Gaia Community: Nishtha's Blog

Wisdom on a BAG

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:58:19 GMT

I normally take canvas tote bags to the store with me when I go grocery shopping (save the trees and therefore the planet and all that jazz). However, the other day, I went into an Andronico's and didn't have my tote bag with me so the cashier put my purchases in a recycable/reusable brown paper bag - which i plan to reuse and recycle as its durability and my capriciousness dictate. ;-)

Today, as I was tidying up the house, I came across this Andronico's bag and was struck by the wisdom written all over it.

First, at the top, was "Please Hold Both Handles" - literally, figuratively and metaphorically the most awesome advice I have received in a long, long time!
;-)

The body of the bag listed ways to say "thank you" in various languages, as such:

gracias,      merci,      efcharisto,
hvala, durdaladawhy, bedankt,
danke, grazie, rekhmet, doh je,
spasibo,     arigato,    bayarlalaa,
mamnoon, dhannvaad, dziekuje,
tapadh leat,    dakujem,    khawp
khun,     ngiyabonga,     salamot,
tack,   mahalo,   gracias, merci,
efcharisto,    thank you,    hvala,
durdaladawhy, bedankt, danke,
grazie,      rekhmet,     doh je,
spasibo,    arigato,     bayarlalaa,
mamnoon, dhannvaad, dziekuje,
tapadh leat,    dakujem,    khawp
khun,     ngiyabonga,     salamot,
tack, mahalo, gracias

And finally, at the bottom of the bag, three logos:
1 - the tri-arrow triangle of Recyclable with the additional words "Renewable Resource"
2 - Duro Handle-Bag (registered trademark): The Original Super Strength Handle-Bag (registered trademark); www.durobag.com; 1/6 Bbl.
3 - Paper Bag Council Seal of Approval: inside the Seal is a depiction of a paper bag with the words "Strength", "Durability", "Capacity"; below the paper bag depiction are the words "Lift with Both Handles"; and underneath the Seal of Approval are the words "Certification mark of the American Forest & Paper Association, Inc.

I will be meditating upon the words of wisdom displayed before me for quite some time!
:-)
(-:
:-)

Tags: wisdom, cash and carry, gratitude, living large, loving life

How to Build Community... a work-in-process

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:34:54 GMT

Too many people are isolated and fearful. Together, we can change this.

* Get to Know Your Neighbors
* Honor Elders
* Focus on Ability, not Disability
* Share What You Have
* Plant Flowers
* Sing Together
* Start a Tradition
* Celebrate Our Differences
* Bake/Cook Extra and Share
* Ask for Help When You Need it
* Visit the Park
* Learn Something New Every Day
* Organize a Block Party
* Turn off the TV
* Turn on Your Imagination
* Use Your Library
* Have a Potluck
* Hold a Bake Sale
* Appreciate Democracy and Vote
* Buy from Local Merchants
* Ask More Questions
* Barter Your Skills
* Fix Something
* Pick Up Litter
* Dance in the Street
* Seek to UnderStand (Stand Under)
* Live More Simply
* Believe Change is Possible

Know that No One is Silent Though Many Are Not Heard.
* Work to Change This *

A Huge Thank YOU to The Syracuse Cultural Workers for "How to Build Community"

Will you, my friends, help me Add to this List? Your suggestions are greatly welcomed and appreciated!
Namaste.

Tags: how to, build, community, collaboration

My Life According to U2

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:47:38 GMT

1. Are you a male or female?
Big Girls are Best

2. How do you feel:
Even Better than the Real Thing

3. Describe where you currently live:
In God's Country

4. If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Discotheque

5. Your favorite form of transportation:
Walk On

6. Your best friend is:
Magnificent

7. What's the weather like?
Beautiful Day

8. Favorite time of day:
Always

9. If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?
Original of the Species

10. What is life to you?
Running to Stand Still
or
Mysterious Ways

11. Your fear: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

12. What is the best advice you have to give?
Love and Peace or Else

13. Thought for the day: One Step Closer

14. How I would like to die: Exit

15. My soul's present condition: Dancing Barefoot

16. My motto: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Thank you, Samme, for this!

If anyone else is interested in participating in this fun "get to know you" activity, Start with Samme.

Tags: U2, songs, fun, personal insight

What in life are you most sure of?

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:04:53 GMT

1) I Love.
2) I am Loved.

Tags: QaR, certainty, knowledge, clarity

What do you like most about your life right now?

