FedEx flies terminally ill girl home - By Celia Dewoody @ HarrisonDaily.com

There are good people in the world.
People still do good things in the world.
Blessings to Jada. Hat's off to FedEx!
~COF Administration

Because of caring people and a caring company, a terminally ill little Green Forest girl was flown home Friday by air ambulance from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, so she can spend her last days surrounded by the people who love her most.

Jada Harper, who turned seven on Sept. 1, has an inoperable malignant tumor in her brain and is in a coma with a ventilator doing her breathing for her. She has been at the famous cancer center in Houston since July, but her situation is now at the point not much else can be done to help her.

Friday afternoon, Jada was flown home to the Ozarks — on a gurney, attached to the machine that breathes for her. FedEx Freight paid the $11,000 bill for the special medical flight her family was unable to afford.Jada is the daughter of Savannah and Jason Surface and has been a student at Green Forest Elementary School. The family, which includes Lyndon, 4, and Gracelyn, almost 2, lived in Oak Grove until Jada got sick this summer, and the family moved in with Jason’s family — his mother Wanda and sister Brandy Surface — in Batavia.“Jada got diagnosed in June with a malignant brain tumor,” said the child’s grandmother, Wanda Surface. “It’s a brain-stem glioma, and it’s inoperable.”Wanda said Jada was first treated at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.

“The most important thing was radiation, so we spoke with doctors all over the United States. There was one doctor who really wanted to see her, from M. D. Anderson’s in Houston. So we took her to Anderson’s in July.”Jada was able to travel by car at that time.“She had chemo and radiation,” Wanda said. “The treatment was shrinking the tumor, but they only gave us 18 months. Then about three weeks ago, she seized, and it killed part of her brain. She’s been in a coma for three weeks now. They had to put her on a ventilator.”Wanda said Jada is not able to be taken off of the ventilator.

“They say she could still wake up, but she’ll still have brain damage,” she said. “They’re only giving us three months now.”The child’s grandmother said medical experts at M. D. Anderson’s recently gave Jada’s parents a choice: to give her further radiation, which might buy her six months — “They said she could stay here, and let her lay here and let us keep her alive for maybe six more months. Or — you could take her home and give her three months.”Wanda said Savannah and Jason “couldn’t bear to think about her lying there in that hospital for six more months. They decided to take her home to her family, to everyone who loves her. Everybody is here.”

Wanda, along with her son Jason, Jada’s dad, had been in Houston with Jada until recently. “Jason had to come home to go back to work at Tyson’s,” she said. “We got home yesterday.”Jada’s mother, Savannah, remained behind at Anderson’s with her daughter.

Moving Jada home from Texas — in a coma and attached to a ventilator — became the big challenge.“They said a ground ambulance was too dangerous,” Wanda said. “They said she’d be dead within hours — it’s just too long of a trip from Houston.”

She needed to be moved in an air ambulance, which costs $10,000-$14,000, Wanda said.

Wanda said the family started calling every organization they could think of that helps transport people for medical reasons, including Angel Flight, but they weren’t able to find anybody who would fly the little girl in her serious medical condition from Houston to Arkansas.

Tiffany Gilliam, a close friend of Savannah’s, kept updating Andrea Martin, Green Forest Elementary principal, with what was going on with Jada. Andrea called someone she knew at FedEx to see if they could help. She called the right person when she called Kelly Madewell, who is flight operations specialist at FedEx Freight in Harrison.

“This all took place on Thursday,” Wanda said. “The next thing we knew, Savannah called us from Houston, and she was crying and crying. She said they had called her to tell her that FedEx had a flight coming to pick her and Jada up and bring them home.”

Ken Reeves, vice-president and general counsel of FedEx Freight, told the Daily Times that Madewell “was the one who put this whole thing together, and Doug Duncan in Memphis, (president and CEO of FedEx Freight Corp. in Memphis), and Pat Reed here in Harrison, (executive vice-president and CEO of FedEx Freight), both approved for FedEx Freight in Harrison to pay for it.”Reeves said the flight will cost the company “a little over $11,000.”

“One thing that impresses me about this company is that the company has a heart,” Reeves said. "Our company does a lot of things like this. It’s been recognized as one of the most admired companies in the world, and this is why.”

The Medway air ambulance, equipped with a medical team, picked up Jada and her mother in Houston on Thursday afternoon for the hour-long flight to the Harrison airport, where they landed about 4:30 p.m. Jada was met on the runway by an ambulance from North Arkansas Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Services, which whisked her off in a matter of minutes toward NARMC, where she will be in intensive care, according to Wanda.Friends and relatives, as well as Reeves and Reed from FedEx, were on hand at the FedEx terminal at the Boone County Regional Airport to greet Jada and Savannah when they arrived. The family used the opportunity to thank the two FedEx officials over and over for bringing their little girl home.Jada’s family has expressed their gratitude to FedEx for what they have done to ensure the sick little girl could be brought home to be with her family.

“I really appreciate it,” said Daniyale Harper of Harrison, Jada’s aunt, earlier Friday. “It’s the best thing that’s happened so far.”Jada’s grandmother, Wanda, said, “I’m so overwhelmed. You don’t know how we’ve searched for the past two weeks. We’ve searched all over the U.S. to find somebody who could help us bring Jada home, and the answer was right here in our own hometown. These people at FedEx are miracle-workers.”Jada’s mother, Savannah, told Reed and Reeves at the airport, “It’s all worked out wonderful. I didn’t think we’d be able to get her here, but luckily, my hometown came through. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

The Problem With Fear - By Dr. Cara Baker

"The only thing to fear is fear itself."

