onelovemedia

I’m dubbing this summer as ‘the summer that never was”.  It is not a typical summer for me where I pride myself with all my wonderful summer plans and how much I can get up north. This summer is unique in that I am not interested in the hustle and bustle of summer plans or even care to go away.

We were told in May that my father was palliative and that his life was now about comfort and not about getting better any more. Even though I am an adult and my father has been sick for awhile, the news was still a shock and propelled me into another level of awareness. My focus shifted from the external to the internal and nothing seemed that important to me. All the fluff and stuff that we endlessly fill our days with seemed so trivial and I took pleasure in the simplest activities, like pulling weeds from my vegetable garden, savoring my peppermint tea while watching old episodes of man tracker and just craving the quiet and solitude of my home.

Death brings about periods of experiencing grace. After struggling comes acceptance and time seems to stand still. I can’t believe that it is August, it doesn’t feel like summer even started. After spending a day with my dad, while driving home, I am hit with the reality that the present moment is the only moment we have. The past is so done and the future is not determined. So the present moment is what really matters and we often take it for granted as we hold on to things past or obsess about future plans.

This experience has made me so much more aware of the present moment and that my present experiences could very well be my last. So I am cognizant of the fact that to show kindness is my biggest gift and that being alive in this moment is a gift that I do not want to ignore. We are only on this planet for a short time and what we do is not really that important. What’s more important is what we be. I want to be kindness. I want to be patience. I want to be joy. The doing is busy making and a part of this life but we mustn’t loose fact of the being. Who do you want to be? I am struck with the fact that my life is my own to do what I want with it. There is no tomorrow only today. I am free. I am grateful. As poet, Mary Oliver beautifully wrote in her poem The Summer Day, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

The recent election results left me perplexed, “ I asked, How did this happen?… strategic voting showed the biggest frenzy ever…more seats then in 2008?” I was dumfounded.

60 % of the electorate didn’t vote conservative, but they had a majority. My 17 year old daughter troubled by the results replied, “Does anybody even care about the environment?”

I felt unconfident to deal with her sense of hopelessness. As a family of Green supporters, she knew about- the growing tar sands, embarrassing international reneging of environmental commitments and the  59% reduction is spending for climate change and clean air programs. Not to mention the abolishing of public funding for political parties allowing corporations more political power, cutting of CBC funding, corporate tax cuts and the declaring that poverty isn’t an election issue because poverty doesn’t really exist inCanada. Why would people vote for a party that has such a track record, I wondered? Was it simply a imperfect system where the strategic vote was split between 2-3 left parties which allowed the conservative right? The majority of Canadians that voted didn’t want this party’s policies but here they are with more power.

While I tried to make sense of this political conundrum. I considered another possibility that was not of any political reasoning. Quantum physics explains the law of attraction – what we focus on we get more of. This is interesting when you consider last weeks election. It occurred to me that many people were focused negatively on the Conservative leader. There were people in support of him but there were many more people who really did not want him in power. Websites devoted to getting him out, inundated my email. I speculated  if all the negativity focused on Harper actually helped him win a majority.

The law of attraction states that any attention- positive or negative will create a focal point and that by focusing on what you don’t want or don’t like actually brings more of it into your life. Everyone has probably experienced this principle in their own lives- How negative thinking seems to draw more negative thoughts and then undesirable outcomes become more likely. It’s common to ruminate on what we don’t like in life. The challenge is to spend less time on the negative and more on the preferred outcome.

Maybe our collective intent would have been better focused on visualizing the preferred party to win. Could there have been better outcome if our energies were spent not on thinking about who we don’t want in power but rather spent on visualizing Parliament  flooded with Green MP’S. Would time have been better spent on visualizing every MP committed to the environment?

Maybe next time we need to scrap strategic voting and just vote Green.ElizabethMay has a seat and this is significant. The shift has begun. We can stop focusing on all that we don’t like and instead focus on imagining success and change happening in the House of Commons. One person can make a difference. We’ve seen it many times in history. We know what we don’t want. This is clear. Time needs to be spent now on believing that change can actually happen and visualizing in detail the preferred outcomes.

