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.

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.

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.

 

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!

 

 

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.

 

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?

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/

 

 

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.

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

"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."

 

KIDS: The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes

 

 

 

A young girl from Canada addresses the UN Conference on the environment

in Brazil.

Assignment:  If you had only 5 minutes, and could address a major conference on the environment as she does, what would you say? Write Now! GO!

 

 

Planet Earth - The Most Beautiful Places in the World

 

 

Assignment:  Watch these gorgeous images of our Home Planet, and write a poem, prayer, or meditation on the feelings and memories that these photos bring up for you. Think about the happiest memories you have of being immersed in nature, and feeling at one with all life.  What was it like for you? What did you feel? If you are not feeling poetic, just write a list, and try to capture the magic and beauty of those times.Write Now! GO!

 

 

 

What Is Your True Joy In Life?

 

 

 

 

Assignment:  Today, give some careful thought to what is your true joy in life, and perhaps write out your answer as a poem or a short vignette.  Surprise yourself!  Be honest. Write Now! GO!

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Here is some inspiration for you from George Bernard Shaw:

 

"This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.

Ten Commandments for A Good Life

 

The Ten Commandments for Kids

 

Assignment: Listed below are "10 Commandments for a Good Life."  Before you scroll down and read them, take a few minutes to create your OWN 10 Commandments for a Good Life, and write these in your journal.  This is a most useful, and often surprising exercise.  It will give you an appreciation for the trials faced and victories won, and the wisdom which informs your life practice.  Once you have created your list of 10 (and you may want to work on this for a few days), consider sharing it with friends.Write Now!  GO!

 

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"10 Commandments for a Good Life"
by Marc

What Is Worth Fighting For?

 

Assignment:  Do you agree with Samwise Gangee's statement, below, that "There's some good in the world, and it's worth fighting for?"  What greater good is calling to you?  What do you care about with your whole life?  What cause or causes do you find irresistible, compelling, and necessary for the fulfillment of what you define as your personal Grail Quest, Heroic Journey, and Soul Mission?  Write Now!  GO!

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Sam: "It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy?

The Web's Secret Stories - Jonathan Harris (TED Talk)

 

 

Please, please, please watch this!  It is wondrous. It will cheer you up!!!

Assignment:  Enjoy this inspiring TED Talk by Jonathan Harris, on his remarkable project, "We Feel Fine."  In your journal, write a short entry in terms of how you are feeling right at this moment.  This is a good bit of Soul Yoga to do regularly. 

Khan Academy: A Free Education for Anyone Anywhere

 

A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. We're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education to anyone anywhere.

All of the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.

 

What Do You Want to Learn?

SMASH Books - Another Way to Keep a Journal!

 

 

Check out a whole lot of SMASHBook Stories at:

 

http://www.smashstoriesblog.com/

 

Read a SMASHBook story from Charlotte in France:

 

Got a Secret You've Never Told Anyone?

 

Discover Post Secret: The Blog, The Books, The Community!

 

Journal Assignment:  Think of a secret that you have never told anyone, and write a poem, postcard or short journal entry about it.  Alternatively, send it in as an anonymous artwork to Post Secret. Write Now! GO!

 

A Note to the Founder of Post Secret

 

www.postsecretarchive.com

Dear Frank,

Just a note to let you know how much the Postsecret App has changed my life. November 4, 2011 I attempted to end my life. I've since spent a lot of time in psychiatric treatment as my world came crashing down around me. My psychiatrist encouraged me to journal because it would be "healing". I've tried and I've tried but every time I put pen to paper nothing comes out.

But I post secrets.

Dozens and dozens of secrets. Some are funny, some are shocking, some are vulnerable, and some even surprise myself. But they are mine to release anonymously and I shared them with the App. And the replies? Oh the replies! Complete anonymous strangers come together in humor and in sadness and you find that you aren't alone.

Through posting these secrets and sharing others, I've started to discover myself again. It's still going to be a long road to recovery, but there is hope. Last night when I logged on to read the Sunday secrets I smiled through the tears. I was happy I was part of the fleeting project of the PostSecret App. It was the shining star in the dark night of my depression. Thank you Frank for bringing people together. I will continue to log in every Sunday and read the secrets. Happy new year.

