Jerry

"Truth is something you stumble into when you think you're going some place else."
- Jerry Garcia

Ghandhi

My life is my message.
-Mohandas Gandhi

SMILE and....


I really don't know if you needed this information.....but it makes me smile......and I like to smile. Everyone smiles in the same language you know!!! -Michele






MIRABILIA REPORT

  by
Rob Brezsny 

(Mirabilia n. events that inspire wonder, marvelous phenomena, small
miracles, beguiling ephemera, inexplicable joys, changes that inspire quiet
awe, eccentric enchantments, unplanned jubilations, sudden deliverance
from boring evils; from the Latin mirabilia, "marvels.")

* The National Center for Atmospheric Research reports that the average
cloud is the same weight as 100 elephants.

* The seeds of some trees are so tightly compacted within their
protective covering that only the intense heat of a forest fire can free
them, allowing them to sprout.

* Thirty-eight percent of North America is wilderness.

* Anthropologists say that in every culture in history, children have played
the game hide and seek.

* With every dawn, when first light penetrates the sea, many seahorse
colonies perform a dance to the sun.

* A seven-year-old Minnesota boy received patent number 6,368,227 for
a new method of swinging on a swing.

* As it thrusts itself into our Milky Way Galaxy, the dwarf galaxy
Sagittarius is unraveling, releasing a thick stream of dark matter that is
flowing right through the Earth.

* A chemist in Australia finally succeeded in mixing oil and water.

* Except among birds and land mammals, the females of most species are
bigger than the males.

* The South African version of TV's Sesame Street has an AIDS-positive
Muppet named Kami.

* The sky not only isn't falling—it's rising. The top of the troposphere, the
atmosphere's lowest layer, is slowly ascending.

* To make a pound of honey, bees have to gather nectar from about two
million flowers. To produce a single pound of the spice saffron, humans
have to handpick and process 80,000 flowers. In delivering the single
survivor necessary to fertilize an ovum, a man releases 500 million sperm.

* Some Christians really do love their enemies, as Jesus recommended.

* Kind people are more likely than mean people to yawn when someone
near them does.

* There are always so many fragments of spider legs floating in the air
that you are constantly inhaling them wherever you go.

* "The average river requires a million years to move a grain of sand 100
miles," says science writer James Trefil.

* Because half of the world's vanilla crop is grown in Madagascar, the
whole island smells like vanilla ice cream.

* Your body contains so much iron that you could make a spike out of it,
and that spike would be strong enough to hold you up.

* In his book *The Physics of Immortality: Modern Cosmology, God and
the Resurrection of the Dead,* physicist Frank J. Tipler offers what he
says is scientific proof that every human being who has ever lived will be
resurrected from the dead at the end of time.

* In the Ukraine you can buy Fat in Chocolate, a food with a layer of dark
chocolate covering a chunk of pork fat.

* Robust singing skill is correlated with a strong immune system in
songbirds. Male birds with the most extensive repertoire of tunes also
have the largest spleens, a key measure of immune system health.

* Bali has 80,000 temples.

* Romanian physicists created gaseous globes of plasma that grew,
reproduced, and communicated with each other, thereby fulfilling the
definition for life.

* In an apparent attempt to raise their volume above the prevailing human
din, some nightingales in big cities have learned to unleash 95-decibel
songs, matching the loudness of a chainsaw.

* There is a statistically significant probability of world-class athletes and
military leaders being born when Mars is rising in the sky.

* Some piranhas are vegetarians.

* In the pueblos of New Mexico, bricks still measure 33 by 15 by 10
centimeters, proportions that almost exactly match those of the bricks
used to build Egypt's Temple of Hatshepsut 3,500 years ago.

* Childbirth is often joyful even though it's painful.

* In hopes of calming flustered lawbreakers, Japanese cops have
substituted the sound of church bells for sirens on police cars.

* Scientists believe they'll be able to figure out why cancer cells are
virtually immortal, and then apply the secret to keeping normal cells alive
much longer, thereby dramatically expanding the human life span.

* Clown fish can alter their gender as their social status rises.

* When she is born, a baby girl has all the ova she will ever have.

* Bluebirds cannot see the color blue.

* Gregorian chants can cure dyslexia.

* Bob Hope donated half a million jokes to the Library of Congress.

* Bees perform a valuable service for the flowers from which they steal.

* "Leafing through Forbes or Fortune [magazine]s is like reading the
operating manual of a strangely sanctimonious pirate ship," wrote Adam
Gopnik in *The New Yorker.*

* Revlon makes 177 different shades of lipstick.

