The earth school allows each of us an unlimited ability to create our life experiences… They are created through our thoughts and beliefs… If you check your own personal belief system, you will find that they have changed many times… Our life experiences repeat our lesson over and over until we change our limiting beliefs… Many of our limiting beliefs such as prejudices etc. have been indoctrinated from our parents, friends, teachers… many have been handed down from generation to generation… And yes, they are creating your life experiences… If you are tired of the same repeated cycles in your life, take a look at what you believe… When you find limiting beliefs, hit the delete button… Replace them with more expansive connected ones that work for all… As you do, you’ll find that your life experiences change… The following is a simple earth school truth, and it applies to everyone… WHAT YOU BELIEVE, IS WHAT YOU CREATE…
Namaste, Brian

Every one of us earth students arrive on mother earth with Mojo… We are gifted with the chi, the energy, the light, the spark or any term you can think of, that alllows our connection to all… Makes no difference where we are, what time it is, or the circumstances… We all have it… What we do with it is our own individual call… and the true connection… just one thing… LOVE… What a ride! Here is to our Mojo… Namaste, Brian

In each new day we have the opportunity to surround our family, friends and perceived enemies with golden light… For many of us, it is much easier to surround our enemies with ill wishes… So why consider changing???… a) to free ourselves from the chains that bind us… b) to release judgment… c) to become the change that we wish to see in our world… By surrounding others with a golden light, we recognize that they are a part of us, and just as capable of changing as we are… We recognize that we can only change ourselves… By changing ourselves, we change our world… In the final analysis, only Love is real…
Namaste, Brian

When I visited Sierra Leone and Uganda, I was awakened to truths about our world that I was not aware of on a conscious level… Truth is, over 50% of our world suffers without access to clean drinking water, adequate food supply, or proper shelter… The Universal Flag’s long term goal is to connect everyone and everything together… by doing so, we can ease the burden on billions of souls, and change our world… A tall order for us earth students, but together we can achieve our goals… It starts by changing the only person we can change… ourselves… and when we change, we find solutions, not problems… Namaste, Brian

A simple thought in a simple moment…
May we allow our goodness to connect to all that is right along our chosen paths… may the generations of past, present and future be guided by our own standards and laurels… may we find our way to oneness in all there is… and may we have the courage and fortitude to find and follow our soul designs… Thank you for reading and feeling… Namaste, Brian

As I was standing in the shower this morning, I placed my attention on the warm water pouring over my body. In an instant I was filled with deep gratitude… What a gift that shower was… How many times do we take the simple pleasures in life for granted? As my morning continued, I became aware of kind souls opening doors for me and exchanging pleasantries… and I was filled with deep gratitude… If I had not placed my attention on what was happening in the moment, I would not have been filled with the joy and connection of those moments… Even as I type this, I am filled with gratitude… I have been gifted with education and resources, which allows me type this… Everything in our lives is a gift… The secret is becoming aware of all that surrounds us every second of every day, in the earth school… Namaste, Brian

Since we are all part of the earth school, we all have a story… and, compelling one’s at that… None of us escapes the gifts of experiencing the great yo yo effects of life… The difference between our same stories, is how we process and react to them… For those of us who do not choose to learn and grow… NO PROBLEM!!! The same sad story replay’s in our earth school experience… again and again… over and over… until the day we get tired of the story… That’s the day when we finally figure out, that all those random events weren’t so random… In fact, we realize that all those random events were all connected and… that they produced the SAME RESULTS… EVERY TIME… on that day, the day of recognition, we finally asked… WHY… and our journey to healing and growth began… YEP… It is part and parcel of the fun we volunteered for, before we ever came here… Ask your angels and guides, “What am I to learn.” and you are on your way!!!
Namaste, Brian

Because we we are members of the earth school, it is a given that we will experience many painful events such as betrayal, divorce, abandonment, relationship upheval, etc… At the time, many of us perceive a great loss, and can easily point our finger at the culprit… (There, that person is the reason that I am unhappy…) The loss becomes a part of, “Our Story.” Many of us, store those thoughts and beliefs away for future reference… any time we want to feel the feelings that our stories elicit, we pull them out and place them on the wall, just like a picture… We enable ourselves to feel all over again the pain, anger, etc. behind the picture. Many times those feelings revolve around mistrust, anger, sadness, hate, fear, etc… Storing pictures related to painful events is a NO WIN proposition… So how do we change? We know the culprit, and many times we want them to suffer!!! What does that thinkng do for us? It keeps us locked in a world of repeated same experiences… TO CHANGE, we must view the events and our world from a different space. ONLY LOVE IS REAL… Therefore to change our world and our life, we need to::: Shine a Golden Light of Love on the perpetrator… envision them surrounded by LOVE and happiness… By healing others we believe have wronged us, we heal ourselves, and we heal our World… By doing so, get rid of the pictures that bind us in the same paradigm… and we release ourselves to the only vibration that is real… LOVE…
Namaste, Brian

None of us earth students journey our chosen path without occasional pot holes… In fact, our journey many times takes us on a roller coaster ride… That is the gift of the earth school… We are given the opportunity to experience opposites, which eventually allows us to let go of judgments… and in the process, we connect to the wonder of interconnection… WHAT A RIDE, What A GIFT… Namaste, Brian

