Summer in Oregon was quite unusual this year. Although I love all seasons, I truly feel this summer was not a true summer as I remember in past years. Not only did it hail in June, just the week before that it soared up to nearly 100 degrees! Then we proceeded to jump between seasons all summer long. Although we did experience several heat waves, which lasted a few days here and there, I must admit to noticing the confusion in my garden. My plants and flowers, although healthy, were not as profuse as previous summers.

Nevertheless, my daughter S and I enjoyed many precious moments amongst the green and colourful space we created. In this we have succeeded in creating our own healthy, personal environment. This is where we would escape to when we just wanted to enjoy peaceful moments, either reading, sharing a meal, beading, playing games, studying and completing homeschool assignments, practicing Qigong (a healing art for inner health and vitality), sharing stories and Dreams, or simply sitting quietly enjoying a lovely sunset. As always, we invited nature’s fairy creatures to visit our garden, so the energy was very sweet. Truly our garden is a place to find peace and tranquility in a life full of unsettling challenges.

We all need a quiet place in which to find our inner peace, and help us to focus on the important things in life. Too many things occur which serve to unsettle us, and bring anxiety and stress, which can lead to dis-ease and illness. It is so important to create or find our own space in which to absorb positive energy, while releasing negative energy, sending it to where it will disperse safely into the universe without harming others. This is a good time to remember our blessings, dwelling upon that which is good in our lives. We can then set goals and visualize all we wish to manifest in the now, as well as the future. It does no good to dwell upon the past, so why waste precious time? All there ever is, is now, so let’s just make the best of it!

Gardening Tip

Have you got a great natural gardening tip to share? I do! I would like to share a tip I learned from my grandmother many years ago. Try adding gelatin to your plant water. I usually add 1/2 tsp to a half gallon container or 1 tsp to a gallon container of water. I like to water with this delightful treat twice a month… your plants will simply love it!

If there is one thing that comes close to my love of family and nature, it is maintaining a strong and healthy body. For most of my life I have been blessed with excellent health, and I have always been very grateful for the awesome genes I have inherited. Then, a while back I experienced some very stressful life changes and tragedies, and this served to create a health crisis from the inside out. I began to get sick, catching every virus that seemed to float or creep my way, and I actually gained too much weight, which is very unusual for me.

I really needed to take some serious action and get my body back on track. Whereas before these health issues began to arise and I did not have to devote so much active thought to my weight or health, lately I have had to actually pay even closer attention to what I eat, and raise my metabolism to a desirable stage to burn off the excess fat. This is a challenge, but I do know how to work out safely, and my martial arts background gives me the confidence to reach my goals. I just have to be consistant and work a little harder than when I was younger, yet I know I will be back in tip top shape in no time at all.

I am actively practicing Qigong, an ancient Chinese form of health and healing designed to bring inner health, which I will elaborate upon as I progress. Along with this I am always curious to find new ways to shape and sculpt my outer self to where I wish to be. I will not be satisfied until I attain my goals, and I do love a good challenge.

Even though I am quite skilled in  physical training, I would like to try something new and exciting. I believe I may have found what I am looking for in XFLOWSION, which claims to be an exercise program that efficiently and effectively gives us all three workouts in one convenient workout, combining the proven best moves from martial arts, power yoga, and dance, providing jaw-dropping results in 1/3 the time.

XFLOWSION really sounds fun, and I will be sure to offer up a better opinion as I take myself to the next level. From what I can see celebrity trainer Eric Paskel, who has shaped up some of the hottest bodies in Hollywood, combines his leading-edge fitness and psychology background to bring fresh, constantly shifting moves which are specifically designed to promote continuous fat burning and muscle toning. Well, I can honestly say this meets the criteria I am looking for in a workout, and I love dance, martial arts, and yoga. Sounds perfect to me!

Note: As always, I suggest everyone uses their own good judgement when choosing a new form of excercise, and chech with your health care provider before beginning a new program.

