The Gift of Gratitude

Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefulness, and gratefulness is a measure of our aliveness.
– Brother David Steindl-Rast

Dear Friends,

Some days I get so busy I forget how I am held by this amazing network of grace – my friends, my culture, and the earth. Since before we harnessed fire, developed tools and created agriculture we have all been held in an ever-widening web of support and interconnection with all life. We tend to take for granted all the resources, energy, and complex systems that allow our current lifestyle to be possible. The pace of our lives often leaves little time to express and appreciate all that has been given to us! We forget that we are not separate, but a part of this miraculous evolutionary unfolding that is at the heart of our vitality and aliveness...

Gratitude is a recognition of all that we have and being thankful for it. In this season of Thanks-giving I invite you to join me in celebrating our interconnection with all life. We are at the precipice of monumental change that has the possibility of leading us into an unprecedented re-cognition of our place in the web of life and the innate skills to live within it... or into the darkest of days that could take us deeper into the myth of separation, alienation and despair. The choice is ours! The path is gratitude...

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
– Cynthia Ozick

Read the entire letter from Michael here.

Upcoming Events

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New Year’s Community Service Opportunities
There are many opportunities to support our community on both the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day events. If you would like to volunteer for either of these please email Michael (michael@wellofLight.com)

Moving Meditation News

Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.

Everything around us in changing! The seasons unfold one into the next, the environment is altering at an alarming pace, our bodies are aging, society and culture are adjusting to massive growth, the economy is out of control, the nature of work is changing and the way we relate is transforming through technology and the internet. Everything is changing, but is our view of the world changing to keep pace with these massive global reality shifts – or are we holding on to the old world views with which we have found comfort in our alienation, separation and protection from the natural world?

The 5 Rhythms are maps of change! They are a catalyst for realizing the reality of impermanence, one of the 3 essential doctrines of Buddhism. The Buddha taught that all constructed or fabricated phenomena are impermanent and attachment to them becomes cause for suffering. The 5 Rhythms teach us that everything is moving, changing, transforming. Life is like water – when it is moving it is healthy, clean and alive, but when we stop its flow, it gets stagnant, diseased, and toxic. Water needs the freedom to change and so do we.

So we come to our movement practice to pay attention to how we move, becoming curious, openly receiving the world, interested in our own flow and discovering where we have become stagnant, stuck and closed. In the dance we open to our most authentic expression of ourselves – one that is alive, vibrant, focused in our ability to be present in the face of chaos and surrender ourselves to the mystery of life. We discover that we can choose each moment newly and reinvent ourselves, moment to moment, not getting stuck in terminal seriousness, learning to whole-heartedly pray and play with every fiber of our being, willing to honor the spirit that lives in all things, to give ourselves to the mystery and be a servant of change by simply being here, now. This is a 5 Rhythms Wave. These are the rhythms of life. This is the practice!

When we resist change and try to control the world and circumstances around us we lose the power of presence – we operate out of obsolete ways of being in the world—this is perhaps at the heart of every social, environmental and spiritual problem we are facing today. Can we give up our addiction to trying to control our world and surrender to its beauty, magnificence and its innate capacity to heal itself. It is like when we get a splinter in our finger, it hurts, it gets infected and it miraculously pushes the foreign invader from our skin and heals itself. I am suggesting that by simply surrendering to and bringing awareness to our situation a positive and healing change will occur in our lives and the world. Right action will follow. This is why I practice the 5 Rhythms... I know that life is change and I must learn to change with it! I hope you will join us in this exploration...

