Gone camping

In your heart, you already know.
-Zen Saying

the Greatest Distance

"Sometimes......the greatest distance on the planet is the distance that exists between two people."

~W. Somerset Maugham

Radiate Life!!!!!

"I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate,
give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not needed.
If I can help people, I'll do it by giving them a chance to help themselves;
and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, inference and suggestion,
rather than by injunction and dictation.
That is to say, I desire to be Radiant -- to Radiate Life!"
-- Elbert Hubbard

peace show

click on the picture below to enlarge!!
and have a great day!!
Love,
Michele

Trusting the Universe

above is a picture that my parents took while in South Africa at Victoria Falls. very beautiful!!! It helps me to look at all the beauty there is in nature. I think I read somewhere that even looking at pictures of nature can increase your endorphins. anyway, have a great day!! Love, Michele


"I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life, you know,
whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly.
And I don't have any sense of its coming to a kind of crescendo,
or of its petering out either. It is just going steadily along."
-William Stafford

Time Tested Beauty Tips

above is a picture Mira took a few weeks ago when we were at Niagra Falls. We walked over to Canada for free, but had to each pay 50cents to return to the USA. Any way , I thought this picture was beautiful.....and below is something about real beauty.
have a great day.
Love,
Michele





Time Tested Beauty Tips


For attractive lips,
Speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes,
Seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure,
Share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair,
Let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise,
Walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored,
renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed;
Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,
you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands;
one for helping yourself,
the other for helping others.


By Sam Levenson (1911-1980)

Being Cured

"Sometimes people ask me why their lives have been filled with so much struggle and suffering. I often respond, 'Because you are being cured and seasoned to be a fine offering to life's dinner table.' I remind them of how fruit, vegetables, and meat are cured and how dishes are seasoned to preserve the finest qualities and enhance the taste. I even mention that the concrete used to make sidewalks and highways must be cured in order for it to be strong, enabling travelers to reach their destination. We go on to discuss how the heat and pressure of suffering are necessary to cure and season us. The greater the pressure and heat of our experience, the more likely we are to become a unique and valuable presence in the world, more able to reach our destiny."
— Bradford Keeney in Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement

The 30 second quiz

The 30 Second Quiz

Don't bother getting a pen and paper... just read...
...........if you can't answer them, just keep going.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.

5. Name the last five Academy Award winners for Best Actor and Actress.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remembers the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers. They're the best in their fields.
But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.


Now here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. Name three teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worth while.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier? The lesson?

The people who make a difference in your life
aren't the ones with the most credentials, the most money,
or the most awards.
They're the ones who care.

Author Unknown

Do you have armor on???

"There is a difference between Tough and Strong.

"Tough" means you have armor on,
and cannot feel.

"Strong" means that you're available to be touched,

and are willing to deal
with the manifold sensations

that go along with letting others

come into proximity with your tender parts."


~The Reconnections

One Love

Above is a picture I took of Carlos Jones on Friday night.
He is way cool. If you ever get a chance to hear him play, I believe you will enjoy it!!!
below is a quote by Carlos about his music. He talks about the mission he is on through his reggae music.


"music that speaks from the heart and resonates in the soul. The vibration takes hold of your spirit and compels you to dance. It's the universal vibration that unites one and all in its loving embrace and forces the barriers we construct between us to come crashing down, so we can see that we truly are ALL ONE! The HEARTBEAT is the drum; the underlying pulse that synchronizes us with the rhythms of all life and the movements of the universe. It is what calls to us to forget the superficial constraints of our imaginary boundaries, forget the differences that separate us, and tune in to the primal roots that we all share."
http://www.carlosjones.com/

On Anger

"OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, ANGER IS POSSIBLY THE MOST FUN.
TO LICK YOUR WOUNDS, TO SMACK YOUR LIPS OVER GRIEVANCES LONG PAST,
TO ROLL OVER YOUR TONGUE THE PROSPECT
OF BITTER CONFRONTATIONS STILL TO COME,
TO SAVOR TO THE LAST TOOTHSOME MORSEL BOTH THE PAIN YOU ARE GIVEN
AND THE PAIN YOU ARE GIVING BACK -
IN MANY WAYS IT IS A FEAST FIT FOR A KING.
THE CHIEF DRAWBACK IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE WOLFING DOWN
IS YOURSELF.
THE SKELETON AT THE FEAST IS YOU."

