Dear My Worldwide Friends, Yoga, Health and Healing Enthusiasts and Lovers!
They, the writing experts, are telling us we must quit overusing the words “amazing” and “awesome.” Well, I’m not going to. No one is going to tell me what to write or not write. I can say and write what I want, because, like Einstein said, “I‘ve reached the age where no one can tell me what socks to wear.” Anyway, most advice about writing is outdated, useless and anal. (IMO, in my opinion).
So no one will stop me saying what I feel and believe about YOU. YOU my friends ARE amazing and awesome. And while I’M AT IT, saying “I love you” does not cheapen it! So there. I LOVE YOU! And here’s a big uninhibited hug for good measure.
Greetings, this time from Chiang Mai Thailand, where I am reflecting on differences in cultures, and having an
AMAZING AND AWESOME time, soaking up the spiritual energy of some 400 magnificent temples nearby filled with the devotional energy of centuries of multitudes of chanters and meditators, and … BUDDHA images everywhere, in all sizes, but mostly gigantic gold ones, and I’m
EATING – as much as I can of mangos and papayas to my heart’s content, and blissing out at many of 60 vegetarian restaurants. Even though I’m a ranter/raver I’m ranted out (and thinking Facebook must be sick of me by now)… Only, it really is
THE BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD! I wonder, is that because of
THE RICE GODDESS…
Imagine having an attitude that food, especially rice is precious, and even sacred, and even to be honored. The Rice Goddess is like a guardian; this simple food staple has to be cherished and never carelessly thrown away. And again I won’t rave about the
EXTRAORDINARILY LOW PRICES
such as 50 cents per lb., yes ‘fifty’ cents, for mangos papayas, and most fruits and veges. And it’s $2 – $6 for an OMG-to-die-for meal. I will even hold back from raving about
THE HEALING & REJUVATION TREATMENTS
such as massage, acupuncture and dental treatments, which are in my experience, (IME), the best in the world, while being the least expensive, about one tenth of the cost of our western world. Even at the dentists, the experience is quite out of this world, you feel so taken care of, like you can’t even imagine. Today, while having two crowns done, my dentist’s assistant demonstrated such unwaveringly sensitive attention I was blown away by it. It felt like artistry, the focused presence of a true healer.
I am studying the fascinating reasons for all of this, but I am not going to enthuse about them, not right now anyway. You will just have to come and join us here next year; more on that in my next newsletter.
GOODNESS A GLOBAL PRIORITY. I was surprised to read a prominently placed article in a mainstream Thai newspaper called “making morality a global priority” by Simon Anholt, a consultant in UK and Denmark, who has created a “good country index” to see how countries rate in their caring for the world as a whole. He says only 10 % of the population care about the whole of humanity. I like his final sentence, “I no longer want to live in a successful county. I want to live in a good county, and I hope that you do too”. Ditto I thought.
Especially being here in another culture I think about this a lot, the differences… and also am contemplating the subject since I get dozens of emails a day focusing on
MONEY AND MARKETING …to “kill the competition”. I’m thinking, this is pure madness, money madness. How to market, sell, advertise, make more profit, get more money, deceive, exploit, – all for what? to have more status, more stuff, more control, more power, all for what?
So imagine this, what if
ALL THAT ENERGY, of wanting MORE, more and more, – wow what a lot of energy! – were focused differently, spent differently?
“Buddhist economics must be very different from the economics of modern materialism, since the Buddhist sees the essence of civilization not in a multiplication of wants but in the purification of human character.” – E. F. Schumacher Simple is Beautiful
We in the western world are a bamboozled society. We have been programmed to believe this technocratic world is progress. Civilization. Growth. This is an ideal of success… that is toxic to all humanity and the Earth…and has bamboozled us into thinking that this is happiness, and that without this striving you would be deprived and left behind, and bored, and then what would life be about? (Indeed, tonight at the restaurant, a night out with live music, a table of 20, everybody is head down peering at their phones.)
How much of OUR life and TIME is spent on – money? Worries? Getting more? It’s ridiculous and we know it. Our western world focus is so much on addiction to more and bigger, money, power, control; we have forgotten how to live…
JOYOUSLY AND SIMPLY.
But we can. You CAN choose differently. You can choose to live simple and free. To live simply is not to deprive yourself. On the contrary, it is to live in joy!
I know because I am doing it, because I chose to. I left that toxic world of money and fame and addiction to more, and now I have time to LOVE more,
THE ONLY MORE YOU NEED!
When we heal the addiction …to power and control and not enough…. that is programmed into us, making us consumer slaves ever hungry and lusting for more happiness and gratification (which never comes or lasts)….
we as a culture will finally know there is so much love, food and all for everyone on the planet…
We can choose to heal, by the power of focus and intention… we can come back to
A CULTURE OF SIMPLICITY, SERVICE, AND SUPPORT which can be felt here… and since things are getting more intense round the world, we can admit and recognize the need (here well expressed in this article, about NZ but true of much of our western world):
http://e2nz.org/2015/05/21/isolated-and-lonely-new-zealanders-fare-worst-for-social-connectedness-sovereign-wellbeing-index/
THE ANTIDOTES…
LOVE VISITS ME EXPERIENCE I know that the more we love and EXPRESS love and kindness, each one of us, the more the world is healed. I woke up on Easter Sunday with so much love in my heart and whole body and soul, in me and around me… big time love visited me! In bliss, I stayed in bed for an hour…
Then I had the idea to see if this over powering LOVE would remain there just as strong if I ran by it all the painful events of my life that I could think of, the people who hurt me etc. It did not diminish, it’s still there, still present! Wow, what do you make of that!
Then I got busy visualizing it as an energy permeating and encompassing EVERYBODY in the whole world! And I’m still at it and always inviting you to join me!
SHARING &TEACHING
Nurturing love and increasing it is my biggest focus in life.
In Maui, Kauai, and NZ workshops in
Sacred Voice Naad Yoga, Emotional Healing in Challenging Times, Sacred Relationship, Love Embodied as a Spiritual Path, Multidimensional Manifesting, Yoga for Men in the Age of the Divine Feminine, and Realizing the Inner Goddess
We look forward to being presenters at the beautiful Kawaipurapura Retreat center in NZ’s summer time at:
Conscious Kids Camp & Conference 18-30th Jan, 2016,
International Yoga Festival, 19-21 Feb, 2016,
Voices of Sacred Earth, 18-20 March, 2016
Here is an interview with Antion: http://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/interview-with-musician-chanter-teacher-antion-aka-vic-briggs
YOU AMAZING AND AWESOME ONES, I LOVE YOU, and saying so is good for the world and increases Love in the world!
In Joy,
Elandra
