Sunday, March 27, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Love is our Dream Seed, We are Coded to Thrive!
Giving thanks to All our ancestors,
those that have brought us here, NOW, we honor the carriers of the lineage of the Codes of Love. We witness the patterns of creation, and feel the Great-Full-Ness of
Life. We see we are Source Coded to thrive.
So, in Gratitude we go and grow,
remembering we are carriers of Love,
designed to facilitate the continuance of Life, while Birthing New Reality with grace and ease.
Blooming Humans are WE!
In choosing to Activate, nurture, tender, cultivate and harvest our Dream Seeds, we are offering sustenance for ALL to thrive.
We are Source Coded to Thrive, and our Dream Seeds are growing into a Garden of Illuminated Hearts.
Blessed Be!
http://bloominghumans.com/dream-seed-kit
Once upon a time,
Once upon a time, the tribe of humanity embarked upon a long journey called Separation. It was not a blunder as some - seeing its ravages upon the planet - might think. Nor was it a fall, nor an expression of some innate evil peculiar to the human species. It was a journey with a purpose: to experience the extremes of Separation, to develop the gifts that come in response to it, and to integrate all of that in a new age of Reunion.
But we knew at the outset that there was danger in this journey: that we might become lost in Separation and never come back. We might become so alienated from nature that we would destroy the very basis of life; we might become so separated from each other that our poor egos, left naked and terrified, would become incapable of rejoining the community of all being. In other words, we foresaw the crisis we face today.
That is why, thousands of years ago, we planted three seeds that would sprout at the time that our journey of Separation reached its extreme. Three seeds, three transmissions from the past to the future, three ways of preserving and transmitting the truth of the world, the self, and how to be human.
Imagine you were alive thirty thousand years ago, and had a vision of all that was to come: symbolic language, naming and labeling the world; agriculture, the domestication of the wild, dominion over other species and the land; the Machine, the mastery of natural forces; the forgetting of how beautiful and perfect the world is; the atomization of society; a world where humans fear even to drink of the streams and rivers, where we live among strangers and don't know the people next door, where we kill across the planet with the touch of a button, where the seas turn black and the air burns our lungs, where we are so broken that we dare not remember that it isn't supposed to be this way.
Imagine you saw it all coming. How would you help people thirty thousand years thence? How would you send information, knowledge, aid over such a vast gulf of time? You see, this actually happened. That is how we came up with the three seeds.
The first seed was the wisdom lineages: lines of transmission going back thousands of years that have preserved and protected essential knowledge. From adept to disciple, in every part of the world, various wisdom traditions have passed down teachings in secret. Wisdom keepers, Sufis, Taoist wizards, Zen masters, mystics, gurus, and many others, hiding within each religion, kept the knowledge safe until the time when the world would be ready to reclaim it. That time is now, and they have done their job well.
The time of secrets is over. Released too early, the knowledge was co-opted, abused, or usually just ignored. When we still had not covered the territory of Separation, when we still aspired to widening our conquest of nature, when the story of humanity's Ascent was not yet complete, we weren't ready to hear about union, connectedness, interdependency, inter-being-ness. We thought the answer was more control, more technology, more logic, a better-engineered society of rational ethics, more control over matter, nature, and human nature. But now the old paradigms are failing, and human consciousness has reached a degree of receptivity that allows this seed to spread across the earth. It has been released, and it is growing inside of us en masse.
The second seed was the sacred stories: myths, legends, fairy tales, folklore, and the perennial themes that keep reappearing in various guises throughout history. They have always been with us, so that however far we have wandered into the Labyrinth of Separation, we have always had a lifeline, however tenuous and tangled, to the truth. The stories nurture that tiny spark of memory within us that knows our origin and our destination. The ancients, knowing that the truth would be co-opted and distorted if left in explicit form, encoded it into stories.
When we hear or read one of these stories, even if we cannot decode the symbolism, we are affected on an unconscious level. Myths and fairy tales represent a very sophisticated psychic technology. Each generation of storytellers, without consciously intending to, transmits the covert wisdom that it learned, unconsciously, from the stories told it.
Without directly contradicting the paradigms of separation and ascent, our myths and stories have smuggled in a very different understanding of reality. Under the cover of, "It's just a story," they convey emotional, poetic, and spiritual truth that contradicts linear logic, reductionism, determinism, and objectivity. I am not talking here about moralistic stories. Most of those carry little truth. To transmit the second seed, we must humble ourselves to our stories, and not try to use them for our own moralistic ends. They were created by beings far wiser than our modern selves.
