Honoring

Many years ago when I was a young man I moved to California. I explored the place and settled in Southern California near where my grandparents had once lived in Hollywood.

As a child we had a vacation out there once and so of course I liked to walk around the area a bit. It naturally followed in time that I would seek to work in that general neighborhood of Hollywood while I was exploring other working possibilities. So temporarily I took a job at a movie theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Of course I never really expected to see any movie stars but as it turned out I did.

I remember that the assistant manager took me aside when I first started working there, he was perhaps just a few years older than me in his late twenties, and he said, "Now look, this is an old movie theatre. It's not fancy. It's no flagship movie theatre but every once in a while well known people in Hollywood will come in here - maybe just order a hot dog and eat it and leave - and we let them do that.

"We don't expect them to buy a ticket just to go to get a hot dog. Our people who work at the ticket booth know and recognize these people and usually they're old-timers.

"Here's what to do when that happens. Don't go gaga when they come in. You're gonna be dazzled but try to keep it at a minimum. These people have worked long and hard for this kind of recognition and they need to have their quiet time, their moments when they can just be a regular person.

"Oh sure, sometimes they might be enjoying the recognition but when they step into this theatre - modest though it may be - we want them to feel like they can be relaxed. So just treat them like you would any other customer. Wait on them, acknowledge their greeting if they give you one. If they don't speak to you then assume that they want their private time."

"Okay," I said both excited and frustrated at the same moment looking forward to seeing "movie stars" and at the same time feeling admonished for something I hadn't done yet.

So sure enough within a month or two in came somebody that I recognized immediately though I had to think a little bit to remember his name. Some of you will know him primarily because he was known for a while as the Maytag Repairman. I'm referring of course to Jesse White but he had a long and elaborate career in show business.

Normally I don't drop names here but I'm using this as an example about something I'll build on later on in this narrative.

So sure enough, one day I was working at the concessions counter and...I don't think the assistant manager was even there. It was a day when he was off but in walked a customer without going to the ticket booth to get a ticket and I was a little surprised.

As he got closer I recognized him immediately. This was Jesse White. He ordered a hot dog and I served it to him while making every effort to remain as indifferent as possible but at some point he caught me glancing at him while he was eating the hot dog right there in the lobby. As it happened there was nobody else there. The movie was playing and all the customers were in watching the movie having no idea that a famous Hollywood movie star was in the lobby at that moment.

As I glanced at him and he caught me he said, "What is it" and I apologized. I said, "I'm sorry Mr. White. I'm new to this job and I haven't seen too many movie stars up close like this. He stopped eating his hot dog for a moment and he said, "You'll get used to it kid" just as easy going as possible putting me at ease right away. He finished his hot dog, smiled a little bit and walked out the door.

I'm mentioning this because recently I read an article about Barack Obama's visit with his family to Hawaii and his experiencing the extremes of being excessively noticed - not really able to take the kids out on a spontaneous visit to the ice cream parlor or better yet as we say here in Hawaii ah - to get some shave ice eh.

Well I feel for the man and in a way I feel for our society. I wish you all could have been there to hear that assistant manager give me that talk about my reaction to famous people. It was short and sweet and I've tried to put down what I can remember from it.

I know that it is the job of the Press to let people know what the policy is of our government but must we really take away the joys of a parent having fun with his children, his wife, his family and all of the events that make parenthood a blessing.

I am not claiming to have any great knowledge about these subjects of family but I am more conscious now of family since I've been here in Hawaii. Family in Hawaii is very major and it is considered something that is not only respected but it is honored.

Hawaii itself - the land itself, I believe, has an energy supporting heart and even kindness. It also supports family perhaps because family often represents heart - I grant not always but often. What I'm trying to say here overall is I think it might be nice given the struggles that happen sometimes with family and raising children to let the Obama's have their time in Hawaii - especially for Barack who grew up here - to rest, to restore and to be fed by the land and the kindness of the people.

That's all I have to say about that now. Goodlife.

My New Christmas Story

Greetings. Just a note to let you know that my new Christmas story is up on my Nice Little Stories blog.

I get asked every year when my new Christmas story will be ready and so I've taken to putting up this notice. I hope you enjoy it.

Goodlife to you all.

Dog Helper

The other night I had my remote hearing experience again. I've had this in the past when I was living in Colorado when I took my friend to drop off at her friends house. Her foot was injured at the time, I was going to drive away but as she had disappeared from sight I suddenly heard her call out to me - not from where she was but literally right next to me. Just slightly to my left and slightly behind me.

Understand now she was quite a distance away and she was even behind a building and I was in a car with the windows rolled up and the heater on because it was winter eh - but I heard her call out my name strongly so I stopped and I went to investigate and sure enough her friend hadn't been home and she was worried that she was going to have to hobble on back to our place on her own.

