HAPPY EASTER

It is snowing! We are supposed to get an inch or so this Morning and another three to seven inches tonight. The forecast is for snow today, tonight, and tomorrow and we could get over ten inches total. Well that is life on Planet Earth.

I had a few bales of hay delivered this Morning. I was hoping it would last until the snow was melted and the pasture was open, but with this new snow it doesn't seem likely. The forecast is for a cool April.

I have to admit, I am depressed. I would like to say I am above it all, that Nature's wiles do not bother me, but it would be a lie. We have people coming for Easter our driveway may need plowing. The normal high this time of year is 49, the normal low is 30. Tomorrow the high is forecast to be only 27 F. The high won't even get up to the normal minimum. There won't be any significant melting for a week. Ahhhhhh...................

Oh well, I will get over it. By the time I am done with this blog I may be back to my ebullient self.

Jamie and I usually have a quiet celebration on Easter. Three of my children are either entertaining in-laws or attending their functions. Naomi [a nurse] is working. Matt's wife [Chris also a nurse] is working. Matt will be here and Noah and his son Gregory, who is visiting from California, will be here. We will have a nice celebration.

Easter is a celebration of the light. The early Christian church super-imposed the holiday on older existing celebrations. It is no coincidence that it is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon of Spring. Of course, in the Christian religions, the Resurrection is also the bringing of the light.

Let us celebrate the bringing of the light this year. The light is increasing! The awakening is happening! It doesn't always look like it. Just like it looks like Spring is a long way off when I look out my window. [The snow is really pouring down right now] The awakening is real! Love, Joy and Peace will reign on this Earth soon.

I need to do some Easter shopping. Maybe I better go now. Who knows if I will be able to get out tomorrow. Our driveway is a tenth of a mile long.

HAPPY EASTER!

Love and Peace, Gregg

WE ONLY LACK LOVE

The clocks strikes eleven as I sit here wondering what I am going to write about. The grudging Spring caused me to order more hay. At the rate the sheep were eating it, they would run out on Easter, we couldn't have that. The pasture is under grazed and there will be plenty for the sheep to nibble on when the snow melts. What a spring this has been!

I struggle three times a week to write something meaningful. I don't want to repeat myself over and over. It puzzles me; do people really think that the world lacks anything but love?

After all the great teachers, Jesus Christ, Lao Tzu, Siddhartha, to name a few; there have been thousands. Are we still not listening!? Usually when a great teacher comes along we make a religion around them so we don't have to follow the teaching, interesting. It works.

Why have we found it so difficult to just love each other? Love is the only thing missing and that is the core teaching of all the great teachers.

The problem is that we were exploring separation. Separation from the Earth, from God and from each other. We only pretended to get the message from the Great Ones because we were too busy denying that anything resembling God exists. Religion became a way to maintain separation. The whole idea of God became corrupted by the very institutions that were supposed to be conveying the message.

Don't you think it is time to give up our pursuit of separation and accept our Oneness?

Don't you think that we can look around and realize all our problems have been created by lack of love? Can't we see that love will solve all our problems?

Many people are waking up to this truth. The people have outstripped their leaders when it comes to waking up. In community after community, in our own families, and in our circle of friends, there are people who have opened their eyes; they see that love is all there is. They yearn for the time when the people turn to the light and accept their Oneness. They know peace, love and joy are ours for the asking.

Let us be wise when we select our leaders. Let us select only those who know love is the only answer.


Love and Peace,   Gregg

SANITY

When I got up this Morning there was a fresh coating of snow; from my bedroom window it looked like a lot. Fortunately I soon discovered it was not more than a heavy dusting of super wet pellets. We don't need more snow. We need the foot we still have to shrink. It is 38.8 F right now so any future precipitation we may get today might be rain, I hope so.

The cranes, swans, ducks, geese, herons and robins are returning. I trust they know something we don't and Spring will arrive soon.

