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I am at peace in my life now. I slowly over the years put myself all back together again and have grown tremendously from this lifeless girl into this full of life, confident woman. I want this so much for ... all other victims. We are strong survivors who together can make a big difference. —Katie Burke
CLEARFIELD, Utah — On a frigid December morning in 2003, 16-year-old Katie Payne walked into the common hall area at Clearfield High School with her friends before class, her then-boyfriend's arm around her. Amid high-spirited discussions revolving around weekend plans, Payne's silence went unnoticed.
None of her friends suspected she was fighting to hold back tears. On the way to school, she would later tell investigators, her boyfriend had banged her head against the dashboard, yelled at her, slapped her, called her names and sexually assaulted her, with threats if she told anybody.
After that day walking through the school's halls with his arm around her, she didn't tell anyone. Not for six agonizing months.
Today, Payne, whose name is now Katie Burke, is — fortunately — in a completely different place. She married a different man three years ago, and she and her husband are expecting a child. She is one of 1.5 million students per year who experience alleged physical abuse from a dating partner in high school.
Though Clearfield High School worked to help Burke when the situation came to their attention, 83 percent of schools in the U.S. do not have a protocol or procedure in place for responding to incidents of violence, according to a study published in last year in Pediatrics. School districts and teenage peers can do more to protect students who suffer abuse in relationships.
"What about the student who has been bruised and abused? Does she not deserve help from those who notice in the classroom?" said Jagdish Khubchandani, an assistant professor of community health education at Ball State University who authored the study. "I am surprised it is even a question whether schools are supposed to provide a safe climate, and respond to incidents of bullying and dating violence, knowing fully well that these issues are at large in the American society."
What are the trends?
The study surveyed 305 counselors, all members of the American School Counselor Association. Nearly 90 percent of respondents reported that training to assist victims of teen dating abuse has not been provided to personnel in their schools in the past two years. More than 60 percent of school counselors reported they had assisted victims in the past two years, despite the lack of training.
"There are so many victims and survivors of abuse, at a young age, who are not being assisted," Khubchandani said. "To me, that speaks volumes about the condition of adults who are in abusive relationships."
As a psychiatrist with a medical degree from India, Khubchandani saw the rising battle against adult domestic violence in the U.S. Khubchandani and was prompted to get to what he sees is the root of the issue — teen violence.
Nearly 20 percent of teens who are exposed to violence in high school are victims of domestic violence by the age of 24, according to a study conducted by the University of Washington.
Many instances of violence begin in schools. The U.S. Department of Justice reported that 3 million crimes occur in or around schools each year and every day an estimated 160,000 students skip school because they fear being physically harmed by their classmates, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
School employees are being taught by old handbooks that don't address current issues, Khubchandani said. "They're still stuck on tobacco and obesity, which is OK, but they need to see that there are more paramount challenges at stake today."
The field of dating violence is relatively new, Carrie Mulford, coordinator of the Federal Interagency Workgroup on Teen Dating Violence, said. "We can't look back to see how dating violence norms have changed over time because people weren't really doing research in this area until recently." However, recognition of it as an issue has recently drawn the attention of many organizations, including government researchers such as Mulford.
Many parents aren't aware that it's such a problem until their kid is the one being victimized, clinical child psychologist Barry Plummer said. "This has gotten out of hand quickly." Forty-seven percent of teens said they had been victimized by controlling behaviors of an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend in 2009, according to a study by Liz Claiborne Inc. and the Family Violence Prevention Fund. Nearly 1 in 3 teens reported sexual or physical abuse or threats.
What are the causes?
Burke remembers meeting her perpetrator near the beginning of her sophomore year. She and some new friends had skipped class to go to the mall, inviting her future ex-boyfriend. "I was instantly drawn to him," Burke said.
Three months into their relationship, Burke recalled her ex-boyfriend starting to get mad about what she wore to school and who she talked to. "He hit and punched me every day, and the sex became violent."
When Burke told her ex-boyfriend she was pregnant, she recalls him holding a knife to her neck, threatening to kill her. She feared for her life. "He pushed me down the stairs and hit me with a rod."
Burke said she miscarried. She got a protective order against her ex-boyfriend a and he wound up on probation.
In October, the now ex-boyfriend pleaded no contest to allegedly pushing a later girlfriend, AshLee Bambrough, out of a moving vehicle. Burke and Bambrough have joined together to raise awareness, speaking about their experience at high schools across the state and creating a Facebook page, "Team AshLee," to update others on the case.
Many youth in violent relationships accept violence because their friends do, Mulford said. He says spreading the word about what is and isn't acceptable to teens can help get at the root of the issue.
Boys and girls who showed aggression against a partner reportedly acted out of jealousy or anger, Mulford found in research. Studies show that boys say they use violence to control the relationship, where girls are more prone to show aggression in self-defense, Mulford said.
Teens pick these patterns up early on in life, Khubchandani said. "This needs to be prevented before they begin believing this is the norm."
What are schools doing?
There is a gap in education in which students aren't learning about what is and isn't a healthy relationship, said Cristina Escobar, director of Love is Respect — an Austin, Texas-based collaboration between Break the Cycle and the National Dating Abuse Helpline, which seeks to educate and empower youth and young adults to prevent and end teen dating violence.
Break the Cycle distributes curriculum to schools across the country, trains teachers and school counselors, connects schools with community resources, and puts policies in place with a protocol to follow when an issue arises.
Love is Respect offers a national, 24/7 hotline — launched in 2007 with help from founding sponsor Liz Claiborne Inc. — that is accessible by phone or Internet to parents, teachers and students.
Additional programs are being implemented to help teachers educate teens about the issue. The National Crime Prevention Program has instituted a program called Community Works, which gives middle and high school teachers curriculum to educate students about violence, usually in an after-school format. The program, which has reached over 800 community work sites within the U.S., is focused on involving teens in discussion and solutions, National Crime Prevention Program Communications and Marketing Director Michelle Boykins said.
Teens should be aware of the issue, but schools also should handle reports of dating violence consistently, said Barbara Higgins, family crimes and intervention coordinator and victim advocate with the Sandy police. Instead, different schools follow different policies.
Teen dating violence is not tied to any specific code in many states, including Utah, Higgins said. "It's an umbrella to a lot of other crimes." Though much more can be done, schools try to work with officers in removing youth from schools or changing school schedules, Higgins said.
"If a student is being harassed by another student, they are encouraged to report that to any adult in the system," said Christopher Williams, the Community Relations Director for Davis School District. "That information will be shared with student services. "I've worked for the school district for 13 years and I can say that I don't know of any situation in which harassment or bullying or intimidation has been allowed, when it has been reported."
Moving forward
Ultimately, teens themselves can play the biggest role in combating teen dating violence, Plummer said. "The kids on the periphery are the most powerful agents of change. They can stop and convince their other peers to stop what they're doing."
Burke, for her part, has since learned to pick up the pieces and move forward with full confidence. She transferred to Canyon Heights, a private school within the same district, where she finished her senior year.
Burke went on to hairstyling school, at which point she met her husband, Gregory Burke. The happy couple is expecting a child.
"I am at peace in my life now. I slowly over the years put myself all back together again and have grown tremendously from this lifeless girl into this full of life, confident woman," Burke wrote on her blog. "I want this so much for ... all other victims. We are strong survivors who together can make a big difference."
Email: [email protected]