* Your tongue is the strongest muscle in your body.

* The most frequently shoplifted book in America is the Bible.

This piece is excerpted from my book "PRONOIA IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PARANOIA: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings" available at http://tinyurl.com/qaj62 or find out more at http://www.freewillastrology.com

Autism and the God Connection: Redefining the Autistic Experience Through Accounts of Spiritual Giftedness

By William Stillman

Book review by Michou Landon

Above the title on the cover of Autism and the God Connection is a quote by Seat of the Soul author, Gary Zukav, praising it and saying, “It is a very short step from understanding autism and the God Connection to understanding you and the God Connection.”

Those seeking a comprehensive and concrete scientific investigation into the relationship between neurological function and spiritual propensities may be tempted to dismiss this book, which, while it does touch upon pertinent research, takes a more heart-centered and anecdotal approach. For those who are not so concerned, it is a revealing study.

Author William Stillman, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, refers to Autistics as, “People with different ways of being,” and “exquisitely sensitive.” These are descriptions to which, I dare say, a healthy majority of readers would personally relate. Stillman seems to dismantle or replace the conventional and historically cruel retardation stigma by redefining the specialness of this population as something akin to the status conferred upon Indigo children.

The overall message is that no one is less than whole. Our differences, while they may be striking, are merely a matter of emphasis within the range of human faculties. With the recognition that everyone is different, where is there any room to judge or discriminate?

This will resonate for all readers of a mystic or sensitive fabric of the sort often confused, oppressed and compromised in a culture that demands conformity for convenience sake and fails to honor its shamans.

Stillman relates numerous accounts demonstrating the tendencies for autistics to relate through symbols, to exercise uncanny psychic acuity and to operate unencumbered by the mechanisms that dilute or distort unconditional love in more conventional adults. The language in the anecdotes Stillman shares (such as the one below) seem conspicuously dominated by imagery associated with (though not exclusive to) Christianity: angels, Jesus, and an anthropomorphized God. However, he is quoting individuals in a predominantly Christian nation, who are working to translate into language experiences hard to articulate even by those not quantifiably and clinically challenged in speech and language.

The theme emerges that autistics are advanced souls who’ve chosen the challenge. The final passage quotes one Michael, who acknowledges a sort of trade-off, a divine paradox in his predicament, which harkens to the revelations of many a mystic and to the spiritual value of “suffering”:

I am an autist. …I am a messenger of God. All disabled are messengers of God. …Autism is...a side-effect of the connectedness of soul…How I am as a person because of my…connection is a curse and a blessing: a blessing to be given the task, and a curse to have to actually live it. … Only through a broken body can you retain your spiritual connectedness to the whole…. In the body we lose memory of our divinity. It is for us to seek experientially in physical form our divineness. The reality is the physical experience, [without which] there would be just knowing without the experience of Being…

What If?

photo and artwork by Mira


What would it be like if you lived each day, each breath,
as a work of art in progress?
Imagine that you are a masterpiece unfolding,
every second of every day,
a work of art taking form with every breath.
- Thomas Crum

Nice Message

Were I God

WERE I GOD... Musings of a psychotherapist


Were I God
I would dive
into the darkest shadows
of being human,
into profound pain,
outrageous loss,
unbearable suffering,
and I would swim
towards Light
taking with me
as much of the brokenness
everywhere and of all time
as I could gather.
Were I God I would live
in despair and in hope.
I would be
the inspiration of a poem,
the rainbow, the dew on the grass,
the color of fall, the gentle breeze,
the kind word, the tender touch,
the laughter of children.
I would abide in every flower,
every seed,
every cry and sigh,
I would be
the possibility of
each new moment.
I would be weakness
finding strength,
never lording it over others,
but in every humble service,
pitching my tent
among the poor,
preferring the outsiders.
I would nestle in vulnerability:
risking and giving Self.
Were I God I would hide
so subtly within all creation
that I could never be caught.
I would be so unutterable
as to resist being talked about,
and hate the name "God"
remembering the oppression
done in my name.
I would exist beyond any word
any symbol,
any possible expression,
but I would dwell
in every human groan.
I would avoid expected places:
some pulpits, rituals, churches.
I would never be snared
by theology, religion
or even prayer.
I would exist solely
to be given away,
never to be comprehended or
held by safe orthodoxy:
far more verb than noun.
I would be yearning for freedom,
passion for justice,
thirsting for peace,
searching for truth,
craving for affirmation,
ardor for sharing,
the making of love,
and the ecstasy of surrender.
I would be in
every form of hurting
and its transcendence.
I would be gleamed
in lowly favors, generosity,
courage, simplicity, compassion
but especially
in forgiveness.
I would be aborning ever new
in the bruised and lonely heart.
I would be found more
in doubt than in certainty
more in questioning than
in righteousness.
I would need to be
intimately concealed
because the human ego
is so ready to use Me
to elevate itself
by judging others.
Were I God I would enjoy
leaving clues, riddles
and traces everywhere,
being tracked only
by valiant searchers.
I would let myself be glimpsed
in sunrises and sunsets
in the wonders of nature
in human loving
in quiet stillness and
becoming little
in EVERY human story.

