Personal update and changes

First of all, I noticed that I have not been posting ideas and thoughts and stories to my blog, because… I now post them on Facebook. There are so many positive impulses being reported on, that it is mind boggling and Facebook has become an easier platform to post all these impulses.

Please friend me on Facebook, if you want to see what I am posting now. Look up “Ulla Mentzel” and with your friend request please send a message saying that you have found my blog.

The second change is that a couple months ago, I have moved to Germany, the country where I was raised, after living in the US for over 20 years. What a change that is… More on those changes in a few days…

Korea’s Got Talent: Sung-bong Choi

Korea's Sung-bong Choi

What a touching performance by an untrained voice, a life filled with hardship. What an inspiration to never stop dreaming. To not give up on what we feel passionate about. To follow that which feels good to us, brings us comfort and makes us feel alive.

I was feeling very touched, with tears in my eyes and a constricted throat. There is a quality in his voice… hard to describe. See for yourself:

New social movements: The difference between sheep and starlings

Bahrain Pearl Roundabout Twitpiced by AymanB

The unrest in the Arab countries of Northern Africa and the Middle East are rapidly spreading (see here for a well done overview on 21FEB2011).

Day by day more young people are inspired to demonstrate, mostly peacefully, for basic human rights or free elections in the face of longterm despotic leadership. Yes, mostly young people.

Even in China unrest among the young is brewing. They are calling for their own  ”Jasmine Revolution” (see here).

What is happening here? How can we rap our minds around the fact that within the last two months at least 13 countries in Northern Africa are experiencing various levels of unrest amongst their young people? That two countries have lost their longterm leaders, and more are on the brink of loosing theirs?  How come this unrest is spreading like a contagious virus?

One common factor among the 13 countries is that 50% of the population in these countries is under 25 years young. These young people are hardest hit by unemployment, rising food prices in our worldwide climate of recession, and stagnating economies, often due to longterm corrupt leadership.

But isn’t it interesting in all these uprisings that there is no clear leadership associated with it? Have we ever had uprisings without leaders?

What if we are seeing a clash between two kinds of societal movement here? Old style and new style.

To me old style social movement looks like a shepherd tending to his flock of sheet with the help of a few dogs. The shepherd literally has the overview over his herd of sheep, assesses any given situation and instructs the dogs to move the herd out of danger into safety or into a direction the shepherd deems appropriate. The sheep only go bah and follow the shepherd via the dogs prompting.

This is pretty much the way leadership has looked for the past several thousand years. More or less benevolent shepherds tending masses of sheep.

Even in 1980 Eastern block uprisings like the Polish Solidarity movement had its leader in Leach Walesa, who later became president of a communist free Poland.

But this is different, as we are seeing no leaders emerging in these latest social uprisings in Northern Africa.

They actually remind me more of flocks of birds gathering and flying thousands of miles without a leader, without a hierarchal structure, than like a flock of sheep following a shepherd. A good  example are these starlings getting ready to roost.

It always amazes me how cohesively thousands of starlings can move without any discernible leadership.

Back to the uprisings in Northern Africa.

These youths also have  in common the ability and affinity to use internet communication as a means to know themselves connected with the whole world, if they choose to and have access to it (click here for an article about Facebook in Arabic). They see what other youths in the world have, as in Europe or the USA. and they want the same basic rights.Very understandably to me.

Arab Girl On Cell Phone www.tcjewfolk.com

What if this social movement is connected and actually only made possible by the role the internet is playing in these uprisings. It is creating the instant link between masses of people expressing their grievances to each other, and thus realizing that they are feeling united in their concerns. The internet then also facilitates the possibility to act upon their grievances by coordinating mass gatherings within hours.

What if we humans are actually changing. What if we are becoming more like birds, growing our wings and our ability to fly into more freedom in these strange times full of so many changes? What if the internet is providing the common link between those of like minds and hearts, just as birds are linked in a collective consciousness driving them to fly thousands of miles into warmer climates, and back into cooler climates. All of this without any discernible leadership.

What if we are seeing these changes in humanity manifest themselves in our young ones? Can we older ones honor them for expressing a new paradigm in their choices? Can we cheer them on and support them in their legitimate demands for free election, no more torture, and an honest body of governance?

Can we trust these new times bringing new ways of being? Ways of focusing on what unites us rather than what separates us?

Asmaa Mahfouz – The videos that fueled the Egyptian Revolution

The Egysptian revolution on January 25th was fueled by a young Egyptian girl, passionately expressing her desire to stand up for human rights and be joined by others in her passion. I am letting her words speak for her without comments.

 

Here is video vlog of Asmaa Mahfouz describing the mood the nite before Jan 25th.

 

And here is her vlog on January 26, after the eventful day.

 

 

Daring to Dream Again: A Baby Boomer’s Perspective on the Tahrir Square Victory

Tahrir Square on 11FEB2011 by Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

Today on February 11, 2011, we saw Egyptian dictator Mubarak finally step down and make way for the possibility of a democratic government in Egypt after 18 days of full on protests by the young people in Egypt on Tahrir Square. Tahrir mean liberation in Egyptian. And the square is full of people celebrating.

And I am sitting here, feeling tears of relief. Of joy and gratitude. Feeling a hard place in my heart melting. Opening up to trust my dreams again.

As someone who remembers exactly how I felt on the day that John F. Kennedy was shot: listening to it on the radio. Watching my mother being upset. Being 6 years old, not understanding what it was all about, but knowing that it was important. Terribly important.

The days both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kenny were shot: being told by my mother with tears in her eyes when I came into the kitchen for breakfast. Both times. Again not quite comprehending why she cried, but knowing it was important.

All these events have shaped me life, my dreams and my hopes. My generation.

When the Kent State shootings happened on May 4th, 1970. When the squatter movement in Berlin turned violent on May 4, 1987. When the Tiananmen Square Shootings happened in June 4, 1989 and most likely 3000 young people were killed.

I held all these days, all these feelings of defeat, in my heart. A heart heavy with pain and sadness and loss. My hopes shrank. My dreams receded into the safety of the the far future.

Fall of the Berlin Wall 11NOV1989

And then came November 11, 1989, the Fall of the Berlin Wall. I was actually living in Berlin then, but that is another story.

The tide turned. The balance of power started having a new face. I knew then, that political miracles were possible.

In the wildest dreams of the peace movement in the 60s in Germany no one I knew had dared to dream such a peaceful solution to such a monumental problem. A country cut in half. A people cut in two for 28 years.

After months of protest by the young ones of East Germany the wall opened its tightly sealed gates. Without violence. So effortless. So strongly on the side of  what the people wanted. What the young ones dared to dream.

