Keisaku; (Japanese) (kyosaku in the Soto school) is an attempt by a sensei to alert students to their mindlessness in zazen (sitting meditation), usually administered by a stick. An English translation is stick of compassion.
In a more colloquial fashion, a keisaku is a "reality check", or something that alerts one to further contemplate their situation, in order to understand and work things out.
In honor of the Christian tradition of Lent, a ritualistic fasting period which symbolizes Jesus's forty days and nights of soul searching in the desert, I've decided to compile a top ten list some of unusual things my friends and I have decided to give up during this time.
1. Women
One of my best friends has actually sworn herself off of women for a whole forty days. (Notice I didn't say anything about the forty ahem! nights)
2. Cell Phones
Cell phone addiction is gaining in popularity, and fasting may be the first step on the road to recovery. Moby, reportedly gave up his cell phone for several months last year until his friends renounced him. Which leads me to the next recommended sacrifice-- bad friends.
3. Tabloids and other Gossip Mags
Don't pretend, I know I'm not the only one that practically trips over my own shopping cart trying desperately to read the headlines while cruising past the check out lanes. As a side note-- this doesn't prevent me from generating my own celebrity gossip, just from reading it. I'll have to type with my eyes closed, then.
4. Clothing
Oddly enough, this coincides nicely with my New Years resolution to get laid more this year...
5. Saying the word 'Um'
This was suggested by my friend who is in theater. I dare you to try this one with me. It's hard! It's like trying to type and email without using emoticons or LOL. lol!!! :-)
Dammit...
6. Roommates
I haven't told them yet, but I'm kicking them both out for forty days. Why? I'm not sure, but I think it's what Jesus would do...
7. Pot
My roommates have informed me that they are giving up pot for Lent. Which cancels out number 6.
8. 8...8...I forget what 8 was for.
9. Being Critical
This one has a story behind it. My friend and I were playing a board game that had self awareness as the theme. I drew a card that instructed me 'to be aware of how critical I am of the very things around me'. My immediate response was "Jeez. Whoever wrote this card is an unbelievably bad writer."
10. Lint
Seriously. I asked one of my friends what he was giving up for Lent- not knowing he was Mormon. His response was "Lint? You mean like the stuff in your dryer?" So, it's on the official record now, Lang is giving up lint for Lent.
I just heard this song on the radio. I was driving around LA. It reminded me that sometimes it's good to go out and be someone else. Change your hair, your clothes, your attitude. Becoming someone else, gives you a new perspective on being yourself. And in Los Angeles, people do it every day. So why not try it too?
Bob Woodruff had an out of body experience last year when his jeep was blown up while he was covering the war. Media Bistro covers.
Woodruff screened To Iraq And Back, a prime-time documentary on the blast and his recovery — and the soldiers who've returned from Iraq with traumatic brain injuries — for a dozen or so media reporters, some teary-eyed, this morning in New York.
Woodruff says he remembers seeing his body "floating below" him in the U.S. tank he was traveling in. "I was spitting a lot of blood," Woodruff recalled. "'Am I alive?'"
One year ago, the first post on this blog was posted. We've changed a bit in that year. We've added some great authors. Here is a cornucopia of some choice posts from the past year:
Constantine kicks off writing for daily mantra with an interview with Rob Brezsny and a review of Pronoia, Rob's how to on accentuating the positive! Both great reads.
After stressing out for many months, I get back on a path with heart.
and if you weren't paying attention in the last month, there was the penis psychic!
These posts should keep you entertained for hours! I look forward to another year of sassy enlightenment observations and tidbits served up just for you. I hope you enjoy them.
Anne Toth is unhappy. After months of working on her kitchen remodel, the appliances are in place, the tile is finished, even the Rancilio is ready to pump out the morning espresso shot for Ms Toth before heading into Yahoo!. But that shot of espresso doesn't pack the happiness that the remodel project did.
Suddenly, there were no more decisions to make. “I wasn’t rushing to the home improvement store to pick out faucets or paint or drawer pulls. And I wasn’t up at 3 a.m. obsessing over backsplash tiles,” Ms. Toth said. “And I felt empty.” Not only that, but with the renovation complete, she said, “I was in mourning for the possibilities that were.”
