RESOLUTIONS

Making a New Years resolution is like broadcasting your intentions to the Devil.".......Alan Watts, British Philosopher

That is a pretty heavy quote. Actually, my mother, a wise old soul put it differently. "Kathleen, the minute you want something, the universe puts up roadblocks, so it's best not to "want" anything." Or in another case, my dear friend, Johnny B said in reply to me stating that I "wanted" to practice acceptance, said, "Why do you want anything, just learn to be." Ah, the perils of being human! I have to say that my experience in the spiritual realm tells me there seems to be forces at work trying to keep me from becoming my best, that try to keep me from progressing on my spiritual journey. Whatever these forces are they don't have my best interest in mind which means that the progression of a spiritual path stalls and I end up staying right where I am at. And to not want anything? Of course, that is pretty impossible as a human being - over the years I seemed to always be in a state of "wanting" something or the other. Even with my Taoist leanings of "everything you need is in the moment", it seems that I get popped out of Taoist serenity all too often.

But it is getting better. My list shortens and has more purpose. This last year, so much was accomplished that I can't believe it. Losing weight, working out, finding spiritual teachers, meditating, gardening, organizing my lifeto be more efficient, getting rid of clutter, the garden, the produce stand, finishing a book of poetry, getting two websites up, setting up a fund for families in need, moving into working spaces that are conducive for what I want to do and training in the etheric, spiritual and physical so that it can be applied to the voice and all that goes with it. The list continues for the new year; find time to write/read/study, going vegetarian, recording my next CD & a children's record both with original songs, opening up my own Voice Institute, go camping more often this summer and step up the physical activity. And of course the little cross hairs that get in the way - balancing and working within a budget and improving communications in business affairs. It's not a big list nor are these insurmountable - however, some of them get brushed under a rug, sidetracked, bamboozled and skewered - because I don't really want to do it (budget) or just get lost in the shuffle.

Oh, this just doesn't work anymore because as long as my thinking and/or headspace is taken up with all the internal chatter of life's clutter and whether my checkbook is balanced, it steals all the energy away from what may have more purpose for duties that ring through to a higher level. So stinking thinking takes over and leaves little room for loftier thoughts. Because of this realization, resolutions have now become something more important - however, they are no longer, what I "want". Instead I place my "needs" into right now and manifest as if it has already happened. I no longer get into the "I want" or even "I need" but rather state it as "I Am". Then I seem to become a co-creator, if you will, as opposed to a victim - someone waiting for something to happen to them. It seems to be working as now, I sometimes move almost too quickly towards my goals.

We live in a society of wanting - wanting something other than what we have. This is tricky ground to walk, filled with ego-driven landmines. The tightrope for me has been turning wanting into what my actual needs are and then living as if they are already in place. It takes some meditation, guidance and thought - but keeping the heart pure and my eye on the goal of what I am here to accomplish - seems to keep the journey honorable.

Years ago, while working with women who were ex-addicts and trying to put together clean pregnancies - would come to me worrying about every little thing. My standard reply was, "What are you worried about? It's already happened, you just haven't gotten there yet." (Believe me, there was a lot of eye rolling after that statement). How many times have I looked back and thought, how the hell did that all happen? Between the experience of living life and of course, the garden, have taught me to just "be" - the Water Course or the Way of the Tao. When in the garden, I compost, plant, water and then lower my expectations. Because of this the Taoist lessons of try without trying to act without acting come into play.

By doing so, maybe I won't attract the attention of those who want me to fail.

Or am I the culprit of the failure.....hmmm.........

With the beginning of the New Year I want to take a minute and thank those of you who take time out of your busy lives to read this newsletter. You have no idea, how much it means to me when you drop a note to tell me how you look forward to reading it. It means a lot because it confirms my belief that all of us are on the same journey - different modes of operandi, but the journeys are the same. My purpose of writing this newsletter is to share some of what I move through, hoping that it will strike a chord with some of you. Afterall, we are all part of the same cosmos and need each other to grow, love and share.

May your New Years be as loving and rewarding as we all deserve.

From my garden to yours......

Songs of Peace

"We sang all night and everybody went home early in the morning. It was emotionally so strong that the next day there were even more people. The day after, there were even more people. People took out their hidden flags. They had these flags hidden for 50 years and now they took these out and started to wave them."...Estonian "They listened to the sounds of the wind, the mountains, the creeks, the rustling grass and imagined the many spirits surrounding them. The Tibetan monks, used this as part of the preparation for prayer as a way to cleanse themselves to pray to their deities"...Humming Your Way to Happiness Sound is a healer because sound is who we are - a mass of beautiful vibrations as a result of connected harmonic strings informing us of all of that we are made of, beyond and etheric. We along with every living thing has a "cosmic hum" - which of course includes our planets (The Murmers of Earth, Carl Sagan). If we are so lucky as to be sensitive enough to hear the sound (Ah the ears of our furry critters), it is these hums, sounds, harmonics that I think prove that everything is humming along with everything - until there is a discord, putting us out of sync with the universal flow. And as we look around, there is much discord. What we have forgotten is that most ancient cultures and indigenous peoples, regarded sound as a creative generative force associated with the creation of the Universe, and capable of being harnessed to produce impossible physical and spiritual feats. I reiiterate "physical and spiritual feats", which brings me to something that I wanted to write about. Most people don't think about singing when thinking about revolutions and/or troubled times. But in Estonia song was the weapon of choice when, between 1987 and 1991, Estonians wanted to end decades of Soviet occupation. The Singing Revolution was the name given to the step-by-step process that led to the reestablishment of Estonian Indepedence in 1991. This was a non-violent revolution that overthrew a very violent occupation. It was called the Singing Revolution because of the role singing played in the protests of the mid-1980's. The movement started in 1987 with 10,000 people at a national music festival and by 1991 two million people joined hands while singing, making a human chain across 400 miles. In late December the Soviet regime was over. Let's face it - it is just getting weird out there or should I say here. Afterall, it is happening on the same planet I live on. So what do I do about it? Do I ignore it - the answer is no. Do I feed into the power of the negative as every newscaster and heandliner cast an eye on an atrocity that happened in Tucson or anywhere else. - the answer is no. The more we feed into the "paying attention" of how horrible it all is and then having knee jerk reactions which will take away even more rights, enslaving pepole that have nothing to do with these atrocities, we have to come up with a solution. Or do we find a way to "counter" the darkness of all this by bringing light and prayer? And frankly, I just don't think that we have given these incredbily powerful tools their due. It is really easy to point fingers and guns. But really, what can we do to change it? To change us? To change our world? And not to just change it, but to evolve - to have vision. Isn't it love? Isn't it compassion? Isn't it light? And since music is the most powerful thing I have ever come across and more importantly the human voice - is that something we can utilize for change. I think so. As a singer and more importantly as a voice teacher, I see people change every day as they and their voice connect. They are happier, more relaxed, more confident, their creative juices begin to flow, problem solving becomes easier and they and I have the most beautiful connection. They and I are changing, one cell at a time. Human to human, voice to voice, heart to heart. So why can't we inform change one person at a time? That is just what I am going to do. I have been inspired by sound all of my life. It has taken me to heights that sadly, most people don't get to experience. I am going to take this and do something with it. But let's not call it revolution. Let's call it peace. Let's call it Peacesong. From my sound filled, peaceful garden to yours.........

