Mindful Publishing

Christmas and going green!

2011-03-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

We are currently looking for products (and in some cases services) to place in 12 gift bags for Christmas 2011. http://amindfulchristmas.com/

Products must be green (planet friendly to all that call earth home). We need only 1 sample first and as early as this may seem, the Christmas holiday creeps up really fast!

One of our missions is to show people that the Christmas holiday can be green and we don't have to be so wasteful. Once the products are chosen we will need 12 samples for the bags. We will then put the list of what is in the bags up on our website to promote you and your business. We would like to have this complete and up on our website for launch by early September. Please contact me and tell me about what you would like to submit. Thank you! barbara@mindfulpublishing.com

The Countdown to Christmas

2010-12-17T05:13:00.000-08:00

According to Rasmussen Reports, on Tuesday Dec. 14th 2010, a national telephone survey found that 22% of Americans say they have finished their holiday shopping with Christmas less than two weeks away. And 73% have not.

Okay all you Christmas procrastinators, if you had read my book A Mindful Christmas ~ How to Create a Meaningful, Peaceful Christmas you wouldn’t be in this boat!

In the Introduction of my book I pose three powerful questions that help you pull back from the compulsion to go about Christmas as usual! This is a book about being conscious of what it is that you are creating around this holiday. The usual, is usually filled with running around with you hair on fire trying to do it all at the last minute! This is what I term “holiday hysteria”.

Chapter One of my book The Beginning of a Peaceful, Joyous Holiday Season ~ Planning Ahead is a sanity saver!

And while Christmas isn’t about the gifts, most people still feel pressured into buying gifts. When I asked people what their favorite Christmas memory was, not one single person mentioned anything about gifts. It is all about connections and spreading the love!

So even though we are a week away from Christmas, it still isn’t too late to purchase A Mindful Christmas not only for yourself, but as a gift to those you know that go a little overboard or those you know that feel so much pressure around this holiday. Even if you read this book after Christmas, when next Christmas rolls around you will have more peace and a much more meaningful Christmas experience!

Wishing you a Mindful Christmas filled with Love and Meaning!

Barbara

A Mindful Christmas ~ How to Create a Meaningful, Peaceful Holiday

2010-12-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

When writing my book A Mindful Christmas ~ How to Create a Meaningful, Peaceful Holiday, I asked people what they did and didn’t like about Christmas.
Most Americans feel that Christmas day is the most stressful day of the year. The expectations of perfection that we see in movies and advertising have put an enormous amount of pressure on us. We could all have less stress and less anxiety around the Christmas holiday if we stopped celebrating it with mass consumerism and extravagance. Keeping Christmas simple and toned down is possible. All you have to do is commit to keeping it debt free, communicate honestly, and stay true to yourself and your values.
Most people feel that Christmas is too over commercialized, too expensive and causes too much stress. We live in a consumer society and we measure success in terms of how much we have materially. We have come to value things over being. No longer is it enough to keep up with the Jones; we want to run them down! The obsession with possessions is a reflection of spiritual emptiness.
To begin A Mindful Christmas experience, here are three questions worth considering:
What are my intentions?
What can I do without?
What is necessary?
The challenges we face over Christmas can be seen as gifts in and of themselves. The silver lining is the ability to set our priorities straight and to teach ourselves and our children that we need to get back to basics and re-examine our values. A meaningful Christmas doesn’t come from the things we receive but comes from how we live with what we do have. Money isn’t the answer to a meaningful Christmas either. Whether you spend one hundred dollars or ten thousand dollars you may still feel let down by a Christmas that lacked meaning and connection. We have gotten hooked on this holiday for all the wrong reasons. The fact is that things and money don’t guarantee happiness, and they aren’t the source of happiness or fulfillment.
Yet, when some critical disaster strikes, whether it is global or in our own home, we realize what is really important and what matters to us most. Christmas gives us the opportunity to express our deepest values and to put our priorities in perspective.
The over-commercialization and consumerism of Christmas is the main reason that we feel a loss of meaning and a lack of the connectedness we long for. The true meaning has been replaced with holiday hysteria. As a result, many people dread the coming of what could be a joyful and uplifting season. It’s no wonder so many people have diminished feelings, even depression surrounding this holiday with all of the obligations including the expense, the shopping, crowds, parties, and the list goes on. We have let our modern commercial culture take away the message of this holiday. Where is the meaning? Why go through all of this just for one day? Most people feel terribly overwhelmed by this holiday!
Done properly, the Christmas holiday happens in the heart.
Our most cherished memories are about how we felt when we look back on our Christmases. The most important and meaningful Christmases are about connecting with the people we love. Most people don’t even remember the gifts that they received. The memories that we build are much more important!
A Mindful Christmas takes a look at the core traditions surrounding the season from Advent (which starts four weeks before Christmas) through Saint Nicholas’s Day, Christmas Day itself, The Twelve Holy Nights (Twelve Days of Christmas), and leading up to the Feast of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day). Each chapter offers specific and practical ways to simplify, appreciate and to celebrate the real meaning of each essential, and often forgotten, element of the season.
A Mindful Christmas will take you on a journey through the Christmas season. It will help you draw your focus away from the commercial aspects and toward the true meaning of Christmas: love, connections, hope and peace.
A Mindful Christmas is a journey that you will not want to miss!
http://amindfulchristmas.com/