Back to today, another day of victory for the people’s wishes. The wishes of the young ones. The dreamers. The ones full of hope. The bright ones.

Around 50% of the Arab population is under 30 years old. They do not remember all the shootings my generation carries around in our hearts and bellies. Luckily they do not remember. It made them strong in their dreams. Their hopes. In their demands.

Tunisia' s Jasmine Revolution 15JAN2011

Encouraged by their sisters and brothers in Tunesia, who on January 15, 2011 forced Ben Ali to step down after four weeks of daily protests. They call it the Jasmine Revolution.

The youth in Egypt only took 18 days to accomplish the same. Once again, the army sided with the people instead of following the command of the dictators. What a changed world, where even a trained body such as the army is making choices about who they support.

A world where even President Obama congratulates you on ousting a dictator on your terms.

My heart feels so much lighter. So relieved. So much so that I now feel that I too can dare to dream my dreams again. My big dreams.

Not in some far distant future. Not for my children when they are old. But now. Right now and here. Right here.

Thank you, all you young ones. For following your hearts and daring to dream and taking to the streets. For not giving up and thus giving me back my dreams. My dreams about the world I want to live in. My dreams about what is possible. My dreams about who I can be. Thank you all.

Obama’s Speech at the Tuscon Memorial

Times definitely are a-changing …

Listening to Obama speech at the Tuscon Memorial on Jan 12, 2011. It is all over the news today, a day later.

My first response seeing Obama on the podium was “Oh my god… how gray his hair has become in 2 years only…” and it brings tears to my eyes to watch this.

And then listening to him make sense out an emotional super-charged situation. The “new” politician who uses the collective emotions evoked by such a catastrophe as a way to unify this collective, instead of polarizing, blaming, and finger pointing.

“The forces that divide us are not as strong as the ones that unite us.” Obama just created his legacy in that sentence.

An interesting piece: Christina Green, the girl killed in this shooting, was born on September 11, 2001, that is on 9/11. What a life of service she offered to come in on a day of a national tragedy/opportunity and to leave on a day of a national tragedy/opportunity… What a large soul.

We are living in new times, for sure…

My “Brilliant Leaves” Poetry on Video

Here is a video of the first “offical” poetry reading of my poems about the luminous side of dying. I have been writing these poems at the beside of someone dying over that last four years.

The occasion for this video was my 55th birthday and goodbye party (I am moving to Santa Cruz) in Ashland on November 19th, 2010. I had the most supportive audience… Thank you all who were there…

My poems are looking for a literary agent and a publisher. Any suggestions?

Leave me a note below on the comment section, if you do…

Btw, aren’t the digital snow flakes fun?

Music in These Times of Changes

The Human Revolution

Just having come back from five days at Mystic Garden Party, I feel called to write about a group of musicians who have deeply touched my soul.

Some of their names are: Fantuzzi, Freedom Tribe, Human Revolution, Maysin, Sasha Butterfly Rose, Shimshai, Singing Bear, Steven Rouch, Tina Malia, and Travis Levity. You can read short bios of them here.

These musicians are some of the storytellers, poets and song writers of our times. The are helping us weather these current changes through their music. Through their words. Trough the lives they are living.

Most of them are under 40 years old. All of them are accomplished musicians, writers, poets, song writers. All of them have the ability to inspire us to dance, sing and celebrate.

As if they have spent life times as shamans, bards, musicians, poets, and gypsies honing their musical craft. As if they have come back over and over again purrfecting their skills.  Most of them play both multiple instruments and sing. Just so that they are available – now – to guide us.

Their music is soothing our fears of the unknown future we are all facing. They are inviting us to let go into the current carrying us into that future. To trust that we will be safe even in upcoming upheavals.

They are showing us how to open our hearts to each other in compassion. They are pouring our most hidden dreams into inspiring words and uplifting melodies. In these times of changes.

They are calling us to take care of our mother, the earth, the living, breathing Gaia. To love and honor her.

They are reminding us in their songs to trust the Divine, God, Source. To remember that we are never alone. To know that we are the ones we have been waiting for. To entertain the possibility that we are the ones with the solutions to the problems we have created.

All of it in these times of changes.

An Inspired Political Response to The Gulf Oil Crisis

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook and I feel moved to share it here on my blog. It expresses in no uncertain terms what a politically inspired response to the Gulf oil crisis could look like.

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow, an American radio personality, television host, and political commentator, rewrote President Barack Obama’s Tuesday Oval Office address to what she had hoped he was going to say. She thus expressed what I (and many others) would like to hear from “Yes, we can” President Obama.

Click on the URL below to watch the video at MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37744753#37744753

And pass it around… this is worth watching 9 minutes of excellent political suggestions. May someone send it to President Obama and may he feel inspired to step up to what he could be, a light beacon for real change.

Sending Light to the Gulf Oil Spill

I am a person who has a great capacity to see the positive in most any situation. Concerning the Gulf oil spill I have so far been able to just focus on the positive out comes of the current Gulf oil spill crisis. As if I was not really affected by it.

An email with a link and a channeled reading sent out by Tom Kenyan have shifted my focus from just standing by to a more active stance into self empowerment. Both pieces of writing suggest that we are facing a much bigger crisis worldwide than what has been reported so far.

Add into that the possible impact of the tropical storm Alex heading for the Gulf area, and things start looking pretty desperate and easily can feel overwhelming.

Photo courtesy of Impactlab.com

In my case active means to change my own deeply held beliefs of powerlessness.

It means to keep this crisis in my awareness instead of pushing it away. Instead of thinking that the ones responsible will deal with this, while I can keep myself out of this. Especially thinking that I am powerless to do anything about this anyway.

I have decided to make a commitment to the following actions on a daily basis:

• I am sending clear light to all responsible for decisions every time I hear or read about the oil spill, so that they may see solutions they have not seen so far.
• I am making time every day at noon for a few minutes to specifically send clear light to the US Gulf area while imagining being connected with thousands if not millions of others doing the same all over the world, knowing myself not alone anymore in this crisis.
• Through these daily actions I am affirming that as a collective we have the capacity to heal this possibly cataclysmic event, using the power of our thoughts. We are powerful beyond imagination, when we join our thoughts and focus them on the well being of all.

Photo Curtesy of raiseyourenergynetwork.com

I believe this is an opportunity to know ourselves connected all over the world. An opportunity to know ourselves in this together as in a worldwide crisis there is no place to hide. Worldwide means it affects all of us.

It is also an opportunity to step out of a mentality of “us versus them” which keeps “us” powerless” and “them” in power.

Yes, I still see opportunity in this crisis, actually huge opportunity in this huge crisis, but it needs my commitment to change first. To change my thoughts from powerless to powerful and then to focus my thoughts for the good of all.

