Last week, on April 24th, I hosted an Open Mic at the Village Book Shop in Glendora. I was surprised at the turnout. We had about 6 people come, and for a first time event, that was wonderful! Sadly, I was the only one to read, but my audience was quite wonderful, and loved my story, Agatha’s Soup, which is currently being processed by www.everydayfiction.com. Everyone at the reading said it was good, so I’m pleased by that. I’m glad I brought something to read! Anyways, I felt for a first event, it went well.
Before doing the open mic, I was on KSGV talk radio for a show! I was interviewed about writing. You can listen to the broadcast here Shelf Talker. The listen button may not work, so if you’d like, you can download the program and listen to it from your computer. The file is about 41MB. Please check it out!
For more about me, or events that I may be doing, add me on twitter, @snowppl or check out my website www.snowppl.com.
24 April 2010
23 April 2010
Life for Life
I once knew a vegan man, who insisted he ate the way he ate to protect the pain animals experience. He didn’t want to eat something that he could identify with: animals. Plants on the other hand feel so genuinely alien to us. And that leads me to ask, do plants experience pain? We eat life, or what once lived, excepting a few things.
Almost everything considered life kills and eats others for survival. Cows eat grass (but mostly corn now-a-days), wolves eat deer, chickens, etc. To live, means something else has to die. Native American cultures knew this (as we do, but ignore), yet they put different emphasis particularly acknowledging that a plant or animal died so they might live. That is the key difference. We go to the supermarket, and don’t put much thought on the life we eat to live.
I’m not advocating starvation! Far from it, but it is a worthwhile pursuit to think of where and how the food we eat ends up on our plates and in our stomaches. Acknowledge that your nutrition comes from something that once lived, and perhaps lived in the prime of its life, whether vegetable, meat, or fruit.
Not all food has at one time lived. Milk hasn’t lived per se, but offers life to calves. Cheese lives (based on the bacteria cultures). Fruits were alive at one point but don’t kill the plant, it’s like eating eggs in a way, excepting the seed is the “yolk” and the fruit the “egg white.” Many vegetables are like fruit-the new “baby” plants. However both fruits and vegetables once lived, and are now not.
What does it all mean? The next time you sit down to eat something, know that you eat something that lived, or had the potential to live and grow and truly be grateful that you get to eat, that you are not on the plate. This will empower to choose better foods, healthier options, and to experience nature everyday.
Almost everything considered life kills and eats others for survival. Cows eat grass (but mostly corn now-a-days), wolves eat deer, chickens, etc. To live, means something else has to die. Native American cultures knew this (as we do, but ignore), yet they put different emphasis particularly acknowledging that a plant or animal died so they might live. That is the key difference. We go to the supermarket, and don’t put much thought on the life we eat to live.
I’m not advocating starvation! Far from it, but it is a worthwhile pursuit to think of where and how the food we eat ends up on our plates and in our stomaches. Acknowledge that your nutrition comes from something that once lived, and perhaps lived in the prime of its life, whether vegetable, meat, or fruit.
Not all food has at one time lived. Milk hasn’t lived per se, but offers life to calves. Cheese lives (based on the bacteria cultures). Fruits were alive at one point but don’t kill the plant, it’s like eating eggs in a way, excepting the seed is the “yolk” and the fruit the “egg white.” Many vegetables are like fruit-the new “baby” plants. However both fruits and vegetables once lived, and are now not.
What does it all mean? The next time you sit down to eat something, know that you eat something that lived, or had the potential to live and grow and truly be grateful that you get to eat, that you are not on the plate. This will empower to choose better foods, healthier options, and to experience nature everyday.
30 March 2010
Everyday Beauty
I have a fun exercise for anyone who reads my blog. Don’t worry you won’t be embarrassed or anything. Here is a nice poem I wrote to help get us into the mood.
Everyday things, what are you?
The cell phone that rings,
The jeans that you wear?
The pullover sweater,
Or the pen in your hand?
Is it the water bottle you drink from?
The notebook you write in?
Perhaps the humming computer, whirring away.
The plate that holds your food
And the spoon that you use?
Or the table that holds your life together?
A stone on the sidewalk you see passing?
The streetlight or freeway you drive?
Everyday things, everyday places
All around us, all are unnoticed.
Take a moment to really notice what is around you. Here is the exercise you can perform to ground yourself to the here and now. Pick up or find any object you have near you, a pen, pencil, piece of paper, book, cell phone, mouse, anything near you.
Take the object and look at it as if seeing it for the first time, and having no idea what it is or what it is for. What does it look like? How does it feel? Touch the object. Is it rough, smooth, sticky? Does it have any particular fragrance? Spend some time touching, feeling, experiencing what you hold.