If you tell or transmit stories, be very respectful of their original form and don't change them unless you feel a poetic upwelling. Pay attention to which children's literature has the feel of a true story. Most recent kids' literature does not. You can recognize a true story by the way its images linger in your mind. It imprints itself on the psyche. You get the feeling that something else has been transmitted alongside the plot, something invisible. Usually, such stories bear rich symbolism often unknown even to their authors. A comparison of two 20th-century children's books illustrates my point: compare a Berenstain Bears story with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Only the latter has a psychic staying power, revealing the spirit of a true story, and it is rich with archetypal symbolism.
The third seed was the indigenous tribes, the people who at some stage opted out of the journey of separation. Imagine that at the outset of the journey, the Council of Humanity gathered and certain members volunteered to retreat to remote locations and forgo separation, which meant refusing to enter into an adversarial, controlling relationship to nature, and therefore refusing the process that leads to the development of high technology. It also meant that when they were discovered by the humans who had gone deeply into Separation, they would meet with the most atrocious suffering. That was unavoidable.
These people of the third seed have nearly completed their mission today. Their mission was simply to survive long enough to provide living examples of how to be human. Each tribe carried a different piece, sometimes many pieces, of this knowledge. Many of them show us how to see and relate to the land, animals, and plants. Others show us how to work with dreams and the unseen. Some have preserved natural ways of raising children, now spreading through such books as The Continuum Concept. Some show us how to communicate without words - tribes such as the Hazda and the Piraha communicate mostly in song. Some show us how to free ourselves from the mentality of linear time. All of them exemplify a way of being that we intuitively recognize and long for. They stir a memory in our hearts, and awaken our desire to return.
The Lakota Aloysius Weasel Bear once asked his grandfather, "Grandpa, the White Man is destroying everything, shouldn't we try to stop him?" His grandfather replied, "No, it isn't necessary. We will stand by. He will outsmart himself." The grandfather recognized two things in this reply: (1) That Separation carries the seeds of its own demise, and (2) That his people's role is to be themselves. But I don't think that this is an attitude of callousness that leaves the White Man to his just desserts; it is an attitude of compassion and helping that understands the tremendous importance of simply being who they are. They are keeping alive something that the planet and the community of all being needs.
By the same token, our culture's fascination with all things indigenous is not merely the latest form of cultural imperialism and exploitation. True, the final stage of cultural domination would be to turn Native ways into a brand, a marketing image. And certainly there are some in my culture who, sundered from community and from a real identity, adopt Native pseudo-identities and pride themselves on their connections to Native culture, spirituality, people, and so forth.
Underneath that, however, we recognize that the surviving First Peoples have something important to teach us. We are drawn to their gift, to the seed that they have preserved until the present time. To receive this seed, it is not necessary to participate in their rituals, take an animal name, or claim a Native ancestor, but only to humbly see what they have preserved, so that memory may awaken. Until recently, such seeing was impossible for us, blinkered by our cultural superiority complex, our arrogance, our apparent success in mastering the universe. Now that converging ecological and social crises reveal the bankruptcy of our ways, we have the eyes to see the ways of others.
The seeds of Reunion are sprouting everywhere. That which was hidden for millennia is coming to light. Soon, fertilized by the detritus of our decaying civilization, the sprouts will mature, bloom, and bear fruit. Our job is first to receive them, then to spread them everywhere and to guard and foster them with every ounce of our love.
May you be blessed!
from:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/three_seeds
Charles Eisenstein is a writer, speaker, and the author of The Ascent of Humanity and other books.
Image Credit: "The Blessing Seed" by Alison Dexter
those that have brought us here, NOW, we honor the carriers of the lineage of the Codes of Love. We witness the patterns of creation, and feel the Great-Full-Ness of
Life. We see we are Source Coded to thrive.
So, in Gratitude we go and grow,
remembering we are carriers of Love,
designed to facilitate the continuance of Life, while Birthing New Reality with grace and ease.
Blooming Humans are WE!
In choosing to Activate, nurture, tender, cultivate and harvest our Dream Seeds, we are offering sustenance for ALL to thrive.
We are Source Coded to Thrive, and our Dream Seeds are growing into a Garden of Illuminated Hearts.
Blessed Be!
http://bloominghumans.com/dream-seed-kit
Once upon a time,
Once upon a time, the tribe of humanity embarked upon a long journey called Separation. It was not a blunder as some - seeing its ravages upon the planet - might think. Nor was it a fall, nor an expression of some innate evil peculiar to the human species. It was a journey with a purpose: to experience the extremes of Separation, to develop the gifts that come in response to it, and to integrate all of that in a new age of Reunion.
But we knew at the outset that there was danger in this journey: that we might become lost in Separation and never come back. We might become so alienated from nature that we would destroy the very basis of life; we might become so separated from each other that our poor egos, left naked and terrified, would become incapable of rejoining the community of all being. In other words, we foresaw the crisis we face today.
