My Spirit Animal

Animals are here to teach humans. They have many powerful lessons to give. They remind us that we are only a small part of creation; that each part of creation has a place; that each creature has its own skill and wisdom.

According to Indian legend, you do not choose an animal guide as your personal spirit guide. The animal chooses you and they decide to whom they will reveal themselves and make their friend. As of right now in my life, I believe that I have been chosen by a spirit animal to help guide and teach me- The Rabbit.

rabbit-ova

Now I have to be honest- the rabbit was not my first choice. It wasn’t my second choice. I didn’t even consider a rabbit as a choice; it just didn’t cross my mind.  I was hoping for the swan, an owl or the raven – something that focused on my positive traits and something that sounded romantic and mystical. The rabbit was nowhere near what I was imagining.

I began to direct my energy on allowing my spirit animal to find me and I came to this conclusion after many personal questions were answered, dreams were spoken, and encounters occurred.

Each Animal has its own medicine which is unique to that specific creature and its spirit cannot be chosen like the color of your new car. Discovering who your animal guides are is a process of paying attention to the spirits around you and following the signs. It is a process of developing your inner knowledge and spiritual understanding.

According to Manataka, If you want your spirit animal to find you, you should focus on asking for your spirit animal in dream or thought. First, pray about it. Second, be satisfied with whatever happens or does not happen. It if comes, then it comes. If it does not, then it does not.

Animals are wondrous happy creatures. There is no doubt that animals have

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Pipe Dreams

I need a moped to complete my life so I can perform important tasks such as these:

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funny_bike
mirror-moped

Oh, How I do long to explore on a two wheel adventure ride! Woe is me! Woe is me! I need more moped in my life.

Disney Be Cuttin’ Some Corners

What up Walt? What’s the punishment for this kind of stuff these days? Some real crime be going down in the Disneyland Hood.

Farmers Under Attack

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Educating Congress: Do Not Supress Organic and Small Farmers and Ranchers; Natural Food Products

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION!

Farmers Under Attack…
This urgent message is from our correspondent, Linn Cohen-Cole:

We have less than two weeks to stop the take over of family farms and ranches,organic and natural foods.
H.R. 875 and S. 425 [and similar bills such a H.R. 759]
We need to rally people immediately.

The new administration is pushing new farm controls through Congress as fast as possible and have coordinated the bills so there will be no debate and the committee meetings are closed.

Transparency, change, undoing Bush’s regulations, giving the public time to comment, grassroots anything? Our entire food system and thus our health is being decided without the public knowing and those who do know have zero access and the media is absent and they are moving at warp speed to sew this up.

Would you put these out, in this order, showing the article as you do so people are more likely to read it? They are imperfect but the closest I’ve come to explaining how the game is going to be played. No direct, frontal assault on organic farming but an insidious process of “infecting” organic farming…

Example: imagine Joel Salatin’s wonderful organic farm under the direction of the USDA, with detailed instructions on what he must feed and when, how he must medically “treat” his animals and with what, what he must “spray” and when, … you get the picture. These bills will industrialize all farms and insure the farmers are forced to buy chemicals and drugs. Organic is dead. As well as human control over the food supply. As well as health.

Schoolmarm approach to punishing farmers out of farming.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-and-the-Schoolmar-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090214-935.html

Bills being rushed through Congress, set to destroy organic farming.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-bills-being-rushe-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090217-758.html

Linn Cohen-Cole is a dedicated researcher and “Paul Revere” of health freedom. At her urging, we’ve set up an Action Item for you to send an unmistakable message to your representatives in the Senate and the House. We must educate Congress that you do not want organic and small farmers regulated out of existence. You do not want “Big Agra” regulations, perhaps necessary to protect the public when dealing with large scale agra business, applied to organic and small family farms and ranches or to natural and organic food products, including Dietary Supplements.
We have prepared the following Petition to Congress with regard to this matter:
————————-
PETITION
To Amend the Food Safety Modernization Act
H.R. 875 [and Substitutes]
By the Addition of the
Natural and Family Food and Farming Exclusion Amendment

