Ronda Snow's Blog, page 21

Pith: meditation

 

Meditation is like fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are just good for you, no matter what else is going on in your diet. No matter if you are a meat-eater, vegan, sweet freak, or paleo – it is still beneficial to include the good stuff.

Likewise, meditation is good for you no matter what else is going on in your life. It doesn’t matter what your spiritual or religious beliefs are, how much or how little stress you feel, how busy or how leisurely your day may be – it is still beneficial to include the good stuff.

Coconut oil – the grand experiment

I am looking into the buzz about coconut oil in all its saturated glory (medium chain not long chain fats, which metabolizes differently and is apparently the explanation why half the pacific rim isn’t dead from eating a coconut rich diet for the past, like, forever). Coconut oil is supposed to help everything from Alzheimer’s to acne, improve fat metabolism, prevent gingivitis and create world peace….well maybe not world peace. Part of me smells a rat…just another flash in the pan health food fad. But, given the population studies and how robustly healthy some tropical indigenous people are, it seems to warrant a look.

Got some to experiment with. Wasn’t the fancy organic, but the important thing is that it was NOT hydroginated. Hydroginated fats and trans fats will pretty much kill you. The cookies where I used it in place of butter turned out with the same texture as always, but seem to have a brighter, clearer and much sweeter taste…it tastes more like pure sugar, not as caramel-ish as before – a negative, since I do love caramel and that brown-sugar flavor in this kind of cookie. I can see where it would totally substitute for processed vegetable shortening in frosting, whoopie pies and so on. The clarity of the sugar taste would be a big plus in those situations, and the pure white color would make coloring the frosting a dream. My family doesn’t like the taste of coconut at all…but even they couldn’t detect any coconut flavor in the cookies. So that’s good news.

Tried it for some of its other mythic properties. As a hand moisturizer, it didn’t absorb quickly and did leave a greasy feel for a while. It would rock as a spot treatment for winter rash or small patches of mild eczema – nice for kids since it is mild, all natural and safe enough to eat. Not that you’d want to. I’m still of two minds about “oil drawing” for “detox” (I doubt it) and dental hygene (probably) Coconut oil would be a great alternative for those who want to avoid triclosan or sodium laural sulfate in commercial toothpaste. I’ve heard there are some cautions with using oil drawing (swishing oil like a mouthwash, and holding it in your mouth for 15 -20 minutes) – particularly with some kinds of dental work. I haven’t tried drawing or tried it as a natural toothpaste yet, but there are several toothpaste recipes on the internet. Most often they seem to combine the oil with baking soda and peppermint oil. Coconut oil alone is truly tasteless. It melts at body temperature and actually has a silky feel in the mouth, so trying oil drawing with this stuff wouldn’t be a gross as I would imagine other oils to be. I’ll let you know if I catch a kamikaze mood and try it.

Meanwhile, it totally cleared up this persistent dry patch I’ve had on my wrist all winter from washing dishes. Works better than Eucerin if you ask me.

Since it is odorless, I can see it having aromatherapy use, especially for very dry skin.

One thing is certain: coconut oil makes outstanding lip balm. I stirred a little stevia and vanilla extract into it, warmed it in the microwave, and stirred again until it was cool. Move over lip smackers.

Do any of you have experience cooking with coconut oil? What did you think? I mean from a food perspective…all healthy / not healthy debate aside, did it TASTE good and perform well? I’d love to know what you think…please comment away in the box below. Thanks :)

Merry Monday – New Web Themes

 

I’ve set a goal for myself. “The Merry Monday Project” is taking the time to find just one little commonplace thing that adds a tiny spark of enjoyment, a little blip of happiness to your workaday world. I blog that one thing here every Monday. I invite you to share your ‘one thing’ in the comments below, or if you want to write a blog post, mention that in your comment (and link back here in the post if you would please) and we’ll get everything connected one way or another.

Yes, folks it’s true. I’ve changed the theme on the blog/website again.

Writing and all this is, for the moment, a part-time thing for me…more of a hobby than a job, really…so I have to stay on a screaming tight budget. Free is good, so that’s the themes I use. I have to admit, WordPress offers some really nice looking themes, but I hadn’t found one that really had the warm, welcoming vibe I wanted to offer here. Part of me always thought of this blog as all bamboo, purple lotus and new age music – think the scent of lavender. What I really want (it’s taken me a while to figure out) is the feeling of sunset and the smell of fresh-cut grass. So when this theme came along, I couldn’t pass it up. I want to make this part of the ‘blog cabin‘ like a tai chi retreat – not the stereotype of an upscale city “spa”.