Christmas, 1991, Paschal Bernard Baute

---

Strange Journey

Rise up nimbly
and go on your strange journey
to the ocean of meanings

The Stream knows
it can't stay on the mountain.
Leave and don't look away
from the sun as you go,
in whose light you're sometimes crescent,
sometimes full.

From The Illustrated Rumi,

CREATIVITY


Marko and Mark made this art project together with Marko's old guitar.


I loved the folowing quote by Julia........
Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process. Enthusiasm - from the Greek, "filled with God" - is an ongoing energy supply tapped into the flow of life itself. (Julia Cameron)

The times that I do feel the most "connected to life-force" is when I loose myself in some kind of process of creativity.
Here is more strange artwork in our house.....you will see the picture of the people in our artist colony here....and see some of the stuff in our Zen Garden in the backyard....before all of this snow.......Odd ....wouldn't you say??? click on the link below:
http://deepcleveland.com/minglewood.html

Have a great day!!!!!

Enough

Amazing

check out the video of Amanda Baggs. This is a woman with autism who is simply amazing and has a lot to say. There is so much out there in the media regarding autism that is just plain depressing. This young woman gives me such hope. Please Watch the whole video by clicking below on the word amazing video. It may be hard to stay focused at first...but Please watch it to the end!!


amazing video

Amanda states:

The first part is in my "native language," and then the second part provides a translation, or at least an explanation. This is not a look-at-the-autie gawking freakshow as much as it is a statement about what gets considered thought, intelligence, personhood, language, and communication, and what does not.


Thank-you so much Amanda for letting us understand your world.
You are a beautiful person!!-Michele

Empathy!


Use the empathy symbol to indicate your support for a world in which we all can get along.
- Michele

What the world really needs now is Empathy
The Empathy Symbol stands for 2 sides reaching out, and reaching into each other to really understand what the other is feeling and experiencing.

Whether it’s Men and Women,


Blacks and Whites,


Jews and Muslims,


Gays and Straights,


Red States and Blue States,


Christians and Atheists,


Asians and Latinos,


Handicapped and Able-bodied,


White collar and Blue collar…


Whatever the 2 sides are.


Because it’s a lot harder to hate someone you understand.


Because in order to get to Peace and Love and Harmony in our World,
we first have to have Empathy for one another


....USE IT....

....SPREAD IT....

....LIVE IT....


http://www.debellsworth.com/EmpathySymbol.htm

Bliss




The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live.
N. Cousins

LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOVE IS ALL THERE IS!




artwork and photo by Mira

A group of professional people posed this
question to a group of 4 to 8 year olds,
"What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't
bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my
grandfather does it for her all the time, even
when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." --
-Rebecca, age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your
name is different. You know that your name is
safe in their mouth." ---Billy, age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy
puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell
each other." ---Karl, age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody
most of your French fries without making them
give you any of theirs." ---Chrissy, age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're
tired." ---Terri, age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy
and she takes a sip before she gives it to him,
to make sure it tastes OK." ---Danny, age 7

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas
if you stop opening presents and listen." ---
Bobby, age 5

"If you want to learn to love better, you should
start with a friend who you hate." ---Nikka, age 6

"There are two kinds of love. Our love. God's
love. But God makes both kinds of them." ---
Jenny, age 4

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt,
then he wears it everyday." ---Noelle, age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little
old man who are still friends even after they
know each other so well." ---Tommy, age 6

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't
see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." ---
Clare, age 5

"Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece
of chicken." ---Elaine, age 5

"Love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty
and still says he is handsomer than Robert
Redford." ---Chris, age 8

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even
after you left him alone all day." ---Mary Ann,
age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she
gives me all her old clothes and has to go out
and buy new ones." ---
Lauren, age 4

"I let my big sister pick on me because my Mom
says she only picks on me because she loves me.
So I pick on my baby sister because I love
her." ---Bethany, age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." --- Karen, age 7

"Love is when mommy sees daddy on the toilet and
she doesn't think it's gross." ---Mark, age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." ---Jessica, age 8

The Happy Planet Index

the countries in red are the most unhappy and the countries in green are the happiest.

