Update on me

Hi,

I have not been around as much lately. I have been reading "A New Earth" by Tolle. It has been consuming me and I have been doing the Oprah book club as well and watching it on ITunes. It has really struck a cord with me and makes a lot of sense on a gut level. A very short summary goes like this.

We are not our thoughts. We are the awareness of our thoughts. Our ego tries to run the show and keeps a constant stream of crap going through our heads. The stuff is all about our past or our future. We do not experience the "Now". By living in the present moment, which is actually all that there really is, you can experience peace. You have to feel your vital aliveness and that of everything around you in order to stay present. Pay attention to your breathing and feel yourself in the moment. When you have the negative emotions you have to accept them and not react against them. Every moment must be faced with either enthusiasm, enjoyment or at least acceptance. Resisting the present moment just feeds the ego. This is not to say that you have to stay where you are, but you need to accept what "is" before you can look to change.

I have been trying this and it is life changing. I hope that it helps you too.

Birthday Idea

Hi,

I heard about a great birthday idea to replace the or.gy of gift giving that usually happens. There is this website Echoage that has a great idea. You get people to give to the website and instead of lots of gifts, your kid gets a check for half the amount and the other half goes to the charity of your hoice. It teaches kids the joy of giving and they might actual buy something that they really want with the money. The only problem that I see is that you have to get email addresses from people to invite them to the party. It is the way I am going for my next kid's birthday.