Short Review on Alvin Ailey City Center Performance December 30

The first Robert Battle piece Festa Barrocca was too simple for me. The dancers are capable of lots more in choreography. There were too many dahcers o the stage at once many times. I started to really like it when the women play-slapped the men. Couple sthen came out and did good routines.

There was a wonderful solo by a Samuel Lee Roberts. He spun rapidly and fell on his shoulder, or so it seemed, at least two times. I stood for him.

I was going to leave before Revelations. I have seen it enough times for now. But goig to get my coat, I heard the great film with Judith and Alvin. It seems he is still alive through the screen and dancers. I'd love to see Judith dance. I am sure she can!

The piece was clean and great, and I saw it newly as a confirmation of one's self and group's identity, resilience and commitment to triumph, while being good instead of weathered in life. The baptism starting anew religious context was great.

Bravo to Constance Stamatiou, headliner of Battle's piece, who is part Greek, and to the oldest member of the dance troupe, Renee Robinson, a prime dancer in Revelations. I will go ot the Playbill and add names soon.

Saving and Spending

Saving and spending is another yin yang balance to me. I do not want to be around the energy of stingy people, who are not generous giving gifts or loans to friends at hard times, that everyone is bound to have. I also do not want to be around the energy of one who spends all of their money with no accountability or plan to save or for income. That said, there is such an action as throwing your hat over the fence where you spend money, even if you are not making it, creating your future and confident that the money will come back fourfold or more in the future. Many people who start a business, either putting their own money or getting gifts/loans or both, do this.

Dinner at Nino's on 47th Street and Second Avenue, New York City

Why not put a food blog post here? It's part of enjoying life. A movie event was canceled so I went to Nino's. The decor was too casual and sloppy, perhaps this was not their better branch. The bathroom area was disgusting: TO mount a few steps to go to the only bathroom, one viewed an alcove with thrown pieces of furniture, basically a closet with no door and the waiter area, with a view to the kitchen.

The pieces of focaccia bread the server sent us at the beginning were cold. I asked for other, warmer bread and it was decent. The olives seemed too sweet and canned. The pasta itself, linguine with marinara sauce, was very good and not too al dente. The Pizza I shared with someone was crisp and fresh with the vegetables and feta deep in taste.

My Eighth Grade Short Essay The Most Exciting Time in My Life

This was posted in the Saint Demetrios Day School of Jamaica newspaper. I wrote about Sami, Kephallonia. I can't believe I wrote this at 12 or 13 years old.

The Most Exciting Time in My Life

The most exciting time in my life was the past summer when I went to Greece. I can just close my eyes and dream of that wonderful summer for hours. The air in Greece was fresh, nature was at its peak, and I felt the calmest and happiest I have ever felt.

In the morning I would spend hours at the cool, refreshing beach with its crystal clear water. I would swim, play volleyball in the water, or just sit on the sand talking to some friends and listening to my Walkman.

In the afternoon I would either go to a friend's house or take a nap. Usually I would take a nap to get ready for the most exciting time of the day — nighttime. At nighttime I would take walks with my friends along the harbor. We would sometimes eat souvlaki and ice cream or take rides with our bikes. Sometimes there would be dances in the plaza. Then it would be almost too beautiful to believe! All around me were the mountains. A few yards away was the bay. And on the bay sparkled lights from the plaza or from the towns across from where they dance was taking place. Overhead would lie so many stars that the sky was more white than dark blue. And then right tin the middle of a dance, a ferryboat or yacht might come in large and majestic, sparkling with its lights against the nighttime sky.

How sad I was when summer vacation was over! But I’ll go there again. I can see the lights dancing on the water and hear the sound of the small waves on the sand.

Dreams I had of dating as a teenager and later, and of work did not materialize fully – yet. And I have had other wonderful experiences that I did not know existed. We can always look back to the self in us that existed from when we were children to formulate the future.

Great Post on Interpeting Movies Through Religion

The author is Honna Eichler and she starts with Harry Potter. http://www.stateofformation.org/2010/11/harry-potter-and-religious-pluralism/?utm_source=Parliament+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9fe5d8bbdc-Newsletter_Beta_10&utm_medium=email

Push or Pull

I just listened to an audio of a past teleseminar of Minister Michael Beckwith, one of the narrators of The Secret. He mentioned a powerful distinction I have felt: You are often motivated by those that annoy you or don't believe in you, as when you prove. When you get in the zone (my word here), you feel pulled by a force. I add: This force, not forceful, is your connection to the Holy Spirit, the real you from when you were a child that had dreams, your intentions and your commitments. There is nothing wrong with pushing, and often you have to with those that won't budge from their level in the near future, but getting in that pull zone, where your Word, dreams, intentions, desires and loves are pulling you more than you are being pushed, if at all, is [a type of] Heaven. Sense of humor can be one trigger toward it. Creativity flourishes here.

Greek Orthodox and Buddhist Icon Exhibit at The Rubin Museum

I had a great time on Tuesday at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity party at the Rubin Museum. I was sad to hear that the museum displaced Barney's. I haven't been to the new location. I had fond memories of going there after college, while I shopped and did not work and had some other rough times. Ah, memories. Oh, now back to the party. I was surprised and pleased to hear that a lady from the congregation is the curator, and the museum deals with mostly Eastern art. Bravo! I'd like to go back with an audio and curator tour. (I talked briefly to a great museum guide.) I would also like more information on why certain icons were picked. Perhaps this is given on Sundays at 3:00 p.m. with the tours.

The music and food were wonderful, and it was great to see the community, old and young, rich (some very rich) and poor, and some non-Greeks, come together. This was an inspiration toward one of my commitments, the one in interfaith work, and perhaps I had something to do with it happening.

Gunas and Fourth New York City Greek International Film Festival

I went to several films of the annual New York City Greek Film Festival. I may add to this post and describe some, but not yet. I was disappointed in most and in the selection. I had a brief discussion with another Greek lady who had not seen the films and may be “more conservative” than I am, at least by what this socially connotes. Our conversation gave me the idea for this post.

