tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77724294994838109062024-03-13T09:45:56.182-07:00Essential Bindi**The bindi is arguably the most visually fascinating of all forms of body decoration.**
This blog is dedicated to my experiences visiting the places of worship of a variety of cultures other than my own all the while embracing my personal beliefs. These experiences enrich my life. I am deeply respectful of global piety and the ultimate quest for truth.strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-22611780870252331112010-05-02T21:18:00.000-07:002010-05-02T21:18:20.927-07:00The results of a MAC beauty day with henna tattoos<img alt="IMG00454.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=1285c4874b767351&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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<img alt="IMG00478.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=1285c5fe59d9b0b0&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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<img alt="IMG00452.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=1285c544d3ce191e&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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<img alt="IMG00467.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=1285c5d3b79b9749&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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<img alt="IMG00453.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=1285c5a0d766a827&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
And there you have it. Have a great week!<br />
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<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /><br />
Peace out until the next time...strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-68507643212744884392010-02-25T14:58:00.000-08:002010-02-25T15:00:02.346-08:00Put a smile on someone's face<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="225" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=12707295ca239253&attid=0.1&disp=inline&zw" width="400" /><br />
When my father received this token of affection from me, it put a smile on his face and a lift in his spirit. Mission accomplished, hurray.</div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">It was worth the price of admission.</span><br />
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<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /><br />
Peace out until the next time!strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-28083846432345230932010-02-23T13:49:00.000-08:002010-02-25T14:54:28.637-08:00What would you do?<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cbEKAwCoCKw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cbEKAwCoCKw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
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I just love this idea. What fun.<br />
<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /><br />
Peace out until the next time.strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-74467535930886236682010-02-18T14:53:00.000-08:002010-02-25T14:53:44.819-08:00PiousThis is me and my friend Adrian @ the Vedic Temple in Montclaire after a meditation service and before food!<br />
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<img alt="IMG00349.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126e342f45494aa0&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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<img alt="IMG00343.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126e347861d3f909&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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Peace out until next time!<br />
<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" />strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-3613639123698470062010-02-15T18:51:00.000-08:002010-02-15T18:51:35.928-08:00In the spirit of Julie and Julia Day #6So I was not in the mood to cook yesterday so I made two dishes today from the fabulous <a href="http://peaslovecarrots.blogspot.com/2009/10/composed-salads-cook-with-what-you-have.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Mathea from Peas love Carrots</span></a> and <a href="http://www.eatwritethink.com/2010/02/creamy-corn-on-the-cob/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Rajani from eatwritethink</span></a>.<br />
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The cream corn on the cob came out fantastic; I had three pieces. Rather thank thyme which I didn't have I used Jamaican jerk seasoning which made the cream sauce come out beige rather than white. However the flavors were just as delicious. I ladled the sauce over the cobs. I did not cook potatoes with the green beans because I had bread with my lunch so I just cooked the green beans with almonds and garlic which was very tasty thanks to the ponzu sauce. Here are my blackberry photos:<br />
<img alt="IMG00340.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126d4934ad2b2b0d&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><img alt="IMG00342.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126d4970bc3cb617&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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Here are the photos from their respective sites:<br />
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j5veQHEjgIo/SuS1-bHIsqI/AAAAAAAAATI/Al_XN_IEgRE/s320/_MG_1018.JPG" /><img height="213" src="http://www.eatwritethink.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/crn20.jpg" width="320" /><br />
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I know I cheated since I skipped a few days but I'm having fun discovering new fantastic items to cook for variety. So far so good!!<br />
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<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="240" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
Peace out until the next time!strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-30671516573063755132010-02-13T13:52:00.000-08:002010-02-13T13:52:42.891-08:00The spirit of Julie & Julia Day #4I forgot to mention my tendency to be a flake. I had enough food left over from day one to skip to day 4. Today I created my own lunch with the contents of my refrigerator before I go shopping again.<br />
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I used the remainder of the collard green leafs, turkey bacon, grain meat and Braggs Liquid Amino's to make wraps without bread. With two table spoons of EVOO I browned some turkey bacon, and apple-wood grain meat. I took Alphalfa sprouts and put them into a washed collard leaf with the liquid amino's and rolled the turkey bacon and grain meat inside. This was enough meat to make two rolls. I ate one and took a picture of one. If you want a filling alternative to a sandwich try putting you favorite raw or cooked vegetables or lunch meats into a raw turnip or collard leaf. Those are the largest leaves that can hold the contents without tearing. They do leak liquid flavoring unless you tuck in the ends. Whole wheat bread is great but it's still bread. Making wraps with leaves are different looking [colorful], and just as compact for travel to work and school.<br />
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Here are the untouched blackberry photos:<br />
<img alt="IMG00316.jpg" height="150" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126c933749e1a5b8&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" width="200" /><img alt="IMG00317.jpg" height="150" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126c93719927c5fc&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" width="200" /><img alt="IMG00318.jpg" height="150" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126c93abdbd49518&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" width="200" /><img alt="IMG00319.jpg" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126c93de62d6e7b2&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" /><br />
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Peace out until the next time...<br />
<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="240" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="320" />strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-17780541990769081592010-02-10T15:56:00.000-08:002010-02-12T08:36:58.222-08:00Dale & Mathea & Rajani & Steph & Cheryl - Day #1In the spirit of Julie and Julia today I made [click the name of the dish to see the full recipe from Steph's blog] <a href="http://stephscafe.blogspot.com/2009/12/penne-with-sausage-escarole.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Penne with Sausage & Escarole</span></a> courtesy of the fabulous Steph @ <a href="http://stephscafe.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Live.Love.Eat</span></a>. I altered her original dish to make it a tad healthier. This recipe called for sausage links but I replaced the pork with Field Roast Smoked Apple Sage grain meat. And I replaced the parmesan cheese with <a href="http://www.followyourheart.com/products.php?id=24"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Follow Your Heart rice cheese</span></a> that sprinkles like Parmesan. I replaced the Penne pasta with wheat free gluten free <a href="http://www.swansonvitamins.com/EDF007/ItemDetail?SourceCode=INTL406"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Quinoa supergrain pasta</span></a> shells. I also used fresh asparagus in the place of Escarole since my market had none, sun dried tomatoes, red peppers, fresh basil and dill. Other than those alterations the recipe is pretty much the same.<br />
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And here's what my modified version looks like from my Blackberry. I tried to focus as closely as possible in natural light:<br />
<img alt="IMG00315.jpg" height="300" src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=126ba23c4c40de34&attid=0.1&disp=thd&zw" width="400" /><br />
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My altered version is quite delicious so I'm sure that Steph's original dish is mouthwatering. It's an inexpensive, easy, quick and filling meal.<br />
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Live.Love.Eat and Enjoy!<br />
<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /><br />
Peace out until the next time!strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-42406550326474390612010-02-09T14:04:00.000-08:002010-02-09T15:20:32.707-08:00One day at a time, sweet Jesus...Happy Tuesday! Today I decided to visit my favorite food blogs to find recipes to make every day. Each time that I visit those blogs my comments contain words like yummy & yippee. At some point I had to make the decision to actually try some of these dishes so in lieu of sending out my resume, which in 17 months has gotten me to the same place - blogging from my couch - I must keep my mind active by trying/learning new things.<br />
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So for the moment I've stopped stalking my local Hindu temples for new recipes. And beginning tomorrow will be stalking/cooking from <a href="http://www.eatwritethink.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">eatwritethink [formerly A Vegetarian In the Middle East]</span></a>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://peaslovecarrots.blogspot.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Peas Love Carrots</span></a>,</span> <a href="http://www.eatwritethink.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Live.love.eat</span></a> and my new favorite<a href="http://blackgirlchefswhites.com/wordpress/"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">Black Girl Chef's Whites</span></a>.<br />
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I'm putting it off another day to budget, plan, shop and prep. I will most likely choose each day what dish I'll make for which meal. So in the spirit of Julie and Julia, I'll sing me a little tune. "One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that's all I'm asking of you. Lead me today, show me the way, one day at a ti-i-i-i-i-i-me!"<br />
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Of course, I'll be blogging about my progress.<br />
<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /><br />
