January 26, 2004

TODAY'S TUNE
(On/Off)

"Color My World"

From the Inside Out...
Painting with a
Full Palette of Colors
(Part 1)

Yes You Can!...
Find Peace & Comfort
(Part 2)

Far Horizons...
"The Rock"

Links That Shine...
"Disaster Help"

Fascinating Facts...
Be More Specific!

Laughing It Off...
New Cat Planning (101)

Untangling the Web...
What a Site!
&
Computer Ease

Look at That!...
The Odd Couple

Our Latest Discovery...
Success Strategies

Joyful Lifestyles...
Clarity in
Family Dynamics
(Part 1)

BE the World
You Want to See!

Color therapy has long
been an accepted form of alternative healing. As with most things, the key is possessing an awareness. With this new knowledge, you can choose to take care of yourself naturally,
whenever you need a little soothing or revitalizing.

~ Chelle ~

From the Inside Out
PAINTING WITH A FULL PALETTE OF COLORS (1)

One way to explain the human experience is through the metaphor of color. Imagine each of us is given at birth an artist's palette of rainbow colors with which to paint our individual lives. Each one of us starts out using the color preferences of the family and society born into, repeating the conditioning. Some learn early to move beyond the limited palettee and use unfamiliar colors to explore the rainbow of color possibilities. Those who prefer to paint with the same colors over and over and to limit the palette eventually find life has a corrective measure. The void resulting from not using certain colors draws people, situations, and lessons to build color awareness of our blind spots. This balances us out, over time, on the journey to becoming a master artist. Let us awaken the artist within and use the metaphor of color to help us understand ourselves and our lives better. Let us look at some basic color theory, look at qualities associated with each color, and then an illustration of how to use color as a helpful tool.

There are three primary colors —- red, yellow, and blue —- from which all other colors are mixed. You might recall playing with a set of watercolors or tempera paint as a child, as I do, blending red and yellow to make orange, yellow and blue to make green, and blue and red to make purple or violet. Imagine yourself as an artist placing your colors of paint in a circle on your palette in the same order that we find in the colors of the rainbow —- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Notice half the circle is warm (red, orange, yellow) and the other cool (blues, green, violet).

Do you have color preferences? Do you like warm colors or cool colors. You can use the colors mentioned so far or others like rose, pink, turquoise, or apricot. Ponder a moment and ask yourself why you choose that color? Maybe you chose blue because you have a calm, patient, soothing personality, or red because you are enthusiastic and emotional, or yellow because you are joyful and light. Maybe you see several colors as part of your makeup. Allow this inner knowing to guide you as you apply this information. You probably have memories that you associate with some colors. When I free-associate with the color yellow, I first think of the sun and remember enjoying playing alone for hours as a child in our sunroom, spending lots of time in my imagination. Yellow makes me feel light and happy even today. Allow feelings and memories to surface in the next couple of days to see some of your associations with color, both positive and negative.

Complimentary colors: To go a little further with color theory, that by the way translates well to real life, would be to look at complimentary colors. They are colors opposite each other on the color wheel (the name for our circle of colors on our palette). Opposites can be antagonistic, causing lots of drama, or complimentary, balancing or toning down extremes. Look at one pair of opposite colors, red and green. If an artist wishes to tone down bright red, s/he can add a little green. You, as the artist of your life, might sit in nature or near green foliage to ease your anger or slow down your pace when you need to relax.

How do you figure out complimentary or opposite colors? Draw or visualize a circle on a piece of paper, and write the three primary colors red, yellow, and blue equidistant from each other on the circle. Then between the red and yellow, write orange; between yellow and blue, write green; and between the blue and red, write violet or purple. It might even be fun to get some markers or paints out and mix these colors. If each of these six colors is in a circle, you will find colors opposite each other are called complimentary colors. For example: Red and green are complimentary colors; Blue and orange are complimentary colors; Yellow and purple-violet are complimentary colors

Again, complimentary colors tone down and balance extremes. The next time you are feeling burned out from working too much or being overly busy do an experiment. The antidote for overdoing (too much red) is to experience green. Spend time healing in nature with greenery, re-pot some of your plants, and eat lots of green foods, such as lettuce. Use your imagination to understand more about green. Green lessons might be related to growth and expansion beyond current boundaries and ways of thinking and doing things. Green may help you get in touch with health issues and illness, growth and stagnation, abundance and poverty.

