“The problems of the world will not be solved by the governments of the world. That’s not to say that governments don’t have a profound role to play, because they do. But government is contrained by the inauthentic level of conversation that prevails within it, therefore it will be changes within people’s hearts that drive the changes in government and society rather than changes in government and society that drive change inside people’s hearts.”  ~~ Marianne Williamson

Dear Readers, I just posted the following on my political blog, The Democratic Daily, it explains why it has been so quite around my 3 blogs:

As readers have no doubt noticed it has been pretty quite around here in the past couple of weeks. I have a very full plate since my recent move back home to Massachusetts and I am juggling way too much.

When I first started The Dem Daily nearly 4 years ago, my business was far more stable and I had much more free time on my hands, as I actually could afford part time help to fill orders. The recession has taken a huge toll on my business, as it has on many small businesses. After moving to Maine from Los Angeles 7 months ago in attempt to save some money on living expenses, I found that in order to stay afloat I needed to find a job and run my business on the side.

So, here I am in Massachusetts, where I grew up, with a full time job, a business suffering from the recession and not 1, but 3 blogs (5, if you count my business blogs). Sadly, somethings need to go on the back burner, and that means the blogs get less of my time until the economy picks back up.

All that said, once I more acclimated to my new schedule, I hope to be back here posting more frequently again. And in the meantime, I hope some of the other writers that have posted here in the past will be able to jump in occassionally and keep readers up to date.

Stay tuned…

A few weeks ago I attended an event at MIT with The Dalai Lama. The NY Times has a video interview with His Holiness The Dalai Lama that is well worth watching: An Interview With the Dalai Lama.

As a wholesale supplier of natural bath and body products to small retailers, I wasn’t at all surprised to read the news this morning that “Retail sales fell for a second straight month in April.”

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that retail sales fell 0.4 percent last month, much worse than the flat reading economists expected. The April weakness followed a 1.3 percent drop in March that was worse than first estimated.

Cottage industries like my own have taken a big hit in this recession. My clients are all lagging in sales, as am I. Which brings me to another piece of news…

I moved to Maine about 7 months ago, hoping to save some money living in an area that is cheaper to live than Los Angeles, where I had lived for nearly 19 years. Unfortunately my daughter has been out of work since we got here, and there isn’t much opportunity here for her, or me for that matter. I find for the first time in 12 years, I need to find work to help supplement my business income. So… I am moving again — on May 22.

I’ll be packing up and moving to New Hampshire for a bit to stay with friends and then the ultimate destination is Massachusetts (the Newburyport area).  The good news is, we’ll be back in home in Massachusetts in short time and I’ll be officially a constituent of my 2 favorite Senators — Kerry and Kennedy!

Stay tuned… I’m taking all this change in stride — it’s the next chapter in my great Mid-life Crisis Adventure, fueled by the recession!

[Originally posted at The Democratic Daily]

Last week, I drove down to Massachusetts so that I could attend the inaugural event at MIT’s Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values.

My interest in attending the event was two fold:

• First –  To hear the Dalai Lama speak because I feel he is one of the great spiritual leaders of our times.
• Second – Because I feel strongly about the objective and mission of the Center, which is to “inspire a new generation of 21st century leaders with compassionate responsibility for the global and long-term social, economic, and environmental impacts of their decisions.”

The Center’s inaugural event at MIT was quite different from the large event at Gillette Stadium on Saturday that drew a diverse crowd of nearly 16,000.  

Peppering his talk on promoting ethics and compassion, with his wonderful sense of humor, my first impression of His Holiness, was that he possesses a quality of pure happiness and joy, that I would liken to the happiness that is reflected in a small child. When we are young we are far more open and joyful than we are as adults, because we are not burdened and encumbered with the problems that age and responsibility set upon us.

The Dalai Lama said that he thought the world is experiencing “some disturbances due to global economy,” and though the economy is “human created” it is beyond “human control.” There is he said, “too much greed” in the world and the environmental and ecology problems that we are faced with today, are “intertwined with the economy.” Add to that mix, the fact that “millions of people” are  genuinely “fed up” about violence.