What is Post Secret?

Music for Reflection: On the Road Again - Bob Seeger

 

 

 

Journal Assignment:  Music can be a powerful catalyst to evoke memories, moods and hidden feelings.   I have always loved what I call "Road Songs", which would include the Eagles, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and many others who sing compelling songs of the open road, of freedom, of being out on the long blue highways of the Soul. 

The Most Difficult Game on Earth - Bill Harvey

Excerpt:  Happiness cannot remain up the trail somewhere, an elusive thing we are working toward. Not good. Outdated idea. Time for the new idea. Happiness now. In every now. Now. And now. And now. Happiness all the time, internally controlled, internally generated, by an act of will. Infernally difficult but we cannot abandon this game as we possibly always have before. Now is the time to face it — fight it — and win. And keep winning. Because the game is not won once, but continuously. That’s what makes it so hard.

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From Bill Harvey's Blog:  www.mindmagicprogram.com

Last week we published here the Human Effectiveness Institute’s “highly incomplete checklist” of things to do each day in 2012 to define and meet your goals for the year. One could write a book on each item in that list. For starters, here’s a drill-down on one item in the list that in a way underpins all the other items on the list.

Item III.1 on the list describes why you should be enjoying the moment and provides ways to get yourself into that headspace. Ironically, this is the most difficult game on Earth.

In some version of this universe, it is natural to be in that state all the time, i.e. happy doing whatever you are doing at the moment, or not doing anything but just being there. Why not be happy? If it’s what you’re doing that is blocking happiness, do something else. Why were you doing it in the first place if it didn’t make you happy?

The ego is what gets in the way. The ego is the be-all and end-all of unhappiness. You can choose happiness or at least neutrality in any moment no matter what is being inflicted upon you against your will, to pick an extreme case. If you’re being waterboarded, okay, neutrality is probably the best you can hope for. But such an extreme case illustrates that by an act of will and focus we can indeed choose our mental emotional state. All of us can. There have been times when we’ve all had an opportunity to prove that to ourselves. Nonetheless, it’s the most difficult game on Earth.

Death is Nothing At All

 

The Long Now Foundation - Ready for Long Term Thinking? Like 10,000 Years?

 

 

Journal Assignment:   Come over and take a look at Stewart Brand's Long Now Foundation:

www.longnow.org

 

Challenge yourself to think in terms of 10,000 years in the future.   How about just 1000 years?  If this opportunity inspires you,  do some imaginative thinking about how we and our home planet might change, what values will endure, how we will live, what kind of communities we might have, and whether or not we will be able to reverse the destructive patterns that are now in play.  Take notes on what you would LIKE to see here in 1000 years, and then stretch out to 10,000 years.  Write Now! GO!

 

The Clock and Library Projects

Below is an essay by  founding board member Stewart Brand on the need for, and the mechanism by which, The Long Now Foundation is attempting to encourage long-term thinking.

Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. The trend might be coming from the acceleration of technology, the short-horizon perspective of market-driven economics, the next-election perspective of democracies, or the distractions of personal multi-tasking. All are on the increase. Some sort of balancing corrective to the short-sightedness is needed-some mechanism or myth which encourages the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility, where 'long-term' is measured at least in centuries. Long Now proposes both a mechanism and a myth. It began with an observation and idea by computer scientist Daniel Hillis :

 

Who Are You? Quotations from Erich Fromm

"If I am what I have, and I lose what I have, who then am I?"

- Erich Fromm

Journal Assignment:  The works of Erich Fromm are filled with inspiring and provocative thoughts, such as the one above. If you need a catalyst for some introspection and reflection, use your journal to write something in response to the quote above, or pick one from  the collection of quotes from Fromm, below.  You might ask yourself: "What am I afraid of losing? What would I be if I lost this thing (or these things) that seem so important?"   What if a forest fire was approaching your home, and you had to walk out and leave everything? Who would you be if it all turned to ashes?  What would be left?

Poet Antonio Machado writes that "What the poet seeks is the deep YOU."  What is the 'deep you'?

Spend a few minutes writing a poem or passage which describes what would be left if you lost everything?  Write Now!  GO!

