What disturbs you?

Peace...

Hello my friends... I’m soon to leave, but a sweet friend reminded me of all those who enjoy my words and offered the topic “attaining peace.” Oh not too big a topic ha? It's ok, I’ll offer my opinion and all will do with it as they please...

Peace, what is peace? For me it is attaining balance, for where balance is achieved many of the items that disturb our peace will have been dealt with... but it’s a bit more difficult than words lead us to believe, for peace of mind is the cornerstone to peace in general, for we may have all the practical, physical things all in order yet still be disturbed, very disturbed.

So what causes these disturbances? I have come to the conclusion it is our perpetual evaluation of all that surrounds us and our equally perpetual dissatisfaction with what has arisen, the things we call our lives. So how do we change this?

First we need to take a close look at what we desire in order acheive satisfaction. let me ask "what will satisfy you?" Next look at that list to see if what is listed are items that truly satisfy; are substantial and lasting, or are we placing our hopes and expectations on shifting sand? (best to not expect anything, just live)

The next item is our mind, the state of it and our clear view of what it is viewing and what these views generate in our mind. This is best done via a simple mediation offered to lessen the reactiveness of our minds, this reactive state is what keeps us unhappy, disturbed, for things we don’t like, have aversion to, are all a part of the stream of consciences that passes each of our noses every moment of the day.

This is a general idea of what to do. While sitting watching these arisings, we let them pass without evaluation, by doing so we find we need not follow every leaf that floats down the stream, just see them, recognize their appearance, and let them pass. This practice builds the ability to walk, drive, sit, play or make love in the moment, no projecting, no evaluating, just living, in this moment, this slice of life, knowing all is well.

If we are breathing well, are without pain, then all is well, even if we are not, seeing these so called negative things clearly, accepting their existence, and as such, the way things are, offer us peace... try it..

If you or your group desires instruction in mind training I offer a secular version of a combination of both Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist strategies for working with mind, finding peace, knowing one self... If you’d like me to speak to your group, offer instruction, etc. I am available based on an hourly rate + expenses... I also offer private instruction.

subtlethings@bellsouth.net

http://www.subtlethings.com

http://changeyourmindchangeyourbody.blogspot.com/

Time Well Spent

Let's trust ourselves... Be brave.

Hello my friends...  I'm a practicing Buddhist. One who is open to hearing from many sources. While practicing I've been exposed to practitioners of all sorts, seeking knowledge they studying the dharma, meditate and consult with their teachers and "space". The are those who study little, instead perpetually dive off the springboard of the foundational truth “space is information” believing there is no need to learn what others know, that it is best to learn for oneself though communicating with "space" on ones pillow (in meditation).

Now it is said, all is empty, everything composite is illusion and that we live and swim in an impermanent soup of perception composed of a composite of all things manifest, a soup which has no reality in itself demostrated by the fact it does not last, falls away the instant it has manifest, and as such is unreal. Also unreliable in the next moment. 

This is all good, but to what end is this information to be used, and how much of it is needed in order to live this life well and to do the work of a Buddha; an awake compassionate human being?

To think too much about something which has no fundamental reality (if you believe it is so) is a waste of our precious lives, time better spent living the life of a bodhisattva (a compassionate being whose intentions and actions are aimed at relieving suffering, that of their own and others) for to know and not do has little worth, and to do without knowledge will bring little positive results. We need to find balance.

So who can answer this question of balance? Well certainly not me for you, instead we all have this responsibility to find balance between compassion and wisdom, doing and knowing, and the time spent in these activities, for our lives are short, our time precious, and the needs to be met great.

I encourage all who are “on their way” to use their minds, to not be like lemmings who jump to their death following what’s in front of their nose whether it be true or not because of their fear of not knowing, or possibly “doing it wrong.” My friends once you have found your way to the silence found in communing with space trust in what arises before you, be fearless in your actions, and do good.

This way of living will never betray you, for all gurus, lamas and roshis know they have received from the source of all knowledge and would point you there. Run from any who would point to themselves. Go there today and harvest your bounty. Eat it and give it away in a loving hug to all sentient beings...

Warm smiles...gi

http://www.subtlethings.com/

Capitalism in the name of "prosperity"

Does money equal prosperity?

I opened my facebook this morning and came upon a post from a new friend who seems to me to be walking a thin line between compassion and wisdom. She seems to have a big heart, wants to help, but like most is still caught up in, will not to let go of, the western ideal of prosperity; something that in my opinion needs be dumped, jettisoned into space once and for all...

Below you'll find my rant concerning the "Women Prosperity Network" a group who in my opinion just uses the very portion of our society who have been out of the "prosperity" loop, and so has been recognised by these organizers as prime for the picking...

Ok here we go................

I wish they had found a better name for the group "Prosperity"... creeps use it, capitalists use it, “name it and claim it” Christians use it, those with their eyes on money money use it, but the thing, the item of life of humanity that truly needs/requires prosperity continues to be poor, lives in poverty, this being ones clear view of who they are, the nature of mind, and reality of what life is about.. No it’s not that every woman deserves a new Lexus, trips to their favorite retreat and more shoes than their closet can hold... Oh and face lifts, boob jobs and lipo to suck out the rich foods their new "prosperity" has offered their prosperous lifestyles (and bodies)...

When does this end? When will we jump off this cyclic round and round nonsense many call life and stop, sit, and listen long enough to see clearly?

Even the very organization that was brought into being to "help" women (was it?) is just one more capitalists move to make a few wealthy and to leave the rest wonder "what happened?"

Wake up!!!!

You know I love u just means you've learned to play the game, the very game that has destroyed this world, killing multiple millions for the sake of stuff and ego...

I’m sitting here writing this at the end of a five year quest to become a DOM, still not done. As I look at my possibilities, at my fellow students' plans, ideas of why they're doing what they’re doing, and what I see are people seeing this education as a way to cash in… Their conversations are about over billing insurance companies, turning over treatment rooms to bill the amount maximum clients per day, selling procedures, some not soo necessary, products, some not so effective, etc etc etc... just to make money. I’m sick to my stomach…

Perhaps my view differs because unlike many I have been in the place of being told “you’re dying” not having the money some required to receive (buy) so-called treatment, of being used, cut, drilled into, just because these were "billable items" and then told "no hope, go home and die"….