That is why, thousands of years ago, we planted three seeds that would sprout at the time that our journey of Separation reached its extreme. Three seeds, three transmissions from the past to the future, three ways of preserving and transmitting the truth of the world, the self, and how to be human.
Imagine you were alive thirty thousand years ago, and had a vision of all that was to come: symbolic language, naming and labeling the world; agriculture, the domestication of the wild, dominion over other species and the land; the Machine, the mastery of natural forces; the forgetting of how beautiful and perfect the world is; the atomization of society; a world where humans fear even to drink of the streams and rivers, where we live among strangers and don't know the people next door, where we kill across the planet with the touch of a button, where the seas turn black and the air burns our lungs, where we are so broken that we dare not remember that it isn't supposed to be this way.
Imagine you saw it all coming. How would you help people thirty thousand years thence? How would you send information, knowledge, aid over such a vast gulf of time? You see, this actually happened. That is how we came up with the three seeds.
The first seed was the wisdom lineages: lines of transmission going back thousands of years that have preserved and protected essential knowledge. From adept to disciple, in every part of the world, various wisdom traditions have passed down teachings in secret. Wisdom keepers, Sufis, Taoist wizards, Zen masters, mystics, gurus, and many others, hiding within each religion, kept the knowledge safe until the time when the world would be ready to reclaim it. That time is now, and they have done their job well.
The time of secrets is over. Released too early, the knowledge was co-opted, abused, or usually just ignored. When we still had not covered the territory of Separation, when we still aspired to widening our conquest of nature, when the story of humanity's Ascent was not yet complete, we weren't ready to hear about union, connectedness, interdependency, inter-being-ness. We thought the answer was more control, more technology, more logic, a better-engineered society of rational ethics, more control over matter, nature, and human nature. But now the old paradigms are failing, and human consciousness has reached a degree of receptivity that allows this seed to spread across the earth. It has been released, and it is growing inside of us en masse.
The second seed was the sacred stories: myths, legends, fairy tales, folklore, and the perennial themes that keep reappearing in various guises throughout history. They have always been with us, so that however far we have wandered into the Labyrinth of Separation, we have always had a lifeline, however tenuous and tangled, to the truth. The stories nurture that tiny spark of memory within us that knows our origin and our destination. The ancients, knowing that the truth would be co-opted and distorted if left in explicit form, encoded it into stories.
When we hear or read one of these stories, even if we cannot decode the symbolism, we are affected on an unconscious level. Myths and fairy tales represent a very sophisticated psychic technology. Each generation of storytellers, without consciously intending to, transmits the covert wisdom that it learned, unconsciously, from the stories told it.
Without directly contradicting the paradigms of separation and ascent, our myths and stories have smuggled in a very different understanding of reality. Under the cover of, "It's just a story," they convey emotional, poetic, and spiritual truth that contradicts linear logic, reductionism, determinism, and objectivity. I am not talking here about moralistic stories. Most of those carry little truth. To transmit the second seed, we must humble ourselves to our stories, and not try to use them for our own moralistic ends. They were created by beings far wiser than our modern selves.
If you tell or transmit stories, be very respectful of their original form and don't change them unless you feel a poetic upwelling. Pay attention to which children's literature has the feel of a true story. Most recent kids' literature does not. You can recognize a true story by the way its images linger in your mind. It imprints itself on the psyche. You get the feeling that something else has been transmitted alongside the plot, something invisible. Usually, such stories bear rich symbolism often unknown even to their authors. A comparison of two 20th-century children's books illustrates my point: compare a Berenstain Bears story with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Only the latter has a psychic staying power, revealing the spirit of a true story, and it is rich with archetypal symbolism.
The third seed was the indigenous tribes, the people who at some stage opted out of the journey of separation. Imagine that at the outset of the journey, the Council of Humanity gathered and certain members volunteered to retreat to remote locations and forgo separation, which meant refusing to enter into an adversarial, controlling relationship to nature, and therefore refusing the process that leads to the development of high technology. It also meant that when they were discovered by the humans who had gone deeply into Separation, they would meet with the most atrocious suffering. That was unavoidable.
These people of the third seed have nearly completed their mission today. Their mission was simply to survive long enough to provide living examples of how to be human. Each tribe carried a different piece, sometimes many pieces, of this knowledge. Many of them show us how to see and relate to the land, animals, and plants. Others show us how to work with dreams and the unseen. Some have preserved natural ways of raising children, now spreading through such books as The Continuum Concept. Some show us how to communicate without words - tribes such as the Hazda and the Piraha communicate mostly in song. Some show us how to free ourselves from the mentality of linear time. All of them exemplify a way of being that we intuitively recognize and long for. They stir a memory in our hearts, and awaken our desire to return.
