Art By Tali Landsman

I set out to write about the energy of money. But my experience has showed me, that talking metaphysically about money and its place in the larger scheme, only makes people nod their heads in agreement, but does NOT help them put it into practice in their daily lives. I remember a book I've read years ago, called: "The trick to money is having some..." So I will start at the beginning and continue exploring it in phases, over a few notes. Please forgive me if I will not start by analyzing money in larger terms. My goal is to help you HAVE SOME..... (that is if you are unhappy with your financial situation) In order to have something in your life, or to be good at it, you need to first understand it. Think of it as an art form, or a skill you must develop. To be good at your craft or art, you need to explore it, practice it often, find out what others are doing right, and learn what to do, what are your pitfalls and how to overcome them. It is the same with money. In order...

Some people who make the shift into living with greater awareness, may think that in order to maintain a "positive outlook" on life, they need to surround themselves with like minded people, who will support their points of views.   They feel that being around "negative" people, will derail them from their chosen path, and will surmount difficulties in their attempt to be more life affirming and positive.   What a silly lie.... It does not hold ground on so many levels....   First there are no negative or positive people, emotions, or situations.   These are only opportunities to practice who you are, by choosing your responses.   You decide what the situation calls for and you decide whether to be gracious, funny, insightful or mean.   An example will be if you encounter a person being mean or cynical. The first reaction is to think that this man is acting mean,..... not just mean period, but mean TOWARDS YOU.   The anger based person will say to this man: "ge...

Do you know the famous book called "Everything I really needed to know I learnt in kindergarden?" Well.... If I wrote my own version of it, I would call it "Everything I really needed to know I learnt through sex...." Many thousands of years ago, (not really, but I feel old today), when I was a young and searching girl, I had an epiphany. I realized, that one of the reasons that I was not getting laid with the men of my dreams, was because I was aiming way too low... Not really asking Life to give me what I wanted, but kind of settling for what I thought I could get... It happened when I was vacationing with my girlfriend, Michel, on the shores of The Sea Of Galilee. Both of us were young and pretty... Wearing skimpy bikinis and big smiles. Michel was prettier than Me, with a perfect soft blond hair, beautiful green eyes and the most innocent smile you can find this side of Timbuktu. A speed boat came to shore and two handsome guys with perfect tans, asked us, if ...

Sometimes you get to have wonderful conversations on FB. I posted a note about the “Pursuit of Happiness,” and got some interesting point of views. A recent comment, evoked in me the desire to explore the nature of our emotions.   Carrie wrote: "I think that perhaps that we are all guilty of putting far too much pressure on happiness.  People tend to seek “being happy” as a constant state of being, when what is happiness but an emotion, and how could we possibly define or recognize it without the presence of all our other emotions?  Happiness cannot be a point to reach and never look back.  Our world and surroundings fluctuate and with that our responses to it.  There will always be situations and experience that evoke our whole range of emotions, and this should be embraced!"    These wise and earthly words, inspired me to write this note.     It is true that our expectations of being constantly joyful and happy, is what causes most of our disappointments.   We do need to em...

Dear Sandra, Let me start by saying how honored I felt when I saw your lovely message in my inbox this morning.   I know that it is not easy to share the intimate details of your recent separation with a "stranger." But of course you know that we are no longer strangers, since we've been reading one another's poetry and words for many months now, and it feels like we have so many ideas and beliefs in common.   Like you've mentioned, sometimes, just talking about our pain and inner doubts, as well as writing about them, helps to clarify them in our own mind. It is important to sort out the clouds of confusion and to be able to see the clear sky of our knowing and intentions.   Separating from a lover, is never an easy thing to go through... Even if you hold absolutely NO doubts in your mind and heart that it is the right thing to do.   There are many reasons for this, spread across many layers of truths.   On the physical level, there are the cherished memories, th...

The pursuit of happiness, was always a natural part of the human experience. It seems like it is a natural tendency in us. The American Declaration of Independence, contains these famous words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, That ALL men are created equal; That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. We always seek to make our lives happier, by looking for inner peace, by surrounding ourselves with good and fun company, by seeking to better our working and living conditions, by advancing our understanding and by healing our emotional wounds. We seek to live pain- free, because pain feels like a burden. Pain resonate heavily, in our hearts...... and close examination can easily show that living with pain, is unnatural. The body as well as the spirit, likes to dwell in a state of equilibrium. The body sends us signals, in the form of pain, ONLY when something is wrong with our system....

Good morning girl! Leave me alone! I am on a strike! Why? What's up? I do not feel like doing much today. I am tired of making breakfast every day... Dinners... I just want to stay in bed and eat chocolate and strawberries... But you do not have a good chocolate at home, nor do you have strawberries...You'll have to get up, dress up, drive to Kerikeri for an hour and a half, shop, drive back, undress and get back to bed to do that....That does not sound like what you want does it now? No.... Too much effort.... I will be back home by late afternoon... So what is it that is bothering you? Everyday it is the same... Get up, make breakfast, eat, talk, clean up, go to paint.......paint for many hours.... Take a shower, write some emails, make dinner, have conversation, clean up.... Read, write or watch a DVD and go to bed. I am not sure that I like this routine.... Maybe it is your period.....That is messing up your mood? After all, you KNOW that life could be worst.... You could ...

I woke up this morning and my bed was flooded with the morning light. I noticed that a smile of happiness was on my face. I did a quick inner check with my feelings, seeing and looking to check if I had any bad dreams or wrong ideas orbiting around my mind, that needed my attention.... But there were none. I was happy and calm. I turned in bed, looking into the harbor. Many mornings it is covered in a magical mist, but today it was mirror clear. It is a daily ritual to check with myself, and then with the day... Many months ago, we trimmed back the overgrown Puriri tree that blocked my bedroom's light and views. It has been a hard decision... It is a very old tree and a couple of herons used to come every year to nest in its high brunches. I could see them raise their babies and even follow their chicks until they learned to fly and went on to build their own nests in neighboring trees. It was very centering to look at them and to remember that we share the earth and have muc...

He was riding an adult size bicycle, which was too large for his young age. The seat was set too high for him, and his short legs hardly reached the pedals. As he made his way along the dusty path that led from the river, the boy was calling for people to get out of his way. He had no bicycle bell, and If he had to stop abruptly, he would have to brake and immediately jump off the bike to reach the ground. On one side of the handlebars, he had a small fish, tied on a fishing line. When I say small, I do mean small... The fish was a little bigger than a sardine. Two other boys walked on the same dusty path behind him, carrying their own "catch of the day". They were wearing only stained short pants and I could count their skinny ribs, stretched below their beautiful brown skins. One lucky boy caught three small fishes, and another boy, had one single fish on a line. The boys were giddy with happiness. The fact that they caught ANY fish, meant that their family will enj...

It was a lovely afternoon, but the place had a sober and solemn feeling to it. Nobody was here to have fun. I felt my heart sink... I was escorted to a small narrow cell with a small window, a single hard bed, and a shelf on which to place my toiletries and my handful of clothes. What did not fit on this narrow shelf, had to be pushed under the small bed. The mattress was really thin and offered no comfortable support from the hard wooden bed below it. I was not allow to bring any books or other reading material, and no pen or notebooks were allowed. It was late autumn and the nights were already getting very cold. An inefficient electric heater, attached to the wall, was my sole source of heat. There were nights, I was so cold, that if I was not totally exhausted and sleep deprived, I don't know how I would have fallen asleep. I was not allowed any form of 'distraction' like music, an iPod, a mobile phone, or a lap top computer. Men and women slept in separate quarters. At...