The (un)Happy Planet Index (HPI) is an index of human well-being and environmental impact, introduced by the new economics foundation (nef), in July 2006. The index is designed to challenge well-established indices of countries’ development, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Human Development Index (HDI), which are seen as not taking sustainability into account. In particular, GDP is seen as inappropriate, as the ultimate aim of most people is not to be rich, but to be happy and healthy.

The best scoring country in 2006 is the island state of Vanuatu, followed by Colombia and Costa Rica, while Burundi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe form the bottom of the list.

External links

• Official website
• The Happy Planet Index

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Planet_Index"

Category: Alternative economy

Ten Rules for Being Human
If LIFE is a GAME, THESE are the RULES

artwork by Marko



You will receive a body

You will be presented with lessons


There are no mistakes, only lessons


A lesson is repeated until learned

Learning does not end


"There" is no better than here


Others are only mirrors of you

What you make of your life is up to you

Your answers lie inside of you

You will forget all of this at birth


- by Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.D.

The Call
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer


I have heard it all my life,
A voice calling a name I recognized as my own.
Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.
But always it says: Wake up, my love. You are walking asleep.
There’s no safety in that!
Remember what you are, and let a deeper knowing
color the shape of your humanness.
There is nowhere to go. What you are looking for is right here.
Open the fist clenched in wanting and see what you already hold in your hand.
There is no waiting for something to happen,
no point in the future to get to.
All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.
You are wearing yourself out with all this searching.
Come home and rest.
How much longer can you live like this?
Your hungry spirit is gaunt, your heart stumbles. All this trying.
Give it up!
Let yourself be one of the God-mad,
faithful only to the Beauty you are.
Let the Lover pull you to your feet and hold you close,
dancing even when fear urges you to sit this one out.
Remember, there is one word you are here to say with your whole being.
When it finds you, give your life to it. Don’t be tight-lipped and stingy.
Spend yourself completely on the saying,
Be one word in this great love poem we are writing together.

The Great Sensory Hilariousness of our Young Lives


this is one of my favorite pictures of Mira....taken at my friend Arlene's place...she lives right on Lake Erie

"As we grow up, we put away our laughter and our silliness and our
childish
noises, the great sensory hilariousness of our young lives. We pick up a
few
notions about proper behavior, like what books to read and how to go
about
getting married and buying a home and being polite and having cocktail
parties...and the next thing you know, the little child--who was also an
enormously alive sensory apparatus--is just another boring adult going to
work
in a seersucker suit with a briefcase."

--John Rosenthal

"Nothing to Loose, But our Illusions"









Once you start to see through the myth of status, possessions, and unlimited consumption as a path to happiness, you'll find that you have all the kinds of freedom and time. It's like a deal you can make with the universe: I'll give up greed for freedom. Then you can start putting your time to good use.
-David Edwards

Passion



"Let the beauty we love be what we do."
- Rumi

Macy's quote

Macy of course took this picture!


I was cleaning out some stuff today and found this quote that Macy wrote on 9/30/05...when she was 8.
"Please may this pointless war end. May our men and women come home and may there be peace!"-by Macy and then she drew a peace sign by it.

Peace

"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."
- Albert Schweitzer

Feeling Groovy


"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."
- Carl W. Buechner

Love All, Serve All

"The only way we are ever going to ensure peace on this planet is to adopt the entire world as "our family." We are going to have to hug them, and kiss them. And dance and play with them. And we are going to have to sit and talk and walk and cry with them. Because when we do, we'll be able to see that, indeed, everyone is beautiful, and we all complement each other beautifully and we would all be poorer without each other."
- Stan Dale

I went on this walk in the park today which was more like cross-country skiing. I was listening to this pod cast with Andrew Harvey. He is so poetic.
The following quote from this pod cast stands out in my mind today.....
Have a great day.
Peace and Love,
Michele

Harvey said this:
Rumi said, “The king never thrashes you without offering you a throne.”
And this thrashing of the whole human experiment is a thrashing in which humanity is also being offered a throne, but not the throne of its ego which is what’s destroying everything, but the tender and soft and kind and loving throne of the soul."

Happy Birthday

In honor of what would have been Kurt Cobain's 40th birthday today.......born 2/20/67

Such a brillant artist in so much pain.

