Above everything else we must keep our quality of life in tact, by gleaning the bits of true joy from our lives. So you can no longer afford the morning Latte, have a cup of coffee at home while sitting in your favorite spot. You may experience more comfort and a deeper meaning to your day by starting with a moment of uninterrupted meditation. The costs are minimal with a huge rate of return on the time invested.

Take a class in something new; attend a lecture, garden, challenge yourself to go farther than you dreamed possible. This new expanded energy can reduce a lot of worry time. This can be the greatest opportunity to change your life for the better; regardless of the hand being dealt. Unforeseen forces can alter even the most well laid plans, leaving us to either shrink or grow. Choose growth.

Creating some positive energy flow is every individual’s legacy. You own the ability to create new beginnings and aspire to reach new goals. Nothing or no one can take that from you; it can only be given away. Where do you want to spend the rest of your life? Are you living fearful clutching to ruins of yesterdays dreams? Let go…

These are not dark days where we have been cast to be victims. Stand up, there is a call from the Universe to shift our priorities and become the light source that is needed. We are the answer.

Valerie Kelly

My beloved relationship asks me why I did not or will not give more. I cannot give what I do not have. My heart is stretched. I want to help all that I love, but I fall short. It is never enough. Never ever enough… Giving the key to my heart is not enough. Love is not enough. Sadly so… Empty nights and days stretch before me. Two separate paths, two dreams, and one realization. So many quiet tears in the dark.

After all of my hard work, education, and blind optimism, how did I get here? Why does so much effort call for so much more effort? I see others’ lives move so easily forward. Why not me? my heart cries. How do I go on? But, I will go on. I always do. Quitting is not an option. To quit is to be non-existent. Every day draws strength and character. Weakness does not become me. As a diamond grows in strength and brilliance under pressure, so shall I.

Sonny Shaw

When we arrived at the hospital, I jumped out and ran around the car to help her out. She moved so slowly. So fragile now. A dandelion in the wind. God, don’t let her float away. After several hours of examination and a cat scan, it was confirmed, that, yes, she had had a stroke. The doctor told me that she would recover, that it had affected her short-term memory, but that she would be alright. He said it was a blessing that I had gotten her to the hospital as quickly as I had.

There are many others that are not so lucky. Some do not have a family to rush to their side, or often it is because the signs of a stroke go undetected, ignored, and untreated. Every minute counts after a stroke. My mother was fortunate. The doctor informed me to keep a close eye on her and that strokes were cumulative. Every stroke adds up, and they can all appear differently according to what area of the brain is affected. It could be speech, memory loss, difficulty with numbers, or paralysis. It is important to be aware and observant of the signs of a stroke. The lack of awareness can cause disaster or death.

Neurologists say that if they can get to a victim within three hours of the stroke, they can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. Doctors say a bystander can recognize the symptoms of a stroke. The three signs are S.T.R. which are:
S–Ask the individual to smile
T–Ask the person to talk and speak a simple coherent sentence
R–Ask him/her to raise both arms.

If they have trouble performing any of these requests, call 9-1-1. Another sign of stroke is the tongue. Ask the individual to stick out their tongue, if it is crooked, going from one side to the other, it is an indication of a stroke.

Today, my mother is a little stronger. She gains a little strength every day. No longer as fragile as a dandelion blowing in the wind, but she still needs tending and a watchful eye, so that she will have many more days in the sun.

Sharon Robinson

During World War 1, a serious shortage of (manpower) occurred, and women were required to take on many of the traditional male roles. This led to a new view of what women were capable of doing, and it was finally decided that it would be in the best interest of the country to allow women to vote.

Since then, women have elevated to positions that were always previously held by men.
We now have women doctors and surgeons, lawyers, teachers and professors. Women also have positions as policemen, firemen, soldiers, road workers, factory workers, truck drivers, and many others. Over the years, there has been an increase in women in various positions of government as mayors, governors, senators, representatives, and even supreme court justices’.

