Gaia Community: Sandra's Blog

Don't let your boyfriend talk to the plants....

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:14:52 GMT

On the flight from Toronto to Heathrow I read a funny article in the Telegraph by Richard Alleyne about the effect of voices on plant growth:

"Talking to plants really does help them grow, especially if the speaker is a woman, horticulturists have found.

In an experiment run over a month, they found that tomato plants grew up to two inches taller if they were serenaded by the dulcet tones of a female rather than a male.

The findings vindicate comments made by Prince Charles that he talks to his plants although they suggest that for maximum results he would be better off recruiting the Duchess of Cornwall.

Appropriately the most effective talk came from Sarah Darwin, whose great-great grandfather was legendary botanist Charles Darwin, one of the founding fathers of the RHS' Scientific Committee.

She read a read a passage from the On the Origin of Species and beat nine other 'voices'.

Her plant grew nearly two inches taller than the best performing male and half an inch higher than her nearest competitor.

Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said: "We predicted that the male voice would be more effective but it turned out that the ladies were far better than the gentlemen.

"We just don't why. It could be that they have a greater range of pitch and tone that affects the sound waves that hit the plant. Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light."

The experiment began in April at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, with open auditions for the public to record excerpts from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream and Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

A variety of voices was then picked to play to 10 tomato plants over a month. Every plant was played a voice through headphones connected to the plant pot, and the conditions for all the plants remained the same throughout the experiment. To ensure the experiment was fair, two control plants were also left to grow in silence.

The results showed that women on average saw their plants rise by an inch on their male counterparts. Some men were so bad that their plants actually grew less than a plant that was left completely alone."

Tags: talking to plants

Lucy the Elephant & Frostie the Parrot

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:42:30 GMT

When I was in B.C. recently I found out about Lucy, an elephant who is totally isolated, in a cold climate zoo and not doing well physically. A group of writers (including Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Atwood) are trying to have Lucy moved to a better place.

Here is a link to a news article, published May 23.

On Zoocheck Canada there is a letter written by the writers to the Mayor of the City of Edmonton - it's really worth reading. There is a link on this page where you can email the Mayor.