Movement is the movement of change. In my experience, if you put your psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is the medicine. Each of us has the power and responsibility to heal ourselves, to be our own medicine man or woman. Awakening our innate powers of being, loving, knowing, seeing and healing involves ongoing work at all levels and in all dimensions of our self. In your deepest center, you are the stillpoint. You are the rhythm beyond stillness, the feeling beyond compassion, the sexual energy beyond celibacy, the life force beyond death, the vibration beyond inspiration. The moving center is within you.
– Gabrielle Roth

Dear Friends,
Loren sent me this information on sound and hearing loss. I really appreciate all of your input and think this is a very important issue. It is interesting that I get as many requests to turn it up and to turn it down. Hard to please everyone, but it is an issue I take seriously and the thought that it leads to permanent loss is important to note. So I am trying to keep the music lower and from now on will be providing earplugs for those of you that feel discomfort with the sound level. Thanks for this input Loren...
-ms

Sound Levels and 5 Rhythms
From Loren Gramlich

At 5 Rhythms I love to get lost in the energy of the group, the joy of the dance and the power of the music. But I have a concern that I haven’t expressed and it is that the music volume level in the Friday classes and Sunday Sweats is almost always too high for me. I handle that myself by putting in earplugs.

My acupuncturist has told me over the years that hearing loss is cumulative. It builds up and it DOES NOT come back. This is what I found from a Google search on the internet:

Noise-induced hearing loss is completely preventable
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
By Katie Falloon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“One good way to visualize noise-induced hearing loss is to imagine walking back and forth across the same patch of grass every day”, said Anne Oyler, audiologist at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. If you keep on doing it, eventually you're going to wear down the grass. And if you continuously bombard the very delicate hair cells in the ear -- which move every time noise stimulates them -- eventually they'll wear down too.

Hearing loss has little to do with the source of the sound and everything to do with the dosage, or the level of the sound and the amount of time spent listening to it, said Catherine Palmer, audiologist and director of UPMC's Center for Audiology and Hearing Aids. "Sound is sound. The ear doesn't care how it got there," Dr. Palmer explained.

“The greater the exposure, the greater the chance of hearing loss because it builds up over time,” Dr. Palmer said.

I also am concerned when children come to dance. Their ears are even more vulnerable to irreversible damage. I am also grateful for all of the gifts that the 5 Rhythms has brought me and our community over the years. I know that it’s possible to keep bringing the gifts without physical dangers.

Blessings on us all,
Loren Gramlich

New Podcasts

Click here to view the Podcasts page, and to listen to the following podcasts:

Bradford Keeney, Ph.D. The Bushman Way of Tracking God
Bradford Keeney, Ph.D. is an American psychotherapist, ethnographer, and cybernetician. He has been called "an all-American shaman, the Marco Polo of psychology, and an anthropologist of the spirit" by the editors of Utne Reader. Author of more than thirty books in the fields of psychotherapy, cybernetics, and ethnographies of healing traditions, many of his works are considered classics in their fields. www.shakingmedicine.com

Charles Eisenstein: The Ascent of Humanity
Professor, lecturer and workshop leader Charles Eisenstein is the Author of The Ascent of Humanity and the upcoming Sacred Economics, and two influential essays on money: Money and the Crisis of Civilization and Money and The Turning of Age A faculty member of Goddard College, he speaks and writes about civilization, economics, and the evolution of human consciousness. www.ascentofhumanity.com

Bill McKibben: Making a life on a touch new planet
Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy and localized economies. In 2010 the Boston Globe called him "probably the nation's leading environmentalist" and Time magazine described him as "the world's best green journalist. He is the founder of 350.org He is also the author of many books including The End of Nature which has been translated into 20 languages and his latest Earth: making a life on a tough new planet. www.billmckibben.com

Sharon Salzberg: Force of Kindness
Sharon Salzberg is one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and authors. She is the cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. Sharon has played a crucial role in bringing Asian meditation practices to the West. The ancient Buddhist practices of vipassana (mindfulness) and metta (loving kindness) are the foundations of her work. In her book The Force of Kindness, Sharon offers practical instruction on how we can cultivate kindness within ourselves. www.sharonsalzberg.com

Andrew Harvey: Sacred Activism
Andrew Harvey is a renowned and distinguished mystical scholar, Rumi translator and explicator, poet, novelist, spiritual teacher and writer, and architect of Sacred Activism. He has taught at Oxford University, Cornell University, Hobart, and William Smith Colleges, The California Institute of Integral Studies, and the University of Creation Spirituality as well as the at various spiritual centers throughout the United States. His latest book is The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism. www.andrewharvey.net

