A Guide to An Extraordinary Life

Four Questions for You

Our Loss of Icons

RESPECT FOR OUR LOST ICONS {by Nadine Jessel}

We just lost three icons and many are yet to come;

From their warm hearts, their virtues have spoken from.

Our lives are too rushed and we don’t stop to reflect;

The gifts of talented icons which we should honour and respect.

Your esteem for Ed McMahon and Farrah Facwett is not up for debate;

But the mixed views of Michael Jackson, I sadly do relate.

Michael had a troubled life and that’s a tragic shame;

For his eccentric actions, show him pity more than blame.

When John F. Kennedy was shot, oh how the world wept;

But he too had dark secrets, inside where they all slept.

The loss of Princess Diana hit the world with a thrust;

She captured our hearts, our support and our undying trust.

Elvis was a troubled soul, trapped within his self abuse;

To avoid his death in the end, there was absolutely no use.

Elvis and many others met their fate as did Michael;

For toxic abuse repeats itself in a perpetual destructive cycle.

Here I mention only a few, but there were many more;

Some outshine in spirit, but some in misery evened the score.

Pay them the homage that they rightly deserve;

For in death, their dark side we won’t observe.

Whether president, war hero or the best talent in sight;

They are all now sleeping angels in their own right.

Many war heroes fought for our freedom and died;

They too had imperfections which cannot be denied.

Some of our idols entertained us spreading joy and fun;

Others fought for our freedom or said how our countries are run.

The loss of our icons we have come to dread;

Their inspirations joined to our hearts by an invisible thread.

They gave light to our souls with their talents so bright;

To defame them in death, just isn’t right.

No matter the contribution to society they dealt;

Their talents and inspirations were profoundly felt.

Denouncing the spirits of the dead is an expression of our fear;

For our deepest wounds are echoed when we look into the mirror.

So, one last tribute to the lost icons whose talents we behold;

For they all had some darkness and many secrets untold.

It takes integrity to be heartfelt and kind;

Please honour the legacies that these icons have left behind.

[Nadine Jessel, June 29, 2009]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Heal the world, make it a better place,

For you and for me, and the entire human race.” ~ Michael Jackson ~

"I like to be a free spirit. Some don't like that, but that's the way I am." ~ Princess Diana ~

"Rock and roll music, if you like it, if you feel it, you can't help but move to it.

That's what happens to me. I can't help it." ~ Elvis Presley ~

"I am proud of what I have got and I need an audience." ~ Farrah Facwett ~

"There is no planning. On the night it is really great, it’s euphoria

and if it is not so great there is always tomorrow night." ~ Ed McMahon ~

Greatness

Everyone Can Become Great

“It is within the power of every man to become great.” ~ Wallace D. Wattles from The Science of Being Great

Do you think you can become great? Coupla things on that: 1) EVERYONE can become great; and, 2) As per Ford, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Too often we look at those we admire and think it must have been their destiny to achieve greatness. Something in their genes or astrological chart or just sheer luck.

Huh? That’s just a REALLY weak excuse for us failing to step up to our own greatness.

As Wattles says, ““It is within the power of every man to become great.”

And the great Paulo Coelho echoes that when he says, “I learned the most important lesson of my life: that the extraordinary is not the birthright of a chosen and privileged few, but of all people, even the humblest. That is my one certainty: we are all the manifestation of the divinity of God.”

YOU HAVE SEEDS OF GREATNESS IN YOU!

I hope you already know that and I hope you have enough strength to work on yourself till you manifest it and most fully give yourself to the world. Why? Well, we need it. But, more importantly, YOU need it! As Abraham Maslow states: “If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.”

You might be thinking, “Oh, but me? I can’t possibly be great. You should have seen how I was raised.” Or, “Not for me. I’m in prison.” Or, “Me? blah blah blah blah boring story blah.”

Whatever. You only need to look at so many people like Oprah or Malcolm X or 50 Cent (OMG. Former thug drug dealer turned artist turned future billionaire simply rockin’ his greatness!) to anyone else you wanna pick who had way worse circumstances than you and turned it around.

Of course, the STATISTICS will tell you that you won’t do it. But who gives a *%$# about statistics? If one in a million make it, those are great odds. How many of you are there? Just do it. :)

So, I’ll pick up my megaphone one more time: “IT IS WITHIN YOUR POWER TO BECOME GREAT!!!”

*stops yelling and sets the megaphone down* :)

Thanks to Brian Johnson's Philosopher's Notes Episode 45 for this post

A Call to Raise The Consciousness of Our Planet

A Call to Conscious Evolution

Sponsored by: Evolutionary Leaders

The Obama administration has contacted the Evolutionary Leaders Counsel to solicit a visionary

statement on how to transform our planet. Their brilliant response is below. If these luminous

principles resonate with you, please copy the link below into your computer web browser

to sign on as a supporter of their letter of intent.

