Time For a Little Break

To catch up on a few things...

Blessings, all!

A Little Hug

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Focused Prayer

I have read in more than one place lately - that prayers, when combined with others praying at the same time for the same thing - turn to a kind of "music" in the cosmos. In Whitley Streiber's book "The Key" the mysterious visitor who visited him in his hotel room in Canada during the 1990's stated that human beings could pray together to help change their world.

There are many places that have popped up on the Internet that bring people together to pray for a certain outcome - usually having to do with world catastrophic events. I was invited to join one the other day through James Redfield - the author of The Twelfth Insight.

In a world of more and more extreme phenomenon, it makes sense to band together - if for no other reason than we feel a communion with fellow world inhabitants. This is the premise behind most of Lynn McTaggart's work with intention and the zero-point field.

Event Temples and James's work takes all of this a step further and attempts to help people learn to develop the ability to see the world differently by utilizing what he terms the "Six Heart Virtues." They are as follows:

1. Appreciation
2. Compassion
3. Forgiveness
4. Humility
5. Understanding
6. Valor

Here is an excerpt from the website:

JAMES: "A new psychology is emerging on the planet, referred to as positive psychology, which focuses on the study of human resilience and emotional strength. Psychologists are beginning to realize, for example, that it is more important to understand how some people have naturally overcome depression, than it is to study the psychopathology of depression itself.

"Reservoirs of resilience and emotional strength are byproducts of emotional self-mastery, the ability to express the six heart virtues and live within a  virtuous instead of a vicious cycle. The ability to sustain a virtuous cycle through the energetic and behavioral expression of the six heart virtues is tantamount to empowerment.

"My vision for EventTemples.com is for it to help individuals achieve a new level of empowerment, and from this base, enable them to collectively and individually support people across the globe through energetic transfers from an expanding set of quantum communities."

Of course, all of this is not necessarily easy for us humans to understand and learn. It requires some real effort on our part. Most of the time we are just responding to outside influences. We are a product of our subconscious, our ego, our upbringing, our educations, the media. But if we are going to move forward, if we are going to evolve, we need to learn the tools that help us to focus, to learn, and to transmit with intent.

Learning to think through our heart is a step in the right direction. We can look around us and see the impact of living only within a mechanistic worldview.

James the WingMaker

(James's artwork)

As many of you know, I have been studying the heart as the next stage of human evolution. From this post, and this post, consecutively, you may know that we evolve from a heart - not a brain. It has a much more dense electromagnetic field than does the brain. This information has come from a variety of sources, but none more mysterious than from James the WingMaker. He is a man of European (Spanish) decent who claims to be from an ancient line of beings who incarnate on earth to help lift our understanding during challenging times. He chooses to remain anonymous so that personality does not interfere with the message.

The message, put simply, is that the human family is a single organism that connects through the heart. This single organism is the savior we have sought; the intermediary we have been told is required to advance spiritually. He believes looking outside of ourselves is the wrong direction, that the heart's wisdom is the gateway to enlightenment, not only for the individual, but for humanity at large. He believes true wisdom does not come until the person is ready, and truth will find them when the time is right.

I've learned over a course of years to listen to messages from a variety of sources, suspending my judgment as to where they come from, and focusing on whether or not they resonate with my innate sense of right and wrong. Let me say, for the most part I tend to be somewhat suspicious by nature. But I've read hundreds of pages of his writings and cannot find anything that would send my spidey sense into  overload. The information is free - the only things sold are ancillary musical Cd's and artwork. He has three separate websites - all different in their teaching styles - but all are consistent with his fundamental message - that the heart of empowerment is the point of consciousness written in the individual by the Creator; and is the vibration of equality. It is here that the interface between individuality and Oneness occurs.

In typical Nancy fashion, I started with his latest website, Event Temples, and worked my way backwards. I did the same thing in college - upper division courses first (as many as I could get into) and followed by the lower division courses in order to fulfill requirements. I did this because the latest writings, or courses, usually gives me a perspective of whether or not it is worth my time to pursue. I'm not sure this is how these websites are constructed, however. I think one can visit any of the three to ascertain whether or not they are interested in what James has to say. We all learn differently, and are attracted to differing styles of teaching. I have not read much on the WingMaker's site, having spent most of my time reading the material on the Event Temple and the Lyricus sites.

