Issue 9
1. January 1 Welcome by Sibyl McLendon
2. The Chariot by Eagle Dancing
3. Count Your Blessings by Kevin Eikenberry
4. Smokey Quartz by Sibyl McLendon
5. Journaling: A Tool For The Spirit by Susie Cortright
6. The Power Of Music
January 1, 2001 Welcome Message
by Sibyl McLendon
Welcome to 2001! Happy New Year!
Well, this time last year, everyone was heaving a huge sigh of relief that the world did not end and that their computers did not self-destruct.
Now, I am relieved that this marks then end of the "What is the real start
of the new millennium, 2000 or 2001" controversy!
I also need to point out that The Brown Mouse Medicine Co. has a new e-mail address: brownmouse@graffiti.net
I love New Years. It is such a magical moment, this transition from one year to the next. I always look at it as an ending and a new beginning, a
new chance for growth and spiritual journeying. We have a very special
ceremony that we do on New Year's Eve that I would like to share with you. Granted, the stroke of midnight has passed by the time that you are
reading this, but you can still do it if you want. The timing is not the real issue here, just the ceremony itself!
We make 2 lists. The first is a list of things from the past year that we wish to let go of. Pain, hurts, failures, let-downs, everything that we
don't want in our lives anymore. The second list is of our goals for the New Year. What things do we want to accomplish? We list everything we
can think of.
Then the list of things we want to release is burned. While the paper is burning, we say something like, "I fully and freely release these. They
are no longer a part of my life. I replace them with the highest and best
that life has to offer, and with the highest and best that I have to offer life." The list of goals is put up
somewhere that it can be seen everyday. I usually put it on my closet door, so I will see it every
morning when I am getting dressed. This is my reminder to work on those goals.
The Chariot
by Eagle Dancing
A young hero or heroine stands boldly upright in a decorated chariot. It is drawn by two creatures, one black and one white. The chariot is a
symbol found in many mythologies. The creatures are said to symbolize night and day, conscious and unconscious, past and present. It has to do
with cosmic cycles. It is linked with Cancer, the crab, and also expresses the tenacity of that sign. Ruled by the Moon, Cancer is more
aware than most zodiacal signs of the shifting nature of the universe.
Interpretation
This card shows a need to complete projects that have been left unfinished. One needs to take matters into their own hands. It is time
to leave, move on. A brighter future lays ahead. Physically moving from one place to another, with the
possibility of meeting old friends along the way. This card can represent a person's vehicle. It may indicate that
repairs are necessary.
Reversed
Unwillingness to take on new challenges. A person who leaves things undone. A fear of the unknown, and a resistance to new approaches to
problem solving. Procrastination.
Eagle Dancing can be contacted at eagledancing.com
eagledancing1@mailcity.com
and at keen.com, where he is listed under tarot card readings
Something to think about from the Discian Group
Count them...
"When we stop taking life for granted, we begin to see life as a gift. All that we have, all that we are, the very fact that we’re alive is a
blessing." -Peter McWilliams
Over the last few weeks you have gotten all sorts of advice - everyone seems to know what you should do in the new year (and they are happy to
tell you too!) Set your resolutions. Do your yearly planning. Review your
insurance coverage. Check the battery in your smoke alarm, etc., etc., etc. I’m going to risk adding to that clutter of commentary. All of those
activities are important and early in the new year is a good time to do
each of them. Perhaps more important than those, largely because you probably haven’t done it, is to count your blessings.
"Every misery I miss is a new blessing." - Izaak Walton
Izaak knew what he was talking about. He lived ninety years. This doesn’t seem too unusual, except that he lived from 1593-1683, when the average
life span was about 45 years. You see, most of our blessings, we take for granted, because they seem so trivial or so omnipresent. Thorton Wilder
said it well in his classic play, Our Town: "Oh, earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you!"
Again, my advice is to count your blessings (and write them down!) This advice will be well worth the investment that it requires. You will find
that this provides you with a fresh perspective, lightens your step,
widens your smile and improves your self image. Certainly these rewards are worth the small investment!
Here’s How
Start with a clean piece of paper - a big one. Pull out some markers (crayons work great for this job too!) and start brainstorming. Write down
whatever flows into your mind. After you get down everything that comes to
your mind now, put the paper away. Go back and add items to it a couple more times over the next day or two.
After you have completed the list, save it! If you use your computer a lot, you may want to type the list into a file. If you carry a daily
planner, I suggest putting this list in it, so you can remind yourself of your many blessings.