He said that “education can increase our knowledge,” but he also believes that compassion and affection matter too and we must learn to be “compassionate without attachment.” The “objective is unbiased acceptance” as all humans “deserve love, compassion.”

“The infinite unbiased seed comes from compassion — the seed of the potential to increase that comes from compassion.”

A point he pressed upon was that it is not enough to have compassion for your loved ones and friends, what is important is to foster compassion for all, including those who you do not agree with. A prime example of this is the fact that the Dalai Lama has said he “loves” George W. Bush as a person. Some conservative journalists and bloggers have hit upon this and used that to press the point that Bush is a good person.

However, the Dalai Lama has made it clear that he does not agree with Bush’s policies, saying “I have reservations” about them. I know some of my liberal friends and readers might find the Dalai Lama’s affection for Bush hard to swallow, however, the Dalai Lama personifies compassion and acceptance and “loves” everyone. That is his nature, that is the crux of the Buddhist principle, that we can all practice tolerance, compassion and acceptance and in that the world would be a better place. 

In stressing the need for a more diverse secular approach to ethics, the Dalai Lama said that ethics are in “all religions” and in “no religions.” Family values do not comes from religious ideas, but by “nature.” To make his point he asked a Catholic monk in the audience whether secularism meant “rejection of religion.” The monk replied that “it depends on your experience of secularism.”

Laughing the Dalai Lama responded “Very wise answer,” and added, “We need to promote secular ethics through education.” He also stressed that he respects all religions and does not believe Buddhism is best for everyone. “Non believers are really wonderful,” he said, “Secular respects all religions and non believers.”

Imagining a more compassionate world in which science plays a role, the Dalai Lama mused that MIT scientists might someday “invent an injection of compassion” and shops might sell compassion. “I would want that,” he said.

“One good thing of human nature is the mind can change,” he said. “We must find ways to promote ethics and values in a secular way.”

“Religious persons, must be honest. Politicians, must be honest. Scientists, must be honest. Honesty is a rare quality. Religion is compassion. Equality of leadership comes from compassion.”

The Dalai Lama finished his talk at MIT by taking some questions from MIT students. One student asked if he felt there is a comparison of the Native American situation to that of the Tibetans. He responded with a great lesson is understanding past, present and future:

“The past is past. Buddhists – much suffering. No use to keep grieving. Past is past. Future is important. Future depends on present. Present is the seed of our future.”

Another student asked about how someone could apply ethics to working in the weapons industry. The Dalai Lama said he hoped for global demilitarization in this century and went on to say that he wished that scientists could invent a “bullet with consciousness that would not hit innocent people, but decision makers. That kind of bullet needs to be developed.” He wiggled his hand in the air like a traveling bullet and said “Wonderful.”

We may never come to see the day in our lifetime that compassion will come from an injection or bullets will avoid striking the innocent and aim instead for the decision makers, but we can all participate in striving for a more just and compassionate world where our leaders will make decisions based on honesty, understanding and true compassion.

“Ultimately,” the Dalai Lama said, “all trouble is created by humans.” The message that the Dalai Lama stressed throughout his talk at MIT is that through education coupled with science and ethical leadership, we can change that.

[*AP Photo/Steven Senne]

[Originally published at The Democratic Daily.]

I grew up with a large vegetable garden (which was all organic) in our yard in West Newbury, Massachusetts. Every year my father would till the soil and we would all go out and help with the planting, weeding and then when the time came, the picking. The memories of the taste of the just picked vegetables is still ingrained in my mind and now that I have moved back to rural New England, I am anxiously awaiting the last frost so that I can plant my own little vegetable garden here in Eastport, Maine.

Needless to say, I think it’s awesome that the Obama’s are planting a White House kitchen garden, in effort to promote healthy eating.

Today at the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack helped a group of school children, from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, plant seedlings in the White House Kitchen Garden.

Michelle Obama told the children that “the first question she had been asked on her recent trip to Europe was about the garden.”

“Every single person from Prince Charles on down was excited because we are planting a garden,” she said. “In many countries, they believe in the importance of planting a garden and raising your own food.”

AG Secretary Tom Vilsack “gave Mrs. Obama credit for a significant increase in seed sales.”

