Forgiveness; Fr. EHow. Tick the title to be redirected there.

Forgiveness is one of those concepts that most people have difficulty grasping. While we all have a mental image of what forgiveness "should" look like when others forgive us, knowing how to forgive ourselves or someone else isn't as easy to understand.

When someone else causes us emotional harm, whether unintentional or intentional, learning to let go of this pain can be one of the most difficult transitions we go through. Social workers in the prison system work with families on the process of forgiveness to help ease the transition between incarceration and life on the outside. Similar to restorative justice programs which involve the victim of a crime and the offender, these prison programs seek to develop an understanding of the offenders act(s) and come to terms with the eventual return to society.

The families involved tend to view forgiveness as an admission that the past is completely forgotten and life can return to normal as if nothing happened. As you can imagine, this effort at denying the behavior has a negative effect.

Carrying emotional pain, anger, anxiety, and other distressing thoughts about a situation or someone often is easier for us than beginning the forgiveness process. Cognitive-behavioral therapists often stress positive thoughts since it can be easier to invest more time in negative thoughts and redirect energy toward positive change. The more we concentrate our emotional energy on carrying a grudge and not forgiving someone, the more likely we are to become anxious, depressed and negative about the general situation.

Since it is often easy to think of forgiveness in terms of forgetting, we need to examine how we forget. Human memory does not work like computer memory. There is no way to reformat the past. Instead, we look at situations through different lenses. Psychologists often refer to these lenses as perspective. Reality of our situation is how we view it at the time that the impression or memory was formed.

Forgetting a past hurt refers to relearning the circumstances surround the situation, reprocess it through a fresh perspective, and move toward forgiveness. When we look at the outcome of what happened, we can either become bitter and angry or view the end result as an opportunity for personal growth and change.


5 Steps
1. The first and most important step is allowing yourself permission to forgive. When we focus more on the consequences of not forgiving ourselves, we shift the focus to ourselves and how we can move beyond the past hurt and blame. The situation becomes less about the person who wronged you and more about how you are able to heal and develop a sense of peace.

2. Forgiving someone else first involves recognizing that forgiving is not giving that person absolution for a previous wrong. Forgiveness is often confused with absolution since the terms are used almost interchangeably in most religions. What if the person who wronged you is not living? What if the person is someone who caused you extreme embarrassement during school 20 or 30 years ago? These people are not available to you to discuss the situation, nor do they have to be. Letting go of emotional pain does not mean that nothing happened; it means that you no longer want to be controlled by it.

3. Recognize that forgiveness is not denial. Whatever caused the pain was a real incident. Denying that it happened and calling it forgiveness means that it is too painful to work through the emotions. There is no timeline on forgiveness. Some steps take longer to get through, and it is acceptable to work through some of it and set it aside for a period of time. Part of forgiveness is understanding that whether or not someone takes responsibility for it (and may even demonstrate remorse), does not control whether or not you intend to continue investing emotional pain and distress each time you revisit what happened.

4. Understand that not everyone who forgives reconciles with the person who caused the pain. There are relationships that are toxic and even physically dangerous. While it is possible to forgive the past and move beyond it, it may also mean that the person who was involved no longer can play an active role in your life. If a person or situation is not safe, it may be best not to reconcile the relationship and then work on forgiveness at a time when you are emotionally healthy and physically safe.

5. Make a conscious decision to forgive someone. Even if they never apologize for what happened, determine within yourself that it is fine to proceed without this apology. Apologies should not be about permission to us to forgive someone. Apologies should be offered as an effort of true remorse and acknowledgement that taking personal responsibility for the situation is important. Even without that apology, make up your mind to forgive, forget, and eventually let go.


Sounds a bit like the 12 steps program developed by Bill W. Food for thought thought.
I allow myself to forgive myself, the people in my sphere of influence, and to forgive our government. Now I have to go work on the next steps.
Namesta

The Restless Northwest by Hill Williams WSU Press

In The Restless Northwest, former Seattle Times science writer Hill Williams provides a fascinating overview of the geological processes that shaped the Northwest.

An attraction of the region is its varied terrain, from the volcanic Cascade mountain range to the flood-scoured scablands of eastern Washington and the eroded peaks of the northern Rockies. The vast differences, Williams notes, are the results of the collision of the old and the new. The western edge of Idaho was once the edge of ancient North America. As eons passed, a jumble of islands, minicontinents, and sediment piled up against the old continental edge, gradually extending it west to the present coastline.

Figuring out how and when these various landforms came together to create the Northwest took much geological detective work.

Unlike many geology books that focus on rocks, The Restless Northwest emphasizes the human drama of geology. The narrative includes firsthand accounts of people involved in the exciting geological discoveries of recent years.

