This site has moved.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your interest in this site - we have moved, rolling all our work into one site at www.reinventinglife.org. The Reinventing life in Ireland blog has moved to the Personal Life Menu under HomeLife blog.

The new site gives you lots of opportunity for increased interaction in the forum - accessed after signing in by clicking on the discussion link in the top right of the page.

See you there,
Alana

Action: Website Building

Hi everyone,

Starting today, 22 May 2008, I will be blogging in two places: here at the sites I have been running for a while and to be saved as work for the www.reinventinglife.org site which is not up yet. For any of you that haven’t heard my woes, trials and tribulations mixed with cries of delight over putting up my own website -here is the jist:

1. I want a site that weaves all the various sides of my life into one place – many of you have said, “I like (one blog) but don’t get (what I’m doing on another blot).” If all goes well the new site will let you take what appeals, but also give you links into the other parts of my life and how they play off of the bits you know.
2. I also want a site where we can talk – really talk back and forth with each other or in a group, just like I talk with students at online universities. Have you ever liked what you read in a blog – wanting to comment back but then said “what the heck, lots of energy to respond but then it goes nowhere?” I have that response all the time, in fact it was my frustration in wanting to respond to Chris Brogan when he posted this morning about his thoughts for the future that created this blog (smile).
3. I have a girlfriend who used a relatively expensive site building tool, and a male friend who told me about Joomla, an open source system he thought I could manage. As you can see from the picture above I am almost there (well I WAS almost there before the system locked me out of my own website – but more about that at another time).
4. I’m learning all kinds of things, and trying to apply out of the box thinking to them. So why don’t we see sites where we respond to each other in forums (where we don’t have to go through a long sign up process just to say hi?) Why don’t our websites let us sign up after we know the ideas there are interesting enough to come back to? If you find me in one place how can I ensure you can find me in others? How can my site model distributed content (like education, some art, some words, some video, some discussion, some group work). Why do we see blogs when articles are just as easy?
5. Long story short (as my mother would say) I haven’t been here – actively writing, because I have been there – planning and putting these plans up on a site.

If you want to ensure you see the site once it is up for suggestions and editing to the larger body of my readers – please email me at james.alana@gmail.com and I’ll make sure you get notification when it is ready to see.

Now if I can get past the last two hurdles, getting back in and getting it up on the server, then soon I will be sending you all an email telling you we’re active. Given that I have to do taxes, my guess is that the site will go live around the 4-15^th of June. BIG SMILE - there would be days when I would say: "pray for me."

Love to you all,

Alana

What do you look for in an online community?

Hi everyone,

Have I mentioned here that I am developing my own website? If you currently go to www.reinventinglife.org you will see a site that my friend Brian put up for our retreats. It is nice but static. Beginning at the first of the year I have been studying (day by day) how to use the web to connect to people (such as all of you) who either love us, or are interested by the ideas and values our lives are founded on.

I want a website that:

1. Connects my three blogs: this one + www.doctoratelife.blogspot.com and rlgroup.blogspot.com
2. I also want a place where all of us can talk as we go (asynchronously as in a forum).
   
3. As an academic, I want to see my ideas used by others and their ideas feed back to me. I want to track how we work together to build a better world.
4. I want a website that reflects the way my life weaves together spirituality, multicultural living, distributed online education and life in Ireland. Not only do I want this to be a model for that kind of interwoven-ness but I hope that this flexibility will let the website grow and develop with me so that I don't have to start all over in two years.

But what do you want? I only know what is out there - I don't know if it appeals. Please email or comment so I have a glimpse into your thoughts. Would you find any of the following interesting or useful?

• Profiles
• Putting your picture or an avatar up online
• Forums for conversation
• Ways to track back where ideas come from (lists of links, sharing of resources, library links or discussions)
• Do you want to share comments or reviews on what we are watching, reading, the media that is a positive impact in our lives?
• Do you have any desire to get to know others who may also connect here?
• A "let's have fun" here section where we share life stories and funny bits from what is happening in our section of the world?
  

I envision this to be entertaining as well as thought provoking. For instance Margie and I loved watching a movie (very British humor) Confetti - it was a farce in reality TV mode about three couples competing to win a house for having the bazaar wedding of the year. Very funny.

I want to thank Chris Brogan for provoking me into thinking and planning in this way. I REALLY want to thank all of you who take a minute and either email me at james.alana@gmail.com or comment here and tell me why you read this blog, whether any of these ideas appeal, etc.

Lots of love,
Alana

Margie is at it again!

Hi all - we are celebrating having lots of kids in our neighborhood - giving Margie a chance to lead games and their parents a chance to talk while they watch. A community building time was had by all.

Dolphins

Hi everyone,

I put this on the RLGroup blog as well - but it is worth seeing twice. I hope you enJOY your Friday.

Alana

Good news for the world!

Hi everyone,

Margie and I went out last night to meet with the multicultural awareness group in Cork. Then today a woman I follow on Twitter wrote " "It's not them and us, it’s you and me": thousands to celebrate cultural diversity across Europe today. Already sounds like routine to me." Good for her - wish it was routine for me.

Anyway I look forward to watching for news on the celebrations today on my new news outlet: www.ohmynews.com.
Full of citizen journalism - so we get what may be a true glimpse of the real story.

All the best,
Alana

International breaking news!

Hi everyone,

Two posts in one day? Unheard of, yet I am so excited I had to break with my norm. Stop what you are doing and go right now to OhmyNews. Here you will find an international newspaper, written by everyday freelancers around the globe, reporting on what is hot in their area. Thanks to this Korean business man who was trying to open his countries press beyond the constraints of consumer driven business, we now have an international resource that gives us a different glimpse of what is happening than we will see elsewhere.

