Madelaine Standing's Blog: Novelist. Activist. Teacher.

Haiku

2012-01-18T11:52:00.000-08:00

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By Madelaine Standing // Adventure Fiction Inviting Your Imagination To Play Alongside The Globe's Greatest Developing Questions.

http://madelainestanding.tumblr.com/

The Connection Between Yoga, Autism & (what I call) The Electric Culture by Madelaine Standing

2012-01-17T14:52:00.000-08:00

I have an 8 year old in my life who shouts from the heights of his family's third floor deck as I leave, "I love you, Gaia!" (my yoga nicname.)

I always yell back as proudly as I can, "I LOVE YOU, TOO!"

*

Pascale lives with a mild case of Autism; I say mild because sometimes he (now) does the entire hour of yoga with me when I come to his house to teach on Sundays.

I see him once weekly and, in the beginning, he couldn't do yoga at all. He has grown so much and in so many ways. I have reason to believe this awesome change has to do with the soothing effects yoga has on the central nervous system, as we unplug and still our minds, thus lessening the amount of electric impulses being sent from our brains to our bodies. Yoga is all about necessary action; only acting when (and if) necessary.

I am always filled with a great connectedness, peace and gratitude when I see him; Pascale has been given the blessing of seeing straight into the soul of those he likes, and filling it up with so much light. So much joy.

I am grateful for my work as teacher that I do outside of writing my Adventure Novels, initially inspired by current environmental hazards.

//

It is said autism increases by 10-17% every year. Myself and leading scientists around the world have reason to believe it has to do with the increased usage of radiation and electropollution emitting devices in our current digital culture.

I call today, "The Electric Culture."

Is there anyway we can find balance again between time immersed in the animate world and the inanimate world?

Between time spent with family and our computer screens?

I hope so.

When I read the statistics a few months ago on autism it made sense, for autistic people are on 'over drive,' all the time. They are over-stimulated, making them super- sensitive.

Even so, they are no different than us on a Soul Level; like us they have come here with a unique purpose to fulfill. One different from anyone else. Like us, they--though they often cannot put a name to it--have feelings, too.

*

Approximately a hundred years ago we were creating the first uses of electricity. Now, we rely on electricity for everything: for connection, for intimacy, (when traveling and perhaps missing our significant other) for food, for massage, for hair and beauty, for indoor health activities, for transportation, homework, for research, etc. I saw my first Post Office operated van running on electric this week. This evening while walking in downtown Vancouver I saw a bus sparking by, apparently it had taken off too fast on the electric cables.

Will we bring balance to our digital, electric, world?

I hope so.

We cannot possibly assume we can know all there is to about this rapidly-growing industry leading our craze for the latest electronic creation.

We must be careful.

*

Combine the facts that we are also running on electricity created within our bodies, with the fact we're 'serenaded by' more and more invisible electric pulses as the days pass, is it not possible that the two electrical forms interact and if so, to what degree?

//

I have found a way to balance use of my phone that brings the excitement and gratitude of having one in the first place back into my experience. Each time I finish sending an email or returning a call, I turn my phone *off;* that way I do not have the radiation or electric pulses interacting with my body's organs. In addition, less power is used. (Making a leap in the right direction for care of our natural environment.)

This is just one way. I'm sure we can think of more together.

//

Madelaine Standing

Enjoyed My First Friday of the New Year at Gastown's Yummy 'Nicli Antica Pizzeria;' Vancouver hip-yet-elegant ambiance!!

2012-01-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

Message In The Sand:

2011-12-28T10:02:00.000-08:00

Message In The Sand:

Love All You Can, Then Let Go

(of expectations, of ‘what ifs’...)

...Love is the greatest lesson and the

greatest teacher all at once.

I remain its humble servant

the best I can

as a human being,

and work of art

in progress.

This message, carved from the sand that

held me up in

the tidal waves of storms and

challenging currents as a wee one.

I visited Virginia Beach - my hometown -

and wrote this message in its grains,

this Holiday.

I am so grateful for all the memories past

of visits to this very beach, called Croatan-named after the First

Nation’s people who lived here long before

our European ancestors took foot

atop the soil.

I remember one day, my six foot tall father

and I waded in the waters of the

shore, up to our knees. A wave came and

we were both - to his surprise and my wonder -

knocked down, beneath the slush

of the current.

How could something so playful, so giving,

also be so reckless?

‘Tis the beach,

‘tis the wonder of love.

*

Madelaine Standing

Adventure Novelist & Ponderer

//

Copyright. 2011. All rights reserved.

The Gift of Simple Truths

2011-12-19T11:52:00.003-08:00

New Adventures: Authentic You

2011-12-14T15:14:00.000-08:00

Every journey left behind or anew starts as a tab of paper, empty before the flow and pen. World events stream through my consciousness thanks to Metro News & 24 Hours.

Loud news—in your face, you-gotta-know-this-now, news. Streaming across the headlines, landing at your fingertips: this is how we learn.

Now, invisible information (to the eye) tangible to the tongue, touch…feel. Invisible information answers such questions as, “Is this good for me?” & “Would this be a fit for me?”

An adventure fits in our back pockets; we can claim any moment, any piece of matter in existence, as adventure. For as Proust, I believe it was, said, “Adventure is not in traveling to new lands, but in seeing with a fresh set of eyes.”

Yet, no matter how much self-created adventure I partake in, within the form of novel writing sessions or the conversations I dare to embark on with commonly-seen friends, I crave to be flown into the Unknown in the form of never-before-explored landscapes—via the vehicle of rediscovered bravery within.

That’s why I’ve decided to venture with my earnings—otherwise to be used for January 1st rent—out east to a part of the country I have yet to see. I will take photos.

My belongings are in storage—to be picked up end of January.
‘The Way,’ the movie, inspired it. ‘It,’ the ever-evasive noun.

When was the last time, after all, that I picked up myself and a few belongings and traveled somewhere secret to all I’ve known?

The Answer: 2006. August. Midwest USA to Vancouver, Canada.

And now it is time to start anew.

Fuel for my writing.

//

Madelaine Standing
2011
Visit the site.
Learn about the Books.

//

Emily Carr Artist Manifesto: Take-A-Stand

2011-11-30T22:09:00.000-08:00

Take-A-Stand & Reintra House work to guarantee not only safety to women-of-abuse but a fresh start rooted in the transformation arts.

Holistic and Fine Arts, combined, create a way to not only dig deep, but to also rise, with the treasures unearthed in the process.

*

Join me in 2012 in the unleashing of the positive feminine power within: follow me on Facebook for my progress in raising funds and awareness via the tool of my art.*

This week, at Emily Carr Art Institute, I wrote a manifesto named Take-A-Stand.

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

TAKE-A-STAND

~

Silence is in the knowing

when the whisper arises within.

The knowing.

We know

it is time for adjustment.

No one likes to break the

silence.

But one

must.

If one cares for her fellow sisters

and brothers;

it is said we are one.

This is true.

And truth whispers to me.

Over and over again.

In the silence.

The silence talks to me,

only I do not talk back.

Because I do not want to

break the silence.

Silence is so fragile;

a timid caring soul

does not break it.

A fierce, willing, warrior

knows they must.

And it is because of them

that an explosion of

sound comes forth

and all is born

a new beginning.

Talk.

Run like the formerly crippled

who sees the door open

and is suddenly free from the weight.

Lift up, out, into the sound, into

the form.

LAUGH.

For this is

the least

you can do.

It.

The sound is you

the waterfall

the rain

the drop

the sun

drying it

up.

You are

elevating;

You are

free.

Now.

Flow.

Now!

~

Thank You For Reading.

'You Are'

2011-11-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

PICTURE COPYRIGHTED. MADELAINE STANDING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2011-2020. BUY THIS PICTURE AS A GREETING CARD, POSTCARD OR CANVAS PRINT AT THE ONLINE ART GALLERY FUNDRAISER FOR WOMEN-OF-ABUSE. OUR GOAL? TO BUILD THE WORLD'S 1ST REINTRA HOUSE. LEARN MORE HERE.

Taking Writing Classes at various schools is so much fun; Emily Carr, yesterday, had us think of someone from the past and then try to link them to the present. I thought this was an interesting idea. Then, the teacher suggested we cut up our original writing and reconfigure it. The results, below.

Info on my novels or the charity associated with the funds earned from my novel visit The Site

-Take One-

He's a dark storm on the horizon
that knowingly brings the cleansing
only the storm's run off
can produce.

Being with him is sitting on the shoreline's tip
in anticipation for the smooth
rippling
of his sonorous
voice
to wash
over me.

Looking at him is sitting before a campfire,
looking into the flames
with the awe and knowing that
it is powerful beyond belief,
if only the sparks were allowed
to jump, leap
and reach
further
into the unknown
field
around it.

_______________________________________________________________________

-Take Two-

He’s a dark storm cloud on the horizon that isPowerful beyond belief
being with him is sitting
on the shoreline’s tip,
that will knowingly bring
the cleansing,
smooth rippling,
of his sonorous voice

anticipation for sitting
before the campfire
with the awe
and knowing
that it is
flames in me
sparks in him
leaping and jumping
into the unknown field
that allow
further
reach

around
into
over

Look at
me
if
only
to look
.

_______________________________________________________________________

From Peck-to-Peck

2011-11-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

Photo in light of 'Take A Stand Fundraiser' for the World's 1st Reintra House

A feminist. What is a feminist? I have heard it derogatively and proudly spoken of by different parties.

Within five minutes of speaking to someone at a cocktail party, with them knowing one fragment of information about myself ‘I am helping raise money for a sanctuary for women-of-abuse.’ A gentleman turns to another and introduces me as a Feminist.

To me, I have heard the word Feminist to imply that a woman believes herself to be better than men.

When hearing it other times, ‘a Feminist’ means someone who believes in the right of women.

What ‘rights’ of women?

Of course we have rights; we are human beings, just as the rest.

We are the rights.

In the world I live in, we do not even need to explain these rights; and if we do, we are wasting our time talking to whoever is in front of us = time to move on.

In the etymology dictionary, when looking up Feminist, the word sister comes along with the definition given. Under sister it says, "one's own" + "woman."

One’s own, to me, speaks of ownership. ‘One’s own woman.’ Meaning, we own who we are, and who we are is unable to be compromised by what media wishes for us to be or not to be. This includes what a lover, boyfriend, partner, or husband wishes for us to be.

~

Where often men will perceive women who are Feminists as being ‘butch,’ or lesbians, or ‘man-haters,’ the dictionary says it most poignantly,
Feminism-the state of being feminine and being an advocate for women’s rights.

~

Wikipedia’s definition of ‘Rights’ is ‘Rights are often considered fundamental to civilization, being regarded as established pillars of society and culture.’

***

This note in my blog is my chance to impress upon every woman-to remind you of what you already know: you, as a Mother, are so seamlessly powerful.
You are given the opportunity to create values within men (as boys) who think about women (when girls) as gifts to this planet. Invite your sons to look at women as equally responsible to make what is bent in this world, straight again, so we may all share a path of appropriate divide and distribution. Women, are the pillars of society and culture, in the role of Mothers. Women, of course, have the potential of being a pillar in other roles, as well. And it is our right to do and have both. To reveal our whole face to the world. And, once we do, help our other sisters do the same.

This complete and equal distribution of power is only ‘just,’ or ‘fitting,’ as the definition of Right tells us.

~

RIGHT
1.
in accordance with what is good, fitting, or just.
2.
in conformity with fact, reason, truth, or some standard or principle; correct: the right solution; the right answer.

~

Physicality alone does not determine whether someone is equal or not. A woman may be gentle and beautiful in physique, perhaps even petite or slender. It is what is between her ears that matters when one wishes to go out in the world and create a new offering of whatever degree to the people.

A man may be large and robust in physique; if what is between his ears does not carry as much weight as what is from peck to peck, he has some work to do.

Same goes for women.

THE TURN ABOUT

2011-11-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

( Make Sure To Take A Moment To Check Out The Latest Adventure Travel Photos That Inspired The Writing of HEAVEN IN THE MEAT PACKING DISTRICT at
REDBUBBLE ONLINE ART GALLERY )

_________________________________________________________________________

THE TURN ABOUT

Tulips turn. Tip top, Tip top.

The rain is a drizzle.

The tiger's tame like a willow's bark.

The robin sings like a ferry on schedule moving to and fro the shore -

the tireless repitition.

The rooster at least knows when to stop.

The tear almost touches the ground before the call comes to a close;

the road opens wider.

Then turns.

The randomness of this journey.

The true sense that forever is far away.

The ripe moment up close -

the touch to your lips.

The round about picture:

Tulips, tigers, the tireless, the tear, the turns, the truth,

Touch.
________________________________________________________________

("Turn About" was written this week at my Emily Carr
Writing Classes with Ingrid Rose, the Writer's Guide.)

Women's Linking of Arms: For, (not Against)...

2011-10-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

This post was inspired by the talk on FB today. For those not currently on my Facebook Contacts List, Either Add Me, or View My Wall

You know, I was just thinking how too many women stray from talking about rape: whether talking about it as supporters wanting to give aid to other women, or talking about it because their friend was or their sister, mother, grandmother, was.

The point is that women often choose not to talk about 'it' because they fear appearing unattractive to men. Or, there's too much concern over being desirable to men. Or, men being too much a priority in one's life. Men love women who have a life of their own, their own ideas, and their own Mind! They're all over the women who do. It's a shift I've tried the last year while being super true to my cares, dreams, goals.

So, if this has been your concern in the past, "perk up and speak up."

Or, one may worry about merely supporting another's experience of rape because it is an unattractive thing to talk about. I'll tell you something though, ladies. The world will not change until women start supporting other women. Women are powerful. Just as any other sex. There are more and more successful women in this world everyday. But, (big but) the number would grow manifold if more women supported other women. When more women offer an ear to their woman friend who is dreaming about being a lawyer or a poet or a dressmaker, more women will be empowered because more women will be heard. And in being heard, they will remember their true, timeless, powerful self. And, you know what that means: more women knowing and remembering their true awesome, shining power, equals more opportunity for all other women--especially in those fields that are or have been male dominated.

Rape is an ugly word. But its effects do NOT have to be. Listen to your sisters. Hear them. Believe their ability to get through the hard time, because-if you do-they will flower like they never have before.

Not only will they flower! But, you just wait until those men hear wind that all the women no longer speak badly about one another, cut eachother down in size. You wait, because, when women link arms-not in opposition of anything- but FOR the love of ONE ANOTHER, boy, oh boy, those men will be so damn nice, because you know the shit they try to pull over on women, "just ain't working any longer."
(Pardon the Virginia roots in me. :-))
It's not about women ruling the world, winning the jobs men once had, it's about women getting any job she wants because SHE IS AS BRILLIANT AS THE REST.

But these are statistics and statistics are always a byproduct of the Past. (At least they have the potential to be). Statistics are numbers reflecting the past, and are meant to bring realization-NOT to freeze civilization in Past Fact.

Stand up for your sisters: not by opposing anything, but to stand up for something you must believe (I know you do): a women's right to well-being. No matter what she looks like. How she dresses. What songs she sings. Or what color her skin.

The old statistic is: don't talk about 'it.' (Rape). It's embarrassing. Besides, who will want me if I tell someone-anyone-about this? My girlfriends will look at me weird. The court systems will tell me it was my fault just like they did to that American woman in Italy who was denied justice because the Judge said there was 'No way she could have been raped; she was wearing jeans and it is impossible to pull jeans down.'

~

The new statistic: Women take a deep breath. Women start a circle, talk about it, get the initial trauma out of the body and mind. Her women friends pray and hold a heart of knowing that she WILL move past this, find light in life again, be loving in trust it will not be mis-perceived and/or taken advantage of. These Women who have known abuse will allow themselves to refocus their energy-once healed through talking and sharing, and the body arts of Yoga, Meditation and Emotional Freedom Technique that actually removes the energetic and physical imprint of the rape-and go on to do and become things they before had not dreamed of. Perhaps, they will even have a place like the Reintra House nearby them to go, learn life and business skills, become yet more fluent in the body and mind healing arts to draw upon on in the days and moments that require a bit more love and care to heal from in the future.

This life is about healing, and growing, and putting ourselves out there and yes, being hurt sometimes as an opportunity to care yet more about the big picture, and less about ourselves.

Maybe 'they' will have a chance to heal. And maybe 'you' will help.

Life doesn't guarantee we will never be in their position: wouldn't it be nice to know you cared, and-should you ever be in their shoes-up the stakes that you will then be equally cared for and nurtured?

To the woman who have known abuse: There is nothing to be sorry about. We were born vulnerable. And there's nothing we can do about that besides going on with our lives, how we truly wish to live them, without inhibition.

I hope you will help these women have that chance, too.

~

Support the Cause: buy some Art~Click here to visit
www.redbubble.com/people/Take-A-Stand ~

~

The Adventure Fiction I've written will be out very, very, soon. (Promise.)

Until then read what people are saying

~

Putting the Thanks in Thanks-giving

2011-10-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

See Mantra Yoga Canada's Fundraiser Project located at Redbubble's Online Art Gallery.

*Words in bold may be followed to external links.*

The last two days in Canada was Thanksgiving Holiday. It was so enriching, nurturing and helpful as a reminder to be grateful for the soil that brings us our harvest, and for the people who bring us joy amongst many other blessings.

I spent one of the two days at a meditation and meal gathering at a place in Richmond, British Columbia, called 'EcoCenter.' A woman who I met a couple of years ago-also an amazing Canadian Singer & Positive Change Leader-Madhu Bagga, took me out to this paradise, situated amongst the Greater Vancouver sprawl. A man who had been born in India 85 years back also celebrated his birthday that day we ventured to this Richmond farmland. Mr Rai (pronounced Rye like Rye bread). He held my hands on numerous occassions, telling me, "You are full of so much love!"

The smile spread across his lips brought so much love, to me.

And, perhaps, it was all the love present in me that brought me to a place of deep gratitude that day and the day following...

On the second day of Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend, I went to teach my Family Yoga class in West Vancouver. I filled up on carrot cake and cream cheese cupcakes beforehand; the family laughed and assured me that I could still count on having my fill of goodies they offer at the end of the class. Their generosity has become a tradition.

So much to be grateful for.

Also, this Saturday, my Yoga business based in Canada is having 'a makeover.' I am becoming more in alignment with my truth; I will be offering the same Healing Yoga that I've been offering for the last six years, only now I will be giving it a name, "Yoga for PTSD," also known as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

After years of practicing Yoga and tapping into the Eastern Philosophy of observing and letting go of our emotions, I have come to realize it is time to add one more step to that mix: to acknowledge and accept our emotions, and-only then-let them go. PTSD Yoga adds in another step to do this.

Through some extended studies in my off-time from writing my Adventure Fiction, I have and continue to gather more and more knowledge to apply to this workshop I will offer at various locations around Vancouver in the upcoming months and years. Finding 'a niche' within the Yoga world that truly offers what each Teacher has to share, brings one in alignment with thier authentic self. This is something I am also very grateful for: meeting more of my authentic self who can offer this Specialized Yoga with true love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the second day of Thanks-giving, I was talking to a woman I met in one of the Empowerment workshops I had guided for 6 months to the community for free in 2010. In the midst of conversation the following came to me: for which I am also very grateful...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two years ago, Terry McBride-Founder of Nettwerk Music Management-said something that contributed to my shift of perception regarding the values of the world as a whole, "I can attribute my success in the world to one thing; there's one thing I always ask myself when in business, 'How can I help?' Four words that will change anyone's life, for the better."
Furthermore, from the writer's persepctive, in personal and business relationships it is not about 'if we are 'enough' to fulfill this or that role's requirements.' It is about having the courage to ask 'How can I help?' And then, the heart to follow through.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Namaste to all, and to all a good day and night.

Madeline

Below: a pic of the woman who gave birth to me last Holiday 2010; this woman makes the BEST sweet potato orange cups in the universe! A tradition at the table every year during my childhood.
Photo: Northern California: YUMMY East Indian Restaurant: the waiter had asked to be in the pic :-)

A Look at Mr. Jobs' Passing

2011-10-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

-Photo donated by Ashish Sood, Facebook Contact To Madeline Standing-

56 is a very young age to die. But, when we look at how much time this beloved spent in front of the computer-all together, day in, day out-and what worldwide scientific studies continue to tell us about the Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) from computers and cell phones degenerating the cells of our bodies and brains, mixed with the fact that cancer itself is a malformation of cells....we must ask ourselves, "Are we taking the precautions necessary to ensure ourselves the best possible health that we possibly can?" I believe our passion for technology can still burn bright, while being responsible. These computers, and their Gift of connectedness between people like you & I, are nothing short of a Blessing. And it is because of this that we want to make sure that we are requesting the engineers of them to do everything in their power to ensure the livelihood of both Us, along the Planet, at large. Including the soil, trees and plants that feed, shade, and nourish us. We must care to continue to ask the larger questions, in full trust that all our Communication, Interconnectivity and Social Media needs will continue to be met today, and always. RIP, Steve Jobs: your contribution to our ever-growing, ever-expanding, world is unparalleled, and will continue to be, through time.

"Sky's Tale" by Take-A-Stand | RedBubble

2011-10-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

"Sky's Tale" by Take-A-Stand | RedBubble:

So amazing: Click Here To Watch Video

2011-09-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

The High Line

Narrated by Ethan Hawke

What do you have to lose?

2011-09-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

Rejection and the very idea of it sets one up to recoil from action. One spins inward into an ongoing whirlwind of thoughts, probabilities, 'What- Ifs.'

Walking down the busied Vancouver street yesterday en route to the Print Shop on Cambie who helps me handle the uploading of photos to Redbubble.com
I saw a sign from above in the form of adhesive tape, "What do you have to lose?"

For so long I have dreamed of being a 'bridge' to readers who wish to understand more of how to be in harmony with their natural settings through the storytelling medium of Adventure Fiction.

Working as a Life-Empowerment, and Holistic Teacher of Eastern Philosophy in the form of various types of Yoga from Korea and India, as well as Energy Healing Practices from Japan, the last seven years, I am already 'tuned in' to the channel of (w)holistic health. (W)holistic, because we take into account the whole person, the whole being, when helping to balance one to a place of equilibrium and health. At the same time I am a young woman with a raging passion for life. Being an artist I open myself to the moment's whims as often as I can, so long as it doesn't interfere with any core values.

These two sides of one being-Artist merged with Teacher-are blended through my writing: offering the readers characters who confound and puzzle, as dynamic as they are, but who-without a doubt-draw the reader closer to them because of this very fact, indeed. Furthermore, the Artist in me is given 'steam' to trek on ahead, through the down-to-earth, simple and honest practices of self-inquiry that the Holistic practices of Meditation, Yoga and Life-Empowerment are. I am capable, thanks to the Holistic Healing Arts I have studied, to see the whole world from my very doorstep of contemplation. At the same time, it is my ability, thanks to the Artist within, to openly and clearly express to Students in my Holistic classes, the importance of one's willingness to perceive life through the open eyes of the moment.

~~

In the Past, I have thought, "Who am I?" Yes, that's right, "To Shine My Light?"

I am the daughter of a beautiful racecar driving saleswoman turned gypsy, camping, grandmother, pottery-maker. I am the daughter of a World War 2 veteran, turned wealthy entrenpreneur turned owner of WFOG Radio in Virginia before marrying his sixth wife, my mother, and having three more children before passing to the after life.

These are words, facts, images, stories...

Words, facts, images, stories....they come from a place that offer other words, facts, images, stories, though...

My beautiful parents, as amazing as they are and were, are a combination of perceived words, thoughts, images, stories.

I love them.

I will always love them.

And, at the same time, it is okay for me to be so entirely different: Me.

~~

It can take a lifetime for some of us to accept ourselves, but I choose to do so now.

I hope You do, too. In all Your colors, all Your madness, all Your newfound glory in the recognition of YOU.

~~

As "Ask and it is Given" says: "we are in a world that is ever-expanding, we are beings that are ever-expanding, in an ever-expanding Universe. And this is Good."

~~

So, there; there's our permission to grow and change on this beautiful new day on Earth.

Take it. Run with it. Be it.

~~

Make sure to check out the photos I am now offering available as Gift Cards, Posters and Photos under my Take-A-Stand account. (Click Here)

Below: picture of my visit to see three newer Novelists offering their readings at Incite Book Tour this week in Vancouver, with Artistic Director, Hal Wake.

2 Minutes of Education For All On Women's Equal Being: by Actors Daniel Craig and Judi Dench...

2011-09-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

Perfect timing: Just left a visit to "My Sister's Closet" in Yaletown where I Volunteer in aiding store operations to run smoothly and offer up Marketing ideas for their ongoing success!

What started off as a quick drop by to pick up a pair of their amazing boots for the Winter cool, wound up being a 'Think Tank,' where myself and five other Volunteers explored what we can do to 'go the extra mile.' In our search to bring a healthy dose of inspiration to the the Greater Vancouver Community, regarding what is possible when women come together with open hearts and minds, matching the intent to help women-of-abuse, we came up with some stupendous ideas. Can't wait to share more. ~m~

Because of Love

2011-09-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Before I go drive home to my point, let's touch base on a 'coupla' facts, shall we?

Science has proven that....

All animate beings (trees, animals, insects....people...) are 99% the same on a genetic level. WOW! Isn't that amazing?!

So, then, this whole, "We're all connected," sentiment... it must be true.

Hmmm.... I'm a believer in the Oneness, and for those of you who are not, well, I suppose if you believe in science, you are Now...

***

This next part is not Science. It's Emotion: ever since I watched Steve Job's Stanford Speech (Click Here) I've felt a great love for the kind of a person I feel he is: I am referring to the gumption he displayed when breaking through the barrier of other people's intellectual limitations regarding what is possible and what is not. Being the co-inventor of Pixar and Apple is no small feat. I am also a huge fan of the openness he has displayed to 'stand out,' to be different, even when his career clearly depended on it (Again, watch the video)

I read an Open Letter from the people whose work I believe in very much: Activists for Safe Technology. It was addressed to Steve Jobs.

I'm listing it here, compliments of Activist Paul Doyon who started the newsletter, called EMF Refugees, alongside his Activist friends.

***

Dear Steve,

I am a long-time Apple user. My first Apple computer was the Apple 512k that I used as a “portable” computer for several years. You opened the world of technology to so many people who could intuitively use a Mac with no need for instructions. I use it for my teaching (as a university professor) and my research (on electrosmog and electrosensitivity). For that I thank you. Your products, since those early computers, are marvellous but I have some serious concerns about the wireless components.

I work with people who have become electrically sensitive and become ill when exposed to radio frequency radiation. The US government is unwilling to acknowledge how dangerous this technology is so it is up to industry leaders and innovators, like yourself and your company, to lead the way.

Have your scientists been honest with you about the dangers of RF radiation or have they tried to shield you from this information? This is what the science is showing and it is likely to get a lot worse so please consider innovations that allow users to connect as safely as possible.

The pulsed radio frequencies have been associated with various types of cancers including–but not limited to–gliomas (brain), acoustic neuromas (ear), uveal melanomas (eyes), and parotid (salivary gland) tumors that appear, often on the same side of the head exposed to a cell phone, after 10 years of moderate to heavy use. Kids are at a greater risk because they don’t have a developed immune system and their cells are dividing rapidly. Exposure to the radiation generated by cell phones and wireless computers are linked to deformed sperm that swim slowly and die quickly. This–in turn–is contributing to problems with declining fertility for couples wanting to get pregnant. Cell phone users complain of headaches, skin problems, brain fog, depression, anxiety, ringing in the ear. Those who live near cell phone antennas have similar complaints including difficulty sleeping, body pain, nausea, and dizziness. The risk of cancers, for those living near these antennas, is increasing.

Radiation affects the immune system and can lead to secondary ailments. It places stress on the body as shown by heat shock protein research. It increases the permeability of the blood brain barrier allowing potentially toxic substances to enter the brain. I could go on but I think you get the point. By allowing apps on smart phones that enable people to measure their exposure to radiation, you will help raise their awareness and allow them to make more informed choices about when and how they use their smart phones, wireless computers, ipads, etc. We are not going to give up our smart phones, just like we are not going to give up our cars, but learning how to drive safely and having seat belts and other innovations that protect the occupant and those on the road are as vital for the car driver as they are for the billions of mobile phone users.

The two most important aspects of a quality life are having loving friends and good health. With your many innovations you enable friends to keep in touch . . . now enable them to do so safely without sacrificing their health.

-magda

(Click Magda's name in order to learn more about her and her Practice as a Doctor and Professor in Peterborough, ON, Canada.)

***

Dear Readers: If all of Life is 99% the same, on a genetical level,and the DNA in a rat's brain is unraveling...

(He-Hmm: Throat clear.)

Well, let's just say I am definitely a Fan of Magda's idea to create a fun little cell phone APP to measure radiation, so people can simply be aware of their 'Daily Limits.'

I have read in my studies that keeping our Blackberrys and IPhones an inch away from our brains while talking is the best way to avoid developing these newly-formed, 'rare,' types of brain tumors. Rare? I don't think so; I spoke with a girlfriend, Cortney Allison, who I've known since I was 12 back in Virginia Beach, Virginia where i was born. Cortney said that two of her friends in their late twenties have developed 'untimely' brain tumors... So young indeed...