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Congratulations, Mr. President. This week you followed your increasingly populist rhetoric with some decisive action on behalf of the middle class.
Republicans have been waging a sabotage campaign against the lawful functions of government. With these recess appointments you've shown that you'll use your Presidential authority to stop them. Unfortunately, your Treasury and Justice Departments are still running interference for the big banks.
Your officials are pushing a foreclosure settlement that thwarts justice and potentially leaves criminals in positions of wealth and power. If this settlement is finalized it would undo all your recent efforts, leaving the distinct impression that your Administration works for bankers and not the public.
It's time to call off these officials and instruct your Administration to pursue wrongdoing wherever it may be found.
Republican Fifth Column Sabotages America
Obstructionist Republicans have been blocking the appointment of anyone to direct the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for nearly a year, preventing it from assuming its full regulatory powers under law. They've also been refusing to confirm anyone to seats on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has paralyzed that agency.
That's not an accident. Republicans on Capitol Hill have had a long-term strategy of paralyzing the government from within in exactly this manner: by refusing to approve nominees to carry functions that were passed into law by Congress itself.
The CFPB is a case in point. Once it was created by Dodd/Frank (with two Republican Senators voting "aye"), forty-four Republican Senators signed a letter say they would refuse to confirm any Director until the bureau was made considerably weaker. Two Senators who had the bill watered down in return for their votes, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, then turned around and signed the letter.
Burning Down the House (and Senate)
See what they did there? The law was passed according to due legislative process,and these Republicans immediately announced their intention to paralyze the bureau with a technical trick. That's sabotage, and the saboteurs included two Senators who won concessions in return for their votes and then worked to undermine the very deal they'd accepted.
As for the NLRB, Dave Johnson recently observed that Republicans paralyzed it by using the same tactic – refusing to confirm anyone for seats on its board. As a result, American employees were left without government-sponsored workplace protections.
Republicans also set about to deliberately obstruct and hinder the functioning of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a bipartisan panel created by Congress to investigate the causes of the financial crisis that has harmed tens of millions of people. As internal emails and other evidence soon made clear, several Republican appointees made it their business to obstruct the Commission's actions. Then they fought to discredit the Commission's final report. (See here and here.)
That's sabotage, pure and simple.
The Turnaround
Faced with such brutal obstructionism, it's been remarkable at best that this President has used his recess appointment power much less than his predecessors. That has seemed like a remarkably passive response to a concerted Republican campaign designed to paralyze the lawful functions of government.
Now it looks as if the President is beginning to fight back. CFPB Director Richard Corday is promising aggressive action and the NLRB can go back to work protecting Americans who work for a living. This action caps a two-month period in which the President has begun using the populist rhetoric of Teddy Roosevelt and Occupy Wall Street, and has promised at long last to stop dancing with an obstructionist Congress and take bold action to address our ongoing economic crisis.
He's being rewarded for it in his poll numbers, too. He's still in big trouble compared to his predecessors – even Jimmy Carter was doing much better at this point in his Presidency – his approval ratings have jumped since he began following some of the advice he's been getting from the much-decried "institutional left."
That shouldn't be a surprise: Poll after poll has shown that the vast majority of voters (often including a majority of Republicans) wants to see higher taxes for millionaires, safeguards for Social Security and Medicare, and an end to the cushy treatment of Wall Street wrongdoers. Appointing Cordray will help him address that last issue.
If he keeps this up the President could paint a 2012 narrative that's straight out of a Sam Peckinpah movie: He was reasonable – maybe too reasonable, some folks said.
I can see the poster now. But everybody has their limit …
The artlessness of the deal
But any good will the President may have earned could be evaporated in an instant if a cushy foreclosure fraud settlement is reached with the big banks. There is a mountain of evidence suggesting that bankers deliberately committed widespread fraud against homeowners by filing false court documents (perjury), avoiding local and state filing fees (tax evasion), and deceiving investors about the quality of mortgage-backed securities (fraud; securities fraud).
The public has watched with frustration and fury as the SEC negotiates deal after deal with big banks to settle their criminal activity with fines that are paid by others (often the same investors who were defrauded by bank executives) while the Justice Department does nothing to investigate or indict bankers. A few courageous state Attorneys General have been investigations that could uncover the extent and nature of the banks' criminal fraud and put some malefactors behind bars.
Nevertheless, officials in the Obama Administration are still aggressively pushing for a deal that would allow the banks to pay a relatively small sum, given the scope of their crimes. It would shut down those state investigations, too. That would prevent the public from every learning the extent and nature of bank crimes, and would protect possible criminals from the consequences of their actions.
There's still time
Imagine what will happen if a settlement deal is announced in the next few weeks or months, and that deal allows bankers to walk away scott-free while homeowners suffer. The President's poll numbers will plunge. Occupy demonstrators are likely to target banks, the Justice Department, the White House, and every Democratic precinct headquarters in the country.
And that's not the tragedy here. The consequences for American homeowners would be the real tragedy: No justice for people who were deceived into borrowing money on homes that the banks knew would drop in value. No justice for people whose homes were over-valued by bank-friendly appraisers. No justice for states who were defrauded out of their bank fees, or for investors who were deceived into losing money.
Even people who were foreclosed upon illegally wouldn't be guaranteed justice, since the administrator of the restitution fund would be hired and supervised by the banks. (There would be oversight by government regulators, but how has that worked out so far?)
Don't do it, Mr. President. Don't let your Administration be the architect of a lousy deal like this. There's still time to do the right thing. There's still time to use your Administration's resources to help the states uncover crimes, wherever they occur.
Most of all, there's still time to issue a directive to the Treasury Department and Justice Department: No cushy deal for bankers.
Related Posts:
That $335 Million Bank of America Settlement: The Good, the Bad, the (Very) Ugly
Wall Street: Guilty as Charged Mr. President, Stop Protecting Bankers …
Pictures Of MERS, Part 1: Corporate Documents Illustrate The Mortgage Shell Game
Fix Foreclosure Fraud With A Borrowers' Bill Of Rights
Getting Medieval On Your Assets: Four Reasons Foreclosure Fraud Really, Really Matters

subset: commoncrawl


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Lakshadweep, formerly (1956–73) Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands, union territory of India. It is a group of some three dozen islands scattered over some 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km) of the Arabian Sea off the southwestern coast of India. The principal islands in the territory are Minicoy and those in the Amindivi group. The easternmost island lies about 185 miles (300 km) from the coast of the state of Kerala. Ten of the islands are inhabited. The administrative centre is Kavaratti. The name Lakshadweep means "Hundred Thousand Islands" in the Malayalam language and also in Sanskrit. Area 12 square miles (32 square km). Pop. (2011) 64,429.
Relief, soils, and climate
The islands of Lakshadweep are small, none exceeding 1 mile (1.6 km) in breadth; the Amindivis are the northernmost islands of the group, and Minicoy Island is the southernmost island. Almost all the inhabited islands are coral atolls. The higher eastern sides of the islands are the most suited for human habitation, while the low-lying lagoons on the western sides protect the inhabitants from the southwest monsoon. The soils of Lakshadweep are generally sandy, derived from the coral.
Throughout the year, temperatures in Lakshadweep generally range from about 70 °F (about 20 °C) to nearly 90 °F (about 32 °C). Cyclones moving across the Arabian Sea rarely strike the islands. However, the winds and waves associated with them can alter the land features considerably.
Plant and animal life
Aside from an abundance of coconut palms, common trees include banyans, casuarinas, pandani (screw pines), breadfruits, tamarinds, and tropical almonds (genus Terminalia). Betel nut and betel leaf also grow in the islands. Among the most notable marine fauna are sharks, bonitos, tunas, snappers, and flying fish. Manta rays, octopuses, crabs, turtles, and assorted gastropods are plentiful. The islands also are home to an array of water birds, such as herons, teals, and gulls.
With the exception of the peoples of Minicoy (whose cultures bear some affinity with those of the Maldive Islands to the south), most people of Lakshadweep are descendants of migrants from the Malabar Coast of southwest India, who had arrived in the islands sometime before the 7th century ce. After becoming established in the islands, these migrant communities (or their offspring) converted to Islam. Although Islam is the predominant religion in contemporary Lakshadweep, vestiges of the religious and social orientation of the original Hindu migrants are evident in the existence of a matrilineal kinship system and castelike social groups.
Most of the Lakshadweep islanders speak Malayalam. Mahi (or Mahl), which is akin to old Sinhalese, is spoken on Minicoy, however. Some people also speak Hindi. The population is concentrated mostly on the islands of Andrott, Kavaratti, Minicoy, and Amini.
Agriculture and fishing
Coconut palms are the agricultural mainstay of Lakshadweep. Copra is produced and exported to the mainland. In some places the underlying coral has been excised and the tracts fertilized with organic matter, which has allowed the cultivation of bananas, vegetables, edible root crops, and millet.
Fishing also forms a major segment of the territory's economy, with tuna as the primary catch. Many fishermen continue an ancient tradition of skilled navigation. Some still sail between the islands and the Indian mainland in distinctive craft called odam.
Food processing—largely fish-focused—is one of Lakshadweep's chief industries. There is a tuna cannery on Minicoy, where the traditional process of drying bonito also is practiced. Among the territory's other manufacturing activities are coir (coconut fibre) production, hosiery production, weaving, and boat building.
Although the government of Lakshadweep promotes tourism, the industry is closely monitored to guard against negative environmental impact. Permits are needed to visit the territory. Government-sponsored tour packages are available.
Lakshadweep is connected to the Indian mainland by sea and by air. Kozhikode (formerly Calicut), on the coast of Kerala, is the nearest mainland seaport. Kochi, also on the coast of Kerala, is the port of departure and arrival for most passenger ships serving the islands. There is an airport on the island of Agatti, which has regular plane service to and from Kochi. Mainland and interisland helicopter services also are available. There are only a few miles of roads in Lakshadweep.
Government and society
Constitutional framework
The governmental structure of Lakshadweep, like that of most other Indian states and territories, is determined by the national constitution of 1950. The territory is led by an administrator, who is appointed by the president of India. As a very small territory, Lakshadweep consists of a single district, with four subdivisions. The territory falls under the jurisdiction of the Kerala High Court.
Education in Lakshadweep has improved immensely since the mid-20th century, with primary and secondary schools available throughout the islands. Compared with other states and territories of India, Lakshadweep has one of the highest literacy rates. A college affiliated with the University of Calicut (in Kerala) offers baccalaureate degrees in several fields.
The islands of present-day Lakshadweep were first mentioned by a Greek sailor in the 1st century ce as a source of tortoise shell. Muslim missionary activity in the 7th century and continued contact with Arab traders eventually led to the conversion of all the islanders to Islam. Sometime before 1100 a small Hindu kingdom on the Malabar Coast annexed the islands, and after the fall of the Kulashekhara dynasty of Kerala in 1102 they passed to the Kolathiris, another small Hindu dynasty. Later in the 12th century, after a Kolathiri princess married a Muslim convert, a separate kingdom (including the islands that eventually formed Lakshadweep) was set up in the Kannur (Cannanore) area of Kerala in order to protect the Keralan tradition of matrilineal descent.
It is possible that the first European to visit the islands was the Italian explorer Marco Polo—if the "female island" mentioned in his 13th-century travelogues was indeed Minicoy Island, as some have speculated. In 1498 the Portuguese arrived in the islands. They subsequently built a fort to control trade, particularly in coir. Residents of the islands staged an uprising in 1545.
Successive bibis (female rulers) and their husbands ruled the islands until control of the northern group of islands, the Amindivis, passed to Tippu Sultan, the sultan of Mysore (now Karnataka), on the mainland, in the 1780s. When Tippu was killed in battle with the British in 1799, the Amindivis came under British control. The bibi and her husband were permitted to retain the other islands and receive income from them in exchange for an annual payment to the British. These payments repeatedly were in arrears, and in 1908 the bibi ceded to the British direct administration of these islands. Sovereignty was transferred to India upon Indian independence in 1947, and the islands were constituted a union territory in 1956.William A. Noble
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
India: IslandsThe union territory of Lakshadweep is a group of small coral atolls in the Arabian Sea to the west of the Malabar Coast. Far off the eastern coast, separating the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, lie the considerably larger and hillier chains of the Andaman and Nicobar…
India: Land…territories composed entirely of islands: Lakshadweep, in the Arabian Sea, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which lie between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.…
Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea, northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, covering a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles (3,862,000 square km) and forming part of the principal sea route between Europe and India. It is bounded to the west by the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, to the north…
Kerala, southwestern coastal state of India. It is a small state, constituting only about 1 percent of the total area of the country. Kerala stretches for about 360 miles (580 km) along the Malabar Coast, varying in width from roughly 20 to 75 miles (30 to 120 km). It is…
Kavaratti, town and island, capital of Lakshadweep union territory, India. Kavaratti lies in the Arabian Sea about 215 miles (345 km) west-southwest of Kozhikode (Calicut) and the Malabar Coast of southern India. The island is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) long and tapers to a point at one end from a maximum…
More About Lakshadweep2 references found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
- physiography of India
- In India: Islands
- In India: Land


