20 February 2006

Be HAPPY Now!

O. DID YOU READ the first 2 paragraphs of that page, where Jason quotes Joe Vitale? -- the "secret" for manifesting our desires.

In case you didn't read it, or in case you've forgotten what it was: the "secret", the "shortcut to creating your life the way you want it", is nothing more than Being Happy Now.

It occurs to me how right that is, and how it goes an important step beyond the Being Here Now, which I mentioned before.

I see it as this: Being Here Now is the first step....which leads to Being HAPPY Now....which is all we ever desire. As Joe Vitale* points out, the only reason we ever try to "manifest" any particular thing is that we believe it will bring us happiness. The car, the house, the "soul mate" -- the things themselves are not what's important to us; what's important is the feeling of HAPPINESS!

Once that revelation really sinks in....it's rather amazing, isn't it! All we ever desire is HAPPINESS; and somehow we've gotten the idea that happiness comes from things and relationships and circumstances. We've been brainwashed into looking outside ourselves for it (just as we've been falsely taught that "the kingdom of Heaven" is outside of us). It seems to me, the truth is, everything we need is already INSIDE us. And the tactic of trying to conjure happiness out of things and relationships and circumstances is definitely "barking up the wrong tree".

If we've learned anything from the culture of American Business, surely we've learned the value of "cutting out the middle man" -- and things, relationships, and circumstances, are the "middle man" in our quest for happiness. Why do we try to squeeze happiness from these things, when we can create happiness directly, just by Being Happy???

IS IT REALLY THAT EASY? Some people say not. Some believe the things, relationships, and circumstances, really do create the happiness. Some people, really deep thinkers, have said that the whole idea of cause-and-effect is an illusion; that the cause and the manifestation of happiness cannot be distinguished from each other, any more than we can say which came first, the chicken or the egg.

I understand their point, and I think they're right, on some deep level. BUT....here, in the everyday, nuts-and-bolts world we've chosen to play in, where we've chosen to perceive something called Time, it does seem that causes and effects are discernible. Even if illusionary, it's an illusion we can use to our advantage. Here in the everyday world, there does seem to be an identifiable process of creation -- which is that our thoughts and feelings and beliefs "create" our physical reality.

Most people seem to believe it's the other way around -- and it can be, if we allow that. It's easy to let ourselves be influenced by unpleasant events and situations and people; it's easy to take on their energies. And, once we do that, our happiness is gone, indeed. But it's just as easy NOT to take on those energies. We can stick our hand into the works at any point, so to speak, and stop the wheels, and start them spinning in whatever direction we choose!

However unpleasant a situation we find ourselves in, we can improve it by simply changing our mind. We can find some time every day to go within ourselves and merely FEEL HAPPY for a while. Just FEEL HAPPY, for no reason in the world, except that it feels GOOD to feel happy!

And then....here's the surprise: once we get into the habit of just FEELING HAPPY....the people and things and circumstances that start appearing in our life are exactly the kinds that make us even happier!

Zeyneb's story is a good example of that. Here's another one:

The impetus for starting this blog has been growing in me for some time. At first it had no identifiable form, it was just a mysterious, inner feeling that something good was on the way. Just over 2 weeks ago, it took shape -- as the idea for this blog -- and I started writing the code that would make the web page you're reading right now.

The past 2 weeks have been like one continuous day to me: everything just a seamless flow of working - on - the - blog - and - eating - and - sleeping - and - going - to - town - and - interacting - with - people - and - taking - walks - and - finding - wonderful - green - springtime - coconuts - full - of - the - most - delicious - coconut - juice - imaginable(!) - and - the - most - delicious - and - fun - to - eat - soft - coconut -- scooped - out - of - the - shell - with - a - spoon(!) -- and - just - feeling - especially - HAPPY!

Yesterday my sister called on the phone, and I was trying to think of something new to tell her....and the big donations came to mind. Thanks to the prodding of 3 different people, over several months, I recently added a donation button to my website, to allow credit card donations. And, just since I've been working actively on this blog, I've received 2 very unusually large donations!

Ostensibly, they had no connection with the blog; but what's interesting to me is the timing. Notice that, before they arrived, I was not engaged in a deliberate attempt to manifest money (though, as always, I was wondering where next month's rent would be coming from : ^ )....nor to manifest anything. I was simply feeling especially HAPPY, and taking delight in the flow of life! The happiness preceded the money.

So....here's our lesson for today:
STEP 1: Be Here Now.
STEP 2: Be HAPPY Now!

I can't help feeling this is intimately connected with the very creation of life itself, and with our ability (largely untapped, as yet) to access and utilize the mysterious, Zero Point Energy, which Science has so recently discovered....

