The Bees, The revolution, Our bodies, Ourselves

     Today one of the most major issues that we collectively are facing is the loss of massive amounts of bees. I also see some other issues that we are collectively facing; pollution and the degradation of the environment, the ruining of our soils through big farming and chemical usage on crops, the poisoning of our bodies through GMO's and pesticides, our economic slavery that takes us away for the majority of our time from our friends, children, partners, and homes, the threat of cancer/ disease/ health problems, dissatisfaction with our own bodies and feelings of less than optimal vitality and health. I've felt these issues in my own life and awareness and thought and prayed about how we the people can change these issues. I've realized that these issues, as well as many issues that we now together face, are not issues "out there" for governments and other people to solve. We are the people, we are the answer, and we can save the bees (which, hello, saves our, ahem, FOOD) and the planet, and our bodies, and ourselves. Can I get an amen? 

       So basically here's what I think the key is, simple, simple, simple. The key is….drumroll… eating a plant based, whole foods diet of local, organic fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts. Best if sourced by a local friend or farmer or even yourself…..

        So for years I've heard local, I've heard organic, I've heard the bees are becoming extinct….but I've never put it together, never realized the connection so let me explain more deeply what I've realized….

        So the bees are becoming extinct and what is the culprit…we'll we are not totally sure of the entirety of it, however a big part of what is for sure contributing to it is the practice of agriculture in which chemicals are used, which uses chemicals that kill bees. So how do we put an end to the agro chem industry? How do we transform this corporate way of doing agriculture and save the bees, the environment, and ourselves??? Do we picket Monsanto centers? Do we petition the government? No. We simply stop buying and consuming the food. Any of it. All of it. For now, forever. 

      We take our money back to where it should be, local. We develop a relationship with the land and begin to grow our own food even if it just starts with a few herbs, maybe some tomatoes… We connect with our local ORGANIC farmer and begin to order our food from them. Around every city are plenty of organic farmers. We can connect with them and as a small community one person can go one week, even if they are an hour away and pick up grocery orders for them and their say 5 neighbors who live right around them and that way no one has to do it every week and everyone is getting their fresh organic seasonal food. 

     OK so what are the implications of this action? It is so multifaceted and powerful that I am just going to make a list and try to explain the different points as concisely as possible….

1.) buying organic food saves our soils…the use of agro chemicals has literally the same effect as NUCLEAR fall out on our soils. It also is then chemicals on our food, which we then put in our bodies…sound like a good idea? 

2.) Choosing to eat local organic means you're not supporting the use of chemicals in agriculture thus taking your energy away from the thing that is killing the bees. As long as you are eating produce and products grown with the use of ago chemicals, YOU are part of the problem (when I say you I also mean me because I am still on the path of becoming 100% organic in what I eat) So when we choose to eat local organic WE become part of the solution. Easy choice, powerful choice. Its a change that as soon as you make it begins to make a difference….

3.) Buying local organic helps support local farmers. enables them to produce more organic food for the community. takes money (energy, power) away from corporations, away from corporate agriculture that is poisoning the food, the soils, the environment, and our bodies. Begins to flow your energy from feeding the problem to feeding the solution

4.) Buying local organic and living from fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts practically eliminates packaging eliminating trash. It eliminates tons of pollution because your food doesn't have to be transported across large distances. It eliminates pollution by taking less chemicals out of our air. 

5.) local organic means your energy goes from going towards people having to work around toxic chemicals for corporations that exploit and enslave them to instead going towards empowering people to live in harmony with nature and to serve their community

6.) local organic promotes community

7.) By shifting your diet to local organic fruit veg seeds nuts, your are eliminating packaged process foods from your diet. That means you're getting the pollution out of your body! That means instead of putting your money (energy/ power) towards polluting yourself you shift into putting your money/ energy into nourishing yourself. Nourishing yourself empowers you to be the best you, which empowers you to live your true purpose here on Earth whatever that may be, which makes the world a better happier place…. 

