It may help you to begin a practice of meditation by narrowing your focus. Recall that the purpose of meditation is to transcend the apparent duality of the w
orld by recognizing the illusion that’s placed upon our filtered perception of the world by the language and symbolic representation of the contrasting dual opposites.
The mind is so busy. Let’s narrow it down to just sound.
Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. Try to listen to the whole environment around you, let the sounds all merge into a speechless oneness. This is a focused meditation.
Tags: God, meditation, oneness
I am hungry. I could eat something but that’s not gonna satisfy this hunger. It’s a hunger to know truth, and food is a distraction.
Don’t worry, I’m eating ok. : )
This hunger in my stomach, I am coming to realize, is actually a hunger in my head. That’s the hunger I really need to feed. The hunger in my head wants a taste of the truth, you know what I mean? The tastiest ideas have some genuine truth to them; real food for the mind that satisfies this hunger for truth.
Truth — however we come by it, is something that we can build on, something that adds to our wisdom, that we can build a new vision on. The truth that can satisfy our head hunger won’t demolish the existing framework of understanding (though it may feel that way.) No — useful helpful truth is found in those ideas that shed light on the existing framework, help us see it better. See it for what it is. The existing framework is our body of wisdom. The tastiest ideas, the ones with real wholesome truth, will illuminate that body of wisdom.
We don’t want to demolish this body of wisdom, we want to illuminate it, give it the light it needs to grow.
We may feel a need to control and shape this body of wisdom, but mostly all we need to do is give what it needs to grow and be healthy. Feed it. So we need to feed the mind, feed this hunger, to grow our wisdom with ideas full of delicious truth.
You may think you know where I’m going with this. You may say “I’ve found the truth” and maybe you have. Maybe you have, this morning or yesterday. Whatever truth that fed our mind yesterday, that grew our body of wisdom yesterday, is done. The light has been released, the truth gleaned. Today, in this post-Christian age, all of yesterday’s ideas have been consumed and we are all wiser for it.
See what the world is becoming.
“Let us recall that the Villa Agrees, seat of the municipal undertaking, accomodates regularly various demonstrations related to rites of passage.”
A translation, from French to English, by Yahoo Babelfish, of the Swiss language publication about an annual effige-burning rites of spring event.
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Tags: babelfish, language, translation
Something is brewing at Traffic Ad Bar.
Creator Darren Merrett presented these tantalizing tidbits in an email yesterday…
Something new is coming!
I’ve just updated the miniblog again, only 3 days to go!Click the link below and login right now to find out what’s happening!
The “what’s happening” is a brand new program that Darren will be rolling out soon, in a three-phase launch. The first phase is just for members of Traffic Ad Bar, so if you want in on the first wave, this is your chance.
Sign up with Traffic Ad Bar to get first tier access to Darren’s Mini Blog, get a front row seat and a ticket in the game on the next big internet launch party.
Are you in Traffic Ad Bar ? DID YOU SAY “NO” ?!?!
Here is your ticket to the party:
+ Traffic Ad Bar is FREE to use.
+ Traffic Ad Bar advertises your website across our network, not just our website.
+ Traffic Ad Bar advertises your website direct to our member’s email boxes.
and
+ Traffic Ad Bar pays you commission for referring members who upgrade.
So, get into the free Traffic Ad Bar, and then register for Darren’s new brain child that launches in just two days — on MARCH 27, 2012.
Here’s the skinny on what’s to come.
We are well into the next phase of the internet — Social Networking.
Now it’s time to build a business on it.
+ 10 ways to get paid.
+ No need to refer.
+ Unlimited earnings.
+ Targeted ads.
+ Search engine style ads.
+ Banner ads.
+ Build followers.
Does this sound like a business you want in on? Then get in here.
http://trckrs.com/tamebearTAB/
This is your ticket to the game, the party, the whatever. Come on, get in here.
.
Tags: first tier, opportunity, Traffic Ad Bar
Sometimes clarity comes at the most inopportune moments. Listen to a brief heartfelt story from just about six years ago…
Tame Bear presents an original audio podcast from 2006: Calamity On Our House
This I know, that just as the reflections fade on water with the setting sun, so there will be a
new
bright
glittering
when the sun comes round again.
Many thanks to musical friends Three Blind Mice for the closing recording of “The Bear Lies Down” on this podcast, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.
It may feel strange to you if you’ve never contemplated this before (as perhaps you have not), but let’s accept for the moment that if you wish to live entirely and exclusively in the NOW, you would give up entirely any earnest memory or recollection of the past and even the vaguest imaginations of the future.
Are you using Twitter Lists? Here is how The Bear uses Twitter Lists to follow and keep in touch with many more people around the world than I’d ever be able to in-real-life.
There’s a pic of all my Twitter Lists — you can probably tell by the titles what each list is about. If you look at my profile on Twitter, you’ll discover that only two of these lists are public. (They are: “smart minds” and “my mentors.”) All the rest are private lists I use to group people I follow into various categories. Here are a few notes to give you an idea how I use these lists…
- Quotes – Quotations are big on Twitter; this list gets me the latest from my favorite quote-tweeters.
- Science – Actual scientists, science reporters, science bloggers, science enthusiasts, science media, Fringe and meta science tweeters. Heavily weighted towards physics.