I thought I had a great idea for a blog last Night and now it it has faded away with the light of day.

I refuse to comment on the craziness in the world, except to say, both major parties in this country are berserk. They avoid the real issues and focus on phantoms. They do very little to bring people and countries together and they promote divisiveness. We don't need anymore saber rattling. We are all One people. Anger and finger pointing only plays into the hands of those who have been subjugating us for eons.

We live on a beautiful planet. Our Mother earth loves us and gives us everything we need. All that we have to do is love the Earth the way She loves us and we will have plenty for all. Our behavior has been abysmal. We have tortured and exploited our Mother rather that nurturing her as she nurtures us. Our pursuit of separation has left us with a bizarre world where some have great wealth and others have next to nothing. Why are we willing to condone that? Why are we willing to let an elite with power and wealth make the rules? Rules that make them richer and the rest poorer.

We have to stop letting those in power work us up into war frenzy. War and all forms of chaos only benefit those who already have the most.

We need to love our neighbor, that means everyone on this magnificent Earth.

I know the craziness is almost over. I know the cabal is losing its power to make war. I doubt very much if there will be another major war. But the main stream media is so nuts. I am very, very tired of the how the world is portrayed, and really, I don't watch the evening national news. I read the paper and listen to local news. The craziness seeps in, it is everywhere.

Hey! It is not too hard to love your neighbor. They might just love you back. Forget what you think, they think. We are all nuts; unless we are in unending bliss.

We can have the world we want. What if we shared just a few ideas: Mother Earth is here for all of us equally; we are all entitled to live on the Earth with abundance; we all have a right to be happy and our happiness is the greatest gift we can give to each other; we are free and we make all our decisions with love, so that our decisions never impinge on the happiness of our neighbor.

Would these ideas be so hard to follow? Wouldn't that be a good place to start? I know the world is evolving in the direction of these ideas. I can see it in the eyes of all I meet. We really do love each other. Aren't you tired of the craziness?

Yes the snow will melt. Spring will come. And Sanity will bloom in the world.

Happy Monday!

Love and Peace, Gregg

PATIENCE

Ah............ it is shaping up to be a marvelous day. On our trip to Cambridge yesterday we saw two Sandhill Cranes. They flew up right in front of our car. We also saw about five Robins. Spring must be here. There is very little open water, if any, in our neighborhood, I wonder what the Cranes eat when they arrive to a snowy world. I will look it up later. I always say things like that. Then I forget and it remains a mystery.

I am tired, Jamie had an appointment with the optometrist this Morning at 7:50 AM. I suppose I could have lulled in bed, but I didn't, I was up before seven and I am already ready for a nap.

I am having a little trouble typing. I gouged the end of my right index finger. It is not a serious wound but it doesn't like to tap away at the keyboard. Strange thing; I rarely get hurt doing my routine chores, but yesterday I took a chunk out of the back of my left hand and then a couple hours later I injured my finger. Neither hurt particularly, but they bled well. What is the chance of that happening? I almost never get hurt. I blamed it on the Mercury going retro-grade.

This year I am learning patience. We always use to say, “I don't mind snow in March, it is gone in two days.” Humph... this year we have snow on the ground that fell in November. It is diminishing though and I am learning patience. A snowstorm that was forecast for tonight and tomorrow is now predicted to go South of us. I am thankful for that.

I think I will rest my finger. I am sure it will be completely better by Monday. I need a nap anyway.

There is great light shining on the world. Things may look chaotic, but there is a new world forming under the rubble. Love wins out.

Happy Friday!

Love and Peace, Gregg

AN UPDATE

Another day on planet Earth. Another day of observing snow and ice out my window. It is the first full day of Spring, but up here it takes eight weeks of more Winter after the groundhog sees his shadow. Well I remember times when I was using the hose to water the animals by this time. A couple years ago we were eating out on the deck. We had several seventy degree days and a few days in the eighties that year. However the normal high for the day is only 44. We are actually just a little below average, it is just that there has been little break in the persistence of this weather, especially after the last snowfall.