-F.D. Roosevelt

It's everywhere. Here's a few of the expressed fears I've heard over the past few days: "When will the demand for more troops to Afghanistan end? What if Ahmadinejad keeps heading in this direction?" "How many terrorist plots are out there, like Springfield, Dallas, Denver that haven't been caught?" "What if these madmen overtake the rest of us?" "What if healthcare reform never gets passed?" What if my company goes down?" "What if Michael Moore's right?" "What if I can't lose the weight my doctor says I must and get really sick?" And, from the head of a major publishing company: "The way the economy is, we can't publish what's needed. We can only 'put out there' what sells fast so we all don't go down." When we get hooked by fear, we are at risk of selling our soul.

The problem with fear is that it leads us to cash in our vote. There you are, moving down your life road, and fear, this uninvited guest, pops in front of you, and hurls you into darker places. Fear's roots wear many costumes: anxiety, anger, revenge, power grabbing. When our own private 'boogey man' intrudes into life, what's the end-result? Very simply, fear takes us off-course. Here's a sample from one of my HP readers, who bravely confesses:

"...in the midst of this joy was this very painful 'thing' that could set me rolling in an instant and consume me with thoughts of revenge. Sometimes it was just INCREDIBLY difficult to deal with the mental noise it was capable of creating, even though I had plenty to be joyful about...."

When we cash in our vote, we separate from our Spirit, our best instincts and deepest Wisdom. Fear shrinks us down, holds us hostage, blocking our development and contribution. Remember, fear's domain is the future, not the present. While there can be healthy fear, and a healthy response to it, much of what we suffer comes from misplaced fear. Fear affects not only the individual, but the entire family and community. Hence, my mother's people, as well as other indigenous peoples around the world, approach the fear-based situation from a completely different perspective than the Western world. When stuck in fear, the shamans' practice is to do whatever's necessary to 'call back the Spirit, ('retrieval'), or remove the fearful 'intruder' by extrusion practices.

How can we do this today? We can learn another way to spell fear: False-expectations-arising from-rigidity. When we operate out of false expectations arising from rigidity, we get stuck. Life happens when we are flowing. To get unstuck from whatever's 'got us by the short hairs,' we need to remember that who we are is greater than the present fear. We are here to grow, and find more freedom, joy, abundance than love affairs with fear allow. We can take back our power from fear. We can choose to wake-up what's frozen, including our courage.

Four Steps You Can Take toward Fear-Busting:

Make the fundamental choice that you are going to take better care of yourself. After our treadmill chit-chat, my neighbor realized that his worry does not change Iran's direction, but only drives up his own cortisol. Good for him: a vote for his own well-being.

Decide to use the energy of fear to help you grow, not feel defeat. A colleague awakens to the fact that fearing other plots does not alter anything. What this 47 year old woman can do is take responsibility for not letting her inner 'madwoman' ruins her day by what cognitive behaviorist Aaron Beck has dubbed 'catastrophizing.'

Dialogue with fear: Using your creative imagination, doodle your present fear on paper, and ask this little fellow: 'What do you want from me?' Listen. No doubt it's trying to scare the 'dickens' out of you because it's afraid you'll find the freedom trail.Martin, a 51 year old man in construction, noted that his 'doodle' 'told' him that his fear was 'just trying to protect you.' Underneath which, he found an old, familiar pattern of this same fear showing up whenever he's wanted to take a leap of faith in the direction of his own heart's desire. For several years, Martin's wanted to build schools for kids in third world countries, but has talked himself out of it for fear of 'how would I make a living?' His fear has cheated him out of his inspirational vision.

Thank your fear for its concern, move on, do something more productive that uplifts your Spirit, calls you back to who you really are. Whether you appreciate him or not, Michael Moore turned his anger into 20 years of films, as one example.In Martin's case, he is currently researching areas where his skills could be well used in the direction of his dream. He told me this morning: "Maybe I will lose the company. But, in the meantime, I'm getting 'my ducks in order.' I feel more excited than scared, as long as I keep my eye on what matters to me."

These courageous acts are called 'giving what needs attention, intelligent attention.'

"When the teachings tell us to 'make friends with our emotions,' they mean to become more attentive and get to know them better. Being ignorant about emotions only makes matters worse; feeling guilty or ashamed of them does the same. Struggling against them is equally non-productive. The only way to dissolve their power is with our wholehearted, intelligent attention. Only then is it possible to stay steady, connect with the underlying energy, and discover their insubstantial nature." - Pema Chodron

Violence On The Street: How To Be A Good Activist - By: Ed and Deb Shapiro

There is a lot of anger on our streets these days, against healthcare, racism and Afghanistan, which made us consider what is most effective: resistance or pacifism? Activism is dedicated to fighting injustice and bringing about social change, but is angry activism really effective? Is activism different if it arises out of a contemplative and compassionate response rather than an irate reaction?

"Back in the eighties, I was an activist for a bunch of different organizations, but I was a horrible activist because all I did was project my rage," yoga teacher Seane Corn told us. "I was the one with a soapbox and mega phone telling everyone how to live their lives. But it didn’t serve anything. Rage just pushes away; it is a threatening energy that alienates, but the world changes by embracing, not by pushing away."

The fire of fury may stimulate our motivation, but it cannot keep us going for long as anger depletes. Exhaustion is the inevitable downside. As Insight Meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein says: “For many years, I taught many retreats for environmental and social activists and one of the major issues for people who are engaged in such action, often in the front lines of conflict, is energy burn-out. This is because the work is often fueled by anger at conditions of inequity and injustice, but anger is unsustainable. It is a motivation that literally burns us up. Compassion is a much more sustainable energy. It can motivate a lifetime of active social engagement.”

