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I can’t imagine . . .

I can’t imagine what it’s like to be in Japan right now. What are people thinking about as they wait, wait for so many things: bare necessities, word about family and friends, about the air they’re breathing, the condition of their homes, the next hour, the next day. And wondering what’s happening, and what will happen.

Viewing a catastrophe from the other side allows for many questions, too. How is it possible to watch real time events from a distance, and not be affected by them? The problem with witnessing world events, as we do daily, – some pleasant, but mostly not – is that we are helpless to render much support. The period in which we live gives us the technology to watch suffering on a huge scale. What’s incompatible with the watching is that most of us will not, for different reasons, be able to lend a hand. To observe the amount of suffering that occurs throughout the world, and not be equipped to help, doesn’t seem natural. What then do we, the people, do with our compassion, our anxiety, our inability to be of help?

Sarcasm, humor, depression, restlessness, alcohol, drugs, sex are some of the ways we cope, and in the process try to disguise our feelings. They’re not solutions. What’s the answer then? We’re not going to eliminate technology so that we can slide back to a time when we were ignorant of global events. We can wish for a better world, but it won’t happen overnight. It’s been said that to find answers to challenges we have to focus on the solutions, and not the problems. Time after time we sit and watch cruelty displayed before our eyes – torture inflicted on innumerable innocent civilians, killings in all forms from wars and the aftermath of wars, dictators running amok – all kinds of intolerable suffering. And we watch suffering brought about by tsunamis, earthquakes, and yes, nuclear disasters.

What can we do to help? I think that prayer is a practical method that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. For years I’ve read books, articles, and heard stories about the power of prayer, and the right way to pray. And until recently, none of it clicked for me, and so I didn’t give prayer the attention it deserves. Then one day I decided to buckle down and learn “what all the fuss is about,” and so I began reading, observing, and really listening to what those who have experienced the power of prayer were writing and talking about. It’s said that when the feelings of the mind match the feelings of the heart we connect to Cosmic Power (God). In new and used bookshops and in libraries, I found a wonderful array of books and magazines explaining the power of the heart and mind joined in prayer. We all have to find the book that sings to our heart. It’s a personal quest. That’s okay, discovery is a delightful part of learning.

So, in lieu of physically being able to help those in need, we can put our watches away for 20 minutes or so, twice daily, and quietly focus only on the Cosmic Power within. We let go of all worldly concerns and allow our heart and mind to join at the same frequency, then we pray and listen. It’s written in sacred books that that is where our Higher Self resides – waiting for us to respond to it. We practice praying in the same way we practice cooking, skiing, painting, driving, etc. – to be good at whatever it is we want to learn, we practice. To be a master, we practice over and over and over.

May the Creator of the universe guide, protect, direct, and guard the people of the world, especially those now in need of your help. Thank you.

* * * * * * *

When I was first going to add to this entry, I had so much to say that I couldn’t say anything. I think the most truthful and balanced words I’ve heard in the past few weeks come from Japanese people themselves. They know they can rebuild and rebuild stronger and in a way that is more congruent with the world, so that they can flourish and bloom. That is how we should all look at every instance that appears to be a damage situation. There is always rebuilding. The world will never stop improving and reshaping and for that I am glad to be here. I continue to learn from other people’s amazing perseverance and ability to shine in all stages of life. -Emi

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Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan


My mother gave me a book last year for my birthday that has really made an impression on me. It’s called “Haiku Mind” and it is by Patricia Donegan. She (my mom, not Patricia Donegan 🙂 ) said that when she looked down in Anthropologie and saw it on a table, she thought of me. I could only be grateful for that. The book is Donegan’s reflection on various well thought of haikus and the writers who penned them. In a busy city such as New York, standing in the train station and waiting for the C train, can be a dreadfully boring experience. Sometimes it seems one cannot have enough gadgets, phone, itouch, ipod, book, magazine, nook, and still the time can’t pass quickly enough. This book is somehow the easiest escape journey. It lifts you up out of the bottom layer of the city, the one filled with screeching cars and people who play sidewalk chicken, and puts you in your own defined thinking peace box above it all. It is like a portable meditation cabana 🙂

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it is what it is

I’m thinking that Charlie Sheen should be allowed to have a private meltdown without all the media fuss. And that includes all the other “celebrities” who are in the same boat.