(Frederick Beuchner)

Wild Child

This wild child is now a first grader!!!!!!




Ever feel alive.....I think we all need to do more of the things that make us come alive.
Ever hear the lyrics below?
beautiful song!!!!!
Have a great day!!!!
Love,
Michele


Wild Child
------Enya

Music: Eithne Ní Bhraonáin - Lyrics: Roma Ryan
Language: English

Ever close your eyes
Ever stop and listen
Ever feel alive
And you've nothing missing
You don't need a reason
Let the day go on and on

Let the rain fall down
Everywhere around you
Give into it now
Let the day surround you
You don't need a reason
Let the rain go on and on

What a day, what a day to take to
What a way, what a way to make it through
What a day, what a day to take to a wild child

Only take the time
From the helter skelter
Every day you find
Everything's in kilter
You don't need a reason
Let the day go on and on

Every summer sun
Every winter evening
Every spring to come
Every autumn leaving
You don't need a reason
Let it all go on and on

What a day, what a day to take to
What a way, what a way to make it through
What a day, what a day to take to a wild child

What a day, what a day to take to
What a way, what a way to make it through
What a day, what a day to take to a wild child

Da-da da da da da, da da da da da da
da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da

What a day, what a day to take to
What a way, what a way to make it through
What a day, what a day to take to
Da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da
What a way, what a way to make it through
Da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da
What a way, what a way to make it through
What a day, what a day to take to a wild child
What a day, what a day to take to a wild child

Lessons I am learning on the mat.

Four Noble Truths

1. We all experience a sense of dis-ease, or chafing in life.
2. The reason for this discomfort is not wanting things to change when they
do and wanting them to change when they don't -- attachment and aversion.
3. The good news -- there is a cure for this suffering.
4. The path of yoga and meditation and other conscious ways of being in the
world.

Thank you!!!!!

Thank you so much for everyone that helped contribute to Cassie and Macy's homeless project!!!!!
It was a big success and they collected 135.00 in cash to buy supplies for the homeless shower stall in Cleveland.
Also , a ton of supplies were donated by so many of you.
They plan to go to the Saint Malachi center
where there are free showers, shower supplies
and underwear for the homeless.
Our friend Paul volunteers there so he said he would go with the girls.
So anyway the girls are thrilled.
Have an awesome day.
Peace and Love,
Michele


As Rumi says, “Be with those who help your being.”........and you all help my being!!!!

On Being Whole

Above is a picture Macy took of Mark's drumming class at Omega.

Below describes why I love about being a nurse.
Namaste,
Michele

Being Whole

Being whole doesn’t mean being more than who you are this very moment.

It means being who you are this very moment. It means accepting the parts of yourself that used to make you ashamed, or feel small. These are the parts of yourself that will allow you to connect to other people, allow you to own your own strength. I’ve noticed the wounds that I have suffered in fifty years of chronic illness enable me to respond to other wounded people with compassion. Without them I don’t think I’d know compassion. And neither would you, without your wounds. My loneliness, which is part of my wholeness, has helped me to find you, in the dark.

To sit with you, be with you, care about you. Because everyone’s lonely; me and you, we’re both lonely. And when I was not willing to allow myself to be lonely,to know that I needed other people,I would never have been able to sit here with you and find you.

And I was less than whole without my loneliness, without my wounds.

This is part of wholeness, too; for you, for me, for everyone.

Every one of us wants to be more than we are, wants to give more than we can give. There’s something in us, in our education, our training, That says “Only perfect is good enough.” This is an absolute setup for burning out.

Each one of us, you and me, we’re already enough. We’re already exactly what is needed. The ways in which we’re human, our anger, our doubts, our fears, our loneliness, all of these things are exactly what is needed.

Most of us have blessed and helped many more people than we know. I might just be exactly the right person for the person in front of me. Not because I’m trying to be the right person, but because I really am the right person, to offer them the reminder of their wholeness, to evoke their strength just by who I am, by my presence, in ways that I many never know about. It’s not our expertise that blesses people, it’s our humanness.

When you know this about yourself, nobody in your presence ever needs to feel alone . . . or lonely. And you yourself won’t feel alone or lonely, either.

