Linda’s Writings on Everything

I see many, many Americans (and others) learning how to survive, thrive, and absolutely love life in this changing economy.
I see all of us regularly accessing our creativity, our intelligence, and our love and caring, in daily periods of meditation, prayer, or whatever works for you to tune into your Divine Guidance or Intuition.
I see all of us finding creative, compassionate, truly workable ways to help each other and ourselves.
There are people who know how and where to find free food, often in dumpsters, that is still relatively fresh and not spoiled or disgustingly rotten.  There are people who are Urban Gardeners, or are willing to learn how to grow their own food and healing herbs.  I think it’s a good idea to learn from somebody who truly loves to garden, and is a patient and willing, ready teach to the newbies.  Or else find a patch of dirt and grow something, and learn from experience, and perhaps a good gardening book, website, or informative garden store!
There are people who are willing to bicycle everywhere possible, use public transit, find creative ways to cut down use of gas and cars, carpool, or else center more of their lives around home, work and play and social wise.
There are the Shamans and the Dreamers, (code word “artist”) in our society, who know how to access the Invisible Realms and bring back art, literature, music, movies, creative ideas that benefit society or some segment thereof.  The grounding of your creative ideas begins the moment you start to set it down on paper, canvas, film, digital or analog recorder, or what-have-you.
The first draft of writing anything is “just to lay down track”.  The track has to be laid down before the train can run on it, or carry passengers from station to station.  Second and third drafts are for cleaning up grammar, spelling, punctuation-and of course, firming up things like plot, character, dialogue, and descriptions of scenes with the various five (or more) senses.  And then there’s the matter of searching for a publisher who is likely to want to publish your “piece”, drafting a good, brief query letter, and sending it off.  Almost like a ritual, well known to many published, paid, and professional writers.
I see a world where people can find imaginative ways to do all kinds of fun things without having to have a huge pile of money first!  Or working hard at a job they despise, just to get “security”.  Um, security is a state of mind.  The state of your wallet or bank account is linked to your state of mind, and your core beliefs about who you are, what you deserve, and if it’s possible for you to grow prosperous while doing stuff you love to do, and being honest, legal, and loving about it all.
I see a world where people are reinventing relationships of all kinds, including romance and intimate, committed partnerships involving sex (among many other things).  I see a growing trend of Ethical Polyamory, a lifestyle where committed couples allow outside sex partners, and everybody gets to negotiate agreements that keep everybody safe, happy, and healthy.  Not everybody agrees with this sort of relationship lifestyle, but you gotta admit, it’s coming out into the open, much like sex that involves somebody being tied up, spanked, or doing other erotic activities that strike some people as a bit bizarre or even weird-but loving every minute, and being safe, sane and consensual about it!
I see a world where everybody is becoming more honest with themselves and others, in gently loving ways.  Tough love where it’s needed.  An ability to “call them on their bulls***” without losing a good friendship or causing insult or hurt feelings.  (This works best among trusted friends or in strong 12-Step groups).
I see a world where everybody just knows when they’re being lied to, and tuning out those media outlets that still lie to us about Iraq, the economy, or whatever.
I think that the moment you are no longer willing to put up with being lied to or abused or treated poorly, that is the moment when your world shifts.
Good health is a decision.  The state of mind and spirit very much influence the body.  It makes a HUGE difference what sort of food and drink you put into your body regularly.  I can’t say enough about the importance of adequate, quality sleep and exercise.  Strong, loving community and deep friendships plus harmonious relationships with family and intimate beloveds, and the Earth and Sky, are just as vital to good health as “eating right”, exercising, and making yourself a happy, loving, useful, and friendly member of society.
I see a world where everybody’s dreams are supported.  Where everybody gets to do the kind of profession they TRULY desire, while accepting and working with the kind of job they’re stuck with for the moment!  I see a world where we are enough, we do enough, and we have enough.  I see a world where everybody who wants to, can afford to go to the college or other school of their choice, and have enough time, money, energy, and wisdom to afford, say, sufficient art supplies, books, paper, pens, food, etc.!
I see a world where everybody is willing to let go of excess.  Where all the problem drinkers finally find their way to Alcoholics Anonymous.  Where all those currently addicted to illegal drugs, toxic sex, too much shopping, junk food, or relationships with jerks or people who use you, all find their way to a 12-Step program that deals with that.
Why do I promote the 12 Steps so much?  They work!  They help me deal with life as it is now.  And help me build life as I wish it to be.
I hope you enjoy this article.

