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The fish would help me to connect to a novel perspective again. So far, they would encourage me to accept the fluidity of life and re-group effectively, passionately, aesthetically, happily, delightfully and much more.


The theory is - according to Stephen in Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm - that you go back to earlier ways of seeing to re-open the doors of perception. Hence, I started by seeing virtually nothing only darkness and gloom, but, very gradually, I began to see beyond the surface and start recognizing color and form and soon a shoal of fish in an ever-changing colorful grouping - from doom and gloom to amazing uplifting beauty!

But let's backtrack a little. This fishpond was an old discarded container for washing clothes, used before the time of washing machines. It seemed quite ugly without a purpose but now it has one: to suggest novel story lines for our lives as we meditate by means of its reflections.

Nothing stands still: everything must adapt or die. It is a wonder how beautiful the process really is!

 
Yesterday, our last beloved Shelty, Cassius died. I can find him again in all that I love, in every step I take, every moment I turn aside, look up or down and all around. I recall the world through his ears, eyes and special doggy senses, which are tuned to joy and happiness in its purest form
 
“I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.” 
― L.M. MontgomeryAnne of Green Gables

“No man, no power, can bind the action of wizardry or still the words of power. For they are the very words of Making, and one who could silence them could unmake the world.” 
― Ursula K. Le GuinThe Farthest Shore


“Bob Marley isn't my name. I don't even know my name yet.” 
― Bob Marley
The Naming is still in progress:

Health and Fitness Centre?  Fitness & Well-Being Centre?  Life Enrichment Centre?   Body/horse Sense? Namaste Now!  Another name, a completely new name?

Some examples might help us to see how these names have been used and stimulate further thought.

Follow the links:  Life Enrichment Centre, Horse Sense, Namaste, ...

So what if we create the most amazing health and fitness centre in the world here? What will happen? 

Some possible answers:

1. People will be healthier and fitter.

2. It will generate health and prosperity for the whole community

3. Portugal will become the Garden of Europe again

4. Books, stories and games will be created about it 

5.We will be able to live here happily ever after, celebrating the values associated with the Lusitano horse:-)



What will we need? 

Possible answers:


Needs

  1. A guiding vision – authentic health and fitness (through and through – eco, including restaurant and production, independent water, sustainable power, to include spirituality) (gym teacher + physiotherapist program and activity)

  2. An understanding of how to express it: Seven Standards of Textuality*; message structure, verbal, voice (musicality the music of emotions – N.B.:reading with music as a background) and body language.

  3. Living examples of the vision – horses are powerful examples, but, in general, you can take the very smallest to the largest creatures alive such as Gaia – the living planet.

  4. Space to experiment and 'work out'

  5. Time to enact the vision: see 'play'

  6. It will need to create a flow of income (call in the economist, the expert in tourism)

  7. It will need to promote respect for the individual's right to do it his/her way – Blake's quote on systems. e.g. Rosa Mota - 'person centric health')

  8. It will need clear concise guiding principles (See the Power of the Herd by Linda Kohanov)

  9. An understanding of the reasons for its existence – to make life possible at all – an understanding of what we must relinquish – see transformation – metamorphosis – need for sustainability (call in the Psychologist and  an Expert in Nature: geography/environment). See Indian quote, Only when... and texts like, No Morning After by Arthur C Clarke 

  10. Cooperation (between people 'the will' ) (call in the International Relations Specialist/ Tourist Expert) )

  11. It will reject mindless repetition. Note, real communication/meaning is about significant differences e.g. yeeeeeeeeeeeeees - experiences! It MUST cater to the individual.

  12. It will need electronic space on the Internet...

  13. It will need someone to mastermind it/ to orchestrate it... (See Barack Obama: Second Inaugural Address?)


So how about the name, Namaste Now! 
Genuine Heath must be about mutual respect, mustn't it? 

While we consider, let's look at Seven Rules of Life - adapted from Whisper of the Heart:

1. Make peace with your past so it won't poison the present.


2. What others think of you is none of your business.


3. Time heals almost everything; give it time.


4. Don't compare your life to others and don't judge them. You have no idea what their journey is all about.


5. Stop thinking too much; it's alright not to know the answers. They will come to you when you least expect it.


6. No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.


7. Smile. You don't own all the problems in the world. 

So number 5 seems particularly relevant at this moment or, on the other hand, 7:-) 








  
 
"Live and let live and discover your own brand of Emotional Heroism" ICR
"If you want more participation, you must permit more freedom." ICR
"As things stand, sooner or later, they will come and eat them; expressing the horses' message is my top priority!
How can you make something out of nothing? Nothing comes from nothing. People have been piecing their existence together from the beginning of time, yes, little by little. Hence, the challenge is to create something lasting that can not be 'taken' away. That stands invincible - a powerful meme. Hence, I have been working around the notion of a health and fitness centre - THE MOST AMAZING HEALTH AND FITNESS CENTRE OF ALL TIMES.
Well, I can just imagine the response 'this' is likely to create: the horses are very proud of you: neigh sayers, aren't we all? And rightly so - to be discerning is of the utmost importance, for the road to Hell is paved with Good Intensions, isn't it?
Did you know that in every horse there is a still-born foal that never saw the light of day, unrealized lost potential?  And this is not just true of the horse but each of us as well! So my intention is to help you discover the song of the horses and teach you to sing it loud and clear. Come on. Put your life on the line and shine: discover the joys of excellent health.
 