Both emphasized how inexpensive it can be to have a garden — the White House has said its garden cost $200.

When one child guessed that it would cost “over $100,000,” Mrs. Obama replied, “My husband would go crazy if he thought we were spending that kind of money.”

Sadly, the chemical industry is up in arms over the Obama’s organic garden. The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), who represent big agribusinesses like “Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Crop Protection,” are “less thrilled about the fact that no chemicals will be used to grow the crops.”

The MACA wanted stressed to the Obama’s:

“As you go about planning and planting the White House garden, we respectfully encourage you to recognize the role conventional agriculture plays in the U.S. in feeding the ever-increasing population, contributing to the U.S. economy and providing a safe and economical food supply.”

Contrary to what the MACA would like to stress about the use of chemicals in gardens, the White House Kitchen Garden is however the perfect example of how people can can grow safe and economical food, organically.

It’s time to stop putting chemicals in our food supply and getting back to basics. If more families grew some of their own fruits and vegetables, they would not only save money but they would also improve the quality of their lives. Good for the Obama’s for setting this example.

[Cross posted from The Democratic Daily]

A couple of weeks ago I was down in Newburyport, MA (my hometown) and saw that someone had erected a wind turbine. Not everyone there is happy with the wind turbine, however some get the value and understand that we must utilize alternative energy sources before it’s too late. One of the claims about wind turbines is they make too much noise. A Newburyport resident who drives by every day says not so.

After seeing the wind turbine in Newburyport two weeks ago, I wondered why Eastport, Maine, where I recently re-located to after nearly 19 years in Los Angeles, isn’t working on wind turbines of their own. The cost per KWH of electricity here is outrageous. Part of the problem is the transport of the electricity. A few well placed wind turbines would generate quite a bit of power for the lovely coastal city in the Passamaquoddy Bay and would give residents a break on their electric bills.

Much of coastal Maine has been shown to have “wind resources consistent with utility-scale production,” including the Eastport area. The Mars Hill Wind Farm on the summitt of Mars Hill Mountain here in Maine, “generates approximately 42 megawatts of power, enough to power 45,000 average Maine homes,” when operating at full capacity. 

Even at 35% capacity, the project generates enough power to accommodate at least 22,000 homes. The electricity produced from the Mars Hill Wind Farm results in a reduction of approximately 65,000 tons of carbon dioxide and over 350 tons of other damaging pollutants every year.

Listening to the roaring and howling winds last night and today, and over the months since I moved here, I keep thinking it’s time to harness the wind. And honestly when you think about those roaring and howling winds, they are probably noisier than a few combined wind turbines.

In early January, the Maine Public Utilities Commission introduced a new incentive program for Maine residents and business owners who are interested in installing wind turbines to produce electricity.  

I am fully aware of all of the debates over wind turbines and I have even written in the past, that I was not completely convinced of their benefit over the possible negatives. However, 5 months of the highest electric bills I’ve ever paid in 30 years or more, does give pause for thought.

We can’t be dependent on oil forever and I think that utilizing local resources is vital. Tidal power is another excellent resource to look at in this area, and thankfully there is something in the works here on that realm, though it still has quite a long way to go.

I love living in Eastport, but there have been challenges. Eastport is beautiful little city that has much to offer and it’s time to begin to revitalize it.

A small wind turbine project would bring much needed work to the area (even if only temporary), lower electricity rates over a period of time and give residents and business owners a much needed break on winter bills. With that, perhaps in time more small businesses would be able to flourish here in the winter months, rather than close their doors until the weather breaks.

Eastport was once, from what I understand a thriving little city. That could happen again, but residents must be willing to move towards the future and embrace alternative energy as a both an energy source and an economic boost for the area.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves. — His High Holiness, The Dalai Lama

Today marked the 50th anniversary of The Dalai Lama’s exile from Tibet. I am constantly astounded by The Dalai Lama’s inner peace when it comes to Tibet. I admire his will, but I believe it is time for a Free Tibet.

Over the past few weeks I have noted in a few posts that I am preparing to move across country. I’ve kept meaning to write more about the move and let readers know what’s up but have been so busy with all the preparations, that I haven’t had time to blog about much of anything some days (once I am re-settled in my new home Down East, I’ll be writing more).