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:04:06 GMT

* That I live in one of the most beautiful, inspiring places in the world...
* That I have so much FREE time...
* That I have a wonderful canine companion who brings me much joy...
* That I have dear, darling friends coming to visit for the weekend...
* That my home is welcoming and ready to entertain...
* That I have wonderful friends in this city of my dreams are doing incredibly wonderful things...
* That the sun is shining and the birds are chirping and I am present to enjoy the experience.

:-)

Tags: QaR, life, appreciation, wonderful

I.N.D.I.A.N. Beauty

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:43:09 GMT

Enjoy the beauty of diversity....

:-)

Namaste.

Tags:

Partnerships and ShipPartners

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:13:32 GMT

When you see the Ark, find your buddy, take his/her hand, and walk slowly please!

Tags: love, relationship, hearts, entwined, finding, each, other

Happy Day

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:50:31 GMT

Every day is Earth Day, isn't it?

Tags: Earth Day, April 22

What message does your highest self have for the world?

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:16:04 GMT

Breathe into Being...

Inbreathe all the goodness of pure thought and desire...

Outbreathe all the wishes you have for the world and the benevolent Universe..

Namaste
In
Consciousness

Tags: QaR, self, highest self, world, wisdom

My Vibrational Brother Speaking, Thank You Very Much

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:53:12 GMT

Don't Tell Me Words Don't Matter--Obama's BEST speech YET!

I will always return to the truths spoken in this speech. He has spoken the truths that I hold to be self-evident in my mind, if not yet self-evident in the reality around me.

I will hold this man and his administration accountable to everything he has promised me in this speech.

I will hold myself accountable to do everything in my power to clear the negativity in the thought clouds of every pessimist i come across, to help guide the light energy that is needed "inside the Beltway" - this man will need all the assistance from light bringers and sustainers everywhere.

Are you IN?

: - )

Tags: keep, hope, alive, barack obama, let's sustain, US

Hope and Unity Win!!

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:47:39 GMT

Choose To Unite - Barack Obama Music Video

The Singing and Dancing have Just Begun!

We have a lot of Sweating to do before we overcome... but We Shall Overcome!

We Shall Overcome... and "someday" will be Soon... 01/20/09 is our next rendezvous date. Who's joining me?

:-)

Tags: barack, obama, united, states, president

What's the best thing you've lost?

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:44:12 GMT

Coldplay - "Lost?" - Stop Motion video by Miles Kalbach

Limitations

Tags: QaR, loss, positive, letting go

ConTemplate Our Perspective

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:40:07 GMT

Powers of 10

Wow...

Tags: powers of 10, perspective, cosmic universe, subatomic universe, hope

Diversity: A Snippet

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:59:02 GMT

I attended a two-day gathering of resonant human beings to explore the Felt Sense Experience of "diversity" - two subsequent Saturdays, October 11th, and then yesterday, October 18th.

I drove home yesterday, filled to the brim and overflowing... I arrived at my home with a lot of love in my heart, extending outward toward each of the beings that were present with me yesterday (that includes 14 human beings and 2 small dogs :-)

At first blush, as it seems after any kind of diversity training or workshop experience, people leave exhausted with an overwhelming sense that the magnitude of the problem cannot be tackled by a small group of concerned citizens - and who can really fault such a conclusion made by well-meaning people? When you see how deeply they can feel, when you recognize how huge the pain is, when you can sense how ignorant/blind and or possibly malicious the perpetrators of such a system have been and continue to be? Who could possibly blame any good-hearted, well-meaning person to wring their hands and shrug their shoulders in frustration, walking away from such an experience and saying "the problem is just too big for me to handle... i have my own bills to pay, mouths to feed, etc. I cannot take this on; it's a losing battle."

Well! my esteemed colleagues and dearest, dearest of friends... I have a surprise twist in this story for you!

... My overwhelming feeling of the entire experience, my own felt experience and the energetic emanations I was receiving from the preponderance of energetic vibrations in the room as we ended the day yesterday was one of ALIVE-ness to the TASK at hand...

Yes, I am not joshing you. The energy was ALIVE. The collective energy of the gathering resounded in me.

This is my best attempt to translate what I "heard" in the vibrational resonance that I took into my body from yesterday's gathering:

The injustice of what we SEE, what we HEAR, what we FEEL... the injustice so foul we can SMELL it... the injustice so bitter we can TASTE it... we have viewed it, we have listened to it, we have touched it, we have inhaled it, we have eaten it... as we have digested this injustice in our bodies and broken it down and processed it in our cells, we have come to the conclusion that redressing these "wrongs" is VITAL for our very SURVIVAL as a species/collective...