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Ultra E85 Carbs from Holley
What it is: Now you can run E85 through Holley's killer 4150 style Ultra HP carbs.
Why you care: We've found that E85 can be an inexpensive alternative to high-octane pump gas. The catch is the extra fuel and corrosion-resistant parts required to use it. This carb has E85-specific metering blocks, a high-flow power valve, a big accelerator pump, and all the little tweaks needed to make E85 power a reality.
How much: $789 for the 750HP
Learn more: www.Holley.com
New Key Columns for Muscle cars
What it is:This is a five-way adjustable steering column from CPP. This one has the GM-style key on the column and is available in several lengths and accepts any '67–'94 GM steering wheel.
Why you care: Your steering column probably has the column shift boss still on it.
How much: $375
Learn more: www.ClassicPerform.com
New 460-inch Short-Block from Ford Racing
What it is: This is a 460-inch Windsor (351)-based short-block.
Why you care: You might already know about the big-bore Boss block from Ford with a 9.5-inch deck and room for a 4.150-inch bore and 4.25-inch stroke crank. But did you know you can buy an assembled short-block as well? The package uses a Scat rotator and Mahle pistons and is assembled in the United States using performance clearances.
How much: The M-6009-460 is $5,949 from www.SummitRacing.com
Learn More: www.FordRacingParts.com


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|Saffron Threads
|The dried orange stigmas of the purple crocus . Approximately a quarter of a million stigmas must be handpicked to make one pound of saffron. At $2000 a pound it is the most expensive spice in the world. Saffron imparts its characteristic flavor to Bouillabaisse Paella and is an integral part of Northern Indian Cuisine.
|This grayishgreen herb from the Mediterranean has a pungent robust flavor which is traditionally combined with pork rosemary thyme and other assertive flavors in stuffing and sausages. Sage possesses many medicinal properties: It has been used against colds and other maladies as a decongestant antimicrobial and muscle relaxant. Sage tea works to lessen lactation and hot flashes associated with menopause.
|A rice wine with a mildly sweet flavor sake is a cornerstone of Japanese cooking. In addition to providing flavor it helps to decrease fishy flavors tenderize food and provide balance to saltiness. Sake is the national alcoholic beverage of Japan.
|There are two types of this Mediterranean herb winter savory and summer savory. Both have a peppery thyme/mintlike flavor although summer savory is milder and used more extensively than the winter variety. Savory is often combined with fatty and/or acidic foods as it aids in their digestion.
|Sea Salt
|Made by the process of solar evaporation whereby salt crystals are harvested from sea water which has been evaporated and thus concentrated over a period of many years. While primarily sodium chloride sundried sea salt is a source of all the trace elements found in sea water.
|Sesame Oil
|The unrefined variety has a nutty aroma and contains compounds that render it resistant to oxidation. Sesame oil is 50 percent monounsaturated and 50 percent polyunsaturated containing the omega 6 essential fatty acid linoleic acid. It may be used in cooking as long as temperatures do not exceed 325°F.
|Sesame Seeds
|Widely used in Asia Africa and the Mediterranean these tasty seeds are an abundant source of protein vitamin E and calcium the latter being concentrated in the hull. Unfortunately the calcium is bound up with oxalic acid rendering it unavailable for use in the body. Soaking the seeds overnight in salted water and then lightly roasting them will lessen the oxalic acid content.
|Shiitake Mushrooms
|Available both dried and fresh shiitakes have a rich meaty flavor and texture. The fresh ones are wonderful sauteed grilled or broiled. Dried shiitakes work best in stocks due to their tough chewy texture. Shiitakes contain substances proven to stimulate the immune system and lower high cholesterol.
|A Japanese noodle made from buckwheat or a combination of buckwheat and wheat flour. Other varieties contain wild mountain yam green tea or green mugwort herb. Soba is available in health food stores as well as Japanese food stores.
|Soy Mayonnaise
|A vegan version of the classic sauce containing tofu (instead of eggs) oil sweetener acid (vinegar and/or lemon juice) mustard spices and various processed gums. While eggless mayonnaise is widely available in health food stores the commercial varieties all use refined oils; it is best to make your own using an unrefined oil and no gums.
|Found: 14 Pages: 1 2
|5336 Little Road
|New Port Richey, FL 34655
|(727) 807-3225


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art the cat was hit by a car in Tampa, Florida on January 17 and thought to be dead by his owner in Florida. He was found in the street in a pool of blood and buried.
Five days later, he showed up in their neighbor's yard very much alive.
"I saw him with my own eyes. I know he was dead. He was cold and stiff," the neighbor told ABC News.
They took him to the vet after his "resurrection" (maybe they should have done this before burying him?) where he was treated for a broken jaw, open facial wounds and a ruined eye.
"We have seen many amazing cases at our full-service veterinary clinic," wrote the Humane Society of Tampa on its website. "But this situation may take the cake!"
A GoFundMe page was set up by the neighbor to raise money for Bart's medical costs.
The Humane Society posted an updated on his condition Tuesday on Facebook.
Bart The Miracle Cat has successful surgery! He was a brave boy and is now resting comfortably. He is spending the night with our good friends at Tampa Bay Veterinary Emergency Service so he can be monitored. He will return to us in the morning and need a week or so to recover before going back home!
- Reposted by


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It appears new music from Justin Timberlake was well worth the wait!
The much anticipated album "The 20/20 Experience" sold 968,000 copies in its first week, earning a number one spot on the U.S charts. Internationally, the record hit number one in 89 countries including Germany, Australia, Ireland and Canada.
Timberlake's album also broke several iTunes records as the fastest selling album ever. It also claimed the biggest first week sales for a male artist in over five years.
The album was the third biggest digital debut in SoundScan history, only behind Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.
Clear Channel partnered with Target to air the IHeartRadio Justin Timberlake Album Release Party, on March 18th. The Release Party was aired and streamed by the CW Network, 175 Clear Channel stations and Yahoo!
At his party, Timberlake confirmed a rumor that this album is only part one. He plans to release another album later this year. Stay tuned!
-Kristina M. Dougherty, CWPhilly