When I went for several years to the School of Practical Philosophy, nestled between the Greek Archdiocese and the Iraqi mission, and across the street from Bloomberg’s house on 79th Street in Manhattan, they talked about sattwic, rajastic and tamasic energy, or the three gunas, I believe from an old Indian-Sanskrit tradition system. Sattwa is associated with the morning, a serene mind, classical music, etc. Rajas is associated with work, competition, mid-day, etc. Tamasic is associated with night, lethargy, evil perhaps, etc. Of course sattwic is considered the highest evolved energy. I tend to see all sides of things in a holistic manner. For instance being in a calm, non-reactive meditative state (which I was not with family recently J and listening with a smile on one’s face to Mozart is in a way an evolved energy. But we are on earth, and to me, to enjoy and be it all, which to me is part of being authentic. Although quiet mornings may be my favorite time, who does not want to relish in getting their tasks done, progress through work, sweating through dance, yelling when one really feels like it, and the like? Likewise, a sort of lethargic, angry, gothic, evil-sexual energy adds diversity to life and expresses energy within us (this does not mean to hurt anyone – that’s why religious beliefs are important). There can be perfection in the disgustingness of a scary Halloween costume, or in the sexy, gothic professor from Harry Potter, or a teenager fully being/embodying black clothes, piercings and tattoos if it really is, at least for a few years, the “real” him or her. I think in many cases, energy transmutes from and to each of these gunas, perhaps even sometimes tamasic to sattwic as when forgiveness if quickly granted or love dominates hate. I visualize it as a verticle cycle. Other times, energy is stale.

Given all this, I would not mind a film or two about infidelity, alcoholism, a sex party, a fight, money scarcity, etc. (not they are all necessarily associated in all circumstances; I am quickly writing this entry so as to get on to some other work), but I do not want every damn movie to be that. To me, that MAY show something about the overall consciousness of the ethnic group’s film festival. Now, there are movies I did not see, and many more that were not in the festival because they were not entered or picked. However, I will go with my intuition. Every movie I saw had some or all of these themes: infidelity; brother and sister romance; lying in business; male dominance; clinginess to parents; and other crap, including in one “The Business Manager” having crap fall on one’s face through a busted pipe. Now in some cases, this was needed as a metaphor. Some old ladies may have been disturbed with t4he movie Dog Tooth, for instance, where kids are kept at home, controlled by the parents, except of course for the boy who can have a visiting prostitute, who is later replaced by his sister. When she finally feels that there is something wrong (rightfully so), she tries to escape. I won’t give this away, but the way she does this (and we don’t’ know if she succeeds in the end) shows us that her mind is still controlled by Dad. (If we think about it, our minds are mostly controlled, but that’s another post. Who is free?) In this movie, elements which may be disturbing to some or many were needed to convey the message and it was done brilliantly on many levels. In another movie, Four Black Suits, a dead man was carried in his casket across the countryside. The destination where he was taken as per his will was heartening, but I did not need to see him carried across the countryside for more than an hour.

At the same time, I would have liked some, yes, good old-fashioned, classy movies. I am all about balance. Stay in the middle road or come back to the right if you are left for a long time, to still have balance. I went to Manhattan to see the movie Black Field advertised as a relationship between a nun with a wounded soldier in the 1600s. The scenery was great and he looked like a mixture between Brad Pitt and Jesus Christ, but lo and behold a surprise! She was a hermaphrodite. Now there is nothing wrong with that, I believe in civil rights, and the whole thing, but don’t advertise it as a nun-Cinderella movie.

Nisos, or the Island, was a great movie, although it was off to a slow start. Although it showed infidelity, homophobia, and shady business and political figures, it did so in a brilliantly funny, matter-of-fact, and paradoxically indirect demonstrative way to show how full of it people are, even in a small idyllic island society. Religious, police, political and education figures, the supposed pillars of society, each had major issues.

My favorite movie was surprisingly the military movie Heart and Soul, which I saw because the manager gifted it to me. I usually do not like military films and could leave early if I did not like it, as he suggested. This film about civil war and world politics was "high energy" through the first class acting, directing and cinematography.

The film about a transsexual and her father, Dark Odyssey, was not too sattwic because of the dream images of a squirrel, that lasted to the end of the film. To me, this symbolizes our calm center of the "real" us, composed of our childhood before too much baggage, and our dreams and desires.

Of course, America America with director Kazan is a masterpiece, and a long one. I did not see it at the festival event. Rather, I saw it in pieces at the Avery Fisher Center of the Bobst Library of NYU. Stathis gave a brilliant performance. I love his askance smile. I would like to know if he ever married the woman from Constantinople. Black Fields is an old movie. It stayed within the confines of what Greek film could be about decades ago. The father's character was somewhat unbelievable, being so jolly with his home open to his daughter's male friends. Some Greek men do have that humor. The mother was played brilliantly by Ariadne Zapnoukayas, the wife of Nicholas Zapnoukayas, who played the father. The character was somewhat cliche, but she went inside of herself for depth and nuisance, even though her facial expression could have changed a few times. She was an exemplary actress. The actresses playing daughters played well too.

That Monday, I chose a film from the Asian International Film Festival that was there about a once-rich New Jersey businessman who goes to India to sell his property because he is broke. He is kidnapped and a comedy ensues. This was a funny film full of nuances on human nature. It was pleasurable and well-done. Different topics such as this were needed in the Greek film festival.

Dependence

I went to a Tuesday meeting of the Forum on Orthodox Spirituality at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity on the Upper West Side of Manhattan today. I have been going to most meetings since 2008. Father Frank Frangos, who has two Ph.D's and teaches religion a Saint John’s University in Queens,, presided. As usual, I liked or agreed with most of what he had to say, but not all. He was a bit rushed. For instance, he said that Hinduism is the oldest religion. I would not think this is true, unless he meant of the major religions: For instance, How do we know if we have record of another religion but we have not found it, or if pre-oral civilizations had their own religions?

