MOBLOG

GRATITUDE IS RICHES. COMPLAINT IS POVERTY.

2009-12-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

Quote by Doris Day.
November was a month of gratitude for me (not that now that December started I am no longer grateful lol). Gratitude appeared on an almost daily basis. We explored it during a covenant group meeting, it covered a whole chapter in the book "The science of getting rich" by Wallace Delois Wattles that I was reading, and we discussed it during a seminar. While I personally experienced a rather dark time, it was gratitude that pulled me out of the dungeon.

Until I hit rock bottom myself I never fully understood the importance of gratitude. By gratitude I don’t mean just saying thank you for something you receive, that is just politeness, or social convention. Gratitude is felt on a much deeper level, so well expressed in this quote: Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu
Gratitude is a deeply felt emotion. The direction of gratitude is outwards (polarity) and yet it has a tremendous impact on your "inner self".

You might be familiar with The Secret and The Law of Attraction (LOA). The reason why so many did not attract what they wished for in life has (in my humble opinion) much to do with forgetting about the Law of Gratitude or Law of Giving (thanks). Gratitude Is vibration, an emotional vibration that precedes the manifestation of those things that we want. Gratitude works in two ways. The first one being grateful yourself which raises your positive internal vibrations and second to give people the opportunity to express gratitude to you, which brings you closer to your desired result.

When your pantry echos, and everything seems to get worse or work against you it becomes a challenge to be grateful. The focus on the negative, fear, and lack can become a vicious circle, one that I had to break out of myself (and so I did this November!). To be able to be grateful for small things like a song, maybe silly things like a pretty bug, and more importantly things that still have to come your way will eventually empower you with an almost uncommon faith that all will be OK, actually all is well now...

"The reaction of gratitude upon one's mind produces faith; and every outgoing wave of thanksgiving increases faith." Wallace Delois Wattles
Faith not meant in a religious way, but faith in your true self, who you are, and what you "need" to accomplish in your life. I am a pantheist, which means that I believe that the divine is in all of us. Each one of us is a part of the universal creative energy. As a part of this energy, we are not separate from it but living expressions of it. It is our nature to be creators.

Gratitude is an act of acceptance of the energy that is our own nature, an act that brings your whole being in closer harmony with the creative energies of the Universe.

7 DAYS THAT FEEL LIKE 7 WEEKS

2009-11-21T17:09:00.000-08:00

It took me almost a week to recover from a 3 day seminar named Book Publishing 2.0 by Michael Drew. The title is a huge understatement as we were presented with a semester worth of data, insight and feedback in 3 long days. Michael and his team shared with us the latest knowledge in SEO, Blogging, Organic Traffic generating, Social and New Media techniques.

I am still working my way through all my notes and ideas and so far I have already implemented several things that are the seeds of my future Internet play field. I love writing even more after this workshop, and although I do not have a book in mind my new blog 365Muses can easily turn into print.

I gained much insight in communication and building relationships. A good friend who I met for coffee last night immediately noticed that I am much more open and eager to talk to people, even complete strangers. That's quite a step for the introverted person I am!

Although I was about to move this blog to another service, I think I will keep it here for a while and make it part of the 365Muses blog in the near future.

Have a great Sunday and drop me a note if you like!

XOMO

CONSCIOUS AWARENESS

2009-11-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris […] historia, tomus II (1619), tractatus I, sectio I, liber X, De triplici animae in corpore visione.

As I am writing this posting I realize there is the me who writes, who thinks, and the me who observes this all. Who am I? In one of his movies, the comedian W.C. Fields walks into a bank and up to the teller's window. The teller asks, "Can you identify yourself?" Field says " Of course. Do you have a mirror?" When presented one, Fields immediately states, "Yup, that's me!” (From The Big Questions, by Lama Surya Das)

Who am I? I am not my story, my story only contains: experiences, interpretations, and perceptions. My ego, my thoughts, and believes tell the story of the life that I (seem) to have, not the life that I am.

Most people live a happy life without ever becoming fully aware of who they are at the deepest possible level. They might during challenging times wonder for a moment: "Why is this happening to me?" In that moment they experience that there is a "me" that observes themselves...

"Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakes" Carl Jung
Not until I started to meditate, I received glimpses of 'my own me' and what this does besides making me feel incredibly peaceful, it roots you deeper and more intense into your being and the journey we call life.

Be well, Mo

DO PLANTS FEEL?

2009-10-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine mentioned this phenomena during his talk radio show recently. He told the story of an experiment they did during his preschool years (mid 50's). All the children received a plant on their desk to take care of. One plant remained in an open box on top of a cabinet. It received water but no other attention. Guess which plants flourished and which one did not?

Cleve Baxter, a polygraph scientist who did the controversial experiment with plants and animal cells. In the 60s, he decided to attach his polygraph electrodes to the now-famous dracaena in his office, then water the plant and see if the leaves responded. The plant indeed reacted to this event, so he decided to see what would happen if he threatened it, and formed in his mind the idea of lighting a match to the leaf where the electrodes were attached.

And that was when something happened that forever changed Baxter's life. For the plant didn't wait for him to light the match. It reacted to his thoughts! Through further research, Baxter found that it was his intent, and not merely the thought itself, that brought about this reaction.

He also discovered that plants were aware of each other, mourned the death of anything, strongly disliked people who killed plants carelessly or even during scientific research, and fondly remembered and extended their energy out to the people who had grown and tended them, even when their "friends" were far away in both time and space.

In fact, he found, plants can react "in the moment" to events taking place thousands of miles away. And not only are they psychic, they also are prophetic, anticipating negative and positive events, including weather.

His intend brought a reaction...what a great example of how we manifest our life, by our thoughts and intentions...

Thoughts become things, choose them wisely.

P.S. I do not believe that we attract things like violence and natural disasters, but they could be part of our personal blueprint, encouraging us to grow and become stronger.

Be well, MO

MODERN TIMES

2009-10-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I designed a T-shirt with the text: "NO I AM NOT ON FACEBOOK" and on the back: "I AM HERE NOW". I did not see why I would be on "Wastebook". Well, today this T-shirt became a collectors item since I am not only on Facebook but also Twittering away every day! Contributing some meaningful content in this age of continuous mindless chatter is what drives me...

In case you are wondering about this lizard...her name is Bo and all she can say is "BOO!" I'll explain more about the story of the "Wizard versus Lizard" from Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck on my book blog "WORDS WANTED".

A GUIDE FOR FEARLESSNESS IN DIFFICULT TIMES

2009-10-15T05:26:00.000-07:00

I have this posting on my book blog, but since not everybody reads all my blogs I will post it here as well. A few months ago I promised myself to do at least one scary thing every week. When I found "The Places That Scare You" I thought this book could be part of this promise. The subtitle: "A guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times" became the missing dot on the "i" I had been looking for. Most people have a hard time these days, I lost my job in June of this year and there are no more savings left. My husband had been unemployed for almost a year as well and we lost our house in foreclosure, we had our piece of this sour, overcooked, bad economy pie.

What I've learned (and became more aware of) from Pema Chödrön is that you still have a choice. You can let the circumstances harden you, upset you, make you bitter, resentful and afraid, but you can also use it (welcome it!) as a tool to grow and become stronger. Until now, I've always had a hard time to grasp the concept that we are one, I just could not "believe" that I am part of others and they are part of me, certainly not the extreme figures that terrorize our planet.

But when she describes the process of training in the three difficulties (part of the "lojong slogans") she hit a string in me that was never touched before: "...we could recognize that there are millions who are feeling the way we are..." I "know" now I am part of all because what I can feel and think is what others can feel and think. I wish for myself to be free of confusion and limiting habitual reactions.

Recognizing my own confusion with compassion makes it possible to extend that compassion to others who are equally confused. The practice of Bodhichitta (Chitta means 'mind' and also 'heart' or 'attitude'. Bodhi means 'awake', enlightened' or completely open'.) provides us all with tremendous insight, clarity, and peace. "Even at times when we feel most stuck, we are never alienated from the awakened state." Buddha

"Those who train in awakening unconditional and relative bdhichitta are called bodhisattvas or warriors (nonagressive), these are men and women who are willing to train in the middle of the fire. Training in the middle of fire can mean that warrior bodhisattvas enter challenging situations in order to alleviate suffering." This connects directly to an aspect that Martha Beck describes in her book "Steering by Starlight", she calls it the ring of fire. In order to free yourself from limiting beliefs, emotions, and experiences you have to face them and lean into the fear (fire).

A few weeks ago I hit rock bottom. Jobless, moneyless, a crashed computer and then I got sick.
Really, this was the very last drop…
And I am grateful to have reached that moment!
What, you might ask? Are you nuts or totally out of your mind?
Out of a certain mindset is a better way of describing it. I faced it, felt the fear, went into the fire and now I feel free.

