THOUGHTS AS THE POWER TO LIFE

National Seashore (USA) on Cape Cod
Photo taken October 1, 2011
Photo credit: Sandra Hammel

I am making affirmations be a part of my day, every day.

I started when I had been given a diagnosis that the medical profession doesn't appear to have any real remedy for. After seeing several doctors, googling, going to a support group for this specific diagnosis, finding meditation society, I found Louise Hay's affirmation book You Can Heal Your Life a great portal to my own exploration with affirmations.

Centrally Louise, maintains that we love and accept ourselves just as we are. And the statements and thoughts are to be in the present, not in the future. The reason for this is that if you state that it will happen in the future, you are setting it up to happen in the future, and the future never becomes the present. So, state it as it is already happening.

I have had some powerful experiences during my times of meditating on the affirmations. My times of doing this are very personal and they sometimes lead into thoughts that just blossom out of other thoughts. They may not strike a chord with you, but I offer some of what I have written down in my journal following some of my times. I never remember exactly what has come to me, but close.

Affirmation results from the last several days ~

My body is restored to its natural state of good health and positive energy field. Everything else will follow.

Love enters me, moves through me and radiates out from me.

I have created a safe space

to be myself free of judgment.

I have created a safe space

to use my talents,

to use my talents out loud.

I have created a safe space where I can feel vulnerable,
where I can let the guard down,
where I can be gentle, I can be kind
and not fear being attacked.

(Yes, I know it is supposed to be only positively worded, such as "free of attack" instead of "not fear being attacked".)

I have created a safe space to be whole, calm.
I am protected here.

I can love myself here, the ways I had been wanting you to love me.

I have created a safe space to be everything that I am, feel, am drawn toward and dream of.

I have created a safe space.

I can relax.

I breathe now.

I can let my breath go now.

I have created a safe space where I don't hold my breath.

I am okay here.

I don't judge myself.

I let go of my need for you to love me.

I let go of my need for you to stop judging me.

I create a safe space for me to be me.

I am grateful for this.

My voice is in a safe space now.

I am healed.

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Imagine the baby you were,
the little girl
who was afraid of those who were supposed to love, encourage and protect you.
You can give her everything needed to be you.

This is the beauty of your power.

I love myself.

I am accepted in the safe space I have created.

I adore who I am.

I am grateful.

I attract people who support me.

I create a safe space where there is no resistance to my being me completely.

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The pain that came and did its service to me is let go into the Universe and becomes positive light and energy.

❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧

I release the toxic statements to the Universe to dissipate into positive energy.

I let go the toxic experiences that I hold, have been holding over time.

All the judgment that I have been holding in my body is given to the Universe.

I have created a safe space
to be me
to be vulnerable
to be gentle
to be kind.

❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧

I deserve to be happy and calm.

I deserve to be whole.

I accept acceptance
I accept abundance
I accept love
I accept gentleness
I accept kindness
I accept all good
I accept wholeness
I accept healing
I accept life
I accept gratitude
I accept all the things that I once feared losing,
not having or keeping - are now mine
I accept that I am awesome
I accept joy
I accept forgiveness
I accept power
I accept prosperity

I am love
I am gentleness
I am kindness
I am goodness
I am healed
I am life
I am gratitude
I am all things I once feared losing,
not having or keeping.

I live love
I live gentleness
I live kindness
I live goodness
I live whole
I live healed
I live life
I live gratitude
I live free of fear
I live

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"Uncomfortable" had become my familiar place to be. Now I want to take "it" off, like a heavy coat that I 've been wearing.

Why is is so hard to be a place so soft?
Not leaving,
stepping back into the familiar?

I have created a safe space
where I am whole
I can be child-like
I can be vulnerable
I am free of restricting thoughts and language.
It is gentle,
kind,
love.

I am free of what you think, say, judge.

It is comfortable to be only me, as I am.

I am healed.

I only want to live in this space.

I don't want to step out of this space to manifest anything.
It is here I want to always be from this moment on.

I want to live only in this space.
It's where I always have been moving toward.

It's where I can finally be home and breathe free.

I am grateful to be here.

I'm me in this space and that is all.

❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧

I am peace
I am calm
I am love
I am the holder for acceptance
I am kindness
I am awesome
I am whole in my save space
I am just as I am perfect
I am gentleness
I am vulnerability
I am protected here
I am grace
I let go of my need for you to approve of me.
I love me
I can be myself here outloud.

I welcome you in my safe space.

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Heal Your Life Affirmations - Louise L Hay

USA AND AUSTRALIA HAVE THIS IN COMMON

Australia's PM Kevin Rudd has delivered a formal apology to Aboriginal people for injustices inflicted by successive governments, in an address broadcast across the country.

