A Spiritual Publication
A Spiritual Publication
Issue # 28
Aug 2008 - Oct 2008
This is an
active HTML webpage with working links, BUT it can be printed for easier
reading.
| ARTICLES: Editor's Welcome Even Smoke Clouds Have Silver Linings Little Boy Saved By Kidney Transplant Diane's Incentives and Class Schedule
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This is not one of our local babies, but she stands for the beauty of new life and new beginnings, which makes her irresistible
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These are unsettling times. Folks are nervous and there’s lots of doom in the air. I write science fiction and, in this genre, movies about dystopian apocalypse and zombies are more prevalent then ever, and stories giving any sense of hope for the future are few.
In the Dark Knight, a huge hit for many reasons, our hope is in the vigilantly hero who is willing to be the bad guy to do the right thing. Deep stuff, and a powerful story yet telling for its timing and its popular reception.
In this issue I have done something I seldom do and it feels a little weird, but I was touched by two mainstream news stories, so I sourced them and presented them here.
The Universe responds to our thoughts, so I am focusing this issue and my own thoughts on the goodness of man and creation, and the stories of hope and light.
This issue is late, for many reasons but its still summer and for us the heat is on in many ways. We’re relocating our website to a new server and I am starting to remodel it. Diane is starting new and exciting things with her business and I am now working part time from home. So life is beauteously busy. It was a year ago we moved into this dream home and on the anniversary we are experiencing another growth spurt. We are blessed and we hope this newsletter finds you all equally so.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy this issue.
Jeffrey
Hello
From Diane
Hello everyone :-),
We have had a wonderful year so far with friends and family coming to visit now since we are not traveling and living in our fifth wheel. We are looking forward to many more years with the blessings of our permanent residence. I feel very good about introducing telephone group sessions which will be done via teleconferencing. This creates a network of people who share similar interest and much can be learned in channeled group settings. In the beginning of the session there will be an introductory period followed by channeled information and then ending with questions and answers. This will be done in an organized fashion so that everyone has a chance to ask questions. Starting in September, I will be offering the group sessions on the second Friday of each month (excluding holidays and vacations) starting at 9:00 a.m. pacific time for 1 1/2 hours. Please see page 3 of this newsletter for more information. This is also an opportunity to create new and long lasting relationships—it will be a fun
Much Love, Diane
Channeled by Diane
You are in a time of floundering due to energetic shifts and it can be oppressive. To assist with movement forward is to allow play as an integral part of your life. This temporary phase is indeed a time of growth in which you learn to flow in the face of adversity. Your perception of life mirrors the internal balance that sets the stage of your reality. When you acknowledge your part in your creation and take steps of action with behavioral and perception shifts - the mirrors of obstacles diminish and become a meandering river of opportunity. There is no right or wrong in the choices that you make. Decisions accumulate life experiences that give you the greatest growth in this lifetime. Moving through these experiences with the least resistance is the key to modifying behavior and perception. When you first learn to ride a bike you get a sense of what it requires to keep the bike upright. You practice until you achieve balance. These experiences work in the same way. You get a sense of what feels good and what doesn’t and your outside world mimics this outcome. As you change how you perceive each situation, your behavior follows to accommodate this level of existence and in return opportunities are offered for movement forward. Consider what you are truly asking for. Pay attention to patterns that repeat themselves with more intensity. Acknowledge the language of your body and what it is telling you. You have all the tools required to effectively create harmony in your life.
Emotional aspects of life are intensifying and will be noted within the Heads of Nations. Many are feeling these energetic shifts that we speak of and will show their hand in creation. Periods of struggle within the Heads of Union will allow for diverse situations to unfold. This unfolding is a benefit which will ultimately lead to world balance. How you (the masses) respond or react to these diversities will enable or disable the flow of each creation.
What will you choose?
We wish you ease and grace in these times of reflection
Serione’
"Until one is committed there is always hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and Creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sort of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manor of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way."
-Goethe
If you are distressed by any external thing, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. - Marcus Aurelius Antoninus |
“Most of us are about as happy as we make up our minds to be” -Abraham Lincoln
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By Jeffrey
While searching the internet for a little cheer, I found a story by Lee Ryan Miller, author of a book called "Teaching Amidst the Neon Palm Trees©", which is based on her teaching experiences at UNLV. In this particular article she speaks of a student who asked her, why she always seemed to be so cheerful?
His question reminded her of something she’d read somewhere before: “Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day,” I said. “I choose to be cheerful.”
What a splendid theme when times seem to be going tough. It made me stop and think about al the bad things that were really blessings when put into context. Let me give a couple of examples.
In 2006, Diane and I drove up to see our daughter Ashlee and grandson Austyn in Vacaville California. We took our home (the 35 foot Alfa fifth wheel) with us. The journey was about 300 miles. Just as we pulled into the parking place with the trailer all lined up right, smoke started to come in from the vents, and I shut the truck down.
Turns out the water pump had frozen up on it and the smoke was from the belt. If that had happened when we were on the road, We might have missed Christmas with our kids. If it had happened when we were pulling the trailer up the Grapevine (a serious pass in southern California), it could have been really expensive and even dangerous.
