Juliette Llewellyn's Creative Blog

http://www.juliettellewellyn.blogspot.com

is where you can now find me :-)

Is Your Heart Pure Enought To Witness Spirit?

You are not going to follow a path that doesn’t feel natural for very long, nor will it bring the growth you need, however well intentioned you are. There is a center in the body where love and spirit are joined, and that center is the heart. It is your heart that aches or swells with love, that feels compassion and trust, that seems empty or full.

Within the heart is a subtler center that experiences spirit, but spirit is not felt as an emotion or physical sensation. How, then, can you contact it?

According to spiritual masters, spirit is experienced first as the absence of what is not spirit. In India this is described as Netti, netti, which means, “Not this, not that.” Spirit is not caused; it is not bound by time and space; it is not a sensation that can be seen, touched, heard, tasted, or smelled.

This may seem like a baffling way to define something, but imagine that you had never seen the color white, that the whole world consisted of red, green, blue, and all the other hues. Then one day a master came to you with a black shirt and said, “If you wash this enough times, you will see that it is white.” If you ask to see white before you wash the shirt, what you ask is impossible. Black is the sum of all colors, and only if you wash them all away will white appear.

In the same way your present life is one of sensations, not just colors but all the stimulus that comes through the senses. Some of these sensations may be very pleasurable, but none of them is adequate to tell you what spirit is. Spirit lies beneath the layers of sensations. To experience it you must go to the heart and meditate upon it until everything that obscures spirit is cleansed.

Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997).

Long Time...

Its been some time since i have posted here. Been mainly on my new creative blog so check me out there. Will be here from time to time agian though :-) XX

Shadow Energies

Select a service:

• StumbleUpon
  
  
• Reddit
  
  
• Digg
  
  
• Buzz Up
  
  
• Facebook
  
  
• Twitter
  
  
• MySpace
  
  
• Mixx
  
  
• Del.icio.us
  
  
• Google Bookmarks
  
  
• Favorites
  
  
• Care2
  
  

sender info:

your name: your email:

recipient info:

recipient's address(es): Separate multiple e-mail addresses by a comma. You can send up to 100 recipients.

personal message

Shadow+Energies

Hello, I saw this article on Care2 and thought you'd like it as well. Care2 is the largest and most trusted information and action site for people who care to make a difference in their lives and the world.

Care2.com

send

We hate spam. We do not sell or share the email addresses you provide.

The intensity of shadow energies is a way of getting noticed: Hiding something is not the same as killing it. Shadow energies remain alive. Even though you refuse to look at them, they aren’t extinguished–in fact, their desire for life becomes all the more desperate.

To catch your attention as a parent, a child who is overlooked will become more and more extreme in its behavior: first a call for attention, then a cry, then a tantrum. Shadow energies follow much the same pattern.

It seems only reasonable to see panic attacks, for example, as a hidden fear throwing a tantrum. That same fear first called out to be noticed in a normal way, but when the person refused to notice it, a call turned into a cry and finally ended up as a full-blown attack.

Fear and anger are especially adept at increasing the voltage to the point where we feel that they are alien, evil, demonic forces acting without our will. They are actually just aspects of consciousness forced into inhuman intensity by repression. Repression says, “If I don’t look at you, you will leave me alone.” To which the shadow answers, “I can do things that will make you look at me.”

Bringing consciousness to any energy diffuses it: This follows naturally from the last statement. If an energy demands your attention, then paying attention will begin to satisfy it. An overlooked child isn’t placated by only one glance. It takes time to change any behavior for good or ill and, like children, our shadow energies get stuck in patterns and habits.

But this doesn’t alter the general truth that if you bring light into the shadow, its distortions start to lessen and eventually are healed. Is there time enough and patience to do the whole job thoroughly? There’s no fixed answer to that.

Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2004).