The Lakota Aloysius Weasel Bear once asked his grandfather, "Grandpa, the White Man is destroying everything, shouldn't we try to stop him?" His grandfather replied, "No, it isn't necessary. We will stand by. He will outsmart himself." The grandfather recognized two things in this reply: (1) That Separation carries the seeds of its own demise, and (2) That his people's role is to be themselves. But I don't think that this is an attitude of callousness that leaves the White Man to his just desserts; it is an attitude of compassion and helping that understands the tremendous importance of simply being who they are. They are keeping alive something that the planet and the community of all being needs.
By the same token, our culture's fascination with all things indigenous is not merely the latest form of cultural imperialism and exploitation. True, the final stage of cultural domination would be to turn Native ways into a brand, a marketing image. And certainly there are some in my culture who, sundered from community and from a real identity, adopt Native pseudo-identities and pride themselves on their connections to Native culture, spirituality, people, and so forth.
Underneath that, however, we recognize that the surviving First Peoples have something important to teach us. We are drawn to their gift, to the seed that they have preserved until the present time. To receive this seed, it is not necessary to participate in their rituals, take an animal name, or claim a Native ancestor, but only to humbly see what they have preserved, so that memory may awaken. Until recently, such seeing was impossible for us, blinkered by our cultural superiority complex, our arrogance, our apparent success in mastering the universe. Now that converging ecological and social crises reveal the bankruptcy of our ways, we have the eyes to see the ways of others.
The seeds of Reunion are sprouting everywhere. That which was hidden for millennia is coming to light. Soon, fertilized by the detritus of our decaying civilization, the sprouts will mature, bloom, and bear fruit. Our job is first to receive them, then to spread them everywhere and to guard and foster them with every ounce of our love.
May you be blessed!
from:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/three_seeds
Charles Eisenstein is a writer, speaker, and the author of The Ascent of Humanity and other books.
Image Credit: "The Blessing Seed" by Alison Dexter
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
High Frequency Heart Meditation 528 Hz
Worthwhile! Be aware this might bring some "stuff" up to the surface. Stay with it without judgement and try to breathe thru any resistance. Total time is about 7 minutes. Best with head phones viewed full screen. Allow another 20 minutes or so for integration, as an observer.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Divine Mother: A Meditation for the Spring Equinox
The Spring Equinox is the beginning of a astrological New Year when the sun enters the sign of Aries and begins a 12-month cycle around the wheel of life. It is a time when day and night are balanced, lending support from the universe and Mother Earth, to begin again in a state of perfected harmony. It is a time to create and bring form to your dreams and rejoice in birth and life.
Today, Sunday, March 20th, 2011 is the Spring Equinox this year. Throughout the year there are periods of time and windows of power that we can harness to power the changes in our lives that we are setting out to accomplish. In this moment we are watching a world out balance attempting to return to harmony. We are witnessing a rebirth.
The Goddess, the Divine Mother, is returning to our collective consciousness to guide us through the changes. She is Kwan Yin, Isis, Mary, Oshun, Lakshmi. She is You. The Divine Mother abides in the heart of every being, as the divine creatrix who has manifested multiple forms of consciousness as an adoration for Her beloved, the eternal formless Supreme Being - God the Father. In truth these two timeless lovers are not two rather, they are inseparably bound to play out their cosmic dance of love for all eternity.
I hope that you will take a moment to enjoy this beautiful Heart Meditation, "Light of Presence – Mother Divine." Today, open your heart and receive the aspect of the Divine which is known as Mother. Where there is love, compassion and mercy, see Her direct presence, always the present moment, always in service, in you.
To best experience the heart healing transmission watch full screen, with your awareness at the high (etheric) heart center.
May you be blessed.
Labels:
Equinox,
Goddess,
Heart Chakra,
Meditation,
Orgone. Oshun Spirit,
Oshun,
Spring
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Speed Over Perfection... in an effort to make the product better?
I just spent a few minutes reading the last comments of my blog post dated Tuesday, March 8.
Thank you for the information. Am I surprised? No. I will accept that those actions are my reward for playing nice with Alex, and that the post created such a dramatic response carries its own message forward.
The unicorn thing was childish. If you visit http://www.facebook.com/oshunspiritstore there are some endearing comments posted about it. After over 900 hits, there is not one comment which supports the business model of degrading your customers. If it was meant to reflect poorly on me, it fell short.