I personally (and calmy) informed my twin sister of the science of Electromagnetic Fields and the Radiation from our cell phones and though she retorted with, "I'm having a hard time communicating with you these days," (laugh) the father of her sweet child said, "Thanks so much for letting me know."

If we tell our friends and family about these things in a calm, pleasant, scientific (non-dogmatic) way, their interest is bound to be piqued.

Learning can be (and is!) FUN!

Steve Jobs: a heart of gold and a brain like a racecar-always far ahead the rest. I have faith that (whether being public about it or not) he is going to do his best to serve people, while keeping the fun, "elegance'and learning factors he's best known for, raised.

Cheers to that,

Madeline Standing

Read what people are saying about the Adventure Fiction pre-publication.

(Don't usually go with the electronic sounds but this voice is beautiful...and well, it's true; there is a change in the air. For all of us. Though we cannot see it...)

HOW DO I LIMIT MY EXPOSURE TO RADIATION?

Moderation, moderation, moderation!

1) I actually only speak on my cell phone if it is on Speaker Phone.

2) Connect to Internet through a wall cable connection versus a wifi connection.

3) Over talking on the phone to people, choose to Skype/Google Chat and from a wall/cable connection when and if at all possible.

4) I personally like to save my connection time with the dear ones in my life for the 'in-person' bonding. I have friends and family around the world, however, I connect via email,and not cell phone in the case of needing to convey whatever thoughts I may need to at that time! Again, when wanting to hear their voice/see their face: I do Skype!

5) I turn my cell phone off when it is in my purse: this lowers the radiation and electromagnetic field emanation from the cell phone into my brain and body's cells.

(I care just as much about my brain and body's cells as I do my cell-phone!)

Wifi radiation and electromagnetic field emanation, expelled from our cell phones and computers, actually degenerates us on a cellular level: causing dehydration, the need for more sleep as sleep regenerates our cells (hence the term 'a good night's sleep.) Dehydration often causes vertigo, insomnia, depression and migraines.

Try it: Sit arm's length from the computer. Use the computer as a means to reach people regarding when you will see them and meet with them next! Save the quality time for In-Person versus through electronic communication!

Happy living!

Madeline Standing
Novelist, Activist & Empowerment Teacher

Lucky: "The Power of The Towers"

2011-09-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

I just finished looking at the Getty Images here online, compliments of Yahoo... (click on Getty Images to see, but make sure to come back!)

All the logic, reasons, and science aside, a thought still comes to me, "Why did the criminals who spurred the avalanche of nationwide suffering, only succeed at attempting to attack Washington, D.C.?"

I mean, yes, the central focus, from 'their perspective' of focusing in on 'the symbol of financial power' was a 'good' choice. If one were to want to completely mangle the face of American's pride and ambition, then yes, it was a 'great' choice. But, still. If these people who so 'skillfully' organized such an atrocity were as professional as History just proves they were, in the efforts to desecrate American property and blur the trust in their nation, than why not have equal focus on The White House?

Seems strange to me.

To be quite honest, I was in such shock as a seventeen year old, back in 2001, after having my father die of a heart attack in the middle of the night only one year before, that I turned off the blaring TV, jumped in my car and headed for James Madison University
where I had a friend, Joshua Canada, studying. From that day forward I did not own a television.

I started to connect to what I consider a deeper way of life: listening to my own inner wisdom as to where to go next, and what's important. Instead of watching The Travel Channel--as fantastic as it is--I began to travel. Instead of watching The History Channel about the Wars and trials and tribulations through time I started to spend more time with family, I even moved to Nelson, British Columbia, Canada for the summer of '03 to live in the same town as my sister, Lucia.

What is most puzzling is, I also made the decision to move to New York City in 2002 to study Acting. Suppose I was drawn there, subconsciously, for the sake of searcing, for the sake of being close to the re-construction of people's lives. What I found was a resiliency unlike any other. I recall some stories about the horror people felt, and the film of dust the martyrs left in their lives as New Yorkers.

"For six months after there was still grey dust floating in through my windows, under the cracks of them. It makes me sick knowing that it is the remnants of people's bodies, buildings, people's dreams on paper." One person said to me in a round about way.

~~~

Now, ten years later, I look at the photos for the first time, ever. Only one made me cry; the one where the 'maintenance worker' of the building stood outside Tower 1, seconds before the 2nd Tower fell, and called out, with a helpless fire extinguisher in hand, "If anyone's in there, make some noice. I'm gonna come in there and help you."

He was shuffled away by the police, spared from the deadening effects of the second crash to arrive.

~~~

Where I once moved to New York City to understand that collective pain, I now live in Vancouver, Canada for six years where, now that it is understood and has been enormously embraced, live a happy live, drawn to the flicker of light in all.

~~~

We can never change what happened that day. But, we can remember the strength we found in the after-moments and realize that we are entirely fortunate to otherwise be unfamiliar with targeted mass killing on North American for quite a number of yeas, while others know it day in or day out. Or, otherwise, no of famines and droughts...

~~~

I found a new heaven on earth yesterday: it is called Deer Park Lake. And it is beautiful. My Yoga students introduced me to it, and I let all that light in from the day's sunshine into every fiber, muscle and cell of my being.

Here are some pix.

All the best & until next time,

Madeline Standing

Adventure Fiction inviting your imagination to play alongside the globe's greatest developing questions.

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Finding Out

2011-09-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

I love Nature's Path cereals. But, as I was returning home from dinner last eve I stopped in at the closest grocery store and picked up one of my childhood favorites, "Rice Krispies," by Kellogg's. As an adult, nothing returns us faster to our joyful, simple, beginnings as putting the taste of a food we were once raised on into our hungry mouths.

I justified the purchase because in the ingrediants it says rice, sugar, salt, malt and vitamins. Can't really go wrong there. Rice, sugar, salt: these are the staples of many of our lives universally.

Oh, and there's BHT added as the last ingrediant underneath the long list of vitamins. I almost stopped reading before I got to that part. It says, "BHT Added To Package Material To Maintain Freshness."

So, this morning, I googled quickly BHT to refresh my memory on what it is:

"In the 1970s, Benjamin Feingold, a San Francisco MD who established the Feingold Diet, claimed that BHT could produce hyperactivity in some children. In addition, some controversy surrounds the link of BHT to cancer risk,[5] some studies showing the potential to increase and some showing a decrease in risk.[6][7][8] Some food industries have voluntarily eliminated this additive from their products, and since the 1970s it has been steadily replaced with the less studied BHA."

That's straight from Wikipedia

Not only is it straight from Wikipedia, but it is what they mention first, before including information on it being marketed as an antiviral.

The Delano Report Says:

"Inspired by early scientific reports on the antiviral activity of BHT, a number of people suffering from herpes began to experiment on themselves in the late 1970s. As described in several books published a few years later, the BHT experimenters discovered that a daily dose of 250 to 1000 mg resulted in rapid recovery from herpes eruptions with no recurrences.

Studies performed since then have confirmed the activity of BHT against many different human and animal viruses, including such members of the herpes family as CMV (cytomegalovirus), pseudorabies and genital herpes. BHT appears to inhibit infectivity of HIV, the AIDS virus, although contradictory results have also been reported."

So, let me get this straight: if I add BHT to my regular diet I can restrict the chances of ever getting cold sores aka herpes (what 50-80 percent of the North American population have been reported to have) and gain a likelihood of increasing the risk of cancer in self and family, while elevating the chances of the children I love, the children we love, developing 'hyperactivity.' Hyperactivity is also known, in my world, likely to enhance the likelihood of a child being labeled 'ADD,' or as having 'a mild case of Autism.' From what I have studied in Autistic Children and ADD, the children are simly so 'hyperactive' that they have a difficult time concentrating, focusing, being present....

~~~

Well, certainly some food for thought, anyway.

The best we can do as adults is be informed so the children can have the benefit of living in a world with the choices that evolve from having the blessing of information.

Thank you and hope all is well with everyone.

Madeline Standing
Visit the book website
Adventure Fiction inviting your imagination to play alongside the globe's greatest developing questions. (TM)

Click on the bold links above to read more about writer Madeline Standing and the novels that are underway to being on your bookshelf and programmed into your Kindle soon.

Children Deserve To Be Happy

2011-09-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

I was on public transit in Vancouver, Canada yesterday witnessing an atrocity in the world of what is right and wrong when it comes to being a loving parent. If only it were that simple, though. Right and wrong are words that describe situations we either agree or disagree with. A woman sat in the front row with her two small boys.

She had the smallest of two sitting with her on the chair, and the other sat in front of her in the stroller. It was hot outside and the larger two of the boys just wanted to be with his mother and his brother. It seemed odd to me; why had she chosen to put the larger of two boys in the stroller, anyway?
I would not have taken notice of this detail, however, it seemed to the child to create a preference he was not very happy with.

He brought himself out of the stroller, walked over to his mother and sat on the seat next to her and little brother. The mother went into a fit of outrage. She yelled at the top of her lungs, "I'm NOT putting up with this attitude today!"

The little boy moved closer to her, hugging her, wanting to be closer to her, even while she continued yelling and pushing him away before trying her best to lift him up to put him back into the stroller. Only the stroller was too small for him, so it was a struggle on her part to fit him back into it.

The raw anguish the child expressed through his facial expression and the power of his lungs screaming out all because he wanted to be close to his mother had everyone around me looking on in a shade of horror. My eyes were the size of tomatoes and my throat was dry as I wanted so much to be able to form a word. A part of me wanted to, unrightfully so, attempt to mediate by introducing some of my Meditation Skills learned last year at The Justice Institute of British Columbia.

Yet, something greater in me knew that it was not my place to intervene. Besides, the woman was quite irate and everyone literally was speechless at the horrendous scene unfolding both before us and within us. The feelings welling up inside everyone on that bus was a collective mess. Fortunately, I was able to exit the bus at the next stop. And, upon doing so, I was able to make out the words, "Thank you" to the driver. The corners of his mouth were sinking down toward his shoulders. He looked miserable at having to listen to that.

Before getting off, I saw this woman-on a third attempt to remove her son from the immediate space around her-grab her son on the space between his legs, gather all the false strength within her-fueled by rage-and lift her son up, while the other hand grabbed under his tender underarm to support the lift. So, the hand at his crouch was lifting up and her hand under his arm was as well. As she set him back down into the carriage she gripped his penis and testicle area and yelled, "Now, I MEAN IT! STOP!"

~~~

Now, all that over a four year old being uncomfortable in the stroller and wanting to be close to his mother?

~~~

I am an activist for the fair treatment of women. Myself and all other activists cannot ask for the fair treatment of women, until the fair treatment of children is intact. I was repulsed by the truth when I sat down and processed the treatment I had just witnessed. Either one or both of the following will happen to this little boy as he grows older and older by the day.

1) Every time he gets angry he will flash back to the memories instilled in him at such a young age. He will remember all the pain, embarrassment and injustice experienced throughout his childhood, at such a pure, young, innocent age and he will (within the reason of an adult) become enraged. He will express this rage by the same means as the lady who attempted to be his mother did: physical intimidation -- and likely express this rage to the sex he felt most intimidated by since he was a young child : women.

2) Or, he will become incredibly withdrawn, stifle his anger within him, never be able to express it because he's so scared of any sign of rage. Never be able to have an emotionally healthy relationship because of it. His relationships sexually will probably bring up much suppressed pain and hurt too. Imagine having a mother who grabs your testicles and penis and intentionally grips down on them by squeezing them with the fist of her hand to impress upon you that she is in control. Now, imagine being in the middle of a heated sexual moment with the person who you do your best at loving and there's a quick, unintentional pressure applied to the penis during foreplay. OUCH! That's going to hurt him not only physically, but emotionally and mentally, too.

~~~

I have been a Yoga, Pilates and Meditation Teacher & Facilitator of Reiki Healing for 6 and a half years now. I have learned this much: the mind and the body are connected. When the mind is tense and stressed, the body takes the brunt of those emotions by becoming constricted, tense and painful in the form of headaches, tight muscles, fatigued muscles, irregular flow of circulation and electricity throughout the nerves.

That little boy will be affected for life.

~~~

What can I do to help you feel better after putting you through this unnerving story now that I feel better for having expressed it?

Well, I can promise you that I am prepared now to intervene in such a way that my safety is still assured and intact. Will yelling at her, telling her how horrible she is, that she's barely a mother, or any mother that anyone on the bus would ever wish to have?

No.

Don't think so. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," as it is said.

Can I say in a calm, peaceful, voice, "Excuse me, ma'am; your baby's bottle looks like it's about to slide off the seat."

Hey, anything to interrupt her storm of rage. After all, that emotional pattern she is in is a neurological addiction just like any other unconscious response is.

I rest in the knowing that underneath those repetitively-trained neural net responses within her brain there was once a sweet, small girl, vying for the attention of her own mother, in unfavorable circumstances. Where there is no love, there is no favor.

Trust me, no one on that bus wanted to be on it a second longer than they had to. The look of empathy on the passenger's faces for that small boy showed me that our tendency as humans to be so disheartening-as that mother was-is more of a rarity than all the good that is in our world.

I know this is true, because, after all, why would people become so taken aback by what they are witnessing if it weren't so misplaced from what they are routinely accustomed to experiencing?

~~~

I consider myself a dreamer with a backbone. On numerous occassions I have left behind my 'Comfort Zone,' (leaving my home country, marriage proposals and all the material niceties most only dream of acquiring) to broaden my horizons and, most importantly, pursue that dream.

The dream of understanding the world to a greater degree. The dream of helping others believe in and understand the world to an even greater degree than they did yesterday. A dream to help others understand the world around them, all it's disparity and Joy, from a place of higher understanding.

~~~

By looking back at that moment on transit, I realize that by myself and others staring on in horror and supreme dislike, we only escalated the feelings of hatred amongst us.

What if we had all used our inner and spoken voices to affirm the positives in the world, "It's so important to me to see a woman who cares for her children, knowing she is a leader in this world, unlike any other. It is from Her treatment that the children will grow and understand. What they come to grow and understand is up to Her."

What if we had gathered our compassion, controlled our critical, judgmental minds and said, "Excuse me, ma'am; would you like help? It looks like you're having some trouble." And, while she would then be the epitome of shock as she tried to figure out why everyone is being so nice to her, so kind, we say hello to that little boy and say, "I know, sweetie, everything is going to be okay."

Can we really say 'everything will be okay?' 'Can we really trust that this mother will not go back to treating her son exactly this same way when out of earshot of caring others?'

No, of course not.

But, that small child has then the possibility to look at his life from the distance of his mature years and recall those few people who moved past their own pain at witnessing the futility of his mother and take comfort knowing that someone was there to shed the warmth of a caring smile or a kind word on his moment of helplessness.

He then has the chance to decide if he wants to help himself in that moment by deciding to associate more strongly with the kindness of a small group of concerned people or the uncontrollable hostility of his mother.

~~~

Abuse is a chain. Those who have ever been mistreated have the choice to be the missing link, or not, from that chain of destruction.