As some of you know I have just participated in an extraordinary workshop led by Deena Metzger and heard some of her personal experiences with elephants in Africa and elsewhere -- she's written about them too, beautifully - given what I know from Deena I can't help feeling Lucy could do with all the support we can give her, even if it's to send our love to her.

~~~

Not an elephant, but another wonderful being, Frosty the Parrot. There are lots of 'dancing' parrots on YouTube but I think Frosty is the best one:

Frostie loves Ray Charles!

Tags: Lucy, Elephant, Edmonton Zoo, Frostie the Parrot, ZooCheck, Zoos

Gratitude

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:19:46 GMT

I think this is the longest 'space between blogs' I've ever had. I've still been going through a strange, desert like time. Maybe I should think of it as 'dessert' instead, particularly given what I'm going to write now...

A couple of weeks ago, I telephoned a dear friend, Shayla Wright. It was so wonderful to simply be 'heard'. No sympathy, no fixing, just pure acknowledgement of what I was going through. Later she sent me a beautiful prayer she's been working with. At first I felt, oh no, I don't want to do that... too much hard work, It's too long, too many instructions...I'm too down etc etc. (hah hah). Well, I did start doing it. And I was blessedly reminded of how wonderful it is to just sit, and be. The day after I started doing the prayer, I got another short story acceptance for publication. No doubt coincidence, but one of the things I asked for in my prayer was 'encouragement'. Another dear friend had said to me that I sounded more discouraged than depressed, and that really rang a bell ( and helped how I felt about what was going on ). Anyway, I have been doing the prayer quite often, and things have been moving.

Deeply moving. In all ways. The support I've gotten, particularly from the people here at Gaia and Diving Deeper is just flooring me. Because of them I might be able to go to a truly awesome writing/spiritual retreat given by Deena Metzger in Los Angeles next month. This retreat will be 'using the tools of writing, story telling, dreaming, prayer, silence, and divination, we will seek to move more fully into the writing paths that each of us have been called to on behalf of the planet and the restoration of creation. We will address our personal healing if and when it is necessary to remove the obstacles to fully embracing those paths, though the emphasis will be on global, rather than personal, healing.'

And even if I cannot go to it, I feel the movement towards my own reconnection to self has begun, and from there, well, anything can happen.

I am so grateful for how beautiful people are and have been with me (you know who you are...).

Another teacher of mine suggests just sitting in a state of 'gratitude' - even if you don't feel you have anything to be grateful for; that the energy of gratitude is one of the most powerful things on earth. Actually, if you tune in, there is always something to feel grateful for, isn't there?

I'll copy the prayer below. It's Shayla's, and you can find more of her work and writings on her website at http://www.barefootjourneys.net/.

Prayer-opening to the field of love/intelligence

It’s easy to think of prayer in a way that makes it seem like something archaic, precious, or irrelevant. My experience has been that if we can drop our ideas and beliefs about it, it is actually something quite natural and spontaneous, something we have all done at one time or another, without even calling it prayer. Another way of approaching it is to call it simply 'asking for help.'

I’m going to describe it in stages, but these are not linear. They spiral around and intersect with each other as you engage in this kind of praying from your heart.
Stage One: Sit quietly and take a couple of minutes to relax, feel your body and your breath, and open to your experience, just as it is. Allow your whole being to soften, and allow your awareness to open as well. You don’t need to focus on anything, just let the field of your awareness be wide open.

Stage Two: Maybe you already know what you want to pray about. It could be a dilemma or struggle in your life, a place where you need help, support or guidance. If you’re not sure, just listen inside your own being for a minute or two, until you feel what your prayer is going to be about.

Stage Three: In whatever way feels most natural to you, allow yourself to open and acknowledge the vast field of love/intelligence. (or wisdom/compassion) You might have your own name for this field--the indigenous traditions call it the web of life, with which each being in the universe is connected. In India they call it Indra’s Net. Everyone of us has experienced, at one time or another, a sense of this field, the infinite web of life that interconnects us all. Most of the time we walk around behaving as if it does not exist, because it is invisible. We can’t see it, touch it or taste it. When we ignore it, we lose touch with one of our deepest resources, because the nature of this field is that it is loving and it is intelligent. See how it feels to acknowledge this field, even if your conditioned mind knows nothing about it, or remains quite sceptical about it's existence.

Stage Four: Ask this vast field of energy, of consciousness for help. Make it clear what you need, what your request is, what your difficulty is. Be honest and vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to express from your heart how much you really need help or guidance.

Stage Five: Take a few moments to be clear about the fact that you do not know how this vast and mysterious field of love/intelligence will respond to your request. You just have to stay open, curious, receptive, and willing to receive what comes, in whatever form it appears.

Stage Six: Let go and carry on with your day, or night.

Stage Seven: Offer this prayer up to the field as often as you feel moved to do so, and ask yourself, “Am I really willing to receive this help, in whatever way it comes to me?”

Tags: Shayla Wright, prayer, gratitude, Deena Metzger, Prayer-opening to the field of love/intelligence

