8
What Were You Doing While the World Was Falling Apart?
What were you doing while the world was falling apart?
Imagine your great-grandchildren asking you that question. Can you be proud of your answer?
The “seventh generation” principle taught by Native Americans says that in every decision, we must consider how it will affect our descendents seven generations into the future. It is clearly not embraced by most governments and corporations in the world today.
It is also at the heart of the Idle No More movement of the Canadian First Nation People.
The Idle No More movement started in Canada in December 2012 as a response to Canadian Bill C-45 which lowers environmental protection standards for Canadian waterways, much of which passes through the land of indigenous [First Nations] people.
Please remember that before our ancestors came to North America several centuries ago, this entire continent was indigenous land.
6
What’s the Opposite of Cyber Bullying?
What’s the opposite of cyber bullying? Cyber compliments!
After reading about the plague of cyber bullying on social media, Jeremiah Anthony of West High School in Iowa City, Iowa decided to do something about it. He started using social media to compliment fellow students instead of bully them. It spread like wildfire.
Jeremiah started tweeting daily compliments to his friends in October 2011. Soon a few of them started a twitter account called @WestHighBros. to send compliments to fellow students. Now the entire school is sending and receiving positive tweets — over 3000 so far!
2
Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail and How to Make Goal Setting Succeed
[quote]”Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” Fitzhugh Dodson[/quote] The concept of making “new year’s resolutions” has been a bit of a joke in our society for about as long as I can remember — the joke being that “resolution” has become synonymous […]
Continue reading
2
How to Say Goodbye to 2012
How we say goodbye is important. Including how we say goodbye to 2012.
We’ve all heard that one door never closes without another door opening. But how we close the first door will have an impact on the new door that opens.
Why? Because good transitions are essential to a balanced life. They set the stage for, and welcome, what’s to come.
FIVE-POINT PLAN FOR SAYING A HEALTHY GOODBYE TO 2012:
10
The Winter Solstice — Why It’s the True New Year
Winter Solstice is the day when light is reborn out of the darkness of winter.
Our days start to become longer and lead us back to the beauty of spring and the warmth of summer, stretching towards their peak at the Summer Solstice.
Most ancient cultures celebrated this return of light and life with feasting, music, light and fire, and for many, it was the true beginning of the New Year.
It was so important to the pre-Celt ancients of Ireland that they spent over 30 years building a monument to the returning sun: Newgrange.
Older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza, it was designed so that on the Winter Solstice, the rising sun shines directly along the long passage into the inner chamber and for 17 minutes illuminates the chamber floor and the symbols etched on the back wall.
It’s hard for the modern mind to fathom spending 30 years to build a monument for a 3-day event. What did they understand that we don’t?
4
Why Is The Butterfly Effect Important for You?
I know how easy it is to feel powerless in today’s complex world. That’s why it’s really important for you to know about The Butterfly Effect.
The Butterfly Effect was first stated in 1963 by mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz, a pioneer in chaos theory.
It states that a butterfly could flap its wings on one side of the world, creating tiny changes in the atmosphere, that in turn set molecules of air in motion that eventually could create [or prevent] a tornado in another part of the world.
So what does that have to do with your life? A lot!
4
Are you asking the right questions?
Are you asking the right questions? This occurred to me recently when I was feeling a bit sad for no apparent reason.
Instead of staying stuck there, I stopped and asked myself, “What am I really upset about? What’s really going on here?” And the answer came. There’s always a deeper reason affecting us.
In truth, some of the turning points in my life, and in the life of some of my friends, have come from asking the right questions.
Here’s a list of what I consider some of the best.
66
Prophecy of Crazy Horse
This was passed on by Chief Joe Chasing Horse, a relative of Crazy
Horse. He translated it from the words of a grandmother who was
present when the words were spoken.
This is a statement of Crazy Horse as he sat smoking the Sacred Pipe
at Paha Sapa with Sitting Bull for the last time, 4 days before he was
assassinated. Many of these words are often repeated. There is one
line often left out, that of the “young white ones”.
4
Why Veterans Day Just Isn’t Enough
To me, Veterans Day, celebrated this Monday November 12, just isn’t enough to honor what our veterans have done for this country.
Although I am a pacifist, and was an active anti-war activist during the Vietnam War, I was ashamed of the way our veterans were treated when they returned home.
And I am still deeply saddened by the lack of support and care our veterans receive today.
Yes, war is horrendous, and perhaps if women were running the world there wouldn’t be any wars. But those who did their duty and fought for us deserve better than one day to celebrate them.
What is Civilization?
Just what is “civilization?”
I asked myself that question after writing last week’s post about Christopher Columbus not being the first to discover the New World. And his still being celebrated for paving the way for Europeans to bring “civilization” to the west.
Will Durant spent 50 years writing “The Story of Civilization” and says that civilization is marked by four elements:
economic provision
political organization
moral traditions
pursuit of knowledge and the arts
The Native American societies of North America lived by the above principles for centuries before the arrival of Columbus.
Here’s my definition of civilization:
4
Does the Energy in Food Matter?
Does the energy in food matter? Absolutely!
One thing that doesn’t get much attention in discussions of our food is how the animals we eat are raised and killed and the energy transmitted along with that.
