walk in beauty

My great find of 2018 was a little gem of a book - "The Alchemy of Abundance" by Rick Jarow.

I first met the author in one of our sessions at the New York Open Center's Integrative Sound and Music Institute - at a nine month certificate program for sound healing.

Rick Jarow, is a practicing alternative career counselor, a professor of religion at Vassar College, and the author of Creating the Work You Love, In Search of the Sacred, Alchemy of Abundance, and more.

His popular seminars, based on years of research and practice with lineage holders in both Eastern and Western traditions, focus on interweaving inner experience with effective action in the world.

warm winter wishes

Celebrating the Earth holidays allow us to bring in new energies that enhance our lives 
as we tune in and flow with the Goddess Gaia and the laws of nature. 

These evocative insights are aptly encapsulated in the beautifully crafted words of David Whyte: 

The Winter of Listening [from "The House of Belonging"]

No one but me by the fire,

my hands burning

red in the palms while

the night wind carries

everything away outside.

All this petty worry

while the great cloak

of the sky grows dark

and intense

round every living thing.

What is precious

inside us does not

care to be known

by the mind

in ways that diminish

its presence.

What we strive for

in perfection

is not what turns us

into the lit angel

we desire,

what disturbs

and then nourishes

has everything

we need.

What we hate

in ourselves

is what we cannot know

in ourselves but

what is true to the pattern

does not need

to be explained.

Inside everyone

is a great shout of joy

waiting to be born.

Even with the summer

so far off

I feel it grown in me

now and ready

to arrive in the world.

All those years

listening to those

who had

nothing to say.

All those years

forgetting

how everything

has its own voice

to make

itself heard.

All those years

forgetting

how easily

you can belong

to everything

simply by listening.

And the slow

difficulty

of remembering

how everything

is born from

an opposite

and miraculous

otherness.

Silence and winter

has led me to that

otherness.

So let this winter

of listening

be enough

for the new life

I must call my own. 

Merry Christmas and here's to another year well lived! 

hope & promise

As the holiday season kicks off, the need to quiet and soften our hearts grows with each passing day.

It is apt for the first week of Advent to be dedicated to Hope.

That cherished desire of anticipation and expectation.

Of a promise obtained or fulfilled.

If we surrendered

to earth’s intelligence

we could rise up rooted, like trees.

Instead we entangle ourselves

in knots of our own making

and struggle, lonely and confused.

So like children, we begin again...

to fall,

patiently to trust our heaviness.

Even a bird has to do that

before [s]he can fly.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours

tolerate | celebrate

shame | pride

blame | acclaim

inadequate | efficient

pathetic | decent

weak | brave

damned | blessed

flawed | beloved

The legend of White Buffalo Calf Woman

Shame means that you are damned. That you have accomplished nothing. Shame is the opposite of art.

Blame means you have trespassed. That you have sinned by omission or overtly. Blame is the opposite of integrity.

Shame or blame turn every emotion into some personality flaw. Every casual choice manifests as a giant mistake. Every small blunder is magnified into a moral failure.

Shame is passive - coating itself in suspicion and embarrassment. Blame is active - using accusation to propel or project its barbs.

Insinuating. Insidious. Infantile.

good intentions & the road to hell

As we celebrate yet another Thanksgiving day, feasting with friends and family, strangers or loved ones, too few know the truth behind this beloved celebration.

The tale of food, football and oppression we celebrate as Thanksgiving. 

Caught between the fiction of what really happened and the ignorance of not bothering to find out, many are divided between grief and gratitude or outraged betrayal and corrupted commercialism.

This new retelling of past pilgrim history recounts their voyage as one of folks fleeing seduction rather than persecution.

Fearing materialistic corruption they fled the comfort of Holland for the unknown wilderness of America.

Much as their intent was to remain pure and holy, they were unprepared for the dire consequences of their dream to risk all for the ideal commonwealth.

To this day we tell ourselves tall tales and misguided misrepresentations of those times. As we sit in the warm comfort of our homes, over tables groaning with food, intent on stuffing ourselves to bursting.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

always remember | never forget

The U.S. shares celebrations on this day along with Great Britain, France, Australia and Canada. All who also commemorate the veterans of WWI and WWII on or around Nov 11.

For Canada it is Remembrance Day, while Britain has Remembrance Sunday which is the second Sunday in November. In Europe, Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries it is common to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. every November 11th.

Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries wear poppies to remember those who died in war. Wearing of the poppy actually started with an American school teacher, but became a symbol of WWI because of the poem "In Flanders Field" by Canadian, John McCrae.

Then and now our world has experienced the devastation and divisiveness wars can take on its people and our nature. For those born and raised in other places, moving to other countries, our loyalties are played upon, deeply wounding and affecting so much.

Let us all take this day to recognize the significance of those who serve. Their bravery won us our freedom and our lives. Peace to us all.

Why vote?

American politics has gotten so warped and deluded. In this Trumpian era it is positively surreal.

Being a rebel, relocated as I may be, I refuse to be stumped by disgruntled disillusion.

To float my cork, I make sure I get my weekly dose of Tea Leoni as Madame Secretary, Elizabeth McCord.

Yes. Why not?

soul identity

Love has no labels, no definitions.

It is what it is, pure and simple.

Love is the Water of Life.

And a Lover is a Soul of Fire.

The Universe turns differently when Fire Loves Water.

~ Rumi's Sun: The Teachings of Shams of Tabriz ~

Ram Dass speaks about the soul being like a step on the ladder that you are later going to throw away. Soul Identity is the process of realizing that you and I exist on more than one plane of awareness simultaneously. On one plane suffering stinks and on another plane suffering is grace.

We feel this in the loss and grief for a beloved, whether it is a person, thing or situation. However much love we invested affects how much we feel the absence when what is so loved is lost.

profane horrors

As New York City prepares for the 45th Annual Village Halloween Parade, we cannot help but draw parallels between this showy shindig and impending elections.

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

wishing on 1.6 billion stars

Photo Credit: Jack Fusco, Star Trails, New Jersey. 

The stars twinkled in the sky.

In space - billions of universes.

Silence.

Resting my forehead in my hand and thinking.

I do not dream.

A big Reality has awoken me,

A truth that strikes the eye,

The truth that is being, visible, unique,

Eternal:

I - under this huge starry dome,

I - perceiving its entirety with my brain,

I relish it, I become one with myself

And slowly - inside - I am restored to myself:

To profound joy and perfect rhythm.

All my thoughts, words and deeds

Were only bringing me closer

To universal embrace:

Here I am resting joyfully in myself,

Wrapped in deep silence on all sides,

And my heart beats in the rhythm of everything

Which surrounds me.

Enough. No need for words.

~ Julian Tuwim, translated by Adrian Thomas. http://tmblr.co/ZjYlFyVzI5BX

Image from "Your Shot," National Geographic. Taken on April 19, 2012, in Strathmere, New Jersey. These star trails show the Milky Way rising over the Atlantic Ocean.

risk & disaster

October 13 is International Day for Disaster Reduction. This was started in 1989 by the United Nations General Assembly. A day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.

The 2018 theme continues as part of the "Sendai Seven" campaign, centered on seven targets of the framework. This year focuses on reducing disaster economic losses in relation to global GDP by 2030.

liberty, justice, freedom

Any recipient of abuse lives with the consequence of their traumatic experience. Each individual manages their own personal experience - dealing with it through whatever means they have available and are capable of. 

Those who have not been abused live in a different world.  Touched or untouched by the abuse of another, some can relate and others cannot. But never in the exact same way the one abused is forever changed - for better or worse. 

September sorrows

The infamous New York City Friday rush had been exacerbated even more by the 73rd United Nations general assembly. Turning NYC gridlock into a huge torturous tangled mass of traffic, maxed out on testosterone security paranoia.

Add a little rain to the mix & we have a grand mess.

This will be the UN Assembly forever remembered as the one where delegates laughed derisively at braggadocio Trump being his narcissistic worst on the world stage. Absolutely cringe worthy to all except himself.

serpentine woes

In a recent post on our wonder | wander | women blog I was just bemoaning the roller coaster ride this September has been for us. We are only half done with the month and it's been incredible as well as exhausting.

Heracles and the Lernaean Hydra by Gustave Moreau

Last year I blogged here on Change Warrior about the double tragedy Filipino Americans mourn every 9/11. The challenges these beloved countries face bear down heavily on their citizens and the rest of the world.

sun & moon & stars rejoice

September 1 is Mahala's birthday and my labor day. Twin celebrations that have brought us a world of joy that expands and deepens with each unfolding year.

I love you!

Here we are - stalker mom staking out her prey.

We got bit by the travel bug.

Happy Birthday! 

blood & gore

We Filipinos have been influenced by our Asian neighbors. Colonized for hundreds of years under the yoke of Spain. Occupied by the US and obsessed with all things American.

