Rebirth of a People

by Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

While much of the Northern Hemisphere is blanketed in snow and the Earth rests beneath, we enter the time of year for rebirth and renewal.  Many of Earth's creatures take this time to slow down.  Some hibernate.  Others stocked with food during the late summer and fall months and retire there to avoid the freezing temperatures outside.  With fewer hours of natural light, the time we humans can spend in outdoor activities becomes more limited.  As the year comes to a close, we tend to review our accomplishments and start to re-establish our goals for the coming year.  If we follow the cycle, we, too, should be slowing down, taking time out, gathering our energies, renewing our internal resources, rethinking, restructuring and rebirthing

SCPE has been dormant for quite some time, and we decided to come out of our hibernation with renewed purpose. 

We have seen some amazing events in the last few months, many of which are not pleasant.  It is time for us to realize that a deep cleansing is needed in order to repair much of the damage.  We have a lot of work to do, and now is the time to regroup.  We at SCPE would like to offer some thoughts in an effort to gain some perspective and understanding. 

The United States of America was put together by the sweat of the brows of many, by the blood of men and women who believed in something better than they had experienced in their own lives, and by the strength and conviction of tenacious people who were determined to succeed for the sake of their own freedom and that of future generations.  It became one of the greatest countries in recorded history while it was still quite young.  It took guts and sacrifice.  It took people with a shared vision in a time with no internet, no TV and no radio.  Somehow a commonality of purpose spread from person to person and village to farm to become one of the building blocks of a powerful, free nation. 

It is time we as a collective group took some responsibility for our part in creating the break down of our own system.          

Our responsibility as consumers is taken far too lightly.  When prices are out of control, we have the ability to take control.  It is quite simple.  Do not buy what you do not need.  Refuse to pay top dollar.  Shop bargains.  Be informed.

Do not shop in stores where the markup is higher than other stores just because there is some kind of artificial prestige built into walking in the doors of the “exclusive” shops.  Look for clearance signs.  Plan ahead, and buy at the end the season.  Stock up when prices are low.  If a blouse costs $130 at one store; and the same blouse in the same color, made by the same company is $19.99 at another store, what kind of thought pattern would EVER make someone think it is smart to pay $130 for the blouse?  There are seven grocery stores withing a five block radius of my home.  One of them has prices that are consistently between ten cents and a dollar higher on every product that most people consider to be normal items, purchased often.  I do not understand why that store can remain open.  There is no reason to shop there.  If you search the brand names among these stores, they're the same.  How is one can of peas any different from another can of peas packaged by the same company when the only difference is that one has a marked price that is higher?  What makes it better?  The answer is:  NOTHING.  No one should ever go in that grocery store to shop.  If everyone were a responsible consumer, they'd either put their prices down to compete or be forced to close their doors. 

If the price of gas is increasing nearly every day for no good reason, then don't buy a gas-guzzling waste of space.  If no one buys a product, the product will disappear.  Companies do not continue to produce items that do not sell.  Our message to the automotive industry over the past 20 years or so should have been:  Build me something that lasts and that is fuel efficient.  Instead, there are more high-profile vehicles on the road that suck up as much gas as a 47 foot RV than ever before.  Large pickup trucks are driven daily by individuals who haul nothing more than a few bags of groceries once every couple of weeks.  SUV's are so prevalent, that if you drive a sedan or sports car, you can no longer see anything around you including traffic signs and signals.  When attempting to make a turn, one has to wait until the high-profile vehicles are out of the way, since one can't see past, over or through them; and, even though the driver of the high-profile vehicle can clearly see in both directions,  he/she seems to be oblivious of the fact that they are obliterating the view of the smaller vehicles beside them.  Wait until the end of a car year to purchase a car.  Prices do go down on the current year's inventory when the next year's stock comes in.  It is not necessary to be the first on the block with the newest toy.  Hey, if you happen to own a 47 foot RV and you lose your home because of some poor choices, at least you have a place to live that includes a kitchen, a bathroom and a full sized bed.  These are not options available on an SUV. 

If you know you can't afford something, don't buy it.  It doesn't take Einstein to figure out that paying interest only on a huge amount of money – a mortgage, for instance – will never pay off the balance borrowed.  Somewhere along the way, the loan payment is going to have to go up in order to begin to pay the principle.  If the mortgage lender had to be “creative” to get the home buyer to qualify, what's going to change that much over the next few years (five of them in many cases) that will increase the buyer's income substantially enough to absorb the increase?  They just bought a new house and want new furniture.  The house was not brand new and the water heater needed to be replaced, along with the refrigerator.  Then the home owner decided that the carpet that was fine when they looked at the house is no longer the right color after the new furniture (that is a different color than the old furniture, which did match) was delivered, so they bought new carpet.  Guess what?  These major purchases were all put on credit cards; so, over the course of the five years when that home owner should have been planning on how to make that increased house payment, they've pretty much dug themselves into a financial pit.  It is not difficult to understand that if your monthly payment is killing you right now, when it goes up, you will be in trouble.  Where was the surprise?

If something doesn't make sense, get the facts and take the side of reason.  Don't get your neighbor's opinion.  Don't ask the guys at work what they think.  Don't just listen to Uncle Ed's thoughts based on WWII economics.  You're on the internet right now.  Look it up – at a reputable source!  You are seeking facts.  Discretion is not just the better part of valor.  It is also how some of the best decisions are made.  Read.  Evaluate.  Think.  If two plus one in someone's opinion is five, then their opinion is not worth much.  Seek out the truth!  If someone tries to convince you that red is blue, stop listening to them.  Please remember that there are people on the radio and on television who spew garbage in order to get ratings and receive large paychecks.  If what they say is not based on facts, find the facts.  If they continue to spew garbage, change the station, but only after you find out who their sponsors are.  Then, do not buy anything from those sponsors.  Get on the sponsor's websites and tell them that you will not purchase their products or services any longer because of their lack of integrity in sponsoring programs that you do not hold in high repute.  Be specific and business-like.  If a newspaper or magazine writes tripe, stop buying it.  Again, we need to be responsible consumers.  

Stay informed and vote.  We cannot take the chances we have in the past.  We have to pay attention to what is going on.  If what we see on the surface is dirty, imagine what goes on that is invisible to us!  I'm not a political scientist, but normal reason says that the longer our representatives are in public office, the more time they've had to build up relationships with those who are not maybe so interested in the public good.  I don't want to say that all politicians are dirty; but everyone has a price, be it in dollars or other types of favors.  Everyone has an agenda – good, bad or indifferent.  The beauty of a democracy is that we have the choice to replace our representatives every so often.  Unfortunately, we have taken the lazy way out for a long, long time.  If we are voting at all, we don't look at the issues or the track records.  We don't watch out for our own good.  Some of us go vote for the guy whose name we recognize, paying no attention to the fact that the reason why the name is familiar is because he was indicted on seven counts of theft of public funds a week before the election.  We don't use our heads when one candidate attempts to slander another.  Stating that someone associates with a known terrorist is pretty low-down, especially when the “known terrorist” might have been a Viet Nam war protester back in the 60's.  Terrorist or protester 38 years ago?  Fact or fallacy?  Good campaigning or flinging pooh?  Dealing with the issues and informing the voting public on where one stands or grasping at straws because the candidate can't address the issues because there is no plan?  This rant could go on and on – based on facts.  What we need is a cleansing!  We, as a nation, stood up in this last election in many ways.  This needs to continue.  We cannot let down our guard!  We did that, and take a look where we are. 

At this time of rebirth and renewal, we, the people, need to look at ourselves.  We need to be responsible.  We need be discerning.  We need to quit blaming someone else for the shape of things.  We need to realize that we brought this upon ourselves.  We need to re-prioritize.  We need to take back control.  We need to take action every time we can.  We need to stay informed.  We are the watchdogs.  We cannot be complacent.  We need to educate ourselves on what we can do to make a difference and get ourselves back on track.  We are the country!  It is not the land.  It is not the governing bodies.  It is not the facade some put on to appear to have more wealth than they do.  It is not the vehicle, or the house, or the furniture, or the electronics, or the high-end restaurants.  We need to get it together and do what's right. 

The United States of America is us, not The U.S., US!

Take charge!        

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Creating a Relationship

by Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

I re-learned something very important today:  communication is the basis for a relationship – any relationship.  

I’ve been in a managerial position for most of my working life.  Most of the people who have worked with me would do so again.  Many people on my lengthy list of email contacts are former employees.  Some of my best and closest friends have worked with me (note: didn’t work for me, but with me).  I think I learned how to be the kind of manager who is cared for by those with whom I’ve worked because of my father – a man who was so respected by his employees that, in the case where there were picket lines due to union disputes, was never stopped by the lines.  Instead, space was cleared to allow him to pass.  I do not know if this is an inherited trait or one that was learned, but I have thanked him many times for whatever it is that causes that kind of loyalty to come my way as well.  I am not tooting my own horn.  I find most of this both surprising and accidental (or by the grace of the Goddess).  I am not taking credit for this other than the fact that I try to approach ever situation from a spiritual point of view and attempt to care for and be appreciative of people for their good qualities, although sometimes those qualities may be difficult to find.

Today, I had to have a conversation with an employee who has been a challenge.  To start the meat of the story, one must first note that my new team and I have been together for only 36 calendar days minus the standard 2 days off per week.  This employee has created several confrontations with customers.  This employee has not had a good track record for attendance.  This employee has not had the best attitude.  This employee has, however, done a wonderful and intelligent job when it has come to special projects, which were taken on by the employee without hesitation.  However, at certain points, one is forced to take a stand.  This employee wanted to leave early due to illness, yet again.

I started our conversation with the standard speech about acceptable standards of attendance.  I was not, shall we say, in the very best of moods since my 14-month-old granddaughter is back in the hospital as of this morning.  My daughter, her mother, has two brain tumors, and we’re waiting to see if low-grade radiation treatments will help her avoid surgery.  Things are not all sunshine and light in our lives right now.  There were two people who had called out from work in the morning due to illness.  Can I say that the last thing I really needed was another problem.  This employee wanted to leave early due to “illness”.  As the conversation continued, it became clear that this employee has had an ongoing issue, one that she has had great difficulty putting into words.  Soon, we did, however, come to a meeting of the minds. 

I will not go into details, since they are not important to the lesson; and it is not mine to share the information that was given to me in confidence.  The important part is this:  it came to light that this young lady and I have many things in common – in particular the fact that we have problems in our lives over which we have very little control.  Although our conversation started out with us at odds with each other, we both learned that we are human, that we have hurdles that seem impossible to jump over, but that we intend to go on, making the best of what is thrown at us.  At the end of our conversation, we hugged and cried a bit.  Somehow, we went from a clash to a loving understanding of each other’s problems, both personal and business.  We grew together as people and created a relationship that, I think, will be hard to tear down.  We grew in respect for each other.  I believe that we will build a stronger bond as time goes by.  Something tells me that she won’t be one of the employees I would rather live without any more.

How did this happen?  Communication.  We talked.  That’s all.

Be well.

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When Is Too Long?

by Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

In a world of hurry and a land that is lauded as being of plenty, when do we stop, look around and say, “It’s been too long!”  I think the time is now.

As I listen to the news on radio and watch it on TV, my mind spins faster than Katrina.  What have we become?  Where are we going?  How do we return to a path of love after so many paths of hate?  I do not necessarily have answers to these questions.  What I have is faith enough in all of you to know that we can make things change.

There are many who spend much of their time working on viable solutions and attempting to create the love that is needed.  They are online in forces that would boggle some minds – those who hate, in particular.  They are in homes, right now, working on supportive projects, praying, sending healing, writing plans and blogging.  They are in churches, setting up charitable projects, meeting to plan outreach programs, praying for the betterment of our times.  They are working in offices of organizations that take on the tasks of increasing awareness, creating fund-raising activities, lobbying for a brighter future. 

There are not, however, enough who will actively pursue that brighter future. 

After all the centuries of hate and death, it now requires all of us to make that difference.  NOW is TOO LONG!  I have, in previous editorials, harped and pleaded for more to join the ranks of the active.  I have not done this for some self-serving motive.  All one needs to do is turn on the TV or radio or pick up a newspaper or news magazine to realize that things in the Middle East have gone too far – again and again and again.  Our country is a mess.  Prejudice runs rampant. Hatred and greed are the motivators of the day – to such a degree that those who are most greedy won’t even bother to respond to the fact that the end of the Earth as we know it is near.  Their selfishness and need for self-gratification overcome even the predictions of the end of life on this planet – scientifically based predictions, you know, those things called “facts” . . . irrefutable facts.    Liars and murderers run the country and most of the population sits at night, beer in hand, shaking their heads at the news commentators and asking how long it will be before the pizza comes.

Oh, we chat at work about how horrible things are.  Prices are up.  There aren’t enough jobs.  People are living in the street and eating garbage.  And those poor, poor young men who died in that bombing yesterday – wasn’t that a shame.  Oh, and how their families must feel right now – YOU DON’T KNOW HOW THEIR FAMILIES FEEL RIGHT NOW UNLESS YOU ARE A MEMBER OF ONE OF THOSE FAMILIES! 

There is one thing of which I would like to remind everyone:  If you know that something is wrong and you do nothing to fix it, then you are equally as guilty as those who created the wrong-doing in the first place.  Please don’t hem and haw and shake your heads with minimal feeling.  Open your hearts until they break – like the parents, spouses and children of those who are dying in war; those who are wrongly accused of crime and imprisoned because the color of their skin is too dark; those who cannot find work and must watch their children starve or become sick and die because they cannot take them to a doctor; the list of inequities is so long . . .

We, those who have something – you’re reading this on a computer, you have something – need to get ourselves motivated at least enough to have our voices heard.  It is too long.  Take some action.  Show that you have love in your heart.  Give of yourself.  Find a cause and make a difference.  Search your heart, search the internet and then do the right thing – for the greater good of all.

Be well!

By Dan Schmucker

7 January 2007

Pride comes in a variety of forms.

There is the type of pride that seems to have substance – that form which in the right combination of smoke and light, makes the smoke appear to be a solid form, maybe a column, when in reality it can not sustain any weight at all. Leaning on a column of smoke will result in a disappointing collapse.  This is seen in the reliance upon Title or Family Name, as an example. When the flawed humanity behind the title or status is revealed, it becomes the fodder of gossip and shame.

While not all forms are damaging, for example, Jesus being the Pride of His people, or being able to enjoy a task accomplished well while acknowledging the ability to perform it was a Gift from God, most forms do not share that glorious fortune. Most are damaging and yield pain and discomfort.

My Pride demands Victory and Vindication, but Scripture clearly and correctly states the fact that pride goes before a fall.

It’s pride that, if left unchecked, will keep me from confessing my weaknesses and faults, my sins of both omission and commission.

It’s pride that prompts me to hide from my failures, while accentuating my successes.

It is this pride that sets me up to compare myself to others in ways that are non-beneficial.

My pride inhibits me from celebrating the successes and good fortunes of others… it tempts me to excuse their success, while pretentiously saying I am glad for them when, in fact, Envy has secretly crept in

Pride paints me as heroic and noble, righteous and steadfast . . . while in Heaven it is seen as a pallet of disappearing paints.

Even here on Earth, in the starkest of Realities, it is just paint.

A covering.

A shell.

An appearance.

A façade.

A mask.

Societal make-up.

Cultural superficiality.

How can I get past this morass of distorted imagery?

The answer again seems paradoxical.

It is in surrender that I really win. Paradoxical? Yes, perhaps.

It is when I have nothing to lose that I experience the Freedom to really do something else. It is only when I release whatever I am clutching so desperately that I have the ability to take a firm hold of something else. Maybe it would help to take a look at this idea in a way that doesn’t sound like we are turning over the National Flag, or your valued and deeply held principles, which you wouldn’t surrender anyway. Maybe it would help if you saw this in a non-life threatening way.  The struggle for us to vacate the negative Pride that precedes a fall often comes in more subtle forms.

Picture yourself carrying around a black plastic trash bag stuffed and heavy, the contents of which are everything you don’t want anyone to know about you. You have become so fearful of discovery that you are lugging it around everywhere you go, dreadfully assured that you would be highly embarrassed if anyone were to have access to what is inside. While you are on your Journey, going through a park, you encounter a Friend holding a Frisbee. He asks you to play some Frisbee; and, of course you dutifully decline, because you are bearing the weight and responsibility of your burden.

Despite seeing that you are shouldering your trusty black trash bag, He flings His Frisbee at you with incredible accuracy, heading straight for your forehead. You feel both immobilized and shocked.  Here’s where you light up your decision tree. Ask yourself: “Is He nuts?” “Doesn’t He see this is my trusty trash bag that I am extremely attached to and protective of?” “If I don’t catch this Frisbee, it’s going to smack me right in my forehead. If I catch it, my trash bag will fall to the ground, and some of the contents will be exposed, or worse, the bag will burst open.” Being the strong willed individual, you doggedly endure the “DOINK” of the Frisbee smacking you in the forehead, as you angrily tell yourself it was better than the alternative. In disbelief, you watch as your Friend approaches you, but instead of proffering what you anticipate, your expected request for forgiveness, He reaches down, picks up the dreaded disc, and trots back a moderate distance, only to ready Himself to throw it at you again! With a sweeping smile on His face and an equally rangy arm motion, He flings the plastic disc at you again, straight for your nose. For some reason, you can’t move out of the way . . . you have only the option of catching the swirling disc, or dropping your protected cargo. “DOINK!”  As if energetically training a beloved household dog, He trots into you again, bends down, and picks up the dreaded Frisbee. When He stands upright, He looks you in the eye, winks, and trots back to the same location He stood at the last time he hit you with the flying disc. He leans in toward you, looking the same way a baseball pitcher eyes the catcher’s mitt . . . “He wouldn’t!”, you tell yourself, but before the words have finished being framed in your mouth, the Frisbee is hurtling through space, directly at the bridge of your nose. It is not until we decide to drop the trash, and to take hold of what He is sending to us that we are relieved

It is that act of surrendering our Pride that allows us to do something else.

God has deadly aim . . .

Suffer Defeat or Overcome?

By Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

They (whoever they are) say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.  In times of adversity, we have to wonder why we need to be so strong.  Maybe weakness isn’t so bad.  Maybe it isn’t necessary to be so internally powerful.  Maybe that isn’t really the key.

The past year has been a “learning experience” with 500 pound dumbbells for my family.  Believe you me, we are strong.  There are some previous articles on this site that tell small parts of the tale, but the tale isn’t the lesson.  If one is looking for lessons, they are certainly out there waiting to drop boulders on us; and, if one attempts the “that could never happen to me” approach, be aware that, yes indeed, whatever it is, it can happen.  We do not expect our three month old to be dead in her crib.  We do not expect the “authorities” to take our other children away because they seem to think that we killed our baby; so that, when we are grieving more than we thought possible, we are doing it alone and are afraid for our remaining children.  We do not know what pain and trauma was caused to the twin of this three month old infant.  She had never, ever been alone.  Suddenly, she finds herself not only without her sister, but her mommy’s disappeared as well.  Her two year old brother is wondering why he and one of his sisters is at their aunt’s house; but the other sister is, according to him, home with Mommy.  Do you suppose he might have thought that Mommy didn’t want them?  At least he can talk and be spoken to in an attempt to explain that his other sister is gone and never coming back, but what do you suppose was going through the mind of the three month old:

“Ah, ah, ah.”  Anna called to her twin.  “Ah, ah, ah.”  Why isn’t she answering?  She always answers. I feel kind of empty.   “AH, AH, AH!”  Anna screamed, then started crying.  My (I think the big people call her) “sister” is gone!  She cried and yelled to her sister until she was horse and exhausted.  Finally, she fell asleep.  When she woke up, she called her sister again, “Ah, ah, ah,” but again there was no response.  Something smelled different.  Something wasn’t right.  Everything was all wrong.  Anna could hear voices, somewhat hushed voices.  She pushed hard with her arms and got her head up (more wobbly than usual), but she couldn’t see her sister.  The sounds weren’t familiar.  The room wasn’t right.  The smells were all wrong.  “Ah, ah, ah.”  Another desperate attempt to have her sister answer back to her.  There was nothing, nothing but things she didn’t know.  Anna started to cry again.  Someone came, picked her up and tried to soothe her, but the lady didn’t feel right, didn’t smell right, didn’t sound right.  She yelled out for her sister again, “AH, AH, AH!”  This is our language.  Why isn’t she answering me?  Ever since they were born, they had spoken to each other with a soft “ah, ah, ah”.  They seemed to continually check for the presence of the other, even when they were sleeping. I’m alone.  I’ve never been alone.  I don’t know how to BE ALONE.  WHERE IS SHE?  WHERE IS MY SISTER?  WHERE IS MY MOMMY?

