it's all how you look at it

just getting this all down on paper

panic!

traffic -- anger,,,

is just a reaction to the world not being the way you expect it to be.

so if that person driving in front of you is going really slow and you're in a hurry, you yell at them, "what the fuck, do you need a permission slip to merge? jeeezus!"

but what you really mean is, "you're making me really uncomfortable because you aren't perceiving reality the same way as me. i'm late to work, and you're just driving your grandmother to the grocery store."

it is an entity of its own, with the power to frustrate you into saturday night, when you will do coke with them and smoke a gang of weed and eventually pop that xanax you've been saving for emergencies.

the only way to get along is yes, to stop and wonder at that purple freeway flower and how the fuck does it grow there, and yes, to not worry about it so much.

lala

you could turn it into a complimentary

for everyone else
instead of a negative for you.

in other words,
just tell them the truth.

-hubby, to me right now

baby shower small talk

"so how's married life, jen?"

"it's great, thanks!"

"so, you're next. when are you going to have kids?"

"uh, i'm not?"

pregnant pause and expectant stares...

"i mean, the thing is, see, it's like this... it's just that immortality via physical reproduction isn't really my thing right now."

separation

The emphasis on our connectedness with one another does not suggest that there are no separations in our world, because indeed, there are. For example, we are individually responsible for our actions and for what we make of our lives. We are responsible for our happiness, our growth and our achievements. These are issues that emphasize our perceived separateness and our autonomy. The separation we have come to believe as part of materialist thinking has its place in the scheme of things; the point here is that we have taken it too far.

NDEs

The experience of omnipresence points to a realm beyond the limits of this world, as many NDErs have attested. But how does physical reality feature in this grander scheme of things? To illustrate, here is another excerpt quoted from Peggy (Ring & Valarino, 1998, p. 45):

The light showed me the world is an illusion. All I remember about this is looking down [at what she took to be the earth]… and thinking, "My God, it’s not real, it’s not real!" It was like all material things were just "props" for our souls, including our bodies. Heavier things we can see are of a lower reality and are real, but not like we think they are. There are invisible things to us now from higher levels that are far, far, far more real. I thought, "I’ve GOT to remember this!"

Peggy’s view of the world as "an illusion" does not necessarily imply that the physical world is somehow not real, as in a "mere illusion". To use an analogy, some NDErs have referred to this world, in the manner of Shakespeare, as a stage and we are the actors playing our various parts. Other NDErs speak of our physical reality on earth as a school designed for our growth and development.

As Peggy implies, physical reality is real on some level, but it is not the ultimate reality we tend to think it is; it occurs within a much larger, subtler reality. Her view is not at all unique, and reflects not only the views of many NDErs, but also views commonly associated with Eastern philosophy. The latter view is that everything in physical reality is a manifestation of a subtler reality, for example, our body is a manifestation of (in Peggy’s words, a "prop" for) our soul. This is not to suggest that an NDE paradigm is necessarily the same as an Eastern paradigm, but it appears to include elements of Eastern thinking.

you are not your tots

what a cool week this is shaping up to be

i finally found out that a lomo camera will get the effect i've been looking for in photography, and, yippee! i can afford to buy one!

i also got a mini crockpot. guess what i'm going to be using that for, hehe.

i am working out and eating whole, organic food and losing weight and... not drinking like a fish.

my sweet baby and i became grandparents. (weird, since i'm not a mother, but still.)

we had a great session with our indian "friend" on monday.

and... i got my redhead back!

remember

new moon in cancer (it's not a merkin)

Then, contemplate the mystery of your physical incarnation on this particular planet in the universe. Just as you traced your family heritage, so, too, unearth your spiritual inheritance. Sort through any memories you may have of past lifetimes, seeking the thread of a storyline. Summon your spirit guides, as well as those visible and invisible beings who make up your soul family. Tunnel downward to the deepest roots of your original self - to the time before time began - and recall the purpose for which your soul took on human form. As the Sufi teacher Pir Vilayat asks, "Can you remember your face before you were born?" Who were you then - who are you now? Are your soul, personality, and body - like the sun, moon, and earth - in cosmic alignment? Are you fulfilling the task for which you incarnated?