September 2012
1 post
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“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to...”
August 2012
1 post
“The present is just a dividing line, that’s all. It has no space. It divides the...”
– Osho
July 2012
7 posts
1 tag
Last week someone hacked one of my websites.
I wanted to make a few changes but could not remember my password. I kept requesting the link to reset it but the link never came. Panic set in as I logged into my host account. I sent out an SOS on Facebook and Twitter. Someone told me where to look and ah, yes: two new users with passwords that were foreign to me.
I freaked out.
I Googled, sent...
Anytime you think you’ve failed, you’ve only failed to see the compassionate lesson that you’ve brought to yourself. All you’ve really done is produced a result, actual failure is impossible.
- Jackson Kiddard
“I’m really interested in the practice of “staying at home” and...”
“How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all its beauty? It...”
How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?
You don’t have to be Buddhist to appreciate the wisdom of those three questions, to which I added another:
Did you make a difference?
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little cotton rabbits
A little bit about me:
I like the quiet life.
I like listening to music - Ludovico Einaudu on a sunny Sunday morning, Nick Drake when it’s raining or I’m down and Jack Johnson when I feel full of life and want to dance with the children. I like cooking and eating good food especially homemade cake, cold rhubarb crumble with custard, goat cheese with tomatoes and I like drinking tea...
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I like to share some of the quotes I post on Twitter and Facebook, with some of my expanded thoughts and feelings on it here.
“Organic Wisdom” is what I have found speaking to me in those quiet moments, that guides me and that echoes Truth in my life. Please feel free to download, or share this image in any way you’d like.
This one is a constant reminder to myself.
Talk less, love more.
...
June 2012
70 posts
1 tag
BASIC INGREDIENTS IN COOKING
beans, lentils, chickpeas, pulses, nuts
herbs, spices, lemons
mushrooms
potatoes
tinned tomatoes, fish etc
onions, garlic
sauces, dips, soups
rice, pasta, noodles, couscous
broths, stock cubes
vegetables, pickels, boulion powder
chicken breasts
cheese, eggs, yoghurt, hummus, coconut milk
oils, vinegars, soy sauces, mustards, chutneys, peanut butter
tortillas
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The majority of really odiferous plants get their smell from naturally occurring chemical compounds called essential oils. Although intended to play the duel purpose of antifeedant (which prevents fungus), and herbivory deterrent (which prevents animals and insects from eating the plant), essential oils are supremely useful, and desirable to us humans. Especially to those of us who like a...
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Everyone is Doing the Best They Can
September 1, 2011 by Daniel Collinsworth
Evening Glow by Care_SMC
I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.
Anne Lamott
So easily we become frustrated by the actions (or inactions) of others. Whether with friends, family, lovers, co-workers or complete strangers –...
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Holding Up the Mirror of Awesome
March 22, 2012 by Daniel Collinsworth
Newness by Daniel Collinsworth
Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Have you ever been around someone who made you feel really good about yourself? Not through words of simple flattery, but through a genuine quality of their presence that...
“Don’t worry about what people think of you.
Think about what people...”
Seeing the Sacred in One Another
March 15, 2012 by Daniel Collinsworth
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
Rumi
Cultivating a profound, compassionate respect for folks goes beyond feelings and attitudes. We can enjoy a deeper experience of connection with others through a simple shift of focus....
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Dealing with Difficult People
March 29, 2012 by Daniel Collinsworth
We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.
Sam Keen
We all come across folks who are difficult, irrational or unkind. Our first instinct may be to mirror the person, countering their negative attitude with one of our own. It’s normal to feel angry, hurt,...
Your colour personality is Orange
You are a people person! You love interacting with people and do so with empathy, patience and understanding. You value respect, loyalty and patience and enjoy engaging with people on an authentic and human level as you understand the positive impact you can have on people. You connect with people easily and it’s as rewarding for you as it is for them.
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The Real People (an Aboriginal tribe) honour the fact that
“Human Beingness is an Experience of Expression, Creativity and Adventure.”
(cf Marlo Morgan, 1995)
You express yourself in everything you do – How do you prefer to express yourself? In what ways are you creative, and how do you build on your strengths – you don’t need to be artistic to be creative , perhaps you’ve created your own...
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Paul Hawken
Commencement Address by Paul Hawken to the Class of 2009, University of Portland, May 3, 2009
When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.
But let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have...
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Social Anxiety
“I use to have anxiety so fucking bad. I was border line agoraphobic, and in my case it had a lot to do with appearance, I was bullied and made fun of growing up, etc. In social groups, I always felt embarrassed and felt judged. My appearance, attitude, status, gender… I felt right off the bat that people were judging me and that I was a loser. So i acted that way and they responded.
...
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Courage
I also practice courage: feeling the fear (because no one gets out of that part), diving in anyway (because what else would I do—stay stuck?), and transforming (because that’s what always happens when we meet our edges and work with our fear). When I was leading The Courageous Year, my online e-course that was eventually turned into the Courageous Living Guides—I learned that it’s not “having all...
“Don’t take anything personally — Nothing others do is because of you. What...”
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I realized how much has changed, how much I’ve grown because of the anxiety. I wouldn’t be me if I’d never had those experiences and I love who I am
I too have struggled with anxiety & felt that my life would always be darkened by its presence. I found healing through yoga & therapy and now I’m a yoga teacher & therapist! I too can’t imagine who I would be without my struggles and...
“Hidden blessings inside suffering… We are given our lives, our fear, our broken...”
– Rebecca Wells, “Little Alters Everywhere.”