Juliette Llewellyn: Close Your Eyes And Fly

Juliette Llewellyn: Close Your Eyes And Fly

"The value of an idea lies in the using of it.' Thomas Edison

Terry Callier - TimePeace

my new creative blog

jULieTTe LleWEllYn

'the original visual individual'
intro - ll cool j

'Only love makes me remember, it alone stirs my heart.' Leonardo da Vinci

'Just what is it that you want to do
I'm gonna get deep down,
Deep down
We want to be free
To do what we want to do'
Loaded. Primal Scream

Organic Fortnight 6th - 21st Sept

in the midst of:
http://www.organicweek.org/

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. Anais Nin

Effects of Awareness

There is more self-control in letting go than in trying to control one’s body by force. Your condition depends on the state of your awareness. Your mind is deeply influencing your body.

Imagine that your awareness is like a violin string. The string can play any kind of note, high or low, depending on where you place your finger. In conventional medicine, only the notes count–a huge amount of time is spent just killing the abnormal white cells. But you could just change your position on the string. Then you wouldn’t be destroying anything; you would be creating a new reality, complete with new notes.

“Are you saying that feeling good makes my illness regress?” If feeling good is part of healing, then yes, that is what I am saying. It’s not really a matter of your moods. Naturally your moods swing during the course of a serious illness–you can feel happy or despondent, hopeful or hopeless without warning.

Underlying these unpredictable mood swings is your quantum level of awareness, which has become disturbed. Changes in this level of awareness are what bring about changes in mood; if your deep awareness shifts, your moods will follow like a weather vane. We should also expect to see similar indications in your body.

Adapted from Perfect Health: The Complete Mind/Body Guide, by Deepak Chopra, M.D. (Harmony Books, 1990)

K'naan - Strugglin

introducing k'naan

Richard Ashcroft Interviews: Radio 1 06.08.08

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/entertainment/music/richardashcroft_interview.shtml

'There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One is roots; the other, wings.'
Hodding Carter

Poems On The Underground

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/communityandeducation/2437.aspx

Cassie - Is It You

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em - Frank destroys the computer

think computers have gotten a little smaller now ;-)lol! XX

HaPPy 90tH bIRtHdaY NELSON MANDELA!
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/popup?id=5252849
http://www.sowetogospelchoir.com/

Film4 Happy-Go-Lucky Preview (Sally Hawkins/Mike Leigh)

HAPPY GO LUCKY TRAILER - in cinemas 18 April

Tracing Flight: ‘One body of work, all the figures are different.'

Tracing Flight: ‘One body of work, all the figures are different.'

'Everything you can imagine is real.'
Pablo Picasso

Obstacles Are Opportunities

When the ego encounters an obstacle, it responds by exerting more force. The ego’s world is a battlefield where you have to fight to win. There’s no doubt that this attitude can bring results–every empire was built by force of conquest–but it does so at a terrible cost: The tide of war, struggle, and destruction continues to rise.

When you are attacked there is a great temptation to adopt the weapons of ego in retaliation. How many peace movements are full of angry activists? How many environmentalists love the Earth but hate those who despoil it? As Mother Teresa famously said, she wasn’t willing to join an antiwar movement because it wasn’t the same as a peace movement.

The ego’s world presents a massive obstacle to spiritual growth. Therefore, the need to be flexible arises every day. You will meet with inner resistance as a constant occurrence, with intermittent victories and moments of joy. To avoid discouragement, you need to realize that obstacles come from the same source as everything else. God isn’t only present in the good moments. An infinite intelligence has found a way to fit every hour of your life into a plan.

From day to day you can’t possibly comprehend the incredibly intricate connections between your life and the cosmos. The entire universe had to conspire to bring about this very moment in time.

You can’t plan in advance how to meet the next challenge, yet most people try to do just that. They protect themselves against worst-case scenarios; they cling to a small repertoire of habits and reactions; they narrow their lives to family, friends, and work. Husbanding your resources may bring a modicum of security, but by doing so you will have completely shut out the unknown, which is the same as hiding your potential from yourself.

How will you know what you are capable of if you don’t open yourself to life’s mysteries, or usher in the new? For life to remain fresh at every moment, your response must break free from your established patterns.