Whoever you are, whatever you know to be true: we have the choice today to create a day anew.

~~~

Thank you, kindly, make sure to take a moment to sign up for the blog to be connected to this ongoing stream of poignant truth-telling about a whole variety of topics concerning current world affairs.

There are many shades of truth, but love is one shade that shines all at once too deeply and brightly to be of question.

~Madeline~

Like Jason Mraz says, "We're all just one big family!"

Let's act like it : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl88QEll-Xc

And they cried, "Give Us Culture!"

2011-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today there is the 'Taiwan Fest' taking place here in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. How wonderful is it that we celebrate our roots so widely! Nowadays, each of our individual cultures are being appreciated by countries around the world via the channels of these kinds of festivals (Greek Festival, French Festival, Taiwan Festival, etc)as well as being appreciated by the restaurants we each choose to dine in. I imagine you, like I, spend time in a Japanese restaurant one day a week and perhaps at least one other culturally dynamic choice of cuisine, another day, within that same very week.

The question is, when we decide to widen the affluency of our taste buds, how can we also engage that culture we're dropping into more effectively? I don't know all the answers, in fact, by blogging I am simply exploring (with you). The greatest discoveries our mind can come across are in the questions we ask it! For instance, what if at the Japanese restaurant we take time to sit next to the people preparing the food, at the sushi bar, in order to connect with them? A simple 'Hello,' and friendly smile, can make all the difference in making one feel connected to the culture they are whether consciously or unconsciously honoring by deciding to show up in their restaurant!

A thought: What if we had more straight up 'Culture Fests' to help close the gap of misunderstanding between each of our individual cultures? Culture Fests versus "Korean Fest," "India Fest," etc., can create a newly-discovered, enormous, ability to sidestep the boundaries that cultures have carried throughout time!

Its great that we celebrate one another's cultures, such as at the 'Taiwan Fest' but when celebrating individualistically, there is a chance the degrees of separation widen in their span: putting single cultures standing together on the horizon in various groups, versus raising the likelihood of all cultures holding hands in friendship and harmony, for as far and wide as one can see on that same horizon. The horizon, as we all know, has amazing potentiality: it's about what we're open to discovering by changing our past, and possibly present, perceptions.

'Culture Fest,' this is what I would like to see more of.

At this festival, all cultures have booths sharing their native foods; words broken down that are must commonly used for the sake of every person foreign to that specific culture to learn. Clothing styles showcased, native dances displayed and of course each culture's musical choices, prevalent to both the current times and past being listened to.

Would we need more space? Yes, but there are plenty of deserted parking lots in most North American cities to provide this already, so this is far from a problem. The ironic thing is, also in North America are us who crave most a switch up from our day-to-day activities in the first place. Has corporate culture removed some of the authentic, time-fermented, cultural expressions of country's lifestyles and replaced it with worldwide common themes lacking the individual flavor originally known to that country and its people, perhaps?

All that aside for now, many of us in North America absolutely crave the spirited way known amongst the cultures that live 'with less' (less when it comes to corporate influences of what to wear and drive) but live with a grand sense of being connected to one's neighbor. People in "LDC's" also known as "Less Developed Countries" (thanks to John Perkins' book: "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" often have both the sense of fellowship and responsibility to consider the neighbor and their neighbor's family when considering themselves and their own families. Or, in other words, those cultures that have a sense of a close-knitted community.

We have so much to learn from one another. In the case that we have more of these Multi-Nationality Fairs, I feel the sense of unity amongst us has a great chance of increasing, while making use of the space that, oftentimes, otherwise goes unused. (re: deserted parking lots in front of vacant KMARTs, Targets, and WalMarts around N America.)

Of course,the Cirque Du Soleil traveling show often makes plenty great use out of these areas.)

Thanks Cirque Du Soleil!! Now there's another blessing we have to be grateful for on this lovely earth we all share as home.

Let's keep it that way!

~

Madeline

~

PS) I ran into someone who attended the Taiwan Fest. I have been inquiring at random of friends and strangers alike if they've ever seen anything called a "Culture Fest," where all cultures come together and set up different booths, share their music, dance, (well you remember--as I mentioned above!) and he was excited. He said, "Imagine all the different 'fusions' that could evolve: New Food Fusions can be inspired. I mentioned 'New Fashion Fushions' as well and New Music Fusions possible of being blended and created for ALL to enjoy!

Maybe I'm a dreamer...maybe not. I think it's possible!

Below: My dear Chinese Canadian friend Olivia Hui Xue and I at the closing of the Kitsilano Hollywood Theatre: You pronounce 'Hui' like 'Chips-A-Hoy' cookies and 'Xue' like 'Shoe,' in the English language.

Be everywhere? Businesses' messages that sell us on 'Being Everywhere' all at once.

2011-08-15T20:04:00.003-07:00

(above picture taken at the Broadway Sky Train stop in Vancouver, BC)

Sure, we're sold on the idea of being everywhere at once, but is it really worth our while? I mean, really, though; what are the benefits of being hyper-connected? What are the downfalls? This is something I am thinking a lot about. I invested in a BlackBerry with the thought in mind that as I would go about my day around Vancouver city, I would be able to touch on all bases I needed to, whenever I needed to.

In the beginning, it was great. I was able to send business emails no matter where I was. I was able to search where to go and how fast I could get there on Google Maps. Did this make my life one heck of a lot easier? I'd say so. On the other end of this discussion, though, I also felt more starved for my 'Zen Time.'

Zen time, to me, is pausing to look at the passing traffic on the street while typing away at a cafe over my favorite cup of herbal tea. Or, being awake, present and aware enough to walk into the luscious park I'm passing, at the amazing speeds our legs take us, instead of having my face buried in a business email. Traditionally I thought this would be great, I'd be able to show the people I work with how much I care by answering the emails almost as quickly as I received them.

Lately, being an artist, I have begun to notice all the advertisements plastered across every page I visit, as well as all the additional thoughts this creates within my mind upon involuntarily reading them. Had I signed up to learn about 'this or that' marketers' latest big take away deal? Or 'this or that' store's shopfront closing down, like so many of the others around North America are? No, certainly not. Why is this relevent to any artist? Because artists need to breathe in and out 'nothing' every now and then.

That's right. 'Nothing' means, when I breathe in my mind is empty, when I breath out, my mind is empty. Artists need this 'nothing' so we can c-r-e-a-t-e new thoughts. New thoughts are, of course, new ideas, new images, new inspirations and new directions for the stroke of our pen, paint brush, the sway of our arm and hips, or whatever else is in the same category of an artist's tools.

My eucalyptus aromatherapy oil has been up under my nose repeatedly over the last few days. Perhaps there's simply a lot going on. As there is for all of us. Moving for the second time in three months, traveling quite often, breaking up with the boyfriend of six months who I quite liked, breaking into new teaching gigs at new venues around town, and to top it off, selling my book. Which brings me to one of my all time favorite Philosophers of this day (also one of the Dalai Lama's) J Krishnamurti. His writing is 'anti-habitual' living, pro-'wakefulness' living. Being in the moment. Seeing each moment for what it is. He said something that I read ten years ago that I just absolutely love to-this-day, "To be nothing, is to be beyond measure."

Ahhh... Yes. This brings me back to sane grounds. "To be nothing is to be beyond measure." All tensions leave me as I read this. I get it. He was anti-ideals, insisting that there is no such thing as an 'ideal,' in a world of true value. Each moment is a gift. Therefore, darkness and lightness, they are both inescapable. And, where this is true, ideals are obsolete, as every moment is exactly what it is meant to be, already.

I love life. I love the opportunities we can create for ourselves.
I love having this opportunity to connect with you.

I love our ongoing ability to continually create new thoughts.
Easy? Maybe not. Intentional thoughts usually does take effort; but that's okay because effort just so happens to be something we have to spend at our own free will.

Moral of the story?

That's right: I'm getting rid of my data plan on my Blackberry. Why? Because, personally, I am curious by nature. And, every time I would hear my phone buzz, I'd look at it. I'd stop what I was doing, before even realizing I was, and speed read the new email in my inbox. Then, I'd return to what I was doing prior to the interruption. Only, as we know, if we leave something too many times, it loses its lustre. We cannot expect all to be the same, the next we turn around. What we really care about, we must give our attention to.

Another reason why this receiving of emails the instant the sender on the other end pushes the send button does not work (personally) for me is that
now, I'd have to read the email twice. Because the first time I shouldn't have been reading it at all, only curiosity had gotten the best of me. It's hard to give our full attention to something, when we're in the middle of doing something else. Had I not stopped what I was initially doing in the first place, to read the email, I wouldn't have to then read the email twice, thus spending twice as much time as I had needed to, in the first place, only to read an email t-w-i-c-e.

That, and the allure of the illusion of immediacy had really gotten me when I had chosen to buy my Blackberry. (Ooohh...I can answer each and every message right away...WOW...) What have I learned? The greatest moments of our lives do not happen over night. Therefore, how about disconnecting from 'hyper-connectivity' for at least two-three hours of each day. No internet. No cell phone. Then, see how you feel, fellow 'addicts.' What's the big rush, anyway? It's all happening, in all due time anyway, right...?

Goodnight and Good Riddance.

(below is a picture of Vancouver's sunset this eve. grateful I got to watch it from my window... a great time to dis-connect from the internet)

_________________________________________________________________________

August 16th 2011
The morning after writing the above

GOOD MORNING:

Going in for a cup of Japanese Gen Matcha Rice Roasted tea this morning, I saw a report, related to the above entry:

The Vancouver Sun newspaper's front page
mentions in the second paragraph,
"Neuroscientists have as of late discovered that email bombardment causes a drop in a person's IQ by 10 points--more than double the effects of cannabis."

Hmmm... Looks like yet another positive supporting cause to steadily reduce the amount of time spent on email and Facebook messages. Besides, isn't there something to be said for brevity?

Blessings.

Madeline

Shell Oil Talks About Fires: Gaining A Grasp On What Cell Phones Mean To The Environment

2011-08-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

I receive emails from an activist, awareness-boosting, group called "EMF Refugees."

I have had an interest in how the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect our body's own EMF.

If you find the post of significance, please email emfrefugee@gmail.com

requesting to be on their Update List. This group has cutting-edge

information regarding the influence of modern day technology on our health.

Here is what I have just read, verbatim:

Please send this information to your family & friends, especially those who have kids in the car with them while pumping gasoline. If this were to happen, they may not be able to get the children out in time.

MUST READ, EVEN IF YOU DON'T OWN A CAR.
Shell Oil Comments - A MUST READ! Safety Alert!

Here are some reasons why we don't allow cell phones in operating areas involving the handling of propylene oxide, propane, gasoline and diesel refuelling areas.

THE SHELL OIL COMPANY recently issued a warning after three incidents in which cell phones ignited fumes during refuelling cars with gasoline.

In the first case, the phone was placed ON THE CAR'S TRUNK LID during fuelling; it rang and the ensuing fire destroyed the car and the gasoline pump.

In the second, an individual suffered severe burns to their face when fumes ignited as they answered a call while refuelling their car.

And in the third, an individual suffered burns to the thigh and groin as fumes ignited when the phone, which was in their pocket, rang while they were fuelling their car.

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?

Cell Phones can ignite fuel and the fumes dispelled by fuel.

When cell phones are switched on, and every time they ring, release enough energy to provide a spark for ignition.

Mobile phones should not be used in filling stations.

This includes when fuelling lawn mowers, boats, etc.

Mobile phones should not be used, or should be turned off, around other materials that generate flammable or explosive fumes or dust, (for example: solvents, chemicals, gases, grain dust, etc...)

THE FOUR RULES FOR SAFE REFUELLING:

1) Turn off engine

2) Don't smoke

3) Don't use your cell phone - leave it inside the vehicle or turn it 0ff

4) Don't re-enter your vehicle during fuelling.

BOB RENKES of Petroleum Equipment Institute is working on a campaign to try and make people aware of fires as a result of 'static electricity' at gas pumps. His company has researched 150 cases of these fires. His results were very surprising:

1) Out of 150 cases, almost all of them were women.

2) Almost all cases involved the person getting back in their vehicle while the nozzle was still pumping gas. When finished, they went back to pull the nozzle out and the fire started, as a result of static.

3) Most had on rubber-soled shoes.

4) Most men never get back in their vehicle until completely finished. This is why they are seldom involved in these types of fires.

5) Don't ever use cell phones when pumping gas 6) It is the vapours that come out of the gas that cause the fire, when connected with static charges.

PLEASE SHARE this information with your family and friends, especially those who have kids in the car with them while pumping gas.

If this were to happen to them, they may not be able to get the children out in time.

Thanks for passing this along.

--EMR-Updates

Brought to you by

EMF Refugees: The International Coalition for an Electromagnetic Safe Planet (IC-ESP).

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Thank you

Thanks Kat Selfridge for sending over a link to the CBC Radio Sunday Edition covering EMF's!

Trophy Books

2011-08-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

The following discussion from the "Tools of Change Publishing Conference" on LinkedIn really piqued my interest, so I jumped in and thought perhaps the comments would be of interest to others, as well. Cheers.

Have paper books become just an intellectual decoration in the age of ebooks?

"Nick Bilton has an interesting piece on the New York Times' Bits, where he's presenting his dilemma - he's moving from NY to SF and not sure what to do with all the hundreds of books he have? Should he take them with him or not?"

Patrick Weening's Comment: "This seems to me a non-discussion: e-books don't replace an existing bookcase. If you discard them, you don't have them any more. It's as simple as that.
Therefore the choice should be: do I still want those titles or not. It's his choice to spend a fortune re-buying them digitally. If those are digitally available at all...."

Madeline Standing's Comment: "I agree. We seek knowledge innately and this does not require it to be 'battery-powered.' In fact, I do not receive the same gratification from picking up something with a glare to push buttons and read, as much as I do receive such immense pleasure from thumbing through an actual 3D product that our traditional book is. All the amazing technological advances cannot change that we live in a three dimensional (some know it to be four) reality. I yearn to pick up a book, underline, highlight words and phrases that jump out. I receive a sense of accomplishment, yes more pleasure and happiness, when I see the books I have spent hours picking up and holding on the mantle above my fireplace. Reading paperback/hardcover books is an emotional fulfillment, like listening to one's favorite music. And, no matter how ingenious this creation is for the public, it will never replace books. There's just too many 'sentimalists' out there, like I. E-books are helpful, incredibly so, to travelers who need pack light. And, perhaps for other reasons that I have not been informed of: still, they will never replace the one- and-only traditional book..."

Cherine Munkholt's Comment: Yes, E-books may be incredibly useful in ways that we haven't yet begun to imagine, however, for those of us who are not digital natives, the look and touch of a traditional book is irreplaceable. While in my peripatetic youth I did occasionally give away or sell books, I've come to regret this. Browsing in second-hand bookshops, or in the latest acquisitions section of the library, or just taking down an old book from my bookshelves-whether a fascinating new work or an old friend full of good memories, books are hard to beat!

Madeline Standing's Comment: Succinctly put, Cherine! Love the expression you wrote here 'digital natives.' I have not actually read that before. For the people in the future who may possibly never know what it is like to read a paper book, they will never know what they are missing. Like a lover who will never know the love before them because they have not opened to it. The tangible emotionality of reading a book versus scanning and clicking and pressing buttons through one is (word of the day) irreplaceable. Call me a traditionalist. And, a naïve one if you wish, but that is my gut feeling. :-)

Patrick Weening's Comment: Bravo, Madeline and Cherine, you confirm a point I made in another discussion a while back: e-books and folio books each have their purpose in the market and in functionality complement each other when necessary. There is nothing replacing the other, there simply is another extra possibility
It makes the discussion about replacing an existing bookcase by e-books obsolete. How do we know what value the bookowner attributes to his bookcase? Sanford also shows that this is a very personal choice in a very personal situation. And there are no two persons or situations the same...

Jim S. Hill's Comment: A lot of trouble but I would take them with me. I have the same problem. A lot of books with notes, annotations, and observations. If I lost them or gave them away, I think I would be lost.

Lynn Manning Ross' Comment: I agree with Madeline! Printed books are here to STAY! I adore technology - ebooks not so much, although they have a place just like audiobooks. There's something very personal about printed books -- so personal to me anyway -- I don't loan books to anyone.

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"The Mentionables"

2011-07-27T14:14:00.000-07:00
See "A Word about London's Writer's Conference" Here, for Part A of this Blog Entry by Madeline Standing

Hello again, Readers,

In Part A of this focus in on my attendance at the London Writers’ & Artists’ Conference, put on by A & C Black this last June, 2011, we left off with Carole Blake’s finishing words, “Be patient. Be Persistent. Keep the faith.”

What I heard emphasized over and over, was the importance of perceiving your currently unpublished book as a product you are selling that is in need of advertising:

A query letter and synopsis are an author’s finest marketing tools.

THE QUERY LETTER

In Paragraph One:

1) About You:

*Your qualifications as a writer; (examples: courses you’ve taken; plans for your second book, ownership of a blog; list any poems and articles published; and any conferences attended.

Paragraph Two:

1) List your reader base.

2) Genre of book (example: Adventure Fiction)

3) Slogan of Product if any yet. A phrase describing your ‘brand’ as a writer: some commonality amongst all your writings perhaps.

4) Slate: Your book in one or two sentences also known as a logline in the film business.

5) Influences: what writers influence you? And/or what influences you?

Paragraph Three:

Similar published books (mention market trends)

What makes your idea original?

What gap are you filling?

Closing:

Mention how many other people you have submitted to (whether or not your manuscript is a simultaneous submission script). Confirm that you will contact them the moment you engage in crafting a contract with one of the other agents submitted to, should it come down to that.

Synopsis

Though this is the UK and preferences vary from country to country, the speakers at this particular conference in London focused in on these things as being the most important:

*GIVE THE ENDING

*REVEAL YOUR WRITING STYLE: NOW IS YOUR CHANCE

*SHOW TWISTS AND TURNS IN THE PLOT

*WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT YOUR CHARACTERS?

Publishers' Major Complaint today?

1) They have less control over the sale of books with the current trend of e-books and Amazon, Kindle, etc getting a piece of the pie (which is oftentimes leaving Authors signed with Publishers with the short end of the stick, so to speak).

2) Reviews in press and advertisements placed in traditional media sources are not making as much of an impact now, with the power of social media rising.

Websites mentioned to be worth checking out: www.thebookdepository.com

Who is still making out okay within the traditional book sales markets?
Children’s Books are steady, while Food & Drink books are on the rise…

Lastly, a woman stood up and spoke to share, “Go in knowing you have some secrets.” (when talking to Agents)

I cannot say I remember her name, or that I know exactly what she was saying, however, I appreciated the tone she delivered these words in. I took what was necessary, I believe, as I hope you have. Cheers.

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The Gut of a Man

2011-07-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

What impression does this billboard's message give to the reader, regarding the value, place and worth of a woman?

What can we do, as both women and men, to continue to increase our 'Self' value?

In my humble opinion:

Male Readers: you are so much more than one who needs the attractiveness of a(ny) woman by your side to justify your purpose on this planet.

Women, you are so much more than the measurements of your body, alone. And, a million times more in worth than the size of the gut on the
man who's drinking all those beers and (dreaming about) getting all those women, in the first place.

No wonder they couldn't get any living, breathing, woman up on that message board. (At least, I hope this is why the women on that advertisement are not women at all, but cut-out drawings, from a 1950's style magazine.

(I agree, BWSS-Battered Women's Support Services of Vancouver-the makers of this beer campaign need to have some Integrity that integrates high values with their natural desires.)

Sorting

2011-07-16T14:58:00.000-07:00
Sorting through my seemingly endless pile of papers, I have arrived at a set of notes I had compiled from the viewing of a DVD I watched a couple of years ago, called Nobelity. It has many Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Desmond Tutu, speaking about the possible future of our planet. Very interesting, indeed!

Whew, glad I keep notes of interest around, after reading these! They reminded me of what an insightful film it is. And, I'm of course even happier that I've cleared off my extra dining room chair from these massive stack of papers!

Finally!

Seriously, though: check out Nobelity!

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And stay tuned...for more 'Green Revolution' 'Health' 'Travel' and 'Adventure Fiction' news!

Thanks : )

Adventure Fiction website

A Word About The UK Writer's Conference by Madelaine Standing

2011-07-14T15:39:00.000-07:00
coming soon....

This weekend I swam in the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever. After a St Francis of Xavier University Alumni Barbecue with my significant other, we went to the beach. I resisted jumping in, though that's all I had wanted to do. I stared at the water, touched the water with my pointer finger, listened to it...dreamed about it. At the end of the day, I made a bargain with Mark. I said, "Mark, if you put me on your back, and then walk into the water, I'll go in."

His look was puzzled of course, "Why don't you just jump in?!"

"Uh uh. No way. No, thanks. I am NOT just jumping in. It's cold!"

"Fine. Deal." He hunched over after bending his knees low enough so I could grab a hold of his shoulders like the twenty-seven year old aspiring to be a five year old within me would do. "But, wait. You have to promise you will not dive in, or 'accidentally' fall backwards, causing me to get too wet, too fast."

"Sure. You've got my promise on that." He cocked his head to look at me, from where I stood, behind him.

"Okay. Deal." I rested my palms on his warm, sun-loved, shoulders, bent my knees and sprang up on an inhalation. By the time I was through with the exhalation, I was perched on his back, legs around either side of his waist. "Let's go. Let's do this!"

***

We all have dreams; those who follow them are the leaders. It's kind of like one of our favorite all time truth-telling expressions, 'The early bird gets the worm.'

Yet, not entirely: Because dreams don't have a deadline. Dreams don't die. And, most importantly, dreams don't have an expiration date. You get the worm, if you follow your dreams. How simple. How poignant. How utterly fantastic...

Though this is not exactly what was said in the packed auditorium inside of London UK's Wellcome Collection last month, it comes close. In all truth, Carole Blake spoke words which surely finessed even the dampest of spirits in the room. Writers write. True. They also moan, as were some in the room. Were they wailing outright? No. But some of the attendees faces were saying, "Wah!" without ever seperating their lips.

"Be patient. Be persistent. Keep the faith." Carole Blake, the praised Literary Agent, offered.

Makes sense. If one doesn't continue on and forward, how can they ever catch a ride going up, to fly amongst their most lofty of dreams? In this Universe, the only thing I can think of that goes straight up are helicopters. And, perhaps hummingbirds.

By continuously doing what we can do, on the path of our dreams and goals, we signal to the Greater Powers That Be, that we are ready... (I'm talking about The Real Greater Powers That Be-the mysterious ones, NOT the corporations and the government, though they, too, seem to raise many questions, like The Real Mysterious Greater Powers That Be, do). Furthermore, we have no control over when the big moments in our lives will take place--so we best prepare for them on a continuous basis so we are ready. Just like this weekend, when I was dreaming about swimming, but didn't know how I was going to get myself to that moment of full immersion within the water. Mark, the significant other, stayed true to the deal: no diving, no falling backward. He, instead, sunk his knees, just as he had done when I first sprang atop his back on the dry sand. The only difference was, we were nearing-what seemed like to me-the middle of the Pacific Ocean. By sinking his knees, we were now submerged within the water while the shining, glistening heaven I was marveling at, only moments before, sloshed around my ears and, soon after, hairline.

What a lovely speaker this Literary Agent, Carole Blake, was. She shared some of the 'tricks of the trade,' with us with such exactitude that I felt brilliant by simply jotting down notes on the words she was speaking. I couldn't find one pretension about thw woman; she simply loves what she does! She is what she does, in the truest sense. Her work seems to fill her spirit and lift those up around her. I was.

***

To make a long story short, I was elated to be dunked into the Pacific. The good news is, I was prepared: I had surveyed the waters, knew I was inerested in being a part of that boundless ocean of possibilities and, with a little help from some of those I am loved by, sank into the goodness that is the Unknown. In this case, I wound up swimming for another several minutes. I even stood up on Mark's shoulders-right before diving into the mini-waves created by the massive import & export ships transporting goods between Vancouver and Asia.

In another case-the case of finally getting my book the publisher it so well deserves-well, I have to say that thanks to Carole Blake and her peers I feel R-E-A-D-Y! I am prepared, thanks to them.

No dream is too big to swim with.

***

Want to know some of what was shared at the 2011 LONDON WRITER'S CONFERENCE?

Wait for the next Blog Entry, titled
"The Mentionables"
Coming Soon...

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Excuse Me!

2011-07-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

In a busy, busy world, it's easy to make assumptions. A few months ago I wrote (in a dismayed fashion) a comment about Starbucks after their employees disclosed some info to me regarding the contents of their decaf expresso.

Much to my amazement (and yes, pleasure) I discovered upon walking into Chapter's Bookstore, near Robson Square UBC campus, that they have had a renovation. Can someone say 'Google Alerts?' Well, perhaps they do have soemone checking up on what's exactly being said about their stores. Good for them!

Because, in this case, I walked in to find organic snack options & one of my all time favorites; their oat bar. It's healthy and it's only costs a dollar! Perfect for an in between teaching and taking classes break.

I enjoyed my writing session there last week and I suppose I'll be in there another time in the future.

Pretty good music selection, too...

Cheers from Vancouver! ;-)

*Click here to read what I originally wrote

Departing Words of Wisdom from my UBC writing teacher, Paul Belserene!

2011-07-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Once you read this, you'll be certain to consider joining Paul's class, if you consider taking a writing class at all. :)

We received the following words of wisdom from Paul via standard email, though these words are far from so.

Your Ongoing Homework Assignment:

1) PRECISION - write everything as if you were reading it

2) APPRECIATION - read everything as if you were writing it

3) ENGAGEMENT - Write everything as if you were living it

and (extra credit) - Live everything as if you were writing it

This Blog is now being uploaded to Technorati!

2011-07-06T17:13:00.000-07:00
58NK5YQ7S4DJ

The Truth of Abuse: How To Not Let It Rule You

2011-07-05T21:14:00.000-07:00
The Truth of Abuse: How To Not Let It Rule You

I will preface this read by offering a quote posted on a flyer taped up all over a remote, dusty, mining town, called Nevada City. The flyer was written by a dear friend of mine in light of the first annual ‘Souper Saturday’ in support of California’s women-of-abuse. “Social change occurs when deeply felt private experiences are given public legitimacy.” (Spoken by The Great Mahatma Gandhi)

Does one attract abuse into their lives? Does one ask for it, as some abusers would have the person on the receiving end believe? I don’t know. My logical mind says “NO!” of course not. While at the same time, I’m a believer of karma. I believe that we attract into our lives certain lessons to teach us a ‘brighter’ way, if you will.

I want to share a story with you about someone very close to me.
In the year 2002 a young woman had a dream. She wanted to leave behind all she had ever been shown was reality, in exchange for a new way, one she believed she was capable of creating. She wasn’t sure what that new way was, but she knew she wanted it. So, she kissed her Mother goodbye in the city of Miami, Florida, where they were living for a short time, and got onto a plane, headed for New York City.

Let it be known, she was from a small town on the Atlantic Ocean for 17 years of her life. This was a big, no—enormous—step. The next three years would create a whole new way for her, but not how she would have planned it. In New York City acting classes at a highly accredited school called Lee Strasberg awaited her, where New York University graduates were permitted to attend only after they completed all the other degree requirements, as a ‘final test.’ Anyway, this young woman had worked at a small Chinese restaurant in Miami all summer long, in the hopes of saving enough money to be able to fly to New York and pay for her first semester. Sweat would cover her back and seep through her tailored white shirt, each summer day, after walking the short distance of five blocks from the apartment she and her widowed mother resided in, to the restaurant nearby. With her plane ticket in hand, first semester paid for and four hundred dollars in her pocket, she was ready to start a new life. One no longer riddled with the pains of losing a brother and father at a young age, nor stained by the challenges that come from living in the ‘Dysfunctional Household Model,’ that so many of us know growing up.

She didn’t know anybody. Had no family or friends in New York. She had a friend of a friend of a friend’s place to stay at in Long Island City, for as long as 7 days. Long enough to find a place to call home, purchased with the money in her pocket. Her father had passed without leaving anything in the terms of finances. Her mother had been having severe health problems, and had lessened her workload because of it. Her mother, who loved her very much, had been sorry to see her go. And, when her daughter left, continued on with her own life.

Setting off for a new world, she was not deterred by any of these prior circumstances. She secured a room in an apartment owned by an elderly Puerto Rican couple, in the Chelsea area of the city near 8th avenue and 20th street who swore Jennifer Lopez, the then soon-to-be-rising-star, visited them in their living room for ice cream. They seemed nice enough. And, the acting classes were the perfect combination of everything an aspiring thespian could ask for. Work came in the form of being a hostess at a restaurant, where bartenders were called ‘Star Bartenders’ and both the inside and the outside of the establishment were
covered in only the richest of colors, materials, and designer brands.

Everything looked great on the surface, until one night when she was invited to go out with her fellow co-workers, and the owners of the restaurant. The other hostess at the restaurant, when out of earshot from the owners, explained to her the Godfather was more than just a movie.

She grew uncomfortable with the surroundings. Though the lounge was ascetically nice, she felt there was lacking an undercurrent of a real sense of humanity. She didn’t feel connected to the people she was talking to, in snippets of sentences, above the loud music, as she was accustomed to feeling when interacting with people from her small, hometown.

“I’m going to go home.”

One of the men around the table stood up, “I’m going, too. Where do you live?”

“20th and 8th Avenue.” She responded as she recognized him as someone she had been introduced to earlier that evening, a friend of the owners of the restaurant she worked at, in the heart of the city.

“No problem. I’m going right past there in order to get to my apartment. We’ll share a cab; we’ll drop you off first. That way you don’t have to pay with your hard earned money.” She recalls a smile spreading across his face so wide, it could win an opposing prize fighter over.

He seemed assured of himself, and his words were simple, without menace. She allowed herself to sit in the cab that had appeared from Bleecker Street on the left side of the road, “Okay, sure.” What could be the harm in sharing a cab? He was sitting in the front and gesturing for her to sit in the back.

That evening the seemingly harmless man went on to prompt the taxi driver not to listen to her request to let her out at the street where she lived, as they sped by 20th street, full force. It is uncertain whether the man held a one hundred dollar bill out, or a shotgun, but for whatever reason that cab driver did not listen to her plea to be let out. The next time the car stopped was in front of his place, another fifty blocks north. She was in shock by then. As the friend of her employer jumped out and opened the back door where she sat, he grabbed her arm firmly and hastily shut the cab door, with his other free hand.

Though this is not an article about prevention, but more so about cure, I’d like to share wisdom taken from this story, and many other stories heard from women around the world: Please do yourself a favor. Do not go out drinking with anyone who you have not known long enough to know them inside and out. Both their light side, and shadow self. We all have both, though we each have more of one, than the other. This precaution includes accepting a cab share with friends of friends. To the Mothers, Sisters, Aunts, and Nieces out there, make sure to communicate the importance of this simple message: “Do not question trust, but always trust to question—when risks of safety are at stake.“

Returning to this particular story I’m sharing, though. From the point of being pulled out of the car, for sake of sanity in that moment, she held onto the illusion that she had even an ounce of control. As she was dragged to his front door, she said “But I really don’t want to hang out any longer. I’m tired.” with the pleading thick in her voice.

She didn’t see the light of day for another twelve hours. She, terrified, was pulled into his home, where she was raped. It wasn’t until two years later that she could admit what happened to her after traveling from one State to another, in attempts of forgetting what happened. It wasn’t until three years later that she had it in her to let what happened to her go, so she could help others who had experienced the same, or worse. She had been pinned down against her will. She had not been punched, cut, or shot. She had cried, after her ‘No,’ ‘Please Stop,’ was continuously ignored.

What gave her the strength to step aside from the ego that was infuriated, shocked and disgusted that this had happened to her? An Oprah magazine article put out that year about women in Africa raped repetitively as a weapon of war. Her heart split open and spilled over, to reach all those around her from that day forward. She would go on to share her stories with friends, and family. Nine years later, after significant healing, her mother would go on to host a first annual event for women-of-abuse day in California, giving all proceeds to the local safe house. Because her mother held this function, mothers and grandmothers, from all over the community came forth to share their stories of being raped for the first time. And because of this, they received support, and love, for their wounds. For the first time.