Lovingkindness or metta is a Buddhist practice. Traditionally, the practice begins with cultivating loving kindness towards yourself, then your loved ones, friends, teachers, strangers, and towards all sentient beings. Finally this practice can be done with people you feel ill will for. Buddhists believe that those who cultivate metta will be at ease because they will see no need to harbour ill will. A metta practice would be to meditate on these phrases: May I be happy. May I be safe. May I be healthy. May I have ease of well being. Extend this out to family and friends. Saying these words slowly. May you be happy. May you be safe. May you be healthy. May you have ease of well being. Extend this out to your community. Then extend it even further to all sentient beings of the air, of the land and of the water repeating those phrases. I have found this practice useful during periods of sleeplessness and have also enjoyed practicing metta while driving, thinking the phrases as I pass others. It feels really sweet sending out thoughts of goodwill to strangers.

Radiating metta is thought to contribute to a world of love, peace and happiness. Dr. Deepak Chopra, world-renowned authority in the field of mind-body healing, recently gave a global online meditation for the people of Japan. He spoke of how we can help others by making our own lives an example of the peace and healing that we wish for others. He speaks about a new planetary mind where “there is a collective impulse for a world of peace, social justice, health and sustainability.” Due to the suffering in Japan, he presents the meditation as an opportunity for a global, collective intention for healing and that this collective desire will affect others.Chopra remarks that we are part of one divine consciousness and that we can re-awaken our divine collective qualities of: loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity- peace.

He begins the meditation with the intent to awaken these divine qualities in each of us. He brings attention to our hearts and feelings of gratitude by reflecting on our blessings. In the silence we experience gratitude. While keeping attention to the heart he suggests to make an intention of performing one act of loving kindness to a stranger and to awaken the desire to do this. In silence we experience loving kindness. He then speaks about awakening compassion and feeling the suffering of others around the world. In silence we feel other’s pain and desire to alleviate their suffering. The meditation continues with the intent of awakening each divine quality within ourselves.

Chopra explains that our collective intent makes a critical mass effect for a peaceful, healthy and happy world. We are one body, one mind, one consciousness that are all part of a great, divine intelligence moving into a new reality. He asks us to remember this connection to one another and our divine qualities. It is an interesting thought- to change the world, we need to change ourselves. It builds on the teachings of Gandhi “Be the change that you wish to see in this world”. This framework for a new world reality is popping up all over in the last few years, in books, movies, art and science.

Some may think that ideas of a collective conscious is not plausible but I wonder if maybe the time is right for these ideas to come forth. They are nothing new as many religions have these core principles about the power of belief. The only difference now is that science is utilizing these concepts. Maybe there is a resurrection in truly re-awakening to these truths because their time has come. People in greater masses are ready to evolve spiritually. To listen to his meditation check out blogtalkradio.com/chopracenter. Coincidentally, I was presented with this Buddhist quote shortly after the Chopra meditation- “You may search the world and not find anyone more serving of your love and compassion than yourself.” Post this on your mirror and change the world.