Lynne Twist: The Soul of Money
Lynne Twist is a global activist, fundraiser, speaker, consultant, and author. She has dedicated her life to global initiatives that serve the best instincts in all of us. Lynn has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and trained thousands of fundraisers to be more effective in their work. The compelling stories and insights gained from her experiences inspire Lynne's keynotes and workshops, and are the foundation for her best selling, award winning book The Soul of Money. Lynne founded the Soul of Money Institute to express her commitment to supporting and empowering people in finding peace and sufficiency in their relationship with money and the money culture. www.soulofmoney.org

Dr. Kevin Danaher: Grassroots Globalization: Empowering local communities to create sustainable local economies
Described by The New York Times as the "Paul Revere of globalization's woes," Dr. Kevin Danaher's analytical expertise, sense of humor and blunt eloquence make him an exceptionally dynamic communicator. Dr. Danaher is a co-founder of Global Exchange, founder and Executive Co-Producer of the Green Festivals, and Executive Director of the Global Citizen Center. He has published numerous articles and is the author and/or editor of thirteen books. www.globalexchange.org

Warren Farrell: The Myth of Male Power
Dr. Warren Farrell's books on male-female issues have made contributions in twelve fields. They include two award-winning international best-sellers, Why Men Are The Way They Are plus The Myth of Male Power. His most recent books are Father and Child Reunion, and Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say. His research on Father and Child Reunion, finding what is optimal for children of divorce, has led to his doing expert witness work in child custody cases. Dr. Farrell is the only man in the US elected three times to the Board of Directors of the National Organization for Women in New York City. www.warrenfarrell.org

Ania Brandysiewicz: Consciousness and the Enlightened Body
Ania Brandysiewicz covers the spectrum from highly technical to highly interpersonal. She began as an electronic engineer, worked in the early design of hardware and operating system programming for computers, and helped design and test the first MRI scanner in England. Ania developed over many years a method of teaching people how to be more aware of the beliefs they held and stored in their bodies. With this increased awareness, they learned to better observe their own and other's emotions and learn how to remain peaceful and balanced when another person was running an emotional "operating system error" nearby and not "catch the virus". www.schoolofcreation.com

Book of the Month

Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature
By Osprey Orielle Lake

I have read quite a few books for my interviews in the past few months, but this one is pure poetry and inspiration that touches the heart of what it means to be human...

Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature delves into a new kinship with nature while acknowledging the treasures of urban life and the unique stake each person has in resolving critical and timely challenges. While avoiding doomsday scenarios, Lake offers a frank inquiry into a variety of causes leading to our current global peril while also providing a deep well of hope and profound insight.

Lake, a lifelong advocate for the environment and cultural transformation, weaves together history, ecology, culture, governance, women's leadership and the arts to map out an integrated approach to working in partnership with nature while creating a more just and sustainable future. Her wisdom, stories, lyrical style, and thorough research frame chapters such as “Around the Fire: From Global Warming to a Renewed Hearth”, “Anthem to Water”, “Democracy Ancient and Modern” and “Reshaping Interior and Exterior Landscapes”. Osprey takes us along wild rivers as she explores water conservation and the mysteries of water science; sits us around a fire along with great minds of past and present to contemplate the climate crisis; and takes us to several continents where we navigate deeper into history of culture and land.

Lake shows us that “a culture or civilization bereft of its connection to nature will not be sustainable. The decades since Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring have clearly shown us this. We will need to reconnect with the rhythms of the natural world in contemporary society to generate inner and outer resilience, and to move through the uncertain times ahead.”

Lake’s writing is informed by the American nature-writing tradition that arises from Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, John Muir, and Rachel Carson, as well as from cultural and natural historians Riane Eisler, Thomas Berry and Terry Tempest Williams.

Whether you are an agent for social, environmental or political change, newly awakened to environmental threats, or a lover of natural history and literature, consider this book required reading for its inspiration, innovation and hope for the Earth and future generations.

Articles

The Revolution Has Begun - "The Shift Hits the Fan"

The Bottleneck. The Great Disruption. Peak Everything. The Great Turning.

Whatever you call it, it's the big enchilada.