The lady tried as hard as she could to calm the baby, but all Anna could do was cry.  She cried so hard that she threw up.  She cried; she didn’t sleep.  She kept hearing things, things that sounded bad, really bad.  The other thing she heard was silence – no one answered back to her calls.  She tried more times to call her sister, but there was never an answer.  No matter how much it hurt her already raw throat, she called out to her sister. She kept looking around for her mommy.  She saw the boy they called “brother”.  So where did they go?  Wait, someone else is talking – I wonder what “dead” means.

Although within 48 hours the Coroner’s Office had determined that there was no sign of neglect, abuse or foul play, the children were kept from their mother for a week.  I guess it wasn’t enough that the mother had lost a baby.  The county officials found it necessary to rip her other two children from her AND keep them away.

We have not as yet reached the moral of this story.  It continues:  On the day that the children were returned to their mother, she had to rush the living twin to the emergency room.  She was hospitalized and diagnosed with RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Viral Infection) – possibly what caused her twin’s demise.  (As of this writing, April 7, 2007, there is still no formal Coroner’s Report – 24 days after her last breath.)  Within a couple of days, she was moved to a Pediatric ICU at another hospital.  Three days later, she was basically dying before her mother’s eyes.  Preparations were being made to transfer the infant to a specialized children’s hospital in a larger city nearby.  That evening, a large group of people from all over the world were praying, lighting candles, sending healing energy, using whatever modality they practiced.  By the next morning, the doctor pronounced this a “miraculous recovery” and moved the child to a regular hospital room.  She was released a couple of days later.

Here’s the moral, folks:  Considering what this three month old child had just been through over the course of just two short weeks, she managed to fight for her life.  She is on her way back to full health, has gained weight, and is acting like a baby – laughing, cooing, playing.  Anna did not suffer defeat!  Anna overcame!  When you start to feel sorry for yourself, think about the strength and determination of a three month old.  I will be.

She does stare at the picture of her sister every time she gets near it.  I wonder if, in her head, she’s still saying, “Ah, ah, ah.”   

Live in the Light!

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Seek Within

by Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

As the news becomes more and more horrendous in reference to how our government has failed our troops and the rest of our country, I am reminded that crimes that go unpunished allow the perpetrator to continue to build upon the base they’ve built.  If a person is not required to own up to things they’ve done wrong, then the wrong-doing will spiral out of control.  If a child continually receives no negative reinforcement when they misbehave, then they will not only continue the poor conduct which has gone unpunished, but they will have to assume that there are more behaviors, worse behaviors, they can commit that will also just be ignored. 

We must remember that we have allowed our government to reach a point where they assume that “we, the people” will not confront them, will not speak out against injustices, will not get up off our butts and respond in any way.  WE ARE THE REASON THAT OUR TROOPS ARE NOT RECEIVING QUALITY MEDICAL CARE AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER.  WE ARE THE REASON THAT LIES ARE THROWN AROUND IN OUR FEDERAL BUILDINGS AS THOUGH THEY WERE TRUTHS.  WE ARE THE REASON WHY GREEDY, PETTY, SELF-ABSORBED LIARS ARE RUNNING THINGS. 

Why would I say this?  Because when the writing was on the wall, years ago, we did not stand up and, in one loud voice, say, “NO!”  Instead, because we were too lazy, too tired, too wrapped up in our own little lives, we gave it all away to human beings with, apparently, no souls, no consciences, no morals, no ethics, no hearts, no, no, no . . .

Many of us were alive when John Kennedy was murdered – under very questionable circumstances.  Many of us were alive through the Watergate scandal.  Many of us were alive during the Viet Nam fiasco.  We are the famous Baby Boomers.  We were born during the post World War II era of parents who were born or were young during the Great Depression and its aftermath.  We should know better . . . or did we forget the history that has been shaped itself during ours and our parents’ lifetimes.

Now we must seek within.  We must take a stand.  We must do something outrageous, something outside the character we’ve built that this government has grown to expect.  The men who created this country put their lives on the line in order to create something better, a place where people had some freedoms.  A place where the local government and the king that backed it would not have supreme power.  A place where the people had a voice.  A place where it was not considered acceptable to burn down your neighbors house because his beliefs were different from yours.  A place of reasonable laws, written to protect the innocent, where Right would prevail.

Folks, wake up.  That place is gone.  If we want it back, we have to do something. We have to take back some control.  We may not need to put our lives on the line as our forefathers had to do, but we need to look at reality, determine what we can do and take action.  I really hate to harp on this (read last month’s article), but nothing is getting better as we sit back and allow others to make decisions for us. 

Seek within and speak up. 

SCPE inc. Resource Page, click Make a Difference/Special Interest for links to some suggested sites

Sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of the Sanders/Boxer global warming bill now!

Simple Click to Donate

www.care2.com

www.thepetitionsite.com

www.foundationcenter.org

www.moveon.org

www.truthout.org

www.savebiogems.org

There are so many sites online that address issues and allow action.  Use your search engine of choice, choose your area of special interest and go for it.   

Seek within for the answer lies there, but action is necessary afterward.  Search your heart, your Juno, your higher self, your conscience, your head.  It’s past time.  We have a lot of work to do!

If you have sites that you currently go to to take action, please submit them to bobbi@scpeinc.org so that we can include them on our Choices and Resources page.

Many blessings to you all!

May we be a road to progress together.

Make yourself heard – speak out!

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Where Have All the Hippies Gone?

by Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

I was born in the mid 1950’s and was in high school during the some of the most radical parts of the 60’s revolution.  There were peace rallies, freedom marches, sit-ins for equal rights, bra burnings, organized protests for ecology . . . the young people of our country stood for some high ideals and were loud about it.  The music on the radio was filled with promising messages about peace and pleas to love one another.  Other top hits protested war and violence.  The nightly news showed us daily figures on the loss of young, American lives and the progress of a war on foreign land . . . and those figures were fairly close to the truth.  The young didn’t trust anyone over 30 and shouted, “Down with the establishment!”  There were dreams of a new world order shaped with love and fairness, peace and stability, green trees and blue skies, clean water and fresh air.  

Well, folks, all those passionate fighters are now well over 30 and are the fat, self-righteous, self-absorbed establishment they used to hate.  What happened to caring about one another?  What happened to fighting against pollution and doing the right things for our planet?  WHERE HAVE ALL THE HIPPIES GONE?

40 years ago we started a fight.  40 years ago we stood for something.  40 years ago we cared.  In 40 years, we lost all the battles and the soldiers have joined the opposition. 

Mother Earth is a MESS.  Our country is in big trouble.  Our children are no longer educated.  I can’t even begin to talk about the crap people watch on TV.

We are back to driving around in huge vehicles for absolutely no reason other than the status symbols they’ve again become.  I can stand at a busy intersection on any given day and in less than 15 minutes see well over 95 enormous vehicles that guzzle gas to the tune of 8 miles per gallon and THE DRIVER IS ALONE IN THE HULKING BEAST – babbling away on a cell phone, of course.  These things don’t even have the class and style of the old luxury cars.  They are enormous, rectangular, boxy hunks of sort-of-metal and plastic with TV’s, DVD players and GPS equipment that most of the drivers aren’t smart enough to figure out how to use.  Some of them look more like tanks than passenger vehicles.  At least the old luxury cars had some aero-dynamic qualities.  These big wind blockades cost as much as half a house.  By the way, many of these vehicles go home at night to apartments with less than 1100 square feet of interior space – I really don’t get this part – and the owners “can’t afford to buy a house.”  SURPRISE.  You spent most of the housing budget on the rolling POS and gas to make it go

Speaking of gas, did we forget that oil is a diminishing commodity?  I believe that the first time I heard that was 40 years ago, but we’ve allowed the auto industry to rule our lives.  Back in the 80’s cars that got 20 plus miles to the gallon were marketed heavily.  We were in the midst of an oil shortage “scare”.  There has been no appreciable improvement on a major level since.  We do now have hybrid vehicles available – those that require being plugged in at night and those that can use corn ethanol.  Problem – the auto and oil industries have made sure that their prices are generally out of range for the vast majority of people.  I have not yet found much in the way of a good reason for this.  There are many areas of our country that can’t keep up with the current power usage.  If a large number of households could and did buy electric cars, how would they charge them?  Also, has anyone else noticed that most gas stations still do not have ethanol, and those that do, the price of the ethanol stays the same relative distance just below gas prices no matter how much the gasoline goes up or down.  When did corn and gas prices become directly proportionate to each other?

Global warming is becoming more and more noticeable.  Have you seen pictures of Glacier National Monument lately?  There’s just about no glacier.  The name will soon have to be changed to Dirt National Monument.  Areas of Europe and the US that used to experience low snowfalls due to temperatures too low for snow (yes, it gets too cold to snow) have had record snowfalls this year and winter is not yet over.  There is extensive other evidence, but the point here is that 40 years ago we made a lot of noise about these issues before they became so blatant and then did nothing.  Did we forget?  [Visit www.theclimateproject.org for more information.

Women’s rights have taken huge steps backwards.  We’re still wasting valuable time in Congress and the courts fighting about abortion.  Rapists still get off on ridiculous technicalities.  In several states (Nevada and Colorado to name two) laws have been enacted that state that upon reported incidence of domestic violence, both parties go to jail.  COOL – now women who might have defended themselves when their husbands or boyfriends were beating them up are even more afraid to do so because they stand the chance of ending up with a criminal record.  If there are any children involved it becomes even more complex, and the children could end up in foster care or, worse, in state-run facilities.  The implications are horrendous

Blacks are still battling over their rights.  One evening I watched a recently-become-popular black comedian’s televised stand-up show.  A couple of nights later, an airing of another black comedian’s televised stand-up came on while I was busy working on a project.  I stopped to watch since he’d been one of my favorite comedians for many years, and he had passed away in December of 2005.  I wanted to remember him doing stand-up, not sitting in a wheelchair.  I began to realize that I was hearing the same subject matter as the former show.  One of these broadcasts was filmed two years ago.  The second one was filmed in 1979.  25 years had gone by, but it seems nothing has changed much.   [A moment of silence for Richard Pryor.  Please visit him at www.richardpryor.com.]

A couple in Colorado put up a wreath in the shape of a peace sign this past holiday season.  I heard about it, started shouting hooray, and then read an article about it.  The HOA where she lived was demanding that she take it down.  For me, the outcome was not as important as the fact that someone was so ignorant that they called it a “symbol of Satan” and that it was “anti-Iraq war”.  We are hearing the same arguments concerning our soldiers in Iraq as we heard 30’ish years ago about our soldiers in Viet Nam.  Doesn’t anybody ever learn anything or develop the ability for rational thought?  Being against a war is not being against the soldiers in the war.  For those who think so, stop being stupid!  When was it that soldiers made their own decisions?  If you think they do, then you have no understanding of the military and, apparently, no brain function.  [For additional information on the peace wreath, click here.]    

Prices are up, apathy and self-centeredness are in.  We were the caring generation and we let each other down.  We used to holler about the silent majority and beg that the apathetic would get up off their duffs and do something.  Now, we are they.  It would require a lengthy book to cover all the issues that have rolled around in my head in relation to this topic.  To tie it up:

WHERE HAVE ALL THE HIPPIES GONE?  Are you hiding?  Make some noise.  Speak up.  I’m not deaf yet, but I can’t hear you!  When was the last time you signed a petition to clean up the air?  When was the last time you contributed some money to a worthy cause?  When was the last time you wrote a letter to a Congressman?  When was the last time you gave a shit about anything other than how much faster, taller, wider and longer your vehicle was than the one next to you on the highway, and whether or not yours had more technological garbage in it?  [Please notice that none of these suggestions require that you leave your favorite chair.  They can all be accomplished online except, of course, for the last one.  That requires developing a conscience.] 

WHERE HAVE ALL THE HIPPIES GONE?  I miss you.  We need you.  Where are you?

Please visit www.thepetitionsite.com and/or join www.care2.com or search the internet for specific sites that take action for or against whatever it you might still believe in.

Peace, Love and Flower Power 

Back to Top

by

Sedona

We’ve heard the cliché that we must play with the hand life deals to us.  This is true in some regards.  Most women who are 5’3” don’t have much chance to play pro basketball.  Those with an average IQ are not often asked to join a think tank and work on world problems.  Many other examples come to mind, but the point is that we do each have certain limitations by which our lives are governed to some degree.  However, if you find yourself continually being stopped, hampered or made miserable by a specific, recurring dilemma, especially if you find yourself saying, “Oh, for God’s sake, not this same garbage again!” then it’s probably time to look more deeply within.

There are two laws of physics that apply here:  the law of cause and effect and a very important law that says, “For ever action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” (Newton’s Third Law).  Several Eastern religions call these basic scientific principles “karma”.  One of the reasons that I submit articles to SCPE is because of their belief that we all need to be in a continuous state of evolution – learning, growing, changing, becoming better beings, in short, evolving.  Part of the evolutionary process includes learning from our own mistakes.  This requires the ability to be honest with ourselves and to see and to begin to understand ourselves better.  “Soul-searching” is one of the older catch phrases, and the word “karma” has become better understood and much used in Western culture in the last several years.  The act of being responsible for one’s own actions fits here as well 

Karma is, at its very base, the law of cause and effect.  If Mary puts her hand in a flame, she will get burned.  If George writes checks for more money than he has in his bank account, checks will bounce.  We must suffer the consequences of your actions – simple, right?  Actually, yes, it’s that simple.  I think that one of the most interesting interpretations of this is The Definition of Insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  Unfortunately, we humans tend to suffer from this form of insanity for most of our natural lives.  We tend to wander through, doing what we do, and learning little about ourselves.  It’s high time we put some effort into our evolutionary development.  I don’t know how much the rest of you have noticed, but there may not be much time left . . . but that is material for a future article.

I implore you each to begin to take responsibility for your own actions.  If you are having difficulties that happen to you repeatedly, then you must look to yourself to see what it is that you keep doing that is making it necessary for the lessons to repeat themselves – they will repeat until you learn the desired lesson.  If we each are to grow and learn as we age, then this is an absolutely crucial step.  

Something else before closing – love each other, respect the earth and her beings, do what you know in your heart to be right, be the best you can be, and . . .

Live well my sisters.    

Back to Top

by
Bobbi Bartsch Curis

I don’t know if the rest of you have noticed, but I and many of my friends and associates can certainly testify to some very strange energy running around. The least likely seems to have become normal. What we have thought to be the most obvious appears now to be the obscure. Any truths are now falsehoods. Laws of physics and logic no longer apply.
At a staff meeting, a discussion on scheduling was underway. A new method of scheduling was being implemented that would cover operational hours more efficiently. There were a couple of days each week that were not being manned properly, and customer service was suffering while other days most of the staff was standing around doing nothing due to an overabundance of them. One staff member said, “It sounds like you’re doing this for the benefit of the company, not for the employees.” After the initial shock wore off, the director who was running the meeting nodded and said, “Yes, that’s exactly it.” I have to wonder if this individual thought about what he was saying before he opened his mouth, or does he really think that the company exists for the employees instead of the customers?
Evidently, in Colorado Springs, where there are lighted signs all over town and along the interstates that scream at drivers “OVER THE LIMIT, UNDER ARREST” and “THE HEAT IS ON, DRIVE SOBER” 17 misdemeanors and 2 felonies in nine months, committed by a repeat offender who hasn’t spent more than 45 consecutive days out of jail for the past four or five years, is not enough to carry a sentence any stiffer than 30 days. Several of the charges are DUI’s. He did a stint in jail for a DUI committed on December 17, 2005. He was released on July 3, 2006, and was back in jail on the morning of August 22, 2006, for a (you guessed it) DUI – hit and run on a parked vehicle along with at least five other charges including violation of probation. Are they waiting ‘til he kills someone while he’s on a drunk? If one looks up this criminal’s record at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department’s website, one will also notice that this man has a minimum of four warrants out for his arrest (one of which is for a felony and several of his previous charges are for acts of violence) – but he’s being released on September 19th, having served 28 days, though the sentence was 30. We release people from jail who have multiple warrants? My head aches!
On the flip side, we have a woman who has never been in trouble, pays her bills, stops at stop signs, keeps her home and her nose clean. Her power was turned off . . . we don’t know why. This ranks up there with another party whose cell phone was turned off because her payment was misapplied, but the cell company refuses to do the proper investigation and then run the payment she made on the correct account – she has proof. Also there are the long distance calls being charged to another woman that were made from a phone number she had disconnected three months prior to the dates of the calls in question. Her current phone has been disconnected for lack of payment (the bogus charges are over $400). When she has tried to resolve the problem, the local phone service blames the long distance company and the long distance company blames the local phone service. The only buck that’s stopping here is the one with his antlers stuck in her behind.

A 2006 car purchased new in November 2005 had a minor problem about six months later – a defective CD changer that locked up with five CD’s in it.  The dealership replaced the unit that included all the musical parts along with the AC and heater.  When the driver attempted to use the cruise control, it wouldn’t engage; however, it did handily change the stations on the radio.  The owner went to a different dealership, and they fixed the cruise control.  They also must have found more than one problem with the wiring – the sound coming from the radio/CD player/cassette player has improved immensely.  It appears that the original wiring was not correct – now all the speakers work, for the FIRST time.

A woman with heart problems was in the hospital last week for an operation.  She was released.  She was called back to the hospital and has another surgery scheduled for a few days from now.  Does anyone else think that the original surgery was botched?

A woman found out that she was pregnant.  She was not in a situation to have more children, so she got an abortion.  Two months later she found out that she was pregnant, but she hadn’t been sexually active since before the abortion.  Turns out that she was pregnant with triplets and the doctor aborted only one fetus.  She’ll be having twins in a few months.

These are stories from people I know – the car’s mine.  I didn’t go around searching for them.  I didn’t request any stories of the weird and the stupid.  These have been collected in the last couple of weeks during casual conversation.  They are not fish stories.  The information is verifiable, but my sources prefer to remain nameless.

If anyone has stories of inequities or oddities that they would like to share, please contact me at bobbi@scpeinc.org (check out our disclosure page) so they can be included in next month’s issue.

Be well!

Disregard for Humanity...and Common Sense

or

What the Hell is Going on in Colorado? 8/2006

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

I must begin this story with a few facts.  Most importantly, this is a true account.  Nothing has been made up or embellished in an attempt to get your attention or to make a point clear.  The outcome of this story is not yet known.  Names have been changed to protect the innocent; in particular, the child who is not quite two years old at the time of this writing (August 13, 2006).  However, the location is factual – I would not want someone to mistake the real locale for another.  Some assumptions have been made, but they are duly noted.

A few years ago, a young man and a young woman fell in love.  They set up housekeeping together and began to plan their future.  The young woman, we’ll call her Laura, became pregnant.  That was when the beatings became serious, probably causing the miscarriage.  We might assume that the young man, we’ll call him Richard, had become comfortable beating on his wife, and the beatings continued.  On different occasions he broke her thumb, broke one of her ribs, chased her down the street in the snow to beat her while she was wearing nothing but a shirt, and threw her in a bathtub and choked her until she quit breathing.  Apparently, when he realized that she was not breathing, it scared him; and he let go of her throat.  Air was then able to reenter her lungs.  She survived.

