"The great teachings unanimously emphasize that all the peace, wisdom, and joy in the universe are already within us; we don't have to gain, develop, or attain them. We're like a child standing in a beautiful park with his eyes shut tight. We don't need to imagine trees, flowers, deer, birds, and sky; we merely need to open our eyes and realize what is already here, who we really are -- as soon as we quit pretending we're small or unholy. "
(Unknown)
(Thank you for making me
this Flash Animation Andrew )
The most important thing in the world to me is my family, with dear friends coming in a very close second. Without them I would not be who I am. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!
I am a politically motivated peace and human rights activist. Apathy is like a cancer that consumes people and allows death to creep in and take over. It is only when we stand up for what is right that changes can be made in this world. People have different ideas as to what standing up for something is. But the point is to take that stand.
I'm interested in spirituality and peace through unity. I love to learn and have intelligent discussions. That is sometimes something I appreciate more than just about anything.
I guess it's not much of a surprise that I love nature.....walks in the woods, sitting on the beach and watching the waves. Some of my other various interests include gardening, interior decorating, reading, writing, computers (I'm on this thing way too much anymore), history, politics, preserving the Rainforest and the other blessings Mother Earth has given us. Can you imagine? We're about to lose the cures for diseases before we even find them! With every tree lost in the Rainforest goes hopes for those cures. And am a Certified Herbalist.
I've been exploring my Celtic and Native American roots and the ways of their healers. I have natural empathic abilities and am learning to control that gift to use it at the right time and place. It can really drain a person to feel emotions and pain from people, even absolute strangers, sometimes at the worst possible times. You wouldn't believe how many people are walking around miserable and angry.
I was born and raised in Milwaukee, home of Harley Davidson.... so, I do love long rides through the countryside on the back of a bike, the roar of a Harley (nothin' else like it) and the bikers that go with all that.
"Being too good is apt to be uninteresting."
(Harry S. Truman)
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
(Henry Ford)
"Dance and sing and hold hands with the universe."
“Even if you live to be 100, it’s really a very short time. So why not spend it undergoing this process of evolution, of opening your mind and heart, connecting with your true nature — rather than getting better and better at fixing, grasping, freezing, closing down.â€
(Pema Chodron)
"These two-legged will be called the Rainbow Tribe for they are the product of thousands of years of melding among the five original races. These Children of Earth have been called together to open their hearts and to move beyond the barriers of disconnection. The medicine they carry is the Whirling Rainbow of Peace which will mark the union of the five races as one."
(Jamie Sams, Other Council Fires Were Here Before Ours)
ACCEPTANCE, NOT JUST TOLERANCE
"Anything is Possible."
by Melissa Harris
I would love to meet people with peaceful spirits who love to have fun and just kick-it with friends. Those who recognize that we are all members of the same race, the Human Race. Those who see a need for change in this world of today, want to make a difference and show it by how they live their lives every day. I appreciate intelligent conversation immensely.
I appreciate people who are thoughtful and want to grow in themselves, share, help others grow and thrive (physically, mentally and spiritually) and make a difference in the world.
I'd like to meet people who are exploring spirituality, people who have a respect for our Mother Earth, who have an interest in preserving the Rainforests, those who understand that what nature has to offer is much better than anything science could ever synthisize. And I would like to travel to places around the globe to meet the indigenous peoples and experience what life was truly meant to be.
