Mobile = Van

I need new wheels. By some stretch of Stan logic, I have decided the way to get some reliable transportation is to fix this wonderful old mobile I made a few years ago and sell it for $6000:) Hey, crazier things have happened.

I finally got a part of it up on the wall so I could see it. All the battle scars on this thing are going to be an important part of the back story that will make it so valuable.

This was displayed at a regional seminar in the Chicago area several years ago. Anyone remember?

My real dream is a Roadtrek, so that's what I'll put up here. I was thinking I would end up with whatever 6K can buy, maybe a Honda Sienna or something along those lines. The asking price for the Roadtrek pictured is 69K. Maybe I should ask 60,000 for the mobile:) Art prices have no relation to reality as we know it anyway. Gotta dream big! What's another 0 to someone with too much money? This mobile is one of a kind!!!

I need to find some millionaire or billionaire who likes folk art. Know any?

Cell Phone Cash

Turn your cell phone into an ATM:


http://huzone.maverickco.hop.clickbank.net

Divine Love is a two way thing...

"Divine love is a two-way thing. It flows to us from God, and when it comes to us , we as soul must also give it back in some way to someone else." Harold Klemp

image of Iran countryside by Nader Hemati

New Hubble Pic Reinvigorates Old Parable

Am I Chung Tsu dreaming I'm a butterfly

Or am I a Butterfly dreaming I'm Chung Tsu?

It Works!

I made my first sale with the Effortless Cash Formula. Yay! It took a while but placing ads on craigslist in the biz op category finally yielded some results. I'm psyched because I thought it would be unlikely without getting the autoresponder, etc. but it happened.

The appeal that got me obviously works. How hard is it to give away a free ebook that tells how to make money online? That's the whole pitch. Its easy, anyone can do it! And you can actually make money! Glory Be! Here it is, you can do it too!

http://grasshopperfood.com/

Plannning

"If you don’t have an outstanding plan set for yourself in writing, you will live working for somebody else who does, and is, using you to manifest it." Mark V. Hansen

I have an aversion to planning. Being a right-brained dominant guy with a spiritual orientation, the only goals I have been able to embrace are long term spiritual ones. This is all well and good if you are willing to pay the price for this kind of living, but for practical material achievement in this consensual reality we share, planning and goal setting are valuable skills worth practicing.

In fact Paul Twitchell, my primary spiritual mentor, wisely pointed out that the spiritual is in danger of becoming a romantic emotion if it is not grounded in real world achievement. So the ideal solution is to find material goals that harmonize with and support your spiritual goals.

As long as we are living in this world, we need to function here and as we all know one of the keys to freedom on the physical plane is adequate cash flow.

I love spending time online and exploring cyberspace. Since I am now semi-retired and living on a meager income, I am perpetually in search of ways to increase my income. I do have some projects in front of me that offer that potential, that are directly related to who I am.

But somehow I have allowed myself to be seduced by the siren call of the moneymaking schemes I so often run across online. Yes some of them may be legitimate, its just that pursing them always entails first lining the pockets of the seducer, in essence becoming the effect of their dream. It is certainly possible to eventually make some $ on your own terms, but you will continue in your apprenticeship until you have become a Master yourself. There is no free lunch.

For instance, most recently I purchased the right to resell an ebook that offers the possibility of making $37 for every subsequent buyer. Since you give away the ebook it sounds like a relatively easy sale.

Ah, but that is a dream! The online buyer, especially in the area of making money is the very definition of fickle, and there are plenty of objects a lot shiner than yours to catch and deflect their attention.

I learned years ago that one of the principles of advertising is that people typically need to see an ad at least seven times before they are likely to respond. That is why internet marketers want to capture your email address, put you in an autoresponder, and trust that repeated emails with variations on the same sales pitch will finally convince you.

Now the individual who sold me this goodie was nice enough to offer me an upsell in subsequent emails offering me, guess what, an autoresponder package with pre-written emails to help sell her package. No free lunch!

