Michael Bernard Beckwith
Blessing must arise from within your own mind. It is not something that comes from outside. When the positive qualities of your mind increase and the negativities decrease, that is what blessing means. The Tibetan word for blessing … means transforming into magnificent potential. Therefore, blessing refers to the development of virtuous qualities you did not previously have and the improvement of those good qualities you have already developed. ― Dalai Lama XIV
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Take Responsibility for healing relationships...
Every relationship in your life can be healed, every relationship can be wonderful, but it's always going to begin with you. #donMiguelRuiz
No mistakes, You've always been successful...
Jambo and Happy June, Ron!
I know I sometimes need reminding, and so just maybe you do, too:
Ron, we live in an illusionary world designed for you to find and create happiness. You're inclined to succeed, pushed on to greatness every single day, with positive thoughts that are at least 10,000 times more powerful than your negative thoughts.
Ron, your thoughts become the things and events of your life! It doesn't get any better than this. It doesn't matter where you've been or even where you now are. What is it you want? Create a picture of it in your mind, imagine all the details, feel the happy tears streaming down your face, feel the warm hugs of congratulations from your friends, and know that this vision is yours for the making.
In the days that follow, take action, because for every little step you take, the Universe takes many more on your behalf. The more you do, the more She does. It is easy, easier than "blood, sweat, and tears." You've always been successful, there have been no mistakes, and the BEST IS YET TO COME!
In the days that follow, take action, because for every little step you take, the Universe takes many more on your behalf. The more you do, the more She does. It is easy, easier than "blood, sweat, and tears." You've always been successful, there have been no mistakes, and the BEST IS YET TO COME!
No matter where this finds you, Ron, I wish that you find, and live, the truth every day of your life!
You are so adored,
Mike Dooley
 |
Soulapalooza!
Save the Date: November 3 - 6, 2016  TUT hereby presents... Infinite Possibilities Soulapalooza!Oh, YES! This is real! We just coined the term, claimed the domain, and signed the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort contract! Top secret details to follow within weeks, but to whet your appetite, picture this...
Sh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stay tuned to your daily Notes from the Universe for more details, as they become available!
|
Backpack Journalists
Hopefully, they can help me out in my urgent need to interviewing WW11 vets, as most of them are in assisted living or hospice.
Team Backpack Journalists partnered with Mary Huffman, National History ... Linda Dennis, program manager and volunteer, was/Sworking with a child at a family ...While volunteering for the event, She met Linda Dennis, program manager of A Backpack ... A Backpack Journalist helps military children and teens find their voice ... helping people and just being able to do it for the Soldiers and their Families. ... For more information about Hannah's project and herwork with A Backpack ...
Linda Dennis
Program Manager/Volunteer at A Backpack Journalist
- Charleston, South Carolina Area
- Government Relations
| Current |
|
|---|---|
| Education |
|
About Us
” A Backpack Journalist ™ helps youth find their “VOICE”
Building Resiliency through Creative Expression! Creating the Citizen Journalist of the future!
The teen demographic is faced with multiple challenges that range from growing up, to academic and peer pressure issues. At risk youth face these issues, plus economic and often living in a one-parent household. Military youth issues are intensified due to deployments and reintegration and in general, the military family lifestyle.
At A Backpack Journalist (“backpack”), we refer to the successful journey through self-expression as “finding of one’s voice”. We believe that self-expression is key to developing one’s own confidence, and in getting to know your self. We believe also, that once found, this “Voice” forms the necessary foundation for a resilient life and allows the youth to grow forward in a more happy and well-adjusted manner.
“Backpack”, originally was created for 12-17 year olds, has also served younger children via a hands on experience and our “About me – Little Backpackers curriculum” .
“Backpack” has been used by FFA (What’s Your Story!”), Brandon Hall School (Cowboy Poetry), National Parks (Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument), Cantigny Park (First Division Museum, Freedom Express), National Guard Youth Programs – Youth Symposium, Yellow Ribbon Events (North Carolina, Texas, Colorado, Iowa) US Army Reserve Child and Youth (ARTP) and at Ft. Campbell Kentucky (MWR) and National Guard Youth Programs – Symposiums (Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Oregon, Arizona, Florida). “Backpack” movies provide an intimate inside view of the curricula at workshops, Cover the Assignment events and teens at work, displaying positive outcomes of their own resilience. These movies can be found on our You Tube Channel, and also via DoD links (Yellow Ribbon Events).
During the 2014-2015 school year, A Backpack Journalist was a partner to the Charleston Promise Neighborhood, Sanders Clyde School, and worked in the expanded day program for elementary school students, and at Burke Middle High School with middle to high school/Downtown Community Center/21st Century After School.
Both programs were PILOTS, and continued forward with our modified, expanded lesson plans on “Cover the Assignment”, “What’s your Story”, and TEAMBACKPACKJOURNALISTS (www.teambackpackjournalists.com – under construction) in various schools in the Charleston County School District. A book – Baseball, The RiverDogs and the Life of Larry Doby was one of the outcomes of the school year. 
