AND PEACE TO YOU

There was loud thunder rumblings about Midnight and flashes of light, but no rain until early Morning. It sounded like it was really coming down but according to the rain gauge we got less than one half inch. It was bright Sunshine when I got up, it lasted about an hour and then clouded up. The Sun peaks through occasionally.

I am getting a late start. It is already 11:30 AM. I have been having constant reminders that the most important thing I can do for myself and the world is to maintain peace.

We are going through a chaotic period both globally and nationally. The energy emitted sometimes is quite negative. If we let it, this energy affects our personal life, at both an individual and relationship level. It disturbs our peace.

Peace is crucial. Without peace we cannot feel love. Without peace our love stays bottled up. Without peace we cannot create. Without peace we stay stuck in a gloomy world we don't want.

We value peace, but sometimes at a conscious level, we forget how important it is. We love our emotions, and sometimes we are happy to indulge them, even when it disturbs our peace. How many times have we got riled up by a chance remark? How may times have we got carried away when our feelings got hurt? How many times have we engaged with someone, when we could tell by how we were feeling, that it was likely a mistake? Add to this list, how you contribute to disturbing your peace.

We might say, “We can't control our emotions.” Who is going to, then? Is it always necessary to let each of our emotions carry us to perdition? I have learned for myself, that I don't have to indulge in every emotion that flows through my being. I certainly am not successful all the time, but I make continuous progress.

The first step for me was to recognize and value the importance of being peaceful. There is no happiness without peace. Peace is the very foundation of the enjoyment of life. With peace, we can be joyous, loving, exuberant, and live life fully. Finding a base line of peace in our consciousness and maintaining it keeps out negativity.

I think we need to see how important this is at an intellectual level. When we recognize that, we can form an intent to bring more peace into our lives. Perhaps, I should not say 'bring peace into our lives', because the peace is already there. We are all peaceful at our center. It is the doubts about ourselves, and a whole mis-mash of unloving ideas we have taken on about ourselves, that keep us from realizing our peace.

So again it boils down to loving ourselves. It is very helpful to use some kind of meditation technique, daily, to find peace. I think I mentioned it in my last blog, imagining and emerging ourselves in a marinade of unconditional love. Let it soak into every cell of our bodies and every corpuscle of our minds.

When we develop an intent to maintain peace, we learn to catch ourselves, before reacting to an incoming hurtful message, and we can separate ourselves from the interaction. We can know, anything negative coming towards us, belongs to the source, not us. It cannot be a comment on us because we don't own it. The comment comes out of the sources craziness, not ours. It is all a painful way to ask for love. When we can recognize that, we can ignore the comment and send them love silently.

Learning to do this takes practice. We will fail many times. However, it is never to late to catch ourselves and stop where we were heading. Practice, practice, practice.

I know that I am not bringing peace, to a peace starved world, when I am not peaceful.

I want to experience a peaceful world. I know I have to start with myself.

When we are peaceful, we bless the world. We can do it. We will do it.

Love and Peace, Gregg

A RAINY DAY

I lost my blog and need to start over. I used to do this and it was a mystery and usually disturbing. Now I use a program that makes it almost impossible. With a modicum of idiocy I figured out how do do it.

No big deal. It is a rainy day and I don't have anything else I would rather do. My procrastination period is over for now. I did the last two big things that were bugging me. The rainy day gives me a vacation from thinking about the many other things that could be done. I planted the amaryllis yesterday and got oyster shell set up for my chickens. We were getting a lot of eggs with fragile shells; oyster shell, which is rich in calcium, usually cures the problem. Egg laying mash has calcium added, but I can't buy it, except from big-ag companies. I don't trust what is in their feed. I buy from a local mill. They don't make egg mash, but they do make up a fifteen percent protein feed that works. It is also fed to pigs. Our old biddies are doing well. We got a dozen eggs yesterday. We have about twenty hens.

Our chickens have the whole world to roam around in. They don't need to be fed at all in the Summer. For years we didn't, and I think they were healthier foraging for themselves. However, they were a little more pesky in the gardens. I don't remember what our egg production was like then. That was when we were living off the land and money was a very short item. I am into indulging them now.

I don't feel like I have anything to say. At least, not anything I haven't said many times before. What is happening, as reflected by the media, is dehumanizing. I can't believe the world can be that crazy. This health care fiasco is disheartening. How can people think we shouldn't take care of each other?

