This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we join Randy Goldberg to learn how to give (and receive!) a blissful foot massage. Reflexology is the practice of massaging the feet on a system of zones and reflex areas that reflect an image of the body on the feet with a premise that such work effects a physical change in the body. We will learn to give and get a chance to receive a forty minute session.  The benefits include relaxation, energetic balance, and improves circulation. And it feels so good you may never want it to stop!

Randy Goldberg trained in Reflexology at the Maryland Kinesiology and Wellness Institute. Randy is a former Yoga monk, a Craniosacral therapist, a world famous astrologer interviewed by the Washington Post and by CNN. He facilitates Family Constellation therapy for individuals and groups. You can reach Randy at randy (at) randygoldberg.org or 301-380-6850 www.randygoldberg.org

The workshop begins after dinner at 8pm. I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on April 18, 2011 at 4:56 PM and has received 890 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we join Rukmini to learn about URBAN Gardening.

When I lived in Arlington, Virginia (before one had to be a millionaire to do so), I had a lovely backyard, raised bed garden.  Using intention and meditation, I worked with the Devas of the plants and the soil to create a beautiful garden of vegetables, herbs, and flowers, studded with crystals and providing a fragrant, verdant playground for my cats, Leo and Shabat. 

How have you attempted to connect with nature? 

Even pots (43!) on my balcony in Leesburg provided homes for bees and flowers, as well as delicious herbs for dinner. 

If you have, or have not yet, been bitten by the fierce organic gardening bug, join us in a beautiful Rite of Spring. 

At Perelandra, Machelle Small Wright's magical garden home in Jeffersonton, Virginia, I learned to muscle test and work with the Devas from the author of "Behaving as if the God in all life mattered."

I will teach about Permaculture and sustainable land use design.  This includes information about Findhorn and Perelandra, working with the nature Devas of plants in order to produce abundant growth.gardening, soil composition and testing, Organic gardening resources, No soil layer gardening, Rainwater harvesting, etc.

Rukmini Diane Bongiorni is a long-time organic gardener, trained in muscle testing and other techniques by Machelle Small Wright at Peralandra.

She is also a Feng Shui consultant, energy healer, and tarot reader. She can be reached at dbongiorni (at) hotmail.com or 202-744-3698.

The dinner is at 7 pm and the workshop begins after dinner at 8pm. I invite you to join us, though as always what ever choice you make you will be honored in.

This entry was posted on April 8, 2011 at 4:32 PM and has received 1402 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Barry Smiler wrote a great article There's No Such Thing As Polyamory and in my view spot on. We are moving to more personal freedom and responsibility. As Barry says:

The basic idea is that polyamory can be seen as simply a
subset or special case of everyone's right to self-determination in
all aspects of their lives. That is, polyamory could be reframed as
simply self-determination when applied to one's relationship life.

And If you haven't read Pete McWilliams book "Aint nobodies business but yours" it gives great arguments for ending Consensual Crimes including current sex crimes such as the law in some states against oral sex

http://mcwilliams.com/books/aint/toc.htm (free to read online or you can buy print copy at Amazon)

    This book is about a single idea—consenting adults should not be put in jail unless they physically harm the person or property of a nonconsenting other.

Chapter on relationships and the law is http://mcwilliams.com/books/aint/308.htm

    As of early 1996, adultery (sex with someone who is married, or sex with anyone other than your spouse if you are married) is illegal in twenty-seven states. Oral sex (called sodomy in some states)—either giving or receiving—is illegal for consenting heterosexual adults in fourteen states. Even missionary style, conventional, heterosexual sex between unmarried consenting adults is illegal in nine states. Cohabitation (living as married with someone you're not married to) is illegal in ten states.