Here is a post I recently created on my newest blog Lavender ‘N Chocolate; thought I would share it with my Earthbeats readers as well…

August 27th marked my 46th year on this planet. How do I feel about that? Well, first of all, I like the sound of the number 46. It has a nice ring to it. Also, I do not look or feel my age, so I don’t really feel old. Although, I was a bit melancholy for part of the day. I kept thinking about my family… those who are far away, and those who have crossed over. I miss them. At this time I am always reminded of days long ago when we were all together and so very happy.

While I was sitting on my patio thinking of my loved ones, I began to cry. This is unusual for me because I am usually such a happy person. The tears just came, and my heart felt near to breaking. Then a strange thing happened. A frog jumped into my line of site and landed on my beautifully blooming begonia! It startled me out of my tears, as it just appeared from nowhere. My plant sits on my patio table, and I have never seen a frog near my house before. I stared in wonder, and decided to snap a picture or two, to share this strange phenomena. The little frog jumped into my plant and disappeared. I did not see it hop away, and could not find it when I carefully searched inside the plant. It had served it’s purpose, then went its merry way… LOL

Needless to say, after that things just got better. My son J arrived with a cake and gifts. He and my daughter had visited the mall and got me some pretty cool gifts… books, candles and totally sweet chinese style wall hangings. And chocolate of course! Sweet, delicious Northwest Truffles in three delectable flavors… Raspberry, Mocha and Mint… yummm!! J got me two new movies; Stardust and 10,000 BC. We watched Stardust and it was quite entertaining. It sure gave me a whole new perspective into Rober DeNiro’s acting abilities.. hehehe.

My faraway family called soon after my son J arrived, and filled my heart with love and happy thoughts. My spirit brightened considerably as each moment unfolded, and I feel truly blessed to have so many people that truly care. The little frog sent a positve message that I am never truly alone, and although those I love are not always near me in person, the creatures that inhabit this Earth alongside us are here to keep us company as well. I spend so much time advocating for the health of the environment and the animals in danger on this planet, that it seems only fitting that it was one of natures tiny creatures that stopped by for a brief visit and pulled me out of my funk. Just goes to show you that it is the little things that count.

With much Love and Light, I would like to offer the following to all my fellow human beings…

Our physical bodies are only an aspect of what we truly are. In reality, we are beings of light and energy. The concept of “the Force” described in the Stars Wars movies is surprisingly accurate. Our minds and bodies are shaped by our consciousness, thoughts, and intentions. Our bodies are the conduits of life energy that flows through the Universe. When we run low on life energy we become “dis-eased” and eventually diseased. Just as matter and energy are interchangeable, thought and energy are interchangeable. Just like energy can be thought of as having a specific frequency (like tuning into a radio station at a certain frequency), thoughts have different frequencies as well. Not unlike radio waves or microwaves or light waves, they are broadcast beyond our specific brains.

“Reality is the mirror of your thoughts. Choose well what you put in front of the mirror.” ~ Remez Sasson

Light waves are electromagnetic radiation that comes to us from the sun. Their frequencies are such that they have a positive impact on our bodies. Gamma radiation is also a type of electromagnetic energy at a different frequency that has a very destructive effect on our bodies. Thoughts and intentions also generate energetic fields that have either positive or negative effects upon our lives. The thoughts and intentions that have negative energetic effects on our spirit and our body include shame, guilt, anger, fear and false pride. These include activities such as criticizing, blaming, judging, withdrawing, hiding, punishing, attacking and so on. The thoughts and intentions that have positive energetic effects on our souls and bodies include acceptance, openness, love, joy, peacefulness curiosity, compassion, and reverence. They include activities such as acceptance, forgiveness, kindness, love, understand ing connection, and empathy.

“Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives.” ~ Louise L. Hay

There are certain people whom everyone likes to be around. We often say, “I like their energy”. We are absolutely correct about this. These people do broadcast good energy. There are other people we do not want to be around for just the opposite reason. We are all aware of this. But it goes much deeper than this. When we walk around criticizing, judging and blaming others or ourselves we weaken our life energy. When we go though our life being angry and negative towards others or ourselves we generate negative energy that makes us feel bad and makes us suffer immediately. The impact of this energy continues to affect us over time. Eventually these negative thought patterns create negative energy fields that disrupt the body’s physical functioning and can in some cases create dis-ease.

“Eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.” ~ Gary Zukav

On the flip side, we gain create positive energy in our mind-body by giving love and accepting energies to ourselves and others. In fact, the vibration of love will literally create physical healing in the body. The more loving energy you send towards yourself, the healthier you will be and the more energy you will have. The vibration of love has been scientifically proven to alter the shape and structure of physical molecules such as water. According to current scientific studies, water molecules are directly effected by the words, sounds and thoughts they are exposed to. Since your physical body is made up of more than 70% water, it is continuously impacted by the vibrations of negative or positive words you send into it.

“The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.” ~ Hubert Horatio Humphrey

Consciously sending loving energy to your own being will create amazing shifts in your physical body on a molecular level. As you start daily send loving thoughts and feeling into every cell of your body, you will start to heal your mind-body, and experience a dramatic shift in your energy field. You will naturally feel more energized, alive, and healthier as you continue to bathe your cells to the healing energy of self-love.

Sending you loving and healing blessings,

Margot Zaher and Jafree Ozwald

I would like to take this moment to offer support for a friend and participant in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. Please take her plea into consideration for this most worthwhile of causes!

A letter from Laura…

Hi again all!

Just wanted to ask again for your support in sponsoring me in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. Please go to my Avon Participant page and make a donation. No donation is too small. Also your donation is tax deductible!

You can simply go to www.avonwalk.org select The tab for Los Angeles 2008 then select the tab at the top of the page “make a donation” then select the tab “donate to a participant” click “Los Angeles 2008″ then you can enter my name in the search field!!!

“Laura Webster”

Again, no donation is too small. Please help me make the necessary fundraising goal of $1800.00. Heck it would be lovely to exceed the minimum and really help this worthy cause!

Thanks Again,

Laura

For 2 days and 39 miles, you have the opportunity to dramatically impact the lives of millions affected by breast cancer worldwide. By participating in the Avon Walk, you’ll allow medically under-insured women and men to receive the screening, support, and treatment they require. And leading-edge research teams will be powered by the cure all because of you. Take the first step. Register today!

This simply has to be one of my most favourite past times… lots of sunshine, a fresh breeze, good company and a beach cruiser bike! Just imagine how wonderful and comfortable it would be to take a leisurely ride along the beach on one of these sweet bikes.

Well, if you are looking to add a cruiser to your bike collection, you may wish to consider a place I found recently. CruiserStyle.com seems fairly new, yet I am seeing that they are adding some quality cruisers as they grow. Although I haven’t bought a bike from them myself, as of yet, I thought the 26″ Shimano 7-Speed Deluxe Beach Cruiser for Ladies looks like a mellow ride. I could definately see myself comfortably cruising along the beach to my hearts content on one of these babies!

Now, these cruisers are not for the speed demons looking for a thrill whilst out biking. Although some days I am out for speed and distance, sometimes my sense of adventure calls for a beach cruiser bike so I can just kick back and enjoy the scenery and daydream, while perhaps looking forward to a romantic picnic on the beach, or possibly exploring new places. It just depends upon my mood. As each day unfolds, I feel like a new person as I live and grow. So… some days I just feel like cruisin’.

Enjoy!

What is it that brings about an inner peace to bring harmony into our lives? Many people have had negative experiences which can be detrimental to our happiness as well as our health and well being. There are always those who try to influence us, through either words or actions, as to how they think we should feel or behave. Such experiences can leave emotional and spiritual scars. Finding true, lasting, good therapy can sometimes prove to be quite difficult. Not everyone is truly out for our best interests, so much as their own.

Let us look into this a bit further.

Empowering therapists maintain the belief that people can grow, heal, and transform. This hope is held no matter how intense one’s defenses and wounds are. People can heal if they want to and if they can contribute to their own growth whatever is sufficient and necessary to that end. When a therapist views a person as fundamentally flawed or incapable of change, the person is more likely to feel and become flawed. Yet, when a good therapist sees beyond a person’s wounds and defenses and holds in mind their true nature, the person is more likely to discover their own true nature for themselves. Some people may not heal in this lifetime, but let the therapist not be an additional barrier to whatever other obstacles may be presenting.