If that fits you and you are not on my "friends" list "..... why aren't you? : )
"The Way to Peace*Unity"
By Xavier Rodriguez
MY FAVORITE MUSICIAN,
CHANCE
http://www.myspace.com/chance283931
Let's Get It On
Live at the It's a Beautiful Day Cafe
33 Degrees
All Roads End
Some of the things I have are: 112; 3 Doors Down; Aaliyah; AC/DC; Aerosmith; Marc Anthony; Audioslave; Babyface; 1940s Big Band; Ruben Blades; Bon Jovi; David Bowie; Celtic; Chicago; Harry Chapin; Chayenne; Ciara; Eric Clapton; Kelly Clarkson; Classical; John Cougar; Cream; Jim Croce; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Ani Defranco; Eminem; Evanescence; Fiano Apple; Green Day; Benny Goodman; Guns N' Roses; Jagged Edge; Jethro Tull; Elton John; Journey; R Kelly; Alicia Keys; Latin (salsa, merengue, etc); Hector Lavoe; Led Zeppelin; Lennon; Linkin Park; Lynyrd Skynyrd; Madonna; Loreena McKennit; Middle Eastern; Glen Miller; Native American; Nelly; Nirvana; Pearl Jam; Pink Floyd; Rage Against the Machine; Santana; Soundgarden; Steppenwolf; Cat Stevens; Supertramp; James Taylor; Tupac; Usher and more. My daughter-in-law is corrupting me into listening to country music (more the cross-over songs that sound more like rock or pop) but I'll never admit it to the point of listing any of them here lol. But I don't tolerate gospel or opera very well (eventhough my neighbor sings in the opera and we can hear her practicing)>
~Imagine~
(by John Lennon)
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
John Winston Ono Lennon
(October 9th 1940-December 8th 1980)
Some of the titles on my DVD shelf are: A Walk in the Clouds, Angel Eyes, Backdraft, Born in East LA, Bring It On (and Bring it On Again), Bruce Almighty, The Burbs, The Changeling, Cheaper By the Dozen, City of Angels, Daddy Daycare, Dance With Me, Dirty Dancing, Doctor Dolittle, Dream a Little Dream, Drumline, Fandango, Far and Away, The Fast and the Furious (1 & 2), Finding Nemo, Fools Rush In, Fried Green Tomatoes, Glory, Gone In 60 Seconds, Hitch, Hook, Indigo, Into the West, John Q, Last of the Mohicans, Lean On Me, Legally Blonde (1 & 2), Maid In Manhattan, The Matrix (1, 2 & 3), Men In Black (1 & 2), The Money Pit, Motorcycle Diaries, My Cousin Vinny, The Pacifier, Pirates of the Caribbean, Point Break, Robinhood, Save the Last Dance, Serendipity, Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights, The Shawshank Redemption, Signs, Somersby, Speed, Stand and Deliver, Titanic, Thunderheart, Twister, What About Bob?, What Lies Beneath, Willow, With Honors and that's not even half of them!
*Let the world change you and you can change the world.*
“Just as a picture is drawn by an artist, surroundings are created by the activities of the mind.†(Buddha)
"If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope for advance."
(Orville Wright)
I didn't used to watch hardly any television. But now I Tivo everthing and I get to watch all kinds of things! The regulars are Lost, Ghost Hunters, CSI, Ghost Whisperer, House and during the summer Monk, Psych, The Dead Zone and The 4400 and So You Think You Can Dance. I watch American Idol with my older kids and we compete over who will pick the winner.
First of all... EVERYONE needs to read 1984 by George Orwell. If you haven't already read it... do it RIGHT AWAY! You can get it at the library or buy copies very cheaply on Amazon.com.
I am currently reading Creative Mind and Success by Ernest Holmes (author of The Science of Mind) which is also a Must Read!
My favorite authors are Jodi Picoult and Barbara Kingsolver. I went to a book signing by Jodi Picoult. She really inspired me to do some writing of my own. I've been writing a novel.
I'm also waiting for my oldest son to send me his copies of The Gnostic Gospels. I tend to read a lot of spiritual literature....Religious Science, Baha'i, Native American Spiritualism, Paganism, Wicca Buddhist. I also like to read books on indigenous/ herbal/ traditional healing methods.
"Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
(William James)
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.â€
(Albert Einstein)
"On the basis of the belief that all human beings share the same divine nature, we have a very strong ground, a very powerful reason, to believe that it is possible for each of us to develop a genuine sense of equanimity toward all beings."
(His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "The Good Heart"
"Unity in the Community"
by Bryan Collier
On a personal level, I admire my grandparents. When I was less than one month old, my mother laid me under my grandparents' Christmas tree. From then on I was the greatest gift of their lives. My grandparents were excellent role models of unconditional love. She was a very wise woman, well educated and very spiritual. He was a kind-hearted, quiet, giving, gentle man who will forever be my standard for the men in my life (including my own sons). After they had passed over, I was going through their belongings and came across a journal that my grandmother had started right after that Christmas Day. It was dedicated to me. She was keeping track of world events, complete with newspaper clippings, so that I would know what the world was like as I was growing up. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she is my guardian angel.
On a more broad level, I admire anyone with the courage to stand up for the Universal Truths and work toward Peace and Unity of the One Human Race and for Human Rights. All paths lead to One.
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it ... always.â€
(Mahatma Gandhi)
On Self-Knowledge
And a man said, "Speak to us of Self-Knowledge." And he answered, saying: Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights. But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge. You would know in words that which you have always know in thought. You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams. And it is well you should. The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea; And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes. But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure; And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line. For self is a sea boundless and measureless. Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth." Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.
(Kalil Gibran, The Prophet)