I found this energy coursing through my veins as I left the session, pumping lifeblood into my heart and soul... this energy is still pumping vigorously throughout my entire being...

Which brings me to why I felt compelled to blog today...

The conversation among my colleagues is not over as I am entertaining thoughts in my brain....We are still gathered together at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.... We are dealing with an Institution that does not SEE itself as it is BEING SEEN by others/us....

....The Institution that is the United States of America... where a place like Hollywood, so full of liberal idealism and messages of equality and so on and so forth are packaged for our Saturday evening popcorn-and-a-movie lives, where black people make action movies or misogynistic comedies, where white people make sure to smatter their cast with a "side-kick" black or Hispanic man, or a "best friend" black or Asian woman, and where, to prove that America is a land of diversity, allows "ethnic" offerings from time to time (most often in the "dead" months after the Holidays and before the Summer Blockbusters)...

...Here's some "Thought Soup" that I would like to serve to the table for my illustrious comrades-in-arms to digest with me...

Dave Chappelle on Inside The Actors Studio Part 4

Tags: Diversity, institutionalized prejudice, sick environment, hospice workers for the Soul, Dimes on America, Dave Chappelle

Belief

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:42:23 GMT

John Mayer - Belief

I really like how he puts it...

Is there anyone who ever remembers changing their mind from the paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls ever breaking rank at all for something someone yelled real loud one time?
Oh, everyone believes in how they think it oughta be.
Oh, everyone believes and they're not going easily...

Belief is a beautiful armor but makes for the heaviest sword.
Like punching underwater, you never can hit who you're trying for.
Some lead the exhibition, and some have to know they tried.
It's the chemical weapon for the war that's raging on inside.
Oh, everyone believes from emptiness to everything.
Oh, everyone believes and no one's going quietly...

We're never gonna win the world. We're never gonna stop the war.
We're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for...

So true, John! So true...

While people may not be swayed by the paint on a sign, or change their opinion because of something someone yelled real loud, I do believe that MUSIC has the POWER of Persuasion.

People are drawn in by the rhythms perhaps, are filled with resonating vibrations that are soothing or pleasing or uplifting or thought-provoking or some such thing. People tune in, people relax, people receive... and perhaps some deep place within them gets stirred. Some thoughts they've always held to be Absolute Truth do not seem as such, some questions come in...

Perhaps New Ideas are carried in by the sound vibrations and penetrate the fibers of our muscles, penetrate the blood that pumps in our veins carrying messages back to our heart, penetrate the grey matter that allows new neural pathways to form...

I believe in this. This is my Belief.

Tags: Belief, John Mayer, music, can, create, Change, if, you, Believe

Life As it Is/Was and To Seek A Newer World

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:17:56 GMT

How many of us have received spam email letters from foreign countries (mostly Nigeria, in my case) asking for assistance in the transfer of funds?

Well, a friend of mine just shared with me a similar such plea that I didn't realize was the same kind of spam, but happening in my "Real World":

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship
with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country
has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds
of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer,
it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my
replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you
may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation
movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the
funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds
in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under
surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a
reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the
funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund
account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to
wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your
commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I
will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be
used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

(Here's the original post.)

The Virtual Reality
This letter wasn't actually sent to me. It was sent to my Representatives. What worries me and takes hold of my heart is that I'm not at all confident that my Representatives will represent my interests and wishes.

My Outer Reality
I live in the United States of America and call myself a citizen and vote in every election (and here in California, I not only get to vote for representatives to serve in my Federal, State and Local governments, I also get to vote directly for State and County and City Initiatives which has helped me to believe that I have a more direct hand in shaping the governance of my community). Since 2000, it has become crystal clear to me that I don't live in a democracy as I had come to understand the word. When the Supreme Court decided who my president was, I realized that the democratic process that had been created and tested in this country for over 200 years had finally been broken.

In the past eight years, the reality of my external world has sunk into my bones. I live in a capitalistic society that is ruled by oligarchies.

And yet, I still live my life as if I believe that I live in a democracy. That's the insanity of my external reality.

My Inner Reality
I am a hope-filled person. I am a joyous person. I believe that every single human being on the planet has the seeds of goodness within them (this belief includes George W. Bush and even Dick Cheney and Karl Rove).

I am an individual. I am a citizen (of the United States of America but, more importantly) of the world. I have a voice.