Cure for the Blues

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:57:41 GMT

Whenever I'm feeling down I find myself surfing the net for new music. Or something funny. I found something funny - hilarious actually - at the wonderful Steve Don't Eat It! Blog. Steve searches out the most repugnant or unlikely food available, eats (or drinks) it, and tells us how it was. Examples include breast milk, Cuitlacoche (a black fungus that infects corn fields) and Beggin' Strips (bacon shapes for dogs). Steve is a very funny writer doing a very strange thing.

After that, I did a stumble on 'music'. I found something that may be old hat to you but is not to me. Leekspin.com. It's an animation of a girl spinning a leek. That's right, a leek. Go on, I dare you. I couldn't stop listening. Totally addictive.

Then I tried to find out WHAT it was. Clearly I'm behind the times. She's the Loituma Girl. She's "a Flash animation set to a gibberish section of the traditional Finnish folk song "Ievan Polkka" (sometimes misspelled Levan Polka) sung by the Finnish quartet Loituma. The animation of Loituma Girl is taken from episode two of the Bleach anime series. In the clip, Orihime is twirling a Welsh onion (negi) while talking to other characters. The scene is an instance of a recurring joke surrounding her character, in which she wants to cook something so unusual that it seems almost inedible."

Then, of course, I go find this Finnish Loituma group. Here is the best vid of them I could find, and I think they are stunning.

Loituma - "Ievan Polkka" (Eva's Polka)1996

As wiki says: "The music used on the animation consists of the second half of the fifth stanza (four lines) and the complete sixth stanza (eight lines) from the song. Unlike the rest of the song, these two stanzas have no meaning, consisting mostly of phonetically-inspired Finnish words that vary from performance to performance and are usually made up on the spot by the singer (compare scat singing in jazz)."

It's so popular it's even become a mobile ringtone and a Ready Brek ad.

Tags: Loituma, Levan Polkka, Music, Steve Don't Eat it!

The Joy of Moving

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:22:09 GMT

This started off as a thread in Diving Deeper: A Writing Workshop. I wanted to get rid of that horrible January blog (not that the blog was horrible, but January wasn't a highlight of my life), so I thought I'd expand a bit on the thread.

We have just moved. Again. We have moved more or less exactly every 6 months for the past 2 years. These were not just house/apartment moves, but COUNTRY moves. For the 5 years prior to that, we lived out of suitcases, moving all the time. For the +- 13 years before that I lived in about 5 different places, but all in one city, Toronto. Before that, well, from time of birth I lived in too many places and too many countries to begin bothering to tell you about.

Suffice to say, it's a LOT. And for no specific reason other than the haphazard nature of life. So I can't blame my job, my husband's job or my parent's jobs. Just life. Things working out. Things not working out. Invitations. Dis-invitations. Spur of the moment decisions. Other people's spur of the moment decisions.

Now, I rather like being on the road. The time I've spent living out of a suitcase I don't regret. But as soon as furniture or large unwieldy objects come into the picture...ak.

We have moved into a very large house. The largest house I've ever lived in. It must be upwards of 250 square metres. This is partly because it has a full attic, which serves as one enormous room. But there are four bedrooms downstairs and two bathrooms. And just two of us.

We just moved from a 49 square metre cottage. The difference is VAST.

I can turn around in the bathroom! I don't hit my elbow on the wall! I have a choice of more than three places to sit !(before it was: bed or kitchen table or office). I can do my stretches and not have husband step over me trying to get to the other side of the room (house). We can cook together! We can invite people over! We can get lost! I'm getting fit just walking around.

There are some problems, of course there are. We are renting half-furnished. See below.

World's ugliest furniture

But... these are views from outside my office and our bedroom window ( apologies for the photos, I took them with my computer)

view from bedroom

View from my office

Behind the pond is a rushing gurgling river, which you can hear all the time...

Our living room

This is just a small corner of the living room... those armchairs come with a sofa the size of my previous office. They are also SO ugly, but strangely comfortable.

I don't know how long we'll be here, but we don't have any plans to move in the near future or even the far distant future. I do sometimes wonder what I'm doing in a cold northern semi functioning (in some ways) country, but I simply don't have the energy to consider a different plan. We tried hot and beautiful (south of France) and that didn't work. So. Maybe actually being in a house that we like will help.

We are even going to get our stuff from Toronto shipped. A whole apartment of stuff that's been in storage for over 7 years. I will have outgrown my clothes (or out coloured them or something), we will be able to replace some of the hideousness, and have some of our favourite things about us, like our VITAMIX :-)

That's planned for later this year, in the meantime we have SPACE. if not SUN. For HOT, I need to follow in my brother's footsteps and go to Brazil. Why he's there and I'm here I've yet to figure out. Mind you, he's got mosquitoes.

Creature Comforts...

Tags: Moving house, Tir Na Spideoga

What IS it with January?

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:15:10 GMT

I keep checking the calendar to see if January's over. I keep thinking we are nearing the end only to find out that we are not even half-way.

It seems to be a 'difficult' month. I know several people going through depressions, hard times and the like. Three people close to me (in one way or another) have died. Admittedly two of old age, but one from a suicide. Yesterday was the anniversary of the death of a dear friend, (neither a suicide or from old age).