This experince has made me promise to never use another’s’ suffering to fill my pockets... If I do... Shame on me… I refuse to; refuse to even if I must continue my modest life, even if I have to bail out of this social structure, opt out of this life “as it is” in this moment…

Smiles.... gi

http://www.subtlethings.com/

Healthcare????

A friend wrote me this short piece and asked me to pass it on as a statement of sorts; I found it too vague for such a complex issue so I wrote this short addendum.

First her statement…

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. It's really simple to put people before profits. Healthcare is a basic human right.

My addittion....

I agree, but it must be clear that if the "heathcare" being offered is what is now considered "care" under law (so-called standard of care) then I want no part of it, nor would I want my tax dollars going towards any social program which offers it.

I think the issue that is getting all the attention is payment and not mode. What good is an overpriced, ineffective, drug based system? None at all... and I would rather leave the US than participate...

I've watched my father, mother, brother, X wife, and if me, would have allowed, die from such "care." ...

Please people wake up!!!!

Insurance... fear fear fear....

Insurance... I have none... I don't believe in it... It is all fear based!

This piece below was written in response to a post concerning healthcare in general and more care for the autistic...

There are things we need insurance for, accidents, etc., but if we avoided all the unnecessary so-called care, the other could be paid for by the government with our taxes, no problem, and the rest of the money could be spent on health enhancing techniques instead of keeping people alive with no quality of life; and I'm not just talking about bed ridden folks, I'm talking about forty year olds who can''t climb a flight of stairs, can't run 10 yards, can't make love without little blue pills... Please people wake up!

OK now the piece... :-)

Insurance... perhaps we might think about changing our lives so that all this coverage become unnecessary.

It's a fact that the majority of all covered doctor's visits and prescribed pharmaceuticals could be avoided if people would stop eating shit, drinking too much, and sitting on their asses.

As far as I'm concerned these people don’t deserve subsidized care. I'm not happy about paying for their self imposed damage; meanwhile I can't get proper preventative care so that I may avoid the very crap they have gotten themselves into. Whatever happened to being responsible for ones actions?

Concerning autism, stop poisoning our children with fear marketed vaccines.. That’s a start… Instead of looking for drugs to fix it, learn how to prevent it, to heal it. Drugs never heal a thing....

http://www.subtlethings.com/

Its the terrain - skin cancer

More buying and selling, motivated by fear, focusing on the wrong thing.

One of the "products" being sold to us in greater and greater quantity is sunblock...

The whole fear of skin cancer is a hoax, just something else to push us to buy more crap... I'm not saying poeple don't get cancer but I ask u, why is it that human beings are the only creature, living thing on this planet that is harmed by the sun? Plants grow, animals thrive, we hide...

Just like with all things, it is not the external thing that harms us, it is the state of our own health, our terrain... So rather than trying to find a safe/stronger sunblock, why not just spend that money, that energy making ourselves well, building our immune systems so that the lovely rays of the sun don't harm us, but instead bless us...

As always this is just my humble opinion.... don't be angry... just think about it...gi

capitalism... money, buying, selling...

Ah another day of buying and selling for all us American’s. Isn’t life fine... or is this all for the benefit of a few who have convinced all the rest that what we have is fine, that the shit that falls apart on cue so that we may replace it is all worth the effort.

We are living a nightmare, for even if it all lasted forever our insatiable desires for more, our perpetual dissatisfaction, the way we lose interest in the very things we killed ourselves to obtain would drive us to by more, to replace.....

This thing goes round and round, don’t believe it? Just wait until your new car looses it’s smell, till the paint no longer shines, till you mate gets fat, till the flat screen seems too small, just wait.. STOP!.............................................................

http://www.subtlethings.com

Michael Jackson... what really killed him

doers and the viewers...

My friends… Most of u have come to expect subjects of value coming your way from me… Well today Michael Jackson has found his way into our conversation. You might wonder “how has this occurred?” Well let me tell u… I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Yesterday in clinic we had a four hour seminar. These are intensives where we examine specific pathologies or sometimes examine and diagnose one another to test our skills. This time the professor sat before us and began the session asking this “strange” question “will everyone share their ideas about MJ, his drug abuse and death.” At first many of us thought she’s joking, but she was dead serious.

Well the talk got quite strong, beginning with a with a very bright student who is also a dancer, drummer, and artist, and then me; we both came at it from a psycho spiritual point of view and as I said it got interesting.

Instead of me offering all that to you, let me offer this fine 20min talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert, a successful writer who speaks about being gifted, what it means, where it might come from, what it gives and what it takes away..........

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

Enjoy… smiles…gi

http://www.subtlethings.com/

Entilted to be whole....

I will not buy something i dont believe in... nor should I be made to do so...

I just watched a commercial (political ad) concerning health care, it went like this “all Americans are entitled to healthcare coverage"...

Ok, I believe that’s true, but first if we are going to say “entitled” then the system must change, for capitalists don’t like that word, for they want everyone to "earn" what they get...

Next, if we are to become more socialistic, that's fine with me, but then what is offered must be better than what we have today, not worse, for I will not buy into a medical system that offers just one mode treatment, if diagnosed with some chronic or terminal disease I don’t want nor would I not accept burning, cutting, and poisoning as my mode of treatment. So things must change… if not they must permit an “opt out,” one that offers support for one personal preferences… one that allows human beings to use their minds and intuition to decide how to get and stay well…

Something to consider on the 4th of July

Is this our plan or thiers?

On this 4th of July let us spend a moment to consider what sort of country we want, then consider whether this is the country we have. If we find these two do not reconcile, do something. Living in a county is like living with a lover, passive participation on one side makes one member too powerful, the other too weak...

So get involved, not by joining a group, a party, but instead by living the life that reflects the government you desire. If u find u can’t live that life because of how things are, then you will know the government you have must change.

Take it from an x hippie revolutionary, it is time for a revolution, not one driven by guns and death, but one driven by conscience people who have decided this cannot be, and are willing to perhaps give up some of their toys to have an America worth living in.