The secret is to abandon old habits and trust in spontaneity. By definition, being spontaneous cannot be planned in advance. It doesn’t have to be. Whenever you catch yourself reacting in an old, familiar way, simply stop. Don’t invent a new reaction; don’t fall back on the opposite of what you usually do. Instead, ask for openness. Go inside, be with yourself, and allow the next reaction to come of its own accord.

A famous Broadway composer once was asked how he came up with his wonderful tunes. He had been known to pull his car off the side of the road in the middle of busy traffic to write down a hit song. What was his secret? “Wait, drift, and obey,” he said.

Exactly.

Adapted from Why is God Laughing? by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).

Spiritual Rules of Engagement #3 (of 3)

Spiritual Rules of Engagement #2 (of 3)

Spiritual Rules of Engagement #1 (of 3)

'No matter how far you go it'll always pull you back.'
Actor - talking about Barry, Vale of Glamorgan !?!?!
Gavin & Stacey

'We always find something eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?' Estragon. Waiting For Godot - Samuel Beckett

The Moving Finger Writes: Keeping sane in an insane world

The Moving Finger Writes: Keeping sane in an insane world

Are You In Toxic Relationships?

Understand the three kinds of relationships you have in your life. People who leave you alone are dealing with your suffering as a nuisance or inconvenience; they prefer to keep their distance in order to feel better themselves. Those who help you have the strength and awareness to do more with your suffering than you are able to do by yourself. Those who hurt you want the situation to stay the same because they do not have your wellbeing at heart.

Honestly count how many people are in each category you have in your life. This isn’t the same as counting friends and loving family members. Assess others solely as they relate to your difficulties.

Having made a realistic count, take the following attitude:

1. I will no longer bring my problems to anyone who wants to leave me alone. It’s not good for them or me. They don’t want to help, so I will not ask them to.

2. I will share my problems with those who want to help me. I will not reject genuine offers of assistance out of pride, insecurity, or doubt. I will ask people to join me in my healing and make them a bigger part of my life.

3. I will put a distance between myself and those who want to hurt me. I do not have to confront them, guild-trip them, or make them the cause of my self-pity. But I cannot afford to absorb their toxic effect on me, and if that means keeping my distance, I will.

Deepak Chopra

With or Without You - Sungha Jung

Wow! XX

Hope & Faith Change The Brain

You may have heard of the recent reports that much of the reason that antidepressant drugs work is the placebo effect.

The research was published a few months ago. It was a meta-analysis (summary of a number of scientific studies) of Fluoxetine (Prozac), Venlafaxine (Effexor), Nefazodone (Serzone), and Paroxetine (Seroxat), covering 35 clinical trials involving 5,133 patients. The placebo effect was shown to account for 81% of the effect of the drugs. That means that 81% of the effectiveness of the drugs was placebo.

Let me clear something up regarding this. This doesn't mean that the drugs don't work. It really means that the placebo effect is very high for antidepressants. That is, the power of the mind is considerable!

The drugs probably do work, although we don't absolutely know for sure, but when we believe in a drug, whatever the drug is for, our own natural healing capacity kicks in.

Recent MRI brain scans taken of people on Prozac, for instance, showed changes in the brain when a patient took Prozac but showed the same changes when they received a placebo and just thought it was Prozac. And similarly, when Parkinson's' patients were given an anti-Parkinson's drug, their tremors reduced and dopamine was released in the brain. However when patients were given a placebo but thought it was the drug, the tremors also reduced and the brain still released dopamine in the same places.

When we take a tablet every day, we receive a little tablet of hope and faith. We hope that it works and we have faith that it does. What new scientific research is now revealing is that it is this hope and faith that heals us. We have the power to heal! We always have. We just never realised it!

Every day, when we take our medication, hope and faith produce real chemical changes in our brain and even microscopic changes in the structure of the brain. Hope and Faith change the brain...!!!

These lead to changes throughout the body at the cellular level. Our own awareness of what is wrong with us, incredibly, directs where the cellular changes occur. That is how amazing and powerful we are.

So if you are sick.....Intend to get better. Determination, coupled with hope and faith can move mountains. It always has!

Dr David Hamilton PHD

'Intimacy means more than sex, as you know. Tell others that for you it is more about a connection of souls.