Free press is being reborn! Let's see where it takes us.

More as we go,
Alana

Davos, Switzerland-Living Multiculturally

Hi everyone,
No the title does not come from my wanting to go to Switzerland in the near future, but rather from some fun I am having as I am consciously moving into living an international life. While we all may be constrained by our actual location and the availability to travel, I have decided to explore ways and means to expand beyond those constraints.

The current tool(s) I am using have to do with a) iGoolgle widgets and b) internet searches. Here is how I put them together. First I upload a new Widget last week to my iGoogle homepage. It's called "Places to See Before You Die." and comes from a travel site. I chose it because it puts great pictures of other parts of the world front and center on my homepage - nice to dream over as I boot up.

It ocurred to me that I didn't know much about some of the places pictured, nor did I have ANY idea about the quality of life there, religions, agricultural constraints, etc. So to help me overcome my ignorance I now do a quick websearch on every non US picture that comes up. It takes me an extra 10 minutes, but like a good database, the amount I learn over time will be enormous. For instance did you know the Davos, Switzerland is a ski resort town (coming from Colorado I have some idea about those) and is also the place where the World Economic Conference is held? It seems Davos is twinned with Aspen - so I was right that I do have a bit of contextual knowledge to draw on here (unlike my exploration yesterday into temples in Bali).

More as we go,
Alana

The power of song (for dogs)

Hi everyone,

In my RLGroup blog I wrote about my having fun with the songs from the movie Enchanted. Well Margie and I have been having fun with songs at our house as well. The words below are sung to our puppy Harriet (as we traverse the hill at the top of our village). You'll need to know that Stefan (our older dog) is GOD to Harriet (the puppy). The picture above makes that point!

HARRIET WE LOVE YOU

A new hill walk inspired song (19-04-08) to the tune of Alluete Shonte Alluete

Har-riet, O Har-riet we love you
Har-riet , we love you through and through
Are you full of beans, my pet
YES, you’re full of beans, my pet
FULL OF BEANS –FULL OF BEANS
OOOOOOOOO

Har-riet ,O Har-riet we love you
Har-riet , we love you through and through
Are you fierce , bold and brave,
YES, you’re fierce , bold and brave,
BOLD AND BRAVE, BOLD AND BRAVE
OOOOOOOOO

Har-riet, O Har-riet we love you
Har-riet , we love you through and through
Are you just a pesky pup,
YES, you’re just a pesky pup
PESKY PUP–PESKY PUP
OOOOOOOOO

Har-riet, O Har-riet we love you
Har-riet , we love you through and through
Do you love our GOD and SAM
GOD AND SAM–GOD AND SAM
OOOOOOOOO

Har-riet, O Har-riet we love you
Har-riet , WE- LOVE- YOU- YES- WE- DOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

I hope this brought a smile to your face - I would love to hear comments back from anyone who has a song that lifts their heart!

Alana

The first day of summer

Hi everyone,

People in my new writers class (held at the Bandon library as short distance away) were welcoming each other yesterday and pointing to the fact that it was the first day of spring. Happy Beltane! We didn't see fires or orgies up on the hill, but are relatively certain that if you went to visit the stone circles at Drombeg today you would find the remnants of ceremony.

As we move into summer it is appropriate that I am moving from diagnosing what is next for me professionally and personally, although in this case (as you will see if you want to follow the links to my other blogs) they are closely related.

Meanwhile summer brings with it longer walks on the hill (to wear the puppy out for the day), Margie beginning to be gone as she does child minding work (leaving me with puppy care!) and warm summer evenings (now lasting until almost 10pm). Life is great over here in Castlepark and we all hope it is great with you as well,

Lots of love,
Alana

Happily Home Again

Hi everyone,

This morning found me home, on the floor in our living room with my first cup of coffee, playing fetch with the puppy. NICE.

While it feels luxurious to be back, I enjoyed the trip to Houston and Denver. Well, maybe NOT the part about driving in a blizzard over Monument Hill, but all other parts. Seeing friends was good, work was good, and catching up with Mom and those who provide care for her was..... well if not good, something close. I left Houston musing on how our basic ideas about life ultimately determine our experience, if we are lucky enough to live that long.

A high spot in Houston was a night Ann and I went out and enjoyed La Boheme at the Houston Opera for $35. The seats, front of house and in the center, were fantastic and the performance was out of this world. For anyone who still may stay away from opera because you can't understand it - the advent of overhead translations made all the difference.

Love to you all,
Alana

Hello from Denver, CO

Hi everyone,

I find that life on the road takes me away from life on the computer (why is this not a surprise?). Picture me with my feet up, laptop on my lap, looking out to a sunny 20 degree Celsius day in Denver Colorado.

So far the trip back to the US has been a blessing - but I must say that things move at a much faster pace here than they do in Kinsale! My presentations went well at CTU - the university that brought me may have other work and interests in the future. It is also interesting to chat with others about living in multicultural settings from the vantage of the US where there is such a big overarching USness to the conversation.

Love you all and more will come in spurts as I travel,
Alana

Voting for the first time!

Hi everyone,

This is just a quick catch up to mention that I got a chance to vote for the first time - at my church! Last Sunday was the Easter Vestry meeting (always held the week after Easter). Typical of most smaller congregations it became clear that a few do it all. It was also funny to watch the tension between wanting to hold democratic elections and encourage people to nominate whomever they wanted but not really wanting to go over the number of slots - so that we didn't really have to count votes.