Good therapy often times needs to go deep. There seems to be a split in the mental health field between approaches that emphasize cognitive solutions and those that emphasize emotional or body oriented healing. Both are important. In many instances, the depth of our emotional traumas are buried deep within ourselves. Reaching these extreme emotional depths of hidden pain is a very delicate process, and must be approached very carefully.

If you, or someone you know, is in need of good therapy to Empower your Life, and wish to find a counselor or therapist, perhaps you may like to visit www.goodtherapy.org, and browse through their extensive selection of therapists. As always, use your good judgement and choose wisely.

As quoted from Good Therapy…

Our Purpose…
“There is a movement toward more collaborative, empowering, and nonpathological forms of psychotherapy. We promote this movement by helping people find therapists and counselors who believe “people are proficient,” capable of feeling peaceful and satisfied with life, and can, with a bit of guidance, access their own wisdom and healing potential to overcome the obstacles to health & happiness.”

~Love and Light to All

“Enlightenment consists not merely in the seeing of luminous shapes and visions, but in making the darkness visible. The latter procedure is more difficult and therefore, unpopular.” ~ Carl Jung

Winter is a time when we enjoy the safe and warm comfort of staying inside our homes. It is the time of year when we may start to feel lethargic, depressed, or irritable. Even though winter brings special holidays that make us want to feel festive and optimistic and you can feel spring coming, we become affected by the lack of sunshine in our lives. To combat the winter blues, we love to surround ourselves with pleasant scents.

Essential oils may bring balance to our hearts and peace to our minds. They may help to cleanse, release, and balance our thoughts. Let the aromatherapy shine. Scent has a great effect on our emotions. Scientists are increasingly interested in the connection between fragrance and memory triggers in the limbic brain. They are also researching pheromones – fragrant substances that may influence physical attraction. Personal attraction or aversion is influenced by odor. Without the ability to smell, there would be very little attraction. Our body has special glands that produce a very personal perfume that changes according to our mood or state of health. Fragrance may create well-being or discomfort. If you have difficulty adapting to a new situation, or letting go of the past, a new fragrance may help create a fresh mood. It may help you change your attitude or find a new positive reaction. A pure essential oil will not create an aggressive feeling; rather it will have a positive, balancing effect.

We each have our own personal reaction to every scent. Smells, moods, and short and long term memories are all stored in the limbic part of our brain. Dangerous or negative odors set our subconscious in the awareness stage. Positive smells like our babies’ skin or our mothers’ fragrance will bring a pleasant reminder of a positive experience for decades.

Helping our body and psyche with scent has a history stretching back for many centuries. The very beginning of the practice of medicine has been connected with mythical rituals, magic, or religion. We may say that the history of scent began with incense burners and has continued through experience with aromas and essential oils up to the present day. The methods of treatment were based on philosophical ideas that looked at a direct connection between man and nature. In ancient civilizations, medicinal herbs were evaluated by their taste and smell. An interesting example from the history of essential oils is thyme. The name “Thyme” is derived from the Greek word Thymiama (incense) and means courage, health, or sacrifice. It was a sign of high respect in ancient Greece to say to someone that he “smells of thyme”. Roman soldiers often added thyme to their baths to give themselves strength, health, and courage.

Rosemary played an important part in the Roman tradition of eliminating evil spirits. In the Middle Ages, it was a part of Hungarian water, a distillate of rosemary, lavender, and turpentine. According to alchemistic understanding, this was the first water of life. Many preserving properties were attributed to Carmelite water, a distillate of lemon balm, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

The seductive power of scent has always been known. The sense of smell may help create love and desire. Smell influences us much more than we think. The natural scent of flowers, essential oils, and compositions in the form of perfume, are more than just a pleasant smell. They can promote relaxation, sensuality, or spiritual depth. According to research on flowers by P. Jellinek, “esters of phenylacetic acids, fatty aldehydes, and alcohols are responsible for the aphrodisiac effect of various flower scents (jasmine, neroli).”

Extensive studies by occupational psychologists have shown that lemon or rosemary scent may help with concentration, nutmeg may reduce stress, and lavender, interestingly, promotes a desire to buy things. Large Japanese companies are using scent throughout their employees’ workstations to help improve their performance – lemon in the morning for pick-me-up feelings, rose at lunch time for relaxation, and wood scents in the evening for stimulation and refreshment.