Unity In Action

If in the seeking of such goals, a soul uses behaviors of separation; greed, theft, lies, betrayal etc., then such souls though creators, do not understand the Universal principle of Unity from which everything is birthed or created. Such souls then create chaos and havoc that each of you witnesses in your world. If other souls seek their dreams with behavioral actions that signify unity consciousness, then such are true masters and co-creators of not just the world, but of the Universe and they function in alignment with the natural order of the Universe...Unknown

Let's face it, the Cricket Garden Newsletter has morphed and most of the time, has little to do with gardening...or is that really true? If I follow the path that I have been guided to, then all things are inclusive and it seems through gardening, has driven this statement about inclusiveness to the core of who I am. I don't think it's just gardening that has brought me to this awareness. It is, most probable, the culmination of a very busy and varied life, which included the arts - once again bringing my awareness to the point of realizing that all information comes from somewhere above my hair.

There is practically no field of human endeavor that does not relate to gardening in some way. Seen from whatever perspective I might choose, nature touches on every single aspect of human life. Therefore, gardening becomes the metaphor for life or the other way around. But it doesn't matter as life and growing food are symbiotic with each other which has to be considered, as we improve on, reinvent and are inspired by, to move forward on an ever-changing planet. I might not immediately see the connection between everything, but I do act on faith that more information will come so that I can continue to be enlightened to the connectedness of all things.

So what's the point of all of this? I guess it's that I now know that science can no longer operate without the etheric/spiritual/cosmology of the universe as much as the other way around. Each modality, science and spiritual cosmology need each other. Quantum Physics takes on some of these issues as does Rupert Sheldrake, Carl Jung and Rudolf Steiner. And I say, more of this!

I don't even know where to begin as my head swims with all kinds of new information i.e. sound therapy, eurythmy, essential oils (when I have time), organic gardening, becoming a vegetarian, studying different modalities for seed propagation and on and on and on.......but the more I open up to new information, the more it seems to me that everything seems to mimic everything else. I have to commit myself to a much broader way of looking at all of my interests while considering the life of the Earth itself. I must widen my outlook to include the cosmos.

Unfortunately, many of the cosmological influences have been diminished in their importance in this world of "only science is truth". It seems to me that some of the biggest revelations that have come through science, came through in dreams, intuition and mistakes. I have to ask that if you don't have the equipment to measure the unknown then how can you dismiss it? I would think, if I were in a position of doing scientific studies, than I would get busy discovering the instrumentation to disprove what I automatically was not believing. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not true. We have been fed the opposite for many many years, and I think are less of a visionary populous than ever before. Where is the magic in our lives? Where is our belief in the effects of the outer planets and how they affect us? Why don't we support our artists as we do politicians? And while I am on the subject, let's not forget the arts in all of this - is it no mistake that when we look at plants growing, trees blowing in the wind, birds chirping, dogs wagging their tails and cats purring that life is an intricate multi-dimensional quilt that lives with sound, texture, color and smell. Is this not a beautiful work of art? An all-encompassing involved tapestry created by something a little bigger than us? God if you will - or light or love or higher beings or universal design - but if I have something to do with adding to the beauty of this planet, I had a small part and got my marching orders from higher up. And even with this belief system, I plead guilty in forgetting this at times, while in pursuit of paying my rent or in my old life where I spent a lifetime of trying to be famous.

Certain truths are basic, universal, and transcend all man-made religions. For example, all cultures have believed in a sun god of their imagination since each day begins with a sunrise and ends with the a sunset. The rising and setting of the sun represented the resurrection and death of their sun god. The point here is that all cultures understood that the entire universe is a whole and living unity, which means that all things are connected. Nothing is separate as it appears to human perception, but everything is interlinked.

When the garden thaws and I am face to face with the growing of things, I hope to carry new knowledge so that I am adding to - not taking from - my precious loving Mother Earth. And with this new information, I can hold in my heart a basic truth; All things in our universe (including us) that appear to exist independently are actually parts of an all-compassing organic pattern, and that no parts of that pattern are ever really separate from it or from each other. With this, I can keep my heart open to all living things allowing a loving intimacy that can only enlighten spirit.

From my garden to yours............