Kindness is a great gift bestowing on others rewards that are seldom forgotten.

Patience stands as a means to discover the worth and dignity of any person.

Loving gestures of benevolence lead to understanding and insight.

There are inexplicable and rare moments of joy in tenderness in soft, radiant serenity.

Bending over and stretching can do more for the spirit than all the crowning moments.

Feeling the gentle lowering of the head to the depth of rest can soothe the spirit.

Quieting the mind and awakening the sleeper to the wonders and joy or washing away sorrow.

Fearing nothing and walking aloft with a steady pace despite adversity provides faith.

Joy prevails in forgiving one's detractors and those who will hold enmity toward you.

Right relations have been the only way to peace and justice within and without nations.

No where is there less than here and when we see that all of us deserve to be free,
we will have stood in the shoes of those who we have harmed and asked forgiveness.

1. Watching the thinker. Watching the streaming thoughts The moment that you begin to watch the thinker a higher level of consciousness is activated. You see that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thinking. You see that everything that matters arises beyond the thinking: beauty, joy, love, creativity inner peace and you awaken.

2. Breathing. It is healthier to take one conscious breath than to sit for days meditating. Being aware of your breathing as often as possible. Once daily is a powerfully transformative experience.

3. Inner body awareness. The body is entirely space in the same ways as heaven; Even though it has no form it is alive. The empty space is fullness, the unmanifested source out of which all manifestation flows.

4. Waiting for anything. In line, stopped at rest, note if any impatience arises and look at the experience. Know your hidden urges and desires and focus on them without indulging in the intention to be connected to the tug of need.

5. Nature. Watching without labeling the thing as a bear, a bird, a time of day, a moment, focus on now. Become sensitive to the nature of life, the rhythm of all that is around you.

6. Do simple acts of breathing, taking a step, blessing each morsel that is eaten, being healed by the gifts.

7. Any sound. Listen as though it is rapture. Note the emptiness that occurs at the beginning and end. Every sound is born from silence.

8. Finding time for stillness. Stillness and space are synonymous. Becoming conscious of stillness whenever and wherever we meet. Connects with the formless and timeless. When you are still you are alive.

9. Peer at the sky. The vastness and the emptiness of the sky is you.

10. What is my relationship with the present moment? Is this an end or am I present?

11. Any negative arising. Surrender to what is. Wake up and get out of your mind.

12. Addictions. When you feel urges to do whatever is demanding your attention to take a conscious breath. Dissolve the pattern and consciousness arises.

13. Surrender. Letting go of mental and emotional resistance to whatever is

14. Relationships. Whatever triggers madness between you and your partner welcome the opportunity to cherish the saving grace of that moment. Full attention means acceptance,

15. A practice of great importance is diminishment of the self. When a person blames you, criticizes you, allow it.

16. Speaking with another person. Listening means holding a space, being present, Do not interrupt in your consciousness.

17. Be awake before opening your eyes and when you first close them.Flood the body with awareness.

18. At any time that you awaken, stop and observe the feeling. Listen and be alert to how you are at the moment.

19. A loss, illness sudden injury. Be still. Remark that this is a part of the universal connection and not the end.

20. Death is a portal as the body dissolves. Death becomes the formless light of consciousness.

21. Every moment is point of presence. The practice of these forms of awareness is all that is.

22. It is important that we awaken from thinking and not that we spend an exact amount of time in the process.

Sand and Foam

By Kahlil Gibran

(1926)

I AM FOREVER walking upon these shores,
Betwixt the sand and the foam,
The high tide will erase my foot-prints,
And the wind will blow away the foam.
But the sea and the shore will remain
Forever.

Once I filled my hand with mist.
Then I opened it and lo, the mist was a worm.
And I closed and opened my hand again, and behold there was a bird.
And again I closed and opened my hand, and in its hollow stood a man with a sad face, turned upward.
And again I closed my hand, and when I opened it there was naught but mist.
But I heard a song of exceeding sweetness.