Since then she has taken professional and creative writing courses in California and at the University of British Columbia, as a means to express the myriad of feelings and experiences she has lived since her experience. She has lived in Los Angeles, where she wrote synopses on scripts for the film industry and has written her first novel in Vancouver with a heroine within it, who leads, shaping positively powerful environmental, and social, change throughout the tale.

This dear friend of mine would go on to shine the light of her heart on the women she met in her Yoga, Healing and Empowerment classes in The States, and then in Canada, where she moved. From there, she met a young man who loved her for her, and treats her with nothing but love. Though it took her eight years to truly allow one to be close to her in that beautiful, intimate, sense, it was well worth the wait. She went back to visit New York, years later, for her career with her chin held high and safe in all her glory. She went on to travel to London for her blossoming career as a writer—her first trip abroad, where she trusted to travel alone, without the companionship of friends and families. She goes on to embrace spontaneity in her day-to-day life, while living within a bustling, progressive West Coast city lifestyle.

She teaches a variety of people in the most beautiful, prosperous parts of her community. She held a free series of classes in 2010 for women-in-transition for 6 months, called EmpowHer. This gave her practice in shaping her skills for the home she is to build for women to lift up and out of the oftentimes life-threatening affects of abuse. She has also begun spending time volunteering at a women’s clothing store, My Sister’s Closet, where all proceeds go to women-of-abuse.

How do I know this one story so well?

Because it is mine. And, now, it is time to share the practical steps I know, of shifting from survivor to thriver:

1) Forgive. Because if you don’t you’re letting that person get between you and your deserved happiness. If you forgive, you win.

2) Embrace that you feel something has been stolen from you. It has. And, it’s called a part of your Past. Now, you have the decision as to whether or not ‘they’ will be a ‘thief’ of the present and/or future.

3) Embrace the feeling of disconnect from your body as part of the moment’s reality. Now let it go, allow it to be the source of a magnificent desire to reconnect. Now, do so. Take a deep breath. Now, take another one, into the very depths of your body. Tissues, bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, organs. Sigh, “Ahh” as you exhale. Now inhale to match the length of that last exhalation, silently saying, “I love you.” That’s the best start on reconnecting one can begin with. Let an exhale out with a sense of completion and wholeness, mirroring that last inhalation you just took. If you didn’t, read this step again, give it a try. Experience of abuse or not.

4) Make it an experience by choosing to view it as so. The more we accept what happened, the more we can see it as a part of our truth, not the whole truth. The whole truth is we are, and always have been, all we could ever dream to be. One experience does not change this.

5) Reach out to other women and/or men who have been affected by sexual abuse. Reach out because you want to help.

6) Focus on the tools that act as solutions: empowerment; information; acceptance, forgiveness, kindness, care, love.

7) Surround yourself with people who see what happened to them as a blessing. Give a silent blessing of healing to those who still stew in anger, rather than grow with love.

8) Express yourself through art. Art requires one to see life from all perspectives, from all angles. It often allows one to see themselves through the eye of positive change, courageous acts, and simple, yet great truths.

9) Meditate. The word itself can seem intimidating, with all the ‘Masters of Meditation’ in the world these days. Meditation is simple. It’s a one pointed focus. Walking in nature, slowly, while listening to breath, can be a great start. Then, moving to sitting, while listening to breath. And, for those who have a busy mind that is slow to be quiet, try meditating by saying a mantra that brings peace to you. Mantras are said over and over. Meditation gives one their focus back, reconnects to courage and impresses upon oneself that they are worth stopping for, taking a break from the world’s busyness and worth ‘showing up’ for.

10) Evaluate your surroundings. Do you feel safe, secure, happy? If not, then let this temporary circumstance be of inspiration to embrace your positive personal power to create change on small and great levels, one breath at a time.

Remember, friends, abuse is oftentimes used as a tactic to suppress women. If a woman is scared, she is less likely to go out, to live her life fully. Are we going to let that happen, though? I didn’t think so.

“Social change occurs when deeply felt private experiences are given public legitimacy.” (Spoken by The Great Mahatma Gandhi)

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The Use of a Woman's Body:

2011-06-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

I teach Mom and Baby Yoga at a center focused around community on the North Shore of Vancouver, Canada. The sun came out today and reminded me to embrace the opportunity to receive. The sun gives us such a myriad of gifts, but that’s for a later blog entry. Today, I want to talk about the use of a woman’s body... You may have already guessed that by the title, though. Am I beating around the bush? Maybe. The use of a woman’s body… such a vast topic to discuss. I could go on forever, as you could, and anyone else. The topic of the beautiful, divine, female form is ageless and most definitely ever-intriguing for all.

So, I cannot begin to cover the great gamut of discussion centering around a woman’s body. However, I can talk about what it means to me. I enjoy teaching Mom’s & Baby’s Yoga because of the great inspiration it is to see the divine vessel babies are born from, interacting with it's offspring. Our bodies, as women, are the creator’s. The growers of life. And, when I see Mom and Baby, together, I am reminded of the amazing power, strength, and oftentimes grace, that is present upon the entering of a newborn into the world.

Seeing Mother tend to new life that came from her, thanks to the seed planted by the man, I see new possibilities abound. What will this woman give to her child’s many moments of growth and learning? What will the baby give to the mother, as a humble teacher? What will happen with these lessons? What lessons will be valued and embraced? Which ones will be left on it's own without any consideration?

I walked along the beach today. It’s called the seawall, a partition between sand and human, made of nothing but good ol’ cement. At a point along the path, it cuts off, prompting the walker to briefly separate from the sea breeze. Parting from the water is only brief. As I walked toward the water this time there was a community garden tended to with a meticulous eye from each neighbor sharing the gardens.

“Hi,” I spot a short, stout, elderly man, with a two inch thick headband across his head reading, ‘Bruno.’ I hadn’t seen him yet, until that very moment, now that I was only five feet from him. My gaze had been down, silently wondering what was called what.

“Hello.” He readily offers in exchange for my greeting.

“What’s the big plant called with leaves that look like floppy elephant ears?” I pointed to my left.

“Oh, that. That’s rhubarb, I think.” He looks at me blankly, seemingly inquisitive as to why I didn’t already know that.

“I’m relatively new here to Canada…. Well, I’ve lived here for 6 years, but I’ve done a lot of traveling while I’ve lived here, and I’m usually working when I’m here.” I explain.

“Well, welcome to Canada.”

“Thanks.” I find myself standing still. No longer continuing on to the last bed of food growing healthily, beyond Bruno’s. I’d come to realize what his name is a moment later as we shook hands.

“Your handshake is very strong.” I attempt to clue him in, in case he already wasn’t aware that I was bending my chest forward and done to lessen the pulling from my shoulder.

“Oh, I know.”

“And I thought I had a firm handshake.” I smile wide, half uncomfortable, half pleased by his enthusiasm to meet a new neighbor.

“Where did you get that great smile from?” Alas, he releases his grip.

“Oh, I don’t know…” I shrug my shoulders…”Maybe my Mom?”

“No, I don’t think so. That’s one of a kind. That’s a smile from your heart.”

“You’re probably right about that.”

Bruno and I went on to chat about vegetables, and fruits. We even talked about all the bumble bees around, and while we were on that topic, how the waves sent from wireless technology are said to be disrupting the health and therefore the work of our bumblebee. Without bumblebees, our agriculture is threatened as a whole. The little guys on the food chain are as significant as the ‘big guys.’

“I paint!”

“What do you paint?” I ask, as a smile spreads across this old, grandfatherly, man’s face.

“Well, I paint people. I have a studio nearby the garden here. I hire models every now and then…though I’m very selective because I already have very beautiful daughters and granddaughters… Would you consider allowing me to paint you? It pays well.”

Bruno and I went on to chat. As I walked away to go and teach, I was returned to my intention: to write about the use of a woman’s body, which—most often—comes from a place of deep appreciation and awe.

Most recently, I asked my Creative Self to think up a way that I could draw attention to a subject that I want people to consider: the effects from the radiation expelled by cellular and wifi technology. More simply, how I could visually show people the simple truth that we emit a field—usually invisible to the eye—around our bodies, as a byproduct of the electricity running through us. And, secondly, to show that electronics emit a field—similar to ours—around the device, as a byproduct of the electricity running through them. And, lastly, to propose the discussion of what this field does to our bodies.

Yes, Bruno and I even talked about this.

The answer to my question to my Creative Self was to take a picture of myself surrounded by electronics in very simple form: nude. By being nude, more attention will be drawn to the picture, naturally. People are very curious about the human body. Curiosity and being mesmerized, even, by the body, is completely normal. I’d say it is very, very healthy. As

I’m sure many will agree.

Seeing that we are all adults, my determination to find a way to communicate the aforementioned topics of how our fields are interacting with the fields of electronics, told me that everyone would be able to refocus their attention on the picture. At this point, I imagined people asking themselves what the possibilities may be…. You see, science has been showing all around the world that the electromagnetic fields around electronics are degenerating us on a cellular level.

When we sleep, we regenerate on a cellular level, waking up feeling renewed. The fact that many people are reporting the need for more sleep after spending the day on their electronic devices, proves to us that the studies showing that fields and radiation from cell phones and computers are draining us—literally, energetically and physically.

So, I consciously chose to use the exposure of my arms, legs, and the side of my buttock and side of my breast to draw attention to the poster that reads, “Question Life: Yes, Even Modern Life.” At the end of the day, I am more so a writer, though I believe that every piece of art should serve a purpose: to get the viewers to question the life around us. To question the way we have constructed our world….

We have gone through decades without questioning the use of a woman’s body for the sale of perfumes, clothing billboards, jewelry and purses. I received some pretty shocked messages at my choice to use my body to promote a cause I believe in. I also received appreciation and praise for the thought put into a cause greater than myself, and the inventiveness.
Perception varies from one person’s consciousness to another, of course! So, now worries there. The bottom line that is most important is that the ‘actor’ in each cause is happy with the action taken. Using my body as an activist feels good!

Hmm…. ‘Good.’ Perhaps that’s not strong enough. I feel Fantastic about it. And liberated.

If I could only tell you how many times billboards of a beautiful body have attracted my eye, and how often as an adolescent I would say, “I’ve got to have something that’s that brand,” and all because I had been sold on the beauty, class and sexiness portrayed by the woman. Thank goodness I have conscious choice now. A head on my shoulders that said, “That woman was paid to pose for that picture, to sell that product. That’s it.” Corporations can use women’s bodies to sell their cars, their washing machines… And, you know what? The woman’s body is so beautiful that it damn near usually always works. All is well, truly. As long as that woman posing for that picture is happy to be in that picture. As long as she believes in the product, and the reasons why she is doing it, it is okay. And, same goes for the man who poses for all the above campaigns, as women do.

And, finally, as long as the consumer is aware of the reason behind the psychological response they have when they rush to go and buy something. Just know what you’re doing it… Know why you must have that purse, that bikini, that perfume…

Remember to live authentically.

So, the use of a woman’s body…

What does this mean to you?

What stories, and feelings come up for you?

Share if you wish, please.

The Spark Of Life....

2011-06-09T10:44:00.000-07:00
I heard, that no matter what the size, laptops will begin to be called notebooks because of the impending danger created by people interpreting the word ‘laptop’ as something we need place in our laps… Studies are showing that ‘lap placers’ are lowering their sperm count & fertility rates in the women...hmm…

Let's see about that.

Fascinating research here

International EMF Alliance is also great, though I love the "Fascinating Research Here" link above the most. It puts pictures with the explanations that have a powerful impact.

Food for thought:

2011-06-02T13:13:00.000-07:00
The evolution of electricity is actually quite fascinating. Its one of our greatest pleasures while also being one of our greatest methods of defense. From the world wide web to taser guns we live and breathe electricity, literally. The electricity that runs through our bodies is now charging our cell phone batteries when we adventure far enough to enjoy a walk or a bicycle ride! The question is how does electricity from these devices interact with our bodies' electricity? That's what the Adventure Fiction, WAKING WITHIN A DREAM, entertains while inviting your imagination to play alongside the globe's greatest developing questions!!!

Stay tuned...

Paul Belserene, our University of British Columbia Writing Circle Leader, asked us to write about someone we've never met...

2011-06-01T12:12:00.000-07:00
Here's what I jotted down upon waking up today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Grandmother Louise,

I found your butterfly pin today. My mother, who now goes by Oma, says it is from Paris where I hear you were born. I always have wanted to know you. Dad spoke so highly of you. He said you were a real firecracker, kind and gentle all at once. It is because of your spirit, that I have dreamed about over the years, that large reservoirs of strength are available in wondrously large amounts, during the times I have faced supreme challenge.

Dad said you took walks everyday. Some would say it became the death of you but I know in truth your ending was victorious. You left this life exploring, seeking refuge in the callings of nature. On that crisp day, from what I heard, everone in town was wondering why you didn't do the usual rounds of gregarious 'hellos' and errands. Your head was the first part of you revealed at birth and the last of you that touched the icy, Montreal, patch of ground.

I am glad it was quick and painless. The most profound part of the story retold to me was that you were surrounded by the ethereal hue of nature's nuances at your last breath. Exactly what I am sure it is you savored most in that life and exactly why you had set foot out the door that day at 92. I admire you.

I hear you're one of my guardian angels, Grandmama Louise. I hope so, your fiery yet sweet truth is inspirational.

And, if it is so, I want you to know, your presence is like a gossamer stream of efferescent light casting a halo about moments of my life.

Thank You and with much love.

From one spirit to another;

Your Granddaughter.

<3

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University of British Columbia's Writing Circle Pondering....

2011-05-22T15:54:00.000-07:00
In

Good afternoon readers,

At UBC's Writing Circle with Paul Belserene we were asked to engage in another 'fun' off hours writing assignment. They each took a very short time to write because the assignments were so close to home.

Everyone had a difficult time with 'Least Important Lover.'

Some even looked offended by the statement.

But all, secretly, could not wait to take time to dish on their 'worst lovers.' Of course, as you see here, I do not believe such a thing exists. The 'worst' is often the 'best,' who we were most hurt by.

Anyway, 'It's no thing,' Life comes and goes, as romances do. The important part is the one I decided to write about here...well...he really did change my life.

I love romances where the person of our affection believes in us...

Thanks for believing, dear.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dear Most (Least) Important Lover,

I hope you don't know who you are for you are also the one who has changed me the most. You showed up, beaming chivalry and firm handshakes and left angry and sullen in the color of a car that is revealed to bring clarity. Your arms previously crossed across your chest at the dinner table where you ate nothing. I sometimes, looking back, don't believe I loved you.

Love is blind, and cupid stupid, for bringing us together. But, the real angels upon us reveal to me that you were everything I needed. My faith in life convinces me this must be so. If only it weren't for our old friend, Mr Ego....

But, you know what is said, "Befriend your enemy."

So, Ego, 'Thank you' for being concerned for me and the question if I will ever walk again. Through allowing myself to let go of your fears I have learned to run freely while touching down at the most opportune of times. During the times I now give myself for moments of healthy reflection and stillness, I have learned new facets of myself I had never dreamed were there...or even possible of knowing.

Had you not taken me up on my heated offer to be free of one another from that day forward I could have meekly stayed in the corner for the next century while you lived. Thank you for letting my fire burn bright without interrupting me these last several months without you. I now see One who adds fuel to it.

I have thought of you often; believed for a moment I even saw you here or there... At times I admit I dreamed about you...yes.

Now we let go...

"A Poem For You"

2011-05-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is
unlimited hope
new horizons
indefinable in time
a big question mark
while full of certainty

Tomorrow is
an eagles nest
brimming with powerful
life
free of fear
heightened interconnectivity
for all possibilities
to flourish

Tomorrow is
your decision
respecting that which will fly
knowing you must believe
first

Tomorrow is
mystical East Indian elephants
bearing weight on all you have
sung out from your heart of hearts
chanting

Tomorrow is
petals of yesterdays promise
crushed beneath the weight of love
the petals sinking into the depths of
the ground
with your yearning to give life to springs
of victorious stems
strong to the touch

Tomorrow is
uncontrollable
ever present
the future
not Now.

Author Madeline Standing
Copyright
All rights reserved
Contact gaiastanding@yahoo.com
for questions or reprinting permissions.
Thank You Mightily.

Looking around the Prague Opera House I found...

2011-04-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

www.linkedin.com/in/madelinestanding
www.facebook.com/madelinestanding

Looking around the Prague Opera House I found...

Red velvet ropes. Ornate gold emblazoned leaves over blue and white striped paint running alongside the box seats to my right. A beautiful pregnant woman in black like so many others pressing her way through the crowd with a special simple grace. She makes sure to not allow her growing baby's womb to make contact with anyone or anything. The scar on my leg peeking out at me as my olive dress comes up an inch as I sit down reminding me of the past. I appreciate the multi-toned scarf wrapped around my hips, matching the golden reflection of the interior decorating.

My first day out of the confines of a resort hotel where most everyone pretended not to speak English. Wait. But there is magic here. Most everyone is in black around me but a few brave women, myself included, are vibrant in our chosen dress. Magnificently so. If we are going to live this life let it be triumphantly, fully expressing our inner spirits.

La Boheme--that is the opera venue my family friend and I are here to see. A woman's voice suddenly booms over the loudspeaker system with a tone steeped in supreme elegance. She is proud to be under the employment of this House-I can tell.

It is so perfect that I sit here awaiting La Boheme, an Opera I have never seen, to play out its magic. Now the restaurant I dined in back in 2004 holds relevance. The walls erecting the dining hall in Los Angeles named nothing else but La Boheme were a replica of this authentic experience I live and breath now, April 24th 2011,as I sit in the smack middle of Prague.

Perhaps everything does happen in order. Life is mysterious and grand all at once.

I look up to contemplate this...or perhaps it just feels good to sit with this ageless wisdom that has been passed down to us, "Everything is happening in Divine Order, all is exactly as it should be." People all around me are looking about, observing their fellow theater-goers. Some with alertness, some with lazy, expectant eyes. Perhaps these ones have seen La Boheme before, or maybe they had hoped their shade of black would be a bit darker than the person's sitting next door.

I wonder if their inner world goes untouched. I hope not. It is a world unlike no other.

Well, the production is beginning.

I must go now, off to the world created by the vast ensemble of thespians situated on the stage before me...

(MS)

PS) To Read my favorite lines from the show see below...

"Love is a hearth where everything burns quickly. Man is the fuel and woman the poker."

"Skinny women are trouble."

"Long live the spenders."

"You came and my dreams dissolved.
I don't mind
you gave me hope."

"In you I find the dream
I want to last forever."

(a bit of a love story as you can tell)

Until next time...

Storms of past, present, future...

2011-04-16T16:34:00.000-07:00
If my life were depicted of a mélange of sounds it would be a reflection of The Truth: Past, Present, and Future…they are all one…

"If you saw me working at the cafe and didn't know me you wouldn't talk to me.”

“I've got you, baby girl. It’s okay...”

“Oprah even admits that she is a work in progress. If she is,I am."

“I am in love—platonically of course—with my literary agent. They are the grandest, most innovative, humblest, genius-inspiring group of people ever!”

***

Which one is the past, which one is the future, which one is from the present? And, which one is from way back in the past….?

Is it possible that the sounds from the past will make their way into the future?

Is it possible that the one projected to become a part of my future may also turn up in the present moment?

Or, that it, too, may become a thing of the past?

I am in love with life. That is now… that is this sweet moment. That is a reflection of all the positive thinking (and feeling) I have been practicing at the start of each day, for the last several years, as I wrap myself up in my blankets, above my sea blue sheets.

I really do like the agent I met in New York. I’ll be completely honest, I have not approached her to represent me yet, of course…because the man who spoke the day of presentation, The Art of Negotiation, at the Justice Institute over this Winter (GOODNESS IT FEELS LIKE SPRING TODAY) taught me well.

“Mahatma Gandhi…Nelson Mandela—they did their work away from the table before ever addressing those they needed something from.” His white grey hair shone in the streaming light the stage offered.

Ironically, he spoke of two of my heroes by introducing these two names into his presentation to the auditorium style theatre.

The lady in New York…at the Tools of Change Publishing Conference was brilliant. So natural. So approachable—though she initiated contact with me as I was sitting at a round shaped lunch table, the day after Valentine’s Day.

“It’s really hard to get published---unless you’re a celebrity, or something.” She immediately stares hard at the silver platter of rice delivered to me by the wait staff. Perhaps she is wondering why the exception of the extra course not listed on the menu has been delivered to me…

I don’t believe her. Or do I? Of course everything worthwhile takes time… And, yes, celebrities do believe that even time is worth putting up with if it means what one is aiming for will be ‘given’ to them. WAKING WITHIN A DREAM, my first Adventure Science Fiction is worthwhile… Perhaps the more worthwhile a project is, the more intentional our actions must be in order to give justice to it and to ourselves? Success is achieved through repetitive action—consistently believing we are capable of only the best. All opposition crumbles before those with the muscle to believe.

“You need to give the words justice, you know?” A reader of WAKING WITHIN A DREAM said to me recently from Nigeria on FB Chat. Sounds like they’re eager to hear which Publishing House will buy and present my work to the world.

The book positively influences, confuses, and ultimately intrigues people like you, and I. You may wonder how I, the writer of the work of Fiction, can be included in the last sentence. Sure, it came through me as I wrote it. Let’s be honest though—many things made are not understood entirely by the creator themselves. And they may never be.(For example: think parents.)

I have read WAKING WITHIN A DREAM seven—yes, seven—times. Each time I went, “Ah-hah, wow…okay…good, there was a method to my writing frenzy madness after all… Cool… Such and such character just said something that completely brings more light to such and such event two chapters ago... Man, readers are going to love this!”

Anyway, back to playing “Past, Present, Future.” Back to the day after Valentine’s Day…

Her hair looks like she’s been beachside, which I of course love. She tells me she’s from Los Angeles. And, I grew up by the beach, the Atlantic Ocean to be exact, in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Note to readers: West Virginia & Virginia are two different States. They’re adjacent to one another, in fact. West Virginia is known as ‘the grey hole.’ Rightfully so, my high school boyfriend, Lane Malbon went there for first year University. The place was swallowed by heavy hanging grey clouds the whole time I was there. All four days. I had driven there from Virginia Beach—a pretty long drive—with his father and his stepmother, Lynda. Lynda turned around and looked at me while I rode in the backseat.

“You clean up nice.”

I had worn my stretchy pants and a t-shirt as the sixteen year old I was, all the way there. On our bathroom break, I had changed into some earthy tones, a suede jacket, brushed my hair and put on some lipstick. I’m glad they liked me enough to let me ride with them to see their son, despite the fact that I hadn’t been ‘cleaned up,’ initially.

‘Is this how the whole world is…such importance placed on externals?’ the small town girl wondered within me. Virginia Beach, a beach town with a strong Navy officer settlement, is not exactly small, however, after living in Miami, Manhattan, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Cincinnati & Vancouver, half a million people has looked rather ‘intimate.’

She, the literary agent sitting across from me at the table, smiles warmly as we converse with the newcomer to the table. There is instantly a camaraderie between them. It seems we have lucked out: we have attracted people to our table we enjoy eating with. We share a table where the conversation is light enough, far from being invasive or business-oriented. We, thankfully, can digest our food with ease because of this. Fourteen hundred people ate around us at the Sheraton in midtown Manhattan during the writer’s and publisher’s conference. Only one got rice on a silver platter. Why?

“Because I asked.”

I look at her plate full of some vegetables and a bit of cheese. Just like mine, it is empty of gluten-filled pasta and breads. She’s up next to give a speech. I am happy to be sitting with them talking. We are talking simply. We are not so much talking about what we do, rather how our trips have been. We’re more focused on our experience at hand. How each of us is enjoying their trip to The Big Apple.

Until now…

“I am a lawyer and an agent from Los Angeles.”

Wow. This woman is laid back, down-to-earth and smart as all get out, all at once. Her eyes reach out to you in a calm, abiding-with-the-polite-rules-instilled-within-her, kind of a way.

I look up and realize it’s getting late—almost time for the next Keynote Speakers to present their thoughts to the crowds. A handsome man of Scottish Highlands descent arrives with three other men who look at me curiously. Perhaps I remind them more of their daughters who are shopping for shoes back home with their credit cards in the knowing that purchases can lean more towards splurging due to the card owner’s absence. It’s times like these I almost grateful for my father’s passing eleven years ago. I ‘came into myself’ when he passed. I learned to stand up, to work for what I want, and to try and bring more peace to my family and other’s. Considerate creations, happy storytelling and giddy daily adventures wherever I was become my new way of being.

Soon this woman, Dana Newman, will be on stage talking, rightfully shining her light and being recognized for it. I will be steadfastly jotting down notes with my vision in mind for my bright, promising future. We draw in within ourselves, and one by one say goodbye. Perhaps she feels the men’s aloofness mixed with a silent demand to be recognized, and it bothers her too? Whatever the case, the feeling at the table has most definitely changed. I give her the ‘Namaste’ hands gesture—palms lightly press together at the heart center, as a way to acknowledge the brilliant light within. My head nods as I do so. She sheds more warmth with her gaze and walks away. I am glad I know her name and can keep in touch.

Before I had sat down at the lunch table, I had asked three different chefs who were roaming the floors, checking over their creations spread out on the buffet table, if I may please have rice. Each one said yes, though they didn’t budge from where they were standing so I took the productive route of ensuring their ‘Yes, we can do that for you,’ meant just that. It turns out asking more than one person at a time works in one’s favor. My sisters and mother always rounded into invisible shells hoping to disappear when I’d go directly to the wait staff in restaurants asking for what I needed. In my mind, I was doing them a favor—saving them two walks—one to the table to hear what I wanted and one to go and get it. Whereas, with my proactive approach, they simply bring what is needed while returning the smile I initially gave them when requesting my additional glass of water, side condiment, or tea.

“Do you want some rice, too?” I had asked the Mrs. Newman who beside me at the table.

“Sure, that sounds great.”

I wave over the man who had helped me by bringing the rice, “Excuse me, Sir, may she have some rice, too? She is also gluten intolerant.”

“We made a special exception. If we bring it for her,” He looks over at the woman who I wish to express my feelings of appreciation toward, “we’ll have to do it for everyone.” He looks at me and smiles, “Hope you enjoy your meal,” and walks away.

The exception made has definitely left me feeling exceptional, though also a tad guilty. Why was it that I often get so much of what I want? I am so grateful, yet does getting what we always want potentially alienate us from others? I suppose it can, though in this case—when referring to my life—I’d say the solution is giving back. Volunteering at My Sister’s Closet in Yaletown, Vancouver, continues to offer me an enriched feeling of being evermore connected to my community. It’s only been a month since I’ve been there, though the constant opportunities given to me to help women enrich their self-esteem makes me feel evermore worthy of all the helping hands extended to me as a new-to-the-world writer.

The Public Reviews from wonderful contacts on Facebook, most from people I have never met, are indeed phenomenal gifts. The Social Media program at UBC Robson Square, Vancouver (or one at your local University) is one I would suggest to any and every artist, or free-thinking entrepreneur, wishing to enhance their presence. Most recently I have been asked to write a memoir on a Vancouver born entrepreneur. Entailing their life’s dynamic details, is yet another gift.

“Thank You for all of your continued support of my writing ventures.”

“Past, Present, Future?”

Can we bring the best of yesterday into today?

Can we bring our dreams of tomorrow into this moment?

Yes.

When can we do so?

Now.

Okay, then, "We now bring the best of all there is in this friendly world into this moment."

Thanks again…

Madeline

ps) for those of you on the healing path, and/or one of self-realization, the process of self-inquiry used above is a technique I discovered and used often in 2006 coined The Sedona Method. It helped and helps to remain steadfast to the ongoing path of inner evolution. It's difficult to be 'stuck' in any way when practicing this method. Also, for those interested in hypnotherapy, Holosync, a group based out of Washingtion State is life changing. In 2006 I tape recording affirmations that they put onto a cd with sounds of nature covering the affirmations so one meditates to the sounds, while the words are engrained in one's subconscious minds. And, if this stuff interests you, you are going to love the journey my characters undergo in WAKING WITHIN A DREAM, when it is out!

You know where to go to find out more - and if you do not yet-- here you go!

www.gaiastanding.com

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Branding Thy Self... Social Media Revolutions

2011-03-26T09:58:00.000-07:00
Rochelle Grayson,a wonderfully flambouyant, high-energy Social Media and Marketing Teacher at University of British Columbia has officially left her powerful charisma lingering around and within me. She gave a class Wednesday that highlighted the importance of branding our services. Most people think of shoes, rubber tires, and shiny lipsticks when branding. What if you have to brand yourself? In essence, this is exactly what the CEO's of music businesses worldwide, and movie production businesses do when 'selling a talent' to the world.

Luckily, or unluckily enough for them, someone else does it for them (the artist). Well, Wednesday night I soaked in the wisdom of Rochelle's, before traveling home to enjoy my company and by Friday a.m. I awoke with words streaming through my consciousness. Like a driver sees a billboard when driving 80 mph down a highway, I, too, heard and saw these words in my mind at 7:12am like lightning running across the sky.

"What am I about to read?" You may be wondering.

Don't worry, nothing to Sci-Fi, simply an adventure I had taken in my mind while sleeping, that brought the super human power to look at myself objectively. (Note: looking at oneself with non-feeling can be a tedious task.)

Anyway, in the world of branding, I guess you can say I have officially 'branded myself.' Hah! Take that Nike, Starbucks, Kleenex! (For the longest time as a child I had thought the name for facial tissues was actually Kleenex....cleverness, indeed)

(Madeline Standing is a transformed party-going illustrious type,

now out to save the world from itself with enviro-focused,

piquant, Fiction and its people with the help of Mantra

Yoga. Half-Canadian, and half-American, with roots in

France and Scotland, make for a doggedly-determined, passionate, Seeker

Of-Truth and Lover-of-Sustainable-Romanticism, kind of a gal.)

***

Why Sustainable Romanticism?

Romanticism is most commonly related to a time in art history when people began to realize how relevant and powerful the use of our imaginations can be. That said, the imagination from the 17th century well into the mid 1800's and onward into today's era has become an important reference point when perceiving and conceiving valuable art. When we look around today even the so-called reality TV shows are a byproduct of someone’s imagination. We are a culture largely based on entertainment. This usually means escaping from what is. If we’re talking entertainment, I am a lover of it’s every form. However, reading Paulo Coehlo (The Alchemist) and James Redfield’s purposeful fiction (Celestine Prophecy) ten years ago carved out a new perception in my mind of art’s ultimate potential.

So, Sustainable Romanticism, to me, means to always create with a purpose in mind. When I say purpose I mean one that positively contributes to the evolution of all people, and the health of the planet, in addition to any and all personal aspirations one has for ultimate success in whatever their chosen field(s).

Peace.

Database Software for the Protection of Our Global Women

2011-02-27T16:45:00.000-08:00
We’ve all finished sitting in our circle, and while the clock reads 8:30pm sharp on this Thursday evening in February it feels like it is much, much later. Yoga at the center has concluded as we all put our mats away. I walk back to the storage closet and students look at me with intent to connect as a sign of their gratitude for having led the class.

“I’m ready to go to sleep,” I tell one the student standing closest to me with the constant readiness to learn.

“It’s negative seventeen outside.”

“Negative seventeen?” I flounder in remaining as cool as it is outside, as that is where I need to go next... into the pleasantly busy city of Vancouver in order to make my way home. I decide in that moment that I will be taking a cab home.

“Well, the wind chill is at least; it's technically 0 degrees celcius…”

“It’s wicked--that’s what I call this weather—it feels like someone is playing a bad joke on us..”

“I know…it’s rare Vancouver gets this cold.”

“Burr…” I throw the last of the yoga props into the closet, “Well, see you soon…”

“See you next week!”

“Great, next week it is then.”

I have taught in communities all around Vancouver. I have taught the dancers, actors, and young professionals in Yaletown; the stay at home moms in North Vancouver; the strenuous working parents in Burnaby and the incredibly well heeled, receptive and intelligent West Vancouverites. A fellow by the name of Mahmood waits to say goodbye at the doorway.

“I’ll bring the music next week.”