    And let's not forget local ordinances. There are any number of laws—such as this one from Long Beach, California—which sound more like a passage from a Sidney Sheldon novel than a legal statute:

            No person shall indulge in caresses, hugging, fondling, embracing, spooning, kissing, or wrestling with any person or persons of the opposite sex . . . and no person shall sit or lie with his or her head, or any other portion of his or her person, upon any portion of a person or persons, upon or near any of the said public places in the city of Long Beach.

If business law had an equivalent to the laws concerning personal relationships, it would say, "If you're in business, you must have one partner, and only one partner, and keep that partner, until one of you dies." If this were the law, can you imagine the state of business in America? The same is true of the state of personal relationships.

This entry was posted on April 7, 2011 at 11:05 PM and has received 951 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Love yourself first is the key to good realtionships. This is a great article that explains this and the law of Attraction for realtionships by my friend Dianne, who is also a gifted astrologer. As Jesus and other masters have said "Love  your neighbor like yourself" - this includes loving yourself as much as yu love others! (It doesn't say love yourself less than others). Happy relating

love

Michael

This entry was posted on April 2, 2011 at 8:27 PM and has received 1012 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we join Cathy and Barry Smiler who will lead a discussion of Polyamory As A Spiritual Path. Our format will be more conversation than lecture as we explore this topic together.

Polyamory can be a powerful path of personal growth, a framework for
considering deep issues of self-empowerment, responsibility, community and what keeps us from real emotional intimacy and deep communication with ourselves and others. It's a truism that everybody does poly
differently, but what that really means is that if you want, every aspect of how we live and relate can be on the table for
consideration, not simply the elements around sexuality. When seen in this way, the poly vision of co-creating relationships offers a powerful opportunity to reconsider who we're close to, and why and why not. Taken the right way, this ongoing opportunity to re-evaluate all our boundaries to intimacy can be a powerful and growth-expansive spiritual practice.

Cathy and Barry have been leading poly discussion groups, workshops, and other events for years, initially in California and nowadays in the DC/MD/VA region, and especially in the Baltimore area where they
live. They can be reached at polyjunction (at) gmail (dot) com or through the BmorePoly Meetup at http://www.meetup.com/BmorePoly/

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:31 PM and has received 1259 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I first came across polyamory in the Radical Honesty/Getting Real world in 2000. And I saw Clara Griffin speak on poly at the Building Bridges conference in 2001. At the time it seemed a pretty weird idea of being honest about dating multiple people. But as I had experienced dating multiple people without honesty (ie cheating) on both sides of the fence which was not fun so I knew that there might be something to honest multiple partners. My next long term relationship with Sandy was open and was a vehicle for both our personal growths. My experience is that all relationships can be an aid to growing spiritually and that poly ones can be a way to grow even faster. Party due to the extra people and situations. partly due to the assumption in a poly relationship that lots of extra explicit communication will be required up front.  And poly people general do seem to do more learning about relationship issues and how to solve them than mono people - or at least the ones I meet do.

More recently I have studied energy systems such as chakras and meridians and learned that different people have different capacities to relate to multiple partners at once. Some people have "wiring" to be more jealous than others (and this "wiring" can be changed either way with energy work and experience). And some people just don't form the same energetic bonds as others.

Here is Bolivia I have not come across any poly groups - but doesn't mean that they don't exist. And if the Latin culture here is anything like France then  the concept of mistresses is common and  can be dealt with in a open way. I just read the book "Sideways: Travels with Kafka, Hunter S and Kerouac" by Patrick O'Neil and he talks about the pattern of young people in Columbia dating multiple partners. He thinks that folks here have a much more released attitude to sex that in the US. Anyway I recommend this book for wild travel adventures and a young man's journey to learn about himself. It is funny too!

This is my last week in Bolivia - I felt sad earlier this week thinking about leaving not having done everything I wanted to - and now I accept what is (thank you EFT adn Byron Katie for your help on this!). I will be back in Rockville for only one week so if you want to see me the 4/6 Sandbox on Polyamory as a spirirutal pah would be a good time. The rest of the week I am going to various healers, buying supplies for my next trip and at the weekend to a Mark Dunn workshop on using consciousness to heal and to working large group morphic fields. On Tuesday 4/12 I fly to Mexico to the Mayan temples and the beach for a workshop with Sylvia Brallier who I met at FSG a few years ago when I got my tattoo. Then on to Peru. I don't expect to be back in Rockville until December for Yule party...