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* What a perfect name for such a guy, Vitale! Vital, vitally, vitality! "Of, relating to, or characteristic of life: Necessary to the continuation of life; life-sustaining: Full of life; animated: Imparting life or animation; invigorating:" [courtesy of Dictionary.com] Is it "just a coincidence"??? : ^ )

19 February 2006

Would You Change the Way You Think?

ERE'S A LITTLE TIDBIT, just the right size for Sunday contemplation:

"What if God heard everything you thought and considered it a request for It to do something for you? Would you change the way that you think?"

It comes from a guy named Steven Hairfield. He tells a story about feeling inexplicably drawn to India....and, when he got there, being greeted by someone who called him by name. Asking, "How did you know my name?", he was told something like: "We've been expecting you." Then he was told that this person (and apparently others) had connected with him on a psychic level, 6 months before, and had begun deliberately attracting him to them.

He stayed with them for some time, learning many things; and one of the most transformative things, early on, was that simple question: What if God heard everything you thought and considered it a request...to do something for you?

Whether we call it God or Source or Universe, or nothing at all, it does seem this is how reality works. Whether our thoughts arise from our "own" free will, or whether from the collective consciousness of everything in existence -- Thought itself is what seems to create reality.

HERE'S something put together by a guy who identifies himself only as Jason (and as "ZENPROPHET", on his blog: he calls it The World's First Manifestation Software. It's an online tool, nothing to download. It takes us through a step-by-step process designed to change our way of thinking -- though my favorite part of the whole thing (and the only part really necessary!) is the first 2 paragraphs of this page right here....

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18 February 2006

Inner Tech (continued)

OWARD BLOOM was on Coast to Coast a few nights ago....talking about his "Bagel Theory" of the universe: how, from a single point of "nothingness" came, instantaneously, an unimaginable explosion, which created the existence of space and time, and every bit of physical matter. Also created every bit of anti-matter -- matter and anti-matter being perfect reflections of each other -- and the shape of this whole creation being like a bagel or donut: energy, starting from the center, moves outward and around the donut-shape in one direction to create matter; outward and around the donut shape in the opposite direction to create anti-matter....and the 2 balance each other.

It's believed that the universe, for a long time, was expanding....and that now it is contracting (I believe Howard described it as "shrinking away from us")....and he envisions, at some point, the matter and anti-matter canceling-out each other, destroying each other, reducing all of creation down to a single, infinitesimal point (as it was in the beginning), which will then explode (as before) into the creation of whole new universes....

Well, presumably, that's not going to happen in the next little while -- so I'd like to get back to the idea of Inner Tech (introduced in the previous entry). The idea that everything exists within us in the first place, and then we make models of it in the "outside world" -- and we fool ourselves with the models, into thinking they are the primary reality!

More than an idea, this is a visceral feeling that's been growing stronger and stronger in me for months. My first awareness of it was related to Reiki (and, even though the intent of this blog is to get BEYOND the structures and methods of such things, it was in doing Reiki that I had this awareness, therefore Reiki must now be involved in the description of it).

No one knows, in a provable way, how Reiki works. It's believed by some that Reiki brings "spiritual" energy (called Shin-ki by the Japanese) into the physical world -- and, to me, this seems as accurate a description as words are capable of making. The Source of this mysterious energy is almost always depicted as being above us; that it comes to us from the depths of outer space, enters our body at the crown chakra, proceeds down to the heart chakra, goes out from there, through the arms, and leaves the body through the palms of the hands.

BUT....my intuition has been telling me, this is not exactly, or not necessarily, the case! I've come to feel that Shin-ki, or Source-energy, or whatever we call it, comes not from outside us, but from within us. The Source-energy comes from within the very center of every particle of the physical world!! It wells up there, FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION, and overflows, and radiates outward, creating....LIFE!!! Every particle of physical reality is an EXtension, not an INtention, of the infinite Source; the dimension of Source is within us!

This revelation correlates with a couple other things, which it brings to mind:

(1) The famous quotation "The kingdom of Heaven is within you!" (which I totally agree with, even though it seems the guy to whom it's attributed was terribly mistaken about some other things); and
(2) A description, by my friend Alyce, which had mystified me ever since she told it to me, a few years ago. She said, when she gives herself Reiki, her perception is not that the energy is going outward, from her palms (which is how most people describe their perception) -- it is that effervescent "bubbles" of energy are rising from within her body and into her hands!

Alyce's description now makes perfect sense to me: the realm of Source-energy is within the physical realm; it's another dimension, at the center of every particle of physical being -- and the practice of Reiki (among other ways) facilitates the welling-up and overflowing of that Source dimension into the physical!