Another interesting discussion would focus on stress levels in our civilization. More and more studies are being done to prove that essential oils interact well with the receptors of the psychosomatic network and they may, in a soft and gentle way, restore harmony in our systems.

Aromatherapy is using the knowledge of the effect of scents on the body and mind. With the help of the purest essential oils we may influence our stage of mood or form of somatic anomalies. Compared with synthetic products, aromatherapy has a much higher risk-free profile.

I am in general a very happy person, in spite of circumstances, and this truly shows to all who come in contact with me. Today I would like to share a message from a friend, which touched my heart and spirit. It reminds me why each day, I look for the good in all things…

A fleeting moment, or a way of seeing?

Ask any number of people to describe a moment of “perfect” happiness. Some will talk about moments of deep peace experienced in a harmonious natural setting, of a forest dappled in sunshine, of a mountain summit looking out across a vast horizon, of the shores of a tranquil lake, of a night walk through snow under a starry sky, and so on. Others will refer to a long-awaited event: an exam they’ve aced, a sporting victory, meeting someone they’ve longed to meet, the birth of a child. Still others will speak of a moment of peaceful intimacy with their family or a loved one, or of having made someone else happy.

The common factor to all of these experiences would seem to be the momentary disappearance of inner conflicts. The person feels in harmony with the world and with herself. Someone enjoying such an experience, such as walking through a serene wilderness, has no particular expectations beyond the simple act of walking. She simply is, here and now, free and open.

For just a few moments, thoughts of the past are suppressed, the mind is not burdened with plans for the future, and the present moment is liberated from all mental constructs. This moment of respite, from which all sense of emotional urgency has vanished, is experienced as one of profound peace. For someone who has achieved a goal, completed a task, or won a victory, the tension they have long carried with them relaxes. The ensuing sense of release is felt as a deep calm, free of all expectation and fear.

But this experience is just a passing glimpse brought on by a particular set of circumstances. We call it a magic moment, a state of grace. And yet the difference between these flashes of happiness seized on the fly and the immutable peacefulness of the sage, for instance, is as great as that between the tiny section of sky seen through the eye of a needle and the limitless expanses of outer space. The two conditions differ in dimension, duration, and depth.

Even so, we can learn something from these fleeting moments, these lulls in our ceaseless struggles; they can give us a sense of what true plenitude might be and help us to recognize the conditions that favour it.

A Way of Being

I remember one afternoon as I was sitting on the steps of our monastery in Nepal. The monsoon storms had turned the courtyard into an expanse of muddy water and we had set out a path of bricks to serve as stepping-stones. A friend of mine came to the edge of the water, surveyed the scene with a look of disgust, and complained about every single brick as she made her way across. When she got to me, she rolled her eyes and said, “Yuck! What if I’d fallen into that filthy muck? Everything’s so dirty in this country!” Since I knew her well, I prudently nodded, hoping to offer her some comfort through my mute sympathy. A few minutes later, Raphaèle, another friend of mine, came to the path through the swamp. “Hup, hup, hup!” she sang as she hopped, reaching dry land with the cry “What fun!” Her eyes sparkling with joy, she added: “The great thing about the monsoon is that there’s no dust.” Two people, two ways of looking at things; six billion human beings, six billion worlds.

Anyone who enjoys inner peace is no more broken by failure than he is inflated by success. He is able to fully live his experiences in the context of a vast and profound serenity, since he understands that experiences are ephemeral and that it is useless to cling to them. There will be no “hard fall” when things turn bad and he is confronted with adversity. He does not sink into depression, since his happiness rests on a solid foundation.

Once at an open meeting in Hong Kong, a young man rose from the audience to ask me: “Can you give me one reason why I should go on living?” This book is a humble response to that question, for happiness is above all a love of life.

__________________________
Excerpted with permission from Happiness: Developing Life’s Most Important Skill by Matthieu Ricard (Little, Brown and Company, 2006). Ricard, a former biochemist and Buddhist monk.