When I asked her about it she said that she did not say anything but she was upset and concerned though I heard this in her voice - this call for help.

Well I bring that up because it happened again. The other night I heard - from the same location this time where I work near my desk - I heard just to my left and slightly behind me and as I localize it better now - really just slightly above my head, the same location as before and also a little bit behind me, I heard a dog - a fairly good sized dog - medium to large dog bark suddenly. And so not being able to go there wherever there was I said the basic living prayer.

"I am asking that all those beings who need help especially where that sound came from receive all the help they need now benevolently from all those beings who can help them." That adaptation put in can place the focus where it is needed without actually knowing.

I do not know whether the dog knew they were reaching me or not but it was not my job to inquire of dog helper but to do what I could.

Of course energy came through. These words set the intention you know and that's why they're so precise but ultimately it is the energy and the good heart energy that supports those in need wherever they may be with such a living prayer. Goodlife.

Cloud Morse Code?

Something interesting happened the other day. I thought you'd get a kick out of hearing about it.

You've seen Lenticular Clouds in the sky haven't you? They're really something. Some people think that they're large ships in the sky and many of them do have an appearance like that (see example above).

Well we don't get clouds like that around here very often but we did have a couple the other day. I remember looking at them. They do tend to stay where they are you know? They don't drift like other clouds. They are where they are and that's where they stay.

So it was sitting there for quite a while and I remember looking at it and saying quietly out loud, "I wonder where they're from?" And almost immediately right underneath that lenticular cloud appeared what I can only describe as cloud Morse code.

There were three dots and a dash in a perfect row. There's no question about it. There were three small dots and a dash and it stayed there for a little while but since it was little clouds, not part of the lenticular cloud, it quickly dissipated and drifted on.

Just for fun I looked it up on a morse code chart and three dots and a dash equal the letter "V." So...what do you think it is? Interesting eh? I'll leave it up to you. Goodlife.

More On Spirits In The Sky

Lately when I've been looking at the sky I see so many of the same spirits - they do show up in the clouds you know.

Some of them look like they might even have recently had lives on Earth. That's how it feels to me but others definitely look like they're from the past - maybe even in ancient times in Hawaii - and the faces show up on a regular basis. The clouds identifying their presence by taking the shape.

Do you do that? Do you look up in the sky and see the faces? I'm sure most of you do. It's interesting to note when you see the same faces - I feel that the spirits - not all of course but many of the spirits that have a particular connection to Earth are often in residence in the sky.

Sometimes of course they can be seen in stone, other times in other matter but often - so very often in the sky.

This is something I enjoy seeing, I hope you do too. I feel they are looking out for us and radiating their blessings upon us. Perhaps they walked here or swam here or lived here at one time before and maybe just exactly the same for where you live.

Goodlife.

The Spiritual Hunters

Remember the last time I told you that I was going to tell you about a spiritual hunter I knew. Well this was a couple that lived in northern Colorado and I happened to meet one of them at one time.

She told me that she and her husband knew how to hunt and they would go hunting for elk and as I listened to her speaking I realized she wasn't just talking about going out into the forest and hunting as people do in order to put food on the table but she was talking about something else.

She told me that they would prepare and say prayers and cleanse themselves in a spiritual manner before they went to the forest and that they would bring gifts. She didn't elaborate on what the gifts were but she did indicate that sometimes it would be food and sometimes it would be things that they had created with the desire of having the exact elk show up for them that would be acceptable to the community of elk to be a being that would put food on their table and they would ask for that to happen you see.

So sometimes they would bring special things that they had made to help bring that about and they'd go to the forest. They wouldn't hunt the elk as a hunter might normally do tracking and so on but they would go to the same place all the time and they would sit down and wait. Soon - within an hour at most an elk would come along and stand and just wait for them to shoot the elk and take it for their table.

As she finished telling me that it made sense and she said, "...and I want you to understand the difference between eating elk that you might eat hunted in a normal way and elk that you might eat that is hunted in that spiritual fashion - where the elk that comes to you knows that it's going to be shot, knows that it's going to provide food for human beings."I said, "Oh, you can do that?"

She said, "Yes, I have a little stew left that I made from that elk. Would you like to have some" and I said, "Yes, please."

Imagine a beef stew. It was very much like a beef stew only there were a few chunks of elk meat in it. Now I've had some great beef stew in my time and I'm sure you have too but this elk stew was completely different.

There were just a few pieces of the elk in that stew but after I had that, and the total amount I had was probably no greater than what you would find in a 12 ounce coffee cup, and I had nothing else - just that - that's what she served me so that I could see the affects - I felt invigorated. I felt a spiritual energy come over me and I felt uplifted.