When you find yourself sluggish, passive, or depressed (too much blue), consider adding some orange to your life. You might find orange by watching the sunset and gather some warmth to get things moving again. Eat some orange foods, oranges, carrots, squash. Or you could journal write, which is taking action, red, to understand yourself, mental (yellow) activity. In the activity of journal writing you allow frustrations and inner conflicts to surface so you can process them for deeper healing. When you probe with your mind, you can get to some of the causes for your depression, allowing you to understand and grieve and integrate past traumas or disappointments, feel your feelings, and listen to your inner guidance. (Continued next week)

~ Suzanne E. Harrill, M.Ed., LPC, LMFT
Author of several self-help books, including Enlightening Cinderella,
Affirm Your Self Day by Day, and Inner Fitness for Creating a Better You
Free monthly self-help newsletter at: www.InnerworksPublishing.com

Yes You Can!
FIND PEACE & COMFORT (Part 2)

Last week we learned that when we are tense or anxious, we tend to hold our breath. For most of us, breathing is something we never think about, yet for the most part we are breathing shallow breathes into our chest. This shallow breathing actually can create a stressful condition in our minds and bodies. By slowing down your breath, you will instantly relax your body and bring clarity into your mind.

The next time you are feeling stressed, focus on your breathing. Try it at a business meeting, before picking the kids up from school or while sitting in a doctor's waiting room. Athletes are meditating to improve their game, artists are using it to access their creativity and doctors are finding it helps their patients heal

Power of the heart meditation...
The following technique, adapted from Momentary Meditations, is a "portable stress-breaker. " You can easily take it with you wherever you go. By using it whenever you feel out of balance, you will find that you are calmer, clearer and more able to cope with what life has to offer. This is perfect to use if you re flying through turbulence, you receive a disturbing phone call, your business meeting falls apart or your mind gets stuck in a worry loop.

Take a few deep slow breathes . . .
and imagine pushing a pause button deep within your chest.
Begin to focus at the heart center.
Envision it as a bright golden sun. (20-30 seconds)
Now think of a positive quality or experiences that you have had:
You may feel appreciation for someone special in your life. … or envision a beautiful scene in nature, your favorite place or the locale you want to explore on your next vacation… or imagine a baby's laughter or the joy of licking an ice cream cone on a hot day. Let yourself really be in the experience. Give yourself permission to smile. (60 seconds).
Now, take 3 deep breathes and come back to normal waking consciousness and open your eyes.

To Summarize…
Appreciating where we have been is a magical tool to harmony and joy. As we review and meditate on the happy pictures of where we have been, and where we dream of going, we become imbued with gratitude for life and are inspired to dream about places we have yet to go.

~Barbara Biziou, leading expert on rituals and meditation, plus author of The Joys of Everyday Ritual and The Joy of Family Rituals She is creator and producer of "Momentary Meditations" DVD featuring five powerful guided mediations to help you stay centered at home and on the road.
Visit her at www.joyofritual.com and www.fourworldsentertainment.com

VISIT OUR INTERNATIONAL FORUM

Bookmark the above link and visit us often!

Before Columbus discovered America, Gibraltar was considered “the ends of the earth”. The Spanish town Tarifa was named after the Arab word “Taraf”, indicating “the end of”. Going beyond Tarifa meant that you would fall over the edge of the earth. In ancient times, Gibraltar was one of the two Pillars of Hercules — the other was Mount Hacho, on the opposite African coast. Although connected to the Spanish mainland by a one-mile long, sandy isthmus, it has been a British territory since 1704. During the nineteenth century, Gibraltar developed into a fortress of renowned impregnability and the phrase “As safe as the Rock of Gibraltar” became commonplace in the English language.

"Disaster Help"

Information on assistance available
from an integrated team of partner
agencies and organizations that perform
Disaster Management activities.
http://DisasterHelp.gov

Fascinating Facts
BE MORE SPECIFIC!

How many ferrets are in a "business"... or geese in a "gaggle"?

Check Answer Here

Laughing It Off
NEW CAT PLANNING (101)

1. Take cold chicken and stars soup straight from the can and splash it across the carpet and the foot of the bed and then walk in it in the dark with your socks on.