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You'll Like The 2007 Chevrolet Colorado If...
If you like the rugged, bold look of the full-size Silverado, but want it in a smaller package that gets better fuel economy, check out the Colorado. The standard four-cylinder engine is surprisingly strong yet gets better than 25 miles per gallon on the highway.
You May Not Like The 2007 Chevrolet Colorado If...
Some may find the Colorado too narrow and, with the Crew Cab model, short on rear-seat legroom. Also, the Colorado's optional 3.7-liter in-line five-cylinder engine does not offer as much torque as the V6 engines from Toyota and Nissan.
What's New
Quick to answer complaints of poor power, Chevrolet adds two new engines to the Colorado lineup: A 2.9-liter four-cylinder and 3.7-liter five-cylinder. Also new for 2007 is a tire pressure monitoring system and a revised automatic transmission.
Interior Features
The Colorado's interior layout is highly functional, with all the gauges and controls in clear sight and easy reach of the driver. The seats offer firm bottoms and good lumbar support, and the cloth fabric is both durable and comfortable. Crew Cab models are a bit tight when it comes to rear-seat legroom, but front seat occupants should be more than satisfied. The one drawback may be the over-abundance of gray throughout the cab. Chevrolet has revamped the interior color scheme to lessen this mass of gray plastic, but the most vivid improvements show up only in the pricier trim levels.
Exterior Features
The Colorado definitely has the look that says "Chevy." Bulging fender flares and bright alloy wheels punctuate tall slab sides. Regular Cab models ride on a 111-inch wheelbase while Extended and Crew Cab models are on a 126-inch wheelbase. The bed length for the Regular and Extended cab is six feet, while the Crew Cab model offers a five-foot bed. Both beds feature tall sidewalls, for deeper storage, which give the Colorado best-in-class cargo volume. The Colorado features a clever tailgate that can be folded a full 90-degrees or set at a 55-degree angle, effectively placing the top of the gate in line with the top of the rear wheel wells, which makes it easy to load and carry, for example, large panels.
Driving Impressions
The Colorado's greatest improvement over the old S10 can be found in its chassis and powertrains. The new body-on-frame chassis is much more rigid than the old pickup. You can feel it in the way the Colorado handles, off-road and in the corners. Even over washboard roads, our Colorado exhibited none of the dash-rattling or squeaks we've come to expect from the S10. Chevrolet has also created a number of performance and off-road packages that enhance the Colorado's rugged image. Surprisingly, for such a small truck the Colorado possesses a rather wide turning circle. The standard in-line four-cylinder is fairly potent for such a small engine. When ordered with the manual transmission, it also offers exceptionally good fuel economy.
Pricing Notes
The Colorado Regular Cab LS has a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $14,495, while the Extended Cab LS starts at $16,895 and the Crew Cab LT starts at $20,895. Base Regular cab models can be loaded with options and still remain below $20,000. To help make your best deal, be sure to check the Fair Purchase Price. It shows the typical transaction price the Colorado is selling for in your area, a valuable piece of information when negotiating price. As for resale potential, the Colorado falls far short of the values held by the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier. Kelley Blue Book expects the Colorado to retain less-than-average residual values at the 24-, 36-, 48- and 60-month intervals. However, the Colorado matches, and in some cases exceeds, the projected residual values of the Ford Ranger.
Notable Equipment
The Colorado LS features a five-speed manual transmission, 2.9-liter four-cylinder engine, air conditioning, cruise control, anti-lock brakes (ABS), tilt-steering wheel, chrome front and rear bumpers, dual outside mirrors, automatic headlamps, AM/FM stereo, tachometer and 15-inch steel wheels. The LT trim adds Deluxe Cloth upholstery, power locks, color-keyed carpeting, CD player, forward-facing rear jump seats (Extended Cab) and 15-inch aluminum wheels.
Notable Options
Options include four-wheel drive, four-speed automatic transmission, power windows, power door locks, power mirrors, limited-slip rear axle, tow package, six-disc CD changer, side-impact airbags, traction control, rear tonneau cover and a Sun and Sound package that adds a six-disc CD changer and power sunroof. The Xtreme package is available on two-wheel-drive LT trims and includes the ZQ8 lowered suspension, gas-charged shocks, rear stabilizer bars, 18-inch wheels, body-colored front fascia and grille, fog lights and a rear spoiler.
Favorite Features
Tailgate Latch
The Colorado's rear tailgate can latch at a 55-degree angle so that items can rest flat on the top of the wheel wells and align with the tailgate.
Side-Curtain Airbags
Optional roof rail-mounted side-curtain airbags are a first for this segment.
Under the Hood
Engine choices for the Colorado include four- and five-cylinder powerplants. The standard 2.9-liter four and the optional 3.7-liter five are both derivatives of the new in-line six found in the Chevrolet TrailBlazer and GMC Envoy. Though the sizes of these engines might seem small, they are both big on power. The 2.9-liter four-cylinder produces an impressive 185 horsepower and offers up most of its 190 pound-feet of torque between the ranges of 1200 and 5600 rpm. That's enough power to muscle any lightly-equipped four-wheel drive vehicle through the toughest terrain. The optional 3.7-liter engine makes 242 horsepower. Both of these engines produce class-leading horsepower while returning outstanding fuel economy.
2.9-liter in-line 4
185 horsepower @ 5600 rpm
190 lb.-ft. of torque @ 2800 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 20/26 (2WD manual), 17/24 (2WD automatic), 18/24 (4WD manual), 16/23 (4WD automatic)
3.7-liter in-line 5
242 horsepower @ 5600 rpm
242 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4600 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 17/23 (2WD), 16/23 (4WD), 16/22 (4WD Crew Cab)
Editors' Notes
As gasoline prices continue to edge upwards, the compact pickup is beginning to look mighty attractive. Though it can't tow or haul like a full-size Silverado, the little Colorado makes an attractive alternative for those whose truck use tends to be more recreational than occupational. The Colorado's new 185-horsepower four-cylinder and 242-horsepower five-cylinder engines provide good power and excellent fuel economy, while a four-wheel-drive option allows the compact pickup to tackle deep snow and venture off-road. Although the Colorado's cab and bed are not the largest in this segment (and its turning radius is uncommonly wide), the truck remains competitive with Ford's Ranger series and, to a lesser extent, the Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier and Dodge Dakota.


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Yes, a free student manual is available to all online students which you can download free along with other useful downloads and web links.
Yes, when you complete a ProTrainings course, you will be able to log in at www.protrainings.eu or any of our online training sites and download the manual by clicking the "Actions" button next to the course you took. Most of our courses have a manual. We will add the rest as soon as possible.
If you click on the red "my account" icon at the top right corner you will see the link to download the manual. You must be logged in to see this and be registered on a online or classroom course. Any problems please contact us.
Yes, we have the First Aid manual in Polish on all relevant courses and we are working on adding more languages during 2013.


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Picked this up today at McNally Jackson, read it on the train home and thoroughly LOVED every second of it. Especially my co-Rookie Joe Coscarelli's Bushwick adventures, David Shapiro's story on dealing weed and Jenna Wortham's adventures in Brazil.
And since I totally skipped on doing a Holy Child #3 this past fall I think it might be coming out in the spring? I'm getting really pumped up for it, I wonder it will take me this time?


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How pregnant were you when you found out you were pregnant?
From my Navelgazing Midwife Facebook page, I asked this question and received the answers below. I felt the question could be helpful to other moms curious about what a typical (note I didn't say normal) timeline might be when looking at pregnancy test results. As you can see, there are wide ranges and ways that women discover their pregnancies.
What about you? What are your stories?
LMP = last menstrual period
DPO = days post ovulation
US = ultrasound
M/C = miscarriage
DH = Dear Husband
SLB: 10 days
KP: 2 weeks (4 weeks from LMP)... at the most, with my first 4 babies. Last one totally caught me by surprise, and I was in denial until it finally dawned on me that it could be a possibility. It was about 4 weeks post-conception (6 weeks from LMP).
CG: 6 weeks.
RH: Baby #1 - about 9 weeks... baby #2 - didn't have to wait 3 weeks to find out why I was puking... just knew when it started at 6 weeks.
DD: 4 weeks LMP, 6 weeks LMP, ultrasound confirming dates on second at 8 weeks LMP. Oh and I actually knew my conception date with the first, my hubby's birthday!
RS: Baby#1, 4 weeks, baby #2, 5 weeks with U/S, Baby #3, 4 weeks, Baby #4, 4 weeks, Baby #5, 4 weeks, Baby #6----6 weeks! surprise!! Only girl.
BJ: 6 dpo.
KP: About 3 weeks.
KW: 4 weeks lmp.
JB: 18 dpo. I had tried for 9 months, so I kept outing off testing not believing it had finally happened.
DSR: I can remember with my first 2 but with my last two, 7 DPO (3 weeks) and 9 DPO (3 weeks 2days).
CS: 4 weeks, 19 weeks, and 3 weeks.
ALDK: 4 weeks with my first, 8 days with my second (was charting, saw the temp. hit the third level, started having to pee in the middle of the night--I knew but I hadn't tested yet).
ST-L: 9 weeks, 9 weeks, 8 weeks, 9 weeks, 5 weeks.
KM: 5 weeks 6 days with my first. 4 weeks and 3 days with this baby.
BHM: With all three I 'knew' within a couple days of conception. But all had positive pregnancy tests at 4 weeks.
NS: 14 days.
JR: 9 days. IVF.
MCR: With my first I didn't get a positive pregnancy test until 1 week after my missed period, at which point I was 4 weeks pregnant. But I knew I was pregnant and I was damn sure it was a boy. (I was right). Same thing happened with my second ...boy, and with my third (a baby girl) I got a positive on the day of my missed period. (4 weeks LMP)
KBH: #1 I had my first us at 5w3d, so tested positive about 3w5d I think. #2 I tested positive about 5w, but new just before 4w. I think with both losses I tested positive about 5w. I always get dizzy and start puking constantly just after implantation.
EG: Two months, although I felt like I was pregnant for weeks.
EE: I'm the clueless one but I blame my long irregular cycles. (7 weeks is my average) #1 was 11 weeks positive test dated via ultrasound a week later at 12 weeks. Only clue was needing to pee often. #2 I had a positive pregnancy test at about 9 weeks ultrasound for dating about a week or so later that put me at 10 weeks.
NKW: Way before missed period!
AC-M: The first two times I was about 8 weeks along before I noticed anything was awry. This time I knew at 5 weeks, but was still semi-shocked since I didn't expect to get pregnant that quickly after having my IUD removed.
MF: #1 was 4w3d; #2 was 5w2d.
NL-T: 12 days.
SP: With some of them, as soon as the egg had time to implant, the nausea hit me. The way things smelled so much more. With the last one, no nausea whatsoever, positive pregnancy test at two weeks over due, and still doubted it because how could I be pregnant if I didn't feel nauseated?
KP: "Officially" found out, or "just knew"?
With my first, I realized, ahem, just a leetle too late that I had mis-figured my days, so spent two weeks vacillating between wondering if I was pregnant, knowing I must be, and thinking all the "early pregnancy" symptoms I was feeling were all in my head. I also felt implantation in a weird, almost spiritual way, a few days or a week after I miscounted. Then I decided that I wasn't pregnant because I felt so strongly like I was about to start my period any minute... but I didn't... and didn't... The first two (3?) pregnancy tests were negative, even though my period was late; and finally I got a faint positive... followed the next day by a negative... followed two days later by a strong positive.
With my second, we planned it, but I wasn't sure I was pregnant. I was still nursing my first-born, and could feel my uterus contract while he was nursing, but couldn't figure out if I was just noticing it because I knew we had had unprotected sex while fertile so I was thinking I was pregnant, or if I actually was pregnant. I took a pregnancy test a day or two after I should have started (remembering the previous difficulty in getting a positive) and got a strong positive.
SBO'B: First was 10dpo, then m/c at 6 weeks lmp. Then o'd again 19 days later (thought so when had EWCM) and found out we'd conceived again around 19dpo.. a tainted happiness, now the golden boy of our hearts!
ACA: With my first I was just under 3 weeks pregnant when I had suspicions (but the preg test was negative). 1 week later it came up positive. With my 2nd, I was just about 4 weeks and with my 3rd, I knew I was pregnant before all of them. I had miscalculated my ovulation cycle and had a "very strong feeling" that we would be having our 3rd before it would ever show up on a preg test. 3 1/2 weeks later, the preg test was positive.
With my twins, I realized I was pregnant at about 4 weeks, but then at 8 weeks had massive bleeding and cramping and figured I had miscarried. It wasn't until two weeks later (and a still growing belly) that I had an ultrasound done and found out that while I had miscarried, I still had 2.
What a shock!!
JU-M: First pregnancy (m/c), right at 4 weeks. Second pregnancy, 11 dpo, and with this one, 10 or 11 dpo.
NgM: Can I tell you how different it is now than it was when I was having kidlets (23-29 years ago)? I mean, seriously, 4 weeks?!? WOW! That's crazy!
With Tristan, I think I was about ...9 wks... had to go to a Pregnancy Center for the test, first thing in the morning pee, and then they called me later that afternoon with the results. Can you even imagine not doing it in your own bathroom?
With Meghann, I knew pretty early... maybe 7 weeks? I "knew" before the test... which I also had to do in a clinic (dh was in the Army by then).
Then, with Aimee... laughing... mind you, I'm a doula by this time, have been to, what... 30 births? Read a zillion and a half birth books. Was a LLL leader. Taught childbirth classes. I was also breastfeeding a toddler, had had no period yet.
And while I had a sense I was pregnant before the Official Diagnosis (cough), I wasn't 100% sure until she started moving... AT 6 MONTHS ALONG! Now, I was/am a pretty big chica, but still. When I was suspecting, I had TWO ultrasounds, had a vaginal exam by a CNM and OB and still wasn't convinced by their not seeing anything, so went to a German hebamme (midwife) who also said I was nuts in the head, there was nothing there. I'd taken no less than 4 pregnancy tests that also said negative.
But, when I was lying there in bed nursing Meghann and my stomach did it's I'm-going-to-show-you-all-my-appendages sort of trick, I told my dh, "THERE F-ING IS A BABY IN THERE!" And voila... the pregnancy test was positive and the baby could finally be seen on the u/s (oh, how archaic they were! no vaginal probes at that time).
I tell people that my pregnancy with Aimee was the shortest full-term pregnancy ever!
JG: Baby #1: about 16 weeks along. I was a teenager in serious denial. False neg EPT about 8 weeks before.
Baby #2: about 8 weeks along. Just got home from my honeymoon.
Baby #3: about 5 weeks along. I thought I was in early menopause at age ... 28. Hot flashes galore!
EHS: Absolutely 5 weeks each and every time.
VM: About 5-6 weeks with the ones that went to term. Miscarriages and ectopics were always later 8 weeks or more.