I learned something from that experience and I am hopeful that those of you who hunt might also be inspired by that. If you're not doing spiritual hunting now you might look into it. Ask around in your community. I am no expert on this but perhaps there is someone that knows how to do that and I wish you well in your endeavors.

Goodlife.

A Heartwarming Surprise

Years ago I used to housesit for a dear friend of mine in Colorado. Her home, modest though it was, was as she described it, "A sweet little house" and it was very true. There was a lot of spiritual energy around and it felt very good and she was blessed by a certain phenomena.

Her home - while in a bustling community happened to back up to national forest preserve and I remember her saying once - I believe it was the first time I did an extended house-sitting for her - she said, "If you want to have an interesting experience some evening sit here at the dinning room table and just be alert.

"Have a light on but not too bright and just be alert to that window right in front of the table. You can do other things. You can write but just don't get too involved" and I said, "Okay" and I knew that she would give me suggestions like that because there was always more to it.

She was the sort of person who would like to tell somebody something but had noticed over time that sometimes it was better to make suggestions and to allow the future to unfold rather than to say - this will happen and this will happen.

In that way of course, you could be involved in your experience and discover your experience and be engaged in the teaching and the lesson rather than having the lesson laid out for you with prescribed results that you had to look for and then would feel uncomfortable with if it didn't evolve.

So on the basis of her suggestions which were always good that way, I sat at that table one evening and had a light on nearby and had in front of me writing materials to compose either a letter to someone or to write down ideas for articles and books and while I was in mid thought at one point I heard something rustle outside.

There was a very light snow falling so I wasn't sure at first whether it was simply snow sliding off the roof but I waited and sat quietly and pretty soon someone showed up at the window. You might say it was a face at the window, only this face was a beautiful face and had a very large rack of antlers.

It was a beautiful deer and the deer stopped and noticed me and looked in and as deer do when they felt safe even though there was really just a few feet - maybe a total of five feet between us but there was that wall that was a barrier - the deer felt safe and nodded at me and I nodded back and the deer walked on and I enjoyed that.

It was like - oh, that's what was going to happen. My friend wanted me to know that this is the path that deer take.

She told me sometime before that the deer often would come down out of the forest and walk past her house but she didn't say they would walk right past that window - right next to the house. And they would walk on to an old orchard that was sort of an extended portion of her yard and there was quite a few trees left from the old orchard. They would nibble on the apples that had either fallen on the ground or reach up a bit as far as they could and get the ones that were still left on the trees.

She made certain that the trees would be left for them and she would often leave lots and lots of apples on the trees so that the deer had something that they could live on and a nice snack and treat for the wintertime. You probably already know this but deer do love apples and that was a sweet thing that she did for them.

Well, as my time went on during that house-sitting and I realized the deer would walk right by the window I had that experience many times with the deer looking in the window and nodding like that.

If you've never been really up close and personal with deer they really can be the sweetest beings. They do have such great hearts. I used to have a friend who referred to deer as the king of the animals and this is not because deer had some power over others but rather because they have great heart. They have great compassion not only for their own kind but for others and also because they are prepared to make sacrifices not only to preserve their own families and their own communities but sometimes so that human beings might live and thrive.

Those of you who are hunters, especially spiritual hunters, and know how to hunt and offer gifts to the forest and gifts for the continuation of a noble species know exactly what I'm talking about. Another time maybe I'll tell you about someone I knew in Colorado who was a spiritual hunter.

Goodlife.

"Giant"

I remember - many years ago I had a friend when I was living in New Mexico who started calling me "Giant" - really out of a clear blue sky. She had never called me that before but she started calling me that.

One day we were going for a walk out on this dirt road - of which there were many then where I was living and we talked about this and that and at one point I asked her, "How come you started calling me giant?" She was quiet for a long time and then she said, "Well you know...once I saw you - you were really really tall. I mean taller than you normally are."

I didn't know what to say because physically speaking she was a lot shorter than I was and so there was another long pause and I said, " You mean taller than I normally am?" She said, "Oh yes - very much so" and I said, "Oh."

Well I realize that's not much of a story but when you couple it with this and this then you have something to think about.

It's a curious thing that seems to be displayed by me sometimes. I've mentioned it in the other posts and I'm just adding it here as a curiosity for you.

Goodlife.

Unexpected Adventures

I had to laugh when reading about Louis' porch sliding adventure and then slightly blood-curdling events that followed it. Still...it reminded me of my own adventure that I had completely forgotten.