Over the first couple of years of their relationship, Richard told Laura much about his family’s history.  He would reminisce about the times that he was walking home from school and found his mother trading sex for drugs in the ditch by the side of their house . . . with one of his friends or older siblings of his school buddies.  He told her that, since he was the oldest, he was left to raise his younger siblings since his mother was, in all senses of the phrase, a crack whore.  This started when he was five years old.  He and his siblings had been removed from his mother’s care by the Department of Human Services, beginning when he was 12 years old.  The charges against his mother, we’ll call her Janice, included abuse and neglect.  He had several domestic violence charges against him, some filed by members of his own family including his mother, sister and others.  Laura felt that he had been driven beyond human tolerance by his mother and that Janice had been getting what she deserved.  Laura felt sorry for him and hoped that their relationship would be strong and loving enough to help him restore himself.  Not so.

Richard’s brother, Joseph, moved in with Laura and Richard when his mother threw him out of the house (again) for whatever reason.  Since having a job was not one of Richard’s strong points, Laura supported the three of them.  Again, she heard more of the horror stories of living with Janice.  Laura became close with one of Richard’s cousins, Theresa, who was also vocal about Janice’s unreasonable behavior, including the time Janice had called the Department of Human Services on Theresa for feeding her children a popular variety of frozen dinners designed for children.  During a visit to Janice’s house, Laura was stunned to find out that the local police of Fountain, Colorado, were on a first name basis with all members of the household, and they were curious about whether or not her husband had ever decided to finish high school.

Richard spent some time in jail for DUI’s, domestic violence and other charges.  Laura worked, paid his bail and kept the household “together”.

She became pregnant again.  The beatings continued, and Laura continued to hope that her love would save him.  She’d somehow forgotten about herself.  As was usual, Richard had lost another job by the time the baby was born.  Laura went back to work a week after the birth.  She was working two jobs to make ends meet, and Richard stayed home with their son, Ramon.  When the baby was two and a half months old, Richard went on one of his regular benders, came home in the middle of the night and began beating Laura, as was his habit.  Ramon had been wakened at about 2 AM on several occasions to listen to his mother’s screams as his father took out his pent up aggressions.  However, on this one evening in particular, Ramon had not been asleep when his father came home, and Richard wailed on Laura as she was holding Ramon.  She implored Richard to let her at least put the baby down before he continued.  This was met with more abuse.  When he beat her to the point that she lost consciousness and woke up in the hospital Laura realized that her son was also in danger.  She pressed charges and got a restraining order.  When Ramon was four months old, they moved and hid from Richard. 

So that we all understand, Laura did not have a pristine past.  She was on probation for check fraud and was doing her best to meet all the requirements of her probation, which was shortly coming to an end, having realized, especially after the birth of her son, that she needed to be the provider of all her child’s needs.  She had been making every effort to turn her life around, mostly for her son.

Seven months later, she was picked up on another check fraud charge – not one that she committed.  It seems that a year ago (when she was about seven months pregnant) a girl not matching her description had attempted to pass a stolen check at a retail store.  The clerk had photocopied the woman’s ID and had quite a bit of information concerning the woman, including her foot size since she’d been attempting to purchase shoes.  Laura spent a month and a half in jail while her cousin watched her son.  Due to lack of funds, she was not able to make bail.  She was in jail for her son’s first birthday.  Being away from her son was breaking her heart, so she plea-bargained to a lesser charge and took a new, extended probation in order to go home.  When she was going through the release procedure, the officer handling the paperwork asked her about her alias.  She told him that she didn’t have one, that she’d never gone by the name Tracy and got out of there as quickly as they’d let her.  She started looking for a new job since she’d lost the one she’d had while sitting in jail and again attempted to put her life back together. 

In the meantime, her divorce proceedings were moving along and the court had ordered visitation for her almost ex-husband.  Against her better judgment, she took her son to his apartment for his three-day visitation.  Richard called Laura on the second day of his visitation and asked if he could keep his son until Christmas since she had had the boy on Thanksgiving.  He wanted to spend holiday time with his son and his family.  This would turn the three days into just short of two weeks, but Laura didn’t want to be one of those mothers who refuses to allow her child to know his other parent.  She agreed, hesitantly.  On December 17^th, around midnight, Richard decided to go out drinking with his girlfriend and left the 14-month-old Ramon home with a sleeping roommate who had no idea that he was in charge of the child.  The Colorado Springs Police picked up Richard at 5 AM on a DUI charge and put him in jail.  He told the police that he needed to call his mother to go pick up his son.  At some point (while he was still drunk, mind you) he told the police that he had no idea where his son’s mother was and hadn’t seen her in months. 

It does not appear that anyone was particularly concerned that no one was taking care of the infant while his father was out drinking and joy riding.  Janice was notified and picked up the child from the roommate who, now that he was awake, found that the baby had been roaming the house for quite some time, pulling things down and making a general mess.  A few days later, Laura attempted to call Richard’s house and left a message.  After leaving a few more messages, she began to worry.  She finally got Richard’s roommate on the phone and found out that Richard was in jail and that Janice had picked up Ramon.  She went to Janice’s house and found that she’d moved.  No one around there knew where she’d gone.  Laura spent several evenings driving around and calling relatives looking for some clue as to Janice’s – and her son’s – whereabouts.  She filed a missing persons report with the police and continued to try to find her son.

A few weeks later, Laura was contacted by DHS (Department of Human Services).  She had been reported as an absent parent and custody of the child had been turned over to his paternal grandmother – the woman whose children had been removed from her home ten years before.  Laura was told that she needed to meet certain conditions, and her son would be returned to her.  A caseworker came to her home, conditions were met but nothing happened.  Laura began calling DHS to get in touch with the caseworker.  She left messages, but no one returned her calls.  Soon, she found that the caseworker who had contacted and visited her had left DHS.  She started to leave messages with the former caseworker’s supervisor.  Again her calls were not returned.

Remember that Laura was on probation.  The database for DHS and the Probation Department are shared.  There should have been little reason for DHS NOT to be able to locate Laura immediately.  As a further note, Laura’s real name is a little unusual.  If it is typed into PeopleFinder.com one could have acquired her exact address and phone number for the cost of $9.95 even without the help of the El Paso County database.  Laura went to her Probation Officer, who had been made aware by Laura of the situation from the outset and had records of speaking with both the former caseworker and with the DHS Investigator, and asked for help locating her son’s case in order to allow her to contact the current caseworker and find out why her son had not yet been returned to her.  Although one would think that this would be a simple procedure based on the shared database, difficulties arose since Grandma didn’t seem to know the boy’s real name.  In the DHS case files Ramon’s name shows as Raymond.  Laura was lucky to have a probation officer who didn’t give up until she found the case in the computer system.

Laura contacted the new caseworker and found that she was required to take random drug tests twice a week, be tested for alcohol consumption, take drug and alcohol classes, attend several therapies and various classes for numerous mental conditions and must have a battery of psychological exams before she would be allowed to see her son.  Her son was taken by his paternal grandmother in mid-December, and Laura would not be allowed to see him again until June; and, then, only under the supervision of DHS staff at a visitation center. 

It came to light by about this time that the file of the actual perpetrator of the check theft had become mixed with Laura’s file.  She got a copy of the mixed file and requested that the incorrect information be removed.  She was told that since Tracy was in jail at the time, there was nothing she could do and nothing that the police would do.  It was this mixed file that had caused all the additional drug and alcohol classes and additional therapies that were being required of her.  Laura acquired a copy of the discovery on the case.  It shows that Laura’s picture had been shown to the clerk in the store and was not identified as the perpetrator, Tracy.  Her picture was also shown to the manager of the apartment where Tracy lived.  The manager stated that she looked something like Tracy’s sister but that she wasn’t Tracy.  Keep in mind that there was a copy of Tracy’s driver’s license on file.  They look nothing alike.  Their ages are different.  There heights and weights are different (and Laura was very pregnant when the crime was committed) and their shoe sizes are different.  However, since these two women had the same last name and Laura sort of looked like the SISTER of the perpetrator, Laura was arrested, jailed and tried for a crime she didn’t commit and now owes $5000 in restitution and her probation was extended three years – AND she has someone else’s long list of arrests and convictions on her record.  What is going on in the state of Colorado?

The reality of this scenario is that it doesn’t get any better.  The attorney assigned to Laura by the court in the DHS case is not a member of the Bar, and his specialty according to his phone listing is traffic violations.  He doesn’t show up to scheduled meetings with DHS nor does he show up at court.  When Laura asked him to subpoena the records that her Probation Officer had concerning the contact she’d had with the first caseworker, he refused.  Records show only the lies that were told by Richard and his mother, none of which were ever substantiated.  Records also show that the first caseworker was not able to contact Laura, although the investigator’s report is clearly in the file as well and shows that Laura had been located, and the Probation Officer’s records corroborate the contacts that the first caseworker and investigator had with Laura and her Probation Officer.  DHS’s own file contradicts itself. 

An example of one of the allegations made against the mother was that the child had scoliosis and that early neglect caused it.  Scoliosis is genetic (the child’s maternal great-grandmother has scoliosis), the cause is unknown and there is no form of prevention.  It would appear that Janice was not aware of these facts when she lied about the condition.  She did take Ramon to a doctor who verified that he did not have scoliosis.  Either way, there has been no evidence that suggests any form of neglect, except during the child’s stay with Janice . . . and remember what happened to her children.  By the way, the child has acute asthma and Janice and her friends and other relatives sit in the same room with the child and smoke.

In order to be a foster parent, one must pass a background check.  DHS has not to anyone’s knowledge performed a background check on Janice, although DHS’s own records show a case in connection with Richard’s name from 1996 – ten years ago when he was 12.  It shows that he was a child in the case and that the case involved both neglect and abuse.  Exactly who did DHS think the parents were in that case?  Ramon was forced to live with this woman for seven months, from the time he was 14 months old until he was 21 months old, and Janice has been paid as a foster parent by the state of Colorado.  During a meeting among DHS workers, the Guardian ad Litem, the father, the mother, the paternal grandmother, the maternal grandmother (by phone) and the child’s uncle (the same man that lived with Richard and Laura and whom she supported for a time because his mother kicked him out), among others, Janice and Richard cooked their own geese by allowing some truths to slip out.  At that time, the child was placed with the sister of Janice’s new husband.  Does anyone else see the inequity here?

When the maternal grandmother (Barbara), who lives out of state, requested phone contact with her grandson, the request was denied until she passed a background check.  She agreed, in writing, to the background check.  That check has never been run, but the question must arise as to why a check is necessary for her to be able to talk to the boy on the phone.  However, DHS has still not run a background check on the woman with whom they allowed the boy to stay for seven months.  Barbara’s background is clean. 

This is just the tip of this iceberg.  Laura would appreciate your comments, thoughts or suggestions.  Please email them to bobbi@scpeinc.org for forwarding.      

Be well and question everything.     

Maybe That's The Best They Can Do

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

It is said that we should be careful for what we ask that we might just get it.  Here is another that bears watching.  Be careful of negative feelings toward people we dislike, for we or someone we love might just turn into that person.  It has happened many times in my life and has been mentioned to me by friends and acquaintances on far too many occasions to be ignored. 

We live a world full of all kinds of people.  We make the excuse that, “It takes all kinds,” when we attempt to slough off the bad feelings that are welling up when a person says or does something evil either to us or to someone we like or love.  This is especially true when we are trying to console or calm our friend or loved one when they’ve been hurt or infuriated by one of the Neanderthals with whom we must interact.  However, care should be taken if/when we begin to obsess or complain too much about those who are highly rude, unusually inconsiderate or downright nasty.  Here are a few examples of what of what I mean.

The first comes from my own repertoire.  I’ve been married a few times (unsuccessfully) and have had a couple of sort of long term, serious relationships.  As these relationships were playing themselves out, I found that there existed some role reversals.  If husband number two had driven me crazy by procrastinating, then I would make husband number three suffer over my procrastination.  If husband number three was ultra-critical, then husband number four had better look out.  The scathing remarks were going to be fired off without warning.  This did not occur on purpose, but I certainly began to see trends.  I don’t now think that it was a subconscious attempt on my part to pay someone back through another.  Occasionally I would be right in the middle of the mess I’d helped create and say to myself, “I’ve turned into my ex-husband!”  The dismay was overwhelming at times.  As these instances repeated themselves, I began to learn a little more understanding for others.  It helps to see things from many angles – especially when one has the opportunity to be both a receiver and a sender.

I think this is the most pointed example I’ve heard.  While she was growing up, a friend’s mother had often told her, “If I every start to act like your grandmother [the mother-in-law – shudder and shake], shoot me dead!”  Grandma was a miserable person.  Since she didn’t like peaches, her granddaughter should not like peaches.  She’d turn her nose up in disgust and make an ugly face if Shelley ate a peach in front of her and then stalk off to another room.  Shelley, undaunted, would follow her into the other room and make a big deal out of enjoying the peach.  She pronounced words wrong.  For instance, one of her favorite TV shows was Gunsmoke.  Even though she never missed an episode and heard the name at the start of every single show, she insisted that the male lead character’s name was Matt Dilling – correct name, Matt Dillon.  Oregano was oregana.  The list is relatively endless.  Since Shelley had been taught the importance of correct grammar and rules of speech and pronunciation, this drove her well over the edge. 

Her grandmother had lots of friends.  Many of her friends knew each other.  She’d tell each friend that the other one had said something horrible about the other woman.  These people became mortal enemies, never to speak to each other again.  The old bat remained friends with both women and commiserated with them about how horribly their other once-mutual friend had treated them, fueling the fire if it looked like they might make up. 

Grandma had an attic full of old crap that she thought was made of 24-karate gold.  In an attempt to start an argument between mother and daughter, she would promise the stuff to the mother and the same stuff to Shelley.  Little did she know that neither one of them was interested in her junk. 

When she watched something educational on television, she’d immediately begin to explain it to everyone in the room backwards and inside out.  One thing that particularly drove Shelley nuts was the way she read all the signs along the highway when they were driving along.  They had all moved to Salt Lake City from the east coast.  There are signs along the interstate telling where the exits are to get to the lake.  The signs say, “The Great Salt Lake Next Exit.”  This would bring on a lecture from Grandma about “these people who think this place is so great, and it’s just big, dirty and disgusting.”  Every time this occurred, Shelley would explain that the signs were not referring to the city but to the lake, and it’s proper name is The Great Salt Lake.  However, that never stopped the tirade every time they passed those signs. 

Grandma would sit in Shelley’s mom’s kitchen, after having moved in with her son and daughter-in-law, spouting recipes although she never picked up a pot or pan to cook anything; and everything that the mother cooked was criticized throughout every meal.  I met the woman and experienced this first-hand on more than one occasion.  She would screw up her face as though she’d just ingested something out of a cat’s litter box and loudly pronounce that, “This is the worst meal I’ve ever had.”  By the way, Mom’s cooking was great.  As is typical in most sit-coms, her daughter-in-law could do absolutely nothing right (think Everyone Loves Raymond); but, in her own mind, she was kind and considerate of others’ feelings.  My, she would never think of being rude or critical!  She would never say anything that might hurt someone’s feelings.  Fact:  She was rude, critical, and stupid.  Fact:  Her granddaughter couldn’t stand to be around her from an early age.  The older Shelley got the more she detested her grandmother.  Another fact:  As the mother in this scenario grew older, she turned into her mother-in-law – right down to facial expressions, the set and stoney jaw and the crossed legs and folded arms that marked the ends of opinionated conversations.  Discussion over!  The only person in the room who knew anything about what was being discussed was Mom, now turned Grandma; and no one had better open a mouth to dispute her final word.  You see, she knew it all and no one else knew anything.  This was NOT the woman who’d reared Shelley.          

Several years after her mother passed on, it occurred to Shelley that this might have been meant as a learning experience for her.  She loathed her grandmother long after her death.  Dealing with her mother after the transformation was difficult at best.  She had done her best to stay out of arguments with her mom and just ignore most of the annoying mannerisms.  She decided that she needed to forgive her grandmother’s poor behavior and remember her mother as the kind and loving person she’d been, instead of the pain she’d become.

Carrying around hateful thoughts and mean emotional baggage just might heap some coals of fire upon us.  Condemning someone who doesn’t know any better doesn’t do us any good.  My mother’s closest friend was probably one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.  Mom tells a story of them driving along when a poorly maintained car pulled up beside them.  My mother, without really thinking, commented about the shabby shape the car was in and questioned what kind of person would have the nerve to drive around in something like that.  Her sweet friend’s soft-spoken response was, “Maybe that’s the best they can do.” 

Be well.    

Defining Yourself

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

They (whoever “they” are) say, “Always be yourself?”  Sometimes “they” are wrong.  Sometimes “they” are a little loony.  In this case, however, “they” are absolutely correct.  Being yourself not only means that you do not have to put on a façade everywhere you go, but it means that you do not have to change facades in mid-stream when you happen across someone from another walk of your life at a time when you did not expect it.  This means that you do not have to remember a lie.  Not being yourself is a lie, a cover-up.  It can get so bad with some that they begin to believe the lie, and they lose themselves entirely in a pseudo-self, never finding satisfaction nor being happy inside their own skin.  At worst, there are a few impressive sounding psychoses, which may endanger a person’s quality of life to the point of spending one’s days weaving baskets in the nice, white building with the nice nurses issuing tranquilizers and the nice, young men in the white coats.  At the very least one lives an empty life, not quite fulfilled, not quite satisfied, not quite happy, not quite comfortable.

Of course, the flip side of this is also true.  When we are true to ourselves, living and acting in a manner which reflects our inner lights and our Higher Selves, we can find satisfaction from within, no matter how much we may hate our jobs (hopefully it still puts food on the table) or are not quite satisfied with the ’87 Dodge which we are forced to drive or the tacky apartment in which we must raise our three kids alone because that skunk of a husband took off with a stripper.  Yep, I’m making a point.  This will not make you thin, rich or desirable to every man who lays eyes on you.  It will, however, help you make life choices that are suited to you and help you to understand yourself.

One of our biggest challenges is to know ourselves.  So, who are you?  You are not your job.  You are not your house or your car.  You are not just a “mother of three”.  It’s not your religion; it’s not your clothes or your makeup; it’s not your clean (or dirty) house. WHO ARE YOU?  What makes you tick?  What makes you laugh or cry?  What are your goals, aspirations, dreams?  Who you are is not what you do or what you have.  It’s how you do it; why you do it; how you feel about it; and what you “want to be when you grow up”.  Here’s a way to help define yourself.

Get paper and pen (pencil if that’s part of who you are), or pop up Word (if that’s how you like to write), and answer a few questions.  You can read them from the screen and write your answers.  You can copy and paste them into Word or other word processing program and type your answers – whatever YOUR heart desires.  It’s all about you right now, so let’s get started.  One reminder, though – steer clear of the thought pattern that starts out:  I’m a mother of 2, I do this or that (unless what you do really does help define you – some are lucky enough to have their dream jobs), and my husband is a lawyer, teacher, bum – whatever. 

Now, let’s begin.

What motivates you?

What do you contribute to your church (not money), your community, your peers at  work, your home, your family, the lives of others?

What obstacles have you had to overcome?

What sets you apart from others?

Are you honest with yourself?  If not, why not?

How do you want people to describe you?

What brings tears to your eyes?

What makes you laugh out loud?

If you could do anything you want to what would it be?

Why are you not doing what you want to do?  What is stopping you from doing it?

How would you rate your general satisfaction?

List your talents.

Which of the talents that you have do you think are the most important?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Are you doing it?  If not, why not?  Is it a good thing?

What has been one defining moment in your life – do not use your marriage, divorce or birth(s) of your child(ren)?

Are you happy in your skin?  If not, why not?  If it’s something that is changeable, what do you have to do to make it happen?

Write your own epitaph.  What are you not yet doing to make it true?

Do you have abilities/talents that you aren’t using?

What is your best attribute?

What is it about you that you like the most?

If you had time and money to do what you want for three months, what would it be?      

How do you handle stress?  Are you satisfied with your stress control or lack of it?

How do you handle adversity?  Are you satisfied with adversity management style?

Now, read your answers again.  Does this help you define you?  If you’re curious about what others think of you, send your friends and family an email asking them to describe you in one word.  The descriptive words you get back will help you know how others see you.