"In joy and sorrow all are equal,
Thus be guardian of all, as of yourself."
Shantideva

All is well, MO

WHAT WAS I THINKING????

2009-09-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Research has shown that we have between 45,000 and 51,000 thoughts a day.
That is about 150 to 300 thoughts a minute.
Research has also shown that 80% of those thoughts are negative.
It gets worse. Whatever you are thinking about, 90% gets carried over to the next day's 51,000 thoughts.

Think about this for a minute...

Which thoughts are worth thinking?

"Thoughts are free and subject to no rule. On them rests the freedom of man, and they tower above the light of nature...create a new heaven, a new firmament, a new source of energy from which new arts flow."
Paracelsus (1493-1541)

At first becoming aware of your thoughts can be a scary experience, especially when realizing that thought precedes reality.
Or as Mike Dooley says: "Thoughts become Things". Or the warning we all heard before: " be careful of what you think, because that is what you'll get".

Let me go back to December 2008 when a good friend suggested to me to read "The Jackrabbit Factor" by Leslie Householder. I printed this e-book edition and forgot about it until 2 weeks ago when this same friend suggested watching this video, a presentation by Leslie called "The Stickman video". My eyes were glued to my computer screen for over 80 minutes and when she mentioned her book called (you guessed it): "The Jackrabbit Factor" a little bell was ringing in the back of my mind. I searched for it and wanted to print this book, but my printer didn't work. When I looked at the cover again I realized I had printed this before and within minutes I found it, buried in a pile of e-books.

In this story Leslie describes a man "who wanted to give up on a dream, but decided to take one more step." This beautiful story takes you on a journey about thought and how it shapes your reality. This book contains powerful knowledge and I can see now that a year ago I was not ready to digest this. This is also referred to as the "gestation period" most things on this planet experience this gestation (without even thinking about it). When the time (or thought) is right...

I thought I was aware of most of my thoughts, but now that "I" am monitoring them closely I see certain patterns and a relation between my thoughts and beliefs and I can imagine how this reflects in my subconscious. The scare has turned into acceptance of my own reality and inspiration. I can think new thoughts and be more involved/empowered in the creation of my own reality.

"Great men are they who see that spiritual thought is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Progress of Culture

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. ~Voltaire

One more food for thought:

Invest a few moments in thinking. It will pay good interest. ~Author Unknown

You are in my thoughts,

Love, Mo

PS: After I posted this blog I went to pick up my daughter from school, as I walked to my car I saw my only bumper sticker I bought a few months ago, it says: "Don't believe everything you think"...

INFINITE POSSIBILITIES?

2009-08-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Mike contacted me because he wanted to use one of my leaf pictures on the cover of his book 'Totally Unique Thoughts: Reminders of Life's Everyday Magic'.

Later I assisted during one of his workshops here in DC, working with Mike is an intense and very rewarding experience I am very grateful for. When I found out he is realeasing his new book Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living Your Dreams I really wanted to share it with my readers. Below is a small description of this gem.

A profound exploration into the mysteries of the Universe. Infinite Possibilities is bestselling author Mike Dooley’s manifesto, revealing that we are literally the eyes and the ears of the Divine. He enlightens that our dreams are not accidental but serve rather as invitations to understand the truth about ourselves, hinting at the lives we can create. Dooley shares that our “default settings” are abundance, health, and harmony, and he explains that once we grasp the truth about our heritage, thinking far beyond what spirituality has traditionally meant, it becomes evident that life, itself, is the ultimate adventure—filled with unending opportunities that day-by-day lead us to rediscover how powerful we are, how much we deserve, and why we’re here. With recognizable insight, lighthearted wit, and striking sincerity, this new work by the much-celebrated author elevates the lessons learned in The Secret, Choose Them Wisely and his Notes from the Universe trilogy to a whole new level. Prepare to be challenged and excited with this unique guide to living the life of your dreams—purposefully, lovingly, brilliantly.

XOMO

SUMMER-SUUSI-SUSHI

2009-07-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Yes it has been quite a while, yet according to recent studies time remains a paradox in Relativity...

A month ago I received some extra time, at least 40 hours a week, when I was laid off unexpectedly (but carefully timed by management). Due to "re-structuring" of my department there was no longer a need for me. Very awkward if you think of the fact that I'd spent a good amount of time working on proposals to generate more business (successfully).

This out of the blue (company made a profit and I had recently received a raise) decision made me go through a range of emotions, from being very mad to very sad. As time passed by I started to feel a sense of relief though, maybe this is a blessing in disguise, maybe this will move me towards a purpose more close to who I really am?

It's time to move on! Past week I spent a lot of time with about 1000 like minded people at SUUSI (not the Japanese Sushi, but the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute) and thanks to them I can be grateful for having the opportunity to explore new work opportunities and I am inspired to engage in activities that really make a difference.

Events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order the continuous thread of revelation.
Eudora Welty

Namaste, MO

EASTER-EASTRE-ISHTAR

2009-04-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

With the Easter celebration just behind us, I wanted to dig a little deeper in the origins of this ritual. Not so much the "resurrection of Jesus" story, I'll come back to that later, but the Pagan roots of this Spring celebration. Upon my search I found the following:

The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." 1 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were:

Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus
Ashtoreth from ancient Israel
Astarté from ancient Greece
Demeter from Mycenae
Hathor from ancient Egypt
Ishtar from Assyria
Kali, from India
Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility.

Pagan origins of Easter:
Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. "About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection." 3

Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians "used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation."

Many religious historians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus' life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. Ancient Christians had an alternative explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity. 4 Modern-day Christians generally regard the Attis legend as being a Pagan myth of little value. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being true, and unrelated to the earlier tradition.

Wiccans and other modern-day Neopagans continue to celebrate the Spring Equinox as one of their 8 yearly Sabbats (holy days of celebration). Near the Mediterranean, this is a time of sprouting of the summer's crop; farther north, it is the time for seeding. Their rituals at the Spring Equinox are related primarily to the fertility of the crops and to the balance of the day and night times. Where Wiccans can safely celebrate the Sabbat out of doors without threat of religious persecution, they often incorporate a bonfire into their rituals, jumping over the dying embers is believed to assure fertility of people and crops.

Author: B.A. Robinson

WHAT A YEAR!

2008-12-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I am very thrilled with our President select, I think Barack will really bring us the much needed change. He is erudite, humble, sincere and very smart, I am looking forward to his presidency. I encountered that talking about politics is a rather delicate excersize in the US, and at work one was advised not to talk politics at all because it could be perceived as harrasment. Luckily I was not the only elated person in the office after the election results were clear. Just very proud of America taking such a bold step and showing so much hope and courage!

XOMO

CIRCLE

2008-10-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

As I travel further and further along my personal road of life I encounter more often these intriguing roundabouts ;-)
No I am not going in circles or getting lost! Au contraire, these circles seem to connect everything magically (something most Asian relegions have acknowledged for thousands of years). I still struggle with this concept of unity, that all, everything and everyone are ONE. I just can't believe that the person who cuts me off in traffic is part of me and that we are in that same reality...that an insane mother who kills her child is somehow connected to me, it just doesn't make sense.
I would love to be liberated from duality and feel more united at least to start with being united with my real self...part of that journey. For now I'll just enjoy the scenery and try to be as much as possible HERE and NOW. That is a bigger challenge than being occupied with the past and future, something most people are very skilled in. In my next writing I'll describe a few of these circle samples, like how I found a Unitarian Universalist meeting via the Buddhist temple and how I finally understood the real meaning of the Dutch word for the Universe, HeelAl.

Forget time and I'll be back before you know!

Be well, MO

LOVE FAQ

2008-09-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

As I discussed love with several people this "frequently asked questions" idea came to me as a way of touching some love input and feedback. By no means would I consider myself a love expert, yet I think we all have some love expertise...

Q: So, what is love not?
A: To be treated as an afterthought and certainly not as an object of any ones ego.

Q: Is there a difference in being loving and being in love?
A: When a person loves with every fiber of their being (being in love) something wonderful happens. They become caring, nurturing, giving and mostly protective of those they have included in their love sphere. Kindness radiates from them and illuminates all about them. Being loving does not necessarily include nurturing and protecting, but certainly includes respect and compassion.

Q: Can you harm someone you love?
A: Yes, and harming your loved ones is harming yourself.

Q: Are there levels of depth in love?
A: When feelings are shallow and superficial they are cloying and restrictive. If a person is unstable in their soul and hasn't the ability to love themselves, there is no possible way they can even respect those they claim to love.

