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mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Providence, the Best Travel Agent

January 21, 2013 — 5 Comments

Providence RI

Providence RI

Making travel plans is a study in availability. As a seasoned professional I like planning trips almost as much as taking them. I can enjoy a spontaneous jaunt as well as the next person, but planning can make the difference between a mediocre and a memorable travel experience.  It is good to have purpose, even if it is simply to change the scenery.  It is also very smart to have all the essentials covered so you can virtually do whatever strikes your fancy while you are at your destination.  I enjoy studying maps more than almost anything, so all kinds of maps inform my decisions.  I like the freedom of a car but not the hassle of parking and driving in heavy traffic.  Details of transportation and accommodation need to match the budget and the preferences of the traveler. Providence is foresight.  Providence involves taking care of the details in advance.  When you do your part, the divine Providence takes over and creates magic.

Details contain not only the devil, but also a great deal of delight if handled correctly.  There are some basic outlines to create good vacations, but the key is to make the details cater to the taste of the traveler.  That is where I excel.   I have many years of experience in travel of all kinds.  More importantly, I am specific, particular, and discriminating in my personal preferences.  I do know what I like, and know how to procure it at the price I want to pay.  I also know that many people would be uncomfortable in a museum all day, or in a hot spring all night, so I am happy to travel sometimes alone.  This means I am free to linger or to cancel plans on my own whims. I have hit the road with various groups in the past.  I believe I have done my penance in that regard, and can travel for my own purposes now.  Often groups isolate themselves from the local culture, not intentionally, but because they are involved with each other all the time.  It can be a huge turn off to find yourself anywhere with a large tourist group you had not planned to encounter.

Find great value by shopping for exactly what you want instead of seeking the cheapest trip. Using a credit card to pay for travel you can’t afford to take will almost inevitably end in heartache.  Buyer’s remorse is debtor’s remorse when your holiday fun is digging a hole in your credit rating and peace of mind. Prepay for the hotel.  You can get fabulous discounts for a non refundable prepayment.  Better yet, when you take the trip it feels like the lodging is free.  It is very liberating.

  1. Travel off peak.  Go when others do not go to that location.  The first two weeks of December is always the best for all destinations.
  2. Study the details of the area, including special events. Tourism boards are just waiting to tell you everything there is to know about their areas
  3. Consider alternative lodging, like Air BnB, for a more local contact
  4. Weigh the cost against the time consumed when thinking of doing something cheap that takes up a big chunk of your time on holiday.  Your free time should be valuable to you.
  5. Be particular.  If you do not feel excited about the destination, keep studying.  Choose a place that perfectly suits your needs and desires.

I am planning a trip to Plymouth Colony and the vicinity in April.  I am finding so much to do in a very small area, that the research is really a blast for me.  It looks like the right trip to discover Providence, RI.   My ancestors are all over the place, and I have never been there.  This is my kind of adventure.

Feminine Archetypes

January 20, 2013 — 4 Comments

Hekate at the Crossraods

Hekate at the Crossraods

Toni Wolfe, colleague and lover of Carl Jung, identified 4 feminine archetypes. These cardinal qualities divide feminine characters into power centers, or capabilities. Toni understood when she created this foursome as a guide that no individual is purely one archetype on the stage of life. These are ways of looking at personality and talent, not so different from fairy tales and mythological tales.

Life is circular and the core, or center of the circle, is essentially a seed from which the rest of the circle sprouts. Our DNA, birthplace and time, our circumstances at birth are at the center. We contain unique combinations of archetypal power and symbology, both in waking life and in dreams. We begin in the middle of a complex mandala, and work our way out to the edges of consciousness. Limitations are imposed for our education and edification. Dream images give us hints to our own potential as well as to danger. Fairy, Wise Woman, Lover and Queen existed in most cultures before Toni Wolfe mapped out her quadruple qualities. These can be divided, in turn, into variations on a theme.