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Banana Bread Formula from Childhood
When I was a child, our home didn't typically have desserts and junk food around. My father was a health nut (and still is at 72), so any unhealthy food would be frowned upon. Hiding a bowl of chips and eating them quietly became an art form that my brother and I mastered through the years. My mother did however bake banana bread often and it became a 'healthier' dessert for our family. Less sugar and relying on very over ripe bananas to provide the sweetness...using olive oil in lieu of butter/margarine gave it that nice richness without the 'bad' fat.
This recipe is still a go-to for winter time comfort in my home.
FormulaMama's Healthier Banana Bread
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- Few drops of vanilla extract
- 3 large or 4 small frozen bananas, mashed
- ¼ cup oil
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir just until combined (do not over mix). Pour into greased, disposable foil pans. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean.
No, not mind blowing, but a nice formula for those who like this bread but would like it to be a bit healthier.


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Obomanu, clemons, trufant, hill.
After watching rrr talking about ray lewis having no regrets and "has accomplished everything he wanted to accomplish"
Any one who will bounce and let us become even younger...
The dawn of our dynasty
LawHawk wrote:Maybe Trufant, but I doubt it; he can still get work somewhere. Just not on this team next year please. Same for Hill although I would be fine with him here as a backup next year. Clemons is still good. Not going to retire. Obomanu is on IR and is not happy with the team, so I doubt he would claim this as some kind of accomplishment.
Return to [ THE OFFICIAL NET NATION FAN FORUM ]


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Call: 1.855.346.6533
Clear Cut Group services the entire Peel region offering both interior and exterior window cleaning. We also offer a window and eavestrough cleaning combinations so that you can save.
Service areas include: Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon and surrounding areas.
Give us a call or get a free quote online and we would be happy to discuss your cleaning and home maintenance needs in the region of Peel.
Peel Region Division
6447 Longspur Road
Mississauga, ON L5N 6E4
Local: 905-824-6597
Email: email@example.com
Professional, Courteous and Experienced Window Cleaning in Hamilton by Clear Cut Group We offer both interior and exterior window cleaning services in Hamilton. Take advantage and save with our eavestrough cleaning and window cleaning combo. We are fully bonded and insured. This will give you peace of mind when we are on your property. Window Cleaning at its Best Our staff are uniformed, [...]
Window Cleaning Division
Head Office
Address: 6447 Longspur Rd, Mississauga, ON L5N 6E4
Call: 905-824-6597
Email: email@example.com
Clear Cut Group
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Contractors | Privacy | Employment | Contact


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Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000
From MyLabWiki
Initial Notes
After installation, the software that comes with the camera works well and can capture HD-like video very well. However, when using a third party capture application, size seems to be stuck at 320x240 pixels. Holy crap!
- Camera detected and mounted as /dev/video0
- Most apps are completely dysfunctional and useless (as usual)
- uvccapture works fine
- width and height: OK
- Brightness: TBD
- Contrast: TBD
- Saturation: TBD
- Gain: TBD
- Supported image sizes: TBD
- guvcview works! and has many interesting controls
- Can capture video
- Can capture audio
- No focus control
Try the others from http://www.quickcamteam.net/software/linux/v4l2-software/
Programming: http://www.quickcamteam.net/software/libwebcam
Autofocus is built into the wintendo drives, thus does not work in Linux.
Q: How can we manually control focus in Linux?
A: There is some info about this on quickcamteam.net related to libwebcam


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Chevrolet – Bel Air, Biscayne & Impala
Rear Kit 1958- 1970 – Model CR 5101
20 in stock
Product Description
Firestone Coil-Rite airbags are designed to fit inside existing coil springs to provide levelling control to a vehicle when under load. These airbags are made of durable polyurethane, providing years of comfort and stability to a vehicle. You can adjust for varying loads and road conditions by simply inflating or deflating, just like inflating a tyre.
Firestone Coil-Rite airbags will:
• Maintain a level vehicle – adjustable
• Maximise the safe load carrying capacity
• Increase vehicle stability
• Improve steering and balance
• Improve ride quality
• Greatly reduce bottoming out
• Reduce coil suspension fatigue
• Keep headlights aimed on the road
Additional Information
Airbag Man
|By Car Make