Copyright 2008 by Linda M. Smith

Cars That Run On Solar Power Alone….. REVOLUTION!! Wave of the future…. link below….

http://www.sierraclub.org/wecandoit/home/electric_cars.asp

My God! I predict these guys will be SWAMPED with email’s asking where can I get one of these? How do these things work? God bless you… this is the WAVE of the FUTURE….

If nothing else, $4 per gal gas will make enough Americans and others DISGUSTED with these STUPID, cut throat gas prices….. and everybody can go SOLAR when driving!

Come on…. more people would love to give up these dirty, outdated, fuel-burning vehicles…. you might as well throw all your money out of your wallet at the gas station and toss out your credit cards for good measure…. geez……

OR GET ONE OF THESE THINGS…..

OK. Prize goes towards the 21st Century Henry/Henrietta Ford who can manufacture a lot of these Solar Powered Cars, at an AFFORDABLE price, but with good materials and pay the workers well…. (yep that’s asking a lot, but consider the alternative…. scarey….)

1.    Eat vegetarian. Meat animals consume lots of grains that could go to feed people. 2. Give up “junk food” and empty calories. Eat “real” food…. fresh fruits, vegetables, brown rice, yogurt, tofu. 3. Garden! Grow some of your food. 4. Ask for more Organic Farmer’s Markets of locally grown foods. 5. Learn to cook simple, fresh, delicious food. Whole wheat or corn pizza with fresh veggies and cheese instead of commercial take-out pizza. 6. Drink more fresh water. What you put into your mouth GREATLY influences your health. What comes out of your mouth, the words you use, influence your health and your world, for better or worse. Words create reality. 7. Collect some cookbooks, use them, and use other cultures to inspire your cooking. Indian Food is tasty, and much of that is Vegetarian. Asian foods, European cuisine, raw foods, yum! 8. Hyper-active kids and prisoners and others can grow food and stay out of jail or detention.

WHITE SUGAR IS A DRUG. If you don’t believe me, watch a bunch of kids after they’ve consumed too much Halloween or Easter candy. They turn into little brats or wild animals. Or worse. Do you think there’s a connection between consuming white flour, white sugar, and diabetes? Substitute dried fruit for sugary treats for anybody with a chronic sweet tooth. Brown bag your own lunch. Save money. Save calories. I wonder if there are so many obese Americans due to lack of exercise and too much goddam junk food, McDonalds, white sugar, white flour crap? Believe me, eating FRESH, WHOLE, ORGANIC foods will give you ENERGY. Detoxing from empty, sugary foods is a bear. But once you get used to a good diet, you will CRAVE VEGETABLES and not empty junk. Many people use Food As Anesthesia. I have fallen for that one, myself. Try Overeaters Anonymous. They use the same 12 Steps as AA. It really works, if you work it. Use Google or the phonebook to find them!

Both of these pieces were first published in SFGate.com’s comments section, in response to a piece on the current World Hunger Crisis….

Advice that actually works because I use it….