It is the true union of two beings. It is about walking through all moments, both good and bad, and never leaving the other's side.

You are intimate when you are fully with another, no matter what. In fact, this has very little to do with that which is physical.'

Neale Donald Walsh

angelwaves NEW BLOG

http://angel-waves.blogspot.com/

John & Yoko - Annie Leibovitz

How Many of us Belong to Just One Culture?

JL: We belong to a delicate fusion of cultures, through geography, ancestry and experience. I am Welsh with an eighth English. I live in Wales. I am proud of my Celtic heritage. I also feel part of a ‘hidden disability’ culture. Forced membership has stripped me of being in the healthy young 20 & 30’s culture, traveling culture, working culture, family & childbearing culture...

I exist between worlds, slipping in to one more so than another through years. A transient, dreamlike state. Given the chance to have my own flat after 8 years of homelessness. I am blooming. A flower opening to the Spring sun. Moving from non-existence to being someone.

I feel tolerance to others, whatever faith or background. As long as there is no harm toward another. Life has taught me that our vital source of strength comes from within. It is outside of what culture can define.

Light shines through us burning brightly. World feels the flame. Those who are aware only of our traditions, upbringing or outward shell see only a glimpse. Our truth is deeper. Impression of love remains. Hiraeth.

Hiraeth (Welsh): (n.) masc. The sense of loss that comes from having been separated from one’s home; missing the feeling of being home, of having a place.

Juliette Llewellyn
03.05.08

MM: Just what is a culture nowadays? Most of my ancestors were Celtic, from Wales and Ireland, and in both countries the English invaders passed laws hundreds of years ago with the intention of eliminating our ancient languages and customs, and thereby our cultures.

But we are still here, the relationship has become more peaceful with time, our languages are still spoken and in many ways we are still distinct peoples.

Is a culture what we as individuals are comfortable with? A shared set of standards, customs, way of relating to each other? If so, I switch happily between Welsh and Irish cultures, or my personal subsets of them, without a problem. But in our neighbouring country, England, I often feel a little out of place even though I lived there for many years.

I feel very much more at home in Sweden, probably because I lived there when my children were young and almost all their friends were Swedish. Swedish culture is quite different from anything found in Britain, and whenever I go back there I slot right in and wonder why I left.

Yes, I belong to at least three cultures and my life is richer for it.

And maybe more. There is a growing cultural divide between people who use technology such as the internet and mobile phones and those, often older, who don't, can't or won't. In many ways we are in divergent worlds, even if we live in the same town or the same house.

Some cultural links go across borders. Members of a particular religion, for example, may share a large part of their culture with co-religionists in other countries. Likewise, people who have escaped the clutches of a religion will have much in common when they meet.

And what about corporate cultures, where the individual gives up part of his or her personality in return for money! Or the aid-dependent culture, where war or natural disasters have made the traditional way of life non-viable?

Wow, could go on for ever. For example, the Samí, traditional reindeer herders in northern Scandinavia, maintain their languages and customs while using snowmobiles and helicopters to make herding easier. Are they living in one culture or two, or has the one culture developed by taking what is useful from the neighbours?

Maybe there are some people still living in just one culture, but I'm glad not to have that limitation!

Michael L MacKian
03.05.09
www.moving-finger.blogspot.com

All Written for:

World Press Freedom Day
http://www.1-day.org

ANGEL WINGS

In the morning I opened the cupboard
and found inside it a pair of wings,
a pair of angel's wings.
I was not naive enough to believe them real.
I wondered who had left them there.

I took them out the cupboard,
brought them over to the light by the window
and examined them.
You sat in the bed in the light by the window grinning.

'They are mine,' you said;
You said that when we met
you'd left them there.

I thought you were crazy.
Your joke embarrassed me.
Nowadays even the mention of the word angel
embarrasses me.

I looked to see how you'd stuck the wings together.
Looking for glue, I plucked out the feathers.
One by one I plucked them till the bed was littered,

'They are real,' you insisted,
your smile vanishing.
And on the pillow your face grew paler.
Your hands reached to stop me but
for some time now I have been embarrassed by the word angel.