The author enlivens the story of ancient geological events with fascinating asides on everything from enormous undersea tube worms to the Willamette meteorite, the largest ever discovered in the United States.

General readers will find Williams's prose refreshingly free of scientific jargon and easy to understand.

:)

More Mr. Twain and other little adages

A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation. -- Mark Twain



The person who can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed. - Bennett Cerf

Tiny Dwelling By Jetson Green (Hadda Share)

This home, The Don Vardo, was built by a tiny house construction company in Oregon called Portland Alternative Dwellings, or PAD. PAD is selling The Don Vardo for $22,000, which includes a desk, kitchen nook, pull-out double bed, and radiant heat floors. Built on a 7x10-foot trailer, the portable home is fully insulated, road tested, and comes with reclaimed Douglas fir doors, rain screen cedar siding, a PaperStone desk, an LED rope-light, salvaged cabinets and a sink, and efficient double-hung windows. There is no toilet or shower, but still ...
First noticed at Tiny House Design.

LOVE

Sharing Love is like
sharing a
song with someone
who will sing it strongly and
right there with you.
Right there, making it a harmony!

And so much more~~~~~~~

I love you Man, Woman, God's and Goddesses


Namesta!

©Allisonians

Photo from Pink Sherbert (Yummy! I love rainbow sherbert best!)

Nature's Pharmacy! Amazing!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.


A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.


Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.


A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. �Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.


Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.


Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.


Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? �It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them)..


Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well to overcome male sterility.�


Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.


Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries�


Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Mark Twain's Corn-Pone Opinion

Still True Today, As Always

Corn Pone Opinion

FIFTY YEARS AGO, when I was a boy of fifteen and helping to inhabit a Missourian village on the banks of the Mississippi, I had a friend whose society was very dear to me because I was forbidden by my mother to partake of it. He was a gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black man -a slave -who daily preached sermons from the top of his master's woodpile, with me for sole audience. He imitated the pulpit style of the several clergymen of the village, and did it well, and with fine passion and energy. To me he was a wonder. I believed he was the greatest orator in the United States and would some day be heard from. But it did not happen; in the distribution of rewards he was overlooked. It is the way, in this world.

He interrupted his preaching, now and then, to saw a stick of wood; but the sawing was a pretense -he did it with his mouth; exactly imitating the sound the bucksaw makes in shrieking its way through the wood. But it served its purpose; it kept his master from coming out to see how the work was getting along. I listened to the sermons from the open window of a lumber room at the back of the house. One of his texts was this:

"You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I'll tell you what his 'pinions is."

I can never forget it. It was deeply impressed upon me. By my mother. Not upon my memory, but elsewhere. She had slipped in upon me while I was absorbed and not watching. The black philosopher's idea was that a man is not independent, and cannot afford views which might interfere with his bread and butter. If he would prosper, he must train with the majority; in matters of large moment, like politics and religion, he must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors, or suffer damage in his social standing and in his business prosperities. He must restrict himself to corn-pone opinions -- at least on the surface. He must get his opinions from other people; he must reason out none for himself; he must have no first-hand views.

I think Jerry was right, in the main, but I think he did not go far enough.

1. It was his idea that a man conforms to the majority view of his locality by calculation and intention. This happens, but I think it is not the rule.

2. It was his idea that there is such a thing as a first-hand opinion; an original opinion; an opinion which is coldly reasoned out in a man's head, by a searching analysis of the facts involved, with the heart unconsulted, and the jury room closed against outside influences. It may be that such an opinion has been born somewhere, at some time or other, but I suppose it got away before they could catch it and stuff it and put it in the museum.

I am persuaded that a coldly-thought-out and independent verdict upon a fashion in clothes, or manners, or literature, or politics, or religion, or any other matter that is projected into the field of our notice and interest, is a most rare thing -- if it has indeed ever existed.

A new thing in costume appears -- the flaring hoopskirt, for example -- and the passers-by are shocked, and the irreverent laugh. Six months later everybody is reconciled; the fashion has established itself; it is admired, now, and no one laughs. Public opinion resented it before, public opinion accepts it now, and is happy in it. Why? Was the resentment reasoned out? Was the acceptance reasoned out? No. The instinct that moves to conformity did the work. It is our nature to conform; it is a force which not many can successfully resist. What is its seat? The inborn requirement of self-approval. We all have to bow to that; there are no exceptions. Even the woman who refuses from first to last to wear the hoop skirt comes under that law and is its slave; she could not wear the skirt and have her own approval; and that she must have, she cannot help herself. But as a rule our self-approval has its source in but one place and not elsewhere -- the approval of other people. A person of vast consequences can introduce any kind of novelty in dress and the general world will presently adopt it -- moved to do it, in the first place, by the natural instinct to passively yield to that vague something recognized as authority, and in the second place by the human instinct to train with the multitude and have its approval. An empress introduced the hoopskirt, and we know the result. A nobody introduced the bloomer, and we know the result. If Eve should come again, in her ripe renown, and reintroduce her quaint styles -- well, we know what would happen. And we should be cruelly embarrassed, along at first.

