Refreshed

I've finally posted an article on our New Thought News Service blog. It's about the Dalai Lama's Gyuto Monks of Tibet. There are four of them here at the parliament. In fact, they've been camped out about 50 paces from where we, the New Service, have been all week.
They are truly beautiful human beings.
The last few days have been a whirlwind of wonderful experiences. I've not been getting as much sleep as I would like because I've wanted to soak up every moment possible! Some of my favorite people in the world are here and getting to spend time with them has been a beautiful gift.
Yesterday, I finally found a grocery store nearby and was able to buy some organic peanut butter. I love peanut butter, as my family will attest and I'd been meaning to get some for my breakfasts and such. So finally getting some was awesome.
I then jumped into the piece about the monks. I'd gotten interviews with the director of their program in Australia, a self-described Scottish Presbyterian Buddhist, and the multi-talented translator, a former monk and well educated (in the western model) nut. The "nut" part refers to his unusual, disarming and super corny sense of humour.
Taking a break from writing, I walked the five minutes back to the hostel at which I'm staying and made an awesome lunch. Three pieces of toasted, seed inundated bread with peanut butter and slices of Pink Lady apples. HOMYGOD. Berry, berry good. I shared with Suz and Katie and Bree and then asked Kathleen to get me a couple of sushi rolls from across the way. That was sort of impulse more than anything else.
After I'd finished my story, a great relief, I went on an adventure with the crew into the city. Our goal: an awesome bead shop Rev. Linda'd heard about. So we found the place, then the rest of my companions got food, we got starbucks, enjoyed the city sights and generally absorbed.
I wasn't too jazzed by the bead store, to be honest, nor by the Vintage Clothing store that was across the hall. Though they were interesting places both. What I really loved about this particular arcade was the Collected Works Bookstore. I just love bookstores. And this wasn't a used bookstore, this was as its name describes. The proprietor was more a book collector and librarian than dealer. I overheard him saying to Katie that he often liked to make sure his customers and their purchases were a good match. Was that book going to the right home? Or, why would this person want that book?
It was a great place.
We headed back to the Parliament and did one thing or another at our little news station. Bree and I had a really interesting conversation about heart and mind and where they are leading me. My mind tells me to "stay the course" and follow my current plan for after Palomar. That is to enroll this coming fall at either CSU San Marcos or Monterey Bay. My heart, on the other hand, tells me to reexamine an idea I had earlier this year: to move to WA for a year to establish residency and attend the Evergreen State College to finish my BA. This is where my heart was last night AND it still is today. I like the fact that I'll have finished my A.A. degree at Palomar regardless of my later plans. That will feel like a powerful accomplishment, something that would make taking a year off school that much more feasible.
And why might I want to do that? Here's the most succinct reason, besides the feeling that this is my heart speaking, I am called to truly enjoy my experience of finishing my BA. And I am very committed to making it a deeply satisfying, gratifying and inspiring experience all the way through. SO, taking a year to read, to live, to expand my comfort zone, to live life in a way that is sustainable, inspiring, socially responsible, and truly enjoyable, would also give me time to really flesh out what it is I want to study for this last period of my undergrad.
So. There it is. That's what I'm putting into the universe. My intention for school is to be truly, truly inspired, challenged and inspired by my work, to develop all of my interests and synchronize them.

AH! I got to play Capoeira yesterday! Last night there was a Youth Coffee night at which many beautiful people performed, dancers, singers and such. And there was this guy whom I'd seen earlier in the week wearing pants that really reminded me of capoeira style pants. So last night I asked him, "Do you play?" He had, though many years previous. A few minutes later, BAM! We played the most awkward and enjoyable games of Capoeira. It was so wonderful. I had a smile from ear to ear. It was so wonderful. And it was one of my intentions to play while here. I knew there would be someone, anyone who played. AGH! It was so fun.
Bree and I also took the opportunity to find a couple people to act as interview partners. Earlier we'd been offered the chance to be interviewed for the official Parliament documentary, later to be aired on PBS. PBS. As in the Public Broadcasting Service. WOW! I'll be Bree, Wes, Katie and I, plus a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Bahai, and a Methodist. I'm really excited. It'll be great. That'll be later today.