This Thursday, the Senate has confirmed Elena Kagan as the 112th Supreme Court Justice, and the fourth woman in its history. The vote was 63-37 for President Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed retired Justice John Paul Stevens. Ms. Kagan in 1988, served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In 1995-96, she was an associate counsel to President Bill Clinton. In 1999-2003, she was a Harvard law professor, and in 2003-09, she was the first female dean of Harvard Law School. In 2009, she became the first female solicitor general of the U.S, winning a Senate confirmation. Then, on May 9, 2010, she was selected by President Barack Obama as nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kagan is the first Supreme Court nominee in nearly 40 years with no experience as a judge, and after swearing in will be the first time in history that three women will serve on the nine-member court together. Because of her lack of judicial experience, there was a delay by the Republicans who many feel she will use her post to push the Democratic agenda. However, time will tell, but this is a monumental time in US history to have three women elevated to be Supreme Court justices during the same time period. Women have definitely come a long way, thanks to the determined struggles of our early suffragettes.

Helen L. Price
Excerpts from Mail Tribune

We are a family with young children and a limited budget. The prices keep going up, and our dollar is stretched beyond the basics. We have just moved from an apartment to a house. We have no money to buy needed furnishings, and there are so many basic household items we cannot afford. My husband said to ask our parents for help, but I know they are also on a limited income, and I do not feel comfortable asking them to help us. We are both working and a lot goes to child care. How do we get more economic leverage when we are doing all we can?

Stretched Too Thin

Dear Stretched Too Thin,

In these times, we are all trying to create economical leverage. You can find great deals and even free things out there. You do not need to think new, go onto sites like craigslist.org and freecycle.com. People are giving away perfectly good items. Also, the age old custom of barter is back; maybe you or your husband could trade a service to someone who has furniture they no longer have a need for. This is America, we make do and extend a hand, just reach out…

Good luck!

Sal

We all like to read about heroic acts, and really look up to heroes. But, there are many people out there that are heroes, and no one knows about them. They are the people who willingly give of themselves to help others by volunteering to go help during disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

Then, there are men and women who volunteer helping at missions like Gospel Rescue Mission, St. Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, the United Way, and Red Cross. We will never know who they all are, but they give of their time and caring to help others in need without anything in return, except the knowledge they have helped others in need.

Even men and women who donate their time to volunteer at hospitals, nursing homes, and children’s daycare centers; they do it because they feel led to without any financial return. Many people, even young people are drawn to missionary work outside of their own country to help those in need elsewhere. I know of a wonderful young pastor and his wife who moved to Mexico to help with the children in an orphanage there.

Then, there are those who become heroes reacting to someone in dire need of help, like staying to help someone hurt in an accident, or running to alert and help in the event of discovering a fire in a building until the fire department arrives. Just the act of helping an elderly person across a busy street, or running to catch someone before they fall is an heroic act. We don’t really think of it like we should, but things like this happen every day.

So, there are many heroes in our midst that we are unaware of. Perhaps you know someone that falls into this category. Let’s think more highly of them than we give them credit, as they may never get their names into the newspaper, but they are heroes just the same. And, of course our many young men and women who put their lives on the line everyday for us, by serving their country in the line of duty on the battlefield. They are all heroes, and we should thank God for them everyday.

Helen L. Price

I first met Crystal when I went to the Family Practice Clinic for an appointment with my doctor Brian Mateja. Crystal is his medical assistant, and she struck me immediately as being very personable and caring. She was also very proficient and mature in her work. However, I learned today that Crystal is only twenty- two years old. From things she had told me from time to time made me want to tell her story as I find her quite remarkable.
Here is Crystal sharing her life with us.

“I was born in Portland, Oregon and have a brother and three sisters. I grew up with my father, and siblings, as my mother later moved from the home. Life had become very dysfunctional due to the addictions that my parents had. I wound up falling into the same addictions as my parents by the young age of thirteen.

When I was sixteen, I was pregnant and alone. As soon as my baby was born, I made the decision to get my GED of which I worked hard for and completed. After that, I earned a degree in Medical Assisting at college. When I was finished with school, I moved to Southern Oregon on May 30, 2006 to be near my mother who had moved there twelve years earlier.

Because I had been blessed with wonderful Christian grandparents who took me to Sunday School as a child, I reflected on things I learned as a child and knew I needed God’s help. I gave my heart to the Lord and turned my life over to Him. From that moment on, my life changed. I found an apartment for myself and my daughter Jasmine in June near my mother. And, just blocks away, the Lord provided me with a job at the Family Practice Clinic.