Q: Do you need to love yourself first?
A: Not being able to love yourself causes an emotional rift and one tends to stray from their partner, seeking what they inherently don't have. In this self absorbed state they don't realize it has to be found within before it can radiate outward. Unfortunately, because of this insecurity, they often refuse to let go of the very ones they are hurting so badly.

Q: How do personal priorities and love live together?
A: When you really love someone priorities naturally melt together, you’ll probably find out you have the same priorities!

Q: What is unconditional love?
A: Unconditional love is when you know you have found real love and can say: I am sharing my heart and my soul knowing I can trust you to treat it gently and with care. All I have, and am, is ours. Its total openness and transparency, the “you and me” transcends into “us”.

Q: Why is unconditional love so hard?
A: Unconditional love is opening your heart to everything from joy to pain. Sometimes the person you love may not reciprocate or even understand how you feel, but you should allow yourself to feel it regardless. Love is fearless. But it's silly to say I will love someone if they make me happy... or have my children... or fix my dinner... or any such thing. That's most certainly not unconditional. Most people love conditionally, often without being aware of it; this is what causes pain and conflicts.

Q: Why do so many seem to fall in love with the “wrong” person?
A: Wrong person does mean they aren't good people... it's just they may not be good for you or me. However, the good news is this... the right love may be just a thought away... right there inside your heart.

MO LOVE 2 U, MO

LOVE 2

2008-08-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

I LOVE YOU!
People use it every day without knowing the real meaning of it. These words should be seen as strengthening bonds rather than breaking it apart. Saying “I love you” expresses genuine feelings of care and compassion. It’s profound and deep, making it sometimes seem almost impossible to understand. But when you feel it… you know it’s just there. And it isn’t just by letting people know through words that you love them; it should show in your actions and responses.

Contribution by Jim Allmon

In the book, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, the Velveteen Rabbit asked, "What is REAL?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit....

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does is happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have been carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

When we love a person, an animal, or a plant, they flourish. Everything embraced by love grows. However, we can only love to the degree we love ourselves.
Fall more and more in love with that which you truly value in yourself. Love flows from a wellspring in your soul and is the purest nourishment that God and the universe can provide.

It's a good practice to send out thoughts of love every day, as those toward whom they are directed will feel them. Love with all you are and they will feel the effect. The beauty is, you will heal not only them, but also yourself in the process. Love has an interesting way of melting away old scars and repairing broken things.

Deep within your soul, feel all the love you can. Silently, in your heart, radiate love to everyone around you. That's all there is to it and there's nothing else that needs to be done. Loving people share their love... even when it may not be understood or reciprocated. You see, unconditional love is the greatest gift there is and like any treasure from God... it's meant to be shared.

We were created in love and by it and the life we have is meant to be savored. Don't go forth stumbling in the darkness. Instead shine brilliantly in the light of love and become a beacon for humanity. Learn from life and embrace the miracle of you.

Fly high into the stars and enjoy yourself!

Love to you, MO

LOVE 1

2008-08-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

What is the shape of Love?

What we see is not the most important.
Could dust rise without the invisible
hand of the wind?
Could a fan turn without any current?
Could lungs breathe without breath?
Tell me
What is the shape of Love?
How much does Joy weigh
when held in the palm of your hand?
Can you catch the Spirit of Life in a jar?

All things seen depend
upon the Unseen.
All sounds depend upon Silence.
All things felt depend
upon what is not felt

Adyashanti

Just wondering what is the definition of LOVE?
Can you LOVE someone and act in an unloving way at the same time?
What does LOVE do?
Why is there LOVE?

LOVE, MO

The Daffodil Principle

2008-07-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Picture by Rachel from California.
A good friend of mine always forwards these jewels. The story of "The Daffodil Principle" originally appeared nearly ten years ago in Jaroldeen Edwards' book Celebration! A beautiful story and a great insight as well...I lived in this area and know that road very well, yet I never discovered that garden!
I hope it is OK to share this with you all!

Here's Jaroldeen's story:
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come and see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. Going and coming took most of a day - and I honestly did not have a free day until the following week.

"I will come next Tuesday," I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove the length of Route 91, continued on I-215, and finally turned onto Route 18 and began to drive up the mountain highway. The tops of the mountains were sheathed in clouds, and I had gone only a few miles when the road was completely covered with a wet, gray blanket of fog. I slowed to a crawl, my heart pounding. The road becomes narrow and winding toward the top of the mountain.

As I executed the hazardous turns at a snail's pace, I was praying to reach the turnoff at Blue Jay that would signify I had arrived. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these darling children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!" My daughter smiled calmly, "We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears - and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her. "I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car. The mechanic just called, and they've finished repairing the engine," she answered. "How far will we have to drive?" I asked cautiously. "Just a few blocks,"Carolyn said cheerfully.

So we buckled up the children and went out to my car. "I'll drive" Carolyn offered. "I'm used to this." We got into the car, and she began driving.
In a few minutes I was aware that we were back on the Rim-of-the-World Road heading over the top of the mountain. "Where are we going?" I exclaimed, distressed to be back on the mountain road in the fog. "This isn't the way to the garage!"

"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils."
"Carolyn, I said sternly, trying to sound as if I was still the mother and in charge of the situation, "please turn around. There is nothing in the world that I want to see enough to drive on this road in this weather." "It's all right, Mother," She replied with a knowing grin. "I know what I'm doing. I promise, you will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

And so my sweet, darling daughter who had never given me a minute of difficulty in her whole life was suddenly in charge - and she was kidnapping me! I couldn't believe it. Like it or not, I was on the way to see some ridiculous daffodils - driving through the thick, gray silence of the mist-wrapped mountaintop at what I thought was risk to life and limb.

I muttered all the way. After about twenty minutes we turned onto a small gravel road that branched down into an oak-filled hollow on the side of the mountain. The fog had lifted a little, but the sky was lowering, gray and heavy with clouds.
We parked in a small parking lot adjoining a little stone church. From our vantage point at the top of the mountain we could see beyond us, in the mist, the crests of the San Bernardino range like the dark, humped backs of a herd of elephants. Far below us the fog-shrouded valleys, hills, and flatlands stretched away to the desert.
On the far side of the church I saw a pine-needle-covered path, with towering evergreens and manzanita bushes and an inconspicuous, lettered sign "Daffodil Garden."

We each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path as it wound through the trees. The mountain sloped away from the side of the path in irregular dips, folds, and valleys, like a deeply creased skirt. Live oaks, mountain laurel, shrubs, and bushes clustered in the folds, and in the gray, drizzling air, the green foliage looked dark and monochromatic. I shivered. Then we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight, unexpectedly and completely splendid.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes where it had run into every crevice and over every rise. Even in the mist-filled air, the mountainside was radiant, clothed in massive drifts and waterfalls of daffodils. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow.

Each different-colored variety (I learned later that there were more than thirty-five varieties of daffodils in the vast display) was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.
In the center of this incredible and dazzling display of gold, a great cascade of purple grape hyacinth flowed down like a waterfall of blossoms framed in its own rock-lined basin, weaving through the brilliant daffodils. A charming path wound throughout the garden. There were several resting stations, paved with stone and furnished with Victorian wooden benches and great tubs of coral and carmine tulips.

As though this were not magnificent enough, Mother Nature had to add her own grace note - above the daffodils, a bevy of western bluebirds flitted and darted, flashing their brilliance. These charming little birds are the color of sapphires with breasts of magenta red. As they dance in the air, their colors are truly like jewels above the blowing, glowing daffodils. The effect was spectacular.

It did not matter that the sun was not shining. The brilliance of the daffodils was like the glow of the brightest sunlit day. Words, wonderful as they are, simply cannot describe the incredible beauty of that flower-bedecked mountain top.
Five acres of flowers! (This too I discovered later when some of my questions were answered.) "But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn. I was overflowing with gratitude that she brought me - even against my will. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"Who?" I asked again, almost speechless with wonder, "And how, and why, and when?"
"It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory.

We walked up to the house, my mind buzzing with questions. On the patio we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman, two hands, two feet, and very little brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

There it was. The Daffodil Principle.

For me that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than thirty-five years before, had begun - one bulb at a time - to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. One bulb at a time.

There was no other way to do it. One bulb at a time. No shortcuts - simply loving the slow process of planting. Loving the work as it unfolded.
Loving an achievement that grew so slowly and that bloomed for only three weeks of each year. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world.

This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principle of celebration: learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time - often just one baby-step at a time - learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.

