The Call of Nature

Lately, I’ve been hearing the call of nature. Fortunately, I decided to listen.

I’ve missed my dear friend. During the winter, when nature is in hibernation, I find it harder to make the connection. I still feed the birds, take walks and look at the sleeping trees, but it is harder to sense the aliveness that lies dormant, ready to return in the miracle of spring.

Me in Mt. Rainier WA, 1990

I continue to find both big and little joys in nature. My love for nature started as a child, playing in the yard, finding birds, butterflies, insects and other critters in attendance. I let this connection go fallow for much of my teens and twenties.

And then reconnected during my grand adventures traveling around the country in my VW Westfalia van. During this time, my passion for nature truly blossomed. I was so inspired and in awe of the beauty that I found in our National Parks, that I began photographing in hopes of sharing the beauty and joy.

This passion led to a joy for photographing nature which has been rekindled on my blog. Though now days, I am more focused on communicating beauty and joy with words. Writing seems to be a harder medium for me to translate my joy than photograpy. But sometimes, I re-create or even create new beauty with my words. Then I feel a deep satisfaction. With photography, I see beauty, feel the awe and snap a picture in hopes of capturing the essence of what I am experiencing. Allthough photos are only a two dimensional representation of beauty, we could debate their ability to translate light and energy.

Sometimes when I take pictures while feeling connected, my photos seem to convey more than a simple image. I wonder if other photographers have this experience. I would love your perspective. And clearly nature is calling me to connect more deeply, whether via photos, writing, walking or simply appreciating.

Another period of great joy, was a time when I sat on my porch to watch the sunset nearly every evening. This became my time to settle, be quiet, relax my mind and body, and simply be. Feelings of deep peace and joy usually came bubbling up through me. This ritual became my solace during a time of great challenges.

Lately, tending my garden, smelling the flowers and noticing the amazing variety of flowers blooming right in my yard, is a treat for the senses. And a great source of little joys. Or the gorgeous blue jay that just landed on the chair outside my window.

Here are a couple of posts that inspire me to communicate my love for nature in words. Maybe not as eloquently as Jack London in Call of the Wild, but hopefully as pure and heart felt. Like the quote in Luanne’s post, communication is a translation. Words and pictures can make poor translations at times, but as writers we continue to attempt the conversation.

• Patty de Lloas writes about the solace and connection to be found walking in woods. 
• Luanne Armstrong describes her farm life and how it has taught her to notice and ponder nature in a deeper way. She questions what is communication and what is intelligence.

We might be underestimating the powers, beauty and intelligence of nature.

What do you think? I’d love to hear how nature calls and touches you………Excuse me, nature is calling me with birds chatting outside my window. It’s time to answer the call of nature. See you next post!

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Inspiring you with uplifting stories from around the world.

IBM and several partners are cooking up some new tech treats with HCPVT (high concentration PV thermal). Say that 3 times fast! They just won a grant to develop what they believe is a breakthrough in both cost and efficiency using multiple mirrors to focus the solar energy, tracking, and reclaiming heat energy with several liquids. All using current technology, simply in a new, creative way. Go Solar!

I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or jump for joy. Jack Carroll’s got talent and a winning attitude. His comedy will touch you. Watch his video from Britain’s Got Talent.

Planting seeds of life. Basia Irland has created a unique, living art that helps educate, share beauty and re-seed plants to repair the health of rivers. Learn about these wonderfully unique “Book Launches”.

Meet Thomas Weller, San Diego’s own Highway Helper. Thomas patrols the highways of San Diego county looking for people to help. He does is as a conscious act of kindness, practicing the pay it forward principal. Planting seeds of kindness for his eternal garden.

Generosity is what’s on the menu at this cafe. Seva Cafe was started by Siddharth Sthalekar as an experiment in generosity and the gift economy. Their cafe serves meals to customers on a gift basis, trusting in the goodness of people to pay a fair price and keep them in business. So far, they’ve been open 7 years, yet he hopes to help build the gift economy to the point where they wouldn’t be needed. All people would be supported in an economy based on freely sharing.

Wow! Honda and Ford are getting into the net zero game by partnering with homebuilders to build smart homes that feature solar PV, energy efficiency, EV charging and state of the art energy management systems to highlight latest innovations for sustainable living. Honda has partnered with UC Davis to build a demo home on campus. This home is part of a larger vision for all new CA homes to be net zero by 2020; generating as much energy as they consume.

Many of us who love nature know the calming and soothing effects of time spent in nature, be it the woods, ocean or park. For me, time in nature is like coming home to my deepest, purest self. I feel a deep peace and connection to something bigger than me. Researchers are now proving that time in nature helps relieve brain fatigue. So next time you’re feeling stressed or tired from working on the computer, get out in nature, even the city park will do. Go Park It!