This essay is part of our Patheos Holiday Monitor question of the week: "Can we - or should we - resist holiday consumerism?"

2010-12-03T16:39:00.000-08:00

http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Making-Memories-Worth-Having.html

Advent Begins Tonight

2010-11-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

Advent is traditionally celebrated by creating a wreath that lies on a specially prepared table. You can buy a ready-made wreath or you can make your own. I prefer to make my own by taking cuttings from evergreen trees and adding cuttings from some other plants as well, such as holly, thyme branches, eucalyptus, and dried berries.
Four candles (three purple and one pink) are placed around the wreath, which should measure about 10” or so across. You can buy wreath forms and candles made specifically for this purpose at any craft store. You will want to buy plenty of candles since they will be used during the entire four weeks of Advent. Using tall tapers is best. Not only because they last longer, but help prevent any fire hazard by keeping the flame up and away from the greenery. You may also want to buy candles that do not drip wax if you are placing your wreath on a special table that you want protected from any kind of damage.

There are several traditions about the meaning of each candle. Typically the purple candles symbolize prayer and preparation. The pink candle not only marks the second half of Advent, it is the color of joy.

To learn more: http://www.amindfulchristmas.com/

Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T06:02:00.000-08:00

Let us all be mindful of the Native Americans whose land we took in the name of religious freedom and offer to them and their ancestors our deepest and most sincere apology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xe346hROnE&NR=1

Veterans Day

2010-11-11T15:51:00.001-08:00

Thank you to ALL that have served our Country honorably.

The purchase of my book A Mindful Christmas ~ How to Create a Meaningful, Peaceful Holiday helps to support Trees for Troops. When you purchase a live tree from a Christmas tree lot or farm you will receive a coupon for 25% off A Mindful Christmas book and 10% will go to support the efforts of the Christmas Spirit Foundation!

The Shift

2010-08-25T05:12:00.001-07:00

"One day we will wake up and discover we are family." ~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu http://www.theshiftmovie.com/

Arrogant Belief

2010-07-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

It's always good when someone shows you who they are. Eventually it happens and is information you need even if it's disappointing. I was talking with a friend last night when in his anger over a perceived wrong referred to the person who wronged him as a "dot head". He tried to justify his prejudice by telling me that the man (K, this is a man) did indeed have a "dot" on his forehead. I didn't bother to let him know that Indian men do not wear bindis.
This kind of ignorance is immature and unconscious. Author Lynne McTaggart speaks of most human interaction as a form of "casual cruelty". It's blatant and it can be seen everywhere. Until we embrace each others cultures and differences we will remain in this pattern of hate and cruelty. The arrogant belief that we are separate is the cause of ALL suffering on the planet.

http://hinduism.about.com/od/bindis/a/bindi.htm

And God gave man dominion over the earth?

2010-06-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Clearly that reads "responsibility" not the reckless domination and blind ambition of greedy corporations that think they can do whatever they want all in the name of profit!

'We are the guardians of His Beauty'

(a translation of Hafiz Shirazi's poem)

We are the guardians of His Beauty

We are the protectors

Of the Sun.

There is only one reason

We have followed God into this world:

To encourage laughter, freedom, dance

And love.

Let a noble cry inside of you speak to me

Saying,

"Hafiz,

Don't just sit there on the moon tonight

Doing nothing -

Help unfurl my heart into the Friend's Mind,

Help, Old Man, to heal my wounded wings!"

We are the companions of His Beauty

We are the guardians

Of Truth.

Every man, plant and creature in Existence,

Every woman, child, vein and note

Is a servant of our Beloved -

A harbinger of joy,

The harbinger of

Light.