1.    STOP USING CREDIT CARDS.  No more unsecured debt!
2.    Get a little notebook and pen, and keep track of every dollar that you spend on anything at all, as well as all income, and all the payments you make to pay down what debt you do have.  This is to gain clarity about where all the money comes from, and where it is going!  Itemize these expenses into categories such as Food, Clothing, Car Expenses, Rent or Mortgage, Pets, Health & Beauty, etc.  Note the date, amount spent, and what it’s spent on.
3.    Buy or go to the local library and read Suze Orman’s books, especially “Women and Money”.  She’s the Lady Money Guru, in my opinion.
4.    Start a Savings Account if you haven’t got one already.  Put money into it regularly.  10% of your total gross income, before taxes or other deductions, is a good ideal to strive for.  If you can’t manage that, then even putting away $50 a month EVERY MONTH is a good idea.  Logic tells us that if we spend less than we earn, then our money is going to increase, not decrease!
5.    If you’re really struggling with credit cards, debt, money, paying the bills, balancing the checkbook, or “retail therapy” (shopping as anesthesia), please try Debtors’ Anonymous.   They use the same 12 Steps as Alcoholics Anonymous, changing only the words “alcohol” and “alcoholic” to “debt” and “compulsive debtor”.
6.    Also highly recommended, “Money Drunk/Money Sober” by Julia Cameron and Mark Bryant.  I own this book, have used its program, and it’s very good!  It’s a 12-week program.
7.    If you’re aware of where the money is coming from, and where it’s going, you can find areas where you can cut back without depriving yourself of necessities or a few small luxuries.  It is important to pamper yourself with some nice, small treats-buy fresh flowers for yourself, go see a movie, treat yourself to a basket of fresh blueberries each week, or get a nice, used paperback book or CD.  It’s VERY important to not feel “deprivation.”
8.    Some relevant URLs,  http://www.debtorsanonymous.org   http://www.suzeorman.com
9.    Please balance your checkbook.  If your math skills are questionable, buy a good calculator and carry it with you and your checkbook.  Open every bill that comes in the mail, take a deep breath, pray to God for the willingness and ability to pay it.  You must pay your rent or mortgage, or find a cheaper place, or some other creative way to reduce that expense if you are really hard-up.  You must pay all your utility bills.  Try having an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE to the people nice enough to pipe electricity, water, cable TV, or phone and Internet service to you!
10.      Restaurants can be expensive and the food is not always organic, healthy, or fresh.  Rediscover the Joy of Cooking at home!  Go vegetarian.  Grow your own vegetables and herbs.  Beans and grains are cheap and easy to make soups and other delicious dishes with.  You can spend way too much money riding the taxi and ordering delivery food, when brown-bagging it and walking are so much better for you AND your waist-line!
11.      Find a sane way to gradually pay off all your credit card debt.   DO NOT deprive yourself of your NEEDS, such as Food, Rent, Utilities, or Clothes, or your WANTS, such as some luxuries-books, music, movies, a beauty treatment or massage or taking a nice art class at a local community college or adult school.
12.      CATEGORIES:  Artists should budget for things like Art Supplies.  Parents should budget for things like Children’s Clothes and other expenses.  Those who are Married With Children are going to have different financial priorities and time constraints than the Single and Alones.  The elderly will have different needs, desires, and thus priorities, from the young or the middle-aged.  Pet owners should budget separately for Pet Food and Supplies (include Veterinary Costs).
13.      Plan for Expenses that are Recurring but Not Monthly.  Such as Car Insurance, for those lucky enough to own and afford a car.  There are good, used cards out there.  Try Consumer Reports Used Car Buyers Guide, put out annually.  Consumer Reports puts out annual guides on Major Purchase Items, and what are the best TVs, Stereos, MP3 players, Cell Phones, etc.  They are truly objective, unlike the Advertisers of products.
14.       Learn to comparison shop for a bargain.  What features do you REALLY need or want in an mp3 player or cell phone?  What can you do without?  Smart phones cost more than the basic, dial the number and text message generic cell.  Try the 72 HOUR RULE.  Do you really NEED that new gadget or other thing you WANT so much to buy?
15.      Think about RETIREMENT.  And VACATIONS.  And EDUCATION costs, for you and/or your kids.  And of course CHRISTMAS.  I bet many banks let you open separate Savings Accounts for you to set aside funds for these things, which Lord knows can be costly-or frugal, depending on how creative you are willing to be at Saving Money Without Depriving Yourself or Loved Ones and Good Friends of the Fun Stuff….

I see and hear the news of our American Economy quickly crumbling.  Makes me wonder…. is this a necessary Next Stage in our Collective Evolution as a species?  Is this an Opportunity to Reinvent Life on Planet Earth to something much more Divinely Femine, much more environmentally sound, and much more friendly to those people who do not have money, cars, or jobs as such?

The fact is, society needs us Shamans.  Except in American culture, at least, some of us shamans are labeled “mentally disabled”.  I don’t know why so many feel frightened by those of us who tell our stories of hearing Voices, seeing Visions, and flying off to Alternative Realities.  Let alone why people feel a need to Go Into Fear or Disapproval whenever they see one of us Shamans behaving in ways considered socially unacceptable.

There’s a big difference between the merely annoying or absolutely irritating and even scary, and outright violence, addiction, or going all destructive of self or others.  When I was publicly yelling, I may well have been channeling Mother Earth.  Mother Earth could have chosen me as a channel to say ENOUGH ALREADY!! STOP THE WAR!! QUIT RAPING ME!!

Much experience has shown me that public yelling attracts either a studied attempt to ignore me (at best), or people who make fun of me and call me “crazy”, as if I were a chair or a tree, instead of a human being who can see and hear very well, thank you very much!  Or, at the very worst, some person with a clear potential for violence or else explosive and loud anger!  (Many times, the latter was an African-American).  African-Americans often feel pushed-around, hemmed-in and oppressed by us whites, and perhaps they have a very good reason to do so.  The built-in racism that blacks must often cope with, which we whites just don’t get to be on the receiving end of.  Like it or not, many blacks are put in prison.  Often they are young, and from poor backgrounds, and many were caught doing or dealing illegal drugs of various kinds.  God help these people to restore their hopes and dreams for a good education, decent paying work, or a happy life as an artist, writer, musician, or parent who has time and energy to raise and enjoy their children.