When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.
"Carolyn," I said that morning on the top of the mountain as we left the haven of daffodils, our minds and hearts still bathed and bemused by the splendors we had seen, "it's as though that remarkable woman has needle-pointed the earth! Decorated it. Just think of it, she planted every single bulb for more than thirty years. One bulb at a time! And that's the only way this garden could be created. Every individual bulb had to be planted. There was no way of short-circuiting that process. Five acres of blooms. That magnificent cascade of hyacinth! All, just one bulb at a time."

The thought of it filled my mind. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the implications of what I had seen. "It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My wise daughter put the car into gear and summed up the message of the day in her direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said with the same knowing smile she had worn for most of the morning. Oh, profound wisdom!

It is pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson a celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use tomorrow?"

Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

http://ci.sutter-creek.ca.us/daffodilhill.html

Update from a local:
"...I had heard the garden burned in the fire, but was hopeful that the flowers would bloom anyway. Much to my delight, the owner's home did not burn, the neighboring church did not burn and the Daffodils were spectacular! It was a wonderful day and a very special treat for me! The garden is open for a very limited time. Only from March 22, 2008 to April 6, 2008 and is open to visitors after 10am. If you've never been, you are missing a wonderful gift. You can see a lot of the burn area that surrounds this garden, but to me it makes it that much more special."

Ananda, MO

MO MATT

2008-07-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

From: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080722.html

What are these humans doing? Dancing. Many humans on Earth exhibit periods of happiness, and one method of displaying happiness is dancing. Happiness and dancing transcend political boundaries and occur in practically every human society. Matt Harding traveled through many nations on Earth, started dancing, and filmed the result. The video is perhaps a dramatic example that humans from all over planet Earth feel a common bond as part of a single species. Happiness is frequently contagious -- few people are able to watch the above video without smiling.

Here you can find Matt: http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/videos.shtml

We want MO Matt!

Oh...I just found this on Matt's website in his FAQ section:

Question:
Why is the world so screwed up?
Matt's answer:
Men.
Question:
How do we fix it?
Matt's answer:
Women.

JULY?!

2008-07-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are near the end of July and that I didn't post here for over a month! My apologies! As a blogger I feel committed to write at least once a week, so I guess I'll have to work double shifts for the coming weeks! LOL

We had an unexpected move at the beginning of June, luckily we moved within our neighborhood, but unpacking and getting settled took some time.
Summer is also a time we spend mostly outside in the water, as we have the privilege of a community pool behind our townhouse. I take our daughter for a swim 7 days a week, so there's not much time left for "internal" explorations...

When I thought of this blog lately it appeared to me that it actually is a diary of my spiritual journey, so let me update you with the latest places I've been.

I must admit that the traject from The Secret to Eckhart Tolle was a very refreshing one. Honestly I got tired with the chase of being successful, the best you can be etc.etc. and was longing for something that could actually bring me closer to ME.

From Eckhart I learned a lot, about ego and its short fused character. The being PRESENT is a wonderful feeling and something I still exercise every day. It brought me to Thich Nhat Hahn and his teachings are very profound and stripped from any commercial goals, listening to him is like being in an actual monastery.

The past 2 weeks I've immersed myself in the Integral theory and the world of Ken Wilber. From wikipedia: The integral movement (also called the integral paradigm, integral philosophy, the integral worldview, or the integral approach) is a movement that seeks a comprehensive understanding of humans and the universe by combining, among other things, scientific and spiritual insights.

Integral might be said to have both a broad and a narrow meaning. In the larger, generic sense, Integral means whole, complete and holistic, such as body-mind-spirit and East-West. In the narrow or more specific sense it refers to the Integral Yoga and Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, as well as the Integral Psychology (the term coined by Indra Sen) and Psychotherapy that emerges from it.[1]. Although the basic ideas were first articulated in the early twentieth century, the movement originates with the California Institute of Integral Studies founded in 1968 by Haridas Chaudhuri, a disciple of Sri Aurobindo, who was the first to fully define the idea.

This will take while to study and I enjoy it! When I was watching a Ken Wilber video on youtube I found Adyashanti http://www.adyashanti.org/ and I loved his work! He studied Zen for several decades and his "teachings" are so deep and profound and yet so clear and humble. He is also funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYr7KYWVzoE&feature=related

Being accepting (of my complete self in the first place) will make it easier to be accepting of others...I really like to leave that place of judging behind me...

More MO, soon...

YOXOMO

THE LAW OF THE GARBAGE TRUCK

2008-06-16T09:55:00.001-07:00

The Law of the Garbage Truck (Not sure what the source is, but like the idea!)

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost caused an accident and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, full of disappointment and rage. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't pick up their garbage and spread it to other people in your life, whether at work, at home, or to people that you don't even know on the streets.
Always remember that good people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so.....
"Love the people who treat you right and forgive and pray for the ones who don't."

Things always appear when it is "time", I needed this one, to help me with becoming more understanding, compassionate, accepting and therefore much more relaxed!

My apologies for the fact I've not posted in a while, I went through a move and I am still unpacking and such...

XOMO

ONE MO

2008-05-19T09:51:00.000-07:00

Spending time abroad always refreshes my views on things. I just got back from a trip to my home country the Netherlands (Holland). I was incredible happy to see that two of my dear friends were totally traveling on the same spiritual path, yet we were also able to exhange new findings and personal views during a nice long conversion fuelled by mouthwatering food!

Currently I am reading several writings by Thich nhat hahn and his work really contributed to a deeper understanding of being aware/conscious/in the 'now'/one.
I experienced being much more at peace with what is, and the deminishing of stress caused by what is not yet...

MOre later, love, Mo

WOW: NOW

2008-04-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I have not posted lately is because I've been on a trip through the present. I know it sounds silly, but when you read "a new earth, awakening to your life's purpose" by Eckhart Tolle, this is exactly what could happen to you.

To be honest it's hard to talk about his book, you have to read it and feel it within you. This is not material "to understand", you don't need to be of certain age, or have a certain education, you are ready for it or not yet. Eckhart even recommends to put the book away for a while if it does not make any sense to you.

It is about becoming conscious, transcending your ego and discovering your true, 'bare' Self. You are not your thoughts, you are not your history, and you are not your body, and the moment you think: "I don't know who I am anymore" you're getting close to meet your true Self ;-)

WOW, is the word that comes out of my mouth during reading almost every page. It's a beautiful, peaceful, serene, and sacred, feeling. Again, it's an experience that goes beyond words.

I feel like I've been invited to become a student of the Universe, a privileged feeling, and very exiting indeed. I am getting better at observing myself and being more in the present moment. I enjoy things much intenser, and I am less affected by external things.

I feel that I am disconnecting from identifying myself with my past, and I am less concerned about the future. I realize that there really is only NOW, yet I can enjoy taking inspired action (while being present) for something I'd like to accomplish.

Geez, forgive me if this all sounds like lala land bla bla to you...JUST READ THIS BOOK!

Love to you, YOXOMO

http://eckharttolle.com

GOT HO'OPONOPONO?

2008-03-05T10:15:00.001-08:00

"Change the world and start with yourself" makes sense and that is what HO'OPONOPONO entails if you wish to describe it in simple terms. For me it means I take 100% responsibility for anything that happens in my daily life, and this is not an easy exercise! We are such a blaming society, yet this blaming game does not provide us with any relief or solutions. When you take response-ability you empower yourself and you are inspired to create solutions instead of more barriers.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ho'oponopono is a Hawaiian word for a form of family or personal therapy.

Practitioners believe it is an ancient Hawaiian practice. To date, the earliest documentation of a practice called ho'oponopono is from the Hawaiian language newspaper, Kuokoa in 1863. Mary Kawena Pukui recorded her experiences and observations from her childhood (born 1895) in her 1958 book. (Handy & Pukui; Chai, 2007)

Pukui described it as a practice of extended family members meeting to try to "make right" broken family relations ("making right" is the literal translation of the Hawaiian term). Traditional ho’oponopono sessions include "prayer, discussion, confession, repentance, mutual restitution, and forgiveness." (Cody)

In the 1980s, Morrnah Simeona developed what she called an updated and streamlined version of ho'oponopono that is practiced by the individual alone. Her practice continues to be taught by her students in Hawai'i, including Ramsay Taum, and Ihaleakala Hew Len, Ph.D[1]. According to Hew Len, ho'oponopono is a Hawaiian healing process based on the principles of total responsibility, taking responsibility for every one's actions. He says if one would take complete responsibility for one's life, then everything one would see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is one's responsibility because it is in one's life. Total Responsibility advocates that everything exists as a projection from inside the human being. The problem isn't with our external reality, it is with ourselves and to change our reality, we would have to change ourselves.