Destiny

2010-03-13T18:03:00.000-08:00

We all have a destiny to fulfill. It is that something that you are deeply passionate about. I remember once when my daughter who at the time was in high school asked me if she should know what she wanted to be and do with her life. She said that her friends already knew what it was that they wanted to do and be. I told her that many of her friends might have picked something but not necessarily knew what it was that they were born to do and become. Some people are born knowing. Most of us are not and so the Universe orchestrates what is needed for you to reach your destiny. The Universe doesn't worry if you are going to hit rough road and if you can deal with it or if you will be pissed off as a result or what age you will be when you get there. The Universe knows that you are safe and eternal. The Universe simply wants to get the job done and works through people!

"What you seek is seeking you." ~Mawlana Jalal-al-Din Rumi.

Our destiny is there-it is planted in our hearts and pulls us towards itself. The experiences and sometimes the challenges we face are there to help prepare us to meet our destinies. There seems to be this notion that if all isn't well, peaceful and prosperous in our lives then we are doing something wrong. The New Age movement and more recently the movie The Secret will have us believe that challenges are unnatural and if we are facing some difficulties then it is because we aren't thinking positively enough or we don't know how to work with the Law of Attraction. This way of thinking cannot be of any real value and is counter productive. Many people go through very difficult experiences and challenges only to have risen above them and can say with certainty that the difficulty was a necessary and a vital part of a divine plan in order for them to find and at last meet with their destiny.

Caroline Myss tells us that "storms mentor sailors". That quote is burned into my psyche because truly, what can come that is of real and lasting value if it was just dropped in your lap? There are many people that never have had to face a challenge, work a day in their life and have miserable existences because they are buffered from reality and feel empty of purpose and meaning. I had a friend say to me recently “Never think that you can’t make a difference.” That is fuel! Now go out and seek what is seeking you!

Who would you take to the war?

2010-02-25T05:18:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this question! Even though it has cost me some friendships and many, many new friendships that would never get past the initial introduction. It's a time saver and a relationship buster. It's the first question I ask when I meet someone. No, I don't ask a person when I meet them if they would like to go to war with me. And no I don't judge on first appearances either. However I can figure out pretty quickly if a person will fit into my mix by this one question.

I found this question in The Vein of Gold - A Journey to Your Creative Heart by Julia Cameron. She says "what an interesting, terrible, useful question!" It is so useful that it never escapes me. The question becomes about discovering if a relationship (friend or lover) will step up to the plate or fit in. The scenarios that Julia brings up is the realization of who would sleep with the enemy? Who would compete and argue about strategy instead of helping get the troops across the mountain? Who would never be able to execute what we planned? And who would want me to carry her pack as well as my own? Some of my own questions are, who needs to be right at any cost? Who would flake out? Who would withhold valuable information or dangle it to keep me inching forward instead of giving it up and being truly helpful? Who will try and fix me or save me from myself?

Seem a little self serving? It is! But what do you want out of life? Do you want to be carrying the whole load yourself? If the relationships in your life aren't balanced than you aren't either. An unbalanced life sucks the creative energy right out of it. And yes we are all creative! That is what humans do. We create. We create our lives on many levels. Just because someone shows up in your experience doesn't mean that they belong there forever. People come and go for various reasons. Discerning whether or not someone will be a balanced participant in your life is a way of nurturing yourself and your creations. It is useful to ask this question over and over. You might have someone in your life that was working out great for a time. Then you sense something has shifted or changed. So you ask again; can I take this person to war? I'm not suggesting that you start to toss people out of your life that aren't always serving your highest good. Sometimes our companions get weak, sick, stabbed in the back and we need to step up to the plate for them or carry them over rugged terrain because they would do the same for us. The question is so powerful that it will change the way you evaluate all of your relationships!

The man wearing the Santa hat.

2010-01-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

During the week of Christmas I was driving down in San Diego. The traffic was very heavy and negotiating through it wasn’t easy. I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed a very good looking man in what appeared to be a really nice car. The traffic was pretty close to bumper to bumper so I wasn’t able to make out what kind of car he was driving. I’m a car watcher kind of a person. I’ve always done that but became more intrigued by cars when I heard Caroline Myss say that we “drive our self esteem.” I could tell that he was talking on his Blue Tooth and was noticing that he was pretty agitated and looked like he was yelling. Finally he found an opening and drove into the lane next to me. He was driving a new shiny Lexus. Very pretty expensive car!

