NW Artist: Learning About Life, Art & Spirituality

2012-01-28T01:22:00.000-08:00

God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals, and thinks in man.
Arthur Young

Shopping As A Spiritual Practice

2012-01-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

Even though I logically there is probably a book about everything, this one both surprised me, and pleased me (ah I am not a novice at this spiritual practice):

An Excerpt from Attention Shoppers! The Woman's Guide to Enlightenment Through Shopping by Eve Eliot

Eve Eliot suggests ways to make your shopping a path to personal growth. A first step is to assess why you shop. Here are 31 reasons.

"Shop to devote time to your self
Shop to "save money" because stuff is on sale
Shop as a kind of ritual with a personal meaning
Shop to avoid gaining insight
Shop to gain insight
Shop to avoid sitting still
Shop to fit in
Shop as a distraction from building relationships
Shop to avoid writing the book, cleaning the basement or washing the floor
Shop as a way of expressing your "wild "side
Shop as a way to feel in control because every shopping decision is yours
Shop as a way to fill empty time, which might otherwise bring anxiety
Shop as a way to deny anger, grief, fear, guilt, shame or any other unwanted emotion
Shop as a way to provide stimulation when bored
Shop to have something to obsess about so you can avoid something else
Shop as a form of self-nurturing
Shop as a form of "consuming" without taking in calories.
Shop to rebel
Shop to "make someone happy"
Shop to "make someone angry"
Shop as a form of temper tantrum
Shop to postpone doing the next thing
Shop to obtain a sense of centeredness in your body
Shop to avoid experiencing yourself in your body
Shop to" transform" your life with the perfect shoes or lamp
Shop to spend money in order to feel powerful
Shop to bolster the belief that beauty and perfection are, finally, attainable
Shop because you will not forgive yourself
Everybody is unique.
Compare not yourself with anybody else lest you spoil God's curriculum.
— Baal Shem TovShop in order to forgive yourself
Shop to escape
Shop to find your self."

found on www.spiritualityandpractice.com

and if shopping is a way to enlightenment, I am sure eating out must be too. This means I have so got it made, right?

And just as I was feeling as much smug as I was humorous, I hit a different key on the wonderful website Spirituality & Practice. Up came the spiritual practice of the day with this quote:

Everybody is unique.
Compare not yourself with anybody else lest you spoil God's curriculum.
— Baal Shem Tov

2012-01-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

“Your most precious possession is not your financial assets. Your most precious possession is the people you have working there, and what they carry around in their heads, and their ability to work together.” Robert Reich

2012-01-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

gour·mand - a person who is fond of good eating, often indiscriminatingly and to excess.

A gourmand is a person who takes great pleasure in food. The word has different connotations from the similar word gourmet, which emphasises an individual with a highly refined discerning palate.

Well, I have always known I am not a gourmet when it comes to food. Today, I did find a fancy food I can claim, gourmand.

2012-01-27T01:21:00.000-08:00

Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul. Thomas Merton

2012-01-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

I across this song by Meg Christian I enjoyed many years ago. Till this day, I still quote a line from this song, "I'm all I can handle at the moment". Interesting video pairing with bridge.

Enjoying Winter Feast For The Soul

2012-01-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

"Come, come whoever you are Wander, worshiper, lover of leaving,
Come.
Even if you have broken your vow one thousand times
Come, come, come again."

Rumi

www.winterfeastforthesoul.com

2012-01-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of the missing drop. - Mother Theresa of Calcutta

seen on http://www.winterfeastforthesoul.com

2012-01-24T01:30:00.000-08:00

Call Me by My True Names

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.
Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea
pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and
loving.
I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my
hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to, my
people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.
My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Thich Nhat Hanh

heard on CD from Saved By A Poem by Kim Rosen

Blessing

2012-01-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

Blessing from The Second Half of Life by Angeles Arrien

A Wigilia Blessing

"I wish you health.
I wish you wealth
That passes not with time.
I wish you long years.
May your heart be as patient as the earth
Your love as warm as the harvest gold.
May your days be full, as the city is full
Your nights as joyful as dancers.
May your arms be as welcoming as home.
May your faith be as enduring as God's love
Your spirit as valiant as your heritage.
May your hand be as sure as a friend
Your dreams as hopeful as a child,
May your soul be as brave as your people
And may you be blessed."

2012-01-22T03:56:00.001-08:00

A Quote about Blessing from Judy Kroll in WomanPrayers by Mary Ford-Grabowsky

Recall Your Blessings

"before the first word
of the day

before I break the fast
and break my silence

before opening myself to traffic
before losing touch with sleep

hearing only the crowds of birds
hearing only a far-off voice in a temple chanting

seeing mists dissolve quickly in sun
seeing the newborn mountains

before losing touch with silence
while still touching sleep
before I forget to remember

let me sit down and recall
my blessings."

found on http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com

2012-01-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

I am enjoying a book of poetry by Mary Oliver titled Dreamwork

Dogfish

Some kind of relaxed and beautiful thing
kept flickering in with the tide
and looking around.
Black as a fisherman's boot,
with a white belly.

