Drawn by a Star

and greetings from the small town of Stonehaven in north eastern Scotland, where in a few hours the world famous Fireball Ceremony will begin. It's exciting, quite dangerous, accompanied by a band of bagpipes and a troop of drummers. And just to end this amazing year, can I share a miracle that happened a just a few days ago. Please believe me, if you don't already, miracles happen. Spontaneous healing happens. Realignment in relationships can happen anywhere, and at any moment. And that's exactly what's happened in my personal life, on Thursday. Too personal yet to share, but universal to all who have been seriously estranged from a loved one for years. This has been a real Christmas ( re birth of love) miracle. The joy in my heart that my personal, tired, 'war zone' has miraculously, completely evaporated, is indiscribable. All that old pain and anger and disappointment on both sides simply does not exist any more. It's gone. How can I...

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. Lao Tzu

'You have to make mistakes to find out who you aren’t. You take the action, and the insight follows: You don’t think your way into becoming yourself... To love yourself as you are is a miracle, and to seek yourself is to have found yourself, for now. And now is all we have, and love is who we are.' Anne Lamott. Photos by Cristian Calderon. To read the whole article by Anne,visit Ian Lawton at his www.soulseeds .com Also from soulseeds.com... Vietnamese Zen Teacher Thich Nhat Hahn offers this reminder: “Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech . . . I vow to cultivate loving speech. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering . . . I vow to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain, and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause ...

Este es el discurso que pronuncié en nuestro evento para recaudar fondos para los niños en varias aldeas en el Valle Sagrado del Perú Me encantaría hablar con ustedes durante horas sobre los niños que he conocido en el Perú. Las historias sobre sus vidas, pero voy a ser breve, sólo voy a compartir una historia. Nuestro tiempo es limitado esta mañana. Tres jóvenes hermanas caminaban cuatro horas al comedor infantil de Washi en Ollantaytambo para conseguir un cepillo de dientes gratis, de cada una, y pasta de dientes, tambien gratis. Miles de cepillos de dientes fueron a ser donados por una empresa norteamericana. Algo salió muy mal con los arreglos, y los cepillos de dientes no llegaron a Ollantaytambo. Las niñas eran muy filosófica acerca de esta decepción. Les compré algo de fruta y chocolate, una bolsa de arroz y algunas verduras para llevar a casa a su mamá, y nos fuimos a hacer una pequeña merienda antes de comenzar su largo camino a casa. Cuando le pregunté a la niña...

This was my speech for the opening of our fund raiser, La Chocolatada, Orgiva, Spain 2011. This was our fourth fund raiser for these special children in Peru. I would love to talk to you for hours about the children I’ve met in Peru. Stories about their lives, but I’ll keep it short; I’ll just share one story. Our time is limited this morning. Three young sisters walked 4 hours to Washi’s soup kitchen to get a free toothbrush each, and a tube of toothpaste. Thousands were to be donated by an American company. Something went wrong with the arrangements, and the toothbrushes didn’t arrive in Ollantaytambo. The little girls were very philosophical about this disappointment. I bought them some fruit and chocolate, a bag of rice and some vegetables to take home to their mum, and we went for a little picnic before they began their long walk home. When I asked the 12 year old what she wanted to do when she left school she told me with a huge smile: “I’m going to be an a...

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. Wayne Dyer. Thinking about Christmas now, and grandchildren. Dear Jesus, I am sorry that we confused presents with presence. So silly of us. Jeff Brown.

Доброе утро, мои дорогие читатели русском говорить. Я организовал большой сбор средств событие вчера в моем сообществе. Мы называем это La Chocolatada. Вот то, что это все о. Я надеюсь, что котировки перевести хорошо, и что Вы любите их. Пронто-лос-Охос-дель-Ниньо Кларос себе ве empañado пор лас идей у opiniones, лос prejuicios у лас abstracciones. Siendo sencilla у греха себе incrusta кон ла armadura pesada дель эго. Нет FUE хаста años más Тард, заяц ООН instinto дие viene ООН Sentido жизненно де Мистерио га Sido retirada. El Sol Брилла травес де-лос-Пинос, у эль-эс Корасон traspasado ан ООН Моменто де BELLEZA у боль extraño, Комо ООН Recuerdo дель Параисо. Después-де-есе Día, № convertimos ан buscadores. Петр Матиссена Отдельное спасибо Дед Мороз, который принес его красивая маленькая дочь, и пообещал вернуться в следующем году! www.pathoftheheart.org www.paskay.org www.mysmallhelpperu.org www.healingartjourneys.com

Pronto los ojos claros del niño se ve empañado por las ideas y opiniones, los prejuicios y las abstracciones. Siendo sencilla y sin se incrusta con la armadura pesada del ego. No fue hasta años más tarde, hace un instinto que viene un sentido vital de misterio ha sido retirada. El sol brilla a través de los pinos, y el corazón es traspasado en un momento de belleza y dolor extraño, como un recuerdo del paraíso. Después de ese día, nos convertimos en buscadores. Peter Matthiessen La alegría es lo que sucede cuando nos dejamos de reconocer las cosas buenas son en realidad. Marianne Williamson Un agradecimiento especial a Papa Noel, que trajo consigo a su hija pequeña y hermosa, y prometió volver el próximo año. Este es el discurso que pronuncié en la recaudación de fondos de ayer: Me encantaría hablar con ustedes durante horas sobre los niños que he conocido en Perú. Historias de sus vidas. Pero nuestro tiempo es limitado esta mañana. Así que me gustaría decir algunas c...

Soon the child's clear eye is clouded over by ideas and opinions, preconceptions and abstractions. Simple free being becomes encrusted with the burdensome armor of the ego. Not until years later does an instinct come that a vital sense of mystery has been withdrawn. The sun glints through the pines, and the heart is pierced in a moment of beauty and strange pain, like a memory of paradise. After that day, we become seekers. Peter Matthiessen Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are. Marianne Williamson A huge, huge thank you to everybody who made our fund raiser,La Chocolatada, (for children in Peru) such a success. A special thank you to Papa Noel who brought along his beautiful little daughter, and promised to come back next year.

Neale Donald Walsh said, The larger your understanding of who you really are, the smaller your ego. Gandhi said, The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. This is my friend Washi, one of the organizers of the Chocolatadas in the Sacred Valley in Peru, and the person who took these beautiful photos. These children are given unequal access to resources. "Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another" -Author Unknown To read about huge hearted Washi Gibaja's work with his people, see : www.pathoftheheart. org We are fund raising here in Spain to support his soup kitchen for street children in Ollantaytambo, as well as many Chocolatadas in the same area. If you would like to support Washi's work, you can make a donation through the path of the heart website. This year, the community of Orgiva in Andalucia Spain, is also supporting Chocolatadas in Bolivia. These are for stree...