Where anger may be an initial motivation for protest, it does not often bring about the changes that are desired. Rather, it invariably creates more negativity. Anger is exclusive and calls for further exclusivity, rather than being inclusive and, therefore, working toward wholeness. Conversely, the more we give, the more we get to give with. There is no time where we run out of compassion.

Meditation is essential to this process, as it enables us to see the fruitlessness of anger. Then activism informs us of when and how best to use anger, rather than being used by it. Rama Vernon had to learn this lesson when she was dealing with the KGB:

“There may be moments when we need to use anger, but it is not the same thing as being angry," Rama told is. "I have used anger with the KGB, as it was the right thing to do at the time, but I was responding with anger, not reacting. If we react with anger, it can actually fuel a situation and we become part of the problem instead of the solution. We can create change through anger, but we cannot create transformation through anger. The change will always revert back to something else. Meditation creates clarity of mind, and when we have clear thinking, our actions are more focused and we have greater power. If our minds are scattered, then whatever actions we take will only cause confusion." We usually think of activism as being against something, whether it be war, torture, or dictatorial government, whereas contemplative activism is being for something, such as fairness, freedom, and peace. Being for something shifts us from maintaining the negative to supporting the positive.

“In my youth, I was fueled by anger," says international peaceworker Rabia Roberts. "Then I worked with Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement for three years. What I learned from King was the beginning of nonviolent activism, that we are not here to defeat or hurt anyone, but to reveal the injustice that exists in the situation and see if we can come to a greater understanding. Like activism, meditation wants to reveal the reality behind the illusion. You begin to realize soldiers are not necessarily heroes but are victims. In the nonviolent worldview, there is no blame; you can hold someone accountable but there is no blame for what is happening. If you are full of aggression and agitation, all you are doing is adding that negativity to the mix. That is why war cannot bring peace.”

Meditation is also essential as it expands our awareness beyond our self-centered view. “First yoga changed my body; then meditation changed my attitude," continued Seane, who is featured in our book, BE THE CHANGE, below. "Then I realized that whether my practice was fifteen minutes or four hours was irrelevant because it was not about how yoga can change me, but how I, through this practice, can begin to change the world."

****
You can pre-order a copy of our book at: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World. It will be published Nov 3, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors such as Marianne Williamson, astronaut Edgar Mitchell, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Beckwith, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jane Fonda, Jack Kornfield, Byron Katie, Seane Corn, Rama Vernon and Rabia Roberts, will be published Nov 3 2009 by Sterling Ethos. Deb is the author of the award-winning book YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND. Ed and Deb are the authors of over 15 books, and lead meditation retreats and workshops. They are corporate consultants, and the creators of Chillout daily inspirational text messages on Sprint cell phones. See: www.EdandDebShapiro.com

Sacred Hebrew Chant Workshop & Kabbalastic Kirtan - Saturday, October 17th, 2009

This was sent to us from COF Member Eric Williams:

We will explore ancient Sufi and Kabbalah practices as a mean of transformation and healing. Amir and Gabriel are world class musicians and peace activists. Together, they lead workshops on sacred chants and sound healing around the globe, and will offer us their unique blend of music, spirituality and healing. Those participating will engage the divine through sacred Hebrew chants, Kabbalistic and Sufi practices and interactive meditation.

Following the workshop, a vegetarian dinner will be provided. After dinner, we will gather for a kirtan (a chanting “concert”) to practice what we have explored during the afternoon session.

The format for the afternoon/evening is as follows:

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

2:00 – 5:30

Sacred Chant Workshop

5:30 – 7:00

Vegetarian Dinner prepared by Gabrielle Middlestadt

7:00- 8:30

Kabbalastic Kirtan

LOCATION:

W.O. Smith Music School

1125 8th Ave.S. (corner of 8th and Edgehill)

Nashville , TN

COST:

$50 for the workshop, dinner and kirtan

$10 for the kirtan only

(anyone is welcome at the kirtan,

even if not participating in the workshop)

INFORMATION/RESERVATIONS:

Kaaren Engel - (615) 943-1557

kaaren@kaarenengel.com

To prepay/reserve your spot:

Mail checks (payable to Kaaren Engel) to:

Kaaren Engel

150 2nd Avenue S. #103

Nashville, TN 37201

Opportunities From Disaster – Learning Opportunity Eleven: Develop Intuition

Your intuition is your ability to access compassion and wisdom that are beyond what you can conceptualize and beyond what we can give to each other. As you experience your pain and the pain of others, as you have had insights during each of the OPPORTUNITIES FROM DISASTER lessons in this course, open yourself to inspiration. Open yourself to hunches. Open yourself to thoughts that are healthy and constructive. Open yourself to novelty. Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this?” Ask yourself, “What can I do to help?” Ask yourself these questions in a way that is gentle and appreciates your limitations and also invites your potential. Ask for guidance and assume that there is guidance in the Universe. Assume that there is a source of compassion and wisdom that nurtures you and upon which you can draw.

Allow yourself to receive what your inspiration provides you and assume that it provides what you need. Don’t assume that it will necessarily be a grand idea involving many people or that it will not. Simply allow yourself to see whatever comes to your mind and write down the thoughts, insights, hunches and perceptions that are the most positive, the most healthy and the most grounded. Consider them. Apply them. Experiment with them. And then ponder where they came from.

