So, have you made any New Year's resolutions lately? If you have chosen a goal or two for 2008, it is important to take the time to nurture those goals like baby seedlings in springtime. It's not enough to write them down in your journal, close it up and forget about them for another year. Reviewing your goals on a regular basis serves two purposes: to remind yourself of the specifics and to re-evaluate whether they are still appropriate goals for you. Sometimes new paths present themselves as you progress towards your goal, and that new path may actually be a better fit for you than your original goal. Making the most of goals involves finding a balance between single-pointed focus and openness to new opportunities.
In order to make sure that your goals actually get the attention they deserve, schedule time for them. If your goal is to get fit, join a fitness class that happens at the same time every week so that you will make time for it in your busy life. If you want to be a musician, join an ensemble. Then you will be motivated to go make music with friends instead of letting your fellow group members down by staying home in front of the TV instead. Remind yourself of the reasons why this goal is important to you, and how working towards it improves your daily life. Take the time to appreciate the changes you feel when you work towards your goals, and use those feelings to fuel your continued efforts.
"The obstacle is the path." – Zen Proverb
Coming up against difficulty or opposition does not necessarily mean that you are on the wrong path. If you get stuck in your progress or stumble on an obstacle, sit down and look at your goals again. Is there another route that will lead to the same end goal? Sometimes stepping back and working on another aspect of your goal can allow other opportunities to arise. And remember that obstacles are a normal part of life and are to be expected. It is by overcoming obstacles and problems that we learn and grow in life, gaining valuable skills and experience along the way. When you know you are on the right path, working towards a meaningful goal, you can undertake the work presented by any obstacle with joy and gratitude.
Is 2008 the year? You know, the one where you quit smoking, get fit, kick-start your career, or de-clutter your house? The dawn of the New Year is traditionally a time to set goals for the year ahead, but why should we bother with making resolutions?
"If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time"
- Author Unknown
Sitting down and working out what your goals are is a practice in self-exploration that will help you understand yourself better. Having specific, meaningful goals for yourself will also help you focus your energy on working towards those goals, and will help you make decisions in your life that foster the achievement of those goals rather than letting yourself be subject to the whims of others or the unpredictable winds of chance. Setting and completing achievable goals is also a good way to build self-confidence. Achieving things that are personally meaningful and important to you provides a boost to your self-esteem and improves your self-image.
Since part of the key to using goals as useful tools in your life is choosing personal, appropriate and achievable goals, how do we go about choosing them? Goal setting is a very future-oriented activity, which means that it is easy to find that there is a disconnect between your goals and your daily life. You may have a goal to quit smoking, but when you come back to the present moment after thinking about your future non-smoking self, your current identity as a smoker takes over again and urges you to have another cigarette.
According to motivational blogger Steve Pavlina, the key to setting goals that are realistic and meaningful to you in the present moment is to ask yourself how working towards this goal will change your current existence. The past and the future really only exist in our imagination, but the present moment is all we ever really have. When our goals improve the quality of our life in the present moment, it doesn't matter whether the goal is even achievable in our lifetime or not, because it is worth working towards for the benefits we gain right now. The goals of cleaning up our greenhouse gas emissions and living more simply may seem so huge they are unachievable, but when we can see tangible benefits in our lives from making small changes we are more motivated to keep working towards our goals.
What will the New Year have in store for Britney, Tomkat, Hilary and Oprah? Our California Psychics friends make some surprising celebrity predictions for 2008.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes will welcome a son this next year, but their marriage will begin to crumble by the end of next year, their separate careers being to blame.
- Persephone
Britney Spears will spend 3 months in rehab in order to regain custody of her children.
- Claudia
Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn resume their romance. It will last for about 6 months to a year, but they will once again part ways.
- Persephone
Oprah Winfrey will admit to her fans that she got carried away during the election and felt she cost Hillary and the Democrats the presidency by swinging her support toward other camps. Oprah's endorsement of Obama will help win him the Democratic nomination, but he will not be president.
- Althea
Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy will become engaged and almost married, but one of them will balk at the altar.
- Persephone
Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt will shoot a film about a woman from their past. There's lots of air combat in it.
- Lucrecia
Oprah Winfrey will adopt two children next year from either Cambodia or South Africa, both girls and both ranging in age from 1 year to 9 years old.
- Persephone
The shock of the year, a female with red or brown hair, a celebrity who was thought dead, will be found alive and well.
-Lucrecia
Two men of prominence who are friends shall pass during the same month.