This is a bit harder for those who have become convinced all is well for they have gained some financial "success." They drive their expensive cars, live in their big homes and really don’t have to think about much other than keeping up the lifestyle. (a curse all its own)
Know that this life and other less extravagant ones are all part of the game. What is today considered “success” is a finely crafted model, one crafted by huge corporations and their marketing companies.

They have said...

“we’ll set up this life that will be just beyond the reach of most; this will keep them striving, grasping for it. It will have different levels; each level will allow these rats in a maze to, for a while, fell like the big fish on the block, therefore having a moment of satisfaction.

Of course this will be fleeting, causing them to want to jettison their life and move on to the next; the next car, next house, next partner, next… this will be their life, wanting, getting, finding dissatisfaction, wanting more, finding, getting, more dissatisfaction. This will keep them ever buying and tossing away what they have bought, they will be an ever consuming people, a marketer’s/manufactures dream”

This is my view… Happy 4th of July… smiles…

http://www.subtlethings.com/

balls, knives, fists and guns

Why do we reward people for playing with balls?

Golf, basketball, baseball, football, tennis… What are we telling the universe with such a message, is it that we appreciate the primal more than the evolved human being? What are we telling our children?

Are we so removed from who we are that we must live this primal battlefield activity displayed in modern terms in order to feel strong and alive?

I also see this violent propensity in many who call themselves evolved, enlightened, realized. Using the rationale of “protector” for this mindset; fighting, martial arts, playing with all sort of weapons.

Are human beings moving in this direction or is the evolving being moving away from such? Is it not true that where we place our intention and attention, these are the things that grow, manifest?

Wake up my armored friends. Violence will not create peace no matter how high you stack the bodies…

OM MANI PADME HUNG!

http://www.subtlethings.com/

When is enough?

In response to a note I just read on a friends page stating "never forgive, never forget" concerning 9-11... I wrote

This is exactly why nothing ever changes. We don’t forgive or forget, and they don’t either… So this shit just goes round and round, nothing changes, and we continue to kill and kill and kill. Good for the weapons manufactures, but very bad for human beings... When is enough enough?

I speak these words out into space, not to one side or the other… but as I prayer of sorts, making wishes for a better world.

Someone has to say enough!!!! Say it to the humans being, say something to the universe...

http://www.subtlethings.com

press those greens

I love to cook, eat, and talk about it.. here's a recipe I believe will be new to most... I hope u enjoy...

Pressed Salad
by Macro Mom - Sarah Forrester Wendt

This morning I made a pressed salad to go with lunch . Pressing is a way of marinating vegetables under pressure in order to make them more digestible. Pressed salad is often used in small amounts, or as a condiment.

1 carrot, cut into thin rectangles
1/4 cabbage, shredded
4 red radishes, sliced into thin rounds
1 green onion, sliced thinly
1tsp sea salt

Mix all ingredients together and squeeze a little with your hands.
Put into a salad/pickle press or in a bowl with a plate on top.
Put a weight on top of the plate to help press out water.
After 45 min-hour rinse the vegetables and serve a small amount with your meal.

what looks?

what looks through our eyes and hears through our ears is everlasting... we host it's view for a time, then space, then another host, but the one who views is never is lost, it goes round and round and round... all is well.... smiles....

cutting, burning, poisoning

AWAKEN!!!

I just finished watching the piece on Farrah Fawcett’s fight against cancer. This viewing has again reinforced my great disgust with western medicine’s approach to treating cancer.

Nothing they did worked; nothing lasted for more than a while, each time making her weaker and weaker, less able to fight this thing with the only real hope, that of her own body’s natural ability to heal…

Oh the suffering they caused this dear being. Here is someone with the resources to fight, the will to fight, but who made all the wrong choices by choosing to continue the western mode, although leaving the county to find others not available here, but still western, burning, cutting, poisoning…

All this for nothing... for even if she had not found an alternative cure I’m an convinced her quality of life would have been far better just eating and drinking powerful, clean, whole foods…

May she pass into space with a clear mind, may this clarity return her here again to evolve to a higher state… A state that if this were to manifest once more, she would see more clearly the path to take.

May all beings have happiness… OM MANI PADME HUNG…..

having and realizing

To see one must open one’s eyes. This too is an action…

The piece below was written in response to a so-called swami who was encouraging all to stop going for something we already have. He quoted Abinavagupta… "how and for whom can progress be made, and who, by degree, can enter into infinity?" in other words..we need not achieve what we already have.”

He also stated later in his note… “the constant struggle to "rationalize" our contradictions consumes tremendous energy, and is doomed to failure. growing the flow brings integration, peace, and the tremendous expansion of our creative energy.....ahhh! bliss...!"

Some truth here, but not enough said, so I replied.

Yes I agree, but perhaps this is a bit too rigid a statement for me... I agree that the constant reaching for growth without the wisdom and a vehicle to get there is a waste of energy and therefore a waste of life, this very precious one. But coming to the understanding that we already have these things we’re reaching out for is also part of the path, and therefore this awaking is worth the effort…

Also there is an evolution that I see as part of living. If we believe in karma, cause and effect, then we also see there is some place to go, some movement, growth, evolution to attain. As with everything the kind of mind we follow this path with and our motivations are key. Are we “still” while moving, or are we a mess; grasping and cleaving… is our motivation to benefit ourselves in order to benefit others, or something less compassionate and loving?

Lastly, the concept of "flow,” although a sweet understanding, is just another label and therefore something else to attain, grasp for and cleave to… As always these are just my humble opinions…

Smiles…gi

a broken reciever...

Life is precious... In order to see it clearly requires a healthy body, for mind is perceived/received by it, and a broken radio receives no stations… Take care…

be your own mirror - life is short

AWAKEN!

In your meditation you yourself are the mirror reflecting the solution of your problem. The human mind has absolute freedom within its true nature. You can attain your freedom intuitively. Do not work for freedom; rather allow your practice itself to be liberation.

Life is short and no one knows what the next moment will bring. Open your mind while you have the opportunity, thereby gaining the treasures of wisdom, which in turn you can share abundantly with others, bringing them happiness.