© Gary Zukav

© Photo courtesy of Bryan Touchstone Photography

Embodying the Four Immeasurables: A Biocognitive Approach to Spiritual Practice

Luminous Mind and the Institute of Biocognitive Psychology present a workshop with Dr. Mario Martinez in a cutting-edge fusion of Buddhist psychology and western mind-body science.

Friday, October 9th, 2009

7 pm to 9 pm

Belle Meade Executive Suites, 4525 Harding Road

Second floor conference room (Across from Belle Meade Kroger)

Nashville, TN 37205
Cost: Contributions to Luminous Mind

We want to cultivate the qualities of lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, but what do we do with negative emotions such as anger, jealousy, and aggression?

In this presentation Dr. Mario Martinez teaches how to apply Western mind-body science to the exalted emotions known in Buddhism as the Four Immeasurables, or Four Brahmaviharas. Based on how cognition and emotions affect the immune system, biocognitive techniques offer an added dimension to resolve the fear-based emotions that can block the health benefits of the Four Immeasurables and other contemplative techniques.

Although presented using research from the Buddhist community, this seminar is suitable for people of all spiritual paths who would like to keep negative emotions from undermining their positive intentions.

Dr. Martinez is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder of biocognitive science. He is the author of the psychological novel “The Man from Autumn” (Llumina Press) and the CD learning series “The Mind-Body Code” (Sounds True). Because of his specialty in how cultural and spiritual beliefs affect the immune system, he has been a consultant for the BBC, National Geographic, the Catholic Church, and Buddhist monks. For more information on Mario’s work visit here.

The event will be a fundraiser for Luminous Mind to allow them to bring in more teachers in the future. To register, send an email.

Click for location map

Download Flyer

Opportunity From Disaster – Learning Opportunity Ten: Apply My Values

Look at your life as you are living it now and as you would see it from the perspective of the values that you have identified. What are you doing that is not truly important to you and what are you doing that truly is? Are you giving that which is truly important the emphasis and time that is appropriate or is your time and emphasis going to that which is not truly important in disproportionate measure? If you see something that needs to be changed, experiment now with changing it. If you realize that the people you are with, for example, are more important than the things you have, then begin to pay more attention to the people and less attention to the things. Keep your life in balance. It is appropriate to have a home that is well-ordered and to your liking. It is appropriate to have the systems in your life functioning properly but what is the use of them if the people who are important to you are not there?

Ask yourself questions such as these. Apply what you have learned. Begin to use your experiences of the suffering in the world, including your own, to improve yourself. If you do not use your experiences to improve yourself, you squander them, and you do not harvest their potential. There is an enormous learning potential for every individual who is a part of a painful event, whether the event affects only her or him, or thousands on the other side of the globe, or millions around the world watching the suffering on television. Learn about yourself from your experiences of the suffering you encounter, wherever you encounter it, however you encounter it, and from what you learn change your life. When you do that your suffering and the suffering of others will not have been in vain.

© Gary Zukav

Photo courtesy of Bryan Touchstone Photography

Opportunity From Disaster – Learning Opportunity Nine: What Are My Values?

What is important to you?

Allow your experiences of the suffering of others, or your own suffering, to help you put into perspective what is valuable, why you are alive, what is worth living for, and what is not.

What if people whom you see suffering on television, such as people who have lost their homes, been driven from their country, survived a bombing, or any of the hundreds of causes of anguish and agony were (or are) your neighbors, family, or friends?

You can examine what your priorities have been during this time of great suffering for others and, if you see places to make changes, what they could be. What have been your experiences as you have gone about your life doing that which needs to be done while others suffer? Perhaps making repairs to your house, going to work, feeding pets, taking children to school, redecorating, shopping at a discount warehouse - which of all of your many activities are truly important to you?

Allow your experiences with the suffering that surrounds you when you have the courage to look at it, or your own suffering when you have the courage to look at it, to illuminate in your life – as though you were suddenly awakened to a larger perspective – what is important to you and what is not and then begin to see how much of your life is in alignment with this new perspective. And … where it is not, you can change your alignment.

From Gary Zukav's 'Opportunity from Disaster' Lesson Series.

Photo Courtesy of Our friends, Jeff and Freedom, who partnered to save each other in times of disaster for both. http://wanblimani.blogspot.com/

Autumn - Balance by Gary Zukav

When I lived in the city, I never knew what an equinox was. It is an astronomical term for the time when the sun crosses the equator, making night and day of equal length in all parts of the world. In December, the sun is lowest in the sky and the nights are longest. This is the winter solstice. In June, the opposite happens. The sun is highest in the sky and the days are longest. This is the summer solstice. All of this has to do with the equinoxes, but I didn't learn any of it by studying astronomy.I was forty-five when I moved onto a remote ranch in the pine and fir of northern California. I lived alone. The nearest town was fifteen miles away. I had no electricity or phone. When I returned from infrequent trips, I would get out of my car and stand still for several minutes, listening to the sounds of the evening, and of the stream behind the house. When I walked toward the house, the noise of my boots on the cinder seemed so loud that it startled me.

Winter came, then spring, summer, and fall again. I lived a complete cycle with nature, for the first time. I saw how the sun moved from north to south and back again, and from low in the sky to high, and then down again. I saw the grass in the meadows turn from green to brown, and then disappear under the snow. I saw the stream freeze, thaw, and run freely again with butterflies playing over it.