If you asked for a picture I would have to draw a smile
under the perfectly round eyes and above the chin,
which was rough
as a thousand sharpened nails.

And you know
what a smile means,
don't you?

*

I wanted the past to go away, I wanted
to leave it, like another country; I wanted
my life to close, and open
like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of the song
where it falls
down over the rocks: an explosion, a discovery;
I wanted
to hurry into the work of my life; I wanted to know,

whoever I was, I was

alive
for a little while.

*

It was evening, and no longer summer.
Three small fish, I don't know what they were,
huddled in the highest ripples
as it came swimming in again, effortless, the whole body
one gesture, one black sleeve
that could fit easily around
the bodies of three small fish.

*

Also I wanted
to be able to love. And we all know
how that one goes,
don't we?

Slowly

*

the dogfish tore open the soft basins of water.

*

You don't want to hear the story
of my life, and anyway
I don't want to tell it, I want to listen

to the enormous waterfalls of the sun.

And anyway it's the same old story - - -
a few people just trying,
one way or another,
to survive.

Mostly, I want to be kind.
And nobody, of course, is kind,
or mean,
for a simple reason.

And nobody gets out of it, having to
swim through the fires to stay in
this world.

*

And look! look! look! I think those little fish
better wake up and dash themselves away
from the hopeless future that is
bulging toward them.

*

And probably,
if they don't waste time
looking for an easier world,

they can do it.

Mary Oliver

2012-01-20T01:00:00.000-08:00

I once saw a cartoon depicting two Buddhist monks seated side by side in a meditation hall. An older monk was muttering something to a younger monk out of the corner of his mouth. The young monk looked dumbfounded. The caption read: "Nothing happens next. This is it."
— Clark Strand in The Wooden Bowl

found on http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com

2012-01-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

The Master overheard an actress discoursing on horoscopes at dinnertime.

He leaned over and said, "You don't believe in astrology, do you?"

"Well," the actress replied, "I believe in everything a little bit."
— Anthony de Mello in Awakening

found on http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com

2012-01-18T02:30:00.000-08:00

In nature, one never really sees a thing for the first time until one has seen it for the fiftieth.
— Joseph Wood Krutch in The Desert Year

found on http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com

2012-01-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

To Our Winter Weather

2012-01-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

from The Bridge of Stars edited by Marcus Braybrooke

Well Met

Good Day my friend. This chance encounter
augurs well for my contentment. I thank
God that He should bring you across my path.
I was hurrying. It is fit that I slow down to
luxuriate in your wisdom and probity.

greeting from Salem 19th century USA

2012-01-17T05:07:00.000-08:00

Work of the eyes is done. Now go and do heart work.
— Rainer Maria Rilke

2012-01-16T05:05:00.000-08:00

Keep walking, though there's no place to get to.
Don't try to see through the distances.
That's not for human beings. Move within,
But don't move the way fear makes you move.
— Rumi quoted in Unseen Rain, Quatrains of Rumi translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks

found on http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com

2012-01-16T04:28:00.000-08:00

“Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

2012-01-16T04:27:00.002-08:00

Sunday

gorgeous snowpainted day
not a pair of shorts in sight
even I have closed toed shoes

Saturday

soft, fluffy winter flurry
traffic crawling, quietly, slow
countyline all transforming into sun

Friday

Rivulets of water trickles down bag
words read Natural, Local, Organic
huh, well, I guess rain is

Something I never considered

2012-01-16T03:36:00.000-08:00

A man from Montana told me when he was young he and friends would pack up a car with food when it snowed. They would drive as far as they could until they got stuck. Dig themselves out. Go into they got stuck again. That's how they practiced getting out of the snow.

2012-01-16T03:14:00.000-08:00

A Blessing From Us to You

May all beings everywhere
with whom we are inseparably interconnected,
be fulfilled, awakened, liberated, and free.
May there be peace in this world
and throughout the entire universe,
and may we all together complete the spiritual journey.
— Lama Surya Das in Awakening to the Sacred

A Quotation to Inspire

"Like a lover who spends all his time thinking of his distant love, God has been thinking about me before I was born, for all eternity."
— Ernesto Cardenal in Abide in Love

found on http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com

2012-01-15T02:40:00.000-08:00

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.