For many indigenous Australians this is a symbolic gesture of immense scale. The hope is it will usher in a new era of recognition and reconciliation

"Australia apologizes to Aborigines" I find this story a story that bears our attention in the United States. For many indigenous Australians this is a symbolic gesture of immense scale. The hope is it will usher in a new era of recognition and reconciliation. For many indigenous Australians this is a symbolic gesture of immense scale. The hope is it will usher in a new era of recognition and reconciliation. In Canberra, the Australian government "officially apologized Wednesday to its indigenous people for past treatment that 'inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss,' in a historic parliamentary vote that supporters said would open a new chapter in race relations in the country. Lawmakers unanimously adopted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's motion to say sorry of behalf of all Australians in an emotional session of the federal Parliament that was telecast across the country and watched by crowds gathered giant screens set up in cities, students in school halls, and people huddled around televisions in remote Outback communities. TIMELINE: Key dates and facts about Australia's Aborigines 'We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians,' Rudd said in Parliament, reading from the motion. The apology was directed at tens of thousands of Aborigines who were forcibly taken from their families as children under now abandoned assimilation policies. 'For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, se way sorry,' the motion said, extending the apology to 'the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities.' 'And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry,' the motion said. In a speech urging lawmakers to support the motion that was telecast nationally, Rudd also offered an apology on behalf of the government. 'As prime minister of Australia I am sorry,' he said. 'On behalf of the government of Australia I am sorry. ... I offer you this apology without qualification.' Rudd received a standing ovation from lawmakers and from scores of Aborigines and other dignitaries who were invited to Parliament to witness the event. Many wiped away tears as Rudd spoke... ...The apology places Australia among a handful of nations that have offered official apologies to oppressed minorities - including Canada's 1998 apology to its native people, South Africa's 1992 expression of regret for apartheid and the U.S. Congress' 1988 law apologizing to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II. Aborigines lived mostly as hunter-gatherers for tens of thousands of years before British colonial settlers landed at what is now Sydney in 1788." Read the full article. I wrote about the United States of America's need to acknowledge our injustices against our indigenous people before. See below for yesterday's update on this Rhode Island case against seven Narragansett Indians. * ........................................................................ ........................................................................ So you killed me..... By gomauro Australia says sorry to Aborigines

Rudd said the apology would help to remove a "stain" on Australia's past [GALLO/GETTY] Australia's prime minister has delivered an historic apology to the Aboriginal people in a gesture of reconciliation for injustices committed over two centuries of white settlement. "We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," Kevin Rudd told the Australian parliament. His speech focused in particular on the suffering of what have become known as the "Stolen Generations" - mostly mixed-race children, who were taken from their families up until the 1970s in a bid to assimilate them into white society. But Rudd's address also took in a broader apology over what he called "a great wrong" committed against Australia's indigenous peoples, repeatedly using the crucial word "sorry". "As prime minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the parliament of Australia, I am sorry," Rudd said. "For the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry" Kevin Rudd, Australian PM Click here for the full text of Rudd's apology Wednesday's apology is being viewed as a watershed in Australia, with television networks airing the speech live and crowds gathering around giant screens in major cities to witness the event. In the remote community of Mutitjulu, close to Uluru or Ayers Rock in the centre of Australia, the apology was welcomed by Aboriginal leaders. "Personally I think sorry’s a very important word to say," Dorethea Randall, chairwoman of Mutitjulu council told Al Jazeera. "It recognises the wrong that's been done in the past and it's a process of starting healing for all indigenous people." In the Australian capital, Canberra, hundreds of Aborigines from across Australia gathered in front of parliament to hear the speech, many having travelled thousands of kilometres to be there. Many also packed the public galleries inside the parliament building. Disadvantaged "This is the most significant moment for our people that's happened in my lifetime," Aboriginal man Darryl Towney told AFP. A bitter history Aboriginal population of Australia estimated between 750,000 to two million prior to arrival of first white settlers in 1788. Combination of disease, loss of land and violence reduced numbers by 80 per cent over the following century. Smallpox wiped out more than half the population. Between 1900 and early 1970s estimated 100,000 Aborigines were taken from their natural parents as part of an assimilation programme, now dubbed the Stolen Generation. Aborigines not granted vote in federal elections until 1962. Aboriginal population was not counted in national census until 1967, prior to which Aboriginal affairs were governed under Australian flora and fauna laws. According to 2006 census, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders population stood at 455,031, out of total Australian population of 20,061,646. Many aboriginal communities are plagued by high unemployment, juvenile delinquency, school dropouts, drugs, crime, domestic and sexual problems, and alcoholism. Government statistics show an indigenous Australian is 11 times more likely to be in prison than a non-indigenous Australian, while indigenous Australians are twice as likely to be a victim of violence. A 2007 study found standards of healthcare for Aborigines 100 years behind rest of Australia, with Aboriginal men having life expectancy 18 years below national average. "For us, this is like the Berlin Wall coming down." Aborigines remain Australia's most disadvantaged minority, with a lifespan 17 years shorter than the national average, and disproportionately high rates of imprisonment, heart disease and infant mortality. In Sydney, thousands of people cheered and applauded the speech shown on a big screen in the city's central Martin Place. Large crowds also gathered in the rain in the city's largely Aboriginal district of Redfern to watch the address on specially erected screens. While the apology and Rudd's pledges to improve Aboriginal welfare have been broadly welcomed, he has also received criticism from some community leaders for ruling out direct financial compensation. Speaking to parliament Rudd said the apology was offered as part of "the healing of the nation", adding that it would allow a "new page" to be written in the history of Australia. A failure to address the injustices done to Australia's indigenous people was "a great stain" on the nation's soul, Rudd told parliament. "We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians," he said. Rudd's apology went much further than the highly qualified statement initially expected, drawing emotional applause from the crowd outside parliament. Focusing on one of the most painful episodes, he told parliament up to 50,000 children were taken from their families, noting there was "something terribly primal" in the many first-hand stories of the Stolen Generations. 'Sheer brutality' The apology was broadcast on giant screens in cities across Australia [GALLO/GETTY] "The pain is searing, it screams from the pages, the hurt, the humiliation, the degradation and the sheer brutality of the act of physically separating a mother from her children is a deep assault on our senses," he said. But Rudd's speech also referred to the "past mistreatment" of all Aborigines, adding "the injustices of the past must never, never happen again". "For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry," he said. "To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. "And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry." Use of the word "sorry" carries major symbolism for Aborigines after Rudd's conservative predecessor, John Howard, refused to utter it when he was in power. Howard was the only one of Australia's five surviving prime ministers who was not in parliament on Wednesday to hear Rudd's speech, although his Liberal party, now in opposition, backed the motion of apology. Howard lost his parliamentary seat in last November's national elections which saw a landslide victory for Rudd's Labor party. Source english aljazeera Hear about this story. ........................................................................ ........................................................................ Dine' (Navajo) Grandmothers resist relocation to radioactive lands Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas of the Narragansett Indians listens as Judge Susan E. McGuirl issues her ruling today. Providence Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski February 12, 2008 Judge does not dismiss smoke-shop case PROVIDENCE -- Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl this afternoon refused to dismiss the case against seven Narragansett Indians accused in the 2003 State Police raid on a tribal smoke shop in Charlestown Defense lawyers had sought dismissal, saying the state has been “grossly negligent” in meeting pre-trial discovery rules that mandate the state to turn over any evidence that could be used to exonerate a defendant. But the judge today said that it did not rise to the level of flagrant prosecutorial misconduct and that the defendants were not significantly prejudiced. She did say that the prosecutors and the State Police did not do their due diligence and that she is concerned about defendants who are less privileged -- essentially, if this could happen in a high-profile case such as this one, what happens in your average case? "More worrisome is the thought of less prominent cases seeing such handling," McGuirl said in Providence County Superior Court. Asked for comment after the judge's decision, Matthew Thomas, the Narragansett Indians' chief sachem, said: "This is Rhode Island, I didn't expect anything different." Source Narragansett tribe website