President Obama asked that any statement made by the Counsel be supported by at least

10,000 signatures; the goal is 100,000.  Our current count is over 35,000.  We can gather at least a million signatures, since we Cultural Creatives now comprise one-fourth of the U.S. adult population! So please spread the news.

As the Hopi Elders predicted, that "We are the ones we've been waiting for." Now it's time

for us to stand up and be counted.

Statement By the Evolutionary Leaders

The human family is in the midst of the

most significant transformation of consciousness

since its emergence in Africa over one hundred

thousand years ago. Consciousness has been

evolving for billions of years from the first cell

to us. We are becoming aware that through our

own consciousness the universe can know itself.

This awareness reveals incredible new potential

for our individual and collective humanity.

Simultaneously, we are the first species on

this Earth aware that we can destroy ourselves

by our own action. This may be the greatest

wake-up call to the evolution of consciousness

since the origin of Homo sapiens.

We now realize that we are affecting our

own evolution by everything we do. This knowledge

awakens in us the aspiration to become

more conscious through subjective practices including

meditation, reflection, prayer, intuition,

creativity, and conscious choice making that accelerate

our evolution in the direction of unity

consciousness and inspire us to deeply align our

collective vision.

THE CHALLENGE

At this juncture in human history, urgent

global crises challenge us to learn to live sustainably,

in harmony and gratitude with one another

and with the living universe. The changes

required of humanity are broad, deep, and far

reaching. Only by acting swiftly and creatively

can we birth a planetary culture that will bring

well-being to every form of life in the Earth community.

The good news is that a compelling new

story of our potential as a whole human species

is emerging - a story of collaboration, citizen action,

dialogue and new understandings propelled

by unprecedented levels of democratic freedom,

multicultural exchange, and access to communication

technologies. It is nothing less than the

story of our collective evolution.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION

We recognize that the inner and outer aspects

of life evolve together. A dramatic awakening

in consciousness will involve an equally

dramatic shift in outward aspects of our lives. In

particular, we see the following as vital opportunities

for our conscious evolution, both personally

and collectively:

Cultivating a Paradigm of Aliveness: We regard

the universe as deeply alive and conscious

by nature. In a living universe, our sense of subtle

connection and participation with life around us

is the basis for a compassionate and cooperative

approach to living.

Educating for an Evolving Consciousness:

Awakening consciousness is the foundation for all

the change we seek to see in the world. We can

work to elevate our capacity for conscious reflection

and creative action in our personal lives

as well as our collective lives as communities. We

must support research and educational strategies

that optimize human capacities and explore the

nature of consciousness.

Restoring Ecological Balance: The balance

of planetary ecosystems is fundamental to our

survival. We must reverse the pollution of our

global commons - the water, air and soil that

nourish all life. We must encourage the proliferation

of clean, renewable energy sources and expend

all necessary resources toward mitigating

the effects of climate change.

Encouraging Conscious Media: We must find

innovative ways to use the new electronic media

as the mirror of our positive evolutionary story,

investing in their capacity to reach across differences

of generation, culture, religion, wealth, and

gender to build a working consensus about our

collective future.

Engaging in Social and Political Transformation:

More sustainable ways of living will require

the support of a more conscious democracy and

vibrant civil society from which more enlightened

leaders will emerge. All individuals should be encouraged

to use their gifts to create participatory,

responsible and compassionate models of governance.

Working for Integrity in Commerce: Conscious

businesses that are aware of the scope,

depth, and long-range impacts of their actions

are key to achieving sustainability. Business must

become an ethical steward of the Earth's ecology

and consciously establish an economic basis for a

future of equitably shared abundance.Promoting

Health and Healing: The science of mind-bodyspirit

health has demonstrated the profound connection

between the health of a whole person

and the health of the system in which he or she

lives. Whole systems healing, respecting both traditional

knowledge and modern sciences, must

be supported in physical, social, and spiritual domains.

Building Global Community: The new story

is about all of us who share this planet. Together,

we can create a culture of peace that eliminates

the need for armed conflict, respecting and appreciating

the glorious diversity of our human

family. YOUR PARTICIPATION IS VITAL

Our group has done its best to articulate

possibilities for the evolution of consciousness

at this crucial moment in time. Please reflect on

this document, feel what resonates in your being

and calls forth a response on your part. We

invite you to discuss it with others, continuing this

global conversation by adding to it the wisdom

that is uniquely your own.Together, let us co-create

a new narrative of conscious evolution that is

a call to individual and collective action, birthing

the most significant transformation of consciousness

in history.

Join in the Call to Conscious Evolution by

signing the pledge now. See what others are saying,

sign the petition and/or write your own comments:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/248704259