About the Artist

Cover artwork “Luna,” completed by Christine Bowman, a 25 year old artist residing in St. Peters MO. Christine’s art is a magical experience!  She is known for her signature mermaids and wildlife art!

Christine’s art has her own style with whimsical backgrounds and softer more realistic subjects, which can now be seen all over on a variety of merchandise including her own organic bath and body line, clothing,  a figurine line due out this spring and more!

When Christine spends her time away from her studio she’s usually around wildlife, traveling for shows and pleasure, doing photography, writing, and much more. Christine has a variety of talents beyond art, and spends much of her free time working on her new ventures. An entrepreneur at heart.

Christine’s goal is to be in a financial position to help wildlife causes financially. You can contact her at her studio (636)485-6336 or by e-mail Artbychristine@aol.com
a brand new web site will be up in late January at www.TheArtOfChristine.com

If you are interested in Christine’s original art please note pricing start’s at $4,000.00 per piece. Prints start at $15.00.

Awakening To Values, Intentions, and Destiny

Awakening To Values, Intentions, and Destiny
From the forthcoming book
Power and Grace: An Adventure in Awakened Living
by Irish Author Mick Quinn

Often we declare a desire to change with great gusto and conviction, but may find that within a few days or weeks that enthusiasm (root: God within) to change has almost completely dissipated. Why is this so? How can we make change permanent?

The core of the issue is that, although our intentions are good, the way in which we direct them is subject to both individual and collective conditioning; hence, even the purest ideas become corrupted and lead us pretty much back to where we started. An intention is the anticipated outcome envisioned in the mind. Our values help us select and then guide our intentions. The dilemma is that our values and the way we use them are the domain of ego, and because of this, lasting transformation is difficult, if not impossible.

The most humble of wishes would be to end all unnecessary suffering, also known as freedom. We will look at how this potential exists within your free will and how, when you are clear about your values, you can create a direct link between your intentions and your destiny. In this way your intentions become manifest in your future.

To stabilize the conditions for your wonderful resolutions to “stick” you must reclaim consciousness that will otherwise be consumed in a continuous struggle with ego-based outcomes. Liberation from the effects of hand-me-down values, upon which you base your decision-making, is the outcome when those values are rearranged into one conscious group, where the primary value supports and guides your intention to be free from suffering.

The primary value that you select for this single hierarchy always represents that your interest in awakening is marginally greater than all others. Making decisions based on such a conscious primary principle will produce an enlightened effect. This new arrangement also supports all other necessary aspects of living, since subsequent values can include money, security, family, love, creativity, and learning.

An awakened person’s life is centered on a clear, single hierarchy of values, and when asked, she could instantly identify her primary value. She may, however, have some difficulty determining what her second and third values are, as these will vary from choice to choice. Her primary value, however, will be consistent with freedom from conditioning, and significant choices made in her day-to-day life will give consistent and tangible proof of this arrangement.

For example: To sustain the conditions for transformation, consider placing a primary value such as completion, freedom, or fulfillment over and above all other values on a single hierarchy that is to represent your life from that moment forward. Making a major life decision according to a primary value of completion delivers an outcome of completion regardless of the circumstances surrounding that choice. Freedom is not dependent on the circumstances, options or outcomes, but on how consistently your pure intentions are directed by a related value that supports such an objective.

Conditioning segregates values into distinct and concurrent groups related to career, home, family, friends, and so on, in its futile attempt to manipulate reality. You may realize that you also have a “wish list” of values that includes valiant attributes such as integrity, perfection and creativity. The struggle with most major life decisions and their outcomes is the consequence of numerous “ego-guiding principles”. Not only does each group of values have its own agenda, but each hierarchy has its own presiding primary value. This arrangement ensures that the ego remains in firm control of your life force and fortune.

Because most of us are not aware of the multiple groups of values, we experience great anguish and confusion in times of making important choices. “Not knowing what to do” is a clear manifestation that the ego is entrenched in values. An awakened person can make major life decisions in a matter of seconds with no worries, regrets or fears that options may need to be “revised”.

