mermaidcamp

mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Benefits of the Garden Arch

August 1, 2013 — 4 Comments

My visit with Michael Ray yesterday was fun and informative. Here he tells us about the benefits of the Nursetree Garden Arch:

I am impressed with his continual learning and improvement of his invention.  I have been through the prototype process with Floatli and know it is both fun and frustrating.  You can only learn through experiment.  I believe Michael has created a wonderful tool desert gardeners will be needing more and more.  A dozen years ago I bought 5 acres in Oracle, AZ with a gushing well, thinking I would grow food. When I sold the property last year the well was almost depleted for household use.  In a way I was lucky I did not plant a big orchard and then loose the water for it.  Today I garden in the city with an eye toward conservation of every kind.  The garden arch is an innovative way to save water and grow food.

Extreme Gardening

July 31, 2013 — 7 Comments

Michael Ray and I met at a small business group that meets at Tucson’s Ward 3 office once a month for a convo.  When I saw the pictures of his invention I wanted one.  After learning more in subsequent meetings, I asked to interview him about his gardening transformer, the Nursetree Arch.  He developed this water catching temperature controlling environment for desert gardeners who have climate challenges.  I love the way he can adapt his new prototype to the situation and economic needs of the particular client.

The fully decked out robotic arch in which Michael is growing papaya as well as brussels sprouts in Tucson on August fist is fancy indeed.  He is recording data to help him refine his work.  His outdoor garden benefits from his arch used as seedling starter in the winter.

Soul on Paper

July 30, 2013 — 3 Comments

Carl Jung, Leo Swiss shrink and alchemist, invited his patients to record their own visions as he did in his Red Book. He councils patients to record their visions in order to interpret the voice of the soul:

“Think of it in your imagination and try to paint it. Then when these things are in some precious book you can go to the book & turn over the pages & for you it will be your church-your cathedral-the silent places of your spirit where you will find renewal. If anyone tells you that it is morbid or neurotic and you listen to them-then you will
lose your soul-for in that book is your soul. ~Red Book; Page 216.

Today we have digital means of making art which I enjoy as self expression.  What Carl is talking about here, however, is hand on paper. He tells the patient to use good paper and art supplies to document all visions.  He explains that by drawing the vision the magnetism it contains is neutralized.  He suggests that the expression of the detail is an important way to build self understanding.  I will continue to enjoy my digital art making, but think it is time to spend more time with hand on paper.  I love to draw mandalas and other geometric patterns.  I wonder if I begin now if I can produce a Red Book worth saving.  Have you started your Red Book?

birth chart Jung

birth chart Jung

To Tweet or Not to Tweet

July 29, 2013 — 5 Comments

glass mosaic

glass mosaic

That is the question.  The ways to use twitter are varied and always in flux. My own use of the stream changes over time.  I started tweeting and Klout at about the same time, and quickly grasped the connection between the two.  Initially I met people on Klout  then followed them on twitter.  My twitter stream was full of Klout tweets about K’s I gave and received.  At some point I tired of this format and learned how to chat.  Again, there are many styles of chat on the blue bird.  Using hashtags the chat is found and followed. Here are some chat styles I have enjoyed:

  • #Usguys or #Smgirlfriends are examples of full time chats
  • #usguyschat or #Dadchat are examples of conversations at a specific time
  • live chat any event or show using predetermined hashtags, like #DWTS
  • breaking news will develop obvious hashtags, like #election, or #royalbaby
  • keyword follow like paddle board yoga will find specific subjects
  • Retweet and comment anywhere, any time

All of these styles will introduce you to other tweeps interested in topics you follow. You could think of chats as parties, and they are often promoted as such.  I have won wonderful prizes for participating in chats, and met interesting people from all over the world.  The best thing about a twitter party is that you can come and go as you please.  Protocol requires polite and on topic responses, but there is no required stay.

If you have not tried twitter and wonder why anyone would, think of it as a living reference library.  It reports news, connects like minded people, and facilitates discussion.  It is used as a distraction and used for nefarious purposes as well, just like all human inventions.  You choose the people and the subject.  If you choose to share digital #Coffee and #Bacon all day, that is your own business.  You are the master of your twitter stream; you can block any user and stalk anyone with a profile. It is as powerful as you want it to be.

Empire Avenue, Rich and Famous

July 25, 2013 — 6 Comments

Michael Q Todd

Michael Q Todd

I am surprised to tell the gentle readers how much I love Empire Avenue. Yesterday I read a blog post by @mqtodd about Empire Avenue as an analytics tool. I had not considered joining before, but his logic convinced me to take a look.  Overnight I am a bizillionaire, and my account keeps refilling with magic money to buy shares in my fellow members. What is not to like?  The other interesting aspect of the magic currency, sometimes mixed with real money, is the way you can spend it on missions.  I have only done a few since I am less than 24 hours into my Empire building, but they are fun. I voted for an Estonian lady to win the best floral balcony in her town, for which she may win a trip to Spain.  She gave me a giant payment in E bucks.  Her balcony was very nice, so I had no problem helping her win.