(In case you'd like to read more on this subject, here's another article on it, relating specifically to Reiki and Johrei.)

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17 February 2006

Inner Tech

"In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first."

--- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
(as quoted at Bartleby.com)

F YOU ACCEPT that patriotism is the first and last refuge of a scoundrel, then chew on this: Technology is the first and last refuge of a devolving civilization.

Modernity prides itself on its technologies -- but what are they, in reality, but hardware-heavy, clumsy replications of inherent human abilities? Nuts-and-bolts Outer Tech, dreamed up and manufactured and sold, to take the place of our natural, free, Inner Tech.

Why was the telephone invented (and, before it, the telegraph)? Because we had lost the facility of telepathic communication (which is still a primary means of communicating among certain "primitive" peoples).*

Why do we need planes, trains, and automobiles? Because we've lost the ability to transport ourselves by levitation, or by de-materialization & re-materialization, or even (as a few spiritually adept people can still manage) to be in multiple locations at once!

The list goes on and on. What's the World Wide Web, if not a mechanical attempt to simulate our natural access to the universal database of everything that has ever happened? And, the thing is, our reliance on these techological crutches merely assures the loss of our natural gifts (writes the author, at his techno-keyboard!). We've devolved so far, in fact, that we find ourselves with whole generations unable to do, for example, simple arithmetic without an electronic calculator; and who have no concept even of where their food comes from, beyond the supermarket shelf (couldn't tell a Swiss chard leaf from a rhubarb leaf, if their life depended on it -- which it just might).

The Zero Point

What happens when we stop pursuing Outer Tech, and focus on Inner Tech? Amazing things! What happens when we try to get right down to No-thing? We find it impossible! Science has now discovered what it calls Zero-Point or Zero-Point Energy (ZPE). A guy named Gregg Braden made a big splash, almost a decade ago, with a book called Awakening to Zero Point. Now, as "luck" would have it, just hours ago, a friend in England sent me a link to a website with some detailed scientific data on this very thing.

In a nutshell, it goes like this: The closer we get to removing all matter from a space, the more we find absolutely astounding amounts of energy in that "empty" space!! This is the Zero Point Energy. It makes the amount of energy we could ever possibly derive from all the billions of gallons of oil in the Earth -- and our Neanderthal-ish, techological pursuit of such trifles -- beyond embarrassing, to say the least!

From www.divinecosmos.com, here are some tidbits that caught my attention, early in the article:

Stephen M. Barnett from the University of Oxford, writing in Nature (March 22, 1990, p.289), stated: "The mysterious nature of the vacuum [is] revealed by quantum electrodynamics. It is not an empty nothing, but contains randomly fluctuating electromagnetic fields ... with an infinite zero-point energy." In actual practice, recent work suggests there may be an upper limit for the estimation of the ZPE at about 10¹¹⁴ ergs per cubic centimetre....

In order to appreciate the magnitude of the ZPE in each cubic centimetre of space, consider a conservative estimate of 10⁵² ergs/cc. Most people are familiar with the light bulbs with which we illuminate our houses. The one in my office is labelled as 150 watts. (A watt is defined as 10⁷ ergs per second.) By comparison, our sun radiates energy at the rate of 3.8 x 10²⁰ watts. In our galaxy there are in excess of 100 billion stars. If we assume they all radiate at about the same intensity as our sun, then the amount of energy expended by our entire galaxy of stars shining for one million years is roughly equivalent to the energy locked up in one cubic centimetre of space. [emphasis mine]

. . . .

In addition to the ZPE, there is another aspect of the physical vacuum that needs to be presented. When dealing with the vacuum, size considerations are all-important. On a large scale the physical vacuum has properties that are uniform throughout the cosmos, and seemingly smooth and featureless. However, on an atomic scale, the vacuum has been described as a "seething sea of activity" [2], or "the seething vacuum" [5]. It is in this realm of the very small that our understanding of the vacuum has increased. The size of the atom is about 10^-8 centimetres. The size of an atomic particle, such as an electron, is about 10^-13 centimetres. As the scale becomes smaller, there is a major change at the Planck length (1.616 x 10^-33 centimetres), which we will designate as L* [6]. In 1983, F. M. Pipkin and R. C. Ritter pointed out in Science (vol. 219, p.4587), that "the Planck length is a length at which the smoothness of space breaks down, and space assumes a granular structure."

This "granular structure" of space, to use Pipkin and Ritter's phrase, is considered to be made up of Planck particles whose diameter is equal to L*, and whose mass is equal to a fundamental unit called the Planck mass, M*, (2.177 x 10^-5 grams). These Planck particles form the basis for various cosmological theories such as strings, super strings, 10-dimensional space, and so on.