All people have both male and female archetypes, anima and animus. These might be thought of as north and south, visible and invisible, cardinal points that must also be balanced in the fully realized being. No individual is completely masculine or feminine, good or evil, right or wrong. Tyrants represent an imbalance, a shadow or hidden quality of power, a failure to employ wisdom.  Wisdom was historically embodied in the Titan goddess Hekate, guardian of the crossroads. She has three faces, looking in three directions.  She carries, along with three torches, a key, a rope, and a knife.  She meets you at the crossroads of life and has the power to both assist and punish humans.  If she didn’t have three heads, a polecat and a pack of hounds she would resemble the Virgin of Guadalupe, and have similar intercessional powers.  Her ancient symbol is a wheel with three parts.

Hekate's Wheel

Hekate’s Wheel

Space, Time, Alchemy

January 19, 2013 — 3 Comments

Alchemy Symbols

Alchemy Symbols

Alchemy is the act of transformation.  Throughout history the alchemists have studied nature and mystery.  We participate in alchemy when we focus our spiritual talents on the elements of the earth.  Inventors and those who are especially creative tap into alchemy to turn imagination into reality.  It has been associated with medicine, but all science is the realm of the alchemist. Carl Jung brought alchemy and archetypes into psychiatry.  The collective consciousness communicates through symbols and dreams.  The alchemists, like wizards and magicians, use mythical power to transform or create.

Our time and space are literally created and projected by us.  We are active participants in our entire experience of reality.  My favorite alchemist in history is the Swiss Paracelsus, who practiced medicine and magic at the same time.  He was searching for the Christian version of pagan natural magic.  He promoted Jacob Boehme’s Doctrine of Signatures, a spiritual belief that plants are designed to communicate their healing properties to man.  His work was both controversial and respected during his lifetime.  What distinguishes the alchemist from a wizard or magician is a constant experiment.  The science of chemistry was developed from the  never ending experiments of the alchemists.

If you could focus your spiritual energy on nature to transform your life, what would you transform?  If you were to focus do you think you could change the quality of your experience?

Cultural Delusion

January 19, 2013 — 4 Comments

Cultural mendacity is a flawed belief system taught and accepted by groups. Plato and Tennessee Williams were very concerned about this subject. Folklore and folk medicine, like belief in the chupacabra, is brought over from the past. Political and commercial propaganda is created daily to influence cultural habits. Pavlov trained his dog to be delusional, consistently. You are trained to think buying Fruit Loops on credit is a fine practice for your budget and your health. The political parties are training you to donate money to feed the status quo without even knowing what the status quo is.

Lance, the psycho bully, Armstrong needs to stand tall as a role model for all of history. Protesting too much is a classic sign of dishonesty. Willful blindness extends to all layers of our society. Most of it is not as harmless (not to indicate that these crimes were petty) as doping cyclists. Mortgage fraud and investment banking fraud, as yet to explained to the victims in clear terms, are examples of cultural delusion. Sick work ethics that ignore misdeeds and reward anti social behavior fall into this category as well. Systems are mendacious, but cultures are easily duped. Like Pavlov’s dog, groupthink salivates at the sound of the bell because it has been taught to associate the bell with food. Pavlov in this experiment plays the part of the government. The bell is congress. The dog is the tax paying citizen. The dog food cupboard is full of imaginary dog food, known as the budget. Mendacity is the system in which we live.

The circus still bothers to come to Tucson, but we know a really big show when we see one. The Tucson Gem Show has grown into our most fun and profitable event.  We are perfectly willing to give up restaurants and parking and even driving in some places to welcome our precious gemmers back to town for the party of the year.  They role into town from all over the world ready to whip out their giant crystals and get busy doing some business.  They bring objects of every kind, way beyond the scope of gems or jewelry.