Will you join me?

Just Being

I was just talking to my friend Diane about what is calling us right now in these changing times and had some interesting insights.

What if all we need to do to make it through these challenging times is to stay present with the Now? What if that is actually where we can create the New by Just Being?

In every moment we have three choices:

• We can look backwards and wrestle with the past, process it, discuss and analyze it, try to deal with it, and come to terms with it.
• We can look into the future with all our fears attached, our fears of whether we will have enough money, a place to live, work to do and a safe world around us.
• Or we can Just Be in this present moment by accepting completely and fully what is – just for this moment (and not for the rest of our lives) and at the same time by knowing our selves fully taken care of in the future because it is being created and recreated from that place of Just Be.

I have read and heard about Just Being for so many years, but it never really sunk in as it is doing right now under these challenging circumstances.

I can literally sense my creative energies being called forth, and depending on where I focus them: either on old stories of the past or on new stories of an unknown future.

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Experiences make us happier than possessions

I absolutely agree that experiences bring more happiness than possessions. Now there is a study to confirm that idea in an article I just found on CNN.com.

What a great opportunity in these times of changes to enrich our lives through more experiences rather than possessions. And the experiences do not have to be the expensive kind as in a trip around the world or a stay in a luxury spa.

I realized that for me experiences within my community of family members, friends and acquaintances are the ones that I cherish the most. They stay with me and in my memories for quite a while. I also found that these shared experiences help me feel more connected to the individual members. And the more connected I feel, the more I am able to send fear (when it does raise its head) on a vacation to Australia…

When I created my list, I realized that I came up with a lot of ideas for activities that are usually associated with children and childhood. Funny…

Here is a list of inexpensive suggestions I came up with:

• A group hike and picnic to a lake, river or mountain
• Barbecue potluck
• Get to know your neighbor parties
• Weekly drumming or singing circles
• Surprise birthday parties
• Pick up ball games in the park
• Community pajama parties
• Treasure hunts
• Community talent shows
• Potluck picnics in the park
• Summer sunset parties
• Full moon hike in the snow
• Knitting or crochet circles
• Used clothing swaps (or “Naked Ladies Parties” as one friend calls them)
• Harvest party: glean fruit from ownerfree fruit trees and then make pies or jams

CNN.com had a poll on their home page on Feb 11, 2009:

Which brings you more happiness?

Experiences	86%	12153 votes
Possessions	14%	1907 votes
Total Votes: 14060

My question: so why do we all buy so many things, often way more than we need?

Feel free to add your own suggestions in your comments below.

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Drunvalo Melchizedek’s Insights

What if Drunvalo’s vision of a world to come is accurate? Could be mighty interesting…

more about “Drunvalo Melchizedek“, posted with vodpod

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Sherwin Nuland on Hope

Sherwin Nuland wrote a best selling book called “How We Die”. Here is a video of a talk on hope he gave at TED in February 2003.

more about “untitled“, posted with vodpod

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

Video: Planet Earth Forever

For the sheer pleasure of living on this planet, here is a video to enjoy:

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Lost Generation Video

This video was created for the AARP U@50 video contest and placed second.

It is based on the Argentinian Political Advertisement “The Truth” by RECREAR.

Thanks to joezandstra for posting it as a video response. If you would like more info about the video you can find it here.

The two songs are “Mind Things” and “Our Lives, Our Destinies”.

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

Looking at the Role of Corporations with Fresh Eyes

Ulla Mentzel

In line with the title and theme of this blog, which is looking for the “A Bigger Picture” I found one that surprised me this morning while cleaning my shower.

Given the corporate personhood debate, I was asking myself the following questions:

What if the role of corporations in modern day society is to push greed and capitalistic practices as far as possible in order to provide contrast.

What if this strong contrast actually can help us as individuals to find out what it is we do not want. By finding out what we do NOT want, that which we DO want becomes so much stronger.

What if we by pushing against the corporations, we connect with others on  that same path and thus find more purpose and meaning in our lives.

What if we were grateful to the corporations for playing an important role in helping us as individuals to find that purpose and community?

Click here for some background information on the “corporate personhood debate”.

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

Mary Landberg’s Poems: Fear Means Go

I just went to a reading (and 50th birthday celebration) of local poet Mary Landberg last night in Ashland, Oregon.

What a delightful surprise…

Mary and I have been part of the same dance community for years. We usually meet on the dance floor on Sunday mornings, smile at each other, watch each other dance very differently (Mary is a great Salsa dancer and I am not), and then go our separate ways.

Only recently did I find out that Mary is a hospice nurse, working with the dying just as I do as a caregiver. Now I found out that she is also a poet, just like I am.

The reading of her poems last night touched me.

They offered a balance between directly expressing authentic feelings and a freshness in her choice of words. I kept feeling surprised by the images that she evoked. Here is an example of her poetry:

He does not know what to do with his hands

I found this book of poems a beautifully crafted encouragement for those whose world is falling apart and needs rebuilding. She actually went through the foreclosure of her home last year and found so much more to live for on the other side of that challenging experience

Mary has found her way through these challenges and I see her standing taller (and more joyfully) through all of it.

Check out her website if you want to purchase her book and read more about it:

http://www.marylandberg.com

There are more samples of her poetry, both in written form and as audio samples. The book is illustrated with beautiful black and white photographs.

And by the way, a portion of the proceeds from the book and the CD (with all of the poems read by Mary) will go be donated to agencies that support women through times of difficult transitions.

What a gem of a book!

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

Justin Bieber, Canadian Teen Singer

I just found out about a 15 years old pop and R&B talent out of Canada, Justin Bieber (pronounced Beeber). He is the boy singing the opening verses in the remake of the “We Are the World” video.

Justin comes form a small town in Canada. He taught himself how to play guitar, piano and a few other instruments when he was 10 years old. In late 2007 he and his mother posted videos of Justin on Youtube, so that friends and family members could watch them. The following video shows an acapella version of “Without You” (a Chris Brown cover):

His Youtube videos went viral and millions of viewers watched them. Both Usher and Justin Timberlake got interested in promoting this young man, but Justin Bieber chose to sign with Usher. He and his single mom ended up moving to Atlanta to record his first album at the end of 2008.

His album called “My World” came out on Noember 17, 2009. It became the first album where all songs made it in to the top 100 songs in the USA. Since then he has been the opening act for Taylor Swift’s “Fearless”tour in England, sang in front of President Obama and his wife for Christmas, and gotten himself into trouble for being too popular with the girls.

Below is a video of him having his daytime television debut dancing and singing live on the Ellen DeGeneres show:

Here is a kid, no formal music training, self taught on several instruments, with the voice volume and range of an African American, and the ease on stage that normally only lifelong performers have. Add to that a joy and a zest for performing that is totally infectious.

