by Gailstrail on January 22, 2010
The title for this post was inspired by Caroline Myss, and the post was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend about my six year old friend and his niece; which led me to call another friend in Michigan; which got us on the subject of Caroline Myss and her book/YouTube video ‘Defying Gravity’.
After I got off the phone with Lynn, I went to YouTube and began watching Defying Gravity London 2009. I feel such a kinship with Caroline Myss. She confirms everything I knew from my very beginning; we are born with everything we need; but let our minds overrule our ‘grace’.
So, when I go to pick up my friend’s six year old daughter from Montessori school and ask, ‘what did you learn today?’ She says, “Nothing, I already know everything”. As strange as it may seem, I understand her answer. I remember knowing everything as well; astroplaning for example; I did it on a daily basis as a child. There were other things I knew; however, school ignored those things. Our society did not cultivate or acknowledge what we are born with; we fall way short on our development of the powers we are born with and the powerful beings we are meant to be.
As our Fossil Wars march on; and species after species become extinct; and the crumbling and burning earth becomes less and less inhabitable; and with every last molecule facing extinction; can we finally admit that our minds can not perform the healing we so desperately want?
“Either we all make it through ‘the eye of the needle’ or none of us do”. “Humanity has to turn to ‘resources that our minds can not access’ in order to transform.” - Caroline Myss, Defying Gravity, London 2009
The ‘precision with which we have become dis functional’ is horrific! And that we are conscious and addicted to this dis functionality is even more horrific! Caroline Myss poses the questions:
“What will we use to maneuver or manipulate everybody if we are not dysfunctional? What will I use if I’m whole? The idea of becoming functional is the most frightening thing you’ve ever come across! I just don’t know about this functional stuff; what will I use if I’m whole? Oops, there goes my weakness; I want be able to maneuver or manipulate; there goes my temper; there goes everything; I might have to go to work. Holy Christ! What will I do?”
Personally, I feel somewhat enlightened. What does that mean? Well, it’s kind of like having one foot asleep and a hip out of whack. Almost whole, but not all together yet. I want to be ‘whole’. I really, really want it. But the work to get there seems so daunting. Darn it. I have to pay attention to what I’m doing every minute of every day. Who wants to do that? I’m just like everyone else at times, I want a break; and all I want to do is have fun! I have to learn to listen to those who can lead me out of the shadow. Admit that I’ve lost much of what I knew and have to learn it all over…and that healing myself as well as the planet is a ‘daunting’ task! That I really, really, really have to want it!
“To challenge the shadow that hangs over us, you have to have a soul that can defy gravity; because your mind can’t do it!’” - Caroline Myss, Defying Gravity, London 2009
How do I get one of those? A soul that can defy gravity.
“Relying on your mind as an asset to help you heal, when in fact your mind is what needs healing; is preposterous; when the mind itself is part of the toxic waste dump; and then to turn to your mind as the instrument through which you intend to heal, when in itself is damaged goods. No, no, no, no no. Cause your mind will work to preserve it’s own woundedness. You have to go in through another door. And that other door is the door of Grace. You have to go in through a much deeper door. You need a quality of help and assistance, you need to really want to get out of your addiction to the shadow. You need to really want to become empowered in a way that is truly transformational! You need to want to transform.”
Okay, I’m psyched! I don’t have to go an organize and do a lot of research; Caroline’s got it all on tape; video, book, cassette. There is no excuse. I really, really want ‘a soul that can defy gravity’ and I’m determined to get out of my head and into the door of ‘grace’. I will get there. I know that Caroline Myss is not the only one out there saying these things…however, I very much like her delivery. No nonsense and straight to the point.
This is really exciting. If enough people had a ’soul that can defy gravity’; if enough people got this all at once; and opened the door of grace; then ‘this world could transform in the blink of an eye!
I’m just on tape five; there are 27. Gotta go now. Stay tuned, and
Happy Graceful Trails
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by Gailstrail on January 7, 2010
Wild horses of Nevada's Calico Mountains - PHOTO by Kurt Golgart/Bureau of Land Management as published in NY Times.
Perhaps I have too tender a heart; my eyes burn and my heart aches so much that I have to take a few minutes to let the overwhelming tragedy befalling our nations wild horses reseed before I can continue.
“This week’s “gather” of some 2,500 wild horses from Nevada’s Calico Mountains marked the Bureau of Land Management’s latest bungle to “balance natural resources.”
“If you could look closely into the eyes of the horses – corralled in a subzero chill and bathed in sweat that freezes to their hide – you see terror. With eyes bulging, they blow steam from their noses that hangs in the frigid air. These are traumatized animals who do not quickly settle, as BLM misleadingly tells the public.” - Kinship Circle
Some say the wild horse is no longer automatically considered deserving of extensive protection; some environmentalists and scientists have come to see the mustangs as bullies, invaders who disturb the habitats of endangered tortoises and desert birds. In a 2006 article in Audubon magazine, wild horses lost their poetry and were reduced to “feral equids.”