“If you think love is what you want, you will always be searching for it. If you think love is what you are, you will go and share it all over the place.” Neale Donald Walsch coined this sentiment inviting you to shift your orientation of who you actually are. One view comes from a place of needing or lack and the other one comes from a place of inner power. Love’s feeling is so delicious that we are constantly looking for ways to feel it again that many times this euphoria is temporarily gained in unhealthy ways. This longing shapes our entire existence in what we will do for love.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about love and have read many ideas about manifesting more love in your life. I like the idea that love is the energetic glue that holds our very planet together. It is the life force that is circulating through every living thing on the planet. It is infused in every cell and can never be fully destroyed.
I have come to realize that I don’t need to search for it, I already have it. It is waiting inside me to be re -acknowledged. No matter what pain I have gone through this inner love has been waiting for me to realign to it. I now see that to really find great love I must have great love within myself.
This has taken me quite awhile to see this truth. We all carry limiting stories about ourselves from past experiences but they were never ours to keep. They may have happened to us but it is our job to evolve from them. What is your love identity that you have about yourself ?
Having one day a year celebrating love is not enough. Reflect on how to love yourself more, show love to others more and be grateful for all the love that you have received. I will practice being love. This excites me. I don’t have to “ be” the sad stories of myself. They have no power over me because I will catch myself when I think these untruths. I will stop for a moment and welcome the lies and breathe them away. Then I will welcome the feeling of love radiating from inside me. This will be my truth. I will evolve from my stories that keep me trapped. I will rescue myself instead of waiting to be rescued.
We don’t have to be afraid. Love is who we are and who we will always be. Even death cannot diminish us. So shine brightly knowing that you are good, you deserve to be loved and you must love yourself. See your own inner light and know that it is in others. Like the love of the planet, it persists through all the suffering and destruction awaiting its igniting. Each time we choose to truly love ourselves, we are adding to its flame and an inferno spreads.

National Vegetarian Day

Recently in the news was a story about Paul McCartney, ex-Beatle, urging the Prime Minister of India to declare January 12 as a national Vegetarian Day to celebrate a meat free lifestyle. As almost half of India’s 1.2 billion population is vegetarian, it seems like a good move.

It is reported he wrote, “Would you please think about declaring one day every year – perhaps January 12, which is the anniversary of PETA India’s founding, to celebrate vegetarianism and compassion towards animals? Such a declaration would save countless animals, reduce the environmental devastation caused by the meat industry and help participants clear their arteries and their consciences. It would be a celebration of life – all life.”

What interested me about this story was not that McCartney and his late wife Linda had been long-time animal rights activists since the 1970’s or the description of how a fishing trip made him vegetarian, “Many years ago, I was fishing, and as I was reeling in the poor fish, I realized, I am killing him – all for the passing pleasure it brings me. Something inside me clicked. I realized as I watched him fight for breath that his life was as important to him as mine is to me.” What really interested me was the comments posted under the article. It was compelling to read people’s remarks and the passions that this topic evoked. Carnivores and non- carnivores alike can become so enraged with each other when their beliefs are challenged. Nobody likes to be wrong as it seems to threaten our very sense of self.

I think the problem in this debate is a lack of understanding about why someone chooses to abstain from animal consumption. Some people are vegetarian for health, environmental and financial reasons. Probably most abstain from eating any flesh products is due to ethical reasons. It is a moral issue for some, just like slavery and child labour once were. At one time in North America slavery was an acceptable practice. People who practiced “love thy neighbour” seemed able to exempt African slaves from this belief. Children were once used as laborers up until the beginning of the 20th century until legislation enacted laws against the hiring of children.

Societies collective morality is always evolving and changing. People are continually questioning how things work and if practices are acceptable to them or not. Our opinions, beliefs and values as a society have changed over the years and continue to do so.

Animal rights is a moral ethical issue and that is why it raises so much intense emotions. It is more than just a personal food preference. McCartney’s quote “if slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian,” raises awareness about the cruel treatment of farm animals. If people really knew how farm animals are treated, they might identify more with the nicely wrapped, frozen cut of meat. Mahatma Gandhi, spoke, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” He asks us to look at how we are treating the most vulnerable in society. If we really want violence to end, we have to consider all acts of violence as unacceptable and factory farming is not a natural part of the food chain. If you are brave enough, go to peta.org and watch a video to see for yourself.

This debate interests me because I have been a vegetarian/vegan for twenty years now. There came a time in my life when I realized if I can’t go out and murder an animal for my food, I wasn’t going to eat it. It became a black and white issue for me – either I can or can’t. Maybe the pendulum will swing as more people consider animal suffering as important as other human rights issues. No one has to be perfect, even small changes can make a difference. After all these great thinkers: Einstein, Tolstoy, and Leonardo Da Vinci chose vegetarianism.

