World Wishes

I wish for amazing”ness” and the exceptional.

I wish for a world of kind gestures and inclusiveness where love and compassion overpower all ills, all wrongs and all fears. The smallest, the oldest and the weakest are engulfed in belonging and no one goes hungry, is harmed by fear or struggles to have a voice.

I wish for a world of sharing where we support one another’s well being and the advancement of individual potential. We create, innovate and inspire with our work and through our actions.

I wish for a world of gentleness where we unite to enhance the quality of life for each individual, every creature and consider the value of even a single blade of grass. Here, we strive for healing, inspire service and seek to help the lonely, the frightened, and lost.

I wish for a world where we grow up bathed in love and learn there are no limits to possibility  Where we believe in amazingness and the exceptional. 

if you have a  more time:

Please support me, yourself and the environment by trying these organically crafted, safe and ethical health and beauty products:

https://us.nyrorganic.com/shop/lorensheaanderson

and visit me on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/dancingrabbit22/

The Potential

The Dream

Riding on the metro, Lee’s thoughts drifted off to where he would be if he could live the life he wanted.

Lee read in one of his Facebook memes that creative people tend to be night owls. He agreed if for no other reason than to validate his creative side. That’s when I have my best inspirations, he thought to himself.

His first poem reflected the struggles of his own childhood. His words were so raw, rich, and beautifully crafted that they jumped off the page and into a vision of his classmates and teachers who were transported by his talent.

After high school, Lee missed the opportunities he experienced to share his world of creative inspiration with others. He couldn’t go off to college like his friends, but his mother managed to contribute some funds toward a creative writing class at the local community college. He blossomed there.

Lee’s first ever short story involved a thoughtful utopian world without the need or interference of money. His instructor was so impressed with his execution of ideas, she encouraged him to publish in the Student Collection - the college’s literary magazine. 

Lee was proud to see his work in print and brought home extra copies to share with his mom, sister and college friends. They praised him. He still remembers how great it felt to be acknowledged for what he loved doing.

The Box

This morning, Lee woke up at 5 a.m. in order to get to his job as an intake clerk at the hospital. He hated getting up so early. More than that, he hated what he was doing to make ends meet and how depleted of joy it made him feel.

For Lee, there was nothing creative about entering patient data into the computer. Lee’s boss complained he was too slow and was causing backlogs of patients. This just made him more unhappy. Not only was he not able to do anything that inspired him, he was berated for trying his best to adapt to a life of compromise.

Lee felt trapped in a life he didn’t feel belonged to him. He was a writer, an inventor - a man of creative thought. How did he end up here with a boss who couldn’t see his potential in a world he felt relegated him to an empty life.

A World without Money

Lee always felt he was onto something when had written about a utopian society where the citizens shared the mundane tasks of maintenance such as street cleaning, trash collecting and the like, but were encouraged to grow into their passions and talents - and into their potential without money being a limiting factor.

If you wanted to heal, for example, you could become a doctor and your dream was supported. If you were interested in making words explode with imagery, you were supported to become a writer-and much, much more.

Lee’s utopia believed in the value of a realized human being as opposed to the slave labor mentality Lee faced going to work as a desk clerk. He worked under a boss also beaten down by the weight of a world that didn’t care what happened to either of them. Their souls were in bondage. 

Lee believed the way out for all people engulfed in this feeling of bondage was to remove money as an obstacle for developing the greatest resource of all - human potential.

Lee's Book

Lee’s mom supported his writing, but encouraged it as a hobby. She too had had dreams left unrealized. However, she tried to derive satisfaction from her job as a teacher’s aide in the morning and a convenience store clerk in the evening. She accepted her fate as truth and thought she was doing her son a favor by helping him accept his as well.

Lee’s spirit was strong. Although he felt his job sucked the joy out of him. He was determined to come home each night and write. He was writing a book based on the utopian society rooted in compassion and focused on developing human potential.

Lee is asking all of you to keep an eye out for Moneyless Potential: Living Free from Financial Bondage - a guide for developing a world that lifts the spirit of humanity, utilizes individual gifts and recognizes value.

If you have a  more time:

Please support me, yourself and the environment by trying these organically crafted, safe and ethical health and beauty products:

https://us.nyrorganic.com/shop/lorensheaanderson

and visit me on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/dancingrabbit22/

Unsettled Baggage

Emotional baggage comes in all shapes and sizes and affects different people in diverse ways. Despite this, everyone agrees that baggage is a weight needing to be jettisoned. Is it so easy?

Forgiveness

I used to get annoyed when people would tell me to forgive. My response had always been, “I’ll forgive when and if I feel like it.” Of course, these forgiveness freaks always had a comeback for each of my comments.

They would tell me the forgiveness wasn’t for them it was for me. OK, I can understand no one wishes to trudge around through life with a great big sack of resentment. It’s heavy. It’s painful, and adds a distortion of darkness to life that colors everything in view.

But what about serious crimes such as rape and murder? Is it really reasonable to expect someone to forgive in these cases? Forgiveness poses a hard challenge as the infractions become more damaging to our lives, our hearts and perhaps, our souls.