I used to love Nirvana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Kurt!!! Michele

Everybody's wearing a disguise

To hide what they've got left behind their eyes

- Dylan, Abandoned Love

Kurt Cobain had grown up in small-town Aberdeen, Washington, "like Twin Peaks without the excitement". His happy childhood was shattered forever at the age of eight with the rancorous separation of his parents. The sudden and unexpected success of Nirvana, with their Nevermind album selling in excess of ten million copies world-wide, gave Kurt Cobain the place as one of the spokesmen for a generation. Their music opened the way for countless other "underground" bands, but brought the inevitable barrage of media attention, picking his life apart, carving him open and laying his innards out for all to see. Kurt had suffered from a rare illness for almost seven years, causing a chronic stomach pain of such an intensity that almost every day he considered killing himself. This constant severe pain led to a deep melancholic depression verging on schizophrenia, and frequent bouts of narcoplepsy. None of the doctors he visited were of any help, but the money he made from Nirvana offered him a temporary release to the pain - through heroin. Soon the heroin took over, and although he tried to kick the habit on numerous occasions, the stomach pains returned with such an intensity that even the heroin appeared to be a better alternative.

His undoubted love and devotion for his wife, Courtney Love, and his daughter Frances, brought the first real happiness and hope into his life for many years, but the constant media attention, and increasingly frequent bouts of depression finally drove him to the edge. There will surely be much speculation as to what finally caused him to crack, but one thing can be said for certain - this was no "rock and roll martyrdom", but rather the tragic waste of a creative life. The pressures which brought Kurt Cobain to the point of ending his life were supremely human and not explained simply as the result of a "degenerate" lifestyle. The tears he cried were as valid as the tears of any other human being, the pain he felt was just as real and as justified as any pain ever was, and the tragic actions he took were the only solution he could find.

Around the Cobain home, on the morning Kurt's body was found, dew would have fallen. The sun would have risen on a new day, the air would be filled with the sounds of the morning, yet, within the house, Cobain's body lay as silent witness to the pain and emptiness that typifies the human condition. Looking at a famous photograph of Kurt taken after a concert in 1991, I see a distraught young man wrestling with forces inside him which he cannot understand or control. There are no rock dramatics about this young man, nor is there any of the craziness which permeated his work and his lifestyle.

R.I.P. Kurt Cobain.

Comfort zones are plush lined coffins. When you stay in your plush lined coffins, you die.

-Stan Dale

---

mystery

This is a mystery....please help us.
Marko has been taking pictures throughout the house and Mark downloads them for him.
This is a picture that Marko swears is of his eyeball.
It is obviously an Asian person...there are no pictures like this in our house nor could it be any of our asian friends. He, swears up and down, that he took a picture of his eyeball.
Any ideas????
As a baby he used to love the "om mani padme hum" chant.
Om mani padme hum is probably the most famous Mantra in Buddhism, the six syllabled Mantra of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. The Dalai Lama is said to be an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, so the Mantra is especially revered by his devotees. Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. In other words...be love...are the words that comes to mind..that is my translation anyway...but I am "simple"...like one of the teachers in my highschool Mr. Phillips said about me ...."don't listen to her...she's simple."
Marko used to repeat this "Om Mani Padme Hum" phrase and even knew how to press a sound file to hear it when he was 14 mos.
I think all kids are special and wise beyond their years when they are born....and they slowly learn to follow the ego more and more.

My friend Katie sent me this:

I was due for an appointment with the gynecologist later in the week. Early one morning, I received a call from the doctor's office to tell me that I had been rescheduled for that morning at 9:30 am. I had only just packed everyone off to work and school, and it was already around 8:45 a.m.

The trip to his office took about 35 minutes, so I didn't have any time to spare. As most women do, I like to take a little extra effort over hygiene when making such visits, but this time I wasn't going to be able to make the full effort. So, I rushed upstairs, threw off my pajamas, wet the washcloth that was sitting next to the sink, and gave myself a quick wash in that area to make sure I was at least presentable. I threw the washcloth in the clothes basket, donned some clothes, hopped in the car and raced to my appointment.

I was in the waiting room for only a few minutes when I was called in. Knowing the procedure, as I'm sure you do, I hopped up on the table, looked over at the other side of the room and pretended that I was in Paris or some other place a million miles away. I was a little surprised when the doctor said, "My, we have made an extra effort this morning, haven't we?" I didn't respond.

