Live, Share and Shine!

I love money and all that is material, because I believe that money is a good thing - when employed properly - and when shared.

Essentially, iconic pop star Madonna was right when she sang years ago that we live in a "material world." We, as humans, should rule that world. Logic, history and science dictates the reality that humans are superior beings. Yet there are strings attached. Spiritual strings.

All the "things" that we desire, such as fancy cars, lavish homes, and all the other what comedian George Carlin used to call "stuff," is worthless unless we have the Love of others, self-Love (and not the selfish kind; but a true respectful Love for oneself), and the highest Love of all: the Love of God - who IS Love.

But we are frequently tested in our human tangiable world, as we have been granted free will and choice. We are challenged in understanding that success, in any form, is Love itself. There is a silent rule of the Universe (the You-and-I-In-Verse) that says, "Whatever we concentrate on, expands. Focus on the good, and things get better. Focus on the bad, and things get worse." This does not mean to turn the other way when we see pain, or disease, unhappiness or empty pockets. But when confronted with such issues, we must make every attempt to concentrate on the positive aspects of the situation at hand; the healthy parts of us, instead of the ill effects; our savings, instead of our bills. In this way, the positive things will soon outweigh the negative.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case when challenges arise. Instead, many of us focus on the less-than positive aspects of living, beginning with our limitations - instead of our potential. From the day we are born we are taught to think less of ourselves in a large frame of doubts and narrowmindedness. Somewhere along the line, humanity lost its way. We believe we must struggle and suffer for any good that is to come into our lives; that success may only be achieved by paying some burdenous amount of "dues." Yet, this is backward thinking and, instead, we must be forward thinkers.

Our accomplishments don't make us better people; they only enhance what we already are; and what we already are is great. We spend (in every "sense"/"cents" of the word(s)) so much time trying to get happy that we forget to be happy. If we look first to our hearts - where Love lives - all the other stuff usually takes care of itself, and we still have the courage and stregnth to begin again when the world lets us down.

We can't wait for life to deliver its rewards; we have to go out and get them. If that means having to sweep floors and clean toilets to pay the rent (both of which I've done), then we must be the best floor-sweepers and toilet-cleaners the maintenance world will ever come to know. Once we excel at the task at hand, we prepare ourselves to graduate onto the next level of endeavor, be it a desire to become the next President of the United States or the Head of Maintenance.

Either way, we won't be able to reach those other levels (which are necessarily higher, but just different) unless we're happy with what we leave behind and complete it successfully.

Ultimately, our true success in life is intrinsically tied to our inate ability to care for others. To do so, we must not be so self-absorbed. We must be happy for people who have so called more than we do (and to not resent them), if merely because they may simply be expressing themselves to the best of their knowledge and ability; exemplifying how much we have yet to acquire and attain as well. Not only is it important to encourage others to be successfull, we must be the REASON for their success.

If you know of someone looking for a job, and who is experiencing a troubling time, and if you are capable of helping that person - and stand by and do nothing, you are doing a great disservice not only to that challenged individual, but towards yourself and the Universe. It negates their (and our) situation to just sit back and say, "Gee - I wish there was something I could do."

However we choose to support someone, we must do so cheerfully and not just with sympathy. Sympathy without action is boring and useless, and all the beautiful words in the world are ugly and worthless unless they are lived and believed. What allows us the financial freedom (and in turn the emotional stability) to "inspirit" others, is that we simply find employment at what we love to do. When money is suffered for or work at, it becomes a thing worshipped, not an already-have. This is why so many go without it, and why so many who have it are so unhappy.

In both instances, they idolize it and become attached to it - for better or for worse. While those without money become "slaves to the dollar," many of those with money wish to be worshipped. In either extreme, a life-imbalance is the result.

In all, we must forget our can'ts and limitations, and reach for the highest star and follow our dreams. If such reveries are filled with good intentions for ourselves and everyone involved - delights that will only bring joy, fullfillment and abundance in every good, thinkable way - then we should go for it - and not let anyone tell us differently.