What else.
Conversations have been wonderful. I've attended a few sessions or workshops here and there, but mostly I've been enjoying wandering around the city and the parliament itself. In those times I have had the most rewarding connections to the myriad of humanities faces represented here this week. It is such a pleasure to be able to see everyone and, best of all, to share smiles. I've learned that the smile is a universal mode of communication, a pan-linguistic gesture.

Today, my intention is to further delve into my life, to really listen to my soul's impulses and to give proper respect the voices of my heart and mind. Also, I plan to take some time here in a bit to do some homework so I'm in integrity with that part of my life.

And it's raining in Melbourne!

Parliament Update

My first night in Melbourne was quite exciting. My flight arrived just after 10pm and, after clearing customs and retrieving my bags I hopped on a skybus heading from the airport into the city. By the time I got into the city it was after midnight.

Then I had to find my hostel.

The only trouble was, I'd totally forgotten to write down the address of the place. I knew what it looked like from photos on their website and I knew it was near the convention center. So I set off, asking directions and looking like a pack-mule.

I had my huge REI backpack, then my shoulder bag slung low in front and I was holding a black handbag with my arms through the handles in front. And I found after a few blocks that if I leaned just so, the weight distribution was far better and I could (somewhat) comfortably walk.

A 7-11 attendant sent me down one street, then I found a group of young folks hanging outside a hostel and they told me to go other entirely opposite direction. So I trekked.

I finally found the place and gratefully stepped in to secure my bed. It was alive with action, apparently it's quite the party central. There's a huge number of youth from all over the world and there are people attending the parliament that are of older generations too. I'd say they're pretty brave. It's kind of a wild place.

The New Thought delegations held a preconference the next day in which we were welcomed by a young aboriginal gentleman named Jeremy Donovan. The Agape Int'l ensemble, Erika Luckett and Lisa Ferraro all performed beautifully. Rev. Michael Beckwith, Rev. Roger Teele, Rev. Christian Sorensen and Dr. Kathy Hearn along with other representatives of the New Thought communities all attended and gave welcomes and prayers and the like.

The youth delegates in attendance were asked to put together a piece to share with the gathering outlining our vision for the philosophy in 25 years. The result, having been compiled by 13 New Thought youth in around 25 minutes is our "15-Minute Credo" and can be viewed at newthoughtnewsservice.blogspot.com.

It's been a few days since all of that and I've done and seen a great many things since. I've really enjoyed adventuring around the city with Megan Carlisle, Bree Alten, Suzie Wolds and others. I've been enjoying excellent food, coffee, drink, and the culture of Australia in Melbourne.

On Friday Megan, Bree and I went grocery shopping at the Queen Victoria's Market on the other side of town. We'd tried the two days before to go but were too late each time; it was a small victory just to have found it while it was open.

We bought a quick bite of cheese, bread, olives and juice to tide our hunger. There are hundreds of shops selling everything from cheese to cured meats in a bazaar/souk sort of fashion. There are display cases for each small shop displaying their products and you order from the attendants behind the counter. It was amazing.

After eating, we started shopping for some food to get us through the next couple of days. We ended up with a box full of various veggies and bags and bags of fruit and bread and such. Good stuff.

Yesterday I got to watch the Gyuto Monks of Tibet begin to create a sand mandala 50 paces from our impromptu news room. They've constructed an elevated platform upon which they have a penciled design drawn on a thick piece of wood. They have these ribbed metal cones into which they funnel variously coloured sands. Then, with another metal instrument they rub the ribs on the cone filled with sand and, as a result of the vibrations created by that interaction, sand is slowly coaxed out of a hole at the point of the ribbed cone. They direct the fall of sand into the intricate patterns with as much dexterity as a cake decorator.

I bought a beautiful blue blanket from the Monks' table and a few laminated bookmarks with quotes from the Dalai Lama, and then had my purchases blessed by the head monk. It was a wonderfully sacred experience to support the group financially and to have my contribution honored so.

Last night Megan, Katie, Bree, Susana, Megan's friend Nataliya, our new friend Rowan and I had an incredible meal at a Pay-It-Forward style restaurant in St. Kilda called Lentils As Anything. It was a really cool place, small, with little tables (and one to seat 7), a great creative vibe with incredibly delicious vegan food. We got a pumpkin curry, dahl, rice, two types of salads, and a lentil burger (BEST DISH). We were all pleasantly sated, it was just the right amount of food. And so much fun, to sit and eat with good friends and then decide what we could pay based on our resources and what we felt the food was worth. Yum, yum.