- Carol
Britney Spears will give birth to a daughter, and there is a chance of reconciliation with Justin Timberlake late next year.
- Persephone
Where do folks with screen names like "releaserina" and "misnomers" express their deepest desires, both light and dark? Well 43 of their wants are listed in order of priority on the website 43Things.com, and yours can be too!
For no more than a few minutes sign up time, you can join a large community of goal-setters, 78 members of which wish to "attain enlightenment." (Maybe they need to spend more time reading Daily Mantra?) By comparison, a full 27,584 wish to "lose weight." So, yes, the flesh does seem to be beating out the spirit on this network of goal setters by at least a small margin. But we won't be haters; people should want what they want. And, anyway, one thing that makes 43Things.com so fun and fascinating is the wide range of interests and values represented.
Since the site is as anonymous as its participants wish it to be, there is a nakedness to many of the desires listed as well. Anyone who has seen The Secret (4 members wish to "do" it) or in any way dabbled in The Law of Attraction (183 wish to "master" it) knows the importance of goal setting. 43things.com makes this process fun. Even folks who always feel stumped and blank when asked what they want will become inspired as they start poking around and reading through the many, many goals on view. Some of these are whimsical ("memorize an ironic poem of appropriate length so that the memorization can be used as a party trick, of course only at low-key, intellectualish parties"-13 people, "learn to whistle with my fingers"-42 people) and others deadly serious ("overcome cancer"-6 people, "accept that I have HIV"-1 person).
Virtual camaraderie abounds on 43things.com where participants cheer one another on, make themselves available to give advice regarding goals they've already reached, and write brief entries regarding their own progress or lack thereof on particular goals. So, if you are ready for a more focused year ahead, if you want to try something new, achieve something meaningful, or simply have more fun, check out the aspirations of your fellow websurfers on 43Things.com. Then take a moment to write out your own goals for 2008 and beyond. Whether you realize it or not, doing so and then revisiting, rereading and occasionally amending your list will make all the difference.
It's impossible to provide a definitive top 10 reading list, but these are the books, in no particular order, that inspired The Daily Mantra's writers over the past year.
A History of Last Night's Dream by Roger Kamenetz
Everyone from the biblical Joseph to Sigmund Freud needs to chillax more and think less about their dreams. At least, that's what author Kamenetz learned from his work with dream shamans. (Click HERE for Daily Mantra review)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
This best seller inspired one of our writers to travel and another to get her meditation groove on. Who knows what it may inspire you to do.
Dreaming True by Robert Moss
It's not just science fiction; via dreams, Moss shows readers how to tap into the power of precognition. (Click HERE for Daily Mantra review.) We also loved The Three Only Things, by the same author, which turns readers on to the value of dreams, coincidence and imagination.
Secrets of the Monarch by Allison DuBois
The real life Medium who served as the inspiration behind Patricia Arquette's TV character uses life lessons culled from her extensive conversations with the dead to encourage her readers to live life to the max. (Click HERE for Daily Mantra review.)
Big History by Cynthia Stokes Brown
From the big bang and the formation of matter to the rise of agriculture and today's developed cultures in a mere 248 pages. After reading this book you'll come to the realization that Brown's holistic approach to humanity, politics, history and geography is the only way to tackle such big subjects.
The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong
How a former nun and all round brilliant Brit became one of the foremost secular writers on religion: a beautiful book. (Click HERE for Daily Mantra review.)
UnChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
Someone once said "the truth shall set you free." During the research for this book, Kinnamen held up a mirror to organized religion. The reflection was not flattering. By laying out the unfiltered facts, Kinnemen underscores the need for progressive change, and points us towards the core truths we should be living, embodying, and celebrating. (Click HERE for the Daily Mantra's interview with the author.)
The Kundalini Experience by Lee Sanella
A book with a spine: the seminal tome explaining the experience of awakened Kundalini to the West. (Click HERE for Daily Mantra review.)
A Voluptuous God by Robert V. Thompson
Don't let the whole crucifixion thing fool you; the Christian God offers a good time. Just ask the Baptist minister who authored this book. (Click HERE for Daily Mantra review.)
The Elements Of Organic Gardening by HRH The Prince of Wales
Price Charles, who was born the same year as fellow environmentalist Al Gore, and is greatly respected by him, talks dirty, organically speaking. Whether you’re a royalist or a republican, whether you have an acre or a plant pot to play with, this holistic approach to gardening, and ultimately life, makes for an invigorating philosophical read. (Click HERE for Daily Mantra review.)