The real bottom line here is to find and stick to your own individual unique thing. Your unique contribution. If you allow yourself to be distracted by the shiny objects out there, you will live and learn. Soul knows that is what it’s all about anyway:)

To shorten your learning curve, it is wise to regularly practice writing down your goals. There is a special magic in doing this, as many successful people will attest. Crystallizing your goals by putting them on paper sends a powerful message that accelerates their manifestation.

You have probably heard of the “ as if” principle. This is the idea of using the power of your imagination to experience what it would be like as if you had already achieved your goal. The more real you can make this experience, the more readily you will bring your dream into manifestation.

Great Blogs

These are a couple of blogs which I read regularly. They are already very popular for good reason. Just today both of these blogs came up with excellent posts. Somehow these guys have tuned into the macrocosmic Zeitgeist and they expound regularly on subjects of universal interest. Here are the links:

http://zenhabits.net/ A New Zeland blogger who hit the mother lode:)

http://www.kenlauher.com/ A New York Feng Shui expert

Unsquare

A Spiritual Conspiracy

A dear old friend and Brother in ECK sent me this, and I thought it was worth sharing. Thanks Sammie!

~Author Unknown~

On the surface of our world right now
There is war, violence, and craziness
And things may seem dark.

But calmly and quietly
At the same time
Something is happening underground.

An inner revolution is taking place
And certain individuals
Are being called to a higher light.

It is a silent revolution
From the inside out
From the ground up.

This is a global co-operation
That has sleeper cells in every nation.
It is a planetary Spiritual Conspiracy.

You won't likely see us on T.V.
You won't read about us in the newspaper.
You won't hear from us on the radio.

We don't seek glory.
We don't wear any uniform.
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles.

We are in every country and culture of the world
In cities big and small, mountains and valleys
In farms and villages, tribes and remote islands.

Most of us work anonymously
Seeking not recognition of name
But profound transformation of life.

Working quietly behind the scenes
You could pass by one of us on the street
And not even notice.

We go undercover
Not concerned for who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done.

Many of us may seem to have normal jobs.
But behind the external storefront
Is where the deeper work takes a place.

With the individual and collective power
Of our minds and hearts
We spread passion, knowledge, and joy to all.

Some call us the Conscious Army
As together
We co-create a new world.

Our orders come from the Spiritual Intelligence Agency
Instructing us to drop soft, secret love bombs
when no one is looking.

Poems ~ Hugs ~ Music ~ Photography ~ Smiles ~ Kind words
Movies ~ Meditation and prayer ~ Dance ~ Websites
Social activism ~ Blogs ~ Random acts of kindness…

We each express ourselves
In our own unique ways
With our own unique gifts and talents.

"Be the change you want to see in the world"
That is the motto that fills our hearts.
We know this is the path to profound transformation.

We know that quietly and humbly
Individually and collectively
We have the power of all the oceans combined.

At first glance our work is not even visible.
It is slow and meticulous
Like the formation of mountains.

And yet with our combined efforts
Entire tectonic plates
Are being shaped and moved for centuries to come.

Love is the religion we come to share
And you don't need to be highly educated
Or have exceptional knowledge to understand it.

Love arises from the intelligence of the heart
Embedded in the timeless evolutionary pulse
Of all living beings.

Be the change you want to see in the world.
Nobody else can do it for you.
Yet don't forget, we are all here supporting you.

We are now recruiting.
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have.

