Tag Archives: water

The Road to Diamond, Day 192: Own Inner Voice Speaks

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

June 8, 2025- The message was crystal clear, this morning: “You need no coffee right now. Water is more urgent.” It was certainly a no-brainer; it’s hot, for the next several days. This, however, is a long-term notion. I can, and will, drastically cut back on coffee consumption (no more 3-4 cups a day), and when visiting lovely cafes, can order items such as “Golden Milk”, fruity coolers or chai, especially during our lengthy heat cycle. (It’s not just here in Arizona. Both places that are potentially alternate residences-North Texas and the Philippines, lend themselves well to consumption of cool beverages. Europe (September) will also have a plethora of healthy beverages, besides great coffee-and tea.

I have often relied on spirit guides, and the loving advice of friends and family, in both health-related matters and planning activities or travel. In planning changes to my diet, the past day or so, my own inner voice took charge. So, cool water or shakes will be at my side, while I read the morning paper.

Meals are always smaller in the summer. Breakfast, except for the Post on Sunday, is fairly small. Lunch is a plateful of nuts and crunchy (the traditional meaning of the word) mini-pretzels. Dinner is a modest portion of something healthful, though not often vegetarian or vegan. There is no going back to heavy.

I owe it to my little family, to someone else who I love very much and to so many, both here and across the globe, who have been so kind and devoted to my well-being, to cultivate and listen to the inner voice that wants me to stay the course, for another 25 years at least.

Raise a glass of cucumber or melon water, or a cup of coolness, to the faithful inner voice!

The Road to Diamond, Day 37: On Leaving Home Without It

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Entertainment, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

“Know thou that every fixed star hath its planets, and every planet its creatures, whose number no man can compute”.– Baha’u’llah, “Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, page 163

January 4, 2025- In the film, “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” (1986), a Native American man casts aspersions, in no uncertain terms, on those who would not think of leaving home without their credit cards. I don’t leave home without my wallet, so maybe Tom-Tom would get on my case. Whatever. I do, however, leave my phone behind, when on short in-town errands, on weekends.

What few of us leave behind, though, is our spirit, our basic self. This evening, I watched a You Tube video by a woman who said she was channeling a spirit from another realm. I did this out of curiosity, as to what the being could possibly say that would mesh with what Baha’u’llah teaches , regarding the future of humanity.

While the woman used a carnival fortune teller voice, during her channeling, and frequently referred to the interstellar messengers as “ETs”, rather than their galactic or stellar origins, she did hit on several points that Baha’u’llah mentions: The worn-out institutions of human society are collapsing, and a new, more equitable, planet-wide society will slowly, but steadily begin to emerge, this year, as more of us have a better sense of the light (spiritual power) within us. As more people realize their spiritual power, conflict will abate, and still others will develop their light power. Christians know this as “the Kingdom of God on Earth”, and Baha’is certainly concur with that notion. She told her viewers that we would do well to not pay much mind to the collapsing institutions, save to survive and focus on the positive energy that was rising.

An interesting analogy was made, noting that the power of water on Earth is gradually being released, as ice melts. Ice was likened to the pent-up, unused potential of each person. As ice melts, so does our potential get tapped for optimum use. That is a positive spin on climate change. I do sense a different energy, these past four days, and see a good many people are showing positive vibes. There seems more common sense, efficiency and heightened intuition, at least around town. While I don’t need a fortune teller to clue me in on these matters, I’m glad we’re on the same wavelength.

Tom-Tom aside, let’s not leave home without our essentials.

The Road to Diamond, Day 32: Fluidity

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Posted by on in distraction issues, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

December 30, 2024- As I listen to traditional Celtic folk tunes, a sense of the flow between permanence and impermanence comes into the ether. These songs have been around for over a thousand years, and have largely remained the same. A few clever musicians have tried to rework them into rock or jazz, but by and large, they have come across as too clever by half, and the songs endure as ever.

The same has been true of my life. The themes of quietly being in support of my parents, siblings, wife, child and friends and of walking in love for all about me have ever been present, even when in moments of false bravado, role confusion and lack of self-confidence or self-loathing, I presented different themes. My struggles, in my twenties and fifties, did not define me, instead bringing up baggage that needed to be cast off. In maturity, this song has also remained more like its original form.

Water does not let barriers prevent it from doing its prescribed tasks. It sometimes flows around, at other times over, or may even undermine the foundations of a barrier. Water takes materials along with it and is ever bound to head towards the ocean, to the whole.

It is the same with each of us. Fulfillment requires fluidity, transparency and use of other divinely-given properties. Water’s properties can be used for good, or for ill. The same is true for the properties of air, fire and mineral. We are, physically, a combination of water and mineral, so it is true of us as well. This is a contingent plane of existence, so we may choose good or ill. Just as water must sometimes change course, so must each of us, adapting to changes in circumstance, remaining fluid.