But yesterday's news is today's fish wrapper. Today's news is that Bonanza emphasizes speed over perfection in an effort to make the product better. I can't let it go. They sent it to me. It is the answer to the question I asked time and time again. Thank you!
I will direct you to:
http://oshunspirit.blogspot.com/2010/07/bonanzlecom-launches-two-new-games.html
In Bill Harding's own words, he felt that I was "regularly being at odds with our prioritization. "Our" being Bonanzle Management's, and indeed that was true for him. What was true for me is that I wanted to understand why "selling" was not the priority of an e-commerce marketplace.
As a Premier member (in fact I was one of the first Premiere supporters, and I was first to sign up as a member of the BAC, first to hold a chat/auction on Bonanzle, yes I had a vested interest in the sites success) I had access to google analytics which I also had on my website oshunspirit.net, a mirror of the Bonanzle booth to which I directed my .com. Comparing apples to apples, the Bonanzle conversion rates were way, way off, month after month. I might add, I left ebay as a powerseller, so I hadn't just fallen off the turnip truck.
I had many customers emailing that they couldn't check out, and intuitively I knew there had to be even more that were having similar issues that I was not hearing about. So, because I was on Bonanzle to do business, a functional checkout system was a priority. I admit it.
And I cared, not just for me, but because people were suffering. Really suffering, because of it.
Does anyone remember poor Razmear? I tried for 3 weeks to buy multiple items, a wholesale lot, from him and we finally completed the sale off site because he needed that money to keep his electricity on. Such sacrifices to personal financial stability were not unheard of... early adapters that stopped selling on ebay and had no other means would have starved had it not been for the goodwill of other members. I bought a lot of stuff I didn't need because I could. A great community, a bad business plan. Take the emotional component out and you've got dumb.
In April 09, after they introduced Bizzy, the rude robotic personal assistant, I begged that their next project might be to address the barriers to sales and our inability to complete sales on site rather than add further embarrassment to what was already an increasingly embarrassing situation – that is, constantly apologizing for customer's inconvenience. I got a really snarky answer, something about how hip and professional can go hand in hand.
My skin prickled and I knew there was a disconnect. Maybe generational, maybe deeper...
When Bonanzle added widgets instead of addressing the issues, I asked again. When they added syndication and affiliates, I asked again. When they added Twitter and Facebook integration, one more time I expressed that spamming the social networks would do little for the bottom line if the incoming buyers could not navigate the site. Games came and went, handpicked lists became a favorite pass time and then there was a constant stream of booth do-overs to incorporate site upgrades which often upset the apple cart. Lots of busy work to do, games to play, chatty features to ensure stickiness. Of sellers, not buyers.
I couldn't get a buyer to stick, not with widgets, not with Bonanzas, or coupons, or anything else. And I'm sharp.
All the while my website converted (even as I literally ignored it) and Bonanzle did not. Yes, I kept asking for functionality. And I received three answers in perpetual rotation: I had "it" set up incorrectly, my customers were doing it wrong, or I needed to clear my cache.
No, I was not the only one. I am one of many whose voices were silenced for speaking out and questioning the site's prioritization, asking for clarification. But I suppose I was an influencer of sorts and I call it like I see it. And I usually see very clearly. In fact, my predictions about Bonanza run with 100% accuracy. I'm sure someone will testify to that.
In July of '10 I finally put my booth on hold and wrote the blog, http://oshunspirit.blogspot.com/2010/07/bonanzlecom-launches-two-new-games.html. Bill said he was sorry to see me go.
What? I said I wasn't going anywhere, that I would wait for functionality and a return on my investment...
In hindsight I understand that was not what he was hoping to hear.
"They" offered to do a detailed analysis of my booth if I offered it up as a test case. From July 19 - Sept 1 my booth was closed while "they" worked on it to find solutions. I "lost" my images, attributes, traits, shipping, and prices. I was shocked, I thought it was all about the checkout, cart, and shipping profiles. I let them know my booth was GONE, that the fixes were generating unrelated glitches. I received emails that did not address the points made. Over and over again. Then I got it. Oops.
Trashed, not fixed.
I posted in the forum about my experiences, just the facts, backed up by emails, and bmails, and I was censored til 2015. I examined my experience on my blog. Those who responded and shared similar stories were hunted down, suspended, and invited to leave as well..
Well, that's just nasty business no matter how you spin it.
On September 9, management announced that they had " fixed full page new item form zeroing out international shipping that was set as "see description" or "calculated" and fixed shipping profiles not being applied to new items on full page new item form. But there were still problems...
The real problem: They didn't know how to fix the problems.
Then, just a few months ago, Bonanza with a team of new programmers in place, renovated their checkout system because their research showed it needed simplification and buyers were having problems. Bada-bing!