8.) By eating local organic and not consuming processed packaged foods you TOTALLY disempower the GMO's. You disempower the use of chemicals that are killing the bees. You empower your body to thrive. 

9.) By eating local organic fruit veg seeds nuts you are taking your money/ power away from SUPPORTING CORPORATIONS that poison us and exploit us and putting it towards your community

10.) Your body will begin to thrive

11.) You will begin to feel more clear 

12.) You will have more energy

13.)As you eat more fruits and veggies your body will begin to look amazing and thrive. You will begin to feel awesome in your body. Allergies that you've had for years will miraculously disappear… try it, i dare you. 

14.) Local organic food is seasonal so the food contains everything you need to counteract the allergies of the season

So basically as we move away from foods grown with chemicals we move towards saving the bees, that then has a domino effect in our lives and on the environment that is so much more powerful than I can even go into here. What do you want your energy to go towards? Let us be the change we want to see in the world. 

Love and blessings my friends. 

a little poem for you=)

what if we all knew
how beautiful we were
and how much we're intimately connected
with all creation, and existence
and the Great Spirit, of course.

what if we saw our own light,
the glory of goodness,
and the inexhaustible well of love inside us.

now listen closely, i'm gonna tell you a secret that could make you very rich

-love multiplies when we give it-
and happiness is hard to run from then too

our time is short this go around,
though we might have the chance again if we miss it,
but why not throw off the hindrance
the fear, the meanness, the love lack that produces all sorts of ugly faces

and shine with the light of 1,000 suns,
like your face was meant for dear one.

reflections:

Imagine experiencing being so in the presence of unconditional love that you knew yourself as love; love moved through you and was you, a passionate lover of unspeakable and everlasting beauty of mind, body, and spirit! Any feelings of separation disappear; love is all there is. Ultimately, that is the victory in the game we are playing... cafe gratitude

I think our realities are created in a huge way by who wPublish Poste see ourselves to be. We've all created sub par realities by believing sub par truths about ourselves. I think some fundamental realities for me are realities of knowing the Universe's, I call God's, protection over us. to know that you're 100% loved, that your life and your destiny is 100% provided for…that you're already a success, that God loves you and made you out of great love, destined for great love, able to choose love…

we are given, through this opportunity called life, the chance to love. we can all choose this reality. the more love you give the richer you'll feel. love grows when you give it away. love forgives. love communicates. love understands. love respects and sees and accepts. love is patient, love is kind. It doesn't envy, it doesn't boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

we can start with the person in front of us. we can start with the people we work with, live with, our families. we can start with ourselves. 

we must receive the love to give love. we must first love ourselves. forgive ourselves…you are lovable. you are beautiful. you are seen. and there is always enough. 

with love -Lauren

come fly with me

i feel like im driving on the coast in a mini convertible with the people i love…that's the state of my heart these days. the freedom, the beauty, the laughter, and the love know no limit in this lush heart of mine. What is a kiss from God? The sunshine, the breeze, the smile of my roommates, the happy customers that sat at my bar, the irrestible grin on a child's face when they realize they're an artist, the beautiful girl when i make her hair more lovely…we are invited to be one with God dear one. Every passing second sacred in the backdrop of this eternal sunshine. Every quiet moment love is at the heart beat. Every hard day when you thought you didn't have enough money, when you thought you weren't enough, when you thought you were alone…Love was there. The Beloved was there, knowing one day you'd see the light of the glorious Sun, shining in your heart, shining in your mind, shining like you dear one, my friend. 

spoiled.

whoever reads this i pray would become rich this year...in every way. may you be spoiled by God. 

its 2011. it feels already like my best year yet. i feel so surrounded by God's presence, blessing, love, friendship, family…i feel like opportunity is all around, like doors are just waiting to open to me. like this is a year of great favor for me. i feel like i am going to meet more family everywhere i go. i feel like i am going to start understanding things i never understood before. i think this is the year i will take up a meditation practice. and just focus on things differently in meditation than before...