He showed clips from Bruce Almighty. I the past, he has used The Matrix and Star Trek. He showed how Bruce's trying to play God caused chaos. I like how we must work with God, but we must to be entirely dependent on God like children. In fact, we have our will and choice, and must take risks at times; the future is uncertain. He also used DNA to show how some atheists turned to loving God after appreciating DNA, which symbolizes rules, law and order. To me, as I have written before in this blog, almost everything all the time is a yin-yang balance. Nature is not only ordered: There are earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and volcanoes, and larger animals tear apart poor little small ones. (Yes, this "must happen for order, but it can be argued God did not need to create this stuff, which can be viewed as ugly.) In DNA, there are continuous mutations that must be continually repaired by DNA enzyme. Mutations may lead to cancer, or to evolution. I thought this in the moment and then thought how this is a metaphor for having to break the rules once in a while for growth, progress, and, yes, new rules. Slavery used to be legal once, after all, and was approved of in the Bible. The point is, use religion as your roots, and look at other's ideas and yourself, and branch out.

What I liked is his emphasis on those who go to Church and go through the motions such as the Holy Sacraments, fasting, etc., yet do to know Jesus Christ, and to those who turn to religion only during tough times.

The group is a great group and if anyone wants information on visiting to a free Tuesday session, let me know.

What Is Work?

They peer at you with beady eyes, waiting to attack, drowning in the ecstasy of their misery and ancestors' conversations of hard work and suffering. They ready to spring at your neck in case you are having too much fun, and, especially if you are earning money doing it! How to be nice to these bleeps while being powerful and straight is the subject of another blog post, but for now I will focus on the topic of work. It has been on my mind after an ordinary ignoramus made a comment to me months ago, and curiously, is a major topic of Oprah Winfrey's recent O Magazine issue. Perhaps this is a sort of serendipity -- alike minds think alike. Martha Stewart, another wealthy woman, was on the Oprah show recently. These too work and play hard -- another yin/yang balance I'd like more of and wanted since a child. Oprah gives millions to others, and employees people, and has her share of homes, clothes, jewelry, food and more. She has her healthy ego too, putting her good ol' self on the cover of her magazine.

Working hard has its merits. Who wants to be a lazy bum? At the same time, you can do what you love and have fun. And, think: If one is extra smart and talented, they may not have to kill themselves to do the same work another does, and they may do so a lot quicker. Yes, some people have to pay the bills. With some creativity, intuition and imagination, they can begin hobbies that grow to be lucrative. They will be self-expressed and have fun.

Think more: Oftentimes, what looks like fun, like dance, is the result of hours of hard work. And it is also fun and self-expression for some, not to mention magic, inspiration and a way to make a difference!

Think more: Everything is work. If you read a book, have an experience or watch a television show and are conscious or present so that you grow, you are working. And if you use this for further work in which you get pay, good for you.

Church of the Holy Family UN Service New York City, September 16

I went this Thursday to the service before the first meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN). Bhante from the Queens Sri Lankan Buddhist Vihalra in Hollis HIlls told me ab out it. He is so sweet. I did not see him there. Actually, I saw few Non-Christian clergy. I saw a rabbi. In the seats were a Muslim woma and Asian Indian woman, and in the back of the room stood a Buddhist monk. Attending were the Archbishop of New Tork City Dolan and the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon. To my dismay, there were no Greek Orthodox leaders. There were a Russian and Armenian priests.

My first impressions were that it was a pompous ceremony of men in weird costumes. I did not like that there were no female religious leaders. I realized I can have a more positive perspective and switched to that I can make a differece in this, and that people are at least trying to get together for common peace consciousness. I went beyond my resignation and cynicism to join them.

In the reception, I talked to several religious leaders and a graduate student who wants to make a difference in interfaith work. We will team up next week.

Buddhist Vihara Visit

Since 2002, I have been going to the Sri Lankan Buddhist Vihara occasionally to meditate on Wednesdays. The Clintons have been there, and cute balding Bhante represents them at the United Nations. I went this Wednesday, following my intuition. I went into the zone, just a little while, and it was great at the end. I had a slice of pizza going up the hill; I guess I combined the Italian parts and Indian parts of Eat, Play, Love. I thought of this later. Bhante invited me to a September 16 prayer service of different religious leaders to start the year. This is in line with one of my Impossible Promises from the Power and Contribution Course of Landmark Education.

I am Greek Orthodox, not fundamentalist. I think exploring good ideas from other faiths is great. I love the ceiling at the center, full of paper lilies that have faded with time. I went through a rough time years ago, and it’s one of the places that got me through it. Now they rearranged the lilies in a way I don’t like, but they are still great. There is a balcony opening to the back of the center. It is up on a hill, by the side of Hillside Avenue. North of Hillside Avenue, houses are more expenses. South, where I live, they are less expensive. On the balcony, you just see tree tops and water towers, and Grand Central Parkway, a beautiful highway I enjoyed when I had a car. You also see the back yard of the neighboring house, with a beautiful tree house where children play. The overall energy is great.

There was a ceremony upstairs, so he talked in the kitchen. I sat next to Bhante for most of it. I don’t like how faith groups make desire wrong. I see both sides of many areas, and believe in a yin-yang balance. You can be a slave to desire, as alcoholics are, or you can find Truth, Love and Beauty there like in a sacred kiss, or appreciation of beauty. He did make good points, however: We keep pursuing what is beautiful – books, sounds, smells, tastes great, what our mind likes. Rather than desire in a lustful sense, I thought of my subway experience. After interviewing for a job where they had no money to pay me until and if they get clients, and being upset over thinking someone I’ve had feelings for just came back from Europe with someone, I just wanted to nap on the subway. I had in front of me two teenagers talking in a way and about what I did not like, and a woman with a battery-mouth behind me yapping in a foreign language ceaselessly. Finally I saw another seat to move into for a few minutes. In mindfulness, part of what Bhante referred to was accepting, although he said “tolerating” afterwards. I really believe in expressing emotions, and there is nothing wrong with them unless they overtake you for a long time or you hurt someone, I get that I could have been accepting then. Other times I am loving or just neutral o the subway. The key is not to make myself wrong either way or analyze too much.