I always thought health care was a right, just like education. I thought we would have come to our senses, years ago, with the rest of the world. It is amazing that people can put an ideology ahead of meeting peoples basic needs. The pretense that money is a problem would be funny if it wasn't so ridiculous. We can print out trillions to save the banks and there is an unending supply of money to supply arms to kill off people in strange lands, but we can't afford to take care of own people when they're sick!?

And health care is just one example of our absurdity. I know we are waking up and I know that people are not as crazy as the media would have us believe. I can only look around in my own little bubble of what we think of as reality. Some of the folks I know are, interestingly weird; but we are not crazy.

It is hard to escape the vibrations from the craziness. I find myself sinking into a meditative state frequently. I can find a deep sense of peace by closing my eyes and emptying my mind. At my age, this is sometimes nap time; I can use several short naps a day.

As usual, we can only work on ourselves. As we are waiting for the darkness to lift, we can remove all traces of darkness from ourselves. I know we have been doing that right along. It is helpful to make a point of sitting down everyday and looking over our consciousness. We need to forgive ourselves and everyone else. We need to check ourselves out; are we judging anybody, are we harboring any resentments, are we wishing everyone well, are we judging ourselves?

This exercise is not meant to be self-critical. Just observe and let go. We need to accept and love ourselves just the way we are. Criticizing ourselves, when we fall back into judgement of self or others, merely creates more judgement. Just see what is, if we don't like the thought or feeling, we can let it go without further comment.

The best exercise is just focusing on love and the negatives will float away, on their own, if it is our intent. We can close our eyes and imagine ourselves marinating in unconditional love. With every breath the oxygen, we take in binds with unconditional love, and is carried in our blood stream to every cell in our body. Our bodies radiate love, our minds can only know love. When we love ourselves we love everybody. When we are doing this exercise, we can begin to realize, we are everybody and everybody is us.

Yes, paradise has to begin with each of us. It is happening.

Love and Peace, Gregg

NATURE HEALS

It was 46 F when I went to bed last night. Cold for this time of year. It has been colder, but it is rare. I remember it freezing on June 21^st. It was 1992. It got down to 39 in the cities, but many areas of Minnesota had frost. It is almost 10:30 and it is only 64.7.

My procrastination continues, although I am making some progress. I usually plant my Amaryllis in the garden for the Summer. This year we are not having a garden and Jamie wants to cover it with a heavy mulch to keep the weeds down. It is such a lush year that the weeds are already knee high. I have been casting around for a place to plant them. I have had a few ideas but they haven't activated the body. In the meantime my Amaryllis sit on the front porch in their pots.

Speaking of lush years, my pastures are growing like crazy. I could use twenty more sheep to keep them grazed. I still haven't decided on what I am going to do.

I don't know what to write about. I have no faith in my ability to see the future. We have been seeing the light increase in the world for some time. We have been expecting the dark forces of the Earth to retreat for several years. And I think they have; but the chaos they are creating on their way out is extreme. If we look at it, too much, we get depressed. It is so awful!

We have the ability to ignore it, and live our lives in peace, and be loving and kind to each other. However, the drama is seductive. It is sometimes amusing; other times, fear provoking. I recommend we ignore it; but I don't practice what I preach. It is like a bad movie, we can't stop watching. Paying attention to the craziness, can have long lasting affects on our consciousness. I don't actually pay attention to it that much, but it is there in some corner of my mind.

We spend a lot of time outside, sometimes just sitting on the deck. The energy the Earth is giving off, right now, is spectacular. Everything is so intensely lush and beautiful AND VERY HEALING. It just takes a few minutes to rid oneself of the worlds contamination. Sitting outside, absorbing natures energy, is like taking a cleansing shower.

Great times of change can be unsettling. I know everything is okay. The awakening is happening on schedule.

Emerging ourselves in Nature is healing and grounding. The more we do it the easier will be the transition. Although we don't have a garden this year, we have many yard and farm chores to keep us occupied outside. I notice our perennial gardens could use some help.

Speaking of the perennial gardens. I mentioned earlier that we have raised chicken for over forty years, and for most of that time, we also, had many Hostas. This year, for some reason, the chickens started eating the Hostas. They did so much damage to one of them, I needed to screen it to keep it alive. A week or so ago, they started to let up on their Hosta eating. Yesterday, I noted a deer decided to dine on Hostas. He or she reduced three huge Hostas to less than half their size. Unlike my knowledge of chickens, I knew deer would eat Hostas. They have nibbled on them before. Never, however, to this extent. To add to the mystery of animal dining, deer have been terrorizing my young apple trees for the last four or five years {they left them alone for the previous twenty years} suddenly, this year, there has been no deer damage.

