mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Goldilocks in Business

January 3, 2013 — 3 Comments

Three Bears and Goldilocks

My story in business since I returned to commerce now seems like Goldilocks and the Three Bears to me. While learning inbound marketing and social media I attempted to find the right marketing partner. I understand how this works because for years I was the marketing partner for all travel providers (travel agent) , and fancy spas sold my services as a teacher ( employee). Commission is something I have always paid happily, even back when I was young production potter paying a gallery to sell my pots. It is fair, and it keeps overhead where it belongs.

My first guess about the perfect partner was focused on Watsu. I decided that the Watsu people maintain pools which are not fully booked, therefore Floatli would give them something else to sell in their pools. I wandered around from hot spring to hot spring looking for the right one, but this combo was not going to happen, for whatever reason.

Next, I decided that mermaids naturally combined with Floatli and were trending. I learned about the people who are into mermaids, and organized a weekend at a hot spring for mermaids to meet water fitness enthusiasts. This was not the match I had imagined either. I did not suffer terribly through these experiences, mind you. I simply found no appropriate fit for a marketing vehicle.

My digital wanderings had exposed me to Chris Brogan and Anthony Innarino who taught a workshop on sales last year. The well presented course provided the piece that had been missing in my technique. They carefully explained the process of qualifying customers. I had clearly demonstrated that deciding myself that the customer needs my product was the wrong initial step to take. Then they gave me the secret to reverse all errors made in the mama bear’s bed and the papa bear’s bed. To qualify a potential customer you first ask if they want to have a conversation with you about whatever you are pitching. Proceeding without taking this step is the number one way salespeople turn others off forever. The interest as well as the ability to execute has to be there, or you are wasting time. Thanks, Chris and Anthony, that information arrived none too soon.

My target now is Zappos, which fits perfectly because Floatli is the exact opposite of shoes, and Zappos is very sporty. This time, however, I will proceed armed with my new information, and ask the Zapsters if they want to have a conversation about marketing Floatli. That is why I will send this post to them in hopes of a positive response. I believe I can show how we belong together in business, for the benefit of all sentient beings. Gravity meets weightlessness, outside the box (but inside a Zappos box). Please say yes, Zapsters.

Culture Clown at Zappos

Water, the Emotional Element

January 2, 2013

Water is the element that is designed to soothe emotional ailments. Hot springs have been regarded as healing and medicine power centers by many different cultures. The belief that sacred rivers and springs can act as oracles, healers, and powerful symbolic medicine is widespread. Ponce de Leon and his crew were seeking that ultimate liquid cure in Florida when they discovered Miami Beach. Water, and the flow of water, is the essence of life.

When water on earth is redirected by man sometimes disaster follows. Levees break and floods devastate. The body can only tolerate so much redirection or misuse of the water element before debilitating consequences occur. We were not created to drink only beer and diet soda, just as the Colorado River was not created to irrigate all of the southwestern US. The result is about the same in the body as in the CAP aqueduct that evaporates the Colorado River water in an open trough while it travels all the way across Arizona to Tucson. Once the kidneys have been compromised in the human body, and the adrenals shot to hell by stress, years of chronic dehydration cannot be reversed. Confusion rules.

Water also has the effect of reversing gravity, which may be the strongest reason it is emotional medicine. Floating is highly underrated. When the world has you down, notice it is just gravity, and the remedy is at hand…….cool clear water. Drink some, immerse yourself in some, even if only in a bath. Hydrate your emotional life and your dreams with pure clean water. Santé!

Two Tigers in a Treatment Room

December 30, 2012 — 6 Comments

Elizabeth Hachenberg, White Tiger Acupuncture

Elizabeth, White Tiger Acupuncture

I was lucky to be called when an appointment opened up at the U of a Cancer Center Supportive Care for Healing where I am the substitute. I have been seeing Justine for lymphatic drainage or cranial sacral work regularly by booking the cancellation slots on short notice. The volunteers call me when sessions become available. I was offered the chance to try acupuncture, which I know is good but I have not tried. My iatrophobia extends to all things needle, but I took the opportunity to face my fear. My spleen is delighted that I went, and so am I. I go to practitioners of wellness rather than the drug docs. My presence at the hospital is still for wellness care, but surrounded by drug docs…slightly expanding my knowledge of what they do. So far I have seen no evidence of allopathic negligence, so my phobia cure is working. I think I may be the only one who goes to use it as a self-care facility rather than as a treatment for cancer, but everyone is super kind to me. The cost is about half and the quality about double what is found on the open market. It is a fabulous deal to be the substitute. The practitioners are in it for the value they can give to the community

My session with Elizabeth Hachenberg of White Tiger Acupuncture began with pulse and tongue reading to determine my situation. She concurred with Jon Thomas who told me last month at my Tui Na session that my spleen was trying to talk to me. I listened to her advise about diet, meditation, and demeanor which was brilliantly delivered. She was so right, I was eating on the fringe of my balanced diet, consuming too much alcohol, greasy rich food, and sweets. I had gone too far out of healthy bounds for too long and need to move closer to the center of balanced eating target. She was elegant about saying this without blame or need for sudden radical change. Her deep knowledge of Chinese Medicine is well communicated in language anyone can understand. She was born in the year of the tiger, as was I, so there was a certain compatibility in Chinese terms just because of the 12 year difference in our ages. I had no problem trusting her to work on me.

