My Sangha

This month has been about putting the pieces together, connecting with my tribe, or as my friend Ken says My Sangha. This is a new word for me, it is from the Pali or Sanskrit and it can be translated loosely as ones community of persons, with similar purpose or vision.
I like this, it has a gentle enfolding sense to it that I may cloak around me for warmth and support...
I roll it on my tongue... hmmmm my Sangha... and can conjure up images and memories of my good people.
Of course my very favorite person is my daughter Aurora, and there is the long list of my friends and family also.
And this brings me back to memories of Robin, of Ric and of Claude, three of my Sangha that I hold dear and miss profoundly(while rejoicing for them in their transitions). Robin left this world in August of 2008, Ric in BC and Claude in Quebec both died in July of 2009.
Each in their own way were beautiful Lights, and I miss them.

They are still part of my Sangha, my Sangha ( I like the sound and the feel of that), my people , the ones I love dearly and am glad to share moments with.
So this is me saying thank you from deep down... I know that I am fortunate,
Thank you for your support, your comments, your courage, your compassion, your kindness, your presence...

God Bless,
Namasté,
Stay well,
And Be

Just Imagine and then Act

I am not quite of the flower power time line but have nonetheless seen and recorded a thing or two. It was 30 years ago on December 8th that Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon. Imagine… and that all gets me feeling pretty strong about things…

My ‘self” is fairly Utopic minded and altruistic, I bought into the ideas of that era, whole-heartedly I believed (and still do) the anthem and the ideas of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’… it is the ‘heart ‘path. I try to live by; Do no harm , speak your truth , loving kindness, respectfulness, mindfulness and reverence for our world and the life in it. And, I practice grace in forgiveness and humility, which can be a pretty tough row to hoe for a German born Leo-fire dragon raised in Ontario. I hold onto and strengthen ‘faith’ and trust every day that I have the privilege of fresh new breaths.

So as I listen to ‘Imagine’ and be aware that we have moved far from its possibilities, I wonder how we shifted to:

Imagine there’s no health care

Imagine there’ still genocide

Imagine building companies for the sole purpose of stealing from investors

Imagine stealing money from the poor and giving it to the rich

Imagine killing children in the streets

Imagine making trillions of pharmaceutical dollars to drug up our children for school

Imagine suing farmers for growing food grain accidentally (GMOs)

Imagine actively trying to destroy the finest hope of three generations, Barack Obama

Imagine ownership of water by the few

Imagine a government suffering from Munchhausen’s syndrome

Imagine society being only able to think in terms of fear and self

And I ask my ‘self’, ‘’self, where has all the love gone, what happened to our evolution, when did we begin to slip backwards?’’

And my ‘self’ says,’ ask the world

And when I ask the world, I am prompted through 6 departments and put on hold each time and when I finally get an answer it is to the wrong question.

So, I reflect some more about that, in one Generation we shot, The Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, well, we know the rest of the list. The thing I don’t get is how or why did all of those folks in the generation before me, decide to let go of all the great ideas that they Imagined into existence and then slowly and systematically deconstruct them one decision at a time… very unfortunate.

And then, for a moment I look in the other direction and see hope as grand-parents and grand kids, in concert, lift their hands to the sky singing , ‘Me to We’ ideas and awareness out into existence in the Universe…

So how about

Loving Kindness

Do no harm

Respect for the world around us

Yup, it’s a tall order to fill… while we still can, added here changes it from being daunting perhaps.

Time to change things,

So, Imagine,

Stay well,

And Be

Imagine an image

I've Just posted a few more cards and my first 'other' thing, which is a tote bag made of all recycled materials. That was sparked by the discovery of a bunch of black leather 1990's era cell phone carriers... and a refusal to throw them away... But that is not what I wanted to write about, actually it was about the staggering number of photos that I take for each item before I get a few that I can work with... I could not even imagine an etsy shop without a digital camera (compared to my old 35mm)... For me it is pure magic how all the elements come together from a few seed ideas to what we are able to do these days... And there are so many ways that we can pump our brain muscles too... So, here is a photo of my latest offering and now my Blog has a link to my Etsy shop too, Wishing you a magical day, Namasté,
Stay well,
And Be

first electronic sale happy dance

Yes, process can sometimes take a very long time, getting how a thing, or a series of things works can too, but then the day comes when, after a series of pushes and efforts in a direction, you arrive at the moment when you have gotten an idea to where you wanted it to be... and that is the Youpee! happy dance moment... :0)

Well after nearly two years of process, (recall that I wrote about my various challenges), yesterday was the completion of the very first online transaction of a sale of a Mandalalama product
Youpee! :0) today I am happy dancing myself to smithereens.