The hoopskirt runs its course and disappears. Nobody reasons about it. One woman abandons the fashion; her neighbor notices this and follows her lead; this influences the next woman; and so on and so on, and presently the skirt has vanished out of the world, no one knows how nor why, nor cares, for that matter. It will come again, by and by and in due course will go again.

Twenty-five years ago, in England, six or eight wine glasses stood grouped by each person's plate at a dinner party, and they were used, not left idle and empty; to-day there are but three or four in the group, and the average guest sparingly uses about two of them. We have not adopted this new fashion yet, but we shall do it presently. We shall not think it out; we shall merely conform, and let it go at that. We get our notions and habits and opinions from outside influences; we do not have to study them out.

Our table manners, and company manners, and street manners change from time to time, but the changes are not reasoned out; we merely notice and conform. We are creatures of outside influences; as a rule we do not think, we only imitate. We cannot invent standards that will stick; what we mistake for standards are only fashions, and perishable. We may continue to admire them, but we drop the use of them. We notice this in literature. Shakespeare is a standard, and fifty years ago we used to write tragedies which we couldn't tell from -- from somebody else's; but we don't do it any more, now. Our prose standard, three quarters of a century ago, was ornate and diffuse; some authority or other changed it in the direction of compactness and simplicity, and conformity followed, without argument. The historical novel starts up suddenly, and sweeps the land. Everybody writes one, and the nation is glad. We had historical novels before; but nobody read them, and the rest of us conformed -- without reasoning it out. We are conforming in the other way, now, because it is another case of everybody.

The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders and accepting their verdicts. The Smiths like the new play; the Joneses go to see it, and they copy the Smith verdict. Morals, religions, politics, get their following from surrounding influences and atmospheres, almost entirely; not from study, not from thinking. A man must and will have his own approval first of all, in each and every moment and circumstance of his life -- even if he must repent of a self-approved act the moment after its commission, in order to get his self-approval again: but, speaking in general terms, a man's self-approval in the large concerns of life has its source in the approval of the peoples about him, and not in a searching personal examination of the matter. Mohammedans are Mohammedans because they are born and reared among that sect, not because they have thought it out and can furnish sound reasons for being Mohammedans; we know why Catholics are Catholics; why Presbyterians are Presbyterians; why Baptists are Baptists; why Mormons are Mormons; why thieves are thieves; why monarchists are monarchists; why Republicans are Republicans and Democrats, Democrats. We know it is a matter of association and sympathy, not reasoning and examination; that hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics, or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies. Broadly speaking, there are none but corn-pone opinions. And broadly speaking, corn-pone stands for self-approval. Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is conformity. Sometimes conformity has a sordid business interest -- the bread-and-butter interest -- but not in most cases, I think. I think that in the majority of cases it is unconscious and not calculated; that it is born of the human being's natural yearning to stand well with his fellows and have their inspiring approval and praise -- a yearning which is commonly so strong and so insistent that it cannot be effectually resisted, and must have its way. A political emergency brings out the corn-pone opinion in fine force in its two chief varieties -- the pocketbook variety, which has its origin in self-interest, and the bigger variety, the sentimental variety -- the one which can't bear to be outside the pale; can't bear to be in disfavor; can't endure the averted face and the cold shoulder; wants to stand well with his friends, wants to be smiled upon, wants to be welcome, wants to hear the precious words, "He's on the right track!" Uttered, perhaps by an ass, but still an ass of high degree, an ass whose approval is gold and diamonds to a smaller ass, and confers glory and honor and happiness, and membership in the herd. For these gauds many a man will dump his life-long principles into the street, and his conscience along with them. We have seen it happen. In some millions of instances.

Men think they think upon great political questions, and they do; but they think with their party, not independently; they read its literature, but not that of the other side; they arrive at convictions, but they are drawn from a partial view of the matter in hand and are of no particular value. They swarm with their party, they feel with their party, they are happy in their party's approval; and where the party leads they will follow, whether for right and honor, or through blood and dirt and a mush of mutilated morals.

