April 14, 2003

From the Inside Out
THE POSITIVE APPROACH ...

I have taken to heart the following three quotes as the basis for my thoughts and intentions at this time. I feel this positive approach is empowered by the love that is the nature of our being, and is effective in creating peace and happiness.

The alternative — applying resistance, judgment, antagonism and hatred — is to be ruled by fear, which is to deny one's essence, and has the effect of empowering that which one opposes.

Peace Pilgrim states... "In my work I have chosen the positive approach. I never think of myself as protesting against something, but rather as witnessing for harmonious living. Those who witness for, present solutions. Those who witness against, usually do not — they dwell on what is wrong, resorting to judgment and criticism and sometimes even name-calling. Naturally, the negative approach has a detrimental effect on the person who uses it, while the positive approach has a good effect."

The energy of love comes from all our hearts, but is misdirected if we have attention on our fears — which occurs if we resist the reality of what appears to us and our own part in creating that reality. For we do indeed create our lives and situations, based on our beliefs. As an ancient Chinese proverb says:

"If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person.
If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.
If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world."

How can we go about integrating a spiritual viewpoint into our daily lives? The everyday game of life appears very different from the view of the angels. Many things happen that we do not consciously initiate. We have friends and enemies, loves and hates. Some are on our side, others against us.

The spiritual, birds-eye view however —- the conscious view — is that this game of our lives is something we continuously create, in order to teach ourselves experiential lessons. We reflect our state of being in our surroundings, so they act as a mirror. We are not just individual islands, our purpose really extends to a universal scale.

So we need to live our human lives, but we need to step back and remember that each one of us is actually creating the reality we experience, through the power of our higher selves, at one with God. Reality is lighter than we may think, and we can change our life experience by adjusting our viewpoints and beliefs to become closer to our true nature — which is in every case loving and nonjudgmental.

"Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow — it has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it." ~Shakti Gawain

Often it is particularly the subconscious and suppressed beliefs that determine our internal conflicts and fears, and cause us to lose sight of our essential being. There are ways and means of uncovering this stuff and of realizing our essence — that is there all along. Personal growth tools help us to learn faster from our experience and so enhance the quality of the further experiences we will create.

But actually the process can be simply stated: we need to look afresh, in the present moment, and clear away our false assumptions and fixed ideas by shining a light of objectivity and honesty. Our guidance in this process is love. We can all do this and the
time is right.

~ Peter Shepherd, Tools for Transformation

Free PDF Download (Adobe Acrobat) of Author's Book
Simply Click: Transforming the Mind

Yes You Can!
SAVE WITH AIR DISCOUNTERS

By working with an airfare discounter, you can save as much as 50 percent off the cost of your next ticket. In the past decade and a half there's been a veritable explosion in the number of airfare discounters/consolidators operating in the United States.

At Arthur Frommer's website, he has compiled a list of travel consolidators, in no particular order of preference, which is shown below:

Priceline.com: An immense firm that can save travelers up to 40% off published fares. www.priceline.com

Hotwire: Travelers choose their itinerary and Hotwire fires back the lowest price. The company is owned by several big airlines. www.hotwire.com

Orbitz: (Internet only) Not a consolidator per se, Orbitz provides a list of the cheapest airfares. www.orbitz.com

Expedia: Largest of web-only air sellers, it recently beat Orbitz in a study by Consumer Reports magazine on airfare pricing. www.expedia.com

FOR AIRFARES WITHIN THE US:
1-800-FLY-CHEAP (800/FLY-CHEAP) Savings of $30 to $150 on most advance-purchase tickets. www.flycheap.com
Cheap Tickets, Inc. (800/377-1000) Can cut the price of an advance-fare ticket by 15 to 25%, very often more. www.cheaptickets.com
Cheap Seats Travel (800/672-4327) Offers discounts of around 20% off published prices. www.cheapseatstravel.com
Air4Less (800/656-9247) Discounted domestic airfares priced at 25% below published rates. www.moredeals.com/ads/air4less.htm
American Travel Associates (800/CHEAP-AIR) Mainly transcontinental, last-minute to Florida, discounts average 20%. www.cheapair.com