“Awesome, thank you.” Even in the dim light I had adjusted for the class’ final pose of savasana I can see the light and happiness that he has something yet more to contribute to the class. He had his first class ever with our group of experienced yogis and yoginis only five or six weeks ago and he loves every moment of it. His wife skips to the gym while he enjoys some R&R in my class. He had approached me at the start of the class when I was on my way to pick out some cds offered by the center for teacher use. Often times we practice in silence which I find great, however he offered to bring some of his favorite music in from now on before class had started.

“Good stuff; you’ll be DJ then from now on.”

“Absolutely.”

Bye, Mahmood; thanks again.”

“Bye, Gaia; see you next week!”

I close the door behind me, put all my layers back on and phone a cabbie immediately. Ever since returning from NYC and having first hand experience with their air quality my lungs have been coughing up a storm. Earlier that day I had found myself shivering at random so I knew the best idea would be to pay for a cab rather than miss the next few days of writing and teaching and dreaming because the negative seventeen wind chill had lodged itself too deeply into my bones. I usually walk and take transit as do most Vancouverites—a large contributor to why our air is so much more invigorating and satisfy to have an ongoing respiratory relationship with.

“Pick me up right in front of the center, please.” I look out the floor to ceiling sliding glass doors to the water known as the Burrard Inlet with a sense of calm knowing I will be completely cozy as I am delivered from one door to the next. I so much as walk down the stairs and into the foyer when I hear my phone sound. The electronic recording is in motion…”Your cab has arrived. Please go outside to get your cab.” New York City does not offer the feature of ordering a cab I rediscovered during my recent trip there; I am very grateful to live in Vancouver. To each is own.

The cab is yellow as most all are, though it is a Prius, which I love. It’s clean though as I step in my mind is far from clear as the cab driver proceeds with small talk that I am sure on most days I would appreciate, though seeing that I am feeling under the weather I simply rest my head back on the seat, hoping he will notice in his rearview mirror I am keen on rest, peace, and quiet.

At the moment he asks where I am coming from, I open my eyes—if the ceaseless flow of talking is going to continue I may as well make the best of it, “I teach yoga and meditation at that center you just picked me up from.”

“Oh…Yoga….that sounds interesting.”

“Yep, well feel free to join us anytime, drop in rates are great and they’re a really warm, easily to get along with crowd.”

Five minutes later his mind appears to be on a new track as silence ensued after the previous chit chat, “Are you a vegetarian?”

“Yes.”

“Do you eat fish?”

“Not very often.”

“Why not?”

“There is so much pollution in the water these days it just doesn’t taste as good as it did ten years ago to me.”

“No…there’s no pollution in the water.”

‘Oh good; he doesn’t agree with me. Maybe that means the end of the conversation. I’ll just be quiet and let this one be…’ these are my thoughts verbatim.

The man’s dark eyes, much like my own in color, though steeped in a determination to push further penetrate the glass he uses to observe my reflection , “Why do you say that?”

‘Oh goodness…’ “You don’t have to believe me; but if you sailed around the world and went to the Pacific where the spinning water current--vortex so to speak--is...in the ocean.... Have you heard about this current in the Pacific?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then you know it is meant to contain the plastic. Well, if you picked up the Rolling Stone magazine I did about a year ago it had a story with a man who sailed the world who took pictures of what he found.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes; seagulls and fish found dead—scattered all over the world’s oceans. They were cut with one simple incision. It was along the belly. Syringes, lighters, small containers—all plastic—were found inside of them. It was a sad, but very fascinating picture. The concept of the Pacific Ocean's vortex being able to contain the waste was disproved after that.” I can see the main street of Broadway I live off of nearing as we finish the drive over the Granville Bridge, finally.

“Do you drink?”

“Do I drink…?” Maybe I heard him wrong; it seems to be a very random question.

“Yeah.” he confirms his curiosity.

I wind my knit sweater tighter to my lungs and heart in an effort to stop the shiver that just ran through me, “Um…not really. Yoga is more my drink; it does all the things heavy drinking as a teenager used to do for me.”

“Oh, that’s too bad; I drink every day. I love it.”

“Turn right here, please.”

“Here?” as he swerves to the right toward a car to make a quick turn. Thankfully the car moves faster than he is.

“Yes, thank you.” I can see the tree-lined street and even the stars now as the glitter and glam of the main

street fades out of my peripheral vision and we head straight onto the road.

His tone changes out of the blue, “I drink, work, drink, work, drink, work, drink, work. I hate my life.”

Ouch, all peace in that split second has been washed away in this horrid ‘h’ word used. I bite the bullet and move toward my positive path of thinking again as if he perhaps hadn’t completely meant what he just said, all the while eagerly looking for the next block and half that will have me arrive home safely, “I’m telling you what, yoga really helps.” Perhaps my friendly Virginia, neighborly talk I had been entertainingly impersonating to my yoga students that evening will put him at ease.

The car stops, “Thanks; yep, it’s right here.” I look over to my left. Though he is two buildings from my front door I am ready to call it a night, “This’ll be good, right here, thanks.” I dig through my purse, give him the funds, before saying, Thank you.”

“So, you teach yoga?” his quick clipped English rushes out as if looking for a way to continue the conversation longer.

“Yes,” I reach into my purse again, “Here’s my card, at the website you can find info about the community yoga class I teach; feel free to drop in anytime.”

He turns his neck as far as he can and for the first time he stares at me straight on. His eyes look feverishly hungry. Damn it; this guy…something just does not feel right about him. And I already handed my card to him—damn—perhaps optimism is not always the best route to take. Perhaps my twin sister was right when she said, “You always see the very best in people…and sometimes to the illusionary level.”

I better get out of here. “Well, thanks again, take care.” My hand presses against the door. Somehow the door feels heavier than normal as the man’s eyes stay locked on me. I hug my knit woven scarf and knee length wool sweater dress to me against my warm black yoga pants.

“Hey—“

I’m already half out of the car, but I look at him, “Yep?”

“There’s something else I like to do besides yoga.” His eyes now feast on what I do not know as I literally looked like my grandmother had dressed me that day.

At once I am struck by how I am both disgusted and utterly shocked that someone who is driving a cab—a place people go to safely arrive to and fro their destinations—has now extended the lewdest, most inappropriate invitation to me given that I do not know this person and have kindly put up with his chit chat and self-destructive and self-deprecating monologues . As I had walked to the apartment building I felt his eyes on me as I he paced the car to slowly track my gait. Walking up the stairs to my apartment I am in utter awe, a state of curiosity and heart palpating fear as I wonder how many women have to put up with this same thing at least a handful of times throughout a single lifetime.

I went to the kitchen and went about preparing a snack before I turned in for the evening while still churning the details of what had happened as an opportunity to look at the experience through a logical lens versus an emotional one. I took a break, walked to my bedroom that faces the quiet neighborhood street and noticed the blinds were still open from that morning. I walked over to close them and as I did so I noticed the car driving by again. I went back into the kitchen; it is true I had been physically unharmed, blessed be, yet I had the lingering feeling in my gut that I better phone the cab company and reiterate the night’s happenings. I calmly included every detail here to the company. Including the one that after seven minutes of being indoors, I had approached my blinds to fasten them close to one another and seen the car drive by again. The dispatcher who I thought was a man the whole time is obviously equally as appalled as I can hear notes being taken, “Okay, my name’s Samantha and I will let John the manager know tomorrow. What you just said is not right and he should not be driving a cab.”

“Okay; thank you.” I pause for a moment at the surprise that I was speaking to a woman the whole time; it was apparent her voice had become hardened by the assumed years of working at her profession, though thankfully she had not. “But, wait; Samantha, I am genuinely concerned he was only warming up with me and he may go and hurt someone if this isn’t taken care of as soon as possible.”

“Well, you’ll have to call the police. But you know they won’t do anything.”

“I know, I know…” it is true I knew this all too well from countless other stories. The police can’t do a thing unless the person actually physically harms another. “Well…thank you. And, I will definitely call tomorrow to talk to the manager.”

***

The next day John answered and said he was appalled as well. That he didn’t want anyone to be working for the company that acted in such a manner. He was concerned to the extent that he confided he wouldn’t be able to approach him about it for a couple of days as the last thing he wanted is to have the driver conclude I am the reason behind him losing his position at the company. They said he sounded like he was drunk himself and that was doubly impactful on their decision.

The catch? They would not give me his name; the only thing they’d say is “He was car #4 on Thursday night the 24th of February.” The interesting part? Because I had taken my sweet time walking from the center to the main road where the cab was waiting the driver in impatience had retrieved my number from the dispatcher and had phoned me when I was walking to the cab that night. I have his number. The much needed ending to this story? All is well. I know that I am safe and sound. The action that came to my mind? Now, that, my friends, is exactly why I am writing this....

That evening after hanging up the telephone I realized how blessed we are to have technology, though another part of me sees the beauty and much needed simplicity that arrives the moment we disconnect from our modern world technological advances long enough to look our loved ones in their eyes with the praise, respect and honor they deserve…. Long enough to smell the air around us; is it clean? If not, is there anything we can do about it? One thing that needs to stop is the fear that rides through the air on an evening as a woman walks down the street by herself. As we know there are many kinds of fear. I am speaking not only of the fear that arises when one wonders if they are safe or not. But, worse yet, the fear that occurs when one must question if should something unspeakable happen to them, will they have the support they so deserve?

In a previous blog I had written about sitting at a women’s liberation group meeting when the topic of rape arose. I was astounded to hear that women in the USA may be able to see the person who is convicted put behind bars for up to twenty five years; in Canada on the other hand I was told that the punishment is usually a mere 6 months. Men are not bad. Women are not bad. People are not bad. What drives some people to doing these atrocious acts, then? That is a long and varied answer though we all know that most all criminals face a past of neglect, indifference to their unfortunate circumstances and, yes, life-threatening abuse themselves.

All this said, such obscene, horrendous acts that go as far as rape (oftentimes the murder of one’s inner life) and murder (the end of how one has known life in their physical skin) had warning signs after warning signs. As mentioned earlier, police do not have the right to do anything to an individual who threatens or insinuates lewd or malicious actions. Here’s my ‘Ah-Hah’ thought; “Readers; what if we use technology as a tool to create software that acts as a database to track these minor offenses? What if we, as a global community take matters into our own hands?

It is totally understandable why the police cannot give a week in the cell to someone who insinuates they’d like to inflict lewd or malicious acts to another… or is it? I’m going to have to say yes for the time being as there is so much ‘hearsay’ in the world. So, yes their reluctance to the instillation of a conscience into the minds of people pondering unspeakable acts by giving a taste of what life will be like if they do follow through on their thoughts is not yet a normality in the justice system. We as sisters can and must still come together, though. All I need is a chat with a lawyer about the legalities of this plan and a software developer.

The software is actually quite simple—though, that said, even simplicity has many details to its name. We need an anonymous form that comes up on the screen allowing a woman to share the place of her minor offense; the both the name of the person assaulted and the name of the offender—to be kept on file unable to be viewed by public. The exact details stated in a calm, concise, coherent manner are also shared on the form. I am guessing the best way to go about this is that no one receives emails about the latest applicant’s story. Applicant seems like a strange word to use here, though in many ways it is an almost ironic truth as this is what these women are doing; they are applying for justice.

The best possible outcome that can happen is someone goes to this website, fills out the form, and a day, week, or months later receives a single email stating that the offender’s name has been reported a second time to the database. Though still nothing can be done at this point as we are still at the stages of working with minor offenses, these same two women can and with all their determination will be witnesses if a third, fifth, or seventh report is filled out stating that this same person finally ‘went all the way’ and decided to take his threats to a new level—the level of major harm to another.

Many ladies reading this can understand when I tell you that last Thursday evening I had a difficult time going to sleep; I wondered if that same man was going to inflict his dissatisfactions and desperations out on another in attempts to bridle his feelings of power and position in this world. From what I see this technology I am proposing to you and your friends (perhaps you know a great lawyer who would love to chat about possible points we need to consider in order to move forward with the creation of this database?) can only help to build momentum and relevance to too many cases that have sat dormant because of ‘insufficient evidence.’ Ladies and gentleman who wish to assist in the creation of this to not only report on ‘petty offenses’ but to be the support system to the person who is affected catastrophically by the moment the perpetrator does decide to take their discomfit with life all the way, please step forth.

This is not just another technological device to feed our desires moment to moment; this is something that can positively affect the lives of innumerable women. By women taking a moment to fill out a mini report online at Help a Sister (the name I have thus far for the software:) we have the opportunity to become the very back bone of the support system your global sisters need when encountering unspeakable acts. The usage of the expression, ‘insufficient evidence’ will be cut in half on the spot. I can imagine legalities will need 100% confidentiality, thus the software will not be a social network; it is a database. Your name and form are entered and not looked at again unless another enters the same offender’s name.

In some cases where one does not have a name of an offender to go by, but has a reference such as the cab company name or the number of the cab itself, these details can also come up on the database as matches. At the point of finding a match either the administration of the database (myself & team) or the police if law says we must have a Police Headquarter’s receive any and all matches due to privacy of sharing will have substantial evidence. What I am suggesting is not much different from the Neighborhood Watch committees that have been set up for decades now: we are simply a concerned group of citizens coming together with information in order to assure rightful action is taken when unlawful actions are inflicted on another. Why not just let the local precinct keep record of offenses? Because this does not create an avenue for the women to come together. No one will do that for us; we've got to do that for ourselves.

My Reintegration House for women that will open when all the details are in place is a haven for women to ‘re-integrate’ into the world after experiencing abuse. Women will then have a step toward wholing and healing that they did not before. I volunteered to teach yoga at a transition home in the greater Vancouver area a year and a half ago. I was shocked when I learned that after a woman is abused by her husband or a stranger she goes to this transition house where the government pays for them to heal for two weeks maximum and then they’re given $675.00 per month to get back on their feet.

These women are incredibly shaken, are experienced post traumatic stress disorder as doctors have named it and are oftentimes new mothers from other countries, young and dependent on other’s help while they nurse the baby and get back on their feet. Or, some women have had their inner selves torn apart into almost unrecognizable pieces yet that’s all they’re given, two weeks maximum and as much money as I spend in slightly over a month on food. The Reintegration House will offer them a place to redeem their dignity, self love and self esteem.

Upon arriving at The House they will be given attractive clothes donated by the fortunate yoga participants and myself; organic meals everyday; yoga in the morning; meditation every night; a comfortable bed; cooking lessons; gardening lessons; learning office skills in marketing and reception; self defense classes and if they participate in the program for six months they are able to join the month long Teacher Training I will be holding with my company. They will receive all of this free of charge. In order to ‘Re-integrate’ they will be immersed in a safe and loving community atmosphere where no one knows the details of what they have gone through. They are spoken to as beloved equals with care.

They will be doing cleaning of the space, and all the aforementioned duties where they learn sufficient skills to live a wholesome, hearty life full of dignity once again. They will be able to walk with their chins held high again. The ones who decide to take the free yoga teacher training will go once weekly while doing so to put in practice teaching hours at the local homeless shelters. This community I am creating is a beautiful synergy of coexistence where we look at the whole of society with inclusiveness. I am sure that the yoga studio will be the cleanest, most well maintained and looked after over the whole city with all the newly reignited love sparking from the hearts of the warrior goddesses to be returning to their most beautiful, pure selves.

I bow to the opportunity to be able to serve my community in this way. I bow to the Great Creator who aligned me with this divine purpose. As closure, I write to you my latest quote written a couple days after the event that inspired all of this. “There’s no such thing as playing on the safe side of the fence; you’ve got to get on top of the fence to get a real clear picture of the murmurs of sight and sound on the horizon and then make the changes called for according to your highest vision. Stand by your vision and the fence will soon fall down.”

Visit www.mantrayogacanada.com to read what people are saying about yoga classes & free EmpowHer classes & life exploration sessions taking place right now… Want to make a difference in the world? Join the vision—email me any thoughts you have mantrayogacanada@gmail.com .

(It may take one to three days to return replies via comments here or messages as I am nursing myself back to health after finally surrendering to the shivers and congestion moving through my body at this time in chilly February 2011...)

Thank You for your enthusiasm for & trust in the progress of both my literary and philanthropic ventures.

Madeline

Intentions of The Vast Type:

2011-02-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

Where to begin, where to begin… it was said in this book I read by Baltasar Gracián that in order for one to be considered worldly one must never tell another what their intentions are. I reflect on that statement from time to time. At first I thought it was a bit evil, and far removed from the straight forward approach I like to start all relationships with. Then, I thought about it yet more. Actually, on the other end of the scale to not tell another one’s intentions is a way to honor the ever changing nature of life—after all why tell someone one thing when it could—and always will—change shortly after. Then the internal debate usually dissipates as any true yogi has been taught to allow it to do… this is, after all, the essence of nonattachment. At times I have been able to let go of the debate by comforting myself with the fact that this man was from the 17th century; after all, what all could he really know that would be relative to today, right?

I hope you don’t believe that last one—true knowledge is wisdom and wisdom never fades no matter what year it is. So, as I looked around the room of the Tools of Change Publishing Conference filled with publishers, techies, agents and people wanting to sell things and ideas to all of the above I noticed a look of perplexity; they weren’t sure what to tell in the face of what their intentions are. After all, we are only at the precipice of discovering what the world of technology offers, and it is the world of technology that is changing the face of publishing. Therefore, what I heard spoken by many of the speakers were more words of comfort, inspiration and the beginnings of ideas that may bring solace and comfort once again to the minds of many who wish for simplicity’s blessing. Simplicity is comforting. Simplicity is reliable.

We do not live in a world of simplicity anymore, though, ladies and gentleman. We live in a world where anything is possible. What more could one ask for than to have the whole world at their fingertips (or at least the illusion thereof) with every key stroke, ever ‘send’ button appearing on our computer screens? We are incredibly blessed for this fortuitous happenstance; that is for sure. Think of a child dreaming of cotton candy all day long, and finally the whole world opens up when the circus fare candy distributor walks away for a moment; now this child can have all the candy they want. Get my point? We’ve been given a sea of possibilities; we have been given a second life to jump into and explore in. For how long computers have existed? We don’t really know; we know when their fascinating possibilities were made public, though.

Though many of us love the endless possibilities of the internet and it’s generosity of new beginnings it has bestowed on us, it can almost feel daunting. The elusive ‘it’ in this sentence means the world of opportunistic chances handed to us, and most usually, freely, by genius’ such as the ones who created Facebook itself, LinkedIn, and all the others. (I finally was given a chance to watch the movie—The Social Network—on my plane ride from New York City. Fantastic!) I went to Tools of Change Publishing Conference 2011 New York City for the sake of being around the idea I have come to love so much—and yes, having my books published is only an idea until the day I actually have the bliss of meeting face to face with the publishing house of WAKING WITHIN A DREAM.

I had no idea what the conference was going to be like; all I understood was that I’d be listening to publishers and agents talk about what the industry is going through….the future of e-books one of the headlines read. I decided I’d dress for the occasion; I put on tweed slacks and high heels, the white shirt and all. I even wore panty hose. I was jet lagged as all get out. When I arrived to the Sheraton on 7th Avenue and 53rd street, five minutes before Margaret Atwood began her humoristic talk about what’s happening in the world of publishing and what to do to adapt to all the changes, Metropolitan East, as they call it, had reached maximum capacity. I was directed to what was coined the Over Flow room. About thirty other ‘just in time’ attendees sat in the room. We had the chance to watch most of it though the sound short circuited twice while doing so.

I had found a seat beside a woman with short red hair and a pleasant face. She was wearing a suit and had flat soled boots on. It’s strange; figuring out what to put on was the most challenging part of attending my first writing related conference, above all other concerns one may have. I knew what I was there for; I had the right to be there as I have one novel completed and another in the works with ideas of the third. I consider myself a sincere writer as I spend four to five days at it per week for three to four or sometimes five hours per day.

Yet, something told me I was going to look different from most other people—I have been bitten by the ambitious bug that brings clarity to what my dreams are at a very young age. Yes, I consider 27 to be young, especially when practicing yoga makes one look a minimum of five years younger. I usually wear loose flowing tops and close to the skin tights on my legs with flat bottomed thigh high boots, a beanie (aka to Canadians a toque) and a scarf thrown around my neck. But I knew I couldn’t treat this as any other day in Vancouver by showing up in my yoga clothes—at least not the first time I ever came face to face with my peers. (By the time I arrived to the afternoon sessions it was a whole different story, though; my heels had become so painful to wear even a second longer that I changed back into my Vancouver favorites: flat bottomed thigh high boots, tight pants and a cozy sweater.

Margaret Atwood says something in her speech that makes me—that makes one person out of the entire room—laugh in low pitched chest fluttering hysterics. She spoke of her first novels written in the 60’s and how her first book signing was in a department store—Macy’s maybe—and how whoever had the power to decide where she’d be sitting to do the signing made the decision for her to be in the men’s sock and underwear section of the store. She, humbly, recalled how the men ran in the opposite direction as she, when they saw her and what she was selling. She made the comment, “It’s been suggested to me recently, that, uh, maybe writers should go the way as rock bands and make their primary money out of putting on shows and selling t-shirts.”

She goes on to say, “I will ask you the following question; how many writers would you pay—I mean, more than once—to see them, uh, take off most their clothes paint themselves gold and parade around the stage-with a big egg?” (Didn’t understand the last three words, but maybe I misunderstood them) The crowd laughs at her even tone delivering the question, “How many?” she asks again. It would not be a pretty sight.” Whereas I had been laughing at the hilarity of her words, I now cringed as the laughter that had started in me, helplessly continued, despite her last comment insinuation that writers are some of the most unattractive people to look at. The laughter finally aborted as I cringed and the air stiffened around me. The seasoned with life woman sitting beside me looked at me, starting at the high heels, her eyes continuing up to the loose fitting trousers around my legs and up to the highly buttoned shirt covering my thin frame. Thankfully, she then turned forward again to give her whole attention back to Margaret Atwood on the projection screen as the writer continued being broadcasted live to us.

What did that look say? I don’t know as I am not a mind reader—at least not when I am blogging in this moment about a fellow attendee—but I do know how it felt. Whether the thought was saying, ‘I bet she’d love to take up Margaret’s marketing idea,’ or not, is unknown. Thankfully, though the enrichment of some people’s inner life is threatened by how attractive they are on the outside, this is not relevant to my case. From about five years old to sixteen I dreamed about what it would be like to be beautiful. I was very thin—and to make matters more challenging at the scrutinizing time of being an adolescent, I had spots all over my skin.

“It’s eczema,” the doctors said.

The white flaky spots provided much anguish for me not only emotionally, but physically. I was in constant pain as I would lie on the bed in the evenings before going to sleep and my mother would apply ointment on me prescribed by the doctor. My skin burned, probably because, though the ointment did help alleviate the symptoms, it was made of lab made chemicals, and, besides that, it did not get down to the root of the problem. Three skin layers appeared to be missing on the inside of my knees and elbows as soft pinks and whites were exposed.

Back to the conference, though; before Margaret Atwood signed off from her opening talk she shared a story about a man who made his own bed in the shelters of success; he first put free copies of his book on the internet (2 million) then sold a number of books before having his deal given to him with the publishing house. Atwood notes that this is the reverse of traditional routes to arrive at being crowned a published author, before adding to her presentation, “What if I just want to write? Am I doomed?” (Note: her dramatic viewpoint is used systematically for the wide appeal of humor, for which she receives many well-deserved laughs.)

The Power Point presentation now reads, “Whatever the publishing and publicizing tools are many Authors still face shared challenges:

-How do I pay for writing time?

-How do I get published?

-How to get the book to the ideal reader?

-Will I have enough money to buy my cheese sandwiches?

-Do I have to become an alcoholic?

Laughter erupts at the last question. Her ending commentary that makes reading all the above worth it is, “I used to feel I was deficient because I wasn’t one, but, uh, that era has passed…”

Do I believe that many writers have all the above challenges? You better bet I do. However, after four years of living off my wage of teaching Yoga part-time so I could write the other half of my time I stopped asking how. I did what Dr Joe Dispenza suggested in his follow up to “What The Bleep Do We Know,” called “Evolve Your Brain,” I started to see what it was that I want. In the last year, I did what he enlightened is most effective, “I asked myself how do I f-e-e-l now that I am a well known writer, author of WAKING WITHIN A DREAM, and full of creativity, love for self, and love from others.” If you have not seen this DVD called “Evolve Your Brain” it is well worth the view. Science has proven that we are ‘feeling creatures,’ motivated by feelings, and the best way to arrive where we want to be is to start to reprogram ourselves emotionally.

In the afternoon it was the hour long break we had that granted me the ability to change my clothes. So, as I comfortably sat in the Metropolitan East, listening to the keynote speakers, I took note of all the people walking in and out of the enormous room. I found it to be stupefying that not one staff member from the hotel was holding at least one door open as a means to put an end to the banging of the heavy metal doors each and every time someone entered and departed. Finally, I decided I’d get up to walk over to the most frequented door; I would push against it lightly each time it was shutting so it closed quietly.

Within four minutes I had an assistant—of course he was only my assistant after he determined that I was not being paid to hold the door open.

“Are they paying you to do this?” He was joking, of course. He, by the way, is a man named David Simmer from Simmer Designs—a very tall man, 6’5 to be exact, with some of the warmest, kindest eyes I have ever seen. Later he would joke that he could pick me up with one arm, and I did not challenge him when he initiated the demonstration at the yoga studio’s lobby.

“No—they’re not paying me.” Thank goodness someone in the audience has a sense of humor.

A tanned Australian gentleman on stage from Lonely Planet talked about how a conference was held by his employers before he could be hired—in order to discuss his credentials—he was so good spirited and downright hilarious. I am glad I was holding the door; otherwise half or more of his talk would have been shut away in a place where all sound goes when it has been overwhelmed by another. In the next fifteen minutes a quarter of the audience would be departing from their posts of being active listeners; their pens and papers for note taking were stored away in their purses and man bags, and they walked with their eyes eagerly reaching for the door.

“Thank you,” a woman with medium length curly hair extends to me.

“No problem,” I whisper, while half looking at her due to my sincere interest in hearing what the people on the stage were talking about, regardless if others were or not.

“No, thank you.”

“Yes, no problem.” I look over my shoulder at the attractive, warm spirited woman who still holds onto the other end of the door and stares at me intently to ensure her message has been delivered.

“No, really—t-h-a-n-k y-o-u.”

Okay, perhaps she has caught on that I was not giving myself enough credit again, so, I better look at her with more exactness this time, “You are very welcome.”

She smiles and walks away.

Finally, I have connected with her in a way that left her feeling good. And, because of that, I felt good. I felt returned to a sense of being in the middle of a warm ocean, with light flickering in every direction—the feeling that usually comes over me when I am towards the end of guiding a room of yoga practitioners. I was grateful for her insistence to express her surprise that someone had taken the time to make a small change that positively affected us all, as a group. David stood next to me, hands crossed over his chest, looking over every so often to support my cause. And, finally, the night came to a close.

Well, the first part of it, anyway. I came back, largely in part because I was egged on by my peers to attend the social part of the evening. To me, the whole day was a social function; after all I have been living in Canada for almost five years now and we are trained well to talk to people as “whos” and not “whats.” I walked into the large rectangular shaped room adjoining the dining area just in time to miss someone spilling a tray of wine all over the hideously patterned carpets that only large hotel chains would consider to be decorative.

During my time there I met two women entrepreneurs who were super savvy in concocting ways for all the players in the publishing game to interact with one another more efficiently while becoming more acquainted with the reader’s preferences. Before I left for the evening I made sure to introduce the two women for everyone’s highest good. Being at the conference was an honor—despite the décor and the curious looks from some of the attendees. I could see it on their faces—was I someone’s wife there to chaperone my affectionate other’s actions; or perhaps I had been pleaded with to attend…

One thing is for certain, I was there by my own free will. Writing—though it is a serious business—must be the most magical part of most anyone’s life. Imagine if no one wrote down their dearest thoughts; imagine, worse yet, if no one shared them. Imagine a world where we relied only on the mystique of people’s appearances and never stopped to inquire what the world around us is trying to tell us. It is obvious the enormous worlds of Writing and Publishing are encountering, and in some cases even seducing, new realities. Some people are ready for change; some people are not. But, what’s new?

*For more news on the Manhattan trip & a writer’s entrance into the publishing world join the blog at www.gaiastandingwrites.gaiastanding.com . The website will give you some fun videos (with great music) and a short blurb on the two books to be out on shelves… www.gaiastanding.com

*Want to hear Author Margaret Atwood’s talk & other’s? No problem: here you go

http://www.toccon.com/toc2011/public/schedule/proceedings

ps) crime rate has increased 44% in Central Park in the last year. A day before I heard this news report during my US trip I learned that Manila is 300 percent over the 'suggested' pollution rate. The numbers make one thing evident; we are all living purposefully if we continue to focus on living in a cleaner and nicer world...

Madeline Standing: Adventure Science Fiction writer creatively confronting the globe's greatest environmental concerns...

www.gaiastanding.com to learn more, read a blurb on the book from one of your global peers, and a line about the book

Justice In The Eyes Of One Woman by Madeline Standing

2011-02-01T12:58:00.000-08:00
Bold, daring, courageous; that's how I feel as I write this blog as I do not know if you will understand what I say, but I know it is worth talking about. 'It' is eternity; a lifetime of worldwide cultural habits exploited on billboards, buses and computer screen ads. So, forgive me; this blog has more to do than with one thought, though the idea stays true: it is not time for women to be equal; we already are, we always have been. It is time for us to live these words in every moment, within our minds and through our actions.

Some of these facts will bring a heaviness to your heart as it has mine; but know that all problems, now matter how solid or impermeable they may seem, are impermanent in and of themselves.

Here's a little truth for you, from my heart to yours...

It’s Sunday morning, a brand new month, a brand new year ending in my favorite combination that two numbers can offer: 11. I look for the green Prius to take me to a remote area in Burnaby, British Columbia where I will teach a handsome couple in their forties. I have taught the woman within the romantic partnership for three and half years. She has one of the most mischievously warm smiles I have ever known while also being one of the most intelligible people I've encountered. Her partner has the combination of wit and a charm that I both appreciate and admire each time I have the blessing of guiding this beautiful couple through class.

The Prius is a sea green color and spotless inside. The gentleman looks thoughtful as I take a seat. He's first to speak outside of the general greeting of hello; "I was just listening to this radio show on women in Jerusalem."

"Really, what did it say?"

"Well, the women are not allowed to wear the holy cloth on their heads when they go to the praying wall; men only."

"Hmm.. Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know; it’s difficult to say."

"Do you think it’s because that culture believes men are closer to God and that's why the women are not allowed to wear the holy cloth?"

He runs his the inside of his palm under his chest, forward, "Could be, could be."

He appears to be pleasantly surprised at my willingness to search for the truth that in this case is so easy to spot through a pile of facts so easy to permeate with the skill of real listening; I mean, what else could it be? He also seems concerned in the face of admitting the observation I made may be true. "I just don't know," I heard him say in a low voice.