The Bureau of Land Management’s quest to ‘balance our natural resources’ (these beautiful horses) is bringing horrific consequences to them. After reading the story first in the Kinship Circle, then in the New York Times and their similar story ‘On Mustang Range, a Battle on Thinning the Herd’ I’ve been possessed by wild horses. I’ve called President Obama, Vice President Biden, the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as sending letters, conveying my deep concern for what’s happening to one of our most precious national treasures - wild horses. The message I left urged them to establish a committee of environmentalist, animal scientist, animal welfare advocates, ranchers and anyone else who desires to see a better solution to the Bureau of Land Management’s current approach to ‘managing our resources’!
Wild horses comprise a minute fraction of grazing animals on public lands, where they are outnumbered by cattle at least 200 to 1. The 1971 Act states that, in a given area, a certain amount of vegetation may be eaten as forage. Only when that amount is exceeded are there too many animals. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has overwhelmingly favored cattle in setting “appropriate” wild horse population levels, resulting in indiscriminate removal of horses and burros from public lands. From over 2 million in 1900, our wild horse population has dwindled to less than 25,000. For more information, please check the numbers.
“The battle for our wild horses will be won in the court of public opinion: the government needs to face a sustained public outcry over its wild horse management practices. Did you know that Congress counts each letter received as the opinion of ten people” - The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign (AWHPC)
Please take ACTION. The AWHPC has a list of suggestions to help keep up the noise and spread the word.
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by Gailstrail on January 4, 2010
“The American public does not want to be uplifted, ennobled–it wants to be amused.”
-Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935). novelist. social worker. and teacher
Alice was a poet, journalist and political activist. She was among the first generation born free in the south after the Civil War, she was one of the prominent African Americans involved in the artistic flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance. Alice and I have much in common. She knew what many of us are aware of…I wonder what she would think if she was here today?
The Twentieth Century Fund estimates 40 billion dollars per year for total recreation expenditures in the United States could easily be supported. So, it is apparent that Twentieth Century agrees with Alice. Keeping the population entertained is high on the list for those few men who control all our activities.
Who doesn’t ‘just wanta have fun’? You work hard all day at a job you’re not crazy about; for a boss who doesn’t appreciate how brilliant you are; then you come home too exhausted to cook; so you through an empty of anything nutritious excuse for food into a microwave; which kills any remaining nutrition; or you open up a carton of ice cream to satisfy that hunger you just can’t seem to satisfy!
Contemplating this, I tear myself away from a recorded segment of ‘Saving Grace’! Me, I’m just another willing victim.
I read a lot. I do research for my writings’ and I’m interested in what our great leaders and writers in the past thought about our country and the direction we took and are taking. President Woodrow Wilson made a disturbing statement; what’s more disturbing is knowing what to do with the knowledge that “The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men”. I believe President Wilson. There are too many others that confirm his statement. President Woodrow Wilson said upon reflecting on the passage of the Federal Reserve Act.
“I am a most unhappy man, I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominate men”
And then President Thomas Jefferson said:
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”
Our children are ‘waking up homeless on the continent their fathers conqured’! My question, who has the power to ‘take ‘The issuing power from the banks and restore it to the people, to whom it properly belongs?’ I believe Kennedy talked about doing this, he certainly had the power, but look what doing so got him! But then his voice was very loud, he had the attention of our nation. No other President has spoken of doing such a thing since. And me, well, I’m just another trickle in the bucket.
Sometimes I feel like drowning myself in ‘fun’. I don’t want to face the realities that I dig up. But then the ‘fun’ gets to feel so shallow and empty. What should I be doing with my time? What do I have the energy to do with my time? The majority of us are under paid and work long hours just to barely get by.
My administrative page on Wordpress would not open. I then went to the opening page of my site to see if it would open; it did. The title of my latest post glared at me: ‘Ineffable Hunger: Nature a Daily Fix’. The post is about getting away from the static that surrounds us 24/7; and of course the benefits of leaving technology behind us for awhile.
It’s was hot and sunny when I wrote this and I had missed my opportunity to hike in the cooler part of the day. So I waited a few hours to go for a hike. In the meantime it is important to know that I have choices to make about how I will spend these few hours. Having choices about how I spend my time is an incredible luxury. One I do not take for granted. Isn’t that what we all want? You get to do what you want; when you want! Making the decision about how I will spend my time, makes me feel rich. But then, my ‘level of rich’ may be very different from someone elses.
It’s the little things we can choose that make a difference in how our individual world looks… and perhaps the little things are the only things we have the power to change.