I was heading down to the boarder and once I was past the Mission Valley area the traffic was much lighter. I moved to a slower lane so I could take a break from the intense traffic and begin to breathe a little. I then saw a rickety Jeep behind me. There were two people in it. They looked like an overweight couple in their 40’s. The man that was driving was wearing a Santa hat. The thing that got me was how happy they seemed. They had a lively conversation going on because I could see them looking at each other and laughing. The smiles on their faces never seemed to leave and I felt so blessed to be witnessing this! After all the man in the Lexus surely had more money and material comforts … right? So why did he appear so upset and these two people driving an old Jeep that looked like it could fall apart at any moment look so happy?

Carl Jung said: “The more a man lays stress on false possessions, and the less sensitivity he has for what is essential, the less satisfying his life is.”

I didn’t have to question which of the two cars contained the people that have more satisfying lives. But I did question the self esteem philosophy.

Resistance

2009-11-29T15:00:00.000-08:00

"What you avoid or resist, you will tend to see as evil. To the extent that an individual insists on only being aware of the light or the good, he or she will constantly be shadowed by the dark or the bad."

~Laurence G. Boldt~

How often do you resist in your life what feels negative or bad? Or even judge another persons experience and conclude that they have less or are less because it doesn't fit into your perception of what you would consider "good"? The experiences that we have that we feel are negative or bad, brings with them gifts that must be excavated. The saying "every cloud has a silver lining" is only true to the extent that you are willing to look at the cloud. How can we know and feel real joy if we have never had a painful experience? How can we ever know and feel love if we keep a wall around our hearts insisting that the risk of pain is too great. How can we have the real feeling and experience of abundance if we play it safe (like staying in a job that we don't like) and never allow ourselves to express our talents and abilities authentically? Eckhart Tolle tells us that what we resist will persist. I have found that by making peace with negative or bad experiences (and it is all a matter of perception!) will move us out of them quicker. The more I practice this the more I am able to trust this process. This is a matter of consciously creating my life. Most people don't know how to do that because in our youth we were taught the beliefs of our parents, teachers and other "authoritative" figures. They passed along their limited beliefs by telling us what wouldn't be possible. We are now awakening to huge possibilities because of the consciousness movement. It's now a known fact that we create our reality! The Tao Of Abundance is an excellent place to start so you can take a look at your perceptions and not only question some of them but literally transform them!

Abundance

2009-09-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

The TAO Of Abundance by Laurence G. Boldt is absolutely one of the most important books I ever read in my life! This book truly changed me and therefore my experience of abundance. The many "ah ha" moments that I allowed myself to contemplate and sink into were amazing. My inner world began to shift almost immediately and so my outer world began to reflect what was changing on the inside. You may have heard "If you want things to change, you must change." There can be no better truth to start with. Whatever your thinking habits and beliefs are, your outer world reflects them back to you. The best clue in your life is that if you aren’t seeing what you want or better put if what you are experiencing isn’t what you want, you need to come to terms with this truth: “The cure is within you”.

Reading this book resulted in rare but powerful results in my life. For example, my income more than doubled while reading the book and my understanding of abundance deepened. It isn't about accumulating more stuff but opening to the truth of who you really are. My understanding grew quickly because this book resonates with truth. Abundance is natural and not an outer condition.

I began to understand for perhaps for the first time what real abundance is. While making money and living comfortably is important me, I also began to realize where abundance does come from. It comes from a universe that is bursting with abundance. Once I began to shift from "making money" and just allowed myself to be a part of what is ~The TAO~ my experience of abundance began to take shape or form.

When reading this book, take your time. Let the teachings sink in. Meditate and breathe the truth into your being. Allow yourself to let go of old outmoded beliefs and ideas. Knowing who (and what) you truly are will open ideas and opportunities that will change your experience in ways undreamed of!

The Nameless Tao ~ Wu-ming

Recognizing the unity of all things starts you on the path to true abundance.

Nature ~ Tzu-jan

Learning to receive opens the door to your greatest good.

Ease ~ Wu-wei

Following the path of least resistance brings success with ease.

Flow ~ Ch’i

Circulating the energy in your life strengthens health, deepens relationships, and generates wealth.

Power ~ Te

Honoring your innate dignity and actualizing your inborn abilities is the road to authentic power.

Harmony ~ Yin/Yang

Balancing yin and yang eliminates stress and brings peace of mind.

Leisure ~ Jen

Taking time to be, to grow, and to nurture your relationships gives you the strength to persevere.

Beauty ~ Li

Achieving your destiny is a matter of trusting and embracing the organic pattern of your life.