My name was put up for representation to the synod - not that it is likely that enough people know me to vote for me but indicative of how in another 3 years when we vote on that again there might be a slot for me there.

Another milestone, as the man who passed us on our drivers license said! And an important one at that.

Love to you all,
Alana

Wahboards anyone?

Hi everyone,

This is a quick post as Margie and I are about to go out to the gym but I thought you would want to see us in our glory leading a rousing session of "She'll be coming round the mountain" at the last multicultural group. In the US I never played my washboard much - the reception from other people (except for Louise's Dad who had me play a solo and scared me to death) was usually luke warm.

The people in our multicultural group loved it however, most having to try it out themselves. A big hit all around.

So here's hoping that this leaves you laughing - a rat a tat tat boom boom!
Alana

Rainy fairs and car boot sales

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was the first annual Transition Towns Kinsale Tidy Towns spring fair. While the second spring fair for TTK (www.transitiontownkinsale.org/) it was the first time Tidy Towns had joined in. This year's fair was also a substantial increase over last year's event for TTK in complexity and scope and a group of upwards of thirty people worked on the organization from the first weeks in January until now.

Alas on the day the weather did not look good - and then the sun came out as did all the people, then it rained again. At the end of the day it was completely satisfactory if not brilliant. The car boot sale (garage sale or flea market to my US readers) netted €200+ for Tidy Towns - the first donations of this kind for a few years. Also the Tidy Town-ers (http://www.tidytowns.ie/) sat at a booth and chatted with bypassers about our various renovation projects. This year we hope to renovate the trees along Pearce St., a good project since at the moment the rest of the town is torn up by the crews changing out the water mains.

By 7:30 we were ready to join the crowd at the Further Education College www.kinsalefurthered.ie/ at their sustainably built stage. Listening to local acts in candlelight with wood burning to keep the outdoor environment warm, we listened to great local acts of music and comedy. Alas the 50+ year olders that we are we left early, but with smiles on our faces. A great day all around.

Hope to hear about your local events as well,
Alana

AM Web WalkAbouts

Hi everyone,

Mornings these days has me doing web walkabouts. I give myself two hours (roughly 7am - 9am) to follow my heart and head through the web.

These days Twitter http://twitter.com/home has some of that attention - just like in a village (albeit a global village) I find myself catching up on the news and daily doings of the minutia of life from my friends.

I also get to know people I have met through their web presence better. Case in point is Nancy White http://www.fullcirc.com whose website is a constant model to me of what it looks like to have a large enough digital footprint so people can get to know you. If I met her at a party I would be interested to talk with her (like having her blog bookmarked), following her on Twitter is like asking her over for coffee. Its the minutia that make connection, at least for me and finally the web has given me a tool that does this.

On another front, my creative life is helped through a series of sites for what is called hybrid scrapbooking. For all of you who have followed my scrapbooks for years, digital scrapbooking takes less time and many of the papers, etc can be gotten for free with the right memberships. I have found https://www.scrapwow.com/ to be the best place to house my scrapbooks. You can find mine at http://www.scrapwow.com/scrapbook/mysite.asp?ukey=39102ZR5Z3910S29XX3910. I have also found that RAKSCRAPS (now owned by the same group as scrapwow) have great freebie offers. Within the month both of these subscriptions have paid off in enough free digital scrapbooking supplies that I am set. Now before folks run out to get started the software of choice for this work is Adobe (not as easy to learn as some) either Photoshop (my choice but expensive) or elements. The good news is that there are wonderful tutorials - in fact after years of working with Photoshop I have sharpened many skills because of the tutorials. Last but not least, is a fun set called ScrapGirls, their latest newsletter has tons of fun pages! http://www.scrapgirls.com/NL/RoundUp_080325_Tues_See.htm

Please comment by clicking the link below if you find any of the ideas I collected in today's web walk about fun for you as well.

Love to all,
Alana

YouTube Video of Harriet and Stefan at the beach

Hi everyone,

I hope you go see and comment on my first attempt at video on the web @ youtube.com. The URL is http://www.youtube.com/v/wB4xQHC7k90 and if all is well you can spend three + quality minutes with Margie and I on Easter. Please comment either here or there on what you think.

Love to you all,
Alana

More Puppy scrapbook pages

Hi everyone,

No faster way to reinvent the daily quality of your life than to adopt a puppy! One week later all is well and we celebrate bringing Harriet into our lives. You can find the album at http://www.scrapwow.com/scrapbook/index.asp?album=3910DA3HA4DK98ZQ9OX7U6WZ check back in frequently because I add a page or two each week!

Tomorrow we will use her as an excuse to learn YouTube - hopefully look for a link here in the near future.

I look forward to any comments you might want to make by clicking below on stories you might have on adopting young animals! (big grin)

Love to you all,
Alana

The easiest volunteer work

Hi everyone,

Promoting literacy is important work. When I was working with troubled youth and disadvantaged adults we saw that there really is only one "silver bullet" - literacy. If a person can't read they spend much of their lives covering up that fact, faking what comes easily for others. Therefore when our local bookstor' (Irish spelling) gave me the chance to do a bit of volunteer work and to help the cause of literacy I jumped at the chance.

As the picture to the right demonstrates, this volunteer effort was the easiest possible job. I became part of the team they organized to sit in the window of their shop for a half hour stint - adding interest to the cause which was helped out by the volunteers outside passing out information and asking for signatures. I showed up on the Saturday, sat in a comfy chair and got to take the time out to read. "A hard job but someone had to do it."