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More wisdom from Erich Fromm:

“Love is a decision, it is a judgment, it is a promise. If love were only a feeling, there would be no basis for the promise to love each other forever. A feeling comes and it may go. How can I judge that it will stay forever, when my act does not involve judgment and decision.”
― Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving

“A person who has not been completely alienated, who has remained sensitive and able to feel, who has not lost the sense of dignity, who is not yet "for sale", who can still suffer over the suffering of others, who has not acquired fully the having mode of existence - briefly, a person who has remained a person and not become a thing - cannot help feeling lonely, powerless, isolated in present-day society. He cannot help doubting himself and his own convictions, if not his sanity. He cannot help suffering, even though he can experience moments of joy and clarity that are absent in the life of his "normal" contemporaries. Not rarely will he suffer from neurosis that results from the situation of a sane man living in an insane society, rather than that of the more conventional neurosis of a sick man trying to adapt himself to a sick society. In the process of going further in his analysis, i.e. of growing to greater independence and productivity,his neurotic symptoms will cure themselves. ”
― Erich Fromm

Change Your Words, Change Your World, Shape Your Future

 

Journal Assignment:  Make list of 10 words which are holding you back from greater happiness and success.  For each word, change it to a dynamic, positive word.  Review this list often, and see how much better you feel when you use the transformed words!  Try it!  Write Now!

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From Joel Osteen:

It's Time to Use Our Words to Declare Good Things

I once read an article about doctors who incorporated "talk therapy" to treat patients suffering with depression. Instead of medicating the problem, the doctors instructed the patients to start making positive declarations over their lives, saying such things as: "I have a bright future. People like to be around me. Good things are in store."

 

Waking Up: The Enterprise... Is Exploration Into God

Claude Monet - Les Glacons - The Ice Floes

 

 

Dark and cold we may be, but this

Is no winter now. The frozen misery

Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;

The thunder is the thunder of the floes,

The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.

Thank God our time is now when wrong

Comes up to face us everywhere,

Never to leave us till we take

The longest stride of soul we ever took.

Affairs are now soul size.

The enterprise

Is exploration into God.

Where are you making for? It takes

So many thousand years to wake,

But will you wake for pity's sake!

 

  Christopher Fry

From "A Sleep of Prisoners"

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Alex Noble:  If ever there was a year to "wake up," this is it. Though we may feel we have insurmountable challenges, though we may look all around us and see nothing but a vast wasteland, though suddenly we may feel alone in a way we have never quite felt alone before, though dreams we had cherished for years may have fallen through or vanished like phantoms, though friends may betray and enemies slander, though we may feel as though we have lost everything and and have to start all over again...

 

BOOKS: Finding Your Way in a Wild New World - Reclaim Your True Nature to Create the Life You Want

 

From Martha Beck:

My new book was released December 27, 2011, giving you something to read during Mayan end of days. How convenient! Actually, I don’t think we’re all going to be riding out on chariots of fire. But I do think many people are finding the world an increasing baffling and sometimes frightening place. I also think that ancient human traditions often offer solutions to this sort of turbulence. In Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, I teach you how to become a “wayfinder,” able to surf the ever-changing tides of your life rather than feeling swept away by the tsunami of change we’re all experiencing.

Advance praise for Finding Your Way in a Wild New World:

“Martha Beck is the wisest, most generous and gifted of spiritual leaders. Her book will show you how to gently unlock your potential for deep transformation, so that you can explore uncharted territory and come home to your true, purposeful, and unafraid self. Thank you, Dr. Beck.”

Website: http://www.marthabeck.com

 

–Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger and Marriage Rules.

Website: http://www.marthabeck.com

 

KIDS! Pacha's Pajamas - A Story Written by Nature, A Dream to Change the World

 

 

"Hero" From the Auditions for Pacha's Pajamas,

A Story Written by Nature

 

Visit the Website:  http://www.pachaspajamas.com

 

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Pacha Starts to Dream …

 

Pacha’s Pajamas is a story whose time has come. One night, the plants and animals on Pacha’s new pajamas come alive to share their own stories. Eventually, Nature takes the stage at a global music festival where the critters come together to bring balance to the planet.  