For some time now in polite or conservative company
I have checked myself from believing
anything so untouched and yet so touchable
had a chance of existing.

I plucked then
till your face grew even paler;
intent on proving them false
I plucked
and your body grew thinner.
I plucked till you all but vanished.

Soon beside me in the light,
beside the bed in which you were lying
was a mass of torn feathers;
glueless, unstitched, brilliant,
reminiscent of some vague disaster.

In the evening I go out alone now.
You say you can no longer join me.
You say
Ignorance has ruined us,
disbelief has slaughtered. 

You stay at home
listening on the radio
to sad and peculiar music,
who fed on belief,
who fed on the light I'd stolen.

Next morning when I opened the cupboard
out stepped a creature,
blank, dull, and too briefly sensual
it brushed out the feathers gloating.
I must review my disbelief in angels.

Brian Pattern

Artes Mundi Prize 08

Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia (Bapak Mandik)
Havoc - 2007 © Susan Norrie
Video Still

http://www.artesmundi.org/
International Contempary Art

Well worth visiting!!

May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in the beauty and joy of each day. Native American Proverb

There is no reciprocity. Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters. Anna Haycraft aka Alice Thomas Ellis (Writer)

Damien Rice - Cannonball

Thomaspaul Design
Feather

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got. 
Janis Joplin

Zero 7

Massive Attack - Safe from Harm (HQ)

peacepeace
peace
pea
ce

Massive Attack - Teardrop

On No 13 bus home...

Cardiff Bus Station 16.04.08
Sony Ericson Mobile - Juliette Llewellyn

In Response to Place - Photographs of Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens

Such an amazing photographer! XX

Freedom From ME April 2008 Newsletter

Alex Howard - Freedom From ME - Optimum Health Clinic
In this short video, Alex talks about:
* The importance of getting a REAL diagnosis
* Why so many treatments can be ineffective for the majority of M.E. sufferers
*The key role that subgroups play and what the major ones are

World Peace Meditation Tonight: BlogTalkRadio Share Show

National Dark Sky Week

http://www.ndsw.org/

Coming Home Cleansed after Spa

Leaving Spa
LAGUNA GREYFRIARS RD - CF


Past my favorite haunt
BRAZIL COFFEE CHURCH ST - CF


Going Home
ST MARY'S ST - CF
Sony Ericson Mobile - Juliette Llewellyn
26&29.03.08

and yes it did start raining.......!! XX

Tracing Flight: Earth Hour 2008

Tracing Flight: Earth Hour 2008

Earth Hour Saturday 29th 8pm

http://www.wwf.org.uk/oneplanet/youcan_0000004833.asp
WWF EARTH HOUR WEBSITE

'Between 8-9pm on 29 March, millions of people around the world will take part in Earth Hour 2008 – a WWF initiative asking people to turn their lights off for one hour.

It's easy to become one of the millions of people worldwide involved in Earth Hour – and it can be great fun! From enjoying a candlelit pint in your local pub (if it is part of Earth Hour, of course!) to organising a party at your home with games in the dark, or simply taking time to look at the stars.Whether you are inspired to encourage your town, community, pub, workplace or friends to sign up, join Earth Hour and be a part of a global phenomenon.'

Jimmy Cliff - I can see clearly now

'a journey is best measured in friends rather than miles' Tim Catrill

Intuition & Relationships

'The philosopher Plato reputedly called intuition the highest form of awareness, a sense of things that goes beyond the conventional parameters of consciousness into a space that is best described as 'knowing'. Intuition in relationship tells you about the other person through feelings and a sense of who they are, not from any prior or learned knowledge about them. That sense of knowing includes feelings that embrace the other person in a cocoon of love that allows you to go beyond their faults and failings and see the real person. That sense of knowing takes you beyond the boundaries of ordinary understanding in to an acceptance that can seem foolhardy to others looking on. It makes us more tolerant, forgiving and less judge mental. It allows time to heal the differences when they occur. it makes us more openhearted to living more deeply.'
Extract from Origin Way
Gaye Wright B Ed. Origin Psychics

Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke Of Insight

hhh

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.