Several weeks ago Bonanza merchants were all over the social networking sites frantic, livid, remarking about the ongoing site functionality issues. They received three answers in perpetual rotation: They had "it" set up incorrectly, their customers were making errors, or they needed to clear their caches. I've been there, done that, I have a point of view...
I wrote a blog. And here you are.
I now sport a Unicorn as an avatar, my booths sport red x's where they once were. And they will say to you through my example, "you may be next."
And I will say to you, may you be blessed!
From Alex' response: "We openly acknowledge that there are, from time to time, bugs on the site as we endeavor to quickly enhance the product. We do emphasize speed over perfection in an effort to make the product better." Speed over perfection... if haste compromises functionality, many are left wondering how a product gets better.
Labels:
Bonanza,
Bonanzle,
Ebay Altenarive,
Oshun,
Social Marketplace,
Spirit,
Unicorn
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Bonan'ZEN: One Last Story
In 2008 and into 2009, Bonan'ZEN was my weekly contribution to a forum on Bonanzle (recently re-branded as Bonanza.com) called "Inspire Simplicity." During the time I posted there my intention was to add a bit of perspective and wisdom, often peppered with a dash of humor and wit, to the community of online merchants there who were laboring to work around the site glitches of the newly launched start-up marketplace.
In those days frustration ran high, although spirits could be buoyed with a kind word or two. Merchants bought and sold from each other to troubleshoot the issues their customers were having, worked along side management to develop the site, and promoted the fledgling venue on every blog, lense, podcast and portal that would stand for it.
Sellers were dismayed because nothing worked quite right, sales were hard to come by and then often had to be completed off -site because customers simply could not navigate the process. So the inspirational quotes, parables, wisdom tales and motivational fables Bonan'ZEN offered were deeply appreciated. Even Bill Harding said, "keep 'em coming!"
Well, all good things must come to an end.
Bonanzle and I eventually parted ways and I am no longer compelled to offer weekly words of wisdom in that direction. I do, however, watch and learn and I do keep in contact with many sellers there, wonderful people whom I care about deeply. I do on occasion, express my gratitude for those friendships, and for those experiences which have made me a savvy seller on-line and a wiser woman all-around.
Recent events have placed Bonanza back on my radar screen. And a storm is brewing.
So today, as I see the merchants upset and frustrated, posting on Facebook and Twitter and the Bonanza Forums I am compelled to offer one last wisdom tale. But it's not for the sellers. It's for my one-time "partners" in hopes they catch the spark of insight offered and start looking out for their customers, my seller-friends.
This is a true story, taken from my own life. We all make mistakes.
Someone once gave me a little Bonsai tree. Because I was good with plants I took the snippers to it immediately and started shaping – excited to create something new and wonderful!
Soon the ends began to wither so I snipped a little more. I tweaked it and I tweaked it until I finally tweaked it to death.
It wasn't until I had an empty pot that it occurred to me that I should have consulted someone with experience instead of imagining I was already an expert...
May you be blessed!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Business as usual on Bonanza: the gift that keeps on giving
As many of you know, I once had an Oshun Spirit storefront on Bonanzle (since re-branded as Bonanza.com). I no longer sell there because I cannot support the aura, or energy, that surrounds the venue. To make a long story short, their business values and ethics are simply not in alignment with my own. Just as I purchase Fair Trade chocolates and coffee (among other products) to provide a fair wage, a quality working environment, a valuing of identity, and a desire to care for and empower people and their communities in developing nations, I cannot support any organization, or developing venue, that degrades and manipulates their own community and its members.
But the purpose of my blog today is not to tear down Bonanza or list their failings. Yesterday, through their actions and reactions they proved once again that with their heads in the sand, they will be the masters of their own demise. In fact, I will take this time to bless my experience with them and thank them for the lessons they have offered me. I am truly grateful for the unfolding of events which prompted me to look closely what is really happening there, and in the world market at large.
Yesterday, for me, watching the events of the day play out was like receiving a gift of comfirmation. It was the redemption of my intuition and my knowing that if I continue to follow my heart and don't fall prey to what others might want to convince me into thinking, I am, and will continue to be blessed with abundance and joy.
In hindsight I believe that my higher purpose there was not to help build and sell on their new ecommerce venue at all... rather it was to gain an understanding of what my business values truly are, and to evolve my own business "consciousness." Perhaps, so that I might have an understanding to offer to my own clients who wish to evolve their passions and dreams into spiritually aligned, service-oriented businesses... experience is the best teacher after all. Because my clients and customers are in a process of shifting their worldview to a more spiritual and ethical one, they naturally, eventually, shift the way they look at doing business, too.