I personally can't seem to get up much enthusiasm for anything. I've been sick since the 31st of December, and know of several others in the same boat. I do seem to be getting better, and am a little more enthused otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog. Other than that it's pretty much 'going through the motions'. I"m fine, it's not a big thing at all, but it does seem to be an all-over thing, at least for many.

I did a quick search and found some statistics for the late 90's - (American).

"In 1995, January had many more deaths than any other month (220,000). It was followed by March, April, and December. (February would have been second if it had had 31 days instead of 28). The month with the least deaths was September (178,000), followed by June, August, and May. The top day for death in 1992, the most recent year for which daily data are available, was January 3, when 7,422 Americans died. That is about 25 percent more than an average day in 1992."

I'm also wondering if a general low feeling is catching.

New Scientist published an article on the 30 December last year called "How your friends' friends can affect your mood" - the implication being that it's not just your friends or people you know who can affect you.

"it is becoming clear that a whole range of phenomena are transmitted through networks of friends in ways that are not entirely understood: happiness and depression, obesity, drinking and smoking habits, ill-health, the inclination to turn out and vote in elections, a taste for certain music or food, a preference for online privacy, even the tendency to attempt or think about suicide. They ripple through networks "like pebbles thrown into a pond", says Nicholas Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, who has pioneered much of the new work."

I recently had a skype chat with my brother who has moved to Brazil. He lives here. He seemed pretty chirpy. Is it a sun thing? I felt a bit chirpier after chatting to him so maybe the above theory is true. Either way I plan to be somewhere warm next year.

Music cheers me up. Here is a video from Rudi Oppermanns multicultural Klangwelten show. Featuring Enkhjargal, hong Yü, Korean drums, Husseine Kili and RO.

Klangwelten 07 / Stream of Gold

Tags: January, happiness, Enkhjargal

A reminder...

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:58:49 GMT

I have just heard that a dear friend of mine, Ruth Burgess, may not be with us for very much longer. She is well into her 80's and has had a full life, but I do feel sad. I feel sad mostly because I knew she appreciated our contact and in the last years I did not make much more of an effort other than birthday and Christmas cards. I could have picked up the telephone but I didn't. (She lives in Ontario, Canada). This is a reminder to me, to all of us, not to 'let things go' until it's too late.

I first met Ruth in my early 30's. At that time I was trying to supplement my then husband's income from teaching martial arts by cleaning houses and giving personal health and exercise guidance. Ruth lived alone in a small apartment in downtown Toronto. I came to her to clean but soon was hired to help her lose weight and ease the pain of arthritis by gentle massage.

I enjoyed my time with Ruth - she never minced words and appreciated good conversation and laughter. She loved good films, books and art. Her rooms were small but decorated vibrantly, as if from a bygone age, one of high society, dances, gallant men and fiery, beautiful women.

Ruth was a fine painter, and her grandmother was Ruth Payne Burgess, a highly regarded painter in the early 1900's - from 1905 to 1910, she served in New York as president of the National Association of Women Artists. She was also president of the Art Students League and active in numerous other New York art associations.

Ruth (the granddaughter, my friend) had lived a full and exciting life in New York & other countries before her life in Canada ( I don't remember the details, but I think her husband was a diplomat) . I think she always missed traveling and her life in America. In Toronto, she was one of the first ( if not the first ) female real estate agents. She also sold jewelry in Cartier's where she met many famous people. While I was massaging her knees she would regale me with stories of charming and not so charming men who came in to buy jewels for their wives (and mistresses). Donald Sutherland was one of her favourite customers.

Over the years Ruth became more and more immobile. She relished any news of the outside world, particularly if I had gone traveling. She was in my life and very supportive when I went through a very bad patch, with my then husband extremely ill in hospital and the subsequent break up of our marriage.

In some ways Ruth reminds me of my grandmother, also an artist and a feisty woman not afraid to speak her mind. I did not have a good relationship with my grandmother and she died in my early teens. Perhaps Ruth mended something there for me.

Ruth once told me something I will never forget (this about 15 years ago) - I was very depressed about my life, feeling I was going 'nowhere'. She said, "but you are a very successful person'. I treasure this moment and have passed her words along to others who needed to hear the same thing.

Soon after I left Toronto ( about 7 years ago) Ruth went into a home as she was no longer able to take care of herself. I knew this was a step she feared - her independence was very important to her, as was having her own things around her. I think her health went slowly downhill.

Ruth loves eagles. These beautiful birds are a symbol of strength, ferocity, vision, endurance, inner strength and transcendence. I wish for her at this time of passage all these things, and freedom from the physical pain I know has been her daily companion these last years.

I am sorry I have not been a better friend.

Tags: Ruth Burgess, Ruth Payne Burgess

The End of November

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:19:46 GMT