The Times brings word of one of the newest side-effects of affluenza: post-renovation depression. That's right, this very serious syndrome occurs when you realize that the thousands of dollars you've just spent to put the same stupid Viking range that everyone else has in your refurbished kitchen can't mask the emptiness in your soul or comfort your appreciation of the fact that life is suffering and the acquisition of material goods brings more pain than pleasure. Nice job, House & Home, you've just discovered Buddhism!
Gawker is doing what it's great at - making fun of the people. But is the jest really jealousy?
When a project is complete, you're not important anymore. For the life of the project, the world circulates around your wants and needs - you're the dictator in your world. Once you get a taste of being in control of creating your world, why would you ever want to go back to being a minion? It's a cheap shot Gawker.
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
How would Gawker feel if people suddenly stopped visiting their site? Would they feel important? Would they feel empty?
Gawker is no different from Ms Toth, except Gawker's kitchen remodel is not done yet. Rest assured, there will be plenty of Wellbutrin waiting for those X-Gawker bloggers.
I first came across Arhata three years ago on my first stroll down Venice Beach. Among the palm readers and handicraft sellers there were white boards on stands filled with writing. I happen to love white boards so I was intrigued. I kept walking down the boardwalk, until I came to a pantheon of white boards. I had reached the epicenter. There were more than 20 white board, filled with writing - most of it provocative - not the stoned "chill out man" sentiment.
Check this one out:
If you can't get down to Venice Beach, you can visit Arhata virtually, on his website, or get email updates from him.
The word of the week is trepanation. In the past, trepanation, or the act of drilling a hole into the skull, was considered useful for releasing evil spirits.
Trepanation (also known a trepanning, trephination, trephining or burr hole) is a form of surgery in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, thus exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases, though in the modern era it is used only to treat epidural and subdural hematomas, as an extreme body modification, and for surgical access for certain other neurosurgical procedures.
On days when I get bad migraines (like my photo above), sometimes I contemplate releasing the pressure in a way that Tylenol, Excedrin or Ibuprofen can't provide.
We've all heard that voice. You've got a great new idea or project or dream and you go to start on it. This voice comes up with all kinds of things to stop you from getting started. And then once you get started it might start up to distract you. It's the naysayer who rains on your parade. The negative voice in your head. The Monkey Mind.
Trying to create your dreams with your monkey mind in the way is like trying to drive with your brakes locked. [Source]
I just came across a cool little app called MonkeyMind and it will help you discover your own monkey chatter. You can even test yourself - to see if your monkey mind gets in the way of following your dreams.
Was checking out a trailer for the movie The Number 23 with Jim Carrey, who I applaud by the way, for taking on movies with experimental themes such as the brilliant and dreamlike Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and now one that appears to have a fair bit about numerology in it.
The movie looks awesome, opening on the 23rd of this month (of course), but that's not the point of this rant. I was actually dabbling a little bit with numerology and reading up on number sighting recently and lo and behold-- I realized that the number 11 was all over the place in my life right now.
Not a day goes by when it doesn't turn up somewhere in my life. My parking spot number. Everytime I look at a clock- 11:11. My hexagram for the day. Showing up in my tarot card readings on a frequent basis. Finally, the other day I'm at work and I notice that I haven't gotten an 11 yet. A few moments later, the shipping manager emails me with a joke about the famous phone number from that 80's Tommy Tutone one hit wonder- Jenny:867-5309. You know the one...
On a whim, I break down the numbers 8+6+7+5+3+0+9 = 38. 3+8 = aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, wait for it....11!
So, here is all the info I can find about 11, which turns out to have a lot more going on than other numbers:
The 11 is the number of peacemaking, team-playing, cooperation, inner growth and illumination, spiritual orientation and awareness, and humanitarianism. Interestingly, to date, 11 presidents of the United States have been either born on the 11th or 29th (2 + 9 = 11), or their birth dates reduced to the number 11. Secretary of State Colin Powell and General Norman Schwarzkopf also have 11 destinies...
Ok, I just had one of those synchronized moments in life where you read about something and then you find a similar reference to it almost immediately afterwards. A cosmic concurrance, if you will.
I was just re-reading one of my favorite books, Shabono, written by Florinda Donner Grau (of the Castaneda cult fame), which chronicles her experiences with a tribe in the rain forests of the Amazon. The tribe has the curious ritual of making a soup out of the bones of their dead relatives and then consuming the soup while wailing and sobbing, as a way to honor their dead.