I also thought that one can have a seventh sense, after sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and the mind as they categorized it: spirit. What do you do if your spirit actually feels or cares for another who is away? Could it all be a delusion as Buddhists say? Could it be too a lot of drama, like in Most Greek songs? I lean toward thinking it is a combination. Sigh. Ah. Silence.

New York Times: Your Brain on Exercise

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/your-brain-on-exercise/

More later

Bible Quotes from Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude

by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone

This attitude can empower one when "negative" situations occur.

From page 338:

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:13-14.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7

If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23

Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief. Mark 9:24

According to your faith be it unto you. Mathew 9:29

Faith without works is dead. James 9:20

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:24

If God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Ask and it shall be give you; seek ad ye shall find; knock ad it shall be opened unto you. Matthew 7:7

Naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Matthew25;32-35

Go ye into all the world. Mark 16:15

For the good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. Romans 7:19

For what I would, that I do not; but what I hate that I do. Romans 7:15

Silver and gold have I none but such as I have I give thee. Acts 3:6

The love of money is the root of all evil. I Timothy 6:10

Thou shalt not steal. Exodus 20:15

A Tree

In walking through a park, I remembered a thought from about a year ago. I always appreciated trees. There are millions, yet no two, even of the same species, are alike. To me there is a metaphor there for religion and spirituality: To me it is best to be grounded in your religion, spirituality and/or life philosophy, yet learn as you live, be open-minded, and take the good from other traditions and cultures. I am Greek Orthodox, yet am not big into the right/wrong, black/white, either/or mentality. For instance, I believe that, if one's heart and soul are straight, being gay is not a sin. Another example is that fasting can be good but is not necessary if you are experiencing growth and spirituality. You get to choose during different fasting periods.

Trees are especially beautiful and majestic when the branches are long, curved and even gnarled, reaching, reaching, stretching, expressing, being themselves.

Important: Reply Requested

Important: Whoever has ordered any of my books, let me know: Pocket Guide to Fitness, Life, Work and Play or Boy in a Wheelchair from www.authorhouse.com, www.amazon.com or www.bn.com. louiza_patsis@yahoo.com

Owning Your Shadow and Paradox

I liked the short and deep book Owning Your Own Shadow by Robert A. Johnson. It advances my idea of yin yang balance. One must embrace their shadow. It aids, I’d say, in getting what you want, being authentic, and weeding out undesirable people, places and things. One thing he writes that is great is that, if one embraces their shadow, they can also have the most beautiful, powerful parts shown to themselves, and then revealed to the world. I will look more into that.

Below are some great parts of the book:

The center of the seesaw is the place or enlightenment. To me, this harkens to the central line of the yin yang circle.

It would have been “sheer genius” had Marie Antoinette honored a peasant task like milking a cow like her refined life, and may have stopped future events.

Page 8: “it is more disrupting to find that you have a profound nobility of character than to find out you are a bum. Of course you are both; but one does not discover these two elements at the same time." LOL

Rituals such as sacrifice, bloodletting, fasting and sexual abstinence safeguard the culture by paying out the shadow. We must integrate the shadow in modern times rather than sacrifice. Interesting…

Sometimes, the more refined our conscious personality, the deeper or darker our shadow. This may be true, I think, if one is not aware by mediating and working out. IF one never curses, I am suspicious.
Children sometimes carry the dark side of creative parents, like the proverbial naughty preacher’s child.

Events such as wars, economic crises, etc. represent a repressed shadow.

Page 26 The Christian cross was originally balanced horizontally and vertically. It mobilizes balancing: right, left, high, low. If one can do this, they are catholic or whole. Lucifer was cast away, but we can embrace “him”.

People used to be at the mercy of land and more connected to nature and sexuality. Now in cities (most of us), we are not as much connected.

To refuse the dark side may lead to black mood, psychosomatic illness or unconsciously inspired accidents.

George Bernard Shaw said that art is the only alternative to war. That’s great!

Page 31 “Unless we do conscious work on it, the shadow is almost always projected; that is, it is neatly laid on someone or something else we do not have to take responsibility for it. This is the way things were done five thousand years ago, and most to of us are still stuck in this medieval consciousness.”

Page 37 This is thought: ‘You can refuse a shadow projection and stop the endless cycle of revenge if you have your own shadow under conscious control.”

Page 40 “’Love’ is the one world in our Western tradition adequate to describe this synthesis of ego and shadow. Faust shows with great power that the redemption of the go is possible only as the redemption of the shadow parallels it. Faust’s character is filled out by the addition of his shadow. He is made whole by his encounter with Mephistopheles, and the same is true in reverse. Better said, neither ego nor shadow can be redeemed unless its twin is transformed.”

Page 43: “It is very puzzling to examine our capacity for projecting our best qualities. It is as if we rear that heaven might come too soon! From the point of view of our ego, the appearance of a sublime trait might upset our whole personality structure.”

Page 45: jack Sanford, Episcopal priest: “There are, in my view, two ‘shadows’: (1) the dark side of the ego, which is carefully hidden from itself and which the ego will not acknowledge unless force to by life’s difficulties, and (22) that which has been repressed in us lest it interfere with our egocentricity and, however devilish it may seem, is basically connected to the Self.”

Jung warned us that it would not be too difficult to get the skeletons out of the closet from a patient in analysis but it would be exceedingly difficult to get the gold out of the shadow.

Page 46: Two things go wrong if we project our shadow: First, we do damage to another by burdening him with our darkness – or light, for it is as heavy a burden to make someone play hero for us. Second, we sterilize ourselves by casting off our shadow. We then lose a chance to change and miss the fulcrum point, the ecstatic dimension of our own lives.

The Tao or middle way is a creative synthesis. Page 48: “One cannot stay very long in this middle place, for it’s a knife-edge, outside space and time. A moment of it is enough to give meaning to long stretches of ordinary life. India warns that if one touches that place fore more than a short time one will lose one’s orientation and die. There is a small danger of this to most of us, however.