Essential services that are based on one’s ability to pay more money than one has…. well, that’s fucked!  And I can see this lifestyle is passing away, and quickly!

The box outside of which we are asked to think, is of course, the box of Space and Time.  Many people carelessly throw around words of disaster, disease, and scarcity of all kinds.  “There’s a flu bug going around,” “Property in the city of your choice is much too expensive for you to afford” and “all the good men are taken” or “men are such jerks”.  Need I go on?

Spoken words create reality.  The same words, repeated over and over, create reality a lot FASTER.  People really ought to be MUCH more vigilant about what they allow themselves to voice outloud.  It takes as much effort to speak only words of radiant health, deep friendship, true love, sexual pleasure, and all kinds of desired things, as it does to complain about the “down side” of life.

WHO SAYS I can’t do whatever I want, just because the money may not be in the form of green pieces of paper, little shiny round coins, or numbers on the screen of my bank account on-line?  THE WEALTH IS PRESENT AS A STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.  IT IS UNIVERSAL SUBSTANCE.  We mold this substance through our repeated mental images, our words, written or spoken, and yes even our thoughts and strong emotions, be they love or fear or anger, lust, resentment, bliss, hope, or that firm feeling you get when you just KNOW everything’s gonna be alright…..  Even though the Miracle has yet to happen….. it comes, like a breaking ocean wave…..

We’ve heard the news.  Many more home foreclosures.  Oil going sky-high.  Food becoming more expensive, especially such common items as wheat and corn.  Meat producing plants being shut down due to animal cruelty.

I see this as an opportunity to switch currency-from Money to Love Consciousness.

The word “currency” generally refers to money.  The dollar is American currency, the Euro is European currency.  Split the word “currency” and you get “current” and “see”.  Energy occurs in currents.  You see currents of energy dancing between lovers in rainbows of light and sweet, orgasmic love and bliss.  Different areas of the human body give off different kinds of currents.  The heart has its own neurological network.  It’s as if there’s another brain contained in the heart, as well as the head, and of course, the belly.

What if the world were run on love, rather than money?  What if “the new bottom line” is Protect the Earth, Serve The People, and Do What You Love for Work?  As opposed to “make money at any cost”.

This is a good time NOT to panic.  What the mainstream media have not yet discussed is the Light and Love being beamed at us from the Center of the Galaxy.  There’s a spiraling kind of energy there that looks much like a giant DNA helix.  There’s also a big, Black Hole in the middle of our galaxy.  I’ve traveled there in my dreams.  I think this Big Black Hole is basically like a Womb, or the Dark Female, or the Chaos Before Creation.

I find the best way to deal with Anarchy or Chaos, is to Stay Heart-Centered.  Make decisions from your Heart, and not your Head.  Anything at all that comes not from love and joy and the greatest good for all beings concerned, is falling apart “like a taco under water”.

I think it’s good that the American Economy is crashing.  Too many people showing up to work at jobs they do not love, to bring home money in order to buy useless crap and watch totally inane and stupid television shows that insult the intelligence as well as the soul.

I wonder why people occupy their minds with the mundane as a way of escaping the pain of their unexamined, unlived lives.  We might as well call it Media Addiction.  Why not spend some of that time meditating, writing in your journal, painting, making love, or playing with your children, animals, and friends?  Life is tough enough as it is.

The New American Economy will be based on Love, and on your Ability and Willingness to Create Paradise in Thought, Word, and Deed.  I suggest that if you find yourself depressed or overwhelmed, turn off the f****** TV or computer, and GO OUTSIDE and breathe fresh air, hug trees, take a walk, and see the life all around you.  Or else go into your Sacred Space and meditate.

OH…. and learn Sacred Sexuality!  I’ve found a way to get high, legally, without addiction or spending money or going anywhere or doing anything.  I call it DAILY MEDITATION.  It’s the same thing for me as SEXUAL ECSTASY.  Heck, even the Celibates can do it!  In fact,  many voluntary (and some of us involuntary) celibates DO do it!  I think Jack Nicholson is starting to do it.  He’s probably tired of nothing but sex, sex, sex.  I think he’s finding out that endless screwing around tends to get old after awhile…..

And believe me, I love sex, too.  I’ve had my lifetimes of endless screwing around.  With select men and women, of course!  Mostly men!  I may well enjoy such a lifestyle again.  At least in the upper realms!  But that’s a story for another post.