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Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Beware of HOA Fraud
May 29, 2013
I live in a small community of 30 town homes in Tucson. Our dues money has been spent to do as much damage as possible to our property value for over a decade. The board has run a charity scam in the home that has a common wall next to mine for about 10 years. They have solicited and collected donations, including truck loads of bread, stored them in the house that has never had pest service, or any basic maintenance. The mainline of the house has been leaking for months, but the board denies any responsibility to make this board member repair the leak. It has been flowing onto the roots of a mesquite tree and causing the ground to heave right next to the sewer out take, and my house. Left to swell and grow the roots are very likely to crack the foundation of my house, but there is no response from our HOA board. If an HOA board is out of control like this one your real estate value can be taken to zero. Black mold loves the conditions set up by donation collection and water leaks, and few insurance policies will cover a homeowner whose home is ruined by mold.
Dreams of Symptom Exchange
May 22, 2013
— 4 Comments
reflecting
Since returning home after ancestry quest I have tracked my dream life. I think am digesting centuries of action in my nightly dramatic interpretations. My homework assignment to record dreams and notice the archetypes I find in them has not been completed in a very rigorous fashion. During my weekend with Thomas Moore we talked about dreams and did a group discussion about one lady’s dream that she shared with us. My guilt about not doing homework as the rebel archetype dominates the teacher in my chart of origin, came into focus. I fell deeply to sleep that night and did start to notice and record dreams on a regular basis while I was still on the road. I visited homes and graves, museums and city streets where the specific ancestors lived and died. I started to have some strong emotions about history and groups of the dead.
Although Mayflower ancestry is highly valued by some, I am much more excited about those who rebeled against the Pilgrims. The sooner they dissed Plymouth, Salem, and the Pilgrim way of religious fascism the more I liked them. My special pride in my one Wampanoag ancestor makes me feel entitled to some explanations. They will not be forthcoming, and I need to understand that I am the sum total of many warring factions going back in time. While Mary Stuart was burning one ancestor at the stake, another ancestor was defending her in Scotland. This is how life works. We do not just have two crazy parents, we have all of karmic history in our collective inheritance.
I have had a dream now more than once that is symbolic and clear. I enter a big building, box, loft, kind of structure, where I am joined by all kinds of other beings from past and present..maybe future also. The place is intended to heal, but the multiple streams of energy mix and collide inside the space. The beings leave having exchanged symptoms with other people, leaving with new issues, side effects and thoughts. The desire to dump one’s own faults on others who are handy is at the root of this gift exchange gone so bad. Common practice is to blame the dead, or the absent for almost everything, trying to leave with only shining and laudable characteristics. This creates a mighty vortex that fills with neediness and greed once the door to the blame barn has been left ajar. A boomerang of dreadful feelings never fails to be returned to the sender. I am no dream interpretation expert, not even a very faithful recorder in the past. This series of dreams in the warehouse health space is about healing, boundaries, and inevitability. I haves used the flower essence Mexican Hat recently, which I find to be powerful and freaky. It is blooming in my garden in a few places. Under this hat’s influence the connections to others that we wish to ignore are highlighted. This flower essence refers to boundaries and healing, exactly like the dreams. Reflection is imperative to interpret both sides of symptoms, causes, and remedies.
IRS and Non Profit Status
May 21, 2013
— 2 Comments
Food handling
food charity scam in action
charity scam
donation drop off
food handling
truck of used bread
food handling
unload and load
holiday traffic
The current uproar at the IRS highlights the much misunderstood function of granting tax exempt status and enforcing it. I have gone through the process of obtaining a 501C3 permit to run a non-profit corporation, and can tell you it is exhaustive and thorough. Like Medicare fraud, there must be pros who go about cheating and defrauding the system from within. Tax exempt status is given to legitimate corporations willing to go through strict accounting documentation to prove that they are satisfying the mission they stated in the original application. By submitting in good faith to this non-profit status scrutiny they are subject to a review of their activities constantly. Applying for the status is technical and rigorous, as it should be. Keeping it is equally serious in nature.
Going completely commando, soliciting donations from the public without any IRS permit or reporting of the donations whatsoever is the highly lucrative method that has been used in my neighborhood for many years. They have begged openly for donations of food, money, items, and labor. They ask for public support to store prepare food in a residential condo to be served randomly to presumably homeless people they find in parks. No laws are obeyed, from zoning, to health code, to revenue laws. They openly ask for donations on the internet, although multiple law enforcement agencies have been informed for many years of the crimes. This self-appointed charity does not feel the need to obey any laws because no laws are enforced. The lack of interest of the government agencies could be seen as negligence. You might believe, if you love conspiracy theory, that since these charity folks presumably vote liberal democratic tickets, they are allowed with the collusion of our local government, to break all these laws. That is too silly.