After the appointment, I heaved a sigh of relief and went home. The rest of the day was normal with some shopping, cleaning and cooking. After school when my 6-year old daughter was playing, she called out from the bathroom, "Mommy, where's my washcloth?"

I told her to get another one from the cupboard. She replied, "No, I need the one that was here by the sink, it had all my glitter and sparkles saved inside it."

NEVER going back to that doctor ever!

Mystery beyond comfort

It is natural, even instinctive to prefer comfort to pain, the familiar to the unknown. But sometimes our instincts are not wise. Life usually offers us far more than our biases and preferences will allow us to have. Beyond comfort lie grace, mystery, and adventure. We may need to let go of our beliefs and ideas about life in order to have life.
-Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom

Angels By Brian Andreas

Storypeople.com

best video of the year

I used to make everyone watch this (anyone who came to our house)....but then the video got lost in the snowbelt, or a snowdrift or something.
Anyway, Click on best video of the year below!!!!

best video of the year

"Just close your eyes and keep your mind wide open."

"Keep your mind open", "Be Alive" and "Find the extraodinary in the ordinary" was the theme.
Macy and I went to see the BRIDGE TO TARABITHIA this afternoon. Macy had been talking about this movie so much and kept asking me to take her to it. I really believe she is here to be my teacher.....she seems to always lead me to a path I need to follow. What a wonderful movie. I loved it as much as she did. I cried so much....I did not have any make-up on after the movie. The character, Leslie, is such a free spirit and so true to herself. I tried to buy the soundtrack, but it is not out yet I guess. below is a review from SpiritualityandPractice.com.

Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Bridge to Terabithia
Directed by Gabor Csupo
Walt Disney Pictures 02/07 Feature Film
PG

The spiritual writer John O'Donohue has observed, "Where the imagination is awake and alive, fact never hardens or closes but remains open, inviting you to new thresholds of possibility and creativity." This faculty traffics in images, symbols, myths, and stories. It entails the capacity we all have for creative expression and adventuresome living. Yet, despite all the energy that emanates from imagination, many still hold a dim and disparaging view of it. Unfortunately, these people associate imagination with "imaginary" and its connotation of " unreal."

Bridge to Terabithia is based on a the Newbery Award-winning 1977 novel by Katherine Paterson. This wonderful story of two lonely children who become close friends celebrates imagination as a spiritual resource that provides solid and substantive ways of dealing with the very real and palpable challenges of fear, self-doubt, stress, loss, and those who are perceived as enemies.

Jess Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is a lonely young boy who lives with his large family of four sisters who mostly ignore him. His stern father (Robert Patrick) works at a hardware store, and his mother (Katrina Cerio) is constantly worrying about their bills. At school, Jess is constantly harassed by two bullies. Trying to prove himself, he enters a foot race but is beaten by Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb), a new girl in his class who turns out to be his next-door neighbor. She is the only child of two writers who work at home and don't have much time for her. At school, she earns the enmity of the girls at school when her essay is signaled out for its creativity.

It doesn't take Leslie long to realize that Jess is special. She sees some of his drawings and praises him as being very talented. They become friends, and she introduces him to the delights of the world of imagination. Running through the woods near their homes, they discover a rope swing over a stream. She immediately grabs hold and flies across, inviting Jess to join her in a magical and mythical kingdom they name Terabithia. They stumble upon an old tree house and fix it up as their private place where they can come to on a regular basis and share stories. Leslie gives Jess a set of paints so he can add a new dimension to his drawings. Together they test their physical prowess and inner power is encounters with giants, vultures, and strange beasts they call squogres.

Gabor Csupo directs this heart-felt story of friendship and the power of the imagination to work wonders in the lives of children. Although lots of time and energy is put into visual effects and the creatures encountered in Terabithia, the emotional undertow of the story comes from Jess and Leslie's experiences in the real world of tough teachers, bullies, and indifferent parents. They take what they learn in the imaginal realm and apply it in their daily lives. For example, a girl (Lauren Clinton) who terrorizes all the others by charging a fee to use the playground bathroom singles out Jess's little sister May Belle (Bailey Madison) for some torment. The two friends come up with a plan that embarrasses her in front of everybody on the school bus. But when they later discover she has personal problems and is as vulnerable as they are, they empathize with her and re-envision her as a friend.

A teacher at the school who has a reputation for being a disciplinarian surprises Jess when she reaches out to him in a moment when he desperately needs an adult's sympathy. Emboldened by Leslie's affirmation of his drawing, he accepts an invitation by Miss Edmunds (Zooey Deschanel), a music teacher, to go with her to an art museum, something he has never done before. In each of these situations, Jess's imagination is stretched in ways that would never have been possible before his visits to Terabithia.