God what should i meditate on? 

Love. 

love, as hafiz says, what else should we even talk about for the rest of our lives. what else even is there. we must know love, be love, give love. every time we get out of step with love, we must realign ourselves. for this is the only way. 

do you ever wonder…why the eyes of everybody on the bus are empty. few light up with joy…or wonder.

i think something happens when we neglect to love. when we harbor bitterness or unforgiveness.

one, we stop having fun. 

we are killing ourselves from within. 

when we live to take instead of give we make ourselves poor. 

true riches can be created out of what we give.

if we give our lives, our money, our hearts, our kindness, our personalities, our food, our humor, our support, our encouragement, our love... if we but give, we make ourselves rich.

to truly be able to give we must trust in the provision of the Father for every single thing, or we may start to fear not having, and not give at all, for fear of lack. if you ask God to teach you to trust in his provision he will show you. God will show you pretty much anything you start asking about, i think. 

so true riches are forever because they exist in the part of ourselves, spirit, that is unseen and eternal, and it is the most real. it is the place in which each of us exists. we are not the body, we are the unseen, the animating spirit inside our body…that thinks and feels and dreams…that is us. so im saying…its possible to take that part of us, which nobody can take away from us…and fill it to the brim with riches. we can become so rich in spirit that we constantly pour forth joy and love and kindness and life everywhere we go, to every being we encounter. 

i am so incredibly spoiled by God. 

i'd like to share a poem of hafiz

WOW

Where does the real poetry
come from?

From the amorous sighs
In this moist dark when making love
With form or
Spirit.

Where does poetry live?

In the eye that says, "Wow wee,"
In the overpowering felt splendor
Every sane mind knows
When it realizes---our life dance
Is only for a few magic
Seconds,

From the heart saying,
Shouting,

"I am so damn
Alive."

this beautiful day

I used to feel like, when I prayed, that like maybe God wouldn't meet me. I used to feel like, did God "show up" or not. That mind set is so far from me now. Today I walked up Bernal hill, this hill that when you get to the top you can see all of San Fransisco, out to the bay...I looked and far out I saw a forest atop this giant hill, I saw the bay, I saw so many houses filled with so many lives, so many skyscrapers, filled with the corporate world, I saw the grass and these lush leaves growing from the ground, the wind caressed my bare skin, the sun kissed my back. Everywhere I looked...the people that walked by me, the yellow twinge in part of the leaves of a tree that's turning, the magnificent bursts of purple in the flowers of a nearby tree, an energetic dog running by...It's like now...God is so all around me, that sometimes I think I will just get lost in ecstasy, and possibly explode. It's like...somehow, and i think this happens by his grace, but somehow God's like stretched open wide this slit in the canvas of "reality" and let me climb through. Now I see the wonder of everything, and I'm sure I'm still missing so much. Everywhere I look I feel God, saying something to me. He's saying "love," in a million different forms. When I see a flower, it says to me it is His love in the form of beauty made for me to delight in in this very moment, when I eat an apple God says, "i love you, this was made for you," when I see someone sad, i hear God saying to love them, when a friend needs my ear, i hear God saying to me,  saying how much he loves me because he's chosen me to be the one who has the privilege to listen to one of his dear ones, inviting me to love them like he does...to be him right there. (i don't want to offend anybody here, you are always welcome to substitute whatever gender you like when I'm talking about our Friend, I'm sure the one who is Spirit wouldn't mind a bit) It's like I cannot help but see God everywhere now. I want eyes that i may see, ears that i may hear, and a heart that understands. i want to live in this great love that whispers invitations to me through every movement of my world. I feel like I've realized that here and now, in this world, we are 100% living a reality with God, whether we realize it or not. We are speaking to Him through our lives, He is speaking to us through everything...If you ask I'm sure He'll let you hear it...what you may ask? the music, of course. otherwise you may get caught up, and forget that this is a party.