- Mary Oilver

found on peacefulrivers.homestead.com

2012-01-14T03:17:00.001-08:00

a little foray into the public
a linking of words, worlds, wonder
a taste of ordinary beauty

A Sweet Story

2012-01-14T03:04:00.000-08:00

Mr. Moses
— by Marian SkottMyhre

He wanted to be sure that the first person who entered our home in the new year brought good tidings for all of us.

knocker with heartA wonderful man, Mr. Moses, lived on the street where I grew up. From as far back as I can remember, early on New Year's Day each year my mother got up and dressed and let me get up with her so that we were ready and standing in the vestibule when Mr. Moses rang our doorbell.

He got up at dawn, dressed impeccably in a suit and vest and tie and overcoat and dress hat and started at one end of the block, going to each house and ringing the doorbell. When greeted, he'd take off his hat and step across the threshold just enough so that he was inside. When invited in, he'd decline, saying that he had to keep going but wanted to be sure that the first person who entered our home in the new year brought good tidings and well wishes for all of us. He went to every house, then quietly turned around and walked the length of the long block back to his. It was many, many years later when I'd grown up and moved away that I wondered if there had ever been someone who came to his house to do that for him.

I'm hoping that this might be your first message in the New Year. I wish you a year of good health, wholeheartedness, increased commitment, strengthening community, shared laughter, new adventures, continual reward, accelerated compassion, faith, and gratitude.

from http://www.gratefulness.org

2012-01-14T02:55:00.000-08:00

WORD FOR THE DAY

Saturday, Jan. 14

Those who are awake live in a constant state of amazement.
Jack Kornfield

from www.gratefulness.org

Book Poem by Naomi Shihab Nye - because of libraries we can say these things

2012-01-14T02:35:00.000-08:00

because of libraries we can say these things

She is holding the book close to her body,
carrying it home on the cracked sidewalk,
down the tangled hill.
If a dog runs at her again, she will use the book as a shield.

She looked hard among the long lines
of books to find this one.
When they start talking about money,
when the day contains such long and hot places,
she will go inside.
An orange bed is waiting.
Story without corners.
She will have two families.
They will eat at different hours.

She is carrying a book past the fire station
and the five and dime.

What this town has not given her
the book will provide; a sheep,
a wilderness of new solutions.
The book has already lived through its troubles.
The book has a calm cover, a straight spine.

When the step returns to itself,
as the best place for sitting,
and the old men up and down the street
are latching their clippers,

she will not be alone.
She will have a book to open
and open and open.
Her life starts here.
-- Naomi Shihab Nye

found on www.gratefulness.org

Simple Thoughts

2011-11-24T16:07:00.000-08:00

I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down. - Mitch Hedberg

2011-10-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

"If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up." - J.M. Power

2011-09-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

I found this poem by Mary Oliver on the web at peacefulrivers.homestead.com

Bone

1.

Understand, I am always trying to figure out
what the soul is,
and where hidden,
and what shape
and so, last week,
when I found on the beach
the ear bone
of a pilot whale that may have died
hundreds of years ago, I thought
maybe I was close
to discovering something
for the ear bone

2.

is the portion that lasts longest
in any of us, man or whale; shaped
like a squat spoon
with a pink scoop where
once, in the lively swimmer's head,
it joined its two sisters
in the house of hearing,
it was only
two inches long
and thought: the soul
might be like this
so hard, so necessary

3.

yet almost nothing.
Beside me
the gray sea
was opening and shutting its wave-doors,
unfolding over and over
its time-ridiculing roar;
I looked but I couldn't see anything
through its dark-knit glare;
yet don't we all know, the golden sand
is there at the bottom,
though our eyes have never seen it,
nor can our hands ever catch it

4.

lest we would sift it down
into fractions, and facts
certainties
and what the soul is, also
I believe I will never quite know.
Though I play at the edges of knowing,
truly I know
our part is not knowing,
but looking, and touching, and loving,
which is the way I walked on,
softly,
through the pale-pink morning light.

from Why I Wake Early (2004)

and from the same site

You can outdistance that which is running after you,
but not what is running inside you.
-Rwandan Proverb

You can outdistance that which is running after you,

but not what is running inside you.

-Rwandan Proverb

You can outdistance that which is running after you,

but not what is running inside you.

-Rwandan Proverb

You can outdistance that which is running after you,

but not what is running inside you.

-Rwandan Proverb

To Discoveries

2011-09-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

wandering a stray from my tribe
i find new discoveries in abundance
yet more joy in the return

I just met Kaylin Haught’s delightful, powerful poem “God Says Yes to Me” in Patti Digh’s book Life is a verb(which I am, also, enjoying)

Since Jan recently nudged me to share another poem I forwarded to her, I had just enough inspiration to push past the wall of inertia to say, hey, have you seen these poems yet??