After many years of contemplating this matter of forgiveness, here is where I arrived: I never insist anyone forgive anything. I only ask, “How would you feel if you no longer had to carry that hate, hurt, fear, anger, or loss around with you? How would your life be different?

Here are some other thoughts. Forgiveness never means what anyone has done was right. It doesn’t mean forgiveness can happen immediately solely by proclaiming it. Forgiveness is a process. Anyone who has undergone this process understands you may be able to one day wake up and realize whatever the matter requiring forgiveness had been resolved. At that point, you let it go. Of course, forgiveness would be much easier if the perpetrator of your trust asked for your forgiveness. You’re lucky if that’s the case. Most of time, you will be on your own.

Time

Don’t underestimate the healing power of time. Time truly heals wounds. Does it heal all wounds? I am unsure.

What time allows is distance and growth to occur from the moment of the painful incident to some point in the future where your perspective has changed. Perhaps without any awareness on your part, the situation resolved naturally and the negative feelings simply no longer exists. You let it go.

Holding on

Holding onto guilt, pain, loss, anger and the past is human. Holding on for too long begins to define your existence. For example, someone could believe, “I can’t love again because I will never love anyone as much as I did my husband.” That thought can define choices and limit opportunities if left unchecked.

In my case, I left a job that was OK and went to one that was worse. I regretted that decision for a long time. Regretting my choice didn’t change my circumstance, or make me happier. That was a suitcase of regret packed tight with remorse that served no earthly good in my life. In perspective, it was a risk I took that ultimately led me to pursue other dreams and opportunities.

 

Moving into our future can be daunting, frightening and uncertain. We can’t know the future. We can only know the past, and that provides security because it’s familiar. The future is risky, but it is everyone’s destination. We can arrive there laden with suitcases of baggage to manage, or we can arrive ready to create anew.

If you have a  more time:

Please support me, yourself and the environment by trying these organically crafted, safe and ethical health and beauty products:

https://us.nyrorganic.com/shop/lorensheaanderson

and visit me on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/dancingrabbit22/

Shine your light

Public School

Tessa was in a state of suspended disbelief and sometimes shock her first year teaching in the public schools. The terrain was completely different than she had in other academic work environments. She was unsure how to navigate.

Her classroom adjoined another where English and marketing classes were held. The main instructor, Maria, had a small office space between the rooms where she spent her planning time. 

Tessa said hello and tried to get to know her neighbor, but it never led to much until one bad day following an incident where Tessa showed how green she was. 

Chocolate Alcohol

After the holiday break, a student showed up with a small box of candy. To be precise, it was chocolate in the form of small bottles containing liquor.

Tessa knew the student and, therefore, knew he truly didn’t get that he had done anything wrong. She took the candy away from him and stored it in a place away from the other students.

A busy day turned to a busy week. Tessa forgot about the tiny alcohol-laden chocolate bottles. That was until a fire alarm went off due to a malfunctioning microwave in Tessa’s wing of the school. The assistant principal was checking all the classrooms and stumbled upon the contraband.

The next morning, she and her neighbor were called in to see the principal who held-up the box of “candies” and asked, “Do either of you know about this?” 

Tessa shared her story of how the tiny chocolate bottles ended up in the storage area. “Do you realize this is an alcohol infraction?” Tessa told the truth – she didn’t think about it being a serious offense since the bottles were so small and the student wasn’t known to deeply reflect on his actions. She believed removing it was the right action, but to satisfy the principal, agreed to be more careful in the future.

The Conversation

After that incident, Tessa had her first full conversation with her neighbor. Maria shared the secret of how she survived public school, and gave Tessa her first piece of valuable advice, “Trust no one”. Now she understood why she never formed a friendship with her neighbor. 

Maria went on to say that after ten years there, she only confided in one other person. She told Tessa to watch out. She also said she had been observing her. “You have a good rapport with your students. They seem to be learning. You seem energetic, enthusiastic - uh…well…and attractive. They’re gonna try to knock you down,” but didn't specify who "they" were.

After the incident with the chocolate and a couple of others that displayed her inexperience, Tessa became a target just as Maria predicted. She was bullied by the assistant principal first and others to follow. 

There are a lot of bullies in the public school environment and I am referring to staff, teachers and administration. A lot of talented teaching professionals get run off by them yearly. On a deeper level, people there, and in other toxic work places, will knock you down because they can’t bare to have your light outshine their flicker.

Tessa realized that people were talking badly about her to prevent others from liking her and noticing her efforts which, for the most part, were successful.

Life Lesson

Tessa understood that she either needed to be tougher to remain or leave. She cared about her students and she loved teaching them, but the environment was stifling to someone who was open, warm and creative. She left public school teaching. Maria left the following year.

The sad truth is insecure people are out there in force. They will deliberately knock you down behind your back and to your face. Their objective is to make sure you stay hidden so you don’t remind them of what they believe they don’t have, or that their own light has dwindled to a mere flicker.

IN THE END, both chose to keep their inner light burning strong. 

How do you shine brightly?