I put the damn book down, check my myspace page and someone's sent me a link to an article about a woman who has her pets cremated and then the ashes turned into a diamond ring, which she now wears.
A newspaper reported Ms Rogers, from Devon in south-west England, paid 3,200 pounds ($A8,000) for the ring made from carbon extracted from the ashes of Lucky, an old English sheepdog, a golden retriever-cross called Sam and a tom cat called Patch.
"I am delighted with my ring as it means I can have my pets with me at all times," Ms Rogers told the Daily Mail newspaper.
"My animals meant the world to me and even though they are gone they are still with me. It's a beautiful ring and such a brilliant idea." [source]
As a side note, it would be much creepier if she had made soup out of her pets instead of a ring, but I do have to wonder--what happens to the soul when you tie the remains of someone or something to a piece of jewelry? Do they become enslaved to it, like the djinn were to the lamps that the sorcerers housed them in? Will this Australian woman wake up in the middle of the night someday and find her dead pets are haunting her?
These are magic wands. I saw this booth at the Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles last weekend. When I picked one up, it was extremely light. No heft or energy to it. It felt more like kindling than a magic wand. So I haughtily asked, "What makes this a magic wand?" The woman in the booth said, "Your Energy." I was a bit shocked by her answer, because I expected something like, the energy of the wood, or the patterns of the colors or something like that. But she was right on.
It made me think about my favorite cooking utensil - my magic wooden spoon. Really it's just a normal wooden spoon - slightly narrow spoon area and long handle. I've used it for cooking many a yummy soup or chili. After many uses, the wooden spoon started to take on a seasoned color. My cooking got better however with the practice of cooking or perhaps maybe the magic of my spoon, I will not know. (Actually I do know, my cooking skill increased commensurately with my cooking power, which was focused in the spoon.)
Which is the same thing the woman was saying, when she said my energy made the wand magic. Any object you infuse your energy into, becomes "magical" with the power you put into the object. These are called power objects. And they can have positive and benevolent energy or terrible energies. A friend of mine, once picked up a shard of pottery in Mexico, that had remnant energy from a girl who was ritually sacrificed.
That's just a word of caution about the objects you acquire. But now you can be aware where you put your energy and maybe create your own magic wand - or cooking spoon.
Wear red (a lucky, happy color that wards off evil) clothes, eat some long noodles (slurp them, don't cut them, to ensure long life), clean your house (sweep away bad luck) and resolve grudges.
Last weekend at the Conscious Life Expo there was a booth for a new kind of water - AquaMantra!. As far as I could tell, it was just another bottled water, but the bottles said I AM HEALTHY™, I AM LOVED™ or I AM LUCKY™. Supposedly when you drink the water (and think about the mantra printed on the bottle) that thing will happen to you. I want to know, what's up with the registered trademark though? Another ridiculous marketing effect.
We believe that AQUAMANTRA is delivering an easy to use mental message that will empower you to be and create what you really want in your life, just by drinking our water.
Ok, this is going too far. This is just regular spring water, with a customized bottle message on the outside a la the water crystal dude. I asked the people in the booth, "What if I dump all the water from this bottle (It was I am Lucky) and put new water in it, would that be Lucky water too?" They said Yes. So I asked, what the point was to buying their water when I could write on a bottle of my own (if I actually believed that by writing a word on a bottle would change the structure of the water). They didn't have a good answer.
I do believe that you can change your body with your mind and by repeating positive phrases and affirmations. But at some point it's going too far. You have to remember that we live in reality and there are certain constrains in this reality. Ignoring them is insanity.
So please skip AquaMantra and don't get sucked into their flashy marketing ploy.
Initially, the objective of this site was to get myself onto a reality TV show. Alas, my plan did not pan out. However, I did get picked up by AdAge & the USA Today.
What you're seeing, if you're following Shmuly, is the hard part of following your dream. It's the part of the journey where you are tested to see how much it takes before you give up. If you give up, that dream disappears. You go on with your life or maybe change your dream. Only time and persistence will tell, if you'll know Shmuly Tennenhaus's name.
If you're the sort who believes that a psychic could divine reliable information by looking at lines in your palm, and you like to photograph your own (or maybe a friend's) cock, here's a new wrinkle for you: get thee to psychicpenis.com. And if you don't know what "NSFW" means, it's time you learned: Not Safe For Work. Don't want the boss looking over your shoulder and seeing this on your browser; trust me.