But it happened at the perfect time, and it gave us an extra day to visit with our daughter and the chance to meet her new man for the first time. So, a repair the truck needed, manifested itself perfectly.
When we moved into our dream home, on the way up the mountain pulling our fifth wheel trailer, I cooked the transmission on same trusty F-350. Smoke was billowing out from under the truck. Bad luck huh? In hindsight, with 150,000 miles on the truck, not much at all for the powerful diesel engine but a lot for the transmission, trouble was coming. The transmission had too much slip in it and so it cooked. Stick a fork in it, the old girl was done and I needed a daily driver (other than Diane’s) to get to work.
My Boss let me borrow the companies little old Ford Ranger. It was a serious downsizing (the guys laughed that my 340 pound frame filled the cab), but I really enjoyed the rig and the gift of having it available was a true blessing (God Bless you Dale Bruhl). Driving it I realized I wanted a smaller rig again. So when Diane and I got rid of the fifth wheel we had called home for four years (it too was now old energy) I happily traded the F-350 in (with a new transmission) to get my 4x4 Xterra which I adore.
But, the timing of the breakdown was again perfection. I needed the breakdown to cut the umbilical I had formed with this truck. If the transmission had failed a tenth of a mile sooner than it did, I would not have been able to get the trailer to my house, we would have been stuck on a terrible hill with no way to back the trailer down (Did I mention that road to my house is two miles of 11% grade and switch-backs with no place to turn around or even park off the road).
So how many times in life have “bad things” happened but at the best possible time. In that article by Lee Ryan Miller she talks about a break down of her car on the way to teach a class. Her car died on her 17 mile drive to Henderson NV, just after she left the highway and within walking distance to the school. She was able to call for a tow truck to meet her at her car after class. She didn’t miss class and was only marginally inconvenienced by a breakdown that occurred at the perfect place. Imagine if that had occurred on a hot summer day 50 miles from anywhere (Nevada has lot of that sort of country).
These little “lucky breaks” are blessings and a form of synchronicity that reminds us that we are loved and that we are protected. We all still have lessons in life. Diane and I know this and we ask for “Ease and Grace” every day. This doesn’t mean we don’t expect to be given lessons, but that we ask for the wisdom to get them learned easily and early on, and the grace of the Universe to make them as painless as possible. I was mad as hell when I “Broke my Truck”. I was hurt and felt partially like a fool and partially like my poor old truck had sacrificed itself for me. But the lesson was learned and I am in a better place now for it.
If you look past the heat of the moment, and look for the “silver lining” in that latest cloud, you might just catch a glimpse of the Divine hand at work in your life. So what storm cloud are you under right now, take a look, I bet you find some silver if you try.
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I just love it here!
HEY LOOK, BEAR VALLEY HAS IT’S VERY OWN ELKS CLUB! (SORRY BPOE) |
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A Recent News Story About How One Family's Grief Gives Another Life
By JOHN MCKENZIE
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.Dominik Lawson was critically ill last year, undergoing dialysis five days a week. The 2-year-old from Taconite, Minn., was born with defective kidneys and needed a transplant, urgently. Making matters worse, his immune system produced antibodies that rendered his body incompatible with most organ transplants; he was a match for only 3 percent of the population. "As long as I'm sitting here, I'll search the globe to try and find him a kidney," his mother, Kelly Lawson, told ABC News in November. At the same time, in that same Minneapolis hospital, another family was fighting to save their own little boy. Nine-year-old Evan Cousineau was being treated for adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare genetic disease. Both families, the Cousineaus and the Lawsons, had set up camp at the nearby Ronald McDonald House. They would greet each other in the hallways and elevators, but each focused on a different battle. One would end early. Evan Cousineau died in November. His sister Mary and the rest of the family flew back home to San Clemente, Calif. Just a few weeks later, in the midst of her grief, she saw the ABC News story about the need for living kidney donors, a story that featured Dominik, that little boy she had seen back in Minneapolis. "Honestly, I just knew that he needed a kidney and without it he might not make it," Mary Cousineau said. "And I couldn't imagine another family going through what we were going through." That same evening, Mary e-mailed the Lawsons. "I just said, 'Hey I saw the story. I would love to get involved. I don't know what it takes to get tested, but give me some more information. I want to help out.'" Kelly Lawson was eager to find another candidate for her son. Three hundred volunteers had already been screened, and not one was a good donor match. But she told Cousineau to wait. "Considering all that they had been through, I didn't want her to rush into anything," Lawson said. "I wanted her to have time to heal and to grieve for her brother's loss." And that is what Cousineau did. Three months later, however, she and her family came back to the hospital to thank the doctors and nurses who tried to save her brother's life. At the end of her visit, Cousineau went to the dialysis ward to see little Dominik. "I was just so excited to see him," she said. "And he was laying in that bed and just looking at him and just knowing that I needed to help him. I couldn't stand for this little boy to be locked up in this hospital room." Cousineau was ready to be tested, and she told the Lawsons that she would be the perfect match. "She just said she felt it in her heart," Kelly Lawson said. "She was led. She felt maybe her brother Evan, talking to her heart, or the Lord talking to her heart saying, 'You need to do this. You will be a donor match.'" A few weeks later, the Lawsons got the call: The "perfect match" had indeed been found. In a six-hour operation, on May 21, Mary Cousineau gave Dominik Lawson the kidney that he desperately needed. A few days ago, she was back in Minneapolis to visit with Dominik and marvel at his progress. "He's so much more active and happy and playing and so full of life," she said. "It's just such a joy to see." With Mary's gift, the Cousineaus and the Lawsons are forever joined; one family, in its grief, reached out to save the other. "Of course, we say thank you, and we love you," Kelly Lawson said. "But I don't think you can ever express the emotion and the gratefulness that we truly feel. There are no words. It's a blessing every minute I look at him." |
I seldom find the network news worthy of my time, but I do like the end segments like this. ABC has been making a clear effort to promote positive news, at the end of their broadcast, but of course this one they take some credit for, and that is fair. Thank you ABC for making my night, I hope this will touch you as well.