People create groups and missions that promote blog posts, pages, Pinterest follows, or floral balconies.  The mission creator offers a payment from his own E bank account to the members who complete the mission.  It is efficient and there is no need to participate if this does not call to you.  In the meantime, your own stock value is changing based on others buying into you.  You then have E bucks to buy stock in other individuals.  It works like the stock market and has charts that are similar to track shares.  These people have my number (pun intended).  I have never played a video game, and am not at all tempted to control an avi in an action scene.  However, giving me an imaginary stock portfolio and people who want to play stock market is bait that surely does turn me on all the way.  I hired a fiduciary to handle my real life investments last year because the election campaign freaked me out too much to continue to handle my own investments.  They short the markets, buy commodities, and all kinds of crazy stuff that I will not in my lifetime understand.  I am happy with their services and with the time I do NOT spend watching the markets now. I am free to do more fun activity ……like in vest in a pretend stock market.

I am non competitive at one level, but when I see a chart of my own performance I sincerely want to improve.  Since this is not real money and my financial welfare is not at risk I could see myself going deep into the time investment.  As with all things, balance and control are needed.  It is a bigger thrill to learn that your portfolio value has quadrupled than to hear that someone gave you a K in tea.  I do not suffer from the ubiquitous FOMO although I participate in many social networks. This one with charts and value presents some danger to this cozy neutral situation.  I am now on the market and people are buying into me..hmmm. This is essentially what the rest of social media is too, strangers buying into you.  Mike mentions the social aspect, which I have already begun to feel from my shareholders and group members. I have always admired him for his bright green wig, and now I am his shareholder.  I love it.

Color Magic

July 23, 2013 — 3 Comments

Color has magical qualities.  Color plays a role in ritual, in design, and in folk medicine around the world.  In Feng Shui customs, cures, and auspicious building sites are color coded.  Color and love are symbolically entwined, intrinsically related. Emotions are influenced by color. What do your colors say about you?

  • Do you wear the same colors all the time?
  • Do you decorate with the same hues?
  • Is your wardrobe organized, or randomly stored?
  • Do you have strong identification with one color?
  • Do you have intense dislike of any color?

Look around today to learn more about your sensitivity to your surroundings.  An interesting exercise to try is choosing one color, then noticing how you encounter it during the day. Notice if it is in your food, your work, or your fashion.  Pay attention to the way you feel when you run into this color.  Does it throw you off balance in some emotional way? Does it have meaning of a symbolic nature?

Corporalita

July 19, 2013 — 2 Comments

Leonardo, the maestro, was guided by core principals. Cultivation of grace ambidexterity, fitness, and poise were central to Da Vincian thought. He viewed healing as “restoration of discordant elements” in a person. His copious notes on personal responsibility for our own health and well being were left for history. Many think of the Mona Lisa smile as his signature work, but probably the best known of all his art work is the anatomical range of motion dude in a circle and square known as Vitruvian Man.  His study of anatomy was accompanied by observation of his own body in relation to his wellness and fitness routine. His self portraits are studies in facial anatomy as well as in painting technique.

He advised people to dine, not eat. One of his many specialities was preparing vast feasts and party catering for wealthy Florentines.  He collected knowledge about food and nutrition, recording recipes.  He was known about town as having “more than infinite grace in every action”.  His cultivation of effortless poise and ambidexterity in his own body made him famous in a rock star way.  Florentines would come out on the street for the thrill of seeing Leonardo walking. His notebooks reflect a focus on balance, posture, and centering.

His favorite metaphor was the human body.  It is also my own.  If you consider any entity it will have a head, a heart, a circulatory system, consumption, and processing of waste.  It will have dynamic balance and movement.  It will present itself as open or closed, happy or sad.  It will have chronic maladies and moods, a backbone, and sharp or weak senses. Often the right hand will not know what the left hand is doing.  Next time you need to analyze an institution or business use this metaphor to create a picture in your mind.  Ponder one of the maestro’s most famous observations, “every part is disposed to unite with the whole, that it may thereby escape from its own incompleteness.”  At this moment, gentle reader, can you see how this applies to you?

Vitruvian Man

Vitruvian Man

The Catalyst is not Consumed

July 16, 2013 — 3 Comments

The catalyst archetype is rare  in human personalities. Intuition plays a key role in the transformative power of this person.  Intense scrutiny and focus is the special realm of the human catalyst.   Rebels can be catalysts, but there are a few different kinds. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word:

  1. Chemistry. A substance, usually used in small amounts relative to the reactants, that modifies and increases the rate of a reaction without being consumed in the process.
  2. One that precipitates a process or event, especially without being involved in or changed by the consequences: “A free press … has remained … a vital catalyst to an informed and responsible electorate” (Robert O’Neal).