I can see lifetimes spent perfecting and honing his craft as a musician and as a performer. All he needed to do in this life time was for his body to remember his previously acquired skills. Once that happened, he was off hitting the ground running.

What a joy to watch!

Celebrating the Bright Ones

If we are looking for proof that we are living in a world that is definitely changing, I believe all we need to do is to look at the children catching the media’s attention these days. There is an amount of talent showing up that is not just the mere result of years of hard training as child.

There is a freshness and a delight these young performers bring to their craft, that touches me. It inspires me. It gives me hope and confidence in a changing world.

I have therefore decided to add a new category for my postings called “Bright Ones”. I am seeing so many examples of young ones coming into their unique talents, already fully developed as mature artists.

In out current culture there is no way to explain some of the creative talent showing up in these young bodies. We have to look outside our current box for that.

Justin Bieber

What if these Bright Ones have spent lifetimes honing their craft. Slowly working their way into their current mastery.  Spending a lifetime to learn how to sing. Another lifetime to learn how to play one instrument. Then another. And another lifetime practicing how to dance. Most likely not very glamorous lives. More likely lives spent in dedication to these crafts without necessarily much reward.

What if all of this was in preparation for this life of seemingly effortless talent. To be able to burst out so brightly and easily into a world of deep challenges. Offering their talents, their joy, their ease, their inspiration.

What if these Bright Ones come into their current lives with less of a Karmic overlay. Meaning, they have less “stuff” from previous lives as baggage. What if they can actually remember more easily these lifetimes of skills.

What if all this talent spent lifetimes to acquire lies dormant in our bodies’ cells. Dormant until we remember. Remember step by step who we are deep inside. Remember why we are here on earth.

Esmee Denters

And what if one of the reasons they are here on earth, is because they are collectively standing on our shoulders as the elder generation, figuratively speaking. What if as humanity we are truly evolving, and one way to see the change is by looking at these Bright Ones. By being grateful for the work we as the older generations have done.

So that the Bright Ones could actually show up to remind us. That all is not as it seems. That all is well, no matter what it looks like. That life is a joy, no matter what.

If you are interested in exploring these ideas further, click here for further reading or listening. Who I call the “Bight Ones” are also often called “Indigos”. If you want to find out more about them, click here and here.

“We Are the World” Video

I love what is happening out there in the world. Is changing out there. Seeing it as a reflection of what is happening inside of me. What is changing inside of me. In my world.

Here is an inspiring example: 75 musicians, mostly young people offered their time and their talent to rerecord the song “We are the World”. The song was originally written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie as a American benefit single for African famine relief in 1985.

Now is was rerecorded as a charity single on the occasion of the the 25th anniversary of the original recording of the song. The new version features updated lyrics and music, as well as a rap segment pertaining to Haiti. Janet Jackson is singing a duet segment with the video version of her brother Michael Jackson, who died in 2009.

The video was premiered at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Here it is:

And here is an ABC News segment about this video and its predecessor:

If you want to find out who all the artists participating are, go to Wikipedia, and to download the song and thus donate to Haiti, click here.

I see a willingness to reach out. I see compassion for those in need. I see putting our creativity and talents to use for the greater good. I see normally huge egos checked at the door. I choose to see all these things above what else what others might see and thus contribute to a better world myself.

I love the world we are living in today!

The Haiti Earthquake

I wrote a blog entry for my new website A Good Dying because I wanted to make sense of fifty thousand people being dead. Overnight. Gone. Only dead bodies left.

I wanted to be able to hold that piece of news inside my heart. I wanted to find a way to wrap myself around such a staggering number. I wanted to know myself connected.

In these times of nearly instant communication through TV and the Internet, we can be deeply involved in catastrophes anywhere on the world. Through stories, images and video we know so much. We are right there. Even though physically we are thousands of miles away.

At the same time it can be just a story. Not connected to me in my safe home far away.

Here is the link to my blog page on A Good Dying:

The Haiti Earthquake 2010: So many questions

After writing that piece I felt more connected to that part of the world, our world. To the humans suffering  from a devastating loss. I feel, that is the least I can do.

As long as I can
I will look at this world
for both of us.

As long as I can
I will laugh with the birds,
I will sing with the flowers,
I will pray to the stars,
for both of us.

- Sascha, as posted on motivateus.com -

I am back…

I have not been posting to this blog for the last 7 or 8 months because I got busy creating a whole  new website.

I needed a different format to put out my passion for all things dying. All the insights, thoughts, and feelings. All the poems, songs, videos, and stories. Everything I have been collecting over the years needed a new home. All in one place.

Since July 22, 2009 (on a solar eclipse day)  I have been working on my new website. It  is called A Good Dying (www.a-good-dying.com) and as of January 2010 has 80 pages. And I am not done yet.

Writing for this blog gave me the practice and the confidence that I could do a whole website. It helped that I found a Canadian company called SBI to offer all the help imaginable to build a successful website. Check out some information on SBI on my page called Opportunity.

My intentions now is to keep building my website, AND to keep posting to this blog. There are just too many exciting things happening these days that are pointing towards change. Towards a new world. Towards an exciting future. A different future.

Intimacy With Death and Dying Video

What if there is a BIGGER picture even around death and dying?

What if we could add a different perspective into the already existing ones? One that would allow us to feel good even about death and dying, not as the exclusive emotion, but as a silver lining on a normally very dismal and dark subject.

Here is a video that explores that possibility:

This video is a presentation that I put together using poems I have written while someone was actively dying, mandala art pieces I created during my Hospice volunteer training, and photographs of friends and clients either close to dying or shortly after their death.

Thanks for Ed Keller at Edify Productions for shooting and editing this video.

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

Swine Flu Musings

I have been watching the Swine Flu news quite closely as for years I had a sense that we as humanity might have to go through a pandemic outbreak of some sort. Various channeled entities, especially in the 90s, talked about scenarios involving pandemic infections. But so far nothing seemed to manifest in that large scale.

All of a sudden, that is within a few days the news headlines are all about the global dangers of the swine flu.  Yet for me there were just too many questions popping up and not willing to go away, such as

• why so much clamor over so few cases in a few days (about 135,000 people die of the flu every year in the USA);
• how can they all show up all over the world in such a short timer (follow Veratect on Twitter to get the newest updates by the minute);
• how do the flu viruses migrate from swine to humans;
  
• who is to benefit from all of this attention and fear mongering; and
  
• what if there is a BIGGER picture here that will  help us not buy into the fear being spread worldwide?

Here is one posting on the web in regards to my questions:

“To date, close to a hundred people have died and more than a thousand affected. It is reported that: ‘The worrisome new virus combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before….’