And finally, with full disclosure that this is by one of our own.....
Echoes Across Time by Daily Mantra contributor Malayna Dawn
For reincarnation buffs, dreamy Pisces and loyal Daily Mantra readers, a "spiritual adventure" and "feminist fairytale" that's right up our alley and is likely to resonate deeply with readers attuned to past-lives, dreaming or cross-cultural experience.
One day, a few weeks into a class I’ve been taking on Financial Freedom, I found myself idly surfing the web engaging in behavior that I deemed “unspiritual” and wasteful of my time. Then I turned my attention to that week’s homework and read the following: “God is Abundance.” Remembering another teaching of the class, that each of us is God individualized, I made a simple substitution. “I am Abundance,” I said once and continued saying over and over again as I got up from my studies and headed out to the library in order to return a book.
I often resort to mantras (short one line prayers repeated over and over) when I feel in need of a spiritual and emotional shift. That day’s ad hoc mantra identifying me 100% with the quality of abundance proved highly and delightfully effective. On my way over to the library, I came across some clothing that a neighbor had put out for anyone to take. This is a common practice where I live, and in a neighborhood where many are quite wealthy, it behooves a passerby to check out the cast offs. This is exactly what I did. Among other items, I found some especially lovely cashmere sweaters. I decided to pick up a plastic sac at the library and retrieve the sweaters in on my way home.
While at the library, I perused the twenty- five cent shelf where patrons can support the library by plunking down a mere quarter each for donated books. What should I see among the battered, older volumes but one shiny brand new paperback entitled: Achieving Abundance: A Guide to Getting It. All this time, I’d been repeatedly declaring inwardly: “I am Abundance.” But only at this moment did I realize that first my used clothing find and now this timely book find were expressions and verifications of that statement. With this amazed realization, my mood shifted entirely. All feeling of self-judgment and remorse for “wasting” the earlier part of the morning completely evaporated, and I was booted over into a zone of bliss and even greater receptivity.
Shame on everyone who took part in the brawl at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. According to an AFP report, seven people were injured today (Thursday 27th December 2008) when a fight broke out between Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests at the church which is said to mark the site of Christ's birth. The fracas began after Greek Orthodox priests set up ladders, which encroached on space set aside for the Armenian priests, while attempting to clean up their part of the shared church. Palestinian police were called in to stop what the BBC called "pitched battles" which involved about 80 "holy" men wielding brooms.
How can any of those involved dare to call themselves followers of Christ and behave like this? Their behavior is especially shameful at such a place and time! I mean how hard is it to understand the meaning of "love thy neighbor" (Mark 12:33) and "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39). Both are concepts we expect Sunday school kids to understand, never mind grown men of the cloth. The priests on either side shouldn’t be allowed to preach to anyone until they all make amends to the brothers they were so readily brawling with today.
The U.S. bottle water industry is now worth an estimated $11 billion per year, and one city in America has decided it wants a piece of the action. From Jan 1st 2008 Chicago will impose a 5 cent tax on bottled H2O, becoming the first city in America to do so. The city hopes to raise an additional $10.5 million in revenue with the new tax to help with their budget deficit.
Locals are worried that the tax will create a black market for the beverage however, with the average price of a 24 bottle case increasing from $3.99 to $5.19, a rise of $1.20 which represents a 30% increase. "Just like people go to Indiana to buy cheaper cigarettes and gas, people are going to be going outside Chicago to buy bottled water," said David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "Once they're at the grocery store, they're going to do more than just buy bottled water. They'll do all their grocery shopping there."_
Once welcomed as a healthy alternative to soda (which sadly Americans still gulp down more of), in recent years bottled water's image has been tarnished by the increasing toll it takes on the environment. The Earth Policy Institute quantifies the resources we're pouring down the drain, estimating that 17 million barrels of oil are used each year to manufacture bottles for water consumed in America alone, which it claims is enough to fuel more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year. And since the Container Recycling Institute estimates Americans throw away 60 million of these bottles a day, with only a fraction being recycled, the damage continues long after the water is drunk.
The question is, is this new surcharge:
A: A step forward for the environment.
B: A tax on healthy habits (soda comes in bottles and cans and has a similar eco-toll, but what would you rather people drink?).
C: Another ruse to help politicians balance their blubber-filled budgets.
