April 8, 2008

• Elder’s Meditation of the Day – April 8
  “The very dust under your feet responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours, because it is the ashes of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch, for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.”
  –Chief Seattle, SUQUAMISH
  If you respect something, it will respect you back. If your ancestors respected something, the future generations will be respected back. The Indian ancestors always showed great respect for the Earth. That’s why the Earth is so respectful to Indians today. Every Indian naturally feels connectedness to the Earth. We know the Earth holds our ancestors. If we continue to respect Mother Earth, our children will benefit and so will our grand- children. Today, we should think about and pray for our Mother Earth.

  Grandmother, let me have strong feelings for our Earth today.

  I am hoping to graduate from DBT on Friday, I will check with my therapist today, at my appt!

  That said, I will have Wed and Fri mornings free.

  I have the opportunity to get at home work for Sept – November.

  I am excited about that!  It would consist of doing some data entry work,

  and I might be able to pick up some proofreading work, too.

  I hope they hire me on for more jobs.  I have a Xanga friend that already works for them,

  and recommended me!

  Zen Commute
  Discovering Ourselves
  in Traffic

  No one wants to be angry with a fellow human being
  who is lost or confused, but if we get stuck driving behind one, we may find
  ourselves feeling wildly, uncharacteristically impatient. It is our earnest goal
  to have compassion and love for other people, but when one of them cuts us off,
  we feel personally offended, angry, and hurt. The good news is that by
  experiencing these difficult emotions, we have the opportunity to see ourselves
  and change our approach. In that light, being stuck in traffic can become a
  vital part of our spiritual practice.

  Sages of all faiths agree that the
  current moment is the only thing that really exists. The past and future are
  equally irrelevant in the presence of the now. Therefore, at the deepest level,
  there is nowhere to go, because the only place we need to be is here, now. Just
  reminding ourselves of this in the midst of traffic can be extraordinarily
  helpful. The Zen mantra “Nowhere to go / No one to be / Nothing to do” can work
  wonders on our panicky misperception that we need to get somewhere fast. By
  remaining in the moment, we inevitably get to our destination. We don’t need to
  push or rush or panic.

  Another tool used throughout the ages to maintain
  enlightened awareness is breath meditation. The simple act of consciously
  inhaling and exhaling grounds us in our bodies, reminding us where we are, who
  we are, and how precious our life is. When we connect deeply to our own
  existence in this way, many of the petty thoughts and feelings that can dominate
  our minds dissolve without any effort. We have breathed our way back to sanity.

  From this place of awareness, you can feel compassion for the drivers
  who are banging their steering wheels and blaring their horns, even if they are
  honking at you. You know it is not personal; they have simply lost perspective.
  On your exhale, send out a wish that they, too, find the cool ease of the
  present moment.

  http://www.dailyom.com

  Fairy of the Woods
  Gary
  Stadler
  1996

  As if conjured up from some dark but fragrant corner of the
  universal mind comes the music of Gary Stadler. An electronics engineer who
  started the album originally as a present for his girlfriend, Stadler was just
  playing around in his spare time. Friends with a small label heard it and urged
  him to keep going and make something for the label, which he did for three
  years. The result is Fairy in the Woods, an album with so much heart and
  simplicity that you will want to drop your worldly concerns and possessions and
  just dive into the beauty, perhaps never to return.

  The music speaks for
  itself and works in a gorgeous, unpretentious way. A dash of prime Enya floats
  over it, but in general this is simply gorgeous background music, ideal for
  taking a nap or driving through a beautiful countryside. The album opens with
  the sound of a glade at nightfall, with crickets and then a softly gliding piano
  line, which gradually expands out like ripples along a still pond, waking the
  fairies to their dance. The title track is a dreamy sea of overlapping and
  intertwining keyboard melodies, a wash of glowing synthesizer over alternating,
  simple piano melodies with soft chime and string touches.

  “Pool of
  Light” brings you into the fairy chamber at last. Cascades of harpsichord add a
  sense of courtly propriety and decorum, signaling perhaps that the dreaming and
  waking part of your fairyland slumber has come to a close and that it is time to
  meet the queen herself. There’s no need to worry or hastily straighten your cap
  and tie, though. Here there is nothing but gentleness, magic, and the essence of
  undemanding love. If you let it, the music can take you far away so fast that
  you may never want to return. It can give your spirit wings and make the tired
  old world of mortal strife fade like ants and anthills as you embrace the fluffy
  clouds of Celtic majesty. But all things fade, even the eternal castles of the
  fairies must vanish with the coming sun. At album’s end, Stadler strikes a
  melancholy note of sadness, the inevitable follow-up to so much tranquil and
  rewarding joy. Just as mortals must shuffle off to bed at the call of night, so
  must the fairies in your heart and mind shuffle off at the dawn’s first rays.
  Fear not, sad-eyed reveler, this album is not going anywhere, except maybe in
  your special case of favorites.
  

  	Listen to all sound clips from this CD
  “Sometimes” “Fairy of the Woods” “Pool of Light”

  Buy this CD

  

  I hope all of you have a great Tuesday
  and are in awareness of the beauty around us!

  I love you!!

  

  • 9:19 am
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