I don’t believe there is a conscious effort by government to allow crime to take over the neighborhood. My impression is that public servants feel resentful about serving the public. When opportunity arises to feel powerful through corruption, the loyalty of any public servant to act for the benefit of all concerned is questionable. This is where mental illness diagnosis is important. If only insane and or incompetent people are left to run the government, the government will continue to act against the citizens’ best interests. I do not think we have good or effective governance. I do not trust that the money collected by the IRS is well spent. I have always paid taxes, and benefit from no loopholes. I pay taxes knowing it must be done. Waste and corruption are not what I want to buy with my tax dollars, but they are all I see on the menu at the moment.
Athlete Archetype
May 20, 2013
— 2 Comments
At the crossroads of sports performance and fitness training is a special intersection of interest and comparison. We compete with ourselves in many sports. Team sports have an extra dynamic, but freestyle sports played or performed by individuals offer a chance to bend the meaning of sports and scoring. Winter and summer X games are good examples of these evolving sports and athletes. Tricks and styles evolve each year to new heights and dangers. Extreme sports involve heavy risks, so most folks prefer to watch as fans. Others find sponsors and spend all their time in training or competition. What is the healthiest blend of training, practice, participation, and admiration of others? What is the best way to avoid injury and stay fit while playing or competing?
I believe prehabilitaion is important, mentally and physically. Life requires variety, balance, flexibility, and range of motion. In a healthy athletic training routine personal willpower and strength of spirit are the qualities we admire and aspire to reflect. The athlete archetype is the symbol of transcending limits. Physical limits, including handicaps, are frequently overcome in Special Olympics and Senior Olympics through training and competition. Expectations that build esteem for the whole sport and all the players are the healthiest. Entitlement, either to cheat or misuse athletic ability for selfish ends, is the shadow aspect of this archetype. Winning at all costs, taking power over others, flexing strength beyond games and into inappropriate settings is the activity of the bully, shadow athlete. Football thugs in Europe display this kind of trashy sportsmanship. The false sense of invulnerability and entitlement that lives on the dark side of competition is the enemy of good health and balance. Games are played on and off the field and the clock. All or none, win or loose mentality does not belong in every aspect of life. Check your inner athlete, and how your games are played to learn more about your own beliefs about winning, loosing, and dedication.
Communication Loop
May 16, 2013
— 4 Comments
Butterfly convo
“The single biggest problem in communication
is the illusion that it has taken place.” GB Shaw
Are you in communities? Are you a leader? Do you create valuable content? Does the internet make you compulsive and lonely? I have read several posts lately about the brains of depressed people, and the effects of loneliness on health. It appears that insomnia, which seems to afflict most Americans now, can be a result of altered and damaged circadian rhythms. Depression makes the day/night self timer malfunction. Isolation from live social contact proves to be as damaging to overall health as smoking or obesity. It destroys the self monitoring abilities we learned in elementary school to survive in a social world. Now that social order has been redefined, healthy relationships are less likely to evolve. Human lovingkindness is essential for mental and physical health and well being.
Time spent with screens is not without merit, but if life is to be lived fully screen time has to be secondary to real human interaction. Screen communication increases the chances of faulty assumptions on everyone’s part. We normally present ourselves in the best light possible, keeping the shadow issues away from the public forums. We know others must edit along the same favorable lines to give a spin on their life and times that makes them appealing. How much noise is generated and how much valuable exchange? The answer is never final. It is a mix of magical electronic connections and spammy, even dangerous, invasions of privacy. Caveat emptor, gentle reader. The internet is what you make of it.
Bourdain Defines Boorish
May 6, 2013
— 6 Comments
Last week I was very excited to have tickets to attend a stage show in Providence called Good and Evil. This two man show stars Anthony Bourdain and another chef, Eric Rippert. Although I had no idea what to expect I thought it would be funny and entertaining. I even convinced a friend to go with me based on my expectations. The theater itself was completely amazing, and the music played before the show created a great warm up. I was super pleased to be there in the Providence Performing Arts Center ready to be entertained.
What ensued was anything but entertaining. These tragic egos insulted each other in turn, and then turned the vitriol on all other celebrity chefs. It was name dropping in the most useless way, only to insult and criticize. Bourdain went off insulting vegetarians saying that if you travel to a foreign place being vegetarian is offensive to all natives who do eat meat. Sorry, Tony, I was living in Venezuela in 1963, flying into Amazonian fishing camps where there were no people except remote native dwellers when you were in diapers. As an adult I have gone to third world places that you would never attempt without a TV crew and big budget. Speaking the language or attempting to communicate and be part of the scene is the important link. I have always been treated really well in the third world, and have never sensed any resentment from locals when I eat no meat. The Cubans were particularly happy not to have to procure meat for the outrageous dinner they made for me. The view you have created for yourself is false, creepy, and shows your imperialistic roots. Boorish is not endearing to anyone.
Tony, Tony, Tony, your tone is inappropriate, but the subject matter is tasteless. Without the trappings of the CNN crew and budget your personality is bitter and very tiny. I may be able to watch you travel and eat now, but I will never be able to respect you. Name drop and insult people in private. We, the public ( and former fans) do not need to know just how tragically toxic your liver actually is. Spew that toxic bile all over somebody in private if you must. It does not belong in a classy theater.