More important, I felt the seasons come and go inside me. That is how I learned about the equinoxes. They are midway between the times when the sun is highest (in the summer) and when it is lowest (in the winter). The days are not overly long or overly short. We call the equinoxes spring and fall.

In the United States, the spring equinox, also called the vernal equinox, comes in the month of March. Farmers and gardeners plant crops and all of us relax into the warming weather. Everywhere south of the equator, it is the fall equinox. Farmers and gardeners are harvesting and everyone is preparing for winter.

Do you see the perfect balance? Day and night, spring and fall, hot and cold, planting and harvesting everything is balanced at the equinoxes. This balance could not exist without the extremes. Midway between the heat of summer and the ice of winter, between sowing and reaping, between darkness and light, life goes on. That is now.

When you strive for balance, be gentle with yourself. How can you recognize balance without recognizing imbalance? When you rejoice at the good that you discover in yourself, or despair at the evil, do you move past the balance point between them without noticing it? If you strive only to avoid the darkness or to cling to the light, you cannot live in balance. Instead, try striving to be conscious of all that you are, and to choose responsibly at each moment.

That is balance.

Excerpted from Soul to Soul by Gary Zukav Copyright © 2007 by Gary Zukav.

Many thanks to Bryan Touchstone, a photographer living in Denver, CO, for photos used at this site.

Bliss Announces Kirtan Concert - Saturday, September 26th

Hi chanters and friends~

It is time, once again, to sing, dance, and be ecstatic with all our friends!

Bliss, Corrine and Ed will be singing and playing at:

Yoga Source
Saturday, September 26th
7-9pm
$10 in advance
$15 at the door

We'll be sharing chants and songs from all of our albums and need your help to send the music to the stars! It will be a wonderful evening of great fun. We also have a special guest joining us on percussion...Satya!! For those of you who know Corrine, you know that she has been waiting for her beloved Satya to arrive from India, and now he finally made it!

Join us in a celebration of life, love, and good friendship!

Love,
Bliss, Corrine, Ed...and Satya

For more information, visit here, here, and here!

PBS to Broadcast Vraja Sky Over Tibet in October

For More Information, and to visit the website, please click here.

Opportunity From Disaster – Learning Opportunity Eight: Apply My Self-Knowledge

Now is always the time that you can apply what you are learning about yourself as you watch your experiences of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, a human-created disaster such as a war and the suffering it is causing, or a personal disaster such as a divorce or the death of a child or a friend – whether you can experience your emotions deeply, in terms of physical sensations in your body.

Now is the time to apply whatever you have learned about yourself when you asked,

“What can I learn about myself from these experiences?”

Whatever you have learned, or suspect you have learned, experiment with it. Apply it now.

If you discovered that your need to give or support others is based on guilt because you have so much and people you are seeing on the television have nothing, look at that and ask yourself if you want the intention of guilt to be a controlling influence in your life. If not, pick another intention.

This does not mean not to give. It means give with a different intention, an intention that feels healthy to you, that is life-giving and life-affirming. Guilt is neither of those.

If you experience yourself as powerless, or as one who must immediately launch into action, ask yourself, “Why?” Is it because of compassion or a sense of helplessness that you are driven to action?

Begin to use what you have learned about yourself to change your life.

© Gary Zukav

Girl in Iconic Vietnam War Photo Brings Message of Hope

"I knew that I had been saved that day because I had a higher purpose in life…. Having known suffering and agony, I now know the value of reaching out to help others. Having known war, I now know the value of peace. Having lived with pain, I now know the value of love. Having lost everything, I now know the value of cherishing everything I have that's important. And having known hatred, I now know the value and the power of faith and forgiveness. I learned that forgiveness is far more powerful than any weapon of war… If the little girl in that picture can do it, then you can do it too." ~Phan Ti Kim Phuc~

The subject of one of the most iconic images of the 20th century: A young Vietnamese girl running from her village, naked, her clothes burned away in a napalm attack. Her mouth is wide, her face filled with terror and anguish. This photo, Vietnam Napalm, by Nick Ut, was taken in 1972, just after American troops accidentally dropped a load of napalm from the sky, demolishing the Vietnamese town of Trang Bang. The stark, disturbing image was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for addressing the realities of the war in Vietnam, and served as a wake-up call to millions of Americans who had not realized the damage that was being done to innocent civilians like that scared, naked child, running down the street on fire.

THURSDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) -- It's a photo that many credit with helping to end the Vietnam War: A 9-year-old girl, naked and in obvious pain, runs through a street after suffering napalm burns over much of her body.

What the iconic photo -- snapped in 1972 by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut -- doesn't show is the girl's struggle to survive and thrive in the aftermath of that day.

Now 46 years old, Kim Phuc Phan Thai (Kim Phuc to most) spoke recently at a conference of burn survivors and burn care specialists in New York City on the physical and psychological struggle that she went through over the ensuing decades.

"Sixty-five percent of my body got burned," she said in an interview with HealthDay. The third-degree burns left her face untouched but sheared off every layer of skin on her back and left arm, leaving a legacy of permanent scars and recurring pain.

"I should be dead," Phuc said. "I got burned so deep I had to do skin grafts -- mostly from under my leg -- from the 35 percent of my skin that was OK. And from the beginning to the end, including physical therapy, I was in the burn unit in Saigon for about 14 months. And I had 17 operations. But I was spared," she added.

"So now I think, 'I cannot change something that happened to me already. But I can change the meaning."

Phuc has come far and is now a public speaker, peace activist, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, child welfare advocate, married mother of two, and inspiration to burn injury survivors worldwide. She lives in Toronto, her home since seeking political asylum in Canada in the early 1990s.