So here’s the scoop, readers…

After 19 long years of living in Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley), I am moving back to the East Coast. I am originally from a small city on the coast of Massachusetts — Newburyport. I am heading further North in my move however, and will be living in Eastport, Maine:

Eastport, Maine is a beautiful small coastal community on the border of Canada. It’s a fishing port and artist community that is surrounded (as you can see from the map above) on three sides by water. I’ve missed living near the ocean, so I am thrilled to be moving back to my roots in New England, and particularly to move to Maine which has been a dream for many years.

I will be setting out from Los Angeles three weeks from today (October 19) with my daughter (and our cat, Zeus) and a friend to embark on a great adventure, driving cross country (from the South West corner to the North East corner) to our new home in Eastport, Maine. Thankfully, my business is a wholesale internet based business that I can run from just about anywhere.  

The economy has made it nearly impossible for me to afford to live (and run my business) in Los Angeles any longer. The latest turn of events in the economic mess has reinforced that the move will be a positive one. Housing in the Eastport area is a fraction of the cost here in Los Angeles. I’ll be renting a little 2 bedroom duplex from my niece and her husband to start and hope that in a year or two, I finally be able to buy my own home.

My new home will be about 1/2 mile walk to the ocean. On any given day in Eastport, Maine you can see Whales off the coast, Seals basking on the rocks and Canadian Geese, Eagles and other Raptors over head. And, there’s deer, racoons and bobcats in the woods and absolutely gorgeous views of seasmoke, sunrises and sunsets over the water.

An artist by nature, I used to paint years ago and I look forward to taking that up again and finally finishing my novel I started years ago. I’ll be living in just the right peaceful atmosphere to re-inspire my artistic nature and I’ll be among community rich with artisans.

While I’m on the road, I’ll be offline most of the time, I hope that all of The Dem Daily writers will keep readers up to date on all the election and political news during that time. There’s lots of incredible photos of the Eastport area at EasternMaineImages.com for any readers interested in seeing what the draw is for this small town New Englander to head back to her roots. Ironically, Eastport, Maine “was first settled in 1772 by James Cochrane of Newburyport, Massachusetts,” which adds to the sense that I belong there. And of course there is the opportunity to live near family which is something my daughter and I have missed out on here in Los Angeles for years.

I will miss all my wonderful friends here in Los Angeles, including the bloggers here like SteveAudio and his lovely wife Pam, Skippy and Brad Friedman - to name a few. I’ve had a rich and wonderful life while living in Los Angeles, but now it’s time for a new chapter in my life. Stay tuned…

[Cross posted on my political blog: The Democratic Daily]

I love the ocean.

I’ve redesigned more than a few templates over the past few years, mostly on my political blog, The Democratic Daily, but today, I also just finished a redesigned template for my two business website blogs — Aromatherapywholesale.com and Aromatherapygoddess.com.

Setting up this blog today was a long overdue whim. When I ran across this theme while searching for a theme I could redesign, I realized this theme was just about perfect as is, at least for now. I lived on the coast of Massachusetts for 33 years. I was never more than a 5 – 10 mile drive from the ocean.

For the past 18 1/2 years, I’ve lived in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley and it’s just a bit farther than comfortable for my taste. I miss being able to drive to the ocean every day, if the spirit moves me.

So, in lieu of daily trips to the ocean and and a more rural lifestyle, I settle for photographs of the seaside and lovely potted garden outside of my apartment door.

All said and done, this theme suits my mood for now… For I long to be by the ocean on a daily basis. Perhaps it’s because I just finished reading Ahab’s Wife and it made me home sick for Massachusetts and the rich seafaring history of my hometown, Newburyport. Or perhaps, it’s just because I miss the ocean.

Last summer I spent a few days out in Malibu housesitting for a friend and on the last day, sitting on the rocks at the ocean’s edge I realized how totally empty my my mind was of all my worries and cares. It was just me and the movement of the waves. Still, but flowing. Relaxed and renewed. It’s time for a vacation. Or at the least a day trip to the beach.  

Enough rambling for now…