Arddechog.....

.....WE WON! http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/international/4358121.stm

‘Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but

the number of moments that take our breath away.’ Anon

Toumani Diabate @ Metrotech Brooklyn

Winter Sun

St Fagans Museum, Cardiff, Wales
Juliette Llewellyn 28.01.08 - Sony Ericson Mobile

Peace Angels

photo - off internet

'when i came here

the landing was very soft
i remember you were there with me
i opened my eyes
hello
it was a long journey and this was a new place
but it was ok because i was not alone - you were there.
i always saw you and your friends
shapes and blurs of light and warmth.'
Peace Angles - Antoinette Sampson

The Proof that Jesus was a Woman

• He fed a crowd at a moments notice when there was no food

• He kept trying to get a message across to a bunch of men who just didn't get it

• And even when he was dead, he had to get up because there was work to do

Remembering Who We Are

Where did I come from? And the answer to that is: I did not come from anywhere, because I was always here. The body comes and goes, but "I" am always here. Where I come from is a place that has no beginning in time and no ending. Where I go is the same place. As we have seen, there are no particular locations in space or time. In a non-local universe, there is nowhere to go!

And what happens to me when I die? The answer: Nothing happens, because I do not die. Pure consciousness cannot be destroyed; it can only be expressed. Knowing this frees us from the fear of death because nothing in the universe is ever lost; it is only transformed. If you and I are speaking on the phone, and somebody cuts off the phone lines, what happens to us? Where do we go? Nothing happens to us, and we don't go anywhere. So, too, when physical death occurs, nothing happens to us. Certain lines of communication that use a certain nervous system have temporarily been disrupted. But we are still here. The soul doesn't go anywhere; it's the body that dissolves and returns to the earth.

Then where is the soul? One of the biggest misconceptions is that the soul resides in the body. People may say, "This person died, and the soul has left," but it's not true. The soul is not inside the body. The soul projects itself as the body and the mind. It finds a location in space-time, and broadcasts or telecasts itself through the body. But just as the characteristics in a movie are not inside my television set when I'm watching it, and Beethoven is not inside my radio when I'm listening to it, my soul is not inside by body. My soul is merely localizing or expressing itself through my body.

Adapted from Power, Freedom, and Grace
by Deepak Chopra (Amber Allen, 2006)

Fairtrade Fortnight Now!

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved/fairtrade_fortnight/fairtrade_fortnight_2008/default.aspx

Cymru Am Byth!

Cardiff: Before Wales V Italy
Six Nations 23.02.08
Juliette Llewellyn Sony Ericsson Mobile

The Great Trafalgar Square Freeze

I'm looking for the face I had
Before the world was made.
Yeats

As You Sow, So Shall You Reap

With these words, “As you sow, so shall you reap,” Jesus is teaching his listeners that their actions have moral consequences. Good actions lead to good results, bad actions to bad results: That is the most common understanding of Karma. But in a broader sense Jesus is making a point about life on the spiritual path. The world is a mirror of the self. The reason that good actions lead to good results isn’t that God listens in, makes a judgement, and then rewards you with a god result. Instead, action and result occur simultaneously.

There is a constant, instantaneous calculus taking place with your every thought, word, and action. Most people don't notice good or bad results unless these are dramatic, but the world functions as a mirror down to the minutest detail. The mechanics of consciousness are set up so that inner and outer dimensions match perfectly. Why does it take Jesus or another enlightened master to point this out? Because the mind is so complex and human nature so multilayered that we are easily conditioned to overlook the links between inner and outer. Separation is based on our own willingness to ignore certain images, some of them upsetting and disturbing, that the world reflects back to us. On the spiritual path, you become more willing to see what is right before your eyes—if not the eyes of the body, then the eyes of the soul.

Exercise
This is an exercise to teach you how to look into the mirror. You are going to see yourself in two people, someone you greatly admire and someone you intensely dislike. Begin with the person you admire. Make a list of his or her most admirable traits. Try to be as personal as possible. There are many strong, courageous role models, for example, so why did you chose Nehru in particular, or Mother Teresa, or Martin Luther King Jr.?