Need to Disconnect? Here's How

Logging Off: The Power of Disconnection

Martha Beck

For more wisdom, visit Martha Beck's website:

www.marthabeck.com

 

Assignment for Journaling:  Read Martha Beck's  tips for disconnecting, below, and then create your own list of ways you can create peace and healing space for yourself. GO!

 

My thesis: The great English writer E.M. Forster may have valued connection above all else, but for us 21st-century folks—with our jam-packed contact lists, e-mail from intimates and strangers, texts and phone messages left by friends, colleagues, passing acquaintances, and the occasional deranged stalker—disconnection is as necessary as connection for creating a healthy, happy life. When we force ourselves to connect against our heart’s desires, we create false, resentful relationships; when we disconnect from the people who deplete us, we set them free to find their tribes while we find ours. I planned to illustrate these thoughts with snippets of Greek philosophy, and perhaps even the poetry of Robert Frost. 

But it has just occurred to me that this refined approach is not how I actually disconnect—and I need to disconnect a lot. Overconnection is my major occupational hazard. My job is all about soulfully linking with others, and this is truly as much fun as I’ve ever had with my clothes on, but after doing this with many people for many hours, I often feel as if I’ve watched ten great movies back-to-back: dazed, frazzled, longing for silent solitude. I’m not up to gracious separation; I need quick-and-dirty ways to save my sanity, right now.

So I’ve listed some of my favorite disconnection strategies below, in the hope that you might find them useful. Please remember that this advice is not for the E.M. Forsters of the world but for those of us who are already connected up the wazoo.

Martha Beck’s Favorite Disconnection Techniques

How to Accomplish Your 2012 Goals

From Bill Harvey at:  www.mindmagicprogram.com

A highly incomplete checklist

The year has just started and already you are creatively adapting to the unexpected, steering around unexpected resistances, and still feeling cocky about taking the hill you’ve assigned yourself for this year. Good.

This cursory reminder list of methods is passed along to keep handy if and when you run up against a boulder that frustrates you, casting a dim light over achievability of the year’s target. The list can also be used proactively even during times of smooth sailing to notch the game up a bit.

I.  Creativity

1. Doodle a schematic of the situation and its players. These could be business or personal relationships that you are navigating. Engaging spatial mind centers in the right brain is a prime directive in terms of overcoming the bias of the time i.e. Acceleritis.
   1. What would be the ideal “win” for each player in the diagram? Getting down to the human motivational level immediately is a typical mensch method. This engages your own feelings, rebalancing you out of leftbrain dominance.
   2. What action might each player take in the situation, and how would other players react? “Consequence thinking” engages the prefrontal lobes. The more your brain is fully engaged the closer you get to Holosentience.
   3. Have you left anyone out of the diagram so far? Who?
   4. What would be the ideal outcome of the depicted situation from the standpoint of a hypothetical Universal Consciousness?
   5. (See more below)

The 2012 Enigma: Blueprint for a Golden Age - David Wilcock

 

 

 

 

The Mayan Prayer of the Seven Galactic Directions

 

From the East, House of Light
May Wisdom dawn in us
So we may see all things in clarity

From the North, House of Night
May Wisdom ripen in us
So we may know all from within

Hemingway's Top 5 Tips for Writing Well

 

 

Many business people faced with the task of writing for marketing purposes are quick to say:

Hey, I’m no Hemingway!

But really, who better than Hemingway to emulate? Rather than embracing the flowery prose of the literati, he chose to eschew obfuscation at every turn and write simply and clearly.

So let’s see what Ernest can teach us about effective writing.

1. Use short sentences.

Hemingway was famous for a terse minimalist style of writing that dispensed with flowery adjectives and got straight to the point. In short, Hemingway wrote with simple genius.

Perhaps his finest demonstration of short sentence prowess was when he was challenged to tell an entire story in only 6 words:

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

 

Can One Person Change the World? Are YOU Ready to Step Up?

Does one person really matter? Can one person change the world?

 

 

 

 

Are YOU ready to step up  and make a difference?  Watch this wonderful short film, and take notes in your journal today about how, when, and where you might "step up."  It is time, and we are the ones.  If not us, who?  Get ready to be inspired! And then start something.

GO!

This is an amazing little film.

It might change your life.

 

 Taken from the new book, Stepping Up, by John Izzo:

http://www.bkconnection.com/stepping-up/