ONE WORD OF WARNING:  If someone is rude enough to respond with a vehement negative, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT TAKE IT TO HEART.  It could be a bad joke.  Consider the source.  Consider yourself.  Is the comment true, half true or an outright lie?  Even if it’s a lie, it could say a lot about you.  If could be saying that you have some good qualities of which this person is jealous.  Be honest with yourself, and you’ll know how to take and use the comment.

At this point, you should have a better idea of who you are – what defines you.   You may have also run across a few things that you want to work on within yourself.  If that has happened, make a list of those things and begin a strategy of improvement – slowly. 

Be kind to yourself.  Respect yourself.

Be well.

Unity Share the Energy

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

We are one – one with each other, one with the earth, one with the universe.  If any of these are hurting or in trouble, then we are all hurting and in trouble.  There are a few verses from the Bible – in Matthew, Chapter 25, to be precise – which I believe speaks to this:

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

 41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

 45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man’s life a sorrow and a suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”  According to Eknath Easwaran, “To know others you do not have to go and knock on four billion separate doors.  Once you have seen your real Self, you have seen the Self in all.”  And per Mark Twain, “I am the entire human race compacted together.  I have found that there is no ingredient of the race which I do not possess in either a small way or a large way.”  Also John Ruskin said, “Really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them.  And they see something divine in every other man.”

Quantum physics shows that all things are made up of energy.  We emit energy, and that energy affects everything around us.  Have you ever been in a room full of lively, upbeat people having a party and notice that their energy rubs off on you in a short time – even if you didn’t feel all that great when you walked in?  Those people could be described as “energetic” – route word ENERGY.  Conversely, take a walk into a mortuary during a funeral and see how that sort of energy affects you.  Need more proof?  Go to a hospital ICU ward and then, on a Friday night, wander into a bar where a college-aged crowd hangs out.  Feel the difference?  If the energy around you affects you, it also affects everything else around it.  How much more connected did you want to be?  (For some additional information on this subject, please also see The Power Within and Around You.)

If we’ve now agreed that we are affected by the energy around us, then we should also be aware that our energy affects our surroundings as well.  Did you want to make people feel like they’re at a party or a funeral?  If you’ll allow, I’d like to put this in a larger frame. 

Though I’d like to point fingers, I will instead ask you to place love in your hearts.  We are a world with many troubles.  During every moment, there are starving, homeless children; women being abused; men dying so that others may become richer; families struggling to survive; and hearts filled with greed and hate.  OK, I have to point some fingers, but I’ll do it in the form of instructions.  Be aware of what your spiritual and political leaders are doing.  Listen carefully to what they say.  Might I remind you that there are very few religions that have anything good to say about lying, theft, murder or war; and greed is one of the seven deadly sins.  Take heed of ulterior motives and of what these leaders stand to gain . . . and of what you stand to lose!  If the driving force behind a political leader is not the betterment of life in this country, of the earth, of humankind as a whole then be careful.  Think for yourself.  Determine what is good, what is right and what is logical.  Make decisions based on your Higher Self, the Higher Good, and with the help of your Higher Power.

I am a child of the 60’s.  I remember the upheaval in the United States during those years.  I was aware of the political activists on college campuses, on city streets, in the music industry and in the media.  Although we are again in troubled times, I no longer see the passion that once drove people in this country to loudly protest for their rights and the rights of others.  I’m not sure what happened, though I could take a few guesses; however, it is past time to start doing what is required to keep what’s left of our freedom, our dignity and the last shreds of our self-respect. 

Learn and read.  Watch and listen.  Be discerning.  Question everything.  THINK!  Stand up and speak.  Become active in some way.  Unless we take the remains of the democracy we once had and begin to put it back together, it will be lost.  Our freedoms are disappearing daily, along with our incomes.  The next time you find yourself saying, “That’s just wrong.  They ought to do something,” remember that we are “they”.  If the United States is to continue to be a land of freedom and opportunity then it needs our help – all of us!  Please remember Lincoln’s words:  “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Be well!

The Petition Site to sign petitions and start petitions

MoveOn.org to go a few steps further

Democracy in Action for even more information, especially about grassroots efforts

The Shadow Knows

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

In 1930 a radio show began that was a mainstay for 24 years.  At one time, one of the most famous voices in radio was The Shadow – Orson Welles:  “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  The Shadow knows!”  The Shadow could read minds and become invisible.  He solved mysteries.  He was a pretty talented guy with a great speaking voice.  However, this is the not the Shadow of our discussion. 

In some cultures the misinformation of others’ opinions (especially those we absorbed during early childhood) that cements itself into our minds is called “personal demons”.  In others these are considered to be the lies that turn the beautiful dreams of our lives into nightmares.  According to some, this is our internal judge that was created by those around us who told us the lies (according to the Toltec belief system).  In others still, all the garbage that is fed to us by others, that trails around with us making us feel self-conscious, useless, self-destructive, insignificant, unattractive, unintelligent, stripping us of our self-esteem and making us think that we are less than what we are is known as Shadow.   All the misconceptions and hatred that others fed to us comes back to us because our subconscious believed it.  It was said so it must be true.  It is emotional baggage that we drag around day after day, year after weary year.  It is the albatross that wraps itself around our necks and will not release its claws.  It stunts our growth.  It stops us from reaching our full potential.  It makes us think that we are less than what we are and, consequently, could be.  It holds people in the cycle of poverty.  It stops the budding new artist from eventually becoming “The Old Master”.  It slows progress as the inventor believes that his invention is inferior and so is he, and thus the invention is never marketed.  It creates deep depressions and manic behaviors.  It makes us fear public reprisal in return for our speaking out about our convictions.  It stunts us and the world around us.  Many things that were said to you in anger or frustration still lurk deep in your mind.  Who knows what evil lurks?  The Shadow surely does for it holds all the evil ever spoken about us and all the indications that were ever given to us by our parents, siblings, teachers, peers and spouses that we were inferior, less than a person, not good enough, not appealing and on and on and on.  Sort of gives a new and darker meaning to the song, “Me and my Shadow”.

There’s a scene in Peter Pan where his shadow becomes detached from him.  He takes some time and trouble to sew it back on.  Ah, if it were that easy to dump my Shadow there’d be no sewing going on at my house.  However, this is real life and the Shadow must be dealt with swiftly and in effectively.  Time to grab your emotional sword and start hacking away with deft blows and holy vengeance.

Since Spring is the time of renewal, we have before us a perfect opportunity to relieve ourselves of the Shadow.  Remember that evil spoken about us is not necessarily our evil.  We’ve all tried to console a broken-hearted friend by telling them that what someone else said told a lot about the speaker and not about the person who is the brunt of it.  Like many other things in life, it’s a lot easier to say it than it is to convince ourselves that that is true when we are on the receiving end of abuse.  However, there are ways to rid ourselves of the gunk and crud.  One is to set aside at least an hour of peaceful time when you will not be disturbed. 

First, thank whatever power you believe in (even if the only power you believe in is yourself) for having been created you.  You are, after all, the only you there is.  You have a special group of talents and abilities that no one else has.  Now, give yourself your consent to be honest.  Tell yourself aloud that you have nothing to hide and that you are able to look at yourself without the mud that has been slung your way.  You are clean and new and ready to start out in a better direction. 

Now take some paper and a writing instrument of choice and write down all your good qualities.  Put them in the form of affirmative statements such as:  I am beautiful.  I am smart.  I am helpful to others.  I’m a good cook.  I’m a good mother.  I’m a loving and faithful wife.  Keep the sentences short and to the point.  Use the entire hour – time yourself.  If you run out of nice things to say, repeat some.  That may get you thinking about some other great qualities that you forgot about yourself.  After this part of the exercise you deserve a nice bubble bath – indulge. 

Next, construct an email and send it to your friends.  I got a really good one a few weeks ago.  Here is the text.  Feel free to copy and paste it and send out.

ONE Word

   Describe ME in ONE Word . . . just one word! Send it to me only, then send this message to your friends and see how many strange things people say about you! This could be fun! Just hit reply and send me my one word back. Then forward this message on to your friends (including me) and see what they say about you!

I did this.  The responses I got back made me feel special.  I was better able to see me through the eyes of others.  You see, it’s very easy for someone to say something rotten and nasty out of anger.  It is very difficult to give someone a heart-felt compliment.  This is human nature.  We are all guilty of the same things.   So don’t sit and feel sorry for yourself because everyone is human.  Just go get the list of good things about you and add the descriptive words from you friends to it.  Unless you truly are an ogre and need to change your name to Shrek, your friends will give you a better picture of what you portray to the world. 

The last thing you need to do is to forgive everyone whom you think wronged you -- all those creeps who put you down and made you feel unworthy.  By the way, that includes you.  Yes, you.  Another aspect of human nature is that we are our own worst critics.  Of course, if you are an egomaniac this may not hold true, but your one word responses to your email should give credence to the fact that you need more work than one magazine-length article could possibly supply if that’s the case.  Most of us do not fall into that category; and, frankly, anyone with a highly inflated ego would have stopped reading this somewhere during the second paragraph.  They would not ever believe that someone could feel inconsequential because of a comment from another person.  If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to forgive and get over it.  Let the muck go.  It isn’t worth hanging on to.  If you had a rotten tomato in your hand, would you carry it around with you for a while, a day, a week, a month, a year?  NO!  What would that do for you?  The junk that was told to you that made you feel bad is nothing more than a rotten tomato – FOR GOSH SAKES THROW IT AWAY!  It’s drippy and it stinks.

It’s now time for another bath.  Light a couple of candles and turn off the electric lights in the bathroom.  Use your favorite scent of bath oil, essential oils, soap or whatever pleases you.  Play your favorite type of relaxing music.  After you lounge in the tub for a bit and then bathe, sit in the tub after you pull the plug.  Watch the water wash the darkness from your soul.  Allow all the negative junk to go down the drain – and start fresh.  It’s a new you.  Be the best you that you can be.

Live well!

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Feelings of Superiority

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

As humans, we look around and see what we have invented, what we have built, what we do each and every day that no other type of earthly creature has ever done nor can do.  We are full our abilities and full or ourselves.  We are the mighty, the brilliant, the powerful.  Look at the technology we have at our fingertips – we can even control time, well, to some degree.  Our TV’s will now pause and replay what is happening in real time, so we’re getting there.  We can go to sites where we can map our trips and see actual satellite photos of the terrain through which we will drive as we do so, not a map that was drawn by a person.  We see the real thing – mountains, rivers, buildings, even cars and trucks on the road we will be traveling.  The list is virtually endless.  Each time we conceive of something, another greater accomplishment looms in the very near future.   (Oh, but we haven’t cured the Common Cold because think of how much money the pharmaceutical companies would lose every year if they could no longer sell all those multitudes of symptom-treating chemicals . . . or cancer, or diabetes, or AIDS, or – OK, that list is just about endless too.) 

Although this is not an essay on religion or spirituality, it seems necessary to mention that, in the Western Culture, these feelings of superiority have been fostered by the religions that hold a grip on the largest numbers of the populace.  The first five books of the Christian Bible are also the Torah, or written law, of the Judaic belief system.  Islam also shares these books, although they claim that the books have been corrupted by man, they are, nonetheless, the basis of that belief system as well.  These three major world religions follow the same god (here left in lower case since the name of the god differs due to language differences) and the same basic beliefs/laws.  In the Book of Genesis (Bereishith), the first chapter, twice man is instructed to “ . . . ‘rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” (Gen. 1:26 NAS)  “And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Gen. 1:28 NAS).  Is it any wonder that our nature, after all these years, has been bent toward this feeling of superiority?  As a side note, we see to what this philosophy has brought us.  Take a look at the air that hangs over our major communities.  If memory serves, we’re not supposed to be able to see the air.  We are forced in many places to filter our water and the bottled water industry is thriving.  I don’t know about you, but after having been raised when you could go to a local swimming hole and not worry about any adverse consequences, I’m now disinclined to swim in anything but a chlorinated pool these days.  We have introduced so many chemicals into our food sources that they are no longer safe to eat.  I’m not so sure we’ve done so well with that ruling over everything stuff.  What do you think? 

What intrigues me is that as we move through the years, and our inventions become more and more complex and machines perform more and more of our daily functions, we feel more and more superior.  It would seem to me that this is not the case and that the reverse is true.  Step into my time machine and see what makes me think so.  Let us go back to the early 1600’s (barely 500 years ago).  With the knowledge you have today and with no help from the other pilgrims, how long do you think you’d survive in the wilderness of Plymouth had you been on the Mayflower?  How are you going to eat?  How do you know which plants are poisonous or not?  How are you going to clothe yourself in order not to die of exposure?  The winters are a little cold.  How are you going to build shelter?  What tools would you have at your disposal?  Do you know how to use them, or make them?  There is no A&P, no Macy’s, no Ace Hardware.  Good luck!

We also seem to think that we have become more intelligent over time.  We look back in awe that someone could figure out how to build a pyramid.  Some have even tendered the idea that outer space creatures must have come to earth and aided in the building of many of our most magnificent ancient structures.  This implies that we assume that, a few thousand years ago, people were not intelligent enough to figure out how to cut rocks and put them strategically on top of each other.  Why do we think that stone carving is something that must be done by machine in order for it to be done well? 

Personally, I’m in awe of the fact that the ancients lived long enough to procreate.  But, instead, they developed language, math, astrology, astronomy, medicine, architecture, science, art, music, textiles, monetary systems, laws, religions, philosophy, business techniques, etc., etc., etc.  We have no reason to think that we are more intelligent today than man was several thousand years ago.  What we have is more knowledge (in some cases).  What we’ve done is build upon what the last generations left for us.  This does not superiority make.  Also, we do not control nature.  When she sends us a big, fat storm, run!  When she sends us a big, fat wave, run!  How superior are we?

I feel it an absolute necessity to mention here that there are spiritual belief systems that do not proclaim the superiority of man (humans).  They teach that everything is an integrated whole.  Nature (the Earth) is believed to be a living, breathing entity and that all upon her are connected.  When any of Earth’s beings, including the Earth itself) is harmed, then all upon her are harmed as well.  This connectivity disallows any feelings of superiority. 

Live well! 

A Little Bit of Power

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

Those who are consumed by their power, no matter how little or how much they have, are everywhere. 

They’re where we work – the newly promoted manager who ignores what’s around him/her and runs a whole department into the ground by keeping vital information from his/her employees and disempowers them, making them unable to do their jobs effectively when he/she is not present to “fix” things (because, of course, he/she is the only one who can possibly do things right) and who does not listen to constructive suggestions.  This person then blames all the employees for not performing well, never realizing that he/she created the situation. 

They’re where we play – the bully father who has taught his son to be a bully.  The son monopolizes the park equipment and terrorizes the other children while the father plays at fisticuffs with the other parents as they attempt to right the wrongs done by the bully child in an attempt to allow all the children to play together appropriately.  They’re at movie theatres, bars, sporting events – you name it.  Some dipsticks think that they have the right to everything and that no one else really exists – oh yes, the universe revolves around them.

They’re where we do business – the customer who thinks that rules do not apply to him/her; that he/she deserves the best without paying for it or should be handed something simply because he/she is breathing; that he/she deserves to be taken care of first no matter how many people were there ahead of him/her.  The universe revolves around them as well – I’m not sure how the physics of that one works.

They’re in some of our homes – the man who beats his wife senseless because of whatever it was that he didn’t like today.  By the way, this is the same guy that’s wreaking havoc at the park with his son – typically, this type is not female, though they do exist.  

They’re all over the roads (both meanings apply) – driving erratically, changing lanes without the space to do so, running traffic signals and stop signs, and quite generally making a nuisance of themselves as they act out the role of “Me First in All Things”.  You’d think they were the only jerk on the road with an engine and a steering wheel and that they own the strip of highway upon which they’re driving.  The rest of us have no right to be there.  They act as though the horsepower under the hood and the metal around them were somehow directly connected to their own physical strength.  Oh yeah, and their driving prowess is beyond that of any normal mortal.  Again we have the universe “revolvement”.

This can become extremely aggravating, especially when it hits really close to home – Home Owner Association Presidents are on my personal hit list right now.  The following is a letter sent by a Las Vegas condo owner to the Board of the Home Owner Association.  You see, the President is a cat lover who seems to think that, since she’s the President, the rules do not apply to her.  She lets her two cats run wild and has refused for several years to do anything about removing the strays in the complex.  The rules seem to vary greatly when it comes to the woofing residents and the quacking ones, those with feathers who visit the sometimes beautiful ponds (which are not maintained any better than the pools and spas throughout the property that are referenced in the P.S.).  This woman took it upon herself to spend HOA funds to buy cat food and put it outside.  Now none of this food is anywhere near her condo.  It is, instead, all around one particular building.  Consequently, the cats use the common grounds around this building as their litter box.  By the way, we’re not talking about one or two cats.  Ten is the minimum number of cats on any given day that live on the grounds outside the building in question.  You see, the cats, by nature, hang sort of close to the duck ponds next to this building anyway.  Lunch floats around on the pond.  One day there are four new baby ducks.  Before the end of the day, if one survives the cat attacks, it’s a miracle.  Please do not get me wrong.  I’m an animal lover, which is why I disagree with allowing pets to run around loose outside.  It puts them in danger.  If one is going to have a house pet, then keep it in the house, as the name suggests.  It is also unfair to expect one group of animal lovers to live under totally different rules than another sort of animal lover.

Well, judge for yourself:

WHO MADE THE CAT KING?

The recent bulletin we received from our Board of Directors informs us that dogs are to be kept on leashes and must have their feces (droppings) picked up.  In addition, ducks must not be fed.

These creatures (the dogs and ducks) are not causing problems within the community.  Our President has received calls from every unit in one of our buildings regarding:

1. Cats leaving mounds of manure around the building.  One aged lady crawled on her hands and knees under the steps to rake out piles of dung, which were stinking and attracting flies and cockroaches.
2. Cats breaking flower pots and killing decorative plants, leaving dirt strewn about on homeowners porches.
3. Cats spraying on exterior doors of porches and balconies. This would be urine – our porches share the lovely aroma of Eau de Litter Box.
4. One cat that had four kittens on a patio, leaving afterbirth, feces and urine on the patio.  She then moved her kittens to several other patios and porches, leaving behind feces, urine and the remains of what she dug out of the dumpsters to feed her brood.  There are frequently bags of garbage which cats have torn apart along side the dumpsters. 
5. Some of the cats are again in heat.  We must all listen to the howling and squalling during the day and wake up to it at night.

Our President very kindly has been feeding all these cats right up against a building so that we can enjoy all these benefits.  When the cats happen to drag the oh-so-very-decorative food bowls out onto the walkways (which is pretty much a daily occurrence), our residents run the risk of tripping over them, especially during the evening hours.

The Health Department visited us and issued a citation against our President (a $500 fine, according to the above-mentioned bulletin from said President).  The Health Department Official took pictures of the mounds of feces, the bowls of food and the cats running around.  Our President is clearly in violation of the Health Code, the Official stated.  Our President will be issued a citation.

According to the Animal Control laws of Las Vegas, our President, having fed the cats (in the name of the Board, using unauthorized funds), now owns the cats.  She must house them, inoculate them and have them “fixed”.  ALSO, SHE MUST KEEP THEM CONFINED OR RESTRAINED, THE SAME AS A DOG.  We are told in a bulletin to keep our DOGS confined or on restraints, though it clearly states in our CC&R’s that ALL animals must be confined or restrained.  THIS INCLUDES CATS.

We were informed that our Board Members can be sued for not enforcing their own rules.  Of course, the rule being referred to is:  “ALL ANIMALS SHALL BE CONFINED OR ON RESTRAINTS AND SHALL HAVE THEIR FECES PICKED UP” – THIS IS NOT LIMITED TO DOGS, BUT INCLUDES CATS.

Please explain to us why:

1. Cats are the only creatures that have rights.
2. People have no rights in regard to having a crap-free environment without flies and cockroaches.
3. We must endure urine stains and smells on our porches, patios and exterior doors.
4. We must clean up after cats digging in our flower and plant pots.
5. Ducks must starve while cats are fed.  The notice on the bulletin board states that “several ducks died.”  CORRECTION:  One dead duck was found.  In all probability, a cat broke its neck.  The cats constantly stalk the ducks.  People buy duck food (from their own personal funds, not HOA funds) to feed the ducks.  The food does not kill them.
6. The issue of the baby ducks born here is a very sad thing.  These innocent little creatures have their heads torn off and are ripped limb from limb while they are alive by these coddled cats.  So, little, baby ducks don’t have the right to live.
7. Dogs must be on restraints (leashes) while cats run free.  Dog doodoo is considered a contaminant and must be picked up.  Cat crap therefore must add sweet savor to our lives and can be left anywhere . . . even our doorsteps.