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Thank you for visiting A Literary Spirit. This blog is no longer being updated. Please enjoy the archives. Here is another blog you may also enjoy:
Happy Reading!!!
Samsara Dog
Author: Manos, Helen
Illustrator: Vivas, Julie
Samsara Dog lived many lives.
Some of his lives were long.
Some lasted only a few days.
Dog never remembered them.
He lived each life as it came,
until he learned the most
important lesson of all.
I couldn't more highly recommend a book for Buddhist parents and children. This book is the only book I have ever encountered that intelligently tackles the topic of reincarnation, with a protagonist that is a dog. In each successive life, the dog is able to have a more favorable birth, and uses narrative (rather than explanation) to tackle this complex subject.
My daughter loves this book (4 years) and found it incredibly useful to learn about reincarnation and the meaning of this Precious Human Life.
"This is the most beautiful book I've read in a very long time. Beautifully written, gracefully illustrated and filled with such beauty, knowledge, and faith. I would recommend it to everyone. It will change and enlighten each reader." – Lucy K., Talking Leaves…Books
"The Buddhist concepts of reincarnation — and by extension Samsara and Nirvana — are conveyed with touching clarity…definitely deserving of a place on the shelf." – Kirkus Reviews
"Even if you don't share a belief in reincarnation, you should be able to appreciate these universal life lessons. So get out the tissues and be prepared for a lovely, enlightening, and touching story to share with your children." – A Readable Feast
"…this one doesn't disappoint. Vivas has perfectly captured the warmth and sentimentof this…story." – Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge
Author: Fox, Mem
Illustrator: Vivas, Julie
Mem Fox is one of the most prolific children's authors in contemporary times. Her classic Time for Bed and Where is the Green Sheep? have delighted millions of children and parents. With this book, Mem Fox tackles the difficult issue of aging, and the meaning of memory.
With grace, she explores how the word "memory" means to many different elderly people–and how a child interprets the world of a grandparent. I recommend this book for children 3+ who are old enough to explore the concepts of age, aging and nostalgia with a parent.
What follow is a transcript of an interview between Vince Horn (of Buddhist Geeks) and John Wellwood. I thought this interview would provide plenty of fodder for reflection on the role of conscious relationship in our spiritual practice. And of course, in light of Valentine's Day, isn't it a good idea to think about how we can train our minds so that we're able to love our partners with fewer conditions and fears and boundaries. Enjoy!
PS The most appropriate book to buy if you like what you read in this interview is his "Towards a Psychology of Awakening." It is a terrific read and one of the only books that deeply examines the link between psychology and spiritual awakening. Buy it at the Beliefnet store.
Vince: Hello, Buddhist Geeks! This is Vincent Horn and I'm joined today by Dr. John Welwood. John's a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist and he's really one of the key figures that have been working on how to bridge together Eastern and Western psychology, and also how to bring together, or how to work with conscious relationships. So, John, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. I really appreciate it.
John: Sure, I'm glad to be here.
Vince: Yeah. I figured it might be helpful to start with, just to hear how you got into both therapy and meditation. Because I know for me, being a child of the eighties, these things seem like they've always been together. But I know that when you were growing up, and that when you were getting interested in this stuff, they really weren't as integrated as they are now.
John: You know, I was a child of the fifties and sixties. And so, the fifties and early sixties was an era of great alienation in America. It was like everybody was into their materialistic thing and there was not much going on in the area of psychology or spirituality. And I felt that very strongly about kind of meaninglessness of our culture, and sort of materialism and alienation of our culture. And so I was drawn to existentialism originally, as a way to adjust that.
And then, from there, I started to come into contact with books by D.T. Suzuki and Alan Watts. And those were the only things available really about Buddhism at that time. And one of Alan Watts' books was called Psychotherapy East and West, and it was one of the first—he put together—he was one of the first people who actually really laid it out, and some sense of how, in his view, Western psychology, Western psychotherapy, could be an equivalent Western form of an Eastern path of awakening. And when I read that it kind of like blew my mind completely, it was like, I saw my destiny right there.
I felt like, this is the most important thing I can imagine. So, at the time I was a philosophy major in college and I started to take some psychology courses and I decided I'd go on in psychology. But, really my intent was to explore that question, because I was so taken by the early Zen Buddhist writings of Suzuki and Watts, and the idea of awakening and being able to step out of the cultural delusion that I felt like we were all in at the time. It just seemed so important to me.
And so I really approached psychology from the point of view, from the very beginning—I was looking for something that would help me answer those kinds of questions about how to wake up, what is the human being, how to be real, how do we deal with all our unconscious material, and all those sorts of questions. But basically, the question that kind of stayed with me throughout my years of graduate school in psychology—I became a clinical psychologist—but I was very much all the way through interested in the question—well, what's the relationship between Buddhist awakening, or what was called satori in Zen at the time—and what was the relationship between that and the kind of change and growth that comes out of psychotherapy and psychological work? Are they the same thing, are they overlapping? Are they completely different things? That was the question that really was of main interest to me. And it still is these days, actually—my whole life.
Vince: Nice, thank you. And kind of connected to that, in this wonderful book that you wrote called Toward a Psychology of Awakening, you talk, in the very beginning, about a distinction between what we might call the realms of the "personal", the "inter-personal", and then what you call the "supra-personal". And I found this really interesting and I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about these different realms and why they're important?
John: I think most people hang out in one of those realms. I would say most people who are interested in meditation or Buddhism, spirituality, tend to be going more for supra-personal realization, or something that gets us out of the morass of the personal and the inter-personal, which is often seen as just samsara. So…and then people who do psychological work are more interested in the personal: what's going on inside them, trying to understand that, trying to get to the root of things. And then, those people who just mainly hang out in the inter-personal: they do their marriage and family thing, and their thing is about being with other people, that's what's meaningful in their lives.
And so, often those three realms are split apart, people give main emphasis to one or the other of them. And I feel like it's important—the big picture for me is it's important for us to really start to understand and appreciate what a human being is, and what human being is possible of realizing in a lifetime. We're only looking at one of those, or even two of those realms. We're not complete. I personally think, for all our delusion and corruptnesses—that we see on our planet now in terms of the way human being are behaving—I think that's partly because human beings don't appreciate the incredible resources and beauty that exists within them, and in their relationships. And in all those three realms: inside themselves, potentially in their relationship with other people, and super-personally in relation to the absolute or to the transcendent or to the Buddha nature.
And if we realize what we have as human beings, and we realize this Earth is a Garden of Eden and we have everything we need to become completely happy, powerful, beautiful beings that are at peace and that are completely, you know, awake, basically. And so, I don't think that's going to happen unless we bring all those three realms together, however. And if we don't, then spirituality becomes sort of separate from our life or from our relationships or if we just go out for relationships, that's cut off from our spirituality, and they're not conscious, they're just kind of ways to try to make ourselves feel good. Or if you just go out for the personal apart from the interpersonal and supra-personal and you're kind of just going endlessly into your own psyche and your own psychological material, and that's a dead end, so. Part of this is, to me, articulating those three realms is to actually see the vast domain of what a human being spans. We have human-level, as human beings we also have access to levels beyond the human-level. And then we also exist in the context of relationships, all around us. Relationships to ourselves, relationships with other people, relationship to the universe, really, to the universal energies that are passing through us.
Vince: Yeah, and it's so interesting when I think about bringing them together as part of the whole path. It's so different from some of the original or early spiritual teachings where the idea was there's nirvana and samsara. Samsara is like our personal and interpersonal—we basically want to get out of that.
John: That's it. Most traditional spirituality and religion is about that, including Buddhism, really… it's a… or, at least, many strains of Buddhism, are really about let's… How do we get the hell out of here, and how do we get away from the Earthly mess, or the limitations or the conditioning? How do we rise above it, how do we go through it, move through it, how do we evolve beyond it? And I think the problem with that we've seen over time, over the centuries, is that spirituality then is then completely cut off from daily life, and our spirituality and religion is not transforming daily life. You can see after thousands of years, we've had thousands of years of Buddhas, people who've been waking up and having beautiful, transcendent realizations, but how much of it percolated down into daily life, and into the human realm of our lives and what's going on on the planet? Not very much, I have to say. So I think the time is calling on us to say, if we want to survive as a species here, you're going to have to really bring the largest truth down into the very heart of how you relate to other people and how you relate to yourself in a personal way as well.
Vince: You make the point in your book that in cultures like India, it was just totally okay to do that, to go into the supra-personal and to abandon the personal, so that there's even a cultural, a norm around that, that supported that.
John: Right, yes, definitely. That's the way it is in Asia.
Vince: That's interesting. It seems like we just live in such a different cultural context.
John: We're a completely different cultural context, which means I think that Buddhism really needs to evolve for our particular cultural context, otherwise it will just become like this hothouse flower, a beautiful thing that we just admire, but we don't really embody.
Vince: Really connected to this, you write in your book that, "We in the West have been exposed to the most profound non-dual teachings and practices of the East for only a few short decades. Now that we've begun to digest and assimilate them, it's time for a deeper dialogue between East and West in order to develop greater understanding about the relationship,"—like you're talking about here—"between the impersonal absolute and the human personal, indeed expressing absolute true nature in a thoroughly personal human form may be one of the most important evolutionary potentials of the cross-fertilization of East and West, of contemplative and psychological understanding. I know this is what you're talking about now, but it seems like such an important topic and one that we could probably talk about for a long time. Could you say more about why this is such an important dialogue?
John: You know, basically what we have often is a kind of one-sided spirituality, that's where spirituality becomes one pole of life that's set against the other pole of life. So you see Spirit and Matter, for example, or Religion and Worldly Life. In Buddhism, the same kind of split happens, and I see this especially often in Western students. It's the absolute truth that's cut off from relative truth, or the impersonal…meditation is seen as something impersonal like you're going for some impersonal truth, then somehow you can't relate it to your own personal experience, your own emotional life. Or you're going through some kind of transcendence and you're kind of leaving behind your own embodiment, you're not actually living in your body, that's very common. You know, I have a term for all of this, it's called "spiritual bypassing". We're using spiritual ideas and practices to try to transcend or avoid dealing with our unfinished emotional business and our psychological wounding. We're using absolute truth to dismiss or disparage relative human needs, feelings, relational problems, developmental tasks. That's very common, I'd say in most spiritual communities that are based on Asian teachings, Eastern teachings.