This book includes a lesson plan/thematic unit for teachers, aligned with Social Studies standards for South Carolina and other states.
This book includes a lesson plan/thematic unit for teachers, aligned with Social Studies standards for South Carolina and other states.
In the 2015-2016 School year, we will be supporting a STEAM project in a partnership with Hendrick Automotive, to help develop a series of lesson plans and a book focused on Cars & Parts for the elementary school demographic. Sanders Clyde School was chosen as the pilot site and also St. Julian Devine, the City of Charleston, Recreation Department.
The MEDAL OF HONOR Bowl – Essay Challenge is managed by our team/with volunteer support. It launches September 1, 2015 and closes early 2016, with a year following of a “Year of Celebration – Honoring our Nation’s Heroes – The Medal of Honor Recipient”. The Medal of Honor Bowl is to be held in December, 2016.
The year’s plan includes our backpackers building a documentary featuring Medal of Honor Recipients, the GI Film Festival, and then a book published with the winning essays.
Team Backpack Journalists partnered with Mary Huffman, National History Teacher of the year and her class to produce a short video essay on three Medal of Honor Recipients, with one of our members portraying Willie Johnston, at the age of 11, as a Drummer Boy, did receive the first Medal of Honor during the Civil War!
“Team Backpack Journalists” classes are offered at St. Julian Devine Community Center on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, allowing all children/youth from the lowcountry of South Carolina to attend. The City of Charleston Recreation Department offer an after school program, and “Backpack” will be offering writing/photography for these two afternoons.
A Backpack Journalist curricula has at it’s foundation Writing. Photography, Song writing, Digital Storytelling/Film making, and Cowboy Poetry complete the module selection. A typical workshop will combine two of the modules. There is also a “Little Backpackers” for 6-11.
Global Compassion
Psychologist Paul Ekman has spent over 60 hours with the Dalai Lama trying to understand “global compassion” and whether it can be taught. He’s searching for a western psychological corollary to ancient Buddhist meditative practices designed to increase empathy for total strangers.
Mindfulness Taps into a Childlike Wisdom and Wonder
Arianna Huffington: Mindfulness Taps into a Childlike Wisdom and Wonder
Arianna Huffington explains to Maria Konnikova how mindfulness seeks to recreate "the Garden of Eden, but with consciousness." Mindful people seek to erase resentment, bitterness, anger, and judgment, seeking instead to experience the world in the present without the shadows of the past.
Arianna Huffington explains to Maria Konnikova how mindfulness seeks to recreate "the Garden of Eden, but with consciousness." Mindful people seek to erase resentment, bitterness, anger, and judgment, seeking instead to experience the world in the present without the shadows of the past.
Arianna Huffington explains to Maria Konnikova how mindfulness seeks to recreate "the Garden of Eden, but with consciousness."
Big Think
Well-Being can be increased at any age...
For Arianna Huffington, Mindfulness is a Matter of Life or Death:
Centuries-old mindfulness breathing and meditation practices have become an increasingly popular fad, but do they really have the power to transform lives? In this interview with psychologist/author Maria Konnikova as part of Big Think's partnership with 92Y's Seven Days of Genius series, Arianna Huffington explains that mindfulness practices helped her overcome a mid-career crisis and refocus her priorities entirely. Together, Huffington and Konnikova review some of the recent scientific findings that support ancient beliefs about the power of mindfulness and meditation.
"Well-Being" can be increased at any age."
Centuries-old mindfulness breathing and meditation practices have become an increasingly popular fad, but do they really have the power to transform lives? In this interview with psychologist/author Maria Konnikova as part of Big Think's partnership with 92Y's Seven Days of Genius series, Arianna Huffington explains that mindfulness practices helped her overcome a mid-career crisis and refocus her priorities entirely. Together, Huffington and Konnikova review some of the recent scientific findings that support ancient beliefs about the power of mindfulness and meditation.
"Well-Being" can be increased at any age."
What is the greatest power in the Universe?
The Great Metaphysician Ernest Holmes - thanks again Tony,
Even your "enemies" are holy.
The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy. Daily prayers are delivered on the lips of breaking waves, the whisperings of grasses, the shimmering of leaves.
|
Terry Tempest Williams(gratefulness.org)
 |
I AM EXACTLY WHERE I NEED TO BE~!
Time out! Time out!
What do you mean, Ron, you can't see it? You don't know? You aren't sure? You're scared?
This is an adventure, you're an adventurer, uncertainty, fear, and even setbacks happen. Besides, "easy" has never been your style, and just because you can't see the miracles doesn't mean they aren't happening, doesn't mean you're alone, and doesn't mean you're on the wrong path.
The day your ship arrives, and it now swiftly approaches, the confusion, fear, and setbacks will be among your fondest memories.
Today, Ron, you're exactly where you most need to be - The Universe
What do you mean, Ron, you can't see it? You don't know? You aren't sure? You're scared?
This is an adventure, you're an adventurer, uncertainty, fear, and even setbacks happen. Besides, "easy" has never been your style, and just because you can't see the miracles doesn't mean they aren't happening, doesn't mean you're alone, and doesn't mean you're on the wrong path.