It was but yesterday I thought myself a fragment quivering without rhythm in the sphere of life.
Now I know that I am the sphere, and all life in rhythmic fragments moves within me.

They say to me in their awakening, "You and the world you live in are but a grain of sand upon the infinite shore of an infinite sea."
And in my dream I say to them, "I am the infinite sea, and all worlds are but grains of sand upon my shore."

Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, "Who are you?"

The first thought of God was an angel.
The first word of God was a man.

We were fluttering, wandering, longing creatures a thousand thousand years before the sea and the wind in the forest gave us words.
Now how can we express the ancient of days in us with only the sounds of our yesterdays?

The Sphinx spoke only once, and the Sphinx said, "A grain of sand is a desert, and a desert is a grain of sand; and now let us all be silent again."
I heard the Sphinx, but I did not understand.

Long did I lie in the dust of Egypt, silent and unaware of the seasons.
Then the sun gave me birth, and I rose and walked upon the banks of the Nile,
Singing with the days and dreaming with the nights.
And now the sun threads upon me with a thousand feet that I may lie again in the dust of Egypt.
But behold a marvel and a riddle!
The very sun that gathered me cannot scatter me.
Still erect am I, and sure of foot do I walk upon the banks of the Nile.

Remembrance is a form of meeting.

Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.

We measure time according to the movement of countless suns; and they measure time by little machines in their little pockets.
Now tell me, how could we ever meet at the same place and the same time?

Space is not space between the earth and the sun to one who looks down from the windows of the Milky Way.

Humanity is a river of light running from the ex-eternity to eternity.

Do not the spirits who dwell in the ether envy man his pain?

On my way to the Holy City I met another pilgrim and I asked him, "Is this indeed the way to the Holy City?"
And he said, "Follow me, and you will reach the Holy City in a day and a night."
And I followed him. And we walked many days and many nights, yet we did not reach the Holy City.
And what was to my surprise he became angry with me because he had misled me.

Make me, oh God, the prey of the lion, ere You make the rabbit my prey.

One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.

My house says to me, "Do not leave me, for here dwells your past."
And the road says to me, "Come and follow me, for I am your future."
And I say to both my house and the road, "I have no past, nor have I a future. If I stay here, there is a going in my staying; and if I go there is a staying in my going. Only love and death will change all things."

How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?

Strange, the desire for certain pleasures is a part of my pain.

Seven times have I despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.
The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.

HO HUM! THE SOUR GRAPES DUO ARE AT IT AGAIN

By Helen L. Burleson, Doctor of Public Administration

If one uses a basketball analogy as one derides those who were victorious over you, the transparency is CLEAR. Enter stage left, Sarah Palin announces her resignation as Governor of Alaska. Stating no coherent reason for her departure after serving 2 ½ years of a four-year term, she went out swinging. Her behavior and deliverance was more akin to a breathless baseball player. Swinging her bat, she hit hard at those who not only have superior intellect to her, but also were victorious in achieving their goal. Palin makes up in mastering sarcasm and the great put down what she lacks in knowledge and acumen. She has no time to educate herself about effective governance and world affairs, she is too busy assuaging her exaggerated, unjustified ego. Purportedly doing what is best for Alaska, she avowed that she didn’t want to be a lame duck governor, for many of them spend the tax payers money travelling abroad under any pretext. I guess she thought we didn’t notice that she said she has just recently gone to Bosnia to visit the troops. Of course, she also didn’t notice that there has been a lot of recent publicity about her husband, Todd’s affiliation with the AIP (the Alaskan Independence Party) whose mission was to secede from the Union. Sarah, thus, made it plain that she was proud to be an American. Another swipe that she thought we did not notice, but, we did! Then she attempts to hide behind her special needs child, Trigg as part of the reason why she is resigning. Then she dropped the bombshell on us that everyone should be like Trigg. Statistically, there are not many people born like Trigg, so what does that say about the world's population? What does that say about the intellect of someone who wants to be vice president or president of the United States.

Sarah Palin, as a poster child, is a typical product of American education as we know it today. She has made it very popular and acceptable to be under informed. To understand Sarah, I recommend that you get the movie, “Being There” starring Peter Sellers. Be sure to watch to the end because near the end of the movie, you will see the parallel.