The buyers of all kinds must be here to buy and make contacts for the year.  Museum curators, knick knack shop owners, and hippie miners all converge to change the essential nature of our city for the first two weeks each February.  I have been officially on restriction from buying anything at the show for years, but it does not really stop me.  My birthday falls on Jan. 30, and Valentine’s Day  is still on Feb 14.  The favorable timing of my birth has resulted in an overstock of gifted gem show stuff.  I could easily hold my own gem show, but am currently hoarding all the exotic things I have found.  As any queen can tell you, you can only wear so much jewelry at the same time.  I should have a museum to display my collection, but then I would truly be on restriction. Like assault weapons, no private citizen can rationalize owning this much jewelry.

I love to see them stream into town in their distinctive costuming, speaking all languages, and laying the bucks on the local merchants.  The huge displays of crystals as high as an elephant’s eye crowd into tents and alter the vibration of the desert.  Bring it!!! You are the financial savior that primes our pump each year….the economic engine we cannot afford to loose.  We love you, gemmers, and wish you a prosperous show this year.  Thank you for your exotic and generous presence.  If there is any little thing we can do to make you feel more welcome, do not hesitate to ask.

Gem Show, The Greatest Show on Earth

January 16, 2013

Design and Deliver Happiness

January 12, 2013

The all around good time, right livelihood, and value vibe created by Zappos is a result of excellent design. The products we buy from Zappos are of high quality. What is perhaps more important is that they are steering capitalism in a healthy direction by upgrading the way business is designed. Feudalism, slavery, share cropping and all other adverse forms of employment feature happiness for shareholders only. This short-sighted vision produces more unhappy servants of the apparently happy owners of companies than it does loyal customers.  With the contentment quotient working in reverse, quality, innovation, and value erode and vanish. I think this erosion is occurring in the public service sector.  If Vets kill themselves there is a clear indication that something essential is missing in the overall design of our public business.

How can we make the business of government switch from a stagnant vessel of  inefficient service to a lean mean contentment machine?  Are there ways to practice the Zap happy values in public service and politics?

  1. Deliver WOW Through Service
  2. Embrace and Drive Change
  3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  5. Pursue Growth and Learning
  6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
  7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  8. Do More With Less
  9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

I do see a little weirdness, but far too little.  The WOW Through Service is just not happening. Imagine the government being passionate to do more with less, or be humble.  These core values are created for the benefit of all.  Happiness compounds daily, as does negligence.  My dream government applies these guiding principles to create a better world.  Imagine, gentle reader, a government that makes us as happy as Zappos does, all while being creative and open minded.  We can dream.

Groupies of the Chef

January 9, 2013 — 2 Comments

We have a new favorite restaurant in Tucson. It was recommended to us by a friend, so my neighbor Heidi and I went on reconnaissance. We enjoyed a lovely lunch with gourmet touches and warm service the week before Christmas. I decided to take advantage of a special offer on gift certificates, and purchased three for 2013. I received a 30% discount which always makes me feel smart and happy. Lodge on the Desert is creating a seasonal artisanal menu that suits me perfectly.  I am a dedicated groupie of Ryan Clark who tickles my tastebuds exactly the way I like.  Dining out is a rare special occasion, so I need to make it count.
Christmas brunch was pure delight. Now I can return for two more blow out gourmet dining experiences when the season changes. The chef is brilliant, the cuisine local and contemporary.  This is my idea of ideal dining, right in the ‘hood. Chef Ryan Clark is a local treasure.  I am looking forward to tasting our next meal in his restaurant.

Depth of Conversation Diet

January 6, 2013 — 1 Comment

the bird

the bird

Charlie Rose talked last week on his show with the creators of twitter about how long and how deep our conversations are today. The adaptation to 140 characters is natural in our world now and creates possibilities.  The flying about of links creates interest in larger deeper meaning.  I agree with them that all the various forms of engagement offer a different way to approach exchange.  My personal favorite link right now is Alan Simpson dancing Gangam style with the can that is being kicked down the road.  To tweet that gives me a high degree of  pleasure because it has great social and political import.