Now, reports like this immediate send shock and suspicious signals. In natural-occurring animals, birds, plants, and human species, the genetic strains do not mix. If it does, we humans would have noses with beaks, the hind part of birds would have long swinging tails instead, etc.

In the natural biological order of growth and sustenance, as God the Almighty had intended it to be, the order for the genes transmission is vertical.

This means the genes of swine will only pass on to swine, the genes of cows will only pass on to cows, the genes of birds will only pass on to birds, and the genes of humans only pass on to humans.

In the natural order of beings, genes of different species do not transfer horizontally. Likewise, transmission of diseases is only vertical, and not horizontal. Swine and bird diseases do not transmit to humans. Unless…”

Quoted from “Latest flu outbreak an American plot” by Wong Ang Peng,  Apr 27, 09 4:24pm. Click here to find the “rest of that story”!

Below is another posting with another angle of answers:

A TIMELY MESSAGE FROM MATTHEW (Channeled through Suzanne Ward):

“Once again the dark streamers that are heavily influencing individuals in powerful positions have lashed out in what can be well-termed this energy’s ‘death rattle.’ The newest strategy – the ordering of laboratory-designed, created and released swine flu virus – is, as before, abetted by the controlled media’s part of the plan, to declare PANDEMIC!

It is puzzling to us that these dark ones did not learn from their abject failures with SARS and then the avian flu, both of which were widely publicized with the same global pandemic prognosis; eventually the publicity was forced to cease because those diseases caused a few deaths, then totally fizzled out.

This swine flu situation will have the same result. The technology of our family in other star nations has neutralized the vaccine that is intended to spread this disease, just as they did to prevent the spreading of SARS and avian flu.

This new … plan has been done without the US government leader’s knowledge, unlike the previous two pandemic attempts, which were fabricated with the approval of the highest members [of the Bush] administration. Think about the timing of this latest disease publicity. In addition to authorizing the creation of a virus and its intended worldwide fear, the darkly-inclined individuals’ aim is to distract the attention of the populace from their growing demands

• for peaceful negotiations;
• indicting responsible ones in the US government who authorized torture;
• the truth about the perpetrators of 9/11;
• what caused the collapse of the global economy;
• the decades of government cover-up about the presence of extraterrestrials;
• who operates the illegal drug industry;
• the real purpose of chemtrails and weather control;
• and the ‘black ops’ behind terrorism around your world.

It is not enough to create a distraction for only the people of the United States simply because this is the country where much of the corruption and deception originated and where now investigations are running deep. No, it must be a global effort because individuals with dark intentions, who live around the world, are panicking as they see other governments’ citizens joining the clamor

• for truth, for peace,
  
• for renewable energy sources,
  
• for improved health care and education,
  
• for just laws and
  
• rightful recognition of women’s equality.

All of those are anathema to dark individuals as those conditions are the opposite of all dark goals. But just as the collapse of the global economy is exposing the truth about who has been manipulating it, so will this swine flu plan expose other evils perpetrated by the same dark ones within the Illuminati or under their control. Welcome this evidence of progress in ‘bringing to light’ the truth and the fast-withering tendrils of dark energy around your planet!

There are firm indications that the public-at-large is increasingly skeptical about the motives of individuals at highest levels of medicine and pharmaceutical corporations: There is this sudden outbreak of yet another kind of flu and “accidentally” there is live virus in the vaccines? Yes, there is some fear as well, but not nearly in the proportion the Illuminati intended and expected. Quite the opposite – this is a setback of major proportion for them!

People’s reactions show their expanding consciousness, and this is likely to cause widespread outrage that will not be confined to the deliberate attempt to infect millions and cause global panic. Light efforts are underway in numerous other areas too that will remove the long-time heavy hand of dark control in your world. Holding steady your light and being patient a bit longer for dynamic developments will be abundantly rewarded!”

LOVE and PEACE
Suzanne Ward

Through their soul level agreement that includes communication by mental telepathy, Matthew Ward, who died in 1980, and his mother Suzanne have produced books on spirituality and metaphysics. Check out their website on www.matthewbooks.com

May 7, 2009 – This update was was sent to me by Fred Burks:

“There is (a) revealing 90-second video clip we recommend watching. This one contains two sad, yet almost laughable commercials from the 1976 swine flu outbreak in New Jersey that led to a failed national vaccination campaign. Though only one person died as a result of that swine flu outbreak, over 30 people died and hundreds more were permanently paralyzed as a result of the vaccine that was promoted by the government and media.

To learn more and watch this amazing video clip, click here. And if you are ready to go even deeper into the swine flu scare, watch Dr. Len Horowitz in this fascinating 10-minute video clip.”

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

Bodhisattva in the Metro

Here is another feel good Youtube movie that is making its way through the internet, this time from French movie maker Christine Rabette called “Merci”. Most of the internet postings use the title “Boddhisatva in Metro”. What a both ordinary and extraordinary way to brighten up people lives…. enjoy!

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~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

The Twitter Battle

The social networking site Twitter was the occasion for a contest of popularity: Ashton Kutcher, who is an American actor and former fashion model best known for playing Michael Kelso in the FOX sitcom That ’70s Show, and for being married to Demi Moore, challenged CNN breaking news to a race of who could reach a million followers first.

Kutcher had offered to donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity for World Malaria Day in April if he beat CNN, and 1,000 if he lost. CNN agreed to match the donation. Then Oprah (new to Twitter) added another 10,000 moskito nets.

Kutcher’s Twitter account reached 1 million folowers on Twitter at about 2:13 a.m. ET Friday, narrowly beating CNN’s breaking-news feed, which had 998,239 followers at the time. CNN passed the mark at 2:42 a.m. ET.

What is so interesting is Kutcher talking on Friday on “Larry King Live” about the battle and why he felt it was so important.

“We now live in an age in media that a single voice can have as much power and relevance on the Web, that is, as an entire media network,” he said. “And I think that to me was shocking.”

I see several reasons to add this post into my category of Change Tracker:

• the consumers are in the driver’s seat, making their choices known,
• individuals can make a difference over institutions, and
• individuals using their star power to give help where needed.

This does not discount that a lot of BIG show business egos are involved here, but who cares if these egos serve a good cause.

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

Never Judge a Book by its Cover: Susan Boyle

Susan Boyle

Wow!  This 47 year old woman, never married, not even kissed in her life, living alone with her cat, unemployed, had the guts to sign up for the British equivalent of “American Idol” called “Britain’s Got Talent” and wooed the judges and the audience with her spectacular performance of “The Dream” from “Les Miserables”. Wow….