From the Fukanzazengi

food aesthetics, are u being fooled?

Again today eating well is my first priority.

Eating well means eating fresh, clean, pure organic foods, prepared and eaten right…

Let me address the “clean” part. You might ask “does he mean wash my foods,” yes, for organic foods are grown with organic fertilizers, yes poo. So yes rinse your greens, but more than that organic is no guarantee of purity. So look what organic ingredients, additives or methods were used in the growing/producing of your foods…

I use some supplementation and some so-called superfoods. The other day I was looking closely at the ingredients listed on one of my favorite phytonutrient/antioxidant packed berry blend…on the very bottom of the list, actually off the list in small type I find “orange coloring.”

It didn’t say from where it was derived and I have to believe if it were from a “natural” source it would have said derived from orange peel or whatever, not just “orange coloring”… I also ask myself as a buyer of an organic superfood would it really matter to me or anyone else if the product was a little less orange?

Also is your organic “natural” food sustainable? Sustainable meaning does it take more than it gives, are its source, or the source of its components, being depleted. Last week I offered my friends information concerning farm raised salmon, how they are not only filled with more “natural” poisons than wild, but also, once again apparently because we like our food to look a certain way, are colored, colored by krill (tiny shrimp-like creatures) feed zillions of them just to make these salmon more pink.

This apparently or at least that’s the idea, we’ll take less salmon from the sea, trading overfishing salmon with taking a tremendous quantity of krill, a food source for multitudes of sea creatures form the oceans. So the question is; is the production (the farm raising) of these salmon a good thing in the long run, as a whole, looking at the big picture, who and what wins, who and what loses? These are questions we must ask ourselves. I’ve watched this happen, it began when we “suddenly” discovered that salmon was a great source of omega 3 rich protein, and even more suddenly it seems every health conscience person in America just had to eat it all the time, really? I’ll leave u with this to ponder…

Well after that you deserve something to eat… The soup de jour is cream of broccoli rice miso.

Broccoli, brown rice, shiitake mushroom, three kinds of seaweed (kelp, digitata, alaria), organic Greek yogurt, onion, miso, pinch of pepper, a touch of sea salt… Yum!

This recipe as well as much more will contained in my love’s and mine up and coming book of advice and recipes.

Big smiles… gi

you can eat it if you really want....

Today I ate like a king… All mine, in my little kitchen and I loved it all…

Soup prepared and “cooked” in my Vitamix… Potato, Lentil, Red Quinoa, Coconut, Greek Yogurt, Sesame Seeds, Fresh Kelp, Miso, Pepper… smooth, tart, lovely, alive, powerful, delicious!

Grouper Ceviche… Grouper, Lemon, Lime, Cilantro, Onion, Sea salt… Simple, so delicious…

These and more will be found in our (my love and mine) up and coming book of advice and recipes…

Smiles… on my face, in my belly… YUM!

farming salmon is not like fishing for it

a good idea gone very bad


There is no form of farming on earth that uses more chemicals than that of salmon farming. Besides the chemicals we feed them krill just to make them more orange in color, more pleasing to the eye… I once asked the fish manager at my local Whole Foods “why not just sell the fish as is?” He replied “we tried; the customers just won’t buy pale salmon.”

For me farmed salmon is something I will eat for health reasons and because it is not a sustainable food…


More nasty news….

The first-ever tests of farmed salmon from U.S. grocery stores show that farmed salmon are likely the most PCB-contaminated protein source in the U.S. food supply. On average farmed salmon have 16 times the dioxin-like PCBs found in wild salmon, 4 times the levels in beef, and 3.4 times the dioxin-like PCBs found in other seafood.


Watch this video. After u do I hope you’ll never purchase, eat farmed salmon again…



Please don't forget to visit and offer my site to your friends, especially the sick ones…gi

http://www.subtlethings.com/

Sip on this..............

Sipping for good sex… oh yes... and for health too...

Sipping… This is a Chinese “gong” (work)involes two things; breath and movement. You will notice this breath is concentrated on the inhalation. This inhalation is accomplished via a sipping action, like sucking a thick milk shake through a thin straw.

Begin with a couple of full inhalations followed by a complete exhalation. After the second complete exhalation begin sipping, short inhalations without exhaling till you’ve filled your lungs (keeping in mind to fill your belly first) this many take twenty or so sips. Once you feel full (please do not force anything) do another complete exhalation then return to another round.

Now as if that were not enough to remember, there is a second part to the practice in which we cause contraction the muscles in the pelvic floor or behind the cervix where the uterus projects into the vagina - for women. For men, the contraction happens in the area between the anus and the testes (in Chinese terms between the yin and the yang holes.) This contraction is synchronized with each sip --- Sip and contract, sip and contract.

You may feel a slight contraction just by sipping; the Chinese say the mouth and anus are two holes of the same pipe, so when you contract one, the other tend to contract on its own. Try it; sensitivity and awareness are powerful assets to bring into this practice, so do it when you have the time and space to offer it the attention it requires. This breath along with the contractions (some call these “Kegals”) offer the practitioner more sexual control and will alleviate some nasty sexual disorders.

For men these are known to, and I have experienced it myself, help with prostate problems such as BPH (benign prostate hyperplasia) which may cause weak urination, hesitancy, sexual dysfunction, and may develop into prostate cancer. In my case after just a couple of weeks of doing these all those symptoms left and I now pee like a teenager… YEAH!

These also offer men more sexual stamina and for women the ability to hold on to their man while he’s inside... a good thing for all concerned.

So enjoy this qigong… I promise it will offer much benefit to you all.

smile...gi


Click for more breath techniques

Multitasking Madness

Crisis in our body

Looking out the passenger window while driving to clinic I view this twenty something woman who from all appearances was not looking at the road at all. I followed her for a while thinking “she’s got to look soon,” but she doesn’t, perhaps ¼ mile or so she drove face locked onto her lap where it appeared she had sitting her cell phone, texting, texting, so caught up in it she had apparently forgotten she was driving a three thousand pound vehicle down the road…

This is not unusual, I must admit I use my phone while driving, but I usually at least keep one eye on the road… but what does this have to do with health, with healing, other than its hard to be healthy if you dead from a fatal car crash?