The answer is that your own aspirations match your hero's achievement. Some quality in you seeks to emerge. It may be the seed of compassion that is drawn upward by Mother Teresa or the seed of altruism drawn upward by Albert Schweitzer. If you pick Jesus, a figure so immense that he belongs to the whole world, look at your own desire to expand in all dimensions; perhaps the seed of freedom wants to grow.

Now reverse the exercise and pick someone you intensely dislike. Write down that person's worst qualities (this part usually isn't very hard) and then consider how you also embody those qualities without being able to see them in yourself. We project onto others what we cannot face in ourselves. Try to avoid picking someone universally hated like Adolf Hitler, because the enormity of his actions may drive you further from seeing yourself. It's better to choose someone closer to your own life.

This exercise becomes truly valuable when you carry out both parts. The world is not just a mirror but a teaching mirror. Learning to look into the world as a mirror helps to heal separation, as you see that you are included in creation, not living in some private exile outside of it.

Adapted from The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008)

Failure is only the opportunity to more
intelligently begin again Henry Ford

Chris Abani: Learning the stories of Africa

About this talk: In this deeply personal talk, novelist and poet Chris Abani searches for the heart of Africa through poetry and narrative -- including his own story of artistic and political awakening, which began with an inventive teacher who taught him the forbidden history of his own people. How, he asks, can we reconcile stories of terror, war and corruption with one's enduring sense of pure wonder?

About Chris Abani: Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called "the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable." His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007)

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/155

18% Geek

Ethical Valentine

Snowdrop (off internet)
http://thenag.net/valentines
To my friends, have a beautiful day! Thanks for being in my life XX

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly. Unknown

Ballake Sissoko at the Musical Workshop Labyrinth

My Daemon: Tiger

From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven. And when two souls that are destined to be together find each other, their streams of light flow together, and a single brighter light goes forth from their united being. Unknown Author

Massive Attack - Live With Me (Terry Version)

Baba Maal Chante Tara

The Soul's Journey

Terry Callier - TimePeace

A truly angelic message leaves us confident, not anxious. No matter whether the message is a joyous one or a sobering insight, we feel an inner sense of confidence that the content is appropriate for us and that it harmonizes with what our deepest spirit knows to be right and true.

Eileen Elias Freeman
Touched by Angels

'I would be a mermaid fair...' Lord Tennyson

Long ago mermaid goddesses were objects of worship - personifications of the forces of nature and supernatural helpers believed to have the power to calm storms at sea and ensure a bountiful day's fishing.
Today it is far more useful to see mermaids and other mythological beings as glorious images of feminine possibility: characters from the worlds story that can teach you by example how to better appreciate your own complexity, courage, creativity, resilience and passion.
Mermaid Wisdom - Brenda Rosen

The Path To Love

If sharing is to take place, you must build a basis that includes equality, sensitivity, and communication:

Equality
In spirit everyone is equal. This isn't just an abstract concept; it is the one perception that can overcome ego. If I feel superior to you, my superiority is rooted in self-image.

Equality isn't based upon external factors or images. We all have an equal right to be appreciated, respected and understood. Some men find it hard to extend this concept to woman's emotions. They were not taught to value their own feelings, which get expressed only as a last resort.

But to accept another person means accepting her emotions—there is nothing more basic or intrinsic. If this equality doesn't exist, how can spirit really grow?

Spirit isn't an emotion, but it provides an opening to our inner selves. You have to feel that your partner wants to understand you and your feelings before you can share experiences you barely understand yourself.

Sensitivity
Being able to sense what is going on inside another person is a skill that has to be developed like any other. Sensitivity requires setting aside your notions of what the other person is feeling, what you think she should feel, and what you hope she isn't feeling. Wherever the ego intrudes, sensitivity cannot be present. To be sensitive you will have to abandon being right all the time, being in control, having needs that must dominate over the needs of others, and so forth.