Happy Trails!
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by Gailstrail on August 24, 2009
Lets take a long look into centuries of food industry practices. Practices which began innocently enough, but, in many instances have developed into a dark and dangerous business; endangering the planet and it’s inhabitants!
The food industry continually strives to cut costs and expenses in order to increase profit; they hypnotizie the population with their glossy color ads and their promise of miracle foods’; all the while their GREED seeps in a sea of muck! This will become very clear if you are brave enough to follow the slippery trail.
[click to continue…]
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by Gailstrail on April 22, 2009
I listened as the teacher said to the young boy. “We each have a destiny; full filing this destiny is our purpose.”
Do you understand what this teacher meant? Are you on the road to full filing your destiny? Or, has the road become dark and your path uncertain? Have you reached what seems to be an ‘impassable juncture’? If you feel yourself at this juncture…this is where you dig into your heart; you call on ’something for which there seems to be no proof’.
“Nobody else knows your reason for being. You do. Your bliss guides you to it. When you follow your bliss, when you follow your path to joy, your conversation is of joy, your feelings are of joy — you’re right on the path of that which you intended when you came forth into this physical body.”
- Abraham - Hicks
I like what Abraham says: it’s encouraging. However, if you are really in a crunch…like reached the bottom of the pit or that impassable juncture, it would seem difficult to just jump up and feel that inner light. If we could all reach it so easily…well, we and the world would definitely be very different.
Reason For Being
How do we reach this ‘inner light’ that ‘light you and I brought with us into this body at the very beginning’. Do we need to step back in time? No, you don’t have to step back in time to find away out of what seems to be an ‘impassable juncture’! What you must do is take responsibility for your well being. There is ‘no quick fix’! I’ll say this again: there is no quick fix! If you believe the pharmaceutical industry will develop a pill to insure your well being; you’re delusional!
A Walk In The Woods
While reading this, click on the video to the right. Take yourself into a quiet place. Ideally a place where there is no electricity. Surrounding oneself with running water, trees, nature sounds. Get out of the static…the cities are full of static and crazy makers: television is the number one culprit. I’m so grateful television was not around when I grew up. Entertainment was an outside event!
A walk in the woods is free and easy. One step after the other will lead to waking up the heart and freeing your inner light. Find or create some ‘quiet’. Having a place where your mind can be still is crucial. When your environment is quiet, your mind can take a breath and empty out all the static buildup. Take long deep breaths; hear the birds twittering in the trees; water; rustling trees. Did you know it takes a tree 24 hours to take a breath! Imagine! Take some slow and deep easy breaths. Sit, close your eyes.
Do this on a daily basis you will feel joy and peace enter into your being. No doubt. I’m proof positive. I feel Joy and Peace everyday. Humans can not do without nature. There is no substitute. Nothing is more positive. Nothing brings more joy. Nothing brings more peace. See it. Believe it.
As you continue to do this: inner light, peace and joy will fill your heart and illuminate the path you have been seeking.
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by Gailstrail on April 19, 2009
Recently, I sent an email to a long lost friend whom I wished to reconnect. I asked if she would like to spend a few hours and attend the Science and History museum with me one day this summer. She wrote back and explained that she did not have time to cultivate a friendship with me. She said she was sorry for being so harsh; wished me well and hoped great things happened to me. I wrote her back and told her not to feel sorry, that I was comfortable in my skin and that I would never think her harsh. I told her great things happen everyday.
Later, when looking for a new book to begin, my hand stopped at ‘The Power of a Woman’;Timeless Thoughts On A Woman’s Inner Strengths, Edited by Janet Mills. Today I need some words to reflect my inner thoughts and feelings about love and peace; and the greatness that envelops me each day, I need someone else’s words to express my thoughts about ‘the power of love’. So, it is very fortuitous that my hand came to rest on this particular book today. Below are excerpts from the book.
“Within the smallest grain of sand there is love, joy, history, romance and hope…eternal life, in changing form…It is Love in all of its manifestations, holding form together, bonding our souls to this earth and to one another.”
“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.”
- Mother Teresa
“I seldom think of my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.”
- Helen Keller
I think of my long lost friend with the same ‘touch of yearning at times; it too is vague; ‘like a breeze among flowers’.
Peace
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by Gailstrail on January 17, 2009
Save me! Every time I take a bite of anything these days, I wonder about the resources that went into it.
I normally don’t eat beef. I did recently. A burger and fries at Ted’s Grill. Did you know Ted Turner owns Ted’s Grill? Did you know Ted Turner owns 80% of all the Bison? As we walk into Ted’s Grill, I notice a huge Bison head mounted on the wall. It looked like a giant. There must have been 10 feet from one tip of it’s horns to the other. Impressive! It was huge! Needless to say, I set with my back to that wall and didn’t order bison from the menu…remembering the glass glare from the bison held on the wall.