I’ll be honest, the reason I first went for the purple lotus and chrome plated new age-y spa vibe is because I am SO not into “country” and “rural”. I despise country music, NASCAR and everything about that whole southern red-neck tractor pull cow ranch hee-haw vibe. Not to mention I’m politically a deep dark shade of blue compared to most who extol the “country” lifestyle. Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t want to imply there is anything bad or wrong about that world view. I’m just saying it is really, really, really not the right thing for me as an individual. To each their own. It’s the authenticity and deciding that is important, not the final conclusion. Make sense?

Now, flash to a weekend in New Jersey.

Back in the mid ’90s my husband and I went to a camping retreat and Mu Lan Fan clinic at Master Jou’s “Tai Chi Farm”. It finally got through my noggin’ that Tai Chi and Taoism came from rural agrarian China. Duh. THAT’s the natural and nature they were talking about. I wish I could share the energy and the feel of the place with you. It was neat, and tidy, and calm and connected to everything. The crows were groundskeepers and protectors, the trees the very gaurdians…all very poetic and an energy very much in keeping with the spirit of  taijiquan.

That.

That’s the kind of cyberspace I want to create here.  It will resonate with some, not with others but it will be honest, authentic and put a little Merry in my Monday.

Tao Tuesday – Chapter 43

“Tao Tuesday” is the brain child of Amy Putkonen of TaoTeChingDaily.com. Each Tuesday she posts a chapter from her version of the Tao Te Ching and invites others to blog their commentary on the chapter, link to her post and link her post to theirs. You are welcome to participate.

The softest things overcome the hardest.

Things without substance can go anywhere.

This is how we know that no-action

is most beneficial.

To teach without words

and to act without action.

Understood by so few.

If I were to give this short chapter a title, it would probably be “The Art of the Necessary”.

Water is deeply associated with Taoism, and we see that here. It is the classic example of the soft overcoming the hard. Liquid is consummately adaptable, softly forming itself to any space or container. What is gentler than a drop of water? Yet in large enough quantity over long enough time, water bends the planet to its will. A river made the grand canyon, drops formed giant stalactites in caves, and waves turn solid rock into sand. Water has no form on its own and cancan slide into tiny cracks and go anywhere.

Water doesn’t act on its own. Inertia, a basic law of physics, keeps water from doing the unnecessary. Without gravity or some other force acting on it, water calms, waits, does nothing until it is compelled to do so by force or by need of its nature.

Bruce Lee is famous for saying to be like water. This is where that notion originated. Water is what it is, and accomplishes much by being what it is, and doing what it does. That simple. There are poems about the sparkle and calm of water. It doesn’t splash around to get the poets attention, it just is. Water doesn’t set out to make a cave, a canyon, a shoreline – but it does so not by action, but by the necessity of its nature. It doesn’t act, it IS. In so doing we find it both a beauty and a teacher.

Like Mr. Lee said, “Be like water”

Scattered Life Collective 4 April 2014

Scattered Life Collective is a project started by SpiritUncaged.com.

It is a wonderful sharing and uplifting of the commonplace – making it all the more wonderful through the sharing of it. Please click the link above to learn more, read more, and join in of you like!

Current time: 11:30 am

On the TV: Through the Wormhole mini marathon on Science Channel! Oh Easy Reader, you’ve been teaching me for a long time. Many dimensions, many worlds, the higgs boson, string theory, I love this stuff. It just feels sooo right, rings sooo true to my ear. Can’t wait for the next episode of Cosmos either. Beautiful stuff, that. I agree with Dr. Tyson as he was talking about the connectivity of life, the planet and the universe  ”it’s not only factually true but a soaring spiritual experience”  I think he said. Many thumbs up for Cosmos. Ok, so that’s not fact, but artistic license hyperbole for emphasis. Nobody said everything had to be scientifically, factually correct. Life is fun too. Hurray for humor.

On the Kindle: Finished “Starry Night” and “Insurgent” (which reminds me, I need to update Goodreads) so am back to re-reading “How to be Dead” because…well, just because. Will be up for my turn with “Allegent” soon, after that, am thinking about reading “Creative Visualization” by Shakti Gawain. I’ve read several books touching on the subject that references the original Gawain book, but haven’t read the source book for myself. At the same time, I usually have some brain candy on the exercise bike to distract myself from the fact that I’m kind of exercising. Had a taste for some William Gibson so pulled out “Idoru” for now. Might grab virtual light next time I’m at the library. Got to love libraries, despite the digital age.

On the menu: leftoverpalooza. Have made a crusade about using leftovers and wasting no food. For lunch it was leftover corn tortillas topped with leftover tuna salad. Although after doing the resistance circuit and rowing 1600 m on the machine at the rec. center yesterday, I’ve had the munchies like a refugee from a Cheech and Chong movie. Think I’ll make a batch of those healthy-version (low glycemic index) oatmeal cookies. That’s always nice on a rainy afternoon.

Out the window: clouds and drizzle. :) Makes me want to bake cookies, knit and write

On the needles: still working on that beret for my daughter. It’s an easy enough pattern. Will use the same one to make them for the nieces for the holidays I think. Maybe.