SO....THE "VACUUM" of space is, in reality, teeming with more energy than we can even imagine!! Could this be the energy that powers the fleets of UFOs that have now been observed and photographed by so many people? Could this be the energy that powers our Sun (more appropriately, how could it NOT be)?

Gee-whiz, if we could figure out how to access this Zero Point Energy, and how to use it.... Hmmm...there might be a lot of people who, if they did know such a thing, would do absolutely anything to keep it a secret (to keep the rest of us from disconnecting our petro-chemical feeding tubes)....

And, I'll bet the secret is closer than "right under our nose" -- I'll bet it's right inside us. I'll bet it's inside every single particle of us....

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<tagged>
inner+tech zero-point zero+point zero+point+energy

* In the book Mutant Message Down Under, the author is told by Australian Aborigines that we moderns have lost the ability of telepathy because of our lack of honesty; because we conceal parts of ourselves and keep secrets from each other!

13 February 2006

Free Will

O.... HOW DOES "free will" fit into this marvelous creativity and perfection of the universe?

Do we have any free will at all, or was the whole universe, every particle of time and space, a "done deal" at the single instant of creation? Is it possible -- as much as we like to believe ourselves autonomous -- that each of our lives is nothing but a movie, put on the great reel of cosmic film in that original instant; that every thought, word, and action (including the perception of ourselves as autonomous!) we make (and don't make) is just the showing of that movie -- and there's nothing that can ever change a single frame of it?

Some people believe we do have free will, but only BETWEEN earthly lifetimes; that we make a "contract" then, which is unchangeable once we enter the playing field of physical existence. Others believe in such a contract also, but that it's only a general blueprint, that we do have the ability to make some changes as our physical life unfolds. All I can say, myself, is: I don't know.

Whatever the case, I've come to the realization that I'm always happiest whenever I'm just Being Here Now. No desires, no regrets, just fully focused on whatever is immediately before me. That's the way I feel most ALIVE.

The concept of "deliberate creation" gets a lot of attention these days (and I must admit having made a section for it on my website). It does seem undeniable that our reality is a reflection of our thoughts, feelings and beliefs; of course, that doesn't answer the question of whether we have free will in those thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.

A lot of people seem to use "deliberate creation" techniques for fulfilling their desires -- "manifesting" the latest technological gadgets they long for, or a new home, new career, or the ever-popular "soul mate". That approach doesn't appeal much to me. It seems to me, that Siddhartha guy pretty well nailed it, a long time ago: one desire leads to another, and another, and all of them lead to suffering....

If we desire something and we don't get it, we suffer. If we desire something and we DO get it, we suffer...because, after the initial thrill wears off, we decide that wasn't exactly what we wanted, after all; there's something not quite right about it, or there's a newer model that's a lot better, or sometimes we can't even imagine why we ever wanted THAT in the first place!

So, after decades of playing the Desire game, I've come to prefer just being as happy as possible with the status quo. Desiring as little as I can...leads to minimal suffering. No desire = no suffering, and leaves me free to be appreciative and thankful for what I already have and what I already am. It allows me to see that what I have and what I am are more than enough already.*

Case in point: my decades-long efforts to have a mate...and finally, now, coming to feel that a mate is just not in the cards for me this time; that I have really slowed my awakening by all those years of worthless desiring. It seems the message is: "No mate for you this time, you've played that game enough times already. This time you decided to move beyond that -- remember!

Even so...I'm unsure if there WAS a no-mate clause in my contract this time, or if such thoughts are just my mind playing tricks on me. The physical evidence is, I manifested in this lifetime as a "2" person -- born on the 20th day of a month -- and my natural inclination, this time, has always been to play 2nd fiddle to someone, to take my cues from someone else, to act IN RELATIONSHIP to those around me....

Hmmm....no, that's not always been the case: in some aspects of my life -- especially the most important ones -- I've acted quite contrary to what those close to me would have preferred. There have been times when I felt that I HAD to go my own way, or my life would have been unbearable.

Then there's the added intrigue that I was born "prematurely". Of course, in one sense, nothing ever happens prematurely, everything happens just perfectly in the grand unfolding of all creation. But my birth, being ahead of the "normal" time for it, means that I might not normally have been a "2" person this lifetime! Who knows what number I would have been? -- but, apparently in an act of personal will (maybe mine alone, maybe a combination of mine and my mother's, maybe one involving other people as well), I switched out of "normal" mode and moved my earthly delivery ahead, some unknown period of time....