To: The Members of the Congress of the United States of America:

Whereas the proposed Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services should focus its activities on the significant public administration issues involving the capacity of large scale, industrialized agriculture to threaten public safety,

Whereas organic and natural agriculture, family farms and ranches, and natural or organic food products, including dietary supplements are not a significant part of the food safety problem, and

Whereas Congress previously provided for an exemption for natural food dietary supplements from the increased agency authority granted by the FDA Modernization Act of 2007, through a rule of interpretation, added as section 1011 of that Act, and has on numerous occasions exempted small and family farms from the same level of regulation as has been deemed necessary in the case of industrialized agriculture,

The citizens ascribing to this Petition therefore hereby request that the Food Safety Modernization Act be defeated, or that it, or any substitute for it, such as H.R. 759, be amended to exclude organic and natural agriculture, family farms and ranches, and natural or organic food products, including dietary supplements, through a rule of interpretation, as follows:

“Rule of Interpretation

“No provision of this act shall be deemed to apply (a) to any home, home-business, homestead, small farm organic or natural agricultural activity, (b) to any family farm or ranch, or (c) to any natural or organic food product, including dietary supplements regulated under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994.”

Furthermore, the ascribing citizens Petition the Congress of the United States to declare it the public policy of the United States that organic and natural agriculture, family farms and ranches, and natural or organic food products, including dietary supplements shall be at all times free from suit, vexation, trouble, penalty, or loss of their goods, for the inestimable values they confer upon the public.

————————-
[March 7, 2009 - This Petition was prepared by Ralph Fucetola JD, a Trustee of the Natural Solutions Foundation, for educational purposes – www.HealthFreedomUSA.org]

Sweetland Sistas

My girlfriend’s a ROCKSTAR!!

sweetland sisters video from B-Rilla on Vimeo.

I’m Losing My Mind. Someone Hand Me a Big Mac!

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The Proliferation of ‘Lonely Planet’

Like the McDonalds of tourism, the proliferation of Lonely Planet (LP) seems as though it has branded and shaped our interaction with the world. LP has effectively homogenized how people think about travel, reducing the experience to a predictable set of outcomes.

Jessica: Now, I don’t think travel guides are bad, because there’s no doubt I could sit in the travel store for hours if I had the time. But just consider the negative effects they can have on our own expectations and awaited experiences.

The vicarious adventures we hope to experience through Lonely Planet writers have all been handed to us on a golden plate. LP has shaped our international expectations as Americans. We don’t know if today’s popular guidebooks have based their selection on the highest advertising bid or on the opinion of the independent back country vagabond. Before rushing to the store, think about the unlimited possibilities you could enjoy through self-discovery and through a journey that you decide. What a freeing and independent feeling! Others that travelled before us who chose not to enjoy the convenience of carrying a list of the hottest restaurants were still able to experience an amazing adventure, right? If you need to research, then research, but try not to depend on a sheet of paper to tell you what you will like and won’t like.  If you are going on a trip  just to check it off your list, you are not living and experiences the amazing quirks that pass right by us everyday. It can still be just as rewarding to relax and enjoy your stay while relying on your own standards to plot the course of your adventure.

Of the travel guidebook experiences that have been shared and discussed amongst our friends and neighbors, the “unique and unknown” guidebook destinations end up being more of a disappointment as they are crowded with camera flashes and 12-pocket cotton shorts…all because of the popular suggestions and trip tips of the “New American Guidebook” way of life.  Everything is so convenient now that we expect to be led by the hand without getting dirty. Do we still have the drive to experience the same adventures and excitement without the specific suggestions of today’s “progressive” guidebook leaders?

It seems the idea of Lonely Planet is not to provide us with secret spots of interest and local favorites, but instead, the corporate head telling us what we must do and where we must go in order to see true culture and excitement. We seem to be missing out on so many opportunities because we rush to the next suggested hotspot. Always remember, a well-beaten path does not always make the right road.