On the itunes: “Happy” by Pharell has been earworming all week… I just might have to invest the $1.29 to get that one. It could be the “Merry Monday” theme song as far as I’m concerned. Reminds me a little of Dan Millman’s “laughter of the enlightened man”….from “Way of the Peaceful Warrior”, I think.

Other good stuff: A lot of the other “Scattered Life Collective” bloggers will put something positive or other thoughts here.Inspired by the collective posts, the pharrell song, pictures of smiling Buddhist monks and a variety of other things, I’ve split off this part into the Merry Monday project. I’ve set the goal of finding one simple, commonplace little delight, some good thing, every week. How hard is that, for cryin’ out loud: ONE nice thing in a whole WEEK? I’m keeping a list. The theory is, that after a year viola…a list of over 50 happy things to read on dreary day (emotionally, not meterologically). Plus it is exercise – my theory is the more we deliberately activate the content parts of our thinking, the more likely it is to happen automatically, become a habit. Can’t hurt – might help.

Shameless self-promotion: What are you up to these days??

Why not share that too? Isn’t that the ulterior motive to some percentage of blogs and blogging anyway? You are welcome to join in. It’s just another aspect of the collective coolness. Just be nice about it, ok?

Anyway…while we’re on the topic of positive thought habit building: You are welcome to participate in the Merry Monday thing along with the Scattered Life Collective if you like. Plus my newest book “#PeaceTarot”  is about the same thing. It is a tool to focus on a peaceful thought (daily or as needed) to help build a more peaceful thought-habit, especially in the face of tragic national events like the missing Malaysian flight, the Washington state mudslide, the Fort Hood shooting, and so on. It’s less than one dollar on Kindle if you’d like to check it out. I hope to re-format #PeaceTarot and my poetry book for Smashwords to make it available in more formats than just Kindle.

#PeaceTarot for Fort Hood

Sending light and thoughts of healing to the victims of the 2 April 2014 Fort Hood shooting and thier families:

10 of Swords:

“Bad things happen, but they only truly defeat us when we lose hope, learn nothing, or stop trying.”

#PeaceTarot is a Tarot how-to and daily meditation guide written with the intent of lending some reassurance and calm on days when the news less than peaceful. Now available on amazon.com for Kindle, other formates coming soon. Copyright Ronda Snow 2013, all rights reserved.

Hits and Misses

Ronda Snow:

This is from my Tarot-only website and blog. I think it is an important point in using Tarot for it’s hightest purpose as we do here…as a genuine tool for personal growth, and for emotional and spiritual well – being.

Originally posted on Modern Oracle Tarot:

I love TED talks. For whatever subtle reason, even annoying ideas don’t provoke an angry response. Most likely, it is the style of presentation: Calm, logical, intellectual, -.

Today, however, I watched a presentation by Michael Shermer. It wasn’t the talk that bothered me – it was the people who provoked one off-hand comment in the introduction. He was talking about scams, and how people naturally tend to remember “hits” and forget “misses” which is the stock in trade of psychics and Tarot card readers and the like. He reminds us that, in science, we must remember the misses and take all the data in consideration to come to a realistic conclusion.

True.

I’ve seen that principle in action. People really do cling to the “hits” …”how did you know that?”…no matter how much tell them this isn’t about knowing untold information or predicting the future.

There are two…

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Merry Monday – Songs of Instant Happy

The Merry Monday project is simple: Once a week think of something simple, commonplace little thing that delights you or makes you happy and write it down. Comment here, put it in a post and we can link it here, or just use pen and paper. At the end of a year, you’ll have at least half a hundred things to bring a smile on a less-merry day. 

Music.

Music makes life better. It doesn’t matter one bit what kind of music. If speed thrash death metal makes you happy, so be it. If Mozarts Requim makes you feel better about life, suit yourself. For me, my taste runs a little different.

March 20 was the U.N. International Day of Happiness. It makes me happy that Pharrell’s “Happy” has had lots of radio play since. It’s an aptly named song.

But humans have many moods, and jump around blissed out happy isn’t a permenant condition. Despite the nature of Merry Monday, I think it is essential to acknowledge our genuine moods, then move on to a better frame of mind if needs be. Snarl your way through a song or two. If you are sad, be sad. Play the mopey-est emo punk you can get your hands on. Allow the emotion, not wallow in it. Music (both creating and listening to it) is a positive healthy way to acknowledge and express how you feel. There are damaging ways of expressing emotion, it’s true, but denying and suppressing real feelings is stressful and unheathy too.

That being said, there are some songs that bring me not to that frenetic, happy-helmet, blissed-out kind of happy but to a place of solid contentment, a mental place of comfort. Probably the most reliable one is “Bamako” by Youssou N’dour. That song is a summer sunset on a beach in 3 minutes. It is comfort and contentment and happy there for the listening.

