Issue 42

In This Issue:

1) Welcome Letter by Sibyl McLendon
2) A Little Adventure by Michael Lynn
3) A Cherokee Trivia Question by Kenny Kiskis
4) Relationship Truths by Rinatta Paries
5) Positive Beliefs a book exerpt by Tulku Thondup
6) The Power Of Music

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Welcome Letter
by Sibyl McLendon

Yá'át'ééh and welcome to MousePages. Hooray, it is almost September,
and MousePages will be 1 year old. This newsletter has undergone a lot
of changes, growing pains and face-lifts over the last year. I am very
glad that it finally has settled in to a format that seems to work. It
has been a wild and wonderful year, and I thank each and every one of
you for hanging in. In all this time, I have only lost 2 subscribers.
If not for all of you, I would just be writing this to myself. Thank
you, and happy birthday to MousePages!
As for me, well, we traded cars this week. We got a 98 Ford Tauris LX,
which is amazing for several reasons. First, Bobby was one of those
Chevy men (the eternal American male dichotomy: are you a Chevy man or
are you a Ford man?), so the leap to a Ford was nothing short of
astounding. Second, this is a very classy car. I have decided that it
is a sort of affirmation of prosperity. A call to the Spirits of
Success: drive it, and they will come. Hopefully. Anyway, I have
never had a car before that I felt that I needed to keep an eye on. We
are actually going to buy a Club for it. I had a nice car in the early
70's but in those days, "car-jackers" meant people who jacked up your
car to look underneath it, and Tucson was a sleepy little desert town
that nothing much ever happened in. (Once, when I was young, someone
stole my step-father's car, but the police found it, in perfect shape
with the keys in it, about 2 miles away. Everyone just thought that
someone was tired and cold, and didn't want to walk home.) New wheels,
new attitude.
The other thing that happened this week is that I had $100 stolen out of
my wallet at a birthday party. Take my word for it, that is a whole lot
of money for us to lose. It was upsetting, but I have to look at it as
Karma coming back around. Not that I ever stole money from anyone, I
have not. But back before I knew about Karma, I had borrowed money from
a couple of people that I never paid back. And we all know that what
goes around, comes around. It is the nature of the Universe that our
actions will come around again, and either reward us or bite us in the
butt. I hope that the $100 at least partly repays my poor actions in
the past. Accept it, bless it, and let it go, that is my philosophy.
We have a nice little story from Michael Lynn this week.
Hágoónee' and farewell until next week.

Sibyl can be reached at navajomouse@hotmail.com
   
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A Little Adventure
by Michael Lynn

Long long ago, far far away, early one morning just last week...

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself facing a most remarkable
Spiritual Energy. Standing right in front of me. Face to face. This
energy felt warm and soft and strong and feminine. And for a moment,
just for a moment, I recognized other qualities too.

I heard myself thinking, "Oh, certainly through this energy I have
glimpsed
the reflection of a kinder, gentler side of awareness. One I would like
to feel shine forth from the very within of myself as Soul".

I smiled and invited my friend from the present moment to walk along
with me. The sun was warm and the desert breeze soft. Soft sand covered
a bare foot with every step I took. The sand warming to the body,
sensual to the mind. I noticed my friend moved without effort as we
walked on through the hills and into the canyons whose walls rose tall,
casting both warm and cool shadows over puddles of water lying here and
there scattered across the canyon floor.

After awhile I became aware my friend was thinking of moving on.
Certainly there was more to see and do today for one so interested in
moving on to enjoy what there was to enjoy. Just over the peak of that
far mountain there could be a great adventure. Or, perhaps, horses
running wild and my friend could offer a hand full of Soul Song to fill
the hearts of the wild ones as she had just filled mine, ands this
lovely
desert morning with a reflection of a tender, loving side of the truer
self. A simple reflection to carry one on to the next step, the next
realization that there is always a new truth. A deeper level of
awareness of the inner 'one'. A finer quality
of perception that one has allowed to peek through as a recognition of
what is.

