Below is something written especially for this Blogger meetup group I belong to.. a new original poem I am writing for the occasion and the topic is beans.    If you belong to the meet up and would like to join click here to see competition and prize you could win-yourself-a-slice-of-comfort!

And now for some poetry with Beans in mind….

The Art of Beans

When you think of beans,

You think of fart.

Though that can be mean

When there is no art.

Some may get by

While others will not.

No one can say for sure

That beans aren’t for you.

We all have our prefences

But just be warned…

There is no magic

Unless you happen to sell your cow.

Jack did for some magic ones

And he didn’t fart.

for he couldn’t eat them.

For they grew tall and thick

After his mother said eew.

Lousey Beans for the cow.

No fart art here please

Out the window you go.

But beans are not all bad

For there is more to this story.

But that is for another day.

Check out these cool Designer bean bags !

Life is great… no make it awesome!   We live in a world where people are creative and share their talents.   I love hanging out with creative people and supporting them.   Being in their corner to be the best they can be.   Helping them inspires me to take action to do what I love to do.   Though it’s that stage that can be a hurdle but to be inspired is wonderful cause it fills my heart with joy.   Once you are inspired to take action to the next step… what’s stopping you?  Just go do something you really like, be proud and happy.  Follow your passons!

American born actress Brenda Adelman is over in London, UK currently performing her one woman show “My Brooklyn Hamlet.”  A powerfully moving show analogizing her life with that of one of Shakespeare’s greatest character Hamlet.   Brenda Adelman combines her life story with comedy and drama weaving a tale that is true and profound.   Portraying a story that some may find hard to do themselves when tragedy strikes in a family and boundaries are broken.   Brenda chose the art of performing as a way to express how she felt growing up and dealing with the tragedy that befell her shattering her world of being daddy’s little girl after his betrayal.   Something from a soap opera yet true for her father shot her mother then married her aunt.   Brilliantly performing the various characters in her life… she truly is an inspiration to those who go watch her and discover that forgiveness is possible no matter how bad the circumstances.

When I saw it at the New End Theatre I was moved and touched how she overcame such events.  It is shocking to know that what one sees on TV can happen in real life.   Brenda has chosen to turn her life around after such tragic events and perform her tale plus holds workshops on forgiveness and coach people as well.  Currently running till June 27th at the New End Theatre.

You can visit her official  website – Brenda Adelman where you can find out more about her work and where she will be performing next!

Who else wants to live a life of passion and abundance?

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The wonderful duo Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott teams up again to do a film version of Robin Hood. Unlike other versions I’ve seen this one takes us to how Robin Hood came to be. Australia’s Academy Award Winners Russell Crowe stars as Robin Longstride and Cate Blanchett the lovely Marion Loxley.

I did find the pace slow moving but wonderful filmed with a few great battle scenes for Scott considering he filmed on location in England. The casting was superb and interesting how the actors took on the roles. I do have to commend Ridley for taking such an interesting twist in bringing this well loved story to life and differently too by taking us to the point of how it all started. As for whether I like it or not am mixed about it really.

There is an importance to think about what you are doing in life. What makes you happy? Think about the dreams you have whether good or bad. I look at the bad dreams as a wake up call that something in your life is not working. Trust in your inner guidance system to follow your passions. When things are going great or you are dreaming of the wonderful future that is their for you than you are in bliss. A place we all should be but no matter what when something goes wrong we will experience the bad dreams.

Now what are your passions? Are you clear and precisely fulfilled to know what they are. Successful business people take the number 5 to be clear what those top ones are. There is a process created and written by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood to help people find their passions called The Passion Test which is a NY 1 bestselling book. So don’t be shy and ask about what this Passion Test is all about. Many people of all walks of life have taken it and even over again because our passions change or get tweaked a little to make it more precise. To find out more visit my website and send me a message there.

I had the wonderful pleasure of catching another nice light comical film It’s A Wonderful Afterlife by Gurinder Chadha. Having been introduced to this director when I saw Bend it Like Beckham back when I was living in Vancouver. Not surprisingly I loved this light-hearted warmful story bringing yet again an Indian flavour to this comedy. The story revolves a mother who is haunted by a few ghosts she killed from her curry food to seek revenge for not marrying her daughter. The mother seeks to find a man for her daughter before she dies but no one seems to want the daughter. The detective is played by none other than Sendhil Ramamurthy (aka Mohinder Suresh from NBC’s Heroes) who happens to be a family friend and love interest to the daughter as plot progresses. What I find most intriguing is the element of a Bollywood film feel with one scene playing satire to the films Carrie and maybe a bit excorist but the later unsure just that it had a supernatural elements which was wonderfully filmed. I didn’t find any bad acting and the cast superb. This is one film worth going to see.