“War is Over if You Want it”

“So this is Christmas and what have you done. Another year over and a new one just begun.” This favorite Christmas song was written by John Lennon entitled “So this is Christmas [War is over]”, 39 years ago. John and Yoko Ono in 1969, put up billboard advertisements in cities around the world that read, “War is over! (If you want it).” Two years later this slogan inspired his Christmas song.

The message is about hope, intention and individual power. If enough people believe in peace and consistently choose peace in their daily lives, a ripple effect can occur through the power of the collective consciousness and peace will snowball. The potential of our thoughts to shape reality is being discussed lately in many different scientific realms. Quantum physics describes that everything is energy. We are energy beings and even our thoughts are energy. The popular movie, What the Bleep Do We Know!?, explains that we have been conditioned to believe that the external world is more real than the internal world. Quantum physics states the opposite; that what’s happening on the inside determines what’s happening on the outside. So if energy is shapeable and our thoughts are energy then maybe we are creating our reality. Hard to wrap your head around but interesting to consider especially when you consider all our negative thoughts floating around the planet.

Yoko Ono remarked about the anti- war slogan that the message is “We can do it. If one billion people in the world would think peace – we’re gonna get it. Visualize the domino effect and just start thinking positive, that we are all together in this. Thoughts are infectious.” I’d agree that are thoughts are infectious, just being around someone who is constantly negative can be draining as compared to others who by their words and actions give you a sense of calm. I find, that you can pick up on this energy in seconds after meeting someone.

Why not be open minded about the possibility of the collective power of intention, because what have we got to loose? The world is messed up, maybe its time we considered other possibilities of cause and effect. Maybe we need to consider the power of our thoughts. If we want war, child poverty and other undesirables to end than we must do all we can to support peace. Along with taking action, we can collectively desire peace, visualize peace and take daily personal actions of peace. A ripple effect will grow and influence others. Neale Donald Walsch, spiritual author, wrote “The darkness of the world can be illumined by your glowing presence. Yet you must believe in yourself as The Source of that light and that love. All the world awaits your arrival today, shivering in its sadness, looking to you for warmth.” And as John Lennon so beautifully wrote, “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 be as one”. Check out imaginepeace.com to download “War is over If you want it” postcards.

 One for all and all for One

“If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. If you have come here because your liberation is bound up in mine then lets work together.” Lilla Watson, an Australian Aboriginal Elder, coined this phrase in response to mission workers, asking them to own up to the perception that they are the saviors to the hopeless and the experts needed to fix the problem. Anytime, we reach out to help another there is the possibility of a power imbalance that can turn an act of compassion into one of oppression. Have you ever helped someone with good intentions but secretly judged them, not really considering that had you been born under slightly different circumstances this could have very easily been you?
I love this quote. It helps to remind me to take off my “white, privileged, from a middleclass upbringing, colored glasses” and see that people’s problems are more than just wrong choices but stem from exploitation and oppression than I have not known. Would the world be any different if we looked beyond the “drifter” with the smelly clothes begging for money, and instead saw a human being just like yourself who longs for belonging, love and compassion. How much kinder would we be to one another if we could see the many causes and events that influenced another’s life?

Are any of us really free? We are often unable to see the chains that bind and control us because we have eaten them for breakfast and served them for dinner. Oppression has many faces from racism, sexism, ableism, sizeism, ageism, classism, heterosexism, and speciesism to name a few. We all share in these oppressions through our actions or non actions. You can’t be for one and against the other. It’s the same manure, different pile.

I think we can also extend this sentiment to other life forms on our planet and not just human beings because entitlement is a delusion that we have spread thin. So many animals on our planet are tortured in the name of science, beauty or for food. The earth is so abused because we don’t connect to our environment enough to really protect it. Our human superiority has entitled us right out of a planet almost.