November is over. NaNoWriMo is over. It was such an intense and amazing experience - not just the writing, that had its up and downs, but the community of Diving Deeper NaNoWriMo'ers. About 15 of us did the whole thing, and that includes achieving the 'winning' status of 50 000 words. Several achieved that amount waayyy before the deadline, in fact Leigh-Anne (quietlaughter) did it in 10 days and Ayla shortly afterwards. (Leigh-Anne created the wonderful collage below). What was so wonderful was how everyone 'showed' up, supporting each other and sharing their process.

The only time I've experienced something similar is during spiritual retreats. A level of vulnerability and openness and caring. while engaged fully on a personal journey. If you take a look at our daily threads on DD you will see what I mean (eg Day Thirty). We had nearly 2000 posts in a month on the nanowrimo board.

Because of the amazing achievement of the group as a whole, the NaNoWriMo team asked me to talk a little bit about the group - the interview is here. Several people read that piece and joined Gaia just to sign up!

I did get the 50 000, and carried on writing. It wasn't always easy by any means. I had a workshop in Amsterdam mid month, which was spent largely battling a fairly serious gum infection.

But, thanks to my dogheaded stubbornness and competitive nature, I did it in 17 days. So far I have about 75 000 of something, I'm not sure what it is. It's not finished yet. Draft title, "Only God, My Dear" (from Yeats) If you want to ruin your eyes you can read what I wrote during the month, it's here under 'novel info' - be warned, it's chick lit and completely unedited. I thought I might swing for 'Literary Fiction' but it's not, it's pure, unrestrained chick lit.

The rest of the time I was with our gang on DD, (apologies to the rest of Gaia, just not enough of me to go around...)

...or listening to Rai ...." a form of folk music, originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s and has been primarily evolved by women in the culture. Raï literally means opinion but is colloquially used as an interjection along the lines of "oh, yeah!""

Here are three of my favourite YouTubes.

The great Khaled, also known as 'Cheb Khaled' singing the beautiful 'Abdel Kader' with the politically engaged Rachid Taha and up-and-coming Rai superstar Faudel in what must have been an amazing show in Paris in 1999, called 1, 2, 3 Soleils:

rachid taha,faudel,khaled..abdel kader

Rachid Taha singing Barra Barra, which you may recognize from the film 'Black Hawk Down':

Rachid taha barra barra

And again, Rachid Taha singing one of my favourites, Ya Rayah:

Rachid Taha - Ya Rayah...

This next one is worth watching for Rachid Taha's amazing Oud player, Hakim Hamadouche in the first part of the video, "Yames" (which I'd love to find on CD, but can't. If anyone knows where I can get it let me know). Hakim sings beautifully and should, I think, be heading up his own show. Rachid Taha comes on later, rather the worse for wear. I've been trying to find out how he got from being the man in the above videos to this one. He apparently has muscular dystrophy, and certainly he drinks. He's still a star, but it makes me sad to see him like this.

rachid taha and hakim hamdoush YAMIS

Tags: NaNoWriMo, Rai, Cheb Khaled, Khaled, Rachid Taha, Faudel, Hakim Hamadouche, 1 2 3 Soleils, Ya Rayah, Abdel Kader

Inspiration: Nick Vujicic

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:07:20 GMT

I watched these videos of Nick Vujicic and felt moved to tears.

Nick was born without arms and legs.

If you are ever feeling sorry for yourself, or think that you have too many limitations in your life, or you feel everything is 'not going to be okay'...watch these:

Motivator speaks at St. Mary's High School

Nick Vujicic, No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! Part 1 of 3

Nick Vujicic, No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! Part 2 of 3

Nick Vujicic, No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! Part 3

There are many more you find on YouTube....

Tags: Nick Vujicic, no limitation, no arms no legs no worries

From Russia with Love

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:34:26 GMT

well, perhaps that's not a fair title to this blog. It's the best I could think of.

Ever since I posted my ...the best of the web blog I can't stop listening to Peter Nalitch.

Peter Nalitch

Now, there are a few YouTubes of him, but, unless you speak Russian or read Cyrillic, it's kinda hard to find out much about him.

I think he's got a great voice,and something more - he's got that special quality I've spoken about before (Time for something beautiful,Chocolate Jesus, The Great IZ)- something more than simply playing music, but 'inhabiting it. These singers and musicians always make me smile when I'm feeling down.

So, back to Peter Nilitch. His song "Guitar" seems to have taken the net by storm, well in some parts of the net. It's what I posted before, I'll post it again:

Guitar - Peter Nalitch

But there's more if you look.. wanna shiver in your liver?

Peter Nalitch - Chmya

some soulful ones like this:

Peter Nalitch - Drago (%u0417%u0435%u043B%u0451%u043D%u044B%u0439

And...

Peter Nalitch - Deridum (%u0417%u0435%u043B%u0451%u043D%u044B%u04

and some pretty boppy ones:

Peter Nalitch - Blockhead (IKRA)

And .. what? Russian rap??:

Peter Nalitch - Dropz (IKRA)

To the almost blues-ey:

Peter Nalitch and Band - Black Oak

Well. Maybe I've got weird taste in music, but I think he's great. He's cute, he's got a great voice and a great band... and, I believe, is only 'out there' live and on the 'net. If you like him, spread the word, he deserves to be known.

ff you want more check out his website:
Peter Nalitch. (and learn some Russian... but there are some English pages)
His YouTube account is here, there are several of the better videos on "two playlists":
http://www.youtube.com/user/hanurpriehal

Tags: Peter Nalitch, Russia

How the markets really work

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:40:01 GMT

Okay, now for something serious.... ;-)

Confused about the financial markets? Subprime mortgages? Want to know what a High Grade Structured Credit Enhanced Leverage Fund is?? Or why??

This might help...

How the markets really work