I have had these same thoughts at the end of every calendar year-and with the end of a given cycle. The year now ending has seen plenty of both; so, too, will the year that will shortly commence.

Life Blood

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Posted by on in collaborating, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

September 15, 2021- It has taken a long time, but I think a contact in another country far from here has finally mustered the self-confidence to advocate for his children. Strong parenthood is one of the life bloods of a child who grows ready to face a life of challenges. The other key elements are strong will, a sense of humour and an inborn love for humanity.

I spent a good part of today greeting people at a Red Cross Blood Drive. 27 people donated one blood product or another-a good effort that matters in the current environment of disease, fire and flood. Blood, both actual and allegorical, is what drives human life and its various efforts.

I have had good friends tell me that money is the life blood of society. It has a key role to play, certainly, as there isn’t a whole lot of physical progress that can take place, over time, without some medium of exchange. Even a hermit farmer has to buy seeds, at least initially. I also recognize that water, which is after all the primary medium of blood, is then the “blood” of all life. Then, too, humaneness is the social life blood. No one can really thrive, unless treated humanely, over time.

Finally, though, I recognize that love is the ultimate life blood. Nothing can exist for long without it.

A War On Main Street?

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Posted by on in collaborating, distraction issues, impediments, Personal Values, Striving

December 20, 2018, Prescott-

Is there a war against Main Street?

I have read some commentaries to that effect.

The financial sector is headed towards a period of decline.

This always gets turned into “The Big Boys are out to get us,

and right in time for Christmas, yet!!”

It happened in 2008,

and many small investors lost a fair amount.

This largely was blamed on the Federal Reserve Bank,

and on fearful large investors,

who took their money and ran.

It happened in 1929,

and everyone got clobbered.

This one will likely last two or three years,

and so I will keep on working,

for two of those years,

and will largely behave,

as if I have nary a dime.

Behind the scenes,

many people,

including me,

will be working with people

smarter in these matters than I,

and safeguarding our portfolios.

Money is like water.

It seems to disappear,

but where does it actually go?

I will find out,

and get my foot in that door.

Money is like water.

It never really dissipates.

It just shifts form,

and changes locations.

This, too, shall pass.

Open your eyes,

Main Street,

and don’t worry

about the Big Dogs.

You can beat them,

at their own game.

 

 

The Fast: Day 14- Diet

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Posted by on in impediments, Matters of Faith, Spiritual, Striving

March 15, 2018, Prescott-

One of the challenges I used to face, when I first became a Baha’i and started fasting, was what sort of food and beverage intake would sustain me, through a normal day.  I did not want to be one of those who went through the workday, zombie-like, getting the shakes from not having my customary mid-morning coffee break, or small lunch.  I did not want to go home after work and slide into bed for the three hours that remained before dinner.

While my appetite has certainly gone down, especially in my sixties, here is what still works well:  Early morning  breakfast- Two proteins (Meat, cheese, yogurt or beans); two sources of complex carbohydrates (Organic bread, whole grain cereal); one serving of fruit; one serving of vegetable; two 8 oz. glasses of water, with a slice of lemon; coffee with milk or cream.  Post sunset dinner (One protein; one complex carb; a salad; a serving of fruit or frozen yogurt; a glass of water with lemon; coffee (black) or tea (herbal).

Sometimes, when I have been feeling that the fast, on a given day, seems too long, I will make room for tea made of puerh, or other digestive aid, which helps suppress the urge to turn to food as a distraction.

Baha’u’llah did not intend the Fast to be an endurance test, thus allowing those 70 years of age or above, to refrain from the dietary portion of the Fast.  Three years from now, I will still wake before sunrise and offer prayers and meditation, but not refrain from food and beverage.  There is a wisdom in this, allowing our bodies to be better equipped for the challenges that often come with advancing age.

I believe that diet is the best form of medical self-care.

Flow

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Posted by on in Poetry, Spiritual

August 16, 2016, Prescott- 

It’s said that heat enervates, stifles many things.

Metal can be an exception; loving the liquidity brought to it, by heat.

Man is largely made of water , however.

Water, and Man, evaporate with too much heat.

Physical relationships love warmth.

It’s no accident that physical attraction is often characterized by the term “hot”, to  describe an attractee.

Then again, scorpions are attracted to a steaming cup of coffee, when it’s left on a patio table, in a desert condo.

Friendships need warmth, too.

That is a fortunate thing- for dogs lying at their masters’ feet; for coffee house owners and barkeeps keeping their patrons’ lively tables well-plied; for the muscles that are so soothed by a respectful, but heartfelt, hug- and for me.

The ocean flows, largely warm, in its midsection and cold at its extremities.

Snakes like warmth. Fish prefer cold.  Birds take what they can get.    Man gets whatever he can take.

The Universe flows on.