Today I've got some catching up to do. I'm feeling like I've not fulfilled my responsibilities to my contributors in the arena of reporting yet. I've not felt called to put anything together yet; but I'm about to start working on something. So that'll be up soon.

Until next time.

Parliament of the World's Religions, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Here I am, finally putting together a little something about my experiences so far. I've only just realized that I can use this blog to share my personal experiences in addition to my contributions to the New Thought News Service blog (www.newthoughtnewsservice.blogspot.com).

So. I came to Australia through New Zealand. For some reason it was less expensive to fly from LAX to NZ and then on to Melbourne. So I spent three days road trippin' through the ridiculously gorgeous country of New Zealand with my good friend Katie Dutcher. She got to drive, I being too young (still, but for another 6 months only) to drive a rental car. She adapted to the opposite-ness of their road rules quite well. Though we had a few close calls, a couple scares in which we were on the wrong side of the road. Nothing dangerous though. Even the indicator switch and the windshield wipers are on the opposite side. That was pretty funny, having the windshield wipers go off instead of the blinkers.
We were on the northern island, in the very north near Auckland on the Coromandel Peninsula. We spent the first night in a very small comfortable hostel with two German women, a guy from the UK and a woman from Portland, OR. That was in a medium sized, and very quiet town called Thames. We hadn't originally planned to stay in a hostel, we were supposed to meet Rev. Linda Reppond's foster son and his wife. But we never got a hold of them... Though we did have a great time trying to find them. We spent a good hour in United Video, a Blockbuster style chain video rental store. A few locals were hangin' with the employee. We had very little information to go by: two phone numbers, and a sparse geographical location (30 miles from here, twenty minutes south of here kinda thing). One phone number didn't work and she, our supposed host, never picked up the other one. Adventure.
Words fail in describing NZ's beauty. The flora is stunning; towering ferns in a deciduous forest. The landscape is extremely varied, densely forested mountains bordering beautiful coastlines give way to calmly rolling fertile pasture. So many cows. Wow.

I left NZ on the 1st, at 8pm. Watched "The Hurt Locker" and "500 Days of Summer" on the plane, both of which are very good and very different.
Arrived four hours later at 10pm. There's a time difference, I'm not crazy.
The Parliament opened on Thursday, in a three hour ceremony. It was beautiful and a little difficult to endure, to be completely honest.
I'll write more soon.

Something's calling me

Today I feel a little off.

I am experiencing a bit of physical pain and having been raised as I have, I wonder what sort of message my body is trying to send me. Pain is a sometimes indicator. Sometimes it sounds a little wishy washy, even by my standards. For example, if your throat is sore, scratchy, etc. It could mean there is something that you are avoiding saying.... Something you know needs to be said but something holds you back. You hold you back, obviously.

I was thinking earlier this morning while hanging the laundry about perception. Everything in life is perceived. And everything in life is perceived by each individual from an entirely unique perspective. One of the interesting paradoxes of life is that while there are aspects of life that we all perceive in the same way (color, sound, etc.) there are infinitely more ways in which our perception differs due to our perspective.

The beauty of perspective is that we can choose from which perspective we perceive.

My perception of life around me is controlled by my perspective and my perspective is controlled by my mind. Each day, I consciously choose to perceive from a perspective of positivity, optimism, love, abundance, joy, openness and gratitude. For in each moment infinite lessons abound; the task falls to us to be open to and aware of those lessons. Heeding them is another story entirely.

"We are the individuation of the Singularity experiencing life sequentially, simultaneously."

-Neale Donald Walsch.

Creativity Day

This morning I am inspired to work on our family's website. I'm designing it in iWeb; its a simple program, perfect for an amateur web developer like myself...

Yesterday was a wonderful Sunday. At Church I decided to sit in the bookstore and read rather than attend the service or sit with the Teen Group. It was perfect. I read the first chapter of Rev. Michael B. Beckwith's Spiritual Liberation. Interesting book. His story, pre-Spiritual Leader, surprised me.