I felt touched to tears (just like many of my friends) by her performance and the reaction of the audience, kind of an ugly duckling to fairy princess story. It seems to have touched so many, as within 4 days the Youtube video of her audition has been viewed over 7 million times, and more than 45,000 positive and encouraging comments have been left accompanying her video. (A week later the views have soared to 25 million and the comments to 115,000).

All of this makes me wonder whether there is an archetypal element in her story, one common to me and so many others around the world. It feels to me as if Susan Boyle has become a symbol of hope in these challenging times: if an “Average Susan” can, with some  encouragement from her Mom, can become a singing world sensation, then there is hope for each one of us, no matter how stuck, unimportant or invisible we feel.

To me President Obama’s story has been a precursor to this phenomenon and has a similar effect: if he can stay positive and optimistic in the midst of all these worldwide and easily overwhelming challenges, then I can too.

Here is the video:

Click here for a more detailed article on the Susan Boyle phenomena in the Washington Post and here for an article on BBC News exploring some reasons why Susan Boyle has won over the world, and here for an article titled:”Susan Boyle’s appeal not so surprising”.

April 24, 2009:
I just found a Time Online Magazine article offering some good journalistic background material and context for the Susan Boyle phenomenon. Click here for the online article.

~~~ Check out my new website: A Good Dying ~~~

The Human Perfection in a Physical World

Here is a short video (only 1:35 min) showing the rhythmic gymnastic routine of the Bulgarian gymnast Bojanka Angelova as a junior finalist at the European Gymnast Championship in Torino, Italy in June 2008.

I was completely spellbound watching Angelova perform her ball routine in such an effortless, fluid, precise, and absolutely flawless way.

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I could not help but wonder about such a performance. It felt like she was outside space and time, as if in a quantum state. What a gift Bojanka Angelova has….

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Walk On

Another very inspirational and touching video:  30 year old DJ Gregory was born with cerebral palsy, underdeveloped lungs, and entangled legs. His parents were told he would never walk. This 12 minute video shows his journey towards walking 988 miles and  3,256 holes of the 2008 PGA Tour.

posted with vodpod

If you go to the vodpod page for this video, take a look at the comments left for DJ – they are a testament to the inspiration DJ is offering to so many….

Here is a link to an ABC news story: Person of the Week: D.J. Gregory

And again, check out the comments left for DJ…

And here is a link to DJ Gregory’s Blog

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Nifenegger – Book Review

Beware: Plot spoiler lurking in this posting!

Having been a science fiction and fantasy book lover since I discovered Ursula K. LeGuin and Doris Lessing in the late 70ies, at a time when ….. it has been fun to watch Scifi and Fantasy concepts make it into main stream books and movies.

A first wave was the Harry Potter series, which ended up being the most successful series of books ever sold in the world. “As of June 2008, the book series has sold more than 400 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages, and the last four books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.” as quoted from Wikipedia’s “Harry Potter” entry.

.A second wave were the 11 Oscars the third movie of The Lord of The Rings series The Return of the King was able to win in 2003.”Released on 17 December 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King became one of the most critically acclaimed films and greatest box-office successes of all time. It won all eleven Academy Awards it was nominated for, which ties it with only Titanic and Ben-Hur for most Academy Awards ever won. It also won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the only time in history a fantasy film has done so.” Quoted from Wikipedia’s “Return of the King” entry.

Now there is another interesting example of SciFi concept making it in a mainstream novel: Audrey Nifenegger’s 2003 bestseller “The Time Traveler’s Wife” takes time travel is not a SciFi or fantasy novel, yet its basic premise is that of a man time traveling through 560 pages. So far the subject of time traveling was not a subject for literary …

What moved time traveling into a mainstream worthy subject is very simple. Instead of

treating it as a scientifically implausible but nevertheless interesting subject, Nifenegger turned time traveling into a genetic disease. It is introduced in this novel fully equipped with human genome lingo, specialized doctors, and medical procedures exploring a genetically mutating individual and its cahllenges.

All of a sudden, the subject of time travel is worthy

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• Marx’s grave backdrop for $5m book (guardian.co.uk)
• Time-Traveler’s Wife is a good little book (loo.me)

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The Most Perfect Illusion

“Who of the most powerful of souls
can conjure up an illusion
that is real to its creator.”

Source Unknown

In moments when I feel most uncomfortable in my role as a human here on this physical earth, this sentence (it hangs over my kitchen sink) helps me feel relieved and not quite as stupid about some of my more human behavior or actions. I end up being more gentle with myself, especially in these times of changes.

The video below makes the same point…

more about “LegTryingToStealBone.wmv videos from …“

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Challenge Day – Imagine a school where every child feels safe, loved and celebrated

I just watched a 15 minute video called “Challenge Day” and felt touched enough to share it here on my blog. This video shows an excerpt of the award winning documentary of the same name, depicting the results of a one-day program offered by Challenge Day in hundreds of high schools and junior highs every year.

I wish we had had a program like that when I was growing up in Germany. It would have helped so much to create the closeness and connection I always longed for. It took me many years of workshops to finally find it.

What a huge opportunity for young people to discover their common humanity so early. We are definitely living in a changing world.

posted with vodpod

Check out the Challenge Day website  for more information on this inspiring and transformational program.

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6 Companies Born During Downturns

Think a recession is a bad time to start a company? Imagine if the founders of these major corporations had thought the same…

Company: Procter & Gamble, Household products
Founded during: The Panic of 1837

Because consumers rely on P&G products in good times and bad, it is considered a titan even in a rough economy.

Company: IBM, Computer
Founded during: The Long Depression, 1873-1896

Last year, the company had record revenue of $103.6 billion. However, thousands of layoffs are reportedly underway in IBM’s sales and software units.

Company: General Electric, Energy and other
Founded during: Panic of 1873

In 1896, Edison’s GE landed a spot on the first-ever Dow Jones Industrial Average. Today, it is the only remaining company of the original twelve.

Company: General Motors, Automobiles
Founded during: The Panic of 1907

General Motors became a holding company for Buick and Oldsmobile in 1907, which had already been been for established several years, and it went on to acquire many more companies after that.

Company: United Technologies Corp, Aerospace
Founded during: In 1929, amid the Great Depression

The notorious year that the stock market crashed, spurring a 10-year global downturn, also marked the birth of an aerospace giant.

Company: FedEx, Shipping
Founded during: The Oil Crisis of 1973

When several Arab states had embargoed oil exports to the United States, it could have been disastrous for a company that relied on petroleum-fueled transportation, but Federal Express stayed alive and became profitable in July 1975, when oil prices finally leveled off.

Read the full article on the web here.

An encouragement to keep thinking outside the current box of scarcity and financially hard times, no matter how crazy that seems!

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Humbled Banker Parts With Yuppie Past