Stressing over choices is a reflection of conditioning as it drains consciousness with compelling and conflicting narcissistic alternatives. The ego controls your decision-making process by selecting the most important values from these multiple and conflicting groups and then it lets you “duke” it out! In this way the ego can easily orchestrate your actions—and your fate—as you “weigh up the options,” “consider all the scenarios,” or look to the past for patterns. Whatever the original intention was, it is now lost, the outcome is conditioned, and lasting changes never seem to “stick.”

The ego also uses the battle for attention between all these values to drain your consciousness—in the present moment with deliberation—and in the future because of the conditioned outcomes you have to “overcome”. The continued existence of these multiple groups of values precludes you from being able to discover and express your full potential by setting and following through on noble resolutions.

As you awaken, it will become apparent how the first big decision you ever made—independently of your parents—was based on the existence of multiple groups of values, the result of conditioned intention and a product of the ego. You may also realize that you have been doing this pretty much ever since.

Margaret was the quintessential grandmother. She was sweet, kind, and caring. Margaret was also quite independent and lively. Now in her early seventies, she loved to go to spiritual retreats as she awakened in her wisdom years. She always paid attention, asked great questions, and expressed a genuine interest in awakening to her full potential. In the morning session of the last day of such a retreat. Margaret stated categorically that her number one value was family, and from her grandmotherly stories, her classmates had no reason to doubt her. The teacher then asked her, “Is family your number one value, or are you the number one value of your family?” As Margaret fell silent, she looked perplexed and anxious, and for the very first time in the retreat she did not respond. At the beginning of the afternoon session, Margaret was not in her usual place. When the teacher enquired as to her whereabouts he was told, “She had to leave on a personal matter.”

“Awakening to Values, Intentions, and Destiny” was adapted from the soon-to-be-published book Power and Grace - An Adventure in Awakened Living by Irish author Mick Quinn. A native of Ireland, Mick has lectured to thousands nationwide and has received press attention from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He studied Buddhism, Christianity and the evolution of consciousness since 1991. Please visit www.mickquinn.com for his teaching schedule.

Crystal Healing

Since the dawn of mankind, people have used crystals in both functional and ornamental ways. The Atlanteans used crystals for healing, communication, weather control and record keeping. Tibetans used them to produce light. Today, crystals are used worldwide in vibrational healing.

Quartz crystals can come in a stunning variety of shapes and color. Some forms of quartz have different numbers of edges surrounding the largest of the faces that slope toward the point. A Quartz crystal with six edges on the largest face is the most usual type. It acts as a comprehensive amplifier of energy in that it strengthens all of a person's energies or human qualities. Crystals with odd-number facets aid in healing, while even number facets create the best energizers. Red, yellow and orange stones produce energy; clear and aquamarine stones are healers; and lavender and blue-violet stones create tranquil, relaxing effects.

Essentially, crystal healing helps you heal yourself. Quartz crystals are a gift from the earth. They have the ability to amplify or strengthen the things in you that are positive, and can help you put away things that cause you fear or anger. They can strengthen your ability to become more loving and can enhance your abilities to enjoy life and accomplish your dreams. They can amplify intention, reduce stress, help with centering (balancing or calming), strengthen the healing response of the body, and surround you with protective energies by amplifying higher frequencies. Crystals also support personal growth by amplifying the subtle energies that flow inside you.

The high frequencies of energy that are transmitted this way help to restore balance at all levels of our being by amplifying and balancing the subtle energies that flow inside us. They can amplify intention, reduce stress, help with centering by balancing or calming our energy fields, strengthen healing abilitiy, and provide protection at subtle levels by amplifying white light.

Clear quartz crystal is used worldwide to power many things in the material world: the use of crystals for computers and wrist watches are a few examples. Crystal healing uses the energy of crystals at metaphysical levels to restore balance and well-being at all levels.

Crystals and gemstones are potent conductors of energy that can be used to support healing and growth. All matter consists of molecules that spin at various vibrational frequencies. The higher the vibration, the less dense the matter. Our physical, emotional and subtle bodies also have vibrational frequencies.

In a crystal therapy session, crystals are used to interact with energy vortices known as chakras and the energy field that surround your being, known as the aura. The client usually experiences some gentle physical sensation as energy blockages are removed. Sensations can vary from heat, cold, tingling, etc, as discordant frequencies are neutralized.

Each crystal has unique properties that deal with specific issues. The crystals used in each therapy session are selected by the client’s higher self, not the healer. This is done by the practitioner making a metaphysical connection with the client, and then dowsing to identify the crystals with the appropriate vibrational frequency needed for each purpose.