God Says Yes To Me

by Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes

from the book In the Palm of Your Hand, by Steve Kowit

And, another one that has touched me enough to elicit multiple readings, which I first encountered in the book, Ten Poems to Open Your Heart by Roger Housden, and again yesterday in the new book I am reading, Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words by Kim Rosen

Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

from The Words Under the Words: Selected Poems

life is good so why ain't i blogging - don't know . . .

Hiatus

2011-08-13T01:58:00.000-07:00

Ah, so quiet here, looks abandoned
life is simmering on below the surface
words will crop up again in time

2011-02-05T01:11:00.000-08:00

"There are days when solitude is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall." - Colette

And into the void I crawled where I was,
Soft and comfortable, yet missing warmth
so I reach slowly to touch the edge

Work has been absorbing my time and energy for the past few months.

This is a little experiment tonight as I am trying out the speech recognition program from Windows 7. So I am writing this by dictating rather than by the using the keyboard. It is interesting as the computer heard me say keyport instead of keyboard.

It seems to be trying to teach me to pronounce things more clearly. It is fascinating to see the words appear as I talk and is saving my fingers a little work. And the computer thought I was trying to save my fingers a little quirk. Some of it has been quite amusing. Something that I said to it translated as councilman lime, and I totally forgot what I had actually said.

And so, now, a little story of my trip to Whole Foods. I was ambling along with my cane, and stopped to get something out of the freezer case. I could hear a woman talking, and realized she was talking to me even though my back was to her. So I turned to see what she wanted. She preceded to tell me how horrible it was that there was someone who was deaf working there in the store as a clerk. She was very upset that they would have someone working there who couldn't answer her questions. She asked for my agreement that it was wrong to have a deaf person working. I found it ironic that she picked the only person around shopping slowly with a cane. Unfortunately, I didn't give her the agreement she was looking for. And, as she walked away, I noted that she was slightly hunched over and limping as she walked.

Later, as I saw her get into her car, I had the thought that I hadn't heard her either. And perhaps, a compassionate response would have been to say, I am sorry that you didn't get the help you needed. And, I am pondering the encounter still.

Well, I am tired and ready to slip back into the void.

"I feel akin to the Platypus. An orphan in a family. A swimmer, a recluse. Part bird, part fish, part lizard." - Trevor Dunn

"They say that God is everywhere, and yet we always think of Him as somewhat of a recluse." -- - Emily Dickinson

2010-12-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

I was very surprised and pleased to learn was receiving a raise. Fairly certain it would not just be me. I decided that I would enjoy it silently. Then several people asked me if I was happy about the raise. Two of them were certain everyone had gotten it. Unfortunately, I didn't follow mine first instincts, and I mentioned to someone who didn't get the raise. Sad, and certainly damping to the spirit of one who works hard and feels unappreciated.

It can be difficult to navigate the corporate roadways. It seems so many of us are straddling that fine line of do more, faster, faster and doing the right thing for the clients. Many having falling prey to the focus of hitting the statistical goals rather than in doing the right thing or providing the world class service proclaimed in mission statements but not supported by management in actions. And, this means I am feeling bad that only a couple of two, who work hard, would be left out rather than at being given a small merit increase.

Management being human sometimes just misses the boat like the rest of us. I am thinking of a friend recounting a gift for hard work and great sales being given only to the permanent employees, and not seasonal workers. I can't help, but wonder, especially since the season is in full swing, how wise it was. Everyone needs to feel important. Unfortunately for everyone, it appears our two have already gone retribution. . . sad to feel unappreciated. They are probably right about co-workers wrongdoings, but a shame as everyone suffered the way it was done.

pensive, absorbed, saddened, yet
incredibly lucky as i reflect on my life
grateful for my soft, luxurious bed

2010-12-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

On an email received today:

"The world cannot ruffle the dignity of a soul that dwells in its own tranquility." John O'Donohue

2010-12-09T20:16:00.001-08:00

Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture. - Kak Sri

2010-12-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

tired, plum tired, and tuckered out
serpentine paths of work to work in work
clashing technologies new emerging

May We Give Thanks - Every Day

2010-11-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

I am grateful to be safe and warm on this early Thanksgiving morning. Maybe I am missing on some spectacular sales, or meeting some interesting shoppers queued up and ready to spend.

I am grateful to have missed the 4 to 5 hour commutes my co-workers and other people were stuck. I was saved by the kindness of my boss. As she sat watching the news, she decided she better call and tell me she didn't want me to try to drive home. So I have had the luxury of hotel living for several days. And, as, she and I, also, guessed there was need of extra help to compensate for those who were iced in at home.

It is nice to wake up to breakfast downstairs ready to go right off the hotel buffet table.Well, back to work.

