Black Friday - Come Back To America Friday

I have been reading about the kinds of products that will be flying out of stores tomorrow, and whereas I know I would purchase a new iPad3 if there was one (guilty), I am also inspired by the suggestions I have encountered to approach gifting differently. There are many ways I can buy American. I remember in a previous post describing how the majority of domestically used American Flags are made overseas and how I searched to find one made in the United States. I did find one! Black Friday could be renamed Come Back To America Friday if you and I did just a little more looking for the American made flags and gifts. Not always possible, but I know for me there is a lot of room for improvement.

One of my books was printed in China (the other three in the USA). Sometimes I use technical web experts in India (comparable services in the USA are way more expensive). Often I purchase food that is imported

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Patrick Ball: Legends of the Celtic Harp. Review

I attended a shocking and exciting concert at Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rhonert Park on November 12 to see Legends of the Celtic Harp with Patrick Ball, Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter.

Oh my goodness! Patrick's metal strung harp endured a string snapping in the middle of a performance in which the three artists played different instruments and Patrick recited Ursula K. Leguin's famous harp story. Here's the thing: the three didn't miss a beat adapting mid-performance,

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Alternative Way To Celebrate New Year: Balinese Nyepi 2012

Here is an idea for an alternative way to celebrate new year: don’t do it in January.  Wait till March and go to Bali where the Balinese celebrate Nyepi, one of the holiest days on the Balinese calendar.  It is a day of silence dedicated to meditation, introspection and reelection on the past year.

Bali’s usually bustling streets are uncharacteristically silent on Nyepi because even non-Hindus keep quiet out of respect for this day of inward looking.  Some pople take it quite seriously and don’t talk, don't light fires and don't travel.  The day after is typically celebrated as New Year’s day. 

This came onto my radar again because on of my best friends, William Abel, is teaching yoga on a group tour to Bali in 2012 to celebrate Nyepi while practicing daily yoga.  He plans to start every day of the tour with 108 recitations of the Gayatri Mantra, followed by yoga and then breakfast (my favorite part).  William has been to Bali many, many times and is so excited about taking people to one of his favorite places on the planet, to do yoga (all levels welcome), chant, and visit some of the holiest temple sites on the islands.  He was the yoga instructor on a

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DOMA–Defense of Marriage Act; Not Good For Business

More than 70 major U.S. business have signed a formal statement saying that the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act hurts business.  Well, I suppose that’s a better-than-nothing reason to dismantle the rule that bans federal government from recognizing marriages between people of the same sex.  I’m so confused, I thought the act was already declared unconstitutional in court, and didn’t President Obama and the Attorney General chime in the same?
The statement presents a scenario in which an employer is held accountable for checking into the gender of spouses of employees so as to be able to enforce discriminatory treatment of those married couples who are same gender.  I’m confused again.  What if the state in which the same gendered married is employed

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Occupy Wall Street and the Global Heart Vision

I am not clear how or why the Occupy Wall Street movement started, and I'm not clear on who started it or what the movement's exact goals are, but I am beginning to get a big picture of the complex feelings and ideas generally associated with the movement. I'm beginning to suspect that the emergeance of the movement is a result of an evolutionary urge towards a world that is fundamentally different from how it is right now; and that is not easily described in a bulleted list of exact goals universally agreed upon.
As I daily read a broad range of web articles fed to me through Google Alerts I keep on reflecting back to a Vision Statement that has been the guiding force among Centers for Spiritual Living for years and it occurs to me that this statement may be describing what the Occupy movements are about: a world that works for everyone.
Global Heart Vision Statement
Whereas in this information age the “global brain” has become an operative reality, we envision the emergence of the Global Heart to balance and guide the further evolution of humanity as stewards of our planet and all its inhabitants.

• We see a world free of homelessness, violence, war, hunger, separation and disenfranchisement.
• We see a world in which there is generous and continuous sharing of heart and resources.
• We envision a world in which forgiveness, whether for errors, injustices, or debts, is the norm.

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