Tomorrow I'll talk about behavioral intelligence, the cornerstone of James's teachings, and why it is easy to understand intellectually, but harder to practice behaviorally.

Here are his websites in order:
WingMakers
Lyricus
Event Temples

Living The Expat Life

My daughter sent me an email today from some friends that have relocated to Ecuador. It seems they have leased acreage for a organic farm and are looking for investors to build about eight eco-friendly homes on about 1 acre per household. Sound familiar?

So since this is right up my 'shared-resources' alley, I thought I would see what real estate prices were like in Ecuador. You can get this house for $180,000 in Cuenca:

Under Contract means the realtor has a signed contract to sell the home.

How about this one on acreage outside of town for $370,000? It has six bedrooms and six baths, full maids quarters and the taxes for 2009 was $145. (My older daughter thought the maid's quarters would be perfect for her younger sister. :-) I'm thinking an extended family could live here:

I guess these places are starting to look better and better to me when I realize the opportunities for our children are no longer in the United States. After reading a long article on the "lost generation" of new college graduates today, I realized this country is not what it used to be. Our "economy of war" is leaving me sad and dispirited. The huge shift to corporatism, with it's lack of moral obligation, is going to drive the best and brightest to other places, offering brighter futures.

Maybe it's time to look elsewhere, where we may not have as many amenities, but life can still be good. Maybe we can afford to retire before we're 80 years old. What do you think?

Here is a free handbook for moving to Ecuador.

Live More, Work Less

Tiny Buddha did a great post on what it means to change your lifestyle to actually enjoy more and work less. She begins by asking the question - how much do you actually need to feel comfortable? If you are without a job right now, doing with less is not something you want to read more about - but you may find some useful information that may be helpful during this stressful time. Links are provided that give practical guidance in finding ways to reduce your spending - and learning to enjoy life in a whole new way. I especially liked the link with thoughts on meaningful and inexpensive gift-giving.

As I look around me each day, I'm startled to realize I'm not as attached to some of these things as I thought I was. If I had to name five things I couldn't live without - it would be hard to come up with five. But I guess that could all change if I were one of the people now living along the Mississippi, or in the way of multiple tornadoes. Having never been in that situation, I have no idea how I would react. But I continue to be amazed at the people who bravely face their worst fears, the one thing standing out to me is the way they are there for each other.

Last night I watched the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" for the second time.  I had just finished a new book by Whitley Streiber, (The Key), and remembered that he had written the book (Superstorm) that the movie was based on - anyway - the take-away from the film is that if something catastrophic happens in the world; absolutely nothing I own would mean anything - the only thing I would care about when the chips are down are people. I wouldn't be lamenting my couch or a chair - or even jewelry or art. People, pets, and, well, that's about it - everything else is just not that important. 

The New Dry Rose'

Rose' wine has a big stigma to overcome - the infamous White Zinfandel. The new dry rose' wines do just that, however. It was the one thing I brought back from our trip to the Wine Country, rose' will be my new summer wine.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the complexity of some of these wines - yet without the oak flavor that I seem to prefer less and less. Don't get me wrong - a buttery Chardonnay is still appreciated - but I'm leaning towards lighter, steel-barrel wines. For one thing, the heavy reds tend to make me feel hot - and not in a good way. I don't know if it is the tannins, or being in oak barrels longer, but it appears I'm not the only one that feels that way. There has been an explosion of new dry rose' wines - in fact it is easier to find the dry rose' wines than my other favorite - pinot grigio - at the wineries we visited. The best ones are from France and Spain, countries that have been drinking them for years.

It is a red wine for white wine drinkers. It pairs well with picnic foods and anything one would serve with red wine. For me it will be summer BBQs and nights when we have main-dish salads for dinner.

The prices are not bad. The ones we bought in the Wine Country were more on the expensive side - but that was because they were only pouring their more expensive wines. First they charge for the sampling, then they only pour their premium wines. But maybe with people cutting back on extravagances it is the only way to have captive audiences to try their best wines. It takes some of the fun out of visiting wineries, however.

I am currently drinking a Mill Creek rose', which they do not have on their website, but I intend to look for a few more to stock up for the summer season. Here is a site that gives some information on what to look for, and what to expect to pay - it also takes you to the winery or distributor if you would like to order it online.

So what is your favorite summer wine? Or do you prefer a summer cocktail?

Have a great weekend everyone!