I have observed many cycles of Nature in my lifetime. Interesting. There are some that are worth mentioning. It will have to wait for a future blog. I think Jamie wants me to go the Amish with her to get milk and I should do the dishes first.

Love and Peace, Gregg

THE REAL WORLD

 

Another amazingly beautiful Morning on Planet Earth. I know there is more to Planet Earth than I can view from my window and I would hope everybody's experience is similar. The portion of the Earth, where Laughing Water Farm resides, has been more lush and beautiful this year, than I have ever experienced.

Jamie and I don't get very far afield in our travels. We generally travel in an area that doesn't exceed 25 miles in any direction. Going any further is a trip. So I don't know what it is like outside our bubble. However, we have never seen a world more lush. Everything is exploding with energy. Has it ever been greener!? And the flowers, earlier the lilacs showed a splendor I haven't seen before. The shrub roses were and continue to bloom with abandon. The peonies have been outstanding. Oh, I don't want to forget the magnificence of the flowering trees, this year, they were just loaded with bloom. Now, I notice the Catalpas are exploding. We go for a little ride almost every day and we are almost overcome with the beauty of the world.

It is not just the flora. The animals seem to be showing themselves. We have seen baby turkeys, pheasants, many flocks of baby geese and we see fawns frequently. Thursday, on our way to Mora, about a mile from home, we encountered three fawns standing in the road. We had to stop as they wouldn't move. I doubt if they were more than a week old. Mommy must have been the woods nearby. We didn't mind waiting while they made up their minds which way they were going to go.

I don't know if it was perfectly timed rain and the right temperatures; something seems to be different. How could the world, I experience personally, so differ from the world seen in the media?

I am not immune to the anguish of the world. The anguish of the world, as seen by the media, is not the real world. It can't be. The people I meet everyday are sane. Most are happy and pursue their lives joyfully. It is true if you go beyond the outside layers, we discover folks are troubled. Most the folks, I know, have some anguish, hidden or not so hidden.

The unreal world [the world of conflict, divisiveness, inequality] generates a negativity that sometimes floods our minds. It acts as a magnifier and makes what are usually small problems seem huge. My life is about as perfect as a life can be. I live in a beautiful house, in beautiful surroundings {actually paradise}. I have enough money, I have great food. I am in good health for an old codger. I couldn't ask for a better life. Yet, I can suffer the anguish of the world. At the best of times, it seems, like there is a waiting, for the other shoe to drop. And we don't know what the other shoe might be.

I know, I am not helping myself or helping the world, by letting the unreal world, create any anguish in my being. I can generally find a place of peace and love inside and I do retreat to it daily. I know it is very important to stay grounded in the real world [the one of love and peace].

I know it is hard to keep our noses out of the idiot box, I, too, am curious how this strange sci-fi flick is going to turn out, and when it is not horrible, it is amusing.

Remember, we are creators and we grow what we give our attention [with feelings] to.

Actually we cannot fail to bring in a loving world. We are more love than fear. Even when we are most miserable, we are more love than fear. We can, however, delay our awareness of the real world. The more we can give up our anguish and embrace love the sooner we will experience the real world of love, peace and joy.

Happy Friday everyone! Let's celebrate!

Love and Peace, Gregg

SUMMER SOLSTICE

 

It is another spectacular day on Planet Earth! The weather is near perfect. We have a string of days, with the highs in the low seventies F and cool nights, perfect for sleeping. It is a wonderful way to celebrate the Summer Solstice and that is the way it is on Laughing Water Farm.

I don't know what to write today. Well, nothing unusual about that. Today I am preoccupied, by the awareness, of how many things I need to do. Just little things that I have neglected to do. I had, yesterday, slated to be my catch-up day. However, the gentleman from the repair shop was scheduled to pick up my lawn tractor. I thought he was coming in the Morning, he didn't get here until Afternoon. I used the excuse to procrastinate. I didn't do any of the scheduled things.

I have learned to deal with procrastination by doing things when they come into my mind. Yesterday, I was giving myself the day off. Of course, if I was completely successful, with dealing with procrastination, I wouldn't need a catch-up day.

The young man who was helping with chores, like cutting down dead trees and some fencing projects, is moving to Duluth. I had plans to utilize his skills all Summer. He did get the most important things done.

I am at a point in my life where I can't look into the future. I mean, less that usual. I have no objection to just living in the moment. However, at this moment I would like to get more sheep but I don't know if I will be able to deal with whatever work it entails. There are things now, I can no longer do, with the ease that I once had. I have a barn and chicken coop that need to be cleaned out. These are two tasks I had hoped to accomplish with my handyman.