AND....was that an act of "free will" at the moment -- or was even my "premature birth" written into the original screenplay of creation? Again, I can only say: I don't know.

With so much unknown to me (and sometimes it seems that the only thing I DO know is that I know NOTHING), I've come to a point beyond desiring a mate. A point where I desire only those things that seem truly essential to me. A point of requesting** as little as possible, and simply being as happy as I can with whatever is presented to me at every moment. So, I'm happy now, without a mate -- and I'll be happy if one shows up! But I have no desire to work at attracting one. I've come to feel there's no need to "work" at any such thing; all I need to do is to BE MYSELF, and let everything unfold naturally and with minimal effort, from that.

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* Another thing about the Buddhist viewpoint that seems on-target to me, is: "Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water; after enlightenment - chop wood, carry water." In other words, "enlightenment" is a change of Be-ing, not necessarily one of Do-ing, or of physical circumstances.

** an interesting word, request. Re-quest. Why would we ever need to re-quest something -- unless we had mis-quested it in the first place? Why not be content with our original quest?

12 February 2006

Wee Small Hours

In the wee small hours of the morning
When the whole wide world is fast asleep
You lie awake and think about the BLOG
And never ever think of counting sheep
- - - - - - - -
- words and music by -
- David Mann & Bob Hilliard -
(plus one tiny modification : ^ )

ND THEN you get up and start writing....

Continuing the theme of Everyday Miracles, here's one more tiny one:

Having blog-fever yesterday, I got up at 3:30 in the morning, to work on the new pages. I was still locked-in-place here, ruminating on something-or-other, when my landlady (Denise) came down from upstairs in late morning. I asked if she was going downtown, to the Farmers' Market. She was, and asked if I would like to go with her. Being really into the blog-fever, I said I would rather just have her pick up something for me, if she didn't mind: a 25-pound bag of rice (not a manageable commodity to transport on my bicycle), which had arrived for me at the health food store.

She said she was glad to do it, and asked if I needed anything else, anything from the Market. No, I said -- and gave her money to pay for the rice, and went back to my ruminating....*

Later I noticed I had only a few small bananas. I could have asked Denise to bring some more from the Market -- but I wouldn't have wanted to burden her with anything more than the rice...and I still wasn't inclined to go downtown myself; the weather was not good for it, and I preferred to keep working anyway. So I figured on just doing without bananas for a few days, and got back to work.

About 3:30 in the afternoon, having had enough work for a while, I went outside for a walk. There was the grandmother from the house next door, with her bucket and rake -- as she often is -- cleaning every molecule of organic matter (which falls from the trees) off the lane that leads to her house. We greeted each other, and she said she had something to give me: bananas! Red bananas.

I had introduced her to red bananas, months ago. I was out walking then, also, and she was cleaning leaves off the road, and I happened to mention a red-banana tree nearby, which had the most beautiful and bounteous bunch of red bananas growing on it...and they were up so high, it would have taken a 30-foot step-ladder to harvest them! Anyway, she had never eaten a red banana; so, when I got some at the Market awhile later, I gave her one the next time I saw her -- and she liked it a lot.

That was months ago, and the whole episode had been long-forgotten by me. And now, suddenly, just a couple hours after I was thinking about my banana situation...here she was, giving me bananas. She thanked me again for having introduced her to the red ones, and said the ones she was giving me had come from her own back yard!! No one had noticed them there, until her son had cut them down just a few days ago!

Months earlier I had given her one banana. Now -- on this particular day, of all days -- she was giving me 6 of them! A perfect example of the universe as Supreme (and very generous!) Accountant...wouldn't you say?

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* Speaking of ruminating -- I decided to start eating wheat grass. I know, it's customary to extract the juice, and to drink it, rather than eating the grass itself -- but, why NOT eat the grass? I'm a low-tech sort of guy, and I'd rather not take on the expense and maintenance of a big, heavy, bulky wheat-grass juicer, if eating the grass will work just as well.

I had a ginger plant and a sweet potato vine, both struggling with health problems, in a pot by the window (well, okay, not exactly a pot, it's a 5-gallon plastic bucket) -- so I removed them to the great outdoors, and spread a carpet of wheat berries (pre-soaked) on the soil in the bucket, and covered them with a thin layer of more soil. Now I have a miniature pasture of vibrant green!

I've been pinching off little clumps of wheat grass and eating them with my meals. The juice comes gushing right out when you chew the grass...and it tastes just like the juice sold (for several dollars a shot) in health food stores, and without the need of running it through a mechanical juicer (and then having to clean the juicer). Plus, I'm getting whatever other benefits are in the grass, which would not be present in the juice alone. I figure it's a good thing.... (If I start moo-ing, I may reconsider.... : ^ )

11 February 2006

Everyday Miracles

HE FOLLOWING is from a friend in Turkey: a medical doctor who has put aside the practice of allopathic medicine, in favor of "Complementary and Alternative Medicine" (in her case, mainly Reiki and Reconnective Healing). Her name is Zeyneb, and she's one of the most magical people I know....