Now, try going outside in nature, your back yard, a nearby park, etc, and do the same thing with something natural, a tree, flower, grass, a stone, a brook, or dirt. Anything. Experience what it is, don’t judge it, don’t hold any thoughts but the present moment of nature that surrounds you.
What do you call this? Stopping to smell the roses would work but that’s a tired cliché. Whenever your stressed try this out, when you feel like you need a moment away from the “real” world, experience nature. If your a writer this exercise is invaluable, for you can experience the everyday ordinary as something extraordinary and let your creative mind roam free.
Nature be with you!
PS If you know me, you may have heard me tell you to do this before. :)
Everyday things, what are you?
The cell phone that rings,
The jeans that you wear?
The pullover sweater,
Or the pen in your hand?
Is it the water bottle you drink from?
The notebook you write in?
Perhaps the humming computer, whirring away.
The plate that holds your food
And the spoon that you use?
Or the table that holds your life together?
A stone on the sidewalk you see passing?
The streetlight or freeway you drive?
Everyday things, everyday places
All around us, all are unnoticed.
Take a moment to really notice what is around you. Here is the exercise you can perform to ground yourself to the here and now. Pick up or find any object you have near you, a pen, pencil, piece of paper, book, cell phone, mouse, anything near you.
Take the object and look at it as if seeing it for the first time, and having no idea what it is or what it is for. What does it look like? How does it feel? Touch the object. Is it rough, smooth, sticky? Does it have any particular fragrance? Spend some time touching, feeling, experiencing what you hold.
Now, try going outside in nature, your back yard, a nearby park, etc, and do the same thing with something natural, a tree, flower, grass, a stone, a brook, or dirt. Anything. Experience what it is, don’t judge it, don’t hold any thoughts but the present moment of nature that surrounds you.
What do you call this? Stopping to smell the roses would work but that’s a tired cliché. Whenever your stressed try this out, when you feel like you need a moment away from the “real” world, experience nature. If your a writer this exercise is invaluable, for you can experience the everyday ordinary as something extraordinary and let your creative mind roam free.
Nature be with you!
PS If you know me, you may have heard me tell you to do this before. :)
18 March 2010
Spirituality
Have any of you read books about spirituality or listened to anyone talk about it? A lot of talk about the subject leads to head-ism: thinking with the head. This mode of thought shadows the true experience of the divine and wonder all around us. Wait, what? Follow me for a moment, and I hope I can help you see differently.
We’re all physical creatures, since I don’t see any floating heads. We have arms, legs, hands, and feet. We’re not just heads, and a lot of the spiritual information out there deals with problems of the body and how thoughts can make them go away. Prayers are also used to deal with body issues such as disease. But we are going it around the wrong way.
Newsflash! Your body is your mind. Every inch of your body is part of your mind. Your left toe is part of your mind. Yes, that means we think with our pussies and dicks, because they are part of us and all our body is part of our mind. Mental detachment from the body is not a good thing. This may sound ridiculous and ‘out there,’ but think for a moment. How do you experience life but through the body? Sure the brain is important, but no more important than any other part of you. Disease of the mind affects the body, and disease of the body affects the mind.
There is also a connection between the mind and spirituality/religion. Many think that to experience the spiritual and divine, you must deny the body, the impure. Using one’s mind, one could achieve the ultimate experience of divine.
Let’s take a look at Christian Ascetics. The teaching of many ascetics (including other faiths) expound upon the values of self-denial in favor of becoming spiritual. This includes fasting, restraining from activities that one takes pleasure in, and leaving society. But what does this do to the body? Deny the body and you deny your mind, and thus denying the body/mind you deny the spiritual nature we are.
Open your eyes to the world around you. Touch nature, and you touch the divine. No matter your personal beliefs, it is so easy to appreciate nature. Nature is now being scientifically studied on its effects on people. Nature is divine, and it can heal. Religion’s task is to bring us to the divine, but the divine is all around us. Our bodies are divine, plants, rocks, dead leaves: everything is divine. Look at Native American beliefs, and you see this word-view as well. Rocks don’t have spirits, you say. Rocks are spirits. Now think: we don’t have souls, we are souls. Bringing us back to the body/mind, we just add soul. We are body/mind/soul all in one, not separate at all.
Reading recently about psychic talents, I came to a stumble upon my idea. While some of the exercises stated make sense, there is the tendency to ignore the body in favor of the brain/mind. I call bullshit. Chakra meditation has lead me to understand that my brain is the most overactive part of me, leading me to neglect my body as a whole. I know that after I’ve begun working on balance, I’ve noticed I’ve been healthier. I’ve noticed the world around me is more magical and wonderful without my brain over-thinking. Meditation certainly brings everything back into perspective for me.