So reach out for your wholeness. May you be blessed by it. May it allow you to connect to all people everywhere, to all wholeness in all people everywhere.

Even the wholeness that’s hidden, the wholeness they don’t even know is there.

May you become transparent to the wholeness in you so that it shines, and reminds people where their home is. May you serve with everything you know and everything you are.

-Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

Casa De Arlene

Hi Arlene,
thank you so much for this weekend!!!
We had so much fun!...your beach on Lake Erie is so tranquil!!
I was so relaxed there with you and in your beautiful home.
Mark and the kids like you so much Arlene.
I came home and did an hour and a half of yoga and I feel even more relaxed and ready to just set back and see what the universe has in mind for me.
I keep reminding myself that I (my ego )am not in control and I need to just let go.
Sometimes when I get so hyperfocused on what might happen that I end up not being in the moment and not being able to hear and enjoy the laughter of my own kids!!!!!!!
Mark spread all of his stones and stuff that he found on your beach around into the yard....he had a ball doing it.
thanks so much for your friendship Arlene.
You are such a special friend to me.
Love,
Michele

Confession

Remember this picture?
Well it is not really Jerry Garcia.
HE is our new friend , Bill or "Medicine Bear."
Mark and I had lunch with him last Wednesday.
Below is his website and biography.
ONe of the coolest and awake beings that I have ever met.
Check out his stuff
Love,
Michele

A short biography of Medicine Bear / Bill Record

Born Nov 22, 1945

(a scorpio by half an hour)

University of Rochester

B.S. Mechanical Engineering 1967

10 years experience as an engineer in the coporate world followed by

20 years running a machine/design shop: 'Zengineering'

Lived in Africa for 4 years in the 1970's running motorcycle and group camping safaris. Two 10,000 mile trans African trips from Gibraltar to Niarobi across the Sahara Desert and

through Zaire (the Congo).

Spent the 80's involved with a Gurdjieff Study Group.

In the 90's I started learning from various traditional elders and I started to connect with our Earth Mother. I recieved the name Medicine Bear
and started to lead various kinds of ceremony.

"Having witnessed the lunacy of our existing culture for all of my life I wish to spend the next years laying the foundation for humans to walk on our Earth Mother in a sustainable, loving manner."

Web site:
http://www.earthloving.com/id4.html

Letting Go

Here is a picture of Macy's photography class at Omega....see Mace???
furthest on the right .
I feel so much better..........all from just changing my perspective on things......
so today is a new day.
Lets all enjoy it.
love,
Michele

"I wanted a perfect ending...
Now, I've learned the hard way that some poems
don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear
beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing,
having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it,
without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious ambiguity."

Gilda Radner, 1946-1989

The Quest

I am back!!! I feel so much better......more balanced.....well for today anyway.
I feel so grateful for my friend Pam......She is one of the most real people I have ever communicated with....in fact I am so grateful for my family that stands by me when I am whacked out and just lets me vent and cry......esp. my mom was soooo helpful this week..and for my friends that just check in with me and just let me "be." I love you all!!! I love life again.
not sure where I am going or what I am doing, but I am okay letting go....in this moment anyway.
Namaste,
Michele



“The average person considers their life boring or uninspiring because they’ve made little or no attempt to gain knowledge and information that will inspire them. They’re so hypnotized by their environment – through the media, through television, through unattainable ideals of physical appearance, beauty and valor that everybody struggles to become but cannot – that most people surrender and live their lives in mediocrity. And they may live those lives, and their souls, their desires, may never really rise to the surface. So, they may want to be something else. But if they do rise to the surface, and people ask themselves, Is there something more, or Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? Where am I going? What happens when I die? When they start to ask these questions, they start to flirt and interact with the perception that they may be having a nervous breakdown, and in Reality, their old concept of how they viewed their life and the world starts to fall apart.”
~Dr. Joseph Dispenza~

gone fishing

this is a picture that Macy took at Omega.
beautiful.....ehh???

Seriously.....I am not fishing, but I am taking some time to resolve some inner conflicts.
I'll be back online after I do. I am in kinda of a crisis and am feeling depressed.
I need to feel some stuff through.
Love,
Michele

OM!