Peace out until the next time!strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-77452245459599205252010-01-29T12:39:00.000-08:002010-02-01T19:36:00.158-08:00Dancing with God<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px;"><i>GUIDANCE</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 24px;"><i><img src="http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=24ffb8286e&view=att&th=1267ad7e8fc67ac6&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw" /></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">When I meditated on the word</span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-size: 7.5pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 24pt;">Guidance,</span></i> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">The movement doesn't flow with the music,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">both bodies begin to flow with the music.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">The dance takes surrender, willingness,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">and attentiveness from one person</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">and gentle guidance and skill from the other.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">My eyes drew back to the word</span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-size: 7.5pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 24pt;">Guidance.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">When I saw "G": I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i".</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">"God, "u" and "i" dance."</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">God, you, and I dance.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">that I would get</span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-size: 7.5pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">guidance about my life.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Once again, I became willing to let God lead.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">My prayer for you today is that God's blessings</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">and mercies are upon you on this day and everyday.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">May you abide in God, as God abides in you.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">Dance together with God, trusting God to lead</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">and to guide you through each season of your life.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">This prayer is powerful and there is nothing attached.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">If God has done anything for</span></i><i><span style="color: navy; font-size: 7.5pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">you in your life,</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">please share this message with someone else..</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">There is no cost but a lot of rewards;</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 18pt;">so let's continue to pray for one another.</span></i> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="240" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="320" /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Peace out until the next time!</span>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-90264665828451811512010-01-11T14:23:00.000-08:002010-01-11T14:25:45.552-08:00Can YOU do this?Stefanie Marsh from The Times wrote an article about a woman who has been living in Germany by the barter system for 13 years. I'm not certain if I could live my life this way but this story is very inspiring.<br />
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<img alt="ISP2092458 - Fifties" height="212" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2092458_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
(all photos courtesy of www.veer.com)<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 11px;"></span><br />
<h1 class="heading" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 2.7em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Living without money</h1><h2 class="sub-heading padding-top-5 padding-bottom-15" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 1.4em; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: -0.06em; line-height: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-top: 5px;">Former teacher Heidemarie Schwermer has lived without money in Germany for 13 years. [<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Copyright 2010 Times Newspapers Ltd.</span><span style="font-size: medium;">]</span></span></h2><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 11px;"></span><br />
<div><div id="related-article-links"><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Twenty-two years ago Heidemarie Schwermer, a middle-aged secondary school teacher just emerging from a difficult marriage, moved with her two children from the village of Lueneburg to the city of Dortmund, in the Ruhr area of Germany, whose homeless population, she immediately noticed, was above average and striking in its intransigent hopelessness.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Her immediate reaction was shock. “This isn’t right, this can’t go on,” she said to herself. After careful reflection she set up what in Germany is called a <i>Tauschring</i> — a sort of swap shop — a place where people can exchange their skills or possessions for other skills and possessions, a money-free zone where a haircut could be rendered in return for car maintenance; a still-functioning but never-used toaster be exchanged for a couple of second-hand cardigans. She called it <i>Gib und Nimm</i>, Give and Take.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 11px;"><img alt="ISP2094074 - Men holding hats" height="212" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2094074_P.JPG" width="320" /></span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It was always Schwermer’s belief that the homeless didn’t need money to re-enter society: instead they should be able to empower themselves by making themselves useful, despite debts, destitution or joblessness. “I’ve always believed that even if you have nothing, you are worth a lot. Everyone has a place in this world.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="DVP4971519 - Boy and woman holding gifts" height="233" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/DVP/DVP4971519_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">But the homeless of Dortmund seemed not to take to Schwermer’s plan, few ever turned up to the <i>Tauschring</i>. Some, they told her angrily to her face, felt that a middle-class woman with some education would never be able to relate to the circumstances of the dispossessed. Instead it was mainly the unemployed and the retired who began, in snowballing numbers, to flock to the <i>Tauschring</i>, their arms full of things that had been lying around their homes unused for years, or skills that they possessed but no longer exercised: retired hairdressers volunteered to cut the hair of out-of-work electricians, who would wire their kitchens in return; retired English teachers gave language lessons in return for the services of a dog-walker. The point was, not a single pfennig changed hands.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The <i>Tauschring</i> grew exponentially, was written up glowingly in a couple of local papers and turned into something of a Dortmund phenomenon. Its success also prompted Schwermer to ask serious questions of herself and her way of life. “I began to realise that I lived with so many things I didn’t need. So I decided that I wouldn’t buy anything without giving something away. That’s how it started. Then I began to really think about what I needed, clothes for example, and noticed that I could easily get by with what I could hang on ten coathangers. Everything else I gave away. I had so much stuff in the house that was superfluous. Getting rid of it was a relief.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="ZPP0000108 - Man and Woman Exchanging Laptops" height="320" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ZPP/ZPP0000108_P.JPG" width="302" /><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">After a while even her vast collection of books began to assume an excessive presence in her home and one day Schwermer marched to a second-hand shop with her entire library. “The woman in the shop was upset. But I felt that giving them away was a good thing. I love books but I knew I had to get rid of them. I didn’t miss them, which surprised me. I just wanted to pare things down to their essentials.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">What had, in part, led Schwermer to her conclusions about “stuff” was a year of psychotherapy after the breakdown of her marriage in the mid-1980s. It was a difficult year, she remembers: “I was in floods of tears nearly every session, but at the end of it I felt so happy and decided that I wanted to live more simply. I also wanted to pass on what I learnt in therapy to other people, and that’s when I began to train as a psychotherapist.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Other things changed. She took up meditation and began to realise how dissatisfied she was in her job. “I was always ill with flu or had backache and never realised the connection between my physical symptoms and my unhappiness at work.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the wake of setting up her <i>Tauschring</i>, she began to experiment with other sorts of jobs on the side. “I was working in a kitchen for ten deutschmarks an hour and people were saying to me, ‘You went to university, you studied to do this?’ But I thought, well, every person has an intrinsic value, why should I be valued more for being a teacher or a therapist than for working in a kitchen?”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="UCP0022879 - Male athletes passing the baton" height="220" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/UCP/UCP0022879_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The more ascetically she lived, the happier she became. By 1995 she was deeply involved in the <i>Tauschring</i>, house-sitting for short periods in exchange for cleaning or light maintenance work. She was buying virtually nothing: “When I needed something, I found that it would just come into my life. My glasses, for example. There was an optician who was a member of the <i>Tauschring</i> and he gave them to me in return for some therapy sessions.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It was in 1996 she realised that “I had to go farther” and took what would be the most radical decision of her life: to live without money. She gave up her apartment and teaching job and resolved to live nomadically, an “extreme lifestyle”, she admits, moving from house to house, in return for menial work. Her new way of life was intended as a short-lived thing: she had given herself 12 months. But she found herself enjoying it so much that it never really ended.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="SBP0360327 - " height="212" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/SBP/SBP0360327_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Thirteen years on, she continues to live according to the principles of <i>Gib und Nimm</i>. “Life became much more exciting. More beautiful. I had everything I needed and I knew I couldn’t go back to my old life. I didn’t have to do what I didn’t like, I had a more profound sense of joy, and physically I feel better than ever. Living without money was just the first step. I realised that I wanted to change the world and I wasn’t going to do that by looking after someone’s cat while they were on holiday.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She still lives — a week at a time — in the spare rooms of members of the <i>Tauschring</i>, cleaning or working in return for accommodation. Only very occasionally has she had personality clashes with her hosts and she tries to resolve any tension within herself “by going for a walk”. She has emergency savings of €200 (£180) and any other money that comes to her she gives away. “I decided it was OK to collect my pension but I give most of it away, except for what I need to pay for train tickets.