Our silent imaginings and yearnings - when positive, combined with our material earnings - when joyfully shared - are pictures and whispers of ideas and suggestions from Heaven. To deny such wonderous and generous concepts, denies our true identities, our happiness and everything we are created to be. Realizing that all good things come from Love, we automatically place Love first in our lives.

Consequently, a full, happy, long life follows.

And isn't that what we all really want?

Here's To Your Health...In Nine Simple Sentences

"Eat a mostly raw food diet and Do Not Eat MEAT, WHITE SUGAR, WHITE FLOUR, MARGARINE, OR ANYTHING ARTIFICIAL.

"Meat produces an acid environment in your body and (non-healthy) cells thrive in this environment.

"Sugar shuts down your immune system, and caffeine and any type of diet drinks or artificial sweeteners can cause serious health problems.

"When you eat meat and other cooked processed foods it takes over 70% of the energy derived from the nutrition of these foods to digest the food.

"Digesting food takes up so much energy from your body that there is not enough energy left for the body to take care of itself.

"Drugs and chemicals cannot heal. Only the Human Body is capable of healing itself, and it will if we provide it with the proper nutrition, and eliminate the things which poison it.

"Raw fresh food does not require much digestion and provides our body with the nutrition it needs to fight for itself. The best source of nutrition comes from vegetable juice and then from fresh fruits.

"Reserve the evening meal for your cooked meal with things like...baked potatoes (ideally, sweet potatoes), green vegetables, corn, rice (ideally, brown rice), and so on.

"This may seem extreme, but...have to undo years of unknowing abuse."

- Gene and Pat Blasningame, www.YourLifeSource.com.

The Christmas Light: A Little Holiday Cheer In June

I came across this poem I wrote in 1995, and although it's a Christmas poem, it's always nice to be reminded of the "Light."

Enjoy....




The Christmas Light



Happy Decembers are like snow flakes,

Made of the same stuff,

With each a different take.

No wonder Winter falls

As Christmas lands.


During the Holiday Season

We search our past

For memories of another time.

We hold on to what is,

But can't let go

Of the child's rhyme.



A glad tiding indeed,

To sit 'round the tree

Searchin' for Santa,

Rudolph,

And Frosty,

Knowing they really exist...

Somewhere off of TV.


That makes for warm feelings

Inside,

A place that's never cold

In which to play seek and hide.

There,

The treasure of Christmas,

And all that it means,

Is found in the Light

That illumines and beams.


Near Christmas and always

And every Holy Day, too

The laughter is hearty

And the smiles are bright.

For safe restful joys

Open the peaceful way

And close each

Silent pretty night.

"Radiant Health" Curezone website by Owen....

If you are SINCERELY seeking optimum health, there is no better place to find the tools and research that you need to do so than at the "Radiant Health" website by Owen.

I so totally urge you in the most loving-kind way to visit the site (via the link below), and take your time with it - over time. For it is not something that can or should be read in seconds.

I recommend that you visit it on a daily basis, reading one section, one sentence and one word at a time.

Blessings to you today - and always...

Herbie J

http://owen.curezone.com/default.html

Hair And Skin Products Pioneer Aubrey Hampton Passes Away

The iconic Aubrey Hampton, Founder and CEO of Aubrey Organics, has passed away, peacefully, on May 9th after a brief illness, surrounded by friends and family.

A pioneer in natural hair and skin care, Aubrey was a trailblazer for a fledging natural products industry by making plant-based, synthetic-free personal care products on his own terms.

In other words, Aubrey Organics became and remains the ONLY hair and skin products company that does NOT use ANY chemicals or animal testing in the manufacturing of its superior line of product.

Some companies profess to not use chemicals, but they do. Other companies say there is no chemicals, but they still test their products on animals.

Aubrey Organics, on the other hand, is the real deal.

Aubrey's company distributes its hair, skin and body care line all over the world, but Aubrey's connection to natural ingredients goes back to his father's organic farm in southern Indiana, where his mother made her own herbal beauty products at home.