We are all physical beings, not brains, not soul waiting to move on. Think about the miracle it is to walk, breathe, run, laugh, talk. We do most of those naturally (talking being less natural) using our body that is our mind. I know I don’t think “Left leg, move.” It just moves when I want it to. I don’t have to consciously think about it. That is how life should be, easy, flowing and beautiful.
So how does this relate to spirituality? Whenever you do anything spiritual, whether it is with God, Allah, Shiva, etc, it isn’t about your head, its about everything. For to look at the world around you, the natural beauty of life, you begin to see that divinity not in our heads, it’s everywhere around us, including our left toes.
We’re all physical creatures, since I don’t see any floating heads. We have arms, legs, hands, and feet. We’re not just heads, and a lot of the spiritual information out there deals with problems of the body and how thoughts can make them go away. Prayers are also used to deal with body issues such as disease. But we are going it around the wrong way.
Newsflash! Your body is your mind. Every inch of your body is part of your mind. Your left toe is part of your mind. Yes, that means we think with our pussies and dicks, because they are part of us and all our body is part of our mind. Mental detachment from the body is not a good thing. This may sound ridiculous and ‘out there,’ but think for a moment. How do you experience life but through the body? Sure the brain is important, but no more important than any other part of you. Disease of the mind affects the body, and disease of the body affects the mind.
There is also a connection between the mind and spirituality/religion. Many think that to experience the spiritual and divine, you must deny the body, the impure. Using one’s mind, one could achieve the ultimate experience of divine.
Let’s take a look at Christian Ascetics. The teaching of many ascetics (including other faiths) expound upon the values of self-denial in favor of becoming spiritual. This includes fasting, restraining from activities that one takes pleasure in, and leaving society. But what does this do to the body? Deny the body and you deny your mind, and thus denying the body/mind you deny the spiritual nature we are.
Open your eyes to the world around you. Touch nature, and you touch the divine. No matter your personal beliefs, it is so easy to appreciate nature. Nature is now being scientifically studied on its effects on people. Nature is divine, and it can heal. Religion’s task is to bring us to the divine, but the divine is all around us. Our bodies are divine, plants, rocks, dead leaves: everything is divine. Look at Native American beliefs, and you see this word-view as well. Rocks don’t have spirits, you say. Rocks are spirits. Now think: we don’t have souls, we are souls. Bringing us back to the body/mind, we just add soul. We are body/mind/soul all in one, not separate at all.
Reading recently about psychic talents, I came to a stumble upon my idea. While some of the exercises stated make sense, there is the tendency to ignore the body in favor of the brain/mind. I call bullshit. Chakra meditation has lead me to understand that my brain is the most overactive part of me, leading me to neglect my body as a whole. I know that after I’ve begun working on balance, I’ve noticed I’ve been healthier. I’ve noticed the world around me is more magical and wonderful without my brain over-thinking. Meditation certainly brings everything back into perspective for me.
We are all physical beings, not brains, not soul waiting to move on. Think about the miracle it is to walk, breathe, run, laugh, talk. We do most of those naturally (talking being less natural) using our body that is our mind. I know I don’t think “Left leg, move.” It just moves when I want it to. I don’t have to consciously think about it. That is how life should be, easy, flowing and beautiful.
So how does this relate to spirituality? Whenever you do anything spiritual, whether it is with God, Allah, Shiva, etc, it isn’t about your head, its about everything. For to look at the world around you, the natural beauty of life, you begin to see that divinity not in our heads, it’s everywhere around us, including our left toes.
25 February 2010
Track Record
I don't have the best track record of updating my blog. It gets lost in the myriad events of online stuff that happens everyday, and I just don't think about it.
With all the technology we have today, you'd think it'd be easy right? I think at some points I become over saturated with writing about my life. I use twitter and I write in my journal. That doesn't leave a lot of time, energy, or (much needed) details, left for blogging.
It all comes down to decisions. Do I want to just use my blog as a diary? I don't think I'm quite ready for that to happen just yet. I don't mind sharing some details, but for the really dirt, I hold back just enough. Some thoughts are better left unpublished.
Anyways, since I can now, I'll give a brief update. I had a really great couple of weeks, due to www.breaktheillusion.com (Davey Wavey) who inspires me to think the best of any situation. He's a truly great person, and I'm glad that we've "met" online. Another great, funny guy who makes me think is http://www.youtube.com/user/JonJonJonnyo. In short, I've had nothing but beautiful things happen in the last few weeks from everything to sleeping better, eating better, and generally being happy. I can't stop myself anymore from enjoying life. Smile!
Positive thinking: try it today!