2. Set up a mouse trap at the foot of the bed each night so that if you move a toe one inch while you are sleeping, you are sure to get snapped.

3. Cover all your best suits with cat hair. Dark suits must use white hair, and light suits must use dark hair. Also, float some hair in your first cup of coffee in the morning.

4. Put everything that's "cat toy size" into a water bowl to marinate.

5. Practice cutting your chicken into teeny tiny bites so that when they steal, it won't be the whole breast.

6. Tip over a basket of clean laundry, and scatter clothing all over the floor.

7. Leave your underwear on the living room floor, because that's where the cat will drag it anyway (especially when you have company).

8. Jump out of your chair shortly before the end of your favorite TV program and run to the TV. shouting "No! No! Don't chew on the electric cord!" Miss the end of the program.

9. Put chocolate pudding on the carpet in the corner of the living room in the morning and don't try to clean it up until you return from work that evening.

10. Gouge the surface of the dining room table several times with an Xacto knife. It's going to get scratched anyway.

11. Practice searching every closet and open cabinet door before you shut it.

12. Knock all small items off your kitchen counter.

13. Chew the eraser off every pencil in the house.

14. Take a fork and shred the roll of toilet paper while it's still hanging up.
Pull a few sheets off and scatter them around the bathroom.

15. Take a staple remover and punch two holes in every scrap of paper around the house.

16. Buy a mixed bag of cat toys and stuff them under the refrigerator. Practice getting up at 2AM to retrieve them.

17. Take a warm cuddly blanket out of the dryer and immediately wrap it around yourself. This is the feeling you will get when your new cat falls asleep on your lap.

There now, once you've taken all of these steps,
you've passed the test, and are ready to
welcome that little furry critter into your home!

~Contributed by Jane at OnlineTheCat'sMeow.com

Untangling the Web

WHAT A SITE!

"Add ALL"
At this site you can search all the data bases of all the major on-line bookstores. They are the biggest book database on the Internet. You can also click on Used & Out of Print Books to search this separate database.
www.AddAll.com

COMPUTER-EASE

Copy & Paste ...
1. Select the text you wish to copy by putting your mouse cursor at the first character you want to copy and, holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor to the last character you need copied. As you drag, you'll notice everything gets highlighted (selected). 2. Right-click the selected area. Choose Copy from the menu that pops up (CTRL-C keyboard shortcut). 3. Finally, right-
click the area in your e-mail document where you
want to insert the text. Click Paste from the menu that pops up (CTRL-V keyboard shortcut).

Photo: An Asiatic Black Bear

Maeuschen, a half-ton female bear ...
and a black domestic cat named Muschi have
been reunited. Muschi, which means "pussycat," has been popular with Berlin Zoo visitors ever since she appeared in the bear's enclosure three years ago. But the pair were split up last October when the bear was locked in a cage while her living space was enlarged. Zoo keepers took pity on the distraught cat that had taken to roaming around the zoo and pining outside the cage. They allowed her into the cage with Maeuschen, the shaggy Asiatic black bear whose name means "little mouse." "The two greeted each other and had a cuddle and now they're happy," said a member of the zoo's management board. "They sunbathe together and share meals of raw meat, dead mice, fruit and bread." The enlarged enclosure will reopen in the spring of 2004. ~Reuters

1. One or more members is addicted to alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, sex, work or to some other form of dependent behavior and the others protect the users;

2. One or more member is materialistic and values "things'' to the exclusion of "persons'';

3. One or more members is rigidly dogmatic, i.e. military life, fundamentalism, perfectionism, etc.;

4. One or more member is a physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual abuser of the others;

5. A major disaster befalls the environment: death of a member; facility destroyed either due to act of Nature or of man; a member is murdered, raped, or is critically injured; a major accident result in permanent disability or death; severe financial problems, e.g., bankruptcy, long periods of unemployment, poverty, etc.

(Continued next week...)

~ Chelle Thompson, Editor ~

FREE SUPER-TOOLBAR HERE LEARN ABOUT XML HERE

CHECK BELOW TO SHARE THIS WITH YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY RETURN TO TOP OF THIS PAGE