I am, also, grateful I didn't have to stop work and run to the shelter like some other out of state co-workers as they are under Tornado warning. All safe for the moment. Simple, deep blessings.

2010-11-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

paid my dollars for exotic rain forest drink
enjoyed while watching the reeds in the winter wind
wondered how long someone worked for my seconds of pleasure

2010-11-17T02:20:00.000-08:00

"Let us say what we feel, and feel what we say; let speech harmonize with life." – Lucius A. Seneca

2010-11-16T00:23:00.000-08:00

"We are the living links in a life force that moves and plays around and through us, binding the deepest soils with the farthest stars." – Alan Chadwick

2010-11-15T01:19:00.000-08:00

"If I were to begin life again, I should want it as it was. I would only open my eyes a little bit more." Jules Renard

2010-11-14T02:18:00.000-08:00

A day awash with technical uncertainties
A magnificent quiet surrounded with lack of connection
Each alone blamed themselves rather than seeing the whole

"Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route." Albert Camus

2010-11-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others." - Author Unknown

Waiting for the ephipany (or right book) that will
lower my weight, raise my IQ, expand my bank balance
Beginning to wonder if I am looking in the right place

2010-11-12T19:22:00.000-08:00

“Take care; you know I am compliance itself, when I am not thwarted! No one more easily led, when I have my own way; but don't put me in a frenzy.” - Richard Brinsley Sheridan

2010-11-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

Oh, what a strange world customer service is. It took me two long sessions with online chat to return a defective item. Tonight a very nice representative spent over thirty minutes helping me. Though I accomplished what I needed to, had the $40 waived on exchange the other person was going to charge me last night, it was about minute 32 before I got the answer started with tonight, and last night. How do I return the defective item? Seems like it ought to be a routine question. It got lost along the way with cross sells, and are you really sure, if I was canceling they couldn't help me, they could only help with an exchange.
It certainly was frustrating, even saying I was frustrated that I couldn't get an answer on how to return an item couldn't hasten the answer. I am guessing it's constraints the employees have to deal with constantly. How does the company think this is good business. Monetarily, I am coming on a winner. But, the cost was never the issue as a matter of fact I feel a little guilty I am getting something more expensive for free. I know it isn't good for them financially because I was willing to pay the $99 for the other item. All, I objected was paying $9.95 in shipping a replacement for a defective item. They aren't allowed to waive shipping, but they can me the item for free. Just bizarre.
It follows the conversation I was having with Jan early today strange ways of corporate cultures. She told me flying Frontier had a notice they could take advantage of onboard catering instead of saying we now charge for food. . .
Oh, well, was a beautiful, sunny Northwest day with billowing white clouds . . .
Soon I may have internet again if my new device works when it arrives . . .
And, I am writing this from my new, fun, 2lb (as in big enough to type on, light enough to carry) Tobisha netbook. First thing, I did with it was scare myself as I turned it on in bed, noticed I (as me) was on screen looking at myself cause it has a webcam which I turned on . . The unexpected thrills of new technology

For some reason, I decided to check my email before I posted. In my inbox, is a letter from the company sent to my email address, I was just with, it starts Dear Joe Lopez,

They my ssn, dob, address, etc. Hope they are sending him my package. No, actually is was just supposed be my return shipping label, info. . . This means I am going to have another chat. . .

2010-11-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

Chaos results when the world changes faster than people”

2010-10-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

so tempting - is it a "good" thing or a "bad" thing

huh, an empty basket in an empty lot at night

it is actually a view of shopping all done - yipee

2010-10-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

softness of evening settling in
slowly the pace and focus shifts
now is the time to prepare our dreams

2010-10-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Swaying to and forth with circumstances

bacon - splendid, loud phone calls surrounding me - hard

so where the contentment of neutrality where "I" rests

2010-10-28T21:46:00.001-07:00

i like the feel of shifting perspectives

how nice to allow something to soften in focus

realizing the relativity of truth

2010-10-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

Naughty or good, I am Thy child. - Paramahansa Yogananda

2010-10-20T03:01:00.000-07:00

Worldprayers.org:

O our Father, the Sky, hear us
and make us strong.
O our Mother, the Earth, hear us
and give us support.
O Spirit of the East,
send us your Wisdom.
O Spirit of the South,
may we tread your path.
O Spirit of the West,
may we always be ready for the long journey.
O Spirit of the North, purify us
with your cleansing winds.

american indian - sioux

2010-10-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

Worldprayers.org:

Om asato ma sadgamaya,
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya,
mrityorma amritamgamaya
Om shantih shantih shantih

Oh Almighty! Lead us from the unreal (falsity)
to the real (truth) from darkness to light!
From death to immortality!
Oh Almighty! May there be Peace! Peace! Peace!