I would love to exchange volunteer stories from all of you. Please take the time to comment by clicking on the comment box below. Wouldn't it be fun to share a world of volunteerism?

Love to all,
Alana

Tea sandwiches

Hi everyone,

This is a laugh at ourselves post, but just goes to show the minute things that can cause us to feel uncomfortable when living and working in a culture different to the one we grew up in. In this picture Margie is holding a plate of tea sandwiches - you may know they ones, without crust, cut in wedges? The only time in my life that I had seen them prior to moving here was when my mother had ladies in to tea when i was a child.

We go out one Thursday afternoon a month to here a speaker and mingle with a somewhat golden oldies crowd - mostly folks who attend St. Multose church. Great people from many countries or with international backgrounds although English speaking and white, and as far as we can tell we are the youngest in the room by a few years at least and by lots of years in some cases.

Every month people bring munchies, a task that we have tried to have a hand in with small success. They didn't love our homemade chocolate chip cookies (can you IMAGINE?) so we decided to meet them on ground they were familiar with and make tea sandwiches. Margie and I doing this though is the blind leading the blind and hoping not to fall in the proverbial ditch.

There is a lot to tea sandwiches - and we have become adept. First of all quarters, not halves are the correct size of wedge (although one woman ventured into long strips which had there uses as they fit better with a cup and saucer). You want the bread soft - but too soft doesn't work with egg or salmon salad as they fall apart. It goes without saying that you cut off the crust - this leaves lots of bread with which you can make bread pudding (recipe follows) which has become a favorite breakfast treat in our lives. Also there seem to be a few things that we have to consider on the do and don't list: do make fish spread sandwiches (a hit), it's OK to make them on whole wheat bread (thank heavens as Margie was embarrassed carrying white bread from the store), and finally DON"T add anything green to them (such as lettuce). We are sure there are more rules but they remain still to be discovered.

Wishing you all the best with the tea sandwiches (things you don't know how to do) in your lives!
Alana

Bread Pudding (think quiche with bread scraps in it)

1) layer bread scraps in a baking dish or pan that will be used in the oven
2) in a bowl mix: 2-3 eggs, lots of milk, and anything you have handy (oinions, herbs, cheese, sausage, pesto, sundried tomatoes- all good)
3) cover bread with egg mixture - if it isn't sloppy or the bread isn't covered add more milk or yogurt if you have some.

Let it sit until bread dissolves to mush - overnight is fine, 20 minutes works too.

Bake in oven at 18- degree centigrade or 375 farenheit until it rises some and the top crusts with a lovely color of brown.

Eat wedges with jam and yogurt for breakfast, or with chicken wings for lunch. Makes a lovely midnight snack as well.

Reinventing Life Retreat Scrapbook

Hi everyone,
As most of you know, it is sometimes my privilege to work with John Scott and lead retreats. We have put together the following info scrapbook as a way of letting people know what to expect in these adventures. The next one is scheduled in the late May early June time frame in Colorado.

Please enjoy our video scrapbook by pushing play and then clicking on the middle arrow which will bring the pictures up close. You can advance the slides at your own pace by using the right hand arrow, there are 10 slides in all. If you know of people who may enjoy an experience like this please pass this on.

Love you all,
Alana

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

The puppy is coming, the puppy is coming!

Hi everyone,

This is to announce the soon to be addition to our family - we are currently calling her Harriet (heaven only knows why) but are completely open to her telling us what her name is once she arrives. I have started a digital scrapbook which will journal her journey into our home, our lives and here growing up - more on that in later emails and blogs.

Meanwhile we met her two weeks ago, although I had been entranced with the sweetness of her Mum when I met her at the vets office two weeks before that. Our vet thinks that this adoption will be good for Stefan (wake up the old fart) but who knows what Samson will think! Well maybe we ALL know what Samson will think, which is why we purposefully chose the gentlest puppy in the liter.

We took three tennis balls out to the siblings yesterday. The alpha male quickly picked his up and from the expression on his face you absolutely knew he thought he was brilliant. Harriet and her sister soon followed suit (as you can see).

Lots of love for now - she comes home next Friday so we know there will be lots of pictures, and stories to follow,
Alana

Announcing New Blog Potential and Invitation to Join Me

HI everyone,

As you may have noticed the next two blogs are long - and more pertaining to my philosophical views on the wonders of life than on the newsy bits of what Margie and I are doing in Kinsale, life in Ireland etc. These newer blogs are interesting to perhaps a different audience. Therefore this announces one blog that will continue to go that direction - detailing and discussing philosophy, metaphysics, and the nuts and bolts of life reinvention. This current blog will continue to be a short recap of weekly events for those who love us or who find our journey into multicultural living in Ireland of interest.

For those who want to muse about inner and outer workings of life as human writ large, please join me at www.RLgroup.blogspot.com. You will notice that there is an invitation to all join as a writer in this new group blog - please consider doing so if interested.

Love you all,
Alana

A Journey into the Mysteries of Alchemy

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in another blog, I recently was propelled through circumstance to investigate which archetypal pattern was currently playing in my life. The idea here is that we all are playing out a few roles that tie us to humanity through the ages - and the alchemist turned out to be me! In fact it fits my soul so perfectly that I find it thrilling to investigate – so investigate I did.

Before I forget it, you will find a few links at the bottom of this blog they are put there for fun and I highly recommend follow some of them. The first link I saved for the Lost Wonder Museum – and it truly is a wonder! I highly recommend it for anyone desiring to experience the buzz when your small human mind connects with the universe – FABULOUS. Also, wasn’t Nicholas Flamel a character in Harry Potter? Wasn’t he the man who had created the sorcerer’s stone? Evidently he also lived in our 3D world as I found drawings on the web from his notebooks! (See the 2^nd link).