I was very happy to see the Fives; a family of kids from a lesbian couple. Ailee, Aiden, Ian, and Ocean are some of the most loving, tender children I know. And they love me.

At home I took care of some chores. Actually it was more like a short cleaning binge. I have my days in which I go wild, cleaning for hours on end. Yesterday was not one of them. Though I did manage to vacuum the entire house before I lost interest. Plus my interest was diverted by the latest issue of Dwell, my favorite magazine.

Thereafter, I spent some time on the family website. I wrote a little bit for our Welcome page, then proceeded to construct simple pages for each family member, profiles if you will.

I'm excited to see where it could go.

Sam and Dad just sped off in our latest automobile acquisition. Another Volvo. We now have four. This one was purchased off of our dear friends the Politos. Last night they made a surprise visit; our first time seeing them in years. This one's a 740, white, with what looks like a black interior. Though I haven't had the chance to give it a look over.

Dad wouldn't tell us who was coming to visit. So we guessed. But our guesses came nowhere close to the truth.

Sam and I decided to go to a movie; I invited Trisha and we made it just a few minutes late to the 7:55 showing of District 9. It was an interesting, dystopian, sci-fi flick.

I sometimes tire of the incessant production of dystopian films. Would we bore of watching a film that was utopian? We would suspect, around every corner, a dark twist.

Where are the Eco-Heroes? Believable, cool Eco/Spiritual Heroes. I can think of one film, the Peaceful Warrior, that aspires to my desires.

I'm waiting. Maybe it's mine to do....

Today: website design, excel worksheet for CSA/Mom, laundry, laughing, singing, writing, dishes, water and love.

I love my life. Life is Good, all the time.

Day of work

Reconnoitering

Quite a summer it's been thusfar, quite a summer indeed.
As I write, I'm sitting at the Hill Street Cafe on Coast Highway in Oceanside awaiting a Gnarly Marley roll. It's phenomenal.
On the menu they say it comes with matches; it's brilliant.
I've just returned from a week on the Moneterey Peninsula where I attended a week-long conference of my spiritual community. I spent the week in service; it was fabulous.
One of my roles at Asilomar, as the grounds are called and consequently our event carries the same name, is as Live Auctioneer. Each year we hold a silent and live auction to benefit the youth scholarship fund, from which we provide our youth with scholarships to our events: camps, retreats, seminars, etc.
My other role, and the one in which my passion lies, is as a speaker. On Thursday morning I gave a 20 minute talk in front of 800 some odd people. It was wonderful. I'm working on adding the video of my talk to YouTube; look for it soon.
It was a transformative week. And this week every year for the past four years (this was my 5th) has been truly profound. I feel as though I would do well to commit to attending this retreat for many, many years to come. I wouldn't be the only one.
There are big things in store for me in the next year; I can feel it. There are things brewing right now; I am on the cusp of something great in my life. My next big adventure. Hmm, a misspelling looked good: adven-true... As opposed to adventure.
I find great pleasure in wordplay.
Until next time.
The world is a better place for your having been born.

City of Roses

I'm surprised at myself. Upon preparing for my journey to Portland I half expected to instantly fall in love with the city and lustfully want to move here, ASAP. Only the former has happened, with any urgency anyway. Walking around Powell's yesterday I was restless. I didn't experience what I usually do in a bookstore: serenity. It felt what it is: large. And it was cool, to be sure.
Portland, what I've seen of it (and Kristin did a wonderful job of showing me around), is an absolutely gorgeous city. Truly beautiful. It has a character that is so unique to anything I have heretofore experienced. Kristin said, "this city reminds me of exactly ONE street in San Diego." And I think I know what she means. There is something in common with the two, although that thing that I like in San Diego, what is probably the thing about the street Kristin likes, is everywhere in P-town.
Pearl street is astounding. I can see myself living in that district.
Breakfast in Vernonia beckons.

Being-ness

This morning I recognize and rejoice in my unique-ness.