HO'OPONOPONO
By Joe Vitale (excerpt)

"Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete ward of criminally insane patients--without ever seeing any of them. The psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look within himself to see how he created that person's illness. As he improved himself, the patient improved.

"When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend. How could anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could even the best self-improvement master cure the criminally insane? It didn't make any sense. It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.

"However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the therapist had used a Hawaiian healing process called ho 'oponopono. I had never heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave my mind. If the story was at all true, I had to know more. I had always understood "total responsibility" to mean that I am responsible for what I think and do. Beyond that, it's out of my hands. I think that most people think of total responsibility that way. We're responsible for what we do, not what anyone else does--but that's wrong.

"The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill people would teach me an advanced new perspective about total responsibility. His name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spent an hour talking on our first phone call. I asked him to tell me the complete story of his work as a therapist. He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years. That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous.

Psychologists quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot or simply quit. People would walk through that ward with their backs against the wall, afraid of being attacked by patients. It was not a pleasant place to live, work, or visit.

"Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an office and to review their files. While he looked at those files, he would work on himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to heal.

"'After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being allowed to walk freely,' he told me. 'Others who had to be heavily medicated were getting off their medications. And those who had no chance of ever being released were being freed.' I was in awe.'Not only that,' he went on, 'but the staff began to enjoy coming to work. Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended up with more staff than we needed because patients were being released, and all the staff was showing up to work. Today, that ward is closed.'

"This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: 'What were you doing within yourself that caused those people to change?'

"'I was simply healing the part of me that created them,' he said. I didn't understand. Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your life means that everything in your life- simply because it is in your life--is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your creation.

"Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or do is one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says or does is quite another. Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is in your life. This means that terrorist activity, the president, the economy or anything you experience and don't like--is up for you to heal. They don't exist, in a manner of speaking, except as projections from inside you. The problem isn't with them, it's with you, and to change them, you have to change you.

"I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live. Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr. Len, I began to realize that healing for him and in ho 'oponopono means loving yourself.

"If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you want to cure anyone, even a mentally ill criminal you do it by healing you.

"I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he doing, exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?

"'I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over again,' he explained.

"That's it?

"That's it.

"Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world.

"Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day, someone sent me an email that upset me. In the past I would have handled it by working on my emotional hot buttons or by trying to reason with the person who sent the nasty message.

"This time, I decided to try Dr. Len's method. I kept silently saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you,' I didn't say it to anyone in particular. I was simply evoking the spirit of love to heal within me what was creating the outer circumstance.

"Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He apologized for his previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward action to get that apology. I didn't even write him back. Yet, by saying 'I love you,' I somehow healed within me what was creating him.
---------------------

My apologies, my love and my appreciation,

HO'OPONOPONO MO

GROWING UP OR OLD

2008-03-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

I can't vouch for the validity, but the story is good nonetheless.

Growing Up or Growing Old
By: Author Unknown

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and
challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know.
I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my
shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old
lady beaming up at me with a Smile that lit up her entire
being.

She said, "Hi, handsome! My name is Rose. I'm 87 years old.
Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you
may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.

"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I
asked. She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich
husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then
retire and travel."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have
motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm
getting one!" she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and
shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends.
Every day for the next three months we would leave class
together and talk nonstop.

I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as
she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the
course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily
made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and
she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the
other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our
football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She
was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to
deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her 3x5 cards on
the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the
microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I
gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll
never get my speech back in order, so let me just tell you
what I know." As we laughed, she cleared her throat and
began:

"We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old
because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to
staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have
to laugh and find humor everyday. You've got to have a
dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many
people walking around who are dead, and they don't even know
it!" she said.

"There is a huge difference between growing older and
growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for
one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will
turn 20 years old. If I am 87 years old, and stay in bed for
a year, and never do anything, I will turn 88. Anybody can
grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability," she
added.

"The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in
change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have
regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not
do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose."
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them
out in our daily lives.

At the years end, Rose finished the college degree she had
begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose
died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college
students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful
woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be
all you can possibly be.

Thanks to Jim for sharing this story.

1000 MARBLES

2008-02-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

A good friend shared this story with me and I had to share it with you, enjoy!

1000 marbles
By: Author Unknown

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps
it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to
rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at
work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning
are most enjoyable.

I'm a Ham radio operator and spend some time working with
radios and electronics. So when I heard this story it really
made me think! I hope that you will find some application in
your own life as well...

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack
with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning
paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday
morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to
hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on
my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap
net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap,
with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the
kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting
business. He was telling whoever he was talking with
something about "a thousand marbles."

I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.
"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job.
I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be
away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a
young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a
week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's
dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that
has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."
And that's when he began to explain his theory of "a thousand
marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic.
The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know,
some live more and some live less, but on average, folks
live about seventy-five years."

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900
which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has
in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting
to the important part."

"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about
all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had
lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to
thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had
about a thousand of them left to enjoy."

"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble
they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to
roundup 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside
of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack
next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one
marble out and thrown it away."

"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused
more on the really important things in life. There is
nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out
to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with
you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning,
I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure
if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a
little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a
little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time
with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the
band. 75 year Old Man, this is K9NZQ, clear and going QRT,
good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow
signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I
had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I
was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next
club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife
up with a kiss.

"C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."

"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we
spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at
a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."

HAVE A GREAT WEEK... and may ALL of your Saturdays be
special!

TIME

2008-02-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Short caption for the Time cover I made; Joe Vitale talked about a magazine cover he made in one of his recent blog posts as a way to connect a feeling to a future outcome. That is just what I did with my Time cover, and I must say it feels great to see my work on that cover and it fuels my faith in "anything is possible"!

YOXOMO

SYNCHRONICITY

2008-02-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

More about this image (I made about a year ago) and synchronicity later.
It's not a real cover but a visualization and inspirational tool.

Ananda, Mo

THOUGHTS ARE THE SEEDS

2008-02-03T18:12:00.000-08:00

One of the most prevalent discussions about The Secret is about people thinking that just focusing on something will eventually get you what you want. Bill Harris talks about this magical thinking on his blog http://www.centerpointe.com/blog/ and states that this is the way to not getting what you want. Another "Secret" teacher Mike Dooley www.tut.com says: "thoughts become things."

When I started to review my thoughts I got really scared because I was thinking things I did not want to happen and I realized things happened in my life I'd never thought of...how is this possible?

After reading The Passion Test by Janet and Chris Attwood I finally realized there are more key factors to your thoughts coming true. Your mind tricks you, you might think you want A, but deep down it's really B that you have a passion for. So first you have to be really clear about what you really want in your life. Janet and Chris developed an easy process to get down to your top 5 passions, be warned you might surprise yourself! ;-)

Thoughts related to your passions are the seeds you plant, then you need to give it attention, or as others have called it "take inspired action". You need to water your seeds and feed it, weed it. When you are clear, your actions speak for themselves, you know which action will help you to get a step closer and which ones will not.

Then you'll have to let it grow, let it go, sit back, relax and enjoy watching your seed maturing in a beautiful flower or tree. In this phase you remain without tension. Intention-attention-no tension.

I am no longer afraid of my thoughts, I just laugh and let go. No matter how often I thought about getting a flat tire because I had over 50.000 miles on them, I did NOT get a flat tire!

One other thing I'd like to mention, I am so grateful for Chris and Janet describing the following: "... spirituality and wealth are complimentary, not mutually exclusive, ways of living life." My belief that it was an impossible combination was one of my major psychological roadblocks and this one sentence was enough for me to finally let it go, wow what a great feeling!!

I can continue to write about this wonderful book, but I'd like you to read it for yourself. Interesting...my puzzle keeps growing and I keep finding more puzzle pieces!

Find yourself and become more of it!

YOXOMO

FROM JOE AND MO

2008-01-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

I just received an update from Joe Vitale's blog and guess what it is about?
http://blog.mrfire.com/secret/oprahs-little-secret/
"I just interviewed Will Bowen, author of the best book of 2007, A Complaint Free World, for my Hypnotic Gold members.
The interview was fantastic, as I expected it to be, but the ending really blew me away.
That’s when I spontaneously asked Will what Oprah had to say about him, his book, and his movement.
He then told me the most amazing thing:
“Between takes Oprah leaned over to me and said, ‘I have nothing to complain about’.
“At first I thought she meant she had nothing to complain about because she’s Oprah and life is good.
“But we talked and I learned that her life is so great because she does not complain to begin with. She always focuses on what she wants. Her not complaining created the Oprah we see.”
I love this story."

That is exactly what I recently experienced! I just stopped complaining and convert every occasion into a learning experience. It's a great feeling and it makes you feel happier, happy for no reason :-)

YOXOMO

INVITATION

2007-12-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

I named this picture Buddha's hand, I took it in Thailand.