Tell us why does no one – not people, not dogs, not ducks or anything else – have rights except the cats.  Who made the cat king?

P.S.  The pool man was noticed cleaning the pools on Saturday, the day after our President received her citation from the Health Department for our contaminated pools and spas.

It seems to this individual that this woman is acting in a prejudicial manner.  It also appears that her power in the office of president of the association went right straight to her head.  No rules apply to her, according to the way she acts.  However, she has no problem telling others what they may or may not do – she’s the one who sends out the bulletins referenced in the letter. 

This sort of behavior, when confined to a small community of homeowners, is a nuisance.  If this behavior applies to someone who, by their negligence, causes an automobile accident that kills two and maims several others, is considered to be criminal.  However, when it applies to the leader of a world power, it goes well beyond criminal and goes straight to downright evil.  I have some initials for you – GWB.

Be responsible.  “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”   ~Teddy Roosevelt~

Live well.

A Time of the Year for Giving

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curis

With sadness, I look upon the coming season that is supposed to be a time of great joy for most of the world’s major religions and for many others who say they have no religion at all.   We’ve seen many scenes of devastation during this past year – more so than most years in recent history.  There are so many in need, so many who’ve lost everything, so many who didn’t have all that much anyway; but what they did have is now gone.  In every community there are those who are homeless or on the brink of it, those who live in abuse, those who can see no way out of a dark, deep hole.

I had to go to the local police station to have a mandatory record check done in order to take a promotion.  I don’t know about your community, but the place I had to go is in one of the less attractive areas of the city.  There was no place to park near the building, so I reluctantly parked in a lot down about a block from my destination.  Although it was mid-day, the people roaming the streets there did not give me reason to feel comfortable.  I went inside the records office as fast as I could, got the report I needed and left quickly – all I wanted to do was get in my car (if it was still there in one piece) and go home as fast as I could. 

The building I was in is next to the bus station.  Sitting outside on a bench was a woman.  It was clear that all she had was in the backpack sitting at her feet.   The sun was behind her, so I couldn’t see her very well.  As I’d walked out of the building, I’d noticed that she’d bent her head down a bit, as if in shame.  I walked past her but had to stop and turn toward her.  I don’t know what made me do that.  All I really wanted to do was get out of there.  I took a step toward her, and she looked up at me, startled.  She could have been anywhere from 18 to 30.  She had a beautiful, if a bit haggard, face with one black eye and a split, swollen lip.  She looked at the ground again.  It was at this time that I realized that the hood of her sweatshirt (hardly warm enough for the weather) was pulled too far forward over her face.  She was hiding, hiding her beautiful face because someone had punched her more than once. 

I don’t think it would be fair to her to discuss the conversation that we had or the outcome of the encounter.  Suffice it to say, I forgot completely about my own discomfort at being in questionable surroundings as we spoke for a few minutes.  Just being next to her filled me with an immense sense of loss and fear.  One other thing – she never asked me for anything. 

This lovely, well-spoken young woman’s situation is quickly becoming the rule instead of the exception.  As our economy declines, as our moral fiber disintegrates, as the self-absorbed become more prominent in our society, as we care less and less in greater and greater numbers, the quantity of those who deserve better and get nothing (or worse) increases.

Yep, life can deal out some hard knocks.  We should learn and grow from them.  We’ve all heard that it builds character.  But what if it breaks you?  What if your perspective is that there is nothing left and nowhere to turn?  What if it were you out on the street with nothing but a backpack that wasn’t even full?  What if you put your trust in someone who talked you into moving to a new community and then beat the hell out of you and threw you out with nothing?  What would you do?  Where would you go?  How would you get there?  What is the worst thing that you can think of that could happen to you?  What would you do?  Where would you go?  How would you get there?   

If you are able, please do what you comfortably can to make a difference.  If your heart has been touched, please don’t let it stop here.  Please don’t sign off your computer, shaking your head at the sadness, maybe shed a tear or two, and then forget and go back to your busy life.  Find room in your heart to take some sort of action.  Donate money; unwrapped toys; old clothes, coats and blankets.  Put some loose change in the Salvation Army bucket outside the grocery store.  While there are still more of us who have something than there are those who have nothing, please remember the truth of this season and help someone.  If you found your way to this website, you can surely find a worthy charity online.  You don’t have to give ‘til it hurts, just ‘til it helps.  I guess I’m asking that you show your good character and do something for someone who can do absolutely nothing for you.

Live well,

Bobbi

Economic News

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

I don’t watch much “regular” TV.  I agree with Gallagher that you can’t turn up the intelligence on your television set – it’s a shame.  However, one afternoon I had the thing turned on to one of the superstations (whatever that is supposed mean) because I wanted to keep up with disaster news, of which we’ve had too much lately.  After the monologue on the flooding and wind damage and the lack of governmental support offered to our own (in the US) Golf Coast, the economic report began with:

“Durable Goods” – those products designed to last 3 years – home appliances.

WGN news 10:56 AM Pacific Time, 9-28-05 – NO KIDDING – DURABLE GOODS, things that are designed to fall apart in THREE YEARS.

I lost whatever it was that the reporter/stock analyst was saying as I was mulling over how you can call something that is DESIGNED to last ONLY three years DURABLE.  Isn’t this an oxymoron?   I can’t be the only person who doesn’t see how the word “durable” can possibly be associated with something that is designed to fall apart in 36 MONTHS – THIRTY-SIX MONTHS.  If I were that reporter/analyst, I wouldn’t be able to say that with a straight face.

About 15 years ago, my mother and I had an argument about the new small appliances in my kitchen.  She kept insinuating that my children and I abused the toaster (and everything else) and that our poor behavior did nothing but cost me money unnecessarily.  We were wasteful and sinful in our waste.  She rambled on for over an hour about our lack of responsibility and good sense.

Not but a couple of months later, the filament in the toaster that she got when she got married in 1949 broke and was not replaceable – imagine that!  She bought another toaster.  In less than three years, we were out shopping.  She was shopping for a new toaster – bitching about it the whole time.  I finally got a chance to express my feelings from the older argument.  She now had her own proof that we were not immature cave people at my house.  She was finally the victim of cheap, crappy design – of designed obsolescence – the purposeful structuring of items (that we purchase for far too much money) to FALL APART IN THREE YEARS.  I believe that she is on her fourth new toaster.

At this juncture, I want to add a tidbit of information.  My family has an hereditary food intolerance.  We cannot properly digest wheat – how often do you think the toaster gets used in a house where no one can eat bread?  Why would an appliance that is used only a few times in a year fall apart in so little time?  Because, folks, it was made that way.  It was made to cost us money over and over and over again within the life expectancy of a gold fish.

Why, you may ask?  One word – PROFIT.  If your toaster were still built to last thirty years, then the companies that make toasters wouldn’t be able to sell you a new one  every drop of a hat.  This ranks right down there with the health industry which designs “medication” to keep you sick.  How often, these days, do you hear of a cure for anything?  I hear a bunch of advertising for treatment of symptoms.  I seldom hear, “We have the cure.  Take this pill for thirty days, and you will not have the problem again.”  What I do hear is, “Take this pill for the rest of your life and the symptoms will go away. . .”  but what is not said is, “This medication will take care of the CAUSE of your distress.”

 Years ago (back in the ‘70’s I believe), a car battery was designed with a closed system. There was no need to add water to them. Oops, they lasted too long. Car battery sales went down. Off the market they went. There was nothing wrong with them – that’s why they went bye-bye.

Then, there’s the computer industry where the computer you purchase today is already obsolete because, by the time someone gets around to manufacturing the thing, the company’s development department has gone several steps ahead of the design of that “new” model.

I won’t belabor the point where technological advances are concerned. Back to the fall apart junk on which we spend our hard-earned dollars. I have clothing in my closet that my mother wore when I was a child. I still wear them. I’m 51. I’ve thrown away most of what I’ve purchased in the last 20 years. The fabric disintegrates and/or the fabric shreds where the seams are – we have that magnificent Gently Cycle on our washers. Women used to put clothing through the wringer on the top of the washer that had one heavy-duty cycle that seemed to work on everything – something pretty close to beating the crap out of the clothing on rocks at the side of a stream. Back then, the clothing hung together – when we were beating the crap out of them. Now they get washed on the Gently Cycle, and they manage to fall apart in a year or two, or less. There have been major advancements in the dye industry, but now our fabrics fade in a couple of washings – using the new and improved laundry detergent that retards fading. Do you remember lye soap? That stuff eats your skin – somehow old and unimproved fabric with old and unimproved dyes held up just fine under every possible abuse.

There are so many other directions I can go with this, it’s frightening. The bottom line is their bottom line. GREED! Greed runs this country. The consumer does nothing but make the undeserving rich, rich beyond conception. Why does a CEO of any company deserve to make $400,000,000 (four hundred MILLION dollars) a year? What does anyone do that is worth that kind of money? I can tell you. He helps figure out ways to rip off the consumer and puts them into action. That’s what he does. Is there a solution? Maybe. Are we willing to be responsible consumers? Are we willing to use, reuse and conserve what we have? Are we willing to figure out ways to buy only products that aren’t junk? Are we willing to boycott companies that are the worst offenders?

Until we are willing to take the necessary steps as consumers, the junk manufacturers are given no choice but to continue to steal our money. The consumer has the power, but does he/she know how to use it – or, better yet, is she/he willing to wield that power? I guess each person has to decide that for him/herself. When enough consumers decide to take action, manufacturers will have no choice – make a better toaster or go out of business.

For Granted

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

As I sit here in my cozy room, drinking a cup of spiced tea, I feel spoiled.  My home is intact.  I know where my family members are – in their respective homes, safe.  Everything I own is where I last put it.  My pets are secure, happy and well fed.  I eat meals cooked in my kitchen.  The food came off the shelves in my cupboards and refrigerator, and when more was needed I drove my car, that is full of gasoline, to the grocery store and bought it.  When my mother needed medical attention, she made an appointment by phone and drove to her doctor’s office, then to the pharmacy to get her prescription filled.  I have access to the internet.  My TV and DVD player are right where they should be and there is electrical power available when I want to watch something.  I drive to my job five days a week and perform all necessary functions with a minimum of unusual occurrences.  My life is not interrupted by anything like the roof flying off my house and the walls falling down on people I love and everything I own.  My feet are not wet.

The events of the past couple of weeks must, if nothing else, teach us to remember our blessings and to appreciate those whom we love and all the wonderful things we have.  I had not intended to write about Katrina’s aftermath.  I could not stop myself.  As I’ve watched news programs, I have not been able to stop the tears from filling my eyes and overflowing down my cheeks.  I cannot imagine the fear, the loss, the emotional devastation.  We have not yet discovered all the intricacies of the destruction.  People were lost.  Pets were lost.  Homes and possessions were lost.  Critical records were lost – personal, governmental and medical.  Those who survived have been without food, water, shelter, medicine, understanding, dignity and respect – to say nothing of being without those whom they love, whether alive or now dead.  Shall we please remember that lives were torn apart along with plaster and lumber?  I continue to try to plunge myself into the abyss in which these people have found themselves.  I can’t do it.  I get part of the way and can go no further.  It is not, I don’t think, beyond my imagination.  It is, however, beyond the reaches of my sanity.  My mind will absolutely not allow me to go there.  My mind will not let me become a three-year-old child who was taken from the roof of my home; the only place I’ve ever gone to sleep at night; the place where I  felt safe; a place that is now filled with stinky water; and away from my mommy; carried away in a basket below some noisy, windy flying thing to be placed in a huge, echoing room, full of scary strangers.  A place where I don’t know anyone.  I curl up in blankets that smell nothing like my cozy, little bed.  I hear people, but no voice is familiar.  I miss my mommy and my sister.  I curl up tighter, trying to pretend that my mommy is with me and that everything is OK.  I start to suck my thumb, though I know that makes Mommy a little angry.  I’m not supposed to do that.  But, I’m three years old – I get that far and can’t . . .

Then my mind goes to that tiny child’s mother, frantic.  She also was removed from the roof, but she was taken to a different shelter, miles away from her younger daughter.  In this scenario, I don’t sleep for several days.  All I can do is wander among all the other people there, looking for my two daughters.  Hoping with each sound from any child that it is one of my babies.  Walking and looking into faces and finding only strangers; imagining how my children must feel.  Feeling lost and empty and worried and scared and crying.  Where are they?  Are they alive?  Are they safe?  Do they have something to eat?  Are they . . .

Then I wonder how one would go about cleaning up what might be left of my home.  In some cases it looks to be rather simple.  All that’s left is the foundation.  Everything I ever had is somewhere else being thrown away by someone else who is also starting over.  All I have is a cement slab and some mud – oh, with some debris that used to be part of someone else’s house in what was once my yard.  How do you put nothing back together in order to recreate the home that you’d made.  Try to imagine that all you have left is what you are currently wearing, keeping in mind that your house filled with water as you slept and what you’re wearing is what you had on when you went to bed the night that the storm went through.

May I humbly suggest that we never take anything for granted again.  Tell the people whom you love how much you love them – every single day.  Hold your family and friends close.  Treat them with respect.  Pat the dog on the head a few extra times.  Let the cat crawl up on your neck and tickle your ear with his tail.  Kiss his nose.  Enjoy the essence of your home.  Make it a sanctuary for your family and yourself.  Say thank you to whatever it is that you believe in for everything you have.  If you believe in nothing, at least treat the things themselves with respect.  Take nothing for granted, for tomorrow it may all be gone.  

Make a donation to Mercy Corps

Crystals: Care and Feeding

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

Crystals are a gift from the Earth, Mother Earth, Mother Nature, God, The Universal One, The Goddess – however you view it, whatever you call your Higher Power, they are forms from nature and part of the basic makeup of our planet. They deserve respect, care and special handling. They were here before we were, forming long before the first bits of protoplasm crawled from the primordial ooze and proclaimed, “I am (wo)man!” They are VIP’s gifted to us to use for the greater good of all. We are their caretakers; and they, in turn, impart their many gifts to us – their energy, their stored knowledge, their spiritual integrity, their abilities. Crystals heal, teach, amplify the individual’s abilities, create energy, transmute or dissipate negativity, elevate the spirit and create atmospheres conducive to the improvement of the Earth and all its inhabitants – if used correctly and with the proper intent. Our pathways converged many eons ago and will continue as long as we understand their nature and their power and continue to use them properly.

We do not own crystals.
We do not choose the crystals that come to us.
We are their caretakers, and they choose us.

Preparing your Stones

Clearing:
Crystals store vibrations. The vibrations can come from any number of sources – light, thought, sound, touch, to name a few. When you first acquire your crystals, after healing work, when you feel that they are storing something that you do not want stored or when they look dull or feel sluggish, it’s time for a clearing. There are several methods of clearing. Try them all and use the one that feels the most comfortable to you or seems the most effective for your stone. I use a variety of methods, using intuition to feel what individual crystals need. Some folks use the salt water method which, though effective, requires knowledge of the difference between friable and not friable stones. Salt can damage the surface of some crystals and some others are water soluble, Selenite for instance. In order to keep your stones safe without going through a long list of what kinds can handle salt and/or water or not, many crystal experts recommend using other methods that are less likely to cause damage.
Azeztulite, Citrine and Kyanite are self-cleaning.  Clear Quartz clusters, Carnelian and Blue Kyanite can  be used to clean other stones. Simply place the crystals needing cleared on the cluster or on the Kyanite for 12 to 24 hours. Carnelian can be placed inside a bag containing other stones for the same time period to cleanse them. The quartz and the Carnelian will require cleansing by another method after the process is complete.  

Breath Method: Ground and center yourself. Make your intention to cleanse your crystal clear in your mind. Sit in a comfortable position and hold your crystal in your left hand between the thumb and forefinger, thumb on the bottom. Now place the thumb of your right hand on any face of the crystal and the right forefinger on the opposite face. As you hold your stone, form the intent of clearing it in your mind. Breathe in deeply through your nose. Blow the air out of your mouth with forceful intent at the crystal, as if you were blowing your intention to clear the crystal with your breath. Now move the thumb of your right hand to the next face of the crystal and moving your right forefinger to the next respective face of the crystal. Again breathe in deeply through your nose and forcefully, sending your intention to clear the crystal, blow the air out through your mouth directly at the crystal. Keep your intention for clearing your stone upper most in your mind, allowing your breath to carry your intention to the stone. Continue in this manner until all faces have been attended to.

Visualization Method: Ground and center yourself. Make your intention to cleanse your crystal clear in your mind. Sit in a comfortable position and hold your crystal in the palm of your dominant hand. Visualize it surrounded by white light, allowing the light to remove all negativity and any unwanted energies. Continue in this fashion until you feel the revitalization of the stone and until it is no longer cloudy or dull. This method requires complete concentration and no interruptions.

Smudging Method: Ground and center yourself. Light sage, cedar or sweetgrass incense and start it smoldering. Make your intention to clear your crystal your predominant thought. Hold the crystal between the thumb and forefinger of your dominant hand and move the crystal through the smoke for several minutes until it appears clear. A good test of this is to hold the crystal where the smoke will rise to it. If the smoke avoids the crystal, continue to move it through the smoke for a few more minutes. Test it again to see if the smoke surrounds the crystal or moves away from it. When the smoke surrounds the crystal (make sure there are no fans going in the room that will effect the direction that the smoke is blowing) it is cleared.

Singing Bowl Method: Ground and center yourself. Place your stones in a singing bowl and follow the instructions for the bowl. The sound vibrations will clear our crystals. This method comes highly recommended by those who use it. It tends to provide a deeper cleansing, reaching all the way to the center of the stone. It also charges stones at the same time.

Charging:
After performing any of the clearing methods above except the Singing Bowl Method, your crystal now requires charging, similarly to charging a battery. The most recommended method is to leave your crystals on a windowsill for 24 hours. Optimum charging comes from the crystal receiving energy from both the sun and the moon. It is most beneficial to charge during the Full Moon, although it is possible for charging to take place during other moon phases, as long as there is some moon light.   

Dedicating:
Ground and center yourself. Hold your crystal in both hands in front of you. Picture it surrounded by white light – light a candle to help the visualization. Say out loud to your stone, “I dedicate this crystal to the greatest good of all. May it be used in light and love.”

Programming:
You are now ready to program your crystal. Plan ahead of time for what each specific crystal will be used. Choose tasks that are relevant to the crystal itself so that its full energy can be put into the job you will be assigning to it (click here for a partial listing). Be specific about your needs and wants. How do you want this crystal to help you, someone else, or the planet? If you will be using it for healing, be specific about the part of the body and the problem with which you need help. If you are using it for self-improvement, be specific about the quality(ies) you are intending to enhance. Light a candle of the color that corresponds to your intent for the crystal. Ground and center yourself. Hold your crystal in both hands or place both hands on the crystal. Attune to your crystal. When you feel ready, concentrate on exactly what you want your crystal to do – be specific. State, “I program this crystal for [the purposes you have determined].” Allow stray thoughts to go back out of your mind and concentrate on the purpose for your crystal. As you concentrate on what you want your crystal to do, breathe in through your nose and breathe your purpose for your crystal out through your mouth, sending the intention into your crystal with your breath. Continue to visualize its purpose as you continue to breathe in through the nose and out, at the crystal, through your mouth, sending your intention with each outward breath. Continue until you feel that the crystal is ready. Now pass the crystal from right to left through the flame of the candle to seal in the intention.

Your crystal is now ready to use. It will hold the programming that you gave it until the next time you clear it. Remember that your crystal needs to be cleared, charged and re-programmed after healing work, when you feel that it is storing something that you do not want stored or when it looks dull or feels sluggish.