D: An attention-grabbing stunt aimed at eco-aware voters.
We think the answer’s E: All of the above. They'll be taxing air next.
Want Art’s Christine and Justin are a couple of artists from New York who have given creative visualization a whole new, and rather literal meaning. They paint the things they want, and then sell their acrylic on canvas artworks for exactly the price the item depicted would cost.
Their current list of wants ranges from a modest $3 for “A Slice of Pepperoni” pizza, to $100 “To Help Kids in New Orleans” and $ 432.42 for "An iPhone." Some of the more bizarre items on their list include $27.09 for "A Tan," $100 for "A Night We Won't Remember," $1,056.07 for "One Month's Rent," and $1,000,000.00 for "Financial Security." Once a painting is sold, the duo promise to use the money to buy the item depicted. One item they'd like to have which money can't buy however is "Sleep," a painting which the duo are offering for free (though the buyer must pay for shipping).
An episode of The Sundance Channel’s series Iconoclasts paired comedian Mike Myers with spiritual author Deepak Chopra. Actor Robert Redford, the visionary behind the Sundance Channel, explained the concept behind the series this way: “Iconoclasts can be a beautiful clashing – a collision of high profile types- that’s stimulating and entertaining for audiences.” Regarding this particular pairing he said, “Obviously there’s admiration going both ways, and the connection between the two of them becomes straight out entertainment, because it’s just different.”
Myers and Deepak spent the day together in preparation for a symposium on comedy and spirituality that evening, held in a small theater in New York. “I don’t think that a having a sense of spirituality and a sense of humor are mutually exclusive,” Myers explains. “One of the things I love about Deepak is that he has a sense of humor about what he does.”
Myers attributes his perspective to what he learned from his own “comedy guru,” Del Close (who also worked with John Belushi, Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd), who connected comedy with the profound and profane. Myers explained it in this way, “Ha Ha and A-Ha are connected – they’re related industries.”
At the theater later that day, the discussion seemed surprisingly to circle around a central theme. “Lenny Bruce defined comedy as pain plus time; Bergson described comedy as the realization of one’s own mortality,” Myers begins. “The laughter is just an involuntary response of the recognition of your own mortality.”
Chopra initially responded by explaining, “When your soul responds to the paradox of our existence, to the contradictions of our existence, to the fact that wherever there is joy there is suffering, when your soul recognizes this, it can do nothing except laugh.” Later, Chopra returned to the theme of mortality. “We’re all on death row and the only uncertainty is the method of execution and the length of reprieve.” Myers followed this rather gloomy thought with a hearty “Goodnight!” Over the laughter Chopra continued, “Do you realize that I’ve been talking about the most morbid thing in existence…and you are laughing? Do you see that? Confronting our mortality makes us laugh.”
Overall the pairing was refreshing, both because it elucidated how well-versed and educated Myers is, despite the silliness of his work; and how down-to-earth and light-hearted Chopra is, despite the seriousness of spirituality. Myers closed the show with the following quote: “Everything that I’ve read suggests that enlightenment is lightening up”. We at the Daily Mantra wholeheartedly agree with that.
Acclaimed poet and author of The Jew and the Lotus Rodger Kamenetz is garnering rave reviews for his latest book, The History of Last Night's Dream. This fascinating volume traces the place of dreams in Western culture and suggests that - from the biblical Joseph, whose hasty dream interpretations gained him the enmity of his brothers and landed him initially in servitude, to father of psychoanalysis and author of On The Interpretation of Dreams Sigmund Freud - dream interpreters have gotten dream analysis all wrong.
Seeking an encounter with nighttime visions less mediated by language, Kamenetz made pilgrimages around the globe to an assortment of contemporary dream experts. According to his website, this cast of colorful characters included an "87 year old female kabbalist in Jerusalem, a suave Tibetan tulku in Copenhagen, and a crusty intuitive archetypal dream master in northern Vermont."
Rather than treating them as intellectual puzzles, we should, according to Kamenetz, pay particular attention to the feelings that arise in dreams. He warns against relying on clumsy word-based interpretations that ultimately keep our dreams at a distance and instead suggests entering into a dream's images and felt reality. In other words, to plumb a dream's hidden depths a dreamer must, paradoxically, stick closer to its surface meaning.
In a recent Time Magazine interview, Kamenetz was asked whether his work with dreams had shifted his focus away from his religion, Judaism, which was central to his earlier two books. In response, the author pointed out the range of rabbinic opinion on the subject of dreams and cited the saying "A dream ignored is like a letter unopened." By demonstrating the transformative power of dreams, The History of Last Night's Dream inspires its readers to rip open their metaphorical envelopes and receive what they've been sent.