This is just one example of today’s multitasking mentality. Today the idea of doing one thing at a time seems almost primitive, and why not, aren’t we rewarded for such behavior, isn’t the boss impressed with this skill of ours, did you not even include it on your resume’ “an accomplished multitasker?”

I write about health, of mind and body and as such I feel a responsibility to say things, to offer ideas that are often unpopular for they suggest a very different view, say that things must change, things we have not only come to do habitually, but also bring us pleasure, and although superficial put money in our pockets and we’ve now come to believe we cannot survive without. With all this vested of course it is difficult to change, but please consider it.

Consider these actions, this mindset is one of chaos and sets up the fight or flight scenario in our bodies… raising pulse, blood pressure, and releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. All these responses a have a purpose and function, but ones that are meant for moments of our lives, not for hours on end, day in and day out.

Living this way confuses our body for it perceives what’s going on as dangerous. It is like living every day in a war zone. This even while driving in our safe luxurious cars, sitting in our comfortable offices and even in our homes. All safe places converted into war zones by our view, our mindset, our over activity, our desire to do, do, do for when we stop, take a breath, and get quiet, we see what arises as frightening, uncomfortable and most of all unfamiliar. This is your life, live it awake!

Still few will not look closer, few will ever think of giving up this so called life for another out of fear they might lose something, something essential, something lasting, something of value. We think “I’m not really happy now, what will happen if I lose this or that, then what?

One of my professors, a Chinese gentleman mentioned in class the way things were while he was in school in china. During the lecture the students we not permitted to write, have computers, no cell phones, no texting, no nothing. They were required to sit hands behind their backs, facing forward, listening… Period!

What was that all about? It’s about being mindful, single mindedly doing one thing at a time. Not more, just one. He said they learned well this way, and I bet they did. Sometimes I wonder how we get anything done well; everything has to be accompanied by something else in order to make it palatable for our delicate selves… We are such wimps!

Ok, hope you were doing one thing while reading this, if not shut of the TV, the music, or whatever else is happening, and then return to this, read it in silence. enjoy...

Let me finish with a quote from my favorite book on doing one thing well.

Here the author talks about the simple task of dish washing.

“While washing dishes one should only be washing dishes, which means that while washing dishes one should be completely aware of the fact the one is washing dishes. At first glance, that might seem a little silly; why put so much stress on such a simple thing? But that’s precisely the point. The fact that I am standing there and washing these bowls is a wondrous reality. I am being completely myself, following my breath, conscience of my presence, and conscience of my thoughts and actions. There is no way I can be tosses around mindlessly like a bottle slapped here and there on the waves.”

~The Miracle of Mindfulness - Thich Nhat Hanh~

Living mindfully, doing one thing at a time very consciously is the only way to truly “live” life. Otherwise in the mist of all that multitasking you will lose the essence of the moment, therefore losing that moment forever, losing your life a moment at a time in a wash of simultaneous mindless acts. Never having really experienced anything you’ve done.

Besides all that good stuff it will also keep you safe, raise your productivity, and sharpen your thinking. You will be clearer about what’s going on and more precise in carrying out your daily activities. It may not look as fancy as juggling five things at once, but I promise the results will be soo much better.

Smiles… gi

Visit my site

OLD... WISE... YES?

Don’t be old in vain

The other day I was listening to a lecture on Buddhism in which the gentleman made this comment… “don’t be old in vain.”

I have written about not wasting time, this precious life we have, but have never looked at it exactly in this way… So what does this mean?

In many older cultures, even in my own, Italian, the idea of an old person was not nearly as distorted as it is today. Today old means ugly, played out, weak, ineffective, lacking intuition and new ideas.

Of course we see this manifest in a very physical way in all the body modification we see before us; the Botox, face lifts, lifting everything, hating our own flesh and blood for it doing the natural thing, aging…

Some scriptures speak of grey hair as being a crown for the mature person, but we cover it up, many many are trying to stay perpetually young. It is sad the attention given to mindless, superficial, and impermanent things while we ignore our true essence, who we are, the things that can not only benefit us, but others, this is neglected…

Wisdom is a thing learned through life experience; through victories and failures, through bliss and tears. These experiences when lived consciously build character, make one a trustworthy, a reliable and informed counselor, father, friend, employee, and human being…

I’ve written about evolving and this fits right in, for when we are old we should also have grown wise, but wisdom does not come with grey hair or the passing of years. Instead it comes from living those years awake and conscience of the nature of things and ourselves as they really are. When we have lived such a life our wisdom is apparent, our peace comforting, and our counsel will be wise.

So what does it mean to grow old in vain? To me it means to have spent a life, this precious one, and after all those days and years have passed, to have learned nothing of value.

This is living a life in vain, growing old in vain. Don’t do it! The years that have passed should not only be evidenced by the wrinkles on your face or the grey hair on your head, but in the quality of the understanding you have gleaned from the time you’ve lived.

Spend it well my friends… gi

not your mom's soup

I love energy soup!

As for what it is I’ll offer you the page on my site…
Here you go - energy soup

The soup, today they call these smoothies, but don’t be confused a true energy soup is soo much more, very power, very alive, very life sustaining and healing too.

Today’s soups was made up of the follow ingredients

• Reguvelac - click for info and recipe
• Three kinds of sprouts – pea, sunflower, buckwheat – all grown in soil, more alive and nutritious then air grown sprouts.
• Kale – any dark green leaf veggie can be used, we want chlorophyll.
• Cabbage - contains chemicals that help heal both gastric and duodenal ulcers. Just plain soothing to the system
• Seaweed – today fresh dulse – it nourishes the tissue, is filled with trace minerals and iodine for a healthy thyroid. Also being a “red/brown” sea vegetable it contains fucoidan an ingredient known for its cancer killing ability.
• Maca – a Peruvian root known to balance the hormones of both men and women.
• Goji berries - they help to control and reverse obesity, anti-cancer, and may prevent age-related macular degeneration, restores hair color, activates the immune system, treats sexual dysfunction and infertility.
• Coconut – fresh out the shell, highly nutritious, rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
• American Ginseng – a mild yet tonifying form of the ancient root known for its longevity and general strengthening abilities.
• Pumpkinseed oil – full of Omega 6 fatty acids and reported to prevent prostate problems in men.
• Fish oil – plenty of Omega 3 fatty acids, these are said to be anti-cancer and pro-heart.
• Raw honey – it tastes great, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and full of enzymes

Enjoy…gi

Subtle Things Site

then we shit it out

This was written this morning in response to a friend suffering loss…

My friend… I know it hurts to lose a love… I have, it happens…

The realization that this is “how things are” is the key to living life with a smile… yes smiling at the so-called good and bad. Seeing these as just a reflection of mind, the way we view things, brings context/clarity to every situation.