No matter what the journey presents us, the correct answer is Love… No doubt the earth school masks the truth in every conceivable way… However, that is No Excuse for any manifested being… We came with a soul purpose that in the final analysis allows us to reconnect to the Truth… of… Love… and as Bugs Bunny used to say, “That’s all there is folks.” Namaste, Brian

All the souls and all the manifested energy throughout the entire universe of creation, vibrates with one vibration… LOVE… Each of us earth students are surrounded with more love than is possible to feel or imagine… Take a moment to feel the love we share right now… You are AMAZING!!! Namaste, Brian

The host of “A Call to Consciousness” radio, Brian D. McClure, is also the founder and managing director of The Universal Flag and its affiliate companies. He has authored numerous popular children’s books, all which share a common theme of the interconnection and oneness of all. Brian is currently writing a book about his journey into consciousness aptly titled, A Call to Consciousness. His personal mission is to make a transformational difference in the world, by helping others to remember that everything is connected.

“When going through Hell, keep going.” ~ Winston Churchill

I’m driving to Death Valley tonight with my music artist, Ash Ruiz, for a desert sunrise photo shoot at 4:30am.

Driving to Death Valley is powerfully symbolic for me as I’m in the chaotic throws of a deep transformational moment … you could say the “shift is really hitting the fan!”

I’m in the midst of that kind of rare Transformation that grinds down deep into your cellular matrix and with brute force and no apology just rips your tired electrons out of their atomic orbits, injects each one with a bitter wheatgrass cocktail before tossing ‘em all up in the air like confetti, and then simply sits back and smiles smugly as each little bit of you slowly drifts back together to form some newly imagined being whose fundamental nature no longer resembles that which existed just moments prior.

THAT is Transformation with an oversize capital “T”!!

Often this kind of deep Transformation gets kickstarted by Life abruptly reaching in and ripping away from us our prized beliefs, circumstances, people, etc. like a crazed hot bikini wax specialist on an uninvited sacred waxing mission! (I consulted my three sisters and two mothers for metaphors. This one won). And sometimes we finally get enough sense to do some wax ripping ourselves.

Either way, before a satisfying new reality has a chance to replace what’s been ripped away (and we’ll leave behind the bikini wax metaphor here, otherwise things will just get awkward), if we’re really in the midst of True Transformation, we are inevitably confronted with a period of nothingness.

“No-Thing-ness”

No-thing-ness is an experience during which our precious, fundamental truths about life, such as who we are, what we’re supposed to do, who we’re supposed to be with, how we’re supposed to be, etc. become unclear. We may not even be capable of imagining what could replace our current reality, currently crumbling at our feet.

Genuine No-Thing-ness is a place in which our identity, the very basic idea of who we think we are, loses certainty and we find nothing rushing in to save us from this confounding void. (By the way, did you catch that? “No-thing” rushes in to fill the void … Sit with it.)

However, this time of No-Thing-ness is a delicious and mostly misunderstood gift of True Transformation. For that moment, if we choose to see it, we get to directly experience our true nature as infinite beings of this wondrous Uni-verse. Rather than identifying ourselves by some set of circumstances or responsibilities, a job, a relationship, a religion, a name, for that moment of No-Thing-ness we get to be … possibility, itself!!

Let me repeat that. In confronting “No-Thing-ness”, we get to experience our true nature as POSSIBILITY, ITSELF!!

Yes, as creative engines made of Universal desire, we are every moment empowered to freshly invent ourselves and the world around us. We can create anything, imagine anything, dream anything … BE anything.

We are literally Earth, come alive. Conscious stardust. We just usually live in ignorance of that. Transformation only serves to remind us.

To truly reinvent ourselves and create new realities, we must let go our stories of the past. This is the invitation of No-Thing-ness. It’s frightening, I know. If I am NOT Bryan, the manager of this artist, or the boyfriend of that woman, or the guy that always has satisfying work to do, and who has a nice home, enough money and his shit together (and life is showing me that I’m not always ANY of those things) … then who am I?

Often we rush to fill this odd No-Thing-ness with new partners, new jobs, new beliefs, new circumstances, which really only delays the opportunity for True Transformation. Simply witness how many mistakes you’ve sworn you learned from and would never repeat again, only to live them again soon after. … Can I get an Amen!?!

There’s a great line in the Will Smith movie “I Am Legend”. Years after human civilization has ground to a halt and is near extinction, a woman says, “We can hear God speak to us when it is silent.”

In the quiet space of No-Thing-ness, when I’m not distracted by all the circumstances, relationships, responsibilities, and beliefs that I normally use to define myself, I see clearly that I’m just a brilliant child of and actually wanted by this Uni-verse!

How do I know the Uni-verse wants me? Because I’m here. It created me. Just as it created you.

I’m not exactly sure what this child of the Uni-verse is supposed to do next, however. As I wrote earlier, everything in my life is completely uncertain right now. It seems for this moment I’m just supposed to drive to Death Valley for a photo shoot.

I am encouraged by the Death Valley National Park website which says that “rare rainstorms bring vast fields of wildflowers. Lush oases harbor tiny fish and refuge for wildlife and humans … a great diversity of life survives in Death Valley.” It seems even Death Valley, despite its harsh, lonely, desperate conditions, offers powerful gifts of beauty and resilience.