If you have a  more time:

Please support me, yourself and the environment by trying these organically crafted, safe and ethical health and beauty products:

https://us.nyrorganic.com/shop/lorensheaanderson

and visit me on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/dancingrabbit22/

Why Organic?

Organic Health

My Story

Sometimes a detriment and often a benefit to my overall well-being, why was my favorite word. This characteristic, although annoying to my mother, caused me to not take things on face value, to ask questions, and to live life according to my own assessments.

As a teenager, I began using natural products. To me, they tasted better, smelled better and felt better. Granted, I was the weird kid who liked her vegetables and was always experimenting mixing this ingredient with that to see what would happen; but it was at that time, I became dedicated to living a healthy and natural life.

Healthy and Ethical

I have chosen to use organic products whenever possible as they are free of additives such as dyes, pesticides, anti-biotics and other nasty things I choose not to have in my body, on my skin or dispersed in my environment.

Included in my choices are non-GMO products. I am trying not to be a part of the experiment to see what the human costs are of tampering with the genetic material of plants. I encourage you to do the same and look for labels displaying the non-GMO symbol.

Organic products are beneficial in more ways than you and I know. What I do know is they support health as they are richer in nutrients needed for health such as vitamins and minerals. They are free of harmful chemicals including pesticides. Organically grown products are safe for animals and all other life we need to support on our planet for their health and well-being. Most of all, by choosing organic, we are protecting our future and the lives of the many generations to come.

We are currently unaware of all the damaging effects the use of the varied chemicals and GMOs will have on us, our environment and our future. It is critical we make safe and ethical choices to safeguard our planet and protect our future.

Choose the Future

Join the organic Revolution
https://us.nyrorganic.com/shop/lorensheaanderson
7generationsfuture@gmail.com

Money in the New Age

The Experiment

“I am a money magnet. I am a money magnet. I AM a money magnet.” Alesha whispered these words quietly as she hurried herself to the bus stop to catch the 11A to work.

Ten days ago, Alesha was given a book of affirmations by her colleague and friend, Dana. It lay on the table for a couple of days before she finally decided to see what the buzz was about.

                                                                          

She flipped open the book to page 57 in the section called Creating Abundance. The first page promised her a better future if she could replace her original negative thinking with one that believed in prosperity. Under the informational text was a list of affirmations.

“I love money and it loves me.” Nope. Too silly. How can money love me?“ Money is my constant companion.” That sounded better, but her mind conjured up a dog made of money. She was concerned what that affirmation might manifest. The next one was, “I am a money magnet.” She visualized herself as a giant magnet wrapped in 50 and 100 dollar bills. Ok. I can get behind that. Although skeptical, Alesha was committed to try. More like, she was desperate to find relief from her mounting bills and responsibilities.

21 days

As per the book’s instructions, Alesha chanted her affirmation seven times in three, five or seven cycles. She did wonder why not four, six or eight, but decided not to mess with the recipe. She did this religiously morning and night. At night, when she was tired, she couldn’t remember if she chanted six or seven times. So, she started from the beginning of the cycle all the way through to the end. She thought the more she chanted, the more money she would get.

Alesha woke on the 21^st day of chanting excited about what the day would bring. “I AM a money magnet!,” she proclaimed with the conviction of a 21st dayer! All day, Alesha waited for signs of increased abundance.

What happened on that 21^st day? Nothing out of the ordinary. The same bills were there to be paid with the same pay check from a job she still worked hard at and still disliked. She was disappointed and disillusioned.

The next day, Alesha placed the book in her bag. She intended to return it and let Dana know how ridiculous she felt for wasting her time on such nonsense. She planned to leave out the part where she spent every free moment even while in the shower reciting her new abundance mantra.

On the way to catch her bus, Alesha was focused on how to improve her circumstances. She began considering ways to complete her degree and get a job more in line with what she enjoyed doing.

As the bus stopped to collect passengers, Alesha laughed out loud. She had to admit the affirmation did work - in a way. It didn’t wrap her in paper bills as she had hoped. It did, however, focus her on creating the changes she needed to improve her life.

Retrospect

Alesha wasn’t ready to admit affirmations worked, or whether the Law of Attraction was real. She was willing to concede that like attracts like, and that positive thinking, a positive attitude and perception was key to being a happier person.

As a former marketing major, she had to wonder about the origin of this notion of prosperity consciousness and unlimited abundance...

Was it New Age Capitalism at work? Had the mentality of acquiring more and more wealth infiltrated the alternative communities as deeply as it had the rest of society? Had this marketing strategy created a whole philosophy that sold books and had people chanting money mantras in the middle of the night? Had a universal truth been stumbled upon? 

Alesha decided all the answers to these questions were "yes". Affirmations were not magic, nor did they give anyone the right to exploit the planet and her natural resources in the name of abundance. 



However, through her 21 day practice, Alesha felt she had burned away a fog that was prohibiting her from moving forward. She viewed her life and the road she wanted to take with greater clarity. She learned about the power of focused intention combined with an opening to better possibilities.

It would still be one step at a time. One hopeful step at a time.