In the words of filmmaker Tom Shadyac, "The shift is hitting the fan." We're experiencing the dawn of a revolutionary transformation. This awkward 'tween state marks the end of pre-history - the sunset of an ecologically illiterate civilization. Like a baby being born, a new world is crowning.

The revolution has begun. But in fits and starts. The challenge is it's one minute to midnight - too late to avoid large-scale destruction. We have to fan the shift to ecoliterate societies at sufficient scale and speed to dodge irretrievable cataclysm.

To read the full article, click here.

In Ecuador's Rain Forest, Indigenous People and Inner Life

Illuminated by a single candle, the shaman’s weathered face appeared kindly, like that of a sympathetic doctor, with painted red marks also suggesting a calm, fierce authority — both qualities that I would rely on during the dark and uncertain hours ahead. He sat on a wooden stool carved into a tortoise, and wore turquoise beads around his neck and a crown of crimson feathers. A table beside him displayed the modest tools of the ceremony: a fan of leaves, jungle tobacco, a gourd bowl and a clear plastic soda bottle containing an opaque, brown liquid.

“You will start to feel a reaction in about half an hour,” the shaman, Tsumpa, said, as my guide translated. “When the effects come, you must concentrate on what the medicine is trying to communicate.”

To read the full article, click here.

Civilization's Foundation Eroding

The thin layer of topsoil that covers the planet’s land surface is the foundation of civilization. This soil, typically 6 inches or so deep, was formed over long stretches of geological time as new soil formation exceeded the natural rate of erosion. But sometime within the last century, as human and livestock populations expanded, soil erosion began to exceed new soil formation over large areas.

To read the full article, click here.

Behind The Latest Food Crisis

Food prices soar to record levels worldwide while the World Food Security Committee is meeting in Rome to discuss the crisis. Are there winners and losers in the current food crisis? What can the international community do about it on both global and local level?

To watch the video, click here.

Water wars in the south-east: Chattahoochee Blues

The Economist

FOR Americans from the parched western states, the notion of Alabama, Georgia and Florida battling over water must seem as daft as three fat people fighting for a grape at a lavish banquet. Average yearly rainfall in all three states exceeds 40 inches (just over a metre). Georgia and Alabama abound in lakes and rivers. Florida has almost 1,200 miles (1,900km) of coastline. But rapid growth in the region, particularly in and around Atlanta, has put pressure on its water supply. So now the three states are engaged in a protracted battle over water from two big river basins, the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT), the outcome of which may shape the area’s development for decades.

To read the full article, click here.

Solar Cell Production Climbs to Another Record in 2009

Solar photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturers produced a record 10,700 megawatts of PV cells globally in 2009—an impressive 51-percent increase from the year before. While growth in 2009 slowed from the remarkable 89-percent expansion in 2008, it continued the rapid rise of an industry that first reached 1,000 megawatts of production in 2004. By the end of 2009, nearly 23,000 megawatts of PV had been installed worldwide, enough to power 4.6 million U.S. homes. Solar PV, the world’s fastest-growing power technology, now generates electricity in more than 100 countries.

To read the full article, click here.

51 Ways to Spark a Commons Revolution

What you can do, alone and with others, to share life.

1. Challenge the myth that all problems have private, individual solutions.
2. Notice how many of life’s pleasures exist outside the marketplace—gardening, fishing, conversing, playing music, playing ball, making love, watching sunsets, and much more.
3. Take time to enjoy what the commons offers. As the radical Brazilian educator Paulo Freire said, “We are bigger than our schedules.”
4. Introduce the children in your life to the commons. Let them see you enjoying it, and working with others to sustain it.
5. Keep in mind that security and satisfaction are more easily acquired from friends than from money.

To read the full article, click here.

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On Thanks – Giving!

For it is in giving that we receive.
St. Francis of Assisi

We need your support to continue to provide Conversations, The Well of Light and other up to date information on what is happening in the environmental, spiritual, and social justice arenas. If you get value from these offerings I invite you to support their continuation by funding them. Your contribution makes a difference and so do you. Thank you for being a supporter of Conversations...