. . . .

For her part, Phuc said the events that changed her young life are as vivid today as they were on June 8, 1972, when bombs rained down on her hometown of Trang Bang, north of Saigon. "They saw that the temple will be next, and they told us to run," said Phuc, whose family had been hiding in the village temple grounds. "I was in the middle of the group," remembered Phuc, "my brother, my sister, my cousin in front of me, my aunt, my uncles behind. And I stopped." There was the sound of American bombs falling, "and after I saw the fire everywhere around me," Phuc said. "I was so scared. And all my clothes just burned off by the fire. And I saw all my burns. And people screaming: 'Nong qua! Nong qua!' 'Too hot! Too hot!'"

Two of Phuc's cousins died from injuries sustained in the bombing, but Kim was helped by photographer Ut, who helped her get medical attention at a South Vietnamese hospital. She then received more than a year of treatment at the American-funded Barsky Hospital in Saigon.

. . . .

Still, Phuc said the legacy of her own wounds linger.

"I still have pain," she said. "Because my nerves are really damaged. They don't work well. So pain in one area spreads everywhere I got burned."

. . . .

"The pain I consider as my protection. It humbles me, and helps me to never take my life for granted," she said. "And to share my story."

Read the entire article here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090910/hl_hsn/girliniconicvietnamwarphotobringsmessageofhope.

By Alan Mozesh, HealthDay Reporter

Animal Totems, Messengers

Last night at practice, one Sangha member encountered Turkey and Deer while on a hike. Another member had a profound dream wherein Frog appeared. Detailed below are explanations of these messengers as described in Animal Totems. We hope you enjoy reading about Turkey, Deer, and Frog as animal messengers!

~COF Administration

TURKEY

Wild turkeys are opportunistic feeders with broad tastes. They eat nuts, berries green foliage, grasshoppers, lizards, salamanders and more. The turkey can fly powerfully for short distances but has difficulty maintaining that power in longer stretches. For those with this totem it is important to learn how to channel their energy in a balanced way. Quick bursts of energy can lead to undesirable results. A person can tire quickly and have no energy left for other activities. Tai Chi or other forms of martial arts would be beneficial. In addition, variety in diet is advised for optimum health.

Female turkeys lay an average of 12 eggs. One plus two equals three. Three is the number of reoccurrence and those with this medicine often have reoccurring themes or situations to deal with in life.

The medicine power of the turkey is renewal. To the native peoples, the turkey was a sacred bird because of the abundance of them and because of their good tasting meat. Wild turkeys were an abundant food source for the early European refugees, as well as the native peoples. But uncontrolled hunting virtually wiped them out in several central and northeastern states. When reintroduced, they renewed their populations very rapidly, growing to many thousands. If turkey has gobbled its way into your life, its message may be that you need to cultivate and care for those renewable resources that benefit your life.

Wild turkeys were almost eliminated because they were taken for granted. Those with this totem need to remember that nothing is an endless resource if it is not honored and nurtured. Remember to ask yourself if you are relying on something in your life that you always expect to be there, but are taking no steps to treat in a sacred way? This can pertain to a human partner as well as a resource. If so, learn from the turkey and realize that everything has limits.

DEER

Deer teaches us the power of gentleness, keen observation and sensitivity. Deer's are in tune with nature and all it holds. They are sacred carriers of peace and show those with this totem how to open their hearts and love unconditionally.

Their senses are acute and they see extremely well in low light, giving them the ability to understand the deeper symbolic meanings of things. They can hear a twig snap in the far distance. Anyone who has deer as a totem has hidden clairvoyant and clairaudient abilities. They can see between the shadows, detect subtle movements and hear what is not being said. Call on deer to help you develop these gifts.

Deer protects their newborn from subtle outside influences. Fawns are born a color that protects and hides them from a predators sight. For the first few days of life they hardly move. Once the fawns energy field is strong and grounded they stand and begin to follow their mother around.

Watching the deer and her young is a reminder to honor the child like innocence within your self and move with gentleness and an open heart. It also suggests that you stand strong on your path and not allow yourself to get distracted by outside influences.

The set of antlers that the male deer grows are the antennae that connects it to higher forms of attainment. If you encounter a deer in the wild try to count the number of points on their antlers. This number ties into numerology and can hold great significance for those with this totem.

FROG

There are numerous species of frogs found all over the world. Their bodies are designed for jumping and their sharp eyes help them capture their prey, mostly insects. Because the frogs eyes bulge out from the sides of the head they are able to see in nearly all directions. This provides them with excellent depth perception.

Frogs have a well developed sense of hearing. Behind each eye is a large disked membrane, an external eardrum that picks up sound waves and transmits them to the inner ear and then to the brain. This coupled with their exceptional sight give them both clairsentient and clairvoyant abilities.

The frog produces sound similar to the way humans do by forcing air from the lungs over the vocal cords. Their variety of complex calls from ribbets to croaks associates it with language. Those with this totem have the potential to take command of the spoken word and are often bilingual.

Tree frogs are strong jumpers and despite their toes being only half webbed they are also strong swimmers. One of the most interesting characteristics of the tree frog is the changing of its colors from bright red, green, orange, to aqua. Color change is brought about through the stimuli of light and moisture which create physiological change and result in contraction or expansion of the pigment cells in the skin. These bright colors appear on flanks, groin, surface of the thighs and the belly and serve in species recognition or in confusing predators. One species native to South America has brightly colored eyespots on its rump. When approached by a predator, the frog lowers its head, elevates its rump thus confronting the predator with a seemingly much larger head. The study of color and its affects on a persons psyche is helpful.