The Daily Mantra saw a preview of Tim Burton's masterful gothic re-working of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd yesterday. While the 'priest pies' (see clip HERE) might put off our vegetarian readers, and the numerous cockroaches that died in the making of this movie may upset the PETA posse (well Mrs Lovett's kitchen is a dangerous place for any living thing to be), we have to say the ruby red blood fest is very entertaining, and strangely festive. Johnny Depp does pure evil disturbingly well, and handles the demon barber's vocal duties with aplomb, as does Helena Bonham Carter in the role of his pie-loving partner-in-crime. At least her baked goods have sustainably-farmed fillings, which on balance probably serve the environment better than the appetites of her hungry customers. Like the pies, the film is only for those with strong constitutions.
Short on time but still want to give something worthwhile? Why not give an insta-charity gift card from Tisbest.org. The cute and colorful cards are delivered by email, and start at just $10. You can also include a personal message with your gift card. What's great about TisBest is that the recipient chooses the ultimate destination for your donation (which also makes this a great gift for those you don't know well). The organization works with a slew of charities, from Action Against Hunger and the African Wildlife Foundation to UNICEF and the Young Women's Leadership Foundation.
All proceeds go to charity minus a $3.95 transaction fee (hence this is more economical for larger donations) and a 3% credit card processing fee, and 100% of the purchase price is tax deductible (which is important with tax season approaching). The gift card must be "spent" within three years of purchase, but at TisBest unlike Best Buy, all unredeemed funds go to charity rather than cooperate coffers, which is an important consideration since it's estimated that more than 10% of gift cards go unspent.
Yule, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza; 'Tis the multiple holiday season, and you're likely up to your ears in eggnog-fueled celebration. Sometimes the seasonal frenzy can be so intense as to eclipse the more thought-provoking origins and intentions of our festivities. Fortunately we have a benevolent Full Moon in Cancer on December 23rd to refresh the holiday spirit and remind us of the goodwill and charity at this season's core.
Cancer is the sign of emotional healing and consideration for others over oneself. A Full Moon in Cancer intensifies these aspects, while the North Node in Aquarius / South Node in Leo remind us of our responsibility to the greater good, releasing any stagnant selfishness. December 23rd also marks the one day this year when the moon is in its ruling sign, opening our hearts and pushing us toward charitable action.
How best to honor all this loving lunar energy? Well, if you're struggling with a relationship, the Cancer Full Moon activates emotional healing and truthfulness, helping you to love yourself and others, even in trying times. Family members will feel this moon most strongly, making December 23rd an excellent day for compassionate forgiveness and the acceptance of responsibility. No relationship or familial difficulties? The Full Moon in Cancer also encourages you to shower the primary caregiver in your home or family with appreciation. And of course, any charitable action will shine on this day, so if you haven't finished your holiday shopping, consider charitable contributions.
If you're still not ready to give this non-holiday a gold star, there's one more aspect that might push you over the edge: December 23rd is the one day this year when Jupiter and the Sun meet in conjunction (this year in Capricorn). This combination makes December 23rd the luckiest day of the year for all signs of the zodiac, adding extra sparkle and energy to your charitable Full Moon efforts. It may not be an official holiday, but this Full Moon certainly has the spirit!
Time is a precious finite resource, and therefore can be a very thoughtful gift, as well as one that's easy to give at the last minute and can fit into any budget. Whether you're offering time to share or space for a loved one to spend some quality time alone, such gifts can replenish the spirit.
We may see our loved ones in passing, either on the way out the door or in the midst of holiday hub-bub. That's why it can be a great gift to devote a set time (a few hours, day, or a weekend) to give them your full concentration. You can tell them that the choice of activity (or lack thereof) is up to them, because we don't always know what another person's idea of a great day might be, and we often give gifts based on what WE think is neat.
It can be difficult to ask for time alone without hurting people's feelings, so another way to give the gift of time is to give our dear ones a chance to have some time to themselves, since we all need that at some point. We can facilitate that time by taking care of anything that would otherwise stand in the way: child care, house work, running errands, covering extra-curricular responsibilities, whatever it is. You don't even need to specify what they do with their day, just give them the time to spend as they please.