So, my work is trying to correct that problem and show how on the one hand, psychological work is a very useful and practical and grounded way of actually connecting with yourself. And when you connect with yourself, in terms of your feeling level—life of feeling—and again I have to make a distinction between feeling and emotion, which is again a distinction that's not really made in Buddhism. Buddhism generally relates to emotion and sees it as a problem, and I could see that too, but we also need to distinguish feeling.
Feeling, in that perspective is the life of the body, the intelligence of the body. It's a holistic way of knowing. Often, we feel something, and it's the way we know it, we can't exactly articulate it, but we feel it, we know it in that way, we know it as feeling. A feeling is fluid, it's alive, it's dynamic, it actually helps us when we tune into it or go deeply into it, it actually helps us connect with ourselves more deeply. Emotion tends to be going outwards, like in seeking some sort of external expression. That's why it's called "e"motion, "e" here is short for Latin ex, which means out of some motion, out of, it's motion taking us out of ourselves. And so, feeling is not really appreciated in spiritual traditions and psychologists are really, kind of specialized in how feeling is a doorway, and actually it's not just a doorway that's connecting to what's really true for you on a personal level, but if you keep going with it, if you really go into your sadness or your pain or your anger or your frustration, underneath it you find not just personal truth, but at some level, you find, you really bring your presence, you can bring your meditative awareness into contact with the feeling life. And at some point, you're actually opening doors into your own deepest nature, actually, because you find that, in the places where you were struggling…
Well, let me just give you an example, because it's better to take an example. I have a client who is a practitioner, she's a practitioner, maybe 30 years, but her practice is compartmentalized, it's so split off from her emotional life, so she does the practice and she actually teaches in a community and her sangha. But, then, what she teaches is not really hooked up with what she's actually experiencing. And so one day, we were looking at what was going on to her and she was stuck in this kind of victim state. Now, normally, we'd say, that's a kind of bad place to be, and she was trying to get out of it, she was very judgmental of it and so forth. But my approach is that anything that arises in the psyche, in the mind, actually has intelligence operating it, some intelligence operating it. So we kind of kept looking at, well, let's not judge it, let's not try to get rid of it, let's not try to fix it, let's just go more deeply into it, that's the approach I take [unintelligible]. I want to see what's actually going on in there, feeling-wise.
And so I got in there, of course what she found was, of course, there was a sense of poor me, that was the story, poor me. That's still not the feeling, that's still not what the story is, so we keep going well, what's the feeling? "Poor me." And she got in touch with this deep, deep reservoir of sorrow, basically. And, this is a sorrow that went back actually to her very first days of being alive, her birth situation. And from then on, we looked at a lot of material in her life that she'd never grieved, basically, and so it had become what I'd call undigested material in her psyche. It was really clogging up her capacity to be present, to actually realize the teachings that she was teaching in the sangha. And until she actually, could actually meet and really directly experience that sorrow and actually honor it, because it has a deep truth in it, it had a deep truth in it, but she really needed to feel her own nature as love, really. And she never, through her childhood experience with her family, she'd never really had that experience, to know that she was loved, lovable, her very nature is love, you know? Because she was wounded in that area, a wound is where we're shut down out of some kind of pain or trauma around the area from love, of being seen. This is where the relationship comes into the picture. So, you could say all our psychological wounds are relational wounds, they are all in the area of love, not feeling seen, recognized, accepted, loved as we are. And so as she got in touch with the feeling that deep sense of disconnection from love…So as she stayed with it her heart actually started to open to herself. And then she starts to access the love, actually. And so this is just a very short example of how we start out with her being a victim, to being stuck in a victim trip and the victim identity. And then just unpacking it, taking it apart. There's always the notion that there's some intelligence here, there's something here that needs to be discovered, there's some part of yourself that you're disconnected from.
But the symptom of this [problemless] wound is just a, a manifestation of our…it's a sign post, that points us in that direction. So, the solution for her was to actually feel love for herself through feeling the sorrow and the sadness. That actually awakened her heart. In the Buddhist tradition, we often talk about that—the awakening of the heart as bodhicitta. And compassion. I think bodhicitta and compassion have all come out of that sense of really deeply feeling. Compassion means "feeling with". Deeply feeling the pain of yourself and the world. And that actually is the doorway into true compassion.
Vince: That's so interesting because in this example, the woman that you've been working with, she's been practicing for 30 years. And one of the questions that comes up for me, often in my own practice too is, how come meditation doesn't necessarily give me the tools to go into my feeling life, and go into some of these woundings, like you're calling them. Why doesn't it necessarily give me those tools? Why is it sometimes necessary?
John: It's not designed for that.
Vince: Yeah. Could you say more about that? Because that's such a… I think a lot of people assume that it is designed for that.
John: It's designed for liberation. I think there are two main tracks of human development. One is what we can call, very simple terms, colloquial terms, "growing up" and "waking up". Growing up is kind of becoming a mature, human person. A genuine, mature human person. A mensch, basically. Someone who's really open to life and relationships and can function in that way. So, I think that's the basis, really, for the next level of human development, which is about liberation, liberation from samsara. So one is becoming a full human person, the other is going beyond being a person altogether. Buddhism is not oriented toward becoming a person, particularly. But it's about liberation from, conditioning, from karma, from the past, from ego, from the fixation on self. It's about liberation from the fixation on self. That's why it's not going to take you in the direction of understanding the self more deeply, that's the psychological work. That's what I call horizontal work. It's the process of unpacking what's there in the psyche and clarifying it. Whereas I think meditation is more like what I would call vertical work. It's more like cutting through, cutting through any state of mind to the essence. In Buddhist terms it might be called emptiness, or it might be called a pure awareness in some traditions. Or a non-dual awareness. Or Buddha mind, Buddha nature.
It's about cutting through to that. That essence. That essence in fact does exist at the heart of whatever you're working on. Psychologically or emotionally, it's always there. But the meditative approach is to cut through to that essence, not to unpack the emotions, not to understand the emotions, not to work with the emotions and feel them more deeply and get to know yourself more deeply through connecting with your feelings—it's not about that. It's about liberation. It's a really different trajectory of human development. But I think what's important is both of those are important.
In other words, we're both, human beings who are learning to become Buddhas. That's one aspect. But also Buddhas waking up in human form and learning to be human. I think that latter part is not generally part of the Buddhist tradition. And it's not emphasized in the Buddhist tradition. I think we need the whole cycle. Humans becoming Buddhas, Buddhas becoming humans. And then we have a complete circle.
Vince: Nice. And, I guess, just to play a little bit of devil's advocate though…
John: Sure.
Vince: …I'm totally with you on this. I guess I could imagine someone who's spent a lot of time practicing in the Buddhist tradition and really studying and, they could kind of point to different things and say, "Oh yeah you know the perfection's or the paramis, and we've got all these sort of ethical conduct and…" These are all about becoming human or becoming more fully human.
John: Yeah.
Vince: But, and yet I hear that in some ways, the Buddhist tradition, is, in your opinion, has kind of fallen a bit short of that. So, how do you reconcile those two perspectives?
John: Well you know that was behind my whole work on relationships. You know I've written three books on conscious relationship, and I found for myself and was delighted to be introduced to Buddhism as a practice and so forth. And, of course, there are all the great teachings of compassion and the paramitas, generosity, loving-kindness and so forth…exertion and all that. And those are generally very valid and important to ethical principles, there's no doubt about that. But how do you embody them, that's the question. Because in our psyche we have the opposite going on most of the time, which is we're confused, we're grasping onto our faults. Constructed self is not such the real thing, and we're defensive and we're judgmental and [unintelligible]. So, how do you actually relate to those things? And so I think it often doesn't help to take a principle like compassion and try to lay it on yourself.
Another example, I had a client who [was] part of a couple situation, and she had a tremendous amount of anger toward her husband, but she was Buddhist and she felt it was completely wrong for her to feel angry with her husband. And she, I think she had gone to one of her teachers who said, "Just let go of the anger and be compassionate." Which is true as a general principle, it's not to say that it isn't a good general principle, it is a good general principle to be compassionate and to not get identified and caught up in anger and act that out, that's very true. But in her particular case she was stuffing the anger, and she was using her Buddhist practice and her Buddhist teachings and her advice from her teacher to actually stuff the anger away and, therefore, she was not owning how she actually felt in the relationship. How she actually felt was angry. And I would say she had good reason to be angry from the way her husband was treating her, and if she wasn't going to acknowledge that and bring that up to be worked with then, there was no way for her to actually make a move because she was stuck in denial and she was cut off from where she really was.
And so I think, it's true, the general principle I'm certainly not arguing with, any of the general ethical, moral guidelines of Buddhism, I think they're all great. But the question is the skillful means of how to actually…the compassion that might be needed in her situation would be compassion for her own anger, maybe that's the first step. That the anger itself is there for a reason; again it has its own intelligence. And we need to hear from it, we need to hear what is there. And usually when you get in touch with something like anger there's a lot more that comes with it, it's not just anger. Its anger about being related to in a certain way and that has to be talked about honestly and openly. And I think it's important for someone to be able to say, "I'm angry that X, Y or Z. You treat me this way; you act toward me this way X, Y, Z. And I'm angry about it." Not to necessarily act it out in shouting and screaming, but to actually bring it to consciousness. And then it becomes integrated.
It's like once you've cried—once you're in sorrow—once you've cried, there's a natural kind of letting go that happens. And I think when we really honor our feelings and go deeply into them and express the truth that is contained within them, then we can let them go. And then there's a natural letting go, it's not like I'm letting go because the teachings or principles say I should let go of anger. Because then if you're falling in spiritual…this has been the problem, I think, with a lot of spirituality over the centuries, is that religion becomes a form of commandments or shoulds. I should be compassionate. I shouldn't have anger. I should be generous. I should be devoted. That's the right thing to be, but in fact inside myself, I don't feel that way. And what do I do with that? Then I tend to stuff it, then I live a double life. That's the setup for what I call spiritual bypassing. When you're doing your spiritual trip but it's not actually integrated into your actual psyche, and so it leads to lots of problems. It's kind of a shadow problem, because of those things that are denied and stuffed away then start coming out in unconscious ways. And then we have all kinds of problems in sanghas and blow-ups and lack of communication. And even in our Buddhist sanghas I'd say the relationships, quality of relationships, is often not any better than it is in any other group and sometimes it's a lot worse because we're pretending to be more spiritual than we actually are in terms of how fully we've integrated that into our real life.
Vince: Wow, that's a bombshell in some ways.
John: Yeah.
Vince: Ok, so given this perspective that you're offering, that as Buddhist practitioners we don't necessarily know how to embody some of this wisdom, this deep and personal wisdom.
John: Right, Right.
Vince: So given that Buddhist Geeks is probably much more of a group of meditators, than it is people that have been doing therapeutic work, are there certain things you'd say in terms of the specific skillful means, the specific practices or specific information for those type of people who may be listening to you and go "oh yeah, I think there is something to what he's saying, and I really need to follow up on that." Are there things you would share with those people, those meditators that would maybe support them in exploring the personal and doing some of this work that you're talking about.