You are like a candle. Imagine you are sending light out all around you. All your words, thoughts and actions are going in many directions. If you say something kind, your kind words go in many directions, and you yourself go with them. We are ...transforming and continuing in a different form at every moment.
– Thich Nhat Hanh

Upcoming Shows on Conversations

November 30th
William Bengston, PHD: The Energy Cure
Bill Bengston is a professor of sociology and has been involved in energy medicine research for more than 30 years. His research has appeared in a variety of professional publications and journals and he lectures widely throughout the US and Europe. He has also appeared on Oprah and friends. His new book, The Energy Cure: One man’s Quest to Unravel the Mystery of Hands On Healing has just been published. bengstonresearch.com/the-energy-cure

December 7th
Osprey Orielle Lake, MA: Uprisings For the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature
Osprey Orielle Lake, is a lifelong advocate of social and environmental justice issues. She is the Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Caucus, on the governing Board of Praxis Peace Institute and an advisor to the International Eco-Cities Standards initiative. Osprey has traveled to five continents studying ancient and modern cultures while making presentations at international conferences and universities. Her themes concern new cultural narratives and the way public imagery and stories either enhance or distance our relationship with the Earth. Her book, Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature, has just been released. www.ospreyoriellelake.com

December 14th
John Robbins: The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less.
John Robbins is a bestselling author, social activist, and humanitarian. He is the recipient of the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award, and Green America's Lifetime Achievement Award. John's latest book is The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less. He is also author of many other books including the international bestseller Diet for a New America and the Food Revolution. John serves on the Boards of many non-profit groups working toward a thriving, just, and sustainable way of life. www.johnrobbins.info

December 21st
Gabrielle Roth: Balancing Intuition, Instinct and Intellect
Gabrielle Roth makes records that people can move to. She is a recording and performing artist, author, teacher, director and creator of the 5Rhythms school of moving meditation and ecstatic dance. The sound of Roth and her band The Mirrors ranges from world music to urban street beat to the chant of Buddhist mantras. www.gabrielleroth.com

December 28th
Jess Rimington and guests: One World Youth Project
Jess Rimington is a social entrepreneur, spoken word artist and global advocate for the power of international grass roots communication to ignite crowd-accelerated innovation and affect local social change. Jess serves as Executive Director and Founder of One World Youth Project, a youth-for-youth powered movement linking schools globally in service-learning to prepare the next generation for the globalized 21st century. She will be joined on Conversations with members of her staff as well as local youth activists. www.oneworldyouthproject.org

Conversations airs every Tuesday at 1pm PST on KVMR.
For current shows or more information go to www.AreWeListening.net

Videos

FOUR YEARS. GO.

TURF FEINZ "RIP Rich D" | TURF DANCING in the RAIN

RSA: Changing education paradigms

Hot Site of the Month

Charles Eisenstein: The Ascent of Humanity
The Age of Separation, the Age of Reunion, and the convergence of crises that is birthing the transition
www.ascentofhumanity.com

Charles is an amazing systems thinker with a rich and optimistic grasp on the future. You can listen to his entire book, the Ascent of Humanity, on this site. The Ascent of Humanity is about the history and future of civilization from a unique perspective: the evolution of the human sense of self.

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Well of Light Seva Team

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
— Mohandas K. Gandhi

Seva is selfless service to a cause you believe will benefit others. It is the willingness to perform any task for a greater cause without prospect of recognition or reward.

Well of Light has many opportunities to serve our community. If you would like to participate on the Well of Light Seva Team please call Michael Stone @ 530.477.7757 or email michael@welloflight.com

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
- Albert Schweitzer

Poetry Corner

If you don't know the kind of person I am,
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others have made may prevail in the world,
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,
but if one wanders, the circus won't find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs and not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote, important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider -
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give - yes or no, or maybe -
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out of the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

– Naomi Shihab Nye

Donate to Conversations

Dear Friends,
For the past four years I have been funding Conversations, The Well of Light and other associated projects out of my own pocket and fund raising events. In order to keep this newsletter coming and keep moving towards syndicating Conversations we need your help. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution if you enjoy receiving our monthly newsletter or listening to Conversations.

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Blessings,
michael