We know the world is changing in many ways. There is great suffering, but there is also great joy in the wake of these shifts. Many people are waking up and reassigning meaning in their lives. Beyond earthquakes, volcanoes, and solar flares, the electro magnetic fields which sustain all activities, including business and personal relationships, are changing. I recently read a quote that sums it up quite succinctly:
"Practice business as usual and you will likely have no business to speak of in the new era of authentic business."
Indeed. Now, there is nothing intrinsically un-spiritual about making money. An adventurous, creative, and self-reflective approach to business can have benefits all-round. Believe me, I enjoy the fun things that money can buy! But, both success and failure can lead to self-awareness, spiritual growth and wisdom... which money cannot buy. In fact, I believe that "business" can be, and should be, a deeply moving spiritual practice.
I know that people and organizations with higher thoughts and vibrations stimulate others to higher thoughts. That's how we facilitate positive change. It starts with you... but it goes on forever... you know, the ripple effect.
I came, in part, to work on the Bonanzle marketplace because I have long embraced the idea of "giving before receiving" as part of my approach in compliance with the Universal Law of Compensation. But now, I blog. This simple act gifts prospective clients and customers with ideas, information, and inspiration which they are seeking, and at the same time helps them feel comfortable about my ability to serve their needs.
But what's really "spiritual" about this approach is that it puts my business in harmony with my soul's divine design for my life. Running around after a buck doesn't sound like a life plan to me. Getting in tune with my inner purpose and making it work to improve the lives of people around me, does. And remembering that helped me to move forward.
If you want your business to make a difference in the world, simply find ways to raise your own vibratory energy, as individuals and in your groups. You already know how: prayer, meditation, service, giving, time spent in nature, making love... being loving, having fun! Your customers cannot help but to get an energy boost too. They might not know why, but they'll feel lighter, happier and more at ease. They will want to be around you, and use your products and services because your energy feels so good!
I know that once I remembered the vision I held for my "divine" life, and started to follow it in my everyday business dealings, I found that my business decisions became easy and intuitive, heartfelt, and clients were magnetically attracted to my sense of "sureness of purpose." I immediately began reaping abundant rewards from the higher energy seeds I had sown. Simply by leaving Bonanza I stopped the bleed of the tremendous amount of time, energy and effort that went into pretending things were different that I knew them to be in my heart. Once I got heart-centered again, I started making money again, effortlessly.
I must say also, that like any spiritual pursuit that leads to growth, having a transparent, service-oriented, and authentic business model will challenge you. Synchronicity and it's inspirational lessons would lead to my booth's functionality being manipulated for almost two months, limiting my ability to do any business at all. I was censored, and finally suspended from the Bonanza forum because I spoke the truth about the experience on behalf of the community of sellers there who remained unaware of the business practices they too were immersed in.
But it is difficult to unsettle the wise man or woman. The ethical maturity of one who approaches life and business with a spiritual perspective is likely to make him/her more settled, confident, and detached than the typical ego-centered, profit driven businessperson. This detachment is not apathy, but the relaxed mindfulness of a person who is able to see that regardless of the ebb and flow of life, and the up and downs of business, that there is something behind it all that is unmoving – the Spirit.
And, in the end this is the greatest asset for us all as we go about doing business in the marketplace.
May you be blessed!
image credit: mousemusings.com
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Thursday, March 3, 2011
Peace... a breath and a choice
Recently I connected with an old friend who asked me what I was teaching these days. She had done Reiki classes with me in the 90's and attended workshops on crystal healing, aromatherapy, astrology, meditation, macrobiotic cooking, yoga, chi gong, and feng shui which I facilitated for many years through Enviro-arts, a brick and mortar version of Oshun Spirit Earth Friendly Goods.
I thought for a moment. What AM I teaching these days? I know there is the collective energy of all of these past disciplines in the foundation of my work, but I'm no longer terribly concerned with complex Sacred Geometry and Matrixes for Ascension and Zero Point Creation, or even applied Universal Law... it is much simpler than even THAT now.
"Spiritual Empowerment" is a cool phrase, and a starting point which combines the essence of all of these practices. I offer interactive healing sessions with the intention of increasing your connection to your own inner knowing, your Spirit or Higher Self. I believe that by understanding and honoring your own intuitive processes, you can transform all energies in your life (even the ones you currently label as negative) into creativity, hope, joy and peace. In creating a perfect higher heart/mind alignment with the needs of your Spirit, your life can work in a simply perfect way.
Alternatively, The Law of Attraction illustrates that what you send out to the Universe (an intelligent, creative, all giving entity that only wants the best for you) is what you get back. You ask for what you want, you wait with faith and eventually you take your seat at the table of abundance which was set for you awaiting your arrival. But there are a few missing pieces in this theory... (another blog, another day).