For the modest (or preposterous, take your pick) fee of $100, you can send photo of your or your loved one's pecker to the psychic along with one burning question (and hopefully it's not pee related). Your query will be answered by "a famous Hollywood psychic" who was given the "special gift" of being able to tell you more than you knew about yourself from the photo, and I don't just mean what the back of your balls looks like. Oh, and your weenis has to be at half staff for her to read it -- I guess shriveled schwangs or zipper-busting boners don't do the trick.
The penis psychic's bio says that she is "never psychically looking at anyone or anything unless she is actually doing a reading. But the one thing she can see when she is not even looking is—of all things—men's private parts! Now through this site she is able to put this great gift to good use, and share her special talent with the world." Wait, does this mean she has X-ray vision too? She can see your johnson without even looking? How does she get anything done?
It's amazing what this "Famous Hollywood Psychic" can tell about a dude from his dingie. An excerpt:
Psychically looking at you I have to give you some points because you look like you are the kind of guy who really does want to do the right thing. From my psychic view of you it looks like you have already made a decision that you are going to do right by your wife and I don’t see that you would cross that line, even if you were given the opportunity. You’re just not that guy, so good for you. I guess your wife is pretty lucky after all.
If you got the penis psychic and a palm reader working together, could you get a psychic reading with a happy ending?
Check out Justin Timberlake's newest video-- What Goes Around, Comes Around. Director's cut.
I think Justin is singing about karma. More like, instant karma judging the swiftness of the punishment for Scarlett.
I'm with Justin on this one, I'd like to think there was this universal balancing force that would immediately send any man who's cheated to death via fiery car crash.
Then again, one posters comment was-- "If the price to pay for cheating is death by car accident, the world would be practically empty"
One of the many things I saw for sale at the Conscious Life Expo were do it yourself magic kits. They usually included some magical oils, herbs or rocks along with some kind of container or sachet. There were kits to attract love, money and for protection. For the record, I believe that everything contains energy. Some of it is active, sometimes it's passive. So yeah, a plant has energy in it (we usually digest the energy when we eat the plant), but not enough to protect you, bring you luck or love. All those things have to come from your own energy - from your confidence.
That made me wonder, would I feel more confident carrying a gun instead of a magic sachet for protection? If the gun gave me the same sense of confidence as the magical protection sachet, I see no difference (other than it's much easier to make a magical sachet, than buy a gun with all the government imposed restrictions). If I feel more confident with the gun it's a more powerful protection talisman. Then again, maybe you feel more protected with a collection of dead dried flowers. I'll take the gun.
Philophobia - Fear of falling in love or being in love.
Broken hearts, broken homes and dysfunctional models of love can have a profound effect on whether or not you carry a fear of love. It can affect your ability to open up to new relationships, it can be the silent and deadly trigger that sabotages a relationship when it gets too close or too good. Falling in love, and all the vulnerability, trust and risk implicit in the act of "falling" - can be terrifying.
What must Valentine's Day be like for philophobes?
Want to know if you've got a "real" phobia? Assess your philophobia here.
I'm sure you've heard of the book, What color is your parachute. It's a way to job hunt using non-standard methods. This book really has nothing to do with this post, except it inspired me to ask the question "What color is my Aura?" to an aura reader over the weekend at the Conscious Life Expo. She proceeded to tell me the color of my aura. I turned out to be green-yellow. That kind of bummed me out, because I've really been into purple recently (and it's such a trendy color), but I'm cool with green.
In addition to telling me the color of my aura, she had a bunch of aura imaging equipment. I asked her, can she really take a picture of my aura? I was skeptical. I can't see an aura, so how can a camera take a picture of one? Apparently they take a Polaroid of you and impose a colors over your picture based on your biofeedback. (When they take your photo, they have you place your hands on biofeedback sensors.) She showed me pictures of herself before and after aura balancing. In one she had a fuzzy yellow color covering most of her face. In the second one, she was ringed by a blue circle.
That got me thinking. Would I want balanced chakras? All of a sudden I got a flash back to a Harvard Business Review Article for executives on whether they should "focusing on their strengths or spend time shoring up weaknesses". Basically, should they remove their weaknesses instead of making their strengths stronger. I know it's probably a stretch, but this Aura balancing bit sounded from the same school of thought.