In other words, what you eat affects more than just your diet.
MEDICAL MYSTERY OR CUTTING EDGE SCIENCE?
But first let me tell you about my friend Pete, who developed a sudden love of dark chocolate after receiving a heart transplant. It mystified his wife, but she heard similar stories in their heart transplant support group.
Unusual? Not at all. There are legions of anecdotal stories about organ transplant recipients taking on new interests and food cravings after their transplants:
Forks Over Knives: What Does It Mean For Us?
Do you ever wonder why you try to follow the conventional wisdom of recommended dietary guidelines and your health still declines? The brilliant documentary “Forks Over Knives” and the book “The China Study” provide the answers.
“Forks Over Knives: The Plant-Based Way to Health” has been getting a lot of well-deserved positive press lately. The bottom line: we would all be healthier if we eliminated meat and dairy products from our diets.
The film presents excellent research to support the claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by eliminating animal-based and processed foods from our diets.
1
Three Questions to Help You Find Your Voice
This is a story about it never being too late to find your voice in every situation. I only just found mine.
Yes, I teach and write about being all you can be, going for your dreams and being fearless – but some lessons take longer to learn than others. Or they come in stages. And as I’ve said many times, we teach what we need to learn.
Backstory
Given a choice, I always choose a female health practitioner instead of a male. I have had incidents in the past of male practitioners making sexual advances so I figure, why tempt fate?
My primary physician is a man and I am very comfortable with him in all circumstances. But again, all things being equal, I will usually choose a woman.
And yet sometimes we are not given choices, and how often do we just go along with what is happening without expressing what we want?
8
Do We Take For Granted the American Lifestyle? If So, Here Are 10 Things To Help Us Mend Our Ways
I had a recent meltdown that caused me to ask whether Americans [including myself] are spoiled and take for granted all that we have.
Upon arriving at my hotel after an eight-hour drive to Northern Wisconsin, I was shocked, SHOCKED to find I had left my overnight bag at home.
The overnight bag that contained everything I need to make myself presentable each day!
I’m usually very cool, calm and collected, but this was a catastrophe of a high order for me.
But here’s the irony: Within half an hour, I was able to replace all my makeup and hair supplies at the Walmart next to the hotel.
I had the means and opportunity and I was still upset. How’s that for spoiled?
It was a good reality check as to how far I still have to go in my spiritual growth. And I know I’m not alone.
4
Hopi Prophecy of 2000
The following is the Hopi Prophecy of June, 2000 from the Hopi Nation:
You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour. And there are things to be considered…
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.
6
Hopi Prophecy, the Mayan Calendar and the Weather in 2012
Ancient Hopi prophecy warned of a time of “earth changes” – a great cleansing involving all four elements. The Mayan Calendar also calls this a time of transformation. Might they explain the interesting weather we’re having in 2012?
Is it a scary thing, or part of the natural evolution of the planet and our consciousness? Let’s take a look.
65
The History of the U.S. Constitution We Weren’t Taught in School
If you’re like me, I learned in grade school that the U.S. Constitution was based on ancient Greek democracy. Which was nowhere close to the truth. The government of ancient Greece was not a democracy.
My research as to what children are taught today about the origin of our government is also disappointing.
Apparently the Founding Fathers simply created it out of thin air, or were influenced by European governments even though there was no democracy anywhere in Europe at that time.
THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
The film classic “Psycho” and the value of clearing the clutter
Ever wonder how the classic Hitchcock thriller “Psycho” is related to clearing the clutter? Probably not, so read on.
If your nerves were on edge while watching “Psycho,” here’s why: every time director Alfred Hitchcock cut to the house on the hill, something was different.
In each shot he would change the location of the door, or the number or placement of windows, or the number of panes in each window.
The shots weren’t held long enough for the viewer to be conscious of what the changes were, only that something was “wrong” with that house. The result? An uneasy feeling throughout the film. That’s why Hitchcock was such a master director.
1
Adventures in Feng Shui
Feng shui is the ancient art of balancing energies in a space to bring health and good fortune for the inhabitants. Just as we want and need a healthy, balanced body, we need and should want a balanced living environment. This is what Feng Shui provides.
Developed in China over 3,000 years ago, today it is known and practiced throughout the world. It deals with placement of a building on land, location of doors, windows and rooms and objects within the rooms.
I am a believer because I study and teach about energy so feng shui makes perfect sense to me.
2
What to do when bad things happen
More wisdom from Bear Heart in the Wind Is My Mother on what to do when bad things happen in our lives:
Not long ago a woman called me and I went to see her in the hospital. She was a very young mother who had just given birth to a child with no arms. He had webbed feet and scars on his face and she was wondering, “Why me? Why me?”
I had to talk to her a long time, pray with her, to show her that there was a blessing somewhere in her situation.
In our culture, when such children are born we say they are specially blessed. The Creator had a reason for bringing that child into the world and we are helping the Creator when we make the child as comfortable as possible in every way.
It’s said there is a special blessing when we help someone like that, although that’s not our reason for doing it. My people don’t even talk about the reasons, we just try to help.
I told her the story of a similar situation where a little boy was born without arms and the doctors asked her husband to stay by his wife’s bedside as she came out of sedation so he could tell her.