In the end, if we are bound to each others liberation, then we must also be tied to another’s oppression. It is therefore, always in our collective best interests to support those who challenge oppression in any of its many forms. It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to refuse to conspire in the ignorance of privilege. The only thing that we are all entitled too is the sharing of health, joy and abundance for all species on our planet. It’s for everyone. Lets send that out to the planet

Water Water Everywhere But not a Drop to Drink

Dr. Masaru Emoto is the scientist from Japan who has researched water and its response to different emotions and has documented the molecules through photography. These studies are groundbreaking in that they have changed the way people now can view this resource. Water may actually have a consciousness. His photographs are astounding, showing that water physically responds to emotions. Emoto discovered that water from clear springs and water that has been exposed to loving words shows brilliant, complex, and colorful snowflake patterns. In contrast, polluted water, or water exposed to negative thoughts, forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors. Whether this research is valid or not has been debated and I am sure future study of this relationship will increase. What I like about this study, is that it supports the idea of our interconnectedness to each other and that we could be influencing each other and ultimately our environment through our intentions.

Presently, some may feel angry and hopeless when considering what is happening with the Gulf oil spill. Dr. Emoto suggests that we can be of assistance to the water and its inhabitants through our thoughts. He strongly believes that water responds to our emotions and that love and gratitude will help heal the water. He requests that people send the energy of love and gratitude to the water and all the living creatures
in the Gulf of Mexico and its surroundings with this intention, “To the whales, dolphins, pelicans, fish, shellfish, plankton, coral, algae, and all living creatures…I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.” He recommends this meditation and notes that fear and anger will not help the situation. Instead, we must envision the water as healthy and not ailing.

Its interesting to ponder that we are made of 65% water, similar to our planet that is mainly 70% water. We are more water that anything. I find this comparison electrifying. We are in essence water creatures, created and sustained by water. We share a profound alliance to this molecular form. Reflecting on this connection, I am aware of the messages that I/we are sending out to ourselves, each other and ultimately our planet. Can the lessons demonstrated from Emoto’s research be applied to our own lives? How we speak to each other and how we feel about ourselves may be influencing our very bodies cells. We could be hindering ourselves not just emotionally but physically through our negative thoughts. I ask myself “How much am I contributing to the darkness in the world?”

It is fascinating to think that maybe the earth’s body is a mirror image of our collective psyche. If we are all connected than perhaps all of our communal beliefs are reflected externally in our planet’s environment. Could we then make inferences in regards to the oil spill about our own lives? We may ask ourselves, what is deep down in humanity that needs to be released? What archaic beliefs need to be transformed? The inevitable liberation from our oil dependency could be paralleling our own transformation and we can also reflect on a personal level to begin our own individual “clean up”. We can ask, What do I need to let go of? What beliefs are not serving me anymore? I like to think that maybe we are collectively shifting outmoded paradigms that will be altered to something better. Our combined energy is creating our future and we are all responsible.

A world wide meditation event is occurring this Sunday June 27,2010 in Royal city Park from 12- 2 pm. The event is part of The Human Summit project which was created in response to the violence surrounding the G20 summits. Much of the protests arise from anger and fear; The Human summit project is a peaceful alternative for communal engagement for the G20 summit that is spiritual and political. The goal is to have 10,000 people around the world joined in silent meditation holding the vision of peace and infinite abundance for ourselves, our cities, and for our entire planet during this meditation.

This meditation is about contributing to the changing paradigm that is growing worldwide. We have lived in fear for way too long. When we meditate we join with people all around the globe in a collective wish for peace and healing of out planet. Mother Theresa remarked “ If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other”. That’s why people are meditating because we want to remember this- that we belong to each other. Every living species on the planet is connected. Every plant, animal and human belong to each other. People are drawn to this idea of unity because, it is what we are. It is a knowing that we all share at some level.

Fear, anger and violence will not change the world or it would have already done so. Mother Theresa also remarked that she would not go to an anti- war protest but would go to a pro- peace demonstration. She saw the futility in being anti- anything. Anger will breed more anger and violence brings forth more violence. That is why during the G20 summits we are sending peace, abundance and health to the world. The more we hold to this vision, the more gets added to it and it will grow and influence. The power to change the world and ourselves has to begin with our thoughts and our beliefs. What is your vision for yourself and for the planet? This is building the future.