So as my caterpillar body burns in this void of No-thing-ness, which like a black hole slowly devours past ideas of who I think I am or what I’m supposed to do, my Transformational journey continues undeterred towards the next brilliant Wonderland awaiting my butterfly spirit.

Have you experienced this place of No-Thing-ness? What have you discovered there?

ABOUT BRYAN REEVES

Bryan Reeves manages transformational music artists and blogs about his experience at www.ManagingTheMagic.com. Bryan was once a Captain in the US Air Force before becoming the worldwide PR Spokesperson for an Oprah-endorsed human energy research company. He currently manages pop-spiritual-fusion music band HERE II HERE (www.hereiihere.com) and electro-pop artist Ash Ruiz whose hot, lyrical music raises the volume of Your True Nature (www.ashruiz.com).

About Ash Ruiz

Ash was raised around the globe, traveling as a member of the Latin teen-sensation band, Menudo. At 16 he traveled to Machu Picchu for a video shoot. When he stepped off the helicopter and touched the ground, everything disappeared. There was no Ash Ruiz, no Machu Picchu, no llama, no Peru, no Earth, no Universe. All that was present was the ordinary radiance of clear all pervading awareness, and from that moment on his life would never be the same. Since, the reality of love and causeless joy have inspired music as the fragrance of his heart, constantly coming through in ever-exciting ways. To learn more about Ash’s new music project (post-“Here II Here”, his conscious-pop band for the last 14 years) visit www.ashruiz.com. You can also stay connected with him on Facebook by Liking his page here: http://www.facebook.com/ashtribe

Surrendering to your sorrow has the power to heal the deepest of wounds

For many people grief is an option. Looking at my own life, I realized it is a matter of life and death. In fact, throughout my life, grief has been an important theme from crying for food as a child to dealing with deep pain of losses as I grow older. My earliest memory of deep grieving was when I was a little girl, about 5 or 6-years old. One of my playmates died. I was so shocked and confused by the whole business especially when I was told I would never see him in a physical form again. I grieved for a long time and it just wouldn’t stick in my head that my friend had died. Every day I would try to go with the hope to play with him, but he wasn’t there. My community would gently say to me “do you remember that he died?,” and they supported me and grieved with me. Although I grieved for a long time, over a year, it was accepted as a normal part of life. I was never asked, “Aren’t you finished grieving yet?” Rather, they would say – “Have you grieved enough? Have you cried enough?”

For my people, the Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso in West Africa, we see that in life it is necessary to grieve those things that no longer serve us and let them go. When I grieve I am surrounded by family reassuring me that the grieving is worthwhile and I can grieve as much as I want. We experience conflicts, loved ones die or suffer, dreams never manifest, illnesses occur, relationships break up, and there are unexpected natural disasters. It is so important to have ways to release those pains to keep clearing ourselves. Hanging on to old pain just makes it grow until it smothers our creativity, our joy, and our ability to connect with others. It may even kill us. Often my community uses grief rituals to heal wounds and open us to spirit’s call.

I thought this perspective on grief was natural for everyone until I came to the U.S. I was with a friend who was having a conflict with her family and I knew the situation was not easy for her. But one day I heard her alone in the bathroom crying! I said, through the door, “Are you OK?” She said, “Yes, I’m fine!” I said to myself, “Oh my god, something is not right here.” The people who were supposed to support her were not there. I felt conflicted and wondered what would my grandmother do in this situation?

I was in my late teens when my grandmother died. I was overcome with so much devastating grief I was unable to release it. I was stuck in feeling of anger, betrayal and even rage. I wondered, how could my grandmother do this to me? Everyone was grieving around me. Though I could not join them they made a space for me. Everyone took turns caring for each other as they broke down. Luckily, the seventy-two hours of usual grieving time were stretched beyond five days. When everyone was finished, I still had much to grieve, and people were still there for me. Though I began my grieving late I never felt dissatisfaction from those around me. It is natural that people around you start to grieve when you do. We know that when you have pain it’s not a personal pain, it is a pain of the whole group. We experience a collective sharing, so that an individual doesn’t need to bear all the weight of the suffering.

Many years later, while in the U.S., I had a relationship crisis. I felt like I was dying. I realized that I was feeling lonely in my grief as my soul, heart and mind continuously collided. I was not used to giving an intellectual explanation to my grief. I found much relief in various communities here and when I got home and everyone joined me in the grieving all of a sudden, I felt lighter.

There is a price in not expressing one’s grief. Imagine if you never washed your clothes or showered. The toxins that your body produces just from everyday living would build up and get really stinky. That is how it is with emotional and spiritual toxins too. What we must remember is that, the more these toxins rise the more we have a tendency to blame or hurt others around us. People never harm others out of joy, they give pain to others because they too are hurt or in pain.

There can be so much grief that we grow numb from the unfelt and unexpressed emotions that we carry in our bodies. Unexpressed hurt and pain injures our souls, and can be linked directly to our general sense of spiritual drought and emotional confusion, not to mention the many illnesses we experience in our lives. Many of us suffer from medical conditions that are grief-related. Grieving, whether in private or in community, has many scientifically proven health benefits, from lowering blood pressure and risks of heart attacks to simply having a better quality of life.

We need to begin to see grief not as a foreign entity and not as an alien to be held down or caged up, but as a natural process. As the recipient of someone’s grief we also must understand that it is OK for someone to express pain.