Page 52: “…the most terrible things go on ceremonially in the Mass, but the altar rail is a container, and the priest, who is almost inhumanly close to the drama, is robed to protect himself from the too-great power of the event. He also does his rituals in the sacristy before and after the Mass, to protect himself from the superhuman force he has involved. Remember, a symbolic or ceremonial experience is real and affects one as much as an actual event.”

Creativity and vitality can come from accessing your shadow if correctly handled. If incorrectly handled, it can lead to destruction.

At times like a marriage breakup or being fired, we can take shadow energy and use it correctly.

Parrots learn the meaning of curses more easily than other words because they sense the energy vested in the curses.

If two people meet and there is a potential for a relationship, egos cause power wards. When the two can listen to each other, hear each other out, what they each say complements the other, and a mandala is formed. God is present in the unresolved conflict. I add: If there is a commitment to grow and develp with one another.

Many people say they are religious, but don’t’ have religious values in day-to-day life. Life is full of paradoxes: Love without power is insipid and weak. Power without love is cruel. You be (receive, yin) and do (action, yang). “We hate paradox since it is so painful getting there, but it is a very direct experience of a reality beyond our usual frame of reference and yields some of the greatest insights. Here is a list of paradoxical religious and practical values from pages 78-79.

Religious Values Practical Values

losing winning
outgo income
fasting eating
passivity action
giving earning
selling all and
giving it to the poor owning
poverty possession
repose activity
celibacy sex
observation decisiveness
obedience to authority freedom
duty choice
obedience democracy
meditative sharp
consciousness consciousness
ecstasy sobriety
vision focus
belief that less belief that more
is better is better

The Brain and Meditation

Most people know that meditating, taking a break from a busy schedule and focusing on the now in a grateful mode, is good for them. A similar peace for me can be found in Nature or after a hard workout. But there is something special about meditation, when you can get into it, and you are in that altered state of being, much like when you awake or lie on the beach, and are half-asleep.

Scientists have been doing experiments on yoga and the brain. They have found that the brain continues to learn at a rapid rate into middle age, and may not reach its peak in young adulthood. If one practices focusing their attention on the breath or a mantra, the brain restructures itself. In the journal Neuro Image in 2009, Luger et al. published findings on how gray matter in the brain increases after meditation. The brain in these areas becomes more efficient or powerful. The brain can focus in other areas after mediation. Vispassana or reality now medication increases attention in the moment, and prevents times we are absent-minded and may have accidents, etc. This can save lives in areas such as surgery or driving!

Some studies showed a decrease in gray matter or activity in the amygdala, an area of the brain responsible for stress. A study by psychologist Barbara Frederickson et al. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed that mediation increases compassion. We feel more connected as One.

She writes that the goal of mediation is not to get rid of or to obsess with unpleasant thoughts, but to become more aware of your thoughts and emotions, and learn to move through or process them without getting stuck. it's about being real and expressing your emotions, while you also observe yourself, to me. Your thoughts and emotions can give you a clue as to who you are and what you want...but you want
to use them for that, and to be still underneath it all. Meditation, yoga and exercise are a part of that.

Information for this blog post was obtained from Kelly McGonigal's Your Brain on Meditation in Yoga Journal.

Disclaimer: None of the above information can be taken as a substitute for advice from a medical professional such as a physician.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on www.louizapatsis.com, http://www.authorhouse.com, www.bn.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories.

Bargain Hunting at Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, Queens

Why would I include a shopping post on this blog? There are several reasons:

1. It is a spiritual quality to accept where you are.
2. Saving pennies as well as spending on luxury while being grateful can both be spiritual experiences if you are present.
3. New experiences and new outfits can be acquired in a grateful, appreciative and loving context.

I live in Jamaica, Queens. Many people would not go there because it is not the best neighborhood. Yet again, it is not the worst. A house of one of the original signers of the Constitution, Rufus King Manor, is located on Jamaica Avenue and is a museum. Parson Boulevard, Jamaica Avenue and other streets have been around since the 1700s, as have some churches and cemeteries there. Old maps hang on the wall of the Rufus King Manor museum. There are many minorities there and some people may be scared to go shopping. Since the days of Giuliani, however, there is a decreased crime rate. A police precinct is nearby.

I am unemployed, at least at a steady job, right now. I did need some new spring and summer clothes. I chose to do some shopping on Sunday. After feeling badly about some past events almost all of Saturday, I was presently and gingerly in the moment while shopping on Sunday. I had a $1.00 "icy". I could not decide on the flavor so I took a mixture of cherry, coconut and blueberry. I enjoyed it and did not go in stores until I finished. It was hot, yet not muggy, and many people were probably at the park or beach, so it was not too crowded.

I wanted to go home and make an early movie, but I chose to keep my bags at a security check-in at one store, and keep walking. I found nothing more on one side of the street. The bus was not coming to come back out East, so I perused the stores. I found the sandals that I was looking for: black ones with few straps, not the usual ones stores have these days that have many straps and are often ankle-high, or have a strap between the toes -- not for me. I also found three tank tops in two shades of blue and black.

All in all, I spent about $100.00 and bought:

• three tank tops
• a cute black top I will wear many times
• two skirts
• two pairs of shorts
• two pairs of pants
• sandals

My job was done and I felt great. I wore my black top, leopard skin pants and new sandals on the subway. I had two ladies who had gone to a free jazz concert at the large Queens central library on Merrick Street ask about them. I showed them the receipt with the store address. They had not wanted to venture to Jamaica Avenue.

Now on to modeling since I can sell cheap sandals from Jamaica Avenue without even trying...

Great Quotes

Mine: Imagination, Intuition, Intention

Rudyard Kipling If you don't get what you want, it is a sign you did not want it enough.

Madam Curie Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something.

Kobi Yamada We all know our ideas can be crazy, but are they crazy enough?
Antoine de San Expery You give birth to that you think.

Julia Child The more you know the more you can create.