Living Soul
May 6, 2013
book signing
Kripalu is a yoga school and retreat center in western MA that is leading the way in yoga instruction in the US. With a long background, checkered, then revised, they had the head start on yoga when it hit the competitive mainstream of American fitness. I have several friends who are certified by Kripalu in yoga, and they are all very well versed in the whole system and philosophy. I enjoy yoga practice, but have been out of the habit of taking classes for years. I like my yoga room at home for the freedom and variety that I practice.
My reason for spending a weekend at Kripalu was to be in a workshop taught by an author I really admire. Thomas Moore instructed a group of about 40 students the difference between soul and spirit. This seems like a small technical issue, but it is much more basic. We had about 8 hours of class with him, and a special evening was offered to all Kripalu guests with his wife and daughter. The Kundalini yoga session with live band chanting was a perfect counterbalance for the intellectual work we were doing. They are quite a stunning family, described by Thomas as a kind of monastic group. Each is a monk in a certain personal way. The ladies are Sikhs with turbans and sheepskin mats, the distinctive look of the Yogi Bhajan followers. They teach Kundalini yoga. Tom is an expert in the world of religion who has his own way of practicing reverence. They radiate the power of individualization. If nothing else (and there is plenty) they teach the value of following the individual call to a specific path without regard for anything else.
The alchemy of thought, dreams, poetry, and the ritual of Kundalini yoga were all thrown into the still and worked. The distilled result is wisdom, the kind that sinks in and becomes useful over a long period of time. The time and space expanded to allow a remarkable level of teaching to take place. An artful, and soulful lesson was delivered as if they were translating directly the language of the sky. We now have a lifetime to absorb our new insights. Although in the last few years I have walked out of a couple of workshops I paid for and attended because I felt the teaching was unethical and possibly harmful, this one made up for all of that. I notice that the presence matters more than the material to me.
Flowers Speak Louder than Bombs
April 16, 2013
— 2 Comments
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- Prickly pear
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- wild tobacco
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- iris
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- dwarf pomegranate
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- foxglove
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- iris
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- rose
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- iris
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- cactus
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- rose
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- rose
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- Columbine
Powerful voice of reason, the garden
The calming fleeting beauty of flowers and trees
Brushstrokes of genius, music of color and urgency
Soothe the mind and heal the body
What is a Carry Trade?
April 9, 2013
— 1 Comment
High finance is very easy to understand. The fact that everyone avoids understanding it makes it very easy to take advantage of the financial ignorance of the population. Bernie Maddoff you do not have to be, in order to screw your neighbor and your society out of maximum profit. Buy/borrow/die is all one has to do to benefit from the magic vanishing value of the currency everyone uses. Taxation avoidance, both legal and shady, is the province of those who already have their money in hand. Taxation without even a shabby lobbyist for representation is the fate of those who must claim earned income from jobs.
A carry trade is a calculated risk. The problem is that now the general public does not seem to know how to calculate risk, also known as random acts of unexpected circumstances. We hear the words risk-reward and carry trade, but think this is something that has nothing to do with us and our finances. This banker jargon is for people who wheel and deal, not for borrowers who pay interest on almost everything they buy during their lives. While occupying Wall Street may be symbolic, society would benefit by knowing how Wall Street profits while the population withers financially. If you carry credit card debt while your banker is free to gamble/borrow/invest in carry trades, you will come out as the big looser.
Do you ever wonder why carrying debt at a high interest rate all the time seems natural and unavoidable? Do you simply accept the idea that everything you buy is charged to the future, when presumably it will be so much easier to pay?
The Federal Reserve has become the banker of bankers. Now it is possible to predict with some certainty that interest rates will be kept at nothing for a long time. The certainty itself reduces risk for anyone who wants to gamble with money. Knowing how this will effect your own personal finances may be the single most valuable concept you have learned since you learned to count.
Sister Kelly and Ishtar
March 31, 2013
— 2 Comments
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- Jessica Rabbit
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- Ishtar of Babylon
True religion is a concept hard to grasp. The idea seems to be that divine providence has finally brought all wisdom and knowledge into the possession of one exclusive (chosen) group. This group, who thinks it is all that, persecutes other groups because they are not in possession of true religion. In some places one needs to handle snakes or fall down on the floor speaking in tongues to satisfy the veracity of one’s religion. In other places one only has to donate funds, and then is totally off the hook. True religions distinguish themselves by claiming not to be connected or influenced by religions in history. They often have dead or living prophets that rule the roost. In the south they also have radio shows. Sister Kelly uses her pulpit to explain how the Babylonian fertility and war goddess, Ishtar, got mixed up into Easter. Kelly McGinley of Mobile, Alabama wants to get to the bottom of all this history and evil.
Yes, Sister Kelly, there is an Ishtar, and her fertility symbols are used in a mixed metaphor called Easter. It is fine if you want to stay home while the rest of us go out to brunch and eat chocolate bunnies. We have no need to cast aspersions on your beliefs.
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