I’ll use this space to highlight the basic learning from my search:

1. Most people think of alchemy as the search to turn iron to gold –or for the sorcerer’s stone and eternal life –evidently the life eternal that alchemists really seek is not the mundane but the enlightened idea of the blend of this life with the eternal oneness of the universe (a theme that runs throughout).
2. Alchemy was given a bad name by Freud, who commented that Leonardo Da Vinci (a known dabbler in the alchemical arts) was the equivalent of someone half crazy in the lingo of today, making Leonardo seem ridiculous.
3. Jung, on the other hand, developed the basic alchemical principal of the merging of opposites and the basic patterns of life force (air, water, earth and fire) into psychological principles (spirituality, physicality, emotionality and mentality).
4. Alchemy has seven steps – as you will see in the Museum of Lost Wonder.

The effect of my search on my creative mind has been enormous. The actions that follow include: a) using this as a teaching cycle for my other work (a retreat coming up by the way in Colorado in May or early June), b) I have started a small altered book “My book of Wonder” that uses the seven alchemical phases as a stepping off place, and c) I am adding the seven steps to my spiritual/psychological database of ideas to work out their correspondence with everything else that I have put together.

The bottom line for me is that a lot of energy came zooming into my life with one set of exploration – here’s hoping that whomever reads this finds the same zoom of wonder for themselves – It is really a lovely ride.

I’ll leave the discussion here for today so that my readers have time to play in the links below.

Love you lots,

Alana

www.lostwonder.org (tour the museum) This is really a can’t miss

http://www.alchemylab.com/flameldwgs.htm A whole page of Flamel links

http://altreligion.about.com/library/graphics/magick/alchemy4.jpg a single Flamel link

Synchronicity: A few notes on how it seems to work

If we accept the premise that there are no coincidences in life then we enter what I am calling an “alchemical mystery.” Alchemical because as we grow we have the opportunity to make gold out of the drudge we may have started with (or visa versa) and a mystery because the series of coincidences can guide us rather than our little selves trying to control everything. As a long time reader of science fiction fantasy, those terms enliven my heart – I want my life to be a mystery and I enjoy the processes of all things alchemical. My reader will just have to indulge my tastes.

It is a lot more fun to live a life where you don’t know where you are going exactly than to plan, fret and try to coerce an otherwise uncooperative universe into doing what YOU (the little you) want it to do. Or at least this is becoming true for me and I have a few examples.

Like millions of people I started 2008 planning. Only this year I had no real idea of where I was going so rather than planning for particular things (little me planning) I opened it up to the alchemical side of things. Having been trained as an artist is very useful here – artists become comfortable when they face those big white pieces of paper that they don’t know and can’t precisely control what will come out on the other side. There may be zen in it (if I better understood zen), but I know that there is flow to it, using Csikszentmihalyi’s (1990) discussion of flow (which I would call an alchemical state) where people enter a zone (as the athletes understand it) and “magic” happens. Art requires focus, flow, and entering the zone and so did my planning session this year.

I won’t bore you with the details, suffice it to say that I came out with a diagram with four arms, two representing things that work in my life now and two that are the energies I want more of. I couldn’t n tell you all that I thought about or what the parts meant because I was largely moving on instinct. When the drawing that represented what my little mind might call a strategic plan felt “right” I printed it. Now it resides above my head and since part of the picture is a growing body of writing and two book proposals, I occasionally add words around the diagram.

Synchronistically, I was listening to a Deepak Chopra tape (2007) in which he leads his audience through exercises to identify their archetypes. I have seen this type of work before and it didn ‘t “click – this time it did and I adopted the archetype of ….(drum roll)…..(you guessed it) the alchemist. Being visual I went to the internet to find pictures of alchemists and …..(drum roll again) they look just like my office looks when I have these large planning documents up covering all my cabinets – many things going on, different sections of the office in use for different things I am doing, etc. I like to have everything out where I can see it – and evidently this has been the case for people who think like me throughout the ages.

Feeling satisfied that I was on the right track, I started to use another Chopra (2007) idea and as I go to bed at night I scan my day – then ask the universally connected part of myself (the bigger than me, me) to watch my dreams in the same way. Great stuff! While I may not remember my dreams exactly I can ask when I wake up what was that all about – and my other knowing self gives me an answer.

Enter new or refinements of old ideas and we’ll see the mystery of unfoldment in action once again. The facts are:

1. I have said that if I was to come back to the US and/or lead another reinventing life retreat that the universe would have to open the possibilities because I couldn’t see how it was going to happen.

2. Years ago when I did something called, The course in miracles, (Foundation for Inner Peace., 1992) one of the exercises that did not make sense was, “There is nothing you need do.” What did that mean? I could almost hear myself (small self) argue with the words on the page.

3. In my work as a university professor I am studying transformative education – this took me to a book by Loder (1989) who discusses the Christian stories of transformation.

4. Oprah Winfrey is evidently recommending a new book by one of my favorite provocative authors Eckhardt Tolle (year) Name of book and I got it to listen to on my iPod.

5. There is another Deepak book (2006) Power, freedom and grace, sitting on my desk that I haven’t quite gotten to that I want to add in my Reinventing Life database.