With the exception of a few species, most frogs do not care for their young. They mate and then abandon their eggs. Because of this, lessons associated with survival are common in frog medicine people. Scientists believe that the health of frog populations reflect the health of the eco system as a whole.

Because frogs are found in water and on land they hold the magic of both. Water has long been associated with emotional cleansing. Mud the combination of earth and water is used in healing therapies to rid the body of toxins. Because those with this medicine are extremely sensitive the use of mud baths is advised.

The frog is a totem of metamorphosis. Most frogs undergo a two stage life cycle. Eggs hatch into tadpoles which grow and eventually become adults. This signifies the awakening of one’s creativity. When frog leaps into a persons life it is an invitation to jump into their creative power. To do this it is helpful to know which stage of life you are presently in. By studying the characteristics of the frog the discovery of your present life cycle is known.

Sangha member Dani Carroll Wishes to Share her Exciting News with You! Introducing Sweetwater Rose

Dear friends,

I just heard from Sangha member Dani Carroll, and her new band's website and MySpace page is up. I will paste those links below. Dani wanted to share with all of you right away, as you have all been so supportive of her for a very long time now. She is very excited about this new direction in her career.

I hope you will all support her, visit her band Sweetwater Rose's new website, and pass along to all your friends.

Many congratulations, Dani! We wish you every success!

Website: http://www.sweetwaterrose.com/
MySpace: www.myspace.com/sweetwaterrose

~COF Administration

Opportunity From Disaster – Learning Opportunity Seven: Do I Judge People I’m Working With?

As you experiment with other people to see if, in co-creation, you can find innovative ways that are meaningful and helpful to support to others who are suffering, observe your interactions. Are you able to be fully present with the person or people you are with? That means are you able to see them as they are as much as possible without thinking or feeling that they are superior to you or more creative, or that they are inferior to you or less creative, and without looking for them to provide answers or support for your ideas? Can you look at them as individuals who, like you, have their own doubts, their own fears, and their own challenges? Who are struggling with massive pain, such as the carnage and brutality of a war, hurricane, or tsunami that has been televised into their homes day after day? Can you see them in their fullness, with their strengths and their weaknesses?

© Gary Zukav

Gary Zukav: LOVE AND FEAR

The many different parts of your personality can be grouped into two generic categories: love and fear. In the fear category are those parts of your personality that are angry, jealous, vengeful, frightened, that feel superior or inferior, that need to please or feel entitled, among others. They are also the parts that cannot stop thinking judgmental thoughts, or thoughts of another who will complete or save them, or over-eating, drinking, watching pornography, shopping, gambling, etc. In other words, all of your obsessions, compulsions, and addictions are experiences of frightened parts of your personality. In the love category are the parts of your personality that are patient, caring, grateful, generous, etc.

The spiritual path requires you to challenge and heal the frightened parts of your personality and cultivate and strengthen the loving parts of your personality. When you challenge a frightened part of your personality again and again, it begins to lose its power over you. Eventually its power over you disintegrates. This is how to create authentic power. It is very easy to understand, but it requires practice to do and the more you practice, the more mastery you develop in your life. In other words, you are less and less in the control of frightened parts of your personality which means, for example, that you do not re-act (act again as you have habitually acted in the past) in anger when you are angry, or withdraw emotionally when you are jealous.

A PERSONAL NOTE FROM GARY:

The choice between love and fear is the eternal choice, the never-ending demand, the longest running show on Broadway. We make that decision with each intention that we make our own, and with it bring into our experience wonderful-feeling constructive consequences (love) or painful destructive consequences (fear). Everyone chooses love instead of fear when she is not frightened. This is not redundant. Fear obscures love and when a frightened part of your personality is active, its thoughts and intentions become magnetically attractive. We are on a voyage together, and I am grateful to be a part of it with you.

Love,





Now you can listen to Gary and Linda speak about creating authentic power. To hear their most recent interviews click here.

My visit with the Monks from Plum Village

Well friends, I didn’t think I was going to Magnolia Village this week after the news of Thay not being able to be there, and none of the friends going either. But I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t sleep and knew that I still wanted to go. And so I did. I packed my tent and hit the road Monday mid-morning. I got to Plum Village, set up my tent, took a nap, and joined the group for dinner. There were around 175-200 people there. Evenly divided between Vietnamese and American, and equal numbers of men and women.


After dinner we broke up into groups of 40-50 and had Dharma sharing circles. These are just like the Lakota talking stick circles I have been part of, and much like support group circles that we are all familiar with…funny. Just deep listening, no cross-talking, speaking from your heart encounters; facilitated by the Monks. Sleeping outside in cool crisp temps; waking at 5:30am for sunrise meditation; walking meditation; dharma sharing and these Monk messages are what I bring home;

- Just as you would prepare for a thunderstorm, you can prepare for the emotional storms in your life too. I often wonder where is that space between being triggered in pain and reacting? Well, maybe the secret is preparing for that ‘storm’ before it hits rather than expecting to prepare WHEN it hits. We can do this by periodically bringing out attention to our breath during the day. Then, when the storm hits, this habit is there and can be called upon. Breathe and then respond.

- Visualize space in your heart often – this space is there for those whose pain comes your way so that you can hold it for them. I am solid, I am a mountain.

- Each person has positive and negative qualities or seeds inside them. What you water is what grows. You need to nurture the seeds of joy and confidence in yourself and others rather than the seeds of negative qualities. Let negative experiences with yourself and others lay and shrivel up.