For in this spiritual conspiracy
All are welcome, and all are loved.
The door is always open.

~~~~~~

www.AscendedMasters.Com

Grasshopper Food

Still questing in pursuit of that lovely carrot, online income. I recently discovered a very simple system that I liked enough to invest in. I bought the domain in the title because this site answers the question posed by my blog name, What Now Grasshopper?

Please check it out and I really would appreciate your feedback! Not to mention buying:)

http://grasshopperfood.com/

Three Radical Steps to change yourself and the world

This post was inspired by a small errand I ran earlier last evening. I picked up a prescription for my ex-wife at Wal Mart. This got me to thinking and so I will present the three steps with attendant explanations:

1) Stop using drugs, both prescription and other. Allopathic medicine, prescription drugs are a non-holistic approach to healing. It does not address the real causes of an illness, only treats the symptoms.

They are too expensive, frequently cause as many problems as they solve, and do not provide any long term healing. They just mask or suppress symptoms. They are based on fear, ignorance and often laziness since more holistic solutions often require more effort and discipline.

2) Stop shopping at Wal Mart. Wal Mart’s labor practices have been proven to be exploitative. In a market economy your vote with your dollars is at least as important, and probably more important than your vote at the ballot box.

Saving money by shopping at Wal Mart is another example of short term, non-holistic thinking. If you see the bigger picture, you do not want to support institutions like this corporation.

And buying drugs is another way of voting with your dollars. You are voting for expensive, non-holistic solutions that keep you trapped in a lower state of consciousness.

3) Adapt some regular Spiritual practice. In fact this should be number one on this list, but if you have read this far perhaps you understand why I put it third. What I am talking about is spending twenty or thirty minutes a day on a regular basis expanding your consciousness.

You choose the method. Be it yoga, prayer, meditation, contemplation; whatever is suitable for you. Regular practice, even if you don’t want to call it Spiritual, is the most direct and profound way to expand your consciousness.

It may seem that these three are unrelated and if you do understand the connection, I salute you. There is sufficient juice in any one of these ideas to write a book about at the very least. But there are already shelves of these books written. I just wanted to stimulate a little thought and perhaps even some action:)

Think Yourself Thin

This is the title of a book I have been reading by Debbie Johnson. Debbie is a fairly prolific author who is a fellow member of my church. I have read another book of hers that address Dreams and she has a clear writing style that communicates well.

In this book she applies spiritual principles to the problem of weight loss and I am finding it very appealing and making a lot of good sense. Most people who have tried diets and failed would appreciate her approach which contains no dietary prescriptions, no exercise regimes, nothing on that level.

Her approach is dealing with your self image and getting you to change the thoughts you think about your self. You have probably heard of the "As If" principle, she applies it. The idea is when your subconscious accepts a new thinner image of yourself, you tend to naturally change your life style to make this new reality manifest.

There is no doubt this approach works and perhaps anyone who successfully loses weight and keeps it off has somehow done this inner work anyway, regardless of what other behavioral modifications they have made.

I am finding that just in the few weeks since I started reading the book that this is exactly what is happening with me. I love the approach, so organic and natural.

Debbie had this book published in a regular trade paperback but it is currently out of print. She is offering it as an ebook now on her website but if you don't mind a used copy its actually cheaper to go to Amazon and buy it there, where used copies are still available. I think ebooks should be much less expensive than what she is asking.

But make no mistake, the information she passes on in this book is valuable and effective and worth the cost. Like any do-it-yourself book, the real work comes in actually conscientiously implementing her suggestions.

If you like the Law of Attraction and that approach, this will appeal to you. I recommend this book!

Google Friend Connect

Hello dear reader,

I just added a few widgets to this blog based upon some reading I've been doing about the future of social media networking. Chris Lang and other gurus out on the cutting edge are saying that Google will soon be rolling out a social media network that will blow all the others out of the water. It will be an expansion of the already existing Google Friends Connect.

Of course we always take this kinda hype with a grain of salt but we are talking about the 900 pound gorilla itself, and our kind hosts, so it will no doubt have some impact. Based on that thought, I added the widgets to invite followers to this blog. So please consider signing up.

I promise to enlighten you beyond your wildest dreams:)

Last light

Great model inspires great photo

The spectacular Ms. Diane Lien gracefully illustrates the principle
"As Above, so below."

Real Tweet

I've been exploring the Twitter phenomenon. Walking into my building today, I heard a real tweet that was mind-blowing. It was a sweet reminder of what is real and what is construct. It is easy to find websites with recorded birdsong. I don't know what bird I heard this morning, but here's a nice one, the spring song of the Rock Wren:


http://www.naturesongs.com/trogpeuc.html#trog

Smart commercial minded Tweeters are going to find a way to use this as a marketing tool, no doubt. Oh well, go for it. Just don't forget to listen to the real sounds:)

Its funny and apt that when I Googled for copyright free bird images the first one that came up was the mockingbird:)

Conscious One

I discovered a delicious new website with many treasures. The first thing that I saw was a very well produced little video on the subject of the Inner Child that really touched and moved me. They call these little videos WisdomFlash and I checked out several more that were very good, but not quite as profoundly moving as that first one. Here's the link to the site:

http://www.consciousone.com/

Cutting through to to the truth on the economy via R. Maybury

Richard Maybury is a remarkable author and speaker on the Economy. Here is a recent talk that he gave called "What Obama Does Not Know". Thanks to John Houlgate for listing this on Facebook!

http://www.chaostan.com/bulletin-050209.html

Evening view

Practice

I read two articles today on the theme of Practice and wanted to share them with you. The first was in a New Dimensions Newsletter. Thanks to Michael Toms for this. Here it is:


The Best Spiritual Practice: Does Practice Really Make Perfect?
by Jonathan Ellerby, Ph.D.

It seems almost silly to have to say it, but to improve at anything practice is almost always essential. Right? Even if you want to get good at doing nothing, you still need to do a lot of it! Most people know that if you want to be physically fit, you need regular exercise. If you want a university degree, you'll need to study and apply yourself. If you want to be an excellent musician, actor, doctor, parent, friend, boss, or carpenter, you have to be prepared for a process of trial and error, constant intention, and practice, practice, practice.

Why then do people not realize that this same rule applies to our spiritual life? These days I find that many people expect spiritual growth to come ease. Of course, I am more than happy to recommend my new book or my new CD set to help people on their spiritual journey –but, I'd be deceiving you and myself if I thought that one book, one CD program, or even an article or blog could change a person completely and forever. Could it make an impact? Yes. Could it make a change completely and forever? Not likely, you need to practice what you've learned for that to happen.

Did you ever notice how people who do yoga or meditation or even prayer on a regular basis call it a "practice"? That's because they know that while each individual session has power, a long series of individual sessions add up to more than the sum of the parts. We have "a practice," because in the moment we are experiencing it, it teaches us and gives us an experience of peace and connection. We also know that the real work happens when you get up and head into your day – that is when you practice what you learned in your practice! That's why we need to go back to the practice again and again. Athletes have the off-season to practice; that is their time out. Happy, balanced, loving people have a spiritual practice, and that is their time out from the busy demands of life.

Remember, spirituality is an experience – not just an idea or a belief. It is not enough to have the right concept, you have to be able to live it. That is spiritual growth. It's a way of being, and that requires a practice. A practice is a regular activity that helps you connect with your highest intentions: inner peace, compassion, a feeling of interconnectedness, joy, pure consciousness, or union with God. It could be prayer, going to church, meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, singing in a choir, walking in nature, helping others, going on retreat or studying with a master. In my book Return to the Sacred, I highlight and explain twelve practices that seem to be universal to all cultures throughout time.

This is where lots of people get confused. "How do I pick a practice? What if I don't like my religion of origin? What if my friends all love yoga and I hate it, what is wrong with me?" The best spiritual practice is the one that works for you. The foundation of my CD set "Your Spiritual Personality" is the idea that we all have different spiritual personalities. The same way some people love to read and others love to run; some love chocolate and some love vanilla; not every practice is for everyone. What matters is that you pick something that makes a difference for you, and stick with it! In time, a spiritual practice will not make you perfect, but it will give you the wisdom and grace to manage all that life presents.

---

Jonathan Ellerby's work and training has taken him deeply into the worlds of Indigenous Healing, corporate culture, and Integrative Medicine. He has traveled the world to meet and study with spiritual teachers from more than 40 cultural traditions. With a doctoral degree in Comparative Religion, and ordination as an Interfaith Minister, he is the spiritual Program Director for the acclaimed Canyon Ranch Health Resorts and the author of Return to the Sacred: Ancient Pathways of Spiritual Awakening (Hay House 2009) and the CD set, Your Spiritual Personality: Finding the path That's Right for You (Sounds True 2009)

The second one was in a NY Times Opinion page recommended by Brian Johnson of Philosopher's Notes. Thanks Brian! I will just provide the link; the article is titled "Genius: the Modern View" Just to let the cat out of the bag, the author suggests that Genius is more likely due to extensive practice rather than inborn genetic gifts or talent or other factors. Its worth reading. I would love to read your feedback too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/opinion/01brooks.html