A grand thanks to both, Julian Nelson who bravely tested my set up and made that first purchase and to Michael Franti(who doesn't know me yet) for his inspiring music and lyrics that have reminded me to, ''...don't stop and never give up'' and that this way is good,
do good works....
do no harm...
love big...

So I invite you to check out my links, and blogs and various scribbles and send them to your people, and in your corner of this wonderful world say a little YAY! for me too and send some positive energy and perhaps a prayer or two... and if you feel so inclined, send me an encouraging email at:

mandalalama@yahoo.ca

Much love from here to there ( wherever your 'there' is)

bye for now,
Stay well,
And Be
:0)

Mandalalama's first showing ever :0)

Well firstly, I posted the following on Mandalalama facebook page ''This morning I am drinking tea out of my Dora the explora mug.... I'm feeling somewhat 'Explora-ee.... so in keeping up with the ups and the downs and now is an up for some reason, I will reafirm that today is the first day of..... wait! stop that train, (I almost had you there) clichés, gotta love 'em, sometimes.... ...ah hell its raining , my cold is leaving , I slept well, it's a good start to a day so this is me wishing a good day all around.... :0)''

That is a good start, Also Last weekend I participated in the Brighton Arts council winter show and sale in my Mandalalama capacity . It was a good excercise in pulling a thing together on very short notice ( Much thanks to Ken for helping with my booth, and also Tante Ingelore and my friend Dawne who manned/womanned the bookstore for the weekend).
I met up with some wonderful folk and was engaged in some great conversation, and all the while had the chance to extol the virtues of our 'new' second hand book store here in Brighton.
The book store has now been officially named 'READ and GREEN' thanks to the help of Rob Greco. So one can now follow the book store happenings at: readandgreen@blogspot.com

Ok so back to the show.... oh and up there^ is what the booth looked like,
Happay day to all,

stay well,
And Be

Well I have had quite some changes these last months , newly, out of relationship, or 'change in relationship status', new province , new town, new work... the list is long. There have been and still are overwhelming moments discovering and rediscovering what things are important to me, along the way...
I am in the midst of many blessings and occasional disappointments and amazing bouts of awareness...
Some of the amazing awareness has to do with me and that I have recently discovered some of my school of life degrees... Owning that I do not have a Bachelor of Education, BA, BSc, and so forth. As it turns out my 'Degrees' in varying degrees are more akin to things like Bi-polar tendencies, ADD, OCD, and a few others like dislexia. And it would seem that these explain and help me understand that for which I have spent a lifetime being judged for... OK so no biggy, I also get that I am 'other' to most of my clan or tribe... The cool thing is that now I can stop joining the 'beat up Andreas faction of the clan', in the beating up of Andreas, and go about my business well in my own wellness , as it were.

So here I am in my newest layer of awareness, I have spent a very long time hiding and deferring to those achievers around me that I have held dear. believing that perhaps they were right all along... but in the end , I don't believe it after all because I am bursting with energy and positive light and loving kindness, and, though none of these have anything to do with dollars there is nonetheless measurable value there if on chooses to see it.
Therefore if the light of all this me is too bright, kindly put on your sunglasses in order to see me better or step back a bit, but please, please stop trying to douse me.... :0)
Thank you,
Namaste,
Say well,
And Be

Holy cow, I am amazed at how fast time flies.... I haven't written anything in quite some time because I have been fairly busy managing the changes brought on by a change in relationship status. That is to say, separation... through which I have managed to keep myself occupied enough up until now to not crash and burn.... however in spite of Ann's wise words , crash and burn sequence has slowly begun... I write somewhat tongue in cheek, but, we have all been to this place before and therefore I don't need to elaborate...well at least some of us have. So, I am still putting the pieces together, the first part building myself a second hand book store.....
Onward and forward, I suppose
And....