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:28 PM and has received 607 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Upto 13% of whole earth's electrical needs could come from this... especially big for the Amazon basis in South America and in Africa where there are major rivers. Much cleaner and safer than coal or nuclear.

River Water and Salty Ocean Water Used to Generate Electricity

 

From http://battery-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/river-water-and-salty-ocean-water-used.html

Anywhere freshwater enters the sea, such as river mouths or estuaries, could be potential sites for a power plant using such a battery, said Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research team.

The theoretical limiting factor, he said, is the amount of freshwater available."We actually have an infinite amount of ocean water; unfortunately we don't have an infinite amount of freshwater," he said.

As an indicator of the battery's potential for producing power, Cui's team calculated that if all the world's rivers were put to use, their batteries could supply about 2 terawatts of electricity annually -- that's roughly 13 percent of the world's current energy consumption.

The battery itself is simple, consisting of two electrodes -- one positive, one negative -- immersed in a liquid containing electrically charged particles, or ions. In water, the ions are sodium and chlorine, the components of ordinary table salt.

Initially, the battery is filled with freshwater and a small electric current is applied to charge it up. The freshwater is then drained and replaced with seawater. Because seawater is salty, containing 60 to 100 times more ions than freshwater, it increases the electrical potential, or voltage, between the two electrodes. That makes it possible to reap far more electricity than the amount used to charge the battery.

"The voltage really depends on the concentration of the sodium and chlorine ions you have," Cui said."If you charge at low voltage in freshwater, then discharge at high voltage in sea water, that means you gain energy. You get more energy than you put in."

Once the discharge is complete, the seawater is drained and replaced with freshwater and the cycle can begin again."The key thing here is that you need to exchange the electrolyte, the liquid in the battery," Cui said. He is lead author of a study published in the journal Nano Letters earlier this month.

In their lab experiments, Cui's team used seawater they collected from the Pacific Ocean off the California coast and freshwater from Donner Lake, high in the Sierra Nevada. They achieved 74 percent efficiency in converting the potential energy in the battery to electrical current, but Cui thinks with simple modifications, the battery could be 85 percent efficient.

To enhance efficiency, the positive electrode of the battery is made from nanorods of manganese dioxide. That increases the surface area available for interaction with the sodium ions by roughly 100 times compared with other materials. The nanorods make it possible for the sodium ions to move in and out of the electrode with ease, speeding up the process.

Other researchers have used the salinity contrast between freshwater and seawater to produce electricity, but those processes typically require ions to move through a membrane to generate current. Cui said those membranes tend to be fragile, which is a drawback. Those methods also typically make use of only one type of ion, while his battery uses both the sodium and chlorine ions to generate power.

Cui's team had the potential environmental impact of their battery in mind when they designed it. They chose manganese dioxide for the positive electrode in part because it is environmentally benign.

The group knows that river mouths and estuaries, while logical sites for their power plants, are environmentally sensitive areas.

"You would want to pick a site some distance away, miles away, from any critical habitat," Cui said."We don't need to disturb the whole system, we just need to route some of the river water through our system before it reaches the ocean. We are just borrowing and returning it," he said.

The process itself should have little environmental impact. The discharge water would be a mixture of fresh and seawater, released into an area where the two waters are already mixing, at the natural temperature.

One of Cui's concerns is finding a good material for the negative electrode. He used silver for the experiments, but silver is too expensive to be practical.

His group did an estimate for various regions and countries and determined that South America, with the Amazon River draining a large part of the continent, has the most potential. Africa also has an abundance of rivers, as do Canada, the United States and India.