John: I'm coming to the place where I really feel like everyone who's involved, and this is maybe not a 100%, but the majority of people who are involved in an Asian spiritual path, need to be also doing some psychological work. In order to integrate it, in order to be fully balanced in their practice and in their life. And ultimately, what I'd like to see would be that the Buddhist communities each have some way of processing emotional and psychological material, in small groups or one-on-one.
But, that doesn't exist right now so I think that basically, we'd be useful for people if they feel they're stuck in their lives and their practice isn't addressing the places where they're stuck, that, they should consider doing some psychological work. You know, finding a good therapist. I mean, it's not easy to find a good therapist, I have to say. Ideally it'd be someone who's got some kind of background in Buddhism. That would be compatible, and even more compatible. It doesn't have to be that.
Vince: Nice, and have you found working with different mediators that when they start doing this type of work, what are the results often times for people? What's the benefits of going into that?
John: Well I find for people who are sincere mediators—and that's usually the kind of people who come to me, are very sincere about their practice. You have a leg up on the psychological work because you've already developed mindfulness. And you've already developed some commitment to truth. I find I love to work with people who are practitioners in that sense, because they actually move faster. And their mind is more developed. They're sharper. They just need a little help and a little coaching to guide them in a slightly different direction, then they usually go.
So they're actually taking the presence or the openness that you've developed on the zafu, and you're actually now applying that openness and presence to the psychological material, to your feeling life, basically, or to your relational life. And you're then allowing that to kind of reveal itself more fully, instead of just going toward pure awareness, or pure openness. In the psychological world I would call it applied openness, applied presence. It's like applying in a very specific direction.
And usually, I have found that dharma students are my favorite clients because they have that leg up. They already have that commitment; they have that training, so it's great. Occasionally, I mean this is rare actually for me but I'm not sure how common it would be overall, but occasionally, there are people who are threatened by…But they usually don't come into see me, actually. I would say the people who are really threatened by doing psychotherapy are the people who need it the most. So if your listener is saying, "I wouldn't go near that with a 10 foot pole," [laughing] it's probably a sign that you really need it. Actually there's something down in your psyche that really, some part of yourself that you've given up on, you're afraid of, that's been shut down, shut off and denied.
And that there's a tremendous fear about going there. If there's a fear about going anywhere in your psyche then, that's where you need to go, actually. Part of the path, the Buddhist path, is about fearlessness. And fearlessness is developed through confronting what we fear, actually meeting the fear directly. And so, that's very much a part of psychological work. So I would encourage, consider doing that kind of work as a balance, and an adjunct to your spiritual work.
There are few essay collections which I find eternally useful…so useful that they never seem to leave my bedside table for a more (lonely) and permanent space on my living room bookshelf. But John Welwood edited one such collection called Ordinary Magic. And indeed, it is full of magic.
The essays are the most poignant I have found in a single collection. They touch all aspects of spiritual growth and experience–using a wide variety of voices–and each one manages to jolt me out of my conventional mind into seeing the magic in my own soul and the beings all around me. But more importantly, it focuses on how we can transform ordinary activities into spiritual practice. Yes, we can go to the bank and make dinner and answer emails and be training our mind to respond to all aspects of life with compassion and kindness.
If this week is supposed to be focused on love, then we ought to think deeply about learning how to love all others without conditions. And reading this collection is a very good start. Click on this link to purchase this book.
There are so many reasons to love John Welwood's books. And what I like most about this one is that it cuts right to the core of our difficulty finding and sustaining the love we really want. When we read more conventional books about relationships, we always seem to be pointing the finger at the other, or learning how to communicate more forcefully or clearly. But those are the real solutions to finding love. In this brilliant book, John helps us to look within. To hold a mirror to our own wounds and to use that as a starting point for healing our relationships.
And this is why he's known as the father of conscious relationship. He gently but persuasively invites us to go on the tougher but more fulfilling journey of learning to know and love ourselves…and then to work through the challenges of loving others.
Instead of trying to paraphrase this book for you, I suggest you read it. And in case you're not convinced yet, feel free to read the excellent author Q&A below that will surely whet your appetite for the longer version. You can find all of John's books on Amazon. Thankfully they are all still in print and available. This buying link is just one of many ways to connect with John's work. He also gives workshops around the world and may even be visiting your neighborhood soon. Check his site. And stay in touch with him. I can't wait to see what is coming next…
Q: There are many books available on relationships. How is your new book different from all the others?
This book goes to the heart of all relationship problems, in a way that no other book has. It explores "the mother of all relationship issues": a core woundedness around love that is fairly common but rarely addressed. This book helps readers to understand this fundamental wound and to see how it affects all their relationships—not just with their partners, but also with family members, coworkers, friends. The book also guides readers through a powerful process for healing this core wound. Ultimately, this is much more than a relationships book—it's a book about our connection to love and life itself.
Q: What is "the wound of the heart"?
Deep down most of us do not know, in our blood and bones, that we are lovable just as we are. We suffer from a "mood of unlove," which causes us to shut down our hearts. This shutting down, and our core sense of unworthiness, becomes a lifelong wound—one that sabotages all our relationships. The wound of the heart makes it impossible for us to let love all the way in. On the one hand, we're starving for love, and, at the same time, we tend to ward it off, even when it's staring us in the face, because we just don't trust it.
This wound is the source of most human tragedy and discontent. Not feeling loved or lovable, people imagine that they are insignificant, unattractive, deficient, lacking in some essential way. And all human greed, jealousy, aggression, and violence arise from there.
Q: You've been a couples therapist for more than two decades. In your experience, what is the most common problem in relationships?
Blaming the other person. Every relationship problem is co-created by both parties, and as long as each side insists on blaming the other, acrimony can only escalate. This is not only true between two people, but between groups of people. We see this same dynamic at work on the world stage, for instance in the problems of the Middle East. A sub-theme of my new book is how the wound of unlove operates in the world at large, in the wars and conflicts that are engulfing our planet.
Q: What inspired you to write this book now?
This book grew out of my response to the terrorist attacks of 2001 when the world felt especially fragile to me, and perilously close to collapsing into hatred and violence. After America's political leaders embarked on a "war without end," I felt it imperative to take a fresh look at why it's so hard for what's best in the human being—the warmth and goodness of the heart—to take hold in this world. My book is ultimately about strengthening our connection to love, for oneself and for the world as a whole, which seems especially important in these troubled times.
I wanted to kick off my John Wellwood week (in celebration of Valentine's Day) with a very special introduction to John's work. His first monumental book was called Journey of the Heart, and to this day, it remains one of my favorite books of ALL time.
There is so much to share about John–he is credited for being the father of conscious relationship; of teaching us how to use our intimate relationships as a means to deepen our spiritual journey and progress on the path.
His ideas are profound and simple. They are incredibly practical and wise.
His first book includes one of the most accurate and concise descriptions of the challenges of relationship in our post-modern world. It also includes some of the most useful ideas I've encountered about how (on a minute-by-minute basis) to learn how to love our partners and family and friends with greater heart and purity.
If you're going to read anything on Valentine's Day, I suggest you forget about buying wine and chocolates. Cuddle up with your loved one and read this book together. You'll find yourselves connecting with each other on a deeper level, rediscovering simple and powerful ways to sustain love and compassion.
You can buy John's many wonderful books at your local bookstore and on Amazon.com–thankfully, they are all still in print and available to be shipped nearly anywhere in the world. You can also buy it new or used from the Beliefnet book store. Happy V-Day.
The Soul Unearthed is a lovely collection of essays about finding one's soul through exploring Mother Nature in her wild and beautiful state. Each essay is completely different, in length, content and voice. It feels uneven at times, but also spontaneous and fresh.
This selection is culled from a short, provocative excerpt (from one of the contributing essayists) about sharing her menstrual blood with the earth during a wilderness retreat. Although I'm a bit squeamish about these sorts of rituals, I really paused after reading her short description of how this ritual changed her.
I often let expediency rule my life, instead of beauty or truth or appropriateness or wilderness.
But I know now, and I don't have to go the mountains to remember, because sharing my blood in the wilderness
woke me to the wilderness in my blood.
Buy this book from the Beliefnet store.
Lodro Rinzler begins his first full-length book with these sentences: "This isn't your grandmother's book on meditation. It's for you. That is, assuming you like to have a beer once in a while, enjoy sex, have figured out that your parents are crazy, or get frustrated at work. It's a book that doesn't put Buddhism on some pedestal so that you have to look up to it. It's about looking at all the nooks and crannies of your life and applying Buddhist teachings to them, no matter how messy that may be."
Rinzler's opening paragraph has generous appeal to seekers in their twenties and thirties–those practicing and living in the real world and struggling to figure out the way forward. His voice is approachable and funny–and absolutely credible to all of the young professionals who seem to have it all but are beginning to wonder if they are missing something really, really big.
I particularly liked his description of the four animals of Buddhism: The tiger, snow lion, garuda and dragon. He presents them in a voice that is not-larger than life but at the same time evokes their mythical power. Each animal offers an approach to life and each offers a unique path to walk towards enlightenment. These are images that we can draw, imagine, share and animate in our minds–to keep the teachings alive in everyday situations.
I highly recommend this book. Buy it before they sell out of every digital bookstore!
Buy this Book from the Beliefnet Store.
About the author: Lodro Rinzler is a meditation practitioner and teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage. Over the last decade he has taught numerous workshops at meditation centers and college campuses throughout the United States. He has served as the Executive Director of the Boston Shambhala Center and currently oversees development efforts for Shambhala internationally. Lodro's column, What Would Sid Do?, appears regularly on the Huffington Post and the Interdependence Project. Lodro writes from his apartment in New York City.
The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness
Author: Thompson, Colin
Illustrator: Thompson, Colin
One Friday on his way home from school, George visited the animal shelter. There, in the very last cage, was Jeremy, a dog who looked as lost and as lonely as George. When Jeremy goes home to live with George and his grandmother, their whole lives change, and they learn that when it comes to love, it's quality not quantity that counts…
I've read it more than ten times now and I can still feel so much empathy for the child protagonist and so much joy when he finally finds happiness. I loved how the issue of "disability" is turned into an adventure for a child. No moping and judgment–just the sheer sense of awe as a child figures out how to love and live with a dog with only three legs.
The story, its message and artwork all work together seamlessly to create a wonderful book that is as full of happiness and sadness as life itself.


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