tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202803042024-03-12T22:37:31.235-04:00The Art of Rebirth"Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?" ~ M. C. EscherRaederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-49589975034581618692012-03-18T15:49:00.000-04:002012-08-29T11:43:15.295-04:00Musings From A Young Vegan Woman On A Cow Ranch"...It was the first animal I'd ever seen killed before my eyes..."
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This entry has moved. <a href="http://www.raederle.com/2012/08/blog-vegan-on-cow-ranch.html" target="_blank">Click here to read it on Raederle.com</a>.
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All my content on the web is moving (slowly but surely) to Raederle.com.<br />
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Much love,<br />
<br />
RaederleRaederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-9941738547239362322012-02-05T09:51:00.000-05:002012-09-21T16:39:41.193-04:00Send Fear Into ExileThis post has been <A href="http://www.raederle.com/2012/09/introspection-inner-child-fear.html#.UFzQVY1lSwT" target="_blank">updated, improved and edited, and it has also moved. Click here to see it on Raederle.com</a>.
All of my web content is slowly but surely being updated, edited, and moved to Raederle.com.
~ Raederle Phoenix
(September 21st 2012)Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-56248822547852644522012-01-30T12:09:00.002-05:002012-01-30T12:09:37.003-05:00Free Me From FearI am angry with you,<br />
Because I'm afraid that you're right.<br />
I am angry with you,<br />
Because I'm afraid that you'll leave.<br />
I am angry with you,<br />
Because I'm afraid of myself.<br />
<br />
I am feeling sad today,<br />
Because I am afraid of tomorrow.<br />
I am feeling sad today,<br />
Because I am afraid of yesterday.<br />
I am feeling sad today,<br />
Because I'm afraid to fade away.<br />
<br />
You are making me jealous,<br />
Because I'm afraid you love her more than me.<br />
You are making me jealous,<br />
Because I'm afraid that she's prettier to see.<br />
You are making me jealous,<br />
Because I'm afraid that you'll set me free.<br />
<br />
I have been struck sick,<br />
Because I'm afraid about finances,<br />
I have been struck sick,<br />
Because I'm afraid of losing friends,<br />
I have been struck sick,<br />
Because I'm afraid.<br />
<br />
You have forgiven me,<br />
and I feel love.<br />
You have given me truth,<br />
and I feel love.<br />
You have smiled with me,<br />
and I feel love.<br />
<br />
I accepted your forgiveness.<br />
I have forgiven myself.<br />
I accepted your truth.<br />
I have found truth within myself.<br />
I accepted your smile.<br />
Now I smile for myself.<br />
<br />
You showed me love,<br />
and I freed myself from fear.<br />
I am not afraid.<br />
I live love.<br />
<br />
~ Raederle Phoenix<br />
January 2012<br />
<br />
Inspired by the book "The Mastery of Love"Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-77726531437345792442012-01-11T15:19:00.003-05:002012-01-11T15:34:23.349-05:00Break Your Life Into Pieces: Uncover Happiness & Banish Fear<blockquote>"Your life has to crumble to pieces. It has to fall apart. Everything you are familiar with has to shatter... In order to make room for your new life. You can't have a new, inspiring life where you get what you want, accomplish your goals and have fantastic relationships... unless everything you currently have falls to pieces first." ~ Raederle</blockquote><br />Them: Tell me it does not always have to be like that.<br /><br />Me: It doesn't necessarily have to shatter all at once. Aspects of your life can break one at a time, and new wonderful things can enter you life one at a time. However, the more free and open your life is, the more open you are for possibility.<div><br /></div><div>Everything falling apart is quite beautiful, if you have the right perspective. As long as you remember that you're making room for new and beautiful things, it actually is quite soothing to feel the familiar falling away.<br /><br />It's been something I've been learning about these past few years -- which has been full of upheaval for me.<br /><br />But each upheaval in my life has been a great door to improvements.<br />And I've recently read some great books that talk about the subject.<br /><br />Them: Hmm. Upheavals. Like what? You seem to be living the great life fantastic. It is a sharp contrast to your old self.<br /><br />Me: Well, there was moving to Cali where I took a plane and only took the possessions I could fit in a suitcase.<br /><br />There was moving back here, which was full of diasaters, errors and difficulty.<br /><br />There was the radical changes to my diet, and experimenting with fasting. The emotional stress of cravings, and the social stigmas of being set apart.<br /><br />There has been a separating of me and old habits, old friends, and so forth.<br /><br />Breaking traditions, including holiday traditions done in my family for several generations.<br /><br />Throwing away or giving away all my polyester clothing, which included almost every dress I own.<br /><br />Them: Okay, so lifestyle and culture. When I think of things 'falling apart' I think about personal tragedies.<br /><br />Me: Well, there was the biggest upheaval in my life, which led to the greatest gift in my life...<br /><br />When my ex and I broke up. That made room for the most wonderful husband I could ever imagine.<br /><br />That break-up involved theft, breaking-and-entering, physical and verbal abuse... It was awful, and my entire life seemed ruined.<br /><br />While that break-up was one of the worst things that ever happened to me, finding my husband was definitely the best thing that ever happened to me.<br /><br />Them: That's a great point. Yet it does not always work that way. For most of us, bad times just follow bad times. They don't create new opportunities.<br /><br />Me: Sometimes tragedy breaks people emotionally because they never forgive themselves or what they feel victim to.<br /><br />In order to find success, people must find their inner truth, forgive themselves and everyone else, love themselves, and find beauty in the world. When these steps are complete, everything is easy. I'm still on a journey to loving, seeing beauty and forgiveness, but the closer I come, the better life gets.<br /><br />It's explained brilliantly in The 'Mastery of Love' and also in 'The Art of Happiness', which are based on Toltec and Buddhism respectively.<br /><br />Also, 'The Continuum Concept' can help anyone understand their own issues a lot better, and move forward.<br /><br />The documentary 'The Secret' helps explain how to get what you want in life, which I recommend watching after reading the three books I just named.<br /><br />Between those four sources, there is a life full of happiness and success to be discovered. And none of those are about food -- and food can change everything all by itself.<br /><br />Speaking of food, I'm inventing a new kind of raspberry-cacao-carrot pie... Sounds crazy but the crust tastes amazing. I'm going to go make the filling now.<br /><br />*hugs & happy new year*<br /><br />Them: That sounds intereting. Happy new year to you too. Stay happy.<br /><br />Me: Thanks!<div><br /><hr /><br /></div>You are very powerful when you are seemingly broken. Your entire world is full of possibility.<div><br /></div><div>When you can <i>no longer</i> eat the same way, you <i>must</i> find something new to eat. That is what happened to me. I didn't discover raw vegan food one day and say "lets try this." I actually struggled through years of a limited diet because everything I was used to made me feel sick. That awful discovery that I could no longer eat the way I had always eaten opened me up to the powerful world of possibility.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you <i>have to</i> leave an abusive relationship, and you have to struggle through it alone, and afraid... You become open to moving forward. You become available for healthy connections with other humans. It has happened to me.</div><div><br /></div><div>When a friend "betrays" you, and that person leaves your life... You are sad, and lost, and wondering what to do with your Saturday nights when you used to go out and dance, or play games, drink together or bake cookies together... Then you become open to finding a new friend, one who is more honest, more in tune with your nature, one who can become a better influence on your life. I've been there, and I'm sure you have too.</div><div><br /></div><div>When things are going <i>wrong</i> you are riding on the wheel of fortune and you are in control of where that wheel stops. Your head is whirling, and you feel pain, anger, betrayal, jealousy and hopelessness... All of these feelings are aspects of fear. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div>There is a cure to fear:</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li>Truth</li></ul></div><div>You must know thy self. Knowledge comes from books. Wisdom comes from self knowledge; wisdom is knowing the <i>truth</i> about yourself.</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li>Forgiveness</li></ul></div><div>Holding a grudge is like intentionally keeping the infection red hot within a wound. When you forgive, you clean the wounds and begin to heal. When you make yourself a victim, you <i>create</i> the trauma you experience. Forgiveness begins to heal that trauma. When you blame yourself, you hate yourself. You can not respect yourself if you hate yourself. When you don't respect yourself, nobody respects you. You must forgive yourself.</div><div><br /></div><div><ul><li>Love</li></ul></div><div>When you love yourself, you love others. When you love your body, you take good care of your body. When you love yourself, you respect yourself, and others respect you. When you love your life, great people want to be a part of your life. When you understand that the love in your heart if infinite, you do not starve for love just because one individual will not give you their love. You are wealthy with love in your heart when you love yourself. You are free to be yourself when you love yourself.</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div>When you know the truth, and you've forgiven everyone and yourself, and you love yourself and the world... Then there is no fear. There is nothing to fear. You have truth and love in your heart, and thereby nothing is a threat to you.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-49507810804551272802011-12-12T20:26:00.002-05:002011-12-12T20:36:54.233-05:00Christmas Gift Bags<div>In gifts I gave this year, given in original bags, I placed the following note:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Awesome New Year and Other Joyous Occasions</i></div><div><br />Greetings celebrant,</div><div><br />This quick note is about the bag your gift in is. I made gift bags this year for many reasons, which I'd like to tell you about, starting with how Christmas was for me growing up.</div><div><br />Yearly on Christmas day my family dug the car out of the snow at five o'clock in the morning. We made the two-hour drive out of the city to my Aunt's beautiful cottage.</div><div><br />My Aunt has a flair for decoration. Her house was immaculate, spotless and free of modern technology. It felt magical, out-of-time, and warm. Her living room sported an old-fashioned roaring fire place, a Christmas tree covered with hand-made bows, angels, ceramic balls, and other baubles.</div><div><br />My Aunt's table was set to perfection, with each piece of silverware “just so” and cloth napkins in decorative ceramic rings. Breakfast was served at exactly eleven o'clock, followed by coffee, tea, stockings, board games, lunch, presents, and then dinner. The tradition of it was wonderful.</div><div><br />The part I cherish most was the presentation of the presents. Each gift was a work of art. Perfect wrapping, shining cloth ribbons, hand-crafted bows, and so on. The tree would be absolutely buried in gifts, labored over through the season.</div><div><br />As a child, I recognized the beauty, the effort, the careful labor, the festive spirit, and the love that went into it all. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.</div><div><br />Carefully wrapped, unique gifts is a tradition in my family.</div><div><br />Yet now, I'm faced with conflicting feelings. I no longer want to purchase “cute” gifts and wrapping papers from corporations that make irresponsible decisions. I don't want trees to be cut down to support wrapping gifts. At the same time, I remember the magic of the Christmas I grew up with, and that beautiful gifts were a large part of that.</div><div><br />And hence, I've decided I want to sew gift bags. Curtains, sheets, shirts – anything no longer in use can be sewn into a reusable festive bag. Also, if other people decided this was a cool idea and made bags of their own and sold them, it could create jobs here in America.</div><div><br />And thus, I found a happy place between my family traditions and my values.</div><div><br />These bags may be washed and dried on the gentle cycle. I have washed them after sewing them. However, a few of them came apart, so those ones needed mending. In other words, most of the bags I've made are for wrapping more than using.</div><div><br />I encourage you to pass this bag on to someone else next year with a gift inside.</div><div><br />If it strikes you as appropriate, you can even pass this little letter on so that the recipient knows the history behind the bag.</div><div><br />Much love and merry holidays.</div><div><br /><i>~ Raederle Phoenix, Holiday Season of 2011</i></div>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-42001976786368773072011-07-31T02:26:00.005-04:002011-12-12T20:28:19.779-05:00One Piece of a Giant PuzzleThere are a lot more factors at work than any one evil. <div><br /></div><div>We can not point all our fingers at "capitalism" and make it go away, and expect everything to be fine and dandy. No more than we can blow up the credit card companies (like in the movie/book Fight Club), or like we can just burn all the places that chop down forests (like in the documentary <i>If A Tree Falls -- </i>one part of the true story of the Earth Liberation Movement).</div><div><br /></div><div>Actions of violence, and destruction and "anti-_____" movements are overall, unsuccessful. Yes, <i>sometimes</i> they work. But it is when people fight <i>for</i> something that we see true progress.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are motives behind motives behind motives when it comes to why catastrophes happen. Nobody wakes up one day and says "let's destroy an entire culture for the fun of it." They wake up one day with some brilliant plan to gain something in order to make up for what they feel they are lacking.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today, people are all constantly suffering from feeling that they <i>lack</i> something in their life, and that feeling that there "isn't enough" is a big hurdle in accomplishing anything. </div><div><br /></div><div>Regardless of <i>what</i> we feel we lack, and regardless of whether that lack is real, the <i>feeling</i> is highly detrimental. It promotes greed and desperation. It promotes illogical actions.</div><div><br /></div><div>As soon as we go around saying, "X" is the source of all problems, they have caused a lack in this world... Then we are fear-mongering people to our cause, and at a high cost. Creating more paranoid individuals does not create a harmonious peaceful universe.</div><div><br /></div><div>The feeling of lack is what causes people to do drugs, to rob others, to submit to jobs they hate, to waste their lives in relationships (either romantic, or as business partners, etc) that are toxic to them, and it is why we will eat toxic fast food but then buy an expensive large TV-screen. </div><div><br /></div><div>If we can repair the hearts, bodies and minds of our fellow human beings, we can repair the world. All things negativity will fall away when we are loving and at peace in our own hearts.</div><div><br /></div><div>A friend of mine at the potluck picnic today was saying, "I was really surprised by how much my attitude changed when I first entered a macrobiotic diet. I didn't experience many physical changes, but my attitude went from incredibly pessimistic to very optimistic in a short period of time. There was no other change in my life, just my diet. It was disconcerting. I didn't even recognize myself with my new outlook."</div><div><br /></div><div>This is one piece of the puzzle. Our moods, motivations and outlook our affected dramatically by our pH. How many wars have started because one person had an acidic pH level in their bloodstream?</div><div><br /></div><div>It's similar to the amount of suicide caused by vitamin-B deficiency. Instead of taking psychotropic drugs, just take a vitamin-B multi-vitamin complex. Watch your anxiety and depression just melt away. This is also effective treatment for schizophrenics in most cases.</div><div><br /></div><div>If we fight<i> for</i> health, happiness, unity, clarity, sustainability, truth, accuracy, compassion, equality, and love... Then all the things we've been fighting <i>against</i> will fall away without resistance.</div>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-20371870087777636772011-07-22T15:45:00.028-04:002012-11-21T14:55:16.795-05:00Can We All Live In A Space The Size Of Texas?<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">This article originally took me 8 hours to create. I loved the concept but there were some problems with my original design, and also I neglected to make some of the most important points. I've completely renovated every aspect of the article. The re-write took me 20 hours. Please come <a href="http://www.raederle.com/2012/11/land-feed-person-overpopulation-green.html#index" target="_blank">check it out at its new home on Raederle.com</a>.</div>
<!-- <div>Back into October of 2010, I posted an entry about <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/10/overpopulation.html" target="_blank">why the world isn't overpopulated.</a> A of people challenged me and the video I posted with excellent questions. I've been fascinated by the concept that was brought up in the video -- that we could all live in a space the size of Texas and have a home and have land. Could it be done?</div><div><br />
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<center><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/Texas.png" width="500px" /></center><br />
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</div><div>I've seen some people say that if we all did that, Texas would look like New York City. Is that true? I've decided to do all the math myself and get real answers. Follow this entry, and see if you follow my math and my logic.</div><div><br />
</div>Texas area = 267339 X (5280)^2 = 7,452,732,672,000 sqare feet<br />
Population of world = 6,800,000,000.<br />
<br />
Divide area with population:<br />
7,452,732,672,000 divided by 6,800,000,000<br />
Equals:<br />
1095.9900988235294117647058823529 square feet per person.<br />
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Or, to be easy, let's call it 1100 square feet per person, since world population is approximate and texas area is approximate anyway.<br />
<br />
For reference, I live in a house with five people. My husband and I have the attic and half of the second floor. My brother and my parents share the first floor and half of the second floor. There is also a basement and a yard. The house is pretty standard size for the city of Buffalo, and so is the yard. Most people in Buffalo have one floor of the house complete with two or three bedrooms, a living area, a dining area, a kitchen and a bathroom. The upstairs people usually get the attic to themselves and the downstairs people often are allowed to decide what they want to do with the front lawn/garden. The average occupied home in Buffalo will contain two people on a floor. Either two room mates, or a couple. Sometimes someone will live alone, sometimes a family of three or four or even five will live together on one floor of a house. So generally, four people live in a house the size of ours, with a yard the size of ours.<br />
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Our home is approximately 25 wide by 55 feet long, and the yard is approximately 50 feet long by 35 wide. The entire property, including the driveway, consists roughly of 35 feet by 105 feet long. That is 3675 feet for five people in our case, but let's say it's four people in most cases. That is 918 feet per person. That means that most people currently, in the city of Buffalo, have less than 1100 feet per person, as it is now.<br />
<br />
Our house is a pretty standard Buffalo house in terms of size, but just to double check I used google maps on a very average looking house to measure that the property was roughly 120 feet by 30 feet, making 3600 square footage. That is 900 per person when divided by four.<br />
<br />
<div>So if you took this current model for property space, it looks something like this (with each pixel being a square foot):</div><br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModel.png" width="500px" /></center><br />
<br />
<div>Each block is a square 105 feet by 35 feet. Let's look at with the homes on it:</div><div><br />
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<center><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelwithhouses.png" width="500px" /></center><br />
<br />
I will get into public pathways later on.<br />
<br />
This is just talking about the size of our standard homes. What if each house had four stories and could easily accommodate eight people, but still the house was only 25 feet wide by 55 feet long? That could add land space for growing food and enjoying life. With four-story houses accommodating eight people, we'd be taking two properties side by side and removing one house for more land. That would mean 105 feet long by 70 feet long is the new size (7350 square feet), minus the four-story-house space (1925) equals 5425 square feet of land. </div><div><br />
</div><div>It would look like this instead:</div><div><br />
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<center><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelwithlargerland.png" width="500px" /></center><br />
<br />
</div><div>This land could have a well for fresh water, a pond with fish, enough herbs and plants to feet a family by themselves, and chickens for eggs (and for fertilizer -- shit is soil, after all). You wouldn't even have to go 100% <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/06/raw-food-diet-basics.html" target="_blank">raw vegan</a> for this to work.</div><div><br />
Now where is my proof that people could really live off of that much land?<br />
<br />
Just check out <a href="http://gardenpool.org/" target="_blank">http://gardenpool.org</a> -- They turned an old unused pool into enough food for their family of four. The size of their garden pool is 480 square feet, and it produces enough for four people! That means that my design of having a four-story house for eight people on a piece of land with 7350 square feet total with 5425 square feet of land is overkill!<br />
<br />
You might ask, what about trash build-up? What about sewage? What about public buildings such as libraries, restaurants, stores, roads, etc?<br />
<div><br />
</div><div>Well, here are my ideas on the subject.</div><div><br />
</div><div>What if each of those houses was <i>five</i> stories. The top four stories contain people, two people per floor on average. The bottom floor (with a space area of 105 feet by 35 feet, which could also be a different shape for the same total square feet, such as 70 feet by 52.5 feet) could be those other buildings, and people could live where they worked. Eight people could run a restaurant that existed on their first floor. Another home could have a fire-squad on their first floor, and another could have a clothing store, or a clothing factory.</div><div><br />
</div><div>There is no need for a giant mall, in reality. That's just a "convenience" that puts a lot of money in the corporations' pockets and a lot of junk into our over-sized homes.</div><div><br />
</div><div>In terms cars and roads... Well, in this model, we don't need them anymore. We'd each be living off the land that was directly beside us. We wouldn't need to commute to work because our workplace would be in the same building we lived in, or, perhaps we work two buildings over, big whoop. As for stores, we don't need other stores as much as we need grocery stores, so it's no big deal if we need to walk or bike a bit further to buy new shoes.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We could easily add trains to this model by taking a very small amount of land from each property. Let's say that a train track requires 10 feet in width. That means we could take five feet off the edge of a few rows of property and add a train track for long-distance traveling. That brings the property size down from 105 by 70 to 100 by 70, big whoop.</div><div><br />
</div><div>It could look like this:</div><div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelwithlargerlandwithtrains.png" width="500px" /></center><br />
<br />
</div><div>Let's think about all the different locations we need to travel to in modern life (I'm going to include them all, even though most people never need all of these at one point in their life):</div><div><br />
</div><div>Hospital</div><div>Grocery Store</div><div>Drug Store</div><div>School</div><div>University</div><div>Workplace</div><div>Clothing Store</div><div>Shoe Store</div><div>Health Food Store</div><div>Dentist</div><div>Technology Store</div><div>Home Improvement Store</div><div>Police Department</div><div>Fire Department</div><div>Government Facility</div><div>Department of Motor Vehicles</div><div>Water-Treatment Facility</div><div>Electrical Facility</div><div>Natural Gas Service</div><div>Gas Station</div><div>Laundromat</div><div>Dry Cleaners</div><div>Bank</div><div>Library</div><div>Church</div><div>Restaurant</div><div>Swimming Pools</div><div>Gym</div><div>Martial Arts Studio / Dance Studio / Yoga Studio</div><div>Factories</div><div>Airport</div><div><br />