Now, stage right, on the 4th of July comes, the war hero who knew how to get bin Laden and swore that he would get bin Laden if elected president. Is it because we didn’t elect him president that he won’t get bin Laden for us. This makes me think of the child when he sees he’s losing, takes his marbles and goes home sulking. What I don’t understand is why Senator McCain’s, pride in America hasn’t caused him to rid us of our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden? He knows exactly what we should do about Iran. He forcefully expressed that WE should make it plain that WE, the American people, stand with the people of Iran. He emphatically refuted the fact that to do so would not be interfering with Iran’s internal affairs.

You have lost credibility, Mr. McCain. You apparently don’t know anymore about how we should behave by involving ourselves with regimes in Iran than you know about how to get bin Laden.

The only thing I want to hear from you, Mr. McCain is, ‘I’ve got bin Laden!’ For then I shall be able to sleep peacefully at night knowing that you have captured bin Laden and I have nothing to fear anymore.

SUMMER TIME HEAT SHIMMERING OFF THE FIELD
FILLED WITH A MOIST BLANKET OF FINE DROPS OF WATER VAPOR
COVERS THE FIELDS IN A SHEATH OF BREATHING LIFE GIVING FRAGRANCE
SMILES ACROSS THE WIPED BROW OF THE GROWER WHOSE FURROWED BROW IS RIPE WITH SWEAT BEADS FROM UNDER HIS STRAW HAT AND BANDANA PROLIFERATE THE AIR
Best to be out and working early in the daylight and then take a siesta by 11 a.m.

Best to stop work and rest, quench the thirst within with mint tea and a long deserved rest in a hammock swinging back and forth in the shade of a great oak by the stream. Listening to the chorus of frogs and the dragonflies that dart among the lilies and the algae. Gobbling up the dew soaked damsel flies and the larvae of the mosquitoes. The color of the sky is grey and billowing long cumulus clouds gather the moisture and dispense their nourishment again and again over the scene below.
One must rise and get to the field to turn on water and move the lines. One has to open a gate and field the cattle, with a careful eye scan the fields for the beauty and breadth of creation, stock the feed and water the cattle, herd the goats and tend to the countless tasks before the rains begin again. The wind hurrahs over the landscape and darts between rows of ever bearing fruit and the orchard. In the fennel, the rows of sorrel coriander the insects are gathering the sweet array of fine nectars, while beneath the membrane of the earth the worms and beneficial insects make ways for the decaying matter from the rich canopy of the air. Everywhere is stirring. In summer the earth is dormant and the air is flush. In winter the time will come for earth to rejuvenate and restore the corymbs of food for another bursting forth in spring.

The farmer is the choir director and her beneficial singers are the spirit of the earth. All proclaim the bounty and the rewards as theirs and all belonging within the mosaic tapestry of the field.

President Obama has challenged the leaders of the world to do what the United Nations in all of its existence could not achieve.

He has gone to preserve the peace and to stop the proliferation and exploitation of people through threats of military annihilation of the enemy.
He has seen that to live in a world without the threat of the nuclear bomb that we have a chance to overcome the obstacles toward self destruction.

President Obama has said that he has wished to make this a reality since he was young.
It is time that we honor those fallen leaders who have given their lives to making this pledge, to end violence and the threat of nuclear war.

Across the world many nations are attempting to have what America has, the greatest threat to our survival.
We have never stopped making nuclear weapons and if anyone has been a creator of weapons of mass destruction it is the United States.

By going to the second largest manufacturer of nuclear missiles and bombs we have made a first step in saying that no where on earth is there any reason to permit this catastrophe and that we are interested in banning nuclear proliferation in the minds of our children.
There is no need for them to go to bed thinking that they will never live again.

Yes, throughout the world people have been living under the threat and with the real belief that this nation would drop another atomic bomb, or by some mistake that the war would be sparked and a never ending holocaust. It is time and we need a president to stand up and say that we will resolve the issues that face us without destroying anyone.

