Banned commercial for Thanksgiving

'Grace': PETA's Thanksgiving ad

Paulo Coelho ~from Warrior of the Light

"Every Warrior of the Light has felt afraid of going into battle. Every Warrior of the Light has, at some time in the past, lied or betrayed someone. Every Warrior of the Light has trodden a path that was not his. Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons. Every Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light. Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties. Every Warrior of the Light has said 'yes' when he wanted to say 'no.' Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved. That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is." ~ Paulo Coelho ~

Lance Armstrong - Return to Professional Cycling

Yes! Thank You Lance... for continuing to push all limits... for being a role model with integrity!!

AUSTIN, Texas – September 9, 2008 – Today, Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor, founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and cycling champion, released the following statement regarding his return to professional sports:

“I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden. This year alone, nearly eight million people will die of cancer worldwide. Millions more will suffer in isolation, victims not only of the disease but of social stigma. After the passage of Proposition 15 in Texas, a $3 billion investment in the fight against cancer which is helping to make this disease part of the national dialogue in America, it’s now time to address cancer on a global level.”

Mr. Armstrong will discuss his cycling program and an international LIVESTRONG strategy on September 24th in New York City at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Ten Rules for Being Human

# 1) You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period. # 2) You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life." # 3) There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work." # 4) Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson. # 5) Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned. # 6) "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here." # 7) Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself. # 8) What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours. # 9) Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust. #10) You will forget all this.

Do things increase your sense of worth and therefore the lack of them diminish your sense of self?

....was the questioned asked on the Self Growth site I am a member of... and my answer was.....Me personally...? NO! Not anymore। I used to buy into the worlds facade, surface level, play acting, baloney. When I could no longer live in that shadow... it became life or death for me... I chose life, but not until after I chose death. I got a second chance... to rethink, to rearrange my life, my priorities. I gave away everything... everything that was ever "mine"- except a bit of clothing, shoes and books. I had beautiful, lovely things... I had worked like a dog all my life for those things. I had started w/nothing... barely 18 yrs old... pregnant and very alone. I never really thought I was going to be "anybody"... there was a seed inside me that knew I would, but from the outside in, life was bleak. I was too stupid, too fat, too ugly, too passionate, too sensitive and way too much of a trouble maker. You see, I liked to go against the current... I didn't believe "who" you were, what you looked like, what you had or what label you put on anything, had to do w/anything. What mattered to me was how deep inside your soul would you allow yourself... or anyone else, to go. How thin was your mask, was all I cared about. So it seemed, most of the world didn't work that way. It seemed to me, the thicker your mask, the better play acting you did, the more you were accepted. I really tried hard to play this game, to look like a winner to others, to feel like a winner inside. No matter what, I never felt I could win that battle, the current was too great... when you're swimming up stream... you can only do it for so long...you just become too pooped to paddle, especially when you are doing it all on your own. Well, I lost that battle, my facade became my shadow, I knew I was playing, I knew I became a fake, an imposter... I did not like what I saw in the mirror, my Self knew better. My Self always knew better... that little seed wanted to grow and flourish, it became my anxiety... not listening to my Self became uneasy, a dis-ease in my body. I was de-pressing my Self... I had numerous addictions... one after the other and all together. This play went on for years and years, but nobody really knew... my facade was "DOING GREAT!!" I was the one everyone turned to, how could I tell anyone "it is so dark in here... I am so afraid... I don't know how to get out... I don't know if I want to come out... maybe it isn't just a shadow... maybe it's all real... oh god... there is no hope. I could no longer take it, I was hurting my Self, I wasn't "good" for anyone around me.

I was "resurrected".... I fought the real battle this time... the one w/ my Self. The one that knew the truth all along... we are all the same, we are all perfect the way we are, we just make the mistake of listening to Ego- the one that tell us lies.... like, how great we could be if only we got/had.................................

Remember... you're perfect... you need no thing... your seed inside you is everything you need... just nurture it... allow it to thrive!