A Start
As a way to get you started, I’ll share a few of the items from my list with you.
Parker’s laugh
Values learned from my parents
Sight
Hearing
A snow shovel
Good books to read
Great customers
A great education
A loving wife
Supportive friends
My cellular phone
The opportunity to use my God-given gifts
Living in the greatest country in the world
I could go on, but it isn’t necessary. You can see that the list includes
both the large and the small, the silly to the sublime. All of them are
blessings. It is only a start.
As the New Year begins, take my advice, take the time to count your blessings. Take the time to write them down. You will be glad you did.
Yours in the New Year of Opportunity,
Kevin Eikenberry
the Discian Group
kevin@discian.com
This Vantagepoints has been reprinted in the following online publications.
The Motivational Mailer
Let's Talk Motivation! at http://www.joshhinds.com
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) : 1524-6841
Copyright 1999-2000, the Discian Group. All rights reserved.
Smokey Quartz
by Sibyl McLendon
Smokey quartz is a regular quartz crystal that has been turned a dark, smokey-grey color by natural radioactivity. When crystals form near
plutonium, or some other natural source of radioactivity, the result is a
clear quartz that has smokey coloring. It is very important that you can still see through the crystal!
Unfortunately, unscrupulous dealers will put clear quartz under x-ray machines in order to turn them black, and
pass them off as the more expensive smokey quartz! When quartz has been x-rayed, the result is a pitch black crystal. You can not see through it
at all, and the color is dull and lifeless. Besides just being a rip-off,
the irradiated quartz can be very unhealthy! The stone will give off radioactivity! Natural smokey quartz does not. So be careful when you
buy it.
Smokey quartz can be helpful in helping people who are undergoing cancer treatments to lessen the side effects. The smokey will absorb some of the
excess radioactivity in people undergoing radiation treatments, and help to lessen the effects of chemotherapy. Just keeping in the bed with them
will help, or they could wear a pendant or just hold some.
Smokey quartz can also work as a gentle grounding stone. It can help you not be overwhelmed by feelings, emotions and problems. It is better for
some people than hemitite (a strong grounding stone), because of its
gentle energy. A strong grounder can contribute to depression in some people, smokey will not.
Sibyl can be contacted at brownmouse@graffiti.net or The Brown Mouse Medicine Co.
"Journaling: A Tool for the Spirit"
by Susie Michelle Cortright
Article courtesy of MediaPeak, http://www.mediapeak.com.
The fountain of personal wisdom may be as close as your nearest pen.
That’s because the single most essential instrument for nurturing your spirit is a personal journal.
The word “journal” may mean 100 different things to 100 different people.
For a psychologist, it denotes a tool for a patient’s self-analysis. For the writer, it may be a notebook of ideas and ramblings. For most of us,
the word denotes a day-to-day diary, a log of action and reaction. For me, a journal is a notebook of ideas and
solutions that I have discovered using my conscious and subconscious mind.
Journaling is a remarkable device for easing worry and obsession, for identifying hopes and fears and for allowing your creative self to expand,
increasing your level of energy and confidence. It harnesses the power to tap into successively deeper layers of your subconscious mind while it
zaps the nervous, passive energy that ties your stomach in knots and leads to more guilt and worry.
Journals are tools to help you discover the wisdom you already possess. Sometimes, this wisdom will surprise you. Other times, it will challenge
you. Always, it will come directly from you, empowering you to trust yourself and to take action by giving you the deep-seated knowledge that
you know more than you think you do.
This feeling of power and self-trust will translate into a more confident mother, wife, and spirit. You will already know where to turn when faced
with difficult decisions. You will have found the answers within yourself, and you will return there for further instruction.
In addition to revealing your personal insight and wisdom, the journaling process can help dispel feelings of loneliness and confusion by helping
you discover a unity within yourself. As your conscious and subconscious mind work together to solve problems in
black-and-white, the ideas are validated and more easily applied, even if you never share these ideas
with a soul.
Rules of the Game
The act of writing has tremendous potential to tap the subconscious and to arrange conscious thoughts in a clear pattern as words flow from your mind
down your arm, into your hand and across the page.
Banish your internal editor. This is that voice that booms from the darkest recesses of your brain: “You shouldn’t be writing that,” or “Someone might
see that you wrote that."
Here are a few tricks to banish this frightening little voice.