I believe that each of us have special skills and talents. Seth Godin thinks so too. If you focus on your weaknesses instead of your strengths, you're wasting your time. Sure, you gotta know what you're not good it. (And it helps to know people that are great at what you're not.) But don't focus on what you don't have. You're perfect the way you are. Spend your time being the best you you can be and developing the skills that you do best.
Taking that back to Aura balancing, why would I want my auras balanced? Am I not perfect the way I am right now? I may not be in peaceful bliss sitting on the top of a mountain glowing from inner light, but I can be damn happy zipping around the LA freeways in perfect flow and connection with the universe around me. I'd like to see the Dali Lama try that.
If you think your life is satisfying, you're probably wrong. What you really need is more meds. Does this sound crazy to you? That's because you aren't taking your meds. Think you don't need meds? Think again. Next you're going to tell me that you don't need to go shopping every day to be happy. That's the kind of tree-hugging hippy crap I would expect from you people. Oh, you're too good for meds, are you? Oh, so you think you're perfect or something? Think you're better than the rest of us? Shut up and take your meds. And if you haven't yet been put on any meds, ask your doctor about HAVIDOL. Better yet, go to this informational site about one of the best new meds available, HAVIDOL. Take the quiz. Take it to your doctor. And take your meds.
Do the unenlightened really have more fun? You know how the saying goes "You are so much wiser unaware." Well, this past weekend I was willing to try it out. Instead of attending the Conscious Life Expo as myself, I decided to go as someone who had never heard about any of it. And I had a lot of fun!
Over the next few days, I'll be posting my experiences in unenlightened acting. Stay tuned!
It's my birthday today and of course I checked all the different sites I like for my horoscope. One of my favorites is SoulGarden - which is a Youtube channel created by "stand-up astrologer" Christopher Witecki. Christopher provides free, daily video horoscopes for every sign. Check yours out!
I was scanning some news titles today and the one with "Sacred Sex!" in the heading caught my eye. Turned out to be a badly written article praising the benefits of Tantra and admonishing Americans for being so uptight about the ol' in-n-out. (not the fast food chain of course. We're much more comfortable with greasy french fries than we are with say...nudity)
The author suggests that Americans don't treasure or feel comfortable with sex because of our religious foundation and our habit of viewing sex as a sin. And Tantra is the answer.
Actually, I've never felt more inhibited or uncomfortable than when I'm trying to make a sacred sexual space for intercourse or trying to move sexual energy up my spine or dance around pretending to be a goddess or any of the other things that supposedly bring us to an enlightened state during sex. Not that the exercises don't work-- but I find it all so contrived and distracting that it makes what used to feel natural and playful into something structured and frankly-- not sexy.
This is the part about the article that cracked me up, though--
Remember, college is the perfect time for experimentation, including sexual experimentation. Why not release your inhibitions and try something new? Your sex life could not only be more physically pleasurable, it could be more spiritually rewarding.[source]
This author is telling college students to lighten up and try something new?? Good lord! The freshman class at my university gets more action than a barrel full of bunnies in March. Last I checked, they were doing what normal college students do-- testing out polyphasic sleep cycles, hopping beds and doing tons of hallucinogens.
What sort of imaginary Victorian age college students did the author dream up as the audience for this article?
Even Sister Merciless Repentance and Sister Severe Piousness agree. This author has her head up her bum.
I was reading an article called "Spiritual Sex: How to Make Love on the Spiritual Sexual Plane," which was your usual sex meets spirituality type of stuff, like: "The standards for sexual fulfillment don't depend on how you perform. To feel bliss, it's much better to combine spirituality with sexuality." Okay, got it. But then the article took a strange turn in this passage:
"You may need to re-connect with rebellious parts of yourself-like the little kid who's kicking and screaming at the idea of any sex at all. Give her a fun job, like playing with the massage oil. She may make a mess but she'll keep herself entertained so the rest of you can focus deeply on connecting with your self and your partner."
Does anyone beside me think this is kind of creepy? I mean, this sounds about as hot as having sex with Sybil.
If part of your goal is to "connecting with your self," is it really okay to tell part of your self to go out and play so that you can get it on? Is it even okay to have sex in front of your inner child? Should you lock the door so your inner child doesn't accidentally walk in on you? Should you try to be quiet during orgasm so that your inner child isn't traumatized by your screams? What if you feel like browsing the web for porn? Couldn't your inner see your password and hack past your NetNanny? And can your inner child see what's going on even if you're blindfolded?