I love cruising the internet news websites these days, as I keep finding these great stories of people whose lives are changing. To me the most interesting stories are the ones where people lives take a new turn when they share their predicaments from a real and authentic voice.

Over the years I have found that the more real and authentic in any given moment I allowed myself to be and to be seen, the more I felt accepted, loved, and actually was able to get what I wanted or dreamed of. And now I am watching the current economic crisis provide the context for people to explore doing exactly that, explore being real and authentic.

I found the story below on CNN.com and felt touched by the opportunity found in the current financial crisis, by thinking and acting outside our comfort zone, and by the courage to be real about what is actually going on instead of “looking good.”

By Thelma Gutierrez and Wayne Drash, CNN

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Ernie Casillas lived the good life as he doled out millions of dollars in loans in California. The former banker drove fancy cars and took extravagant vacations.

But with the banking industry in crisis, his job is gone — as is his lavish lifestyle. Desperate for work, he recently swallowed his pride and posted a message on Craigslist: “Unemployed I need a job.”

“It took a lot for me to put that ad on Craigslist, because I had to change what I was before,” he said, breaking down in tears. “I wasn’t this rich little yuppie anymore, driving expensive cars, having expensive suits. I’m in this just like everybody else looking for work. It humbles you. This is real.”

If you want to read the rest of the story, click here.

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Reforming Our Global Financial World

Image by kugelfish via Flickr

“The new financiers will show why the old financiers and central bankers can no longer have a monopoly on money and its creation.  Information-based currencies and trading platforms will operate wherever necessary for evolving human communities so as to match needs with resources and create jobs – from local and regional to national and international exchange. Today’s financial “crisis” is facilitating the evolutionary jump to the next stage of human development – shifting from faulty, money-measured GDP growth to the cleaner, greener, sustainable economies.“
– Hazel Henderson on global financial reform

Fred Burks

Below is the full article as sent to me by Fred Burks . For years he has been putting information on his website www.WantToKnow.org which although “verifiable and reliable” is nor covered by the major news media such as CBS, Wall Street Journal etc. If you want to sign up for his weekly email list, summarizing key media articles which should have made headline news, click here. (The highlights in the article below are Fred’s.)

Global Financial Reform

The New Financiers

By Hazel Henderson

A venture capitalist friend of mine asked me in a recent discussion about the financial meltdown, “who will be the new financiers?” I answered immediately, “the new financiers will be the high-level information and knowledge brokers – and they will aggregate the new research on global change processes and lead in structuring the deals now creating the growing green economy.”  Today information and media drive markets.

These new financiers are already operating unseen by traditional Wall Streeters and asset managers.  They are largely invisible to current financial players and governments because information is their prime currency; rather than money.  The new deal-makers value the role of honest, well-managed currencies that remain dependable stores of value and mediums of exchange.

Money is a special kind of information, not a commodity in itself, but rather a brilliant invention of the human mind.  When backed by real-world goods and service, as well as strong contracts, money can accurately track and score human ingenuity, productivity and transactions interacting with the natural wealth of resources of our home: Planet Earth.

The problem with money is keeping it honest and keeping its “promise to pay” firm.  From the goldsmiths who over-lent against their piles of gold held in storage for their customers, to the kings who shaved of the edges of coins and today’s bankers who create our money out of thin air, we humans have found many ways to debase our currencies.

Human activities grew from traditional barter, mutual aid and gifting to the invention of money back around 3,000 BC.  Our money evolved from clay tablets, shells and cows to metal tokens, gold, silver, today’s paper money and electronic currencies that are blips on millions of financial trading screens.

As we expanded worldwide with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in Europe 300 years ago, our need to trade and exchange grew exponentially.  This required expanding our money systems of exchange.  Gold, which backed most currencies in growing international trade, became too constricting – there just wasn’t enough of if.  Many traders turned to silver and other precious metals.  Soon, the lack of gold led governments to issue paper “fiat” currencies backed only by promises and a fraction of actual gold.  Some countries shut their “gold windows,” including the USA in 1971, and restricted their citizens from owning gold.

Our current financial crises go beyond those earlier contractions, panics and recessions caused by the lack of gold or sufficient supplies of credible paper money.  Central bankers have learned the lessons of the Great Depression.  The money supply must keep up with, not surpass, the expansion of production and trading as a country grows and its real economy progresses.  Today, the interlinking of all countries’ economies due to the globalization of finance and technology caused money-creation to go wild, leading to a credit bubble and mountains of debt.

Computerization of finance and markets speeded up trading to seconds; satellite inter-linkage of round-the-clock stock and commodity exchanges led to the explosion of derivatives contracts, ever more exotic “securitization” of packages of mortgages, student loans and credit card debts.  Risk-analysis was relegated to ivory-tower mathematicians’ algorithms which ignored real-world conditions.  All this multiplied the creation of money and credit exponentially.

Reckless, poorly regulated financial firms on Wall Street sold their dubious, toxic “securities” to gullible investors and pension funds (which should have known better) around the world.  For example, the bets on who might default, called credit default swaps, grew unregulated to now comprise $683 trillion of contracts (Bank for International Settlements December 2008) – while real global production measures only the $62 trillion of global GDP (IMF October 2008).

The resulting crises were predicted by me and others over the past decades.  All that money and debt creation led to illusory gains and today’s inevitable losses and “de-leveraging.” The bubble in finance and money itself has popped.  Central bankers and financiers, schooled in the world’s leading business schools and economics departments focus on money and global monetary circuitry.  They were rarely taught that money was simply one form of information – now deeply devalued as all the new forms of money-creation went wild.

Today, we see central bankers printing money on TV.  No amount of ink and paper can print enough new money to close the hole between that $683 trillion of false promises and the world’s real GDP of $62 trillion.  The only issue is who will take the hit.  Up to now, the political influence of financial sectors has forced taxpayers to bail out financiers. The blatant unfairness and stupidity of this has caused huge outcries from outraged citizens. Those billions given to irresponsible bankers could have financed universal healthcare and college education.  This is the end of finance based only on money and fiat currencies.  We now know it’s about priorities and values.

Enter the new financiers: those high-level information and knowledge brokers who understand our Information Age and the great transition from the fossil-fueled Industrial Age to our new Solar Age.  Overloaded money-circuits have broken down and the huge new volume of transactions in the past decade have migrated to the internet.  Pure information-based exchange and sharing has led to the new hybrid economic model described by experts, including Lawrence Lessig’s Remix (2008), Yoichi Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks (2007), Don Tapscott’s Wikinomics (2008), Verna Allee’s Knowledge Evolution (1997) and my own work (www.ethicalmarkets.com).