But river water doesn't necessarily have to be the source of the freshwater, Cui said.

"The water for this method does not have to be extremely clean," he said. Storm runoff and gray water could potentially be useable.

A power plant operating with 50 cubic meters of freshwater per second could produce up to 100 megawatts of power, according to the team's calculations. That would be enough to provide electricity for about 100,000 households.

Cui said it is possible that even treated sewage water might work.

"I think we need to study using sewage water," he said."If we can use sewage water, this will sell really well."

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 6:31 PM and has received 364 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

How to deal with hot button stuff - when I am centered (always good to ground and deep breath if triggered!) I read the email as the observer. It is like one of those martial arts where if someone punches at you you don't take it straight on - you side step at the last minute and use the opponent's energy to rush on by you. Do this mentally when attached and the punch doesn't land on you - it fly by you as you observe it going by.

Another method I just learned from Donna Eden book is called holding the "Oh My God" points. These are the bumps about an inch about each eyebrow. Hold them with your finger tips with thumbs on tempers for 30 seconds while you deep breath. These acupressure spots trigger more blood to flow to the forebrain (cerebellum) instead of the reptilian brain which is more reactive. This helps me see things from a higher perspective instead of reactivity and being stuck in old patterns.

And  I remind myself that my judgment is not me. And that usually it is something in me that is cause me to be triggered by someone else. How can I love that part of me that is like the triggering person in someway? Perhaps some Ho'oponopono - mediating on that disowned part of me with "I love you, thanks you, please forgive me, I am sorry" works for me.

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:48 PM and has received 688 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This article by healer Joan Newcomb resonated with me - I have always felt differnt from otehrs and was bullied at school for it. I still sometimes worry too much abput what will others think. It is good to be true to myself and as Joans says to be a light for others.

Michael

It Does Get Better / Being Different ©2011 Joan M. Newcomb

Today I watched a video by Oral Roberts' adult grandson, who is gay.  He wrote a letter to his Uncle Ronnie, who was also gay, and committed suicide in 2003.  Their evangelical Christian family overtly condemns homosexuality and is convinced they'll go to Hell.

I think it stayed with me because there's a thread of 'hellfire and brimstone' Christianity in my family and, although not gay, I'm quite different from the rest of them.

However, I thought being different was a good thing.  I couldn't help but be different.  I'm the only girl (I have three brothers).  I was born overseas in Berlin (they were all born in DC, in the same hospital, delivered by the same doctors).  And I'm the only one in the family with hazel brown eyes (they all have blue).  And, from the time I was five, we lived in different countries, moving every two to five years.  So I got used to being the American, the foreigner.

The advantage of being different is that you're not swayed by your peer group, since you don't feel you have one.  When you're not trying to be like anyone else, you get to be uniquely yourself.

I think the video also triggered me because for many years I was suicidally depressed.  When I was sixteen and heartbroken from the end of my first relationship, I took a massive overdose, and was in a coma for three days.  My father berated me in front of my psychiatrist that 'they had no hope for me, I was never going to finish high school, never go to college, and was going to end up in a brothel.'

This resulted in the psychiatrist recommended that I not live at home, so I finished 11th grade living at the Y.  As it turned out, I didn't finish high school because my family was stationed to Sweden and I went to college early.  Then I didn't finish college because I went to London to go to drama school instead.  

Fast forward to my late 30's as a single parent on food stamps.  I struggled with being suicidal and made choices that wouldn't 'tip me over the edge'.  I didn't work full time and I didn't commute to the city, which impinged my earning ability.  

Things did not turn around until I was 44 and in the midst of mourning the death of a loved one, which I've written about before.  I was grieving and at the same time in communication with his Spirit.  I got the distinct impression how, as Essence, we are all connected.  This lifetime happens in the blink of an eye to Spirit.  On Earth we may have another five or ten or fifty years before we get to experience a reconnection with our loved ones.  But to Essence, it's instantaneous.  