"You know people make such a riot about parts of the world expressing their avid belief in gender inequality...we in North America hear that and we become upset. However, there is a large part within myself that suspects the underlying belief that inequality still runs rampant in the minds of North Americans."

It’s time to turn onto the main road that will soon bring us to the Zen of the yoga space. I think it's because of this that a comment or personal opinion is not offered. Or perhaps I have over stepped boundaries.

"I wonder why God is still called He in so many places."

"Yep, its true." I can tell my yoga participant is being hyper considerate now as there is no evidence that he is in agreeance with what I speak however he generously listens.

"Everyone knows God is not a gender; then isn't it time to change the way we perceive and speak of God?"

"That I agree with; no he--I mean, God is not a gender."

Perhaps he was about to say, 'I agree; He is not a man.'

We both laugh at this, light hearted. Thank goodness for the practice of yoga class; such equanimity it brings: freedom from clinging to one idea and one idea only.

"Really though; the only reason God is called 'He' is because women were in the kitchen and the bedroom making sweet things that will eventually come out of the oven: women were illiterate. So, women were not the ones writing the texts, the men were..."

Hey readers: did you know that when yoga first started women were not allowed on the mat for the longest time and for the most ridiculous reason...that's right because 'she' was a woman. Wouldn’t want her to become too enlightened...

Case study two:

Its Tuesday night, January 2011. I am at a meeting for women survivors of abuse--any and all categories it shows up in. I just finished my interview that ended with the question, "Were you born a women?" Strangest question by far I've ever been asked. Got to love it.

Twenty women are sitting in a room. All the windows are closed. Two women have announced they're sick but just had to come. Great. I wrap my scarf around my

face to keep my breath to myself and theirs to themselves; I smile with my eyes as a do so, an apology mixed with the righteousness that I deserve to be healthy.

A white woman and a Chinese woman lead the group in discussion.

"There are three reasons men are powerful. Their race; their class and thirdly, because they're men."

The upper lips of the women in the room become stiffened in anger, their eyes narrow, their arms squeeze their hurting hearts even more than before.

Wwwwhhhaaatt... Have I stepped onto another planet? Are we in a 'women's liberation' group yet the best shot they've got to granting women something that should already be known to them is by creating a sense of anger within them?

"Um, excuse me; I have a question." I'm the new girl and I cannot help but ask, "I'm not sure I heard exactly what you just said... You just said that." I draw in a deep breath as merely repeating what she says is disheartening while it stokes the fires of passion within me all at once. "You said that men are powerful because of race, class and...because they're men?"

"Yes."

"Because they're men?"

"Yes."

"I'm not sure I understand what that means."

"Well, men are really powerful."

"Yes. People are powerful. Women are every bit as powerful as men. I know so."

She looks at me both sympathetically and impatiently as if I've over looked a major point," That depends on a lot of things."

I'm thoughtfully yet steadfast- in-my-truth quiet; of course the likelihood and capability of someone being powerful depends on many things; everything except their gender, that is.

She goes on, seemingly proud of filling in the blanks for me, "it depends on your position in this life; what were you born with, etc." Now she looks at me, my attire and my modest Longchamp bag that I bring my laptop around in every day since July. Do I realize I have received blessings?

There's no time to call her out on her judgment or its inappropriate nature so I answer in a calm, unaffected tone dismissing the importance she's put on the words she's used in her short sightedness, "I understand what you're saying; I have worked my ass off since I was fifteen. I continue to do so."

She draws attention to some truth; I'm white and that brings inherent blessings not bestowed to all others in this country.

It is in this moment that every inclination to resist her statements is silenced. I drop out of my weighing, justifying mind and into the silence of the room that the other nineteen women hold, their eyes glued to me. I sit still, not only outwardly but inwardly more so than anything else. Did this woman really need to hear my life story? The challenges I've faced thus far, not to mention the ones I invite with fervor into my life today? No. We all know that the act of informing someone of a reality can be more energy than it is worth. So I waited for anyone else in the room to share their heart's truth.

"Does anyone else agree with her?"

"I do" a beautiful half Asian, half Italian women beside me, "I for one believe that we are equally as powerful to our opposite sex, however I do believe women thrust this sense of inequality amongst themselves to the point that it becomes very real--until it becomes their reality."

I went home that evening with a rekindled spark of the knowing of how amazing, how capable we are as women. How we define ourselves is everything. Choosing to do so is with the ultimate love that underlines all of life grants us the power to stand upright with tall spines and true connection to the navel point that when one has a strong zeal for life draws in against the wall of their abdomen with a sense of divine connection; this is the same spot on us, brothers and sisters alike, where we were connected to the pulsating life force in the umbilical cord attached to our mothers.

I wrote to the children I will have one day, in the book used for this purpose only, on another angle of the topic brought up at the women's share. It read...

“Dear Kids, tonight I heard people talking about what ‘class’ they’re from and class being a deciding factor in their success and ability to make it in this world. Though some use this word as means of communicating what possessions they’ve grown up with, acquired along the way, or how many vacations they’ve taken abroad—I want you to know that the word class is dated. Actually, the truth is I believe it’s never had a place in our society no matter what era one is from. Ones worth, value, advantage and prestige is based on what positive attributes they carry within themselves and how they wish to leave a footprint in this world.

If we work for the higher good of all, all good comes our way. What I’ve realized, my wonderful children to be is that in order to keep the flow of goodness moving toward us we must let go of our grasp on all we want in full faith it is coming...”

I recently imagined what it would be like if I could communicate to my children all I’ve gone through, the struggles, and triumphs, victories and challenges. I feel this journal to them is one answer to this desire to translate this. It will help them along their way to feel close to my journey… if nothing else they will feel that much closer to me.

Speaking of mothers, Katherine Hepburn's mother was in the suffragists group; this is the group of women in the US who worked tirelessly for the purpose of having the right to vote while they were still alive, and for this right to subsequently be passed onto their children and grandchildren. Teddy Roosevelt had the women kicked, thrown down onto the sidewalk, handcuffed and thrown into jail for the night.

Why does it matter to me that God is called 'He' if I believe so much in the truth that the genders are equal in their brilliance, honor, beauty and worldly capabilities?

Why sweat the details?

Because it’s all in the details. It’s in the details that one person is hired and not the other; that one restaurant or theatre is chosen over the other, that one desires to be close to the lover they've chosen and not the one in the past.

For all you fellow fact lovers such as I, here is one, my loves: the subconscious mind is regarded the world over as the Super Brain. Why? Because our lives are largely operated off of the unexplainable, the illogical, the feelings we get, or do not. Our subconscious mind would tell us, if we asked, that it does not need facts and figures; it already has simplicity. The details in life make more of an impression on our subconscious minds then we are often aware.

Now, we can be: when we call God 'He' we subconsciously hear, "it is likely men are closer to God than women."

If you will not consider calling God, 'God' in every instance, rather than saying "He" or "She" please consider the following:

Next time you call your credit card company and they ask you to "Spell your name, please." Say, sure, G as in Grace, J as in Joy (or Justice), P as in Peace, C as in Courage, D as in dignity, M as in Miracle...etc, versus the all too often stated, "G as in Gordon, J as in James, P as in Paul, C as in Charlie"

What is our subconscious, the all time operator of our conscious, saying when we mindlessly recite our letter associations like this?

What is being disregarded?

Is the divine spark within you, ladies, being honored?

Is it okay to see yourself, acknowledge yourself, your beauty, your brilliance, your desirability and supreme ability in all circumstances as much as you do within the man you love?

Ladies and Gentlemen, let's admit it, everyone has both aspects within them...masculinity, femininity...

What can today, never mind the world for now, look like if you (we) choose to live in both as equally as we do the other?

Would there be more you in me, and me in you?

More peace, harmony and love?

Some will say maybe; some will say they know so.

It's all in the details...

Useful Comments on Note:

•
Asa Brixton Zitron wrote:

•

namaste - just going with the flow and happens that we are flowing to empowHer - its a short video on the awesome book "The Goddess Shift" and thought it may be helpful towards your efforts on woman's group :) http://video.foxnews.com/v/4181547/the-goddess-shift/?playlist_id=87937

•

•

•Madeline Standing wrote

Hi 'elle : ) I am happy to say the EmpowHer 6 months of offering free classes to women went wonderfully. I know there is a lot of Good in the format I put together. Both fortunately & unfortunately sitting in these groups for the 6 weeks ...that one is asked to in order to know how to co-run a transition home helps a tremendous amount. (that's the group I referred to in JUSTICE IN THE EYES OF ONE WOMAN.)

I have that need of knowing what the transition homes are telling women of abuse when they go to them for help as the Reintegration Home I am opening later this year will be the step after the transition home. It's research. Some of the women's perspective of what women's empowerment means is obviously (as I mentioned in the FB NOTE I wrote) disheartening. Yes, anger has its place, however to move from a place of anger is a step below moving from a place of peaceful courage. Love to you all, Gaia Madeline.

Note: the following is a history lesson for us all from the net: T Roosevelt did come around…but here’s how women eventually received the vote after over 40 years of fighting. Also, one more note before that: in the women’s group class one woman had encountered sexual abuse in her lifetime. She brought it to my attention that in the USA a man receives up to 25 years in prison when found guilty for rape. In Canada the usual punishment is 6 months… Some interesting facts…

Create a most beautiful, splendid day, ladies & gentlemen, and remember we cannot change how others think, but we can change how we think of ourselves and how we react. The question if we are equal is a non-issue. We as women have always been equal; may we all always act in such a way in full faith of this beautiful, undeniable truth.

The beginning of the fight for women suffrage is usually traced to the "Declaration of Sentiments" produced at the first woman's rights convention in Seneca Falls, N. Y. in 1848. Four years later, at the Woman's Rights Convention in Syracuse in 1852, Susan B. Anthony joined the fight, arguing that "the right women needed above every other...was the right of suffrage."

During debates on the Reconstruction Amendments which extended the vote to ex-slaves (through the 15th Amendment), suffragists pushed hard for "universal suffrage," but they never had a chance.

In 1872, a suffragists brought a series of court challenges designed to test whether voting was a "privilege" of "U. S. citizenship" now belonging to women by virtue of the recently adopted 14th Amendment. One such challenge grew out of a criminal prosecution of Susan B. Anthony for illegally voting in the 1872 election. The first case to make its way to the Supreme Court, however, was Minor vs Happersett (1875). In Minor, a unanimous Court rejected the argument that either the privileges and immunities clause or the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment extended the vote to women. Following Minor, suffragists turned their attention from the courts to the states and to

Congress.

In 1878, a constitutional amendment was proposed that provided "The right of citizens to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." This same amendment would be introduced in every session of Congress for the next 41 years.

In July 1890, the Territory of Wyoming, which allowed women to vote, was admitted as a state. Wyoming became the first state with women suffrage. By 1900, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho joined Wyoming in allowing women to vote.

In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive (Bull Moose) Party became the first national political party to have a plank supporting women suffrage. The tide was beginning to turn.

In May, 1919, the necessary two-thirds vote in favor of the women suffrage amendment was finally mustered in Congress, and the proposed amendment was sent to the states for ratification. By July

1920, with a number of primarily southern states adamantly opposed to the amendment, it all came down to Tennessee. It appeared that the amendment might fail by one vote in the Tennessee house, but twenty-four-year-old Harry Burns surprised observers by casting the deciding vote for ratification. At the time of his vote, Burns had in his pocket a letter he had received from his mother urging him, "Don't forget to be a good boy" and "vote for suffrage." Women had finally won the vote.

Hidden Ingredients Found in Starbucks Coffee on my way to my UBC social media course.... you want to know what you're drinking!

2011-01-17T13:54:00.001-08:00
Before I even get started, if you enjoy this: here's more of the WHOLE DEAL: www.gaiastanding.com

Okay, so, look I attended my first evening at UBC's SOCIAL MEDIA COURSE with Kate Trgovac last evening. It was amazing. To say the least. I love when the classroom is full and the level of desire to learning is beaming through the roof! There were about thirty people in that room and a long list of people waiting to get into it.

I had some time before class to utilize skillfully (notice wasting time is not in my vocabulary for many reasons). I wanted a tea, or should I say more accurately I was yearning for one to be exact. Everywhere I looked on the Vancouver streets were Starbucks; granted, I was at it's core where more of this corporatacracy, as John Perkins author of The Confessions of an Economic Hitman calls it, runs rampant.

I wanted something unique, something different to my taste buds than the sugar and chemically-created flavours Starbucks puts in their coffees. But, there was nothing very close and I had a class to catch. So, I decided not to be 'teacentric' (kind of like ethnocentric) and headed for their doors.

Upon arriving a woman with the look of being hell bent on receiving her caffeine asap looked at me with beady eyes,

"Are you next?"

Granted she had her right to be antsy as I was looking up at the board seeing if they've magically become more organic over the last year since the last time I had to go into one. "No, no, you go first."

Part of being a good person is allowing other people to attain their cravings as soon as possible. Thou shall not stand in one's way of their addictions. Once the woman was finished I had an idea of what looked like it had potential. "What are your Tazo Tea Lattes?"

"A full leaf Tazo Tea Latte bag and steamed milk. You take the teabag out when you want to."

"Oh...okay. Hmm...well, you know how about I get a single shot of decaf expresso mixed with your soy milk; it's organic, right?"

"Yes. it is." The woman with nice dark skin and eyes looked back at me with an expression immersed in the practice of patience. I liked her.

"Okay, you know, that's what I'll do."

The barista had overheard some of my questions and revealed his listening in, "You're a vegetarian, arent' you?"

"Yes; but I don't have a problem with eating animals. It's the way that they're eaten in the last several years."

He doesn't say anything at this point. Both he and the woman on the till look at me as if they want me to continue. I usually don't push what I've come to learn through some great documentaries (The Corporation; Food Inc and the one on Monsanto the dreadful corporation putting the emphasis on making fruits and veggies double their normal size, all the while drenched in chemicals, all in thier proclaimed need for 'food security).

"I mean that so many people eat animals as part of their meal two to three times a day when the body likely only needs a small serving of it once a day. Granted tofu, beans, dairy, certain amazingly tasty grains can give us our protein, too. It's the industrial farming that really gets me; cows standing up to their knees in eachother's poop, in a warehouse. They never see the sunlight, breath fresh air."

"Yeah, and did you know that they are supposed to inject them with stuff to numb the pain when they kill them but often times they just don't have the time to do so each and every time because they're such an increased need for them because of McDonalds and all those companies and all those people eating so much meat...more than most of us need like you said."

"Hmm... No, I've never heard that before." I extended my five dollar bill to pay for my tea.

"Here, I only charged you for a single shot." the cashierist whispers with a smile.

"Thank you."

I scoot along toward the barista who had also chimed into the conversation. His belly extends so far toward the edge of the counter that he must make alot of effort to reach his arms fully forward toward the coffee grinder, "Okay you're not going to like this but the expresso is NOT organic and we're out of decaf expresso."

"Really? Okay, wait...what if we do organic coffee roast and only put a shot of the decaf coffee into it; I'm really not good at handling caffeine, even if it's decaf."

"Okay. But I want you to know that the way Starbucks decaffeinates their coffee with methyl chloride. It's a chemical."

"Right." A quote comes to my mind that I had read slightly over a year ago while researching for the second book I now focus in on, "Do you know what food is, 'Food is sunlight condensed into matter,' all that other stuff made in labs--the flavours, the colors put into packaged food, it's not food. Our bodies have no idea what to do with it."

I watch him step away from the counter, even his bellly no longer presses against it anymore, "I like that quote."

This is a young man with much intelligence, readers. In fact as he acknowledges the quote in resonance with him his eyes even sparkle a bit.

"So...do you have a shot of regular coffee that's organic, then?"

"Sure. It'll be fourteen--I mean four minutes."

"Thanks." I look at my phone, "And by the way, I'm going to look up that methyl chloride stuff. Google will probably tell me exactly what's up with it."

"Yeah, you can even look on your phone right now."

"That's true." I decide that disengaging from the interaction would appear insincere with lack of priorities, so I instead hang out while he makes it.

After leaving I google it as I wait for Social Media class to begin.

Methyl Chloride (Chloromethane) ... Acute (short-term) exposure to high concentrations of methyl chloride in humans has caused severe neurological effects. ...

www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/methylch.html

Oh goodness, people...please, oh please love yourself and justice enough to question a business who would allow this sort of garbage in their food; it's either ignorance or indifference. Neither one are favorable. I don't care how many times I see 'Natural' on their posters, I'm not listening anymore. I'm moving on to the mom & pop shops opened by local families with a conscience; I want to live a long, fruitful life, free of deceiving gimmicks on the food I choose to put in this body I have come to care for unconditionally so.

I hope you will do so, too.

Want to support this journey? You got it! Simply click to join this blog with your Facebook account (top right) or with your email account (directly below the FB Badge).

Madeline's Adventure Science Fiction: a world of imagination creatively confronting the globe's greatest environmental issues.

If you can imagine cutting edge writing with hints of Margaret Atwood's futurism, Kurt Vonnegut's unmatchability, and Paulo Coehlo's spiritualism these books may be for you... The first is to be out on shelves in a few more heartbeats...

Thanks!

www.gaiastanding.com

Beyond Just Money: Your Dreams!

2011-01-11T10:27:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning, immediately taking a look out at the sky through the crack of my blinds. There was purple, as I love, though only a bit. This wasn’t the best part about waking up this morning though; there was something more there in that moment. I was dreaming about seeing an old boyfriend who grew up in the home town I had, back in the States. We were running through this enchanted forest, there were boats for us to jump in and run off with, and cabins packed with our closest friends we shared back in the day.

I woke up as I was having the thought, “Life is so sweet,” within the dream, and thus in my first waking moment this was the first thought I had in my day! Perhaps you too have had a thought in your dream, and have woken up in that moment too, to have that thought be your first thought of the day. Surely this blessing is one you are grateful for when it happens! In my hours of not writing I’ve been finding myself thinking a lot about the relationships I’ve had in my past of a romantic nature.

My first sort of ‘serious’ relationship was when I was seventeen . I say serious because my mother had left Virginia Beach to attain a new corporate job. Her training was in Texas. I had decided I was going to live with my boyfriend at the time and his mother. That went on for about a week or two before my mother heard wind of it, and decided I needed to go to Florida where she had rented a house, to wait for her in until she completed her training. My boyfriend of course was just beside himself, upset, torn, and saddened by my departure, as every other seventeen year old would be.

One day while on the phone with him he told me he had given my number to his godfather who lived part time in Fort Lauderdale. He didn’t want me to be ‘alone,’ and loved the idea of me hanging out with his family friend until I could have the chance to pull away from my mother for good in order to move back to Virginia to be with my beloved boyfriend. Little did I know his godfather had in mind for me what is in mind for many Middle Eastern teenagers (and pre-teens); shacking up with someone many times her age. I of course do not mean how the Middle Eastern women are treated as glamour is not part of it. Nor do I mean to such an extent…or do I? We’ll explore that later perhaps. If you’re unfamiliar with what these women go through please watch this short movie clip made by a successful North American production company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRkc6BoDdKM

I was invited to lunch with this man Hugh, who my boyfriend at the time thought a lot of, in a roundabout way… In his defense he had no idea this man who was there since the day he was born meant anything more for our lunch besides food, and perhaps a Corona. That’s right, I grew up in Virginia and alcohol was a big part of my ‘growing up.’ Fortunately at 21 I put an end to the booze and all else. Back to being 17, though; lunch was at a place called the Elbow Room. Think Jimmy Buffet concert after party when imagining the crowd. Nevertheless, I was raised to be a polite, gracious and thankful young woman. So, I sat, or rather stood at the bar with this man who was the godfather of the boy I was sure I’d spend the rest of my days with.

I believe I had something of the neighborhood of a Pina Colada and a Caesar Salad with shrimp. I must say it was very good to my American taste buds. At that time of my life I had not seen another country, never mind tasted much else in the category of specialty food outside of Italian (pizza) and Asian (Chinese takeout) on the night my mother worked ten to fourteen hour days affording us to live in our nice beachside home. It’s amazing how our priorities change over the years; I buy all organic now regardless of the fact that it means I may not be able to go shopping for new clothes as often as I’d like to when I was a teenager!

Back to sweet beginnings in mornings of the year 2011 and the days of learning about the male mind at seventeen years of age, though. So, upon nibbling at my last crouton, Hugh looks at me and asks, “I know you probably want to go back home, and your mom probably wants you home soon, but I’m looking at buying a personal jet and it would be really cool if you came with me. It’s only a twenty minute drive from here. I can drop you back off at home afterward, no problem.”

“Sure. That’s sounds cool.” Yep, the typical response from a seventeen year old from Virginia Beach who is still miraculously under the impression that this person, my then boyfriend’s godfather actually wants to play friendly mentor and show me around Florida so I’m not so ‘all alone.’ It cracks me up as I look back on it now; the naiveté!

“Way cool! I’m so excited you’re going with me! My Tahoe’s parked in the back, are you ready?!”

Both giving my pina colada and salad a once over, the answer was complete, “Yes, sure, let’s go! This is going to be fun!”

Twenty minutes later as promised we showed up at a barren asphalt runway geared up with jet planes parked neatly between the finely lain lines. Unlike the environment I was in, I had no concept of staying in between the lines; I had no idea what was so called ‘right,’ and what might appear to be seeming a tad ‘off’ in the moment. That’s okay, keep reading, don’t worry; this is not going to turn into a Freddie Kuger, Scary Movie, or even the aforementioned Osama-like movie. Please! He’s from sweet ‘ol Virginia for Christ’s sake; he has to be a reputable gentleman, right?!? Hmm…

Okay, so we climb aboard compliments of our host who I don’t honestly remember too well, because one pinacolada was and still is a lot of alcohol seeing that I’m built like my petite Parisian grandmother! What I do remember is at this point, the host allows us to ‘feel out the jet’ ‘see how it rubs off on us,’ in his words. So, I look around, amazed, because, hey, I’ve never been on a personal jet before. It’s really nice, it smells brand new, and oh! look Hugh has found small bottles of liquor, complimentary to those in a fix trying to make a decision whether or not to put a bit of dough down to buy the jet! Thoughtful fellas!

“So, uh, Madeline, do you want to buy this thing or what!?!”

“Uh, yeah, but when I’m like rich or famous, or something! Hah!”

Hugh remains in his seat, his hands grasping the sides of his seat as he stares, for the first time, directly, with a piercing fierceness, “Do you want all this? What if you and your mom and sisters could get in it and fly to France whenever you want, and then zip off to Italy a couple hours later and then be back the next day?! Wouldn’t that be nice?!”

“Hmm….you’re joking right?” Pardon my blatant shock, readers, remember I’m seventeen at this point and have absolutely no experience in turning down millionaires with arresting stares trying to convince me to marry him for his money.

“Not at all, baby! This can all be yours! If you want it!”

“Hugh, I’m dating your godson…”

“Oh, honey, good ol’ John Wesley; he’ll get over it!”

“Uh, no, I don’t think he would. I think he’d be really pissed off. Like exceptionally pissed off.”

Please note: ‘like’ was like my favorite word when I was fifteen to seventeen. Thank goodness for romantic though stupid decisions like running off to Lee Strasberg acting school in New York City at the age of eighteen without knowing a single soul minus my photographer boyfriend! When my then boyfriend’s godfather sobered up the next day I received an apology phone call. Thankfully, he hadn’t felt like that was enough, so upon making my decision to move to the city and my mass email sent to all contacts inquiring if they knew of anyone looking to share an apartment in Manhattan I received a favorable reply.

“Dear Madeline, I have a cousin by the name of Sally living just outside the city in Long Island City; it’s only a couple of stops from the last stop in the direct city, exactly. You are welcome to stay there for two weeks with her and her boyfriend, if you wish. It’s the least I can do after you putting up with me and my shenanigans. Even though you and John Wesley aren’t dating anymore, I am sure it would make him happy to know you have a safe place to stay.”

Between living in New York City, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, the Midwest, and Nelson, British Columbia I would have a couple more proposals formulated from the depths of the male mind itself… Granted, they were more decent proposals. They were boyfriends I dated. One didn’t have a chance as he was only doing it to try and control the situation; he had revealed some extremely unfavorable traits such as a sharp tongue, and wanted to control me from leaving all together. Sounds like a good idea, right? Not! (another favorite from high school:) Hmm…she wants to leave…I think I’ll propose. I guess it works for some out there in the Midwest of the USA.

The other person and I lived in Los Angeles; we dated for almost a whole sweet year. It seems, from all the evidence I’ve gathered, that he proposed for a similar yet very different reason; he wanted control not over life’s vast situations, but instead over me, my little self and I. It’s true I am small in size, however, that and the fact that I am a woman does not mean ‘I’ll go with anything’ for the sake of ‘keeping everyone happy,’ like a lot of my sisters down in Virginia. My recent trip in this southern region left me both amazed and slightly put off by just how much women are socialized to go out of their way, no matter if it’s to their expense or not.

Perhaps that’s why I’m writing this though. I may have just called myself out twice; yes, it’s true: I believe women plus me, myself, and I need to continue to raise the bar when it comes to what we say yes to. On the other hand, I also believe women need to continue to raise their voice when it comes to what they’re saying no to. Yesterday I taught teenage girls from the age of 13 to 15. When I requested they make a boisterous ‘hah!’ sound one recoiled as if I asked her to stick her tongue out in her parent’s face. I knew I must persist in my request. And, as I did, the louder she grew. And, when we were finished, she lit up. I asked, “How do you all feel?”

“Calm! Happy!”

There you go; sounds like proof to me: actively speaking out for our belief as women, men and yes, even children can create an all giving calm serenity within us. Pretty cool… Cool…so 1990’s, eh? Hmm…what else is outdated? Well, I can’t speak for others, however, so I’ll return to a recent experience of mine. That old boyfriend who proposed to me, with his eye on his love for control, recently contacted me. I haven’t seen him since 2006, however, he had a new proposal. Though flattering it was merely an interesting twist of his other proposals.

The email read, “Let’s go to Italy and look for an old castle to renovate together.”

When the answer came back, “No, I’m really busy in my life with everything,” the next offer came, “Let’s go to Panama; on me.”

“I am flattered for the invite, however I am very busy here with my life. Besides the only way I’d go is if we were friends, and I know you’re not capable of keeping the boundaries strong.”

The proposal was officially finished. The conversation centered around how we shared such a beautiful relationship, for him, was not. That’s okay. Ladies reading this: never, ever, EVER give up your dreams for a proposal no matter if it’s to the moon and back, or close to it. Each one of us is blessed with brains, a great smile, and a dream. Even if you don’t know what your dream is, keep sitting or walking quietly to follow your breath in and out while allowing the mind to be empty of all other thoughts. The newest thought of brilliance will enter your mind. We are equally as capable of creating new thoughts as we are repeating the old.

I know you believe this…so I’m not even going to try and convince you further… But…one last word on this; how did your other newly, never formulated thoughts appear in your mind before? YOU! The good news is, we are NOT our minds. After all, if we were our minds, who and what is observing them? By simply becoming aware that we are NOT our thoughts, we are then ever more capable of observing them. By observing them we are being led to the new golden gateway of giving the mind a rest, and thus allowing new ones to flood the gateways.

A thought similar to the most powerful one in the last paragraph is in my first book KISS THE WIND: adventure science fiction. It’s a mixture of Margaret Atwood’s futurism, Kurt Vonnegut’s humor and imagination and Paulo Coehlo’s spiritualism. While I get back to perusing over it one last (seventh) time before submitting to the agent, I want you to enjoy c-r-e-a-t-i-n-g your day to every extent that you are capable. Of course, we are given a premade order every day; there are some things, moment to moment, that we cannot change. However, we can change certain things about these unchangeables…

If you enjoyed this, please take a moment to support my journey in writing; it is the most important thing to me in my life. It is as high on my priority as my teaching of union between mind and body, meditation and self empowerment is…

Wishing you balance, bliss and bright blessings in 2011 ongoing, always, all ways.

Madeline

Ps) it is because I have said no to the proposals that didn’t have 100% of what I need in order to say yes that I have been putting a correct signal out to the Universe of what it is I DO WANT! Therefore, the right proposal is coming my way…when the time is right; I am certain! …that’s right, even though I am a driven woman with equal focus on my career does not mean I do not have the romantic notion of uniting with another to take many journeys inside and out with one another throughout our lives… I have surrendered to it before; you can bet I will again though it will be even more special than ever before.

Defining our Discoveries

2010-12-18T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here in Big Sur, California where I arrived after twenty hours of traveling, the waves pull me in like never before. Nature's other face, fog, had me held up in my hometown of Vancouver, Canada's airport for ten hours of idle time. I admit, though, I was far from complacent as usual; the mind journeying set in immediately upon clearing customs. We all have so many options for entertainment today. I chose the good old fashioned type; talking with people over edibles while sharing juicy, heart revealing stories.

In fact, I don't believe there was more than ten seconds of silence between my neighbor and I on the airplane ride (finally!) to San Fran. Truths were revealed, and complicated fabrications of old perceptions worked out into a coherent pattern between my new friend and I. "Ahh!" I offered up, "I feel like I just got out of a therapy session!" Okay, truth be told, I've never actually been to a therapy session, however the thirty something year old male beside me was (and I bet still is) one of the best listeners I've ever encountered.

In my Life Exploration classes I lead as part of EmpowHer, we are asked to simply hear what eachother has to say. This may be easy for some readers, but actually, the challenge for many is that, even when the person speaking finishes, the listener is only entitled to one word, "Thank you." The results? Pure beauty. Lately I've been listening not only to others from the deepest part of my ability to be present, but I've also been listening to my inner voice with a newfound sense of availability and responsibility to absorb my initial visions when considering any and all areas of my life.

For instance, I knew it was time to create my vision for my book's cover, regardless of the fact that the Publishing House in agreeance and enthusiasm to print my book, may say, "Love it, but we've got a whole new vision for it!" That's what we do as writers, and as human beings; put our best efforts out there, knowing that they are almost never definitive. Why? Well, we all are becoming smart enough to know the answer by now, "Everything is constantly chsnging!!!" Every seeming cornerstone of our lives gets moved aside for yet the next most brilliant invention, and justly so. Nevertheless, these facts do not deter me, as I hope and pray they do not you, from giving our 'all' at the start, middle and end of each and every one of our creations.

May we all continue to define ourselves by the efforts we put into the journeys we embark on, rather than the parking spots we believe we should wind up in.

The book cover above is the most current definition of my best efforts in the world of book cover creations...

One story's end is always a new beginning awaiting

2010-12-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

Last night after teaching a class on the North Shore of Vancouver a student came up to me. They shared they had thought of me when listening to an author named Lawrence Hill share their humble beginnings. The writer said he had wished to take an extra curricular activity after school and in order to be permitted to do so by his father, he was required to put into writing why that class was so important to him. In fact, from that day forward, as my yoga student shared, Lawrence had to write a letter every time he asked something of his father. This is how he developed his eloquent way of expressing himself.

After hearing this story, and talking to an old friend from my childhood on Facebook, for the first time in almost fifteen years, I was inspired to rewrite my writer's bio for Pen American Organization. This group works to give a voice to all people worldwide through creative expression by protecting their right to write. The co-founder, Liu Xiaobo from China, is serving an 11-year sentence for speaking his mind. He is the recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

Here is my story...

"As a young child my father was very sick. In order to see a smile on his face I would create acting and singing skits to cheer my dad up at the dinner table along with my twin sister. When I wrote stories and read them to him I felt an even greater connectedness with him. When I gave stories I had written to him for him to read in my absence I knew the power of the offering. I knew my father liked to spend a lot of time in quiet so this was my way of getting through to him nevertheless. To know I could connect with him in this way was very comforting."

My father was excused from the daily struggle of trying to stay alive when he suffered his second heart attack at my 16 years of age. From there I pursued modeling and acting in Miami and Manhattan at Lee Strasberg. Upon hearing news of the death of a great friend and witnessing crime in NYC all within one month, I, consequently, began to peer deeper into myself to question what I needed to heal.