In our late canvass half of the nation passionately believed that in silver lay salvation, the other half as passionately believed that that way lay destruction. Do you believe that a tenth part of the people, on either side, had any rational excuse for having an opinion about the matter at all? I studied that mighty question to the bottom -- came out empty. Half of our people passionately believe in high tariff, the other half believe otherwise. Does this mean study and examination, or only feeling? The latter, I think. I have deeply studied that question, too -- and didn't arrive. We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking. And out of it we get an aggregation which we consider a boon. Its name is Public Opinion. It is held in reverence. It settles everything. Some think it the Voice of God.



Just food for thought.....

Begin Reading Agni Light Here! From Deepak Chopra Center

"Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future. The past is closed and limited, the future is open and free." ~ Deepak Chopra


Namesta!

Tick to be redirected to the Agni Light site.
See you there!


©Allisonians
Please ask me for permission to use my photos so you won't(plagiarize) yourself. silly silly

THIMBLE EMPIRES

Life is busy so we must always remember to play once in a while. As children we all start life with limitless imaginations, so take time with those you love and really look at nature around you. Learn to see your own world with new eyes. This site has suggestions for projects and adventures you can do. There will be learning sections, as well as interactive art ideas and a challenge to building your own fairy houses.The fun is out there, you just need to go looking for it. The Rules: Use your imagination, learn to really look at the world around you, and make play time. We're a new and upcoming company and offer great prices and information on a variety of environmentally friendly products. We believe in and support green for our environment.


Fairy House Codes
1. Never harm a living thing to create a house.
2. Please don’t pick flowers unless they are yours.
3. Use anything you find, be creative with what you have, but make sure it’s
natural.
4. Leave a special stone or shell from another place as a gift.
5. Give the house a name.

Activity Idea!
Go for a walk or picnic in your neighborhood. Collect natural building
materials and create your
own fairy house. Observe the building codes below and it’s sure to be a
hit!
Fairy House Blessing

This is a traditional fairy house blessing. Try to memorize it and recite it
when you build a fairy house.
You can insert a friends name as the King (or Queen) when you recite it
and treat them like royalty for the nonsense hour.

Ho ye! Ho ye! The hour of nonsense has now arrived, King Fun ruler of the
Kingdom of Nonsense is at hand. Be gone dull cares! Vanish from our
midst ye shadows of gloom! Enter here this fairy house with joy, gladness,
and hearty laughter! Huzza!

Fairy Lore: If you leave a thimble in the house overnight, in the morning
the fairy’s will have filled it with magic as a thank you.

The fairy house art challenge Draw or paint your dream fairy house. If you
send us a copy it could be included in a future project.


FR; Thimble Empires
Thanks,
And
Namesta!

Xenophanes by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Other of his Works refferences

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Xenophanes(p.174)

By fate, not option, frugal Nature gave
One scent to hyson and to wall-flower,
One sound to pine-groves and to waterfalls,
One aspect to the desert and the lake.
It was her stern necessity: all things
Are of one pattern made; bird, beast and flower,
Song, picture, form, space, thought and character
Deceive us, seeming to be many things,
And are but one. Beheld far off, they part
As God and devil; bring them to the mind,
They dull its edge with their monotony.
To know one element, explore another,
And in the second reappears the first.
The specious panorama of a year
But multiplies the image of a day,—
A belt of mirrors round a taper's flame;
And universal Nature, through her vast
And crowded whole, an infinite paroquet,
Repeats one note.

from my old Emerson's Poems book (I don't know the date because the title page is missing,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Introduction to Nature

Excerpt from Lewis Leary's Ralph Waldo Emerson: An Interpretive Essay.

"The best way to get at Emerson is to come at him all at once, in the ninety-five pages of his little book called Nature, issued anonymously in 1836, which contains the compressed totality of all that he would subsequently patiently reveal. Revelation rather than logic was the instrument used by Emerson to delve toward truth. It was not his intention to create a philosophy or to codify thought. He distrusted logical arguments as man-made, and therefore inadequate because they are imperfect as man is imperfect. Neither philosopher nor conventional moralist, Emerson, it cannot be said too often, was first and last an artist who attempted to create a vision of the world and man's place in it. What is the world? What is nature which lies all about us? What is the refulgent beauty of nature that draws man out of himself, to quietness and calm, or to resolution? What are the mysteries of nature that inspired men resolve by conquering time or space through the discovery of such things as the telegraph, or the harnessing of waterpower and steam, or rocketing to the moon?

For the rest the Great site just below here on Emerson's Nature
tick here;
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/nature.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Additionally there is a great reprint; tick the link below. I didn't see the above poem 'Xenophanes' when I briefly checked the contents.
It is a book of Emerson's Poems, but not exactly like mine. It may just be a bit rearranged (this is basically for my reference)excuse moi. I will have to research to be sure.