We can see such only as an end, or we can instead see the things manifest in our lives as “how things are” everything changes always... round and round things go. To not accept such as reality is a source of suffering.

This is of course more difficult when a second person is brought in to the picture for they too are on a cyclic journey and the chance that two on such a trip will end up in the same place is small.

So see this not as an end, but truly (I know it sounds quaint) the beginning of another round, a new and wonderful chapter, one you can now approach (if you learn from this) with a newly educated mind, a different frame of reference, now with a better chance to live life full of joy, to see and find someone to share it with, someone with a similar view and mind…

So don’t mourn so much,(a little)instead sit and view this stream of consciences as it passes, view it and let it pass, and as u do it will become less personal, but more, just things “as they are”

To say because one thing has come to an end, that all things of such have also ended is closing the door on life and is truly insincere… for u and I both know there will come a time when someone will touch you, look into your eyes, speak your name and all will be well again. For how long? Who knows, who cares?

Do we not eat the next delicious thing because the favor of the last only lingered for moment? No no… We enjoy its taste, kiss it well, take it deep into our body, let is nourish us… and then shit it out… round and round my friend…

Smiles…gi

http://www.subtlethings.com

got it, lost it

The pain of consumerism... again...

This was written in reply to my message evolve. I believe it worth posting. enjoy.

Dear lady... Wonderful to see the spirit of my words also touch people across the ocean... I’ve been relationship with a sweet lady in DK, and although she is cultivated, mindful, etc, even she cannot help but fall into this trap from time to time. The pressure of having children living here and now makes it hard for they are living in a world that is soo consumed with stuff. stuff, stuff...

Who would have thought just a few year ago that children, 8 and 10 year olds would have cell phones in their pockets, and even worse on their ears, attacking their developing brains. This is not only harmful to their minds, but to their body's and a drain on middle class folk's pocket, also offering a terrible message to the children, placing them at such a young age on the roller coaster of consumerism.

I’ve heard just in this year the cry of upgrade, upgrade as even these young ones find themselves yearning to have the latest gadgets, feeling somehow “less than” because their things are not up to par with their other more affluent friends… A few years ago it was jeans and sneakers, now $400 toys. When will this end?

I'm not saying we cannot have some things to make our live more comfortable. I would not like to live as they did 100 years back, some progress is welcome, but comfort and joy are too different things. I do not believe we find any real joy from stuff, only temporary delusion, thinking “ahhhh all is well,” just to see it all slip away as the shit rots before our eyes and again we suffer, back on the wheel of “got it, lost it.”

No no... please please... let's stop the insanity!!!

Smiles... gi

http://subtlethings.com

see me, feel me, touch me, heal me

universal healing energy

Last evening a good friend and light worker performed Reiki on me. I had injured my eye in an overzealous attempt to bring blood to my face (good for healthy skin)…

The atmosphere in the room was filled with Reiki, even the water offered me was Reiki charged. During the treatment I could feel her moving about my body, sometimes hands on, sometimes hovering, either way I could feel the energy. She blew and plucked at me, each with its own function, all with the intention to heal.

OK the news. This morning I awoke without floaters for the first time in a week. Later this morning a few very translucent ones returned, but I must say a dramatic change has occurred. I am confident my complete healing is on the horizon.

Thank you Dee… thank you Reiki…

Big smiles…gi

http://www.subtlethings.com

Dissatisfaction

At peace with things as they are

This little note was offered in response to a sweet lady who commented on my blog "Evolve." I share it for I believe it offers still another look at how many live their lives and the "suffering" they try to escape in vain. In vain for the path they’ve chosen is one that offers only temporary relief, if any…

My friend... I’m glad u find value in what I wrote. I only offer what I see and what I see here in my world is all too often a society filled with beings who are lost in their consumerism, trapped in an endless cycle of buying and losing, of perpetual dissatisfaction, never finding a place, a sable place, where enough is enough, where they can find joy in things aging, even their own precious bodies.

I’m in healthcare and in the office I work beings come daily to have the faces and bodies reworked, trying to defeat father time, chasing down wrinkles, sucking out fat and injecting it elsewhere.

This dissatisfaction with things “as they are” is a cancer, one which takes much more that it gives, one that makes us unable to sit quietly and observe our lives passing with joy, peace and the knowledge that “all is well” just as things are…

Smiles my friend… gi

http://www.subtlethings.com

today my heart

Today my heart was broken…

Impermanence… Nothing lasts, everything changes… always. I know this, many do, and yet still we fall in love, in love with who? The one before our noses at one particular place and time. This is how it is, how else can it be? For this moment is our life; there is no other time, no other place, then a breath, and with it the next moment arises.

Attachment… We fall in love, it feels soo good, she smiles at you and the world is good, her touch makes your skin quivery, her kiss melts in your mouth, and to make love… oh ah…………………

So why not become attached, why would you not, how could you not? Attachment is not attachment without cleaving, holding on, not wanting to let go, this is what causes suffering. I’m happy I was attached, to fall in love with this woman was a fine blessing, but I will not cleave, hold on to what has passed, I will not…

Today my heart was broken, tomorrow it will heal, and soon I will fall in love again…

Smiles…gi

UPDATE... In love again!!! but no one new, but with my sweet lady, my heart again whole... Things go round and round... Continuing to view things as they are "in the moment."

http://www.subtlethings.com/

Rock Hard

Six packs…

Are these sculpted bellies just something else marketed to us like a cute pair of jeans or shoes? Is this fad, now so fashionable, harmful to our health? Perhaps this is something we need consider….