Whether you are looking to pump up a morning workout, compliment your mood on a rainy evening, or just find a minute of happy – music can take you there, and well worth the search for that one song of instant happy.

Scattered Life Collective 28 March 2014

Reflecting on the week with the Scattered Life Collective. Read about it HERE.

 

 

On the TV: Cosmos has captured my heart and mind again. Like the original, the reboot is as every-moment engaging and soaring and poetic and beautiful. Found out (NOOOOOOOOO!) that Being Human is wrapping up. It is the about the only US version of a BBC show that stands up to the original. Maybe even surpasses it. But that’s just me. Colbert is on right now…The Report and The Daily Show are daily favorites.  Then have a binge of science and wonderful coming later today with back to back “Wonders of the Solar System”

On the Kindle: Finally finished “Starry Nights”. It was very much a book for tween / young teen girls like my daughter. Very sweet and romantic and just charming. Great for kids, but I struggled to finish it…not my taste. Now back to reading for grown ups. I have a taste for some William Gibson. Shockingly, there are some of his books I haven’t read yet. Time for a trip to the library.

On the itunes: Remember mix tapes back in the day? Listening to the radio, turning on the tape recorder just as the song you wanted played on the radio, then playing the tape to shreds listening to a collection of all your favorites? OK, ok,…I’m old. But I love playlists on itunes for the same reason. Hurray for the digital age! Plus a laugh out loud terrific podcast on Startalk with Lawrence Fishburn. There is more to Morpheus than you might think!

On the Menu: Being Friday, it’s fish fry! I like fish. I don’t go to fish fry for any remotely religious reason other than the experience of moist, juicy unctuous fried cod, or buttery, savory lovely crab cakes, or the eye-crossingly delicious seafood bisque…not to mention the home-made desserts…mmmmm. Otherwise all of my kitchen adventures are over on my other blog, “The Vampire Diet“.

On the keyboard: been blogging like crazy this week. You can link up to tall that on the Blog Cabin page here.

On the big screen: Went to see Divergent with the fam…loved it! I would so choose dauntless too.  Like most novel based screen plays, I read the book first and totally recommend reading the book before seeing the movie – but the movie was very well done. Hit the highlights for those who know the book, but still told a well-paced story for those not familiar with the plot and background.

Out the window: clouds and rain. I love clouds and rain! I’ll take it over hazy, hot and humid any time of year!

 

Tao Tuesday – Chapter 42

Doing something every single day out of mild interest or a sense of “should” is a daunting, dragging, ponderous project. Once a week, however, is an easy delight. Amy Putkonin’s Tao Tuesday posts are one of those weekly delights. Each Tuesday she posts a chapter of her version of the Tao Te Ching, and invites readers to post a commentary on the chapter, link to her post, and read her commentary, and explore the links to reader commentary as well. Want to participate? Read the chapter, write a post, link to http://taotechingdaily.com/tao-tuesdays-chapter-42/ and then put a link to your post on that page. 

Chapter 42

Tao produces the one,

One produces two,

Two produces three,

And three produces Ten Thousand Things.

All things suffer the negative and embrace the positive.

The union of these is to achieve harmony.

People detest being alone and unworthy,

yet kings and leaders will describe themselves as such.

Sometimes we win when it appears we’ve lost,

and sometimes we lose when it appears we’ve won.

What others learn, I also learn.

Violent people die violently.

By understanding this, I receive my greatest teaching.

This chapter is probably one of the best known from the Tao Te Ching. It hints at two important notions. We are all a connected one-ness, that sprang from the same ultimate source, The Tao. Then it introduces the idea of yin and yang, “the two”, and how so very much in life can be understood in terms of relationship, proportion, balance of opposites – of yin and yang. Tao gives us yin/yang, yin/yang gives us a way to look at life, and in that yin-yang looking we in turn see everything…easy as one, two, three.

After walking us through the one, two, three of it, Lao Tzu takes us back to the beginning, to the root of it all, and back to the first and most important point: one-ness.

“We’re all in this together” – Disney’s High School Musical

“Valor Morgholis” (all men must die) – George R.R. Martin

“We are made of star stuff” – Carl Sagan

There are common denominators that unite us all, no matter what race, creed, social class or life experience…we are all in the boat of humanity together. We are all made of the same star stuff. All of our lives are impermanent. Paupers and Kings all suffer illness, uncertainty, the full range of human emotions, all the same. Heartache is heartache. Joy is joy.

Human experience too, breaks down into different aspects in our four-dimensional physical lifetime. We all learn…but we learn different lessons, have different experiences along the way, some pleasant, some not. Like attracts like, some things are different proportions of yin and yang becoming something else still. The one becomes two becomes three and in turn becomes all things…all our varied life experiences, all the different lessons life can teach.