NEVER FORGET THAT EVERYTHING HITLER DID IN GERMANY WAS LEGAL ~ MLK. Jr.

Means we use, must be as pure as the ends we seek.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

ACKNOWLEDGING OUR MISTAKES AS A NATION WOULD BE OUR GREATEST STEP TOWARD HEALING OUR DIVISIONS

Charlie Rose ran his repeat show with John Hope Franklin, author, "Mirror To America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin" last night. Professor Franklin speaks of his family being thrown off the train when he was 6 years old and his mother asked him why he was crying. He said because they were thrown off the train. His mother told him, "'if you have any energy, I want you to use it proving to yourself and everyone else that you're as good as any of those people on that train, regardless of their color. Now you dry those tears. I don't want you to cry about that anymore.' And I've not cried about that anymore."

The only way this country will ever come together is to face, acknowledge and atone for our mistakes. We stole this land from the indigenous people who were here first. So that immigrants could leave their lands of discrimination in Europe, this country's government was built with systemic prejudices interwoven into even the Declaration of Independence:

"He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."

The indigenous people were forbidden to live their lives using their traditions, culture, spiritual ceremonies, wearing their hair the way they chose to or even speak their own languages. The natives were also used as slaves. One of many examples of systematic abuse was the Trail of Tears. A great source for how the indigenous peoples were repeatedly unjustly treated is Custer Died for Your Sins.

The Trail of Tears

And it isn't all in the past. The very government agency, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has lost billions of dollars belonging to the Native American peoples. I wrote about this in an old post.

And then we imported slaves.

We cannot heal what we do not acknowledge. Imagine a doctor who tries to heal someone without admitting there exists an illness. There would be no diagnosis or plan to heal.

Professor Franklin aptly addresses this very issue. And atonement is a part of how to address this. Without it there will be no progress or movement toward our nation coming together and indeed being the United States.
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John Hope Franklin interview

PBS source about the beginning of the Europeans taking over North America

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Darfur

I think it is time for those who vote on the basis of abortion to step up and vote for preventing and ending genocide.

Matthew 25:31-46

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Quotes of Martin Luther King. Jr.

Don't believe everything Hillary claims is true,
especially about Barack Obama.

By the Way...about Rafael Nadal

Jarkko Nieminen’s splendid run at the Australian Open - the tennis season’s first Grand Slam event - came to an end in the quarter-finals, when he succumbed to 2nd seed Rafael Nadal of Spain, who won 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 in two hours and twenty minutes. Efficient Nadal Brings an End to Nieminens in Melbourne

Rafa is now in the Semi-finals and will play the unseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, for a place in the final.