When Ted Turner was asked what is it that you like about bison?
“I just, I really love them. I’m a naturalist and an environmentalist, and I was touched by the tragedy that occurred with the bison. There were 30 million of ’em on the Great Plains when the white man landed in North America. In the 1880s, there were only about 200 of ’em. I wanted to do everything I could during my life to bring them back. In order to do that you have to be able to monetize the surplus.”
What I didn’t know
about Ted Turner was that he is a huge experimentalist! In 1997 Ted Turner and his family established the Turner Endangered Species Fund as a response to the mass extinction of the world’s plants and animals. Thanks Ted.
Anyway, when the server brought my plate, I commented that the food on the plate could feed three people; and asked for a take-home-box at the beginning of my meal. I cut my burger in half and put half the burger and 3/4 of my fries in the box. [click to continue…]
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by Aishwarya on January 13, 2009
In Pune India, about 160 kilometers southeast of the state capital, Mumbai, Suman, a widowed wife and a mother of three children, supports herself and her family by working as house help and also works in a bricklin (a place that bakes bricks).
About 25 years back her brother got her a little brown puppy to keep away thieves. The entry of the little puppy brought so much joy into their lives. They named him ”Jackey”.
Jackey Had Great Responsibility
Jackey was a puppy with a lot of responsibility. Every morning he used to follow Suman’s children to school; escort them to the gate and also escort them back from school. The children say he used to come and wait near the school gate at 6pm and time to go back home. They wonder how he knew the correct time; Jackey never came by the school at odd hours.
This was his regular duty inspite of being troubled by the stray dogs in that locality. Jackey also knew the time Suman left from the bricklin, he call on her too. Everybody there including Suman’s master used to say ”Your joker has come to call on you.” After his dinner he used to go and wait for the arrival of Suman’s brother.
Home Cooking Feeds The Soul
He used to eat one big brown home-cooked bread with a bowl of milk and on days when Suman could not afford milk she used to give him water with sugar; he never complained. She says he ate only once during the day and if you try to feed him more, he would not eat.
Next he comes by around 6.30 for his fill and he needs to eat hot food always. As soon as he listens to the ice cream man ringing the bells he’ll pull Suman towards the van to eat ice-cream his favourite treat. Everytime he got hungry he use to open his mouth indicating that he was hungry. [click to continue…]
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by Gailstrail on January 12, 2009
Wild Horses
“My face up against the glass. I’m looking out. Is this my life I’m wondering. It happened so fast. How do I turn this thing around. Is this the bed I chose to make. Its greener pastures I’m thinking about. Wide open spaces far away. All I want is the wind in my hair to face the fear but, not feel scared. Wild horses I wanna be like you. Throwing caution to the wind. I’ll run free too. Wish I could recklessly love, like I’m longing to. I want to run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!
I see the girl I wanna be. Riding bare back, care free along the shore If only that someone was me. Jumping head first head long without a thought. To act and damn the consequence. How I wish it could be that easy. But fear surrounds me like a fence. I wanna break free. All I want is the wind in my hair. To face the fear but, not feel scared.
Wild horses I wanna be like you. Throwing caution to the wind, I’ll run free too. Wish I could recklessly love, like I’m longing to. I wanna run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!
I wanna run too. Breathlessly abandoning my self before you. I wanna open up my heart tell him how I feel. Wild horses I wanna be like you
Throwing caution to the wind. I’ll run free too. Wish I could recklessly love, like I’m longing to. I wanna run with the wild horses, run with the wild horses!
I wanna run with the wild horses.”
- Natasha Bedingfield Lyrics
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by Gailstrail on January 11, 2009
There is an ineffable hunger in each of us that food just doesn’t reach. Yet we keep stuffing ourselves: we live in a nation of obesity; 32% of United States children are overweight; 60% of the Australia population is overweight; making the Aussies the number one obese country and the U.S. a close second.
Starving for Purpose
Why do we eat and eat and never seem to fill our hunger? My answer may be a bit hard to swallow. I believe the human species, with our ability to think, has an inexplicable purpose. How can the unexplainable be explained? How can the indescribable be described? What does purpose have to do with starving?
Wolves On The Run
I believe we are ‘Starving for Purpose’; looking for any and all morsels of food to fill this emptiness. The answer to this ‘ineffable hunger’, came to me in the early morning hours. I lay unable to sleep; images of wolves running through the tundra of Alaska to escape aerial hunters kept filling my mind. How can I stop the images? The cruelty?How can a woman, the Governor of Alaska, condemn these angel beasts to die?
Then my mind is filled with images of wild horses being killed and slaughtered to make room for more beef cattle; the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) believes this is necessary; as if we need more burgers!
[click to continue…]
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