Healing involved seeing new lands, traveling with a dear family friend around the world, and studying holistic healing modalities in the States and in Canada. Walking along the Mediterranean in Greece, France, and Italy; the Adriatic in Croatia; sailing down the Amazon in Brazil; sparked a revolution within me. Wherever I went pen and paper were in hand. Sightseeing was prolonged by hours on end, and oftentimes halted entirely, as I would write with a ferocious zeal. Stories and characters were dying to let out of my imagination. Thankfully, I had a very forgiving and understanding friend traveling along with me.

Becoming a teacher of movement and healing gave me a physical outlet to balance the hours on end of writing. Upon moving to Canada I completed an intensive yoga teacher training and had an article and a couple of poems published in a Canadian magazine also circulated in the States. Living in a yogic monastery instilled a greater discipline than ever, that was also brought to my writing.

While teaching healing, transformation and empowerment for the last six years in Vancouver, I completed my first Adventure Science Fiction work of art and I am working on my second book after researching for it in the States, Canada, and the Caribbean. I see art as activism; I assure you that you will always be left with more curiosity about the less publicly explored workings of the world while diving into my books.

To learn more about Pen American Organization visit www.pen.org

To support thier cause join as an Associate Member & receive up to date information regarding writer's works.

Pen American is based in Manhattan.

To learn more of Liu Xiaobo visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo

The Power of our Associations

2010-12-01T14:41:00.000-08:00
Associations

Hi readers! I have something insightful I’d like to share. It’s a bit personal but what the heck…if it helps others know the power of associations, might as well go for it.

Deciding how we wish to associate with the people, places and things in our lives can be pivotal in the face of positive change and, in some cases, complete transformation.

At sixteen my father passed. It wasn’t too much of a surprise as he was sick from eight years of age onward with various serious illnesses. Nevertheless when his heart stopped he had gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. En route he made a sound that signaled to my mother that he was in trouble. The thud on the floor came, and the light clicked on shortly after. My mother tried and tried to bring him to. With 911 on the line she performed CPR
on her 84 year old husband.

I heard a knock at the door, looked at the clock reading just after midnight on January 18th 2000 and got up with a long t-shirt on. Upon answering the door four firefighters demanded “Where is he.” Half asleep and uninformed didn’t matter. I knew exactly what they were referring to; I had been worrying about when that moment would unfold for the past eight years. I signaled to the back room where they then began walking at an alert pace toward.

I followed them to find my dad on the floor, appearing purple. I stood there looking at what was in front of me, and trying to evaluate what I could possibly do to make things better. The firefighters looked up from tending to my despondent father, “Leave! You need to leave this room right now! Get her out of here, she can’t be in here!” One of them moved toward me to remove me from a quarter within my own home. Before I allowed them to, I took the prerogative to leave and knock on my twin sister’s door.

I told my sister what happened. She appeared not to know what to say. But before she needed to put anymore thought into what she was processing the stretcher wheeled around the corner with my dad in it. He had an oxygen mask on him. “Is he okay?” She asked. I told her I didn’t think he was alive and I didn’t understand why they insisted on dressing him up as if he were a work in progress.

My mother told us to get dressed quickly, we were to follow the ambulance to the hospital where he would be ‘worked on.’ Life felt like it was falling apart as the sirens blared down the otherwise silent suburban neighborhood street. At that point onward I did all I could to get away from suburbia and it’s memories. However, whenever I’d least expect it I’d find myself cringing as sirens raced passed me at any and every random moment of my upcoming teenage and early twenties years.

A couple of years ago I was meditating in my new home. Without meaning to I had moved into a neighborhood where a fire station hall was tucked into the corner lot just three blocks away. Sirens began to make their presence known as I was in the midst of a most peaceful moment. As meditation teaches, I observed the sirens passing. I realized they were a part of my experience and not the whole of it. I asked myself what I could possibly do to let go of the tight feeling I had all over.

I took a deep breath into my panicked heart before the answer arrived, “Forgive.”

“Okay.” I answered the deep voice of intelligence within.

From that moment forward I made a pact with myself; every time I heard a siren, from that afternoon onward, I would forgive the first person, place or thing that came to mind in need of it. I forgave a sister for hooking up with my boyfriend when I was fifteen. I forgave myself for hooking up with my ex boyfriend who was then dating another girl at sixteen. I forgave my mother for not being able to be around as a nurturer, but more as a provider growing up (kids have a hard time understanding that—especially the kid within every adult). I forgave my girlfriends for not completely understanding how to be there for me after my dad’s passing. At the end of the day I forgave innumerous events in my life, and it all wouldn’t have been made possible if I hadn’t taken a moment to sit down, and be quiet, within myself.

What I wish for everyone, including myself writing this, is that we all continue to create new associations with longtime challenges. Sirens were a conduit for enhancing my ability to see life as a great opportunity to forgive. What is acting as a conduit in your life, enhancing your ability to create new associations with the moments, people, and places that have been teachers to you? Every time I hear sirens, though two years later, I have a deep feeling of forgiveness. To forgive is to love. To love is to be in alignment with the ability to be connected to all living things. To be connected to all living things is to create endless possibility in all realms of our lives.

COMMENTS FROM FACEBOOK
Asa Brixton Zitron thanks for sharing lovie. . .its truly beautiful to witness and to share our journeys as they may have diverged for a moment but soo amazing how we ending back on the same path with greater insight and light :)
om saha nāvavatu
saha nau bhuna...ktu
saha vīryaṃ karavāvahai
tejasvināvadhītamastu mā vidviṣāvahai
oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
namaste
'elle

19 hours ago · Paulo Agelidis Thank you. Reminds me of energy flows where attention goes. Blessings.

19 hours ago Elise LaFerme I felt every moment of your memory and the telling of that part of your life as a woman-child, but most of all as a being in total awareness in this dimension. I share with you your insight, your victory and your love. Your friend in soul and spirit. XXXXX

6 hours ago Madeline Standing Yes, you get it (all of you) I never told anyone about the choice to associate sirens with taking a moment each time they're heard to give forgiveness. Actually...wait, I believe I did tell my ex boyfriend last year, but no one else. I foun...d that by waiting a year to even tell anyone gave the 'secret' association even more power.

So, its not just the power to redirect thought; its transforming negative power to positive power. The negative power sirens held was transferred to positive to taking a simple moment, a deep breath, realizing the years of my body tensing when hearing them, and making a CHOICE to give sirens a new, most powerful, meaning. (talk about deepening our relationships with ourselves). Sirens meant, "OK, this is a deeply sacred time (yay!) I get to connect to a powerful place of forgiveness..." I'm reminded to take a really deep breath. As I mentioned, from there its returning to an ever deepened love for life, for acceptance of the past, the present, and finally, a connection to all living beings.

This is what I wish for all of us moving forward, today. The creation of new associations. Don't tell anyone (wait a year if you can) so the potency of the promise can ferment in our minds. xo. Thank you 'Elle, Paulo, & Elise and all others for taking this path of forgiveness with me today. Namaste (the light, intelligence, spirit in me sees & bows to the light, intelligence, spirit within you-yoga talk) and No, yoga is not a religion!! That's for next Note Talk though :-) stay posted.

5 hours ago Josh Haislip beautiful words and picture

4 hours ago Hui Xue Thx for the story. We all need strength and faith to go through major changes in our life.

3 hours ago · Paulo Agelidis ‎: )

Last Week's Quotes (cont) Copyrighted 2010 by Gaia Madeline Standing

2010-11-14T21:41:00.000-08:00
"When it comes to love we are like sponges;we all take as much as we can get. But its important we hug to the center of our sponge beings to give it back, too."

-GMS copyright-

Writing is like parenting; sure, you can pick up other ideas from others, but everyone's going to do it differently and it cannot be taught. It can be practiced, however, and through that practice one gains knowledge on how to articulate oneself and what stories we're meant to tell.

-GMS copyright-

"Liberation?" "Happiness?" I asked the wisdom residing within. "Want more from yourself than from others. Simple." Was the answer.

-GMS copyright-

"From our softest, most tender spot, wisdom is born."

-GMS copyright-

Connect at www.facebook.com/gaiastanding to read quotes on regular basis. Cheers.

International Causes Presents: FREE TO BE YOU Day

2010-11-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

Hi! I am sure all of you have heard about Movember, right?!? If not, it is a truly amazing cause to raise awareness around Prostate Cancer. According to current stats 1 in 6 men are diagnosed with it. Per year approximately 4,400 men will die of it. The whole idea is very simple; grow a mustache, raise some money, awareness, sense of community amongst your neighbors both near and globally, while throwing some fun in there. Last year 72 million was raised worldwide! That’s pretty amazing considering the idea began relatively recently in 2003, in Australia, by a few guys sitting around sipping some beers. Now Movember is also in New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Finland, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Ireland, UK, Canada and the United States!!!!

And, guess what, women are even part of the fun, I think they’re being coined, “Mo-Women” or something catchy such as this….

I’m really happy to hear about their success as my father was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. Fortunately he had it for eight years before he passed. He was put on many prescription drugs for years…westernized medicine, in this case, kept him going longer than he would have, I am sure. To lighten this part of my sharing up, I’d like to share that my Dad had a long and mostly joyous (and by far adventurous) life of 84 long years. He was luckier than most, had dual citizenship, six wives throughout his years, a hacienda with maids, gardeners, chefs, pools and horses in his Mexico home and survived World War II all the while having a most mischievously fun time. He would ration off his cigarettes to other soldiers for panty hose before going out to masquerade about town with his girlfriends. What a rebel he was, setting out on the streets of London as he did. He actually always talked about how much he loved the Englanders because their spirits were undefeatable; he said every morning after the bombings they would set off to work as if nothing happened.

I’m writing you today, from my blog, www.gaiastandingwrites.blogspot.com in regards to what Movember has brought up for me. I've been wondering, “Love the idea, but why a mustache?!?” Sure, it’s fun…but how did they choose a mustache? Reading their website did not bring me to any conclusion, accept the catchy slogan they can now use “Change the face of men’s health.” After contemplating the simplest answer came, “It’s manly!”

It’s a men’s cause and it helps men to feel their ‘manliness’ and have fun together. (How wonderful is that?!? All the guys at peace and not war! Having fun ‘playing’ together in spirited fashion, uplifting one another, and, of course, competing a bit to see who can raise the most money! Only kidding )
Then, I realized why I was so curious about the whole thing, anyway. The reason hit me like a ten pound sparkling star bouncing down from the heavens, brushing past the tip of my nose and landing, squash!, on my foot to ground me; I want to do something as ground breaking and fun for women! It is said that these Mo-Men originators wanted to do something for men as the pink ribbon day has been done for women’s breast cancer. But, I mean, really, how fun is wearing a pink ribbon around? I got over that when I was like five, for sure! Coming back to my point, I really, really, really have a big crush on a monster of an idea; I want to continue helping women, in an enormously real way, who have been affected by abuse of any or all kinds.

There, done; now you, yes, you reading this, know why I am writing you.
So far my EmpowHer: Healing & Realizing YOU classes for this cause have been bangin’! They’ve brought light, love and joy to the frontier of women’s minds who have participated, as well as much new understanding of how they can take back their p-o-w-e-r! We sometimes think of power and we think race cars, high rise buildings, rolling in money, and perhaps sacrifices to get there ‘at the top.’ Well, guys and ladies, I’m not talking about that kind of power. I’m talking about the self-generated, inward revolution kind of power. The kind of positive personal power that moves mountains that have been sitting on top of heaps and heaps of old garbage piled up in the chambers of our hearts and our beings. EmpowHer is great. I’m ready to see more dedication from men and women for raising awareness about treasuring and valuing women; the kind of progress where we take off our shiny hats and bow to the great mystery that the Great Creator made in every-ONE of us.

What can we do to ‘up the ante’ for progressing the recognition that women, who have survived and now t-h-r-i-v-e after abuse of any kind, whether it be physical, mental/emotional, or sexual, are our heroes? How about giving women a fun way to raise awareness and become involved in women's healing, post trauma of abuse of any sort?

Abuse is such an awkward subject. And, no, it’s really not too much fun to talk about. But if we do not honor the women who have moved mountains to see through it and completed the climb up and over it, who will? Hmmmm???? I’ll be honest, having had a boyfriend who at sixteen punched a hole in the wall next to my head because ‘I’ had made him mad (or could it possibly have been that he was actually upset because his father did the same to him?) I believe in taking a stand about this. Now, I ran into this sort of behavior again, with a different boyfriend. I dated a 28 year old boy from London when I was twenty three. He had worked his way up the ranks at Procter & Gamble at quite a young age and as I would find out was incredibly 'hot-headed.' When I decided to take a fork in the road to heavily pursue my writing and teaching in another country he became angry. H e wanted to get married and when I eventually said no, once again standing my ground, he spat on me. At that point, I stopped my Freelander Range Rover in the middle of the busy road leading to the highway and calmly told him to ‘get out.’ Yes, I was infuriated and disgusted deep down, but I knew that if I were to display this he would feed off of it, so I remained calm. Knowing I wasn’t joking he got out at the same moment of pointing his saliva in my direction.

The Reintegration Home I am opening for women, after teaching a free class at a Transition Home for women survivors of abuse is the next BIG STEP to helping women.

Life needn’t be so serious. Yes, I agree, abuse is a very serious subject. It is especially so when inflicted by someone who is built physically stronger, often times longer and thicker than another. Because of how most women are built in comparison to men, this is our reality. We open our hearts and love, in deep seated trust that the man we are involving ourselves with is the gentle kind of man.

THERE ARE SO MANY FANTASTIC, GENTLE-HEARTED, DELICIOUS, AMAZING, LOYAL MEN OUT THERE. If you are dating one I am so happy for YOU! However, ‘life is like a box of chocolates,’ you never know what you’re going to get. Especially when (as my twin sister tells me) “You only see the very best in people—you need to see both sides.”
So, now that I’ve shared a bit of my ‘old story’ with you, I’d like you to know that I, Gaia Madeline Standing, have only dated men who are the kind, loving, sincere, non-possessive type for the last several years now. I focus on my ambitions of writing and teaching that I LOVE TO FOCUS ON, and without any apology. Most importantly, I not only continue to see and believe in the best of others, but I do so in myself. At 23 when I first began writing I didn't know what I was doing but I believed if I kept at my dream I would begin to more fully understand. That's how it works for all of us.

The quote I read when I was 19, "JUMP AND THE NET WILL APPEAR.' (ANONYMOUSLY WRITTEN AS I RECALL) rocks my world. In this quote we realize we are capable of setting our sights on any and every dream. And, because we do so, we will be indubitably provided for!

What can we do to celebrate women’s unfortunate experiences as we have men’s unfortunate reality of prostate cancer?

How can we bring fun & community into more of the unfortunate realities many face?

The cause that most deeply echoes throughout my whole being is supporting women who have been abused in any way.

For women, who have gone through this, the most liberating, symbolic action we can take, as we stand tall in our defiance of having our spirits dampened by another is to embrace our natural beauty. Sounding a bit vague? Well, for Movember mustaches are grown signifying men embracing their man-li-hood. In case you may have been a bit unclear on what exactly the prostate does, as I was, one of its functions is to make part of semen, the fluid produced during ejaculation. This fluid also keeps sperm healthy for fertilization.

For women who have survived and are now thriving after abuse expressing our womanhood can look a number of ways. I’ll tell you from my own personal experience that I do not always feel completely comfortable, free, safe or confident to wear dresses anywhere above the knee or shirts that come down to expose cleavage. That is fine, after all, that’s part of being a woman nearing thirty; the way in which some choose to present themselves shifts and changes. Nevertheless, I want women to feel free to express herself without worrying of her safety, or what another will think of her.

I believe it is possible for women to live in all her fullness without being concerned for her safety. I remember I was walking from my home to a friend’s house in Santa Barbara, California when I was nineteen. I had jeans and a sweater on with flat shoes. A twenty something year old who I had never met before rode by on his bicycle and grabbed my rear! I lived in a nice part of Santa Barbara, right near where the Queen of the Missions-a historic landmark-is built! I was so shocked at how someone could reach out and grab something as if it were theirs just because it looked good to them that I went home and cried. I cried for me, and I cried for other women; how could some men have such disregard for the sacred vehicle that is not even theirs to begin with?

Think back to the time in history when statues of women were mounted around cities as they were shown in all their fullness, and beauty. Think about how respectful men have the potential of being. What can we do to raise this awareness? What can we do to come together not only as women, but people, to celebrate the soft, tender, feminine side we all have within us? And, no, women; the answer is not to go out ourselves and grab the ass of men we do not know in vengeance. (hah!)

I know straight men who love the color purple. And no I’m not talking about the book or the movie. I know men who love the colors purple, pink, perhaps even a coral. I know men who were told by their fathers to ‘toughen up,’ ‘be a man,’ and worse yet ‘act like a man.’ Act like a man? Who wants to ‘act like’ anything…I far prefer men who are simply powerful enough to BE who they are. Every man reading this right now knows a part of you craves to express the side of you that is vulnerable, and gentle. Or, perhaps you already do, but wish to do it more.

Let’s create a day for the cause of honoring women who have learned to thrive after their boundaries have been stepped. Let’s create a day where men and women can reveal and celebrate their softer side; where women can walk outside in a soft flowing skirt, a blouse that blows around in the wind, and yes, perhaps even reveals a bit of cleavage. Let’s live in a world where women can reveal a bit, while still leaving much to the imagination and feel great doing it.

What can we do to celebrate women as they are, bosoms and legs, soft stomachs, full bottoms, and all? We say no, not by focusing on petitioning at the next “No Violence to Women Day,” but instead by focusing on the sunnier side, by refusing to have our spirits dampened. We as supporters of women who have survived, and now thrive, after abuse, focus on what we DO WANT instead of what we wish never happened. One day a year we have FREE TO BE YOU day, to celebrate the survivors, the people who had an ‘inward revolution,’ and decided to live on, happily and renewed after rediscovering who they were in yet an even deeper way.

Breast cancer awareness has the pretty little feminine pink bow.

I wonder why they didn't choose to show two breasts healthy and happy on a button pinned to their work blazers, blouses, and ‘let’s go run the errands’ attire?
I know, on FREE TO BE YOU Day, we can wear tacky t-shirts that those beach going vacationers sometimes wore in my hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The ones with the cartoon of a naked woman’s body drawn over the t-shirt that reaches from the bottom or our chin to the middle of our pelvis. Long t-shirts are in after all, aren’t they?

What will you do to celebrate the thriving life brave women around the world have chosen for themselves even after wrong doing came their way? What will you wear on FREE TO BE YOU Day to honor the beautiful way our bodies have been made, as women? And, men, how will you support us? Besides, I bet you look pretty good in purple…..so many shades to choose from these days!

Take some time….or share ideas right now. Please open your mind for the solution of bringing awareness to the need for the honoring and respect of women’s bodies by both themselves and men alike.

I’m thinking one month in Spring has our name on it, FREE TO BE YOU Day participants….

I’ll let you know what other ideas I may have for the optimization of the great healing potential this day has for all…..soon….until then....... gms........

PS) I Googled 'statues of women around the world.' The results offered were 'Status of women around the world.' 'Advancing the status of women.' Here, have a peek: http://www.google.ca/#sclient=psy&hl=en&rlz=1R2ACAW_enUS357&q=statues+of+women+around+the+world&rlz=1R2ACAW_enUS357&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=5202ef48d752bff2

Once we had statues, now we have heaps of interested parties in advancing the awareness that just because a woman feels like putting on a beautiful dress does not mean it's for the sake of the male neighbor's eyes; it's because it FEELS GOOD to her. I know it may come as a shock to some men, but actually many of us dress more for ourselves than we do you! We're selfish, in a healthy sense, that way!

For more on Movember's success: Making light of a dificult card dealt, visit www.movember.com

And make sure to dream...dream....dream.... of how we can do the same for the women SURVIVOR'S & THRIVERS in this world we all share!

PS) my father stayed with my mother for 23 years until the day he died....it was his longest marriage and they loved one another very much..

The Last 6 Mths of Quotes & Reflections (2010)

2010-10-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

"To embrace the truth of our multifaceted nature is to live in wholeness."
-Gaia Madeline Standing

"If the music is loud enough within you, you needn't ask for directions."
-Gaia Madeline Standing

For every reader that says, “I have no idea what’s going to happen next but something keeps me reading,” there was also a writer who first bravely said, “I have no idea what happens next, but it is this same unknowing that keeps me writing.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"We cannot be the voice of reason in another's head."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"The most challenging thing for a man when he wants to be inside is to instead go inside HIMSELF.
The most challenging thing for a woman when she wants to be active is to GET active with her own life and her OWN plans."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"We're living our truth every day. As we elevate our consciousness we experience the best of it."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"Capture the light in another and you get a firefly. Capture the light in yourself and light up the whole city."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“The meant-to-be encouraging statement, "All we can do is do our best," is short sighted. The truth is "All we can do is prepare ourselves to do the best. And then do it." Preplanning, seeing, envisioning...now that's where the real value is!”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"The leaves flying around do not fall onto the ground in a pretty little pattern on their own. They allow themselves to get swept up in the wind first!"
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“No matter how far we get in this world there's always the next step; this is what we all have in common. Keep reaching, keep aspiring, keep being you.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"The heart is the ‘home zone.’ When we allow ourselves to feel the heart of others we are always promised home."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Don't tell me the story. Tell me what you did when you realized that's all it ever was.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"When we kiss our lover let it feel like eternity;
Kissing everything as far and wide as the heart has ever known."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“The mixture of breath, heart, and brains can and will make our dreams come true.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"The romantic relationships we enter should only enhance the relationship with our self; or we leave."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“All problems are like a bud of a flower, only waiting to bloom into yet another sweet answer.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Unsolvable problems only exist in the mind that entertains them.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"All is as should be." The gentleman melodically told me, to which I answered, "Ah, yes; but only when people know what is."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"In the face of realizing our dreams it's not about us; it’s about what we have to give to the world. Be selfless; open yourself to giving your gifts."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"In truth we are always waiting for something; it’s what we do in the waiting that counts."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Always leave as quietly as you came. This is the essence of dignified grace.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"It's not that you need to lose your shadow in order to shine bright; you simply need to recognize your shadow as a shadow. A shadow only becomes scary when you run from it."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Each of us have our deep hurts we must face them so we can use them as our gifts. My greatest gift is having conquered my challenges by looking at myself and asking what I can do to share the bit I've learned with others while I continue to grow, live, expand."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Magical moments are created by cultivating the virtue of patience; we are then able to see the extraordinary in the ordinary."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Because we root deeply within ourselves we are able to give sustenance to our relationships and friendships. The times we sit in stillness stack up on one another. They provide enough height for us to see all across the horizon and the tree tops; the macro-view versus only the micro-view is in sight. Keep showing up for yourself and your dreams.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"The greatest compliment one can receive is I LIKE YOUR STYLE; it far surpasses praise of physical characteristics or personality traits. It says the way YOU do life; I like it!"
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Always embrace and give thanks for other people's kindness. The world is a treasure chest waiting to be discovered because of it."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"I wish you a journey that fulfills your every wish today and every other day. I wish for you to be awake in your wanting and calm in your searching. I wish for you to be strong in your knowing and kind in your interacting."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"(S)he who creates space for all that (s)he wishes for, receives all that (s)he can ever be given."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Embrace the rhythm of life as it continues to ebb and flow within its many changes.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Everybody really wants to matter; but to how many does it matter to really care? The more we care; the more we matter.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Embrace everyday; embrace every emotion. Let us remember both are only one reality!
May we all keep creating from our highest visions! And so it is. Voila!”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Though people are capable of giving you the world, no one is capable of taking life’s vast richness away from you.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“All great journeys begin first with inner movement. Shift to shine, even brighter than you did yesterday!"
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Don't think just to think. Think to solve, to shed light, to heal, to share, to create. Make use of one of the greatest gifts we've been given; to direct our thoughts. We can literally create thoughts out of thin air, to feed the emotions we enjoy feeling. What thought will create one of your favorite feelings in this very moment, friend?”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“If we always look for meaning, truly meaningful times will have a hard time peeking their heads out. Joy=thinking less, and living more.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“The grandest illusion is that when we go to yoga its just for an hour. It is because we go to yoga for that one hour, that every other hour of the day is joyously changed. Amazing insights into our lives always peek their heads out during the bliss that is yoga.
Focused breathing, mindful movement; yoga.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"If you wish for it, create it.
If you create it, wish for it to help others.
Please."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“The most challenging part is showing up for the next step leading to our dreams fulfilled. The step itself is EASY! When will you take it?”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“It's in the wanting that people lose their cool; it's the embracing of the knowing that keeps our veins warm and spirits undefeatable.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Though there's nothing like the love of family, there's nothing like receiving love from someone you don't know but extends their love anyway.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“I sometimes wish the phrase, "Don't worry comfort is only temporary," could replace "Don't worry the discomfort is only temporary."
Discomfort is one of the all time greatest fertilizers for newfound growth within our self.
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Live to LIVE! No more 'tomorrow, tomorrow!'”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“If we can just be in this moment, every other moment takes care of itself.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"Our minds have the power to convert any 'negative' energy in our surrounding areas, to positive energy, in 0.5 seconds. Believe it."
May we all continue to shape our lives today with intent, determination, & faith in the goodness.”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"There's no sense in trying to piece together the past. By the time you put it all together again, it's already gone."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"To believe is to relieve ourselves of any unnecessary thoughts that may counter the original intent in the first place."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Romantic relationships always go smoothly; as long as you don't expect how you're going to spend time together, when you're going to spend time together and what you're going to do when you spend time together."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"The soul of a writer is the heart of oneness as we embody the consciousness of each person we meet within the characters we write about."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"When you're not sure if you can-or cannot-do something, the act of doing it-in and of itself- is s-p-i-r-i-t-u-a-l."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Keep your mind on things that are not of this world, and you will forever be out of this world—in a good way!"
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Whatever I am; I am. Whatever I may be; I will be. Whatever I wish; the wish I therefore am."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

“Practice the healing and fine arts that bring about transformation as a means to celebrate the perfection THAT IS YOU, not to seek a form symbolizing some sort of idolized perfection!"
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Nothing brings happiness like the learning of how to control ones tongue."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Real successes know their name through actions, not titles."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Never ask 'HOW' in the face of creating what you wish. It's redundant. Everything already is. We just need think of it."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"Freedom is the conscious action of locking ourselves into what it is we truly want....not having zero responsibility."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"Search within, search without-if you like. But, your dream journey is always all around you, if you wish."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎

"It's not about luck, it's about Love. Put alotta of Love into it & you don't need much luck!"
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"People ask what I do to stay thin. The answer is always the same. I do nothing to stay thin-but I do absolutely everything to live my life fully, which just so happens to burn a lot of calories! Come on All-Powerful ladies! Drop the diet plan & develop a DREAM PLAN!" You were amazing at birth & you still ARE!”
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"Transformation is not about changing yourself. It's about changing how you view the world, how you interact with it, and others."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"SMILE WITH YOUR EYES AS IF THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING!"
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

‎"All problems are solved by variations of one answer; more self LOVE; more LOVE for others; LOVING words; LOVING thoughts; expression of LOVE; grounding into LOVE... At heart, we are all geniuses at expanding this list."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

"Are you ready to change your life today? That small step DOES count today--more than you can perhaps imagine and much more than you or I can possibly know in this instant..."
-Gaia Madeline Standing-

Befriending Powerful Questions

2010-09-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Caped in Mission (my 1st Adventure Conspiracy Novel) is a book with purpose. Straight up. The book takes us on the journey of exploring the possibilities beyond what one has ever seen before. At the Hollyhock Learning Foundation here in British Columbia, Canada I attended a Public Speaking intensive where I said multiple times, “That which cannot be seen is more real than water on ice.” This reflection came to me when I was meditating before falling to sleep about a month ago. I said, “What does that mean?” You may be wondering what I mean by ‘it coming to me.’ Plainly enough, I heard it loud and clear as a thought that occurred with no other thoughts leading up to it that live in the same neighborhood. My mind had become quiet and then, ‘voila’ I heard this interesting statement.

So, I thought about what it could possibly mean. After mulling it over for two minutes I decided that this quote is the essence of healing in the 21st century. Two things are going to happen to the ‘water on ice,’ the ice is turning to water or the water to ice. But let’s not get too caught up in this part; the point is we as human beings (up until this point) have relied more heavily upon what we can see in our beautiful 3-D world, versus what we cannot. This is problematic because everything around us came to us because of some people who put their thinking caps on and then once arriving at a product, then began the marketing parade. We too, yes you and I, are the ultimate, most finest, creators there are in the world. We can create new thoughts, new relationships, new ways of being and quite actually, new worlds. Let’s start believing in that which we cannot see, instead of clinging to that which is all around us. Face it; it’s fun!

Caped in Mission is a creation derived from my pure imagination. This is strange considering when I started writing about the premise of Caped in Mission four years ago a term came to that moment called ‘Electromagnetic Fields.’ Quite honestly, I didn’t have an inkling of an idea as to what they were. So, I googled it. I read that EMF’s are around our bodies, and around every electronic in existence. Hmm….so I kept writing, exploring, and eventually in the Fall of ’08 arrived at the 1st draft. Over the last two years I have completed five and a half edits on Caped in Mission; now I can call it Adventure Conspiracy Fiction at its finest! Tova, the 2nd book also came into play. This is not about me, and it’s even not about you. This book has a life of its own now, and though it will inevitably weave its way in and out of multiple people’s lives over the next few years, it is an act of devotion to that which we do not know.