"If you click on the link below," she writes, "you can see what I see everyday- the gorgeous Bosphorus (my love) !"
-- View from the terrace
-- "And here are some lovely istanbul pictures."

"I love my new home. It was an amazing present! A friend to whom I was doing the reconnection mentioned someone from Bebek during our conversation- a classy neighborhood on the Bosphorus. That was when I started to think ''yes of course, why not a place on the Bosphorus!'' A couple days later I was driving over the bosphorus bridge to work on the same friend who lives in Arnavutkoy- very near B(ebek). While crossing the bridge, I said to the bosphorus ''Gorgeous one, you know how I love you. I greet you, your past and future, all that you host- fish and birds and trees and men and water and history- with tears in my eyes every time I see you. Please call me to your side. Help me settle somewhere where I can see you all the time so that I'll be able to greet you every morning and every night.'' She said ''ok dear, I heard you.'' I felt her say that! After the session I bought a newspaper and went to a coffeehouse in A(rnavutkoy) to see if there were any rentals in the ads. There were none. Sitting at the coffeehouse I remembered how I loved A. That was the place where I and nazli went to school. While driving back home, I said outloud in the car ''I'm living in A''. The moment I said it I knew it realized- then, at that moment. I definitely felt that. That was a Sunday. The next day I looked at the ads and saw two B rentals. Went to see them (near one hr. driving from mom's.) What I was looking for was an apartment with a view of the bosphorus, a big balcony and no buildings right in front of mine. Didnt care at all about the interior of the apt. The first one I saw was extremely small. I doubted if the only bedroom was wide enough for a bed- and the bathroom was as big as a small table, so you had to take out the toilet paper and the towels while showering. But it had a magnificent view. And that I liked! Went to see the other apt. also- with another real estate agent. Didnt like that one and was about to decide to rent the first. Yet I was confused. I was so sure that I was going to live in A. B is in walking distance from A, but still it has a totally different vibration. Ok, I said, may be the guys above dont know the difference and thought it was all the same! Oh well, let it be their way. I told the agent I didnt like the apt. and told him that I had been living in a penthouse during the last 25 years and all I wanted was a place with a large balcony and a great view. Thank you, I said, now I'm going to rent that small apt. with no bathroom. The man said- I also live in a penthouse and I know what you're looking for. Now I'll take you to an apt. which I'm sure you'll like. Where? At A of course! When he said A, I knew it was going to be my home. We went to see the apt. It was the home of my dreams! Very expensive though. But I didnt care. The next afternoon I signed the contract and that same evening I left for the States. How are you going to pay the rent, a friend asked. Said I'm sure the Great One is taking care of the details. If he is handing me my dreamhouse, then he sure is to hand me the rent :) My friend said- you didnt tell this to the owner of the apt, did you? Well.. I did! She came to visit me and I did a healing session with her - and told her ''you've got to send me some clients if you want me to pay you the rent!'' She rushed back the next day for a second session and brought with her a client!!!

"In the meanwhile I keep enjoying the ordinary miracles of life. They are so many!!! Let me write you the most recent one. A couple of days before my Nazli left (to the USA), she was trying to arrange for transportation to school. It was arranged almost miraculously. The details are long so never mind but it really was amazing. So I told her ''see how your angels take care of everything. So be sure that they are taking care of you and doing a great job. Just trust and let go. etc etc.'' Then I joked about the angels having to work too much because she messes up things that they so nicely put together, and so the angels run around too much, wave their wings too much and if one day she'd find a feather in her room, it sure will be an angelwing feather! Nazli was doubtful about angels having wings but I said everyone knows that angels have wings, that's common knowledge etc. Then Gulo called (from the USA). She was also a bit depressed so I told her the same angel story. After Nazli left, Gulo called again, telling me she was (happily) shocked! After she spoke with us, she went to take a shower and when she was out and took her towel, she saw that there was a feather on the towel!!!! A feather in the dorm bathroom! Could anyone doubt it was anything but angelfeather??? Then the next day Nazli called upon arriving the US and her college- saying I was right, angels sure did have wings! When she entered her room, there was a feather on the floor- greeting her! These small inconspicous everyday miracles keep me happy :)

