Practice what you preach – So I went to a homeopath

So I have had my case taken—for the 4^th time.  I think everyone doing homeopathy should also be a patient. The more whole you are the better you can be objective with your own patients. It is really almost impossible to treat yourself. To see yourself objectively is an oxymoron. You just can’t. I guess others couldn’t see me objectively either!….this is my 4^th time and my 4^th homeopath over several years.

It’s not that there is a lot wrong with me. (see what I mean!  There I go…..) But just the same, there is always room for some improvement. A little less susceptible to sinus infections, a little less asthma, a little more patience, a little more balance.

Being a homeopath  in the hot seat and may make it even more difficult since it’s tempting to try to analyze what you are saying….but I just went with the flow, and tried to be as spontaneous as possible, and my homeopath walked me through to get to my core sensation.  I knew the only way to find a good remedy for me was going to be with classical homeopathy taken to the ultimate, with my case taken by someone who was an expert in the Sankaran style of interviewing.

I took my single dose a couple months ago and I think the remedy is a good one, whatever it was. (No way they are going to tell me what the remedy was until they are sure, we need to keep my follow-ups unbiased as much as possible.) At least I haven’t had a sinus infection in the past 2 months, and before I had one or two every winter for the past 4 years. Time will tell.

Homeopathy is one of the most powerful healing modalities I have ever seen. True healing occurs on the energetic level, and that is why modalities that are able to shift/correct/balance/move a person on an energetic level are so powerful. Suddenly the body can heal itself when the blocks are removed. It’s quantum: a seemingly small shift can allow huge and sometimes dramatic changes as the person returns to a balanced healthy state on all levels, both physical and emotional. This is something allopathic medicine can never do, since it is often treating the symptoms of what is wrong, not what is actually wrong with a person.

Paint Names

I can’t imagine a job where you have to invent names of colors. It must be somebody’s job. How much does it pay? Is it part-time? I wonder if they have a “real” job too. Or is that insulting to them….”this is a real job.”

I can’t imagine they have any feeling of job security though. I mean, there are only so many colors. Once you name them you are done. Right? But it seems that every time I go to a paint section anywhere: home depot, Wal-Mart, Dunn Edwards, etc…the brochures seem to change, and there are new names for colors. Names that I could never think of.

Does each company have their own paint color namer? Or is it just one person that works for all the paint companies as a consultant.

I suppose each country has it’s own paint color namer. After all, the colors may be the same, but how is a person in Istanbul going to know what color Green Bayou is?

Planting an Urban Farm in Phoenix

Last weekend I planted a dozen fruit trees, most of them in my small front yard. They arrived last week, bareroots wrapped in burlap bags. People didn’t believe me when I told them I was planting 10 trees in my little space. In a couple years I’ll start having more fruit than I can eat, so I can share with neighbors and friends.

It all started when I was inspired by the urban farmer, Greg Peterson. I had a tour of his yard in central Phoenix, and was impressed by the 35 or so fruit trees in his front yard, (he had even more in the back!) The idea was to keep them pruned and small. Keeping them under 6-7 feet you never need a ladder, get all the fruit you need, and can get more varieties in a small space.

Rene mixing up cement

First thing was to build an underground barrier to prevent the Bermuda grass from getting into my vegetable garden. This underground 12 inch cement wall surrounds the area and will keep any new Bermuda grass from sneaking into my great garden after the irrigation stimulates the grass to start growing again.

6 months ago 9 yards of planting soil was delivered and spread over most of my front yard. Areas for vegetables got the lasagna treatment: cardboard over the grass, then alfalfa, then soil, then alfalfa, then soil. This smothers out any grass underneath the cardboard. Irrigation lines were installed with spaghetti lines (sounds like an  Italian yard) so that I could move water lines wherever and whenever I wanted. While attending the first annual heirloom seed expo in Santa Rosa, I picked up some heirloom seeds, and learned about saving seeds. My first small crops are just coming in now: zucchini, lettuce, snow peas, broccoli, beets, kohlrabi, carrots, dill, cilantro.

The caliche soil is hard with a lot of clay so rather than chop with a pickaxe, or soak it and then shovel mud, I rented a gasoline-powered auger from Home Depot. With the help of a friend, we quickly drilled into the hard soil, making 3 close passes for each planting hole. Shoveling the loose soil out of the holes was a breeze. Then I mixed in 20% compost with the soil and back-filled the holes to the proper level for the trees. (Ok, I couldn’t raise my arms above my waist after 2 hours of lifting that auger and shoveling, but some Arnica 200c helped.)

The trees were already pruned for me, so they looked like sticks with roots. I put them in the holes with the graft facing as much NE as possible, do avoid the harsh Arizona sun. It is important to the roots are completely covered without any air pockets. After a good soaking with a couple gallons homeopathic Silica 30C water, some mulch added the final touch.
Peter Honey fig, Brown Turkey fig, 2 varieties of pomegranates, an almond tree, Anna Apple tree, Gold Kist apricot, Santa Rosa plum, Babcock peach, Florida Prince peach, Red Baron and Desert Gold peach, Tropic Snow White peach, and a loquat. There are 2 navel orange trees and one Meyer(of course!) lemon  tree left to be delivered after the danger of any frost is past.

With minimal maintenance, shade and the benefit of organic fruits planting fruit trees seemed like the logical thing to plant if you have even a just small space for a fruit tree. Thanks for all the help from friends and workers for advice, and shovel-time!