Amazing that this was created in 2007 - John Bird and John Fortune on the South Bank Show ( UK ).

"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt."

~ Bertrand Russell

Tags: financial markets, John Bird, John Fortune, subprime mortgages

...the best of the web

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:23:41 GMT

Well, it seems like ideas to change the world are rather thin around here.

As light relief here's what last week's Sunday Times Culture magazine had on offer:

Guitar - Peter Nalitch

Jascha Heifetz plays Hora Staccato

And, on the Bulgarian version of "Music Idol" that great song, "Ken Lee".. you know, the one that goes: "Ken Leeee tulibu dibu douchoo..."

Ken Lee or Without you by Mariah Carey (ENGLISH SUBTITLES)

Tags: Peter Nalitch, Jascha Heifetz, Ken Lee, Bulgarian Idol

Project 10 to the 100th

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:27:18 GMT

This is probably old hat to most people around here, but I only just got wind of it.

May Those Who Help The Most Win

Google is doing something called "Project 10 to the 100th" This is a bit of what they say about it:

Project 10¹⁰⁰ (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th") is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.

We're committing $10 million to implement these projects, and our goal is to help as many people as possible. So remember, money may provide a jump-start, but the idea is the thing.

You can submit your idea (BY OCTOBER 20!), or vote. Here is a bit more from them:

Categories:
Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
Energy: How can we help move the world towards safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don't fit into any category at all.

Criteria:

Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
Longevity: How long will the idea's impact last?

Ideas anyone? If not, spread the details around to those who might have.

Tags: Google, Project 10 to the 100th, community, ideas, energy, environment, health, education, shelter

Healing

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:46:49 GMT

I've had this on my own website for a while, but forgot to put it here. I think Deena Metzger is just wonderful. I have Tom to thank for telling me about her. I'm reading her "Writing for Your Life" and it's truly beautiful, absolutely in line and supportive of the Diving Deeper writing work I do - and takes the whole thing to a deeper level.

This is a quote from her that I love:

"Healing is not necessarily restoring the original condition. It is not returning to paradise. Healing is helping to align the individual with the trajectory of the soul. Healing is the field of beauty through which the details of the larger purpose of an individual’s current life in relationship to his/her own history, ancestors, spirits, the present, the future, and global healing are revealed and enacted."

Deena Metzger -"THE SOUL OF MEDICINE"

You may remember that amazing photo of a naked woman, torso upward, her arms open to the sky, one breast removed, a tattoo across the scar. That's Deena:

"I am no longer afraid of mirrors where I see the sign of the amazon, the one who shoots arrows.
There was a fine red line across my chest where a knife entered, but now a branch winds about the scar and travels from arm to heart.
Green leaves cover the branch, grapes hang there and a bird appears.
What grows in me now is vital and does not cause me harm. I think the bird is singing.
I have relinquished some of the scars.
I have designed my chest with the care given to an illuminated manuscript.
I am no longer ashamed to make love. Love is a battle I can win. I have the body of a warrior who does not kill or wound.
On the book of my body, I have permanently inscribed a tree."

Tags: Healing, Deena Metzger, Tree

Ninja Cat

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:44:55 GMT

Okay, so I loved this youtube so much I had to make a blog of it.

I know I've not written anything 'meaningful' lately in my blogs.. sorry about that. Most of what I have to say seems to be on the writing pod, Diving Deeper, and I've my head stuck in my own work - editing my short story collection. It's going well, so far. I'm also working on a grant application for 'new work' - something to inspire me to finally write a novel. I feel as if there is not enough time in the day to do what I want to do in terms of my writing - I seem to take so long just to get into the 'creative' state; and then there are all those emails to reply to, all those little & big things to get done.. well. I shouldn't complain, should I? Hardly a difficult life!

Well, here's the video which has absolutely nothing to do with what i wrote above. I just liked it.

Ninja cat comes closer while not moving!

Tags: Ninja Cat, writing

The Bright Winter

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 21:07:07 GMT

Okay, so I just have to get this out of my system and then I'll never talk about it again, okay?

Bob Dylan - Buckets Of Rain

We moved to Ireland about two months ago. Since then, we might have had 5 days without rain, and maybe 5 days which had mostly sun. Today was, unbelievably, one of those days.

However, since we arrived, we have had every kind of imaginable rain possible. We've had drizzle, storms, bucketing rain, misty rain, sheets of rain, intermittent rain, showers with sunny spells, moderate rain, galeforce winds with rain, ongoing rain, hail, pouring rain, endless rain, heavy rain, foggy rain, very heavy rain, thunderstorms, a light sprinkle of rain, torrential rain, a drenching, extreme rain and even sun AND rain at the same time (well heck, why not).

It has, as they say, been the wettest summer in living memory. There are not only weather warnings, but potato blight warnings (potato blight pores develop when it's above 10C and humidity is over 75% for 2 days or more. hah hah.).

The weather has even affected Ireland's chance in the Intercontinental Cup (for cricket) (not that I pay the remotest attention to such things normally).

As Bock the Robber ("offending everybody since 2006" ) says:

It’s like living on the set of Blade Runner, but without the replicants or the flying police or the interesting Oriental back-room retailers.,,I have decided to issue an edict. From now on, we will no longer refer to this season as Summer. Likewise, Spring and Autumn are formally abolished.

Henceforth in Ireland, people shall speak only of the Bright Winter and the Dark Winter.

A Horse With No Name

Tags: rain, weather, potato blight

Mad Cats

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:38:51 GMT

Okay so you can blame ~C4 Chaos for this one, plus the fact it's high time for a new blog and I can't think of anything to write.

I *am* celebrating having finally signed up for AdSense, and since yesterday (with some pressure on my friends) I've made $1.62. Amazing. Want to help out? Go and check out these two pages on my own site - Latest - My Health - and click on the google ads would you? It's made me realise that I should be clicking on the ads of bloggers I like.

And, some may think I've 'sold out'. Well, anything to take my mind off this rain... oh, yeah, here's that video:

"The best Cat Video You'll Ever See"....

THE BEST CAT VIDEO YOU'LL EVER SEE

Tags: Cats, AdSense, Video

Immersed in our own worlds...

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:12:44 GMT

It's way over due for a new blog. I wasn't sure what to post. Life has been well, fairly intense the last while. I have indeed been immersed in my own world, (with a few diversions on that endless thread on the Mod Pod) - which at the moment is a small wooden cottage in Tir Na Spideoga ( Valley of the Robins) in Ireland.

Much of my time has been involved with trying to make 'it work', which means waiting for 'things to be done' (eg. an outdoor larder built), keeping warm ( via a wood/peat stove), clearing trees/bushes from the area to let in some light (well, most of the clearing is being done by my dear partner), and squeezing ourselves into a space that really is too small for us, and, it's also very cute.

At times I feel everything is hopeless, and other times I sense it simply 'is'. The area around here is staggeringly beautiful, and it's great to be in an English speaking country. I keep reminding myself that there are so many good things happening - at the very least being outside on one of the few sunny days planting some herbs was just wonderful. And, as always, my focus is on my writing - so, now that my little office is sorted, and we finally have internet, no more excuses, time to finish the book of short stories.

Well, as for being immersed in our own worlds, this piece from Paul Lowe came through not long ago -- I liked it:

"Immersed in our own worlds most of us are out of touch with what is
happening around us. We are out of balance with perspective.

If we are in pain, one hour can seem a very long time.
For a butterfly who only lives for one day, one hour is a very large
percentage of their life. For a rock one hour is no time at all.

To us a Redwood Tree can seem vast. Someone who works with a scanning
electron microscope has a very different perspective.

Although things have changed a lot over the last hundred years or so, the
other side of the planet is still a long way away.
Measured by the standards of an astronomer it is no distance at all:
The Hubble Deep Field.

We sometimes hear of someone suffering about a certain situation and we are not moved/sympathetic -- because that situation has almost no meaning to us.And something that has no meaning to them can shatter us.

If we slow down, listen/tune in/feel, we may start to revive our atrophied
sense of empathy -- and listen to each other and be more caring and loving.
In order to feel more fulfilled we do need to be more loving and caring.
And that includes to ourselves."

p.s. wondering what the main pic of the moose and the cat has to do with any of this? Me too.

Tags: perspective, suffering, writing, slowing down, Paul Lowe

Mala Blog

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:37:51 GMT

(Inspired by the Mala writing assignment set by Leigh-Anne (QuietLaughter) in the "Writing as Spiritual Practice" board in Diving Deeper: A Writing Workshop)

I started reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert last night. I had eschewed all “God” books for months, no - years. Ever since I left my own spiritual teacher. I needed to find out what was my own. It was as if every thought and every feeling I had about life and how to be in life had been washed right out of me the 10 years I was with him, and slowly replaced with his. His were (are) so close to mine that I couldn't differentiate anymore.

There was a time when the phrase,”There is only now” meant something to me. I mean I really grokked this and it was real. And then, I wasn't so sure. Is it true? Oh God. Well yes, there is Byron Katie's voice in my head. Is it really true? Do I know absolutely that it's really true? Well, no, I don't. So now I've got her voice in my head and I don't know if it's mine either. It feels right, however. I mean her voice. And then I wonder.

I was talking about Eat, Pray, Love. Yes, the first "God" book I picked up in years. It's delightful. Something has been missing in the past months for me. I can't quite put my finger on it. It is as if I'm slightly separated from life. I feel as if I'm surrounded by a wooly cocoon.

I think this has partly to do with my all-engulfing focus on my writing. I mean my book of short stories that I have finally got enough material for. All I think of is the stories that need editing. I want to edit them, so it's not like I feel burdened by it, but there are days, like this week, where all I have is this 'wanting' and I can't get to the editing. I think it's partly because the particular story I want to edit is so huge, so personal, it feels like too much. I thought I'd try again this morning, and thought maybe twenty minutes of a Mala write might help. I think I'm cheating. I should be writing something fairly deep and meaningful. Or, I'm simply avoiding editing that story again.