Gasshō, (recognition of the oneness of all beings)

Juli

Ahhhhh.... Mexico

I took a girlfriend (my friend and Reiki healer) with me to Mexico a couple months ago. I really needed a week of quiet... meditation time. I knew at that point, she was the only person I could be with that I could "just be" - whatever I needed at any moment, for a week, with no expectation of going or doing... anything. There are very few people I know, that can just be still. A lot of people feel the same about me. I know people see me as very outgoing, very excitable... but, what most people don't know, is that I spend a great deal of my time alone. I love peace and quiet, no TV, no radio, no noise whatsoever. I spent most of my life being the very opposite, fortunately, I've changed almost everything about my life and that was the biggest for me. I'm free at last... I no longer need to cover the anxiety... the "I should be...." Mexico was everything I imagined and more. We stayed in a gorgeous little gated community up against the Pacific Ocean, an hour away from any sort of town. When I walked through the community the day after we arrived, I had a strong curious sense that I had lived there before, not only that, it felt like that was where I belonged... I was home... this is where I came from or need to be. It was an incredible experience, magic like, I was so in awe. The people so friendly, kind, generous, happy, spiritual, loving, so family oriented... I think the stork dropped me in the wrong place... it forgot to head south for the winter... I guess that doesn't make sense, I was born in July. Well... whatever... the egg landed in the wrong part of the world. Don't get me wrong, I love where I live, it is so beautiful, so peaceful, so everything I need right now... I am very grateful I was "brought here"! It is just interesting though, when you feel that moment that "you have been there before," that you are in the right spot, at the right moment and this is your family, your people, your tribe... they immediately connect with you, unlike your own home, your own family, it was so "spiritual", so.... magic like... You know how when you get back from vacation, and a couple days later it doesn't feel like you ever left... I felt that way, yet I still feel Mexico in me when I take a moment to breath and be in awe with life.... I see/feel it in "my body/soul/mind". Have you been somewhere that felt like you have "come home"... or you've been there before... yet, not in this life... that you recall...!!?? Is it a fleeting moment or can you bring it back at anytime... Is it "Deja vous" - "Past life".......? What do you think....!!?? The wonder of life..... Your friend, Juli

Magnanimous (Generous in Spirit) Gatherings

Let’s Create an Instrument through which Spirit can Blow

Two of my best friends died a few years back, they were my best friends because we told each other everything, we could be absolutely raw with one another... whatever was felt or thought was said, no mask. For 22 years we were really there for each other. When my second friend was dying, I was working at the hospital at night and taking him to chemo and his appointments during the day (they both fought to the very end) On one of the days I was taking him to his appt, I sensed it was one of the last times I would speak to him and I knew I had to ask him, "what do you have to say to me?" (I know about dying, I've been around it all my life... I know at that point you are most surely "closest to spirit" "are a channel to god" more so than ever and I wanted to know what he felt he needed to say) What he had to say I will never forget.... "Keep showing up Jules, just keep showing up." I thought I knew what he meant at the time, but years more down the road... I hope a little more wise and closer to spirit myself... I so very much understand. I not only understand, but I consciously try to make it a practice. It took me a while Greg.... but I am so thankful for your spirit "ringing in my ears." Thank you Greg! "Showing up... being present is often the greatest, most precious gift we can really bestow on anyone. To be in another beings company with our heart open, porous... to see and be seen, to know and be known, something gets born in the soil of our having come together that would not have been born had we not joined hands and hearts in the same moment, same place, at the same time. Just by being here we create an instrument through which spirit can blow... so we can see one another, know one another, listen to one another. It's about trusting the grace in people, the wisdom, the courage and all the kinds of capital that there are in the world besides money (courage, wisdom, enthusiasm, hope, joy) capital that needs to be liberated, generosity that doesn't need to be taught, it needs to be liberated somehow. People ache to be kind, people ache to give what they have, to offer their gift, to bring something for nourishment to the table, for the community for which they belong and they ache to take something in return... this precious river of giving and receiving... our call, we imagine, is to be a generous life. We feel under nourished because we can't give what we ache to give, not because we are not getting enough." I am creating a group called "Magnanimous (Generous in Spirit) Gatherings" This gathering is for those who wish to see the gifts (miracles, abundance, wonder, joy, magic...) of life... We talk so much about things that aren't working or how we are "just okay"... I want to hear about what is working in your life, where you see the "magic & miracles happening"... synchronicity... “coincidences” what you are attracting with your positive "new vibrations"... "The more we see, the more we create... & vice versa & so on & so forth.... May you see the wonder... the awe in life... Your friend, Juli