The link below is an entire Google ebook on Emerson Poems!

http://books.google.com/books?id=sM7iAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=emerson's+poems&source=bl&ots=OScyEFC-jr&sig=0RcsXP8wOM1PyDCuI_hr88bQr1o&hl=en&ei=AQlZS-7QCpDgsQO2jdTFBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=emerson's%20poems&f=false

The Unbelievable World Of Snowflakes by David DeFranza 12.07.09; I wonder~ the other crystal~ Is either more essential? Permanent vs' Instantaneous

"Snow crystals," Ukichiro Nakaya wrote in 1939, "may be called letters sent from heaven." The Japanese physicist spent his life studying snowflakes, eventually becoming the first to create an artificial snow crystal in the laboratory.

His breakthrough led to a nuanced understanding of how snowflakes form.

Nakaya, however, was not the first scientist to take a close look at snowflakes. The process began as early as 150 BC when Chinese scholar Han Ying wrote about the "contrasts [between] the pentagonal symmetry of flowers with the hexagonal symmetry of snow."
Throughout history, many notable people, including Saint Albertus Magnus, Johannes Kepler, and René Descartes, took an interest in snow and snow crystals.

Centuries of study yielded countless descriptions of snow and illustrations of snow structure.

It wasn't until January 15, 1885, however, that a snowflake was photographed. Using a process involving black felt backgrounds he developed on his family's Vermont farm, Wilson Bentley was able to capture the ephemeral crystals on film.

He went on to take thousands of photographs of snow crystals, paving the way for advanced taxonomic studies of snow.

Bentley described snowflakes as "tiny miracles of beauty" and snow crystals as "ice flowers." He was the first person to argue that no two snowflakes are alike.

When Ukichiro Nakaya set out to photograph his own ice crystals Bentley's book, Snow Crystals, served as an inspiration.

For the conclusion of the story in slide show form tick the title.

Down under the ground and/or up above it, crystals are amazing!
Have a great night!

Fair Food Fight

by: El Dragón
Mon, 01/18/2010 - 14:11

Michael Sykuta, associate professor at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri at Columbia, wrote an opinion piece for the Modesto Bee asking Why are Feds Launching Ag Antitrust Probe? and it's not a rhetorical question:

Why, one may wonder, is the Department of Justice launching an antitrust investigation against some of U.S. food system’s major players at a time when Americans are enjoying a widening array of food choices and spending less and less of their disposable income to do so?

Sykuta goes on to lay out his argument, which is basically, "Food is cheap because of consolidation. Get off Big Ag's back!" But with a nine-digit Farm Bill bailing out the ag sector in 5-year intervals, crediting consolidation with cheap food is like crediting AIG and Morgan Stanley with a successful recovery last year. If food prices are cheap in this country, it's because we tax ourselves heavilty in order to allow Tyson, Kraft, ADM and Big Beef to consolidate around cheap grains and feed.

It's a fine strategy, if the goal is cheapness.

But that's where Sykuta's wrong. America's chief goal and reason for being isn't cheap goods; it's fair competition in the marketplace. When domination of the marketplace actually impedes growth and job creation, that's when the people need to step in via their government and chop down the big tree that's shading out the rest of the apple orchard.

Yep. All eyes are on you, Monsanto.

I got thinking about this when a buddy of mine on Twitter, a student of genetic engineering in Iowa, actually said she hoped that Department of Justice would go after Monsanto. She and I don't see eye to eye on everything (or, much), but suddenly, we were in happy agreement? Why was she in favor of breaking up Monsanto? Because it would mean more jobs in her sector and more opportunity for her after graduation. If a biotech student in Iowa sees hope in antitrust investigations, you better believe the feds see a potential economic uplift in biotech as a result, too.

And I'll take a hesitant step toward embracing that idea -- with the caveat that I can change my mind about this later. Here goes.

While a boom in the biotech field doesn't make this Fair Food Fighter all warm and fuzzy inside, I will say that more biotech companies, with a wider array of competition, might mean greater accountability and, ironically, greater transparency. As is, we have one major company in the field and its influence over government "regulation" and approval of its product is unconscionably opaque. GMO traits have historically been approved on a fast track, and, with Monsanto's stranglehold on licensing, those traits get disseminated widely and freely, because Monsanto has the deck so heavily stacked in its favor.