Before

Trenching for cement barrier

!st layer of lasagna - cardboard

1st layer of alfalfa

Planting soil....lots of it.

The first soil layer goes on

Another alfalfa layer, then more soil.

Ready for planting

Here comes the food!

peas

Zucchini

Bare root fruit trees

Apricot

TLC

Almost done

A front yard orchard

My Favorite Pictures of 2011

Toes, Marriot Hotel, Newport Beach, California

Devil’s Bridge, Sedona, Arizona

False color after a rain in Sedona, Arizona

Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona

Sunset on Encanto Park Golf Course water obstacle

Life is Good – Happy Jack, Arizona

Max and sunset in Phoenix

Tracks at sunrise

Old Grain Elevator, Beardstown, Illinois

Tracks and old Beardstown Elevator

Beardstown, Illinois Marina

Sinclair Gas Station, Beardstown, IL

Sunset in Alton, Illinois

Bridge at Alton Illinois

Orion over the mittens

Moonset at Sunrise in Monument Valley

Monument Valley

Crow flies in Monument Valley

Monument Valley in Sepia

Setting sun in Phoenix, AZ

Moonrise in Phoenix

Buddha in my yard

Lily and koi

La Posada Hotel, Winslow, Arizona

Quiet Please

Standing on the corner

Beardstown Illinois sky

Railroad Bridge in the up position

Taking a peek at the Illinois River

Built in 1889

Amelia in Illinois rye field

Max and Me on the 18th Tee

Squash at the 1st Heirloom Seed Expostion

Pure Joy

Contemplation of life

Clouds from my window seat

The sky at 38, 000 feet

Haiti – 1 year later

Salvaging Rebar in Haiti Cathedral

Haiti Prayers and Protection

Praying in Haiti

Puerto Vallarta Couples

Puerto Vallarta Malecon

Peppers

Bee and sunflower

Zucchini at sunrise

Why there are no elephants in Beardstown, Illinois

It is very simple: elephant balls. When I was growing up in Beardstown, Illinois I asked my Dad what the round balls were for that some people had in their front yards. He said they were to keep the elephants away. Since then, I have always referred to these mysterious yard ornaments as elephant balls. (NO, not that kind.) Some are silver, others colored and now they come in different sizes. Usually they are on pedestals, but sometimes are mounted in iron frames. I drove home from the St. Louis airport recently, and passing thru many small towns I occasionally saw yards with these balls. Evidently they got the message too. They are very effective, and as my father pointed out to me years ago, there are no elephants anywhere in our town. I’m not sure of the radius of protection. I suppose the country roads between towns that do have these balls are protected by their amazing repulsive power, perhaps our whole state is protected.

By the way, I have traveled to India, Thailand, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, and South Africa, and have seen and even ridden elephants there….and I never saw any of these amazing elephant balls there.

 

No cell phone for 4 days.

After I was dropped off at the airport I knew within 1 minute that I didn’t have my cell phone.  I could have called the friend that dropped me off to circle back and give me the phone that had fallen to the floor of her car. But, I didn’t have my cell phone. And I didn’t have her phone number…it’s in my cell phone of course.

A moment of panic.

Ok, everything happens for a reason. I’ll be OK.

Actually, I was better than OK. It was somewhat freeing to not have the phone attached to me. I had my laptop, so I could email people what had happened. I could roam and not be found.  The four days went quickly. I emailed back to phoenix to set up my pick at the airport. But if there was a problem on either end, we wouldn’t be able to call each other to tell the other person what had happened. Just like in the “old” days. But I sent an email in advance and got the cell phone number of the friend picking me up. Just in case. If I was waiting too long I could borrow a cell phone and call. (Do they still have pay phones?)

Anyway, I survived. When I was reunited with my lost friend it had lots to tell me. After recharging the battery I got caught me up on all the people who tried to call, and all the voice messages, all the texts.

It feels good to have it back in my pocket.

Fighting wars

Man is always fighting something. Fighting the war on drugs, fighting the war on cancer, fighting illegals coming into the country. Fighting real wars, in many countries. Fighting depression. Fighting resistant bacteria causing infections.  Fighting taxes. Fight Wall Street, fighting forest fires. Fighting, fighting, fighting.

Since you begin to resonate with what you think about.…perhaps we shouldn’t focus so much on fighting, but on healing. It’s a subtle shift, but an important one, and it brings a whole different energy into play. Mother Teresa said ”I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.”

Forest fires clear the path for new growth, and return nutrients to the soil. Sort of wipes the slate clean, so the cycle starts over, but doesn’t end. When fighting a forest fire I suppose we can at least slow things down, and save homes. But stepping back and looking from a higher perspective taking ourselves out of the arena – maybe gives a different perspective.

The war on disease has given us antibiotics, but now there are super bugs that are resistant to some of the strongest drugs we have. This is a setup for a new epidemic of old diseases that we will have no allopathic drugs left to fight with. In fact, Eckhart Tolle brings up this very point in his book, A New Earth. He explains:

“Homeopathy and Chinese medicine are two examples of possible alternative approaches to disease that do not treat the illness as an enemy and therefore do not create new diseases.”

“War is a mind-set, and all action that comes out of such a mind-set will either strengthen the enemy, the perceived evil, or, if the war is won, will create a new enemy, a new evil equal to and often worse than the one that was defeated.”

I’m not saying don’t support that which is good, but try not to give as much attention to what is bad. Rather than curse at the darkness, light a candle, and see what is good.

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
Lao Tzu