This hybrid economy is half the old money-based competition and half information-based sharing, cooperation and exchange. From electronic stock exchanges, Instinet, Archipelago, NASDAQ, Knight and Entrex to Google, e-Bay, Craigslist, Amazon, Facebook and Wikipedia, we are seeing how money-obsessed financiers are trailing behind.  The new financiers: those high-level information brokers go beyond economics to understanding whole systems and the human family on planet Earth.

Money may return to its honest base, reflecting real world values of Main Street productivity, but may never again be the dominant medium of exchange.  Just as gold remains valuable but can no longer support the new volume of human transactions.  Money will be superseded by all the new digital currencies already circulating from local exchange trading systems (LETS) and complementary currencies like “Berkshares” and “Wirs” in Switzerland to Freecycle and many other barter sites, cell phone networks and radio shows.

Incumbent money-circuit players will try to get regulators to shut down these upstart, disruptive technologies and competitors.  The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), for example, shut down the website Prosper.com which boomed by facilitating local residents and businesses in lending to each other.

The new financiers are operating these new digital trading platforms in many countries.  Many designs for global digital currencies are on the way.  They will complement the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, another pure information-based currency for international development which is still conceptually tied to gold.  The new financiers will show why the old financiers and central bankers can no longer have a monopoly on money and its creation.  Information-based currencies and trading platforms will operate wherever necessary for evolving human communities so as to match needs with resources and create jobs – from local and regional to national and international exchange.

Today’s financial “crisis” is facilitating the evolutionary jump to the next stage of human development – shifting from faulty, money-measured GDP growth to the cleaner, greener, sustainable economies. Governments are realizing that they must now also correct those money-based indicators and GDP national accounts to adopt the new Quality of Life Indicators.  Pension funds have realized their errors in chasing only short-term money returns and are demanding that companies report their performance beyond the old single bottom line of money to the triple bottom line, including progress on social, environmental and governance performance.   Welcome to the Information Age.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hazel Henderson

Hazel Henderson is also author of Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy (2006), co-created the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators, updated regularly at www.calvert-henderson.com, and co-organized the BEYOND GDP conference in the European Parliament, Nov. 2007. For more, Google: US Geothermal, Nevada Power, World Water & Solar, Western Wind and pre-IPO companies, including Solaria, EnVision Solar, and Stirling Energy Systems. The above article is taken from www.ethicalmarkets.com/?p=1642. The entire Ethical Markets website is filled with fascinating and inspiring information.

More Important Information : For a three-page lesson on monetary principles of which few are aware, yet which should be taught in every high school, click here. For highly revealing major media article on the reasons for the banking and financial crisis, click here. And don’t forget to take a look at the incisive analysis of 12 key deregulatory decisions which played a critical role in the banking and economic collapse, available here.

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Prosperity Is Like This

I was sent an email last week with these simple suggestions on how to improve our prosperity consciousness. They feel really good and appropriate to me, and so simple…

Breathe.
In and out.

Filling and releasing,
Accessing energy that flows through the body.

Money, like breath, comes & goes.

Prosperity is like this.

Breathe strong and fierce,
Breathe soft and allowing.

Prosperity is like this.

How much do you hold your breath?
How shallow or deeply do you breathe?

Prosperity is like this.

Opening to greater giving is like breathing out more
Opening to greater receiving is like breathing in more
Continuing to circulate
Energy
Love
Pleasure
Money
Breathing deeper through the places
Where we want to withhold.

Prosperity is like this.

Thanks to Kathy Kali
Lotus Moon Temple

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

Quantum Speed Reading

What if there is whole new way of processing information available to us, and especially to some of the new kinds being born in the last 10 years? What if we as the human family are evolving to processing information not only in a linear fashion as in one word at a time, but in a conceptual fashion, as in whole concepts at a time?

Click here to watch a video I found which offers some interesting examples of “conceptual reading”.

For more about speed reading, or conceptual reading, click here.

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~

A Baby’s Infectious Laugh!

If I need a quick and instant pick-me-up, this is what I watch, as I can’t help but feel better (even thinking of this video makes me giggle):

more about “haha baby“, posted with vodpod

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Satisfying Solutions to Challenging Problems: Ellis Peter’s Cadfael Novels

In challenging times like the ones we are currently living in, I like to feed, or better nourish, my mind with stories that help me to remember the goodness in all challenges, to dare to trust in positive outcomes even if it looks impossible, and to relax knowing that all is well, no matter what.

One of my favorite writers twho offers that to me is Mary Pargeter, author of 50plus novels, who lived from 1914 till 1995 in England. She wrote 30 plus mystery novels under her penname Ellis Peters about Brother Cadfael, a Benedictine monk in England in the 12th century. The name or character Brother Cadfael is probably better known through the 13 episodes, that were made for British TV inthe nineties, although I am not talking about the film episodes.

The novels are set during the civil war between two royal cousins, Empress Maud and King Steven, both contenders for the royal throne. Peters wrote these mystery novels in the tradition of a good “whodunit” though situated at a time before carriages, mail service, and before the inquisition.

The author has managed to evoke a microcosm in which life has a deeply satisfying internal order. There are murders, there are laws, there are heroes and villains, there is a world of both good and evil, but they are all balanced out into a deeply coherent and functional world. A “bad” deed, for example a cold blooded murder, gets revenged not by an act of law by the sheriff or the king, but by the murderer’s own behavior. In “One Corpse Too Many” the murderer Adam Corsell dies in a “combat till death” with his opponent Hue Berringard by falling onto his own poignard, and not by his opponent’s hand.

To me it is a very good example of a deeply spiritual world that is not pollyannaish, not just full of cheap happy endings. Ellis Peter’s world and stories are full of challenges, depicting the whole range of human behavior from exemplary to despicable. But these challenges are being resolved in a very satisfactory way with all behaviors and acts balancing out at the end. You come away feeling full and rich, ready to trust the inherent goodness in life once again.

The interesting thing is that she manages to portray this balanced world in the midst of a world torn apart by civil war, where morals and laws are slowly but surely eroding into an inherently unstable political situation. She describes the ability to hold fast to integrity, love, and balanced out actions in the midst of a world falling apart. What wonderfully rich and satisfying morality plays, worth reading or listening to in depth to help us remember that kind of moral capacity at its best during our own challenging times.

I highly recommend reading these stories out loud to lovers, friends and family, or to listen to the books on tape.  I especially recommend the narrator Patrick Tull on the Recorded Books series, as his voice has a deeply satisfying timbre, plus his reading has a wonderfully slow pace that lets you literally sink into the less hectic pace of these 12th century tales, and complements Peters’ beautifully crafted stories very well.

Here is a website providing a list to all of Ellis Peter’s books in the Brother Cadfael series.

~~~ Check out my website: A Good Dying ~~~