as my enormous family sat down at a heavily laden table. Those feasts had been loud and obstreperous and wonderful, and I had given them up for lost.

Within a few seconds, I realized that I'd misread the jet lag article. No, I did not have permission to indulge myself in nonstop feasts. I remember sighing with disappointment, but even so, something had changed. For the first time in years, I'd allowed myself to picture life full of feasts, and that glimpse was so seductive that it never completely faded. It took another decade or so, but I finally decided that I not only could but should "feast, feast, feast, feast, feast, feast."

Now I live that way all the time. I don't mean that I never stop eating. I mean that every day I remind myself to return to the spirit of feasting. This is part of a program I call the Joy Diet, a regimen designed not for the body but for the inner self (the word diet originally didn't mean an eating program; it was a way of living). To go on the Joy Diet, you add certain simple behaviors to your daily routine, practices that will improve your life whether you're feeling just a bit dreary or utterly confined to the pits. Feasting (Joy Diet–style) means adding an element of attention and structure to events that otherwise might slip by as too ordinary for comment. Doing this can turn the most ordinary situations into celebrations.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Martha-Becks-Joy-Diet#ixzz1m8TM10If

Overcoming Peanut Butter

 

 

Assignment: Think about a compulsive behavior you would like to get rid of, and note this in your journal.  What do you think you can do to start getting rid of this habit? Write Now! GO!

 

Why not just stop it?

Watch Comedian Bob Newhart in this classic video, below...

 

 

 

 

Enlightenment is Just an Inch Away! - Bill Harvey

Assignment: Before you read this inspiring article by Bill Harvey, below, take notes in your journal as to what Enlightenment means for you. Write Now!  GO!

 

The Door to Enlightenment Is Always an Inch Away

 

Excerpt:

Here’s a recap:

• If one is doing something for any outcome, one is out of Flow.
• Grading one’s own performance is one of the biggest blocks to Flow.
• A divided mind is the opposite of Flow.
• In Flow, there is no distinction between your self and the moment. It is all one piece.
• In Flow, you are not trying to figure out why you are doing this, or what techniques you are using — you are just doing what comes naturally, in the moment.

Source:  www.mindmagicprogram.com

 

RELAX! "Epitaph" - Piano Solo

 

 

"Epitaph" solo piano composition by Ralph Zurmuhle coupled with wilderness spirit imagery by Cecil Whitt. Video produced by Sam Henegar of Still Waters Imagery & Media, Inc.

Epiphanies

 

Here are two definitions of "epiphany":

1.

a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

2.

a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.

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Assignment:  Read the excerpts below from Richard Wright's novel, "Black Boy," from an article by Chet Raymo.  Let these moments liberate your memory and imagination to create some of your own epiphanies in your journal.  These can stand on their own, or be woven into a poem or short, short story. Write Now! GO!

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"There Was..."
by Chet Raymo

"Richard Wright's classic 1945 memoir "Black Boy" recounts his childhood in the racially charged South of the 1920s. It is a heartbreaking tale of poverty, hunger, prejudice- and triumph against all odds. Several times in the book, Wright breaks the traditional narrative to list, litany-like, remembered epiphanies:

    'There was the delight I caught in seeing long straight rows of red and green vegetables stretching away in the sun to the bright horizon.'

    'There was the faint, cool kiss of sensuality when dew came on to my cheeks and shins as I ran down the wet green garden paths in the early morning.'

    'There was the tantalizing melancholy in the tingling scent of burning hickory wood.'

"I Want You To Want Me" - Interactive Art Installation - MOMA

 

Make Your Own Beautiful Book - Print on Demand!

 

A Book Published by Blurb: See Blurb Bookstore

 

Full Information at: www.blurb.com

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Count on bookstore-quality printing and binding, and a range of choices from Hardcover photobooks to Softcover paperbacks in an array of trim sizes. Use any of our free online bookmaking tools to create your own book.

Learn how to publish a book and much more with our free how-to tips and tutorials or watch our two-minute BookSmart video and see how easy it is to make a coffee table photo book. Be sure to register and subscribe to Blurb emails to get the news first on Blurb events and promo code coupon offers.

 

 

Why the Arthurian Legend of the Fisher King is Important Now...

 

 

 

From Yahoo Answers:

Before I answer the question directly, I have to comment that some of the same basic spiritual issues that we face today have been faced by seekers many thousands of years ago. So, in a way, our sense that we are at the crest of modernism and breaking new ground for the continuing enlightenment is only partially true. In many ways we may also be so advanced in some areas (such as our scientific and technical understanding of the world around us), that we have become morons on the spiritual plane. A good example of this is that western thinking barely acknowledges the reality of reincarnation. And all of those spiritual influences from the past (and perhaps the future) are at the core of who we are. This mindset (not shared by billons of non-Christian people around the world) thus shuts a major portal to self-knowledge.

So there were cultures and subcultures and people throughout history who really understood some fundamentals much better than we do even in our post-modern existence (and granted they may also have been clueless in other areas). And I have my own personal spin on the Percival legend that I haven't heard from other sources.

Tell Your Story!

 

Aboriginal Story Telling

 

 

Assignment:  If you had 15 minutes to write down the 7 most important events of your life, what would they be?  Then, choose one and write a short short story about what happened, and how this affected you.  When did this happen? Who was involved?  How old were you? Where did this take place?  How long did this experience last?  What blessings came from it?  If it was a difficult experience, have you forgiven those involved?  Write Now! GO!

 

Welcome!  We believe that hardly anything is as exciting as living history - especially if it's your family story as told by your own parents or grandparents.