Besides waiting for Spring meteorologically and in the geo-political world, Jamie and I are longing to see some improvement in her health. Jamie has given me permission to write about her health issues. I have mentioned it before but it is time for an update. About five years ago a situation arose where Jamie would experience dark moods. She had a brain scan done which showed there was some damage to the hippocampus similar to Alzheimers but not clear enough to make that diagnoses. She was told that it could be caused by sleep apnea which she has been dealing with. She will be having another brain scan done in a month or so to see if there are changes that can make a diagnoses possible.

Her condition is accompanied by low dopamine which causes her to peer through a dark cloud. She struggles every day to see things differently. It is especially painful because she has always been a very creative person, one could say a 'high dopamine' person.

She is by nature a scientist and she has not given up her search for a cure or at least some improvement. The traditional medical doctors, we have seen, have only drugs to offer which don't solve the problem. She has visited a natural path and chiropractor who is into non-traditional healing. These visits were valuable and gave information but no solution. They were better at saying what the problem wasn't than what the problem was. We had a visit at the Mayo Clinic which confirmed that the problem was some neurological damage.

Jamie is determined to get better and she has done extensive research through the internet. She has pursued every promise of raising her dopamine level. She has tried many vitamins etc. Sometimes there is a little improvement, but the crash comes. She maintains her optimism, but she has to fight to do it. This problem feeds into other spheres of our life. Jamie loves and needs a social life but she isn't able to pursue it right now. Interactions with people brighten her up. In a social situation a person may never guess this person is tormented by dark moods. One paradox is that social relationships are extremely helpful yet she has difficulty initiating them. The problem has created isolation which makes the low dopamine level worse.

The low dopamine doesn't limit her physical activity. In fact she attempts to use physical activity as a solution. When she isn't doing research via the computer she is busily cleaning out corners stored with forty years of living or cooking up future meals for the freezer.

For the most part I am able to stay optimistic and Jamie will not give up. Her research promises the neurological damage is reversible. We can only hope and pray and keep seeking.

We would appreciate any information that is out there.

Love and Peace, Gregg

LOVE

It is 42 F but Winter still has its icy grip. The last snowfall seemed to lock us into the Winter experience. I don't like being impatient, it is not exactly a virtue, but I have to admit I long to walk on pathways that are not slippery, I would love to roam around my yard without wading through a foot of snow, I am eager to see the ground again and watch the swelling buds. I know it will happen soon! I heard a Green Heron again this Morning. And If one looks closely, the buds are swelling.

The promise of Spring dangles out in front of us just like the promise of a new world. As I have said before I am not going to focus on the craziness that is extant. I have to believe it is passing just like the last dregs of Winter.

Yesterday I had a thought that opened my mind a little wider. I think it is something most people already know [I do too- but it hit me with greater power]. It occurred to me that like forgiveness, love is for us- not for the other. It came to me as a powerful message that when we love somebody we get more out of it than the person we love. It comes back to us in all kinds of ways and not necessarily from the beloved.

As I say, I might be preaching to the choir, as all you folks may realize this. I have long known that forgiveness freed me and [potentially] gave me more than the one forgiven. It freed me from whatever judgement I was making which is a huge gift. But love itself radiates back to the lover. Every time we feel love we raise our consciousness a degree. Perhaps, I am not poet enough or sufficiently articulate to express what I could see in that moment. Simultaneously, I felt a great freedom and could understand how love can change the world.

It is one thing to love the world abstractly, that is to wish everyone well. That is powerful in itself as it frees the world from any negativity in our individual minds. However, to actually feel love for everyone is powerful beyond calculation. We do have the power to change the world.

Another thing I could see in that moment was being in love [in that sense] was being in heaven.

That is my thought for the day.

Happy Monday!

Love and Peace, Gregg

YES! SPRING IS COMING!