In 1967, Aubrey founded Aubrey's Nature Labs with just two products - Relax-R-Bath and GPB Glycogen Protein Balancing Conditioner - humble beginnings he swiftly grew into the multi-national, multi-million dollar company that bears his name.

A prolific author, Aubrey's books include Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care, a seminal text on herbal cosmetic products, now in its sixth printing, What's in Your Cosmetics, and The Take Charge Beauty Book, co-authored with his late wife, Susan Hussey.

Aubrey was publisher of Organica: A Magazine of Arts and Activism, a free publication which has featured the work of such literary figures as Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Shihab Nye and W.S. Merwin.

Multi-faceted and multi-talented, Aubrey enjoyed a successful second career as an award-winning playwright and theatre producer.

In 1990 he founded the Gorilla Theatre, Tampa, Florida's only Equity theatre, with his wife Susan, also a playwright. He published two books of plays, GBS and Company, based on the life of George Bernard Shaw, and Wolf Trilogy, a collection of three thematically linked one-act plays. Of his many accomplishments, he was perhaps most proud of his Young Dramatists Project, a playwriting competition for middle and high school students, now in its 11th year, which awards full-scale productions of short plays to budding playwrights.

Aubrey is survived by his two sons, Mitchell and Trevor, his sister Millie Newman, and the large extended families of Aubrey Organics and Gorilla Theatre. At the heart of his legacy is his joyful and generous spirit. He will be deeply missed.

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For more information about Aubrey Organics, click on the link below.
http://www.aubrey-organics.com/default.aspx

For more insight into Aubrey's amazing life and influence, please click on the link below and read Trish Riley's article, Aubrey Hampton: An Organic Legacy for our Future.

http://www.gogreennation.org/2011/05/aubrey-hampton-an-organic-legacy-for-our-future/

Bully For You? Bully For Me? Bully For No One!

Bullying shows up in many forms, some more obvious than others, and in either case, can prove to be an obstacle to living fully the A-Life.

We all know about the mean-spirited school-yard kid (or worse the teacher!) or a middle-aged co-worker (or worse, the boss!), who speaks with condescending tones, employs hurtful name-calling tactics, and/or seeks to somehow make the other person feel unworthy.

In actuality, of course, it is the bully who is insecure and lacks true self-worth. The bully is littered with low self-esteem and tons of self-hatred. He or she does all they can to lift their own lowly spirits by attempting to - and many times succeeding - to douse the joy or comfort of the happy spirits who they deem less worthy.

Unfortunately, I speak from experience, not as a bully, but as one who been bullied, physically, psychologically, emotionally, and professionally my entire life.

For example, I've always been athletic, but never interested in sports. When I was a kid, that was a tough stance, because many of the jocks in school frequently laughed and called me names (its little wonder I identified with Rudolph).

Of course, and fortunately, karma eventually shows its ugly or pretty head.

As when at my high-school Senior Ball, back in 1978, during which a few bullying classmates attempted to embarrass me. From what I can remember, they had instructed the band to perform a disco song (I Love New York), and the lead singer then invited me to dance, a talent for which I was both praised and ridiculed.

Today, any kid who can dance is glorified and worshipped.

In 1978, not so much, as John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever superstar status was still in the infant stages of reaching mainstream acceptance.

In any case, back at the Senior Ball of ’78: I did my dance, and ended up mirroring every dance-move that Travolta made in Fever. Once I completed the performance, all the girlfriends of the bullying jocks ran and cozied up to me, leaving their boyfriends in the cold with dropped jaws.

A few minutes of euphoria almost made worthwhile the four years of tortured bullying.

Almost.

I was bullied because I was not fond of sports; because I could sing, dance and act; because I had a personality, and lived life with enthusiasm and joy without any of the extra securities that my peers seemed to hold dear. I didn't know how to play basketball (except for one glorious day in gym class), and I laughed a lot at the simplest of treasures.