Doesn’t it strike you as puzzling that with everything going on in the world, and with all the many fascinating things there are for us to learn about and write about and think about and talk about that – day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, we’re fed a steady diet of nonsense.

Unless we put blinders on, it’s impossible to not see the big headlines and the calling-for-attention photos popping up at every turn. Click on to aol “news” and there’s Charlie Sheen a good part of the time these past few weeks, pass magazines hanging all around sidewalk newstands, next to store registers, and in major book stores having the same silly articles month after month, and then we have what’s called “news” on tv.

In any event, it’s all part of the world we live in. Along with beauty, love, compassion, harmony, there’s a part of life that’s bewildering, and leaves one at a loss for words. It’s not good and it’s not bad; it is what it is.

An email is going around and it would be hilarious if real people were not involved. It takes place at Walmart, and they’re all photos of Walmart customers in an assortment of – how to put this . . . I have to think about that. I’m glad I saw the email because, well, I just don’t know the reason yet. After that particular email though, I had to pull myself together and so I started thinking about those people caught in a lens and a camera’s click, and harshly exposed for the world to snicker at. The uninspiring photos say that these people are struggling in a way that an outsider can’t understand, and in a kinder world no one would have thought to expose them to ridicule.

* * * * * * *

” . . . and I love them unconditionally, which is the only kind of love worth bothering with.” – Go Gentle Into That Good Night, by Roger Ebert

“When we give ourselves the knowledge of who we truly are and the permission to express it – wholeness and healing burst through us as peace, joy . . . and love for self and others.” – Jerry Thomas

“We are raised on comparison, our education is based on it, so is our culture. So we struggle to be someone other than who we are. – J. Krishnamurti

“May I always be in the right place at the right time to do as much good as possible.” – Raymon Grace

“Wherever you are, whatever your condition is, always try to be a lover.” – Rumi

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” – Jean Jacques Rousseau

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” – Leonardo da Vinci

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didn’t know til recently . . .

that the meaning of the letters SOS is not Save Our Ship/Souls, and that “the letters do not refer to any words but were selected because they are easy to transmit.” www.dictionary.com

that there’s a word ataraxia, at-a-rax-i-a, having this definition, A Greek concept meaning the attainment of perfect peace or transcendent calm.

that the pronounciation of acai is ah-sigh-ee

that the website: www.about.com has a lot to offer.

that this is a wonderful sentence to ponder: “If you lose your own peaceful center and are overwhelmed by the force of others and by intellectual perceptions and emotional feelings generated by external circumstances, then your own mind will have no independence, freedom, or peace and you will be functioning in terms of others as a slave.”
-Tulku Thundop

that it’s possible to be plucked out of the everyday world and into one of unconditional love when reading about Rumi’s life and his exquisite writings.

that the book Health through God’s Pharmacy by Maria Treben can almost be read as a good novel. The stories of the healings by herbs are fascinating.

that Rachel Trovi, a Norwegian woman, began working in the Philippines 20 years ago during her first visit by “distributing food, medicine and clothes, all purchased with her own money.” and that “Her advocacy became so great that the Ma’Ma Children’s Center of Norway (MMCCN) was founded, which is still led by 80-year-old Rachel Trovi.” www.odemagazine.com/io

that along with the movie Early Summer is wonderful information written by Jim Jarmusch about its prominent director Yasujiro Ozu. “. . . after leaving the exhibition of Ozu artifacts, I found myself in the Engakuji Temple cemetery. There, a plain black marble grave-marker commemorates the life of this extraordinary filmmaker. There is no name on the face of the headstone, no date of birth or death – only a single Chinese character, which Kazuko and Hayao identified as MU. They explained to me that its meaning is philosophical and spiritual, nearly impossible to translate into English. An approximation, they offered hesitantly, might be ‘the space that exists between all things.’ ” Kazuko Kawakita and Hayao Shibata are J. Jarmusch’s friends.

that ZeroWater includes a water tester called a TDS meter with their filtering system, allowing the consumer to test faucet, filtered and bottled water. Along with the testing will be some Hmm! moments.
www.zerowater.com

that it’s well-worth watching the movie Temple Grandin starring Claire Danes – a true story about an amazing woman who is autistic. www.templegrandin.com