DT Suzuki I am an artist of living -- my work is the art of life. Pablo Picasso If you want to draw, you must shut your eyes and sing.

J M Keynes The difficulty is not so much in developing new ideas, as in escaping the old ones.

Robert Lewis Stevenson For God's sake, give me someone who has brains enough to make a fool of himself.

Isaiah 43:19

This is from this month's Forbes magazine. Someone must have bought me a subscription. I did not order it nor agree with everything in it. In the back page, they have memorable quotes, and always one from the Bible.

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not yet know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

This reminds me of possibility, as is "shown" at Landmark Education. You can always create something new from a quiet mind and brave soul. Or a miracle from yourself or God can always spring forth, like a new tiny leaf or branch from the trunk of a spring tree.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote

This is inscribed on the wall of a church in Manhasset, New York. "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

This may be easier said than done: Be in the present, as Eckert Tolle writes in the The Power of Now, not past regret or sadness, or future worry.
Be strong no matter what the circumstances.

The Transcendent Function by Carl Jung

Many things in life, as Lao Tze wrote, are a function of a yin yang balance: light/dark, female/male, up/down...We are all familiar with the yin yang symbol. Months ago at a Meetup Ken Wilber New York City lecture, I helped organize this program after I was gifted a DVD of The 16 Ways, which features the movement practice Dylan developed. Within five minutes of watching the introduction Dylan Newcomb, a professional dancer who trained at Julliard and is well versed in Integral Theory, gave a talk and display of different energetic ways of being and moving. In them, elements of yin were in yang and elements of yang were in yin in different amounts beyond the traditional symbol. Look him up online. This friendly get-together at my favorite café in New York City, Dante, reminded me of Lao Tze, Wilber and Newcomb.

Jung brings to the forefront how our unconscious and archetypes guide us, whether we know it or not. Through meditation, movement, and relationships, we can uncover our hidden desires, problems, etc. often; others see our shadows and point them out to us. As Harville Hendrix writes, if we are committed in a relationship where we each bring up for the other what we need to complete from childhood, we grow even more than in religion. Both members of the relationship have to be committed to stay and grow.

Other blog posts in the future will expand on some of these elements.

From the article:
• Active imagination can bring forth the unconscious. This is true in art. A great dance teacher, Pearl Lang, pupil of Martha Graham, and cofounder of the Alvin Ailey school, said “Don’t’ think. Dance.”
• Consciousness inhibits the unconscious, which sinks to being hidden.
• Consciousness is directed. The unconscious contains fantasy combination that have not attained threshold intensity. I thought; Perhaps people drink or take drugs – to let their inhibitions go. I think if one is not hooked or harming others and it is not in excess, it may be all right.
• Sips of the tongue come from the unconscious expressing itself.
• Analysis may show us our blind spots.
• The dream or fantasy is to be analyzed as a symbol, not semiotically.
• Dreams may show us our unconscious because the conscience is not there as much with its inhibiting energy. I believe this but not 100 percent.
• The conscious is sometimes needed to direct or inhibit the unconscious. I say: There goes that yin yang balance again. At different times, you may need different elements of each. Examples: Upon choreographing, you need your imagination to run wild, and your conscious to have you make specific steps and time.
• People are often bored and attribute it to the weather (sound familiar) when they are not connected to their unconscious desires, etc.
• There may be a “general, dull discontent, a feeling of resistance to everything, a sort of boredom or vague disgust, and indefinable but excruciating emptiness.” LOL
• Make yourself go in or process your emotional mood first...in and then out...this is great. Often people avoid it by excuses, drink or drugs, small talk, etc. instead of delving in it, really feeling, having an inquiry with themselves and then starting to express and create as in art or talking about it to a good listener.

From the get-together:
• You can look up his essay online. I will touch upon it here and upon the elements of the get-together that stood out for me.
• Christianity can be an attachment.
• Society favors consciousness and reasons, so those related jobs, like accountant or doctor, tend to pay more.
• Perhaps some mental illness or violence is “due to” not having a healthy out for emotions
• Irrational intuition can be a bridge from the subconscious to the conscious
• If you create a vacuum, as in mediation for a few seconds, blind spot, Self and self, and imagination can emerge.
• We can have personas if we are aware of them and not always taken by them
• A good intuition can arise when the conscious and unconscious energy are balance. I say it may be partly hereditary and experiential as well. The energy part may be more than one-third responsible for the good intuition.
• The unconscious and ego must be balanced.
• We can listen to see how much (and if) of another person’s perspective is true.
• Mythological assumption or mythologems, exist in our collective unconscious. As a woman, I can fall into the persona or sexy, diva, motherly etc. instead of having a balance of each as is true in the moment.
• “Consciousness is continually widened through the confrontation with previously unconscious contents, or – to be more accurate—could be widened if it took the trouble to integrate them.”

The transcendent function is the bringing together of opposites.

Luke 10:25-37 The Parable of the Good Samaritan

You may be familiar with this. Look it up here: http://www.jesuswalk.com/lessons/10_25-37.htm

Some say that the only commandment is loving our neighbor as ourselves. How many of us pat ourselves on our back if we live a quarter to a homeless person? How many of use get annoyed if they smell?

In the parable, a main point is that the "non-chosen" people Samaritan helped a distressed person on the road, so he was more in the path of God.

These are both equal: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" and, "Love your neighbor as yourself." I do not think anyone can follow this 100 percent, not even saints, except maybe at the end of their lives. We must also follow our ego in balance with loving others, because we also have to love ourselves. To me I think we must also think in the long run who is best to be around, because I do not know anyone who gets along with everyone. Perhaps we can try as much as possible to be loving ad kind, and also do what is good for ourselves.

Luke 8:45-56

This passage is about belief and energy. It seemed for a moment that Jesus's power as he said went out from him I don't believe this literally happens. Then again, sometimes if we don’t hang with or touch the right people, they can contaminate us with their energy, or temporarily take ours. The rest of the lines are about faith. She believed she'd be healed, no matter what her past, and she was. In line 8:50, he tells Jarius his daughter will be healed: "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed."