"Another one: Recently I had started to have a craving for pink. Yes, and very extraordinary for me who always liked autumn colors! Then I read about the pink ray of Venus coming to earth! Ok, it was the Venus ray and it took hold of me. Pink makes me so very happy. I even bought a bright pink doormat! I wanted my walls to be painted pink but then I thought I wouldnt be able to choose the right shade and then it would look awkward and wouldnt fit any furniture etc, so I decided to have a neutral color. I bought a big box of white paint and chose a light sand-colored paint and waited for the lady at the painting department to put the box in the coloring machine. Would you believe it!!!! When she took the box out of the machine- it was pink! Both of us were surprised! She told me I didnt have to buy it, it was due to a mistake in the machine's settings. Of course I bought it! It was a very pale shade of pink, pinkish white almost- a lovely color, one that I couldnt have found by myself! So my darling angels chose it and merrily handed it to me as a present! Gosh, how I love them! When the walls were painted, the whole energy of the apartment changed- a light and joyful energy settled all around! I was totally amazed and thanked and thanked more and am still thanking- yet it never seems enough. When you are given such a present, then you dont care at all about the present itself. I know -surely-definitely- that all my heartfelt wishes and needs will be met at the most appropriate time. I'm filled with gratitude-so much so that it spills out as tears most of the time- and love. Dont care about the pink or the walls or anything then- just want to feel and live in these wonderful frequencies of Love.

"One more: Yesterday I had to pay my credit card account. A huge account (2700 ytl=2000 USD) because I bought all the furniture with that card. Guess what!!!!! I learned that I had EXACTLY that much in a bank account which I wasnt aware of! The girls' father lost his job...so cannot give us any money. During summer he had told the girls that he was going to give money to me to cover some of the school expenses. But he didnt. So I thought. And didnt ask about it. Yesterday I learned that he did, but sent the money to an account that I do not normally use. It had been there for 6 months! And part of the money was taken by the bank to cover the minimum payment of my card when I was late in paying the card account, and what was left was the exact 2700! Guess the angels are enjoying themselves in preparing such surprises!

"Now that the house work is over, and vacation time (nazli coming-going) is over- it is time for work. Seems my angels think it is! They started handing out flyers and advertising! Patients started popping up out of nowhere! Yes, I have my name in the reconnection directory but no other advertisement, no handouts etc. Had only a patient every two weeks till recently but it changed all of a sudden. Excellent timing! And a dear friend who found me last year, after losing contact for 20 years, called again after 6-8 months, asking me to give a seminar on CAM at a medical school. She is the head of the internal medicine department and is interested in establishing a CAM dept. there! With me as the founder, of course :) My dream is to establish a ''medical humanities'' department. Another dream is -practicing in a hospital. Another one- turn the balcony into a garden before summer. I have lots of dreams to choose from :)

"Since we are still in 2006, I think it is ok to write my new year's greetings! I'm happy and excited and welcome the great 2006! I do not hope rather I am Sure that it is going to be a GREAT year- for all of us! Let us create lots and lots of miracles and Enjoy!

"Be well. Love and blessings,

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9 February 2006

LIFE IS JUST ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER!

OR SOME REASON, that phrase kept coming to mind recently -- so I went to see if I could find out who had "originally" said it. I first found it attributed to a Frank Ward O'Malley, with an expletive added -- "Life is just one damned thing after another!" I found nearly nothing aout Mr. O'Malley, except "1875-1932, American newspaperman...especially noted for his stories of humor and pathos" (this line being quoted on numerous websites).

Then I found an Elbert Hubbard saying "Life is just one damned thing after another" (in Philistine magazine, December 1909). Then I found Edna St. Vincent Millay saying "Life is not one damn thing after another. It's the same damn thing over and over again."

So. Where does that leave us?

Well...I can say for sure that Edna's perception of Life (as portrayed by her comment, at least) was quite different than mine. I've always noticed Life being remarkably (often incredibly!) inventive and full of surprises! And, it seems to me, Frank and Elbert could have benefited from a little attitude-adjustment : ^ ).

BEYOND the self-evidence of Life being one thing after another -- what about the word just? What if we take it, not to mean "merely" but to mean JUST, as in JUSTice? And what if we write the phrase, not as a linear sentence but in a more poetic way:

Life is just

                    One thing...

                                       after another

Here's something that bolsters my viewpoint of Life's inherent fairness and creativity:

I was wanting to go downtown today, to see if my phone bill had arrived at the Post Office. The payment is due in California by the 15th; so, allowing a few days for transport, I figured I needed to have it on its way no later than the 11th...and, since my transportation to downtown is a bicycle, and since it's likely to rain here anytime, any day (not to mention the cold and windy weather we've been having lately!), I really did have a desire for good bicycling weather today. Even more specifically, I wanted to go after 2:00 p.m. -- because the day's mail is not sure to be in the box until 2:00.