So many of our questions we would like to ask our parents go forever unanswered: Where and how did you meet mum?... What were the challenges you have had in your life?... What was your childhood really like?...

www.tellyourstory.com

Digital Photo Journals and eBooks: Try Mixbook!

What is Mixbook?

Mixbook is the easy and fun way to make completely customizable photo books, cards, and calendars on the web – for free. With Mixbook, you aren’t limited to static pre-designed templates – our powerful design software gives you the freedom to lay out and design your creations to your heart’s content. We’ve dedicated ourselves to bringing you the best experience in creating photo products so that you can make keepsakes that truly reflect your vision. With Mixbook, you can truly Make It Yours™.

Full Information at the MixBook site: www.mixbook.com

Read What Educators are Saying About Mixbook

The Joyful Art of Maira Kalman

 

Cover for "Stay Up Late"

 

Maira Kalman's art is whimsical, funny, childlike and fairly leaping with gorgeous bright color, as you will see when you visit her website:

www.mairakalman.com

A Tour through her magical, sometimes wacko world is guaranteed to brighten your day.

Assignment:  Get a box of colored pencils, or some watercolors, and create something delightful in your journal.  Paint Now! GO!

 

 

 

 

POETRY : Pablo Neruda - I Like for You to Be Still

 

 

 

 

I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
and you hear me from far away and my voice does not touch you.
It seems as though your eyes had flown away
and it seems that a kiss had sealed your mouth.

As all things are filled with my soul
you emerge from the things, filled with my soul.
You are like my soul, a butterfly of dream,
and you are like the word Melancholy.

I like for you to be still, and you seem far away.
It sounds as though you were lamenting, a butterfly cooing like a dove.
And you hear me from far away, and my voice does not reach you:
Let me come to be still in your silence.

And let me talk to you with your silence
that is bright as a lamp, simple as a ring.
You are like the night, with its stillness and constellations.
Your silence is that of a star, as remote and candid.

I like for you to be still: it is as though you were absent,
distant and full of sorrow as though you had died.
One word then, one smile, is enough.
And I am happy, happy that it's not true.

 

Pablo Neruda

The Handless Maiden: A Story for Difficult Times

 

In Women Who Run With the Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a Jungian analyst and storyteller, retells a story about a handless maiden. It's a story that seems to me a kind of ideal story for a month in which I'm writing about ways in which a person can sometimes get stuck--hit obstacles--get bewildered. The story is one that I've found beneficial at crucial junctures in my own life, and it’s a story I have at times told in turn to patients or students when it seems that the labor that began so well—the first giddy success of creativity and vitality—has come to a grinding halt.

The story begins when a maiden loses her hands. She really does lose them—her entire hands. They’re cut off. It’s a moment of initiation. A loss of innocence. Her first serious loss. She has these stumps where she used to have hands, and she wanders, grieving, for many years.

"By the time the wise woman has crossed the bridge the crazy woman has crossed the water."

 

 

POETRY: Mary Oliver - The Journey

 

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.

 

~ Mary Oliver ~

 

(Dream Work)

 

Want to Write Children's Books?

 

 

Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.

 Winnie The Pooh

 

The Institute for Children's Literature

For more than 40 years, the Institute of Children’s Literature has offered the premiere writing course to adults interested in learning how to write and be published for children and teens.  The hallmark of our course is one-on-one personalized instruction from an impressive faculty of active professional writers and experienced editors.  College Credits are available for our course.  Instruction is conveniently available everywhere via the traditional home study method – with lessons exchanged through the mail or via the Internet.

 

This site offers information on our course, Writing for Children and Teenagers, on our teaching methods, and on our faculty of professional writers and editors. The objective of our course and instructors is to train you to create manuscripts for today’s publishing market.  Please go to the Short Story or to the Full Story for details on our course and how you can benefit from it.

For fun, you may want to go immediately to "Our Instructors". We're very proud of our instructors because they are all established writers or editors. They've been there; they know how it's done; and one of them would be your teacher and mentor all the way through the course. Check them out.

 

Ready for Your Own PERSONAL Satellite?

 

 

Assignment:  Take notes in your journal about all the things you can think of that you would do with your very own satellite in earth orbit?  You could also create a "fleet" of satellites with friends and associates!  Write Now!  GO!

*******

 

Would you like to have your own spacecraft in space?

Video at: www.kicksat.org

I’m Zac Manchester, a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. Over the last several years a few collaborators and I have designed, built, and tested a very tiny and inexpensive spacecraft called Sprite that can be built and launched into low Earth orbit for just a few hundred dollars each!

 

Consciousness, Occupy Movement & Planetary Culture (Lecture)

 

 

 

 

Jeremy Johnson of EL interviews one of our greatest scultural historians, William Irwin Thompson for a fascinating discussion about the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, digital culture and planetary crisis.

What is the role of myth and mysticism in the new planetary culture?

*******

Biography of William Irwin Thompson:

(See Below)

 

 

"Where is God Not?" - A Mullah Nasruddin Story

 

Mullah Nasrudin

 

Assignment: Where is God for you? Write a reflection on the Presence of God in your life. Write Now!  GO!

 

From Mullah Nasrudin Stories:

My beloveds, I travelled again to the village of my friend Tekka, after years away. He had become very devout in his ways, sometimes a little pompous, but still the kind soul I had loved for years.

I visited him, and we picked up our friendship as if we had never been apart.

"Nasruddin, you are a light to the eyes," said Tekka, "Please stay with me. I insist."

I accepted his kind invitation. He showed me my sleeping room, with a window to the east, and the bed made up. "I have arranged it so your head faces toward Mecca," he said proudly. "You must always sleep with your head toward Mecca, out of respect for the Prophet, on whom be peace."