In today’s world, most of us carry grief and do not even know it. We have been trained at a very young age how not to feel. In the West we are often taught that to be good girls and boys we have to “suck it up.” The consequences are that even with your most intimate and trustworthy friends you might feel like, “I am burdening them.” Crying in front of others is too often a forbidden fruit. We learn to compartmentalize our grief because expressing it in an unwelcoming place will only lead to more grief. We are taught that the people who are closest to us have no way of holding us when we fall apart.

Yet we are born fully knowing how to grieve. We cry naturally to feel better, to unburden ourselves and take a few pounds off our shoulders and souls.

If there is a way for everyone to grieve openly, I believe it will also diminish the blaming and shaming that goes on between the races. When you are in the presence of someone grieving you don’t see color anymore, it is a universal language. We are all in pain. There is no need to blame others. Blame, shame, and guilt come from being unable to express our grief properly. How can we pretend to be happy, peaceful and loving when we have so much pain and grief?

I believe the future of our world depends greatly on the manner in which we handle our grief. Positive expressions of our grief are healing. However, the lack of expression of our grief or its improper release is what is at the root of the general unhappiness and depression that people feel, all of which lead to war and crimes.

There are things we can do in society to help heal. We can begin by accepting our own and each other’s grief. We can have grief rooms and shrines in public spaces where people can go to grieve. I have seen this happen in different communities in the United States and it worked for them. Churches can have rooms for people to grieve. One of my dreams is to turn places where there have been great and repetitious crimes into grief shrines where people can go to mourn. I imagine Memorial Day not as a day of barbecue, but a day to allow us to deal with our daily frictions, losses and grief as a community.

Communal grieving offers something that we cannot get when we grieve by ourselves. Through validation, acknowledgement and witnessing, communal grieving allows us to experience a level of healing that is deeply and profoundly freeing. Each of us has a basic human right to that genuine love, happiness and freedom.

ABOUT SOBONFU SOME

Sobonfu Somé is a respected lecturer, activist and author. She is the founder of Wisdom Spring, Inc. an organization dedicated to the preservation, the sharing of indigenous wisdom and fundraisers for wells, schools and health projects in Africa. She is one of the foremost voices of African spirituality to come to the West, bringing insights and healing gifts from her west-African culture to this one. Sobonfu often tours the United States and Europe teaching workshops. Her books includes: The Spirit of Intimacy: Ancient Teachings in the Ways of Relationships, Welcoming Spirit Home: Ancient Teachings to Celebrate Children and Community, and Falling out of Grace: Meditations on Loss, Healing and Wisdom. She is also the author of Women’s Wisdom from the Heart of Africa a 6CD set. For more information, about Sobonfu’s projects and teaching schedule please visit: www.Sobonfu.com, www.walkingforwater.org or www.wisdomspring.org Sobonfu Somé can be reached at: Sobonfu@aol.com

A version of this article was originally published in Alternatives Magazine.

Near the beginning of my journey of awakening, I recognized that my challenge in this lifetime was to stretch my way of being beyond its aggressive comfort zone. Throughout childhood and beyond, I had relied on my Warrior spirit to deal with the world before me. That spirit permeated my adaptations and disguises, my daily interactions and love relationships, my call to become a criminal trial lawyer. War was my habitual range of e-motion. I ate the war game for breakfast.

But then something happened. After an extraordinary apprenticeship with a brilliant criminal lawyer (fellow Warrior Eddie Greenspan), I went to Turkey on a last vacation before opening my own practice. There, I was awakened to and reminded of other pathways of possibility, other versions of Jeff longing to take up space inside of me, pushing at my soul seams. I came home to a spiritual emergingcy- the state of confusion and inner tumult that one experiences when a spiritual path is pushing its way into consciousness, prior to its full emergence and integration. Amid the outcries of my angry Warrior, I procrastinated the decision to practice law. Over time, I recognized that my challenge in this lifetime was to make a radical transformation in my soul consciousness. After many lifetimes as the archetypal Warrior-the call to arms- the scripture in this lifetime was to soul stretch into a more surrendered and loving way of being-the call to disarm. A new Soulshape, one with a white flag at its centre….

As part of the journey home, I disdained the Warrior within at every turn. I disparaged his driven nature, his narrow minded focus, his macho ways of being. I saw his armour as my primary obstacle, an anger encrusted distraction from true-path. In my efforts to embody a more heartfelt way of being, I needed to distance myself from the battlefields I knew best.

But I missed the point. Towards the end of writing Soulshaping, I recognized that I had misunderstood the nature of this process. Old Soulshapes don’t fade away. They just get pushed aside as the new forms come into being. When the new form concretizes, the old forms rise back into awareness. Where before the Warrior and Healer archetypes appeared to be flowing in disparate directions, they were now revealed as inextricable branches of the same waterway. On the River of Essence, everything flows in the same direction- towards the Ocean of Wholeness. At some point, the assertive and the surrendered become indistinguishable.

Since that time, my respect for the Warrior within has deepened. Who pushed me to overcome my miserable childhood? Who stood his ground in the face of tyrannical parents? Who pushed me to door knock my way through University? Who motivated me to clear my emotional debris and excavate my callings? Who got me through the writing of Soulshaping amid tremendous economic pressure? Who is energizing me to write this blog?