How do all these separate items – coupled with my asking myself when I wake up the meaning of my dreams have to do with following the mystery? The message that came to hit me over the head not once by three times from three different authors (Loder, Chopra and Tolle) was (there is that drum roll again) – my small (what they call egoic) limited self can’t control anything but the bigger connected to the mystery self can have a great time sitting back and letting the flow take me to interesting places. Interesting place number 1 at the moment is to Colorado in April. I received an email yesterday from an old business colleague who will bring me in as a guest speaker for a few days. While I am there, if all is meant to be, I can meet some people and get the next reinventing life retreat going. I will also keep my eyes and ears open in case there are other reasons I am meant to be there and doors may open that I can’t quite imagine.

The dream sequence last night cinched it for me. Mid way through the night I awaken feeling pressured and burdened (not an unusual set of feelings when I am trying to control things) to find that in my dreams I had taken on one too many things and the conflicting deadlines had me running (gee, I wonder if any of my readers have ever experienced this?). OK fine, I noticed it and went back to sleep. As I awoke this morning I felt at ease, upon asking what that was about I “heard,” this was an example of how it feels to let the mystery lead, “There is nothing you need do.”

WOW!

(Chopra, 2006, 2007; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Loder, 1989; Tolle, 2005)

Chopra, D. (2006). Power, freedom, and grace: Living from the source of lasting happiness. San Rafael, Calif.: Amber-Allen Pub.

Chopra, D. (2007). The essential spontaneous fulfillment of desire: The essence of harnessing the infinite power of coincidence (1st abridged ed.). New York: Harmony Books.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow : the psychology of optimal experience (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Row.

Foundation for Inner Peace. (1992). A Course in miracles : combined volume (2nd ed.). Glen Elen, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace.

Loder, J. E. (1989). The transforming moment (2nd ed.). Colorado Springs: Helmers & Howard.

Tolle, E. (2005). A new earth: Awakening to your life's purpose. New York, N.Y.: Dutton/Penguin Group.

Philosophy and Computer Games

Hi everyone,

I have been struggling this week with the overarching questions of philosophy and epistemology AT THE SAME TIME I am learning to play a video game. That’s what I call balance! The academic and the obscure? Or perhaps the grand and the stupid? Whatever you want to call them, both have their positive and negative attributes, both intrique and frustrate, they cause me to delight as I learn something new intersperse with throwing up my hands in the frustration of “just not getting it.”

I’m convinced this is universal pay backs for some moment of mental idleness – as I have been assigned doctoral level classes covering the theories of education at the same time I am teaching philosophy and epistemology of human inquiry. The great bit is free books and being paid to learn something. The awful part is the uphill learning curve where every week I realize that if I had only known what I know now, I would have taught last week differently. UGH.

As for the computer game (FATE is the one I am playing) I see why they are addictive. Where else can you know the agonies of defeat and yet, by and large, come out ahead after every session? I wish my chart of the evolution of philosophy and education brought me the same thrill of satisfaction. That mostly leaves me feeling as though my head is just too thick to let new things in. I decided to write an analogy between learning this game and becoming a professional writer, but it could be an analogy for learning anything. I’ll give you a sneak preview of some of my experiences so far…..

I noticed that my new HP laptop came packaged with a series of games, all tied together in a console. With no particular time on my hands I nevertheless decided to investigate. A game called FATE caught my eye and I opened it up.

I chose a random name as my character. I also had a choice of my appearance (male) and my role in life. Do I want to play a page, a magician, an adventurer? No fool me, I decide to start at the low end as a page. I get a helpful companion (I choose the cat) and off I am sent into the town. Immediately it becomes clear that there is a town (safe and full of resources) and a dungeon (not safe and where I earn my keep). My ultimate quest (given me right at the start) will be to roust bad guys on dungeon level 44. Still my simple page self (ranked level 1) doesn’t have to worry about that yet, so I explore a little, pick up what seems like a simple quest, and off I go.

I am equipped with a club and so (quite naturally I feel) I start smashing everything I come across in the dungeon. This seems to have positive effect because my bag of gold in the lower left column grows in amount (I remain clueless as to why, but go on nonetheless). I have to comment that this is much the same as the strategy I use when I take on learning a new subject – I smash all the knowledge I can and hope to figure out as I go how it fits together.

I get pretty good at level one, and (three days later) after playing for about an hour, I lay down the $20 required to buy the game and start fresh. This time I choose myself as the character and go for a dog instead of the cat companion just to add variety. I enter the dungeon once again, and this time strategically smash everything (as opposed to what? Smashing everything without a strategy behind it). I have definitely improved, I know now to be on the look-out for bad guys and I efficiently leave them in puddles on the dungeon floor. I am also very good at finding weapons and gold – and efficient at maximum storage. Lastly I know how to watch my life force and to refuel as it gets low (although I don’t know how to keep my pet alive and worry when his life force gets low – fortunately it just as magically seems to refill). The first three levels of the dungeon have been conquered and the game is getting a bit repetitive. I leave musing about what I am supposed to do with these extra weapons, how I feed the fish to my dog in the heat of battle in order to transform him (a wonderous power hinted at but the specifics of which still make no sense), nor how or why I would want to change weapons, let alone cast spells, etc.

Going back to my chart, I have also mastered the types of philosophy (metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics), have sorted out some of the main periods of growth and change (not surprising that the renaissance figured here) but am still frustrated by the links to what happened in educational idealism. Weren’t people learning and transforming even in the 1600’s?