</div><div>I've listed both school and university because you may be going to college while your child goes to grammar school, so at that point in your life, your family would need both.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Now while some facilities are exceptions to the rule, most of these facilities can fit into a space of 55 feet by 35 feet (or an equivalent space measuring 1925 square feet). That's no problem for martial arts, dance, yoga, gym, swimming pool, library, bank, technology stores, restaurants, shoe stores, clothing stores and a dental facility.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Some of the things on my list would no longer be required. If we no longer drove cars, then we wouldn't need a gas station or a department of motor vehicles. Grocery stores, drug stores and health food stores would no longer be needed if we were eating healthy home-grown food off the land, and getting plenty of exercise by tending our permaculture and walking about the surrounding area.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Many massive corporate factories could be replaced by smaller operations that could fit into a 1925 square foot space, although I'm sure not all operations could be made small enough to do that.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Some people may think it's not okay to have a place of worship exist on the bottom floor of a five story house which eight people live in, but I think many religions would be okay with this, especially if it were only clergy/monks that lived there.</div><div><br />
</div><div>But I admit that some of the facilities I mentioned may not be able to fit into a space that small no matter what we do. So let's separate my list into three categories: The things we would no longer need, the things we could fit into the bottom floor of a five story home, and the things that we may still need but may not fit.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="5px" cellspacing="5px"><tbody>
<tr><td><b>May Be Needed,<br />
Will Fit / May Fit</b></td><td><b>May Be Needed,<br />
May Not Fit</b></td><td><b>Won't Be Needed,<br />
Or May Not Be Needed</b></td></tr>
<tr><td>Hospital</td><td>Water-Treatment Facility</td><td>Grocery Store</td></tr>
<tr><td>Clothing Store</td><td>Electrical Facility</td><td>Health Food Store</td></tr>
<tr><td>Workplace</td><td>Workplace</td><td>Department of Motor Vehicles</td></tr>
<tr><td>School</td><td>University</td><td>Drug Store</td></tr>
<tr><td>Shoe Store</td><td>Natural Gas Service</td><td>Dentist</td></tr>
<tr><td>Technology Store</td><td></td><td>Gas Station</td></tr>
<tr><td>Home Improvement Store</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Police Department</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Fire Department</td><td><br />
</td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Government Facility</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Laundromat</td><td></td><td>Laundromat</td></tr>
<tr><td>Dry Cleaners</td><td></td><td>Dry Cleaners</td></tr>
<tr><td>Bank</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Library</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Church</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Restaurant</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Swimming Pools</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Gym</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Yoga Studio</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Marital Arts/Dance Studio</td><td></td><td></td></tr>
<tr><td>Factories</td><td></td><td>Factories</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
Why do I say a dentist won't be needed? Well, if we ate 70% <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/06/raw-food-diet-basics.html" target="_blank">raw vegan</a> diets with plenty of green leafy vegetables, dentists would no longer be required. Eating a fresh home-grown diet would improve our teeth even more.<br />
<br />
It is tooth paste, tooth brushes, flour, sugar, fluoride, heavy metals in our food supply and water, toxic air, and unhealthy bodies that give us bad teeth and send us running to our dentist for bad advice. In this crazy Utopian design, it wouldn't be required. We would still need medical advice however, but that could be included with "hospital."<br />
<br />
How do I claim that a home improvement store could fit? Home Depot is huge, after all. Well, how much of what they carry is just a duplicate? Stacks and stacks of the same item are stored there. That isn't necessary. I have a store called Dibble not so far from my home which is about triple the size of my bottom floor of my house and has way more than I ever need for one project. Three or four departments of the store could easily fit into a 1925 square feet space.<br />
<br />
For example, one store could include paints, sanding, plaster, grout and floor tiles. Another store could include power tools, attachments for power tools, and some basic supplies such as screws and nails. Another store could have all the plumbing and electrical supplies. In general, these things are not required on a daily basis and it would be no tragedy if you had to ride the train for ten minutes to get there. Often we drive half an hour to get to some giant store just for one silly item anyway.<br />
<br />
I think it's fair to say that a police department could fit. It would actually be better if police in small squads existed in a more spread-out design. I believe this would actually make places safer because each community would have it's own personal squad. There could be a larger headquarters somewhere else... (We'll return to that thought in a moment.)</div><div><br />
</div><div>Would it be possible to reach everything we usually require? Absolutely. Check this out:</div><div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelwithlocationnames.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelwithlocationnames.png" width="500px" /><br />
<i>Click To View Full-Size</i></a></center></div><div>This image actually displays more facilities than I even mentioned in my list as being able to fit and being needed. Walking from the pool to the barber would take you no longer than it currently takes you to walk a city block, or maybe two (depending on how you measure a block).</div><div><br />
</div><div>What about public walkways? Alright, let's say they are six feet wide so they can accommodate traffic when needed, for deliveries and emergencies. This removes an additional six feet in length and width of each property, but as I illustrate later, this still isn't an issue. Let's look at the new graphic, which I've also added a post office to:</div><div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelwithpathes.png" target="_blank""><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelwithpathes.png" width="500px" /><br />
<i>Click To Enlarge</i></a><br />
</center></div><div><br />
</div><div>Returning to the larger building conundrum:</div><div><br />
Well, how would there be larger headquarters and larger places for things that wouldn't fit? Well, remember how we shaved off five feet off of some properties for the train track without causing much loss? Well, what if we shaved five feet off of every property in the entire total space?</div><div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">We're currently working with <span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">7350 square feet per property (not counting the pathways that I added after nearly completing this post) from the dimensions of 105 feet by 70 feet. For some people they have 100 feet by 70 feet because of the railroad tracks. Let's say we made it so that everyone now has 65 feet by 105 or 100 feet. Let's say that it's an equal amount of people who have 105 feet (without a train-track beside them) and people who do have them and have 100 feet. We'll call the average 102.5 feet. So now households have 102.5 feet by 65 feet to live on. (That is 6662.5 square feet per property, per eight people.) This is still enough space to feed everyone as we showed that a garden pool that only takes up 480 square feet will feed four people, meaning you only need 960 outdoor feet to feed eight people. Besides, we haven't even mentioned the possibility of green roofs, giving us an additional 1925 square feet of growing space.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If there are 6,800,000,000 people, and 8 of them per property, that is 850,000,000 properties.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">By cutting off a space sized 5 feet by 102.5 feet (512.5 square feet) of each property, we gain 435,625,000,000 square feet for massive buildings, for structures such as airports and water filtering facilities. I looked up some airport sizes, and found an airport sized at 2,500,000 square feet. (2.5 milion square feet.) How many times can we fit 2.5 milion into the amount of square feet we just gained?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">2,500,000 goes into 435,625,000,000...</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">174,250 times.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">So we could build roughly 174 thousand facilities the size of an airport, and still have enough room for each person to have enough food to live off of on their own land.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you're concerned about the quality of life that eating this way could create, let's look at some things that have not yet been covered. Two words for you:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Sprout rooms.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">If you enjoy eating sprouts on your sandwiches, salads or by themselves, this concept will blow your mind.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Many raw vegan healing retreats that heal people of cancer and other "incurable" diseases, have sprout rooms. Sprouts are a great agent for healing. They are cost effective and can be grown anywhere at any time of year. They do not require sunlight or soil, making them easy to manage for anyone in any financial situation or living situation.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Sprout rooms are essentially giant plant showers. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">A small kitchen sprouter for the average person is a several-tiered device with three or four levels to grow sprouts in. Each level has a small hole to allow water drainage. By putting water in the first tier you water all the levels, and then the water enters a basin at the bottom that you empty after watering the sprouts. The sprouts require water several times a day to keep them fresh and clean. This must be done to prevent any mold from developing.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">In a sprout room you have giant tiers the size of dining room tables. The top tier drains into the one beneath it, and the second one will drain into the one beneath that. Just by sprinklers (showers) in the top of the room, you can water the entire room at once. With a timer, they can be watered automatically several times a day, everyday.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This design is used for growing many different things. Wheatgrass, sunflower sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, bean sprouts, etc. Any thing you sprout (which is any plant), can be grown this way. All sprouts taste very different. Radish sprouts are just as potent as radishes! Sunflower sprouts are enjoyably mild. Wheatgrass is a type of grass that health enthusiasts juice and drink the juice thereof for the health benefit. Wheatgrass contains many trace minerals that other plants do not.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Thereby, if each five-story building contained a sprout-room for all eight occupants to eat out of, there would be a wide variety of sprouts available to everyone all year around. This is entirely sustainable with little to no negative environmental affects. The drain water can go right back into the land on the property. In fact, this water carries nutrients that is good for the soil.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">For variety's sake, each home could have a "garden pool" in addition to a sprout room in addition to a growing green roof. This would allow each property to grow their own favorite mix of berries, vegetables, sprouts, herbs and even small animals, fish and eggs. Also, there would be enough room for each household to have several food-producing trees. In a tropical climate a home could have a banana tree, a durian tree and a date tree. In a climate like Buffalo, NY, you could have an apple tree, a cherry tree, a peach tree, raspberry and blueberry hedges still in <i>addition</i> to the "garden pool," sprout room and green roof.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">This model for existence could save the planet, save your health, and save you time. No more long transits to work or to get food. The need for truck drivers would be eliminated because everything could be transported on trains. Truck drivers could retire and just live off their plot of land if they like. (Some of them could go into managing freight trains, of course.)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_efficiency_in_transportation" target="_blank">note on trains</a>: A freight train can transport one ton of material 436 miles on one single gallon of gas. This would be incredibly efficient in comparison to our current system.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Compare to large trucks which get seven to eight miles per gallon. This makes trains fifty-four times more efficient than trucks.</span></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">As far as sewage... I have some interesting thoughts on that. Firstly, our water doesn't need to go back into the drain and be filtered. Only chemical things need to go down a drain and be taken away and carefully dealt with. If we were all using natural organic soaps to wash with, then our shower water could be drained onto our own land. Also, if we were eating healthy diets, our own refuse would be good fertilizer for our land and could also stay on the property. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Little waste would be generated in trash because most of our trash is actually food waste which could be composted. Since I've become a raw vegan I found that 98% of my waste is actually just food waste. Banana peels, watermelon rinds, peach pits, nut shells, and other food waste can go right back into the earth through composting. There would also be enough room for a compost on each property.</span></span></div><span style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
Skeptical? Let's create a graphic for this as well. We're dealing with 102.5 feet by 65 feet per property. That's 6662.5 squared feet. Let's make every five pixels worth one foot for a close up example of a property:</span></span></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelcloseupwithpublicpathways.png" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Graphics/DDP%20Models/AllLivingInTexasModelcloseupwithpublicpathways.png" width="500px" /><br />
<i>Click To View Full-Size</i></a></center><br />
In the above there are two large composts (one compost per four people), eight fruit trees (one per person), one garden pool, a nice large gazebo, a giant growing green roof, a large path for large deliveries or emergency vehicles, public pathways, berry shrubs and a well for fresh local water. Notice how the garden pool could easily be twice the size with some rearrangement (a smaller gazebo, smaller trees, a smaller path, whatever). Notice how there could be more trees, more compost, or a larger path. This is just one example to show that it is possible.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">My only trash comes from buying products that come in containers I can't recycle. Luckily, most containers are recyclable. So for example, I buy giant tubs of organic washed spinach regularly. That's a bit of waste I would no longer generate if I were growing all my own spinach. When I buy things like bananas, the only waste generated on my end is the sticker I peel off and put in the trash. There wouldn't be stickers even if we were growing our own.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Speaking of bananas. What if I want bananas and they won't grow on my land? Well, since I have extra peaches, I could sell my peaches and get money to ship in bananas. Or, I could directly trade some peaches for bananas. Insane concept, huh?</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">We could have a market/bazaar trading space along a trail-rail intersection where people bring their extra produce and wares that don't seem to be locally desired. What they couldn't sell in a day could then be put on the trains and taken elsewhere where it is otherwise not produced.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">Instead of all packing into Texas, we could fit all the world's people in six to ten regions. The six to ten regions could amount to the same amount of land as the size of Texas total. With this design, we could preserve the world's natural habitats. We've already got enough stuff. We don't need to chop down more forests to get more stuff. We just need to recycle more often, shop for used-items more often, etc.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">While there may be some holes in this thesis, the overall point is clear: It could be done. Everyone in the world could sustainably live in a space the size of Texas. The only reason we're killing the Earth is for gluttony, not for necessity.</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span">We're not over-populated, we're under-educated.</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">For my ideas on how to consume less and preserve the planet more, <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2011/07/pro-trees.html" target="_blank">read yesterday's entry: Pro Trees.</a></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div><div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Thanks for reading.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Namaste</i></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>~ Raederle Phoenix</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div>PS: If you have questions, I have created a <a href="http://pitifulbarbie.typepad.com/blog/2012/01/can-we-all-fit-in-a-space-the-size-of-texas-q-a.html" target="_blank">Question & Answer page</a> on my typepad to post questions and answers related to this post.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div>
</div> --!>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-5989383621311679522011-07-21T23:28:00.007-04:002011-07-22T00:39:02.936-04:00Pro-Trees<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GeqpvJTYIcI/Tij-Oo-89vI/AAAAAAAACR8/PQtx65LVE1c/s1600/DSCF5716.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GeqpvJTYIcI/Tij-Oo-89vI/AAAAAAAACR8/PQtx65LVE1c/s320/DSCF5716.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5632030861499889394" /></a><blockquote><br /></blockquote><blockquote>"No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible."</blockquote><blockquote> - Voltaire</blockquote><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>There are six billion (or how ever many people) on this planet. It's a freaking huge amount. In this mass of human beings, we feel small. Insignificant.</div><div><br /></div><div>What can I really change?</div><div><br /></div><div>Does my vote really matter?</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Why bother wasting <i>my</i> time when it won't make a difference?</div><div><br /></div><div>And besides, when there are so damn many of us, with so many different opinions, who is really going to listen to <i>my</i> opinion?</div><div><br /></div><div>It's true that one of us, alone, can't do much. Certainly not with any single action, such as voting once a year, or every four years, or how ever often we vote on something. In the big scheme of things, that is pretty trivial.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, in order to make our voice heard, should we sacrifice our lives and our time to <i>make</i> change happen? Should our every decision be tempered towards trying to shift the world from consumerism to compassion, from a love of money to a love of life?</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, what if it didn't have to be a sacrifice...?</div><div><br /></div><div>What if we didn't have to sacrifice our time to go protest twice a week to make change happen?</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." - Gandhi</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>What happens when these protests occur?</div><div><br /></div><div>Watching the movie <i>If A Tree Falls</i> has really opened my mind to the repercussions of protests. Innocent people get tortured. That's what happens. No kidding. Young women in <i>peaceful</i> protest were taken in and had pepper spray put directly into their eyes. I mean, seriously folks, <i>this</i> is the world we live in.</div><div><br /></div><div>Protests don't work.</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>Mother Teresa said: "I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me."</blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-secret/" target="_blank">Watch the movie <i>The Secret</i></a> for more insight onto the same thought. </div><div><br /></div><div>The basis for the argument that protests don't work is because we're putting energy into what we don't want. We can't just fight against. We must fight <i>for</i> something. We must be pro-______. Pro-peace. Pro-nature. Pro-happiness. Pro-education. Pro-freedom. Those are good concepts.</div><div><br /></div><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--6d54TGGdvs/Tij98tPbWeI/AAAAAAAACR0/e4BLJVBsAVk/s320/Winter.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5632030553405086178" /><div>For every one thing we state that we are against, we must state that we are for at least ten other things.</div><div><br /></div><div>For every one anti-action we take, we must take at least ten other pro-actions.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>If we say we are against disease, does it do any good to kill everyone with disease? We must cure the cause of the disease, not kill the people with it.</div><div><br /></div><div>If we are against war, does it do any good to shoot the commanders? Then we are just fighting fire with more fire.</div><div><br /></div><div>We must prove that there is a way to do without the things we are against. We must set an example. If we are against consumerism, then set an example through finding your own alternatives.</div><div><br /></div><div>Buy your clothing second hand. Shop at yard sales as often as possible. </div><div><br /></div><div>Shop at farmer's markets. Less food miles, less nutrient deterioration.</div><div><br /></div><div>Grow your own garden. No food miles. No nutrient deterioration. No corporate profit at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eat <i>wild</i> plants. Learn about the native wild life. Absolutely zero negative impact.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wash your hair with plants that grow nearby instead of commercial products.</div><div><br /></div><div>Use organic products instead of conventional products.</div><div><br /></div><div>Buy products in recyclable or compostable containers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Talk about solutions instead of problems. Have a peace rally.</div><div><br /></div><div>Have a free market. Everyone comes and gives things away for free. No barter, no money involved. Undermine the system without hurting anybody in the process (except the corporations who lose profit because you don't have to buy it new if you can get it second hand).</div><div><br /></div><div>Smile. Give energy to people around you. Inspire people, don't bring them down. Give people something positive to focus on.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you're bored, go for a walk. Being bored is a bad excuse for spending money wastefully.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Here is my super-anti-item of the entry. My bit of negativity and fighting against...)</div><div>Quit the cigarettes. You're polluting the air and supporting a meaningless value system at the same time by smoking. It's not just your health, it's everyone's health. You're not just fucking over your lungs, you are fucking everyone. And you're giving me a migraine every time I walk past you. I can't even be friends with people who smoke because I get a horrible headache every time I get near a smoker. Instead of being a hazard, be a joy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yoga instead of commercial gyms.</div><div><br /></div><div>Teach your friends martial arts, dance, yoga, tai chi, etc, and bring them health.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eat lots of fresh produce. Fresh produce goes from the farm to you. Fresh produce does not get packaged or processed in all the complex ways that boxed foods do. There is less waste, less food miles, and less (or no) negative health impacts to eating fresh produce.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you buy local organic produce you support better soil, better air, a better healthy life for yourself, better ethics, and an entire better Earth. It's something you can be proud of, and it's not even going out of your way. You need to eat anyway.</div><div><br /></div><div>I choose not to eat meat for nutritional reasons. It's nutritionally inefficient to eat meat, so I don't do it. But, as I've started hanging around other vegans, I've started hearing many sides to the ethical reasons behind it. I'm not saying hunting down an animal and eating it is wrong. But the raising and slaughtering of animals in the massive, massive way we do so in this country is harmful to the planet. Land that could be full of wild life and forests is kept clear for cattle. That land could be full of trees giving oxygen to the atmosphere and pulling nutrition from deep below into the topsoil. Instead, we have a bunch of penned up animals raised for our gluttony which are (sometimes/often) force fed to reach maturity sooner to bring us beef sooner. It's filthy, absurd, and disgusting. And it's not even nutritionally efficient to boot. </div><div><br /></div><div>Try <a href="http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/food-matters/" target="_blank">watching <i>Food Matters</i></a>, and <i>Super Size Me</i>, and <i>Fast Food Nation</i> and <a href="http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/dying-to-have-known/" target="_blank"><i>Dying To Have Known</i></a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Read more.