It is the last day of the year...wow!
Sorry I got so busy with life and had no time left for my Blog.
My resolution for 2008: write Mo Blog! And I want to learn to be as compassionate as a Zen monk :-) I think most suffering is caused by a lack of compassion in combination with attachment to matter...

Received this from my friend Jim today and thought it would be a beautiful text for the last day of the year.

The Invitation
by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day,and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Thank you for reading my Blog and I hope 2008 will bring you all you wish for or...something better!

YOXOMO

COMPLAIN 2

2007-11-26T16:50:00.001-08:00

I guess you have all the reason to complain about me not posting frequently enough!
The reason I did not update you about the "no complain" challenge is because I didn't receive the bracelet yet (no complain, just an excuse).

I tried without the bracelet, but I guess the action of changing it to the other wrist really helps to focus. So, I'll make my own bracelet for the time being. I just wonder...no complain...but how do I change it when driving? Because the hardest time for me NOT to complain is during my commutes, in fact I would be changing it every second!

I think this challenge is much easier when you live on a farm for example, or are you then so isolated that you really have to gossip when in town for picking up the weekly groceries? (the actual challenge is: no complains, no gossip and no sarcasm)

I live in an area with an amazing amount of people who can not drive (no complain, just a fact) LOL. So I find myself sending love to strangers in cars around me and politely asking them to let me merge or pass the green light as well.

At work it's pretty easy, I am lucky to work with a great team, so I try to extend my no complaining with giving more compliments and inspire co-workers. One way to prevent myself from complaining is "letting go" and asking myself: " do I want to be right or do I want to be happy?"

Being in a permanent gratitude mode also helps ( as long as my permanence lasts) ;-)
ARK; Acts of Random Kindness (from Evan Almighty, great movie) also greatly contribute to my quest...

To be continued,

YOXOMO

21 DAYS WITHOUT COMPLAINS

2007-10-30T17:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am warming up for this challenge initiated by Rev. Will Bowen. At first it sounds like a silly exercise (every time you complain you switch a bracelet to the other wrist until you had the bracelet on one wrist for 21 days).

So today I just tried to watch my complaining and catch it just before I would express it, to see if I could turn it into something else than just a complain. See, you already complain a lot less by getting in the "witness" mode, where you state to yourself: "Aha...Mmm...I see".

What I observed so far is that complaining takes a lot of energy, it's tiring! I could use this energy to focus on things I appreciate, and that's exactly what Will Bowen is aiming for.

I think some people are actually addicted to complaining, I come from a country (Holland) where people love to complain for hours about anything. When you ask a Dutchman "how are you doing?" he or she will likely answer: "Oh, I can't complain" which is actually a complaint by itself! Complaining in the Netherlands is an art.

This psychology professor Barbara Held said in an interview (as a response to this initiative) that people "need" to complain in order to deal with the world because: "life is hard". I think some people just look at life as the glass being half empty and others as half full, it's a choice.

We all know that what you focus on will become reality and/or grow. When you complain about something or someone you provide it with energy and so you'll get more of what you don't want. That's why it's smarter to pay attention to what you a: already have that you appreciate and what you b: would like to see manifest itself.

What it comes down to is that it just feels much better! Fact: positive people live longer!

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS - YOUR HEALTH FREEDOM

2007-10-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

A good friend from Holland forwarded me this video and I was speechless. But also glad I have the power to take action!

In case freedom, food and health are things you do care about, you might want to see this video and check this website.

Codex Alimentarius

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2944803407975749033&hl=nl

http://www.healthfreedom.org/

Be well,

Monique

WATER MO

2007-10-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

Back to my Blog finally! My regular job is rather busy these days and it consumes most of my energy. The little I have left at the end of the day is for my daughter, she's a smart little girl. The other day she asked me "mom will I look the same when I am older?" Well, I said the answer is yes and no, and I explained that we all change a little every day, and some days we change a lot. The content of "What the Bleep" changed me a lot.

The information about the water crystals is just one, but realizing that our body is made up of roughly 65% water, this knowledge really shakes some fundaments! Below follows information from this website https://www.hado.net/index.php to introduce you to this discovery.

Masaru Emoto was born in Yokohama in July 1943. He is a graduate of the Yokohama Municipal University's department of humanities and sciences with a focus on International Relations. In 1986 he established the IHM Corporation in Tokyo. In October of 1992 he received certification from the Open International University as a Doctor of Alternative Medicine. Subsequently he was introduced to the concept of micro cluster water in the US and Magnetic Resonance Analysis technology. The quest thus began to discover the mystery of water.

He undertook extensive research of water around the planet not so much as a scientific researcher but more from the perspective of an original thinker. At length he realized that it was in the frozen crystal form that water showed us its true nature through. He has gained worldwide acclaim through his groundbreaking research and discovery that water is deeply connected to our individual and collective consciousness. One of his remarkable discoveries is that water responds to words, whether they are spoken, written, or even thought, as in prayer. Kind, uplifting words tend to produce beautifully shaped water crystals, while angry discordant expressions have produced warped crystals.

Imagine how much impact your own thoughts can have on your body, not only your brain, but each water molecule present! Just becoming more aware is what I am mostly grateful for, I try to keep an open mind and observe rather than judge. I am now feeling grateful whenever I open the faucet and see the water running. I "send" love to the glass of water on my desk and enjoy drinking it even more...

Link for my Dutch family and friends:
http://www.cinemien.nl/whatthebleep/index_nl.html

LOVE WATER

2007-10-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Shaken, not stirred!
Boy...I've not been touched so deeply by anything (other than smart remarks from my 4 year old daughter, like: "This book is too short to have chapters.") as the content of this documentary. Especially the contribution by Dr. Masaru Emoto www.masaru-emoto.net He shows how water is deeply connected to our individual and collective consciousness! I am still digesting it, so I'll be back with more, getting thirsty!

http://www.whatthebleep.com/rabbithole/

YOXOMO

MO ART

2007-09-27T15:51:00.000-07:00

I am sooo ex-site-d!
Finally (deep sigh) my website is ready!
www.moniquedicarlo.com has grown up and now you can shop for MO ART.
I still have to work on the "view earlier works" albums and some fine tuning.
Enjoy!

XOMO

MO SPAM - NEW LIFE FOR WASTE DATA

2007-09-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

Spam recycling?
Making art out of spam??

What a luminous idea!

http://www.spamrecycling.com
Have a little patience with loading and the rendering of spam art please!

Have Spam!

XOMO

THAT DARN APPLE

2007-09-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

(Continuation of the article by Fred Alan Wolf)
"Thus the world is really not as it seems if it seems to you that it exists independently of your observations. It certainly seems to be “out there” independently of us. The world hardly appears to depend on any choice we might make. Yet quantum physics destroys that idea. What is “out there” depends on what you choose to look for. The world isn't made of objects as our common senses tell us. The world’s apparent objects are linked to our minds in surprising and often mysterious ways. By our observations in the world, we influence it."

"You are the perceiving, not the perceiver." (Ch'an)

Or as Mike Dooley states: "Thoughts become Things" (better think the good ones). It is kind of nice to witness your thoughts, it's like listening to a conversation 2 people have in the seat in front of you. It's an opportunity to discover more about yourself, your beliefs, perceptions and how you experience the world around (in!) you. Once you become conscious you'll start adjusting things and get rid of things that no longer "serve" you.

"Perhaps this is what the apple on the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden represents. The first bite of the apple is sweet, but costly. Our eyes are opened and we see a world “out there” and we see ourselves alone, separated from everyone else and everything else."

HERE IS WHERE WE LOSE OUR SOUL AWARENESS

"Gaining objective knowledge has been costly from that very first bite. Each chomp, each bit of knowledge gain, results in a brief “aha” followed by an immediate “so what.” And by becoming conscious of the universe, by paying attention to it, we do change it. Since the universe includes you, the boundary between you and it also changes whenever you observe anything. Simply put, it changes because you change and you and it are parts of a greater whole. You are invisibly connected to the whole universe, so the change not only occurs within you but outside of you as well."

We are getting close to what the spiritual entails, like a Buddhist scripture expresses: "That which is seeking, is sought."
Or my favorite: "I am, but there is no 'me'." by Wei Wu Wei.
Everything is always already right here, right now, the journey is a circle and ends at the start, where you'll see the world from a different perspective. Everything is completely different, yet everything is exactly as it was before. The difference is orientation.

What is, is all there is to it...

All is well,

XOMO

(Lilith, Adam's first wife returns to paradise as the snake offering the apple to Eva...

