eatkamloops.org

Dreaming In the New Year

New Year’s Day is a time to reflect on the past year and contemplate the future. Many people use this time as an opportunity to make New Year’s Resolutions. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but I find myself thinking about what I would like for my future. I have only so much energy and resources, so I must carefully focus my intentions, so I may arrive at my destination.

In my last blog I shared my dreams. I sometimes feel I have taken the long road to my dreams. Obstacles get in the way, and I find myself going in directions that I never intended. I find these side trips to be incredible learning experiences. At the end, I find I better understand my underlying motivations and resolve.

There are many dreams that have been left at the side of the road. Below are a list of dreams from my past and present. They have been sustaining dreams. I wonder what miraculous forces will shape these dreams into my future.

1. Meditation, Mindfulness and Lovingkindness are three practices common in some form in all religions.
Mettā Meditation: The Practice of Lovingkindness
Birken Forest Monastery (Abbot: Ajahn Sona)

2. Autodidactic Learning is self-directed study. I can’t give any links to sources because there is no authority on this topic. Nor can there ever be. Autodidacticism is self-directed learning without an authority figure to direct the course of study. Along with the process of autodidactic learning is the process of “unlearning” lessons taught by authorities which may impede the ability to learn new ideas.

3. Nonviolent Communication is a method of communication where everyone gets their needs met. When everyone’s needs are met the world indeed becomes wonderful.
Marshall Rosenberg on Nonviolent Communication Part I
Marshall Rosenberg on Nonviolent Communication Part II
Marshall Rosenberg on Nonviolent Communication Part III

4. Financial Independence is having enough resources to live comfortably without having to work for the basic necessities of life. If a person has simple needs, this state will be achieved earlier than a person with complex needs. When this state is achieved it opens up time to “work for love not money”.
Vicki Robin on Your Money or Your Life

5. Permaculture is a system of designed human settlements that mimics the relationships found in natural ecosystems. It is based on perennial agricultural and integrated animal husbandry.
Behind Greening the Desert with Geoff Lawton
Permaculture Water Harvesting with Geoff Lawton
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part I
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part II
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part III
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part IV
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part V
Bill Mollison on The Permaculture Concept Part VI

6. An Earthship is a home built with recycled materials and is completely energy self-sufficient.
Earthship 101 Part I
Earthship 101 Part II
Dennis Weaver Builds His Earthship

May all living beings be well, happy and peaceful. May no harm come to them. May no difficulties come to them. May they always meet with success. May they also have patience, courage, understanding, and determination to meet and overcome the inevitable obstacles in life.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow with IZ

Boxing Day: You Are What You Buy (Believe)

Boxing Day has a long history but is now primarily known as a shopping holiday in North America. I haven’t participated in Boxing Day “celebrations” for decades. But at this time of year, I can’t help but think about what we “buy into”, will make the world we live in.

I dream about a world where my needs can be met without those needs costing someone else dearly. I dream about food that will nourish the body and community that will nourish the spirit. I dream about producing food for our families in a way that won’t cost “the world”. I dream about a world where our children are surrounded by a caring loving community that thinks about our shared future.

How do we become more enlightened about our behaviors so we can live our dreams? How can we change our thinking so our actions will follow? Maybe we need to just “buy into” a new vision. Of course, this vision isn’t new but very old. Maybe we need to learn how to tame our technology and harness our brilliance. All the answers are out there, we just have to apply them.

While I was at the Weston A Price Foundation 2008 Conference in California, I had the opportunity to see some new ideas being worked out in the real world. I visited the Three Stone Hearth in Berkeley, CA. They are running a Community Supported Kitchen (CSK). Jessica Prentice is one of the co-founders of Three Stone Hearth and author of Full Moon Feast: Food and the Hunger for Connection. I hope you enjoy an interview with Jessica Prentice Part I and Part II. If you would like to see inside the Community Supported Kitchen run by Three Stone Hearth please watch Business With Passion.

People who feel themselves in chains, with no hope of ever getting them off, want to put chains on everyone else.
John Holt

Weston A Price Foundation Updates Website

The Weston A Price Foundation website has been updated. This means many of the links on eatkamloops.org will not be working for a few days until I can reset all the links. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. The new Weston A Price Foundation website can be found here.

Updated December 16, 2009: I have gone through eatkamloops.org and corrected most of the links. I could not find a few of the essays on the new WAPF website, which I hope to find over the next few days. The new WAPF website is extremely well organized. It is much easier to find information about a particular subject.