It is easy to miss the beauty of the Warrior spirit, particularly the traditional male warrior. We have given women so little to be proud of- misplaced aggression, power games, heartless destruction at every turn. Our history has been a perverse distortion of our spirited nature, an egoic cloud of dark and thunderous proportions. As a man, I am genuinely ashamed of what we have perpetrated in the name of the Warrior. I invite all men to acknowledge their complicity and to give extra kindness to the women in their lives. I ask the Divine Mother for forgiveness on our behalf.

At the same time, I bow down to the noble efforts we have made to create a better world. I honor my Grandfather, who risked his life in World War Two to protect the world I would be born into. I honor my Grandmother who held the family together under onerous circumstances. I honor the Warrior spirit that built the railroads, the cities, the bridges that bring us into contact with one another. I honor those who worked like dogs, who died in the trenches, who did everything they could to establish the foundation that I stand on in my efforts to go higher. But for them, this blog would not even enter my consciousness. I would be foraging through the brush, knife in hand, attempting to find food to feed my family and fuel my survival. Praise to those well intentioned Warriors who came before.

As with everything we do, the key to our actions is the intention behind our actions. Intention, intention, intention. The Warrior is not the problem- the sourcespring is the problem: What is motivating our decision to act? Is our edge emanating from a soulful sourcespring or are we disconnected from the taproot? Are we making a conscious decision to assert ourselves or are we unconsciously directed? Are we fueled by congealed rage or a heightened intention? Civilized humans or barbaric beasts?

I think of the Warrior much like I think of the mind. When the mind’s doings are directed by our highest intentions, it is a magnificent and constructive tool. One begins to think of ways to honor our callings and to elevate humanity. Yet when it is driven by primitive patterning and old tapes, it is self-destructive and soul-distractive. I remember when I first crossed over from poverty to a measure of material comfort in my life. Instead of shifting my mind’s focus from survival to the next step in my evolution, I remained trapped in the worry mind, jumping from one neurotic tree top to another, fueled by the memory of prior realities. Although I objectively knew my life had changed, I didn’t feel it, because I was still back there, trapped in the monkey mind and his fixation on survival. When I finally did feel the shift, I began to utilize my mind to actualize the next stage of my inner evolution, to express and humanifest my highest callings. It was all a question of where I was moving from.

To get to the world as it ought to be from the world as it is, we need the benevolent Warrior within. We need his energy and his focus to develop and utilize our inner tools. We need his clarifying sword to distinguish false-path from true-path. We need his courage to fight for our right to the light, to push us to adventure beyond our habitual range of e-motion and try other ways of being on for size. Like swashbucklers of the spirit, we bravely seek out any experience that might inform our path and determinedly participate in our own revealing. In Soulshaping, I call it shtuscle- inner muscle, the soul driven determination to overcome whatever obstacles come our way. Without shtuscle and lots of it, we’re not getting home.

I invite you to honor the benevolent Warrior that lives inside you. Acknowledge the ways he has already helped you to survive and reach this stage of your journey. Applaud his efforts to awaken you when you fall asleep. Give breath to his desire to take you higher up the Mountain of Consciousness. Honor the white flag at the heart of his feisty nature. The Dude loves you.

Blessings to Benevolent Warriors everywhere. There is much work to be done on sacred battlegrounds before we can evaporate into Essence. Souldier on….

ABOUT JEFF BROWN

A former criminal lawyer and psychotherapist, Jeff Brown co-founded the Open Heart Gang, a benevolent gang with a heartfelt intention. Their first act of gratitude is the nearly completed production of a documentary about his connection to Bhagavan Das (of Be Here Now fame). Called Karmageddon, this film includes wonderful dialogues with Jeff and spiritual teacher Ram Dass, yogis Seane Corn and David Newman, and chanters Deva Premal and Miten. Jeff was interviewed by CNN Radio and New Dimensions Radio. He also appeared on the ‘God Talk show’ on Fox News.com. Additionally, Jeff was invited to write five Weekly Inspirations for ABC’S Good Morning America and articles for the Washington Post’s On Faith Blog, Insight Magazine (Australia) and Synergy Magazine.

To listen to Jeff’s interview on A Call to Consciousness, click here.

To learn more about Jeff, please visit www.SoulShaping.com!

The main objective of the walk is to bring awareness to the educational difficulties some schools experience and to raise R500,000 (nearly $64K USD) to upgrade a selected school and provide transportation to students who attend the 36 schools along the walk’s route through Namibia, Botswana, South-Africa and Mozambique.

As part of the drive Buys and Louw will also be collecting educational toys, writing pads, pens, pencils, sharpeners, crayons and teacher teaching aids like chalk, educational teaching materials and so forth. All of this will be distributed equally between the 36 schools.

“We will walk all the way, to share in the pain of thousands of children that have to walk up to three hours to get to the nearest school daily. They have the drive and we want to support them in providing some educational materials,” South African resident Louw said to The Post.

Louw and Buys have already done numerous interviews with newspapers, magazines and radio stations and are hoping that their community in Bela-Bela, South Africa will support them in their efforts. They are holding local drives where people can donate anything from writing essentials to educational toys. Any support from the International community would be appreciated as well.

A full documentary regarding the walk will also be shot throughout and the rights for the broadcasting thereof are currently under negotiation.