brihdaranyaka upanisada 1:3:27 - india

2010-10-18T02:57:00.001-07:00

Worldprayers.org:

KHAMEMI SAVVE JIVA
We forgive all the living beings,

SAVVE JIVA KHAMANTU ME
We seek pardon from all the living beings,

MITTI ME SAVVA BHUTESU
We are friendly towards all the living beings,

VERAM MAJJHAM NA KENVI
And we seek enmity with none,

MICHHAMI DUKKADDAM!
Moreover, we ask for forgiveness from all!

michchhami dukkadam - jain prayer of forgiveness

"Seeing is different than being told." Proverb

2010-10-16T03:59:00.001-07:00

You Who Stand in the Doorway, Come in

2010-10-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

From a Seattle based blog post whose title I love: You Who Stand in the Doorway, Come in:

Chimamanda Adichie: The Danger of a single story

"The problem with the stereotype is not that it is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story. . .

. . . The consequence of the single story is this: that it robs people of dignity."

Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.

Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person. The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story, and to start with, "secondly." Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, and not with the arrival of the British, and you have and entirely different story. Start the story with the failure of the African state, and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and you have an entirely different story.

Invitation

Adapt International and Compassionate Action Network

cordially invite you to a week-long program to celebrate

Children's Peace Day

Program begins with

You Who Stand in the Doorway, Come in

a community oral storytelling festival to build bridges of understanding across cultures & generations

October 16 & 17, 2010
1:00PM - 5:00PM

Inscape (the former Immigration & Naturalization Services building)
815 Airport Way South, Seattle

The festival is curated by Amineh Ayyad as part of the Passages event at Inscape, a collective re-visioning and transforming of this historic building into its future role as an arts and culture hub for Seattle's diverse communities.

We are transforming an old detention dorm in the building into a traditional hospitality room representing various cultures around the world. Come to share coffee, tea, and stories. We will listen and share stories about hospitality, compassion, perseverance, friendship, and the struggles & legacies of immigrants, refugees and other communities in diverse Seattle. Humor, greed, global health and healing are other themes included in the festival

2010-10-15T04:23:00.000-07:00

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny….’” - Isaac Asimov

2010-10-14T03:12:00.000-07:00

"Man's mind is not a container to be filled but rather a fire to be kindled." - Dorothea Brande

2010-10-13T02:03:00.000-07:00

“The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth.” - Pierre Abelard

2010-10-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

"To me the desire to create and to have control over your own life, irrespective of the politics of the time or social structures, has always been a part of the human spirit. What I did not fully realize was that work could open the doors to my heart." - Anita Roddick, Founder/CEO, The Body Shop

2010-10-11T03:55:00.001-07:00

"Light brings knowledge, knowledge brings compassion." Aqune - Spider Riders TV cartoon.

2010-10-08T01:59:00.000-07:00

"In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds." - Robert Green Ingersol

2010-10-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

"Each moment is a place you've never been." - Mark Strand

2010-10-06T03:15:00.000-07:00

"A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse below and dreams of home." - Robert Brault

2010-10-05T14:29:00.001-07:00

soft workshirt blue to dusky blue black sky
they say the light of stars is from long, long ago
so am i living in two moments at once

To Beautiful Food

2010-10-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

suffering through Tuesday
buffered by healthy home cooked food
shifting slightly away from struggle

My co-worker, Melissa, has grown increasing health consciousness.She listens to what sound like excellent pod casts from the Nutrition Diva.So far what Melissa has shared is excellent information, i.e. Basmati rice is a little lower fiber than brown rice it, also, lower in sugar content and higher in minerals.

I am now benefiting from some delicious cooking experiments due Melissa's intelligent creativity. She reframed the adage of eating more vegetables for a healthy diet and weight. She brought in a stunningly beautiful "salad" with adzuki bean(cooked) raw spinach, whole wheat fresh cooked pastas of different shapes, small tomatoes, cheeses, and a can't remember what else at the moment. Ah, yes, real bacon bits, and more. She called it her "Lynn" salad.
She decided the more beauty there was in the food she seemed be more satisfied, eat less, and healthier. I know I think this supposed to be what the gourmet chefs in the fancy restaurants may proclaim. However, the gourmet restaurants I often see scarcity along with beauty which is followed by the real or imagined continuing hungry.

With meals, Melissa has brought in have indeed been healthy and filling. I am admiring her creativity and joy in being willing to experiment as well. Last night, she told me there were multi-colored beans sitting at home in kitchen soaking in water with garlic cloves waiting to become part of some larger. Which means that there may a beautiful dinner awaiting me at work.