The day your ship arrives, and it now swiftly approaches, the confusion, fear, and setbacks will be among your fondest memories.
Today, Ron, you're exactly where you most need to be - The Universe
Thanks Universe, I have a lot of "fond memories"! Ron Alexander
Monday, May 30, 2016
Portland's good alternative energy idea
If you think it is too expensive to take care of our veterans, don't send them to war.
Click for more
11,981,849 Views
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders added a new video: Take Care of Our Veterans.
If you think it is too expensive to take care of our veterans, don't send them to war.
Not sure why they killed me?
William W. Chaffin
RIP Harambe, your murder has a positive note in the fact you've now raised awareness on the safety of zoos. Petitions have already begun. ❤
A Joyful Day with old vet. at Concert
Charleston Memorial Day Concert
For me the best part of this excellent concert was to push a wheelchair occupied by a 90 y.o. WW11 veteran who won a purple heart and bronze star as a medic in Okinawa. This is where my father fought as a Marine.
Pfc. F. was a tenor in a choir and sang along to AMERICA, THE BEAUTIFUL. He and I both felt very honored by the music and the people there.
As part of Piccolo Spoleto, a branch of the popular Spoleto music and arts festival, there will be a memorial day concert performed at St. Phillip’s Church. Piccolo Spoleto on its own brings 500 events to the Lowcountry over 17 days, spanning the same two-and-a-half weeks as the Spoleto Festival.
Piccolo Spoleto Festival - Charleston Men’s Chorus
Maria Orme: "Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have fallen during service to our country. As we commemorate the soldiers we have lost, as well as wounded soldiers, bereaved families, orphans and widows, let’s not forget the meaning and traditions behind this sacred holiday.
Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, as its purpose was to visit cemeteries and place flowers on the graves of soldiers who had died in the Civil War. In 1882, people started calling it “Memorial Day,” and by the time World Wars I and II had ended, it had evolved into a day to honor all fallen military men and women, no matter what war they fought in." MSN
⚪
Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, as its purpose was to visit cemeteries and place flowers on the graves of soldiers who had died in the Civil War. In 1882, people started calling it “Memorial Day,” and by the time World Wars I and II had ended, it had evolved into a day to honor all fallen military men and women, no matter what war they fought in." MSN
⚪
For Our Shopaholics
Even Socrates, who lived a very frugal and simple life, loved to go to the market. When his students asked about this, he replied, "I love to go and see all the things I am happy without."
|
Jack Kornfield(gratefulness.org)
 |
Pro-Peace Memorial Day
Memorial Day - Gratitude to Us Vets.
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Anti-war or Pro-peace Activist Ron Alexander
Peacemaking - How can you "make" peace? How can you make people have peace? Lord, I have tried and tried. I have posted on blogs, sent many emails, letters to editors, made sarcastic remarks, argued, prayed, attended peace vigils, and marched in anti-war parades.
My dear Brother was killed in Viet Nam, quite an impetus to be a “peacemaker”. I was in the Army, and because of him, not in Viet Nam. Barry volunteered to pilot medivac copters, a dangerous mission, as he wanted to save lives rather than kill. He loved the Vietnamese, and all people, that I know of………he was a special beautiful person!
Going to the Viet Nam War Memorial (The Wall), while participating in a Peace March, and getting Barry’s smudge (trace of his name) was a very cathartic experience for me. The long peace march to the shadow of the Pentagon was like flowing in a tide of wonderful humanity, including many youth and Iraq vets and their families. Sure there were radicals from both sides, but overall, walking in peace united in purpose with a large group was wonderful and healing.
When I have found myself in a fighting-rebellious atmosphere in my family and workplace often “making peace" has been like beating my head against the wall. Interestingly, in the old times, guns were called “peacemakers”.
So If I can't "make" peace, what can I do? How can I be a peace blessing to my friends, my community, my family, and the world? I bless myself with a peace of mind first, and then bless others by bringing them my peace - not my arguments, sarcasm and anti-war opinions. It is helpful, to not resist their ideas but listen thoughtfully, ask gentle questions, with possibly a subtle hopefully humorous rebuttal, or at best remain silent and radiate my love and peace . I joyously expect to be the "blessed peace giver"! This newly found philosophy has been much more successful than trying to be a peacemaker, at least to my own peace of mind. Being peaceful takes constant attention for me. If I find that I am having angry fearful thoughts, I go to work on my thinking. My favorite tools are reading inspirational literature, such as the Unity Daily Word, and journal inspirational sentences & affirmations daily. Moment to moment, I find peace within by praying without ceasing. This deep peace at the center of my being radiates outward to all that I meet and beyond! I am so grateful
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Rumi ♡ - Choose Love (great music and lyrics)
In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
Helicopter salute video
In memory of my dear Brother, a medivac helicopter KIA with 2 weeks left. He flew mostly those unarmed ones with the red cross. RIP Barry K. Alexander
357,742 Views
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)