Caped in Mission invites the reader to explore the ‘yet to be known’ in both the world around within us. As Debra Gangale author of ‘The Self Love Principle’ also recognized and wrote in her mini review of the portions of Caped in Mission she read herself, "There are many journeys that we all take in this life of knowns and unknowns. Gaia's, impressive offering of fiction, Caped in Mission, is a journey of transformation that opens all the doors and windows for more love and awareness to stream through. She prefaces the read by stating: "This book is to provoke all that you don’t know within you." Her characters captivate and reveal and offer up.... your unlimited potential."

I have learned because of the grace of Caped in Mission things I likely would’ve never come to know had I not allowed myself to journey into the unknown territory of my imagination. My imagination lead me to this new and seemingly odd word, ‘electromagnetic field,’ so I decided to stay on the path of exploring it’s gifts. I am glad I have done so. And, I am grateful it continues to do so in the second book, Tova. However, believe it or not some people do not understand why I didn’t look at the hard facts of the danger of EMF’s before beginning the novel. I am guessing the person who questions my method of creating believes I could have integrated them into the book. Let’s take a breath. Ahhh.. Okay, back on track! Caped in Mission is fiction with a capital ‘F,’ however, through the bit of research I’ve done post-completion of the edits I have developed a genuine concern for how EMF’s of electronics are interacting with ours.

That said, look at this correspondence I had with someone who’s name I have shortened to the first letter of their first name. Thankfully Dr. Thornton Streeter had recommended I reach out to this EMF Specialist; what a blessing she was. She helped me to understand with more depth why I have taken the approach I have with Caped in Mission. I imagine this information will be invaluable to the readers of the book; I at least appreciate knowing the back story of the books that I read. Please take a moment to watch the newscasts from the UK, Europe and Australia in regards to the effects EMF’s have on our bodies. I have reposted them at my website (www.gaiastanding.com) under the Caped in Mission link. Whether you have children of your own or know young ones you would like to see stay safe and thrive to the optimal potential, do click to watch them. They are brief, yet thorough and touch base as to how children under the age of 5 develop brain tumors, and leukemia because of the effects of EMF’s. For adults, its oftentimes headaches, insomnia, depression and anxiety.

If these words scare you, please let go of any worries; its far more proactive to take action, versus worry ourselves to death! Everything in moderation, right my friends?

Cheers,

GMS

www.gaiastanding.com

ps) thanks again, Camila for the powerful question

Hi Camila,

I'm working on a book that's being released. It explores the effects manmade EMF's are having on our own field in a fictional landscape.

Caped in Mission is going its 6th and final edit right now.

Looking ahead, in the near future I will be hooking up with people during the book tour to gather pertinent facts about the ways EMF's are compromising our health.

If you feel you may enjoy being a part of this fact sharing and perhaps making an appearance at the book tour (should one be scheduled in your area) please let me know!

Blessings!

Gaia Madeline

www.gaiastanding.com

September 22 at 2:00pm

Hello. Would like to see the book before I can say yes.

Wondering why you didn't do the fact gathering with people before you did the book?? Look forward to seeing it.

Best, Camila.

Gaia Madeline Standing September 22 at 2:12pm

Dear Camila:

There is a world beyond what is fact.

As Einstein said Imagination is more important than knowledge.

By exploring the possibilities in my imagination I was able to work intuitively. Also, the book needs to be offered from an imagined perspective because I feel it is far more attractive to a broader audience that way.

My desire for people to be open to learning about the effects of EMF's is where I bring in fact at the book tours.

We all have our own ways ... With kind regards, Gaia

To sum this all up: my method may seem counter intuitive to some, but to the explorers of thought this will make sense; I wanted to explore the possibilities of the health dangers EMF's have to our body, mind, emotions and the natural environments before filling my mind with facts ascertained by the very technical realms of science. For me, exploring the possibilities seems a promising road. It grants foresight and other possible dynamics that may have yet to be discovered in the concrete world of science.

“That which we cannot see is more real than water on ice.”

Shanti.

Are new ways of using electronics on the horizon? The Activism behind Caped in Mission: first Conspiracy Adventure Novel

2010-09-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Electronics have given us a world of good, but are there different ways we can make use of this gift of universal connection we all have at our fingertips?
In Caped in Mission the health effects are explored in the fiction landscape my adventure conspiracy book is. Looks like there's yet another element to how we can m...ore responsibly incorporate electronics into our lives....all wonderful scientists out there...please help find another way.
www.gaiastanding.com <--watch news reports from the UK, Europe & Australia at the Caped in Mission hyperlink: these countries are telling the truth about the effects of EMF's on our bodies......all in moderation....off to take a nature stroll. Cheers.

Watch this link to learn what Ashley Judd is doing to take part in the revolution:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/09/30/ashley.judd.africa/index.html?hpt=C2

Miss+Informed= a new you:

2010-09-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to see ourselves as we really are? Today I have returned home from a workshop with Gail Larson, specialist in public speaking, internationally acclaimed. As fast as my life has been going lately it felt like I left before I even fully arrived. Though I managed to ground out after the frightening seaplane helicopter ride across the Gulf Islands, I clearly needed more time to just 'be there.' My toes stuck in the sand only once in the four days. On breaks I worked on edits for the audio recording of Caped in Mission. Thankfully, at Hollyhock Learning Foundation many experiences happen organically that set one up for arriving at a special place within. During the first evening, on my way to the dining lodge, I scurried across the lawn to make dinner in time. I felt my elbow rub up against something furry. Prior to this I hadn't had my eyes anywhere but on the carved wooden doors ahead. Without slowing my pace I looked over my shoulder and met eyes with a buck. For all who don't know what that is, it's a male deer. Bucks grow and shed new antlers every year; talk about renewal.

Hang in there; we're skipping forward for a moment. On the last evening instead of joining everyone for oysters and wine on the beach I mellowed out. Well, perhaps mellow is too calm a word; okay, I answered business emails before quietly sneaking to dinner. I realize how important my quite time is for me. The people in my class were beyond words fantastic, however spending anymore than the six hours I had already spent with them would’ve felt like too much. I’d venture to say it would be for many. The intensity in the room was thick and heavy. One gentleman spoke of the smog in Beijing during his presentation. As he did so I was reminded of the haze of illusion present when we seek to understand another at the drop of a hat.

I am someone who spends hours on end building, creating, and envisioning what to construct next. This, though a seeming year round gift, was incredibly challenging as we were asked to talk about what we ‘want’ to create. I felt challenged because I am not accustomed to over talking what I want to create in my life, rather I am the grasshopper that’s constantly moving from one project to the next. The reins are always in my hands; the stirrups always around my feet. So, what was I going to talk about? A window opened; I began to need to talk about the injustices in my childhood. Point blank, I was asked to talk about “Where I am Now,” and this is what came up for me. This is an exercise facilitated by Gail; it is supposed to help us find our ‘Home Zone.'

When I was growing up my sisters taunted me until I cried. They did it out of their own pain. I was called “Daddy’s Princess.” My World War II veteran father, Robert Leo LaFerme, paid no mind to any of his children. But, for whatever reason he and I really hit it off from day one. I don’t know why, but it’s how the cookie crumbled. I wanted to know everything about his life. As a child I would crawl into his bed as he napped off the side effects of pain killers and other prescription drugs. He usually had pain from one of the various illnesses born from old age. I would bravely ask him to impart the details of the war and the marriages previous to he and my mother's.

As a child I never felt anyone understood me, or my family. People felt ‘sad’ for our family as they put it. After all, our father was nearly 70 when my twin sister and I were born and my mother carried all the financial responsibility around after a financial investment they had made tumbled. My mother's vast responsibilities included floating the hospital bills of my fathers and providing for her three growing daughters. I would play hooky from school to stay home with my father in order to cherish every moment with him. The people at the restaurant or grocery store we'd visit would say, “Ah, look at you and your granddaughter(s).” Oftentimes my twin sister Noel had also convinced my mother of her 'stomach ache.' This would infuriate us as children, we’d bark back, “He’s our Dad!”

Nothing was more fun than being different in those days, yet it seemed society had to constantly remind us of it. Between concerned neighbors and teachers we had our share of people having pity parties for us. We, ourselves, were having a blast; we didn’t know what we were experiencing was any different from ‘the norm’ except when we were reminded. Today, as I write this, I have never felt more akin to my fellow brothers and sisters worldwide. Yet, I am sure many would come back at me with a long list of the ways I am special and/or different in a ‘unique’ way. I pose a question, “Do you believe what others believe holds more relevance than what is felt deep within you in this very moment?” At Hollyhock Learning Foundation I had a dose of the ‘medicine’ this question holds.

Being young and attractive has its benefits and at other times has its supreme challenges. There were a couple of women in my room in their late forties who judged before they even knew anything about me. Don’t feel sorry; I don’t. I, after all, have worked with this for five years now. Ever since I started teaching healing body movement and empowerment I have come up against people who visibly ask themselves why someone nearly half their age is teaching them. At the end of the hour or two I spend with these people, they always melt into bliss. They look at me with serenity, confidence and self-connection; they say 'Thank you!' Past that first moment of prejudgment everyone I have ever known lets go of their former flash ideas.

Remarkably, I still feel I have received all I could ever ask for from a speaking class. “Find your medicine” we were told. My response? “I am the Lioness of Change. You can hear the echoes of my roar in the silence.” Others were “I am the Mapmaker." "I am Earth Father." "I am the Creator’s Healer." I am the "Queen of the Jungle" (anyone else feeling nauseated at that last one?) I am the Keeper of Wisdom.” You may be wondering what the idea is behind all this. Our speaking teacher Gail says we all speak from a place of power when we can identify what makes us unique from others. She invited us to discover the main message behind our decision to talk to groups. It was challenging at times, and at others the task seemed divinely simple and soaked in the essence of grace. The latter occurred when I felt I had the support we all deserve when stepping out and speaking up. Turns out one of my yoga students knows Gail well. On the last day I shared how my yoga student Coro Strandberg had revered Gail as a most fantastic teacher; perhaps this fact alone acted as a catalyst for Gail to give words of wisdom to me. “Keep it simple. Oh, and move a little less. It’s obvious you’re comfortable in and familiar with your body, but for you move a little less." For everyone else it was "Get your hands out of your pockets; Use your hands and body to tell the story!"

Please pause for a moment. I see a trend developing; I’m not giving myself full credit. Before this moment of talking to Gail I had also allowed my strength, enthusiasm, and appropriate emphasis placed on words and moments of importance to shine through. I connected to a helpful reminder in my morning meditation, “We live alone; we die alone.” Ah, in that case, what the heck; may as well throw our cares to the wind and dive into the deemed moment of opportunity. After all, that’s what it boiled down to; we had all decided that in that moment in time we were showing up for ourselves in a way we had done never before. We had collectively decided that this intensive workshop was to open doors to ourselves through the greatest gift of all: self-understanding.

Good thing it was self-understanding, because I have never felt so misunderstood in a group of people in all my 27 years. Going back to the beginning again; on the 1st day we were asked to ‘be current’ with our experience. Meaning Gail Larson wanted us talk randomly about ‘what was up’ for each one of us. If you ask her whether or not her intention was for it to be ‘at random’ her answer may vary. She did not say these exact words, however, seeing that we were given five minutes to conjure up a great story of what’s happening Now in our lives, what we’re working with, what we’re going through, I have no other way to interpret it. The lady is a genius. I saw some amazing things happen to the people in that room.

Two weeks prior to attending the workshop I took a ten day run around in the States for two reasons; one to see family and two to record footage for the TOVA promotion video. My family would for sure tell you the priorities were in the opposite order. Nevertheless, I was delighted to see them to say the least. My twin sister and I have spent a total of ten or fifteen hours maximum together over the last ten years. Her name is Noel. She had a little girl named Ava Grace two and a half years ago; she is an angel. She makes a brief appearance in the TOVA video! www.youtube.com/gaiastanding or for those of you on Facebook you can check it out under my Videos.

The trip was going astoundingly, until the last evening when I became sentimental and ooey gooey warm like my twin Noel practically despises. Noel, as loving a woman she is, prefers to give quick pats on the back, versus long cuddly hugs with me. It’s just how she is; and I love her for who she is. I wanted a picture of she and I in dresses. She already had her beach going striped dress on so I ran upstairs to put mine on. I skipped; I jumped. I was excited, people! After throwing on my past-knee- length cocktail-looking dress (see photo attached to this blog entry) and putting on some nude colored lipstick I ran downstairs. For all the men reading this ‘nude’ means practically no lipstick, very much the same color as the natural lip pigment.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs Noel looks at me and says, “Uh-uh,” hands on hips “I am not taking a picture with you now that you put that slutty dress on and I have a beach dress on and don’t even have my hair done.”

“Okay…” was about all I managed. ‘Ouch’ was the feeling. ‘What did that mean?’ So, I bit my lip, didn’t say a word and went about floating around playing with little Ava Grace and keeping a smile on my face. I made a side note to our family friends Georgia and Angela about her comment and asked them to say something to her as Noel has never liked when I confront her with my feelings. Worse yet, she doesn’t like when I try and interpret her feelings or her reactions. I could paint a tattoo on my body reading “You are not a shrink,” as that phrase is forever etched into my psyche from the years of growing up with the sisters who did not want to hear my translation of their uncalled for statements.

Standing up in front of a group of people I do not know seemed like a prime time opportunity to make a joke of this whole evening. After all; it ended well. The very next day when I had been preparing to get on the airplane she had set me up with a beautiful lunch from her work place, beamingly introduced me to her coworkers and given a pretty decent hug. I went in for a second hug after the owner of the fine dining restaurant in Virginia Beach, VA enthused, “Noel, give your sister another hug!” She relented to doing so, but was not happy for what I had instigated. After I slipped out of her arms slowly she looked at me with those hazel cat eyes and said with her finger waving, “Look, all of this is going to be a lot simpler if you accept me for who I am and I will accept you for who you are.”

As excited as I was about this statement (Yes, she finally accepts me for who I am!! Shrink and all!) I still wondered one thing… ‘What did she mean by slutty?’ Note to Readers: please laugh. I am. Yes, it was hurtful, but I know me; I know who I am; I know I am 95% of the time about the most saintly person in our global town. I’m the girl who hung on for six long months to a relationship I insisted would turn around. The last two years I’ve been an angel in disguise. I focus diligently on my work, I haven’t complained on the nights my lover was crusading around the world and I slept alone. In fact, I relished it. It meant that I could dream of him, and when he returned it would be love at first sight all over. To me, this is the perfect relationship; periods of space and passionate reunions.

Looking around the room as I practiced my warm up exercise I began to recall this evening in Virginia two weeks prior, except I had forgotten one paramount rule: always give oneself time to heal from the hurt before getting in front of a group of strangers to recount it. In the midst of sharing I burst into tears; uncontrollable tears. A few people around me started to tear up, while a few others were actually using Kleenex as an aid. ‘Oh boy,’ this is not what I planned. ‘ I thought. ‘Make a joke.’ So I did.

“This is not funny, Gaia. You cannot cry and then make a joke. You’re sad. Admit it.”

‘Damn. She caught me. This teacher is quick as a switch.’

Okay, so I gave the resolution; sister reached out and came as close to an apology for saying a word that was not only unrelated to the reality of the moment, but hurtful. They clapped. I sat down feeling stoic.

Yesterday my sister called to thank me for gifts and photos I had sent for Ava, Angela and Georgia and her. I told her I had something funny to tell her. Good, she likes funny.

“Hey Noel, guess what? I burst out in tears in front of strangers during a warm up for my transformational public speaking class. I told them how you called my elegant dress slutty.”

“Really? Why? I was joking. Look, what I was really saying is 'I don’t even have my hair done and you put on that sexy dress!'”

“Well, I know it’s an elegant dress, but why then did you use that word? It just seemed so inappropriate.”

“That’s what my friends and I say! It doesn’t mean slutty how you’re thinking; it means sexy!”

You may be wondering why I was feeling more misunderstood than ever. Amongst the people not crying were a couple of women in their late forties asking, "Well, did you put on another dress?"

Gail Larson, above all else I want to thank you for putting yourself and your heart out there on the line to help people befriend their truest colors. I, for one, have a far closer intimacy with my ability to articulate what I am feeling. Most importantly I have learned how to articulate my feelings in a way that will be received by the listeners as an echo of their own inner resonance of expression. Not only do I feel closer to my truest form, I also feel connected to my ability to reserve a bucket of unconditional love for myself and only myself. This bucket validates my truest form without any other input from anyone else but myself.

Commentary below pulled from Facebook:

Lylah Persad wrote:
LOVE your style of writing!!! I have to admit that i'm the type of person who skips over paragraphs when it's not interesting, but you kept my interest!! There are a couple things you said that i AM going to quote you on tho.. like "“Do y...ou believe what others believe holds more relevance than what is felt deep within you in this very moment?”- PERFECT for how you felt about your sister's comment!!! :)))

You felt "ouch"... I love that you wrote about it!!!! It brings us back to being "human".. Your ego was hurt because you were trying to be a good sister and you were happy.. you did NOT expect that!!
What if you had simply said, "maybe. maybe not - but if it is a slutty dress, i could make enough money to take the whole neighborhood out for dinner!! :) then laugh about it!!! Not ignore the fact that it hurt of course.. tell her at that moment that although you know you're not a slut, it did hurt a bit!! :) See turns out she thinks you're sexy!! DANG!! LOL YA BIG BABY!! :D
If you're going to look back and laugh about something might as well do it NOW...
There are ALOT of great messages in here!! :) keep writing Gaia... Loving the share!!! :) xx

September 25 at 1:30pm ·.Marcia Garrett Heskett
Love it... and going to read again when I can fully take in the writing (aka.. when all 5 kiddos are in bed, sleeping)

September 25 at 2:06pm · Gaia Madeline Standing
Right...and another thought. (Outside of my sister's usage of the word as I know she was covering up for her feelin of insecurity) I think slutty is such an ignorant and often misused word degrading every woman's right to
naturally express... both her femininity and sexuality. If a woman were truly to think another 'slutty' than they are far from enlightened. When I see a woman wearing a dress that openly reveals many parts of her body at once, versus choosing to share a part of her body she feels good about, I feel empathy for her. I wonder why she thinks it's necessary to show off so much all at once as if it's her only attribute. Then, I know the answer; a part of her believes that's all she's got.
That's when a large part of me wishes to bring out the other part in her who knows of her innate gifts. That's also when I realize how grateful I am I grew out of the daisy duke phase when I was 17!!
LOL

That said, our bodies are sacred. And, if one chooses to show off their arms and legs all the glory to them for loving every part of them self.

......EmpowHer Wednesdays 7-9PM South Granville. Yoga, Meditation and the Exploration of the Inner You!

BTW Lylah-great note re: making a joke of it. I'm glad I responded the way I did though as though there wasn't truth behind the comment there was emotional residue from our childhood that needed to be washed away with the purity of the silence I offered her in return.
(Re: "Daddy's little princess")

Namaste and to all a good day!
Off to lunch with friend before back to the keyboard.....a bit more editing to go before C.I.M. Is circulated. Reading this and unsure of what C.I.M. is just yet?

Caped in Mission: adventure conspiracy fiction!

www.gaiastanding.com
Gaia Madeline Standing
Adventure Fiction Writing at it's best.
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September 25 at 2:07pm Georgia Bourlotos
So beautiful that you can share your feelings in this way. Wonderful, Gaia, Wonderful.

September 25 at 4:44pm ·Elaine Rzemieniak
Thank you Gaia for sharing your experiences and growth.

What do writing, yoga, and goodwill have in common?

2010-08-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

I recently moved into a new live/work space in Vancouver, Canada. Though it feels as if the place is one large space; in truth it has doors closing on the bedroom, bathroom and deck just like any other place would. Going back several years, when I was living with my family, I had gotten out of any cleaning duties involving dust around the house, due to my epic allergies. The dermatologist who treated my eczema as a byproduct of my allergies said that I was allergic to three hundred and some kinds of dust. I constantly itched. It was so bad I would scrape away two to three layers of skin until the inside of my elbows and knees became full of puss. My twin sister called my ‘Spot’ as the eczema also gave me white splotches. I am so blessed for those spots. Unlike my friends I did not look “perfect.” It has built character in me that perhaps wouldn’t be there otherwise. That said, if life’s challenges give us character than I swear I will be blessed until the end of my days. Thankfully, that same character has given me the mind to be adventurous, and the propensity to work for what I wish to receive most; just like my father and mother.
Now, at 26 and opening my own business, I have taken on all the duties one may just as likely pay another to do. That includes cleaning. Recently I opened up a business called Mantra Yoga Canada. The heart of this work is to give women in need a hand up through the healing and empowering tools of Yoga, Meditation, and Life Exploration. Two weeks into it I now realize how much I wish for an “EmpowerHim” to compliment the sacred balance of life. Thankfully I believe I know one or two teachers who may wish to expand their repertoire. I have a meeting with one of them first thing next week. Over tea we will discuss a similar program for men; a two hour weekly class, also for Free. The feeling I receive at the end of class when the women wrap their arms around me and give thanks, is one I have never felt before. Though teaching yoga classes to the general public is absolutely blissful it has a whole different feeling; not better, just different.
I have already been asked several times “What makes you want to do this work?” The truth is they are blessing me by allowing me to share the teachings that have seamlessly brought healing and empowerment into my own life. Though all the women are experiencing different challenges in their lives right now, the complimentary integration of the physical yoga practice, meditation, and life exploration all serve their healing equally. Pausing a moment to skim along the surface of this vast ocean of experience, I must tell you about my new home again. The feeling that I am living in one large space is due in part to the apartment’s cleaning requirements. A crumb dropping on the kitchen floor is soon to wind up in the space where the women attend their EmpowHer classes. And vice versa, if the women are biting their fingernails in the yoga room and leave a remnant behind I will wind up taking it on the sole of my foot into the kitchen. Let’s pause again; this presents a huge problem to someone who prides them self on cleanliness!
Then, a metaphor came to me as I was eating my cereal over reading emails on my Blackberry first thing in the morning. ‘What happens in one room inevitably affects every other room.’ With my confidence soaring, and my spirit contented by my recent efforts to start the EmpowHer class I can’t help but notice every other area of my life feeling a whole lot better than ever before. Things seem to be flowing effortlessly. My question to you is, “Have you felt this way before?” It’s as if by saying ‘yes’ to life in a big way, affects every other area in our lives is impacted in an almost incalculable way… Furthermore, when we agree to take part in something ‘larger’ than ourselves it’s as if we’re making a cosmic agreement with the unseen; the All Knowing says, “If you agree to give this gift to other people, then I’ll help you with this other part of your life.” I’ve been noticing how when something is happening in one area of my life, it automatically affects every other area of my life as well; just as the cookie crumb from the kitchen accidentally being taken into the yoga space affects the student’s experience. After all, by the space being clear of cookie crumbs, it is then able to bring the sense of purity and cleanliness within necessary for the students to experience their inner realizations shining out to their consciousness. It is all interlinked; and more times than not the translation of what’s happening in one corner of our lives is one of profound opportunity to grow yet more.
A week before I put EmpowHer: Healing & Realizing YOU up on MeetUp.com I realized myself clearing out any potential blocks from my consciousness. For example, I recently was so in love with someone that I had to remind myself, “Hold onto your own light!” I realized I could no longer hope for someone else’s light to shine so bright that it would in turn light my way, showing me to places and spaces I needed to be. That seems like an obvious statement; doesn’t it? I agree. However, our subconscious mind is oftentimes like a magician, leaving us wondering how we came to decide to choose this or that path, this mate over that mate, and one job over another. As far as I am aware most people run off of about 98% subconscious inclinations throughout their lives. They don’t understand why they’re doing what they’re doing largely to do with the fact that we are ‘children of the media.’ We are constantly bombarded by other people’s thoughts, perceptions, and beliefs. And, more times than not, they become our own impressions without us even knowing it. This happens because before we know it we are off to the next activity, social gathering, television date, or movie night. Thankfully a mindful meditation practice cures us of this predicament. Though we are all one we are born in this world to create lives that are unique to us and not like anyone else’s.
I personally can’t say I live my life glued to a television screen. Ever since September 11th, when I was living in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I decided I would be happier without the television blaring in the living room regardless of what room I was in. For the last ten years I can honestly say I have not owned a television. Recently I spoke with a retired nurse who said she sleeps 12 hours a day and she fills in most other hours alongside the television as it keeps her company. I told her exactly what I am telling you right now; the day I turned off my television is the day my life started. Don’t talk to me about movies though; they’re a whole different story! They’re the greatest once a week escape one could ever ask for! Last evening at EmpowHer I saw the fear on the women’s faces before we began. That’s when I was reminded that the idea of going inward is so foreign and alien to so many people that some have come to even fear it. Yet, they had read the description of the class (Realizing the Inner You) and they knew what the outline for the class was before they agreed to show up. These women are my heroes; they allowed the adventure-seeking, curious part of themselves to lead them to the class. It didn’t matter that I saw they were afraid; they soon got over that the second they began. And, at the end, they gave me monster hugs for simply facilitating the class!
I have now realized the brighter I allow my light to shine the more positively challenged not only I am but the people who I love are. By doing so I allow them and myself to fulfill the legacies we came to this earth to live out. The newfound confidence in this arena then poured into my teaching when EmpowHer started; and yet I feel as if I had a sacred contract with the divine: If I said yes to directly helping others through the EmpowHer classes, I too would receive all the answers I have needed in order to truly touch upon my own divine light. The journey is ongoing for us all but please remember that you can create the lives you wish for, too. By saying YES! to one area of our lives we, without a doubt, reap the rewards in every other area of our lives. Of course, the catch is we cannot do that which intrinsically helps others and ourselves based off of the good that may come of our lives as a byproduct. Offer your love and your heart in the area of life you understand best in this world to others. Do so in a way you’ve never done before. Be more generous than you ever have before. Then let go of the outcome of your good-doing. Gracefully refocus on your personal dreams during various parts of the day and you will feel more refreshed and in tune than ever before!
Lastly, by giving my entire focus to something besides my writing I have received such a clear mind that answers in regards to the writing of my two novels have miraculously dawned on me! The sales of my books go to building a Reintegration House: another free offering to women in need except this house purchased will give me enough space to teach the women who commit to the course for six months free yoga and meditation classes. I have been writing ideas for the Reintegration House for the last several years. Like my books, it has gone hand in hand with what my vision is for the upcoming years, and giving other people a hand up. For now, EmpowHer is a great start! I am also taking classes at the Justice Institute of British Columbia in October and November to help prepare me for the opening of the Reintegration House in the fall of 2011. Classes at Hollyhock Foundation in leadership are also being taken this fall. If you reading this are interested in learning more about the Reintegration House and possibly being involved as a supervisor and/or teacher sharing your services once weekly for free, please let me know. Time flies! It’ll be here before we can say Happy New Year!

Recent Q & A about Tova

2010-07-04T16:40:00.000-07:00

I recently met a new friend who asked me many questions about my second book that is currently being written. I enjoyed being asked the multitude of questions ranging from personal to impersonal questions. It ironically felt that the questions, though of different natures, were linked as one and the same. What we as human beings choose to do with our time is revealing in and of itself of who we are, while the reverse is also very much true. The most personal details about us most always drive us to go after what we do in our careers, relationships, and special adventures.

That said, here is the recent Q & A that took place in Vancouver, Canada, as I write this in St Maarten! I do believe these questions will be asked of me once Caped In Mission & Tova are on shelves, so, here are some of the answers, for all to enjoy!

......................................Q & A.....................................

Friend: I saw on your website you're now working on your second novel. What's it about?

Self: Tova is really a revolutionary read in the terms that the story is fictional, however it bridges what I have imagined, with the very possible upheaval we'll be having if a large number of people do not pull together in a concerted acceptance that change is upon us.

Friend: What do you mean by 'change is upon us?'
Self: The global oil reserves are peaking; major droughts are occuring worldwide leaving millions upon millions without water; mudslides; ice caps melting, and of course the recent and very strange earthquake in Toronto. Though these are all natural occurences (minus the ice caps melting) in retrospect they're happening in such dramatic volume and having such devastatingly adverse affects that many people's eyes are being opened. Many people are realizing that we, as humans, may be playing a critical role in all this.

Friend: What do you think we can do about it?
Self: Well, which one?!

Friend: Lots of love; well..any of them, I guess.
Self: The answers are all right there in front of us, as far as what we can do individually to empower our sense of knowing that we're part of the solution, as welll as helping the earth. Organic food versus the erosive effects on the soil that conventional (chemical reliant) farming methods use. Energy saving lightbulbs; recycling every chance we get; walking or riding your bike versus driving a mile down the road-the planet's health is OUR HEALTH!!! I know you're smart enough to know that though. Oh, and of course, turning our computers and cellphones off when we're not using them!

Friend: What do these considerations have to do with the natural disasters occuring?
Self: My personal opinion is that there's a link between the heat that emanates from millions of people's cell phones and the computer screens we read and write on everyday, and the global warming. Of course, global warming is causing the ice caps to melt. The temperatures and weather patterns shifting worldwide are both a part of the global warming, and an effect of global warming. But, it is over consumption that is causing the rapid decaying of the earth.

Friend: How much of your second book is about nature and it's current state?
Self: Actually (smiles) as passionate as I am about it, it's more sprinkled throughout the book. There are the normal elements of human drama unfolding throughout; that's life. My writing stays close to the living human experience. Joys and sorrows are equally okay, and embraced. What I like about the characters in CAPED IN MISSION (the 1st book) and the second, is that they have such a sense of humour, resiliency, and curiosity surrounding both natural disasters and the relationship disasters caused by thoughtless people.

Friend: What is going on between the characters in TOVA; what kind of stuff are they working through?
Self: A young girl is seeking redemption; she's lost her faith in human goodness. At the age of 17 she's lost and wishing for understanding surrounding the death of her brother who died ten years prior. She never considers to create space for forgiveness, in order to redeem her faith in others, but pretty soon she finds herself without any other option due to external circumstances.

Friend: Sounds like a stupendous book, really. I look forward to reading it as it comes out on shelves....right after you finish completing this one (bright smiles)
Self: Thank you.

ps) St Maarten, where I am vacationing right now has NO RECYCLING....most tourists are from The States, and most of their food is imported from France. One farmer has figured out how to grow here by growing organically. By doing so he can provide food for himself, family and community. The only farm is 300 years old and no longer grows food,though it is now an eco-extreme resort called Loterie Farm that preserves the land. The produce at the super market appears to be affected by lack of rain; the citrus is dry and often discolored.

Question For Gaia Madelaine Standing: Focus

2010-06-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Question Asked :

Hi Gaia.....so... any tips on how to focus to write when there is SO MUCH in the brain that needs to be on paper?

Answer:

Though writing is alot of work, do not look at it as a chore! Writing is magical and other wordly; that's likely what got you writing in the first place. (If you're anything like myself)

Don't over think it.

When you have the time and the mood strikes you, you do it! Just like all the other best things in life. heh-hmm)

Shift from "I hafta," to "I wanna" and, even better, to an "I AM-MMMAAA!"

Hope this helps. In retrospect; if you're finding it's impossible to actually write and you're finding yourself just thinking about it all the time---maybe you're meant to take a wee break, refresh, and then put the peddle to the metal again!

MY QUESTION TO YOU:

Are you thinking more about writing, than you are actually writing? Our minds create the demands; our bodies deliver the demands our highest self truly wishes to carry out...on an ideal day, that is.

The man in this picture is Mr Bill Woo. He knew how to connect his mind's demands to his body by sheer will. This man was my yoga student at 84 years of age. There were days he didn't feel like doing it, but he did it. I believe that he had an awareness of what needed to be done; he is one of my personal inspirations.

Beliee, my friend.

May we all believe that what we truly wish for is 100% capable of manifesting itself.

I don't kn