</div><div><br /></div><div>Watch more documentaries.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eat more raw, less cooked. Raw foods balance your pH levels, regulating your mood, temperature, nutrition absorption, muscle production, fat production... It's all regulated and affected by your pH. For a healthy alkaline pH level, you need at least 65% (at the very least) of your diet to consist of raw, uncooked fresh produce.</div><div><br /></div><div>Stop being a conformist, and be yourself.</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>"A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble."</blockquote><blockquote> - Gandhi </blockquote></div><div><br /></div><div>We don't need to change our entire life to make the world a better place. We only need to change key aspects of our life, such as what we choose to buy. Just by choosing recycled napkins over virgin napkins, we can save millions of trees. Also, you can compost your recycled napkins as long as you have not used them to clean up something toxic.</div><div><br /></div><div>The system <i>is</i> affecting every one of us. Even if we think we're "outside" of the system, it still has impact. Nobody is immune. The best we can do is to get educated and make better day to day decisions. Save yourself some torture, and move from protesting to living the dream. Live the example you want others to follow. Be the change you want to see in the world. Be an inspiration to everyone who encounters you.</div><div><br /></div><div>Burning down corporate buildings, unfortunately, will only cause more bitterness and retaliation all around. The corporate leaders will still be heartless (or whatever they were beforehand). Massive "actions" only generate more fear. Fear-mongering is not the answer.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can control people temporarily with fear.</div><div><br /></div><div>You can inspire people indefinitely by gaining their respect.</div><div><br /></div><div>Reconsider the concert for the famous pop star. Why spend your money going to watch that star? Why not find a small local band you like and support them instead?</div><div><br /></div><div>Reconsider the huge big-screen TV. Perhaps you'd like to build a green house, install a green roof, or build some new bamboo cabinets in your kitchen. Maybe you'd like to spend more time with you friends, spouse, children, or parents and less time sitting around flipping channels anyway. Maybe you'd like to put that money towards starting your own small business.</div><div><br /></div><div>Reconsider that new ipod. How much do you really listen to music anyway? Can't you just listen to it at home on your computer?</div><div><br /></div><div>Reconsider that new designer dress. Couldn't you find something just as flattering second hand?</div><div><br /></div><div>It doesn't matter what your priorities in life are, you can make room to be environmentally friendly. You can stop being a consumerist without becoming Amish.</div><div><br /></div><div>For example, at Christmas time (or any holiday where gifts are given, such as birthdays), you can give "green" gifts, home-made gifts, or edible gifts. Make an organic <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/raw-recipes.html" target="_blank">raw vegan pie</a> for your friends' birthday. Home-make soap as gifts. Buy someone a notebook made from recycled paper instead of one made from virgin paper. Do them a favor instead of buying them anything at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most of that useless junk being sold in stores that comes from China is used as a gift. Something cheap and quick to "show someone you care." These things just sit around collecting dust.</div><div><br /></div><div>Watch <i>The Story of Stuff. </i>Items are disposed of only <i>six months</i> after they are purchased.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think being revolutionary needs to be reexamined. It's clear to me after watching <i>If A Tree Falls</i> that protesting and "blowing shit up" doesn't work. The real answer is <i>serious boycotting</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not just "oh, I'll buy a little less from Wal-Mart." Rethinking <i>all</i> of the ways we spend money and accumulate money... That I believe, is the only sensible answer.</div><div><br /></div><div>PS: Have your spouse proof-read your blog... Less embarrassing typos. :D</div><br /><br />I also recommend the documentary: <a href="http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/marketing-of-madness-are-we-all-insane/" target="_blank">The Marketing of Madness</a>.Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-68093444230851375652011-06-29T10:50:00.000-04:002011-06-29T10:51:28.017-04:00I dreamed I was PharaohIn my dream I was a Pharaoh.<br /><br />I went among my people as a laborer. I was connected to all beings. I was friends with a spider, and with creatures that looked like men but were only a foot tall. There were other creatures as well, but I don't recall their appearances or purposes.<br /><br />I was standing on something akin to a sidewalk, near a labor site. Close to me was a mound of dirt where many creatures whom were my friends had died. I especially mourning a spider. I pulled her web down and placed it upon the mound of dirt.<br /><br />Oddly, my mother pulled up in her car alongside the sidewalk and said, "I can see that you are busy now. I will come to pick you up later."<br /><br />I nodded, barely giving her my attention for a second. As she pulled away I summoned other laborers around me. They did not know I was their Pharaoh as I called them to me.<br /><br />I spoke to them, and the surrounding men listened. I was in the body of a powerfully built man, and they all had bodies like mine. Deeply tanned from labor in the sun, powerful built from working long days at arduous tasks.<br /><br />As I spoke to them, my power rose within me, making me a pillar of light. My aura became visible as it stretched out to the men around me. I spoke to them of the creatures that had meant something to me, my connection to them, their connection to them, and the light burned bright white.<br /><br />A link of light formed between me and every laborer and I said, "My love courses through you, your love courses through me." I felt it inside me that it was true, and then I realized that I was God.<br /><br />With my power as God, I drew up my wealth of energy, and poured it through the men around me, raising a temple on the mound of dirt before me. This was a miniature temple, built the appropriate size for the creatures who were only a foot tall. I built it for them, in their honor.<br /><br />I knew treasures were in the mound of dirt. Great treasures that would be tempting. I knew my heavy marble temple would stand as a warning to not disturb this holy earth.<br /><br />I felt the loss of my companions, the love of my fellow laborers, the power of a king and a God, my own love for each being, my pride at the structure I had risen before me and the symbol it served as memory of this time, this moment.<br /><br />The temple was white and baby blue. It rose nearly as tall as me. It was a square in it's proportions, as long and wide as it was tall. It was made of pure marble, with baby blue designs on the pillars in the front. Pillars were throughout the temple, inside and out.<br /><br />I know that in the dream specifics were more clear. I knew what treasures were buried, what creatures I mourned, how those creatures came to harm, why I was posing as a laborer, and the significance of the mound of dirt alongside the walking path. Unfortunately, those details were lost to me upon waking. The only reason I recall as much as I do is because I said most of this aloud to my husband the moment I woke.<br /><br />I believe the dream was full of symbolism, which I could explore, but I'd like to hear what you think. What do you think my dream meant?<br /><br /><i>~ Raederle</i>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-78888461849771789512011-06-27T12:23:00.001-04:002011-06-27T12:26:59.207-04:00If only...Give me a reason to want to wake up in the morning.<br />Something fun.<br />I want excitement, exploration and adventure.<br />A hike through the woods would be nice.<br /><br />I'd do yoga, if my mat were clean, if my floor were clean,<br />...if I really had enough space in this cramped little room.<br /><br />I'd sing a song, if I liked my voice, if I knew the words to a song, <div>if it served any real purpose at all.<br /><br />I'd dance, if I had the space, if I had a collection of music to dance to, </div><div>if someone would watch and clap,<br />...if someone would dance with me.<br /><br />I'd draw a picture, if I had a place with good lighting, </div><div>if I could scan my artwork when I was done,<br />if all my drawing supplies on hand, </div><div>if I felt the least bit inspired inside my heart...<br /><br />I'd read a book, if I had a quiet comfortable place to read, </div><div>if I had a good book I really wanted to read.<br /><br />I'd be happy to play a game of hacky sack, or spar on the grass, </div><div>or tumble and play like little kittens;<br />If I had a playmate or three who'd play with me, </div><div>and some soft fluffy foliage to tumble in...<br /><br />I'd make an extravagant raw vegan meal, </div><div>with nori rolls as the appetizer, </div><div>dipped in a sweat and spicy sauce,<br />I'd make stuffed mushroom caps alongside raw zucchini noodles,</div><div> with a thick tomato sauce,<br />I'd make pizza in my dehydrator at 110 degrees, </div><div>and top it with peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, chives </div><div>and marinated mushrooms,<br />I'd make a coconut cream pie with a thick crispy crust, </div><div>a creamy coconut filling and a light fluffy topping,<br />and I could serve a delicious sweet and sour ice-cream cake too... </div><div>If only anyone could afford such an expensive meal,<br />if only someone would appreciate my hard work, </div><div>if only it would mean something, help someone, </div><div>or give me some satisfaction.<br /><br />I'd play a video game, </div><div>if I could find one that'd hold my interest for more than an hour.<br /><br />I might even watch television if I had one hooked up, </div><div>or if anything good was on, </div><div>or if I had a comfortable couch to watch it from.<br /><br />I'd be delighted to paint a picture if I had the canvas, paints,</div><div> and brushes set before in a large comfortable well-lit area.<br /><br />I'd love to photograph beautiful models, </div><div>and be photographed with them, </div><div>if only I had a high quality camera and sexy model friends.<br /><br />I might be up for board games, </div><div>if only if I had a new game to play and new people to play with,<br />a nice gaming table in a well-lit space,</div><div> and some good gaming snacks that were light and healthy.<br /><br />I'd clean something, anything really, </div><div>if only it would stay clean, if only it would really benefit someone,<br />if only I could feel like I wasn't completely wasting my time.<br /><br />I'd go grocery shopping, </div><div>if we didn't already have plenty of things in the kitchen.<br /><br />I'd eat breakfast, </div><div>if I had an appetite.<br /><br />I'd go for a bike ride, if my bike didn't have a flat, </div><div>if my husband could bike with me, if I had somewhere to bike to.<br /><br />I'd garden, happily and joyfully, I really would, </div><div>if only I had new plants to plant, if only I had more soil to add, </div><div>if only...<br /><br />I'd play an instrument, if I was any good at music, </div><div>if I owned an instrument to play, if anyone would listen...<br /><br />I'd make a board game, if I had the funds to print my first play-test copy,</div><div> if I had play-testers lined up,<br />if I had a good space to invite my play-testers over.<br /><br />I'd make a video game, if I had a couple willing programmers, </div><div>if I had an animator, if I had a model-maker and texturer,<br />if I had a nice set-up with enough computers, if I had the time.<br /><br />I'd make a board game, </div><div>a video game and a browser game each to educate people about their choices,<br />to show others how their spending affects the planet, </div><div>to show them how there is enough food for everyone,<br />to show them how everything they eat causes or solves every problem they have... </div><div>if only I had the money,<br />if only I had the time, if only I had the right friends...<br /><br />I'd start up a restaurant with incredible cuisine, </div><div>with its own green house for the freshest produce possible,<br />if only I owned a good location, </div><div>if only I had a few employees on board for a couple months without pay,<br />if only I knew enough about taxes, </div><div>paperwork and other government garbage.<br /><br />I'd start up a raw vegan healing commune today, </div><div>round up the volunteers to build the community structures,<br />and begin readying the land for dozens of fruit trees and permiculture,<br />if only I had the land, if only I knew the volunteers, </div><div>if only I had my confidence, if only I could wind-down,<br />if only my head would screw on straight, </div><div>if only I had something fun to get up for this morning.<br /><br />I'd change the world for the better, </div><div>if only I could do some yoga,</div><div> if only I could sing and dance,<br />If only I could go for a hike, draw a picture, </div><div>paint a masterpiece, </div><div>read a book, play a game of hacky sack,<br />If only I could make extravagant healthy meals, </div><div>make board games, </div><div>photograph incredible people,<br />If only I could clean my space, eat breakfast, </div><div>plant more herbs in my garden, go for a bike ride,<br />If only I could play an instrument, </div><div>start a restaurant, start up my commune...<br />Then I could make the world a better place.<br /><div><br /></div><div><i>~ Raederle Phoenix</i></div></div>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-81269723943570963182011-05-25T19:56:00.003-04:002011-05-25T20:25:50.227-04:00Breast Augmentation, Circumcision, Abuse & Beauty PagentsI posted the following to my facebook stream to share, with the following comment:<br /><br /><blockquote>Imagine if you got breast implants for your 15th birthday from your father who took out a loan from the bank. The bank gives your father the loan because the bank understands that you are more likely to be successful and make money with big boobs. Sound absurd? In Venezuela it's reality.</blockquote><br /><br /><center><iframe src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2008601179/miss-women-culture-and-venezuelas-beauty-industry/widget/video.html" frameborder="0" height="392px" width="460px"></iframe></center><br /><br />You can read the full article and donate to the project <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2008601179/miss-women-culture-and-venezuelas-beauty-industry?ref=live" target="_blank">by clicking here.</a><br /><br />I was surprised by the array of comments that were posted, and I think the discussion is worth posting here for others to think about and consider. Many of the comments brought up issues that affect us, in our own country.<br /><br />I have added some notes in [brackets].<br /><br />The discussion:<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jim Welke:</span> It's reality in Hollywood.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Donna Bowen:</span> Would love a bit of a nip and tuck, lol.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Matt Goehrig:</span> This reminds of the time when I was 15 and my dad paid for my breast implants. [Being sarcastic.]<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cheli Bremmer:</span> "Tits and Aaaaasss, got myself a fancy pair, tightened up the derriere... did the nose with it, all that goes with it. It's a gaaass".... now THAT dates me.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Raederle Phoenix:</span> I just find it incredibly sad that people are willing to mutilate themselves in the name of beauty. It's incredibly ugly.</blockquote><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Matt Goehrig:</span> I know right? who would ever get a piercing? or a tattoo? or a circumcision? Okay, well.. two out of three of those seem like good ideas... but I agree with you on the breasts thing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Cheli Bremmer:</span> It comes of being too caught up in things that are by their nature illusory. We exchange Reality for Illusion and then chase the things that are the most fleeting. Something like that.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Donna Bowen:</span> I got a tattoo I was having a midlife I put my kids names on it.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Marie Johnson:</span> I'm sorry but I'm surprised at how lightly everyone is taking this clip that Raederle shared... Even if you are okay with plastic surgery, there is a whole other facet here that everyone is overlooking, and that is the rampant abuse that is going on over there because of the fact that these girls are truly seen as objects.<br /><br />These young girls are being beaten and killed as if their lives was not worth anything. With the prevalence of plastic surgery here, in California at least, and the fact that younger and younger girls are starting to get it here as well... The question is how long before our own girls are treated as harshly?<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Raederle Phoenix:</span> In response to Matt -- I honestly am not for piercings, tattoos or circumcision either. I don't make a fuss about it though -- people can do what they want with their bodies. There is a big difference however in a tiny hole through the ear that has little to no risk and costs very little and a long expensive surgery with multitudes of risks that has no health benefit or necessity.<br /><br />In response to Marie -- Thank goodness someone has some sense. I cried through that video. It's one of those bits of information that is hard to carry. Obsession with perfect appearance and abuse go hand in hand. I think the project is worth donating to, and if I had the money, I'd at least make a small pledge.</blockquote><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Vviolent Vickie:</span> I wouldnt want my dad thinkin about my tits... and yes i do find this very disturbing.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Matt Goehrig:</span> For the record, I think tattoos are cool, but I dont like peircings. I think that silly, if you'll forgive me for using the word "silly." Its like putting make up on.... What crackpot thought it would be a good idea to paint your face and put holes in your skin? That should be left to clowns and surgeons.... I think some aspects of our culture are just silly. Tattoos, on the other hand, can be pretty cool...<br /><br />I think the reason why I can like some tattoos but not piercings, is that tattoos are not cosmetic (and if they are, I don't think i'd like it). Things that are purely cosmetic just seem to vain and ridiculous to me. Sometimes I think the line between self-expression and vanity is blurred though, and I can understand the use of piercings and makeup for those reasons, though it more often both are attempts at something else...<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cheli Bremmer:</span> Tattoos and piercings are a personal choice. Breast implants come from a message in our society that we have to have breasts look a certain way in order to be pleasing. Whatever. Overall, it's still a personal choice, but if women would refuse, then our perception of women's bodies would change. Circumcision is cutting the genitals of babies who ARE NOT GIVEN A CHOICE IN THE MATTER.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Matt Goehrig:</span> Babies don't get to choose anything about their lives.. Maybe we should only feed them food they like when they want it, and only send kids to school when they want to, and never take them to the doctor, and have them buy their own clothes... yea, lets just treat babies like they're adults who can make decisions for themselves.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Vviolent Vickie:</span> Maybe what we should be thinking about here is how they are linking the obsession with plastic surgery/the objectification of women with domestic violence. how r these things related?<br /><br />I found <a href="http://www.womenscenter.uconn.edu/VAWPP/sublinks/6_things/3_create_a_climate_of_respect.pdf" target="_blank">this</a>: "Individual sexist acts may seem harmless, but they ultimately foster disrespect for women and women’s well-being, which makes rape and abuse seem more acceptable. In this way, telling a sexist joke, using sexist language, blaming a victim of sexual assault, or displaying an objectifying poster actually contributes to a culture that allows sexual violence to occur."<br /><br />And this: Sexual objectification is seeing a person as a sexual object and emphasizing their sexual attributes and physical attractiveness, while de-emphasizing their existence as a living person with emotions and feelings of their own.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Annelie Russell:</span> When I was around 11, my parents sent me to "charm school", because I was too much like a tom boy. It was basically modeling, and we had to participate on the run way. Some people like it, I remember hating it and didn't wear a dress for years! It starts in the home, and one by one they will wake up.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cheli Bremmer:</span> Matt, I think it's wrong to cut off someone's body parts. They scream their heads off, and it's unnecessary. I think you're taking my point a little far to the extreme. [Agreed Cheli.]<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Nikki Scott: </span>Perhaps the populace could demand that beauty pageant officials change their terms of entry. Anyone who has had surgeries to augment appearance (ie: lip injections, breast augmentation, eyebrow lifts, etc.) are disqualified.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Raederle Phoenix:</span><br /><br />In response to Matt -- It's true, babies can not choose for themselves, which is why every human should do their best to research and educate themselves about all possible options, pros and cons, etc, before making huge decisions that will affect their child for their entire life before they make such decisions.<br /><br />In response to Vickie -- Great quotes you found. It is important to draw that connection, indeed.<br /><br />In response to Annelie -- Everyone is their own person. (I'm agreeing with you, just expanding:) Some men want to stay home and raise kids and take care of the home, and if the woman makes enough money for kids and husband, that's fine, and vise versa. If a woman wants to play sports, that's fine.<br /><br />It's when we start to say "you shouldn't cry because you're a man" or "you need tits because you're a woman" that we cause people to force themselves to be something they are not in order to "fit in" which makes them miserable people who are not productive/happy/fulfilled members of society.</blockquote><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cheli Bremmer:</span> We are a group of people who agree on the basics: live and let live -- stop messing with nature and enjoy who we are and what we are, and try to live within reasonable bounds of goodwill and health. Agreed?? By the way, Nikki, I think your idea is brilliant.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Raederle Phoenix:<br /><br /></span>In response to Cheli -- Indeed. But Matt has trouble accepting anything that is not conventional wisdom. "If circumcision is what they do in hospitals in America, it must be okay" sort of attitude. It's common and unfortunate. I know several men who have not been circumcised. It takes a few extra moments in the shower of cleaning. Before we had showers and knew about hygiene, infections were a problem. Now we know, so it's just pointless mutilation.</blockquote>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-70666849444232224992011-05-24T18:06:00.003-04:002011-05-24T18:13:44.936-04:00The Craft of WritingI attend a Writer's Group every other Tuesday evening. We have two scheduled hours, but sometimes we stay longer and chat. The two scheduled hours include half an hour for business at the beginning, followed by three readers who eat get ten to fifteen minutes to read, and then fifteen to twenty minutes of feedback (or we just chat about the piece until we have nothing left to say).<br /><br />I was at the very first meeting a couple years ago, and until I moved to California I never missed a single meeting. Since I've moved back to Buffalo, New York, I have not missed a meeting. In just a short while I'll be heading off to one of the member's homes for tonight's meeting, which is a very special occasion for us.<br /><br />Instead of doing the general three readers tonight, we'll be sharing our tips and tricks on writing itself. We'll talk about the craft. I'm really excited to hear the process behind the other writers in the group. We're friends now, the entire group, but while we've heard each other read a lot, and know much about the lives of one another, we have not yet done a meeting to discuss our craft at length.<br /><br />For the meeting I've prepared a handout of some of my favorite writing advice from various sources as well as a couple things I think may be helpful to writer, even if not directly relating to writing itself.