The feeling I've had the past while is of being slightly deaf - energeticaly deaf - to everything but the stories. I even write blogs on things like The End of the World and I actually have no real feeling for the subject. I don't know if the end of the world is coming. I can read all that stuff about whats happening with the climate, and all the wars, and the endless spiritual writings on the big change coming, and it touches me not. Not one bit. I don't feel it. I don't not feel it. I don't not feel. I feel warm, sitting here, breathing. Quite happy to be writing something, even if it is not meaningful.

I wonder if the reason why I can't get worked up about all the problems in the world and the potential massive collapse or dimension shift is because I'm so self-absorbed. In a way I do want to be shaken out of this place I'm in. I imagine riding horses hard and fast across a hilly field. I imagine sitting in sound meditation for a week, eight hours a day. That would do it, that would squeeze out a foot or a hand or a little energetic tentacle into some other dimension than the one I'm living in now. Music helps, certain kinds of music. But the crack in my cocoon only opens for as long as the music.

And it's not as if I'm unhappy with what's happening, I'm just noticing it. I'm pretty anti-social, and yet when I spend time with people I feel more energised. My 'ears' unplugged, just a little.

There is an image in Eat, Pray, Love, right at the beginning. Elizabeth meets an Indonesian healer. She asks him how to have an ongoing experience of the divine and be 'in' the world. I'm paraphrasing, it's something like that. He gives her a drawing he made. A figure, with four legs firmly planted on the earth. For a head there are flowers. A smile is drawn over the heart. He tells her she needs to be very grounded to stay in the world, and to not see the world with her head, but with her heart.

I'm writing this down because when I read it I didn't resonate with the description. I don't want four legs on the ground. I don't think I have even one. Do I want to be grounded? I don't have a yearning for an ongoing experience with the divine – I feel no lack in this department. Seeing the world with my heart. Yes, this touches something. I know that in the past, if I have fully let in 'whats happening,' I feel a great deal of sadness for the suffering in the world. I sit here and wonder if I'm pushing this feeling aside, protecting myself. Well. Doesn't resonate. Either I'm really numb or it's not this.

I'm simply feeling what I'm feeling. Perhaps I'm protective of my creative space. Afraid that if I open a door to other experiences, I will lose it. Yes, this feels right. Well what a load of rubbish that thought is.

Tags: Mala, Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, spirituality, God books, Creativity, Byron Katie

The End of the World

http://sandrajensen.gaia.com — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:07:58 GMT

I know many people feel there will be drastic change in the world in one way or the another - that it is happening now.

In my early twenties, one of my first 'spiritual teachers' told me that the world would divide into two groups of people, those who stayed in the dimension of war and suffering, and those who lived in a dimension of love and peace. He told me that those who lived in peace, would be aware of the 'other' dimension, but this would not be the case the other way around.

Well. I don't know.

Two pieces on this 'hot' topic came across my path in the last days. Both are long, but both are worth a look.

First, an article in the Saturday Guardian by the writer, Ian McEwan: The day of judgment

"End-time thinking - the belief in a world purified by catastrophe - could once be dismissed as a harmless remnant of a more superstitious age. But with the rise of religious fundamentalism, prophets of apocalypse have become a new and very real danger, argues Ian McEwan..."

I found this interesting:

"Apocalypse - and we should be clear about the meaning of this word, which is derived from the Greek word for revelation. Apocalypse, which has become synonymous with "catastrophe", actually refers to the literary form in which an individual describes what has been revealed to him by a supernatural being."

And, I liked what Ian wrote at the end of the article:

"Have we really reached a stage in public affairs when it really is no longer too obvious to say that all the evidence of the past and all the promptings of our precious rationality suggest that our future is not fixed? We have no reason to believe that there are dates inscribed in heaven or hell. We may yet destroy ourselves; we might scrape through. Confronting that uncertainty is the obligation of our maturity and our only spur to wise action. The believers should know in their hearts by now that, even if they are right and there actually is a benign and watchful personal God, he is, as all the daily tragedies, all the dead children attest, a reluctant intervener. The rest of us, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, know that it is highly improbable that there is anyone up there at all. Either way, in this case it hardly matters who is wrong - there will be no one to save us but ourselves."

And, then, the documentary about the Strong City Cult called End of the World - Michael Travesser's the Lord Our Righteousness Church.

It's not particularly anything new, in terms of what I know and have experienced of cults, but the documentary is very well done and interesting and moving, particularly for the interviews of the young people in the cult. (Reminded me of the film, Jesus Camp, which is a 'must see' documentary.)

The blurb to this video on Pistolwimp reads: "Michael Travesser claims to be the Son of God. Some believe him. They (his loyal followers) all can't wait for the world to end, and have lots of sex. After all, you might as well have fun with the Son of God while waiting for Paradise, or not?"

Strong City End of the World Cult Movie

And, just to change the subject completely, (or not), a lovely short video about a cat sanctuary.

Perhaps this is the peaceful dimension 'in action'...

Cat House on the Kings

(with thanks to my dear friend Andrew, for his ability to find the most interesting videos and information on the 'net)

Tags: Apocalypse, end of the world, The day of judgment, cult, Michael Travesser, Wayne Bent, Ian McEwan, Jesus Camp