As my friend was anxious to be moving on, I was thinking of what I just
might find over the next hill, within the next canyon. I wondered too
when we would once again share a few lovely moments together in a far
county or perhaps another level of consciousness awareness in a
somewhere to come place.

Returning to the present moment I found I was staring at the foot prints
I was leaving behind as I moved ahead. They hardly resembled foot prints
at all. Just small impressions in the sand that suggested a lone human
had passed this way recently. And would surely pass this way again,
for Soul does not stop long to rest before the next rush of wind
scatters small grains of sand before a new portal.

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Trivia Question
by Kenny Kiskis

49th Cherokee National Holiday

Each year the 'Cherokee National Holiday' is held annually on Labor Day
weekend, to commemorate the adoption of the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma's
Constitution on September 6, 1839. 'Celebrating the Seven Clans' is the
theme of the this years event, which begins Friday (August 31st) and is
expected to bring more than 80,000 visitors and Cherokees to Tahlequah,
Oklahoma.

Which of these represent 'The Seven Clans'?*

A) Sun, Raccoon, Deer, Horse, Red, Long Flower and Wild Onion

B) Bird, Paint, Deer, Wolf, Blue, Long Hair and Wild Potato

C) Palomino, Twilight, Fawn, Buffalo, Teepee, Long Feather and Wild
Maize

Kenny Kiskis is President of http://www.RusticSigns.com, an Internet
retailer of handmade decorative wall hangings for the home.

*The answer to this week's Trivia can be found at
http://mousepages.aaanativearts.com/issue_42.htm

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Relationship Truths
by Rinatta Paries

This week I pondered the many lessons and concepts my clients and I have
learned during my coaching career. Before long, I had compiled a useful
list of important and valuable relationship
truths. If you apply any one of these truths, you are certain to see an
immediate improvement in the quality of yourbrelationships. Please take
what applies to you and incorporate
it into your life to create a relationship you cherish.

=> It's your job to educate your partner about how to treat you so you
feel loved.

=> Communication doesn't mean talking. It means sharing.

=> Infidelity is the surest way to destroy a relationship.

=> Generosity is rarely about money or things. It's mostly about heart.

=> Until you resolve your past, you are not free to have a future.

=> What people do to you is rarely about you and is almost always about
their unresolved past. Don't take it personally.

=> Until you realize that a great relationship is created by who you
are, you won't have one.

=> Until you love yourself enough to take care of your needs, no one
else will.

=> If you feel empty, a relationship will most likely make you feel even
emptier.

=> Compassion for your partner goes a long way in getting what you want.

=> Sexual intimacy has very little to do with attractiveness and
everything to do with emotional intimacy and trust.

=> Women rarely appreciate money and assistance as a substitute for
emotional intimacy.

=> If your partner continuously says, "There is nothing wrong with me.
Our problems are all your fault," get help.

=> This is not a dress rehearsal - this is your life and your
relationships in progress. Start creating your life the way you want it
to be today.

=> You are not your parents. There is no reason your relationship or
life should look like theirs.

=> It's much easier to be yourself than to be what you think others want
you to be.

=> Even when someone loves you more than life itself, they will still
look out for their interests first.

=> Being a people-pleaser is not an effective way to create good
relationships. It is an effective way to get taken advantage of.

=> If you always take care of someone, you take away their power. They
will resent you for it.

=> Supporting men financially takes away their self esteem. Give them
moral support instead.

=> The best relationships are partnerships.

=> If you get to be right most of the time and make your partner take
all of the blame, you will end up alone.

=> A relationship with a foundation of dishonesty is like a house of
cards.

=> Grass only looks greener on the other side.

=> You may secretly wonder if there isn't a better partner out there.
This is your mind's way of communicating that you are dangerously close
to real intimacy with your current partner.

=> If your partner says he is willing to grow and change, don't test
him. Support him in his commitment.