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="PFP0003288 - " height="320" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/PFP/PFP0003288_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She has no health insurance because she didn’t want to be accused of scrounging off the state. Instead she relies on what she calls the “power of self-healing. When something hurts, I put my hand on it and say to myself I have the power to heal myself and the pain goes away.” What if she becomes really ill? “Cancer? Then I suppose I’ll die. I’ve already prepared myself for death several times — times when I thought, ‘This is it, it’s over’. But then I got up the next day and everything was fine.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Her entire material world is now contained in a single black suitcase and a rucksack. No photographs because, she says, “I don’t need them”.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the flesh Schwermer is charming and engaging as well as lively and youthful-looking with strong jutting teeth and eyesight that she says she has halfway managed to correct herself with exercises she has picked from the people she meets. She is well dressed, neat and tidy and, it may come as a surprise given her lifestyle, 67 years old. Her two children — now a music teacher and a therapist — support what their mother does although the family don’t spend Christmas together. Though single, she has relationships every now and again, but is adamant that any love affair will always come second to what she calls her ideological work with <i>Gib und Nimm</i>. “I can imagine having a serious relationship with someone who is spiritual and who believes in what I’m doing, but not one where I live in a nice big house. I can fall in love but I can’t imagine living with someone. ”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Given her constant roaming about the country, it is almost impossible pinning her down. We met in the Greenpeace offices in Münster, near Cologne, where she was to address a group of young people who had been inspired by her work to live without money for week (Schwermer spends much of her time giving lectures about her lifestyle). Accompanying her was an Italian/ Norwegian film crew and we watched as successive teenagers stumbled in and out of the office, having been given the task of bartering for food with the offer of work. “We already live in a barter economy. We go to work to get money. I want to go farther.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">What is farther and how far is far enough? Ideally, Schwermer would like to lead by example and give other people courage to change their attitudes towards money and how they live in and contribute to society. The pressure to buy and to own, she feels, has intensified in recent years. Consumerism is essentially about “an attempt to fill an empty space inside. And that emptiness, and the fear of loss, is manipulated by the media or big companies.” There is a fear, she says, that in not buying or owning an individual will fall out of society. The irony, she claims, is that material goods can never plug a spiritual hole and shopping and hoarding are more likely to isolate people than bring contentment. Does she intend to start a revolution?<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“No, I think of myself as planting the seed,” she says. “Perhaps people come away from my lectures or seeing me being interviewed and decide to spend a little less. Others might start meditating. The point is that my living without money is to allow for the possibility of another kind of society. I want people to ask themselves, ‘What do I need? How do I really want to live?’ Every person needs to ask themselves who they really are and where they belong. That means getting to grips with oneself.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Does she really think that she can convert other people to her life philosophy? “Yes, that’s our future. One day we will all live without money, because we don’t need it and because it is only a burden. We’re the way we are because it’s how the system allows us to be. We can buy everything we want but we need so much less than we realise. If you think that the capitalist system we live in now is the only system, well that’s just ridiculous.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Though she no longer owns any of her own, she has written two books on her adventures (and has given away her royalties). The first, <i>My Life without Money</i>, turned her first into a minor hero in Germany in some quarters, the kind who, last week for example, was invited on to a late-night TV forum to discuss whether M<i>oney Can Make You Happy</i>. Surrounded by dot-com millionaires and lottery winners, she spoke while the other guests peered at her, visibly disconcerted to meet a woman who had given up everything and who claimed to be happy. “I live completely normally, only without money,” she said. “There are people who do so in Siberia. And in Africa there are many people who survive only because they all help each other.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="BLP0052490 - " height="212" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/BLP/BLP0052490_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Schwermer knows from experience that not everyone will take her seriously. When she began with her project, “I was attacked frequently by people telling me that I wasn’t living without money at all, that I was just being provocative or scrounging, which made me cry! But then I realised it isn’t just about giving and expecting something back, or about giving and allowing oneself to be taken advantage of, or becoming a victim. It is about the possibility of having another life, of letting go of the stuff around us and examining our deepest fears.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She tells me about an episode three years ago when she became convinced that she was going to starve to death: “But I really asked myself what that was about and realised it was about my childhood, and it had no bearing on reality.” (Schwermer is the child of refugees who lost everything after the war). Her only real terror now is appearing in the media. “I hate being on TV because it makes me so nervous but I know I reach a lot of people that way.” The people she does get through to, judging by the demographics of the lecture halls she visits, tend to be women. Why? “Because women are more open to new ideas.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Is Schwermer a lunatic? Certainly she has been called “naive” and “idealistic” by the author of an article in the right-wing <i>Die Welt</i> newspaper, who asked her whether she was pursuing a communist-lite agenda when communism has been proved to be a failure. “It’s true that communism didn’t work,” she says, “but human beings need to learn to be a little bit different before we can learn to share what we have. We are going to run out of oil in ten years. We don’t have infinite resources. That just isn’t sustainable.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Is her own itinerant lifestyle sustainable? She thinks so. She feels young but, in the event of death, she has organised her own funeral. She’s “paid” for it by striking a deal with an enlightened clergyman, who agreed that she would cover the costs of the burial by offering counseling sessions for the bereaved. Such deals are a regular feature of her new existence: only the managers of the German rail network seem to be immune to her formidable powers of persuasion, hence the few euros she still needs at her disposable to travel long distances.<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Schwermer often talks enthusiastically about “the new world” she is in the process of discovering. She is esoteric but not mad or prone to ranting. Most people find her to be engaging and likeable: there are now many members of her <i>Tauschring</i>. What about those who live without money but not through choice? What about the poor and the homeless? Has she ever converted a homeless person to her way of thinking?<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><img alt="CBP1073860 - Gear Around Globe" height="320" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/CBP/CBP1073860_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“I haven’t managed to reach the homeless,” she says. “I did hold lectures for the homeless but only six or seven showed up. They didn’t want to hear it. One of the men there accused me of having ‘connections’, that I’d only been able to do what I have been able to do because I knew people. I do have contacts, that’s what this new world is all about, forging links and contacts. Otherwise it wouldn’t work.”<br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">She never managed to convince her interlocutor and not long after their conversation he had resumed his place outside on the pavement begging for spare change.<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lesson: </span></span><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The next time you purchase something, pick one of your belongings to give away.</span></span></span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="color: #333300; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="240" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="320" /> </span></span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Peace out until the next time!</span></span><br />
</div></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; font-size: 1px; height: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: -1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden;"></div><div class="padding-top-5" style="padding-top: 5px;"></div></div><div class="bg-666" style="background-color: #666666;"></div>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-1730398434007406612010-01-09T22:55:00.000-08:002010-01-11T14:27:14.969-08:00We are all from one sourceMy mother was here during the holiday and is always adventurous and open to try new things. She visited the Sikh temple with me on Christmas Eve and enjoyed the meditation, fellowship and meal afterward. I've been talking to her about my experiences there so she was down to experience it herself. <br />
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We sat in the back of the room leaning on the wall with legs crossed in the fetal position for an hour. My mom is in her 70's so I was concerned at first but after looking at her face with the 'all is well' expression I knew she'd go back East with a story to tell. Kudos to you mom for sitting on the floor in the fetal position for an hour without understanding one word of the service-as it was conducted in the ancient Sanskrit language. We were both shocked at how one of the gurus was the spitting image of my recently deceased cousin Tony. The resemblance was amazing. If he spoke English we would have bored the man to tears about how he could possibly be in our bloodline. <br />
<br />
I enjoy meditation and I like to meditate alone. But there was something special about having my mom with me this time. Knowing her Christian sensibilities and watching her experience another way of worship [without judgement or any type of negative commentary] made me have a stronger respect for her. Mom is not a negative or gossipy person at all, it's just that when people experience new things the tendency to dissect the experience is prominent. But not my lady. She, in fact, is looking to experience new things each time she comes into town.<br />
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<img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /><br />
(www.veer.com)<br />
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Happy New year and peace out until the next time!strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-12630299843447261112009-12-06T09:47:00.000-08:002009-12-06T09:47:17.638-08:00Sunday StoryHere is a story of the week from <a href="http://www.helpothers.org/index.php">Help Others.org</a> one of my favorite daily email newsletters. Enjoy and the next time you see a neglected pencil you'll think of this story.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="BLP0020089 - Broken pencil" height="200" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/BLP/BLP0020089_P.JPG" width="132" /><br />