As mixed Chinese and Spanish mestizos with bloodlines and lineages still coursing through us - we are torn between the love that birthed us and the curse of our colonizers.

We reach past the birth of our nation. way back in time. Past our local creation narratives, imagining what might have been. To the spontaneous combustion that brought forth this land from the depths of our ranging seas.

Our heritage and history are long lost and largely mis-remembered or retold. Burned and buried in chaos and upheavals - natural or man-made. Attached to their loss or indifferent and ignorant, we hold these painful memories in our genes.

With a new generation of fascists on the rise in too many parts of the world, many protected by government clout and influence even - amnesty is declared over mass graves of countless genocides.

It is simpler for current leaders and legislation to sweep it under the rug in a haze of selective amnesia because if the truth were told no one could afford the cost of reparation.

None of these past atrocities can ever be undone but the fact that we sit and wait hoping enough time will pass to distance ourselves from it is counter productive and fatal for our future.

Forgive? Yes. Forget? No.

The Ghosts Spain Tries to Ignore - art by Marta Monteiro

In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world. ~ Federico García Lorca, “El Duende”

Listen to this lovely heart rending ode to our heroic masses by Luisa A. Igloria, Dear Federico.

Philippines: politics & pimps

You may have heard the adage, "money talks and bullshit walks".

Moving Forward: The Ati & Tumandok People of Panay Island

In our native home islands money driven bullshit reigns supreme. Economic issues drive folks to extremes. Paradise is being sold to the highest bidders.

Money and power fuel land grabbing. Rich folks buy locals out. Corrupt government officials abuse the law, selling what they have no right to.


Money, power or corruption are ever present in our lives. The local people, environment and way of life are all harshly affected.

protest art

The day after Donald Trump took his oath of office as the 45th president of the Unites States of America, the whole world took to the streets in the Women's March. 

Pussy hats at the Women's March protest

Across the country, organizers planned 248 marches in all 50 states. Set to take place on the same day as the main event in Washington, D.C. It was the largest coordinated protest in U.S. history and one of the largest in world history.

Five million strong, diverse individuals and groups on all seven continents came together to stand and be counted. Answering a call to those who believe in a world that is equitable, tolerant, just and safe for all.

divine inspiration

Guru Purnima is a favorite festival celebration of mine. It pays homage to the full brilliance of a summer moon. The symbol of the fullness of a disciple's gratitude for their true teacher.

July 14 - Bison sculpture outside the

Cathedral of St. John the Divine

As vast as the tides contained within the ocean. So too is the depth of gratitude for the awakened state of being this blessing brings.

another year, another birthday

My daughter Mahala is here in the US to celebrate my 62nd birthday with me. It is rare that we are around for each others' birthdays as we live apart most of the year.

At the Roman Gallery, Met Museum

This visit has been particularly packed full because she is only here for four weeks instead of her usual three months.

George Washington Bridge behind us.

‘Resistance’ handbook for America’s snowflakes

This year Independence Day celebrations are pretty dismal in the United States of America. Too many of us are still reeling from the upsetting news of our incarcerated immigrant children.

Children are seperated from their families. Locked up in heavily guarded secret locations. Forced to represent themselves in immigration court. At the mercy of a broken and bigoted government.

The UCLA handbook specifically defines “Trumpism” as a movement that consolidates power through white supremacy, misogyny, nationalism, xenophobia, corporatism, and militarism.

Published by the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at the University of California Los Angeles, a publicly funded institution.

The organization calls on urban planners to abide by four simple rules:

1. Refuse to design, plan, or build systems that divide and oppress communities, including the proposed wall between the US and Mexico.
2. Declare spaces ‘sanctuaries’ to undocumented immigrants, while planning sanctuaries for all victims of injustice.
3. Commit to abolishing mass incarceration and the prison-industrial complex, while expanding ‘abolition’ to all systems that promote racial and social exclusion.
4. Reflect critically and historically on the political economy of planning to understand and resist our complicity in systems of racial capitalism and patriarchy.

“We can begin by calling hateful ideologies by their proper names and working to delegitimize and eliminate them.” ~ UCLA

Keep a watchful eye people of the world. We are the vanguard of the future.

color my world

The weather is gorgeous. Flowers are in full bloom. Trees and bushes are resplendent.

Mahala in coming to town tomorrow - yay! Cause to celebrate for sure.

WoaWomenUrra

Happy days are here.