Communication.
Communion is the root word in communication, reminding us that to communicate with another person isn't to pass on information. It is to draw another into union with yourself.

Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997)

We are all angels with but one wing, and only by embracing each other can we fly
Luciano De Crescenzo

St Dwynwen's Day - To all my friends......

Welsh Patron Saint of Love & Friendship

St Dwynwen's day is celebrated in Wales on 25 January and commemorates the patron saint of friendship and love.

Dwynwen lived during the 5th century and was, by all accounts, one of the prettiest of Brychan Brycheiniog's 24 daughters. The story goes that Dwynwen fell in love with one Maelon Dafodrill, but unfortunately her father had already arranged that she should wed another. Maelon was so outraged that he raped Dwynwen and left her.

In her grief Dwynwen fled to the woods, where she begged God to make her forget Maelon. After falling asleep, Dwynwen was visited by an angel, who appeared carrying a sweet potion designed to erase all memory of Maelon and turn him into a block of ice.

God then gave three wishes to Dwynwen. First she wished that Maelon be thawed; second that God meet the hopes and dreams of true lovers; and third, that she should never marry. All three were fulfilled, and as a mark of her thanks, Dwynwen devoted herself to God's service for the rest of her life.

Remains of Dwynwen's church can be seen today on the island of Llanddwyn, off the coast of Anglesey. During the 14th century, upon visiting the island, the poet Dafydd ap Gwilym witnessed a golden image of Dwynwen inside the church, and was bold enough to request her help as a messenger between himself and Morfudd, the girl he hoped to win; and this despite the fact that Morfudd was already married!

Also situated on the island is Dwynwen's well, wherein allegedly swims a sacred fish, whose movements predict the future fortunes and relationships of various couples. Visitors to the well believe that if the water boils while they are present, then love and good luck will surely follow.

The popularity and celebration of St Dwynwen's day has increased considerably in recent years, with special events, such as concerts and parties, often held, and Welsh cards printed. Although still not as popular as Valentine's Day in February, St Dwynwen is certainly becoming better-known amongst today's population of Wales.

Illustration: Margaret Jones

Excerpt taken from: St Fagans National Folk Museum of Wales:
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/272/


Location of Dwynwen's Church...


Island of Llanddwyn, Anglesey, North Wales

I visited here in 1991 when i was at University. Ironically i was with an old boyfriend at the time and we accidentally stumbled across the remains of St Dwynwen's Church whilst on a camping holiday in North Wales. The Island of Llanddwyn & Newbourough Dunes are amazingly beautiful....

http://www.anglesey-history.co.uk/places/llanddwyn/

Cafe Chess & Slow Chess - Facebook

Hi, I've created the following groups on Facebook. Please join if you want :-)

Cafe Chess
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7701830761

A worldwide group for chess players who want to play or already play chess in a cafe where they live. Players can post details of when & where they play or would like to play & arrange to meet with others to play in a cafe local to them.





Slow Chess
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20907618040

A worldwide group for chess players who, for whatever reason, take their moves slowly on the computer. Maybe poor health, kids, work demands or just learning. Also for other players who are happy to play us!

Heath Ledger Dies: Photo's

http://www.theage.com.au/photogallery/2008/01/23/1201024940487.html

We come to love not by

finding a perfect person,

but by learning to see an

imperfect person perfectly

Sam Keen, author & philosopher (born 1931)

'One must row in whichever boat one finds one's self'
African Proverb

Proverb - Pulareeje
In serious talk or in ordinary conversation, Africans liked to start with a proverb that speaks about the topic of the moment. The use of proverbs in Africa is a very powerful communication form. It allows people to understand the meaning quickly and also to remember what was said long after the conversation or the meeting is over. Indeed in the African context, a proverb is worth a thousand words!

'We are each a gift, exactly as we are in this moment, with no improvements!' Sark

Inner Beauty

'For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

People even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty as a woman with passing years only grows.'

As a child in the Netherlands, Audrey Hepburn nearly died of hunger in a country devastated by World War Two, and was rescued by the UN Refugee programme. Towards the end of her life she was asked about her beauty secrets. She replied with remarkable grace.