The bodies aging is kind of a mysterious thing. Sitting here, it seems like I could do anything. Then I move my body do do something; shovel manure, weed a garden, walk up or down stairs carrying something, and I am suddenly old. And, sometimes I can be very old indeed.

Accepting mortality, in terms of disintegration of body function, is much harder than death. At least, I think it is. I am not there yet. I can still do everything, just slower. The risk of falling down, which I have done frequently all my life, suddenly becomes more serious. That is what statistics say. I don't seem to get hurt. I just worry about getting up. I fell down, the other day, in the chicken coop, reaching for an egg laid, in a corner just beyond my reach, I don't get hurt. I do have to find ways I can pull myself up. Suffice to say, that I am at a point in my life where things are likely to change. That is okay. I don't really mind. I will be happy, no matter what happens.

I have discovered that happiness is a decision I make. I will be in love with life regardless of what happens.

I am going to start on my list of neglected chores.

Be happy!

Love and Peace, Gregg

OUR MINDS VII

 

It is cool, only 69.4 F at 10:22 AM. It is not horribly unusual for this time of year but it seems chilly after the 80s and 90s last week. It started cooling off yesterday and the highs will be in the low seventies all week.

I gave myself the Father's Day present of getting my lawn mowed. Just before completing the task my mower went ker-plunk. It suddenly wouldn't move. It looks like something just disconnected. I called the tractor people and they are coming out tomorrow to pick it up. Hopefully I will get it back before it grows a foot. My lawn is broken up into about six segments, but it must total about 2 acres. There is a large section I could convert into pasture but I have apple trees growing there. I need to figure an easy way to protect the trees from the sheep. Sheep are inconsistent in some of their dietary habits. They can be around an apple tree for years, and leave it alone, and then one day find the bark is tasty. They will eat the leaves as high as they can reach.

The media, both mainstream and alternate, is really inviting us to be crazy. We are constantly invited to take sides. We are constantly invited to invest our energy in one cause or another. We are encouraged to join the fight. In what world has fighting solved anything?

I don't think the world has ever been so blatantly crazy, as it seems right now. It can be depressing. It doesn't have to be.

On this planet we have the constant choices between opposites. The light and the dark; love and fear; good and evil; war and peace; etc. Indulging in war can't bring peace. We can't use the negative to achieve the positive.

As individuals we are constantly invited to choose between some form of darkness and light. The distinction is not always clear. However, whatever choice we make encourages more of the same. Darkness always brings more darkness and light brings more light.

So we want to change the world. We can't do it by picking fights or joining a fight in progress. We can do it by extending peace. We can do it by radiating love.

The world is made up of a collection of minds. Each mind has the power to influence all other minds. As they stand, each mind has equal power. However, most people have given, part or all of their minds, over to some idea or ideology, thus giving up their power to those, who would use the energy of their minds, for their own purposes. Thus, folks can feel helpless about controlling events, without realizing they have given up their choices to others. War would be impossible without the acquiescence of minds.

We need to be very careful about how our minds are being used. Don't jump into any fray no matter how worthy it seems. Look, does it engender conflict? Does it add to the love and peace of the world or doubt and fear? We are always making a choice in our minds between some form of love and fear.

We need to separate ourselves from the world drama. We must resist all attempts to be led into camps with labels on them. Labels almost always imply beliefs. Beliefs almost always imply trust in an authority or an ideology. The dark have been using our minds for untold generations for their own purposes. Their purpose always includes, their wealth and power, and their tool is divisiveness {the denial of Oneness} which leads to war and conflict.

We can not gain the world we want by using their devices. We must avoid creating more divisiveness.

The best way is to start with ourselves. Are we sovereign individuals capable of thinking for ourselves? Have we rid ourselves of all the extraneous beliefs we have absorbed from our upbringing etc. Have we been successful at resisting labeling and group-think?

One uncluttered mind radiating love is more powerful than a thousand conflicted minds.

We can only change the world with love. We can join the love that is flowing through the world right now. With every smile, with every laugh, with every sparkle of our eyes we add to the light.

We are works in progress. I don't know if there is anyone on earth, at this moment, who has a completely uncluttered mind. But, all of us, can have an uncluttered mind for a moment. All that we need to do is have the conscious intent to be loving and we have already helped. Remember moment by moment choose love in every situation.

We have the power, a world of love is emerging.