Crystal healing offers a complimentary solution to conventional medicine and is not a substitute for conventional medical treatment. Quartz crystals can be powerful tools to assist with clearing out the discordant energy patterns of limiting beliefs or fears to restore balance. After a crystal treatment, clients typically report a sense of peace and well-being.

Crystal healing does not interfere with a person’s religious or spiritual beliefs. The use of crystals in healing is based on sound scientific principles to facilitate a gentle, effective shift toward homeostasis at all levels. All that is required is the willingness to change and the intention to heal.

Charles Lightwalker is a Metis shaman, author, medical intuitive, and healer. For more information call Charles at 509-389-7290 or visit the web site: www.thefamilyoflight.com

Fad

Fad
by Jeremy Chapman

Looking for some direction
underneath my very own reflection

giving up what I thought I had
just for a chance to make another fad.

Or just to understand
why a life might take this direction.

When you get to grasp a few
of something that happens to bother you forget about it.

Because life would never fake it
to much longer than to arrange it.

God Forgave Me, So I Can Forgive You

God Forgave Me, So I Can Forgive You
by Harold E. Palmer, JR, BSN, M. Div.

One day, while working on medical-surgical ward, I was called into room 305 to lift a patient out of her hospital bed into a wheel chair. To this day I still don't understand what happened, but as I lifted her out of bed my knee gave out and I dropped the woman on the floor. As she bounced off the hard floor, the complexion of her skin turned from white, to pink, to green, to blue as she cried out. That high pitched sound of her crying out in great pain, suffering and distress cut deep into every part of my being. Looking back on that day, the lighting in the room became dark as an apprehension I had never felt before overtook me.

Overcome with grief, I ran out of the room and hid in the closet down the hallway. Cursing myself a hundred thousand times. I shed tears until it seemed as if the body itself was emptied of water that was life itself, ultimately leaving me feeling lifeless.

Then there was a knock on the door. As the door swung open, I knew my young career in the nursing industry had come to an end. However, it was not my supervisor who stood before me, but one of the aides working on the floor that day. In a hoarse voice she said to me, “The woman in room 305 wants to see you. Oh! By the way, it took more than six of us working together to get that heavy woman off the floor." Slowly I moved out of the corner of the linen closet where I had sought to escape from it all, and took the long walk back to room 305.

The whole scene felt like something out of a prison movie. With each step I took, I blamed myself for everything. The nursing staff stood to the side, watching me walk the last mile towards my end. In truth, I wanted to die right there, on the spot, rather then look upon the face of the woman that I had caused so much pain and suffering. "Yes! I did it. I am the guilty one; it is I who have done her wrong…"

The woman was Dr. Emma Brown. She was a surgeon who had been in a car accident and was paralyzed from the neck down. When I entered the room she looked at me and said, "Pick up your head.” I had walked into the room with my head down because I didn't want to look into her eyes.

When I lifted my head our eyes met. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. If that is true, this woman witnessed me in my sorrow and my remorse on that day. Yes! This woman looked deep into my soul and saw my pain. I felt my hurt as I saw her pain and witnessed her disablement and paralysis. Then she did something that was odd and strange to me, something I will never forget. She asked me if I was ready to lift her out of the bed once again. I was in shock!

So once again I carried out my nursing techniques, placing my hands and my body in the right position. The aides helped me move her to the side of the bed. Then I took her in my arms and smoothly lifted that woman up off the bed carefully over into the wheel chair. As I left the room, I turned and asked her why she gave me a second chance. She said, "I serve a God who has forgiven me, so I can forgive you."

I believe God's grace is always given, and always available to us all. Yet oftentimes we do not realize it. When amazing things happen, many of us call it luck; or we see something happen, and we seek to find a way to explain the unexplainable. However, when amazing things happen beyond our control, SOMEHOW the lights can come on.

I don't know how one obtains enlightenment, but I do know for certain that something happened to me that day. I knew that what was happening had nothing to do with my efforts and I had nothing to do with the outcome of the situation. Yes, I experienced it and was involved in it, but the dynamics of it all took place on another level -- somewhere far, far away, in a celestial world beyond the reasoning powers of man.