This reminds me of the Lenny Kravitz song, I have to say. "If you want it you got it, you just gotta believe". This may be the essence of the Secret writings. Do I believe this is 100 percent the Truth? No, because we cannot explain all in the Universe. There are others intentions and also what God wants beyond our wills, perhaps, so that, even if you find what is in your subconscious will, that may not be enough to have the future be as you want. There is always some uncertainty, which is fun and scary.

I suppose Jarius believed, because his daughter was risen from the dead. It is interesting that her spirit returned. Spirit to me can mean the Holy Spirit or her will or her belief and heart, or all.

Saint Paul: Above, Through, In

In one of Saint Paul's Letters, Chapter 4, 1-7, He writes how God is above, through and in us. This corresponds to Ken Wilber's different persons of God in Sex, Ecology and Spirituality, a must read from 1995. I will blog more about Wilber on other days. He writes about the value of thinking of God as above or greater than us or "Thou". I find some value in thinking of Him, Her or It as an old man...Wilber also writes that there is a God in us. We can create as in the "First there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God..." I take "through us" to mean in relationships, perhaps the hardest endeavor.

Be Grateful

Grateful

This is from my Fitness Web Log: www.louizafitness.blogspot.com.

Did you ever notice how beautiful birds are when they sit on a winter tree branch and munch on a little berry? Did you notice how new rain and snow often are even if you have seen them before hundreds of times? Did you notice how your eyes, nose, toes and other body parts are unique and your own? You would notice them anytime and anywhere!

Do you know how even the pain after some workouts feels good? Does it feel great for you to know you did what you said that you would do in terms of working out? Doesn’t it feel good to breathe, be alive and be healthy? Isn’t the spring breeze or winter wind on your face an expression of love in the universe?

It is all good. Be grateful.

Yoga Journal Article

I am floored by some articles in past Yoga Journals. They express what my intuition has known and are a wonderful integration of ideas.

Frank Jude Boccio, a teacher of Zen Buddhism and yoga, and the author of Mindufulness Yoga, wrote an article in the May 2010 issue 228 about unconditional love reached by cultivating four principles. Personally, I can be at a place to love everyone unconditionally, but it does not mean all can be in my life. I may want to declutter or deweed to have those closest that get who I am the most, are in line with my dreams and goals, and are those I can have good conversations with for now. It's an inquiry. Some things work at different times.

For our inquiry and trip to unconditional love, here are the four principles: brahmviharas or states of mind: 1. metta or lovingkindness, karuna or compassion, mudita or joy, and upekkha or equanimity.

I feel metta when I am in a good mood with those around me, as in the subway. I dot' feel it when I am in a snobby New York mood, I've been traveling all day, and I hear loud talk in different languages, or music I don’t like. LOL Compassion is easy for me usually. But ask yourself, if you smell a homeless person, are you compassionate? You can also be compassionate with yourself with your responses and intent to be loving, and trust yourself. Joy can be easy if you generate it. Maybe that will be another post. Equanimity may be the hardest if circumstances and others do not line up with what you want.

If you cultivate these qualities, you will react less to others, or, even in reacting, will stay centered.

Other great points: Metta is not gooey, but rather good-natured and kind-hearted. Karuna, with the same root as karma, is liked to relieving suffering or lightening sorrow. Upekkha allows us to deepen and extend the other three, "avoiding pitfalls such as compassion fatigue, emotional burnout, and stifling codependence."

If you appreciate yourself, it is easier to feel metta for others. Start with one thing you appreciate about yourself. "Fake it until you make it" is encouraged: Send out feelings of love for someone until you feel it. Okay, I'll try it...

Useful to recite:

May I be happy.
May I be peaceful.
May I be safe form harm.
May I enjoy happiness and the root of happiness.
May I experience ease and well-being in body, in mind, and spirit.

"Root" is interesting here, and perhaps refers to source or generate.

PhiIlippians 4:4-9

Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer ad supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Ad the peace of God, which passes al understanding, will keep your hearts ad you minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, whatever is true , whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is ay excellence, if there is anything worth y of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard ad see in me, do: ad the God of peace will be with you.

This is especially difficult if you are difficult period, such as looking for work. It reminds me of another passage Matthew 6:28, about the lilies of the field not stressing where sunlight or food will come form. There are often two sides to everything. They may be stressing if someone steps on them, but we get the message. Being in a state of gratefulness, no matter what you are going through, is key. Be grateful for your health, or, if you dot' have it, nature, a beautiful memory, a friend.

This also reminds me of the appreciation of beauty in Greece, the fashion industry, etc. Some eastern philosophies believe that beauty shows an inner soul health or peace. On one hand, a person who is not beautiful by consensus, can be very beautiful inside. On the other, you glow if you are happy and peaceful inside.

Forgive yourself if you are angry or stressed (and you will again and again), process it, and get back on being centered.

Expectations

The other day I went to a workshop with Om Rupani, who is on my Facebook friends list, about intimacy in relationships, from mothers to lovers. We explored the concept of expectations briefly. We can talk about this for years. I do not like how people say not to have expectations. Some, like Joel Osteen, say to have great expectations, that your strength through God will have you overcome obstacles to have what you want and even beyond — miracles. Tens of thousands of people are members of his church.

I knew by intuition and workshops what he said, yet we re-hear and re-learn. Funny: People spend their time looking at an oak tree and complaining it’s not a pine tree, being right. I am middle of the road on complaining. Do not do it long, wasting time. But do do it with a great committed listener, while both of you are committed to hear what is there, to get what you do not want to tolerate, and to get what you want for the future, your heart’s desire.