- Funny – A few consistently funny tweeters, for when I’ve gotten a little too serious and need to lighten up.
- Tech Pundits – Leo Laporte and other podcasters, journalists, Apple/Mac fanatics, tech bloggers, hackers, gadget sites.
- The Money – One of my bigger lists; all the friends I’ve made and do business with through various kinds of online marketing, traffic exchanges, CTP, teaching and tools.
- Conversations – Anyone I have a back-and-forth conversation with on Twitter, who is not already in one of my other lists.
- Locals – People (both strangers and friends) in my local geographic area of Goshen and thereabouts in Northern Indiana.
- Speaking French – Yes I follow some French-speakers in order to keep practicing my French. (One of these days I’ll spend a year in France and really get to know the language and people.)
- Worth of Follow – Many many others I am following but have not yet sorted into these other lists.
- Biggies – Celebs, movie and music stars, great public speakers, anyone with over 150,000 followers.
- ACIM – People whose passion is “A Course in Miracles.” I’m slowly working my way through the course, reading maybe one lesson every few days. Has it changed my life? Time will tell.
- Spirit Guides – There are many wise teachers on Twitter; I can read and interact with them here.
- Treesh – A list of one – my sweetie! So I can be sure and read everything she ever says on Twitter.
Keep in mind you can put people in more than one list, and that helps not miss the ones you most want to read because maybe you haven’t dipped into a particular list in a while.
Meaningful, interesting and fun conversations can happen any time — I use TwitBird on my iPhone so I can catch the latest tweets where ever I am.
Once you’re following more than about 150 people on Twitter, you’ll really need a way to categorize them and dip into their streams regularly in order to keep in touch. Twitter Lists are the way to do that. And all or most of your lists can be PRIVATE so you can be free to sort people any way you like without anyone else bothering you about being in or out.
Got your own magic ideas about how to use Twitter Lists? Post your awesome brilliance, and share it here.
Tags: conversations, flow, followers, lists, Twitter
You may already know that Thumbvu is a Traffic Exchange, one that I really like alot and use for several hours every week to earn “credits” and bring more traffic to this web site.
What you may not know is that the site has undergone a major redesign, and now all the active members there are promoting it heavily, hoping to refer lots of new members and build their “downline” there.
The redesign is pretty ingenious. The focus is on “personal branding,” a kind of marketing particularly well-suited to individual business owners working to make a living from home. And to drive that point home, Thumbvu has put together a personal branding splash page featuring a sample of users and showing some numbers representing their passion, creativity, and helpfulness to others. And each Thumbvu member has a page featuring their own image front and center on this new ad page. Here’s mine:
What's missing?
I immediately began using the page to promote Thumbvu, in order to introduce the relaunched exchange to more new people and help grow the network effect for all of us. Right now this page is getting thousands upon thousands of views, and I’m sure there are plenty of new business people checking it out for the very first time.
But this afternoon, I suddenly noticed something about that ad… What’s with all the GUYS? Where are the women? Because you know plenty of women are business people too. So I submitted a support ticket to Thumbvu, suggesting they might want to review how they picked those six GUYS in the background to be the representative proxies for their exchange.
And then I thought about it some more and realized — hey, I can do something about this! So I did some quick screen captures and some Photoshop copy and paste and came up with this new version of the ad, featuring a half dozen “Women of Thumbvu.” Wouldn’t want anybody to think Thumbvu was some exclusive kinda GUYS club after all. So here is my new version of the ad:
The Women of Thumbvu
Let it now be known far and wide, as the new Thumbvu relaunch ramps up to a frenzy here in the coming days that women are business people too, and enjoy the same marketing benefits of that innovative Thumbvu “personal branding” that any six representative guys do. Come one, come all, the new Thumbvu is open for business — your business.
Tags: gender, men and women, online marketing, personal branding
LoseIt.com is the place where friends help friends lose weight. It’s also helped people lose some 7,766,000 lbs! and counting. The Bear started using the Lose It! app (free on iPhone and Android) earlier this month to track calories and exercise. There’s a related web site, so I created an account. 
My goal is to lose 45lbs by end of July, and I needed some motivation… so I posted a note in the LoseIt.com forum inviting others with a similar 40-50 goal to be my friends. Boom — ten new friends almost immediately.
Building a Social Network Around Weight Loss
Now that I know I have people “looking over my shoulder” it’s a whole lot easier to hit my target each day and get regular exercise.
For example: that double banana split I ate in the wee hours this morning? Bad case of the munchies. Yeah, I’m gonna work it off by hitting the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail and knocking off a few miles. (I use a Polar Heart Rate Monitor to track my exercise calories burned.)
It’s also inspiring to see how well others are doing! Charles Kemp, for instance — he’s lost over 80lbs and is just 9 away from his goal. Woot!
I always get a few nice comments whenever I drop a pound or two. And encouragement when I miss my mark or have an “up” day. Share as much or as little as you want; friends of friends see your comments and you’ll end up making even more friends. If you want to drop some of the holiday blubber this is the place to be. And if you’re looking for me to friend there, just search for my real name.
Tags: friends, Lose It!, social, weight loss
