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