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One day, though, she had a radical idea: I want to give. It was followed-up by a reasonable yet confusing thought: But what can I possibly give?<br />
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When she narrated her desire to a friend, he told her a story. "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi"><span style="color: blue;">Gandhi</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>used to write many letters. One day, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaka_Kalelkar"><span style="color: blue;">Kakasaheb Kalelkar</span></a>, a famous Indian author, saw him writing with a tiny pencil and immediately offered Gandhi a bigger pencil from his pocket. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi"><span style="color: blue;">Gandhi</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>politely said that he didn't need it. The next day, he saw <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi"><span style="color: blue;">Gandhi</span> </a>scrambling to find his pencil and Kakasaheb again offered him a pencil saying, 'Your pencil was so small anyway.' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi"><span style="color: blue;">Gandhi</span></a> gently replied, 'But a child had given me that pencil.' And he carried on the search for that small pencil."<br />
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Sharing this story, he tells this sweeper woman: "You sweep schools everyday. And so, you must see all kinds of small pencils that kids throw away. Why don't you collect those and I'll give them to little kids who can't afford pencils and teach them how to write and draw." She liked that idea. In addition to pencils, she even collected erasers, sharpners, and a few miscellaneous oddities. And every so often, when her bag gets full, she hands it off to her friend to give away to the needy.<br />
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That was her ritual.<br />
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When she found out that I was in town (I'm good friends with her kids), she insisted that I come over for a meal. Due to my hectic set of committments, I wasn't able to go over for a meal but told her that I'd definitely join her for some snacks. So I went for breakfast one day, with my friend who originally shared <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi"><span style="color: blue;">Gandhi</span></a>'s story with her. She had cooked up a simple feast of love, which we thoroughly enjoyed! We gave her a shawl, explaining that someone had gifted it to us the night before and we couldn't really use it. And as we were leaving, she handed us a pink, almost ripped, and heavy plastic bag.<br />
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Confused, I opened up that plastic bag, and saw those small pencil, erasers and sharpeners.<br />
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Wow.<br />
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It's hard to stay balanced, in the presence of something so valuable. In the next hour, I had to address a couple hundred people, and shared the story of a sweeper woman. As I opened up that pink plastic bag and held a fistful of these small pencils and erasers, it was hard for even the emcee to hold back the tears! I left the bag out for people to keep a material token of this sweeper woman's lesson -- it matters not what you give, but the amount of love you put into that giving. Everything, including the ripped plastic bag, was gone before I could take a second look.<br />
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The humble offering had a certain power that simply can't be bought. I felt it, everyone felt it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">Peace out until the next time!</span></span>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-23765212779882311022009-12-01T05:08:00.000-08:002009-12-01T06:40:33.898-08:00Yawn it does the body good<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 8px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 8px; font-size: 12px;"><span style="color: red;">Disclaimer: The source of the the following information is from </span><i><span style="color: red;">Andrew Newburg who is director of Penn’s Center for Spirituality and the Mind. This essay is from the book: HOW GOD CHANGES YOUR BRAIN by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman. Copyright © 2009 by Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman. Published by arrangement with Ballantine books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.</span></i></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 8px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 8px; font-size: 12px;"><i><img alt="How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41N3fd5uzML._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg" /></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 8px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 8px;">In the interest of saving time to wait for my research, I thought that I'd share some pretty interesting information from The Daily Good</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 8px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 8px;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: #481003; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Romans+12:2&version=9" style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Romans 12:2</span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"> (KJV)</span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the </span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: medium;">renewing</span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> of </span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: medium;">your</span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: medium;">mind</span></span></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: medium;">, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.</span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 8px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 8px;"><i><span style="font-style: normal;">Go ahead: Laugh if you want (though you’ll benefit your brain more if you smile), but in my professional opinion, yawning is one of the best-kept secrets in neuroscience. Even my colleagues who are researching meditation, relaxation, and stress reduction at other universities have overlooked this powerful neural-enhancing tool. However, yawning has been used for many decades in voice therapy as an effective means for reducing performance anxiety and hypertension in the throat. </span></i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 8px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 8px;"><img alt="CCP0015994 - Lion Yawning" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/CCP/CCP0015994_P.JPG" /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 8px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 8px;">Several recent brain-scan studies have shown that yawning evokes a unique neural activity in the areas of the brain that are directly involved in generating social awareness and creating feelings of empathy. One of those areas is the precuneus, a tiny structure hidden within the folds of the parietal lobe. According to researchers at the Institute of Neurology in London, the precuneus appears to play a central role in consciousness, self-reflection, and memory retrieval. The precuneus is also stimulated by yogic breathing, which helps explain why different forms of meditation contribute to an increased sense of self-awareness. It is also one of the areas hardest hit by age-related diseases and attention deficit problems, so it’s possible that deliberate yawning may actually strengthen this important part of the brain. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">For these reasons I believe that yawning should be integrated into exercise and stress reduction programs, cognitive and memory enhancement training, psychotherapy, and contemplative spiritual practice. And, because the precuneus has recently been associated with the mirror-neuron system in the brain (which allows us to resonate to the feelings and behaviors of others), yawning may even help us to enhance social awareness, compassion, and effective communication with others.<br />
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Why am I so insistent? Because if I were to ask you to put this magazine down right now and yawn 10 times to experience this fabulous technique, you probably won’t do it. Even at seminars, after presenting the overwhelmingly positive evidence, when I ask people to yawn, half of the audience will hesitate. I have to coax them so they can feel the immediate relaxing effects. There’s an unexplained stigma in our society implying that it’s rude to yawn, and most of us were taught this when we were young.<br />
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</div>As a young medical student, I was once “caught” yawning and actually scolded by my professor. He said that it was inappropriate to appear tired in front of patients, even though I was actually standing in a hallway outside of the patient’s room. Indeed, yawning does increase when you’re tired, and it may be the brain’s way of gently telling you that a little rejuvenating sleep is needed. On the other hand, exposure to light will also make you yawn, suggesting that it is part of the process of waking up.<br />
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But yawning doesn’t just relax you—it quickly brings you into a heightened state of cognitive awareness. Students yawn in class, not because the teacher is boring (although that will make you yawn as well, as you try to stay focused on the monotonous speech), but because it rids the brain of sleepiness, thus helping you stay focused on important concepts and ideas. It regulates consciousness and our sense of self, and helps us become more introspective and self-aware. Of course, if you happen to find yourself trapped in a room with a dull, boring, monotonous teacher, yawning will help keep you awake.<br />
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</div>Yawning will relax you and bring you into a state of alertness faster than any other meditation technique I know of, and because it is neurologically contagious, it’s particularly easy to teach in a group setting. One of my former students used yawning to bring her argumentative board of directors back to order in less than 60 seconds. Why? Because it helps people synchronize their behavior with others.<br />
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Yawning, as a mechanism for alertness, begins within the first 20 weeks after conception. It helps regulate the circadian rhythms of newborns, and this adds to the evidence that yawning is involved in the regulation of wakefulness and sleep. Since circadian rhythms become asynchronous when a person’s normal sleep cycle is disturbed, yawning should help the late-night partygoer reset the brain’s internal clock. Yawning may also ward off the effects of jet lag and ease the discomfort caused by high altitudes.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="DVP5004448 - Businessman yawning in meeting, close-up" height="212" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/DVP/DVP5004448_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div>So what is the underlying mechanism that makes yawning such an essential tool? Besides activating the precuneus, it regulates the temperature and metabolism of your brain. It takes a lot of neural energy to stay consciously alert, and as you work your way up the evolutionary ladder, brains become less energy efficient. Yawning probably evolved as a way to cool down the overly active mammalian brain, especially in the areas of the frontal lobe. Some have even argued that it is a primitive form of empathy. Most vertebrates yawn, but it is only contagious among humans, great apes, macaque monkeys, and chimpanzees. In fact, it’s so contagious for humans that even reading about it will cause a person to yawn.<br />