This is Mira at AGT during family week at Omega Institute.
She was Aries.
check out this link below about the adventure game theater:
http://www.pbs.org/bodyandsoul/217/game.htm
Being at Omega is a magical place.
It gave me time to get outside of my head and into my heart.
I have been working on my poor posture through the yoga exercises.
I feel my heart opening instead of carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It is scary
......finding that maybe I can't work in the job I have been
working...because of the politics of working there...I love the patients that
come through and being there to watch them grow.....and I am starting
to see things in my life that are a big waste of time like seeing the way I
waste my time online. but it is all growth and sometimes growth is
not quite comfortable.
I do know that I am feeling things more and am more awake to the moment....more alive
Maybe I am feeling at a deeper level because of all the meditation I have been doing.
I meditated every morning at 7am for an hour at Omega plus all of the yoga and just all the time to just be.
I feel better when I just fall into that emptiness.
I am embracing the change that is happening.
Love,
Michele

http://tinyurl.com/3yt33v
"Scientists have evidence that Buddhists really are happier and calmer
than other people. Tests on their brains show that the parts associated
with good moods and positive feelings are more active, because of all the
meditation they do. Researchers say that the type of meditation done by
Buddhists can change the amygdala, an area of the brain which controls
fear memory, which is why Buddhists are less likely to be as shocked,
surprised or angry as other people. Reseacher Paul Ekman says, "The
most reasonable hypothesis is that there is something about
conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we
all seek."

In Albany visiting my cousin Chad today

Chad is a cook at El Loco in Albany.
He cut part of his finger off last week when cutting veggies.
That is why his finger is all wrapped up.

Jerry Lives!

Jerry Garcia really lives!!! He has been sighted here at Omega Institute.
I saw him tonight at a Native American ceremony which took place to bless the children.
Here is a picture of Jerry and I by the Native American peace pipe.
"Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."
Namaste,
Michele

Omega or bust

Family Week has been a great success at Omega because it offers families something rare: a unique balance of time together and time apart so that everyone can have fun, learn, explore, and make new friends. We invite veteran Family Weekers back to continue in the creation of an extended family, and welcome new families to join us.

Special Guests: We welcome renowned singer-songwriters David Wilcox and Nance Pettit as resident bards and practitioners of musical medicine for the week.

Program Structure: Workshops and kids camps meet each morning (9 a.m.-noon) and Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons (2:30 p.m.-5 p.m.). Tuesday afternoon the faculty offer family activities: a softball game, wilderness romps, music-making, and sampler workshops. In the evenings we gather for performances, games, and a campfire.


Family Week Workshops for Adults:

my class:
Shakti Yoga: Awakening Vitality & Creativity
Linda Lalita Winnick

Mark's class:
The Transcendent Power of Drumming
Steve Leicach

The Dance of Tennis
Jena Marcovicci

The Joy of Play: It's Never Too Late to Have a Happy Childhood
Joe Killian

Being With Flowers: Floral Art As Spiritual Practice
Anthony Ward

Gospel Music Community
Sister Alice Martin

Experiencing Life As Living Ceremony
Carl Big Heart

Family Week Kids and Teen Camps:

The Magic of Art & the Art of Magic: For kids ages 8-12
Janet Fredericks, Tom Verner

Macy's class:
Photography Camp: For kids ages 8-13
Amy Berkson, Todd Shapera

Beyond Basketball for Kids: For kids ages 8-12
Kevin Heath, Ellen Riley

Mira's class:
Adventure Game Theater: For teens ages 12-17
Adventure Game Theater Staff

Marko's class:
Little Forest People: For kids ages 6-10
Ranger Jay Cook, Ranger Veronica Sampson, Ranger Woody Watson

The love that you are

Victoria Falls in Africa

The love that you search for everywhere is already present within you.
It may be evoked by any number of people or events.
A mountain can evoke this love.
A sunset can evoke this love.
But finally, you must realize you are this love.
The source of all love is within you.
- Gangaji

Mira

The way it is

THE WAY IT IS

There's a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of the thread.

- William Stafford

Happy Birthday Jerry

Happy Birthday Jerry.....and thanks for the music!!
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia
August 1, 1942 - August 9, 1995


Jerry's speakers are for sale!!..click below:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4145184a4560.html

Your Fortune