Mamma-Afrika Hampers & MAfrika Projects is a dynamic company working hand in hand with non-profit organizations (NPO’s) and many others to build a better future for the struggling world community. Their main focus in their midterm goal is on the African continent with the focus being especially on education, self-sustainable community modules, and self-sustainable feeding projects.

For more information visit the website or follow Mamma-Afrika Hampers on Facebook.

Bayazid realized that had he prayed for this right from the beginning, he would not have wasted his life. I had to face this sort of dilemma at an All India Laughter Convention held in India. Only a day before the convention, I was invited as the chief guest by one of the Laughter Clubs. Approximately 120 members welcomed me with warmth and affection.

The club seemed extremely well organized with many people regularly attending the laughter sessions. The leader began the session with some laughter and stretching exercises, lasting for about 30 minutes. After the exercises, he brought us up to date with a report about various activities of the club which all sounded good to me.

Although I appreciated the efforts of the leader and not intending to be critical, I told him that the laughter exercises were a little mechanical and the stretching exercises were too fast for the senior age group. I was only trying to reinforce my teachings; however, it was not well taken by the leader.

After listening to my remarks, a look of extreme displeasure came over the leader’s face as he gave me a disparaging sideways glance and thanked me half-heartedly in his closing remarks. His tension and anger with my remarks, which he obviously had seen as a personal affront, were visibly apparent as he avoided speaking to me for the remainder of the conference. Feeling dismayed and bewildered with his behavior, I began wondering if I had done the proper thing by offering what I felt was constructive criticism.

That same evening we met at a party, but he was still very curt and angry with me. When he began making critical remarks about my work, I was infuriated and ready to retaliate. Fortunately, better sense prevailed, as I took a deep breath and held back my anger.

Saddened and hurt by the turn of events, I went back to my hotel and looked through my final preparation for the conference. Much to my surprise and disgust, I found that this particular leader was to be awarded with a gold medal for his contribution to the laughter movement at the end of the conference. For a moment I was consumed with revenge and wanted to cancel his award, but an inner voice would not allow me to commit such an act of unkindness. Suddenly, I realized there would be no difference between him and me if I reacted in this manner. I decided to continue my positive approach, at least outwardly, until the time it genuinely came from within.

The next day at the conference, despite the revelry, laughter and fun, the leader did not look happy. I decided to break the ice. I went up to him and apologized for my remarks. I said I had no intention of hurting him and appreciated all that he had done for the laughter movement, that my words were merely constructive criticism. Immediately, his expression softened and he began smiling. Congratulating him as I presented his award, I noticed tears in his eyes. Not only did I know he regretted his rude behavior, but I also knew my comments had been forgiven and my apology accepted.

Compassion and understanding are two great tools that can transform the mind. Remaining positive will in time foster positive change; however, that change will never happen until you change your own behavior.

ABOUT DR. MADAN KATARIA

Dr. Madan Kataria, was coined by the London Times as the ‘Guru of Giggling.’ His invention has grown into a worldwide movement of more than 6000 Laughter Yoga clubs in over 60 countries, and has been covered by prestigious publications like TIME magazine, National Geographic, and the Wall Street Journal and been featured on CNN, BBC, US networks and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Dr. Kataria is a keynote and motivational speaker for companies, corporations and organizations all over the world. He has done seminars and workshops with IBM, Hewlett Packard, YPO (Young President Association), SAS and Emirates Airlines, Volvo Automobiles, Glaxo Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Manpower and Social Welfare, Singapore Government, Western Australian Parliament, Dubai (UAE), and HRD Congress Malaysia.

To learn more about Dr. Madan Kataria, please visit www.LaughterYoga.org

Our relationships with other nonhuman animals (aka animals) move us all over the place. We love some, hate others, and are indifferent to a wide range of fascinating species. Animals intrigue and inspire us and as we inquire about who they are we learn much about who we are.

John Berger, a famous art critic, painter and author, spent a good deal of time in his seminal work called About Looking analyzing what it means to gaze at animals. We stare at them for hours in a nature documentary, take a trip to a sanctuary in order to feel connected with them, and marvel at their amazing cognitive, emotional, and moral capacities. An important question on which many people often reflect is, “Why do we engage with other animals in a myriad of ways, often highly contradictory and inconsistently?”

We also need to ask, “What about the animals who are staring back at us?” What is taking place behind the eyes and between the ears of a chimpanzee or a mouse in a laboratory, a deer or a bird darting through rush hour traffic, a wolf running from those who want to kill him, or two dogs romping here and there at a dog park? What is happening in their hearts? How do we give animals their due and recognize that they too observe us and also hear and smell us, that they too are sentient, thoughtful, and emotional beings who share and engage in this world with us?

There are many books, documentaries, and other venues that can help us answer these and many other questions that center on our relationships with other animals. The relatively new field of anthrozoology that is concerned with research on the nature of humans-animal interactions is gaining a good deal of momentum from researchers representing many different disciplines.

What has been missing, but no longer is, is a museum that can also help us learn more about human-animal interactions. For the past year I’ve had the pleasure and honor of serving as an advisor to the National Museum of Animals & Society (NMAS), based in Southern California. This museum is dedicated to enriching the lives of people and animals through the exploration of our shared experience when we and other animals encounter one another. In their collections, exhibitions, programs, and educational efforts, the museum centers on the full spectrum of human-animal studies (our relationships with, and perceptions of, other animals), the history of protecting animals by organizations as well as by everyday people, and the importance of humane education.