I enjoy my work there very much and have Bible studies with the women working there. I really enjoy working for Dr. Mateja, as he is a very kind and caring person. I’ve had my own apartment since I was sixteen, and made getting my GED with a Tanf grant as one of my first goals. Now I have extended my college education and I’m studying to become a doctor.”

Crystal is definitely a very busy girl, working, going to college, and raising her daughter. She feels amazed each month how she makes it financially, and is thankful for the help from her grandparents and her church family at Grace Baptist Church. She said she was surprised one day to find a food basket that had been placed on her porch. She knows that the Lord is taking good care of her, and has a plan for her life.

“I haven’t dated very much, as I was very busy just working and raising my daughter, however, I met a wonderful man recently who is a Christian. We have a lot in common, and have Bible studies together. He ministers for a program called “U Turn for Christ” in Gold Hill, Oregon, and is a man that puts the Lord first in his life. This ministry is a blessing to our community, and provides discipleship for those who are into drugs and alcohol. I know that the Lord has sent him to me. I find it is so exciting to be free from my ‘old self,’ and not what I used to be. I am freed from all of my addictions and dependencies, and I am overjoyed for God’s mercy in my life. One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5

My Mom lives just a block away, and we keep in touch, and are best friends. My Dad has moved here now as well, and has Lee’s Olive House business on Rogue River Highway in Rogue River. So now I have my folks near me, and I have acquired many friends, and a very special friend in the man that is now in my life. I feel that Lord is taking good care of me and my daughter Jasmine, and I am living for Him.”

You can see why I was very impressed with the story of Crystal’s life. She is a beautiful young woman, and a mother of an adorable little girl. I feel very special to be her friend.

Helen L. Price
hlprice53@gmail.com

Consequently, I’ve asked the Universe to bring to me the best of the best of what will most support this amazing vessel called our body. Our body that holds our spirit, the essence of who we really are that touches and blesses those around us. I feel so humbled and blessed because I know I’ve been answered again and again. I’m not bombarded with new gimmicks, just once in a while something crosses my path and every cell in my being resonates, and I know this is it.
The Bemer mat (www.bemeramerica.com/goodvibes) is one of those …I knew that I knew, that I knew this is good! My husband is the researcher, he goes for the clinical studies, all the comparisons, the stats,-I mean big time! Okay, so this drives me nuts because I go by my gut. I know the car I want the minute I see it, he on the other hand has to look at all the cars on all the car lots before he comes back hours later to the same car! That’s how it went with the Bemer. Our naturopath friend casually mentioned the Bemer mat one day on the phone, something in that conversation sparked my attention and I had to see one. It’s pretty impressive to see the videos of the tiniest of the tiniest blood vessels opening in 2 minutes after being on the Bemer mat. (you can see the same video on our website www.bemeramerica.com/goodvibes) Of course, we both knew this was good, my husband though, had to go see what else was out there, and his thorough (with a capital T!) investigation proved to him there is nothing like the Bemer mat anywhere. (I just smiled inside)

Oxygen is what it’s all about!!! When your health is challenged your cells are not getting enough oxygen, the micro-circulation in your body is compromised; this also means the cells are not getting enough ATP (energy to function properly), nor the nutrients they need to be healthy. Bemer has proven again and again in clinical studies from Germany that the Bemer mat has an incredible effect on micro-circulation and over a half a million people in the world can attest to its’ benefits. Isn’t that cool?!

If this speaks to you and you want to know more, give me a jingle or send me an email. The Bemer mat is for everyone at any age, pets too, athletes love it. Speaking of athletes and a little trivia, Torah Jane who won the 2010 Olympic gold medal uses the Bemer mat as her daily routine.

Theresa Gooch

A Sultan’s palace with the Harem quarters turned into hotel rooms is the present day Taj Talah Hotel. During the two months I called it home, the hotel housed an assortment of characters usually found only in spy novels.

In the courtyard restaurant news updates on the latest developments in the Middle East were announced, and personal views unleashed. A couple of Sudanese merchants, who recently lost their livelihood due to Osama Bin Laden, spat on the floor, “Osama! Yikhreb beitak! May your house fall down!”

The hotel was run by Ali, nicknamed Little Saddam, an Iraqi gun dealer in exile. Little Saddam controlled each corner of the hotel, including us, the guests. In the garden restaurant, mysterious Iraqi business men in black suits with bulging briefcases huddled together whispering.