I looked at the clock this Morning and said to myself, “It is really only 7:02 AM.” My body is still on Central Standard Time and my mind follows. I don't know that it is any different than it is every year. I have one clock that is permanently on Daylight Saving time. It is an automatic time keeper like the one on your computer, but it doesn't change with the Season. It is not its fault. It is the problem with the idiot doing this typing. It calls itself a Weather Station, I bought it so I could see the outside temperatures. It has everything; barometer reading, inside/outside temps, inside/outside humidity and it indicates when there is a change emerging in the weather. The problem is I can't understand the instructions for setting it up. I have had it for at least four years and I still haven't adjusted the time so it automatically changes. I find the instructions confusing. For example; a while ago the outside temperature wouldn't read. I looked up the trouble shooting guide, did the obvious like install new batteries; nothing. The directions recommended that I “recycle power to the station.” I didn't know what that meant. I pressed all the buttons I could find. Scratched my head a lot. Finally I tried removing a battery and reinserting it. Success! Wouldn't it have been easier to say that? Or at least “interrupt the power” rather than recycle” Any of my children could probably set the time thingy, I don't think to ask them.

Before I went to college I was an electronic technician. When I graduated with a BA in psychology I still wasn't sure which way life was going to take me; besides I had a family and we needed to eat. I applied for all kinds of jobs. Two of the jobs I applied for were 'scientific writing'; on paper I had the credentials. I wonder if it was doing stuff like this, rewriting instructions from translations? I have purchased articles that have had instructions that were obviously written by some translator, in some foreign country, who had very little grounding in how we used English.

Fortunately I was hired by a Social Service Agency which prepared me for graduate school and the beyond. I would not have been a good fit as a scientific writer.

Maybe I do have more difficulty dealing with the time change this year. The weather isn't changing much. The snow is still deep and despite above freezing days, it doesn't seem to shrink much. We still have a pile of snow over six feet high, about twenty feet wide, at the end of our driveway. We have never had that before. Until a couple weeks ago, I thought I was going to get by without plowing the driveway this year. It snowed frequently, but it was never more than five or six inches at a time and I could drive through and pack it down. That huge pile of snow is just from the last two times it snowed.

In the last few days the promise of Spring has been evident. I heard a Sandhill Crane, a Green Heron and we saw some Swans. Other folks report hearing Red Wing Black Birds, seeing Robins and hearing the Cardinals Spring song. I know Spring is coming!

Yet, there has been an unyielding quality to this late Winter. Much promise of Spring and not much delivery. I am tired of slippery pathways. They were pretty good most of the Winter, but with the thawing every day and the freezing every night, they are treacherous in the Morning. We have sprinkled chemicals on them, it last a couple days and they are slippery again. I have to carry water for about fifty yards for the sheep, this Morning I was wondering if I could keep my footing. I don't worry about breaking bones, I am not fragile, but I would have a hard time getting back on my feet.

I don't mean this to be rant against Winter. It is incredibly beautiful. I have been in awe of how gorgeous these last few days have been. And, yes, sometimes we are eating out on the porch this time of year, sometimes I am able to water the animals with the hose- this is one of those other times. I have experienced forty below zero in March and I have seen it in the eighties [it was 79 this day in 2012 and 80 on the 17^th in 2012]. We know spring is coming!

And we know the light is increasing on the Earth. We know people all over the globe are opening their eyes and realizing a different world is possible. The vast majority of people have always preferred to live in peace, love and joy, they just didn't believe it was possible. They now know it is possible and we no longer have to accept the dictates of a few who gain power and wealth through violence. We will soon emerge from the control of the dark and folks will experience what a loving world can be.

Perhaps, our struggling to emerge from the dark that is attempting to maintain control, is similar to Spring struggling to release itself from a grudging Winter.

In both cases the light cannot fail.

Happy Friday everyone! Look for the Light.

Love and Peace, Gregg