You can combine the two by giving your partner a weekend, with one day to spend alone together, and one day to spend alone apart. Whether you put it in a card as a gift certificate, or wrap a clock and tie it with a bow, the gift of time is one that strengthens bonds and shows how much we really care.
From Yule log to Yuletide, the word "Yule" is inextricably linked with the holiday season. But have you ever wondered where this term began, or why so many of the December holidays bear similarities?
As with many of our holiday traditions, Yule's earliest roots were Pagan, and therefore initially centered on nature and the cycles of the sun. In simplest terms, Yule, marking the winter solstice (which falls on December 22nd this year) and shortest day of the year, honored the rebirth of the Sun God (Frey, in Norwegian traditions), whose flame had been extinguished at Samhain. This yin/yang balance of masculine and feminine energies, is central to many Pagan traditions, where the eternal Goddess figure ages from virgin to crone over the course of the year without dying, while the more relatably mortal God figure dies every year on Samhain only to be reborn at Yule. A Roman Pagan variation, called "Saturnalia" in homage to the birth of the Roman Sun God, Saturn, was also prevalent until, as Christianity spread through Europe, the various Sun God festivals were incorporated into a celebration of Jesus' birth.
Why, despite pretty divergent traditions, all the attention to birth? For Pagans, the lengthening days and impending spring signified a time for honoring the literal births of new seeds in the ground as well as the more figurative births of goals for the future. So if you'd like a bit of New Year's tradition in this year's Yule celebration, perhaps follow the Pagan Yule lead, and incorporate a ceremonial listing and burning of goals and resolutions for the year ahead. After all, ‘tis the season!
A great heartfelt gift that can be given at the last minute is the gift of our own skills and talents. If you recall a time someone you know has told you how much they love what you do, it could make a very personal gift. Maybe they loved a quilt you made, or wished they could cook as well as you do. You may not think much of it, especially if is something that comes easily to you, but they obviously do. Offer to cook them a meal for their holiday party, or to make something for them in the future.
By offering a skill or service, you can share part of your world with your loved ones. It can be your flare for feng shui, your knack for dressmaking, your astrological wisdom, or your photographic eye. Maybe you have all the equipment to make an awesome scrapbook of your times together, or to record a mix album with perfect segues. You might even be able to teach them how to dance or barbecue or accessorize. It doesn’t have to be your business or even your hobby, just something that is yours to give, and can be given from the heart.
Music to inspire, create and make love to, these albums have been in heavy rotation in the Daily Mantra's life this year.
1 Giant Leap / 1 Giant Leap
After receiving numerous, and quite justified, complaints about missing the 1 Giant Leap documentary off our DVD list, we’re making sure the accompanying soundtrack album is at the top on this one. The multi-media, audio/visual travelogue project features Baaba Maal, Robbie Williams, Michael Stipe (click HERE for music video), Michael Franti and Neneh Cherry, to name but a few, and packs more of the world than you ever thought possible onto one, very beautiful album.
An Ancient Muse / Loreena McKennitt
After the unexpected death of her fiancé in 1998, Canadian singer and harpist Loreena McKennitt withdrew from the limelight. A reflection on the Celtic singer’s extensive travels in the intervening years, Ancient Muse marked a highly anticipated return from her self-imposed exile and a venture into more wordly sounds.
Colour The Small One / Sia
The Daily Mantra has a preview of copy of Sia's excellent new album, Some People Have Real Problems, which is set for release on Jan 8th 2008, but for now fans of the bluesy, sometimes Zero 7 songstress will have to make do with Color The Small One, which rose to prominence after the breathtaking track "Breathe" was chosen as the soundtrack to Six Feet Under's long drive into the sunset.
Conjure One / Conjure One
Woefully ignored when it was released, the self-titled debut from Conjure One (aka B.C. born ex-Frontline Assembly member Rhys Fulber) features one of the most stunning vocal performance ever from Sinéad O' Connor on the impassioned “Tears From The Moon.” The follow up album, Extraordinary Ways, is also well worth a spin.
Ultimate Kylie / Kylie Minogue
Since Kylie Minogue's post-cancer comeback album X has yet to be released here in the U.S., check out this double CD hits collection which boasts everything from the highly infectious worldwide smash "Cant' Get You Out Of My Head" to the lesser known, but equally worthy, "Where The Wild Roses Grow," an unexpected, yet delightful, collaboration with Nick Cave. The soundtrack of a survivor.