Love and Peace, Gregg

SHENANIGANS

It is a cloudy, cool day. It is supposed to in the 80s this afternoon. It is 71.9 F right now [outside] but it is cooler in the house.

I am almost free of the itch. What a strange thing! I have lived over 82 years on planet Earth and I never before had a severe allergic reaction. Many people may not think of the reaction, I had, as severe, as it only deprived me of one night's good sleep. I slept pretty good Wednesday night and perfectly last night. I had the help of Jamie's homemade salve of coconut oil infused with frankincense. Allergies are sprinkled fairly commonly in my family, both close family and extended. I have been one of the fortunate ones. I don't believe in accidents, so I wonder what I needed to learn from this experience. Perhaps, I need to learn a little more appreciation and compassion for others. I had more of a reaction than just an itchy rash, my left ankle [which was one of the locales for the rash] swelled up to twice its size for example. And, there were things, I will refrain from mentioning.

That is the second bizarre health incident I have had in the last few months. Let that be the end of it. At least, it helps me appreciate, what a healthy specimen I have been all my life. Indeed, I am thankful! I think, I have yet to visit a doctor, for the tenth time in my entire life. Well, when I think about it, it is probably more than that. Not much more.

I have been thinking of things all week to write about and now none of it comes to mind. I have been wondering why the recent Russian bashing. We are criticizing Russia for alleged interference in our elections? How hypocritical can we get! We have been interfering in other countries elections for the last 50 years or more. Our interference is far more heavy handed than a little computer hacking. Look it up, the information is not hidden. It is one of the favorite practices of the CIA.

But what puzzles me most is why the Democrats joined the fray with such fervor. Traditionally, they have not been nearly as anti-Russian, as the Republicans. It is as if the parties switched sides over night. Are the Democrats just looking for a scapegoat? Are they that bitter over Hillary's loss? If they are after Trump, why are they choosing this route? It is very doubtful they will find anything substantial. Obstruction of justice can be made out of an accumulation of minor missteps. Do we want to do that? In the meantime, Trump and his more conservative colleagues, are pushing through an extremely destructive agenda and every day Trump reverses progress, whether it be about relations with Cuba, or saving the whales. Behind this smokescreen of anti-Russian sentiment, some horrible things are happening. War is cranking up. Trump has given free range to his generals; innocent civilians are being killed in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and several African countries.

 

In some cases it is empire building, and in others, corporate theft of the countries mineral wealth. Why isn't the media paying attention to this?

What has further puzzled me; why have the major networks been taking on the Democratic side? They have never done that in my lifetime before. In my experience they have always backed the Republicans. There have been exceptions, but this situation is rare. Even during the worst of the Nixon fiasco, the media did not really desert the Republicans.

What are they fomenting? Why this sudden anti-Russian sentiment? Is it really over election tampering? Listen and read carefully, most of what has been said is hot air. What is substantive, could have been done by a fourteen year old in a Moscow basement. This is a smoke screen. For what?

Yesterday, the Senate voted 90 to 2 to put sanctions on Russia and Iran. The excuse for Russia was election tampering. The sanctions against Russia are geared to prevent them from selling natural gas to Europe. It turns out that American companies have been salivating to sell, their excess gas, gained through fracking. It would be far more expensive for the Europeans as the gas would have to be compressed and shipped in tanker ships. Pipe lines are much, much cheaper. The Europeans have been made aware of this strategy and it will probably backfire.

Could this be the whole reason for this election hacking silliness? Has this huge media push been orchestrated by those in the energy/banking industries. Did they seduce the Democrats into believing they had a just cause? The Republicans were already in their corner and the Trump administration is heavily populated by folks from the energy industry.

Things can't be hidden anymore. More and more of the shenanigans of the Cabal are going to be exposed. They are masters at forming public opinions. People are becoming more and more discerning. They will be fooled for a little while, especially, when they have the major talk show hosts, going along for the ride. I don't think the talk show hosts are in on the game. I think they are seduced by their outrage of the Trump phenomena and, hey, it is good for a laugh. No president has ever given comedians such a rich source of material.

I have been an interested observer for the most part. I just watch. I don't get excited. I know this has to play itself out. The craziness has to come to the surface. It will be skimmed off the boiling pot, by the raising of humanities consciousness.

If we keep our noses out of the idiot box we will note the increase in love. We can see it in our neighbors. It is everywhere. The world is a remarkable place and we are reclaiming it from the dark ones. Bless the world and everyone in it.

Have a great Friday! Celebrate!

Love and Peace, Gregg