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Dogs yawn before attacking, Olympic athletes yawn before performing, and fish yawn before they change activities. Evidence even exists that yawning helps individuals on military assignment perform their tasks with greater accuracy and ease. Indeed, yawning may be one of the most important mechanisms for regulating the survival-related behaviors in mammals. So if you want to maintain an optimally healthy brain, it is essential that you yawn. It is true that excessive yawning can be a sign that an underlying neurological disorder (such as migraine, multiple sclerosis, stroke, or drug reaction) is occurring. However, I and other researchers suspect that yawning may be the brain’s attempt to eliminate symptoms by readjusting neural functioning.<br />
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Numerous neurochemicals are involved in the yawning experience, including dopamine, which activates oxytocin production in your hypothalamus and hippocampus, areas essential for memory recall, voluntary control, and temperature regulation. These neurotransmitters regulate pleasure, sensuality, and relationship bonding between individuals, so if you want to enhance your intimacy and stay together, then yawn together. Other neurochemicals and molecules involved with yawning include acetylcholine, nitric oxide, glutamate, GABA, serotonin, ACTH, MSH, sexual hormones, and opium derivate peptides. In fact, it’s hard to find another activity that positively influences so many functions of the brain.<br />
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My advice is simple. Yawn as many times a day as possible: when you wake up, when you’re confronting a difficult problem at work, when you prepare to go to sleep, and whenever you feel anger, anxiety, or stress. Yawn before giving an important talk, yawn before you take a test, and yawn while you meditate or pray because it will intensify your spiritual experience.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="BLP0062979 - African businesswoman yawning" height="212" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/BLP/BLP0062979_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div>Conscious yawning takes a little practice and discipline to get over the unconscious social inhibitions, but people often come up with three other excuses not to yawn: “I don’t feel like it,” “I’m not tired,” and my favorite, “I can’t.” Of course you can. All you have to do to trigger a deep yawn is to fake it six or seven times. Try it right now, and you should discover by the fifth false yawn, a real one will begin to emerge. But don’t stop there, because by the tenth or twelfth yawn, you’ll feel the power of this seductive little trick. Your eyes may start watering and your nose may begin to run, but you’ll also feel utterly present, incredibly relaxed, and highly alert. Not bad for something that takes less than a minute to do. And if you find that you can’t stop yawning—I’ve seen some people yawn for thirty minutes—you’ll know that you’ve been depriving yourself of an important neurological treat. <strong><span style="color: black; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="8" src="http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/resources/dot_gray.gif" width="8" /></span></span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So the next time that you notice people yawning when you speak, don't assume they are bored. Just realize this is the process of how they take information into their brain :-). </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Peace out until the next time.</span><br />
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</div></span>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-48430321126760171232009-11-27T17:53:00.000-08:002010-02-24T12:56:44.096-08:00She Sikhs<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.infoaboutsikhs.com/Khanda.jpg" /></div><br />
I am fascinated with Hinduism and Sikhism [pronounced Seek-ism] because both faith practices are based on meditation as the tenants of their beliefs. Meditation is an important health practice as my health coach has always told me.<br />
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Per my last post Rekah told me about a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism"><span style="color: blue;">Sikh</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>temple closer to my home where I could continue my meditation education without having to travel an hour away to the most popular <a href="http://www.nithyanandavedictemple.org/worship.asp"><span style="color: blue;">Vedic</span></a> temple in Los Angeles. <br />
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Today I drove by the<span style="color: blue;"> </span><a href="http://www.gurudwara.net/gurudwaranet/Gurudwara_Details.aspx?GID=218"><span style="color: blue;">temple</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>to pick up a schedule of meditation classes/worship services. After I grabbed a few flyers, I was asked, by the nicest man, named Singh, to fill out a contact sheet so I could be placed in the database in order to keep informed of the events. And then I was asked if I liked Chai tea and Indian food and was invited to stay for a meal. True to form, not being able to resist delicious smelling food, I stayed. I was hungry and didn't want to be rude. The aroma was in the air throughout the temple. Singh carried my plate to a table where three other men where already eating. These men were very accommodating, asking me if I needed anything more. My lentils were extremely spicy and tasty. I needed more bread called <a href="http://punjabirecipes.gurudwara.net/recipedetail.aspx?id=116"><span style="color: blue;">Paratha</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>to cut the potency of the chillies. Ching was kind enough to bring more Paratha/bread. The Chai was homemade on the premises and the chai flavor was overpowered with the flavor of cinnamon without being sweet.<br />
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Here is an<span style="color: blue;"> </span><a href="http://punjabirecipes.gurudwara.net/recipedetail.aspx?id=116"><span style="color: blue;">easy recipe</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>for Paratha/bread.<br />
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For my entire visit, I was treated wonderfully by 5 strangers who welcomed me and my many questions with open arms in that Aunt Bessy from the South kind of way. 'Child please sit on down and let me fix you something to eat!'<br />
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Other than Singh and Ching, the other men did not really speak English, so we broke bread with smiles and nods. The other men were much older with white whiskers and facial wrinkles filled with the character of 40 years of journeys. I restrained myself from hugging all of them, graciously bowed out of the dining area thanking them all for their hospitality, collected my shoes and continued my afternoon.<br />
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If I would have displayed too much affection I believe I would have been perceived as someone who is not used to kindness. Plus their culture is to embrace everyone on the planet as God's children. <span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif; line-height: 19px;">Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">Sikhism is also similar to Christianity in that there is a Holy Trinity:</span></span><br />
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<dl style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.2em;"><dd style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 2em;"><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: url(http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/monobook/bullet.gif); list-style-type: square; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;">
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naam_Japna" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Naam Japna"><span style="color: blue;">Naam Japna</span></a></b><span style="color: blue;">: </span>– A Sikh is to engage in a daily practice of meditation... by reciting and chanting of God’s Name.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>Christian comparison </b>- read the bible daily. Study to show yourself approved. Meditate on His word day and night.</li>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirat_Karni" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Kirat Karni"><span style="color: blue;">Kirat Karni</span></a></b><span style="color: blue;">: -</span> To live honestly and earn by ones physical and mental effort while accepting God's gifts and blessings. A Sikh has to live as a householder carrying out his or her duties and responsibilities to the full.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>Christian comparison</b> - abide by the ten commandments.</li>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vand_Chakna" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Vand Chakna"><span style="color: blue;">Vand Chakna</span></a></b><span style="color: blue;">: -</span><span style="color: blue;"> The </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Sikh"><span style="color: blue;">Sikhs</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>are asked to share their wealth within the community and outside by giving <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasvand" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Dasvand"><span style="color: blue;">Dasvand</span></a><span style="color: blue;"> </span>and practising charity (Daan). To “Share and consume together”.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>Christian comparison</b> - tithe your time and money to where you are being spiritually educated. Your church home. Help the needy.</li>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;">The </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_Gurus" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Sikh Gurus"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Sikh Gurus</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"> tell us that our mind and spirit are constantly being attacked by the Five Evils – </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kam" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Kam"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Kam</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> (</span>Lust), </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krodh" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Krodh"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Krodh</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>(Rage),<span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobh" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Lobh"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Lobh</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;">(Greed), </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moh" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Moh"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Moh</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"> (Attachment) and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahankar" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Ahankar"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Ahankar</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>(Ego). A Sikh needs to constantly attack and overcome these five vices. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i><span style="color: white;">t</span>here is one god</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>whose name is truth</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>god is the creator</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>and is without hate</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>god is timeless</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>god's spirit is throughout the universe</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>god is not born</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>nor will die to be born again</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>god is self-existent</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>by the grace of the gurus</i></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><i>god is made known to mankind.</i></li>