The Mating Game / Bitter Sweet
You may not have heard of the band, but you'll have heard their super-sexy, laid-back, lush grooves promoting everything from ABC's Samantha Who to Victoria Secret's undies and Korbel's bubbles. Sex sells, and this is nothing short of aural Viagra.
Alright Still / Lilly Allen
Like the song says, "it makes me smile, makes me smile." Let's just hope she avoids the tabloid attention-grabbing pitfalls of her position and gets back to the music in 2008. The U.S. has Britney and the U.K. has Amy as their uncrowned drama queens, and neither country needs another. Allen should just stick to making us "Smile" with her bittersweet, and very funny songs.
Rock Paper Scissors / Michael Brook
The third Canadian to make our list, producer and musician Michael Brook is not only famous for inventing the infinite guitar used by U2's The Edge, but also for composing the score for the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Rock Paper Scissors, Brook's most recent solo album, is a cerebral ambient soundtrack for life.
Live At Grand Performances / Dakah Hip-Hop Orchestra
LA's Dakah Hip-Hop Orchestra have picked up the baton and brushed off Parliament's Funkadelic classic Vietnam-era peace anthem "Come In Out Of The Rain," making it more relevant than ever. "When will the people start getting together, learning to live, and love one another..."
Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project / Various
Radio-freedom fighters KCRW raid their audio vaults, bringing together a collection of classic covers recorded live in their Santa Monica basement Morning Becomes Eclectic studios. Sia makes The Pretender's "I Go To Sleep" her own, K.D. Lang comes over all spiritual with "Hallelujah," and The Magic Numbers do something completely 'out there' with their cover of Beyonce's hit song "Crazy In Love."
The winter solstice has been declared Global Orgasm Day. Organizers, the anti-war organization Baring Witness, are asking participants to simultaneously climax at 06:08 a.m. GMT on Saturday December 22nd (10:08 p.m. PST on Friday Dec 21st on the West Coast and 1:08 a.m. EST on Saturday on the East Coast). The goal is "to effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible instantaneous surge of human biological, mental and spiritual energy." So get jiggy in the name of world peace y'all. But remember a really good time doesn't have to lead to babies, and since over-population is a major cause of our planet's crisis the emphasis here is on orgasmic energy rather than fertility.
Pine trees, wreaths, branches along the mantle – for a winter holiday, the Yule-tide season certainly is green. But where did the evergreen symbolism begin, and how do we best keep our seasonal branches verdant?
Early Pagans favored the evergreen during the stark winter months as a symbol of life everlasting. These same traditions claim that families first brought live trees inside the home to provide a warm winter respite for wood spirits, hanging bells on the tree limbs to signify the wood spirits’ presence. To the Celts, the evergreen’s massive height and elaborate root system represented both eternity and the magical adage “as above, so below.” Similarly, the evergreen wreath, a circle with no beginning or end, symbolized a new cycle in the ever-turning wheel of life.
So, how do you best care for these branches? Tree decorator to the stars, Dr. Christmas (www.drchristmas.com), advises buying live trees later rather than sooner (this weekend being the perfect time, so it’ll be fresh the full 12 days of Christmas), and taking them down when the needles snap instead of bending. If the artificial route is easier, or you just don’t have the time or space for a tree, evergreen-scented candles and oils do a wonderful job of conjuring the holiday spirit – without housing any wood spirits.
Take the weight off a stressed friend or loved ones shoulders by providing them with access to a personal assistant whenever they need it. You'll be amazed at how economical it can be. Web based concierge company Ask Sunday has a team of personal assistants that are accessible online and by phone 24 /7. The rules are simple: each request can take no longer than 30 minutes, and must be something that can be accomplished by phone or online. They can make appointments, reservations and travel arrangements, book theater tickets, send gifts and flowers, give directions and do all kinds of research. They'll even wait on hold for tech support or a customer service representative, and patch you in when they've reached a human being. Membership, either for yourself or as a gift, starts at just $29 a month and provides 30 requests a month, with additional requests costing just $2 each. Gift Memberships can be activated at any time within 12 months of the date of receipt.
If you've been alive and listening to public radio in the US or UK since September 11, 2001, chances are you've heard the voice of freelance religion scholar Karen Armstrong weighing in knowledgeably and sympathetically about either Islam or another one of the world's major belief systems. When trying to communicate reasonably about faith to their listeners, broadcast producers and programmers gratefully relied and continue to rely upon the expertise of this author of, among other works, Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World and A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The same keen intelligence and ear for language that Armstrong brings to her studies of major figures like the prophet Muhammad, the Buddha and St. Paul, she also brings to the examination of her own life experience. Her lovely 2005 autobiography The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness paints a compelling portrait of a challenging and unusual life. One of three memoirs that Armstrong has written, The Spiral Staircase charts her reintegration into the secular world after several formative, youthful years as a Roman Catholic nun.