I have so many questions. No you don't. Yes I do. Shut up. No, you shut up. I know you are, but what am I?
This weekend is the annual new age freak fest, ahem, I mean, Conscious Life Expo here in LA. Most of these types of events are full of people showing off fringe products and concepts to help you heal your issues, talk about alien encounters and demonstrate any number of mystical skills.
I'm almost embarrassed to be going. I'm much too grounded to be associated with these new age hippies.
Don't get me wrong. There are many interesting things on display, but it's full of many ideas not based on any form of reality. And who goes to these things? Who believes that oxygenated water is healthier? Or that a magical elixir can balance your energy? What about the people who draw your deceased as they are speaking to them?
Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction, but it's often hard to tell the fiction from the reality. And sometimes fiction is full of truth. So this weekend, I'll be headed to the Conscious Life Expo to find the reality and if no reality exists, the truth in the fiction. I'll be updating the blog live, so be sure to check back.
Attunement: A New Age counterpart to prayer. Also referred to as at-one-ment, the term relates primarily to the New Age idea that complete oneness with God can be experienced by human beings. One attains a hypnotic consciousness of an amoral, neuter "state of being" through meditation: Krishna consciousness, Nirvana, Prajna, Samadhi, etc. Various consciousness techniques are used to cause this "oneness": meditation; guided imagery; yoga; hypnosis; chanting of a mantra; ecstatic dancing; channeling of spirit guides; New Age music; and positive thinking or Alpha Mind techniques.
Attunement - the direction of energy by the attentional principle. Various types of attunements may be established. Mastery of these attunements is central to the practice of Agni Yoga. Different types of energy from the Spirit may be sent via attunement. For example, (1) the healing attunement (prana, or life force energy), (2) the love attunement (anchors the Holy Spirit or Comforter in the core of emotional pain), (3) the intuitive guidance attunement (inspires the human mind by connecting it to the Illumined Mind, or Buddhi), (4) the Divine Will attunement (reveals the Divine Will and Soul Purpose to the personality), and (5) initiatory attunements, which confer transformation of the ensouling entity, open the path of the Nada, or awaken the Kundalini Shakti. The seven mudras of the Mudrashram® system of Integral meditation are examples of initiatory attunements.
The Bush administration acknowledges that global warming is man-made and a problem that must be dealt with, Bush science adviser John Marburger has said. However, Bush continues to reject mandatory limits on so-called "greenhouse" gases.
Maybe the yoga critics should adopt some dudisms and chill out. Meanwhile it appears there are many options entering the market to decrease our use of fossil fuels (and decrease our impact on global warming). Maybe in 10 years we can release a report showing the good work we've been able to implement the past 10 years to show less human impact on global warming. Or maybe I should just chill out and go bowling.
I don't usually like "new age" art. You know the kind. Full of airbrushed dolphins and animals swirling around a bright blue ocean. Or the kind that has a beautiful young Indian princess sitting with wild animals on her lap supposedly in tune with the world around her.
These scenes are fake wishful thinking. Nobody was like that. Dolphins never swam in the atmosphere of the earth. And the beautiful young Indian princess sat with a stag on her lap just as many times as European virgins sat with unicorns in their lap.
So I was surprised to find Snake Jagger's art, painted on a wall of a restaurant in Palm Springs. I love the desert. I love the silence, the lack of people, the magical quality of the air and well, just the magic out there. Weird things happen in the desert. You see different things (or at least I see different things). Most of all, the desert is surreal. Snake Jagger's paintings show just that. A surreal desert landscape, with cacti and coyotes, vacuum cleaners and UFOs. His night paintings using pointillism truly give the feeling of the desert at night.
Can you feel it too?
You can browse his painting gallery here. I'm totally going to get a piece of his work. While I can't have the desert with me when I'm living and working in the city, his paintings remind me of how the desert makes me feel. And that's better than a breath of hot dry desert air when the Santa Ana winds come blowing into LA.
I was looking at Adam Kalkin's site (which is a strange mix of architecture, art and something else) when I came across this diagram hidden under a photo album.
I'm flabbergasted. What does it mean? Is this some diagram of Kalkin's philosophy? What do I make of Yeast being in both God and Semen? Where does that put bread. And who knew that all that is God can be found in Real Estate, but Real Estate is not all God?