Write quickly, allowing the words to freefall from your subconscious. Keep writing, no matter what. Don’t erase or cross-out any words. If
you’re heading in a direction you would rather avoid, start a new
paragraph. These accidental forays may be telltale signs for issues you need to address. And erasing just takes more time that you could be using
to focus on you. Date each entry in your journal. Note the time, place,
and any details regarding your mood and emotions that will be necessary for context when you read back on your work.
After you have finished a journal entry, take a walk or get up for a glass of water before you reread your entry, and remember to reread this entry
with compassion. Then, write an Insight Line--a sentence or two about what you think the piece is trying to tell you.
Sometimes this Insight is as plain as day. Other times, it will take a little reading between the lines. If the subject on which you are writing
is a delicate one, there is nothing wrong with putting off re-reading it for a few hours, days, even weeks. Some entries you may not read again at
all. The Insight comes from the act of writing itself, the Insight Line simply helps you discover it.
The Techniques
There are as many journaling techniques as there are people who practice the craft. The important thing is simply to explore the underlying layers
of your mind--using whatever conduit works for you.
Get creative with the techniques you use. We all have a subconscious mind that communicates to us in a different way. If you are stuck and have
nothing to write, try recording snippets of conversations, facts,
feelings, fantasies, descriptions, impressions, quotes, images, and ideas.
Draw pictures. Make a collage from a magazine. Use the technique that best suits the way in which you express yourself. You know your own mind and
how it best communicates with the world. I promise you’ll have an even better sense of the way in which your mind works after the completion of a
few journal entries.
One method that works well for me, particularly when the ideas don’t flow on their own, is called clustering. Put the central idea in the center of
the page and circle it. Then, without pause, make associations, placing
them in new bubbles and tying them to the main idea. The result is a complex matrix of ideas, many of which you didn’t even know you had. If
you wish, compose these thoughts later into a cohesive essay that says
exactly what you want to say. Or simply move on.
What you need
Paper. The only thing you need is a notebook so your ideas don’t get lost.
Some journal-writers swear by the loose-leaf notebooks so they can insert pages, but I’m always afraid of losing some of the more personal pages,
and I don’t want anything to inhibit my ability to write freely and honestly.
Other journal-writers opt for the expensive, hard-bound journals, reasoning that the journal will be a keepsake. These work just fine, as long as you
are able to write freely in such a formal book. Some of the things you will be writing will not be pretty. If you are afraid of making mistakes or you
feel inhibited with this kind of notebook, you’re better off with a plain old spiral bound from Wal-Mart (my personal favorite.) Some of you will be
creating more drawings than essays. If that’s you, consider a wire-bound sketch pad.
Pen. Treat yourself to just the right pen. One that makes you feel important. Test some of the expensive pens. See how they feel in your hand
and how the ink rolls across the page. The best choice is one that allows you to write quickly and smoothly. I personally love the easy-flow
fountain pens because the color comes out so bold that it makes me feel more confident. And it practically glides itself across the page.
Environment. Your journal should always be there when you need it. Write on the bus, in the office, or late at night when insomnia strikes. If you
have the time, a regular writing ritual can be very soothing.
If you do wish to write in the same place and at the same time every day, create the ideal writing space for you. Maybe you’re most comfortable in a
rocking chair surrounded by pillows and candles and Schubert tunes. Or maybe you prefer silence and a cherry wood desk or a gentle breeze and a
rickety porch swing.
Whether you set a time for writing each day or you do it on the fly, make sure the time you spend writing in your journal is time solely devoted to
you and your task. Your journal is designed to nurture you.
Susie Michelle Cortright is the founder and publisher of Momscape, an online magazine devoted to nurturing the nurturers. Visit her at
momscape.com, where you may read more inspiring articles and essays, subscribe to Momscape's free online magazine,
mail: momscape-subscribe@onelist.com, and register to win free pampering packages.
This time, I have chosen the song/hymn "Let There Be Peace On Earth", because it seems such an appropriate thought to start a new year (let
alone a new millennium!). I use it as a prayer.
Let There Be Peace On Earth
Words and Music by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller
Circa 1955
Let there be peace on Earth,
and let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on Earth,
the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father,
brothers all are we,
Let me walk with my brother,
in perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me,
let this be the moment now,
With every step I take,
let this be my solemn vow,
To take each moment and live each moment
in peace, eternally.
Let there be peace on Earth,
and let it begin with me.
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