Traveling Exhibition, Our Shared Experience

NMAS is the first museum to take on this subject matter from the perspective that respects the lives of individual animals. Its subject matter is near and dear to the hearts and minds of millions of people and most likely dates back to our very first interactions with other animals.

Humans have long grappled with the moral, legal, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of our interactions with, and representations of, nonhuman animals. This has included numerous debates about our responsibilities to companion animals as well to wildlife in crisis, the awe and revulsion experienced when witnessing animals in zoos and circuses and our feelings about how they are represented in literature, art, and film, and our inspiration as artists, writers, photographers, and audiences that awakens our best sensibilities about the lives of the many animals with whom we are active participants in different areas of society. All this is what NMAS calls “our shared experience.”

Historically, such experiences have motivated many people, at different points in time, to protect animals from cruelty and to challenge the ways in which we habitually think about and relate to other animals in the grand scheme of things. While sages such as Socrates and his contemporaries gave thought and energy to questions about the welfare of animals, it wasn’t until the mid-1700’s that the movement to protect animals gathered momentum. In fact, around this same period of time, there was much overlap among several social justice causes, such as those to abolish slavery, fight for women’s suffrage, and advocate for the interests of children and laborers. Interestingly, these other organized efforts have been widely represented and discussed in museums, but not that of animals—until now.

NMAS is the brainchild of museum professional and animal advocate Carolyn Merino Mullin, who has long been interested in how we can preserve, interpret, and present our rich and inspiring history of caring for animals. Now in its third year, the museum is fundraising to open exhibition space in Los Angeles, California. Led by an exemplary group of directors, advisors, and academics, NMAS has already produced a number of bi-coastal traveling and online exhibitions ranging from animal welfare in colonial America to a children’s exhibit on mythical beings to an innovative and interactive Facebook exhibit called “Souls Awakened: The Animals Who Have Shaped Us” that exposed thousands of children to humane education programs at schools and festivals. NMAS also is acquiring a remarkable collection of historical artifacts (currently 500 items). Be on the lookout for its summer exhibit called “Be Kind: A Visual History of Humane Education, 1880–1945″.

You can follow NMAS on their website, Facebook, and Twitter and support this inspirational, model, and seminal organization and enrich your own life and relationships with other animals in the process. Those people living or vacationing in Southern California also can take advantage of their Fall Lecture Series, guest speakers, events, and much more.

As time goes on nonhuman animals are enjoying much more positive publicity as we learn that our own health and well-being are tightly associated with how we treat these remarkable beings. NMAS will surely enrich these varied and shared experiences, help us appreciate just how amazing other animals truly are, and foster coexistence with other animals and other humans.

Note: In the spirit of the growing field of anthrozoology, a course titled “Animals and Us” will be offered by Schumacher College in the UK. Information can be seen here. This course follows up on a special issue of Resurgence Magazine published earlier this year.

ABOUT MARC BEKOFF

Marc Bekoff is a former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. He has won many awards for his scientific research including the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Marc has written more than 200 articles, numerous books, and has edited three encyclopedias. His books include the Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, The Ten Trusts (with Jane Goodall), the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, the Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships, Minding Animals, The Emotional Lives of Animals, Animals Matter, and The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Increasing Our Compassion Footprint. In 2005 Marc was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and prisoners. In 2009 he became a scholar-in-residence at the University of Denver’s Institute for Human-Animal Connection and a faculty member of the Humane Society University. In 2009 he also was presented with the St. Francis of Assisi Award by the New Zealand SPCA.

Original article: Psychology Today, Published April 7, 2012

To learn more about Marc, please visit the links above!

All that arises in each of our individual earth school journeys, (whether we perceive the events as good or bad… right or wrong)… happen for a specific reason… awakening to our higher truth… the truth of our soul design… Namaste, Brian

Many times we earth school students get caught up in our earth school location… (where we live, the language we speak, the religion we have an allegiance to… the list is endless)… But… the truth is, WE ALL come from the same place… Just as we all communicate in the same language… Just because we have chosen to spend a few days in the earth school, don’t fool yourself… All of us are connected in love… A love greater than any of us can imagine or remember… Namaste, Brian

So here we are… right here and right now… but let’s not fool ourselves… with our human hardware, connected to our human software, it is easy for us to get pulled into our minds, or the drama of the day, or the story of the past, and lets not forget the rescue of the future… )) Ahhh the undeniable beauty of the quest we have chosen… We are true gifts in this world, as we strive to remember, one truth at a time… Nothing like our earth school life class… Keep up the good work! You make a difference, that only you can make… Namaste, Brian

Before you drew your first breath on the earth plane, you had an entire plan… A plan that is greater than your wildest imagination… and so it is, for all of us earth students… Find the truth of oneness, and you are well on your way to remembering… Namaste, Brian

We are All visiting the earth school to remember a few simple things… Everyone and everything is connected… Only Love is real… and… We are the answers that we seek… Namaste, Brian