</span></ul><div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;">The </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_Gurus" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Sikh Gurus"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Sikh Gurus</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>taught the Sikhs to develop and harness positive human qualities which lead the soul closer to God and away from evil. These are: </span></span><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sat_%28Sikhism%29" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Sat (Sikhism)"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Sat</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"> (Truth); </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daya" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Daya"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Daya</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>(Compassion); </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santokh" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Santokh"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Santokh</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>(Contentment); </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrata" style="background-image: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Nimrata"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;">Nimrata</span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="color: blue;"> </span>(Humility); and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyare" style="background-image: none; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Pyare">Pyare</a> (Love).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Because I could not have said it better myself, to quote Lance Steinhibel a freelance writer for </span></span></span><a href="http://www.enochmagazine.com/"><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;">Enoch Magazine</span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: Times,'Times New Roman',serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: blue;">,</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px;">"If Christians believe in love, then we have to love everyone, even those who believe in different gods. Because honestly, why would anyone want to hear about our God and beliefs, if we don’t even care enough to care about theirs?</span></b></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #545454; font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><img src="http://peacemonger.org/images/CoexistMeaning.jpg" /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Every response was some variation of, “other religions are wrong, so why should we have to coexist with them?” They were missing the point of it all, and it drove me crazy. They missed everything about loving one another as yourself, kindness, and understanding. I’m not saying every religion is right, but what I am saying is that if you ever want the opportunity to share with someone the love of Jesus, you must be first be open to hear what they believe in and what matters to them. Look at the life of Paul in the New Testament; he knew exactly what all the other religions were doing in that time, and what they believed. It’s not about who is right, and who is wrong. It’s about showing people love and respect for what they believe in and what they are passionate about. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, just respect them."</span></span></div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Coexist bumper sticker uses religious symbols to promote tolerance." height="51" src="http://www.carryabigsticker.com/images/coexist_150.gif" width="200" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">I don't have to agree with anyone else because I have chosen to believe what I believe for my own life. But with the loving spirit of Christ, I must show love and respect. Maybe even friendship. How 'bout that?<br />
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Peace out until next time.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-28545034210420316232009-11-11T18:49:00.000-08:002009-12-10T21:23:02.728-08:00Open...<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><img alt="Open: An Autobiography" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51hoa6B%2B3DL._SL500_AA240_.jpg" /><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This book [that I have not read] has gotten so much press over the past few days due to the truth that it's author has chosen to include within it depicting his own experience. But that's not what this post is about. That's right this is not about Andre Agassi or his book at all, I have only chosen the book as one visual to get your attention. Now that I have it,THIS POST is about something pretty wonderful that I experienced today.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">Several months ago I was told about a woman named Rekha who specializes in eyebrow threading here in the valley. <br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="View details" src="http://cache1.veer.com/img/timg/pip/pip0022107_t.jpg" /><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I am a woman who is on a limited budget these days and grooms herself regularly. Today I finally called her to get my brows in shape [$5.00 rather than the commanded $23.00]. To make a long story short, I got to her house early this afternoon and as I pulled up her front door was wide OPEN. I looked down at the address on my lap and looked at the address of the house about two times, yup it was the right house. I parked walked to the front door and rang the bell [of course I didn't just walk into the house of a complete stranger, I have better manners] and Rekha motioned for me to enter and follow her to her salon. As she was threading way my stomach began to growl. I apologized and after she finished she invited me to stay for lunch. Very sweet right? With my embarrassment squelched, flawless brows and empty stomach<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="View image details - Extreme close up of woman's eye" src="http://cache1.veer.com/img/timg/blp/blp0029120_t.jpg" /><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I accepted her generous offer. It turns out Rekha cooks homemade Indian food everyday. So over whole wheat pita, lentils, spicy eggplant and yogurt we chatted about the difference in cooking cultural foods [how easterners love super spicy food and we westerners prefer it milder.] meditation, and other girly stuff about which I won't bore you. She then complimented my bindi<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">and told me that she had tons for me to choose and <i>take with me</i>. She gave me about 20 packs. She then invited me to come back to her home <i>with friends</i> any time I wanted. My response was, "Thank you but you don't know me why would you extend such hospitality?" Her answer, "We are all God's children, no matter what race, sex, culture or spiritual beliefs. So as you saw when you pulled up my door is always OPEN. Please it will be my pleasure to have you back." And she continued, "You can also visit our Temple any time you'd like we welcome any and everyone. There you can continue to learn about meditation plus there we always serve homemade food." At first my thought was <span style="color: red;">negative</span> that this woman must think I can't feed myself but then <span style="color: blue;">I realized</span> much like my experience at the <a href="http://www.nithyanandavedictemple.org/">Vedic Temple</a> two weeks ago the eastern culture [like several others] is based around food and socialization. So concluding my appointment I paid her, hugged her, thanked her for beautiful brows and a delicious meal and gave her my contact information as she scurried to her next appointment.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">In conclusion it is always great to be OPEN to new experiences because you never know how God is going to bless you. <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have <b style="font-weight: bold;">fellowship</b> with one another (Isaiah 2:5, Psalm 104:2; 1 Tim 6:16)</span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">The <b style="font-weight: bold;">friends</b>hip [Or The secret counsel] of the LORD is for those who fear him,and he makes known to them his covenant (Amos 3:7; Job 29:4)</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Wealth brings many new <b style="font-weight: bold;">friends</b>,but a poor man is deserted by his friend. (Proverbs 14:20)</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">And I tell you, make <b style="font-weight: bold;">friends</b> for yourselves...(Luke 12:33; Matt 6:20; 19:21; 1 Tim 6:10, 17-19)</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">It was a great day because the way it unfolded was unexpected and because I made a new friend. <br />
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</div><img alt="View image details - Friends Inspecting Gifts" src="http://cache3.veer.com/img/timg/ccp/ccp0001315_t.jpg" /><img alt="View image details - Twin Sisters Looking at Necklace in Boutique" src="http://cache1.veer.com/img/timg/ccp/ccp0022203_t.jpg" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">You never know how God is going to build and expand his kingdom.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="View image details - Businesswomen on Staircase" src="http://cache1.veer.com/img/timg/czp/czp0021483_t.jpg" /><a href="http://cache2.veer.com/img/timg/ccp/ccp0001312_t.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="View image details - Architects looking over blueprints" border="0" src="http://cache2.veer.com/img/timg/ccp/ccp0001312_t.jpg" /></a><br />
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Peace out until the next time...<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="150" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="200" /><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">(All images are courtesy of www.veer.com)<br />
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</div>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-12811861738922075232009-11-09T19:34:00.000-08:002009-12-10T21:22:16.779-08:00LIVING ENLIGHTENMENT - no harm in that<span style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Why is it that we as Christians always invite people to church but we find in sacrilegious to go outside of our comfort zone and visit the edifice of someone else's religion/faith? After all don't we take the spirit of Christ with us everywhere we go? It is that spirit that is with us in the lions den, in the belly of a whale and in the fiery furnace. <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ISP2123964 - A gospel singer holding a bible" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2123964_P.JPG" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">I also find it rude when certain Christians don't see me <span style="text-decoration: underline;">in church</span> for a while the very first question they ask is, "so where have you been?" Swiftly followed by, "Where are you worshiping now?" Never giving me a chance to answer the first question properly. I can tell their intent is to get me to answer the second question right away to satisfy their own assumptions. My cynical nature is to shock them with sarcasm, "Well I've been on the beach sacrificing chickens." I long to see their reaction. What would a haughty Christian do when actually confronted with a person who "turned away" from God? In denominational Christianity it's called backsliding. My sense is they wouldn't have a clue how to negotiate that situation. But then God's spirit of wisdom comforts me enough to suppress my flesh and I spew a pocketed response because that will do two things, give them comfort and end a conversation I didn't want to engage in in the first place. That response is, I've been healing and fellowshipping elsewhere. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ISP2123930 - A hindu man praying" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2123930_P.JPG" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">That being said, I've been avoiding invitations by wonderful people, I've been meeting throughout my months of healing, because they have been from other cultures. And we tend to reject that which we don't understand. Well I was recently compelled to visit a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Vedic_religion" style="color: #406480;" target="_blank">vedic temple</a>. At a health expo I met a young east Indian woman who painted a lovely henna tatoo on my weak hand and asked me what happened to me. After giving her the abridged version she invited me to a healing meditation at <a href="http://www.lifeblissmeditation.org/" style="color: #406480;" target="_blank">her temple</a>. I could see in her eyes that she was most sincere and wanted to give me comfort in a way that she knew how. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="CLP0201584 - Torso of Indian woman wearing sari and jewelry" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/CLP/CLP0201584_P.JPG" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">The gesture was sweet, I thought, besides I've wanted to learn the practice of relaxation techniques for a few months anyway. "No harm in that." I thought. I took her up on her offer and visited Life Bliss Meditation at the vedic temple. I arrived early to receive a tour, collect information and wait for the class to begin. The first thing they asked me to do was to remove my shoes, everyone leaves their shoes on the outside of the entryway door I was given the option to leave my shoes on the inside of the temple by the front door to give me more comfort that my shoes wouldn't mysteriously walk away. "No harm in that." <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ISP2123952 - A hindu woman praying" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2123952_P.JPG" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">So I respectfully complied with the rules. After all everyone is on the honor system. My thoughts fixed on the fact that a homeless person could walk by, see my shoes out of the dozens that were there, and steal them. Tisk, tisk on me. So I entered the temple, sat on the small benches in the rear, respectfully observed my surroundings, and waited for class to begin. My surroundings overwhelmed me: the colors were vibrant and beautiful, the fragrances [of incense and food] were sharp and the acoustical chanting CD filled the room throughout the temple. I observed people praying quietly & corporately without any though of who was watching. It was copious to behold. In that moment I thanked the lord for allowing me to have this experience. As I sat in gratitude the class began and throughout it I learned many things but what made the largest impression was I learned how to breathe chaotically. Chaotic breathing is swift breath in and out of your nostrils changing the rhythm so frequently that there is no rhythm to it at all. When there is no rhythm there is no thought. That way you cannot be attached to any thought because they don't exist. No harm in that.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ISP2123969 - A hindu man meditating" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2123969_P.JPG" /><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">There was no "Gee I look ridiculous," "I want to look around to see what others are doing," "I wonder if my shoes are still there." Which is the point of meditation to relax and be void of thoughts. To meditate is to <i>just be</i>. When we communicate with God in prayer we should <i>just be</i>, regardless of what else is happening. The meditation continued for about 45 minutes and I was so busy <i>just being</i>, I forgot about my shoes, looking silly and didn't care what anyone else was doing. Within the allotted time, I was happy to be alive, to experience another cultures way of worship and that I could let my light shine. After meditation they served dinner. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="SBI0001562 - Abstract with cross" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PILL/SBI/SBI0001562_P.JPG" /><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ISP2060781 - Family saying grace" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2060781_P.JPG" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">While they were serving dinner I had a conversation about Christ and the similarities between Christs teachings and that of the energies of the God they acknowledge as separate deities. I left having made a few new friend connections, I left with more information about their worship practices, I left them with more information about my worship beliefs. I felt enlightened ...and my shoes were still there. There is never harm in that!<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Verse(s):<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind."<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">(2 Timothy 1:7, KJV)<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">"But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying,Saul my father seeketh to kill thee:now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:"<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">(1 Samuel 10:2, KJV)<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #481003; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Prayer:<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">"Father thank you for the beauty of variety. Thank you for salvation and it's path. There is one road that leads to you but many journeys to reach that road. Our public places of worship can be considered a secret place in you. You are a God of wisdom, inclusion, friendship and peace. I'm thankful that there is peace in relationship with you.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" height="240" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" width="320" /><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;">(All images are courtesy of www.veer.com)<br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;">Peace out until the next time...<br />
</div></div>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772429499483810906.post-39748842286132386512009-11-09T17:31:00.000-08:002009-12-01T06:39:58.786-08:00Body adornment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(All images are courtesy of www.veer.com)<br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="DVP4904698 - Woman with arm outstretched" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/DVP/DVP4904698_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Please join me in a visually informational history lesson weaved throughout my personal experience as a person who searches for the truth in all things. In this blog I will aim to not render any judgement but to pose questions for two reasons 1) to gain information and 2) to provoke thought. Hopefully you will be compelled to leave comments in order to engage in a dialog. Again HERE all I am offering is the truth based on research that I've done. I'll be discussing various cultures and by default those respective religious beliefs. Based on those practices I've discovered the most beautiful fashions and body adornment. Some I've adopted into my lifestyle.<br />
</div><br />
<br />
For the past several months I've been wearing bindis. At first I only wore them on special occasions with formal attire. Today I wear them everyday for reasons that I'll reveal upon request but <i>enough about me</i>. <br />
<br />
The bindi is arguably the most visually fascinating of all forms of body decoration.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="CHI0000957 - Businesswoman talking on cell phone" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PILL/CHI/CHI0000957_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><br />
Today, bindi is more of a fashion statement than anything else, and the number of women sporting bindis is overwhelming even in the West.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="PFP0006270 - " src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/PFP/PFP0006270_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">According to Wikipedia -<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">The area between the eyebrows (where the bindi is placed) is said to be the sixth <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Chakra">chakra</a>, <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajna" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Ajna">ajna</a></i>, the seat of "concealed wisdom". According to followers of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Hinduism">Hinduism</a>, this chakra is the exit point for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Kundalini">kundalini</a> energy. The bindi is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindi_(decoration)#cite_note-3" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[4]</a></sup> It is also said to protect against demons or bad luck.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="DVP4978559 - Woman smiling, portrait" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/DVP/DVP4978559_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">In modern times, bindis are worn by women of many religious dispositions in South Asia and Southeast Asia, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Muslim">Muslim</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; color: #5a3696; text-decoration: none;" title="Christian">Christian</a> women, and is not restricted to Hindus.<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img alt="RBP9023861 - Hindu woman with hands together and bindi" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/RBP/RBP9023861_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">Nowadays, bindis are worn throughout South Asia, specifically India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, by women and girls, and no longer signify age, marital status, religious background or ethnic affiliation.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-hbc1_1-0" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindi_(decoration)#cite_note-hbc1-1" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a></sup> The bindi has become a decorative item and is no longer restricted in colour or shape. Self-adhesive bindis (also known as sticker bindis) are available, usually made of felt or thin metal and adhesive on the other side.<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img height="277" src="http://www.xportjewelry.com/xportjewelry_graphics/fashion_jewelry_bindi/bi164.jpg" width="400" /><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: left;">These are simple to apply, disposable substitutes for older tilak bindis. Sticker bindis come in many colors, designs, materials, and sizes. Fancier sticker bindis are decorated with sequins, glass beads, or rhinestones.<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img alt="CLP0201544 - Young woman hiding behind veil" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/CLP/CLP0201544_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em;">Outside South Asia, bindis are sometimes worn by women of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="India">Indian</a> origin. Some Western women who have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_converts_to_Hinduism" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="List of converts to Hinduism">converted to</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Hinduism">Hinduism</a>, such as in the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Krishnas" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Hare Krishnas">Hare Krishnas</a>, also wear bindis. Sometimes they are worn as a style statement. International celebrities such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Roberts" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Julia Roberts">Julia Roberts</a>,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindi_(decoration)#cite_note-2" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a></sup> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_Stefani" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Gwen Stefani">Gwen Stefani</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Shakira">Shakira</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(entertainer)" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Madonna (entertainer)">Madonna</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Hagen" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Nina Hagen">Nina Hagen</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelly_Furtado" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Nelly Furtado">Nelly Furtado</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shania_Twain" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Shania Twain">Shania Twain</a> have been seen wearing bindis.