TRANSATLANTIC AIR FARES:
Travac Tours & Charters, Inc. (800/872-8800) www.thetravelsite.com
DER Travel Services (800/717-4247) www.dertravel.com
New Frontiers (800/366-6387) (France Charters) www.newfrontiers.com
Destination Europe (800/FLY-EUROPE) www.1800flyeurope.com
Ireland/UK Consolidated (800/577-2900) www.ukair.com

AIRFARES TO LATIN AMERICA:
Pino Welcome Travel (800/247-6578) www.pinotravel.com
Solar Tours (800/388-7652) www.solartours.com

AIRFARES & SAFARIS PRIMARILY TO AFRICA:
Magical Holidays (800/228-2208)
Premier Travel (800/545-1910) www.premiertours.com

AIRFARES PRIMARILY TO INDIA:
Festival of Asia (800/533-9953) (San Francisco) www.asiafest.com
Hari World Travel (888/889-2968) www.hariworld.com

AIRFARES PRIMARILY TO JAPAN:
Japan Budget Travel International (877/246-5284) www.jbti.com
Nippon Travel Co. (800/445-2332) www.nippontravel.com

AROUND-THE-WORLD AIRFARES:
High Adventure Travel, Inc. (800/350-0612) www.airtreks.com
Circle the Planet (800/799-8888) www.circletheplanet.com
Air Treks (800/350-0612)

AIRFARES TO WORLDWIDE DESTINATIONS
Picasso Travel (212/244-5454) www.picassotravel.net
1Travel.com (800/929-2523) www.1travel.com
Economy Travel (888/222-2110) www.economytravel.com
Travel With Naomi (212/972-2096) deals directly with the public for many of the same flights handled by her father's company American Passenger Consolidators which is for travel agents only. www.apc-consolidators.com

~ www.Frommers.com

Photo: Canaima National Park

Carved out of the Venezuelan jungle, not far from Brazil's border, is the small Pemón Indian village of Canaima. Set on the edge of a black-water lagoon ringed with soft, pink-sand beaches, fed by a series of powerful waterfalls, Canaima is surrounded by miles of untouched jungle. This spot is gateway to the legendary Angel Falls, the tallest on earth, dropping 3,212 feet. La Hacha waterfalls on the lagoon are fed from the River Carrao. Here you can walk behind the water falls and enjoy the natural wonders with your native guide. The scenic view of the Roraima tepuis (rocky plateaus) in Parque Nacional Canaima is truly awesome.

LINKS
THAT SHINE

"Tools for Transformation"

Tools for personal growth and transformation
of body, mind and spirit — to free us of the
shackles of the past by reawakening
awareness of our true identity in the present.
Includes the free online book "Transforming
the Mind" and many other resources.
www.Trans4Mind.com


CLICK FOR LINKS

Fascinating Facts
TRIVIA DU JOUR

Why did the Egyptians worship cats? Egyptians literally believed that cats were divine, to the point that if a household cat died, its owners would shave their eyebrows
in mourning and lovingly transport the cat carcass to one of the cities devoted to mummifying cats for their journey to the next world. (They apparently didn't make it. In 1888, about 300,000 cat mummies were discovered still lounging around this world in the ancient city of Beni Hassan. We guess it illustrates once again how hard it is to get cats to go where you want them to.) There were practical reasons for worshipping cats, though. The Egyptians were very dependent on grains for their main staples of bread and beer, and they knew how much the cats contributed to their lives and economy by keeping rats and mice in check. PHOTO: This noble and his wife are spending their leisure time hunting fowl with their big orange-striped cat (lower left area). Notice that the birds, and especially the fish, are painted very realistically, with attention paid to the slightest details, while the humans conform to the cartoon-like "frontalistic" style.

What is the origin of the word "boycott"? Charles C. Boycott seems to have become a household word because of his strong sense of duty to his employer. An Englishman and former British soldier, Boycott was the estate agent of the Earl of Erne in County Mayo, Ireland. The earl was one of the absentee landowners who as a group held most of the land in Ireland. Boycott was chosen in the fall of 1880 to be the test case for a new policy advocated by Charles Parnell, an Irish politician who wanted land reform. Any landlord who would not charge lower rents would be given the complete cold shoulder by Parnell's supporters. Boycott refused to charge lower rents and ejected his tenants. At this point members of Parnell's Irish Land League stepped in, and Boycott and his family found themselves isolated—without servants, farmhands, service in stores, or mail delivery. Boycott's name was quickly adopted as the term for this treatment, not just in English but in other languages such as French, Dutch, German, and Russian.

