Thursday, February 28, 2008

Mark Joyner does blogging

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

  • The best blogging techniques.
  • How to get traffic to your blog.
  • How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Waking dream?


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I was watching TV late last night. Charlie Rose had a great interview with Alice Waters. I started getting chilly which is unusual since the TV room is usually pretty warm. I checked the thermostat and sure enough it was about 62 degrees in the house. The thermostat was set at 67. Something was amiss.

The furnace had stopped working.The manual said not to try to relight the pilot manually. All the electrical stuff was working ok. No need to belabor all the gory details. It is now the next day, the repairman has been called, and I am waiting for him to arrive. The house is chilly but I have a little electric heater nearby so I am not freezing.

But I am wondering about the furnace going off. Is this is a waking dream? If so, what is the significance?

A waking dream is a sign from Spirit. Sometimes they are easy to interpret and other times more mysterious. I am still working on interpreting this event. I am not even sure it is a waking dream, not every event is. But I do wonder.

The primary event that preceded this was the post that preceded this one, Big snow. It made me wonder if I was being irresponsible by airing my negative imaginings. As an artist and as someone on the spiritual path I am very conscious of the effect of my words. Could this be it?

I was speculating on the fragility of things, and sure enough I am sitting here in a cold house with no heat. Did I help to create this situation by publishing those thoughts? I am inclined to think that is the likely scenario. In fact the only reason I have not removed the previous post is because I want to share in this learning experience with you. I had submitted this same article to Associated Content but deleted it this morning, pending my conclusion of this investigation.

Of course there is a more sweeping interpretation, ie, my light is out. Have I fallen asleep spiritually? I don't feel like I have. I am more inclined to the previous interpretation.

A couple of interesting things happened this morning. I got an email from a woman I don't know asking me to vote for a short film she had done to be aired on PBS. I was particularly annoyed that she published my email address along with a hundred or so others, inviting further spam.

I was curious about her film though so I followed the link she provided. The film was about a murder. I wrote her to suggest she not spam people and also suggested she use her talents for more uplifting purposes. Do I need to take my own advice, especially the latter?

I also got a email from tarot.com inviting me to get a free I-Ching reading in honor of the the Chinese new year. That sounded like fun and I love the I-Ching so I got the reading. I asked if the furnace going off was a waking dream. I got the hexagram of Patience changing to the hexagram for Determination.

As I sit here chilly wanting to go out and do some shopping but needing to wait for the repairman, counseling patience was certainly appropriate. But not necessarily an answer to my immediate question.

The thing I love about the I-Ching is that even if the reading does not seem to apply directly to your question, the answers always have some useful wisdom in them. Being reminded to be patient is rarely inappropriate.

Maybe this is just another manifestation of Mercury retrograde? Since this situation falls in the category of inconvenience and annoyance, it certainly has the right earmarks. Am I perpetuating the Merc.ret. issue by publishing these thoughts?

Chill out Stanley! That too:) I would love to read your thoughts.

ps. I just became an affiliate of tarot.com. I will write more about that later, but since there is a graphic inviting you to participate, in the interest of full disclosure I thought I should mention it. I have never spent any money there, but have gotten a lot of free readings. They have good writers.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Big Snow



We got a big snow today. We have actually had quite a bit of snow this winter in the Chicago area where I live, but it always seems to be followed by rain and/or enough of a thaw that it quickly becomes a non-issue.

For me it is an issue because I am currently living in a big house with a hundred-foot driveway and no snow blower, plow or other mechanical means of clearing the snow other than an old-fashioned shovel.

I got stuck in the driveway earlier in the week for the first time this winter so I know I was going to have to do some digging if I wanted to get my car into the street without getting stuck.

I have an old Honda Accord with front wheel drive and newer tires that is pretty good in snow. But there are limits, and with about a foot of the white stuff on the ground, I knew I was going to have to move some of it out of the way.

My larder is getting a bit low and I thought I would go out to do a little shopping today. I was putting off going out and finally got myself going about 4:30 with just an hour or so of daylight left. It wasn’t enough time.

I got about half the driveway done and was feeling pretty bushed. Mind you, I am almost 65 and overweight so I took it pretty easy. I don’t want to become another victim of the old cliché. I decided I would make do with what I had in the house and finish the dig out tomorrow.

A couple of interesting things happened while I was shoveling. My two closest neighbors were clearing their paved driveways with their snow blowers; two men and one wife.

I thought how nice it would be if one of my neighbors offered to help me with his snow blower. Didn’t happen. Of course I have a gravel driveway so it doesn’t exactly lend itself to being cleared by a snow blower. Was that the reason? Probably not.

I haven’t really met my neighbors, except for saying hello once to the guy next door when we were both in our driveways when the weather was warmer. I am just house sitting and have only lived where I am for a few months.

It just made me nostalgic for when I was a kid growing up. I lived in a housing co-op where the neighbors knew each other and helped each other.

The other thing that occurred to me as I was digging was how vulnerable we really are and how fragile our lives are. We take our comforts so much for granted. What would we do if suddenly we didn’t have electricity, or running water, or what if I wasn’t healthy enough to clear the driveway myself?

I know that Soul is Eternal and so I am not really talking about life and death. I am just talking about planning for the uncertain future.

I named my blog What Now Grasshopper? because this has been an old tendency of mine, to not take life seriously enough. By this I am definitely not suggesting that we lose our sense of humor and became nothing but grim and practical. A sense of humor is a vital survival tool. But there is a balance somewhere.

Perhaps it is in part the 9/11 Consciousness, in part because I want to make my life more useful and be of more service. It is significant to me too that I haven’t felt much like writing until I went out and did an hour of honest work. What’s that about?