With the ability to connect through the internet… we earth students have the opportunity to spread our universal symbol of oneness to all regions of our world… (This is a first…) and our connective symbol spreads, reminding us that there is no separation… and one day, soon enough… we will no longer need a symbol to remind us of who we are… we will just live it… Namaste, Brian

No matter who you are and what you have or haven’t done in your life, You absolutely make a difference in our world… Namaste, Brian

Like energy combines and creates… That is the same for both sides of duality… Only you determine what energy you send out… Make it count! Namaste, Brian

What we plan on doing and what we think about doing, but never get around to… makes no difference… The only thing that creates, is what we do… Namaste, Brian

The host of “A Call to Consciousness” radio, Brian D. McClure, is also the founder and managing director of The Universal Flag and its affiliate companies. He has authored numerous popular children’s books, all which share a common theme of the interconnection and oneness of all. Brian is currently writing a book about his journey into consciousness aptly titled, A Call to Consciousness. His personal mission is to make a transformational difference in the world, by helping others to remember that everything is connected.

One of the biggest is in the demands and conditions we impose upon ourselves and how we go about our lives — how it should look, what we want it to bring, what we’re willing to do, and especially what we’re not.

Most of us aren’t even aware we have them. But we do. They shape what we create and how we go about it probably more than any other factor.

* * * * *

Take me, for instance.

You’ve heard me write about this future reading by the Buddhist monk who said I was to be a religious leader. It set off a whole wave of conflicting vibrations within me. “Not me,” some inner voices cried out.

“Why not me?” others pleaded. “You’ve got a lot to offer there.”

So I went about trying to do both. First, walking the path of spiritual teacher, sharing what I saw. And then, doing my very best to go in any direction other than that one.

Why should this be important to you?

As far as my own stops and starts or impact, it shouldn’t. But as far as the things going on in you that affect your life, it might perhaps start you looking within to see what’s going on there that’s affecting your life.

Most people never learn how to look inside themselves. It’s not an art that’s taught in high school or college. And for that matter, not in many spiritual schools, either.

For me, I found the easiest way to see what’s going on inside me is to look at what’s happening in my life and how I’m interacting with those things. Perhaps it can help you, too.

I’ve noticed that life tends to come at me in waves. Like waves, it often falls into neat little patterns that repeat themselves over and over again. Situational patterns. Response patterns. Thought and emotional patterns. And lest I forget, behavior patterns.

Like the habit of wanting something and then sabotaging my life so it doesn’t happen.

This leadership prediction was one of those, for it simultaneously attracted and repelled me. I wanted to offer what I had to others. But I didn’t want to give up my self-determination or restrict my ability to go my own way.

So I imposed condition after condition upon how I would be willing to do it, or how it had to look or play out.

The leadership I had envisioned meant being a public figure. But I was unwilling to give up my privacy or attract the attention of those who would feel threatened by what I had to say or do, especially the ones with power and ability to negatively affect me or my family.

So I tried to work in the shadows, behind the scenes helping those I could without drawing the spotlight on me.

It also meant training and supporting those who would help change this world. But doing so too openly risked backlash from the mainstream community of my roots, as well as the metaphysical/spiritual community that I saw was hindering its ability to make a difference by trading one set of rigid beliefs and practices for another. So again, I tried to walk the line between them.

As a result, I did not experience the “success” I wanted, at least in the sense of becoming a international best-selling author or receiving large financial reward. It didn’t lead to widespread visibility for my message or acknowledgment of its value, either. But I justified it to myself by thinking my job was to challenge the status quo, no matter if it was accepted or by whom. And if that meant outer success would elude me, so be it. Even if it meant not being at peace with my mission.

Can you see the pattern, how I was wanting one thing but doing another?

Can you see anything similar within you that contributes to the situations that are stealing your peace or impairing success in your life, however you define it?

Look for incongruencies and actions that don’t seem to fit well with your intent, like conflicts in your thought patterns or ambivalence in how you see and respond to certain situations.

Then again, for you it might be just the opposite, a rigid adherence to a particular view or path when it clearly isn’t serving you. Or engaging in the same emotions or response patterns to the things that happen in your life.

When you find them they will be the key that something more is going on inside you, that there is something within you that deserves exploration and consideration whether it truly serves you or the life you want to live.

Then again, your desire for that life may be a clue in and of itself.

As for me, this whole process of self-examination has opened my eyes to a whole lot of things about me that I didn’t know before. Like how the very suggested of leadership raised a host of issues within me that I didn’t even know were there, much less what to do about them.

So if you find yourself going around in circles, or hitting wall after wall trying to do something you think you want to do, maybe the problem isn’t with reality but within you, and the distorting conditions you’re using to create and experience it.

Leadership — and all the things about myself I’ve learned trying to become worthy of it — is simply pointing the way for me to find my own inner obstacles and heal the scars that caused them to exist in the first place.

Whether I do so in a way that allows others to “follow me” (only God knows why they would) is something we’ll just have to wait to find out.

May you find your inner conditions easier than I found mine, and know what to do with them once you do.

God bless you indeed.

ABOUT JOHN DENNISON

John Dennison is a lawyer, peacemaker and problem solver who addresses the challenges of a world locked in chaos and conflict. An engaging speaker, author, and publisher of PeaceOptions.com, he shares perspectives on how people can move through the problems in a better way to make a difference in their lives and world. To get his free newsletter or have him speak to your group, visit him at JohnDennison.com