When someone dies, we are still connected with them on this level. And that life on Earth is a place to *play*. It's like being in a big swimming pool. Committing suicide is like getting out of the pool before swim time is over.  So why not fully enjoy everything about life while we're here?

Then I began to apply the teachings of Abraham-Hicks.  I started noticing my thoughts.  I realized that all day long I'd imagine conversations with people where I'd be telling them all the terrible things that were happening to me.  I literally had to grab myself by the ears and redirect my thinking to more positive things.  After just two or three weeks of consciously 'changing the subject', I found myself lifting out of this depression that I'd been in for years.

(On a neurological level, negative thoughts create neural pathways in your brain, and your thinking goes along these "ruts".  When you change your thinking, it changes the neural pathways so your thinking can go along more positive lines.  This changes your brain chemistry as well).

Today I make choices that direct me towards the light, towards the positive.  I don't hang around in negative or crazy-making situations.  My work focuses on empowering people to do the same.

Nowadays many of us are going through challenging and painful times.  Things we've identified with are falling away and our true Selves are emerging.  We no longer fit in old careers or old relationships, we're being called to be the Essence of who we are, and our work and relationships must align with our values.  

Some people are plagued with suicidal thoughts, because their body/personality cannot imagine life beyond the limitations it is currently living.  When everything it identifies with disintegrates, it believes it is dying.  It only know what has been and barely understands what is.  Your Essence, however, fully comprehends, embraces and enjoys these changes.

We are being called to be different.  There is no body exactly like you.  As Source we are One, but through the physical, your Essence is Unique.  Your vibration is an important melody contributing to the orchestral composition of Life.  When you align with your Essence, your note sounds strong and clear.

How do you do this?  Tune into yourSelf.  Turn towards what makes you happy.  What pleases You?

Sometimes you do need space from others who aren't happy themselves, or who want you to stay the way you were.  As you separate from them, supportive people will come into your life.

As you turn away from invalidation, the invalidators will squawk.  Let them. The most important thing to remember is that Light is greater than darkness.  Truth resonates more potently than lies.  Bullies, dictators, fundamentalists may be loud but they do not last.  They end up self-destructing.

When you stand in your Light and Truth, you will feel Joy.  And that Joy will ripple out to others.  And gives permission to others to do the same.  You will be a blessing and a healing to all around you.

So this week, take baby steps.  Start by noticing and redirecting your thoughts.  Or if your done with baby steps and cannot hold back any longer, leap.  You will be supported.  You will be leaping into a life better than you have even dreamed.

It does get better.

For more articles like this, go to my blog

This entry was posted on March 26, 2011 at 12:31 AM and has received 1073 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Good reminder that we are the power in our own lives unless we chose to give away our power. To stand in love and truth in these changing times as more truth about the controllers comes out
Michael

Joe Weaver wrote:

More and more people within the system are coming out and releasing information regarding the plan/agenda of the control system. This control system and plan has been in place for a very long time. I've become very familiar with the "other team", this is how I refer to them now. What many people may view as unbelievable information is only simple facts to me and to many who now know the truth. I don't see this other team as evil. It is just a group that has been in place that are supported by the people on many levels. It is in place because the people themselves have created and allowed this system to exist. This might be a hard thing to conceive at first but if you take the time to evaluate the facts and let go of your beliefs and fears the information is available for all to see who wish to see.

I ask all to look beyond what you have known to this point in your life as the truth. What you have been told, and what fears you have from this information. Do your own research. Look beyond all programs and patterns within your own Self and LOVE the whole system that is in place. For this system and all people are all part of one existence. Together we created this world and if we are to move forward in peace and harmony. WE have to see and work together as ONE.