And as Oprah puts it, “Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.”  :)

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Dave: Our own personalities may likely have the final say on our expectations and experiences when venturing to far away lands. If you expect to pay a lot of money on travel expenses and tour guides, take off from work for a month and have the adventure of your life, then I hope your personality meshes well with your expectations.

Most of us crave adventure and new experiences, but truth be told, a lot of people are reluctant creatures of habit. This said, you are only going to experience as much as you allow yourself to experience. I think we would all feel liberated if we could just lift our self-imposed limitations and even our own views of ourselves from time to time.

I’m not saying we should be different people when we cross into another border, I’m just saying that we should be in tune with what is going on around us at all moments. When we are in tune with our surroundings, our surroundings are in tune with us.

So allow yourself to experience the experiences waiting to happen to you. Take advantage of your unique personalities and enjoy yourselves! Share yourselves with others around the world and create the experiences you’ve only dreamed of up until now.

Allow yourself to be in the moment.

Allow yourself to be.

~

Click here to read “Before Lonely Planet” by Stephen Henighan.

Do you think Lonely Planet is shaping our perception of international travel? Are we missing out on what each country really has to share and to offer? Let us know what you think!

Just an interesting take on things.

Enjoy and have a wonderful day!

Jess and Dave

“Breathe Consciously and Become Conscious”

Sat Nam! With eight months of Kundalini yoga training under my belt and a teaching certificate on the way, I have so many wonderful things I want to share with all of you! That said, I’ll try not to get ahead of myself. Let’s start with one of the most important facets of Kundalini yoga, all other forms of yoga, and life in general. Something most of us don’t even think about.

Breathing: are you doing it backwards? Chances are you might be. A lot of people contract, pulling in their stomach or navel point when inhaling. This is breathing backwards! Maybe you do it because you don’t want to pouch out your gut while you breathe. Maybe you do it because you bring all the air into your chest cavity, completely neglecting your diaphragm. Maybe you do it because your abs are so rock solid that you couldn’t expand your navel center if you tried (I highly doubt this is the case).

Whatever the reason, whatever the excuse, let’s work on this together. I quickly became aware of my own shortcomings while studying *Pranayam.

When you inhale your navel point should move out while you expand fully, and then move in and up while you exhale completely. We make ourselves wider when

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Graffiti Crazi Revival II WATCH Out

 

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Summer is Coming

So, I just found out that there is a good Naturopathic Doctor near us! Yeah! I would really like to just go meet him to get a vibe of how he works. It is such a wonderful practice, but there seems to be so many people that just don’t seem truly into what they are doing.

On a similar note, I enjoy my chiropractor immensely. He has shared some really good advice on many issues that I have been having. I have noticed a difference in my posture and hope that we can soon begin working on straightening out my system. My shoulders are ALWAYS tense, but I blame the computer for that.

Dave and I had a wonderful evening of discussion, plans, and ideas last night. We ended up going to Waldo Pizza and then walked next door to talk over gelato and coffee. It was wonderful. I think we got a lot accomplished, especially when talking about our future plans and adventures. We are extremely like minded but sometimes we seem to be going in different directions, which is totally okay. We just need to work on communication and enjoy wherever the wind takes us. :)

PLUS, our super fun friend Jessica R. has been devising a plan for the three of us to go to the Galapagos for the summer, which would be wonderful. I know we are both into that. :)

Possibly going to try pilates tonight, tomorrow, or very soon. My friend Kari and I tried to make it to a class but we ended up showing up too late. It looked amazing though. :/ The weather is getting to be nice again, which can really be a drag on the work out schedule. We want to go exercise, but not inside, then there are so many fun things to do outside, which would take maybe half the energy of exercise… Choices, choices and more choices.

spiritofthebeehiveposterThe Janus Film Series started a few weeks ago. Every Thursday. Many movies I’ve been wanting too see but never got around to it. Dave and I started Netflix too, which will really allow us to explore more.

Movie Poster for the Spirit of the Beehive (Spanish)