I am surprisingly well, having rediscovered myself and my appreciation for life. Yes, it is discovering the magic moments that make the day complete and perfect despite what can happen -  such moments can never be taken away and are extended into everything you do.

Invariably, it is the horse that triggers this feeling for me and may do the same for you: raises us above ourselves, both physically and mentally. But why should this be necessary?

"Consciousness today has grown enormously in breadth and extent, but unfortunately only in the spatial dimension and not in the temporal, otherwise, we should have a much more living sense of history. If our consciousness were not of today only, but had historical continuity, we should be reminded of similar transformations of the gods in Greek philosophy, and this might dispose us to be more critical of our present philosophical assumptions. We are, however, effectively prevented from indulging in such reflections by the spirit of the age." Jung 

So how do you break that spell? Yes, the horses, but how specifically?Today I looked out of my bedroom window and Frida was looking up at me.... could I have photographed that? Yes, if I had had the camera at the ready, yes, if the battery had been charged ahead of time. Preparation is important and I wasn't prepared although I was lucky enough to experience the moment.

But could the camera have captured what I felt? The pleasure that she was looking for me, at me, wanting to reach me? The pleasure I felt seeing the glossy black reflection running up and down her head, reflecting health and vitality?

“Matter is just as inscrutable as mind.” Jung 

But I would speak of it... I would tell others about it, even knowing just how impossible it is to convey a direct experience.

“Man's advance toward the Logos was a great achievement, but he must pay for it with a loss of instinct and loss of reality to the degree that he remains in primitive dependence on words.” Jung

Yes, we pride ourselves on our words, but they must remain forever superficial. At best sign posts pointing to the heavenly world that at times we chance upon and are re-membered.





 
The many species that constitute the living world have no voice to ask for our compassion, wisdom and leadership: participating in ‘breaking the silence’ is an act of solidarity...


In most meetings, pride or caution still forbids one to say what one feels most deeply. The noise of the world is made out of silences. T Zeldin 

"So to the wretched writer I should like to say that there’s one body only whose request for your caresses is not vulgar, is not unchaste, untoward, or impolite: the body of your work itself; for you must remember that your attentions will not merely celebrate a beauty but create one; that yours is love that brings it own birth with it, just as Plato has declared, and that you should therefore give up the blue things of this world in favor of the words which say them"

And so enter the horse. Our five wonderful horses are here, waiting for you to discover them, waiting to answer the yearning for communication that knows no bounds, that transcends and yet is immanence. You walk in the mist and drizzle, not knowing that the horse is at hand with its own sense of clarity, power and enlightenment. There is no need to mount and jump the precipice: simply share presence with one of these horses and you are over on the other side, back in Eden in the world as it was truly made to be. And now you are a part of it and can breathe a sigh of relief. You are whole.
 
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So what do YOU see? Something prostrate in front of you. Maybe some sort of bird. To the left might be a leg and claw.  Yes, there is a duck's head or is it a seagull's?  If you look really hard and then relax a little, you might just see a fallen angel. For what you see in front of you is a piece of the Tree of Life. In essence it is everything, all creatures great and small. 
 
"Life has always seemed to me like a plant that lives on it rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in the rhizome. The part that appears above the ground lasts only a single summer. Then it withers away – an ephemeral apparition. When we think of the unending growth and decay of life and civilizations, we cannot escape the impression of absolute nullity. Yet I have never lost a sense of something that lives and endures underneath the eternal flux. What we see is the blossom, which passes. The rhizome remains." Carl Jung   


 
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It is strawberry time and here is its secret message: humanity is still sufficiently diverse in its genes so that what affects one adversely affects another conversely – it can be a powerful medicine promoting health and well being under specific circumstances.


On a humorous note, a strawberry reminds me of the pores on my nose... eaten in combination with yoghurt the pores are covered as I eat the strawberry and then I seek the flavour of the strawberry in the cream... I don't feel I want to taste it directly... and when I do I feel disappointed: it doesn't taste right... And there is a reverse side to this. I don't much like plain yoghurt. It doesn't taste right. I like its taste in combination with strawberry or apricot. This seems to be very specific - very specific to me and my state of being and the time of year. It is not something that attracts me at all in winter but rather in Spring and Summer. Hence, at certain times, I reach out, consume and am consumed by strawberries and cream so that I am part of the strawberry. My nose and the strawberry are as one. But I would not bite my nose off to spite my face – caution, moderation, the right balance of 'face' cream....  


And when there is little fruit, what about strawberry leaf infusion? - a cool, healthy drink for most of us!
 
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The Empty Space in the Sustainability Equation

The Fallen Tree is Made to Rise Again – Life Eternal




Life must be understood as an Art : the art of replenishing.... Not long ago we had a lemon tree that was so heavy with fruit that it toppled and fell. I had it pruned and pulled up straight by means of a tractor and a lot of effort. But, although the tree still lives, it has never produced another lemon and has become weaker and weaker. You see, its time had come: the fallen tree is made to rise again, but not in its previous form. Neither is it dead wood but would enter into a new phase of life.


The termites come. The rain, the wind and the sun and the winter cold. It is like a fountain of life supplying food particles – nutrients – to make the earth fertile for the existing life surrounding it... We do not know what will come next, but should feel reassured that life WILL spring anew. 

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horses, camellias, paradigm shift, perspective, innovation,