As I stood in amazement before this woman, I was lost in the awesomeness of it all. Dr. Brown had learned to love herself as well as others. In her darkest moments, I received the grandest expression of what she held to be true. For she had full trust in herself and in me. The woman's request, and her verbal response to my question, communicated God's love and forgiveness to me in a powerful way. On this day, I was consciously aware of the blessings that I had received.

Dr. Brown's calmness of spirit is what Paul referred to when he wrote about the peace that surpasses all understanding. In my view, what happened that day was a jaw-dropping moment. For in my pain, loneliness and self-recrimination, I received a second chance rather than being given a good old fashioned tongue-lashing.

As I left her room, I very much wanted to know for myself what it was she knew. I wanted to know the real deal. I had been a witness to the power of grace in action. I had firsthand knowledge about a dramatic event that took place right before my eyes. Yet, calling upon my mental skills seemed futile. After all my second guessing, I could not come up with an answer as to how this woman who was broken, hurt, and in pain was empowered from above and within.

In my view, Dr. Brown was truly a saved person, regardless of her emotional feelings about the car accident and the process of confronting (as all of us do) pain and suffering in the daily struggles that were hers. She was not empty of spiritual joy…a serenity that placed her in a state of calmness on the stormy seas that made up her life situation. It was as if living life with a consuming passion for it was giving her strength in a time of need. That day, when I looked upon her face, she appeared set free from it all. Somehow in her discomfort, distress, soreness, tenderness, agony, and anguish, she continued to focus on God in her life, and found strength in herself to deal with everything that had happened to her.

On that day, I wanted answers. I wanted to have a personal relationship with God. On that day I was given a gift that no words or personal testimony can describe. God’s grace became real to me. I knew it was not about the woman per say, but it was about the faith that she held as true. Looking back on it all I realize that there was something so powerful and so awesome, that even today it consumes me and overwhelms my senses.

Thirty years ago I could not articulate what I learned that day. Yet if I dared to put it into words, it would be in terms of spirituality. For some, words such as spirituality and religion are used synonymously. I differentiate spirituality from religion by explaining that spirituality involves fully living a meaningful, purposeful life, while religion entails engaging in traditional practices, ceremonies, and dogma in religious institutions.

The day Dr. Brown told me the reason why she gave me a second chance, I entered what a writer once coined as the “Heroic Journey.” For me, it is a walk of faith toward knowing Thy Self. In this way I began to pursue a course of action and live out a way of life that would lead me into the mysterious and the unknown, Myself.

Let's Adore One Another

Let's Adore One Another
By Rumi, Ghazal 1535

come on sweetheart
let's adore one another
before there is no more
of you and me

a mirror tells the truth
look at your grim face
brighten up and cast away
your bitter smile

a generous friend
gives life for a friend
let's rise above this
animalistic behavior
and be kind to one another

spite darkens friendships
why not cast away
malice from our heart

once you think of me
dead and gone
you will make up with me
you will miss me
you may even adore me

why be a worshiper of the dead
think of me as a goner
come and make up now

since you will come
and throw kisses
at my tombstone later
why not give them to me now
this is me
that same person

i may talk too much
but my heart is silence
what else can i do
i am condemned to live this life

-- Ghazal 1535, Translation by Nader Khalili
"Rumi, Fountain of Fire" Burning Gate Press, 1994.

Love

Love

...from Marshall Ball, a boy who cannot speak or walk, but can teach and write poetry

“I see my self as a teacher
That knows about God.
Good thoughts come to me
And they teach.
I hope to gather thinkers
To give them my thoughts about love
Love to clean their ideas
That cleaning might loosen the love in their hearts
Good thinkers take love to heart
Like gold in the wild sun.”

The Essence of Quality

The Essence of Quality
By Aaron Hoopes

The attitude we take towards any task or undertaking reflects on how we view the self. The completed task is the outward image of our self. A task done with quality and completeness corresponds to a quality and completeness within. A task half-finished or done sloppily reflects an inner sloppiness. The importance of the task is irrelevant with regard to the quality and completeness with which we undertake it. Whether we are doing life-saving surgery, writing a book, washing the dishes, or tying our shoes, we need to focus all of our attention and concentration on that action. In effect, we want to enter into the essence of it.