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“You are worthy and deserving of down time, play time, scrapbooking and journaling time, water colour and painting time, skipping down the street with a puppy on a leash time, cloud watching time, having tea with a close friend time.”
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A Pasture Poem - Richard Wilbur
This upstart thistle Is young and touchy; it is All barb and bristle, Threatening to wield Its green, jagged armament Against the whole field. Butterflies will dare Nonetheless to lay their eggs In that angle where The leaf meets the stem, So that ants or browsing cows Cannot trouble them. Summer will grow old As will the thistle, letting A clenched bloom unfold To which the small hum Of bee wings...
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When I Am Among the Trees - Mary Oliver
When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness. I would almost say that they save me, and daily. I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness, and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly, and bow often. Around me the trees stir in their leaves and...
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Yes, a job, money, and possessions have value, but their value is in what they add to life. And what they add is spice. They represent the salt and pepper of life. The meat of life consists of the intangibles: friendships, relationships, love, service, creativity, civility, kindness, and spirituality, to name a few. Our values form our character and define us. They shape who we are. They are what...
“Let this truth go as deep in you as possible: that life is already here,...”
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jenniferlouden
When Your Heart Aches, Do This
Offer yourself the sacrament of new beginning.
Put any story that you are the one and only human exception to
::we all make mistakes, we all get hurt, we all need help::
on the fire of liberation. Light the pyre. (You are the exception to many rules but not this one.)
Next::
Open your arms, lean back, look up and ask for healing to come into your bruised...
Rumi's Daughter
Old memories were surfacing: the blizzards of winter-time spirilling into golden summer days, Evdokia’s father smiling at him, the light of a candle on the face of his newborn son. ‘Life,’ he murmered, ‘life.’ The coolness of the hand on his forehead seemed to confirm that, yes, life was made of many hues, all to be lived to the full. The hand left his forehead, he...
Rumi's Daughter
In the orchards, a sudden burst of cloudy pink announced the end of winter. Kimya grew alarmed.
I have not been studying at all. True, her life in Konya was full and rich, but she had hardly spent any time writing as she used to do with Ahmed. Of course, she could now understand most of the words Maulana and his friends said, and she felt herself more accomplished in ways she couldn’t quite...
Mr. Kling: Back in the days when pots and pans could talk, which indeed they still do, there lived a man. And in order to have water, every day he had to walk down the hill and fill two pots and walk them home. One day, it was discovered one of the pots had a crack, and as time went on, the crack widened. Finally, the pot turned to the man and said, “You know, every day you take me to the...
kevin kling
“At times in our pink innocence, we lie fallow, composting waiting to grow. And other times we rush headlong like so many of our ancestors. But rush headlong or lie fallow, it doesn’t matter. One day you’ll round a corner, your path is shifted. In a blink, something is missing. It’s stolen, misplaced, it’s gone. Your heart, a memory, a limb, a promise, a person. Your...
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Lovely touches like soft candlelight, fresh flowers, organic wines, tidbits of inspiration, breakfast bar, delightfully nutritious and fresh foods and juices
Our time was spent in communion with ourselves, nature, and other women. We hiked, we meditated, we laughed, we cried, we told stories from our youth, we commiserated, we did yoga, we decoupaged, we ate, we drank, and we laughed some more.
...
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100 Things To Do Instead Of Procrastinating On The Internet!
[ 18 June 2012, 13:29 ]
I want to stop living my life in front of a computer. As a writer, this is easier said than done, but I believe it is worth making the effort.
Yes, it is perhaps a little ironic that you’re reading this online — the very place that I’m encouraging you to step away from. I’m not saying you should quit the...
“Sweet spirits who love and live and ache and yearn, certain that joy will come...”
I am grateful for family, the light that casts beauty across shadows, music that lifts emotions, a little house and garden filled with colour and love, friends and inspirations, the beauty of nature, the ocean’s cold spray, the soft barnacle skin of the grey whale and the possibilities that exist in life
I am a lover of color, the natural world, simplicity and grace. The name Star House comes...
gardening, vegetable growing, promoting wildlife and birds, walks/hiking, cooking, diy projects, crafting, homesteading, ecology, tradiitonal crafts, meditation, journalling, learning with podcasts/online videos, reading, self sufficiency, historic architexture and castles, tea, mindfulness, making own cheese/cider, yoga, community, handmade goods, philosophy, thrifting/antiqueing, folk music,...
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Beginners: Breaking Out Of The Growing Box
Posted on: April 30th, 2012by mollyNo Comments
A recent chat with our upcoming summer issue’s featured expert, Lee Reich has got me thinking outside the box. Listening to Lee talk about the joys of low maintenance gardening, and how to increase the productivity of your plot, while decreasing the amount of work you put in has made me start to question...
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Anna Schuleit has gathered 28,000 plants and placed them in a mental hospital slated for demolition. Anna spread out her flowers across four floors of the Massachusetts location and invited the community to wander through the spaces. Her thoughts:
“It would have been infinitely easier to work with just a few hundred flowers, or a few thousand even, but I wanted to reach my goal of twenty-eight...
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educational homesteading
educational services from weekly workshops to monthly intensives on things like beekeeping, small livestock care, sustainable gardening, food preservation, cheese making, home brewing, orcharding, foraging, fishing, home grown veggies, backyard wilderness, community building
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WQ - champagne
How To Make Elderflower Champagne
All across temperate North America and Europe the frothy white caps of elderflower (Sambucus) are coming into bloom. Indifferent to pruning, soil compaction, inundation, and even a prolonged spell of dry weather, elderflower is a true garden stalwart. Growing up in England my grandfather used to make a potent, slick wine from the tart, nutritious, glossy black...