If a person or a group of people wish to give their power away to someone outside of themselves. There will ALWAYS be someone or something there to gratefully take it off their shoulders. For as long as there are people willing to look to others for security there will always be someone there to give that security. However this security is not always aligned in the highest light of the person or people. When a person or a collective group stands in their own power and no longer looks outside of themselves for security or for someone else to take care of them. There will no longer be a need for a control system. Now look at our world and the governments, religions and systems of control and ask yourself these questions. Am I really FREE from a control system? Why do I look outside of myself for a higher Light? Why should I have to pay money to live on Earth? Look beyond your beliefs and fears. See the control system that is in place and move beyond the control system. Let go of all the fears and thoughts that keep you feeling powerless. Every single person on Earth holds the power of the Universe within their Being. When a person wakes up to a level of their own Being then that level is acknowledged. It no longer controls them. There are many of these levels of conscious awareness within the reality for which we know. I invite you to push forward beyond your comfort zone, to see beyond the bounds of what you have been told and focus on the power that you hold within.

Over the last year I've personally seen lots of information and videos of high ranking people within the military and so on speaking out. I've posted over a 1000 videos on facebook over the last year or so passing along a lot of information like this from within the system. I will be the first one to tell you not all of it has been 100% non-illusion information. The main reason why I post what I do is to wake people up! To somehow spur them to stand up! This requires information to be put in many different formats and views so it connects with people in different ways. What matters the most is that it gets people to stand up in their own power. To let go of the fear and for a person to move beyond the view they have had of the reality of the world.

So as I mentioned the agenda of the control system/other team is out there in plain sight for all to see who wish to see. Their agenda is to hold as many people in the conscious awareness of powerless Beings who need to look to others for security. To look outside of themselves for the truth and or who Created this world. They will continue to do their part of offering themselves as the saviors to everyone's problems. They will gratefully take your power and energy. For all this energy only empowers them. On a higher level though they do respect the Divine Will of those who stand up and empower themselves out of the system. There is no battling going on at this level. The lower incarnate levels of their system are only playing a part of Creation that we as a collective Being Created for our own experience to learn more about oursleves. On the other hand "Our team" I'll call it, is here assisting all to wake up to themselves and look within. We can call ourselves the Beings of Light or any other words that have been used through out time. The title does not really matter. What it all comes down to is that there is a team working on empowerment and a team working on dis-empowerment. The team who controls with fear, and separation of Self knowledge and the team of knowledge, truth, freedom from all separation from ones everlasting Life and power.

For those of you that have known about this information, please come out of your closets. Speak your truth that comes from your hearts. Don't let the fear of what others may think of you hold you back from speaking this truth. Nothing needs to be forced on anyone. Be a clear reflection of empowerment to all people and love all as if it is yourself. Everything within this Universe is one energy. You can BE ONE with this energy or you can choose separation from it. LIVE your truth, don't separate yourself from it.

No matter what happens in the days and months ahead and or is presented to the people. Either it is an alien invasion or a proclaimed messiah here to save everyone. Ask yourselves WHY! No need to give your power away to anyone or anything when you already are the power that created and feeds life into everything. See live and spread the truth.

Here is a link to a video I posted on facebook today of a retired US General talking about the plan that was in place well before the invasion of Iraq. There are many many more videos like this out there. It `s just an example that all information is out there for those that wish to see it. It's just a matter of taking the time do do it.

Retired US General speaks about agenda and plan to invade middle east.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX7hMj2NKTc

There is no need to struggle with what to believe, just let go of ALL beliefs together and focus on the truth that exists within your heart. Beyond all fear!

Spread the Light of Empowerment. Live as love IS………..FREE!

The time of mastering fear is over with, the time of mastering LOVE is upon us!

Through our own expansion of love……….we assist ALL!

Love, Joe

Visit radiorealization.com for our radio shows and music. Happy Days to ALL!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sent to you by Joe Weaver of thedivinebalance.com

http://www.thedivinebalance.com/2011/03/the-plan-and-agenda-of-the-control-system-what-are-you-choosing/ 

__._,

This entry was posted on March 24, 2011 at 9:26 PM and has received 383 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.