Suggested Reading (click the link and type in the author’s name in the Amazon search window):

The Crystal Bible    by Judy Hall and other books by Judy Hall

The Complete Crystal Guidebook    by Uma Silbey and other books by Uma Silbey

Love Is in the Earth:  A Kaleidoscope of Crystals   by Melody and other books by Melody

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Banishing the Negative

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

If you’ve read any kind of self-help books or listened to self-improvement tapes or gone to any motivational training seminars, you’ve been instructed to, in some way, accentuate the positive – in your life, on the job, in yourself, within your family.  I am challenging every reader to begin to banish the negative, not only within themselves, but also in their communities.  I don’t think I need to take up your time in lengthy explanations of the benefits of this action.  We are all well aware of the consequences of negative behavior and negative energies – just read the newspaper or turn on the news on the TV or radio or drive down the street in a bad section of town.

We’re in the Dog Days of summer, so named for the Dog Star, Sirius, which typically rises at sunrise at this time of the year.  Considered to be the unhealthiest time of year due to the heat and the humidity (in the Northern Hemisphere), giving germs, molds and bacteria extra-fertile breeding grounds, it seemed a good starting point.

As with any project, whether it’s getting the daily chores accomplished or building a starship to cruise the galaxies (sorry, I was raised on Star Trek), the first thing you need is a plan.  We’ve previously discussed that our bodies are made up of and surrounded by energy. (Chakras and Discovering Your Juno)  Quantum physics makes it clear that everything is made of energy, so I’m not going to belabor the point.  If you’ve ever walked into a room and suddenly felt a tingling sensation or a draft or a stuffy feeling that made you uncomfortable and found out later that you had interrupted an argument, then you’ve experienced a flow of negative energy from other people.  There are ways to transmute the negative and return positive energy.  Here’s one of them and this is the challenge:

1)  Find a quiet spot in your home, garden, the mountains – wherever you go to feel at peace – and begin a meditation.  Your meditation will be unique to you.  Feel yourself shedding all negative feelings.  Some visualize their bodies in a stream of pure, clear water, washing the negative energy away, starting at the head and allowing it to flow out of their feet.  Others visualize the wind blowing the negativity away.  Some use the white light of a Higher Power to shine down through them and release the negativity through their feet.  You can develop your own style of releasing the energy that you do not want within you.  (Always remember to ground yourself both before and after the meditation.)  If you are already proficient at this sort of exercise and are trained in energy healing, this challenge is simple and now built into your nature.

2 a.)  For those not trained in energy healing or other related fields, your job is rather simple.  Do your meditation daily.  As you go through your day, when you feel negative energy around you, think quickly back to your meditation and allow that snapshot visualization to take you back to your positive state.  If you can, pull some of the negative energy within which you find yourself into the snapshot and release it along with the negativity you’re re-releasing by visualizing your meditation. 

2 b.)  For those trained in energy healing or other related fields, the world needs your help.  I live in Las Vegas and drive past several strip clubs to get to the parking lot at the casino that houses my job site.  There are also a couple of overpasses with homeless seeking shade on my trip.  I don’t want to put Vegas down as a vacation spot, but there are some really seedy areas to the city.  Vegas is not alone.  Nearly every city has it’s “bad side” where exploitation of women is rampant, where the poor can’t seem to break the cycle of poverty, where the homeless congregate, where things happen to human beings that many of us could not even conceive.  As I write this, tears are pouring from my eyes.  I feel the pain of children who are hungry, mothers who have been made to feel helpless, men who are beaten down . . . and then a rapist with a knife shows up.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine the fear.  I can feel some of it, but something in my head stops it a point far before it would drive me mad.  The Challenge:  as you drive to work, to the grocery store, to a doctor’s appointment, to drop off your children at school; as you walk the dog, take out the garbage, pick up the mail, stop for a second.  Pull on your positive energy source.  Begin to funnel negative energy through you and push it into the Earth.  The Earth cleanses negative energy, transmuting it into positive energy.  If your training has taught you another method, please use it regularly, daily, moment by moment, using conscious effort to consistently throughout your day rid wherever you are from negative energy.

I am aware that some who have training in fields related to energy healing could take a different stance on my challenge.  There are several training methods that teach the protective bubble or the mirror technique to keep negativity away from the person practicing the procedure.  I am not condemning these methods, but I strongly urge those who use this type of process to rethink the philosophy.  Throwing negativity back out to circulate may not be beneficial to those around you.  Walking around in a protective bubble doesn’t do much for your surroundings.  All I see is a bunch of human bumper cars slamming together to be thrown back apart by the impact.  I’m asking all readers to step outside their protective bubbles (since we all have them in one way or another) and begin a strategy to eliminate the negative. 

May we start today?         

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Discovering Your Juno

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

We all lead such busy, hectic lives.  There’s the family to care for and assist.  Many have jobs or careers that take up well over 50 hours a week.  We like to learn and grow, and so attempt to squeeze in some time to read, take classes, or do some research.  There are groceries to buy, the kids shopping to do, maintenance on the car and the house to schedule and handle, doctor’s and dentist’s appointments, laundry; and, oh my, the To Do List is overpowering.  We’re lucky to get maybe 20% of it completed during a good week. 

We don’t take time to be kind to ourselves.  Think how much kinder we might be to others if we did.

We’ve all, at some time or another, heard or read that we need to schedule time for ourselves.  OK, we’ll all agree to schedule some time for ourselves.  That’s nice – for ourselves to do what?  Are there some sorts of priorities involved in this?  We say that we need to take some time to relax – maybe a good, long soak in a hot, bubbly bath.  Then what?  Maybe we treat ourselves to a massage at a spa; or a facial, manicure and pedicure; or a “girl’s day out” and have lunch with a friend or two.  The actual effects of this last how long?  Again, are there some sorts of priorities involved?  Are we masking the true need?  Are we using superficial cover-ups to put a bandage on the very real, very deep need to regroup?  Is the true meaning of taking “time for ourselves” getting lost somewhere in the physical?  I think the answer is an ear-splitting, resounding, “YES!”

Our need to “get it together” is not fulfilled by steam, nail polish and food.  The surface, in most cases, is not where the problem lies.  Let’s take a look within.

Have you said hello to your Higher Self lately?  Do you know what your Higher Self is and how you relate with each other?  Did you know you had a Higher Self?  We’re going to explore some of the inner you, some of what you may be missing about yourself, some qualities you may not have known you had. 

Nestled within you is a spiritual space. It lies above your conscious mind.  It lives within your aura; and, if you listen, it can offer guidance and reassurance.  It is the Higher Self, the Higher You, the spark of the Deity within, your Spirit.  Every major religion speaks of the light from the Deity (whichever one or ones upon which that religion was based) being present in humankind in one manner or another; the light that shines from within each human; the part of the Holy Spirit that inhabits each person; the part of you that is eternal; the part that will return to Heaven; the part that reincarnates; the part that will return to its creator; the part that makes you more than just protoplasm; the part that makes you holy; the part that was constructed in God’s image.  In Deepak Chopra’s book     The Book of Secrets, he states, “Centuries ago the doctrine of one reality occupied center stage in spiritual life.  Religions and peoples and traditions varied wildly, but there was universal agreement that the world is a seamless creation imbued with one intelligence, one creative design.  Monotheism called the one reality God; India called it Brahman; China called it the Tao.  By any name, every person existed within this infinite intelligence, and whatever we did on our own was part of creation’s grand design . . . The creator permeated each particle of creation equally, and the same divine spark animated life in all its forms.”  (page 22)  The Higher Self is the spark of which he speaks – “the infinite intelligence” to which we are all connected.   

In ancient Rome it was called Juno (feminine).  Juno was the Divine part of female individuals, while Genius was the Divine in males.  It was expected that, since the Higher Self is capable of only good (it cannot conceive of doing ill), everyone would do their level best to be in touch with their Higher Selves, seek guidance from It, and thus move at one with the Universe.  Offerings were made and ceremonies performed to honor the Higher Self in order to enforce the bond to it.  There was a time in history when the people of certain tribes, clans or societies made offerings to the Higher Selves of their leaders.  The intent was to help their leaders create a closer bond with their own Higher Selves so that they would act in harmony with that Divine guidance and, consequently, rule well and treat their people fairly and justly since the Higher Self is incapable of doing otherwise.   Unfortunately, there was much misinterpretation of this sort of ceremony by other religious sects.  It was thought that those societies were deifying their rulers.  Much blood has been shed due to this “misunderstanding.”

There are numerous ways to get in touch with one’s Higher Self.  Prayer and meditation are two ways.  One must actively seek the Divine within.  As with anything else, this requires regular practice, peace, privacy and contemplation.  I can’t help but wonder if this is part of the reason why Jesus Christ taught, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:  for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.  Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into they closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”  (Matthew 6:5-6, King James Version)  The daily use of affirmations (positive statements of one’s intentions) along with prayer and quiet contemplation can assist in opening the door to more open communication between the Higher Self and the conscious mind.  An example would be:  “I draw myself closer to my Higher Self each day and move in harmony with it.  I ask my Higher Self to help me with my life’s lessons, learning them with ease and joy.  I receive Your guidance with an open mind and an open heart.”  You may, during prayer and meditation, ask for specific guidance on certain issues or where a decision needs to be made.  Allow yourself time to then sit quietly and listen for the still, small voice.  With practice, you will begin to sense, feel, hear answers and receive the guidance you seek.

Let us refer again to Dr. Chopra’s statement about the “infinite intelligence” which surrounds us.  What do you think the possibilities would be if access to that intelligence were wide open to you?  Its spark is with you everyday, all day.  Of what could you be capable if you set that spark into action?  The intelligence of which he speaks is Divine.  It is incapable of wrong-doing.  Is it possible that opening yourself to that knowledge might solve strife in relationships, issues with children, conflicts at work, struggles within yourself?

I have to ask you at this point, “What are you waiting for?”  This has to be something valuable enough to schedule for yourself – five to ten minutes a day when you arise or just before going to bed at night.  Answers lie within each of you.  The spark is waiting for a little fuel in order to burn brighter.  Open yourselves to the part of you that remains hidden, until you set it free in each of your lives . . . or apply another coat of nail polish if you think that will improve your life.  It takes about ten minutes to dry.  

Live in the Light

NOTE:  The Light of which I speak is that Divine Spark that lives within us all.  If your Light is a little dim, find someone whose Light is bright and bask in its glow, recharging your Light.  If your Light is burning brightly, share its brilliance with all whose paths cross yours.

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The Power Within and Around You

Cleansing, Activating, Balancing and Aligning Your Chakras

by Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

We are all aware that our nervous systems run by electrical impulses.  We also know that an electrical impulse creates a field of energy.  The obvious then must stand true that we live within our own fields of this energy.  According to quantum physics, everything is energy – all matter (of which we are made up) is energy.  So, let’s agree that our bodies are bodies of energy.  We should be able to assume that since the brain, being the largest concentration of nerve tissue in our bodies, would be an energy center, and that our spinal columns, having another large concentration of nerve tissue, would have, along its route through the vertebrae, other energy centers.  The rest of the body, to one degree or another, would also have energy centers of some degree or another, depending on the concentration of energy at each point.   Since we radiate this energy (the electrical energy field we talked about in the second sentence), we should again be able to assume that there are others of these energy centers within some close proximity to our physical bodies.  These energy centers are known as Chakras.

Traditionally, the major Chakras are seven in number:  Base, Sacral, Solar Plexus, Heart, Throat, Brow and Crown.  There are three other important Chakras:  Earth, Higher Heart and Higher Crown.  We now have 10 in all.  According to many sources, there are also a myriad of other minor Chakras throughout the body, but we will be dealing with only the 10 mentioned here.  Disharmony is the result of either blocked or overactive Chakras.  There are numerous methods to realign and balance the Chakras, creating positive, healthy energy for a well-rounded life.  Most methods include purposeful breathing techniques, visualization, sound vibrations, color vibrations, purposeful intent and meditation, fragrance relationships and healing crystal vibrations, which are  connected to the color vibrations. 

A deep, relaxing breathing technique, such as Central Column Breathing, is useful to begin your cleansing and balancing exercise.  (This is also an excellent technique to use prior to meditation, to relax before going to sleep, and to revitalize at the start of the day – among other things.)  Briefly, this involves being seated comfortably, legs uncrossed if in a chair, finding your breathing pattern while breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, opened slightly.  Then, begin to breathe in as if the influx of air were coming in from the top of your head, filling your body as it goes down.  At a natural point, begin to exhale as though the air were exiting down through the body and out the soles of the feet.  Repeat this exercise five times.  Next, change to breathing up from the earth beneath, up through the body and exhaling through the top of your head.  Repeat five times.   Remain relaxed and unstrained.   Now, breathe in from the top of your head on the first breath sequence and then in from the earth on the second breath sequence, alternating each sequence for five minutes.   This exercise clears the central column of your body and prepares it for meditation and healing.

The next step in a rather uncomplicated method of balancing and aligning the Chakras is to lie flat, placing appropriate crystals below, above and on your body positioned at the Chakra centers for approximately 20 minutes and relaxing into a meditative state with the intention of balancing and aligning.  The chart below shows both the position and some suggested stones to use for optimal healing.  Have the stones pre-selected and nearby when you begin the breathing technique so that you are able to go straight from the breathing position into the meditative position, not losing the benefits of the breathing technique before the stone placement.  (Stones should be cleared, charged and programmed with the proper intent prior to usage.)

(see Table to the Right)

Chakra Candle Sets 

Incense Sets 

SCPE has designed sets of Chakra Mats that are cleared, charged and ready for you to program (since we believe that programming should be done by the individual who will use them).  These are easy to use and manipulate and are comfortable for Chakra layouts with placement either on top of or under the body.

I have purposely (for the sake of space and your time) kept this discussion as short and to the point as I possibly could.  There are numerous books that go into extensive detail and offer many methods, exercises and in depth descriptions of means by which to cleans, balance, heal, sedate, activate, align, etc. the Chakras.  Ruth White’s Using Your Chakras  is one very helpful example.  The Complete Crystal Guidebook  by Uma Silbey contains several sections with exercises, meditations and tips on Chakra good health. 

Wishing you the best of health in body, mind and spirit.

Spring Cleaning - It's Not What You May Think

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

There’s a different fragrance in the air, one of freshness and spring flora.  The melting snows or the rains, depending on where you live, have washed a lot of the crud away.  Hyacinths (my personal favorite) daffodils, daisies, tulips and other early bloomers are poking their heads up to catch the sun’s rays.  The grass, oh the green of the grass, is making its presence known once again; the trees in all their glorious splendor are budding with green also; and the other vivacious colors of spring creep back to predominance after a winter’s worth of white snow, gray skies and seemingly unfruitful brown earth.  It’s a time to revitalize, as the plant world shows us, following the sleepy, silent calm of winter.  Rebirth is resplendent! 

As humans, born of this planet, we are bound to follow part of nature’s lead and feel that rebirth.  It’s the time to remake ourselves and our surroundings.  Spring cleaning, not necessarily the happiest thought on earth, is a ritual practiced by many.  We open our windows to blow out the old, stale air.  We clean out closets and drawers and attics and garages and cupboards and have garage sales or donate to charity – getting rid of the old to make room for the new.  We are so conscientious about making our living spaces more presentable.  We plant gardens, prune the trees and bushes, and pot flowering plants.  We may even seriously start on a diet and exercise plan, the one we promised ourselves we’d start in January, because bathing suit season is just ahead.  The occasional diligent will pick up the self-help book or tape series they started on last November and had to set aside due to the extra demands of the holidays.  But, there appears to be something missing.  What about the muck we’ve been harboring internally, probably for years?  Could it be time to clean that out too?

There are many methods of release from the resentments, guilt and shame that we collect and allow to fester over our years of living.  Every form includes some exercise in clearing, throwing it out.  One simple practice is to determine what is being harbored, being specific as to the emotion that this event causes to surface within you, and visualize it being placed in a trashcan liner.  The next step is to take yourself for a drive on a lightly traveled highway, especially one where the speed limit is 55 or more and where there are no stoplights or signs to impede your progress.  As you drive along, envision yourself heaving the trash bags out the car window and quickly leaving them behind, disintegrating along the roadside.  Some religions use methods of confession to allow their practitioners to be released from guilt, which would, if internalized constantly, cause much emotional, psychological and spiritual damage.  The seeking of forgiveness in these cases can create useful catharsis.  At this time of year, though, as nature is cleansing itself, another, much older method comes to mind. 

 Based on an ancient Hopi Rite of Passage, the first step is to take an honest inventory of what you consider to be the liabilities that are holding you back from living a life filled with love, joy and fulfillment.  How are you hurting yourself and others?  What are the causes of your addictions (to alcohol, cigarettes, food, sex, laziness, gossip, co-dependence, abusive behavior, self-destructive behavior, etc.)?  How’s your self-esteem?  Are you living the life you had planned to live?  Is the life you’re living filling you with loving satisfaction and overwhelming happiness?  What is holding you back from living the life that would?  What are the fears that are stopping you from evolving into the person you want to be?  List these liabilities.  Now, realize that blame and guilt (self-blame) are the root of all those liabilities.  In order to move past and delete them from you life, it is necessary to truly forgive all those who helped create the blame and guilt that hold you back. 

Supplies:         paper

                        pen

                        small twigs about  4 to 6 inches long

shovel or trowel

matches

                        candles (optional)

                        incense (optional, can be used in place of the twigs)

                        3 small stones for each letter that you will write

                        3 larger stones

                        box of tissues

Your mission at this point is to write letters to those who’ve helped you accumulate the baggage that is holding you back.  According to Brian Tracy there are three prime suspects:  your parents, yourself and everyone else.  For this exercise, you can trim it down to these three, or you are free to choose particular individuals:  ex-spouses, bosses, former business partners, estranged friends, old neighbors, anyone (living or dead) who has caused you anguish or pain or loss in your life.  Anyone who has hurt you can be included.  Decide what muck you want rid of and from whence it came.  Dig up the resentments and get ready to dump them.  Your letters should be heartfelt and honest.  You are the only person who will ever read them.  Begin your letter with the incident or incidents that cause you pain.  Explain how you were hurt, how you felt and still feel.  Be specific.  Then forgive that person, whole-heartedly, in writing.  Tell them clearly and directly that you are not going to harbor any more ill will toward them, that you are letting go of all the bad feelings.  You do not need to profess love if you do not feel it, but you do need to let go of all the blame or guilt that you’ve been gunny-sacking for however long.  Take as much or as little time as you require letting out what needs cleansed.   Remember that this is not an exercise in blame and degradation.  It is a way to take responsibility for your feelings and your life. 

Next is the fun part.

Do you have a favorite spot, somewhere away from everything, somewhere you like to go to be alone, somewhere that you find beautiful, almost heavenly?  Is there a nature spot not too far (an hour or two) away from home that you’ve wanted to visit?  (HINT:  It needs to be a place where you will not be disturbed and that has dirt.)  Well, pack up your supplies, liability list and letters and head on out to your spot.  

You are now ready to come to Mother (Mother Earth, that is) and seek forgiveness.  Find the spot that calls to you and settle in.  First, sit, meditate and/or pray, become close to Mother.   Breathe her in.  Feel her beneath you.  Light your candles or incense or both as you see fit.  Take out your letters and read them aloud to Mother Earth Spirit.  Reflect and let go.  Now, dig one hole, about three inches deep, for each letter.  Prepare your burial pits in a semi-circle.  Mark each hole with a twig or stick of incense, placing three small stones around the base of each twig or stick.  Place one letter in each hole.  Set them on fire, each in their turn, and watch them burn, allowing all the resentments you have rat-holed for years to go up with the smoke.  When there is nothing left but ashes, fill the holes back over with dirt, burying the ashes.   Now dig another hole in the center of the semi-circle.  Meditate on your list of liabilities, and burn it in the central hole.  Fill it in with dirt after the list has turned to ashes.  Mark this last grave with a twig or incense stick surrounded by the three larger stones.  (This formation symbolizes the Eye of Horus.)  When your meditation is finished, show respect to Mother Earth and thank her for providing the sepulchers you needed.  Make sure that nothing is left burning and collect your supplies, leaving the twigs and stones to mark the graves. 