With more, smaller "baby Monsantos," we'd have more eyes in the field, and more competitors watching each other. We might even have the opportunity for creating niche markets within the industry -- GMO traits that are deemed "organic friendly," so that a weird marriage of sustainable farming and genetic engineering might believeably take place. Monsanto's reputation for secrecy and back-room influence makes the idea of "safe GMO traits," and the public's acceptance of them, virtually impossible right now.

So go get your axe, Barack. I think it's choppin' time.

From article at Fair Food Fight
URL Address;
http://www.fairfoodfight.com/blog/el-drag%C3%B3n/antitrust-destroying-monsanto-sake-industry

A rare glimpse of the cave of crystals From BBC News

Mexico's Cave of Crystals stunned geologists when it was first discovered in 2000. The underground chamber contains some of the largest natural crystals ever found - some of the selenite structures have grown to more than 10m long. Professor Iain Stewart got a rare glimpse of the subterranean spectacle while filming for the new BBC series How the Earth Made Us.

Professor Stewart describes the cave as a geological wonder of the world
We kept on being told how difficult it was going to be to film in the Naica Cave, but nothing really prepares you for the extremes of that cavern.

It's about 50C in there, but it's the virtually 100% humidity added on top that makes it a potential killer.

That combination means that when you breathe air into your body, the surface of your lungs is actually the coolest surface the air encounters. That means the fluid starts to condense inside your lungs - and that's really not good news.

When the cave was first discovered it was just an accident.

Miners working in the Naica silver mine broke through the walls of the cavern and were astounded to discover these enormous crystals - the biggest anywhere on Earth.

But when the first people went in to explore, they were almost overcome by the conditions - and there's some pretty hairy video footage of them coming out of the cave on the verge of losing consciousness. So we knew the dangers were real.

When you first look at the kit your first thought is: "Is that it?"

There's a special cooling suit - which is basically like a suit of chain mail but filled with ice cubes.

Then there's a breathing system which feeds cool, dry air into your mask.

It's OK to take the mask off for a short while, but do without it for more than about 10 minutes, and it's likely that you're going to start keeling over.

I was lucky of course. All I had to do was stand there and talk, but the cameraman and all the others helping set out the lights were having to work in these conditions, wearing these cumbersome suits, and they really struggled.

We had a doctor outside the cave to monitor our vital signs, and we were coming out of the cavern with our heart rates up at 180.

The biggest danger was falling over; rescuing someone inside would have been very tricky.

Despite all the dangers, my overwhelming memory is the sheer beauty of the place.

Whenever people around me were faffing around with equipment, I'd just stop and look around at the crystals.

It's such a glorious place, it's like being in a modern art exhibit.

I kept reminding myself: "You're in the Naica Cave", because there's only a handful of geologists that have ever been in there, and so I was aware of how incredibly privileged I was.

Yet remarkably, for the people who own and run the Naica mine, the crystal cave is a side-show, a distraction.

They don't make any money out of it and sooner or later, when the economics of the mine change, it will close.

The pumps will be taken out, the mine and the cave will flood, and the crystals will once more be out of our reach.

But perhaps we should console ourselves with the thought that there are certainly lots more crystal caves waiting to be discovered.

For starters, the geology of the area around the cave suggests that there could be more crystal caves in the area around Naica.

But more broadly, the Earth's crust must be riddled with wonders like this.

We know more about the outer edges of the Solar System than we do about the first kilometre of the Earth's crust.

As we learn more about the crust, we can be sure that there will be discoveries even more spectacular than Naica. I just hope I'm around to see them.

How the Earth Made Us: The epic story of how geology, geography and climate have influenced mankind is on Tuesday 19th January on BBC Two at 2100 GMT

From the BBC News.

Tinking on the title will redirect you to the original article with a really interesting video of the cave. Surreal.

Lady Barbara's Garden Link & You Tube Class Link

We found this herbal school and wanted to share the information.

Namesta!


You Tube Introduction Video link below
RE: Plantain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0OAp73JSSg

Oh, And One More Thing.....

Soil Association is looking at a poison linked to the killing off of the bees.
Check it out for yourself. I am just into bees, and that darn Carson lady's book left me no choice, years ago, but to make my ears perk up when I see that there is still talk going on like that, and there's an obvious population decrease here,
'made me look'.

What about you?

Please feel free to send in your comments.

Thank you!

Allisonian

Animation Mentor dot com

All of you who would like to learn more about animation, this is an interesting educational idea. I don't know the cost, but there is a telephone number and free webinars. Some with the notable cartoonist Eric Goldberg. Here are some of his credits~ Loonie Tunes animator; voice of Marvin the Martian, Speedie Gonzalaz, Tweetie; at Disney some of his notarary art was(Aladin's Genie animator, lead animator of Phil in Hucules); he was the founder of Pazzaz Studios; Richard Williams Studio; and the newly released

Princess and The Frog.