Now that you’re both inspired and soothed , how about sharing the Good News with others? Thanks!

Ode to Mom

This is my simple Ode to Mom.

With this ode, I’m sending love not only to my mother, but all the mothers and the people who love, nurture and care for us. Sometimes we need time and reflection to be able to see and understand the value of what we have received. This idea is well articulated by Elizabeth Benedict in her collection of stories about objects from our mothers and the value we give them. In her words,  ”These are not gifts that have a large financial value, but the value of the gifts accrues over time.”

Mom and Eva

In my case, the value of my relationship with my mother has ebbed and flowed with time and life phases. There have been times of great closeness and bonding and times of distance and moving away, both physically and emotionally. But through it all, at my core is a love and appreciation for my mother. She has given me the gift of the life, the most precious gift of all. She has dedicated her time, energy and career to raising my brother and me. I know she gave up parts of her dreams and life to be a mother and wife.

Thank you Mom, I love you, I appreciate you, and I behold the beauty of you. May you be blessed with the peace of understanding that has and needs no words. Thanks for planting the seeds of your love for nature and gardens. The plants are coming along rather nicely.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Finding Little Joys: Dancing

Recently I wrote about finding the little joys in life.

Do your little bit of good where you are; those little bits of good put together will overwhelm the world.- Desmond Tutu 

I just found several joys all in one place. Ailsa’s lovely blog, Where’s my backpack?, has given me a healthy dose of joy today! Her recent Travel Theme post on dance combines my passions for flowers, nature, photography, dancing and wordplay. So I hit the quintuplet of joy. Thanks Ailsa!

One of my secret passions is to dance around my living room listening to music. Usually the music is more flowing, sacred or soulful. Then I allow my feelings to move me to flowing rhythms around the room. As I do so, my body comes alive, my feeling calm or elevate, and I often feel a sense of tingles and aliveness that I’ve come to associate with connecting to my highest self or soul. This routine always inspires and enlivens me. Try it, you might like it!

I have come to enjoy this so much that I don’t really like dancing in public or at bars anymore. There was a time when I was a dance flirt like many others, allowing music and alcohol to move me to playful, flirting or even sexual gyrations around the dance floor. Now I prefer my sacred dances at home with my sacred self.

Stories of kindness also bring me great joy and make my heart sing. This post by Naomi Shihab Nye brought tears to my eyes and reminded me why I love to share stories that inspire others. Her story demonstrates the beauty of human kindness to inspire and connect us. I hope my stories, both personal and from around the web, inspire you to be your best, to live your dreams and to spread some kindness in the world.

I view it as my mission to help spread beauty, inspiration and kindness. Will you join me in finding and sharing the little joys?

Thanks, muse Brad

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More Good News from around the cybersphere.

I am feeling more grateful for my life and many gifts. And for my readers, thanks for touching my heart and life. You inspire me to be and do more.

Floating wind turbines sound fun. They are cheaper, easier to build and operate further offshore where there is more wind, making them less noticeable to all but seafarers. Winflo has their first big project coming online in 2014 in French waters. Blow baby blow!

Vic and others who rise above their challenges or “disabilities” inspire me. They remind us that blessings can be found almost anywhere when we look for them. The key is to accept your life as it is, then do what you can to live how is most meaningful and enjoyable to you. It’s your life to live. Choose wisely. Here is Vic’s story.

I’ve gradually come to embrace nuclear power as a viable, potent and safe energy source to help us reduce emissions and move away from fossil fuels. It seems that we have been fed a lot of fear and misinformation about nuclear energy. The facts suggest that it is a reliable, normally safe, energy source that currently removes 2 Billions tons of emissions per year by replacing fossil fuel sources. There are many thoughtful, pro environment people who have switched from anti to pro nuclear as they research more facts. Let’s at least have thoughtful, rational discussions about nuclear energy.

My hope is that we take some pressure off ourselves and realize we don’t always have to “fix it” or find a solution, but instead just be there for our children with love in our eyes. -Rachael Stafford

Read Rachael’s touching story about how she first learned that sometimes our presence is enough. Early in her career as a special education teacher, she had a student named Kyle. One day when he ran away from school, she simply followed him. That action ended up being the turning point for her and Kyle, as well as her career.

Planting trees, saving baby girls and a village. This village in Rajasthan, India has a very creative solution to help stabilize the community with trees. Piplantri village plants 111 trees for every baby girl born. The community and father contribute financially and agree to protect both the trees and daughters until they are grown. This has reduced crimes and early marriages of the unwanted daughters. Now, villagers are even making money from some of the crops like Aloe Vera.

And if you’re feeling down or like your circumstances are too much to handle, then maybe this inspiring video will stir your heart and motivate you like it did me. Wow Jessica. You Rock!

Who or what inspires you to be and do more with your life?