Go in peace.

SCPE invites you, no matter where you live, to join our staff in this rite of forgiveness on April 23, 2005, at 7 PM PST.  We will be heading to Red Rock to the west of Las Vegas for our local pilgrimage.  If you are in Las Vegas and would like to join us, please email me at bobbi@scpeinc.org for more details.

Suggested reading:  Clearing for the Millennium by Albert Clayton Gaulden    

Live in the Light.

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I Do Solemnly Swear

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

So, here we are in a new year, and those pesky resolutions are rearing their ugly heads.  We yack about losing weight, stopping smoking, getting organized, etc.  It’s in the news on TV, the internet, the radio, magazines and the papers.  Each year we set ourselves up to fail, in January, no less.  Can’t even give ourselves ‘til March to determine that, again, we have no will-power.

 What if we take a bit of a different approach?  How about we look at the start of the new year as a time to reflect on where we’ve been, where we want to go and, in particular, how we plan on getting there.  In some circles this is called goal tracking, evaluation and planning.  So let’s drop the Resolution jargon and do some serious planning instead.  There are many ways to go about the task.  Most require a few basics:  paper, a writing instrument, a calendar (for this new year and for the next five years helps), about an hour or so of concentrated effort, you, your brain and some initiative and determination.

START WITH THE END IN MIND

Jot yourself a couple of notes concerning where you were three years ago, two years ago, one year ago and today.  This is not an exercise in beating yourself up.  There is no judging.  This is an analysis and a preparation to make change and improvement.  Now consider where you want to go from here – personally, professionally, mentally, spiritually, physically, etc.   In one year, what would you like to be able to look back on as an accomplishment?  In two years, three, four and five years?  Put this all in writing.  There is a marvelous book -- Write It Down, Make It Happen by Henriette Anne Klauser, Ph.D.  It gives many reasons and applications for the practice of putting your intentions in writing.    One section talks about listing and its benefits.  Listing makes things more real, more tangible and keeps you focused. It allows you to review your progress and pat yourself on the back for your results.  You are listing when you begin to determine and write down where you want to be five years from now. 

USE POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

One of our biggest mistakes (being the humans that we are) is to set ourselves up to fail.  Using a bunch of negative words enforces in our own minds that what we are about to do is bad, impossible and/or torturous.  This stems from our internal judge who developed during our young years and was reinforced by the negativity around us:  those lovely adults who kept telling us “no” or telling us we were bad.  [For additional reading on this subject see Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements.]  Instead, use positive affirmations like:  “I am an organized person.”  “I am loving and understanding with my children.”  “I eat only enough to sustain and nourish my body.”  Write them down, keeping each one short and to the point, covering only one issue in each short sentence.  Read them aloud daily – at the start of the day is best so you will go through your day with these positive messages fresh in your conscious and sub-conscious.  Carry them with you in your wallet, your purse, your day-planner – another good reason to keep them short – or use them as the screen saver on your computer.  Review them when you have spare moments during the day.  Eventually you will reach the place where you have them memorized in order.  As you accomplish some of your affirmations, replace them with new hopes, dreams, goals, plans – whatever you decide to call them.  [For more information on affirmations see Write It Down, Make It Happen by Hentiette Anne Klauser, Ph.D.] 

Marshall Sylver talks about “chunking” things down (pp. 202-03) in his book (and tape series) Passion Profit & Power .  This is the process of taking your goal of, say, building your own log cabin, and making sub-lists of exactly what needs to be done in order to end up with a log cabin.  First, a plot of land upon which to build the structure is a necessity.  How would you go about getting the land?  Then you would need the necessary cement for the foundation, wood, electrical wiring, plumbing supplies, etc.  Without going into horrendous detail since this is only an example, I think you can see the process.  Since most of us are not looking to build a summer home in the mountains (and if you are – more power to you) our lists and sub-lists may not be as extensive or time-consuming.  The idea is that you take your possibly overwhelming goal and whittle it down into more palatable, easy to handle, pieces.  For instance, there’s a wall in your house that is in need of paint.  You’ll need paint, brushes, pans, plastic sheeting, edging equipment or tape and a ladder.  You’ll need to set aside some time to move furniture, paint the wall and put the furniture back.  If you’re planning a big birthday party soon, you might want to make sure that these plans do not interfere with each other.  If you need to budget to come up with the money for the supplies, list that as a necessity and determine how many more paychecks you’ll need before you are able to do the shopping for the project.  Mr. Sylver also states:  “A dream becomes a goal the moment you write it down.  A goal becomes a plan the moment you break it down into doable steps.  A plan becomes reality only when you take action.” (p. 198)

FranklinCovey offers books, tapes, CD’s and seminars on goal setting and life planning as well as simple to elaborate planning tools.  Ever since Stephen Covey’s (famous for The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People)  principles were been integrated into the Franklin planning system, their organizational tools have taken on a caring human aspect, one that considers who we are, how we treat others and how we feel about ourselves and others instead of the more typical clinical approach to planning our time. Their collaboration created a blessed synergy.  Mr. Covey begins “Habit 3 Put First Things First” with a quote:  “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” Goethe.  What matters most to you?  This would be a good place to start when you’re working on those affirmations – spending more worthwhile time with those you love and who love you, for instance.

Creating More Time for Yourself and Your Loved Ones

Simplify, simplify, simplify.  How?  Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, I’ll get right from point A to point B.  Read Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James.  If there’s anyone who can show you how to find time, Ms. St. James can.  In this small book, she drives right to the point on each subject including suggestions like:  #33. If you Don’t Like the Holidays, Bow Out, #21. Sell the Damn Boat, #22. Build a Simple Wardrobe, #53. Turn Your Hobby into Your Job, #14. (one of my personal favorites since I live in the desert for a reason) Get Rid of Your Lawn, #4. Cut Your Grocery Shopping Time in Half.  The layout of the book is a lesson in and of itself.  There are 100 lessons.  Each lesson takes up the space of less than one sheet of regular typing paper (8 ½” x 11”).  The book itself fits in most purses with ease.  Can’t get much simpler than that.  It seems that Elaine doesn’t waste time or words.

More Aids to Reaching Your Ideals

It has been said many times by many experts that telling someone else what you plan to do (if they are supportive of you and your plan) will help you to achieve your result.  The act of repeating your intensions helps to instill them in your mind.  Your supportive friend can serve as a reminder or can help you along the way if they happen across something that is related to what you’re doing.  Those of us who incorporate prayer and/or meditation in our lives can include our positive affirmations in our prayers / meditations.  There are many prayer circles offered by local churches, religious radio and TV shows, and online.  Notifying them of your new list of intentions for improvement would add that many more prayers to your own.  Those of us who use crystals in meditation and healing can use a nice piece of Rose Quartz and enhance our affirmations during meditation, or choose some stones that have attributes and vibrations that enhance each individual affirmation.  A good source for further information on which crystals are helpful in particular areas is The Crystal Bible by Judith Hall, or a consultation with a crystal expert can be of immeasurable assistance .  Those of us who follow the Wiccan path can include these affirmations in our prayers, rituals and spells.  Natural Magick  by Sally Dubats  includes information on increasing the viability of prayers, rituals and spells by integrating the use of colors, plants, stones, astrology, planets, timing, the elements and direction.  

I would wish you luck at this point, but I don’t think you’ll need luck once you seriously put the right energies in motion.  Just remember that most worthwhile improvements do not happen in short periods of time, and that one can not change another person, she can change only herself.  As we change, those around us either run to catch up or get left behind – it is their choice, not ours, to make.  Now go out there and “ . . .help creation to expand and grow.” as Deepak Chopra guides us to do in The Book of Secrets.   Oh, gee, that’s also the premise of this web-site – Practice Evolution!

All the reading materials mentioned in this article are available at Amazon.   Just click on the book titles above. 

Gifts

by Bobbi Bartsch Curtis 

There’s a lovely Christmas carol that extols the virtues of making every day “just like Christmas”.  Some of us think immediately of the expense involved, not only the money but also the time and planning.  Others of us have nightmares about the cooking and baking, the traffic, the long lines in the stores, the agony of the decisions.  Some of us have problems spending holidays with certain of our family members and develop a hard-core twitch at just the thought of having to spend every day of the year with Aunt Sybil who has diarrhea at both ends, and the smell of her breath gives testament to the fact.  We all, of course, understand the true sentiment of the song:  keeping the spirit of giving alive all year, being loving and accepting of others and our differences, remembering and showing reverence for a baby, born in a humble stable, who grew up to set a large part of the world on its ear for nearly the last 2000 years.  Are there other ways to spread the Christmas spirit on a regular basis?

Each of us was born with special gifts and abilities.  Is it possible that sharing our talents with those around us is a gift that no one else can give?  Do we appreciate those special talents in our family, our loved ones, our co-workers, our associates and our friends, or do we roll our eyes in mild to moderate disgust each time our spouse opens his/her mouth? 

We each accumulate knowledge differently, not only at different speeds and from different styles and sources; and two people hearing the same sentence can interpret it in two different ways.  Those same two people can hear that same sentence under a different set of circumstances and interpret it in two more ways.  In our hurried and hassled lives, do we find time to communicate with those with whom we interact often?  Do we share information, thoughts and feelings?  Do we discuss what we learned?  Do we toss around ideas and their repercussions looking for the best possible outcomes before we make decisions?  Do we share ourselves with others?

About twenty years ago, I was having a conversation with a dear friend about my spiritual journey; and how I felt that I was at a dead end.  I had questions that my church could not answer.  I knew that if I took my half black half white child to the church I’d gone to for several years but hadn’t been to for awhile, we’d be ostracized.  I knew that judging people by the color of their skin was wrong and against Christ’s teachings, but a congregation is only as loving and accepting as the least of their parishioners.  With all the sensitivity that I expected from someone who knew me well (which wasn’t much), she agreed with me and told me I should read books by Ruth Montgomery.  She had had some of the same types of feelings at one point and was lead by a friend to some answers through Ms. Montgomery’s books.  Thanks to her open, honest and loving exchange with me, I found some answers and was then able to continue my search on my own.  She shared her gift of knowledge in a very simple and straightforward way.  It took only a few seconds, and it helped to change my life and open a new world of possibilities.  I am eternally grateful to Rainy for her time and input on that particular day (and a few others). 

Think back to the last time you had a day from hell.  Everything went wrong -- you woke up late.  The zipper on your pants broke so you had to iron another pair before you could finish getting dressed.  Your hair insisted on doing a weird Donald Trumpp thing no matter what you did.  You got to the office late, and your boss was standing at your desk looking at her watch because you were expected at a meeting an hour ago (you forgot that you were supposed to be in early for that meeting).  You spilled coffee on the reports you needed to hand out at the now-late meeting with the representatives from overseas, and it just got worse from there.  On your way to your car that night, after putting in a 13 hour day because of all the things that you touched turning into garbage, you see a friend who works in another department.  You haven’t seen her in several months though you’ve kept promising yourself that you’d call her to go to lunch.  From 15 car-lengths away, she gave you a big, toothy grin and waved.  You smiled and waved back, and it’s as if those smiles broke your streak of bad luck.  You drove home with the smile lingering on your lips, singing along with the radio.  A kind, friendly smile can make a difference or work a miracle.

A number of years ago I worked in a high-profile position, meeting and greeting the public throughout most of my workday.  On one particularly uneventful morning (at least for me), on my way to work, I stopped to get gas at the convenience store that was next to my office.  When I went to pay the attendant inside, I stepped up on the curb and looked up directly into the face of a woman in her 30’s who looked like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet everyday of her life.  I have a habit of smiling when I look someone in the face, so my automatic smile kicked in, we said, “Excuse me.” to each other, and went about our business.  About six months later, the company I worked for was hiring.  Part of my job was to interview prospective recruits.  I had an appointment to meet a lady who, though she did not have any background in our type of business, she appeared to have other attributes that would be useful to the company.  The applicant arrived early and was announced to me.  Her interview went very well, and we hired her a few days later.  The following Christmas we exchanged gifts and cards within our small office.  Her envelope had a note written on it asking me to read her card after I got home.  I honored her request; and after dinner that night I opened it.  There was a three page letter enclosed.  It told the story of an abused wife – my assistant whom I’d hired a few months ago.  She enlightened me concerning an incident at a convenience store, a lady who’d smiled at her, making her feel valuable. Over the course of the ensuing months, she dumped the abusive husband, got her young children away from him and started their lives over. She told me how grateful she was that, not only was she happier and starting to feel good about herself; but she had the chance to thank the person who, with just a smile, had made her feel worthwhile one day when she needed to so desperately.  She said that she’d recognized me immediately on the day that she’d interviewed and that she’d spent the next couple of days agonizing over whether she’d get a chance to work with the person who’d already changed her life for the better once by making her feel like a person of value.  A smile from a stranger had made her realize that she was not worthless, and she started changing her life.  And all I’d done was feel stupid for a moment for not looking where I was going and almost knocking her over.   

What’s the gift that keeps on giving, every day of the year?  Why, it could be YOU! 

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A Clean Campaign

by

Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

I have had only a mild interest in politics and government for the last 35 years, but this year is entirely different.  We are in the midst of a Watergate-esque, muck raking, crap slinging, campaign -- but from one side only.  There are issues here that are so blatant, so stupid and so immature, that I firmly believe that the American public has overlooked them because they are so obvious. These are arranged in no certain order, since I can't figure out which one deserves the position of upper-most garbage.

Why are Theresa Heinz Kerry's tax returns being requested?  She is not running for President.  Neither are her sons.  Are we setting new presidents for bullshit this year?

Do you know why Mr. Bush started putting the "I approve this message." tag lines in his ads?  Think 12 years old.  How about a set up, early in the campaign, for the future ads that his campaign would run, that would slander his opponent, that he would then not have to take any responsibility for because he didn't "approve" them.  That was his way out.  I believe that this was part of his campaign plan from the beginning.

We have been lied to by this "regime" in order to enter a war because Baby Bush had to retaliate against the big bully that made his daddy look stupid.  I hope I'm still alive when the real story comes out that shows that the Trade Center went down because Baby Bush needed something big about which this country could get up in arms so that it would support his sociopathic need to amass a huge fortune, at the risk of anyone who makes barely enough money to survive, from a forced increase in oil prices, etc. and then a bogus war.  Also, historically, war has helped a slumping economy.  It's good for business, and you can put your rich friends in positions where they can also make oodles of dollars by ripping off the federal tills and making everyone under a certain income level in this country pay for it for years to come. 

Does anyone wonder why Bin Laden was blamed for the Towers, but we attacked Iraq?  There's no connection.  None.  Never was.  Suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of an election campaign and Bin Laden is no longer an issue, but he supposedly choreographed an attack on this country.  Aren't we mad about that anymore?  Or has he been swept under a carpet because he was on Bush, Sr.'s payroll during his presidency and was on his payroll again when that disaster was set up by Baby Bush, and part of the deal was that he would never be found so he could "pay for his crimes against this country"?  We were certainly quick to identify the perpetrator of the crime, but we can't seem to locate him -- things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.

The United States Constitution clearly limits the amount of time that federal officials can hold office:  two years in the House, 6 years in the Senate with 3 Classes which shall be held for 2 years each, and a President who holds office for 4 years.  Remember that the men who drafted and put into effect this document were creating a new form of government, one that would avoid the detrimental effects of monarchies.  Every word, every thought, that was included in that document was agonized over, hashed over, beaten up and spit back out.  Could we reasonably assume that the limitations that were originally entered in The Constitution of the United States were considered of more than some importance by the men who wrote and signed it, and that the reason for this was to assure that people would not be career politicians who may end up with too much power? 

Then there's his buddy, Halliburton, who has stolen countless amounts of money from our government (remember how that money is generated -- our tax dollars).  What's happening with that thief who needs to return the money and then go to jail?

There was a recent increase in the Security Alert level for this country.  It was put into effect based on intelligence information that was three years old.  9-11-2001 mean anything to anyone?  That was less than 3 years ago.  Could this be the same information that should have given us the advanced warning signals prior to 9-11 which might have been enough to avoid the incident had it not been swept under yet another carpet by our federal government?  The Constitution delineates two specific reasons for impeachment – treason or bribery.  Although it goes on to add “other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” there is no question as to the clarity of the first two.  Have I dropped enough of a hint concerning those lumpy carpets in the White House?

Have we forgotten that our "democratic, of the people, by the people, for the people" government has enacted a law that takes away our freedom of speech -- something that has been protected since the inception of this country as a world entity?  It was pushed through by a president because of his personal vendetta against one radio personality.  It is an attempt to undermine the fabric upon which this country was founded.  It has also fallen out of the news.  I have to wonder how much this man and his cronies will take away from us for their own gain.  Looks to me as though they're after all of it -- everything -- money, freedom, constitutional rights and human rights.  Are our newscasters now afraid to report the truth?

Ken Mehlman, Bush’s Campaign Chairperson,  had the nerve to go on television and say that Bush was running a clean campaign -- can we say "Bullshit" really loudly boys and girls!

I've gotta' say that if Baby Bush had perpetrated only one or two of these heinous crimes against this country, it would a little easier to swallow his possible re-election.  But this is just the tip of the iceberg.  We have no clue what else he's up to.

We can't afford to be lazy, uninformed, blind, gullible or apathetic.  We can't afford to be diverted from the real issues.  The Republicans gave a stab at impeaching Clinton for his immoral personal habits which are not an impeachable offense.  Why are we currently ignoring the impeachable offenses pulled off by our current president?  Why is he up for re-election?  Instead of looking for crap from someone's past, let's look at their record in the office of President of the United States for the past 3+ years.  How about we require that the leaders of this land be administered a battery of psychological profiles, like the ones given to our police and military?  One might find that the man holding the office right now should removed from contact with the general public for the safety of the public.

At least Hitler was honest.  He screamed his distorted visions from every possible podium.  He ranted, he raved, he didn't hide his intensions.

The Watergate break-in was big news.  It prompted the enactment of The Freedom of Information Act.  It destroyed the careers of several politicians.  Have we forgotten that all they wanted was information concerning how the other side was running their campaign?    Nixon was castigated for years, along with several of his cronies.  Impeachment was imminent.  People went to jail.  Nixon resigned.  Look back over the last couple of years.  We've made enemies of all of our friends and allies.  We're allowing this (euphemisms run wild) jerk to run for office again when it becomes clearer every day that he should be impeached and tried for treason!  What the hell are we doing, folks?  What does it take?

This is my opinion, it is only an opinion; however, for more information see:

The Constitution of the United States

Watergate

Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush by John W. Dean 

Halliburton

UN Security Council

UN Global Policy

The UN and Iraq

Resolution 1441

The Sins of the Father

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Looking Younger from the Inside Out

By Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

 There are numerous skin care treatments on the market -- some good, most bad, and a few (less than one would think) that really work.  When you consider the amount of time and money invested in research in the beauty market, it becomes more and more amazing, as we look at the people who wander around out there, that we are a world full of ugly.  I’m not referring to poor bone structure and misshapen features, poorly applied and over-applied makeup, bad color choices of hair, cosmetics and clothing, and lists and lists of fashion don’ts.  I’m talking about skin texture, color, and tone.  That old cliché that we are what we eat just starts running around my brain every time I look at a person in their early thirties, and their skin looks like an aged piece of parchment – dry, brittle and wrinkled.  It always makes my 50-year-old behind run to the next mirror and check to make sure that the Earth wasn't shot with some mass deterioration ray, and I’m not turning to dust.  One of the secrets to good skin is moisturize, moisturize, moisturize – using the correct kinds of moisturizers – but this is not the point of this article.  That was just a reminder.  The point is that your skin can be only as healthy as your diet makes it and that there are supplements as well which can not only keep your skin looking better longer, but also can reverse the abuse that we heap upon it every single day.