In Armstrong's 1960's British convent, isolation and regimentation were the rule. (Even simple friendship among the sisters was discouraged.) The painful aftereffects of this intense discipline and restraint were only exacerbated by years of undiagnosed frontal lobe epilepsy, a condition that led the young woman to question her own sanity. For all the difficulty the book recounts, it is Armstrong's clear-sightedness and honesty that makes The Spiral Staircase such a touching and gripping read. Her way of capturing the stumbling evolution of her consciousness and growing acceptance of her own uniqueness may well return readers with greater gentleness to a consideration of their own early experiences.
Fortuitously, the world of religion abandoned by Armstrong returned to her in an entirely new way when the BBC asked her to write and host a show on St. Paul. This exhilarating assignment that took her to Jerusalem also started an intellectual odyssey that eventually led Armstrong to expertly grasp the underpinnings of religion while partaking of its wisdom in her own idiosyncratic and bookish way. By the memoir's end, for instance, we learn how a moment from one of the Christian Gospels reminds her "that our fellow men and women are themselves sacred; there is something about them that is worthy of absolute reverence, is in the last resort mysterious, and will always elude us."
Many apparent, seemingly unjust and inexplicable failures were part of Karen Armstrong's path to her satisfying current existence. The way all this messy personal history is transformed in the light of hindsight and resolves into a life that suits her true nature makes for hopeful reading. Everything, both the seemingly good and the seemingly bad, prepared her to become the font of insight she now is. Delving into religion's holy and its unholy side has left its mark on Armstrong, not just intellectually but spiritually as well. As she tells her readers in the book's final pages, "...compassion is a habit of mind that is transforming. The science of compassion which guides my studies has changed the way I experience the world."
So, have you made any New Year's resolutions lately? If you have chosen a goal or two for 2008, it is important to take the time to nurture those goals like baby seedlings in springtime. It's not enough to write them down in your journal, close it up and forget about them for another year. Reviewing your goals on a regular basis serves two purposes: to remind yourself of the specifics and to re-evaluate whether they are still appropriate goals for you. Sometimes 
What will the New Year have in store for Britney, Tomkat, Hilary and Oprah? Our 
Where do folks with screen names like "releaserina" and "misnomers" express their deepest desires, both light and dark? Well 43 of their wants are listed in order of priority on the website 
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One day, a few weeks into a class I’ve been taking on Financial Freedom, I found myself idly surfing the web engaging in behavior that I deemed “unspiritual” and wasteful of my time. Then I turned my attention to that week’s homework and read the following: “God is Abundance.” Remembering another teaching of the class, that each of us is God individualized, I made a simple substitution. “I am Abundance,” I said once and continued saying over and over again as I got up from my studies and headed out to the library in order to return a book. 
Shame on everyone who took part in the brawl at the 
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Acclaimed poet and author of 
Short on time but still want to give something worthwhile? Why not give an insta-charity gift card from 
Yule, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza; 'Tis the multiple holiday season, and you're likely up to your ears in eggnog-fueled celebration. Sometimes the seasonal frenzy can be so intense as to eclipse the more thought-provoking origins and intentions of our festivities. Fortunately we have a benevolent Full Moon in Cancer on December 23rd to refresh the holiday spirit and remind us of the goodwill and charity at this season's core.
Time is a precious finite resource, and therefore can be a very thoughtful gift, as well as one that's easy to give at the last minute and can fit into any budget. Whether you're offering time to share or space for a loved one to spend some quality time alone, such gifts can replenish the spirit.
From Yule log to Yuletide, the word "
The winter solstice has been declared 
Pine trees, wreaths, branches along the mantle – for a winter holiday, the Yule-tide season certainly is green. But where did the evergreen symbolism begin, and how do we best keep our seasonal branches verdant? 
Take the weight off a stressed friend or loved ones shoulders by providing them with access to a personal assistant whenever they need it. You'll be amazed at how economical it can be. Web based concierge company 
If you've been alive and listening to public radio in the US or UK since September 11, 2001, chances are you've heard the voice of freelance religion scholar