160: Hard Lessons

United by a cause

That impacts us all;

Tragedy reminds us

The mighty can fall.

Hope for resolution

Waning by the day;

Time to take back power

As our leaders fall away.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography/4711475459/

Sunday 160 is a creation of Monkey Man. If you’d like to participate or check out other 160s visit him here!

To date, BP has received more than 20,000 suggestions from people around the world on how to stop the leak or clean up the oil. And I just read today, that actor Kevin Costner’s company, Ocean Therapy Solutions, has developed a technology to separate water from crude oil, which BP has contracted to use over the next 60 days.

Countless volunteers are working to assist wildlife relief efforts with agencies like the Audubon Society, Alabama Coastal Foundation, Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Mobile Bay Keeper, Save Our Seabirds, National Wildlife Federation, The Greater New Orleans Foundation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, The United Way, The Nature Conservancy, Gulf Coast Fund, Save Our Gulf and First Response Team of America.

On Monday night, Larry King is hosting a 2-hour special “Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help”. It’s essentially a telethon to raise money for three of the charities doing work in the Gulf and will feature celebrities including Chelsea Handler, Sting, Tim McGraw, Kathy Griffin, Alyssa Milano, Deepak Chopra, Pete Wentz, Ted Danson, Robert Redford, Harry Connick Jr., Jenny McCarthy, Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Aaron Neville, Kerry Kennedy, James Carville and Mary Matalin, Anderson Cooper, Tyson Ritter, Lenny Kravitz, Ian Somerhalder, Edward James Olmos, Philippe Cousteau and more!

As world citizens, we are coming together in this crisis. But ultimately, the best way to help the Earth is as individuals, recognizing the need to take more responsibility for the daily choices we make which really do impact our planet as a whole.

Along My Morning Route

While the weather is nice, I try to get outside and walk most mornings with my dog, Kobi. Our favourite way to go is along the ravine that backs onto our city subdivision.

Some of the plantings along the path are wild, like these roses may be. 

There are a few lovely little bridges like this one which leads from the street onto a footpath. Beneath it runs a small stream where I've seen a family of mallard ducks a few times.

This little robin was singing his heart out that morning.

Canada Geese are everywhere in springtime. Several families regularly swim together in this man-made lake.

Daisies are another wild flower that have sprouted up along the path.

Near the end of our journey: a nice place to rest and take in the view.

Prayer for the Gulf

Dr. Masaru Emoto is a scientist from Japan who has researched and published the characteristics of water. Among other things, his research has revealed that water physically responds to emotions.

Many of us are predominantly angry when we consider what is happening in the Gulf. And while justified in this emotion, we may be of greater assistance to our planet and its life forms if we sincerely, powerfully and humbly pray for the most positive outcome.

Below is a prayer that Dr. Emoto himself has proposed and which many of us have already begun to use. It is our belief that if we set an intention of love and healing that is so large, so overwhelming, we truly can perform a miracle in the Gulf of Mexico.

We are not powerless. 
We are powerful. 

Our united energy, speaking this prayer daily - multiple times daily - can literally shift the balance of destruction that is happening. We don't have to know how; we just have to recognize that the power of love is greater than any other power active in the Universe today.

Please join us in this quest.

"I send the energy of love and gratitude to all the living creatures in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings. To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, plankton, corals, algae - I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I Love You."

If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Emoto and his fascinating work, please click on this link: 
http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/e_ome_home.html

Meet Us at the Water

Thank You

Thank you

For challenging me -

Your sacrifices have afforded me the opportunity to rise above my own pettiness.

Thank you

For holding up the mirror

So that I’m better able to see those areas of my psyche in need of renovation.

Thank you

For playing along with me,

Consciously or not, in this very human game of life.

Thank you

For pushing me

Up my own evolutionary ladder to the point where I can now recognize your greatness.

Though we have been rivals more often than not on this side of the veil,

I now consider this as a result of what must be our opposite regard for one another on the Otherside.

Because of this, you have my respect and humble recognition:

That without you, I would be less.

So once again, I thank you.

Namaste

Images: http://mi9.com/c2p1g3950f1i63692/creative-fractal-art-shamans-journey-56/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21644167@N04/2909756927/

Summer

“Then followed that beautiful season… 

Summer. 

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; 

and the landscape 
lay as if new created 

in all the freshness of childhood.”
 

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nardell/43683342/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anniedaisybaby/3664328028/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban_jungle/3965613072/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lanibarbitta/2684791749/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/madcheeper/2870849392/

Who Do You Think You Are?

I think that I know myself. After 44 years on the planet, I would hope that I could at least say that. But can I really?

Every moment of every day we are growing and changing ever so slightly. Yet at the same time, these changes amass quickly enough that most of us can easily recognize that how we thought a few years or even months back, isn’t the same as how we think now.

It’s fascinating, really, this process of personal evolution. Do you ever observe yourself in those moments when your thoughts shift over the course of a conversation or after witnessing something uplifting or disturbing? I love these instances of clarity when I just get something in a way that I never have before. But it also makes me realize that I can’t fully know how I will think and consequently, who I will be in the future. The twists and turns life has in store could put each of us on completely different tracks.

I hope that I will always be open and curious about life. I can’t imagine ever being so jaded by circumstances that I can’t treat everyone with kindness, respect and love. And I think that I am strong enough to hold on to my spirit despite the challenges I know we all must face from time to time. But I can’t be certain. So do I really know who I am? I think perhaps I do, if only in this moment. How about you?

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/madcheeper/1543162538/

Plague

Mile upon mile of sickening mess: scarring pristine beaches, preying upon true innocents. Is one company responsible, or could our collective greed be to blame?

Sunday 160 is a creation of Monkey Man. If you’d like to participate or check-out other 160s visit him here!