Please consider sharing my joy and post with others. Thanks!

Little Boys and Little Joys

We don’t always appreciate the joys to be found in the ordinary little things in life.

But if we take time to appreciate the little and ordinary things in our lives, they may lead us to or become the big joys that we dream of. Gratitude and appreciation are magic keys to the kingdom of happiness, joy and a meaningful life. I hope that you find little joys in many aspects of your life.

Ode to Little Boys and Little Joys

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Little joys are like little boys

Despite their simple appearance

They hold many surprises and hidden joys

Like any gift, they must be unwrapped to be seen

This means taking off the blinders of adulthood

Responsibility, “seriosity”, busyness and judgement

(the king of dream and joy killers)

So next time a little boy presents himself to you

Stop and take a clear gaze into his soul

You may find past trails, tears or whispers of your own childhood

Or you might find new paths to joy, curiosity and playfulness

Whatever you find, please remember to appreciate the little joys in life

Be they sunsets, flowers, tea or little boys

Dedicated and inspired by a great blog on being a lover of the little things by Hanna Brencher. Thanks, muse brad

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This week’s Good News will inspire and light you up!

Crescent Dunes is set to become the largest concentrating solar power (CSP) project in the world with 110 MW of peak power. This gives it certain bragging rights and additional pressure due to large government funding. Crescent Dunes is also unique in using molten salt as a way to store heat and energy relatively cheaply. They estimate being able to store 10 hours worth of energy storage enabling them to offer power on demand like fossil fuel plants. Go solar!

Need a boost? Here is a fun video of spontaneous life and laughter bursting forth!

Image source: Economist

Australia has 1 Million residential solar installations, supplying power to about 2.5 Million people! That’s amazing considering there were only 20.000 installations in 2008 and the total population is about 23 Million. Clearly Australian citizens from all walks of life have embraced solar. I wonder what’s the difference between our countries? Part of it might be their 20% renewables national target, giving them more political focus.

Here in Arkansas, a state not generally progressive about environmental matters, we just passed legislation to allow PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing. From Wikipedia, “PACE is an innovative means of financing energy efficiency upgrades or renewable energy installations for buildings.” AR is the 29th state to pass PACE, helping in the development of renewable energy use. Go Arkansas!

Image: Algae-powered building by ARUP

Algae power gets a new look. A German company, BIQ , has just finished a project that uses algae filled glass panels to grow algae, create energy and shade the buidling all in one clever idea. Plus, the more sun there is, the more the algae grows and provides shade. They have a home project to run tests, and then a larger commercial building in Hamburg. Cool. Green. Energy!

A great post by Chiara Fucarino on what happy people do that some of us don’t. Or in my case, what I’m learning to do; to be more self empowering in my choices of what I think, feel and do. Choose wisely!

Are you making empowering choices?

Please join me in making choices that lead to thriving.

Upgrade Your Life with Love and Choice

Are you tired of feeling bad and reacting to circumstances that you don’t like?

Here are some tips to upgrade your life with love and choice.

With the slew of news on terrorism, environmental disaster and political mischief, it is very easy to start feeling fear, judgment or hate. These situations may seem far from love, but in fact, they are perfect opportunities to look with fresh eyes. Eyes of curiosity, compassion and responsibility.

We can ask more empowering questions like why am I feeling this? How might I have contributed? Does this reflect some repressed aspect of me? Can I do something about this? Can I accept this? Can I find a blessing in this? Asking better questions can help shift our whole perspective and experience of life.

Photo source: Dancing with Spirit

Your cells and your memories reflect your past love experiences. Choice allows you to create new upgraded feelings and experiences of love.

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Researchers like psychologist Barbara Fredrickson are finding more and more evidence of how we can improve our experiences of love. From my experience, the biggest factor in creating love is exercising choice, though there is a shadow side.

In my life, I have been experimenting with choice over the last 2 years. I find that the more I make empowering choices that align my life with my dreams and goals, the better I feel. I believe we are inherently wired to feel good when we anchor our dreams with action.

The beauty is that we get to choose what is meaningful to us.

Deepak Chopra defined success in one of his early books as the attainment of progressively meaningful goals. In other words, the more that we set goals, take action and achieve them, the better we feel. And our perspective and awareness expands to include a larger picture of what is meaningful to us. That is evolution and growth.

I am grateful to have discovered the “secret” to happiness. It’s not what all the hype about the book by that name implies. I believe it is choice. Choice is our magic genie to direct, enhance and grow our lives with more and more meaning, to create happiness and love. When we make conscious choices that move us in the direction of our dreams and goals, we create love and beauty in the world.

All of the above is a long winded way of leading up to love. Love is one of the highest vibrations that we can create and feel. By learning to make choices that align our lives with love, compassion and unity, I believe that we enter the land of mystics and saints. We enter sacred holy land. Or in contemporary terms, we can create heaven on earth.