Leslie tells Jess "Just close your eyes and keep your mind wide open." Many strange and edifying things can happen when the imagination is given free reign in our lives! It transports us to new thresholds of possibility and creativity.

Letting Go

The ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle:
Totally fascinated by the realm of the senses,
it swings from one desire to the next,
one conflict to the next,
one self-centered idea to the next.
If you threaten it, it actually fears for its life.
Let this monkey go.
Let the sense go.
Let desires go.
Let conflicts go.
Let ideas go.
Let the fiction of life and death go.
Just remain in the center watching.

And then forget that you are there.

--Lao Tzu

DEEP ROOTS by Brian Andreas

DEEP ROOTS
by Brian Andreas


When I die she said,
I am coming back
as a tree with deep roots.
& I'll wave my leaves
at the children every morning
on their way to school
and whisper tree songs
at night in their dreams.
Trees with deep roots know
about the things that children need.

BE STILL By Sark

The Well of Grief

David Whyte grew up in Yorkshire, England. He studied Marine Zoology in Wales and trained as a naturalist in the Galapagos Islands. He has also worked as a naturalist guide, leading anthropological and natural history expeditions in various parts of the world, including treks among the mountains of Nepal.

Whyte's poetry reflects a living spirituality and a deep connection to the natural world.

He is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development, conducting workshops with many American and international companies.

David Whyte currently lives in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

for more poems by David....check out this awesome site:

AWESOME SITE

DON'T GO BACK TO SLEEP

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.- Rumi

I love the below article.

It is referring to Wayne's Dyers pbs special "inspiration...your ultimate calling"

Whatever it is you say that you want, cherish it and let the want to. Allow yourself to be irresistably attracted to the one thing that you cannot resist and give yourself completely to it. It may be that you are pulled irresistably to write, to paint, to dream, to make the dreams of others come true...it may be something else. When you do that, you are inspired, "in-spirit". Dyer says that when we do this we are the closest to Source that we can possibly be.

He quotes the Persian poet Jalalud'din Rumi in saying:

"The morning breeze has secrets to tell you
Do not go back to sleep"

Do you find yourself waking in the middle of the night for no reason? Is it at relatively the same time every morning? No matter when I go to bed, I have what I call a "five hour wall" that I hit and will waken, sometimes with no agenda, sometimes with a full bladder, needing the bathroom. Dyer says when we waken like this, to put your feet on the floor and don't go back to sleep but allow yourself to experience the morning breeze...or at least that quiet, fully-awakened state of mind that is closest to the Source. Get your biological needs taken care of and invite yourself to sit quietly and be open. Things will come to you in this time that you might never expect or have access to any other time of day.

When I waken like this I am fully awake, and usually talking to myself, itching to get on the computer and having completed another project, writing or plan in my sleep. I notice as Dyer says, that when I go back to sleep I have difficulty remembering these beautiful poems and fully-fleshed plans when I wake up later in the day. Good case for keeping a notebook or digital recorder next to your bed.

Dyer also quotes the great Indian sage Patanjali on the subject of inspiration:

When you are inspired by some great purpose,
some extraordinary project,
all of your thoughts break their bonds
Your mind transcends limitations.
Your consciousness expands in every direction.
And you find yourself in a new,
great and wonderful world.
Dormant forces, faculties and talents come alive
and you discover yourself to be a greater person
by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Go for what juices you, even though right now you can't see how it will pay the bills or possibly work with the living situation you have or, or, or, or...

Address these thoughts, beliefs and blockages to living fully expressed and in flow with the universe with your favorite energy therapy. These thoughts and beliefs bind us and keep us from fully expressing as Source. As you lose this bondage, those dormant forces, faculties and talents Patanjali speaks of will pop out of the woodwork with an energy and swiftness and appropriateness that will astonish and delight you.

And you will discover yourself to be a greater person that you ever dreamed you could be, honest and for true.

By Maryam Webster
http://maryamwebster.blogs.com/

One Peace

In 1994 when Twyman started his ministry he gathered all the peace prayers from the twelve major religions and arranged them into music. His goal was simple, he wanted to show the world how all spiritual paths lead to one single expression – Peace.

Below are the twelve prayers.

"They show us one of the ways we're the same, helping us look past all the ways we seem different and alone."-James Twyman


Hindu Prayer for Peace


Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.

O Lord God Almighty may there be peace in Celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world.

May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself bestow peace on all.
And may that peace come to me also.