By entering into the essence of something, I mean becoming one with the action we are performing. In Japan there is a word shoshin, which means “Beginner’s Mind.” As a beginner, the first time you do something you have to concentrate on it in order to do it correctly, but as you become adept at it, you soon stop paying attention to the doing of it. The idea of shoshin is to retain the mindfulness of the beginner, even as the task becomes routine. In this manner you are able to enter into the essence of what you are doing, and that makes all the difference. Doing anything without entering into its essence is pointless and empty. However, the more fully you enter into something, keeping mindful of it, the more point or meaning it has and the more alive you feel by doing it. Musicians, dancers, or artists who are able to enter into the essence of their art become their art -- they transcend the doing and are just being. By entering into the essence of your daily tasks you can begin to wake up to the great secret of life – living. The quality of living that results from entering into the essence of everyday life is profound. By entering into the essence of things, it is possible to become one with the creative principle of the Universal Mind. Only by actually being mindful of what we are doing can we reach that goal.

It is very simple to bring the essence of quality into all of your daily tasks. The next time you have to do a boring job, try to change your attitude about it and make it the most important task of the day. If you are washing the dishes, work to make each dish as spotless and perfectly clean as possible. Let the job you do reflect on the completeness within you. Keep in mind the concept of shoshin. If you have to clean the kitty litter, approach it as if it is the first time you have ever done it. Don’t be thinking about the book you want to read or going bird-watching. Think about cleaning out the kitty litter. When it is done, then move on to the next experience and enter into it just as fully. Whether you are vacuuming the floor, brushing your teeth, driving, or eating makes no difference. What matters is to keep mindful of the quality with which you are doing it and the degree to which you live it. Practice entering into something at least once a day. Focus on executing the task with the utmost care and completeness. Gradually begin to practice this with other things you do, each and every time you do them. Recognize the existence of your complete self in everything you do no matter how important or trivial it may be.

“Surely,” you say, “I won’t accomplish anything if every habitual action has to be done with quality.”

On the contrary, you will accomplish everything. It will take you seven seconds to tie your shoes whether you are mindful of it or not. Why not spend those seven seconds entering into the essence of tying your shoes? Habitual, mechanical action allows the autopilot to control you. Mindful action allows your Universal Mind to create true quality from within. Understand that by entering into the essence of something you don’t forcefully impose yourself on what you are doing or give it more importance than it deserves. Just become more fully aware of everything you do and live it.

An excellent way of becoming mindful of your actions is doing a simple task in a completely new way. Life is filled with habitual, unconscious and mechanical behaviors which you do without thinking and are hardly aware of. You don’t enter into the essence of these tasks because you believe they are much too routine, automatic, and boring to be worthy of your attention. What can you do to intensify your awareness of what you are doing – to be more mindful of the tasks you undertake - and enhance the quality of the routine behaviors which are so omnipresent in your life? You need a way to apply the idea of shoshin. Challenging yourself to do simple tasks differently will help you become more fully aware of entering into the essence of the task.

Most people have one hand that is more dominant than the other. Write your name with your normally dominant hand. Now try to write your name at the same speed with your other hand. Most likely the latter is much more difficult and the writing ends up a mess. Now write your name once more with your opposite hand, taking your time and going as slowly as you need to. Remember the idea of beginner mind and the need to concentrate on what you are doing. Relax your grip on the pen and slow your breathing. Grasp the pen lightly, there is no need for force or tension. As you practice, the writing should become easier and the result more legible. The next step is to make a conscious decision to use the opposite hand to carry out as many other simple daily tasks as possible. When brushing your teeth, combing your hair, buttering your toast, answering the phone, picking up books, or even clicking the TV remote, remember to try to use the opposite hand. Force yourself out of the habitual, mechanical and unconscious behaviors, pay attention, and make each action the center of focus.

Gradually you will begin to notice a difference in the way you go about your normal tasks. Having to slow down and concentrate makes each task take on more importance. This is the meaning of entering into the essence of something. By concentrating on the task, you naturally bring quality to it, and its completeness reflects the growing completeness of your being.

As you grow more adept at this, begin to challenge yourself further. Once your opposite hand is able to do simple tasks, try to do more complicated ones such as tying your shoes with the opposite hand leading, or manipulating the computer mouse. You could even try games such as playing tennis or Ping-Pong if you can find someone willing to put up with you.