<br /><br />The handout goes as follows:<br /><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in" align="CENTER"><span style="font-family:Traditional Arabic;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"><span style="font-family:Traditional Arabic;"><span style="font-size:130%;">A Collection of</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"><span style="font-family:Traditional Arabic;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Writer's Craft Tips</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"><span style="font-family:Traditional Arabic;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Assembled by Raederle Phoenix</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "Good books don't give up all their secrets at once." — Stephen King</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." — Stephen King</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "The road to hell is paved with adverbs." — Stephen King (On Writing) </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "Humor is almost always anger with its make-up on." — Stephen King (Bag of Bones) </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.” — Stephen King (On Writing) </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> “Only enemies speak the truth; friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.” — Stephen King</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Bill Harper: “Try not to edit while you’re creating your first draft. Creating and editing are two separate processes using different sides of the brain, and if you try doing both at once you’ll lose. Make a deal with your internal editor that it will get the chance to rip your piece to shreds; it will just need to wait some time.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> “A really nice trick is to switch off your monitor when you’re typing. You can’t edit what you can’t see.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Pete Bollini: "I sometimes write out 8 to 10 pages from the book of my favorite writer… in longhand. This helps me to get started and swing into the style I wish to write in."</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Kukusha: "Learn to take criticism and seek it out at every opportunity. Don’t get upset even if you think the criticism is harsh, don’t be offended even if you think it’s wrong, and always thank those who take the time to offer it."</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Lillie Ammann: "After editing the work on screen or in print, I like to read the text aloud. Awkward sentences and errors that slipped through earlier edits show up readily when reading out loud."</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Professor Strunk: “A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "David": "Write as if you’re on deadline and have 500 words to make your point. Then do it again. And again."</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Mark Twain: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Joanna Young: “One that works for me every time is to focus on the positive intention behind my writing. What is it that I want to communicate, express, convey? By focusing on that, by getting into the state that I’m trying to express, I find that I stop worrying about the words – just let them tumble out of their own accord.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> “It’s a great strategy for beating writer’s block, or overcoming anxiety about a particular piece of writing, whether that’s composing a formal business letter, writing a piece from the heart, or guest blogging somewhere ‘big’…”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Caroline: "I watch my action tense and wordiness in sentences when I am writing my technical diddley.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "For example, in a sentence where you say …”you will have to…” I replace it with “…you must…”, or “Click on the Go button to…” can be replaced with “Click Go to…”.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "Think of words such as “enables”, instead of “allows you to” or “helps you to”.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> "If one word will work where three are, replace it! I always find these, where I slip into conversational as I am writing quickly, then go back and purge, purge, purge."</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="JUSTIFY"> Raederle: Only read your favorite writers when writing your masterpiece. What you read will affect your word choice, grammar, punctuation, point-of-view, character depth, syntax, etc. Just as your body is made up of what you eat, your writing is made up of what you read.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in" align="JUSTIFY"></p><br />The reason I was inspired to use quotes from Steven King was because his wonderful book "On Writing" has helped my writing immensely. I loved the book through and through, and take Steven's advice seriously. Sure, he doesn't writing "my sort of thing" in terms of genre, but he's clearly a successful writer who knows what he's talking about.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">*smiles warmly*</span><br /><br />Thanks for stopping by and reading.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">~ Raederle</span>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-15088761938883203412011-05-17T13:20:00.003-04:002011-05-17T14:10:04.274-04:00IdenityI used to <span style="font-style: italic;">hate</span> doing dishes. And I do mean <span style="font-style: italic;">hate</span> it.<br /><br />The idea of doing dishes plagued me. I knew one day I'd have to do them regularly. I expected it to come, and dreaded it.<br /><br />I didn't mind laundry. Sure, it was tough as a child to lean into the washer to pull out the clothes, but hanging them up on the drying rack was a game. I could even sit on the floor while hanging the socks on the lowest bar of the drying rack. The collapsible wooden rack wasn't replaced with a dryer until a dryer was donated to us after the house fire when I was fourteen.<br /><br />But<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>I <span style="font-style: italic;">hated</span> doing those dishes with a passion. I had to stand in one place the entire time! That was a big deal to me as a kid. Standing in place. I misinterpreted my dislike of standing in place for a dislike of dishes. The dishes, as it turns out, are entirely neutral.<br /><br />When I was twelve or thirteen I came to realize what I hated so much was a matter of poor blood pressure. Standing in place would cause my legs to become red, and then blotchy. My circulation was so weak that it couldn't pump the blood back out of my feet and back into the rest of my body. I became light headed and my legs would itch terribly.<br /><br />I like being bare foot. Wearing shoes always made me feel off balance as a child, so I would be standing in front of the sink barefoot, legs blotchy, red and and itching with my arms raised up high to reach into the sink. To make it worse, water ran down my arms and dripped all over the floor and mixed with the dirt on the floor and then stuck to the bottom of my feet.<br /><br />I couldn't stand more than five or six minutes before I became so miserable that I threw a tantrum. I was so adamant about <span style="font-style: italic;">not doing the dishes</span> that I didn't spend much time doing it as a child at all. I was so useless when it came to chores and so often sick and kept in bed that I spent little time cleaning in general. <br /><br />I didn't even <span style="font-style: italic;">realize</span> that sinks got dirty and that someone had to clean then until I was <span style="font-style: italic;">seventeen</span>.<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />This sounds like a rant about my poor childhood health, but that isn't actually my point at all. I <span style="font-style: italic;">thought</span> I hated doing the dishes, but in reality, I had a root problem: my health.</span><br /><br />Many of us believe we have to do things daily that we hate, but in reality, we don't hate what we're doing. What we're doing can be a job, a career, a calling, or nothing to us at all. What we're doing can be a chore, or it can be effortless. It is our attitude and our disposition that determine how we feel about what we're doing.<br /><br />This was brought to my attention in particular today by washing my feet in the shower after they became dirty from wandering around the kitchen floor barefoot. I realized I wasn't troubled by my dirty feet or by washing them. It then occurred to me how much I would have <span style="font-style: italic;">resented</span> it as a child. It would have been an affront to my livelihood. Perhaps even something that might have made me feel depressed.<br /><br />My poor circulation prevented me from being able to enjoy many simple tasks. If you asked me as I child how I felted about showers, I would have literally replied, "I hate them." Baths were acceptable, since I could sit the entire time. <br /><br />I came off as a very negative child who hated everything about life. In some ways, I was, but that wasn't the real me. That was a lump of unresolved issues. The real me was an artistic creative fun-loving compassionate person: and that me was buried beneath my problems.<br /><br />Many people go on ignoring the root causes of their unhappiness their entire life. I'm very blessed and very grateful to discover that my health was the main source of my misery so early in my life. <br /><br />I could have gone on to become several hundred pounds overweight at the rate I was going. I went from 120lbs at the age of thirteen to 153lbs at the age of sixteen. At the rate I was going -- 33 pounds in three years, or 11 pounds a year -- I would have been 219lbs by today.<br /><br />My self-esteem was already bad at sixteen, imagine what it would be today if I hadn't done something about my health.<br /><br />Health might not be a problem you're struggling with, but we all have problems that affect the quality of our life. Until we acknowledge them and work on self-improvement, we continue to be easily agitated. We curse under our breath about every little thing. As unhappy people we might even adopt "easily annoyed" as a personality trait.<br /><br />"Easily annoyed" is <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> a personality trait. That is a personality <span style="font-style: italic;">flaw</span>. Or more accurately, it's not your personality at all, but just a sign that your real personality is being blocked by circumstances. It means that you are not satisfied with your life. It means you're not satisfied with <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span>.<br /><br />People take on things like "commonly angry" as part of their identity. They become confrontational and defensive when others ask them "What's wrong?" This sort of behavior drives away loved ones, prevents possible friendships, and destroys opportunities to find fulfilling employment.<br /><br />I'm not saying, "Oh, I've discovered my big problem and solved it, so now I'm perfect." If that were the case I might not even be writing this right now. If I had achieved a state of being where I was always calm, never lost my temper and never felt depressed... then I might not easily recall how important and how difficult it is to pull oneself from situations of denial, confrontation and anger. <br /><br />I'm constantly amazed on a daily basis how much has changed in the past few years. I look different, I think differently, I dress differently, I interpret people I encounter differently, I look back on memories differently, etc. And I believe all of these changes are positive. It is a great source of joy in my life to see how much I've grown and improved.<br /><br />It's draining to feel like you're "screwing up" your life. It's double-draining because you not only feel like you're creating a mess, but simultaneously you're <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> achieving your dreams in life. You're not getting closer to your long-term goals. Perhaps you don't think you <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> any long-term goals, but that is an even bigger problem.<br /><br />Long-term goals are your desires, but more than that; they are desires you are <span style="font-style: italic;">actively planning on achieving</span>. They are not just absent wishes. Goals are something you are striving for regularly, perhaps even on a daily basis.<br /><br />When your goal is to become a published author you write regularly, perhaps every single night. You have a book you're working on for hours each week. Those hours make your entire life feel like it's going in the right<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>direction. This is because your life <span style="font-style: italic;">has</span> direction when you have a goal you're working towards. It's not just "oh, I'd like to be published," it's "Hey, I'm working on this book and it's coming along great, and yesterday I was invited to an event where I'm going to meet a lot of people -- maybe I'll meet an agent!"<br /><br />If your goal is to become a rock star then you spend your free time jamming on your guitar or your drums or singing. Even if you never become a rock star, you'll still accomplish a lot. You'll be a happier person, you will attract good people into your life, you will learn several musical talents, and as a result you'll have successful performances that earn you respect and money. But most importantly, you'll feel at peace with yourself.<br /><br />You can't ever love yourself if you're working a job you hate, living a lie, denying your desires and blocking out all possibility of achieving your dreams.<br /><br />Your identity <span style="font-style: italic;">does not</span> involve being depressed, angry, annoyed, upset, or being a "loser." Your identity <span style="font-style: italic;">does</span> involve who you desire to be, your aspirations, your goals and your talents. <br /><br />Once upon a time I defined myself as a "pitiful barbie" and I used that as my main e-mail address for over ten years. I deemed myself as frivolous as a doll, and pitiful to boot. Perhaps that title wasn't completely serious, and perhaps I just thought it "sounded cool" at the time, but I think there is an underlying message there... The simple fact that I was <span style="font-style: italic;">okay</span> with something like that representing me. I allowed that to define my online persona to people.<br /><br />I'm not pitiful. And I'm made of flesh, not plastic. I'm an organic being (and not conventional -- no pesticides or for me... Human version of pesticides: white sugar, excessive salt and cigarettes). I love and respect myself on a level completely unknown to myself just a couple years ago.<br /><br />If you've spent your entire life depressed and tired then you'll be in for a huge wake up call when you finally grasp some happiness in your life. I didn't know what it meant to be energetic until I was fourteen, and I hadn't a clue that what I felt then was only a glimpse of what being healthy could feel like (which I didn't discover until I was twenty).<br /><br />How many of your years are you going to let slip on by without addressing who you are, what you want, where you're going, what your obstacles are and what you really care about? Ask yourself those questions. You should be able to write four types pages on each of those subjects easily. The topic is <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span>. <br /><br />Do you know you?<br /><br />Think about it.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">~ Raederle Phoenix</span><br /><blockquote><br />Happiness Assignment:<br /><br />Write four typed pages on each of the following:<br /><br />What do you want?<br />Where are you going?<br />What are your obstacles?<br />What do you really care about?<br />Who are you?</blockquote>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-67417508682151943882011-05-09T18:57:00.002-04:002011-05-09T19:09:21.138-04:00Angry RelationshipsA good pen-pal of mine (I'll call her Alexis for this entry) whom I've had for years is having trouble in her relationship. I've been critiquing here essays for college for her, and every now and then she's been mentioning her love life in her letters. Her most recent letter:<br /><br /><blockquote>From: Alexis<br />To: Raederle<br />Sent: Friday, May 6, 2011 at 11:17am</blockquote><br /><br />Hey Rae,<br />You're very helpful to my English assignments. I love your ideas. I have to use MLA format so that's why I don't include periods after quotes. Ehh...I just got done writing the final essay last night and included some of your input. Thanks! Get ready for next semester, lol; longer essays. This semester was only five pages or less.<br /><br />I'm not sleeping very well lately and my relationship is going down the drain. I'm just sad about it. He doesn't want me around anymore, and when I do visit, he tells me to leave... :( He's always mad and I don't even do anything. When other people upset him, he takes his frustration out on me.<br /><br />I learned in psychology that this is called 'displacement.' I hate it. It's like he's tired of me or the person that I am... because like I mentioned, I don't do anything and yet he gets mad at me. Why me?? I just want to cry. =(<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">- Alexis </span><br /><br /><hr /><br /><blockquote>From: Raederle<br />To: Alexis<br />Sent: Monday, May 9th 2011 at 6:30pm</blockquote><br /><br />Glad I could be of help!<br /><br />My ex [whom I've told her a lot about in the past] had a displacement issue, for sure. Anger comes from many things, but anger is never 'justified.' It can be understandable. It can be a good reason to give compassion to someone in need. But it is never beneficial. It is an animalistic defense to help us raise our adrenaline to get us ready to defend ourselves -- it's meant to help us fight in a life or death situation. In modern society we shouldn't ever have to deal with a life or death fight, and thereby, most of us should never have any real use for anger. If we reflect on anger, and think about times when we've been angry we can think about how it has affected us and those around us in the past. It makes us do things we regret. It makes us say things we don't mean. It makes others respond negatively towards us. It clouds our judgment. Often it is even physically painful to feel anger.<br /><br />If someone is perpetually angry they have a very serious condition. It's not normal, and it's not okay. It's even less okay for someone to continually take it out on someone.<br /><br />You have two logical choices: Leave him is one option. The other option is to be compassionate and understanding towards him when he acts towards you with anger. You can say: "I can see that you're distressed. I want you to be happy and to feel good. If I'm in the way of that, I'll leave. Do you want me to leave?" If he says "Yes" well, then, leave. And most importantly, you have to not let this break you.<br /><br />While sadness is not as disruptive to life as anger, it is also futile. It is not that you don't have reason, and it is not that it is easy to simply put on a smile -- it is only that being sad about his anger is not helpful. In fact, being sad about his anger is letting his anger, in a way, spread. It's spreading his negativity from him to you. The more people who resist negativity from others, who maintain love, compassion, peace, and happiness in the face of negativity from others, the more beautiful the entire world becomes.<br /><br />In other words, by walking away peacefully, quietly, with a serene smile on your face, you are literally breaking the cycle and making the world shine brighter. Perhaps by reflecting on both the futility of sadness and the benefit of serenity and peaceful smiles, you may be able to overcome how upset his anger makes you feel. If you can't, then I recommend leaving the relationship in order to preserve your sanity. While it may make you feel more sad for a time, (maybe even a few months), it'll be worth it when someone who isn't angry all the time comes along.<br /><br />Anger and sadness, by the way, can be dramatically affected by health. The pH balance in the bloodstream is directly connected to how you feel. Having an alkaline bloodstream promotes positive feelings, and having an acidic bloodstream promotes negative feelings. Alkaline creating foods: <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/06/raw-food-diet-basics.html" target="_blank">raw fruits and raw vegetables</a>. Acidic-creating foods: meat, dairy, bread, pasta, beans, nuts, alcohol, and refined sugars. Also smoking creates acidic pH in the bloodstream.<br /><br />*hugs*<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">~ Raederle</span><br /><br />Related entry: <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/11/art-of-happiness.html" target="_blank">Generating Happiness</a>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-60349140198353743232011-03-10T14:34:00.003-05:002011-03-10T14:38:07.638-05:00Effective EducationI'm incredibly <span style="font-size:130%;">impressed and excited</span> about this video.<br /><br />This is the new age of education where we utilize technology to <span style="font-size:130%;">humanize and personalize</span> education, allowing children to <span style="font-size:130%;">master subjects</span>, learn at their own pace, and <span style="font-size:130%;">empowering teachers</span> to help individual children with their <span style="font-style: italic;">specific</span> problems, and even enabling the teacher to choose the correct student to tutor another student.<br /><br />Watch this incredibly inspiring video:<br /><br /><center><object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SalmanKhan_2011-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/TedTalks-1609.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1090&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education;year=2011;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;event=TED2011;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/SalmanKhan_2011-medium.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/TedTalks-1609.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=1090&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education;year=2011;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=a_taste_of_ted2011;event=TED2011;" width="446" height="326"></embed></object></center><br /><br />I'm going to try this for myself, just for fun.<br /><br /><i>Namaste<br /><br />~ Raederle</i><br /><br /><hr /><br /><br />Ever wanted to see a logo created? Or see the creative process of an artist at work? You can see mine in my <a href="http://raederle.blogspot.com/2011/03/chef-artist.html" target="_blank">newest video on my art blog, click here to check it out right now.</a>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-43759965909748225742011-02-24T22:26:00.003-05:002011-02-24T22:33:35.506-05:00Dose of FunHave you gotten your dose of fun today?<br /><br /><center><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iGpmhWXfHdM" allowfullscreen="" width="460" frameborder="0" height="289"></iframe></center><br /><br />I love this video for a number of reasons. For one thing: people don't change unless the consequence of not changing is <span style="font-style: italic;">unbearable</span>... <span style="font-style: italic;">Or</span> they change because changing looks like <span style="font-style: italic;">fun</span>. And guess what: we'll all have to live through an unbearable situation unless we see <span style="font-style: italic;">fun</span> opportunities to change.<br /><br />This is something I'd like to strive to achieve with rawveganism: making it as fun for others as it is for me. Yes, it was through hardship that I came to a dietary change, but that doesn't mean I have to wait for the world to fall to hardship to follow and jump on the healthy, economically and ecologically beneficial bandwagon. Rather, I'd like to show others the beauty, the flavor, and the <span style="font-style: italic;">fun</span> of food in it's natural, most potent and pretty state: It's <span style="font-style: italic;">raw</span> state.<br /><br />Fun and happiness do not come from <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2011/02/stuff-stuff-you-need-more-stuff.html" target="_blank">owning stuff</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/11/art-of-happiness.html" target="_blank">Happiness and satisfaction</a> does not from earning tons of money.<br /><br />Happiness, satisfaction, contentment, thrill, fun... It is within experiences, within people, within emotions, actions, and the pride in a good deed done. Lasting love is contentment. Fun is a better reason to change for the better. It's a way to live a life that grows, expands and becomes wonderful effortlessly instead of through trial and tribulation.<br /><br />Related entry: <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-three-months-two-weeks-raw.html" target="_blank">An unexpected benefit of going raw: discovering how fun it was to create and invent new dishes, discovering how beautiful food could be...</a>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-79480521576498638162011-02-23T16:40:00.003-05:002011-02-23T16:52:02.964-05:00Stuff, Stuff, You NEED More Stuff!!!<center><div style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); width: 368px;"><div style="padding: 4px;"><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:267056" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" base="." flashvars="" width="360" height="293"></embed><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 4px; margin-top: 4px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></p></div></div><br /><br />Here it is: <b>The Story of Stuff</b><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9GorqroigqM" allowfullscreen="" width="460" frameborder="0" height="289"></iframe></center><br /><br /><i>Stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff... Oh, I need more stuff because it fills up my time which I must idle away because I have not thought about my goals... I need these new light-bulbs for holiday decorations to impress my neighbors, I need these new shoes to outshine the other woman at work so I can get a promotion so that I can make more money so that I can buy even better shoes to outshine the women at work so that I can get another promotion... I liked my holiday dishes but now I want new ones to impress guests... I have lifeless hair, I'll just buy gels and hair milks for it without ever reading their ingredients, and I won't worry about if my hair gets less healthy in reality because it'll look better superficially while I pollute the planet... Oh, stuff, stuff, stuff, I love my stuff. Don't touch my stuff. I need my stuff. Stuff...