More often than not, mornings are better weather for such an excursion than afternoons; and this morning was not looking so good, it was cold and darkly cloudy. I made a little prayer about good weather for the afternoon, and put on my socks and long pants and a jacket, and settled in at my portal-to-cyberspace, and started working.

I was there (except for long enough to start a pot of purple sweet potatoes cooking, and to check their progress a couple times, and finally to turn off the fire under them) until 1:30, by which time the sun had appeared! The wind had abated, and the air was feeling warm enough that I was comfortable opening the windows and the back door! The day was shaping up perfectly....

I ate a few of the little sweet potatoes, as I changed from the long pants to shorts, took off the jacket and socks, and got everything ready for the bicycle trip downtown. When I opened the front door, to leave, 2 pieces of mail dropped to the ground in front of me (having been wedged in the door, probably by my landlady). One was a solicitation for money to feed hungry children (I've sent money there before). The other was from my mother, seemingly a greeting card. How synchronistic, I thought -- because, just yesterday, I had sent one to her!

I didn't take time to open the mail; I was eager to get into the sunshine and on my way. I rode downtown, and stopped at Long's Drug Store, on the way to the Post Office, to buy kitchen scrubbers and a package of nori (which left a single dollar in my money clip). On to the Post Office...the phone bill was there (YAYY!)...I put it in its envelope, with the money order I had bought a couple days ago...dropped it in the mail slot, and then bought a couple stamps, which I needed for something else (goodbye, last dollar!).

I came back home, emptied my pockets (noticing how naked the money clip looked, with no greenery now, holding only some business cards and credit cards)...and the thought in my mind was: Hmm, let's see if something green comes along to go in it.

I put away the nori and the scrubbers. Then I noticed the mail, from earlier, which I had dropped on the bed. I opened the envelope from my mother: a greeting card indeed; a Valentine's card (how many people get Valentine's cards from their mothers? Be honest, now!)...and inside the card...was a $20 bill!

So. You see what I mean. If we just Be Here Now, and mind our own business...the universe does a pretty good job of orchestrating things PERFECTLY, and often more creatively than we could -- and still it amazes me every time I see it happen!

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Dragan Pavlovic - 09:01 AM 2/10/2006

In 'Star Wars', the master Jedi asks young Obi van Kenoby what is he thinking about. He says: 'About the future'. The master replies: 'OK. That's not bad, if you can percept 'the Force' in the present moment.'
Yes, we mustn't say 'I should' (that our parents, friends, society talks from us, I named it 'tapes'), we must BE. 'I am the one who is', even the Bible says that. We are the same. At this moment. Sit down and feel that. I had a blast of energy.
And 'Self' is something real for me. That is the essence of our being, but the difference is only in giving names to the same thing.

Kathryn Mahoney - 09:04 AM 2/10/2006

www.myspace.com/kiri9
Hello Don ~ Thank you for being a selfless person who share's freely. Everytime I get a message about updates or new things to read from johreiki.net, it always comes at the right time and with the things that I needed to hear. Plus, I also wanted to thank you for adding me to the Healing Circle list for my back. Eternal Reiki Hugs to you. ~ Brightest Blessings ~ Kathy

Blane Hoffman - 10:45 AM 2/10/2006

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/reikimagick/
Hi, Don....I think this is a great idea...Sometimes the best I can do , whether its a good day or a bad day (effecting me-wise) is to know that I'm right on schedule with the Universe . Whether I am acting like the guy who is just 'being here now' or 'doing the being of the guy who is Being Here Now', the consciousness of being this guy doing or being or not, which is a decision too, so one has done something anyhow, is all just fine and I guess Im right where I'm supposed to be , and as absurd as all of what I just said seems to be , I derive some small amount of comfort from that . Why? Because I am 'Being Here Now'..........How about that .....L&L...Blane

Tess - 12:11 PM 2/10/2006

Hi Don, great blog.
The Tao Te Ching also teaches us that the Tao (The Way) cannot be taught because it's not a 'knowing' - it's a 'being' and 'feeling'. Knowledge is power but I find that striving for knowledge takes you out of the moment so, these days, I sit back, relax, live in the moment and accept that I have the knowledge already - I just have to access it from within. Maybe this is wisdom :)

Jim Miller - 12:19 PM 2/10/2006

I like the little story, somedays I feel the same, but others(when Im dwelling on something) it seems that life doesn't flow right. But I think thats because Im not really focused on life, Im focused on a part of life, which causes me to not really know what I need.

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