I will be checking that 'Geek Out' with him. 'Cause their givin' back!
So, in Eric's second video he brings up legendary Walt Kelly and Kelly's old Pogo series.
Ode the POGO!
I am going to have to go to the archives and look some of these treasures up!!!

TTFN

Allisonina

True Nature Centre Founded in New Zealand by Elysha and Sarah

There is a free ebook that is also quite interesting here called
7 Steps to Living In Your Freedom. Just wanted to share.

Please let me know what you think!

Namesta,
Allisonian

EFT

HEllo, hello
I have attached the website to the title, as usual.
There is a free, with free subscription to her site, ebook on the webpage. By simply clicking on the above title, EFT, you will be redirected there and the ebook link is there that Karen Lewis includes as her service. She is from the UK and even includes her phone number. I discovered her through my Luna Yoga book. EFT is interesting; and is becoming more notable, and was effective for me. I think it is worth a look.

Namesta,
Allisonian

Life without Fear has not been Deemed Boring by Any Means, As Far As I am Concerned

I just needed to clear up one thing about Henri's article just below here. I thought about just omitting the fear part, but I decided instead to comment. I don't think anyone really knows if it would be boring to live without fear, but of course that is a broad statement.
There are different kinds of fear. In the book, 'Gift of Fear' the author Gavin says that there are real and unreal fears.


If you think things are not fear based in our teachings these days, well, I am sorry, but you should probably rethink your motives or just go back to what you were doing. I simply want to have a voice in that too often insanity and its people are left alone to do their own bidding, because we won't want to feel that way ourselves, and talking about insanity without resolution in mind makes you feel insane. If we talked about it with resolution in mind, I think we'd all be busy for the rest of our lives, but since all of the zombies are drugged we just leave it, no? Well, I can't do it alone, but this one voice says, let's talk with resolution and action in mind; and as one of my wisest friends once told me, "Be The Difference You Want To See In The World!"


Namesta,
Allisonian


©Allisonians
Please ask me for permission to use my photos or writing before you purger (plagiarize) yourself. silly silly

6 Ways to Relieve Stress Written on 1/05/2009 by Henri Junttila

Fr: http://www.dumblittleman.com/
Simply click on this title to redirect to the website which this article originated from. The blue moon is in representation of the blue moon on new years eve.

There is great advise here, and I have used some of these. I will be posting some of my experiences with a technique or two in the near future.
ENJOY!
Allisonian




Advise from Henri Junttila

We all battle with fear. Just a few short years ago, the underlying current of my, Henry's, being was filled with fear, worry and anxiety. When your whole life is controlled by fear, it starts to get to you.

Fear isn’t your enemy; it is through fear and hardship that we grow the most. When you think about it, if your life was free from any challenges, it would be fun for some time, but ultimately it would get pretty boring as you skated through each day without any challenges.

Fear is the spice in our life and using it to your advantage can make the difference between being miserable and being happy. But before you can do that, you should probably know about the following 6 ways to conquer fear and make it your ally.


1.Use Your Curiosity
Fear is painful when you try to push it away. Don’t resist. Allow the fear to fill your whole body and be completely aware and curious of how it affects you. A funny thing happens when you do this, the fear usually disappears because you’re not afraid of it.

Remember those dreams where you’re being chased by something horrible? Fear is the same way. It’s chasing you, but once you stop running and turn around, it goes up in smoke, because it was an illusion.


2.Emotional Freedom Techniques
EFT is almost like acupuncture, but without the needles. I have been using it on and off for several years. It is very helpful in neutralizing fear. It works by tapping (with your fingers) on acupuncture points on your body, which then balance the energy and thus neutralize bad feelings.

It looks weird and I don’t do it in public, but it works. The first thing you might want to neutralize is how ridiculous you feel while doing it. The theory behind EFT is that negative emotions are caused by disturbances in your body’s energy field. EFT is then used to neutralize and balance your energy field.


3.Sedona Method
The Sedona Method is another tool that is a lot simpler than EFT. It also helps you to release painful unwanted feelings by asking yourself a few simple questions.

The only drawback is that the Sedona Method has a price attached to it, while EFT is free and you can download a manual from the EFT website. I recommend both, because they are some of the most effective ways I have found to eliminate fear.


4.Gratitude
Have you ever noticed how hard it is to be afraid, angry or depressed while thinking about what you are grateful for? There are many exercises you can go through, but I’ll spare you, because there are no rules needed to take advantage of the feelings that gratitude provides.