<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img alt="ISP2076160 - Portrait of a woman" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2076160_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: left;">In addition to the bindi, in India, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermilion" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Vermilion">vermilion</a> mark in the parting of the hair just above the forehead is worn by married women as a symbol of their married status. During North Indian marriage ceremonies, the groom applies <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindoor" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Sindoor">sindoor</a> on the parting in the bride's hair. Ancient Chinese women wore similar marks (for purely decorative purposes) since the second century, which became popular during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Tang Dynasty">Tang Dynasty</a>.<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="POP0001525 - " src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/POP/POP0001525_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ZPP0004197 - Face of a Woman" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ZPP/ZPP0004197_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">Occasionally I'll treat myself to a henna tattoo. My favorite local henna tatoo artist is <a href="http://1800ceoblog.com/about/">Hemali Patel</a> of <a href="http://www.blissfulhenna.com/">Blissful Henna</a>. Due to her busy schedule, Hemali's services are by appointment only. Please check out her portfolio @ <a href="http://www.blissfulhenna.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=2">Blissful Henna</a>.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="AIP0019083 - woman's hands and feet painted with henna" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AIP/AIP0019083_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><br />
Again, according to Wikipedia - <span style="line-height: 24px;"><b>Henna</b> or <b>Hina</b> (<i>Lawsonia inermis</i>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synonymy" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Synonymy">syn.</a> <i>L. alba</i>) is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowering_plant" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Flowering plant">flowering plant</a>, the sole species in the genus <i>Lawsonia</i> in the family <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lythraceae" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Lythraceae">Lythraceae</a>. The word "henna" (حــنــا) comes from the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Arabic">Arabic</a> name for the plant, pronounced /ħinnaːʔ/ or colloquially /ħinna/.<sup class="noprint Template-Fact" style="line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap;" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from August 2009">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</sup>. It is also an islamic name given to girls which means blessed.</span><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img alt="File:Mehandi.jpg" height="300" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Mehandi.jpg" width="400" /><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: left;">It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Africa">Africa</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="South Asia">southern Asia</a>, and northern <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasia" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Australasia">Australasia</a> in semi-arid zones. Henna is a tall shrub or small tree. Henna body art is made by applying henna paste to the skin: the lawsone in the paste migrates into the outermost layer of the skin and makes a red-brown stain. The different words for henna in ancient languages imply that henna had more than one point of discovery and origin, and different pathways of daily and ceremonial use. <br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Day 54: Henna Tattoo by Sarah Mae." src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/219/513026645_636a31062f.jpg" /><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: left;">Henna has been used to adorn young women's bodies as part of social and holiday celebrations since the late <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Bronze Age">Bronze Age</a> in the eastern<a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Mediterranean">Mediterranean</a>. The earliest text mentioning henna in the context of marriage and fertility celebrations comes from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugarit" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Ugarit">Ugaritic</a> legend of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Baal">Baal</a> and <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anath" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Anath">Anath</a>,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna#cite_note-11" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[12]</a></sup> which has references to women marking themselves with henna in preparation to meet their husbands, and Anath adorning herself with henna to celebrate a victory over the enemies of Baal. This early connection between young, fertile women and henna seems to be the origin of the Night of the Henna, which is now celebrated world-wide.<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Creative Henna Tattoo of Beautiful Girls Women Face" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2039/2199597780_120dcff607.jpg" /><br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: left;">The Night of the Henna was celebrated by most groups in the areas where henna grew naturally: Jews,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-brauer_13-0" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna#cite_note-brauer-13" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[14]</a></sup> Muslims,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-westermarck14_14-0" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna#cite_note-westermarck14-14" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap;">[15]</a></sup> Hindus, Christians and Zoroastrians, among others, all celebrated marriages by adorning the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bride" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Bride">bride</a>, and often the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridegroom" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; color: #002bb8; text-decoration: none;" title="Bridegroom">groom</a>, with henna.<br />
</div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.4em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Henna tattoo designs" src="http://www.funxite.com/media/8831-henna-tattoo-designs.jpg" /><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But health risks do exist-</span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though user accounts cite few, if any, negative effects of natural henna paste, pre-mixed henna body art pastes may have ingredients added to darken stain, or to alter stain color. The health risks involved in pre-mixed paste can be significant. The FDA considers these to be adulterants and therefore illegal for use on skin.</span><span style="line-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="line-height: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some pastes have been found to include: silver nitrate, carmine, pyrogallol, disperse orange dye, and chromium. </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These have been found to cause allergic reactions, chronic inflammatory reactions, or late-onset allergic reactions to hairdressing products and textile dyes.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-pmid11668106_21-0" style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em;"></sup></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="ZFP0037415 - Woman Wearing Traditional Sari and Jewelry" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ZFP/ZFP0037415_P.JPG" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The art of mehndi (or mehandi) has been a long-standing tradition stemming from many ancient cultures dating back as far as about 5,000 years, but is most known today for its history in India. Today, it is still used in religious and ritualistic ceremonies in India, but has also gained appreciation in other countries as a beautiful art to be appreciated at any time. So, what exactly is mehndi?</span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="ISP2076158 - A henna tattoo on a womans palm" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2076158_P.JPG" /></span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mehndi is a temporary art done on the body with henna. Henna powder is derived from a plant (actually a bush), </span><a href="http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/acc_num/198900052.html"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lawsonia inermis</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">,commonly found in the Middle East and other areas where the climate is hot and dry. The bush is harvested, dried, and then crushed to make henna powder. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Henna itself is used for many things such as hair treatment, heat rash relief, and skin conditioner to name a few. The top leaves of the plant are best for mehndi, while the lower part of the plant is used for the other purposes. Henna paste is what is made to apply henna art designs.</span></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><img alt="ISP2076163 - A woman covering her eye with her hand" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/ISP/ISP2076163_P.JPG" /></span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Henna powder itself is green in color, but the stain it leaves behind is usually an orange-red color.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alright, I just ran out of steam, nothing more to say. Now please enjoy the remainder of these photos...</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">Eventually we all must come to the realization that there is something greater than ourselves.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">May your quest for truth be consistent,<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="BXP0035885 - Woman in meditative pose" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/BXP/BXP0035885_P.JPG" /><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">your piety authentic,<br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="BXP0035884 - Woman in meditative pose" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/BXP/BXP0035884_P.JPG" /><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">and the peaceful, loving, hopeful, humbling spirit of Jesus, the son of God, be with you.<br />
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</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="AYP1501039 - Fingers in a peace sign" src="http://images.veer.com/IMG/PIMG/AYP/AYP1501039_P.JPG" /><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: auto;">Peace Out until next time...<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;">Disclaimer</span><span style="color: #4c1130;">:</span> <i>none of the businesses or people that I promote throughout this blog are paying me to advertise; nor do we have any other type of business agreement. It's simple: when I like something I share the information. My intention is to spread love the old fashioned way, by word of mouth, with no agenda. </i><br />
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</div>strokeoflivinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03750489814772979955noreply@blogger.com0