Still his houses (which use recycled containers and tend towards energy efficient design) are extremely interesting and way outside the box - or rather often inside the box.
Yoga Today "delivers free yoga to the world, everyday." Yogis from Jackson Hole, Wyoming provide free, hour-long yoga sessions that you can download to your computer, or your iPod. Now there's no reason not to be able to get in an exhilirating yoga session, even if you can't make it to your favorite class. Perfect for people who travel a lot for business, or who just can't make it to their favorite studio. Available in iTunes, Quicktime, .WMV, for podcast to your iPod, or in HD via their embedded media player.
Wake up each morning to a free one-hour yoga class from beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming. World class yoga instructors Adi Amar, Neesha Zollinger and Sarah Kline will take you through a session that focuses on strength building, flexibility, stamina, and meditation-in-motion. Yoga Today delivers a new show, 7 days a week, 365 days per year, keeping your workouts fresh and energizing.
You scan through the weekly newspaper looking for movies and events. You come across a review for a play that you are interested in seeing that just came into town. Later that evening, a friend of yours calls and just happens to mention that they have extra tickets to that same show and would you like to go with them.
You've just signed up for an exercise class that you are excited about. Only problem is that the first day of class you feel the onset of a nasty cold coming on and would like to skip class. But the instructor gets upset when people are absent frequently, and you don't wish to disappoint. So, you show up anyways to find out that the teacher couldn't attend because of a schedule conflict. You go home to get some rest, nobody is offended.
There is a huge line at the DMV, and all you need is one little signature to push your paperwork through. You're on your lunch break from work, with instructions not to return late. There are twenty or more people ahead of you in line, and it's looking like you are going to be late to work. It's making you incredibly upset, but you continue to wait patiently until the very last second, when one of the tellers notices you and recognizes you from a previous transaction. They call you up, sign the document and send you on your waywith enough time to make it back to your job.
These are examples of personal power in action. Personal power is energy and timing combined with desire and intent. You want something- you have enough personal power- so the universe brings it to you. Often in serendipitous alignments of events that can sometimes be astonishing.
The key to getting what you want relies on how much personal power you have at your disposal in that moment. How do you increase your personal power?
You steal it from other people.
Ok, just kidding! No, you save it the way you would save up money from your paycheck each month. Little by little until you have a nice fat savings. Power is simply energy. So, the less you waste on worrying or fretting or getting involved in wasteful arguments or behavioral patterns-- the more you have left over to play with.
I was reading Blogging.la [disclaimer, I also write for b.la on occasion] yesterday and saw Ruth666's post about expensive belly jewelry. What caught my eye were the words on the ad "Luxury Redefined". I immediately thought, how have they really redefined luxury? Are they saying that their $7000 piece of jewelry made with diamonds stolen from the earth stuck into my sucked in Beverly Hills Gwen Stefani ab is luxury? Is that luxury redefined?
Yeoch! I must respectfully disagree.
A few months ago, I was rolling in the dough and I thought - now I can be luxurious! Because I thought that lots of money = luxury. I almost went on a spending spree, but then I decided I wanted to be luxurious with everything in my life. So I started asking myself the question: How can I make this more luxurious? And the answers I had were very surprising.
More often than not for me, luxury = slowing down, breathing or just looking around with a sense of increased attention - a feeling of connection. Luxury wasn't a $2000 gown or $300 pair of jeans or a $1000 pair of earrings. Luxury wasn't the chocolate mousse after every meal, or the refrigerator crammed with food. Luxury was the ability to go through life, breathing deeply, looking around and being in the moment. Not being pulled by insecurities, wants and desires.
Want more luxury in your life? Then just ask yourself the same question: How can this be more luxurious?
Here is one example I remembered. I was about to drive to LAX and catch a cross country flight. I asked myself: How can I make this more luxurious? And answered: check in online and upgrade to comfort class. Drive to the airport on relaxed city streets with plenty of time. Play a CD I like as I drive. Look at the many unique stores I pas as I drove (which mind you, want not
We've all heard that voice. You've got a great new idea or project or dream and you go to start on it. This voice comes up with all kinds of things to stop you from getting started. And then once you get started it might start up to distract you. It's the naysayer who rains on your parade. The negative voice in your head. The Monkey Mind. 
Today marks the first day of the
I was reading an article called 