In simpler terms, we choose love, over and over, in the simple daily acts of life. Regardless of what our past was, what people say or do, we have the power to choose love and be a force for good in the world. We can be contemporary saints or everyday heroes.

That is my definition of love. What is your definition of love?

Are you ready to upgrade your life?

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More Good News to inspire you.

More and more, as I read these stories from around the world, I am awed the by beauty, diversity, creativity and innovation of people. Let’s keep expanding our possibilities.

A wonderful idea is being tested by Boyan Slat to clean up the oceans. He won several contests for his unique way to clean up the tons of plastic floating around the oceans. His idea is to use a floating boom to collect, sift and process the plastic. If the idea is determined to be feasible, it could lead to a much better way to clean up the oceans.

Practice your gratitude! I’ve written about gratitude many times and remember to practice it most of the time. In case you like facts and studies, here are some reminders from a book. According to Francesca Gino “Receiving expressions of gratitude makes us feel a heightened sense of self-worth, and that in turn triggers other helpful behaviors toward both the person we are helping and other people, too.” Just say thanks!

The hero of Golden Gate. This is a touching story of a man dedicated to helping individuals who often feel hopeless about their lives. Kevin Briggs is a Sargent with the CA Highway Patrol. Through his dedication and compassion, he has helped save hundreds of people who were considering suicide because they had lost hope. Watch his story on KarmaTube.

Schools are turning to solar as a way to save money, help the planet and educate their students. Power purchase agreements (PPAs) offer financing that help the schools reduce the upfront costs to make the installations more accessible and affordable. Net metering allows the schools to earn credits when they produce more electricity than needed like during weekends and summers. In most cases, the installations will pay for themselves with savings on energy bills. Schools buildings are good solar opportuniteis with their large flat roofs access to the sun.

Delft University is working on a whole new way to produce electricity from wind without turbines. Their process is called EWICON (Electrostatic Wind Energy Converter). The video explains the process, but the key advantages are less moving parts and noise while allowing for more simplicity and variety of installations.

Teens will rejoice about this Good News! A recent study confirmed the importance of sleep for children, especially adolescents. The researchers concluded that schools should adjust the schedules for teens, starting school at 10am!, to ensure they receive the suggested 9 hours of sleep per night. And, it’s not just hours of sleep, but quality of sleep, learning to relax, eating well and other good habits that support health, sleep and nutrition which all lead to better brain functioning for optimal learning.

Thanks for sharing your time, space and light with me. You are Awesome.

If you were inspired by any of these stories, please share the Good News on social media for me. Thanks!

Awesomeness!

Who doesn’t love awesomeness?

Just the word makes me feel good. How about you? Do you want to be awesome?

This post about awesomeness was inspired by Tony Schwartz. His post on how to be awesome is both practical and motivational, recognizing our multi-faceted natures. The key takeaway is that we can be awesome at whatever we are willing to practice. More and more, researchers are proving that mostly life is up to us, our choices and actions, not our conditions or genetics.

According to Tony, the 6 keys to being awesome are:

1. Follow your passions. Many books and gurus talk about the power of passion to help move us forward. This is why I write about inspiration. I am inspired to help others live better lives. But, inspiration without action is fantasy. We must take action in order to live our dreams.
2. Do the hard work first. Like Brian Tracy’s swallow the frog idea, he suggests doing the hardest tasks first and early in the day when we have less distractions.  
3. Practice with intensity. If you want to excel, you need to practice daily. Mastery comes from consistently pushing beyond our comfort zones. In this way, we build mental, emotional, physical and spiritual skills to move us toward our dreams.
4. Seek advice and mentoring from experts, but only occasionally, to keep from overloading yourself. Experts can help us focus and get on track, but not if we are constantly questioning, correcting and hesitating.
5. Renew yourself routinely. The balance for hard work is relaxing our minds and bodies. We need time to relax, recharge and simply BE. Dreams are often born in stillness.
6. Build structure or rituals that support you in living your dreams. By having routines, friends and structures that support us, we don’t have to waste time and energy on decisions, will power, motivation, etc. We simply do what we need to do.

I would add a 7th and most important key; You are awesome just as you are.

No matter how far or close you are to living your dreams, you are precious. To me, the core foundation for personal growth is learning to believe in ourselves. We must learn to feel our inherent beauty and radiance. We are gifted with life, breath, mind, body and the bounty of Earth. The irony is that our spiritual nature is automatic, freely given and inside, yet many of us spend a lifetime looking outside for our greatness and happiness. For more resources on being awesome, see my resources page. 

Look inside to find the hidden treasure of your awesomeness. 

Be the light you are. Show your beauty for all to see. That is Awesomeness!