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET

2007-09-13T16:43:00.000-07:00

Or is it what you see is what you expect?

Awakening your Soul or:
Becoming aware that you are a Spiritual Universe
In this article Dr. Fred Alan Wolf shows us how this most modern perspective of quantum physics can be applied to the questions: How do I awaken my soul consciousness? How do I become aware that I am (not just have) spiritual nature? By learning to invoke both aphorisms the soul can be awakened and you can feel its presence in every thing you do.

The further I travel into the spiritual world the more questions arise. Understanding "what is" goes further than knowledge, it is a recognition, clear seeing. Arriving at this point provides a view at the illusion of a separate self. We are all what is and what is are we. There is nothing and everything, nowhere to go and nothing to gain, only recognition.

As Fred states: "The quantum physical worldview leads to observations often very dissimilar from the world we ordinarily see...According to quantum physics principles, there is no reality until that reality is perceived. This means that the world cannot simply exist independently from the means used to perceive that world. We call this the observer effect." To put it simple: As soon as we start observing something it changes according to the way we observe it. Are you still with me? :-)

"Since anything revealed by observation depended on the observers choices, nature demanded that we must be an integrated part of herself, even though our minds sought to believe that a natural and physical world existed objectively separated from us. Because we usually don’t pay attention to ourselves in the perception processes involved in observation, our immediate experience will not appear to show that our actions of perception changed anything."

"Further examination shows that by making different choices, not only would our perceptions of the outcomes change, but also the very things we were observing would also exhibit traits that would not have appeared had we not looked for them...But you may wonder, “I’m not actually changing reality, am I? I’m just changing my interpretation of reality.” The answer is often difficult to appreciate, but as surprising as it may seem, you are changing reality simply by observing it."

"Consciousness is what consciousness does."
Let's digest this for a while and "see" how it "feels" tomorrow...

Be well,

XOMO

TIMES FLIES OR DOES IT FLOW?

2007-09-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to touch base! I know I probably should write every day, but hey (!) I do have a full time job, next to caring for a 4 year old witty girl, meditating at least 30 minutes each day, co-writing an inspirational book, translating and editing an essay about female power I wrote in Dutch, reading about 6 books simultaneously, studying the Secret Principles, creating my art, creating my website, creating Multiple Streams of Income through writing and affiliate programs, gardening, home improvements, attracting and releasing and last but not least: MO BLOG!

Sounds like a great example of explaining Quantum Physics: to be every where at the same time shifting shapes in constant flux!

So, have a little patience :-)

Be well,

MO

QUANTUM II

2007-08-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

The following I found is the reason why I "fell" for quantum physics, the fact that it so clearly connects to the teachings of The Secret; being ONE; that the Universe is the product of our consciousness; and that what we think has an immediate affect on what becomes reality. One step further is the ability to heal ourselves on a quantum level, something I encountered while applying The Healing Codes.

“QUANTUM PHYSICS is at the cutting edge of Western science and in many respects goes way beyond Einstein's Theory of Relativity. The interesting thing about quantum physics is that the original impetus giving rise to it, namely the pursuit of the elemental building blocks of the Universe (separate elementary particles) has become meaningless with the discovery that the Universe appears to be an undivided Whole in a perpetual state of dynamic flux.

Like Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Quantum Physics reveals the Universe to be a single gigantic field of energy in which matter is just a 'slowed down' form of energy. Further, Quantum Physics has discovered that matter/energy does not exist with any certainty in definite places, but rather shows 'tendencies' to exist. (i.e. the 'Uncertainty Principle') Even more intriguing is the notion that the existence of an observer is fundamental to the existence of the Universe - a concept known as 'The Observer Effect' - implying that the Universe is a product of consciousness."

As American physicist, Barbara Brennan, states in her book 'The Hands of Light':

"Through experiments over the past few decades physicists have discovered matter to be completely mutable into other particles or energy and vice-versa and on a subatomic level, matter does not exist with certainty in definite places, but rather shows 'tendencies' to exist. Quantum physics is beginning to realize that the Universe appears to be a dynamic web of interconnected and inseparable energy patterns. If the universe is indeed composed of such a web, there is logically no such thing as a part. This implies we are not separated parts of a whole but rather we are the Whole."

Next I want to explore the writings from Fred Alan Wolf, writer of “Mind into Matter”.

“In Mind into Matter we will explore how the mind enters into the body at the cellular, molecular, and neural-molecular levels and becomes ensnared almost—though not quite—believing that it is the body. The reality that mind dimly senses itself as beyond the body will offer a new insight into how the mind and body work as elements in an alchemical laboratory. Like no lab you may have ever realized, the alchemical lab appears very naturally in the world of our dreams and preconscious thoughts. In this lab we learn to develop a magical but ever-movable boundary, called real/imaginal, that divides our mind-body into separate selves, selves which appear to be body images in a real world around them.”

QUANTUM MO

2007-08-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

QUANTUM MECHANICS VERSUS QUANTUM PHYSICS

When I announced to be writing about Quantum Mechanics I got confused and thought I had to call it Quantum Physics. So the first step is to find out what the difference is and second choose the one I would like to explore. Wish it was that simple, wish I hadn't just bleached my hair...

Here's one google result:

Whereas most of the Physics fields/disciplines might use these two terms interchangeably in referring to the same thing, according to this specific Definition they are definitely not the same.

Quantum Mechanics (1) nominally comes from, and defines accordingly, any and all Corporeal Physics matters, from the perspective of Classical Newtonian Physics, and (2) limits itself to the quantum realms and all Physical Realities appearing and occurring within the Reality of Corporeality.

Quantum Physics, however, defines and explains the details of the quantum realms of both Corporeality and Incorporeality, but concentrates primarily on those 'Realities' of Incorporeality which are relevant to the creation of Reality within Corporeality! This Definition of Quantum Physics references and derives from QUFD Physics and not from Classical Newtonian Physics, which is thereby considered to be obsolete.

Another one:

Quantum mechanics is a subset of quantum physics, which includes quantum electrodynamics, ...

If one is concerned about particles and particle (matter) interaction, then referring to QM is appropriate.

OK, I guess I need a night sleep on this, maybe my meditation will help me to travel deeper into the Quantum Realm.

More Later!

XOMO

MO LOA

2007-08-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

Since Willem de Ridder is probably still on vacation (you know these Europeans are usually gone for 3 to 6 weeks) I decided to answer a question people repeatedly ask when I talk about The Secret and the impact of The Knowledge on my life. Let me start with the beginning of my journey; about 30 years ago, when I was 12 I started reading books about spirituality and “outer body” experiences and such. In my twenties I read the earlier works of Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay etc. I was aware of the fact that I was attracting things but not sure how I did it…

I moved from Holland to California in 2000 after attracting my husband through www.singlesonline.com (I just found out we are still in the “Success Stories” section). Then we moved to Tokyo, Holland and back to California.

During our time in Southern California I started reading “The Power of Intention” and “Ask and it is Given”. This ignited a very clear intention: I have to get back to my creative work (www.moniquedicarlo.com), because it feels like my true desire.

I started a new series of art photography and continued to do so in Virginia where we moved in 2005. I realized I really wanted to share my art “with the world” and eventually I attracted Mike Dooley (www.tut.com) who bought one of my images for the cover of his book “Totally Unique Thoughts” (sold worldwide), I was in heaven, and closer to the Universe ;-)

In 2006 I received an email from Mike about his world tour and that he would come to the DC area! This email came after I decided I wanted to do more volunteer work…
I was very excited and yet slightly concerned, because I first had to attract the fee for this one day workshop. The next day I received the invitation from Mike to volunteer during his workshop, and that way I would also be attending it…for free!
I was very grateful and had a wonderful day, yet the icing on the cake was a present from Mike: a signed copy of the first release of The Secret DVD.

During that day, The Secret was buzzing around me, so I watched it that same night and finally all the puzzle pieces I had collected over 20 years fell in place. I can’t describe it, it’s like seeing your true self for the first time, it’s a humbling feeling of “knowing”. For the first time I became aware of who I really am and what I really want. I am more grateful and I am enjoying my life journey more intensely.

Next I was invited to participate in an art exhibition, my website is about to be launched (current site is the ‘prototype’), I started this blog, I am co-writing an inspirational book and translating my essay about the “Essence of being a female”, a journey starting 3000 BC with Inanna, Lilith and the Greek Goddesses.

Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.
Oliver Goldsmith

Be well, Mo

IN THE MAKE: MIRROROLOGY

2007-08-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

One of the early presentors of the law of attraction is located in the Netherlands. His name is Willem de Ridder and he calls LOA "mirrorology". I'll get back with some juicy goodies from Willem! http://www.willemderidder.com/

PART II

2007-08-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

When I look at some of the belief descriptions it occurs to me that belief is a mental construct, a mental act, an acceptance, personal conclusions about reality. A belief is something you acknowledge, you accept it, so you can also change it, as you do now probably no longer believe in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. When your beliefs change, your world view changes as well. My experience is a product of interpretations, and as such cannot "prove" my beliefs.

Once we believed the earth was flat. Adventurers were mortally afraid that a ship could sail off the edge of the planet to certain death. People once believed that the sun and moon were just out of the reach of birds. Curious, skeptical minds found ways to gather the evidence needed to deduce that the earth is in fact round, that the sun and moon are quite far away -- and our collective world view likewise changed. Unfortunately, we mistakenly accept beliefs as reality, fearfully clinging to them as we would a life preserver.

When I think about faith I mostly feel attracted to the descriptions of confidence and trust. When I clear myself from limiting beliefs I gain faith. If beliefs can block faith, faith in return removes limitation. Faith is a positive state of mind and surpasses belief in that sense. As Napoleon Hill wrote: “Faith is the “eternal elixir” which gives life, power and action to the impulse of thought.” Why are we driven to search for our source and purpose? Why do we persist in grappling with questions that are beyond our ability to comprehend? These pursuits are evidence of faith: the upwelling of an innate, non-rational "knowing" that there is far more to life than meets the eye!

Letting go of beliefs that no longer serve you, that defy your ability to deepening understanding: is your ticket to emerging faith. Externally acquired beliefs change; indwelling faith endures. Faith informs me that I will come to know who I am by finding the source within.

The ingredients of my recipe for total contentment:
DESIRE – THOUGHTS – FEELINGS – FAITH - BELIEF

BELIEF-FAITH

2007-08-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

While reading Napoleon Hill about faith and belief I got somewhat confused. First I thought it was because I am not a native English, now I know that I am not the only one struggling with the meaning of faith versus belief. Faith is not the same as belief. Like many words in the English language that are taken as synonyms, these two words actually express quite different concepts. In order to understand the difference, we’ll need to explore the processes of the rational mind we know, and the non-rational mind we don't know. It might be helpful to explore the words confidence and knowing as well…Let’s check the dictionaries.

BELIEF
1. something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat.
2. confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof
3. The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another
4. Mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something
5. Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.

FAITH
1. In faith, in truth; indeed
2. Confidence or trust in a person or thing
3. Belief that is not based on proof
4. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
5. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance
7. The body of dogma of a religion

CONFIDENCE
1. Trust or faith in a person or thing.
2. A trusting relationship
4. A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance.
5. The state or quality of being certain

KNOWING
1. To perceive directly; grasp in the mind with clarity or certainty.
2. To regard as true beyond doubt
3. To have a practical understanding of, as through experience; be skilled in
4. To have fixed in the mind
5. To perceive as familiar; recognize
6. To be able to distinguish; recognize as distinct
7. To discern the character or nature of

I’ll let this sink in for a night…
To be continued!

MO MONEY

2007-08-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

Proverbs and sayings often provide intriguing descriptions of how a certain culture perceives and looks at specific subjects. Being born in the Netherlands kind of infuses you with the idea that money is for the ‘filthy’ rich and that wanting more money is not a desire that belongs to a spiritual person. “Those who own a lot worry a lot about what the own.” This one is also very inspiring: “Once born as a dime, you’ll never become a quarter.”

As I am entering the stage of witnessing myself more and more I found out that I had gathered quite some limiting beliefs about money. Some of them had to do with the fact that I did not deserve it for some reason (not sure what reason) and that I could not be rich and spiritual/caring/compassionate at the same time.

With help from the Sedona Method I was able to release these limiting beliefs and replace them with the positive opposites. I finally understood that money by itself has no value; the value is added when I do something with my money. It is not about what I have, but about how I share it. I want to share more, contribute more, which eventually will return to me in the form of more insight, spirituality, joy and happiness; the true values connected to the continuous flowing stream of our currencies.

I’ll never forget my grandma’s favorite: “There are no pockets in your last jacket!”

Pushing Past the Dip

2007-08-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

I've never really aimed for being the best. Although...I am very much a perfectionist in most things I do! LOL Just as I discussed with a good friend, the question why so many people (including myself, until lately) chose to live a mediocre life, I received this article from the website www.changethis.com “The relentless rush to be mediocre”. Here’s a great example of how ‘The Universe” aligns you with your thoughts…

“Pushing through the dip” is a new book by Seth Godin (what a beautiful name by the way). It’s about avoiding temptation and gravity and becoming the best in the world. He is very clear on describing that anybody can be the best in his/her certain world, it’s not about being the best in the whole world…It’s about pushing your limits, transcending your comfort zones and live life to the max.

I remember this Dutch saying that describes so well how ‘important’ it is to fit in and do what you are supposed to do: “Act normal, because that is weird enough”.

I guess I'll be weird ;-)

The 3 M's

2007-07-31T06:36:00.000-07:00

A long time ago someone warned me for the 3 powers that currently rule our planet: the 3 M's; Military, Media and Medicine. And usually not to our advantage!

We accept the media as an almost natural daily factor in our life and think they are there to provide us with facts and truth...far from the truth!

Fighting wars have resulted in...fighting more wars!

Knock on wood; I've never been in a hospital and I educated myself with a healthy portion of 'body' knowledge. Keeping stress levels at a minimum and cleaning yourself from physical and mental trash is fertile. Garbage in, garbage out; it's that simple to me.

Here's an update about the industry that is supposed to keep us alive and kicking:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/07/30/most-astonishing-health-disaster-of-the-20th-century.aspx

I am not promoting Doctor Mercola and his products but wanted to share the information in this video.

Be well my friends!

The 4 hour workweek

2007-07-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

When I asked the lady where I could find the book Success Principles she told me it had to be in the Self Help section, next to the Recovery section. Yuk! It sounds like I have some kind of disease or discomfort, and therefore I need help! I wish they would call it inspirational books! Well...I guess there was a reason why I couldn't locate any of the 3 books available in the store; instead I picked up a copy of The 4-hour work week by Tim Ferris and life changed forever ;-)

Although Tim is a few decades younger than I am, he also is a few decades wiser!
I couldn't stop reading the moment I started, he is very blunt (Dutch people in particular will like that), funny and well informed and educated. Finally I met someone who like myself does not read 'news'papers!

Go get a copy is all I can say, and don't look back!

The four agreements - I agree!

2007-07-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

Quote from the book by by don Miguel Ruiz:

"Everything we do is based on agreements we have made - agreements with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life. But the most important agreements are the ones we make with ourselves. In these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how to behave, what is possible, what is impossible. One single agreement is not such a problem, but we have many agreements that come from fear, deplete our energy, and diminish our self-worth."

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Thanks to Jim for forwarding this!

Fire the Grid

2007-07-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Shelley Yates - Fire the Grid
An extraordinary and truly amazing story, leading to a call for a joint global focus on joy........ your joy...... just for one hour on July 17th, 11.11 o'clock GMT..... with the intent to heal the world...... and millions will participate!!! Amazing!!

Part 1 of 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqUAluDvuU4

http://www.firethegrid.com/
Probably due to too many traffic her website is down, so here is her blog: http://www.myspace.com/firethegrid

My first Blog

2007-07-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Entry for July 9, 2007

Gosh, less than an hour ago, a good friend of mine suggested I should start my own Blog. So...here you go!

It’s kind of scary to share 'yourself' with the world like this. Excuse this first time blogster for her little steps into this new environment!

Although the years have made me mellower, I do like to stir things up a little…

Short background: Originally from the Netherlands, no not Amsterdam, and I don’t walk around on wooden shoes! Studied Graphic Design and Photography. Wrote an essay about the essence of being a female, which I am now re-writing and turning into a real book! Very excited about that. Moved to the US in 2000, lived in the Bay Area (California), then Tokyo, then The Hague, then Irvine (Southern California) and now the state for Lovers: Virginia.

Let me think a bit about my Blog content and approach, I’ll be back before you blink!

YOXOMO

Tip of the Veil

Let me lift the tip of my veil and show you some of the future contents of this Blog.
Modern priestesses like Paris Hilton – Thoughts become Things – The Secret – Chop wood and carry water – Quantum Physics (as far as my blonde brain is able to conceive) with a little help from Dr. Quantum Fred Alan Wolf – Ancient Archetypes – Ho'oponopono – Godesses – Mirrorology by Willem de Ridder” The biggest changes happen when you stop believing that you should change” – Annie Sprinkle and her 101 uses for sex list…
I think this’ll will do for a start!

YOXOMO