‘Check Mates’ Virtual Blog Tour

Today, I am happy to host Vrinda Pendred, Founding Director/Editor of Conditional Publications, a new independent publisher dedicated solely to publishing the works of authors with neurological conditions. Their first book ‘Check Mates’ comes out on May 11,2010.

Yesterday Vrinda stopped by Marifran Korb’s blog and if you missed it you can go here – http://mentallyillparents.com

This is the fourthstop on Vrinda’s 14-day Virtual Blog Tour to promote the launch of this ground-breaking new book.

What makes it groundbreaking is that ‘Check Mates’ is a collection of short fiction and poetry either about or inspired by the struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, all written by people with OCD. It is arranged into two categories, Realism and Beyond. Whether solidly real, allegorical, or completely fictionalized, all the compelling work contained in this collection portrays the true story of this greatly misunderstood condition. It is also the first ever book of fiction written entirely by OCD authors.

I hope you will feel inspired by the interview you are about to read. If you do, be sure to sign up for the book launch reminder so you can buy ‘Check Mates’ and receive over 30 free personal development gifts on May 11,2010. To register, go to: http://conditionalpublications.com/pages/check-mates-launch.html (if you are reading this article after that date, you may buy the book directly from that page).

1. How do you view the portrayal of people with OCD or any neurological disorder in the media whether for news or fictionalized?

I think neurological conditions are a joke to a lot of people.  TV, news and magazines have become incredibly voyeuristic over the years, to the point where I avoid most of them because it’s not entertainment; it’s depressing.  When people with conditions like mine are featured on television, it will be on shows named things like ‘Embarrassing Bodies’, as if there’s something to be hideously ashamed about – and I can’t help imagining people tuning in to watch because isn’t it nice to see there are people out there worse off than you?  You see references to Tourette’s in films like ‘What About Bob?’ where they’re shouting obscenities and laughing about it, as if someone who really has coprolalia must find it so fun swearing at people in public and being banned from public places as a consequence.

The media just love to portray extremes, when in fact the majority of people with such conditions are less easy to spot and are suffering more silently.  There is a range to these disorders – the psychiatry world now even calls them ‘spectrum disorders’, acknowledging the wide variety of symptom combinations and personalities.  It’s time for the media to catch up!

2. How do you view the various treatments out there?

I think medications have become far too readily taken, despite the facts that the side effects are often worse than the original condition you’re treating for, and the drugs more often than not just don’t work in the long run.  It is rare to find someone who has found a medication that resolves the problems they were having, but which hasn’t altered the patient’s personality to the point where they don’t recognise themselves, and which hasn’t come at a cost of various painful / difficult side effects.  It is especially rare to find this in someone with multiple diagnoses, as many of us have.  Drugs are just what they sound: drugs.  The government may approve them, but they have the potential to be just as dangerous as any narcotic.  Ritalin, for instance, is an amphetamine.  These things should not be taken lightly, and wherever it is possible, I would encourage seeking alternative therapies first and trying the drugs as a last resort.

As for other treatments, I think some are fanciful and ignore the seriousness of some of these problems, but there are others I believe in.  For instance, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy worked wonders for my OCD and completely changed my life as a result.  I have heard some people criticize things like CBT, but I am of the belief that perhaps these people are disappointed because they’re looking for cures.  There is NO cure for these things – and indeed, I wouldn’t take a cure if they found one, because these conditions are so intertwined with my brain chemistry that I know (based on experiences with medications) that altering that brain chemistry changes my personality and I don’t want to be a different person.  But CBT WILL give you the skills to fight off the obsessions as they arise, so that they don’t take over your life.  Yes, you will be having to fight that battle forever, but with practice it becomes much easier over time.  Don’t expect miracles – just be open to whatever relief these techniques do give.

3. How best do you cope with OCD amongst your other disabilities?

As I say, I went through a year of CBT when I was 17, and I have been putting this into practise every day since.  Sometimes I am still afflicted.  For instance, I haven’t yet overcome some of my most debilitating intrusive thoughts, such as my anxiety over death.  But when OCD once seemed to consume all I did, due to the proper therapy I now consider it much lower on the scale, compared to some of the other things I battle with, such as the Tourette Syndrome.  If there are people out there who feel the OCD is their biggest problem, I highly recommend seeking a very good CBT therapist to go through the treatment with them at a slow, steady pace, so they get it right.  It will make a world of difference.  Other than that, it is all about education and self-awareness.  I believe those are the keys to self-acceptance, which in turn is the key to moving forward.