With all the technology we have today, you'd think it'd be easy right? I think at some points I become over saturated with writing about my life. I use twitter and I write in my journal. That doesn't leave a lot of time, energy, or (much needed) details, left for blogging.
It all comes down to decisions. Do I want to just use my blog as a diary? I don't think I'm quite ready for that to happen just yet. I don't mind sharing some details, but for the really dirt, I hold back just enough. Some thoughts are better left unpublished.
Anyways, since I can now, I'll give a brief update. I had a really great couple of weeks, due to www.breaktheillusion.com (Davey Wavey) who inspires me to think the best of any situation. He's a truly great person, and I'm glad that we've "met" online. Another great, funny guy who makes me think is http://www.youtube.com/user/JonJonJonnyo. In short, I've had nothing but beautiful things happen in the last few weeks from everything to sleeping better, eating better, and generally being happy. I can't stop myself anymore from enjoying life. Smile!
Positive thinking: try it today!
24 January 2010
Losing A Beloved Friend
My heart will never be the same, for reciprocal love an animal gives is like no other. We grew together from a young age, and it grieves me that she is no longer here. I got her as a present when I was in the second grade, and I wanted a kitty. I wanted another one, but my dad persuaded me to chose her, the runt of the litters, the most beautiful little kitten in the world.
Who could know this tiny little ball of fluff could claw her way into my heart so fast. I loved that little kitty so much, and she was such a little devil! When she was old enough she would eat little baby birds out of the nest, and feel proud at doing so.
She was like my little baby. I was very young at the time I go her, and I remember clearly that I was to take care of her, good or bad. I know she frustrated me at times, and I'm sure I made her mad more than once, but I know she loved me in a cat way, and I loved her back.
I have to tell this funny story of her from a few years ago. I always had her sleeping in my room at night, and she slept in her own little cubby hole by the window near the head of my bed. She liked it there and at the foot of the bed of course. One night, I woke up and I saw her sleeping next to my head, and I turned over to pet her, and she got all pissy with me for knowing she cared.
I told her things I never told anyone else, I knew she could keep a secret for some extra crunches. I could share anything and she wouldn't care one way or another; she'd just listen to what I'd have to say. In my deepest pain she gave me comfort and let me know it was all just a game she played. In my brightest moments I made her celebrate with me whether or not she wanted to.
I know it sounds silly, loving an animal as much as this, but when they've been your friend for 16 years (or so) and you cannot recall a moment in your life without them, it makes them so much harder to lose. Pets are not people, but we love them just the same because they bring so much joy to lives and so much happiness (and a big pet bill). Never are they perfect, nor are we, but they forgive us our imperfections as they can. I know I have lived for the better because of her, my queen, my baby, my Jasmine. You will always hold a huge portion of my heart in your sharp little talons, you great furry beast. I love you and I miss you. May we meet again.
06 December 2009
Which Path to Follow, Which Pawn to Move?
There are so many choices and paths in life that we simply cannot explore them all. No matter how many times I say this to myself I always end up wondering, I suppose that is the writer in me, wanting to explore paths that I otherwise did not (or could not) follow. Paths open up before us everyday and we all make hundreds of choices a day (if not more) from little ones to big ones. Somedays, when it is very quiet or I'm out in nature walking, I will think about what would have happened if, and that's when I realize I can choose to regret my decision or embrace what I thought was best when I made them.
This time for me, my what if? is more of a "What would have happened if I moved to California earlier?" or "Should I stay just a little bit longer?" But I know these questions don't do me any good. It's what is happening and what I've chosen for myself that really matters. I've said this to myself many times as well: there is no such thing as a bad decision, it's what you've chosen and what worked for you at the time. Not all choices are hard, and not all choices are easy. Many people opt for the easiest path in life, though it can often be the least rewarding and most stagnant. Hard choices can help improve one's life but can hinder as well.
I've been giving myself a lot of hard choices over the years, and I've taken easy choices as well. My current decision to return to California greatly improved my mood even though moving is very stressful. I have a lot less to worry about financial, and I think it is the best choice for me at the moment. Sure I want to stay here in New Mexico, but it just isn't in the cards for me to do so. I know I could have done more job hunting and tried to find something that paid better, but I would have had to work so much harder for everything (I am prone to fits of laziness, not to mention that crush agony of financial burden really stress one out). In California, I should have opportunity to improve my financial situation.
I don't regret moving or staying in Albuquerque, because I've made a lot of friends here, who I will be sad to leave. I've learned a lot while staying here, more than just from going to school. Living on one's own is never an easy thing, but I've learned how to cook for myself everyday, how to budget my money and still have a little bit of fun, dedication to my body to work out, and that sometimes being at home alone is the best thing. I will miss some of my freedom, but right now considering the times, it is more important to have security, because without that, what is freedom?
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