=> Emotional maturity is knowing when you are overreacting. Stop and
take care of your needs so you can get back in balance.

=> What you think you want is often not what you really want, but rather
a sideways plot to get your needs met.

=> If you ask, very often you will receive.

=> Communication means two-way understanding, not one-way accusing.

Your Relationship Coach,
Rinatta Paries
www.WhatItTakes.com

This article was originally published by Coach Rinatta Paries in "The
Relationship Coach Newsletter," a weekly e-zine for people who want
fulfilling relationships. For singles, the
newsletter will help you attract your Mr. or Ms. Right. If you're in a
relationship, you will learn to create more closeness and intimacy with
your mate. To subscribe, go to
www.WhatItTakes.com.

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Positive Beliefs

Copyright © 2000 by Tulku Thondup

(A small excerpt from the Second Chapter)

     The four healing powers are positive images, words, feelings, and
belief. Bringing these qualities of mind to our meditation strengthens
the power to heal our mental, emotional, and physical afflictions.

     If we do not trust in the power of our meditation to heal, its
strength and energy will be weak. Belief gives the meditation a firm
foundation; it engages the mind in a way that is effective and total.

     This is not blind faith, but a faith and trust based on knowledge
that the healing power of mind can be fully called forth with the help
of images, words, and feelings. We need to believe that we actually can
improve our lives in this way. Even if meditation moves us one step
forward, we can fall right back if we are always harboring doubts in our
minds.

     Intellectual and material-minded people like ourselves can find it
hard to trust and believe in anything. We need to remember that the
mind is a powerful source of healing and that the purpose of healing
meditation is to awaken our inner resources. We need to rely on the
help of mental objects and believe in the power of the mind.

     If we tend to be skeptical of everything and say, "How can I
believe this will make me feel better?" it will be best to simply
suspend such judgments. Even if it is only for the duration of the
meditation, we should give ourselves completely to feeling the belief.
Our intellects can get in the way of fighting and struggling. We may
just need to take a leap into a trusting attitude.

     We might think that by believing, we are only pretending to do
something. If necessary, we should go ahead and pretend that we
believe, but we should do so with all our heart and feeling. Remember
that actors can call up emotions fully by pretending, but only if they
believe in the roles they are playing.

     If we can just keep seeing, thinking about, and feeling the
positive qualities of the meditative object, slowly some benefits will
come, though they may be simple. When we start experiencing these
results, a more trusting attitude will flourish in us spontaneously.

     If we like the meditation, that is the beginning of the believing.
We could start with just the thought of liking to visualize a particular
image. As we become more familiar with the image, our enjoyment may
increase. We should notice any positive feelings; that is where trust
begins.

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The Power Of Music

FRIENDSHIP TRAIN
Gladys Knight and the Pips

Calling out to everyone across the nation
Said the world is in a desperate situation
Stealing, burning, fighting, killing
Nothing but corruption
It looks like mankind in on the eve of destruction
Oh yes it is now people let me tell you now
We've got to learn to live with each other
No matter what the race, creed or color
I just got to tell you what the world needs now
Is love and understanding get aboard the friendship train
Everybody shake a hand make a friend now
Listen to us now, we're doing our thing
On the friendship train

We've got to start today to make tomorrow
A brighter day for our children
Oh calm down people now we can do it
I can prove it but only if our hearts are willing
Now get aboard the friendship train
Everybody, shake a hand, shake a hand
Yes I'm talking about the friendship train
It don't matter what you look like
People or who you are
If your heart is in the right place
In the right place
Talking about the right place
You're welcome aboard now

This train stands for justice,
This train stands for freedom
This train stands for harmony and peace
This train stands for love
Come on get on the friendship train
People listen to me now
Harmony is the key my sisters and brothers
Oh yes it is I say
Harmony is the key my sisters and brothers
People can't wait cause another day might be too late
Come on get on the friendship train

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