2010-10-05T03:54:00.000-07:00

"I never ask God to give me anything; I only ask him to put me where things are." - Mexican Proverb

2010-10-04T03:00:00.000-07:00

"Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world." - Arthur Schopenhauer

2010-10-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

"The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate." - Bern Williams

2010-10-02T03:48:00.000-07:00

"The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress." - Joseph Joubert

2010-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

"I went to a cafe that advertised breakfast anytime, so I ordered French Toast during the Rennaisance." - Steven Wright

2010-09-30T03:45:00.000-07:00

"We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions." - Ian Percy

2010-09-29T02:40:00.001-07:00

"I have scarcely touched the sky and I am made of it." - Antonio Porchia

silently sitting to view sparkles in the sky
i can't yet fathom being on a ball moving in space
no matter

This last month or so, I have changed my normal routine. I used to just be grateful to be safely home after work, ready to be inside with door locked behind me=time to relax, refresh alone.

Now, I have taken to sitting outside communing with the night sky, trees, passing breezes, clouds. It is such a peaceful feeling, feeling connected to something so large and beyond my measure. When I was younger, one of my favorite things was to go sit by the ocean late at night or in the early morning hours. Watching the night sky brings on a similar feeling with the clear sky like the calm ocean, and clouds like the flowing tides. Both amazing and wonderful views of the infinite world around us. I'm not sure if it calms, feeds or just plain pleases my soul. No matter,

2010-09-29T02:07:00.000-07:00

"Unknowingly, we plow the dust of stars, blown about us by the wind, and drink the universe in a glass of rain". -Ihab Hassan

Change?

2010-09-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

does change always feel lopsided
i see new wonderful interesting things
something discomforts me - it's bad

I was trying to post what is written below yesterday, but as I am still learning about change I had no luck and strange new error messages. (Insert heavy sigh here).

The clients scheduled to appear yesterday didn't. They should be online with us today.Still unnerved that their names did not make it to our department prior to them going "live".

Yesterday was uneven yesterday. Another couple of victories for me. Discovery that greatly assisted a client. Noted important missing information in another situation that will be updated and save us from a potentially serious problem. Followed by two emails to the boss with a typo in each that changed the meaning of the emails. Titter - totter.

And, I followed up by potentially offending a new employee as I felt I need to point out that form being sent clients really needed to need Los Angeles instead of FLos Angeles.

a wearing night of confusing dreams
gifts of the magnificent friendship of wolves
balanced by the ire of snakes

I am wondering if my unconscious is dealing with today's unknown. Last week, we had new clients as issues ensued that are not totally resolved. While I was amazed to identify one of the issues "myself", I am still unnerved at the thought there are supposed be more new clients today. Last week, we had list of new clients given to us several days prior. This week, no list. Only the mention that "they" want to migrate hundreds new clients to us as quickly as possible. As this will more than double our current client base, I am apprehensive.

All of life is a cycle of change with every breath with take, rotation of the planet, the entire lives of butterflies lived in days. Yet, we seem so emotionally troubled by change. Even what we think is an ill timed change of a stop light can set us off.

I just finished reading the book Sacred Visitations by Ceci Miller this morning (which I loved about her personal experiences with Siddha Yoga and her teacher Gurumayi).

The last sentences of her book were as follows:

"When life presents some surprising or challenging new person or event, Grace is asking, "Do you want to understand even more? Do you want to grow in compassion and love?" My advice is say yes."

Ok, personally, I think I am often shifting back to maybe. . .

2010-09-28T02:09:00.000-07:00

"No object is mysterious. The mystery is in your eye." - Elizabeth Bowen

2010-09-27T02:05:00.000-07:00

"Nothing is yet in its true form." - C.S. Lewis

2010-09-26T02:09:00.000-07:00

"Be careful how you interpret the world: It is like that." - Erich Heller

2010-09-26T02:02:00.000-07:00

"I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes." - e.e. cummings

Wow, some unexpected minor triumphs
me calculating solutions to technological issues
well, not solutions, but resolutions

"The real mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, it is a reality to be experienced" -J.J. Van Der Leeuw

2010-09-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

beleaguered by effects of corporate expediency
reluctant to return to new technological challenges
lacking immunity to overwhelm and struggle

“The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution." - Bertrand Russell

2010-09-24T04:07:00.001-07:00

am i one of the harried urbanites
whose metal companions sit silently waiting
quietly in rows on painted tar fields

2010-09-23T23:56:00.001-07:00

"It's hard to take over the world when you sleep 20 hours a day." - D. Conley

puddle of slush
fly in the ointment kind of week
with a beautiful fall backdrop

Skywatching

2010-09-21T04:37:00.000-07:00

I spent a long time watching the sky when I came home tonight, the moons, the clouds, an unusually bright "star". After coming inside and reading the email below, I now know I looking at interesting planetary phenomena. When I was outside, I was having wistful thoughts about wanting to sleep under the "stars".