Vrinda Pendred
Editor & Founder of Conditional Publications
http://conditionalpublications

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Be sure to follow Vrinda to her next Virtual Blog Tour stop on Friday April 30th, hosted by   at Yvonne Perry

AND… don’t forget to sign up for the book launch reminder so you can buy ‘Check Mates’ and over 30 free personal development gifts on May 11,2010. Just go to http://conditionalpublications.com/pages/check-mates-launch.html

Today, I am happy to host Patrick Ryan, author of Awakened Wisdom: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Brilliance. This is the eigth stop on Patrick’s 14-day Virtual Blog Tour to promote the launch of his new book.  After reading today’s article be sure to sign up for the book launch reminder here: http://ow.ly/1kB3m and then,

Yesterday Patrick stopped by Marifran Korb’s blog and if you missed it you can go here – http://ow.ly/1D2HB.

——–

I love the movies because at their simplest level they are telling us the stories about our culture and what is on our minds and in our hearts. A good movie for me is one that reveals the characters in a way that I can find aspects of myself in them. This applies as much to the villains and antagonists as it does to the hero.

Each of us has the capacity to be and to do good or to be and to do destructive things. It is simply a matter of our day-to-day choices as we navigate our way through this complex world. The measure of what is good or bad has everything to do with the character, the values, the heart of the person asking themselves the question.

In my book, Awakened Wisdom, I present a distinction between the wise one within each of us, Divine Essence, and the fearful or judgmental one within us, Distorted Self.

When we are operating from our Distorted Self we may or may not know that we are caught in an energy that is created from a distorted state of imagined fears or a false bravado that shuts us off from the wisdom of our Divine Essence. In these moments if our movie character gets caught in the energy of their Distorted Self they may resort to leveraging themselves up in the world by putting others down or they betray themselves or a loved one in a moment of weakness.

The challenge for us all is to be able to recognize when this is happening. Once we recognize that we have been betraying our wisdom then we arrive to that moment of choosing. That is the moment when the audience is holding their breath wanting the character to choose well, to move across to the Divine Essence side of his or her character and to live into the hopes and wishes that the audience holds for the breakthrough.

In that moment what is our hero thinking or feeling? If we went into slow motion mode and could hear the hero’s thoughts we would likely witness the hero getting connected to their Divine Essence, the wise One within them, and through Divine Essence the choice of which way to turn on the path becomes clearer. There are always many choices in every situation that Divine Essence is able to open up to with more possibilities. Divine Essence does not get cornered the way our Distorted Self does. Distorted Self does get limited in the possible choices and according to Distorted none of the choices are good ones.

What are the criteria that Divine Essence uses to draw wisdom from? In the book Awakened Wisdom I present what I call the Eight States of an Awakened Life. I have been blessed to receive many amazing teachings from a variety of traditions as well as from life itself. I created the eight states from Buddhist philosophy, indigenous wisdoms, and years of my own trial and error and learning. The Eight States of an Awakened Life present a guide for us to align with according to our own highest wisdom. The eight states guide us into creating our own way of walking according to each of our individual and collective wisdoms.

The more clear we become about what honors our wisdom versus what betrays it then the choices become more obvious. Then it comes down to our willingness to live either from our Divine Essence or from our Distorted Self.

At a very high level I suggest criteria for wisdom choices that include the questions: Does this choice create and add beauty to the world? Does it give life energy to the situation and all those in it? Does it honor and respect all that are affected by the choice? Personally I want to find solutions to my challenges and opportunities that enable me to say yes to all of those questions.

So, back to our hero. Now he or she is in this moment of truth. We in the audience know that this is the moment that will set the course of the hero’s life from here on. We see the hero caught in the dilemma. Which way will they turn?

Will they follow the path of Divine Essence or fall into the pit of their Distorted Self?  What happens here is the difference between a happy ending or, a sadly tragic one.  Which ending do you most often create in your own life?

Enjoy your Awakened Adventure!

Patrick Ryan

Author of Awakened Wisdom: A Guide to Reclaiming Your Brilliance

www.AwakenedWisdom.com

How can you create a life well-lived?  Get Patrick’s new book on April 20^th and find out. To receive updates in regards to the official Amazon book launch on April 20^th, please visit http://ow.ly/1kB3m

Follow Patrick tomorrow to his next stop at Amethyst’s

blog at: http://www.oakandmistletoe.com.au/community/blogs/a-witchs-day

A good blog to read is Mary Elizabeth Croft.  She has some great things to say and even has an ebook she wrote which is free to read and worth looking at… “HOW I CLOBBERED EVERY BUREAUCRATIC CASH-CONFISCATORY AGENCY KNOWN TO MAN…”

http://spiritualeconomicsnow.net/

The book gives a perspective on how our banking system works and the truth that one may not be aware of.