By learning to understand how you think, you can become aware of your thought process. By remembering to be aware of yourself, you begin to learn how to engage in living life as it occurs. By slowing down and experiencing what silence has to offer, you begin to gain control of your mind. And by entering into the essence of things you do and concentrating on the quality of your actions you begin to sense something more universal. All of this is drawing you towards a sense of peace within yourself.

Aaron Hoopes is the founder of Zen Yoga. He has over twenty years experience in the martial arts and yoga and Eastern healing methods. He has lived and trained in Japan and Australia. He is the author of Perfecting Ourselves: Coordinating Body, Mind and Spirit and Breathe Smart: The Secret to Happiness, Health and Long Life. He has also created the deep relaxation/guided meditation CD Inner Sunrise. He teaches Zen Yoga: The Art of Breathing, Stretching, Moving and Relaxing to his students around the world. From children to seniors - his teachings are accessible to all. For more information visit his website at www.artofzenyoga.com

The Way Of The Wiggle

The Way Of The Wiggle
By Rodney Collins

Humans do a lot of wiggling. We wiggle here, we wiggle there. We wiggle our hands and we wiggle or feet. We wiggle our eyes and we wiggle our lips. We even wiggle our minds and our hearts. We consider our wiggling to be very important and quite special. Sometimes we imagine our wiggling to be more important or more valuable than the wiggling of other humans. Sometimes we put great importance on how one wiggle is performed over some other wiggle. Sometimes we say one wiggle is the only type of wiggle and all other wiggles are in error. Believe it or not in some places one may even be killed for wiggling incorrectly. So be mindful of how you wiggle.

One thing we do a lot of is wiggle words. Word wiggling is something I do very often. A lot of the word wiggling I do is called Scientific Research which is the kind of wiggling where I have to make a lot of very small wiggly things wiggle in very precise ways and then, I have to make words wiggle in a very precise way that will reflect or describe the wiggling of the very small, precisely wiggling things. I know this sounds ludicrous but it is essentially what I do and this type of wiggling allows me to pay bills for other types of wiggling I also do (many types of human wiggling are not free and require a fee. (Isn’t it funny how close the words “free” and “fee” are, yet how different the meanings are?)

I also do another type of word wiggling where I wiggle words between two languages. Not just any words but special words. Words that were wiggled by another man who is a master word wiggler. He is what is known as a Zen Master or in his language, a Roshi. He is also my teacher. In his country other people who wiggle in ways called Zazen pay close attention to the words he wiggles. I pay close attention to the words he wiggles, not just because I have to wiggle his words into a new language, but because when he wiggles words they wiggle just the right way. One of the ways of wiggling that he teaches is to pay close attention to how and why we wiggle. Mindful wiggling, if you will.

This type of wiggling, when done with skill, is a wondrous type of wiggle. It’s spontaneous and all the other wiggles one may wiggle just fall away, leaving a kind of wiggle that is not a wiggle. When one practices this type of wiggling over time they say that one will develop what is called skillful means. The meaning of this is that one wiggles with original mind, sometimes called Bhodi mind. That is, one is wiggling in accord with all the other wiggling going on and that one becomes indistinguishable from the wiggles one makes. Further, that one is indistinguishable from the wiggles one makes, and both the wiggles and the one perceiving the wiggles is empty of any eternal, enduring, ultimate wiggle. In the vernacular of Zazen they say that the wiggle is “Empty.”

So think of all these things wiggling. People, plants, rocks, amoebas, trees, tractors, politicians, worms, vast clouds of gas and dust all wiggling together. One wiggle causing a multitude of other wiggles. Think of the past as a wiggle that gives rise to the present wiggle that will disappear and become the future wiggle. Think of our minds wiggling ideas, our hands wiggling this to make that. Observe that all this wiggling is continuous and without a start or without an end. Observe that all things wiggle. They wiggle up and then they wiggle away. If you look closely, you will see that in every wiggle one can make and in every wiggle of a wiggle there is no single unchanging wiggle that exists.

I am no master word wiggler, nor do I claim to have any special way of wiggling, but if I pay close attention to the words that wiggle in my head, these are the ways they wiggle. The wiggles don’t have much special or unique things to say but they are cute in their own way, like little furry caterpillars eating leaves.