But true "Spiritual Empowerment" is even simpler than that. It is a breath and a choice. It is Free Will in a perfect alignment with the needs of your Spirit initiated through one breath that seals the deal. Yes, one breath. But the mind and heart must work together, and that can take some practice. But it's not about asking for anything or waiting for it. It's about being in the present, holding a vision, and taking a breath, and feeling how it felt. Did it feel good, peaceful, loving? OK keep going. Not so good? Make another choice. You didn't make a mistake. You didn't do it wrong. Just take another breath.
The painful and limiting emotions inside of us (usually found in the past or projected onto the future) that keep us from heart-thinking and the ability to empower our lives can actually be released in one moment, with the choice not to breathe life into them ever again. You just need to be fearless in your commitment to the process of arriving at that choice. Peace, joy, love, courage and all the good stuff within our hearts don't have a prayer to find expression if painful emotions smother and repress them. We know that to truly empower our lives, we must face and release experiences of fear and enter them into expressions of love. But the experience of love can be difficult to obtain when there is no peace in our heart.
"I teach peace."
"OK, Gandhi," she laughed.
"No," I said, "I just realized that it's really that simple. I just raise the possibility that peace is an option. Then everything else just falls into place."
If you say to yourself, ‘I choose peace’ a hundred million times a day (well, every time you make a choice), and take a few seconds to breathe into that choice, eventually the presence of peace will enter your consciousness and make a nest. Those limiting emotions that restrict our highest being will be replaced by the higher magnetics of a new energetic momentum which will allow and welcome the experience of peace to enter your work, relationships, body, image, and soul.
With the presence of peace within your heart and mind, you simply make choices that will continue to empower your life in the direction of your dreams. That is true Spiritual Empowerment. And Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All.
May You Be Blessed!
I thought for a moment. What AM I teaching these days? I know there is the collective energy of all of these past disciplines in the foundation of my work, but I'm no longer terribly concerned with complex Sacred Geometry and Matrixes for Ascension and Zero Point Creation, or even applied Universal Law... it is much simpler than even THAT now.
"Spiritual Empowerment" is a cool phrase, and a starting point which combines the essence of all of these practices. I offer interactive healing sessions with the intention of increasing your connection to your own inner knowing, your Spirit or Higher Self. I believe that by understanding and honoring your own intuitive processes, you can transform all energies in your life (even the ones you currently label as negative) into creativity, hope, joy and peace. In creating a perfect higher heart/mind alignment with the needs of your Spirit, your life can work in a simply perfect way.
Alternatively, The Law of Attraction illustrates that what you send out to the Universe (an intelligent, creative, all giving entity that only wants the best for you) is what you get back. You ask for what you want, you wait with faith and eventually you take your seat at the table of abundance which was set for you awaiting your arrival. But there are a few missing pieces in this theory... (another blog, another day).
But true "Spiritual Empowerment" is even simpler than that. It is a breath and a choice. It is Free Will in a perfect alignment with the needs of your Spirit initiated through one breath that seals the deal. Yes, one breath. But the mind and heart must work together, and that can take some practice. But it's not about asking for anything or waiting for it. It's about being in the present, holding a vision, and taking a breath, and feeling how it felt. Did it feel good, peaceful, loving? OK keep going. Not so good? Make another choice. You didn't make a mistake. You didn't do it wrong. Just take another breath.
The painful and limiting emotions inside of us (usually found in the past or projected onto the future) that keep us from heart-thinking and the ability to empower our lives can actually be released in one moment, with the choice not to breathe life into them ever again. You just need to be fearless in your commitment to the process of arriving at that choice. Peace, joy, love, courage and all the good stuff within our hearts don't have a prayer to find expression if painful emotions smother and repress them. We know that to truly empower our lives, we must face and release experiences of fear and enter them into expressions of love. But the experience of love can be difficult to obtain when there is no peace in our heart.
"I teach peace."
"OK, Gandhi," she laughed.
"No," I said, "I just realized that it's really that simple. I just raise the possibility that peace is an option. Then everything else just falls into place."
If you say to yourself, ‘I choose peace’ a hundred million times a day (well, every time you make a choice), and take a few seconds to breathe into that choice, eventually the presence of peace will enter your consciousness and make a nest. Those limiting emotions that restrict our highest being will be replaced by the higher magnetics of a new energetic momentum which will allow and welcome the experience of peace to enter your work, relationships, body, image, and soul.
With the presence of peace within your heart and mind, you simply make choices that will continue to empower your life in the direction of your dreams. That is true Spiritual Empowerment. And Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All.
May You Be Blessed!
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