Every year we are subject to a plethora of weight loss books, articles, programs and products each promising the magic formula to weight loss. While some are obviously gimmicky, and others are recycled ideas, in fairness many do offer valuable pieces to the puzzle of the American dilemma with weight. The weakness of most of these programs is that they do not consider the fact that permanent weight loss is a complex issue. For most people a simple solution does not exist. The truth is that weight … [Read more...]

Power, Love, and FreedomA weekend event, "Relationships of Power, Love, and Freedom: Exploring different forms of commitment and relationship," will be presented February 24-26 by Baba Dez and Anyaa McAndrew. The event will be from 7-10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26. One-hour breaks for meals will be taken each day throughout the weekend. The cost is $350 per person or $650 per couple. Deposit is $150 per person. … [Read more...]

The Spiritual Cinema Circle is offering its second annual floating film festival - the weeklong Spiritual Cinema Festival-at-Sea - in April for like-minded people from around the world to watch films about life, love, art and transcendence, and share a week of screenings, snorkeling and spiritual community building.Departing from San Diego on April 22, movie lovers and like-minded seekers will sail the Mexican Riviera from through April 29 aboard Holland America's luxury cruise liner, the M/S … [Read more...]

Each fall a group of futurists from the World Future Society's Minnesota Chapter, the largest and most active chapter of futurists in the world, get together to forecast future world events. Futurists are mostly concerned with the future, projecting out five, 10, 20 years and beyond to long-term future possibilities. However, futurists are often asked for short-term analyses of what the coming year will bring. In keeping with the desires of many to have a snapshot look into the future, the … [Read more...]

"Farming is poetry...drama. It's a source of infinite fascination." - John PetersonThe new documentary film The Real Dirt on Farmer John - in production for nine years and now winner of 15 grand jury and audience awards in film festivals across the country, and garnering an explosion of interest in Europe and in other nations - is a biopic set in the black soil of Illinois. It's about a farmer, John Peterson, who does what he is expected. He takes over the task of putting in the crops … [Read more...]

To be authentic is an ongoing process, because we have so many demands for inauthenticity. I think it is to really do your human homework, to take sacred time and space daily, if you can, whether your form is meditation or prayer or journaling. It is to demand of yourself and require of yourself the ongoing pursuit of the truth of your own being and condition. It’s also to be merry about it and not to take one’s self too seriously. Have a good deal of laughter, a good deal of loving … [Read more...]

Each of us begins with a unique and dynamic essence. It is the irreducible midpoint of self. When you are in touch with that center, it feels "just right," like Goldilocks in baby bear's bed. Contact with your inner truth allows knowing beyond analysis, hedonic concerns or spiritual connection. That center has no shape, color, odor or weight. It is immense and infinitesimal, ephemeral and essential, the purist expression of self. It is the source of true spiritual, intellectual, … [Read more...]

A levee that lacks integrity washes away in the aftermath of a hurricane. The purpose of that levee is to hold back the water and to keep it from washing away people, culture and history. Without integrity, it cannot fulfill that function, and its reason for being is lost along with the lives it was meant to preserve.Just like the levees that failed New Orleans, each of us has a reason for being, a purpose that will fulfill us. But that purpose can only be fulfilled if we have integrity. Without … [Read more...]

"All I can do is be me, whoever that is." - Bob Dylan When we think of greatness, some of us cite Martin Luther King, Jr. Perhaps Mahatma Gandhi. And what about Leonardo di Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo, and Benjamin Franklin? We can all agree that there has been much greatness in the annuls of history. But great people can be completely contemptible, even downright dishonorable, in their everyday relations with the people around them. Perhaps it's the pressure of continually trying to … [Read more...]

"...And to everything there is given its nature, free from all insincerity." -The I Ching "What is correct creation, master?" "You know it when you see it. It is perfect. Whole. Divinely balanced. Harmonious. To create correctly requires that the channel through which divine energy flows be sincere, without fault, elegant in the sense the word is used in physics."Today, the ideal of elegance is upheld almost universally among theoretical physicists. In this realm, … [Read more...]

Each year many of us make a New Year's resolution - a resolution to accomplish certain goals that are important to us. Undoubtedly, some of you have designated 2006 as the year for greater spiritual unfoldment. In other words, you plan to set aside more time this year for introspective reflection: meditation, contemplation, mantra, yoga or other forms of spiritual exercises. Your resolution might include attending spiritual seminars and retreats in exotic parts of the world, or just practicing … [Read more...]

Dr. Jean Houston, internationally-known philosopher, author, cultural historian, seminar leader and educator, is bringing her popular seminar series "The Mystery of Making a Difference: Mystery School" to Minnesota for the first time in 2006.Now in its 23rd consecutive year, "The Mystery of Making A Difference: Mystery School" 2006 seminar series will take place on four weekends - March 3-5, May 5-7, September 15-17 and December 1-3 - at the Oakridge Conference Center in … [Read more...]

Living in integrity is living an authentic life, and living an authentic life is living in integrity. For me, authenticity and integrity are interchangeable and inextricably linked. Authenticity - integrity - is the foundation of my life. A few of the components of this way of being are: joy, peace, love, compassion, gentleness, strength, energy, vitality, serenity. The question of how I live in authenticity and integrity helps me "empty the trash" of what I do not want in my life. … [Read more...]

Just sit there, don't do a thing, just rest. For your separation from God,From Love,Is the hardest work in this world. - Hafiz, Sufi mysticThe closest thing to my authentic nature is Love. Love is the soothing balm that frees me from fear, the warm breath that makes it all okay, and the flowing river that lets me come and go just as I am. Love often is forgotten as the source of all healing, the bringer of all calm and the way out of what seems like an endless hole. Love is actually a spirit, a … [Read more...]