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winter

Winter sometimes seems very long. That’s what people say. However, winter 2010-2011 is different. I don’t know why, but in this area of the world people are enjoying it, and it’s not because it’s warm, it’s not. Of course, I’m talking from a Philadelphia perspective, and not New England, or the midwest. Last year, in this part of the world, winter 2009-2010 had many grumblers not liking the snow or cold (especially the snow), at all, and they freely complained to anyone within earshot. This year the feeling is different; I even hear people calling from across the street to friends: Hey, ____ , are you loving the snow? Enjoying the cold? And they laugh. What happened between this winter and last? – I asked myself.

What makes me feel wonderfully toasty warm on a cold and windy day is when I’m out and about feeling rather chilly, and I see someone ambling towards me dressed in shorts and a cotton shirt. At that moment, I feel like a cold weather coward, and right away get the message to toughen up. And I do, and the day becomes warmer. And I smile at the impact we have on one another, often without realizing it; it’s immensely interesting and grand. Well, grand if it’s the right kind of impact.

A few weeks ago as I stood waiting for a green light, I saw someone across the street patiently waiting for the light to change. It was cold, and a persistent cold wind made it colder. He didn’t seem to notice the weather; he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and jeans, holding a jumbo drink filled with ice cubes, and sipping it as though palm trees surrounded him, and lazy warm waves on a calm beautiful sea called to him. I stared, and in staring I felt warmer by the second. Additionally, throughout the day if I wanted to stay warm while walking, all I had to do was picture him just the way he was. Ahh, thoughts are indeed powerful.

So, if one day you’re feeling cold, find the one oblivious to weather conditions, and keep that memory alive.

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Seasoned Vegan est. in Harlem, not just for vegans

I’m not a practicing vegan (I try to eat well though!), but yesterday when I walked in with my vegetarian friend, and Brenda gave me a taste of her “chicken” corn bread, and macaroni and cheese I was sold. Not only does Brenda radiate with a loving energetic persona towards her customers, but her food is delicious; it’s well thought out, and I’m so glad. This area really, really needed something like this. There is also frozen food to last you the days in between Saturday and Wednesday. Welcome to the neighborhood Seasoned Vegan, please don’t leave!

Seasoned Vegan is located inside Lee Lee’s Bakery, Wed.-Sat. for lunch and dinner only. (frozen dinners are available too.)
283 W 118th St
(between St Nicholas Ave & 8th Ave)
Manhattan, NY 10026
(917) 232-3446
www.seasonedvegan.com

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caleb hawley, kalahari bushmen, rumi

I like your post, Emi, and when you described the five trained dancers kicking and flipping at Steps On Broadway while listening to the lyrics of Caleb Hawley, I was reminded that there’s another side to the how of meditating; it’s movement. Instead of sitting, the body moves, and dictates exactly how it will move. It’s the way of the Kalahari Bushmen of Namibia and Botswana – “one of the oldest living cultures on earth” who sing, dance – shake, vibrate – all night. THE BUSHMAN WAY of TRACKING GOD by Bradford Keeney, PHD.
www.shakingmedicine.com

Reading Bradford Keeney’s book is exhilerating, to say the least. He seems to forever be on cloud 9; his enthusiasm for this way of tracking God doesn’t stop throughout the book. And to read it is to suddenly find yourself wanting to find a beat on a CD that might somewhat duplicate the beat the Kalahari Bushman dances to. Oh, Yes! And there you are moving to your own body’s dictate, listening, being aware. To what? – you ask. To the place within you that’s been wanting to reveal things to you alone. The jacket of this wonderful book says, “The Bushman Way of Tracking God will redefine everything you ever thought you knew about life, spirituality, and the divine.” That’s the truth.