What I do is I sit or lie down, go through everything I am grateful for and keep doing it until I feel satisfied and happy. I then bask in that feeling and really get curious about how I can feel so good and how I can feel even better. Ask the right questions and magic happens. There’s no room for fear when you’re in a deep state of gratitude.


5.Just Do It
If you’re the kind of person that likes doing things the easy way, then you might like just letting the fear be there and doing it anyway. There’s no rule that says that you have to let fear control you. When you’ve done things in fear a few times, it starts to go away on its own, because you begin to realize that there’s nothing dangerous about fear.

This is a lot easier said than done, so do it in small steps. Be okay with not being perfect. It’s easy to get bogged down by perfection. We’ve been taught unconsciously since early childhood that making mistakes is bad.


6.Be Present
If you haven’t read the The Power of Now, I suggest you pick it up. It changed my life and is one of the few books that I’ve read multiple times.

Being present simply means being aware of your body. You can focus on your muscles, your breathing or the sounds around you. It all depends, but you know when you’re doing it, because you will feel energized, calm and content



Written on 1/05/2009 by Henri Junttila. Henri is addicted to living a free and passionate life. He runs the Wake Up Cloud, where he shows you how you can learn how to find your passion and live consciously.

The End Has No End by Dahlia Lithwick about her story Saving Face

On her progressive, innovative piece; audience participant; modern literary art article;
"It's Friday. I have just posted Chapter 16. My day job, covering the Supreme Court, starts Monday. By every measure, I have failed to meet my deadline. Writing a novel in three weeks = beyond my abilities. But thanks to the extraordinary team of whittlers, elves, and shoemakers on Facebook, and the hundreds of e-mailers, I have every confidence that we will get this thing finished in the coming weeks........"
Click on the title to read more...
Dahlia Lithwick's simple article about her book. Published last Oct. 2009.

Some Legal Ease...Click this here title to see...

Here is a site I just wanted down for my own record, but thought I'd share it for me and for you. etc...

:)

Saving Face by Dahlia Lithwick On Slate Ezine

If you are looking for a quick little good read with a bit of a legal - ease - beat, a nasty divorce, and great warrior women type gone a little haywire, then this story is for you. I am not sure if warrior is the best description here, you tell me?



I didn't think I would like Saving Face and stopped reading it around ch. 13, but will finish it today. And in truth, I find myself cutting off stories I like sometimes because I don’t want them to end. Other times, because I lose interest, or become otherwise engaged. This time it was about time and priorities. At the time I was reading SF in real time along with Dahlia’s writing it. I didn’t have the extra minute. The possibility of the internet distraction traps I am constantly bailing myself out of was daunting at best. So, I simply quit. I had the, “Gotta get to work, leave my life behind, and she’s on vacation”, blues of sorts.

Dahlia was interviewed on NPR. She is a court reporter in Philadelphia and wanted to write a chapter a day. You could follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and such.

At the end of each chapter Dahlia would ask for suggestions about this and that on the development of the plot or characters and that sort of thing. It was interesting and I didn't mind the craziness of the divorce, I just wanted to make sure to say that the subject was as such. Information is key.

I did want to write in suggestions a time or two and hope Dahlia does this again, or one of you do.
If you are so inspired, I want to hear about it please. It sounds like fun and a lot of work, she did say so. Something about breathing hard~~~.
I say, 'Think of college finals EVERY day during your next vacation and I suppose that might be what it is like. Test junkies unite!'
So…..If you ever aspired to own your own black Armani, or become a national blogger treasure, and/or be a bit feministic, this story will most likely be entertaining and maybe aspiring for you. Take a look!

Oh, and Dahlia also would credit the advise she used in the text where she used one of the leads she'd gotten from her following.
It's kind of fun.
I think she's done.
with this one...
When I just looked at her article on Slate.com it said chpter 23 The End.

I am going to post a couple of her other articles. She was interesting to listen to when interviewed on NPR (National Public Radio)which was my catalyst to find and read her story. I think it was on NPR's 'Fresh Air', but am not sure. It aired sometime last August or early September 2009. You can go to www.NPR.com and search for it. I don't always find what I am looking for there only because I get distracted or run out of time or think of something else to do.
Please let me know what you think and thank you for your feedback.
Allisonian

suite 101.com

Everything is always changing, and life is nothing but a dance of transient forms.

Read more at Suite101: Buddhism and the Message of Impermanence: Sogyal Rinpoche Reflects on a Core Tibetan Teaching








http://buddhist-beliefs.suite101.com/article.cfm/buddhism_and_the_message_of_impermanence#ixzz0bfPxAg1Y



Sogyal Rinpoche, in his book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, stresses often the important message of impermanence.