Why do builders put a small tree on the top of a building as soon as its top frame is completed? In ancient times the success of building projects was believed to depend more on the mood of the gods than on the builders' skill. To appease the gods and drive away evil spirits, the builders would attach plants, thought to be inhabited by good spirits, to the tops of their buildings as soon as the frames were completed. These plants, often decorated with flowers, ribbons, and strings of eggs, were supposed to lend their life-giving powers to the buildings and show that the buildings were as safe and solid as the ground in which the plants once grew. Builders today still observe this superstition by placing a small tree on the top frame of a new building. The custom is called "topping out."

Why are moths drawn to light and what do they get out of it? The moth, specifically the male moth, is attracted to an illuminated lightbulb for the sad but simple reason that it thinks it's the moon. For roughly 150 million years, the visually impaired lepidopterans relied on the giant orb to help them navigate in a straight line, always keeping the moon's rays at a constant angle during their nightly mating excursions—flying a more or less steady course until they caught the scent of a female perched on a nearby leaf. But moth history took an unfortunate twist when the incandescent lamp arrived on the scene in 1879. "Moths will never forgive Thomas Edison," says Cornell University entomologist Cole Gilbert, noting that chaos ensued as the nocturnal creatures began mistaking light-bulbs for the moon. Unfortunately, flying so close to these surrogate moons makes it nearly impossible for a moth to maintain a straight course, so it must constantly correct its bearing. Soon it becomes completely confused and disoriented. "Before you know it," says Gilbert, "the poor guy is fluttering around in circles."

~Emazing.com
If You're a Trivia Fan — Click link below:
Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts

Why is a wedding ring worn on the third finger of the left hand?

Click for Answer

Laughing It Off
THE PRICE OF GAS!

You Think A Gallon Of Gas Is Expensive?
This gives one pause, and puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 ................. $10.32 per gallon

Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19 ............... $ 9.52 per gallon

Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 ...................... $10.17 per gallon

Ocean Spray Juice 16 oz $1.25 ......... $10 .00 per gallon

Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 .................... $33.60 per gallon

Vick's Nyquil 6 oz $8.35 .................... $178.13 per gallon

Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 ................... $123.20 per gallon

Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 ......................... $25.42 per gallon

Scope Mouthwash 1.5 oz $0.99 .......... $84.48 per gallon

and the REAL KICKER?

Evian Water 9 oz $1.49 ..................... $21.19 per gallon.

$21.19 FOR WATER!
....and the buyers don't even know the source.

So, whenever you're at the gas station, be glad your
car doesn't run on water, Scope, or Whiteout, or
worse yet, PEPTO BISMOL or NYQUIL!!!!

Just a little humor to help ease the pain
of your next trip to the pump...........!

~Contributed by Phyllis Montoya

Untangling the Web

WHAT A SITE!

Your place in the Cosmos ...
At International Star Registry ® you can pick the name of your choice, dedication date, and telescopic coordinates of the star. Naming a star after a loved one makes a heavenly gift.
www.StarRegistry.com

COMPUTER-EASE

Outlook Express 6 BCC Box
The BCC (blind courtesy copy) entry box doesn't appear by default in OE 6. To make BCC visible, run Outlook Express and click New Message or choose Message | New Message. Now, choose View | All Headers. Your new selection will remain until you change it.

Look at THAT!
MANATEE MAMA

 
Photo: Straits Times /AFP


A newborn manatee swims with the help
of its mother, Eva, hours after being born at the Singapore Zoo on March 11, 2003. Eva, who came from Germany in 1994, gave birth for the second time in captivity to a 20-pound, 23-inch-long female baby after a gestation period of 14 months. The new baby joins a pod of four others. Manatees face a high risk of becoming extinct in the wild within about 10 years. ~MSNBC

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"The intent of Inspiration Line is to show What Is Possible … By choosing new perspectives,
we can change ourselves from the inside out and improve our relationships, our community and our planet."
Editor . Chelle Thompson ~~~ Associate Editor . Geri Merrill
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