</i><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Related posts of mine:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-last-thing-corporations-want.html" target="_blank">A Corporation's Purpose</a><br /><br />and<br /><br /><a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/06/obesity-at-whole-foods-vs-alberstsons-i.html" target="_blank">The Inter-relationship of Economics & Health</a>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-59392974465975151592011-02-05T19:33:00.005-05:002011-02-05T23:55:42.622-05:00Women's RightsI was looking at this beautiful artwork by Kris Manvell, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=841236107#%21/photo.php?fbid=445213596107&set=t.841236107" target="_blank">which you can view by clicking here</a>, and I read the description, which goes like this:<br /><br /><blockquote>This picture expresses two subjects that are very close to my heart: Gaia (mother earth), and all things feminine (what some might call, the goddess).<br /><br />We are all part of this earth, every human being, be they male or female, black or white, Turkish or British, we are all equally important.<br /><br />Since the days of Emperor Constantine, on through the Inquisition, women have been brutally murdered, tortured and relegated to second class citizens because men want to rule. Conservative estimates say 20 million were killed. Their crime? Literalist Christianity labeled them witches.<br /><br />In reality they were Gnostic (Shamanic) leaders: herbalists, healers, empaths, midwifes and teachers. They understood and worked with nature. These wise people were all but wiped out. They were removed from history, so all that remains is some superstitious footnote in our history books, labeling them pagans (a Roman insult).<br /><br />Women were even written out of the bible, relegated to the role of prostitute or virgin. The great libraries, such as Alexandria, were burnt, partly to remove all evidence of the female role in our ancient history.<br /><br />Originally, before Christian literalism took hold, women were held in high esteem and with profound respect. Men understood that they held the key to an area of understanding that had to be taught to them - by women. This part of our history is not generally known about, or even acknowledged, so I wanted to help bring this topic to light – especially as – in these dark times, women’s rights (such as they are), are being further eroded. I wanted also to express my fear for the health of our planet, our mother earth. Turkey’s greatest assets, its natural beauty, its women and agriculture are under threat.<br /><br />A dear Turkish female friend of mine said to me, why did you paint a woman? I have no interest in looking at a naked lady; she said she would rather look at an olive tree. I said, but all things on the earth are part of this amazing creation, everything. We look at a tree in its natural state, naked, so why not a woman? We look unashamed at a beautiful flower, a magnificent view or sunset. There is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to fear. Men’s crude urges can be managed, why should women’s freedom be threatened because they choose not to?<br /><br />There was no sexual motivation in this picture, this is merely my attempt to celebrate women and to show that the feminine side is equally, if not more important, than the male side of life. Mother earth sustains us, as do our mothers, so let us celebrate this fact. If a creator was afraid for us to see our natural state, surely we wouldn’t be born naked?<br /><br /><i>~ Kris Manvell</i></blockquote><br />I had some thoughts of my own after reading this:<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: Women's rights concern me a little differently than most people. I actually feel that today's modern woman is one of the biggest threats to femininity that there is. The "working" woman, the "athlete" woman, the "strong" woman, the woman who always wears pants and never a dress, or the woman who is afraid to be naked, or the woman who doesn't ever want to "depend" on a man, etc, etc, etc... All of that was a great whip lash back against men. It was great to have the<span style="font-style: italic;"> right </span>to work, but now, women are shunning other women who want to be house wives, who want to sew, wear dresses, and cater to their men.</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: I feel the same. What you are saying is women who want to be like men. I love strong women – women like you – but to me that is the embodiment of the feminine. What is missing is empathy and compassion. I desire that women can be themselves – not ape some masculine idea of what humans should be like.<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: I love to clean, sew, craft, draw, write, paint, read, make meals, keep house, nurture, massage and create a romantic atmosphere. Feeling feminine and beautiful is very important to me.</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: I can see that It sounds lovely. Your partner is a very lucky guy:)<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: I have no desire to be "equal" to a man by being a "like" a man. Women are just as valuable by being women.</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: Maybe more so.<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: There is nothing "less than" about mothering, home schooling, being creative and crafty. These are valuable -- extremely valuable -- and our society is lacking in them because people are no negative when you do these things.</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: Totally. In my relationship we have a similar dynamic – but I share many of the (perceived) womanly roles. I do most of the cooking – I am the nester – the one who makes things nice (aesthetically speaking). I tend to tidy... We both clean the house – I tend to wash up, etc. But Ekin is breast-feeding and generally with Kaia, our son. I am the one that supports us financially – but I am doing as much as I can to help Ekin set up her own crafts business with her sister. We find a way to share. I work at home – so it is a juggling act. I want to be with Kaia – so my work probably suffers a little, but then I don’t actually believe in work – and what is important to me is sharing our lives together... I want to home school him – as I did my other two sons and nephews... Being creative is essential. And extremely valuable.<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: I've had so many people tell me that I'm "lazy" because I refuse to work a day job.<br /></blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: Be a wage slave... Why be that??? I refuse to be.<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: My husband can testify to the fact that I'm far, far, far from lazy.</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: To me it is not even an issue.<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: I love putting hours into creating the perfect meals, a clean and beautiful home, into gardening, into exercising and improving my body, reading and educating myself... I don't believe it degrades me in any way to clean up after my husband. If both people in a couple work a day job, then they should split the choirs. If one person does the majority of the money-earning, then the other person can compensate by preparing all the meals and doing all the cleaning. There isn't anything wrong with that. In fact, I'm perfectly supportive of house husbands!</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: Me too. I have this wonderful vision of the Bronte sisters... I mean that in the nicest possible way. When I first met my partner – the most important thing was for her to be free and for us to live – not work to live.<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: My point is, people should be able to fill the role they feel they are meant to fill. Anyone who strives to improve the world and educate themselves should be appreciated for who they are, and not degraded for what they're not.</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: Totally. You paint a wonderful picture. When I talk of women’s rights I have to be careful how I speak of course, being a man. But I am so glad you have said all this on this posting – it balances it beautifully.<br /><br /><blockquote>My comment: Thank you for being part of the solution Kris. You rule. :D</blockquote><br />Kris Manvell's response: You too. Love, Kris<br /><br />My further letter in response:<br /><blockquote><br />I think it's nifty how you said you don't believe in work. Come to think of it, neither do I. In a natural world, there is no work. There is gathering wonderful food under the sun, nourishing the body and the mind and the Earth all at once. When you combine that with the company of someone you love, there is no work involved at all, it's a winning situation for everyone and everything involved.<br /><br />As you gather fruits and eat them, you spread their seeds which allows the plant to grow in many new places. As the juice dribbles off your chin into the soil it nourishes the the plants which in turn nourish all of the animals. As you chew and swallow the fruit it nourishes and energizes the body. And as a bonus, any healthy natural human being eating a fruit is enjoyable to look at. I know I like watching my husband bite into a beautiful fresh plum. (This comes to mind because he ate a plum this morning on our walk together.)<br /><br />I also like how you said the most important thing is being "free to live" not working to live. That's an excellent way of putting it. A friend of mine, Andrew, likes to say that it makes no sense to trade five days of slave labor for two days of "freedom." He points out that you have better odds in a casino than five to two.<br /><br />I understand it's tricky to try and say similar things as a man. I often want to say things about "white people" versus "black people" because I grew up in a ghetto area and have been in three serious relationships with black men who considered themselves to have a certain level of "black culture." This life-long exposure has brought to the surface many realizations for me, but most of them I can not speak about because it is offensive coming from a white person, even though many black people have the same observations and thoughts. It's a tricky balance.<br /><br />:D<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">~ Raederle</span> </blockquote><br /><br /><center><img src="http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee482/Raederle-Phoenix/Photos/DSCF6266.jpg" border="0" width="460px"><br /><i>Photo taken February 5th 2011 on the Iron Horse Trail, Walnut Creek, California<br />Raederle Phoenix, photographed by her husband<br />Note: I was walking backwards at the time, believe it or not...</i><br /></center><br /><br />We all have the freedom of choice. Any faith is acceptable, as long as it is not disruptive or disrepectful of other faiths. Any orientation is okay. Any race, gender, geographical location: it's all fine with me. If you're a husband who lives off the money your woman makes, and you have a healthy happy relationship where you both are satisfied, then it's not my place to say it's wrong. I think any arrangement where two people love each other, live together, and are happy with their lives is a beautiful arrangement. More than two people? Sounds fine to me as well.Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-56957450671890483062011-01-19T16:13:00.003-05:002011-01-19T19:07:04.593-05:00In ModerationMy friend <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TracyLRussell#%21/profile.php?id=668745378%20target=" _blank="">Amy</a> posted this as her status message on facebook:<br /><br /><blockquote>Some days I want to scream. There is nothing on this earth that is truly <span style="font-style: italic;">bad</span> for you, so long as you have it IN MODERATION. Too much of ANYTHING is bad, and even things like Vitamins and Iron can be overdosed on. You <span style="font-style: italic;">can</span> have <span style="font-style: italic;">too much of a good thing</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">- Amy</span></blockquote><br />I would like to argue that you shouldn't need to take, or be taking, any pills, ever. Most of the nutrition from vitamins is not absorbed, especially if you're not eating uncooked live foods around the vitamins in order to provide the enzymes essential to digest and process the minerals in the vitamins.<br /><br />That, however, is a side issue. Is there anything that we shouldn't have in moderation, ever?<br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.facebook.com/TracyLRussell#%21/CelticQuinn" target="_blank">Walter</a> said; "As I understand it, there is no amount of death that one can have that is not bad."</blockquote><br />Well, there is that, but personally I do not feel that death is bad. When plants die they make the soil rich for new plants. We live and we die, and that is natural and normal. Not to get into my religious beliefs, but I don't believe there is anything to be afraid of when it comes to the "being dead" part. I only am concerned about dying in such a way that isn't horribly painful or drawn out.<br /><br /><blockquote>My own initial response was as follows:<br /><br />I have to disagree. You can't drink a drop of mercury small enough to not be extremely detrimental. <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/09/article-blog-i-had-mono-four-times-my.html" target="_blank">Coming from someone who had very severe mercury poisoning as a toddler and has suffered the consequences their entire life</a>, I disagree completely. The normal amount of mercury in your body is the amount that is normal in lands untouched by pollution and modernization.</blockquote><br />We're no longer living in a world where everything around us is something safe to have in moderation. Let's all just eat a little paint, shall we? Before we had so many chemical-created things around us, life was a bit different. <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/05/vitamin-b12-surprising-solution.html" target="_blank">A little dirt is actually good for you</a>, and a little bark wasn't so bad either. Our ancestors knew which plants were poisonous, and which animals as well. I'm pretty sure that you can't have bites from black widows in moderation.<br /><br /><blockquote>Walter goes on to add: "Also, my girlfriend would like to submit 'heroin' as another example."</blockquote><br />I replied to Walter's thought:<br /><br /><blockquote>Indeed. Let's all snort<span style="font-style: italic;"> "just a little" </span>coke. >.><br /><br />Sorry, not to beat up on you Amy. I know that it's possible to have too much of a good thing, and that many things are fine in trace amounts. But some things just are not in the category that I feel any amount is acceptable. Another example: Is "just a little" prejudice against people of another race, religion or orientation okay?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">~ Raederle</span><br /></blockquote><br />Amy responded:<br /><br /><blockquote>Hmm...Well I was specifically talking about the things with physical substance. Not the transient things like ideas/emotions/etc. As much as you or I may think an idea is wrong, to the person thinking it, it's not. And who are we to judge them on that? Those with prejudice against gays usually have it because of their faith. And I can't tell them that their faith is wrong. Therefore as much as I don't like it, I can't tell them that they're wrong.<br /><br />As for the substantial things, I could argue that I know quite a few people who have only done cocaine and other hard drugs only once or twice in their lives and no more. It has not been detrimental to their lives. Addiction is only called that when it starts to affect your ability to live in the world (keep a job, go to school, pay your bills, have personal relationships, etc.)<br /><br />Remember, cocaine comes from the coca bean. Something completely <span style="font-style: italic;">natural</span>. Weed comes from a plant. Opiates are found in poppy seeds. We are the ones who turned these natural substances (along with stuff like mercury and more) into something that we need to consider "bad."<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - Shakespeare.</span></blockquote><br />Right, but eating poppy flowers and/or seeds isn't the same as extracting a part of a poppy flower and then performing chemical processes and/or refinement methods.<br /><br />My response:<br /><br /><blockquote>Amy,<br /><br />All good points, of course. You tend to make a lot of those.<br /><br />But what about people who do acid once and then have an episode so negative that they have flashbacks for the rest of their lives? I know someone like that.<br /><br />I also know someone who was so highly reactional to smoking weed that just a year of occasional smoking made his gums recede, and years and years later they have not grown back.<br /><br />I know someone who was tricked into smoking crack (by a very awful person, obviously), and has never been the same person since; they became an addict off of that one shot.<br /><br />I met someone once who was very loudly talking about how awful weed was, and I stayed around long enough to find out why. They had a friend who'd tried weed and even though they were not intoxicated on anything else whatsoever, they became a horribly irresponsible driver and ran over three people.<br /><br />Of course, those are all examples of worst-case-scenarios. I know plenty of people who have done drugs and recovered. But again, I'm coming from a standpoint of wishing-to-goodness that I hadn't done everything I did. I now believe that I smoked some laced weed in my teens that messed up my digestive system. (It would explain a lot, and it fits perfectly.)<br /><br />It's just better when you put your health first and do your best not to come in contact with things that may compromise your health. Sure, that <span style="font-style: italic;">one</span> soda might not be the end of your life, but you never know down the line all the effects of just <span style="font-style: italic;">"a little."</span> We don't actually know how much is too much, so if we know it's bad, why not just stay away from it all together?<br /><br />Of course, there is the issue with people who believe something is bad that isn't. Then they may stay away from something that they need. For example, sunlight.<br /><br />I've learned that the best defense against sunlight damage is detoxing and antioxidants. The better your pH balance, the less toxins in your sweat, and the more antioxidants you consume, the less likely sunlight is to cause burns.<br /><br />Furthermore, you need sunlight. Without a certain level of sunlight daily, you will lack the vitamin D you need. No amount of milk will get you enough vitamin D, and in the process of drinking that insane amount of milk, you'll overdose on the drugs they put into the cows.<br /><br />The amount of sunlight needed varies from one person to another. The darker the skin, the longer it takes to absorb the vitamin D from the sun. The further from the equator of the Earth, the longer it takes. That said, sunburning is very unhealthy and causes premature wrinkles.<br /><br />So you can't avoid the sun 100% and be healthy, and you can be in the sun all day long (if you're white) and expect to be healthy either, and beyond that, you can't get the right about of sun without hurting yourself if your body is full of toxins, and your pH is too acidic.<br /><br />I still think that moderating sunlight exposure; something entirely natural and normal is entirely different than moderating corn syrup.<br /><br />There is nothing natural about injecting corn with bacterias and toxins in order to make it resistant to poison, then spraying it with tons (literally tons) of poison, and then harvesting it, shipping it, chemically processing it into sugar, chemically increasing the fructose ratio within the sugar and then adding that to a bunch of other lab experiments and calling it food. There is nothing natural there, and thereby, I feel I do not want any of it, ever, even in moderation. (Especially when a small amount of it would leave me feeling sick for days.)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">~Raederle</span></blockquote><br />How about, "<span style="font-style: italic;">All things in life in moderation that are given to us by nature in their unprocessed, unrefined, natural state of being.</span>" Except for things that are simply outright harmful to us, like poison ivy.Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-12479661031873723552011-01-06T13:44:00.005-05:002011-01-07T20:15:38.952-05:00Inner Child<blockquote>I have conversations in my head, I admit it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Is that really wise? You know you're posting this online, right?<br /></div><br />It's completely normal, and we all do it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">You can justify it all you want, but <span style="font-style: italic;">someone</span> is going to disagree. Someone always does.<br /></div><br />This conversation between yourself, and your other self, is a conversation (so I've just learned) between your Inner Parent and your Inner Child.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">So which one am I? The Inner Parent or the Inner Child?<br /></div><br />Hush you. I think you know.</blockquote><br /><br />This morning I discovered a website, by complete happenstance, that is selling a book to get you in touch with your inner child (and thereby stabilize your brain and give you peace of mind and repair all the traumatic damage your childhood did to your mind.) The site explains that your Inner Parent is formed from your experiences with your parents (or lack thereof) and that your Inner Child represents the person you were as a child.<br /><br />I didn't buy the book, but I'm a clever chick. I figured out enough from the website to try out the basic exercise on my own.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zCfVkKHCLT0/TSYXfz8xYOI/AAAAAAAABFo/j9dH9qQack8/s640/100_3042.JPG" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />The basic exercise is as follows:<br /><br /><ul><li>You hold a conversation, on purpose, between your Inner Child and your Inner Parent.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>The conversation lasts exactly thirty minutes.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>You want to spend no more than thirty minutes because you don't want to over-indulge your inner child.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>You don't want to spend less than thirty minutes because that communicates to your inner child that you don't care. Your Inner Child may try to trick you by suggesting to stop early. Continuing on shows that you care.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>You want to stick to thirty minutes also because this shows consistency. Not following through on what you plan to do is hard on your Inner Child just as it's hard on children when parents don't do what they promise to do.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>The Inner Parent speaks out-loud.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>The Inner Child speaks inside your mind.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>You record everything you say either on paper, or on your computer. Write down each and every single word you say, without altering it.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>If you do it on paper, draw a line down the center to make two columns. If on the computer, create a basic table and then put each question in the box to the left and the response (of your Inner Child) in the corresponding box of the table on the right. If you can not create a table easily and quickly on your computer, paper will be more comfortable for you.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>Write the Parent part on the left, and the Child part on the right. Inner Parent asks questions. Inner Child answers.</li></ul><br /><ul><li>After <span style="font-style: italic;">everything</span> the Inner Child says, Inner Parent must say: "Thank you, Inner Child, for telling me that." I found this part to be very important and very helpful. </li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">It makes the switch in my mind back to Inner Parent complete. At one part, where I was crying my eyes out, just saying the mantra "Thank you, Inner Child, for telling me that," I felt better. Not just better, I should say, but rather, like a switch had flipped and I was no longer in touch with the emotions that had just been making me cry and convulse.<br /></span></div><br /><ul><li>You<span style="font-style: italic;"> always</span> say "Thank you, Inner Child, for telling me that." No matter what the Inner Child says,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> even if your Inner Child asks a question</span>. </li></ul><br /><ul><li>Do the exercise in the morning. The exercise will generate positive energy which will dissipate (at least partly) as you sleep. By doing it in the morning, you carry the effects with you all day long.<br /></li></ul><br />I found this exercise to be very uplifting and enlightening. ...Like all these unresolved issues and stresses inside came to the surface. It was like having a good cry, an hour's-long conversation with a good friend, and writing a good journal entry all wrapped up into a short half-hour session. I loved it, and I'm going to do it again tomorrow morning. <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT"> I felt that the responses from my Inner Child came naturally – so naturally that my vocabulary was even different. I wrote "grown-up" instead of "adult" when my Inner Child was speaking, which really surprised me. There were other similar instances of unusual vocabulary and word usage in general. Your Inner Child <span style="font-style: italic;">really is</span> right there, under the surface, just <span style="font-style: italic;">waiting</span> for you to talk to it.