My time in town (in safety) is spent organizing, catching up with those who owe me and sorting through what I want to keep with me as I go into the dungeon on my next quests. I know now to keep my pack open so that I can pick up weapons and gemstones as I find them. I make one mistake by selling a weapon with a gemstone in it (I find out later that I could have smashed it and saved the stone). Of course it is hard to make decisions when you have little or no understanding of the consequences you face. For instance are gemstones hard to come by? Should l keep them at all costs? Nevertheless I feel badly, as though I will regret later this hasty decision.

The same happens with teaching. When I haven’t taught a class before, I look ahead to see the material that is assigned for the next week and plot a course that I believe will help students navigate these waters. However, even though I have expertise in the general area, I don’t know these resources, and half way through the week I realize that things could have been much more efficiently handled another way.

Today I did something really stupid. In the heat of battle with green men with orange hair, I left clicked on my health potion instead of right clicking. As I was almost out of health (another reprehensible state of affairs I should have avoided) this mistake resulted in my death. While all is not lost (if they really killed you off you would stop playing the game) it cost me money and fame (ha! as if I had any fame). It’s bad enough making mistakes you don’t see coming, but dismal to do yourself in because of lack of focus or attention to details.

Alas that brings me back to philosophy and epistemology, “dismal to do yourself in because of lack of focus or attention to details. While not a graduate student, teaching these classes reminds me of the frustrations of the roles my students are in. Not only do they work full time jobs but they add on to their lives the headaches that we take on when we ask ourselves the bigger questions of life and try to make them meaningful to our everyday practice. For instance, is life something that exists outside of ourselves and therefore we can measure it and learn about IT (as though it has external truth to teach us)? Or is life something we create from the inside out, giving it meaning and having it reflect to us the meanings we give it?

Well I think you all know which one is true for me: strongly in the camp of those who see our internal selfhood and connection to universal energies creating our ideas about and therefore experiences of reality.

My potential for the rest of my day is to sort through those philosophical ideas again to find order between them and the ways in which people teach. I also want to spend a little more time in dungeon level 5; I have to figure out how to use the spells I have supposed learned before I try to finish the quests I have accepted on levels 6 and 7.

Better get back to it,

Love you all ,

Alana

And now we are four......

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was a sad day at our house. After having several scarey "episodes" where she would stop, gag, and be temporarily unable to move, our dearest dog Shadow died on our way to take her to the vet. She had a great morning - the food she loved, a walk on the hill, but the exertion of it all seemed too much for her failing body. It is always hard to know - quality or quantity of life - which do we go for? Shadow always appreciated quality - and so we know she approved of the way she passed from this world to the next.

Ireland is fantastic in that you can bury your animals in the property around where you live. Shadow's final resting place will probably becomes mini graveyard - as this place on the hill behind our house is visible from our kitchen window. With a brilliant view of the marina on the one side and the beach and inlet to the sea on the other, the spirits of our animals will enjoy the final beauty and freedom that our lives here offer.

I don't know how many of you have read, Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan, but Margie and I loved it this summer. Our animals may not be perfect, and the little reminders of Shadow's life include an antique Wizard of OZ book in shreds and an antique chair with one rocker slightly shorter than another. Why she loved old things and wood to chew on was always a mystery! Still reading about Marley puts it in perspective and all the "Marley-like" animals we love (including ancient cats who pee on rugs, large laboradors who have trouble getting up stairs to mention our other two animal friends) warm our hearts, make us get out of ourselves to take them on walks and through their requirement for love, keep our hearts open to the world.

"And through their requirement for love, keep our hearts open to the world" ......may all of us require love from each other today - in memory of Shadow.

All the best,
Alana

Rotarians support old people

Hi everyone,

The title of my post today is something of a joke. My Rotary club, although one of the youngest and most vibrant in the area, is primarily filled with white haired business people, close to if not over the edge of retirement. The rest of the clubs in Cork are even more so, thus making it ironic for the three clubs to get together every year and put on a bash for “old people” How is it we define old?

Tuesday night this week found me in a ballroom at the Cork City Hall setting tables and helping at the door. The food consisted of a variety of “English style” sandwiches on mostly white bread, complete with the crusts cut off, and pastry trays full of sweets. No one had made coffee so all had tea. The tables were set with paper goods and fabulous bright colored balloons. Overall the atmosphere was festive, if low budget.

At the door, my friend Colette and I were discussing whether we would come to an event like this – she said no and I said, “Of course! When the times come we all take our entertainment where we can get it.” The crowd was mixed, if predictably higher on the side of the feminine gender. Collette immediately noticed that some of the people didn’t look “old enough” to attend, and this is really where my musings start:

I am currently teaching philosophy and epistemology classes to doctoral students. These topics have made me “go brain dead” in the past, but for whatever reason I am now interested in and fascinated by questions of how we know what we know. For instance, two schools drop out immediately, do we know what we know from the external world and then we sort it out inside of us, or is it the other way around? My experience at the door would make a case for the later, woefully subjective as it is. A few years back I can remember thinking that young people in offices (sometimes my doctors) had become very young indeed. Now at the door supporting an “old people’s” gig I found our clientele for the evening not old at all.

What may count more than age is that, whatever the universe has in mind for our personal circumstances, we can always find “a good time.” Picture a ballroom full of people, some blind, some having few economic resources, some looking as spry and well put together as either you or I. The entertainment during their sandwiches is the excellent Cork military band. Afterwards they sing and dance to the sounds of a local musician playing what were mostly hit tunes or Irish classics. Women dance with women (I love that part), men dance with women, young people (sons and daughters of Rotarians) dance with old people. It was a gas!

One of the younger lads I met took pictures and has agreed to send them to me. If all comes through I’ll add pictures here in the future. But in the meantime, something that we all muse on at some point: What is age? How do we know it and what does it matter?