Consider the rest of the beings, is there another whose body is hard at rest, do lions, tigers, bears (Oh my) or horses have abs of stone? Do we find them in the fields and jungles on their backs doing crunches? No no no…. So why do we?

Now I admit and it is obvious that the populations of most western countries are overweight, that they do not move enough, eat way too much and not the right foods. But this fad is just as out of balance, an overreaction, a distorted view of who we are, just like the ubiquitous silicone filled beauties that seem more the rule than exception in most large western cities, even children asking for boob jobs for sweet sixteen gifts, and parent giving them, hmmmm… I’ll leave this is for another blog.

Qigong Master BK Frantiz teaches the 70% theory of movement (read about it)
http://www.subtlethings.com/mindful_exercise_yoga_chi_gung_qi_gong_chi_kung_qigong_nei_gung+tai_chi.htm

The exercises which result in Rock Hard Abs are excessive; take more than 70% effort. Such movements/exercises cause tension, stagnation, blockages… Please mindful of what you do and how you do it…

Consider what is under the skin of those hard, flat and perfect abs, there lies your liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines. These are the organs that offer us life, digest our foods and deal with the wastes. They require room to function, whether their space is restricted by fat or constricted by muscle the results are the same, loss of movement and blood supply, these are not good things, not natural, and should be avoided…

Please consider the state of a child, their sweet bellies, round, soft, yes still strong, nothing missing here, nothing lacking, they climb and run and play, all without rock hard ads, but yet in a natural healthy state of being.

I’m encouraging balance not fat untoned bellies, not rock hard, but natural. Just be a human being. That’s what we are… yes? We are not what marketers have invented in their 5th Ave offices…

Enjoy… Comment.. I like that…

Be well gi

http://www.subtlethings.com/

Evolve

Leave this place a better you

Before you begin, let me offer these words. I’m not apologizing, but I do realize many of you have and or are still working very hard for what you have and believe that it is a good thing to accumulate stuff, money, etc, to live a big life, have nice things and to leave your children with a fine inheritance… Good good…

These comments are not meant as an attack, but instead as commentary on American consumerism, something that has brought our country nearly to its knees and by extension has made others appear as competition, instead of our sweet brothers and sisters and fellow suffering beings. I ask you consider these things…. I wish you all only well… gi

My friends… If we don’t not evolve, then, we have wasted this precious life, if we stay as a human being, as an individual, stagnate, die the way we were born, then, this life has been lost.
I believe our lives, this precious opportunity, is a classroom for each one of us, but unlike school, we are not forced to learn, it is only done through our voluntary, intentional actions. We must evolve, little is learned when we just take this ride, when we just feed our base needs, desires, and lusts… In order to evolve, to raise up to a different level of consciousness, it takes practice, a practice of living awake, watching our minds as the stream of conscience passes before us, as we walk down the street, drive our cars, make love, to ask ourselves, what do we see, and how are we reacting to it?

Many of us live with a very reactive mind, like babies, Id-driven, we feel, we see, we do… Little comes before our eyes that we do not react to, always evaluating what things are, evaluating how we fit into things, it’s all ego, thinking it’s all about us, someone yells, “are they yelling at me?” cuts us off in traffic “dammed fool!”, she smiles “mmmm… she must like me, wants to make love with me”…

Living like this bring us nothing, not looking beyond ones nose, not seeing ourselves as interconnected with all things, not knowing how powerful we really are, not finding out what abilities we have, not seeing our potential. All these cause us to stand still, to end this life as we began it… as a child, one that came to this world with a karmic load, one who leaves it with an even greater one; one who has just sucked air for 70-80 years, consumed this earth resources, and returned nothing….

Please please my friends, realize that our lives are precious, our potential unlimited, and the harm immeasurable when we live this life just lusting to satisfy our needs, wants, and desires. Believe me. This life is soo much more... before my illness, I too was caught up in this rat race, my goals based on things to attain, things that would demonstrate how well I had done, things that would offer me access to people, places, and things I saw as valuable, things that I thought would bring me and my family joy. For me they brought little happiness, much misery, almost killed my body, and severely injured my mind. When I write I write what I know through experience, I don’t sit from afar and judge, I view myself and my life and say the things I’ve learned, hoping that by sharing these I might help some escape the suffering I have experienced…

Lately I see so much of this shrouded in spiritually… The Christians have the “name it and claim it” bunch, who believe god wants them rich, full of this world crap. The new age folks have “The Secret” another way to have what you want, just by placing your intentions there… All good, but it’s not what life’s about… Look at their videos, people standing in front of their BMW’s, big homes and boats … Is this it?

All that stuff rots away… It is a trap, a path to continuing suffering, for we get, it rots, we suffer, we try to replace it, if we can’t we suffer, if we can, we waste our resources doing so, just to find it loses it luster way too fast, then we suffer again. Round and round and round… Why even begin?????

Please ask yourself as I do… What do I value, what do I spend my time thinking of, working towards, what am I saying to my children with my consumerism, is this life to be used as such, is there no better use, no better focus?

When it’s over have I left this world a better place, are my children better prepared to live their lives than I was? Have I not only left them money and property, but an inheritance of wisdom, compassion and joy?

If you have questions, would like to talk, or just make a comment… please feel free to contact me… I won’t preach at u, I gave that up, but I will lovingly try to assist you in awakening…

I wish you all much joy… gi

http://www.subtlethings.com/

I can't put it in your pocket

It can’t be bought and I can't put it in your pocket

Our bodies have a very remarkable and wonderful innate ability to heal themselves if we simply stop doing the things that caused the disease in the first place and then feed them the fuel they require to do what they do naturally: heal.