My Current State of Being
I am tired of fighting. I am still recovering from wounds I suffered when I tried to make my external reality match my internal reality, in my twenties and in my early thirties. I cannot fight like I used to fight anymore. And, more to the point, I do not Wish to Fight anymore.

I am Seeking a Newer World.
Who would like to join me in This Quest?

UltimateEarth

Tags: united states of america, democracy, idealism, liberation, hope, a newer world, a quest

A Double Lens

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:22:32 GMT

Race Comedy: ColorsNW April Story

Comedy as a Means to Communicate Effectively

Some people do not like to be hit over the head with how and why the assumptions they hold in their unconscious are dangerous and harmful to other people. Defensiveness ensues and attitudes do not end up changing.

But who doesn't love to laugh?

And if laughter can result in not just increasing oxygen to the brain, but planting new seeds of thought in other human beings who might just change their behavior because of what they have experienced through entertainment, wouldn't that be just totally AWESOME?!

Tags: Hari Kondabolu, comedy, racism, education, entertainment

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this:

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:40:19 GMT

A Kosmocentric Orientation: Andrew Cohen

I really appreciate Andrew Cohen. I really appreciate everything he has done to bring conversations to the table. I really appreciate the magazine he founded and the organization he leads, EnlightenNext. I really appreciate all the students and practitioners I have met, via the magazine, a two-day course I took last October and a women's retreat I attended last November.

While I really appreciate him as a human being and a leader and can appreciate everything he has done (although, I have to admit right here, I'm not a fan of his musicality - I believe the soundtrack of this video was laid down by the band in which he plays the drums - my somatic sensibilities just don't jive with the music, that's all) and continues to do, in the world, with other spiritual teachers and with his organization, I know this from the depths of my being:

I am not one of his students.

I am my own spiritual being on my own quest.

Having said that, for the record, I feel my own liberation from the guru-filled world in which I find myself.

I believe that gurus are very important for the countless multitudes who desire a shepherd to help guide them back to their own paths. I believe that gurus serve a purpose, they shed light in the darkness, they instruct and enlighten and cajole and chastise. I believe that many human beings want and need them.

And yet... I feel that, in this world where history tends to be written as a collection of the biographies of "great" men and women who have lived and led, this guru-filled world in which I live troubles me...

The question my heart screams is:
"When will people stop trying to walk in the footsteps of Jesus the Christ and/or the Gautama Buddha?!!"

To me, Andrew Cohen seems to be saying the same thing... and he seems, also, to have settled into a groove that this world has created and supported since time immemorial... as the head of a flock...

I don't believe this to be a fault of his, necessarily... it just seems to me to be a fault of our Collective (Un)Conscious... What to do? What to do?

When do your students graduate Andrew/Deepak/(plug in the guru of your choice)?
Students: when do YOU decide that YOU have graduated? When do you MOVE ON without a Teacher??

Tags: kosmocentric, andrew cohen, spiritual guidance, enlightenment, teacher, student, jesus christ, buddha, avalokiteshvara, kanzeon

What does independence mean to you?

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:59:41 GMT

Kelly Clarkson-Miss Independent

...Well... that's what it meant to me as an adolescent!

Interdependence is Best
When I was a high-powered management consultant, Stephen Covey's book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" came out and it was all the rage in our office. We took seminars and workshops and incorporated his lessons in our game plans with our own clients. While I believe that he was simply tapping into universal truths, his package was quite neat and I find that I quote him a lot.

His framework identifies that the three phases of human life are "Dependence", "Independence" and then "Interdependence" As babies, we are completely dependent upon others for survival and our basic needs. As we mature, we need to detach from our dependence, establishing our "independence" by achieving a sense of self-sufficiency. Ultimately, however, "independence" is not the goal, "interdependence" is, where independent entities recognize the larger system in which they operate and the mutually advantageous support that they can provide to one another.

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Tags: QaR, freedom, independence, independent, values

What do you want for the world?

http://imprintingspirit.gaia.com — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:29:31 GMT

W.H.A.T. is What I Want....

Wealth
Health
Abundance
Time

Wealth = the fullest realization of the Potential of every organism on the planet
Health = the fullest Self of every organism on the planet in the Present Moment
Abundance = for every organism on the planet to Know the fullness of "Enough"
Time = whatever scenario works best for each organism's Experience of Life*

*Reference Einstein's Dreams for some scenarios to ponder....

Namaste.

Tags: QaR, world, gift, desire, future, hope