There are three layers to our skin that are, from the outside in, the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous.  As the upper layer dies and sloughs off, the under layers take its place.  When the under layers are healthy and well nourished, they will form a healthy, well-nourished epidermal layer.  The first, most important step to keeping your skin in good condition is drinking plenty of water every day.  This supplies needed moisture from the inside and helps to cleanse cells.  I’ve had very good luck with a regimen of primrose oil; vitamins A, B complex and E; aloe vera juice; and garlic.  I also take red clover with chaparral capsules.  Go to our Choices and Resources  page to find sites to purchase these supplements and more.  Avoiding fatty foods, fried foods, carbonated beverages, sugars, chocolate and junk foods decreases damage to your skin.  I regularly use an aloe vera based skin care system as well for some extra help from the outside.  For more information on this skin care system, please email Cara Sathrum.  Always wear sunscreen.  The sun causes more harm than most of us would like to know. 

Most people guess my age at about 10 years less than reality.  That was not the case when I was in my mid-thirties, before I started the regimen listed above.

I originally pieced this information together from two good herbal books, loads of magazine articles and several skin care seminars – one of which cost me over $250 to attend.  Then, a few years back, a friend told me about a great book – Prescription for Nutritional Healing by James F. Balch, M.D. and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C.  Most of the information compiled here is contained in its Skin Problems section, in particular the recommended amounts of supplements listed above.  It has more skin care remedies and help for different skin types and problems.  Had I owned this book when I was looking for a good way to improve the look of my skin, my search would have been much simpler, involved less experimentation, consumed less time and been much less expensive.  My family and I have found answers and natural solutions to many health problems within its pages.  Our copies are well worn and much appreciated.  I would like to thank the authors for all the help they’ve given us.  It can be purchased at Amazon.com.

Your Best

By Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

We all know that doing our best should be a regular practice.  We have our lazy days, though, when we feel that we can slide by with a little less than 100%.  We come up with all sorts of excuses for not doing our best.  We blame everybody else . . . the kids kept me up late; the dog barked all morning and then puked on the carpet right before I had to leave the house; I’m having a bad hair day.  We decide that 99% will do.

I’m going to get squarely to the point (I guess that would be a pyramid).  There are over 7 million surgeries performed each year in the U.S. alone.  70,000 of them would be lawyers’ delights if surgeons went by the “99% Is OK” rule.  Over 2.6 million head of cattle are inspected each year before they go to slaughter and end up on your dinner table.  That means 28 million pounds of beef that are not fit for dog food would be sold for human consumption each year if the inspectors all decided that “We Can Get by with That”.  If 10 million computers are built and sold annually, then 100,000 non-functional computers would be in stores and on-line for us to purchase.  If pharmacists lived by the “That’s Good Enough” philosophy, then 30 million of the 3 billion prescriptions filled in the past year would be incorrect.  Over 50 million cars came off assembly lines in the last 12 months.  The 99% rule says that 500,000 would be defective.

Imagine the poor slob who sits down for a glorious T-bone, which is more difficult than usual to cut and chew, becoming violently ill a few hours later from the tainted meat.  He turns on his computer to see if there is any news concerning bad beef in his community, but the jacked up piece of crap gives him nothing but a black screen.  He then jumps in his new car, puking all the way, turns the key and . . . pop, splat, fizzle; it dies halfway down the driveway.  His neighbor kindly takes him to the ER where, instead of pumping his stomach, they cut off his left foot.  When he comes to, instead of the nurse giving him the pain pill that the doctor ordered, the pharmacist put a blood thinner in the little, white paper cup.  He swallows it and an hour later his brand new stump is bleeding like a fountain.

I was going to quote religious philosophy from Christianity to Zen Buddhism and give references to several motivational speakers, but I decided it really wasn’t necessary.  You tell me – is Good Enough Good Enough?

By the way, according to the article called “Prescription Errors Rising” at ConsumerAffairs.com, the number of prescription drug errors annually is 5%, not just 1%; and those errors are the cause of about 7,000 deaths each year.

Click here for more information. 

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Wanna’ Hold a Grudge?

By Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

According to Webster a grudge is “a feeling of ill-will.”  It is an on-going animosity toward another.  Why do we harbor grudges?  Usually it is because we feel that someone has wronged us.  Another person did something that hurt us in some way . . . physically, emotionally or mentally.  That person made us miserable.  They lied, they cheated, they stole, they took away our dignity, they made us feel small and unimportant, they took our promotion, they stabbed us in the back.  We hate them.

BUT

According to Judeo-Christian teaching, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.  (Lev. 19:18)  In Toltec teaching (according to Don Miguel Ruiz) the Second Agreement is to “not take anything personally.”  The Judge within us has sent down another decision; however, the Judge is one of the Parasites with whom we are at war (or should be).  The inner Judge causes each of us to determine how someone else should be punished for harming us.  The grudge we hold is part of that punishment.  In conjunction, the Third Agreement in The Four Agreements is “don’t make assumptions.”  We can never really know why someone else has acted poorly toward us.

Zen Buddhists practice “Entrance by Conduct” which consists of four acts, the first of which is “to know how to requite hatred.”  In Hinduism the law of Karma steps in.  Every negative must be paid.  Thus every grudge held onto will cause a consequence to the holder.  The Qur’an says, “The ultimate judgment belongs to God alone, not to man (3:73).  The Babylonians believed that Belit-Sheri, the scribe of the underworld, kept the records of human activities so that she could advise the Queen of the Dead, Ereshkigal, on what each individuals judgment should be – the judgment that the Ereshkigal would mandate.  The Syro-Mesopotamian Goddess, Isara, was their Queen of Judgment.  Osiris (Egyptian) ruled Amenthes, the abode of the spirits of the deceased, where He passed their final judgment.  The teaching of Wicca (witchcraft) instructs the followers to do as they see fit, BUT they are not to harm anyone including themselves. 

I guess I could go on and on; but, no matter, the final outcome is that nowhere could I find a religious reference that stated that we are to EVER judge each other.  My guess is that we humans have enough to do to just keep our individual selves under control.  I wonder how any of us (those of us this a conscience) would feel if we knew how much we’d hurt others without any intention, especially if it were someone undeserving who got hurt.

What if you got home one evening, popped open a soda, poured it over ice, threw your shoes in a corner and slumped down in your favorite chair as you hit the power button on the TV remote to watch the news and as the picture fades in you see a 50 car pile-up on the major arterial on which you just drove home.  The whole road is closed due to the accident that caused five deaths and over 55 major injuries.  How could this be?  You just drove home, and it was a little slow-and-go, but nothing was unusual except for that jerk in the big, white Escalade who kept cutting you off.  You know, the one that you called every name in book?  The one on which you finally took out your vengeance?  The one you cut off well and good at mile marker 47?  The one you now see on your TV screen, swung sideways at the head of the pile up at mile marker 47 that caused death, injury, destruction and delays for all those other people who were just trying to get home to their families after a hard day’s work . . . just like you did.

Imagine the path of devastation you may have lying behind you.

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Put on Your Walking Shoes

By Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

I was having a hard time deciding what to talk to you about this month.  I had a list of possible topics, but nothing got me excited.  I then ran across some old notes concerning a woman with whom I’m only mildly acquainted.  Most people who work with her are usually left with a bad taste in their mouths when she leaves the room.  She has a position of some responsibility for a rather large company.  Although we do not work together, I happened to be present as unpleasant comments were being made behind her back, and all I could think was the old cliché about not judging someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.

I set those notes aside as something to dig into a little further.  The next day my mother and I went to get our nails done; and, as is usual, we ended up in a conversation with our nail guy.  He’s in his early 30’s, born in South Viet Nam and came to the United States when he was in high school.  A presidential campaign ad came on the TV that was on in the background, which prompted a political twist in the conversation.  This part of the exchange was not important, but it sparked a heart-rending speech from our nail guy.  My mother mentioned that Iraq was turning into another Viet Nam.  With grace and passion, our nail tech (who shall remain nameless here) began to explain the lay of the land in that area of Asia, how Viet Nam contained essential trade routes to many areas of 3 other countries, and how that war (call it a conflict if you will, but guys running around shooting each other and bombing each other is a war) was a fight between oppression and freedom.  It became apparent that he – although he was born during that war – feels extreme gratitude toward the United States and its people for the sacrifices we made to try to keep his people free from Communism.  I freely admit that I never believed that we had any business fighting there.  I think that, after all these years, he changed my mind by taking me for a walk in his shoes.

Back to our friend from the first paragraph.  It seems I have one of those faces that people just can’t help telling their troubles to.  Although I hardly know the woman, I found myself hearing her story.  I had already given her the benefit of the doubt because she has a traditionally male position in a company chock full of good-ole-boys.  That’s enough to make any woman worth her salt aggravated all day long.  There are extenuating circumstances in her life that increased my respect for her step by step as I heard them.   She’s a single mom with four kids, all teenagers at the same time.  The oldest has been a problem for several years – drugs, drop-out, pregnant.  Not long ago, a relative of hers was in some financial difficulty.  This woman took out a second mortgage on her home to take care of the money issue and the relative moved in with her; the rent payments would cover the second mortgage payment she’d acquired by helping.  A few weeks after moving in and before the first payment on the second became due, our friend goes home after a long day at work to find that this relative had sold all the furniture in our friend’s house and had disappeared.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want to wear shoes like those.  They sound worse than the Cruel Shoes in Steve Martin’s book of that name.

I used to work with a really quiet man who seemed a little extra sensitive and who kept to himself.  His antisocial behavior had won him a few titles among his co-workers as well as some intriguing stories about what his private life must be.  He was ostracized by all his co-workers because he didn’t join in, didn’t go out for a drink or two and never attended any company functions.  He was aware of what was being said about him, but he ignored it all and went on about his own business day after day.  To our surprise, he called in to take three days off for a family emergency.  A day or two later, someone saw the obituary in the paper.  His mother had died after many years of battling cancer.  His father was still alive, but also losing the battle with cancer.  There were no other family members.  This quiet, gentle soul worked his forty hours a week and then went home to nurse BOTH his parents at night and on the weekends.  He never bothered anyone or had an unkind word to say.  All he ever received from the people who worked with him for more than seven years was disrespect.  Those shoes must give a person a lot more than just blisters.

My daughter went to college with a beautiful, intelligent, kind young woman.  She never dated and kept pretty much to herself.  She didn’t seem shy, but she steered clear of people.  She had so much going for her.  It was difficult to understand why she was such a recluse.  Since my daughter is the person she is, she invited this young lady to share dinner with us one evening, and her story came out.  She was an only child, born to hard-working parents in a small town.  When she was 14 she dated a boy a couple of years older than she who, as boys that age will do, constantly bombarded her with demands for sex.  She refused him every time.  After a short time, she decided not to see him anymore.  Over the course of the next few months, her friends, one by one, quit associating with her.  It took about a year for the reason to surface.  Since the house she lived in was in a rather remote setting and since her father worked nights, she and her mother were alone at home a lot.  The story circulated by the boy with whom she’d refused to have sex was that she and her mother ran a whorehouse out of their home when her father was at work.  Those shoes didn’t fit this young woman at all and were hideous as well. 

It is not ours to judge.  We never have all the facts.  Even if we know the story, there is always more that we do not know.  We are here to love and help each other.  We are here to do our best to understand, learn and grow. 

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The Beginning

By Bobbi Bartsch Curtis

Creating a women’s spiritual center had never entered my mind until I lost someone very important to me.  I’ll be turning fifty soon, and I’d decided to tie up some loose ends . . . those rather nasty little bits of your life that have a way of haunting you over and over again.  The particular bit of business that had come back to me over the years surrounded a relationship from high school days --- a boy I’d dated, fallen in love with, and who disappeared from my life without explanation.

I left my hometown at 18 and have not been back.  I’ve kept in touch with no one there.  I never knew what had happened in this boy’s life.  One evening I went to an online site where people can look up folks from their pasts, and his name nearly jumped off the monitor at me.  To make a short story even shorter, we got in touch with each other, which took some effort on his part, started speaking regularly on the phone, and made plans for him to visit – he had moved to Texas, and I now live in Las Vegas, Nevada.  During our phone conversations, he made it clear that he wanted to have an on-going relationship, inviting me to visit with his family in yet another state, motorcycle trips that his club took and other large hints were dropped that he was interested in something long-term.

After his visit, which ended up including his cousin and a sister whom I hadn’t planned on, but whom I took care of royally, we spoke about three more times on the phone, and suddenly all communication ceased -- the second time for no reason known to me.

Since I’d never fallen out of love with him during those 32 years, I took it a little hard.  The outcome of the evening I spent being miserable over this was Sacred Choices.  I emailed a friend a thank you note for being helpful and understanding while I vented and the thank you note took a turn I couldn’t have predicted.  I told her we needed a spiritually enlightened place where women could get together and share, where resources were made available to help increase our abilities and improve our lives, where we could find emotional shelter.  The birth of this online magazine and the future plans for a center in Las Vegas began with that email, born of a loss for which I still do not know the reason – TWICE.

As necessity is the mother of invention and as birth and growth require a certain amount of pain and as change requires adaptability, we begin to see that in the natural order of things, even the male of the species, for as much as they would like to take the credit for many advances in the human condition, the language chosen to describe these advances is maternal.  We even have good old Mother Earth who sustains us by providing food and materials for shelter.  We have Mother Nature who provides beauty and rain.  Who does the young male athlete always say hi to on TV – Mom.  We are the providers of love, sustenance, faith, comfort and knowledge to our families.  We would do anything humanly possible for our children – until we realize that they have to do for themselves.  But how often do we share these nurturing qualities with each other?  Oh, we have the best of intentions to get together with our best girlfriend for lunch, but we get so busy that we haven’t even called her in four or five months (or years).  Ladies, honestly, are there not evenings when you get home from a rough day when it would be just wonderful to have the loving companionship and understanding of one of your friends instead of what you really come home to?  Has it occurred to you that having a wife is really what you need?  Someone who cooks, cleans and is supportive when you need a good listener?  I realized that a few years ago when my parents came to visit me after another state-to-state move.  I was a single mom, taking care of three kids.  The first day Mom and Daddy were there I got up to a home cooked breakfast on the table.  When I came home that evening, dinner was ready, the kids and house were clean and the homework was already done.  I looked at my father and told him how stupid I was.  All those years I’d been looking for a good husband when what I really needed was a wife.

In Jurassic Park (by Michael Crichton) Dr. Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) says, “God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs.  God creates man.  Man destroys God.”  Dr. Satlor’s (Laura Durn’s) reply, “ Dinosaur eats man.  Woman inherits the Earth.”  Keeping in mind Dr. Malcolm’s theory that “Life will find a way,” and that all the dinosaurs in the park are female and shouldn’t, but do, reproduce; are we sure we need men?  We do their laundry, cook their meals, give birth to their children, help them solve problems at their places of employment.  We fix the things they break – vases, shirt buttons, TV remotes, homes and lives (both ours and our children’s).  We clean up their messes – in the kitchen, in the living room, in the bathroom, in our homes and lives (us and the kids again).  I repeat – are we sure we need men?

Now I’m not advocating that every woman on earth should run out become a lesbian.   (If you are, some of us just have to think that you are very, very lucky!)  What I am saying is that it’s time for us to begin working together to make our lives, the lives of our children and families, the lives of our neighbors and friends and the earth in general more fruitful.  It’s time we evolved.  We need to take steps to help each other, support each other and work as a community, a sisterhood, to improve the quality of our lives as a whole.

I don’t mean to man-bash either.  A wise person once told me:

Yes, women of the world have forgotten the sacredness of their positions here on the All Mother.  We are the carriers of the sacred blood and the bearers of the next generations.  There is a lot on our shoulders, especially when we try to work in the male world.  I am not saying that all men are stupid and weak and have made the women in their lives hurt, but why is it that when a man comes into a relationship with a woman, whether it be long term or short, that he reverts to the foolishness of his forefathers and thinks he is the ‘stronger’ of the two; thus he has to be the one who decides, brings in the cash, or whatever?  They forget that they are the active force in the world.  They are the quick action, not the passive strength that needs to be maintained.  It is like comparing a sprinter to a long distance runner or a hiker.  They forget after said action is done that things go on and have to be maintained during that time.  Just like sex . . . wham bam thank you ma’am . .  it’s over for them, but afterward, if there is a seed planted, a child must be cared for.

So I chose her as my business partner and Sacred Choices – Practicing Evolution was conceived.

As plans were forming and logos were being designed and a Business Plan was being written and formats were being discussed and on and on, I took a break to do some light reading:  The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice (Ballantine Books, New York, 1992).  She introduces a character, a nurse, a nun, who takes care of our “hero” and nurses him back to health.  She tells the “hero” of the tale, “ . . . it is the larger scheme which means nothing.  It is the small act which means all. . . But what’s important is that I have done all I can. . . God may or may not exist.  Bur misery is real.  It is absolutely real, and utterly undeniable . . . [and at the hour of my death, if there is no God]  So be it.  I will know that I did what I could.” (pp.247-48)  Can many of us die with that knowledge?  Can we continue on doing just as we have been, with no real affect on ourselves or others?  Can we afford to?

I was in junior and senior high school from ’65 to ’72 – the time of enlightenment, the Age of Aquarius.  I also lived in a small, provincial community.  Although my mother was between 5 and 10 years older than most of my peers’ parents, she was the person responsible for teaching me to open my mind and heart to new ideas.  We practiced yoga, she read Tarot cards, studied handwriting analysis and investigated horoscopes.  It’s partially out of gratitude to her for the extended education she gave me that this site exists, for it is she who opened my mind, jammed in (sometimes much against my will) concepts not generally acceptable to her own generation, and taught me to find my way in the light of the Higher Power.  She encouraged me to think for myself, investigate all the avenues I could find, and make up my own mind.  What a lady!

The paths I’ve taken have often been “the one less traveled by.”  I offer a special thank you to Mr. Robert Frost for his poem “The Road Not Taken.”  Often times as I’ve been traveling down the path that “was grassy and wanted wear,” wondering how I’d come to be there and how to get back on the more traditional, conservative, mainstream highway, I’d pull out my slightly tattered and smudged New Enlarged Anthology of Robert Frost’s Poems (copyright 1971) and turn to page 223 and re-read and remember that choosing paths that are not as worn down is reason enough to choose them.  I would not be the me I am without them.  How about you? 

You may have noticed that some of my source materials are not exactly found in the Reference Section of your local library.  I’ve been pulling information and quotes from novels and fiction-based movies since I was a teenager.  I have a book of quotes that I collected from books varying from Paradise Lost to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to Stranger in a Strange Land.  I’ve run across it each time I’ve moved to a new home or relocated to a new state.  Each time I’ve stopped packing for a half hour or so, poured a cup of coffee or tea and relaxed for a refresher of those quotes.  Each time they were still meaningful and still moved me.  I began to realize that universal truths do not change.  (I don’t remember being that deep when I was in high school, but something in my brain was definitely functioning on a higher level than I realized.)  They can also be found in places where you’d least expect them. 

Then I remembered something about the talents our Higher Power gives us and went to the Bible to look that one up.  I found it in Romans 12:6-8  “The gifts we possess differ as they are allotted to us by God’s grace, and must be exercised accordingly:  the gift of inspired utterance, for example, in proportion to a man’s faith; or the gift of administration, in administration.  A teacher should employ his gift in teaching, and one who has the gift of stirring speech should use it to stir his hearers.  If you give to charity, give with all your heart; if you are a leader, exert yourself to lead; if you are helping others in distress, do it cheerfully.” (NEB)  Since that was a little more complex than I had remembered it, I most cheerfully referred to Harper’s Bible Commentary which very succinctly put it, “He (Paul) calls on all of us, his fellow Christians, to dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to God, and to remember that each of us has a definite part to play in the work of the church, whatever our particular gift may be.”  This passage was explained by a pastor from the Congregational Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, in this way:  If your gift is song, then sing.  If your gift is speaking, then speak.  If your gift is writing, then write.  AND THE LIGHT CAME ON.  Every person has a message inside her.  Some express themselves one on one, some in front of crowds, some on paper, some in music, some on film.  Who cares how we get the message as long as we get it.  Goddess bless the sender and the receiver. 

We welcome all women, from every known faith, as well as non-believers.  SCPE’s staff opens their hearts to you and hopes that everyone will share her knowledge with the rest of us.  That is, after all, why we are here – to learn, to grow, to evolve.  This cannot be accomplished alone or in a vacuum.   All opinions are accepted and encouraged.  We do not judge, we merely love.  

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