So how do we stop the things that cause us harm? Just as important to understand is why we do these things to begin with. As a Buddhist I have been taught and know intuitively, that my gig is to relieve suffering wherever I see it. As human beings we all see this as our jobs, but many of us are so involved in relieving our own suffering that we are incapable of helping others. But all’s fair, we are the ones most prominent in our consciousness. So ok: carry on…

The problem lies in how we perceive our suffering, the lengths to which we are willing to go to feel good, or at the least to feel nothing (also better than pain). Now some take drugs (both legal and non), others smoke tobacco, many eat their way to joy, or just to fill the emptiness that eats away at their gut. Still others just become convinced it will never leave, therefore giving up, just living day by day, keeping their heads just above water with any and all means necessary and or found.

So what I see and hope those blind to such may see, is a twofold problem and therefore a twofold answer.

First to recognize the suffering and second to find the relief needed. When these two are accomplished the path to healing will become clear and the methods will arise. For the truth is, healing is not difficult; the hard part is getting people to do the work, both spiritually (mind work) and physically (eating and doing).

I speak daily to both doctors and patients and I hear the same story from two different perspectives. Doctors say, “I’ve done what I can, offered my advice and techniques and yet healing does not arise.” And patients say, “I’ve been here and there and no one has healed me.” Both are wrong, for doctors are trying to heal their patients, and patients are wanting to be healed by doctors.

As healers we cannot heal anyone; we cannot put a healing in someone’s pocket. As patients we cannot go to the healer like going to the grocery, with a pocket full of money and expect to buy a healing with no other effort other than coming, buying, and going. It does not work and will not work.

In order to be truly healed the cause must be removed. Even more important the reason the cause arose must be removed. The suffering that opened the door to the cause of suffering needs to go. The root must be cut!

All this requires work and forced and unmovable intention, the development of such is as difficult as the work itself. Often we need a guide, a coach, someone we trust with whom we can walk the path to our healing.

Some of you are saying “he hasn’t told us how, he’s just left us with more questions” exactly. I want my words to offer you opportunity to ask yourself questions, questions when answered will be as a mirror, something to see yourself in, the rest will then be clear. Still you may need some assistance, but now you will know who to ask, what to ask, and have the strength to do.

I wish you well…gi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Something good

A friend gave me a few coconuts from her chemical free garden, so I milked one of those suckers and made this concoction. It was very good!

4 oz of coconut milk
4 oz of my “Rudy Reds” (powdered berry blend) spiked reguvelac
I tsp for Matcha
1 tsp of raw honey
Whipped frothy in the Vitamix… Yum… Enjoy!

Reguvelac recipe
http://www.subtlethings.com/rejuvelac_ann-wigmores_fermented_drink.html


Wild Geese

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--over and over announcing your place in the family of things.

~Mary Oliver~

www.subtlethings.com

Little Blessings for my friends

Little Blessings for my friends

For those of you who don’t know, I am a rebel. Trained in the 60’s on the streets of NYC, purified by disease and pain, educated by my need to survive, I sit here today writing you out of pure stubbornness and a knack for research. This is what I’ll share with you, my intuition, my knowledge and the words of others’ I’ve found foolish to duplicate, for they are just too good…

Like these…

The Seed of Kindness
When we come in this world, we're given seeds.
There is the seed of anger, but there is also a seed of kindness.There is a seed of love and a seed of understanding.
Whatever seed you have sown in your garden of life is what you're going to sit under to rest.
You have the intelligence to choose what will benefit you the most.

~Prem Rawat~


Why we are unwell

Everything everywhere is going round and round and round, spinning in circles, forever turning... There is nowhere we can look where this is not true; things that were once thought static, when investigated have been found to be moving, moving in circles round and round... Now some because of pressures are less round, but still going round and round…
Besides going round, balance is the rule… and when not found, the universe is always in the process of returning, repairing, and renewing, left to itself homeostasis is the place it wants to be... balanced... In harmony…

My understanding and belief is that we are sick because we’ve lost balance, all medical modes agree. I make it simple… although some may disagree on how that comes about.

I believe… We are sick because of…
· An Excess
· A Deficiency
· An Exposure

My colleagues in oriental medicine will agree, and the answer is to return to balance, and once accomplished wholeness will return…

Some think “this is too easy” it’s not, few are able, even more important, willing to do so, but I can tell you and promise, it is possible… I’ve proven it in my own body; I have the evidence right here in my own flesh suit…

Now since we are more than flesh and blood we need to understand, not only with our intellect, which is highly overrated in my humble opinion, but in our heart of hearts, the part of us which offers intuitions, the part of us which recognizes our true nature, the part which will explodes into the blinding light of enlightenment when that realization occurs, when all our charkas light up, when we see ourselves as we are… and all things “they way things are”.

What I’m saying is both sickness and health both reside in the subtle planes of our existence, that if one decides to be well, it shall be, and that if one ignores their life, that life will die…
One of the blessings and curses of this body of ours is its resiliency, that is often takes so damn long to kill it, if it were not so we would get the idea right away… Who would feed their favorite orchid a diet coke tonight and expect to see in alive and well in the morning... The idea, the lesson would be a quick one... If we feed living things dead shit, they will not survive… PERIOD!

Most Americans live on product, not food. A product is most any packaged crap us humans eat... Anything that is unrecognizable, distinct from its source is product, and human beings are not meant to live on such, will not thrive on it, it will kill you, not today, not tomorrow, but slowly, slowly it will deprive you of every sweet thing this life has to offer. Sex (wonder why I put that first hee hee), the gift of walking, dancing, playing, seeing, touching, breathing, and smelling... you get it... Your life will become shit! We see these folks every day, still young, yet unable to climb a flight of stairs, get out of their own cars, or play with their sweet precious children…

If you’re one of these I’m sorry... I don’t mean to attack you, nor do I wish to cause you pain... It is out of great compassion that I write these things… Because I love you all... I truly do, you are me and I you… We are of one source; we are truly the same... I cannot push to the left without being pushed back from the right, round and round...back to the beginning.. Circles... All circles… we now find ourselves back to the beginning…

So my friends... Don’t believe anything I say, just as advised by the Buddha, not if it does not agree with you, not if it does not make sense... but I also encourage you to view why you believe what you do, to see if it is because of preconception, or a stiff mind… If so, let go... see what comes of it... You may be pleasantly surprised what you may see, do, find out… Boo!
Be well... big smiles… gi

www.subtlethings.com
subtlethings@bellsouth.net