Next to them, a group of bright-eyed archaeologists excitedly discussed the possibility of discovering the eighth wonder of the world. In the lobby, forlorn French and German aid workers contemplated their fate after being expelled from Iraq. Important notebook wielding journalists, in their latest Banana Republic fashions and short attention spans, ordered Little Saddam to fix the fax machine, pronto. Furious, the writers’ elite cornered him behind the reception desk. Didn’t he understand that the world was counting on their every word? They threatened him. The American was going to call his Senator to send the Navy. The Englishman was going to call the Queen herself. Little Saddam was unimpressed. “And what are you going to do? Call your President?” he sneered at me. “Give me dollars and I will fax it for you.” Sometimes he did.

Relief workers arrived daily in shiny white Toyota Land Cruisers. They filled the lobby with an air of “we’re here to save the world.” A French Algerian, gay artist, unwelcome in either country, was looking for asylum in Yemen. “I am homeless, and soon I will be a man without a country,” he cried. Little Saddam put his arm around him, “If you stop your whining, I will take you to Baghdad. We can fight the Christian dogs together.”

When Little Saddam realized that I was the only guest without any humanitarian, political, or journalistic purposes he became suspicious. This resulted in an “interrogation” on the roof garden. “What is your reason for being here?” I shrugged my shoulders. “Why don’t I throw you off the roof as dessert for the wild dogs down below? In Baghdad you would talk,” he said knowingly.

One day, Little Saddam put up a sign on the kitchen door. “Western tourists are not allowed in the kitchen.” We demanded an explanation. “It is necessary because, first you take over the kitchen, then the hotel, and then…the whole country.”

Marching up and down the hallways of the hotel, he knocked on the door of every guest who had left their keys on the outside. “Please remove your key,” he demanded. “Why?” I asked. It is better that way; ‘They’ make copies of them.” Before I could ask who was collecting the keys, he was already busy knocking on the next door. “Do not burn incense in my hotel, I hate the smell,” Little Saddam growled.

We complained about Little Saddam to the hotel management. The management laughed. “He is nothing, he is just the receptionist. He is your servant.” On the contrary, I think we are his servants,” I said.

Little Saddam would entertain new groups of foreigners with stories of life in Baghdad. One brother was under permanent house arrest, possibly tortured. His family members were begging for asylum all over the world. And, in order to get this job, he had to hand over his passport to the hotel management. “I am now a prisoner here, who is responsible for this?” Plagued with Western guilt, foreigners opened their wallets and begged Little Saddam to take their dollars, euros and pounds.

One morning, Little Saddam told a captivating crowd of foreigners that when ha had to flee Iraq his friends bought him several diplomas a going away present, forged by Egyptians, the best and most expensive in the world. “What other diplomas do you have?” I asked. Sharing time was over.

“Please do not hang out of the window with you bare arms showing. I forbid it. Not in my hotel,” he shouted at the women leaning out of the hotel windows. In his spare time Little Saddam peddled antique guns to unsuspecting tourists. He knew that they would be confiscated at the airport and find their way back to his room at the hotel; the Little Palace of Baghdad. Finally, Little Saddam found a way to get even with the Western world.

Before leaving Yemen, I just had to know. “Do you have a medical diploma?” I asked. “You want to see the one from Baghdad or Switzerland? I’m going to miss you American, maybe I will see you there.”

Up date: A postcard arrived from Holland. “Greetings from Amsterdam! See you, Ali, Little Saddam.

Christina Henning

UAW-Local 1981/AFL-CIO

If you want to remain anonymous that is fine with me. ponderland@charter.net or grace.seeker@gmail.com I would love to hear from anyone whether it be negative or positive or unsure what you think, this is just my way of saying that I need to know that what I say might have some value to someone out there in internet space. So, if you don’t want to identify yourself below the article, feel free to contact me privately.

All my life I have struggled to do the right thing without much success in getting it right. Was it a lack of role models? Was it just that I was just too corrupt in my nature to care? Was it the environment that is the blame? I know these are really lame questions, they are meant to be. I don’t think anyone can say that only one cause is to blame for our emotional and physical problems in life.

There are so many things that are a factor in bringing up well adjusted children. It is not readily known to us because we have been lead to believe in a group who has determined that mental illness is something that drugs can cure and talking can change.