I've started reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth in which he spends the first few chapters talking about the ego. And I've realized, by reading Tolle's explication of the ego, its function and its tendencies, a lot of what I do is egoic.
The ego works by identifiying, with things, ideologies, places, habits, thoughts and so forth. Identification means "to make the same," as in, to make the same as I. When I identify with things, like my running, my body, my way of being in the world, I equate that thing, that idea with my being. When, in truth, I am no-thing. I am not defined by any possesion, ideology, tradition or even by the body I inhabit.
I have been identifying with my body most of late. I have been experiencing a high degree of health, a function of an increased amount of exercise; I am required to log a certain amount of hours in the gym for a health class I am taking, and I've risen to the occasion with zeal.
I enjoy the way I feel when I work-out, when I run, lift weights, stretch, do yoga. There is nothing "wrong" with this, indeed a great benefit of my increased fitness is developing a body sense, learning about my body, becoming more comfortable in my body. And, at the same time, I derive satisfaction from what I see in the mirror, the physical appearance I am shaping pleases me.
Tolle speaks directly to this aspect of the egoic mind in the second chapter of A New Earth. "In the West," he says, "It is the physical appearance of the body that contributes greatly to the sense of who you think you are: its strength or weakness, its percieved beauty or ugliness relative to others. For many people, their sense of self-worth is intimately bound up with their phyical strength, good looks, fitness, and external appearance." The problem with such a fixation is the inevitable disappearance or shifting of those physical attributes.
The first step in the process of reliquishing the hold of the ego over my life is to simply acknowledge its presence. So often, we allow, I allow my ego to run my life without even noticing its presence, let alone its power. When I am living a life goverened by ego, I begin to experience fluctuating moods; I will be happy with life and similarly dissatisfied in the course of two days or two hours. Yet when I have detached myself from the worries of the ego, when I dwell in the space between my ego and my body, when I live from an awareness of my true nature, the tendency for capricious moods is lessened.
This concept of a space between the ego and the physical, the body is something of which Tolle has reminded me. I have long since been intellectually aware of my inseparability from the totality of life, of my divine being, the oneness of life, etc. Yet, as has been brought to my attention again by Tolle, the intellect and its function, thinking are constructs of the ego. My true being-ness is deeper, universal, energetic, formless and eternal. One way to feel this formlessness or at least sense it on some level is to detach oneself, temporarily, from the thinking noise of everyday life. Say, for instance, you are preoccupied with something; thoughts about this thing, its effect on your life, the feelings it brings, and so forth swirl endlessly in your mind. Take this opportunity to extract yourself from this experience and notice you are endlessly contemplating this thing. That place you took yourself, the place to which you withdrew to inspect your thinking, that is the formless realm, the universal, eternal realm in which all Life is connected. Its as simple as that.

POTENTiality

This morning I am filled with a sublime bliss, an awareness of and comfort with the possibilities of my life.

In the past couple of days I have been inspired to be a food and travel writer. Why?
First and foremost, these are two aspects of life of which I am very, very fond. I am passionate about food and travel. Travel is one of the values by which I've decided to live. Food, beyond its necessity, is a glorious event. I love food. I consider myself a foodie; I've been raised a farmer, with fresh vegetables all the time. Perhaps I've been spoiled, perhaps blessed. Maybe both.
I think every person should have the opportunity to enjoy the types of food I have, in the ways I have.
This is part of my greater vision for the world. All people have the right to healthy, delicious, affordable food. And why not be the farmer/gardener yourself? Backyard farms anyone?
Back to writing.
To study writing/literature and develop my voice as a writer, this is my overall academic goal. That, in addition to cultivating a sincere knowledge of and appreciation for the diversity and complexity of the world around me. I plan to study history, literature, philosophy, sociology and the like, in order to develop a versatility, a comfort with writing.
As a travel/food writer, the idea would be to receive income by doing things I love, eating and traveling.
My academic plan, today, is to receive two General Studies A.A. degrees from Palomar w/ emphases in the Arts and Humanities (the 2nd comprised mostly of a continued study in Spanish), then to transfer to a university where I will receive a Bachelors in something having to do with English Literature. Then, and this has just re-emerged as a desire in the past two days, then I would like to attend the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy. There I would receive a Masters in a field yet to be determined.
That's today's plan. And it feels good.

Affirmation

Today's affirmation: I am complete and perfect Now.
My intention for this next week, my spring break:
outstanding productivity, bliss, love and relaxation.