Since I have limited myself to reading only three books this year on the Three Book Diet I have noticed that I read constantly, book or no book.  The way we read and write has not surpassed the book, but if you give up books now, you notice that reading inundates everything, and Google is the best little librarian anyone ever imagined. The data is with us.  In this process I have turned my attention to homework long overdue to my own self.  Writing, drawing, and active creativity needs to balance all the reading.  I used to say you don’t get a healthy body to get a healthy body to get a healthy body…You get a healthy body to enjoy life or the whole thing is stupid.  Literacy is the same ,I now learn.  You don’t read to read to read to read ( except in elementary school).  You read to acquire knowledge and skill to be productive in some way, or reading the entire library is for naught.  What began as an experiment has been very instructive to me in terms of balancing my creating/sucking practice in the written word.  I do love books and research.   Had I not stopped to take note of the imbalance I would be sucking down a book right this minute, rather than writing this to you, gentle reader.

Charlie and the guys eventually discussed the depth of meaning diet.  The conversation diet is similar to the book diet.  It asks you to balance snacks (woot!) with more substantial meals (blogging), and an awareness of same.  A healthy diet today consists of media production as well as consumption.  The interactive phase has just begun.  Tweet seats at live events tell us something about where the twitter bird is heading.  The nature of all the new connecting technology is that it is more crowded every second.  The individual conversation, taking place everywhere all the time is well represented by the little blue bird in flight.  We need to have deep conversations about the state of affairs today.  Let the bird fly for peace.  May the twitter bird be free.  May the twitter bird be happy.  May we use it for the highest good and deepest connection.

Intelligence vs Negligence

January 4, 2013 — 3 Comments

We have so much negligence that it is necessary to break it down into its various categories:
Negligence per Se is obvious disregard for regulation that harms society. Criminal negligence is a gross deviation from the risk assessment skills of an average person. Gross negligence is failure to act with the slightest degree of care. Concurrant negligence is a group acting without the slightest degree of care. Obstruction of justice is acting to impede the law enforcement system. Seems a bit blurry, but we all know negligence when we see it.

The Latin root word in question here is about discernment and understanding. Intelligence is the ability to discern clearly, and negligence is sloth, injury and injustice. We do not have so many legal categories for intelligence because it is rare. There are laws, and there is the spirit of the law. Intelligent citizens will make the bureaucracy responsible for negligence of every kind. We pay for this negligence, and I think it is a raw deal. Good management practices eliminate negligence and waste of resources. The status quo looks to me a lot like concurrant negligence.

Zapping to the Beat of a Different Shoe

January 3, 2013

work

Day at the Office

Ahoy

Ahoy Help Desk

Shoe Greeter

Shoe on Duty

Library

Visitors Score Books

Culture Clown and Stats

Culture Clown and Stats

Zap-Benefits

Zap-Benefits

I am deeply enamored of the Zappos core values because they distinctly resonate with my own. On my visit to the Henderson office I fell even deeper under the spell of Zap-happiness. The very professional Culture Clown guided our lucky group of only three visitors around the facility. The happiness is palpable, and the systems only function to amplify existing joy.

  1. Deliver WOW Through Service
  2. Embrace and Drive Change
  3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  5. Pursue Growth and Learning
  6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
  7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  8. Do More With Less
  9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

While I could use work and practice in all these areas, I have consciously embraced these same core values for my entire business life.  I learned that most products that are marketed by Zappos are studied carefully for potential compatibility, as one might expect.  I also learned from Culture Clown, my guide to Zap=systems, that most companies hand in spreadsheets to be considered.  I have no spreadsheets for multiple reasons, the most obvious of which is that I have not yet made a profit.  I will be pleading my case by using core values 1-10 and explaining how believe I can deliver happiness to/at/with/and for Zappos.  It is a worthy exercise no matter the outcome, so I plan to zap on.