For some reason, none of this was understood by a certain hurtful few. So, I was attacked and abused (and, unfortunately, similar experiences still transpire today).

Yet, I still don't understood why someone who is gifted with various talents, would set out to hurt someone else who was also gifted, but with no or different talents?

Or why any bully would call anyone else dumb? Does that automatically make him or her smart? Or at least make them think their smart? Is that why they do it?

If a bully picks on someone, does that give them a sense of superiority?

If a bully attempts to manipulate the life of another (and that other person allows it), does that make them feel more in control of their own lives?

Probably and sadly, yes to all of the above.

But what of the more subtle bullying that transpires between folk of all ages?

If there is someone who is need, and an individual with power and position and money knows of this person who is need, and does nothing to help them, is that a form of bullying?

It would seem so.

Anyone can feel sympathy for the less fortunate. But true kindness, and a non-bullying manner, is displayed when we can not only be happy for the person above us on the ladder of success, but when we are also indeed the REASON the other person climbs the ladder to the top and succeeds.

Another example of the Subtle Bully is the Passive-Aggressive Bully, who we may refer to as the Judas or the Brutus Bully.

The Judas/Brutus Bully seems to be your friend, treats you nice, compliments you, and praises you to others with you in the room. He or she then sets out to sabotage your character or any part of your life (and career!), when you're no where to be seen (and then again, sometimes even in plain sight).

It's like the classic image of the lover who kisses and caresses your face, while whipping out the dagger to stab you in the back.

In all, and in every case, the experiences are staggering.

Yet, bullies have always been and will always be. They are hurting and lacking in ways that non-bullies will gratefully never know.

Non-bullies are content, and have no reason to call other people callas names.

Non-bullies have no desire to control the lives of others, for they are too busy being happy and sharing joy.

Bullies, meanwhile, do not so much need pity, as much as they need prayers and blessings.

And if we are to fully lead the A-Life, then, to paraphrase a very wise soul from ages ago...we must bless those who curse us, pray for those who hurt and love and forgive those who hate us (and themselves).

Happy Mother's, Father's and Child's Day!

On this special day, as with every day, we must live fully our lives. For in doing so, we truly honor not only the memory of our Parents, but the "essence" of our Parents' mission. For "Honor Thy Mother and Father" does not simply mean to respect our Moms and Dads while they are on Earth, and not only to honor those who God gifted us with as guides in our early lives. But "Honor Thy Mother and Father" also means to live fully the life God gave us through our Parents. To reach for our A-Lives...our Best Lives!

In doing so, we must be mature, live wisely, and never loose the child's heart. By retaining the child's heart we remain connected not only to our Earthly Parents - but to the great Universal Parent of Light.

To paraphrase what I once wrote in a tribute to my Mom (Frances Turri), who now abides with my Dad (Herbie Pompeii) in Heaven: "In my view, our life journey and final destination is like a rocket soaring into space. The pieces of us that we don't need (the petty jealousies, the anger, the addictions, the physical maladies, etc.), fall away as we move closer to the Light of Love's embrace – until all that is left is the little capsule that holds our soul. And that 'capsule' is filled with every Loving thought and every act of Loving-Kindness that we ever displayed on Earth - bundled together, magnified, multiplied and showcased in Heaven. Simultaneously, that bundle of Love is also transferred into a personal, immeasurable, immortal and priceless legacy that we leave behind for everyone on Earth."

My Parents certainly left that legacy for me. For as my sister Pam recently relayed, "They were good people who asked of nothing from anyone. They did their job. They were pure."

I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day, Happy Father's Day and Happy Child's Day. And may each of us appreciate the most-Loving aspects of our Moms and Dads, whether they're still here on Earth or have returned to Heaven. May every good thing they ever taught us live on not only through us - but through our children - and everyone we meet. May each of us embrace the Maternal, Paternal and "Eternal" pieces ("peaces") of ourselves which are defined at the core of our being as the ever-protective essence named "LOVE."