Dear Nancy

The secret of life

is cleverly hidden

in full view.

You don’t always reap

where you sow.

(Rev Ross Campbell)

Breath.

(Rev. Ross)

Morality is a poor substitute

for Love.

Everyone always does the best they can,

given their current abilities and beliefs.

(The Option Institute)

I don’t believe in Justice.

I believe in: Just This.

Now

is the only time there is.

All you need

is Love

(Lennon)

We walk this earth in deep sleep,

dreaming we are separate bodies with separate minds,

Living in a word of

isolation.

Everyone you see

is you.

There are but two directions:

You can turn towards Heaven,

or you can walk deeper into Hell.

A powerful question:

What do you most want

in this moment?

Okay, let’s start with something sweet:  fruit crisp.

This is a whole grain treat with lots of fruit and a crun-chewy oat topping.

Ingredients:  (t = teaspoon, C = cup)

Filling:
~2 lbs     peaches (fresh or canned) or apples* (see note below)
2t     cornstarch
2t    lemon juice
optional:    pint of strawberries or other fresh berry.

*If using apples, select ones that are a bit tart & crisp
but not sour, as this crisp is not oversweet.

Topping:
1 C     rolled oats
1/2 C    whole wheat flower
1/2 C     packed brown sugar (substitute Splenda brown sugar, if desired)
1/4 C     butter or equiv. (half a stick)
1/4 t     ground cinammon (Vietnamese is particularly pungent)

Preparation:

1.   If peaches and fresh: blanch in hot water and remove skins. then section.   If using canned peaches, drain syrup.  If using apples: peel, core, and section. Remove any remaining core w paring knife or coring tool. If adding strawberries: remove tops and halve.

2.    Combine corn starch with lemon juice in a small bowl and mix until corn starch is well dissolved.

3.    Combine fruit in large bowl with milky corn starch mixture and mix until fruit is well coated.

4.    Spread this mixture out on a 9 x 14 pan or large baking dish.

5.    Combine dry topping ingredients in another bowl and mix well.

6.    You may soften butter by allowing to raise to room temperature or melting it on low in microwave.

7.    Fold softened butter into dry mixture and mix until even consistency is reached.

8.    Ladel or spoon topping evenly over filling.

9.    Place in 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes.  Remove when mixture is golden brown and bubbling awhile.

10.    Allow 5 to 10 minutes to cool. Enjoy!

Yield: one 9 x 14 pan. If using a smaller pan or dish, you may need to allow a bit more cooking time ’cause the filling will be deeper.

And now for the spicey part

I’ve been watching YouTube videos of a man named Sean Stephenson. I had never heard of him before but you know how YouTube works. Every time you select a video, they refill the choices with stuff they think is somehow related; but like the game of telephone, as you traverse a spread of topics, you can quickly get into some truly odd material.

So, I wasn’t particularly looking for advice on the topic he was discussing. Also, initially I have to admit to -  I guess you’d have to call it – prejudice. In the first moments, I doubted this person had anything to say that I’d want to hear.

But I kept listening. And listening. And before long I was blown away. He offers videos as a series of parts and sub-parts. Start with 1/1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2rZqgkVDlg&feature=channel

By the way, if there’s a particular topic you’d like me to cover, let me know.

That’s all for now my friends.

Dave out

My first wise-guy thing:  electron theory applied to life.

You probably learned in school that electrons travel in shells, whatever a ’shell’ is. That is, they have orbits of a rather fixed radius as they circle ’round their respective atomic nucleus. But, if you give them additional energy they will jump to the next higher shell. Likewise, if they loose energy, they will fall into the next lower shell.

I’ve discovered that this can be a good metaphor for life – that at any point of time we’re at a certain energy level. Aside from small variations, we tend to maintain the same level over the course of our lifetime. If it goes up or down by some significant amount we tend to get uncomfortable and do whatever it takes to get it back to our customary level.

However, it might behoove us to try to increase the level because it determines what is possible or impossible for us at any moment. At higher energy levels, doors open up where we mightn’t have even noticed a door was there. Things start to happen which we couldn’t have drempt of a few energy levels down.

So how does one change ones’ shell or energy level?

We probably all know things which lower it. In general terms, these include:

• complaining
• blaming
• escaping
• projecting (usually onto others)
• prevaricating (avoiding the truth)

Here are some things which raise our levels:

• Allowing yourself to discover what you most want; what makes you happy. Review those things often.
• Instead of escaping, projecting, prevaricating, deal with what’s in your life, exactly the way it is, even though you may want something else – anything else.
• Allow yourself to feel whatever comes up when dealing with the previous item. It may feel like a tidal wave of energy, especially if it’s been suppressed a long time. Breathe through it!
• Start to move on what you want, as mentioned three bullet points ago. Take some action daily, even if it’s a little action.
• Allow yourself not to know. Give up your role as General Manager of the Universe or even of your own life. Sounds paradoxical. Confounds the ego. But as you relinquish ‘needing to control everything’, you discover that the real power begins.
• Invite a higher power into your life, by whatever name or no name.
• Scream, cry, shake if you feel impelled to. Repeat as needed. You’re making room for a higher quality energy in your life and there could be quite a dust-up.
• Find something in your present life you can feel gratitude towards. Anything.
• Find a few periods of time during the week to sit quietly. One way to do this is to systematically relax all the parts of your body – hands arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, hips, legs, feet, head, face, jaw, neck. I noticed that as I relax my body, my brain also relaxes and my thoughts tend to slow down.

You will notice that, over time, you will begin to get used to gradually higher energy levels. They will become your new norm. That is, if you continue to do the work.

That’ll do for now. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Hello friends,

Let me start with a little introduction. My name is Dave March. My daughter, Nancy, is a nurse who works the ’so called’ graveyard shift. On my visit to her last Thanksgiving in Hot Springs Village, AK, we were up late talking and she said she liked the things I’ve been telling her over the years, and wanted me to start writing them down. So, I thought I’d start this blog in her name.

“I am sorry that I am not able to bank roll you to a very large start, but not having any potatoes which to give you, I am now going to stake you to some very valuable advice.”

From Guys & Dolls by Frank Loesser

So, Nancy, this is for you! And I hope my words will be valuable.

And for anyone else in the blogosphere who happens to stumble on it.

Of course, a blog is a rather one sided affair.  I get to talk; you get to listen. You can, of course, comment and I hope you do.  However,  some may find this arrangement limiting and want a forum so that they can create their own discussion topics and such. If this is desired, let me know and I will be happy to include a forum on this site alongside the blog. Maybe they can even cross-link to each other.

Stay tuned for more and thanks for listening. 

Dave