Buddhist Prayer for Peace


May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless,
fearful wildernesses - the children, the aged, the unprotected - be guarded by beneficent celestials,
and may they quickly attain Buddhahood.


Zoroastrian Prayer for Peace


We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world:
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt, and
that truth triumph over falsehood.


Jainist Prayer for Peace


Peace and Universal Love is the essence of the Gospel preached by all the Enlightened Ones.
The Lord has preached that equanimity is the Dharma.
Forgive do I, creatures all,
and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.
Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world.
Violence in fact, is the knot of bondage.
"Do not injure any living being."
This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable
way of spiritual life.

A weapon, howsoever powerful it may be,
can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can, however,
be superior to non-violence and love.

Jewish Prayer for Peace


Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the most high.
And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning hooks.
Nations shall not lift up sword against nation - neither shall they learn war any more.
And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.


Shinto Prayer for Peace


Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us, I believe, are all our brothers and sisters, why are there constant troubles in this world?
Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away all the clouds which are hanging over the tops of the mountains.


Native African Prayer for Peace


Almighty God, the Great Thumb
we cannot evade to tie any knot:
The Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees;
the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees
even the footprints of an antelope on a rock mass here on earth.
You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call.
You are the cornerstone of peace.


Native American Prayer for Peace


O Great spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you;
To your messengers in the four winds, and
to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other, so that they may grow with peace in mind.

Let us learn to share all good things that you provide for us on this Earth.


Muslim Prayer for Peace


In the name of Allah the beneficent, the merciful. Praise be to the Lord of the Universe, who has created us and made us into tribes and nations that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other.
If the enemy incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace, and trust God, for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things.
And the servants of God, most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in Humility, and when we address them, we say "PEACE."


The Baha'i Prayer for Peace


Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, and a home
to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew upon the soil of the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.


Sikh prayer for Peace


God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the clothes that we wear;
That truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attain God when we love, and only that victory endures in consequences of which no one is defeated.


Christian Prayer for Peace


Blessed are the Peacemakers
for they shall be known as the Children of God.
But I say to you that hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek offer the other also, and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you, and of those who take away your goods, do not ask them again.
And as you wish that others would to do you,
do so to them.





James Twyman often says that the foundation of his work is found in the peace prayers from the twelve major religions of the world. On October 28, 1986, the leaders of these religions came to Assisi, Italy, the home of St. Francis, to offer the prayers of peace from their traditions. In 1994 James took those prayers and in less than two hours arranged them to music. He has performed the prayers around the world to tens of thousands of people.

"It was as if the music was already there," James said, "floating in space waiting for someone to catch them. I began reading the Hindu Prayer of Peace and heard the music, at first thinking it was coming from the next room. I picked up my guitar and began playing along. None of the prayers took more than ten minutes to arrange, and I realized I had been given an amazing gift that I would share with the world."

James has performed the “Peace Concert” around the world in countries like Iraq, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Croatia, South Africa, Mexico and Serbia. Though his ministry has led to a wide variety of other adventures and peace projects, he still feels that the peace prayers offer a unique opportunity.

One other amazing song by Jim. See the lyrics below. I have this on cd...it is beautiful.-michele
http://www.emissaryoflight.com




Servant Prayer -lyrics by JAMES TWYMAN

When I am hungry, give me someone that I can feed.
When I am thirsty, show me someone who needs a drink.
When I’m cold, give me someone to keep warm.
When I grieve, give me someone to console.

When my cross grows too heavy and this weight I cannot bare.
And when I need someone to hold to me, and it seems no one is there,
To lighten up my heavy load, give me someone who deserves
to be loved just as I do, give me someone, someone I can serve.

When I need some time, let sit me with one for awhile.
And when my heart’s heavy, let me find someone to make smile.
And when I’m humble give me someone that I can praise.
And when I need to be looked after, show me someone that I can raise.
And when I need some understanding, show me someone who needs mine.
And when I think of myself only, draw my thoughts to those who are kind.
And when I’m  so c----, show me someone who’s in need.
And when my eyes are blind to what is holy,
Let me see the Christ in each one who I feed.
Let me see the Christ, Christ in each one who I feed.



We are one global family, all colors, all races, one world united.

We dance for peace and the healing of our planet earth.

Peace for all nations.

Peace for our communities.

Peace within ourselves.

Let us connect heart to heart.

Through our diversity we recognize our unity.

Through our compassion we recognize peace.

Our love is the power to transform the world.

Let us send it out...

NOW!!