If mental illness did really exist it would be either bacteria caused or virus caused, or a gene deficiency leaving the immune deficient and vulnerable. These are the defining characteristics of real illness or root cause which is also what makes up the basis of dieses.

The fact that they are trying to convince people that emotional and spiritual problems are in fact mental illness has created a trillion dollar business for drug companies and mental hospitals and a field of doctors who work on theory based experiments not on sound factual evidence.

There was a time in our history that many believed the world to be flat and anyone on a ship could sail to an end and fall off. There have been many misconceptions in our history until proof of exploration was done by many. We have in this world today many false conceptions about our brain.

Ignorance has compiled a theoretical field of experts to create many myths that are profitable and many do who profit. We have been lead to become dependent upon EXPERTS OR LETTERED DEGREES OF AUTHORITY and have paid lots of money to be given these distinctions. This in itself causes us to believe we are incapable to think for ourselves and solve our own dilemmas or problems.

My contention is that we are and should be ready to analyze our daily problems and come up with some sort of solution without paying someone else to determine what to do about the problem. I am not going to argue that there is no need for Psychology or Psychiatry.

I do contend that while they serve a purpose it should only be to fill in until we ourselves can take over dealing with our own problems along with the help of God.

Where did I go right? It was when I stopped looking to mankind to save me and mine. It was when I stopped passing my responsibility for my problems to others. Yes, I went right when I asked God to help me find my way. I was lost many, many years and always believed I could not do anything about what was wrong.

What really exists in all humans is the possibility of traumas that alter us over a period of time. Recognition of these traumas, will not only release us from the of enslaved conditioned mindsets, but will also give us answers as to why our dysfunctional behavior came about as a direct cause from this abusive environment.

All traumas whether known or unknown alter our perceptions and continue to change our understanding of normality. We are slowly being turned upside down, but learning or being conditioned to see this world of ours as right side up. Our whole perception is askew and we don’t know it. We look for normality or what we see others doing that might appeals to us and strive to change ourselves to fit this life style.

We are not going to be happy. We always start finding the grass is greener somewhere else syndrome. If we knew just how miss askew our world was before we were born then we would know that we need to find what is going to work for us as individuals not as a group. The world is set up as ONE SIZE FITS ALL and that is why any who are individuals early in their lives always question what is wrong with me. Why don’t I fit in? What do I need to do to belong? This is where some kind of relationship with God will help us heal our misperceptions about ourselves.

How can you be normal in a world that does not recognize its own dysfunctional set up? Schools continue this problem of finding our individual needs by the collective system that puts children into groups that depend upon group direction for success. Trauma changed me and sent me in many unnatural directions that took years to overcome and more years to understand them.

Trauma is the unseen cause of all mental problems today. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is just now being looked at by the Psychiatry community. Why would anyone not know that war is trauma? To kill others is trauma! To live in fear day in and day out is trauma? Trauma when children are abused sexually and physically? Rejection is trauma, lack of sleep is trauma.

There are too many traumas that would take more space to write than anyone would read. Yes, we don’t really understand how mind altering trauma can be, what is worse we don’t recognize the one who can heal our dysfunctional minds and bring us back to mental health.

We spend our lives looking to man to do for us what God does best. Man has failed to recognize the root causes of mental problems, so he created a solution that furthers our suffering. God has healed my messed up mentally ill mind and gave me back mental health. I can say with absolute conviction that I was mentally dysfunctional for over forty years. I have been on the healed side for over twenty.

If you want to stop taking drugs, for your depression, find out what causes you to be depressed. You did not get depressed by any bacterial infection or virus infection or gene deficiencies; they are the only thing that can be called illness. Diseases have to have a known missing factor in your immune system that allows them to happen, so how can you call a trauma induced problem a disease, unless you want to offer drugs as the cure. The drug companies have a drug for everything including all that they don’t even know how it is gotten.

What does this say to you if you think about it long enough? Can you see that experiments are profitable for business? I won’t go any further with this, but I will say that you do not pay one penny for God to heal you. You don’t have to worry about how long the cure will last and whether or not you can remember how to use the medicine. Many will not accept this for what it is, a simple fact that God can cure all things. All things under the Son are possible with God.
Barbara L. Gonzalez
ponderland@charter.net or grace.seeker@gmail.com