She placed the needles on my meridians, most with very little sensation. A tiny prick or a tingle quickly passed as she moved around the table quickly inserting the next needle. When she arrived at my left foot I noticed pain, ache, then a dull sensation that followed that particular point, which turned out to be on the liver meridian..the pumpkin pie martini point. It only lasted for about a minute, but it was distinct from the other points she targeted. She let me rest for about 20 minutes to allow the process to take place. She gave me a great meditation to use during the rest. I used an imaginary cheese cloth to strain the contents of my body, starting with the tip of my toes, and slowly removing impurities until I reach the top of my head. I enjoyed the cheesecloth visualization, and collected a huge load o schmutz to dump. I felt really good all day after the treatment, and will go again. I am over my fear completely, just like that. I am correcting the dietary issues and feel better in general after about a week of that. If you have wondered how acupuncture might help you I highly recommend that you try it. Elizabeth works on the far east side of Tucson in Civano, taking appointments Tues-Sat.

On the Bus or Off the Bus

December 27, 2012 — 2 Comments

Merry Praksters

There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all – suspicion. –Demosthenes

How can we cultivate a healthy sense of disrespect and suspicion that is mindful of and careful with the opinions of others? We see no mature examples set by politicians. Religious leaders all teach healthy disrespect for worldly authority. Some religions teach that all worldly authority is to be shunned because of the wicked nature of it. The nuns on the bus dissing the Pope showed healthy suspicion of politicians trashing the poor to be elected by the rich. There was a saying that resonated back in the hippie world. “You are either on the bus or off the bus.” The phrase came from the book The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test by Tom Wolfe. We also talked constantly about revolution, and the end of the empire. Bob Dylan, The Dead, Angela Davis, Black Panthers, SDS….. it was all very meaningful….and then it faded like morning dew in a folk song. Perhaps these nuns were hippies who never lost the baby faith.

Event Planning: End of the World for Americans

December 19, 2012 — 2 Comments

The American Dream of EOW is like all things in our world. It ironically stars Charlton Heston as the celebrity Head Horseman of the Appocalypse. All attention is given to sets, costumes, and rehearsals. While wildly distracted with what you will be wearing to Armegeddon you completely ignored the fact that the Anti Christ is your banker. You failed to see the signs of impending doom even when the horses of the Appocolypse thundered down Wall Street, veered off to the Jersey Shore, then set up a camp in Connecticutt. Denial cum negligence.

Notice that the Catholic Church, blazing a trail into excellent customer service for those who desire express service at this important time , has set up the @Pontifex twitter account. The NRA, a religious institution of massive power in the US, is taking a look at being open to the idea (a vitriolic debate about) of banning assault weapons for casual use. Congress is redesigning itself as a newly reborn baby dysfunction, while the world knows the political power in Washington resides on K street, so it hardly matters who goes to Capitol Hill. There is not even a flimsy disguise of that fact.

The folly in all of this is that it is based on not only ignoring reality (the negligence part), but also on the belief that human beings will cast, costume, write, direct, and produce the EOW. Ask your local Jehovah’s Witness. They can tell you, as they have been, what the Bible says about this particular subject. It is their specialty. They have a boutique religion for EOW, preparing all the Witnesses for the eventual probability that they will not even be in the rapture group. If the EOW is handled with the style and grace to which my fellow Americans have become accustomed, the USA will truly miss a once in a lifetime opportunity to go out representing liberty and justice for all.

Just as a hypothetical question, what are you planning to wear? The Swiss have practical advice. They say that the last suit has no pockets. They mean that you will not be taking your CHF to the rapture, because a new kind of value will be established that is superior even to Swiss Francs. Imagine that. The guys below are not only well dressed, but they have a full explanation for everything. This is the special season in which we can ask not,” Are you ready for Christmas?”, but “Are you ready to meet your maker?”