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT">This is obviously very personal, but because I found it so very beneficial, I'm going to share most of the session I had this morning.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><center><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_zCfVkKHCLT0/TSYXgI_Xa6I/AAAAAAAABFw/gzsTC169ga4/s640/DSCF5184.JPG" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT"><br /></p> <table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <col width="128*"> <col width="128*"> <tbody><tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%" height="25"> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"><span style="font-size:130%;">Parent</span></p> <p align="CENTER"><span style="font-size:130%;">[January 6<sup>th</sup> 2011]</span></p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="CENTER"><span style="font-size:130%;">Inner Child</span></p> <p align="CENTER"><span style="font-size:130%;">[Session #1]</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Good morning Inner Child. This is going to be my very first conversation with you. I'd like to ask you a few questions.</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>[Warm sensation in chest.]</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Are you okay with this?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Yes. I am. I like this idea.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Is there anything troubling you?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I miss Mom. I feel trapped here. There is no outside source of protection.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What do you miss about Mom?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I miss hugging her. I miss knowing she is there. I miss the security and feeling safe. I felt special and loved.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Why don't you feel loved now?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I do feel loved, but it's in a different way. It's not as safe and as warm.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Why do you feel trapped, Inner Child?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>There is no where to go, no where to run to. There is nothing outside. I am in a cave, by my self and there is no way out. There are responsibilities, and they never end.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What would make you feel less trapped?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Flowers. Plants. Fresh air.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about flowers, plants and fresh air?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I want to play. I feel playful around flowers and plants and fresh air.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What else makes you feel playful?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Feeling loved. Kisses, hugs, jumping, running, smiling, laughing, dancing, singing, swimming, ice skating...</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What would make you feel more special?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Tea.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Is there anything else that you miss?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I miss having help. Nobody helps me do anything anymore. I have to figure everything out on my own.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What do you want help with?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Everything! Everything is so much easier when someone helps me. Even if it is only a little help.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What do you want help with <i>the most</i><span style="font-style: normal;">?</span></p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Making food.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, do you feel beautiful?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Yes. My husband loves me, and it makes me feel beautiful.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, what do you feel about Jay?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>He is kind. He is like a new father. He pays attention to me. He makes me feel loved and warm. His hair is pretty. I like his company. I wish he was around more. I like his help.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, what else is on your mind?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Food. I think about it more than I eat it. It isn't right.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Is there anything else bothering you, Inner Child?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I think Dad is depressed. I'm not even there to do anything about it. I can't do anything! I hate being helpless. I am far away and I can not hug him and tell him that it is alright and that I love him very much. I miss him. I just got to know him and then he was gone. And it hurts so very much that I can't let him know how I feel and that he can't understand... That we can't understand each other correctly. I want him to know how much I love him, and how important he is to me, but I'm afraid he won't believe me. I miss him. I miss him so much. </p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>If Dad were here right now, Inner Child, what would you say to him?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I love you Dad. I'm sorry I wasn't the child you wanted me to be. I'm sorry I never paid enough attention. You were at work so much, and I didn't feel like I had the chance... The reason... The opportunity... I didn't have a way to connect with you. I felt like you were distant, and I wish I could have closed the gap. I wish I could have tried harder to get to know you better while we still had so much time we could have spent together. I'm so very sorry. I feel like it's my fault, like your unhappiness is my fault. Like if I had been a better daughter, then you'd be happier now.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, why are you crying?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Because it's hard to think about my regrets and what I wish I were doing.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, what would make you feel happier towards Dad?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Being able to hug him.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child... Why... What do you want to do?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I want to play. I'm tired of trying to “be productive” all the time.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, do you know what “our” heart hurts?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Yes. It's because I hurt. Duh.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, do you feel that childhood was enough?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Yes – no – sometimes. I'm not sure. Sometimes I feel ready to move on, but sometimes I just want to curl up and go to sleep and forget I have to be a grown-up now.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What do you think of this conversation, Inner Child?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I think it's wonderful. We never talk like this anymore. Nobody talks to me at all anymore. I feel like I am dying – dead. I feel gone, and withered. I feel smothered and hurt. I feel like nobody cares that I exist. I am small, shrunken... I am unheard.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What would make you feel heard, Inner Child?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I don't know.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Where do you go when you feel unheard?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Deeper. I snuggle down into this thick black... blanket. It's liquid, but warm and fluffy. I hide inside and nobody can see me. You like it when I am unseen, right?</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Why would you feel like I don't want to see you, Inner Child?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Because I make us look like a fool. I am wrong. I am immature. I don't belong. I don't fit in. I am not good enough. I am not like everyone else. I am not okay. It is not okay to be me.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Why do you feel like you're wrong, Inner Child?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Because I am! I make mistakes and then we're in trouble.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>What sort of mistake are you afraid of making, Inner Child?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>One I can't repair. One where nobody will love me anymore. I don't want to make a mistake where people I love will not look at me, will not talk to me, will not respect me – will not hug me, hold me, care about me anymore. I am going to hurt people I love if I do not hide.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, where would you feel happier?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>In loving arms. I miss being hugged. I no longer feel hugged when I'm hugged because it's not <i>me</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> being hugged. It's you! It's always you. You've killed me. I feel murdered.</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child... What should I do, I need to be stronger to face the world, and I don't know how to feel strong when I'm... you...?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Let me out when nobody is looking. I'll behave.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, what do you feel would constitute as misbehaving?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I'm not sure. Saying something that would get me in trouble... Forgetting something important. Leaving the door unlocked. Not making the bed. Making a mess... I guess.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, how do you feel about memories of A Special Person I Won't Name?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>He was wonderful! He talked to me all the time! He was always there for me... Sort-of. Well, I mean, he was good to me. He <i>tried</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> to acknowledge me and play with me. He talked to me for so long. He let me play with his Inner Child. We were friends. We were real friends.</span></p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, we don't have much time left... What is the most pressing thought left?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>I'm not sure there is anything “pressing” Mommy. I felt done. Thank you for talking to me.</p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="TOP"> <td width="50%"> <p>Inner Child, we have one minute left... What else comes to mind?</p> </td> <td width="50%"> <p>Colors. I like to paint. We should spend more time painting. I love painting. And more music. There isn't enough art or music in our life. We need to play more. Please remember to play with me? And please, please talk to me again! I feel heard again, somewhat, at least. I missed talking. I missed it a lot. Thank you so much for listening to me.</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table><br /><br /><center><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zCfVkKHCLT0/TSYXf6Q15MI/AAAAAAAABFk/Pp819T-4OhE/s640/DSCF5716.JPG" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br /><br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT">Something I find fascinating is that I called <span style="font-style: italic;">myself</span> "Mommy" in that second last response. Isn't that odd? I found it so natural and easy to assume two different selves; one parent, one child... It's as though I really <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> been divided this way all along, and I somehow didn't quite know it.<br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% transparent;" align="LEFT">Also, isn't it miraculous that my Inner Child <span style="font-style: italic;">thanked</span> me for talking to "her"? I found that astonishing too. Luckily I can type fast enough to capture my thoughts before I try to edit them. I would have a hard time doing this long-hand, personally.</p><br /><br />You can buy the book if you want, but for me, I think I can come up with my own questions easily enough. I may buy the book just to be supportive or to see what else I can learn, but for now I'm happy enough with the new exercise as it is. The website is <a href="http://selfparenting.com/" target="_blank">here.</a><br /><br /><br />If more of my personal angst interests you, I have recently put up my teenage angst-y poetry for public view <a href="http://raederle-poetry.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here.</a><br /><br />On a more serious note, more of my thoughts about how the brain works; <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/04/board-games-love.html" target="_blank">here.</a><br /><br />Also, I have an absurd pride for the food I eat every day (since learning to eat this way has taken years of research and adaptation), so I have this nifty <a href="http://raw-food-log.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">photo log of my daily diet.</a><br /><br />Thanks for reading! Please feel free to comment with your thoughts. Also, I'd love to read your session with your Inner Child. You may e-mail it to <span style="font-weight: bold;">pitifulbarbie@aol.com</span> with the title "My conversation with my Inner Child." It's very important you use that title so that I don't mistake it for spam.Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-60272318738829578692010-12-16T18:44:00.009-05:002010-12-16T19:50:06.361-05:00What separates you from the rich?My mother bought all of my clothing at second-hand stores up until I was around thirteen years old. I never thought anything of it as a kid, and I think it is a good policy. Healthy children spend time crawling around on the floors, climbing trees and playing in the mud, so why would you spend $20 on a brand-name pair of jeans for a child when you could buy a second-hand pair that was just as nice for $5 at thrift store?<br /><br />Unfortunately, not all of my mother's spending habits were so brilliant. While cutting-out coupons, attending sales, and comparing prices will all make small differences in the amount you spend, it won't do much of anything to improve your over all quality of life, and it certainly won't make you rich.<br /><br />Until I married, I had no idea that the difference between "rich folks" and "poor folks" was not necessarily income. By following my husband's example, I now see that I can live a much richer life without making more money.<br /><br />As it turns out, the main separator between the "upper middle class" and "lower middle class" is spending habits and lifestyle habits.<br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><blockquote>Being rich is about having a higher quality of life, not about having more money. It's about being healthier and happier than you ever dreamed possible.</blockquote><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >8 Steps To Being Rich:</span><br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">1. Recognize that what you buy affects your entire life, your community, the environment, the government, the country, and the planet.</span></li></ul></blockquote><br />Your dollars are your biggest mouth in the world. They scream louder than your personal actions and words ever will to the guys in the "big chairs." Corporate CEOs, investors, the political big "somebodies" and so forth; they don't listen to what you say, they don't watch what you do, but they pay <span style="font-style: italic;">a lot</span> of attention to what you buy. If you're just as willing to spend your money on products that are harmful to your body and the environment, and it is cheaper for them to make harmful products, then they will make harmful products because it makes them rich, and it makes their stock-holders happy.<br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">2. Buy Organic<br /></span></li></ul></blockquote><br />Various cheap laundry detergents will wear out your clothing, meaning you have to spend more on new clothes because you spent less on laundry detergent. Many cleaning fluids will ruin the surfaces you use them on over time, not to mention slowly poisoning your home with harsh chemicals. Organic, green and genuinely natural for the win. (Remember that "natural" on the label is meaningless.)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">Organic Soap</span></li></ul></blockquote><br />It's incredibly common to see people buy soap for $1.50 a bar, and then $3.00 lotion for the dry hands that result from the cheap soap. And worse yet, you still end up with dry hands despite reapplying the lotion ten times a day.<br /><br />When I moved in with my husband I was confused by his soap. "My hands won't get clean!" I exclaimed. But then I would dry them and they didn't feel oily after all. It wasn't that my hands were dirty, it was that they were moisturized. I visited my parents for a time and my hands were so awfully cracked and dry. I used the lotions they had, but it didn't help at all. I realized my skin had been dry and cracked and somewhat hurting my entire life until I moved in with my husband.<br /><br />I returned home to my husband and after washing my hands with one of his organic soaps five or six times, my hands were back to feeling smooth and richly moisturized.<br /><br />The lesson: If you buy high quality organic oil-based soap that costs $5 a bar instead of $1 a bar, you will never need to buy lotion again. The soap actually leaves your skin more moisturized and healthier each use, instead of dry. Besides that, when you buy organic products you support smaller companies who need the money a lot more and stimulate the economy as a result. It's a more effective way of stimulating the economy than donating your money to some-such thing that says it's pro-jobs or pro-green or whatever.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">Organic Shampoo</span></li></ul></blockquote><br />The same is true for hair products. You'll buy a cheap shampoo and conditioner all-in-one that leaves your hair dried out and crumbling, and then buy hair-lotions, hair-sprays, hair-moose, etc, etc, trying to get your hair to look healthy, on top of dying the hair another color, or even your own color, just to get it to shine more.<br /><br />Instead of buying all those cheap products that are full of chemicals and produced by large corporations who generally pollute the environment and outsource half their labor to China... You could just buy one or two really quality products. I am currently using this henna-shampoo that I found in the organic section. It lightly colors my hair a slightly redder tint because of the henna in it, and it doesn't strip my hair or leave it dry at all. Aside from that, all I use in my hair is a few drops of jojoba oil or coconut oil. (I use coconut oil when making <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/raw-recipes.html" target="_blank">my raw-treats</a> and I wipe the excess off onto my hands and rub it into my hair. With olive oil I rub any excess into my skin. It's much more effective and natural than <span style="font-style: italic;">any </span>lotion.)<br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">4. Ignore "On Sale" Products</span></li></ul></blockquote><br />Have you ever bought something because you happened to see it on sale?<br /><br />A good portion of the time the sale is not really real. You could get it for the same price as the "sale price" online, or somewhere else and they're just making it out as though they are selling it for less.<br /><br />The other portion of the time the product is on sale because it is not a good product and nobody will pay its full price. If they would pay full price, then they wouldn't need to put it on sale. When people buy these products on sale, a good portion of the time they end up with something that doesn't work, or works poorly.<br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">5. Research What You Buy</span></li></ul></blockquote><br />You can find what you really want for a price you can afford with a little bit of research online (or in person -- ask your friends and associates their experiences with the products they've recently bought.)<br /><br />Read customer reviews<br />Read product-comparison articles<br />Read product-review blog entries<br />Watch product-review and product-comparison videos<br /><br />Example of something we didn't buy because of research:<br /><br />My husband and I were considering buying a juicer. It looked (from the specs) like it had everything we needed, and it was on sale. After skimming the reviews on the sales page I decided to get some opinions from other sites. I visited six different sites and skimmed around seventy product reviews. While three of the sites had only positive feedback, this is likely because the site weeded out any bad reviews. The other three sites I visited contained massive amounts of bad feedback saying that the juicer simply stopped working for most people within the first two months, and after being replaced it would simply quit again within two months. Some people even reported the juicer quitting after the first cup of juice it made. Just think what a headache we avoided because I skimmed a bunch of reviews!<br /><br />Example of something we did buy after research:<br /><br />My husband was upset that his set of knives had gone dull. He said to me that they were not very good knives to begin with, so perhaps he would just replace them for a better set. He wanted my opinion, so he asked me for it. My response was that they seemed like perfectly good knives, and I hadn't noticed they were dull at all.<br /><br />He suggested that we buy a knife-sharpener in that case, because there was no need to get a better knife set if I liked the one we had. I was dubious that the knives needed to be sharper, but continued to seek a solution with him. He also proposed that we buy, perhaps, just one really, really good knife instead of getting a new set or a sharpener.<br /><br />We looked around at some really, really good knives, but they ran around $30 or more for a single knife. We looked at some sets, but they were all of poor-quality or of high price. So then he researched knife sharpeners. There was a cheap option, of course, but eventually he decided to get fairly expensive manual knife sharpener.<br /><br />Neither of us could be more pleased. All of our knives are sharper, and now I do see why having very sharp knives is better. It turns out I grew up with dull knives my entire life. And the best part? No matter how many knives we do or do not ever attain, we'll always be able to sharpen them.<br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">6. Don't Impulse-Shop</span></li></ul></blockquote><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Shopping will make me feel better..."</span><br /><br />Being depressed is not a good reason to go shopping and blow a paycheck. Instead, consider making yourself a banana-nut smoothie with soaked raw almonds, raw cacoa nibs, ground flax, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, a drop of coconut juice and five fresh organic bananas. All the omega and b-vitamins will give you a much more effective lift to your mood without breaking your wallet.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The advertisement said..."</span><br /><br />Who cares what the advertisement said. Advertisements are chocked-full of lies. There are blatant scams on advertisements all the time.<br /><br />I once was unfortunate enough to purchase a product that supposedly would take the hair of your legs by "rubbing" with this particular fabric pad. The advertisement claimed it had been done for centuries in other countries, that it was easy, that it worked for anybody, that it was healthier than shaving, etc. The product doesn't work. Not at all. No matter how soft the hair, and no matter how long you rub, you're just an idiot rubbing your skin with a scam-product. If I had done some research first, I would have soon discovered other people complaining about the scam. There was no refund, but there was a bunch of plastic to throw in the trash.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"But this looks really cool, and what if they don't have it online!"</span><br /><br />So it <span style="font-style: italic;">looks</span> cool. But do you need it? Will you really use it? Could you jump up and down fifty times right now because you're so excited about buying it? If you can't jump into the air fifty times and squeal like a little girl about it, then you probably don't need it. That may sound absurd, but it's a test I use on myself regularly. If I can't make myself jump up and down and squeal, then it must not be exciting enough to spend money on.<br /><br /><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">7. Read Labels</span></li></ul></blockquote><br />Things come with labels for a reason. Don't just look at the part of the package they <span style="font-style: italic;">want</span> you to look at; look at all sides, especially the ingredients. This applies to food, clothing, toys: everything.<br /><br />Is it made out of cotton or wool or what? Don't waste money on something that you're allergic to, or that will pill on the first-wash-through in the laundry, or that is made in China. Instead of buying six items of clothing, two of which are going to wear out quickly, one of which you'll never really like anyway, and all of which are made in China, instead, buy one or two items that are high-quality that you will love for years and years.<br /><br />Often the product that isn't half as flashy and costs a two dollars more is more durable.<br /><br />The result from shopping this way: Less clutter in your home. Less trash and waste. More income going back to the community and small businesses. Higher quality products that you really love. Spending less money in the long run by not needing to replace items as often.