The Online version of this news report can be found at ABC news, World News Tonight. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=5533163&page=1
Two-year-old Dominik Lawson from Taconite, Minn.,
was in urgent need of a kidney transplant, until the perfect match
found him on 'World News.' (Kelly Lawson )
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| SUMMER’S HERE & THE HEAT IS ON |
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Park by the fan... |
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Play in the pool... |
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Drink water when you can...
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And PLEASE stay cool!!! |
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OH YEA... SAYS WHO?
“If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.”
“Self-discipline is crucial to a simpler, more contented life.”
“The way to overcome negative thoughts and destructive emotions is to develop opposing, positive emotions that are stronger and more powerful.”
The Dalai Lama, that’s Who
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We Have No Monopoly On The “Humane Act” I kept this news article as a reminder that goodness is a natural extension of higher thinking, and that as intellect evolves and grows towards the Ideal that altruism grows as well.
Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and central to many religious traditions. This idea was often described as the Golden rule of ethics. |
Cruelty exists in nature as a necessity, but so does love, compassion… We are at our most noble when we strive to overcome the base survivalist nature of our beings to attain the more sweet nature found in the happy and secure child. All beings are lead to this, like sunflowers turning toward the sun, we grow towards love, towards God. |
By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer Thursday Mar 13, 7:39 AM ET
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Most days, Moko the bottle nosed dolphin swims playfully with humans at a New Zealand beach. But this week, it seems, Moko found his mojo. Witnesses described Wednesday how they saw the dolphin swim up to two stranded whales and guided them to safety.
Before Moko arrived, rescue workers had been working for more than an hour to get two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, back out to sea after they were stranded Monday off Mahia Beach, said Conservation Department worker Malcolm Smith.
But Smith said the whales re-stranded themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea from the beach, about 300 miles northeast of the Capital, Wellington. It looked likely they would have to be euthanized to prevent a prolonged death, he said.
"They kept getting disorientated and stranding again," said Smith, who was among the rescuers. "They obviously couldn't find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea."
Then along came Moko, who approached the whales and appeared to lead them as they swam 200 yards along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.
"Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales," Juanita Symes, another rescuer, told The Associated Press. "She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience."
Anton van Helden, a marine mammals expert at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, said the reports of Moko's rescue were "fantastic" but believable because the dolphins have "a great capacity for altruistic activities."
These included evidence of dolphins protecting people lost at sea, and their playfulness with other animals.
"But it's the first time I've heard of an inter-species refloating technique. I think that's wonderful," said van Helden, who was not involved in the rescue but spoke afterward to Smith.
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Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. Martin Luther King Jr .
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Diane's Incentives and Class Schedules
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Teleconference Group Sessions (I will require at least 8 in attendance to have the group session) |
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When: Second Friday of each month from 9:00 a.m.—10:30 a.m. (PST) beginning September (unless a holiday or I am on vacation—will be noted in upcoming newsletters) Cost: $35.00, plus your normal long distance charges will apply Register: Register on or before the first Friday of each month by calling 888-910-2038 and leave a message for me. I will return your phone call no later than the following Monday to inform you as to whether we are having the group session and to give you the phone number to call and the code to join the conference. |
Conference Dates and Subject Matter: How The Universe Responds to You Date: September 12, 2008 Register by: September 5, 2008
The Universal Gift of “Life” Date: October 10, 2008 Register by: October 3, 2008 |
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Itinerary of a Group Session The telephone line will be closed at 9:10 a.m. pacific time for joining the conference. I will have a list of people joining the conference and who is on the telephone line at all times
Introductions—introduce yourself and where you live
Channeled information
Questions and answers begin—in order of the 1st person who joined the conference with 1 question and continuing around until everyone has their turn and than starting over again as time permits. You can either pass or ask a question.
When the session is over I will log out and you may stay and converse if you choose
The sessions will be recorded via the teleconferencing website. The recorded information is available for 30 days only.
We all have this ability and the
answers lie within.
Testimonials
may be viewed at:
"I
want to personally thank all of you who sent your testimonials to me.
I was extremely honored and humbled by the comments. If you wish to send a testimonial, please send it by e-mail: dianerosephillips@gmail.com
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