Super Sandra Day O’Satya, Defender of the Highest Law

December 16, 2012 — 2 Comments

Supreme Daily Show

I idealize and adore Sandra Day O’Connor, so it was not really a surprise to find her as a super hero in my dream last night. She was a super judge, which of course she is, but her super powers had expanded beyond the regular earthy ones. My visual recall of my dreams is still pretty crumby, but the ability to hold on the the basic story and characters is improving. She could swoop in like Mighty Mouse or Batman. She wore fashionable street clothes, not the robe, but did have one of the little collar thingys they wear. She had those same piercing baby blue eyes that had a spectrum of vision that showed her where the rule of law was being abused by the cranky pants people.

The cranky group was diverse and included cops and judges along with regular angry bird citizens (the one’s we think might shoot somebody). The judge archetype seeks to balance justice and compassion. The shadow judge manifests as destructive criticism, judging without compassion, as misuse of legal authority, or threatening others through association with the law. Sandra Day was angelic and gave darshan and peace to the cranky panted ones. She had a clarity about her, as one might expect from cross between a real life Supreme and my dream judge/ justice avenger. She restored order like Jesus healed the sick. She had no props, no wand, no sleigh, just the truth. She was so brilliant that she enlightened the darkness in all the hearts she touched. What she did have in common with Santa was a need to keep moving because there was so much clarity, justice, and compassion to be distributed to all the good little girls and boys. By applying exactly the same fair and equal treatment to all the bad little girls and boys she proved that she was so beyond Supreme.

In real life Sandra Day and I are both Arizona hotties, although she is a Phoenician. She is co chair of an institute to foster civility in Tucson at the U of A. Her reputation for civility is epic, not that unlike my dream Super Supreme Sandra. Her favorite poem in real life tells her secret to Supremehood ( and SuperSupremehood):

Sometime when you’re feeling important;
Sometime when your ego’s in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You’re the best qualified in the room,

Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul;

Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is a measure of how you will be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you’ll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.

The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There’s no indispensable man.

[Saxon N. White Kessinger, There is No Indispensable Man (1959).]

How simple. These instructions, followed regularly can easily lead to civil discourse. This Supreme’s got SOUL. Let us all wish her luck on her nocturnal flights through the universe. Hi- Ho, SuperSandra, away. Let’s assume that this poem is the gift she wants us all to use while she is busy fighting injustice.

You better not

Intuition, Archetypes, Ancestors

December 15, 2012

Historical enemies, sagas of war, and the tragic impact violent thoughts have on society today are harsh reminders of human disorder. We can not look back to find a perfect time in history or a completely noble story of our ancestors’ survival. The mixed bag has always existed, known and unknown, true and false. When evil rocks the world we are all quick to isolate culprits and round up perps in our own minds. It does not matter which demon we blame, even if we never mention it out loud. The very act of deciding who is to blame will be a process to eliminate knowledge of one’s own part in building a more hateful world. The question of the moment is “Who started this?”, but we all know intuitively the answer to that eternal question.

The prostitute archetype in each of our dramas will test and be tested to discover ethics and limits. The question will be answered in this lifetime about how blind you are to others in order to enhance your own comfort. This story will star your prostitute archetype. Your storyboard will be repeated in different costumes and sets until the line has been firmly established between your soul and what you are willing to do for physical comfort. You may find it is an opera one time and a comedy the next, but if you look back you can identify the segments like vignettes on the Twilight Zone. You created and produced these stories to find your limits. Your own unconscious mind has written, directed, and been in charge of casting the stars. There are sometimes entire decades of reruns. I feel that our nation has been rerunning an unfortunate version of our best selves with less than admirable results.

One meaningful action we all can take is prayer and meditation, to the best of our training and ability. Palestrina’s Requiem for 5 Voices may be helpful. Pax vobiscum.

Requiem by Palestrina

December 14, 2012 — 3 Comments

For a Good Time Follow @Pontifex

December 13, 2012 — 3 Comments

Pope in his ride

Be still my heart. God has given us something so much funnier than the Book of Mormon on Broadway. To follow the Pope’s Twitter stream is to be enlightened to the cosmic joke. All is revealed in these tweets. I have laughed until I cried several times. The pope himself tweeted about 9 times yesterday, but the fans had some extremely funny things to say. That is all I can tell you. Just do it. Cats on the internet, get back. Trending Bennie Is with us. Et cum spiritu tuo. In the words of the artist formerly and once again known as Prince,, “You can be the president. I wanna be the Pope. You can be the side effect. I wanna be the DOPE.” You can’t touch @Pontifex, this is one thing we all have to admit. The tweep’s got soul.

Grand Holiday Spa Down

December 11, 2012 — 2 Comments

If you could go back in time to any place and time where would you time travel? I know I would go straight to Bad Ragaz (via Zurich) to party like it is Christmas. I would attend the tree lighting choral evening and giant buffet offered by the Grand Hotels Bad Ragaz. There is nothing like it anywhere.