Love to everyone,

Alana

Was it the Driving or the Dangly Earrings?

Hi Everyone,

Celebrations are in order! Margie and I have reached the status of grown up once again and can retire our learner’s permits! We both passed our driving tests, we can take the red “L”s off our car. There were several levels of synchronicity that conspired to make this so.

The following tale is not to say that we had not done our homework. Last Sunday we had spent a difficult day going through the maneuvers, following the maps given to us online and practicing the driving routes so as not to be caught unaware during the test. Also we scheduled this test one and a half hours from our home, rather than returning to the Cork sites, because we would be driving on roads more like our everyday driving patterns in Kinsale.

First, there were the dangly earrings. One of our new friends, Liz, a main protagonist in the Transition town group (working to help life in Kinsale be completely sustainable through the challenges ahead) gave us a hint. Because the dratted Irish driving test is so hard to pass, and because they frequently fail people on their lack of continual perusal of the driving environment, women who pass frequently wear dangly earrings. The logic being that movement on the earring alerts the examiner to how often you are looking in your mirrors. You’ll love the way Margie looks in them with her current haircut – an unexpected bonus!

Perhaps more than the earrings however was the fact that the examiner remembered us from a chance meeting last year. Here is where the coincidence get VERY interesting. I have recently heard Deepak Chopra’s audio work, The spontaneous fulfillment of desire, I generally love his ideas and consider him one of my teachers and this book came to me, as if by magic, just when I needed it. To make this long explanation short, as I am sitting in the car park at the test centre I am meditating with the intention of opening myself up to anyway the universe can conspire to help me pass this test.

Once in the waiting room, the door opens and a man comes out, beaconing to both myself and the young lad next to me to come into the inner recesses where we start our tests. All goes along as expected, I miss a few signs, I stumble on getting the car started, I am not at the top of my game but not failing or panicking either. Things progress, I get more assured, my driving becomes more indicative of my normal assuredness behind the wheel, and the driving examiner begins to talk to me. We discuss his daughter in Italy (also a Dr. whose degree is not medical), the advantages to speaking many languages, etc. After about half the test we are entering a straight away where I am required to increase speed to 100kmh, he mentions a massage therapist in Clonakilty, OUR massage therapist who opened an office in there last year, an opening we attended.

Picture if you will my driving along a lovely country road next to a picturesque river, speeding up through the gears, proving to the examiner next to me that I know how to shift – meanwhile in my head I am flashing back to a spring afternoon where we had taken the afternoon to support our friend Joy as she opened her new business in Clonakilty. On that earlier afternoon we sat on a stone wall, eating Thai pastries and >>>>> YES>>>> talking to this man and his wife! They had come along to Joy’s opening because they had traveled in Thailand and had enjoyed massage there. He had had an adventure of note, having found it so relaxing as to fall asleep, only to waken confused when they started to pull on his fingers, thinking they were stealing his ring. The earlier conversation merged with the present moment, I finished my test, and as he handed me my license he said, “Another milestone out of the way.”

I end this musing on little dreams and intentions coming true, the power of the universal mind and the synchronicity that supports us. Had we done our homework and were we ready for our tests? Absolutely, nevertheless that had been true in the past and the lessons had been different. Less than 50% of the people taking these tests pass them. As we both learned as well, the negative power of a high stakes test is that the person being tested can become so nervous they are thrown completely off and stumble in areas they would under other conditions be assured. To my complete chagrin, at one point prior to yesterday I had be reduced to a sniveling idiot, convinced I wasn’t going to pass proving that as much power resides the in the head game as goes with the external experience.

When all is said and done I will take synchronicity every time, it makes things so much easier!

Sending love out to everyone,

Alana (Chopra, 2003, 2007)

Chopra, D. (2003). The spontaneous fulfillment of desire: Harnessing the infinite power of coincidence (1st ed.). New York: Harmony Books.

Chopra, D. (2007). The essential spontaneous fulfillment of desire: The essence of harnessing the infinite power of coincidence (1st abridged ed.). New York: Harmony Books.

The importance of Salt - The mines near Krakow

Hi everyone,

I will finish my musings on Krakow with this photo - sculptures commemorating the mythology of Queen Wanda. Whether or not based on a true story, we hear from Kazik in our multicultural group that Wanda stories are told to children to display all that is good and true to Poland. In one she throws herself into a river rather than marry (therefore creating allegiance with) a German prince. Here she threw her ring into the river a symbol of her marriage and dedication to the Polish person - later the ring nestled in the mines below this area, only to be returned to her by the first miners.

Salt was no light matter to Poland, becoming one of the solid basis for the local economy for hundreds of years. Visitors to the salt mines are taken on a two hour tour, descending 300 hundred meters. Throughout the tour diorama's such as the one above, carved out of salt, tell the story of the mines and the miners through the centuries. What the visitor needs to keep in mind is that, due to the humidity in the mines, these sculptures wear away with time.

All the best for now,
Alana

One plaque among many (Krakow's darker history)

The place we did not visit, yet one that is reported by many to be a life changing experience, was Auschwitz. Our apartment in Kazimierz (the district that had been central to Jewish life pre WWII) faced a central square. On the same side of the street as our apartment was the oldest synagogue and cemetery - taken over by the Nazi's and made into an office, although not destroyed. Thankfully, it houses a small but active congregation once more and has been reinstated to its former place in the community. The plaque above, commemorating an entire family, if not bloodline, of people murdered was the only one in English - but as my title suggests, was one among many.