To modify or increase rate of reaction without being consumed is no small feat. Most folks who go out intentionally to make big change in the world burn out and are consumed in the process.  I am not such a person.  I am a true catalyst.  My view is basically not in line with the views of those who surround me; often it is diametrically opposed.  Infiltration is the key to changing anything.  The only time I sincerely burned out and quit as an agent of change was when I infiltrated the VA as a volunteer to improve health care for vets.  That was just too much for me.  My specialty as a catalyst is as a mendacity meter. People lie all the time, and I am very sensitive to the common practice.  I am gifted with a very accurate sensor that detects dishonesty of all kinds. This is neither a blessing nor a curse.   It is my unique talent that I am somehow obligated to use for the betterment of mankind.  We catalysts have a moral obligation to avoid snark because, tempting as it may be, outing people is not usually beneficial to anyone.

People lie for many reasons. I find that usually they fail to tell the truth because they have no knowledge or training in the truth. If brainwashing works, then the victim believes what has been inculcated.  As I review my life I clearly notice a strong tendency to spy/rebel/teach, as a cycle.  I love infiltration for no reason:I enjoy the feeling of being a foreign object in a strange culture, incognito…I almost never go for status quo ….and I fill my teaching with subversive messages I hope will be released into the students’ brains as a constant reminder to do due diligence and individuate. I have a mission to tell the truth, but in a helpful way.  Not everything that is true needs to be said, but when it does I am ready to say it.  This blog is my channel to put this gift to the highest and best use.  Thanks to all the gentle readers who give me this opportunity.

Farm to Table Dinner at Zona 78

July 15, 2013

Last night we attended our first farm to table dinner in Tucson. Zona 78 prepared a fresh and exotic menu featuring produce from Sleeping Frog Farms in the San Pedro valley.  Four courses featuring produce were presented, along with a delicious berry cocktail or a glass of wine.  All of our expectations were exceeded, from service, presentation, variety, to innovation.  If you have not tired Zona 78 or Sleeping Frog Farms produce, I highly recommend that you do.  We hope the farm to table dinners will become a regular feature because it is an extraordinary way to dine and expand horizons.  We met cool people and discovered new cuisine, which is exactly our style.

We were pleased and happy to taste and enjoy such creative innovative cuisine.

Floating

July 13, 2013 — 2 Comments

raft floating

raft floating

floatation devices

floatation devices

deep end with supervision

deep end with supervision

experimenting

experimenting

free time

free time

safe and fun

safe and fun

Floating is a pleasant sensation that requires letting go of the edge.  Floating has a lot to do with breathing;if you think about it it is obvious.  Inflation of the lungs floats the thoracic cavity.  Body fat floats very nicely, so having the right distribution is helpful to effortless floatation. Tension will sink the body, so this effort to attain emptiness and nothingness is impossible to fake.  Most people reflexively hold their breath in water, and are unaware of their breathing altogether.  Athletic muscular people often can’t swim very far because they exchange very little oxygen with shallow breathing.  Tension and fatigue set in quickly when you have no air to use during an aerobic activity.  Fully exhaling underwater is the first step to doing everything else you ever want to do in water for the rest of your life.  Once you know you can exhale, and have changed your reflex by blowing bubbles each time your face is in the water you have begun to take control of the situation.  Since there is a natural fear factor, this is not so much an intellectual practice as a physical one.

Teaching a young child to float, blow bubbles, and eventually swim is a chance to instill confidence and self esteem. Both parent and child develop confidence and build trust during this important introduction to a dangerous environment in which they can easily drown.  Fear is entirely appropriate for non swimmers around water, no matter how old they may be.  A parent or teacher’s job in showing young children the pleasures of swimming and water sports is to draw clear safety guidelines.  Adults must set boundaries, define rules, and perhaps for the first time in a kid’s young life, assign appropriate punishment for violating pool or lesson rules.  Even if kids are good strong swimmers they can potentially be injured or injure others if left without any supervision or guidelines. In order to preserve the joy and fun in visiting the pool or lake use common sense:

  • Never assume another adult is watching the kids.
  • Balance practice time with free play time.
  • Teach games that challenge level of skill with risk (boundaries clearly set).
  • Encourage stroke or diving practice early in the session, not when the student is tired.
  • Understand you are modeling risk assessment more than anything.
  • End before dehydration and mayhem ensue.
  • Use all kinds of floatation devices to stay safe as well as comfortable

The same rules apply for adult swimmers.  Pace yourself and stay safe.  Doing nothing but floating on your back in the water taking deep breaths can become easy, but it requires complete focus.  Start in shallow water and work up to going deeper.  Like the backbend in yoga, the trust fall into water requires a level of confidence that can only be acquired through practice.