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><blockquote><ul><li><span style="font-size:130%;">8. Buy Fresh Organic Produce</span></li></ul></blockquote><br />Many people buy conventional produce at the store, and frozen dinners, and other cheap boxed products. These foods contain <a href="http://real-poison.diaryland.com/chart.html" target="_blank">toxins, chemicals</a> and little nutrition. As a result, the people spend less money on food, but then spend three to ten times as much on medical bills, prescriptions, surgeries, etc.<br /><br />The most effective way to combat this both from a health standpoint and an economic point is to grow as much of your own food as possible. Anyone can grow their own sprouts without sunlight, soil, or much space at all. A package of sprouts at the store will run you about $3, give or take. A sprouter will cost you $40. Your general sprouter will hold twice as much as one of those $3 packets at a time in sprouts. It takes somewhere from three days to a couple of weeks to grow them, and next to nothing for the seeds themselves. You can even sprout the seeds from fruit you've bought, the seeds that would have usually gone into the trash. If you grow one full sprouter-full of sprouts each week, the gadget will pay for itself in less than two months and you'll be able to continue growing them for life.<br /><br />However, many people just can not conceive of giving up their television programs, sports activities, social occasions or whatever it is they are doing to spend time growing things. And so, I must simply propose that you make better choices at the grocery store.<br /><br />Being ill is the biggest expense in life. You can not work, you can not play, you can not do anything at all if you're too ill to do it. And even being moderately ill is still serious, because then you work and play but you do both with little efficiency and wander through life feeling empty and wondering if there is more to life but not feeling like you can do anything about it... Meanwhile chugging several cans of soda and never making the connection between how terrible you feel and what poor fuel you're giving your body to make it's millions of cells out of each hour.<br /><br />Another tip, as an aside: <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/11/article-calories.html">Don't count calories.</a><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><br />Raederle's sage wisdom for the holiday: Pay the extra dollars or cents for organic and local products when you can. You'll be doing a great thing for the economy, the country, the region, yourself, the environment, your health and your conscience all at once. It's a win-win-win-win-win all around. And in the end, it saves you money too.Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-59708904182565689982010-12-09T17:10:00.003-05:002010-12-09T20:00:52.784-05:00Recession ReconsideredThe "bad economy" is a myth. First people buy things they can't afford. Then they hoard their money. Then they spend the little they do spend to huge corporations who send the money overseas and line the pockets of rich folks. Little money makes it back into the community because not enough people shop at local businesses. More money hoarding. It perpetuates itself.<br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001631948094" target="_blank">John Leathers</a> says: "Raederle, I couldn't agree with you more. Once I worked at a bank selling mortgages. The bank would often approve home loans for people what would take 45% of people's pre-tax income. People would often want something much bigger, though, and ask for a loan with a payment that would take 65%, 75% or 85% of their pre-tax income It's difficult for some people to know what "enough" is, apparently. I was amazed about how eager some people are to go into debt."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1818858979" target="_blank">Nathan Jett</a> says; "Debt will mean nothing when the dollar is worthless..." and suggests watching <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1818858979" target="_blank">The Obama Deception</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001631948094" target="_blank">John Leathers</a>: "That would be a real mess."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1818858979" target="_blank">Nathan Jett</a>: "That <i>will</i> be a real mess."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001631948094" target="_blank">John Leathers</a>: "It will be good for tourism. We'll have lots of foreigners coming to the USA on vacation to take advantage of the weak dollar."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1818858979" target="_blank">Nathan Jett</a>: "I think when that day comes there will be more people leaving USA than coming to USA."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001631948094" target="_blank">John Leathers</a>: "Northern California's already like that. We lost people during the recession. Many immigrants, especially, left the state and moved back with their families down south.<br />"Everyone's got their own philosophy about dealing with any future crisis that occurs. My plan is just to see what arrives when it arrives and deal with it then.<br />"If the sky's falling I'd rather not know about it. I grew up during the worries about the USA-Soviet nuclear apocalypse. I'd rather just live my life and enjoy today than spend the whole time worrying about something I can't control that could happen tomorrow."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Raederle:</span> I agree that sometimes it's better not to know the sky is falling. Keeping our heads up, keeping positive and sticking together are better than being depressed. Although, it's also ignorance of the public that has people in the messes they are in today.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1818858979" target="_blank">Nathan Jett</a>: "Oh don't get me wrong, I am in now way worried. I just like to be informed."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Raederle:</span> I also like to be informed, but each American can not learn everything there is to learn about all the issues causing the economic struggle, the unemployment, the obesity, the rising cancer and diabetes rates, and every other issue we're facing.<br /><br />I try to simplify what I do about it. Instead of trying to research each and every thing in the world and figure out if I trust it or not, ...I just keep following the same principles:<br /><br /><blockquote>Be compassionate<br />Buy organic or local whenever possible<br />Waste as little as possible, recycle as much as possible<br />Teach others when they are willing to learn<br />Learn from others when they are willing to teach<br />Be as healthy as possible and inspire others to do the same<br />Bring art, love and life into the world<br />Boycott anything I learn is particularly hazardous<br />Don't buy things made in China<br />Hand-made whatever I can<br />Grow as much food as I can</blockquote><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1038967186" target="_blank">Brian Honeycutt</a> says: "I always thought the idea of a recession was sort of funny given that the resources available are basically the same, so it is just a redistribution of energy and money to me."<br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><br /><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.facebook.com/sarah.leven" target="_blank">Sarah Leven</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> writes:</span> You can't really blame people for buying from massive corporations anymore. Our society has gotten to be so poor that every dollar counts.<br /><br />Some food purchases are difficult to make outside of a supermarket. As far as I know, there is no locally owned supermarket near my house. Up in Buffalo there is one but driving 30 minutes to buy groceries is kind of a stretch. Not to mention, they sell specialty items and not a lot of traditional meal ingredients. And it would cost me probably twice as much to shop there and I honestly can't afford it. I do try to frequent farmers' markets or other such things but in Western New York, that's a seasonal option.<br /><br />The real problem is that the middle class is shrinking -- most people are going down into poverty levels. A two income household where one person loses their job can be difficult to make up the difference in income. I do agree that a lot of these families have a lot of extras that they don't really need. I've been watching the show "Downsized" on WE and it amazed me how wastefully that family lived.<br /><br />Yet for some families, they already don't have a ton of extras and a family of five trying to live on 25,000 a year is tough. So you've got three kids and school is coming up. They need at least a couple of new outfits (since stuff gets ruined and children grow) and school supplies for the school year. Lets say you have about 600 dollars scraped together to accomplish that. That's 200 a kid. You need to buy them clothing, probably a new pair of shoes, paper, pens, pencils, folders, a backpack, etc. Personally the first place I would stop is a thrift store of some type to see if there were some good deals there. However, thrift stores cost about the same as Wal-Mart so I can understand the families that prefer to just go get it new. And thrift stores are usually a npo so shopping there isn't really helping the economy much anyway. I'm honestly not even sure where I could take my kids to buy locally made clothing.<br /><br />Eventually as capitalism sets in more and more in these cheap labor countries, they will demand higher and higher wages. Eventually the jobs will come back here. However, it probably won't happen in my lifetime, and definitely not any time soon. The main reason you can't find stores to sell locally made goods is because the support isn't there. But it's difficult at the point we're at as a society to put support into local businesses.<br /><br />I whole-heartedly agree with you on people not putting their money to work where it should. But as a struggling American who cannot find decent work and who wastes very little, I can understand it. We do have a broken economy because of how insane the debt got. People were buying too much house or too much car and it artificially inflated everything. Greed set in at both the corporation level and at the personal level. The problem is that now things are so broken, it will take a long time to fix them.<br /><br />As a small business owner, I compete with Wal-Mart. Sadly, the materials alone for the jewelry I create are more than the necklaces at Wal-Mart. Mine are unique and are of a higher quality but people still will balk at the 20 dollar price tag. The materials for that necklace are about five dollars and takes me about six hours to stitch together. I wind up making less than 3 dollars an hour for the pieces I sell. Other jewelry crafters hate me because of my low pricing but I still have the average customer shying away when they hear the price. But they think nothing of buying a video game for 20 dollars that they play twice and then never again. But the mentality is, I could just buy a different necklace for a lot cheaper. And since Wal-Mart pretty much sells it all, I stand no real chance. There is a small movement going against big corporations now and if people could snap out of the desire to just get as much stuff as cheaply as possible, our country might stand a real chance.<br /><br />~ <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sarah.leven" target="_blank">Sarah Leven</a><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><br />Second hand is better than Wal-Mart. It's a choice anyone would make if they understood the state of the environment and our impact upon it, and the state of the economy and our impact upon that.<br /><br />On principle, I'd buy the hand-made jewelry. If someone is too strapped for cash to buy handmade jewelry, then they have no business buying jewelry. It's a luxury. It's not needed for anything, and the only real excuse for needing some is if you're working a career as a model. And as a model, you don't want to be wearing department store jewelry anyway.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Lt6Yc4rAb6w/Se5dIql5SfI/AAAAAAAADMA/dVQK3EXJSSE/s320/img-thing.jpg" border="0" /><br /><i>Cheap plastic junk.</i></center><br /><br /><center><img src="http://retrotoys.com/images/24_864.jpg" border="0" /><br /><i>Cheap plastic junk.</i></center><br /><br /><br /><br />There is no place <span style="font-style: italic;">anywhere</span> for department store jewelry. It's worthless junk, and much of it is never worn, never used, never appreciated, never enjoyed, and just clogs landfills so that fat cruel rich corporate folks can milk the sheeple of America dry.<br /><br />If everyone stopped buying jewelry, make-up, body lotions, hair products and so forth and instead paid a little extra for organic whole foods, then they'd save a lot of money and be a lot healthier and look much more beautiful without the cheap jewelry, make-up and toxic lotion and sprays. Want your hair to have body? Braid it up, get it wet, dry it, and take the braids out. Want your skin to shine? Eat soaked seeds and raw vegetables. Want to decorate yourself? Buy jewelry from a local merchant, <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> from a department store.<br /><br />...How to get these important messages to masses? (Those above, and those below.)<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Be compassionate<br /><br />Buy organic or local whenever possible<br /><br />Waste as little as possible, recycle as much as possible<br /><br />Teach others when they are willing to learn<br /><br />Learn from others when they are willing to teach<br /><br />Be as healthy as possible and inspire others to do the same<br /><br />Bring art, love and life into the world<br /><br />Boycott anything you learn is particularly hazardous<br /><br />Don't buy things made in China<br /><br />Hand-made whatever you can<br /><br />Grow as much food as you can</div>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-140371505826124282010-11-23T13:33:00.006-05:002010-11-23T18:23:15.847-05:00ChristmasPerhaps you've read that commonly passed around collection of quotes from young children describing love. They are really astounding;<br /><br /><blockquote>"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." -Nikka, age 6</blockquote><br /><br />Imagine if there were more young girls like Nikka in this world? The one in particular that always stayed with me, was this one:<br /><br /><blockquote>"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." - Bobby, age 7</blockquote><br /><br />That was always my take on Christmas. It's the love in the air, the shared laughter, joy and smiles with family and loved ones. I remember telling my first love (when I was fourteen) that Christmas was special to me because it was the only day of the year that my mother kept smiling. After having said that out loud, I continued to think of Christmas being special for that reason.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2008/12/11/green-wrapping_tAm81_69.jpg" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />When I was ten years old I saved up every dollar I came by all year long, and kept them all in a washed out yogurt tub. When the time came around I had saved up a little over one hundred dollars. Nearly twenty dollars worth of it was in change, and roughly forty dollars worth were in single dollar bills. I bought one barbie doll for myself and spent the rest on gifts for others. I tried to find the most unique and interesting things that I could. I wanted others to smile and laugh and be delighted when they opened my presents.<br /><br />I wrapped the gifts myself from my mother's vast collection of wrapping papers, ribbons and bows. I considered what colors of bows and ribbons would look best together. It was special and important to me. It meant a lot that <span style="font-style: italic;">I</span> had the power to bring others smiles and joy.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.makingthishome.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/wrapping-paper-with-old-supplies.jpg" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />That was my understanding of Christmas at ten. Now I understand that I have more than just the power to bring my friends and family joy.<br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style=";font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Charity</span><br /></div><br />Everyone talks about how it's "the right thing to do" to donate to charities. Maybe it is. Have you done the research yourself on individual charities to discover which one is the most worthy of your dollar? Probably not.<br /><br />Instead of spending your time researching charities, instead, research the products you're planning on buying for yourself and friends. If you spend $12 on a notebook made by a company that employs handicapped people, uses bamboo instead of trees to make their paper, and crafts a quality product, you've just done a good deed -- and you <span style="font-style: italic;">know</span> it. You also still get to have the added joy of giving this notebook to a friend or loved one to write in, and you can do so with <span style="font-style: italic;">pride</span> because you've already done one good deed by buying it, and now a second by giving it.<br /><br />When you buy a $7 notebook that uses bleached paper made from trees, employs people in China at minimum wage under conditions you'd balk at working in, that was shipped all around the world using hundreds of gallons of gasoline... Yeah, you saved $5. But how much did the world suffer for you to have that extra $5? And how does donating that $5 to charity somehow make it all better? If you have not done the research, it's possible that the charity you gave your $5 to is mostly for the purpose of lining the pockets of the owner and doesn't do what it claims to do.<br /><br /><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style=";font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Wrapping Paper<br /></span></div><br />For years now, as a method of saving money and reducing personal waste, I have reused the wrapping paper of every gift I have received. I have only actually bought five rolls of wrapping paper in my life, and while none of my current wrapping paper exists on a roll, I still have more than five rolls worth of paper today in many different varieties.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XKgfAgS8zbs/SUHizrpcjwI/AAAAAAAAC-U/EoyUMcC8X-8/s1600-h/organic+line+240.jpg" border="0" width="400px" /></center><br /><br />Many of my bits of wrapping paper have been used six or seven times.<br /><br />I save ribbons and bows too, of course. Also, I save any decorative papers that come with other products I buy, as well as the brown stuffing paper they send with boxes in the mail. I keep all of it, and reuse it.<br /><br />If someone is going to throw away their wrapping paper, I rescue it and use it again.<br /><br />This used to just be a matter of saving money and being practical, but now that I've learned more about economics and the environment, it's now just one small part of doing the right thing all the time, not just some of the time.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XKgfAgS8zbs/SUHizfYH5eI/AAAAAAAAC-M/-EfH3g0QFEw/s400/organic+line+242.jpg" border="0" width="400px" /><br /><i>This picture is from <a href="http://mayamade.blogspot.com/2008/12/green-wrapping.html" target="_blank">this entry</a> about alternative wrapping.</i></center><br /><br />In one <a href="http://ecogreenguy.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/wrapping-paper-just-adding-to-my-christmas-shopping-rant/" target="_blank">short blog entry</a> I read recently, the author talks about using <a href="http://www.ecopaper.com/paper-type/banana-paper?gclid=CNbI6KnPt6UCFQULbAodYh--Zw" target="_blank">banana paper</a>, which is made from the discards stalks of a banana tree. I've seen paper made from ground stone, hemp, cotton, bamboo... It doesn't need to be made from trees, so why support the destruction of forests?<br /><br />• Use environmentally friendly <span style="font-weight: bold;">wrapping paper made using fibers such as hemp</span>. Look for paper using recycled content.<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Avoid buying glossy foil or metallic wrapping paper</span> - this kind of material is difficult to recycle.<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reuse gift wrap</span> - large wrapped presents usually have large enough uncreased sections to be reused for wrapping small gifts. If you open all of your gifts carefully, almost any gift has reusable paper.<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Use tape sparingly, or not at all</span> - if you're going to use ribbon to finish off your wrapping, you may not need to use tape. By not using tape, more of the wrapping paper can be reclaimed, and it's easier for the recipient to save the wrapping for reuse.<br /><br />• Choose <span style="font-weight: bold;">alternatives to commercial gift wrap</span> - there are many options which are cost-free, attractive solutions. Gift bags can be made using fabric scraps, or wrapping can be made using comic strips from the paper, old calendars, maps, posters and more.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.oureverydayearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/green_gift_wrapping.jpg" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br /><a href="http://eartheasy.com/gift_wrapping.htm" target="_blank">Here is a nifty page with many different alternative gift-wrapping options.</a><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style=";font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Christmas Tree</span><br /></div><br />If you want to decorate a live tree, why not go back to the original tradition?<br /><br />"The tradition used to exist whereby we would string berries and popcorn and other types of food and place them as offerings on the trees outside to feed the fauna during the food scarcity of winter. Now, however, we cut down baby and adolescent trees, bring them into our homes and dress them up with all manner of metal, plastic, glass, etc... How many countless trees are killed every year in celebration of Christmas?" <a href="http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?recent#%21/note.php?note_id=122816694998" target="_blank"> ~ Nikki Scott</a><br /><br /><center><img src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/11/article-1235143-07909A21000005DC-649_468x374.jpg" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />Plant a live evergreen in your back yard or front yard, and decorate that instead.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/2110058639_c9f88daed8_o.jpg" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />Although plastic Christmas trees are reusable from year to year, real trees are the more sustainable choice.<br /><br />Plastic trees are made of petroleum products (PVC), and use up resources in both the manufacture and shipping. While artificial trees theoretically last forever, research shows that they are typically discarded when repeated use makes them less attractive. Discarded artificial trees are then sent to landfills, where their plastic content makes them last forever.<br /><br />Live trees, on the other hand, are a renewable resource grown on tree farms, that are replanted regularly. They contribute to air quality while growing, and almost ninety percent are recycled into mulch. Live trees are usually locally grown and sold, saving both transportation costs and added air pollution.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">When buying a live tree, consider these environment supporting options:</span><br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Live potted trees</span> - if you buy a small tree in a large pot, you may be able to reuse the tree for 2- 3 years without having to plant or re-pot the tree.<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Re-pot the tree</span> - if the tree is root-bound, you can replant it in a larger pot for several years' use.<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Replant the tree</span> - if you have the space, of course, replanting the tree outdoors is an option. Be sure to anticipate the full-grown size of the tree, and avoid planting near foundations or underground services.<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Chip and mulch the tree</span> - many communities now have a free chipping service for trees. If you can keep the chipped material, it makes excellent mulch for your shrub beds.<br /><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style=";font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Christmas Lights</span><br /></div><br />It's the season of giving. It's <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> the season of competing with your neighbors for who can use up the most electricity in lights.<br /><br />Consider using one string of lights, and not ten strings. Perhaps just one elegant lining around the windows, or "icicle lights" around the top of your porch.<br /><br />Who are you gifting your money to when you decide to light up the bushes, the balcony, the windows, the banisters and the snow-covered lawn? The electrical company. I seriously doubt that's where you want to spend your Christmas spirit.<br /><br />Also, remember to use LED lights for your one modest string of decoration. LED (Light Emitting Diode) holiday lights use up to 95% less energy than larger, traditional holiday bulbs and last up to 100,000 hours when used indoors. LED holiday lights use .04 watts per bulb, 10 times less than mini bulbs and 100 times less than traditional holiday bulbs. Over a 30-day period, lighting 500 traditional holiday lights will cost you about $18.00 while the same number of LED lights costs only $0.19. As an added bonus, if one of the LED lights burns out the rest of the strand will stay lit.<br /><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style=";font-family:courier new;font-size:130%;" >Christmas Gifts</span><br /></div><br />Instead of giving to charities, give to the manufacturers of products <span style="font-style: italic;">you believe in</span>.