A call to the living

to those who refuse to make peace with evil,
with the suffering and the waste of the world.

this is a call to the human, not the perfect,
to those who know their own prejudices,
who have no intention of becoming prisoners of their own limitations.

this is a call to those who remember the dreams of their youth,
who know what it means to share food and shelter,
to care for children and those who are troubled,
to reach beyond barriers of the past
bringing people to communion.

this is a call to the never ending spirit
of the common person, her essential decency and integrity,
her unending capacity to suffer and endure,
to face death and destruction and to rise again
and build from the ruins of life.

this is a greatest call of all
the call to faith in people.

This call reminds me of you.
Namaste

The World Crisis:

“The Dragon Is Sleeping With One Eye Open”

Pestilence, famine, starvation, plagues, AIDS, chronic diarrhea, gastroenteritis, typhoid, malaria, measles, and war, the prophets said since the beginning of civilization would be the undoing of the earth. Cleansing out all beings and cleaning the gnawing sores caused by greed, gluttony, avarice, corruption and the epidemic of family forces; class warfare.

There are 100 million or more populace cities in China; forty in India, Indonesia has five, and Nigeria has eight. Nigeria is the eighth fastest growing country in the world. Lagos is going to surpass Cairo as the largest city in Africa. Have you heard of Medan, Surabaya, Semarang, Palembang or Ujung Pandang in Indonesia?

Last year the world population reached a milestone when the urban populace surpassed the rural population. In the next forty years the urban population will swell by three billion people to a total of nine billion. Nature must develop a tool for ridding the earth of its plague of locusts or be strangled.

The world is not accustomed to discussing population control. It is more likely that by sheer numbers and force that people will not produce children. The children on the other hand are dying in a record number; one every six seconds. They are the front line of population control and they are the ones who we are losing in record numbers. The Bible predicted that there would be a day of reckoning for the sins of humanity. Indeed that is the only means for making a change in the landscape short of the predicted natural disasters that will sweep away the many that are clinging to this world.

Rich people will undoubtedly plan an exit strategy and escape if there is a means. There will be many who justify their methods of survival. Governments concerned with protecting special interests will continue to spread the wealth where it suits them and rely on an every expanded military presence to demand obedience. Rebels will undoubtedly attempt to thwart the plans of the military industrialists. There are plenty of arsenals on both sides being horded for military and political despotism.

The Dalai Lama was asked whether he was angry with the Chinese regarding the occupation of Tibet? He responded, “What use would that be, it would not change anything.” Anger in itself is means of expressing helplessness and loss. When we care inordinately about circumstances we respond often in outbursts of anger. The world must develop a means of reducing reactions to events and carefully reconstruct the paradigm of sharing the world with all of its inhabitants. The stakes are forever. The dragon is us.

Foot Rubs Are Crucial to One’s Health

Stout Street Clinic offers pedicures and they go out of their way to ensure that people have clean and safe feet. They cut off and grind down the toe nail build up of fungus; they go out of their way to make a person feel welcomed and cared for, which is more than most practices provide, with the same expectation that a person is a gift and their feet are the crowning jewel.

Stout Street Clinic provides such excellent service with unimaginably caring and professional staff in every department that people reasonably do not want to go any where else. Their Substance treatment services are without a doubt the best in the United States. Their mental health services do not pressure anyone to take anything for granted. Eye care and dental health care top off the only pharmacy that provides for the needs of everyone who is homeless.

When you remove the layers upon layers of grime and soreness on the feet and the abuse that is taken by the toes and pads of the feet it is a miracle that anyone can nimbly and easily attend to the feet day in and day out like a religious ritual. Can anyone fathom the significance of feeling that someone cares for you that much that they are willing to do whatever is necessary to make your feet feel comfortable and clean?

If everywhere in America people took care of the rest of the world the way in which these people respond to patients there would be no reason for war and people would resolve to live better, do better and care for the world with more attention. Thank you Stout Street. You who are a part of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless have made us feel whole and that we belong.