- I am solid, I am free, I am a mountain, I can sing when I am discouraged to help the feeling pass. I am free, I am free, I am free.

It was great to get away. I am restored from the journey and home again. And it is my wonderful joy to share it with you! Pictures are here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016597&id=1393503557&l=4228078e72


Blessings, Dawn

Dear Friend of Sounds True,

As stimulating as a recording or a book can be, there is nothing quite like learning in person from a spiritual teacher. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have as many opportunities as we would like for such direct contact.

Given this situation, it has long been a dream of mine to allow Sounds True listeners to have a live, interactive experience with their favorite authors—asking questions and communicating directly with both teachers and other participants—at a reasonable cost and without having to travel a long way. I am therefore thrilled to announce that Sounds True is launching our first four programs in an online format, with many more to come in 2010.

Here are brief descriptions, but please visit our website for much more about these courses:

• Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, the bestselling author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, will offer a series launching on October 15, 2009 of six online events on Mother Night: Myths, Stories, and Teachings for Learning to See in the Dark.

• Beginning on October 6, 2009 pioneering psychiatrist in the field of neurobiology Dr. Dan Siegel will team up with meditation teacher Jack Kornfield to offer an online course for healing professionals on Mindfulness and the Brain. Please note that continuing education credits are also available for this online course for therapists, social workers, and other healing professionals.

• As we all know, it is one thing to talk about committing to a daily spiritual practice and another thing to actually follow through on that inspiration. To support people who are interested in developing a spiritual discipline, in January of 2010, Sounds True will launch two new in-depth online training programs—Centering Prayer with Trappist monk Father Thomas Keating, and Insight Meditation with the cofounders of the Insight Meditation Society, Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg.

In recent days, I have heard more and more people talk about how beneficial it is to work in close community with like-minded allies, exchanging ideas and insights in order to thrive during the challenging times in which we live. With these new online events and courses, Sounds True is bringing our authors and listeners together for just such exchanges. We hope you will join us!

Tami SimonFounder and Publisher, Sounds True

P.S. Check back often for future course offerings at soundstrue.com/courses

413 S. Arthur Ave. Louisville, CO 80027© 2009 Sounds True, Inc.

Why Emotional Pain Doesn't Have to Lead to Suffering - By: Gangaji - Author, “Diamond In Your Pocket”

Physical feelings of pain are familiar signals to us all. In general we note the discomfort and naturally make attempts to correct the cause. This is our innate intelligence at work. And when the pain is simple, and simple corrections are made, all is well. The sensation of pain is forgotten until the next time it is needed.

Emotional pains are usually not simple, and when they grow into emotional suffering, they can influence the entire worldview of their host. We either know directly from our own experience or through our empathy with others' experience that some really terrible things happen to hurt people emotionally. Unjust things done to innocent people. Things we cannot in good conscience blithely dismiss as "perfect."

It is natural that a story arises with emotional pain. There is usually an event or a person that "causes" the pain. It may be initially important to tell the story and learn the lessons, or take whatever action is appropriate. Quite often that event or person also echoes earlier versions of emotional pain with similar stories. As legitimate as the story (or stories) may be, when they are played and replayed in the thought process, emotional pain grows into emotional suffering. The pain then becomes a signal of all that has gone or could go wrong, rather than a simple signal for correction. And yet when emotional pain is met without the inevitable story that arises with it, it too disappears from memory in the same way simple physical pain does.

Often we believe that to stop retelling the story of emotional pain is to somehow be disloyal to ourselves. We feel that in staying true to the story of our hurts we are being true to ourselves! Because of this (false) ideal of self-loyalty, we then begin to define ourselves by our emotional pain. To define yourself by your emotional pain is to suffer unnecessarily.

Pain that is met consciously does not grow into suffering. To suffer we need time and a continuing story. "My mother...." "He or she or they...." "I am or am not..." To continue the story guarantees the birth and continuance of suffering, and the avoidance of the pure feeling underneath all internal dialogue.

The "correction" for emotional pain may initially feel counterintuitive. Rather than moving away from the pain, we must meet emotional pain directly and intimately. It is an intimate meeting. Only you and your pain are present. And that requires that all other characters in your story of causes and betrayals and injustices be temporarily erased. It requires the intimacy of becoming one with the pain. Not in an indulgent, dramatic version of "Me Being One With The Pain," but a simple and sober quiet merger of attention into the sensation of pain.

Where do you feel the hurt? If you let your full attention fall into that area, leaving behind any part of any story about what caused it, even leaving the names pain and hurt behind, you discover pure energy. When we don't judge this energy, even if it feels uncomfortable or worse, we can get even closer. We can get so close that we are actually one with it. And we can stop there. We can simply be there, in the spaciousness of the endless open mind.

The challenge then is to give up the identity of the one who was or is being hurt. That giving up only requires us to stop retelling the story of how we were hurt, who hurt us, how badly it hurts, why it shouldn't have happened, and on and on and on.

In simply refusing to tell that story again, you have the immediate opportunity to meet directly the pain underneath the story. That's all that is needed for the suffering to be finished!
If the emotional suffering reappears, there is some story attached to it. Again, you have the choice to release the story and intimately meet the pain.

Pain that is unmet becomes suffering.

Pain that is met is not pain.

Please see for yourself and let me know!

Gangaji will be in Boston for a public meeting September 12th, and in Woodstock for a public meeting September 14. She will hold a seven day retreat at Garrison Institute, NY, beginning September 16th. Read more about Gangaji's events and catalog of books and videos online.