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://d200fahol9mbkt.cloudfront.net/item/5496849/20100903_69.JPG" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />If you're anti-consumerism, make your own gifts and cards. The amount of cards sold in the US during the holiday season would fill a football field 10 stories high, and requires the harvesting of nearly 300,000 trees.<br /><br />If you're a feminist, look for companies that emphasize employing women. I've seen products advertising this before right on the label of a product.<br /><br />If you want to help fight cancer... Well, then you should ignore labels that advertise donating to cancer-research. The cure for cancer is already known to a growing body of people, but the corporations making so much money off of killing us and then medicating us don't want you to know. <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/testimonials.html" target="_blank">Here are some folks who know about the cure.</a><br /><br />A gift doesn't need to be a physical item. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Give an experience</span> to someone:<br /><br />Tickets to a show or concert can offer lasting value with minimal impact on resources. Sports events, local attractions, rock-climbing centers, ice-rink memberships, and museum memberships are other examples. Experiences can be other than 'entertainment' - for example, a membership to a car-sharing club in your city, or a garden plot in a local community garden.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Give a service</span>: Massage, music lessons, childcare, car wash, dogwalk, lawncare, tutoring, <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/raw-recipes.html" target="_blank">food preparation</a>, gardening, a book of coupons for household chores...<br /><br />Give someone <span style="font-weight: bold;">something of sentimental value</span>: Appeal doesn't always mean 'new and shiny'. Antiques and collectibles have time-earned intrinsic value as well as the added appeal of history and sentimental value.<br /><br />Personal gifts are appreciated and remembered because they tell a story. And because they're "re-used", there's no impact on the environment.<br /><br />Give someone <span style="font-weight: bold;">something special you've found</span>: An unusual shell, crystal, wood burl, arrowhead, bone, shark tooth, etc. Or flowers you've grown - if you live somewhere where there are flowers at this time of year.<br /><br />Give someone<span style="font-weight: bold;"> something used</span>: Might sound offensive to some, but to anyone with a heart, it's not offensive at all.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://www.messy-rooms.com/resources/garagesale09-2.jpg" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />Dan Taylor writes: I was having a garage sale last Fall. I remember one family in particular who seemed to be having so much fun. When we remarked on this they said they were Christmas shopping. I was impressed by their being so organized (this was in August) but was also intrigued that they would be going to garage sales to do their Christmas shopping. So in the ensuing conversation they told us that <b>their family had some years ago made a rule that all gifts must be under $20.00 and either hand-made or used</b>. This has provided so much enjoyment for them that we're going to suggest this same idea to our family for next year. -Dan Taylor, Alberta Canada<br /><br /><center><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_zCfVkKHCLT0/TN8NCWkbpRI/AAAAAAAAAvI/p2_SV4nfCSI/s640/DSCF4973.JPG" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Make something</span>: My all time favorite gifts were hand-made, if not by the giver, then by someone the giver knew. A hand-knitted scarf, a hand-sewn rice bag (much appreciated in the winter for keeping warm!), a hand-crocheted hat, a carefully crafted card, a baked clay figurine, a hand-made leather pouch -- these were all gifts given to me by different people in different years, but I remember each of them clearly, and still have them. With a little research you can discover how to make your own soap, candles, accessories, and countless things that will enrich your life and the lives of others without being a drain on the planet.<br /><br /><br /><hr style="color: rgb(129, 187, 255);" width="90%" noshade="noshade"><br /><br />Buying organic products, recycled products, and especially products made by individuals or small companies is a top priority. It's much more important than donating to charities. It's much more important than saving fifty cents.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_zCfVkKHCLT0/TN8NmB6j6NI/AAAAAAAAAwE/VMGQ3i1S5zw/s576/DSCF4992.JPG" border="0" width="450px" /></center><br /><br />The best gift you can give anyone, of course, is the gift of health. Instead of going crazy for cheap candies, or unhealthy home-made desserts made from white flour, white sugar and canned fruit, spring for <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/raw-recipes.html" target="_blank">something that won't make you or your family sick.</a><br /><br /><Center><br /><!-- AddToAny BEGIN --><br /><a class="a2a_dd" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fartphoenix.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F11%2Fblog-christmas.html&linkname=Green%20Christmas"><img src="http://static.addtoany.com/buttons/share_save_256_24.png" width="256" height="24" border="0" alt="Share"/></a><br /><script type="text/javascript"><br />var a2a_config = a2a_config || {};<br />a2a_config.linkname = "Green Christmas";<br />a2a_config.linkurl = "http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-christmas.html";<br /></script><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.addtoany.com/menu/page.js"></script><br /><!-- AddToAny END --></center>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-63638103117013535512010-11-13T20:13:00.006-05:002012-12-09T16:24:53.763-05:00The Art of Happiness<p style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%; text-align: left;">This may be one of the best entries I ever wrote. I wrote it back when I was reading one of the most life-changing books I've ever read. I spent some time searching my computer to find it today so that I could share it with you. Without further ado...<br /></p><br /><br />
This blog entry has been <a href="http://www.raederle.com/2012/12/dalai-lama-buddhist-attraction-gratitude.html" target="_blank">UPDATED & MOVED! Click here to read it.</a>
<br /><br />More entries of mine that can help you overcome depression, melancholy, and discontent and discover the happy you:<br /><br />Responsibility: <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/11/to-be-happy.html" target="_blank">Cause & Effect</a><br /><br />Mind-set Changes: <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-love-your-life.html" target="_blank">Blog: Loving Life</a><br /><br />Physical Setbacks: <a href="http://real-poison.diaryland.com/chart.html" target="_blank">Poisons: Things That Will Make You Miserable</a><br /><br />Healing Your Body: <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/about.html" target="_blank">Becoming Healthy</a><br /><br />Understanding Your Reactions: <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/05/love-drug-oxytocin.html" target="_blank">Oxytocin: The Natural Chemical Reaction Creating Love</a><br /><br />Impact of Thought: <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/06/imagination-fitness.html" target="_blank">The Power of your Imagination</a><br /><br />Common Trends: <a href="http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/06/obesity-at-whole-foods-vs-alberstsons-i.html" target="_blank">Changing Your Negative Habits</a><br /><br />Your Image: <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/10/drinking-affects-your-image.html" target="_blank">Drinking: It Affects More Than Your Health</a><br /><br />Worldview: <a href="http://artphoenix.blogspot.com/2010/06/cage-youre-in.html" target="_blank">The Cage You're In</a>Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20280304.post-48563804111172672602010-11-05T14:27:00.002-04:002010-11-05T14:31:40.458-04:00TwitterIf you're not <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/phoenixsmuse" target="_blank">following me</a>, here's what you're missing (8 Days of Tweets manually rendered):<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: courier new;font-size:180%;" >October 28th 2010</span><br /></div><br />I knew what it meant to be constipated at the age of six years old. TMI? Undoubtedly, but I want to help others w(cont) http://tiny.cc/q6xf5<br /><br />"Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional." – Max Lucade<br /><br />Is the Earth overpopulated with humans? Who said it is & who says it isn't? What is this information based on? http://tiny.cc/84zoy<br /><br />"What in your brain separates the pleasurable adrenaline high of a horror film..." What? There is nothing pleasurable about that sensation!<br /><br />I think I've developed my dislike of horror movies due to my uncanny level of creativity & imagination. For me, watching IS experiencing.<br /><br />I just read the article that a friend posted; http://tiny.cc/aolsm about the human response to horror movi (cont) http://amplify.com/u/e7hf<br /><br />Response; I've been slowing sneaking greens into my smoothies & it seems to be working. Fruit flavor can hide a lot! :D<br /><br />There was a period of time when I was 16 where my jaw frequently locked up. One day, I couldn't open my mouth at (cont) http://tiny.cc/1v39i<br /><br />Breakfast: Yellow mango, banana nutmilk smoothie (with added spinach for nutrition), raw cashew nut "bread," & bell pepper.<br /><br />Brunch: raw granola (buckwheat oats, raisins, banana & home-made raw cashew milk) See what I'm eating here: http://tiny.cc/xxxcc<br /><br />This morning I had delicious cashew nutbread & yesterday I had seed chips with avocados. Are you excited by your diet? http://tiny.cc/2qrij<br /><br />It's a serious dream of mine, as a freelance artist, to become a board game illustrator. http://tiny.cc/zk1a3<br /><br />"Beyond that, I was always tired, nearly always depressed, and I knew there had to be an answer out there somewhere." http://tiny.cc/lbru5<br /><br />My husband points out that the artwork that I chose for my daily raw log doesn't exactly mesh with the them (cont) http://amplify.com/u/e40l<br /><br />Response: http://amplify.com/u/e2yj Well, you make a good point yet again! At the moment I admit I feel that I want to feed my kids 95% raw<br /><br />If you've heard the term "digital painting" but are clueless as to what it means, read this: http://tiny.cc/byuur<br /><br />Why is it that everyone is always so happy and uplifting at raw food potlucks? http://tiny.cc/pbhm2<br /><br />Response to a tweet: Oh! This dancing like a palm tree thing seems like it could be fun! It should be added into yoga classes everywhere.<br /><br />Someone tells me they are avoiding agave nectar: Glad to hear! Agave nectar was probably hyped up initially because someone saw potential profit; not health benefit.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: courier new;font-size:180%;" >October 29th 2010</span><br /></div><br />Response: If you love vegetables, it makes it much easier to go onto a raw diet. But hey, I managed it & I don't even like most raw vegetables!<br /><br />Tips & tricks for making delicious healthy smoothies, photos of my daily meals, recipes & yum. http://tiny.cc/p8tt6<br /><br />It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret. – Jackie Joyner-Kersee<br /><br />Most eco-friendly products aren't as green as they claim to be: About 4.5 percent of the 5296 products surveyed we... http://bit.ly/aYGPD3<br /><br />Response: I have noticed in the past that writing down goals helps a lot; I should start doing it again. Thanks for reminding me! :D<br /><br />I'm thinking about creating a raw Halloween treat to celebrate. Any suggestions? Considering "Hint of Pumpkin Cupcakes" or something.<br /><br />Response: For an even more epic foodie afternoon, try a raw food potluck. Look for a group that meets nearby on meetup.com - It's amazing.<br /><br />I've noticed that people warm up to becoming raw the more raw food dishes they learn to prepare. Raw food is rich in flavor!<br /><br />Response: I've noticed that short workouts throughout the day do me good. That's why I came up with this plan: http://tiny.cc/pc3ba<br /><br />I've learned that pain during a workout usually means I'm not breathing deeply enough; yoga is great for breathing training.<br /><br />I used to get really severe stomach aches each & every morning when I was sixteen. It was rough since the doctor couldn't help.<br /><br />Purge unneeded things. Junk can be stressful. Unload closets. Give them away, donate, re-gift – anything, just so you get rid of them.<br /><br />This Halloween, don't feed children candy that will harm their immune system & make them hyper. Sweet & healthy: http://tiny.cc/iri0glj8f4<br /><br />Plants, according to my research, have more usable protein than meat & fish. I've started building more muscle since I went raw.<br /><br />Response: You know you can make chocolate fudge brownies without baking anything at all & have it come out delicious? It's much healthier.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;font-size:180%;" ><br /></span><div style="text-align: right; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-family: courier new;font-size:180%;" >October 30th 2010</span><br /></div><br />"You have no choice but to be yourself – You can do it reluctantly, or proudly."<br /><br />Response: I actually log everything I eat; thought it might interest you: http://raw-food-log.blogspot.com<br /><br />Response: So I'm hoping this banana icecream doesn't have sugar added. I've learned that fruit is sweet enough on its own.<br /><br />Perhaps I ought to be eating more fresh parsley. I love herbs! Been eating a lot thyme & oregano lately.<br /><br />Response: For the headache; try making a smoothie of Peppermint, Betony (an herb), carrots (with green tops) & kale. Tastes bad, but helps.<br /><br />Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before. – James Buckham<br /><br />Bananas can help you quit smoking with their Vit A1, C, B6 & B12, along w/potassium, helps those trying to quit from nicotine withdrawal.<br /><br />Response: How about making your self some raw chocolate treats? Like these: http://tiny.cc/blk0l (There is a #video demo by me.)<br /><br />Health Reform: I think it's meaningless either way. The general medical of the western world doesn't help. (cont) http://amplify.com/u/e89p<br /><br />Some people like to say, "Eat well, do good, get exercise, and die anyway," as some sort of excuse for part (cont) http://amplify.com/u/e88w<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right; font-family: courier new;"><span style="font-size:180%;">October 31st 2010</span><br /></div><br />Total: $31.00 at the farmer's market: (all organic) 3 peaches, 2 apples, 1 large bunch of the original conc (cont) http://amplify.com/u/ebk7<br /><br />Everyday we're killing ourselves, our friends, our families & our planet. http://tiny.cc/n4jse<br /><br />Great speech: Listening & Learning right now from Vandana Shiva http://bit.ly/bFL6FW RT<br /><br />Response: Apple cider vinegar -may- be great for fighting candida, but I suffered for years; quitting refined sugar is the cure.<br /><br />Don't feed them candy for Halloween! Feed them this! Photos included: http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/10/recipe-pumpkin-pie.html<br /><br />What did you eat today? I ate raw pumpkin pie, buckwheat granola, a slice of an o(cont) http://raw-food-log.blogspot.com<br /><br />Act the way you wish you would act. We are addicted to our habitual reactions. Yoga is the cessation of habitual reactions.<br /><br />"The power of fasting is not in losing weight during the fast, but in gaining control of your appetite."<br /><br />I'm always careful about not over-training my body, but since I've gone raw I have so much more stamina & recovery ability.<br /><br />90 minutes of activity a day sounds reasonable; doable even. I imagine stressful activities don't count. The hindered breathing would negate positive effects.<br /><br />Recipes for Teeth Cleaning: Economical, Eco-friendly healthful & easy: http://dld.bz/vudh<br /><br />Why not blend dates and soaked raw nuts and dip apple slices in that instead of caramel? It'd be much healthier that way.<br /><br />So I've been a 100% #rawfoodie for 8 weeks now. http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-8-weeks-100-raw.html<br /><br />Wow! I just finished making (and eating a large portion of) a raw pumpkin pie! I'm so amazed! I didn't b (cont) http://amplify.com/u/ea71<br /><br />"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."<br /><br />I'm going to be trying #nanowrimo this year. I "won" with 51k words in 2008 & "failed" in 2009 with 29k words. Going to work on book 2.<br /><br />I'm thinking of growing lettuce, spinach, kale & assorted herbs. Seems more worth while at this point.<br /><br />Response: That's what I was thinking! Who could say no to raw pumpkin cupcakes? I'll need to go to the store & get a pumpkin & a young coconut.<br /><br />Making a smoothie right now: yellow mango, banana, peach, spinach, raw nutmilk & water that dates have soaked in.<br /><br />Made my raw smoothie with two heaping spoonfuls of the raw pumpkin pie I made last night; came out wonderful. http://tiny.cc/1v5ey<br /><br />"I'd rather be hated for what I am than loved for what I'm not." Me? I'm anti-corporatism, I am for progress, I am ecofriendly, and I am a raw vegan.<br /><br />For a Happy Halloween don't make yourself sick on candy. Instead, make raw treats. http://reallyrawraederle.blogspot.com/p/raw-recipes.html<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-family: courier new;">November 1st 2010</span></span><br /></div><br />Working on my nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) novel already. Second novel in my fantasy series; here I come. I'm delving into my main character's past & loving it.<br /><br />3172 words thus far nanowrimo – I'm feeling really pleased with myself an entirely entrenched in the flow of my novel. I feel brilliant!<br /><br />4771 words already for National Novel Writing Month. Nanowrimo. I've been writing since 2:00am straight. I'm having a total blast!<br /><br />Raw picnic potluck today on Mt. Diablo. Planning on making "pumpkin cupcakes" of sorts. Glad I got my nanowrimo writing for the day done.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-family: courier new;">November 2nd 2010</span></span><br /></div><br />Question: "How do you write?"<br />Answer; "One word at a time."<br /><br />Currently re-reading "On Writing" by Steven King. It's gotta be the best book about #writing on the planet. Informative, blunt & funny.<br /><br />I had a picnic potluck with my husband & a friend yesterday on Mt. Diablo. Avocado wraps, pumpkin pie & much more – all organic, and all raw food!<br /><br />Nanowrimo! Going to get my first draft for book 2 done by the end of November! What do you think of the series title "Daughter of Crystals"?<br /><br />The creation of a digital painting; The Enchanted Mermaid http://tiny.cc/olt3wl8v5c Slide-show of the work's creation!<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: courier new;font-size:180%;" >November 3rd 2010</span><br /></div><br />1731 words today thus far, 9303 words total for nanowrimo. Writing my second book in the Daughter of Crystals series. A fantasy series by Raederle Phoenix.<br /><br />The original concord grapes, with seeds, have so much more flavor. Seedless just isn't natural. *nomming on grapes for lunch*<br /><br />Why didn't prop19 pass? Don't you realize how many people die over selling territory? If it were legal we could study it; tell doctors. >.<>> Not just vegan: It's also raw & healthy & delicious. You're welcome.<br /><br />Breakfast Smoothie: blueberry, banana, peach, kale, broccoli, peeled cucumber & coconut water. Forget juice fasting: Enter juice feasting!<br /><br />"What you think is a problem is actually a solution waiting to be seen."<br /><br />More important than whole-grain is whether or not the croutons have sugar in them. Sugar: http://tiny.cc/0bqx89f6qs<br /><br />"To for-give means to give something, with all your heart... give [up your] entitlement to being right." p.68 Steps of Essence<br /><br />Discover 'who' you are and you'll know 'what' you need to be doing. "Know Thyself" has always been the key. ~Hanns-Oskar Porr<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: courier new;font-size:180%;" >November 5th 2010</span><br /></div><br />For your birthday you should have a raw cake! Delicious & no stomachache or sugar crash later! http://tiny.cc/wyvn5<br /><br />Writing advice: If you can take the dialog out without adding three sentences of narrative, then both are extraneous to the story.<br /><br />"Starving a story of detail can sometimes be a problem, but Annortextia is far less common than Obestiality." Chose your details! National Novel Writing Month.<br /><br />Nanowrimo. Does your story have the right main character? The lead to choose is the character that changes the most throughout your tale.<br /><br />1875 words written today for Nanowrimo. Thank goodness! I never thought I'd finish this morning. 11,247 words total for the 2nd book! W00t!<br /><br />Restraining anger: Commercial for cookie bake-sales to raise money for cancer research. What bull. Cookies cause cancer folks!<br /><br />Have you seen the “Glad” commercial advertising bake-sales & cookies to raise money for cancer research? Sugary white-flour cookies coated in high-fructose-corn-syrup is the sort of thing that causes cancer!<br /><br />Question response: I don't have a publish date yet, but when I do, it'll be here: http://tiny.cc/jzt3n (My writing blog & info on my book.)<br /><br />What you believe the world is manifests everything in your life. When you change your opinions and perspect (cont) http://amplify.com/u/ela9<br /><br />Your body reacts to your emotional visualizations the same way it does to actual events. It brings new meaning to "thinking positively."<br /><br />You are not what you think you are. Instead: What you think; you are. "We become what we think about," – Earl Nightingale<br /><br />Imagine yourself truly happy for thirty solid seconds every morning & night. You are vibrantly healthy, alive & successful. See it!<br /><br />Full responsibility for your life will cultivate success because it forces you to research the effects you experience back to the causes.<br /><br />People accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of. Next time you want to blame someone, look inside yourself first.<br /><br />"All of us are self-made, but only the successful will admit it." – Earl Nightingale<br /><br />"Instead of achieving to be happy, happily achieve." - David Wolfe<br /><br />“How to change the world,” A blog article on happiness & health: http://pitifulbarbie.typepad.com/blog/2010/11/changing-the-world.html<br /><br />977 words thus far today for Nanowrimo and it's only 8:48am here in Walnut Creek, CA. How is your progress on your novel coming along?<br /><br />1938 words today for Nanowrimo – I'm so excited! 13185 words towards my 2nd book in my fantasy series – Success is today & ahead!<br /><br />Nourish your optimistic ideas; for they are the #divine seed of your limitless potential. Being your best self is not a goal, but an action.<br /><br />Tryptophan, an animo acid necessary for being happy is damaged when cooking foods. Best sources: raw hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, spirulina, algae, bananas, raw cocoa (unsweetened, uncooked chocolate), etc.<br /><br />"A change of diet will not help those who will not change their thoughts. When thoughts are pure, we no longer desire impure food." – James Allen<br /><br />Build a fortress of positive thoughts around you. Make the walls of light so thick that not even the most subtle negativity can reach you.<br /><br />Use your garden-mind to creatively rethink yourself. Build an image of your highest, happiest & healthiest self. Now strive for it!<br /><br />"If we put glass walls on all the mega-processing facilities, we'd have a different food system in this country."<br /><br />I suspect it's all stuff I already know, but I'm going to watch the food inc documentary just so I know what's in it.<br /><br />Okay, so I am learning some things I didn't know watching Food Inc. I never knew slaughter houses could be THAT disgusting.<br /><br />I think this point: Farmer decisions have been outsources to #corporate people in cities who don't have to live with the consequences.<br /><br />If you just look at the employees of Whole Foods & how they are treated: compare that to the treatment of workers at mass-slaughter house.<br /><br />Nobody wants to pay an arm & a leg, but is "cheap" good? Would you want to buy the cheapest car? No! You want something reliable & stable.<br /><br />"Cheap" food is actually very expensive. Add up the cost to the environment (massive death of bees, for example), health costs, society costs...<br /><br />Every time you shirk that extra 50cents for organic produce you're spending $5 to $10 towards mid-life surgeries (or sooner.)<br /><br />Every time you buy a fast food burger instead of a free-range grass-fed burger you're endorsing crimes against workers, the earth & animals.<br /><br />Every can of soda you drink negatively effects the creation of millions of cells within your body. Every can is lies & misery.<br /><br />Capitalism isn't going to go away overnight. What you spend is your vote. Vote for local small companies. For the ecological integrity.<br /><br />Capitalism will still be here when the sun rises tomorrow. Use your dollars to vote for farmer's markets, sustainability, and for family.<br /><br />So you cast your vote at the election & made your voice heard. But are you voting for what you believe in when you purchase groceries?Raederlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17388803926470907739noreply@blogger.com0