As is covered by Landmark Education courses, one primary thing people want is to be right. It happens in individual relationships, and in world affairs. We explored how we have a choice…People are being conniving with themselves. In a way, we are all God, or godlike, in that we can create. But we often say we do not want something but choose those who won’t give it to us, so we can be right. Perhaps this is what happened with Sandra Bullock’s choice in a man. We play games to keep things as they are so we ca just be right about it. This may be happening with some members of Congress. I’d say some believe in what they say on health care, others are getting paid, and others just want to be right. This is juicy but not as juicy as having what we want. Another meeting can be about constituting yourselves to receive and to be with love and abundance. I say that everyone wants to be right at least sometimes, but sometimes people want to really be heard or gotten, not felt sorry for or fixed, and may keep repeating ourselves until we get them.

He said that no one owes us anything. Part of me differs. If we have been good or worked hard, others and the world "owe" us, or it's logical for things to turn out, but often that is not the case. I am set up for shoulds. We are often disappointed. A sense of humor really helps. We can have what we want, if we are continuously aware of what we want, how we sabotage ourselves, and are present. Sometimes we have to surrender to what is there, as the Lord’s Prayer says: “Thy Will be done”. That’s a tough one. I stay still don’t lose vision of what you want.

I am for yin-yang balance. This is one perspective of the Truth. But no one knows the whole Truth. Crap happens is a wise statement to me. All we can do is to keep looking into ourselves and grow. As Socrates said, “Know yourself”. We can be strong and centered whatever the circumstances brig. Movement like exercise and dance are great for this. And forgive ourselves when we do have anger…and express it in constructive ways.

If you expect everyone and everything to go in accord to your expectations, you may be setting yourself up for disapproval. But if you aware of yourself and the present, state to yourself and others what you want, listen and create, you may have a chance. One word with deep possibilities, sometimes easier said than done, but really the only choice. Aargh!

What Do Jesus Christ and Rudoph Have in Common

Jesus Christ and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were both mavericks. They had the audacity not to conform, and to be leaders. In seeing the old holiday television show that I have watched many times, I was touched and saw newly the message of the importance of individuality. I had forgotten about the island of misfit toys, where a train, for instance, had square wheels, and a bird swam like a fish. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was at first shunned, like a shabby dog, handicapped person, or someone with a voice to say something DIFFERENT. Yet EVERYONE deserves love and EVERYONE can make a difference.

Jesus Christ loved everyone, even lepers, prostitutes and the poor, and did not like the tax collectors. I believe in balance, which may be different for each person, and that even ego or selfishness are good and needed at times, but not at a high rate. We saw what happened on Wall Street. Many people discard organized religion for spirituality, and others discard spirituality for organized religion. I believe that religion, spirituality, art, science, etc. can co-exist. Sometimes things are black and white and modernistic. Usually they coexist, as in Taoism, and they can in a context of God. In quantum mechanics, an electron and light are particles and waves. It’s not black and white. In fact, both church doctrine and legal laws have been changed over time. And so have even medical and scientific theories, and thank God for that! We live and learn!

The Church is important, yet everyone makes mistakes, I believe, besides Jesus Christ. Didn’t the Church, at least the Catholic one, believe that the Sun revolved around the Earth? To me no Saint, Gospel writer, Pope, priest, etc. is infallible. That’s why you have to balance what you believe by your intuition. Intuition can grow if you intend that and have common sense, and not have fear of mistakes and ridicule. Fear may lead you to use Church as a crutch, as food, drugs, hard work or anything can be used – again, balance. We see what happens in societies where people are fundamentalist. Priests, rabbis (as Jesus Christ pointed out in the Bible), doctors, parents, all of us, are human and will sometimes always go to the dark side of our personalities to seek power, praise, domination and celebrity. As with the middle road, balance, yin/yang principles, there is a time to conform and a time not to conform and be like Jesus Christ and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Prayer and Church reading/attendance is important. But why make a cross or fast if you don’t get the mature spirituality aspect of religion? If you have that, it is not that important to make the cross, fast, etc. For instance, if a writer knows the grammar rules well, they can be creative and change them around like some poets and produce a masterpiece. More important than prayer is finding something for which to take a stand and make a difference. I quickly thought of many outliers/mavericks who took a chance and revolutionized the world: Jesus Christ, Socrates, Freud, Jung, Einstein, Graham, Mandela, Gandhi, Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. King, to name a few.

Great Quotes

Martha Graham, modern dance pioneer from early 1900s when barely any woman worked – led way to Alvin Ailey and more: There is a vitality, a life force, energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.

Miriam Williamson, Psychologist and Course in Miracles teacher: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light and not our darkness that frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel

insecure around you.

We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people

permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Winston Churchill once said: "Success is the ability to move from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

From a engraving over a doorway in the main New York Public Library by Milton: “A good Booke is the precious Life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treated up on purpose to a life beyond life.”

Introduction

I am Greek Orthodox. However, I do not agree with all traditional views of my church. I also love to learn about other traditions and see what we have in common so we can use this for love, peace and beauty in this world! I like the Taoist thought that sometimes two opposites can be possible (more in another post). This happens in quantum mechanics, as when light can be a ray and a particle, and an electron's place depends on the viewer. There is a time for modernist views and a time for postmodern views. Intution, there but which can be developed, is key to knowing when to use which view.

Here are my five axioms:

Theorems need to be proven, including in mathematics. Axioms are just true. I believe that life is a yin/yang balance, and that two sides of the coin can be true at once, as in Taoism. For instance, it is good and bad to have an ego. A woman can be feminine and masculine.

Some beliefs I hold to be true and self-evident. Here they are, and perhaps I will blog about them more a another time.

1. Socrates "Know Thyself" leading to Shakespeare's "To Thine Own Self Be True and IT Follows, as night the day, thou cannot be false to any man" (or woman or God)

2. Socrates's "Pan Metron Ariston": Everything with balance or measure for arista or excellence

3. The Truth comes out in the end.

4. What comes around goes around (as in the Christianity Golden Rule, Eastern philosophy karma, physics, and more).

5. What does not kill you will make you stronger.

My third book, Pocket Guide to Fitness, is available on http://www.authorhouse.com and http://www.amazon.com. If you look up my name on those Web sites, you will find my other books The Boy in a Wheelchair and Life, Work and Play: Poems and Short Stories. These two books are on my Web site http://www.louizapatsis.com.