20140301-201808.jpg And a moving meditation was Sufi poet, mystic, and originator of the dance of the whirling dervishes Jalaluddin Rumi’s way when he began whirling, turning, spinning through the streets of Konya, Anatolia (present-day Turkey). If you carefully read and reread this simple, beautiful, 151 page book, Rumi’s Four Essential Practices – Ecstatic Body, Awakened Soul by Will Johnson, perhaps you will never eat the same way, breathe the same way, move the same way, gaze the same way – see things in quite the same way again.
www.hayatidede.org/events/htm
www.whirlingdervish.org/classes.htm

As you can see, Emi, your enthusiastic description of Sunday’s performance at Steps got me thinking. I liked it, and knowing you, I bet you wanted to be on that stage kicking and flipping, “shaking your booty” with the dancers.
www.stepsnyc.com

Time to get moving.

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“The Gig” a Collaboration of musicians and dancers at Steps

I just went to a brilliant event constructed by Whitney G-Bowley, a dancer who while dating a drummer back in college, was inspired to see dance and music live onstage together. Cut to now. January 2011, Steps dance studio on Broadway between 74th and 75th Street in Manhattan. Caleb Hawley is singer/composer/musician of the night whose work is performed on a stage in the large studio. Caleb was on “American Idol” last week, and his songs are beyond clever and hysterical, a perfect fit for the dancers who brought each lyric to life and kicked and flipped through every piece. It was a super idea of Whitney to bring so many gifted artists together! Caleb and his band were energetic and had fun while playing a great show, and the five trained dancers visually entertained and wowed us all on this very freezing NYC night, in the airy creative womb of a supportive excited crowd.

“The Gig” is aimed to show at The Highline Ballroom in March. I will post the details when they become available. For now here’s the event’s website: http://www.gigtheshow.com/

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Excellent new place for vitamins and more on the upper west side in NYC

This weekend I happened upon a great little vitamin store nook on the upper west side run by a really sweet man. The store is called The Vitamin Peddler (charming!) and it’s located on Amsterdam between 77th and 78th Streets, bld# 364. I had been hoping to come across a vitamin store, but with Health Nuts closed, I had little hope until The Vitamin Peddler. Here I stocked up on omega fatty acid pills and echinacea and goldenseal drops to stomp out a flu I was at the tail tail end of. They also have these great massaging slippers there that my family used to keep in our front door area. I was so happy to see them, apparently they stopped making them, but now they are back. The man running the store knows so much and he’s so sweet, great find!

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the extraordinary healing power of ordinary things, shantaram, salaam bombay!, (and germs)

Are we too concerned with germs? Is advertising on tv, and in magazines causing fear to creep into our minds? Are the products on the shelves that suck out every bit of moisture from our hands leaving them dried and cracked (so that we need more products to heal our hands) really necessary? If we’re not careful, we’ll begin to feel that germs are attacking us around every corner we turn. That feeling doesn’t feel good. Germs will always be with us. It’s the fear of them that holds the real power. If it’s fear that rules, there’s a book that flows beautifully in the direction of balance called THE EXTRAORDINARY HEALING POWER of ORDINARY THINGS by Larry Dossey, M.D. Can we use the word delicious here? Because it is. Go directly to the chapter on Dirt, and don’t stop there continue to the chapter on Bugs. Now that should help, if you let it. Then, of course, there’s the rest of the book.
www.dosseydossey.com

SHANTARAM by GREGORY DAVID ROBERTS – What a book! is all I have to say. If you have an unhealthy fear of germs, there’s no way you’ll NOT come away feeling very differently about them. Well, to be fair to the book, this is a small part of it, but it’s a thread throughout a lot of its story. You can only know what that means after you’ve read it. It’s wildly entertaining, inspiring, disturbing; it’s a big story about life. And know this, somewhere along the line we get quite comfortable with the way of germs.
www.shantaram.com

The movie, SALAAM BOMBAY! “Spectacular! Excellent!” is what’s been said of it, and it’s all true. The director had “street kids” acting, along with top-notch Indian actors. Watching the “special features” simply adds more to what is already an important, entertaining, inspiring, and, yes, delicious film.

The slums of Bombay are a part of SHANTARAM AND SALAAM BOMBAY. I can’t help wondering about our sterile, antiseptic, squeaky clean way of living compared to the slums of Bombay (and other parts of the world where people live in similar conditions). Questions arise after reading SHANTARAM and watching SALAAM BOMBAY One is: How is it that these people are still alive? The other is: How is it that the hospitals in our squeaky clean part of the world are packed with sick people? The answers are complex. Or maybe not.