Here is an excerpt from an email from Monday. September Kathleen forwarded to me from spiritual teacher Peter Berry

CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH JUPITER: Tonight, Earth and Jupiter converge for their closest encounter until 2022. The giant planet will soar overhead at midnight, outshining everything except the Moon itself. At this time, even a small telescope pointed at Jupiter will reveal the planet's moons, cloud belts and swirling storms.

If Jupiter is up at midnight, it must be opposite the sun: diagram. Indeed, astronomers call this "Jupiter's night of opposition."

In a coincidence of interplanetary proportions, Uranus is also at opposition tonight. This rare double opposition of two giant planets is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Unlike Jupiter, Uranus is barely visible to the naked eye, a result of its smaller size and greater distance. It looks great, however, through a small telescope. Just point your optics at Jupiter and you will find emerald Uranus about 1o away.

2010-09-21T04:18:00.001-07:00

"Everything is a teaching. Nothing happens." - Ceci Miller

I.

coming home head wobbling
new technologies clash & fall in my lap
but, then i saw the sky

II.
what could be more peaceful
night sky cotton balls woven into a blanket
gently covering all my world

III.
and we, under one sky roof,
sleep, sing, cry, dance, love
in this earth house

2010-09-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

"Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." - Desmond Tutu

2010-09-20T03:50:00.001-07:00

I just heard a short news story on TV - Greg Mortenson's book Three Cups of Tea was read by General David Petraeus. And the this book is required reading for all senior military personnel on Afghanistan.

I am between surprised and fascinated with fact the my Book Club friends and I have read something that is required military reading. Such an ever unfolding incongruous, mysterious world.

2010-09-20T03:26:00.001-07:00

2010-09-19T14:19:00.001-07:00

2010-09-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

Suggestions below from http://amillionminutesforpeace.org/act-in-peace.shtml

Eleven Ways to Act in Peace

1. Believe peace is possible. There is great power in thought.

2. Meditate or pray for peace. Reinforce your beliefs with prayer or meditation.

3. Greet every situation with an open heart. Embrace life as a wonderful adventure to nurture and grow. Walk with peace in your heart.

4. Speak kind words. Tell those you love how much they mean to you. Find occasions to give compliments. And when you encounter negative words or actions, let them challenge you to rise above and respond with kindness.

5. See things through the eyes of others. Live with compassion. Imagine the experiences of others and it is likely you will gain insight into how to treat people more lovingly.

6. Respect all those you come into contact with. Celebrate the beauty in all of our differences. Pray for your enemies so they are no longer enemies. Love all of humanity.
7. Practice Forgiveness. Forgive people for their faults and shortcomings and learn to forgive yourself as well.

8. Lead by example. Show others how to be peaceful by living a peaceful life.
9. Share the wealth that is yours. Each of us has something to give. Look inside and find what you have to share.

10. Pay it forward. Commit random acts of kindness whenever you can.

11. Live the "Golden Rule." Just about every religion has its own way of expressing the Golden Rule, "Do Unto Others...." Can you imagine if everyone did this?

2010-09-19T03:17:00.001-07:00

"I've dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas: they've gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind." - Emily Bronte

2010-09-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

hearing the sweet fall rains
they sound exquisite and nourishing
when i am tucked inside a soft bed

“I would sooner live in a cottage and wonder at everything than live in a castle and wonder at nothing!” Joan Winmill Brown

2010-09-17T00:33:00.001-07:00

2010-09-15T14:20:00.001-07:00

2010-09-14T14:30:00.001-07:00

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Hans Christian Andersen

2010-09-13T04:34:00.001-07:00

Christina's Brownie Recipe

2010-09-13T04:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't tried these yet, but everything she ever cooked for me was delish and usually healthy to boot. And, that is avocado that you see in this brownie recipe

Brownie's

Dry ingredients:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (add calories for white)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I always use sea salt in my baking. I love biting into
something and having a big chunk o salt in it!)

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1/2 an avocado mashed up until it's paste (the original recipe called
only for apple sauce. After making them, I decided they could use a
little fat, so hence the 1/2 an avocado)
1 cup baking cocoa
1 cup honey (you're more than welcome to use any combination of sugars
you like, but honey is a natural preservative and refined sugar is the
devil :) )
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs (preferrably salmonella free)

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl. In another mix the wet, then beat
until it's smooth, but don't over mix. Then mix the two together. MAKE
sure you grease the pan because there's not enough fat in these to
keep them from sticking to a non-stick baking pan all on their own.
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

2010-09-12T03:34:00.000-07:00

2010-09-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

Prayer for World Peace

Lord, we pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding to what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.

We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we and all men were created.

Amen.
~~~~~~

Above is from Prayer and Prayers.info