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+ updated at 4:13pm EST on Friday, February 21, 2014

+ Wildmind offers Ten Tips for Mindful Driving.

+ I love listening to the Sound of the Surf. Listen to a four hour recording of Pacific surf.

+ You can hear the sound of the surf as Ed Bastian leads you through the 7 steps of InterSpiritual Meditation which are:

1. May we be happy and healthy.
2. May we be grateful.
3. May we be transformed.
4. May we be loving and compassionate.
5. May we be mindful through our breathing.
6. May we become wise through meditation.
7. May we be in service to all.

Listen and watch.

You can start the surf video and then the Ed Bastian video. Your computer can probably handle both of the soundtracks.  

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+ Seventh Day of Christmas > S & P Christmas Quote > Gift, Sharing, Joy > I think we need a new word — "comjoyment" — as a companion to "compassion" to remind us that our greatest gift to the world may be in sharing what gives us the greatest joy. -- Sam Keen in Learning to Fly

 < http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/quotes/quotes.php?id=20440 | More Advent & Christmas Quotes are at http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/blogs/maps.php?id=20474

+ Seventh Day of Christmas >“I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world--present and in awe.” -- Anne Lamott

+ Seventh Day of Christmas > Day 7, 31 December: Pope St. Sylvester. In Scotland this day is known as Hogmanay. In Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland and Slovenia, New Years Eve is still referred to as Silvester. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Days_of_Christmas

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+ updated at 5:15pm EST, Tuesday, February 16, 2010

+ I'm blown away by the wisdom and compassion being shared in InterSpiritual Wisdom, the E-course I'm taking at Spirituality and Practice.  Swami Atmarupananda brought our attention to this powerful verse from the Bhagavad Gita:

Through devotion one knows Me truly, who I am and what is My nature. Having known Me in truth, one forthwith enters into Me. (18:55)

This is a lot like a saying of Jesus:

I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)


The Bhagavad Gita was written 1000 years before Jesus.  The sages of the ages all find the source, the foundation, of our wisdom traditions.

+ TimesOnLine (London) offers "If global warming is real why is it cold?" by Colin Summerhayes. Excerpt 1: "There is a very good reason why our local temperatures have been cold in contrast with the global picture. This winter has seen a 'blocking high' over Greenland and Baffin Island that has brought temperatures 7C above normal in these areas, and cold weather to the surrounding regions - Northern Europe, the UK and the north east coast of America." Excerpt 2: "Data from satellites and surface measurements show that January 2010 was globally the warmest in the 32-year satellite record, but the overwhelming focus on "white-out Britain" meant that this record went virtually unremarked."

+ Spirituality and Practice offers "Will You Be E-Mailing This Awesome Column?" by Mary Ann and Frederic Brussat.  Excerpt: "A big surprise: people preferred e-mailing articles with positive rather than negative or sensational themes, and they liked to send long articles on intellectually challenging topics. But most interesting of all was the finding that readers wanted to share pieces that inspired awe. The Penn researchers defined this quality as 'an emotion of self-transcendence, a feeling of admiration and elevation in the face of something greater than the self.'"