Once when I was a youngster I remember walking the distance, oh maybe it was about half a mile, from my house to the theatre that we would go to as kids. They always had a great feature for us on Saturday - usually two shoot-'em-up action movies or stories about animals or horses and cartoons and also a serial - you remember those - serials?

I remember this one was a particularly fun day. It was wintertime and coming out of the theatre and starting for home with my friend another kid that I didn't know was mad at me for no reason that I can remember and charged at me.

Perhaps from the excitement of the movies I demonstrated marshal arts which I didn't know then at all and don't know much more about now. The next thing I knew this youngster, wearing a snowsuit I think or something that looked like it, was flying over my hip and sailing along the ice until he bumped up into a car parked in a driveway.

He wasn't hurt and he got up and ran over to me and I thought we were going to have to duke it out but he ran over to me and said, "How did you do that? I want to learn how to do that" and I suppressed a comment that I want to learn how to do that too and we had kind of a brief friendship there. He took it well I'd have to say.

Anyway, I was reminded of this by reading about Louis' unexpected adventure on his porch as a youngster. Just thought I'd pass that on to you. It was a funny and unexpected adventure for me as well.

Goodlife.

Lightning And Me

I recall when I was young, a teenager I believe, I accompanied my Father on a road trip he was making. This was rare for me to have the opportunity to go out with my Father who, at this time of his life, was going out and going on these road trips to do various sales of merchandise he had and deliver sometimes, samples to the stores so they could decide whether to order this or that or how much.

I recall once we were driving through Iowa and the area we drove into had just had one of the biggest rainstorms they'd ever had. It was 13 inches of rain - just all came down in one steady amount and while the bulk of the storm had cleared out there was still some thunderstorms in the area.

My Father was a very careful driver and he was driving very slowly and there were very few people on that highway, not surprisingly. It was a simple road - two lane blacktop and we suddenly found ourselves in a thunderstorm.

Lightning was crashing all around. I noted a lightning bolt crashing nearby and it was very loud thunder of course but then as the lightning started hitting closer to us something unusual happened and that's that I couldn't hear the thunder. I think it has something to do with distance and timing but not being a student of science I couldn't offer that explanation.

I recall at the time thinking that I thought I saw something in the lightning - I wonder if it would strike closer and I can see for sure - and almost instantaneously another bolt of lightning struck about 6 feet away from the car on my side and I had a chance to see clearly - yes - there were colors in the lightning. Just like colors in a rainbow only more distinct and more intense.

It is a curious thing that. I've had a lot of unusual encounters with lightning in my life. Later on in life I saw lightning that had no colors and while the storm was all around, this happening in Arizona, this form of lightning had no thunder and went on for some time. It looked just like lightning but it was a pale white light.

Another time also in the Southwest, this time in New Mexico, lightning struck very close to me - so close that my hair sizzled a bit and I was not harmed otherwise.

I do not want to suggest I'm recommending these experiences for they were both frightening and also interesting and yes exciting at the same time but overall after the experience I was glad it was over.

I'm mentioning this to you because of my ofttime experience and influence with the weather which I have been taught a great deal about from my teachers and have learned how to work benevolently with Mother Earth's elements, we call weather, which for her are simply parts of her physical personality.

Goodlife.

Guides And Teachers

On an occasion with a friend once, I remember we traveled spontaneously to one of The Nations. It was maybe a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty miles from our home.

We felt drawn there and we went almost on a whim. We got there and it was late afternoon. It was up on one of the mesas.

We realized that whatever we were going to do there, we weren't going to have time to get back so we would have to stay overnight. We went to a lodge that was there and while they had rooms for rent, not many - just a few, they didn't have space for us but they were kind enough to suggest that if we wanted to stay nearby, which is something that is a plus when you're camping out in the "middle of nowhere" that we could use their side lot and it would have enough light and activity so there would be no danger. We thanked very much and went to put up our tent there.

I remember my friend felt strongly that it would be good to put the tent up under some bushes as she felt that it would provide an extra measure of shelter. However 2 dogs had strolled up very quietly, very gentle dogs, and I had the impression that that wasn't what they were suggesting.

I remember looking at the dogs, one then the other, and one had sort of laid its face on the instructions for putting up the tent - as it was a new tent and we hadn't ever put it together - so it was difficult to see the instructions. My impression of course was that - stop, is what the dog was saying very gently.

I looked at the other dog and the dog looked at me and promptly sat down and I knew that that dog was saying - this is where to put the tent.

I mentioned it to my friend and she said - no no, I've camped a lot before and I know best and so I said okay.

She started putting up the tent and she suddenly realized there was a large colony of ants there. She stepped back and brushed herself off and gathered up the tent materials and walked back and she looked at the dogs and smiled and understood that they were part of the welcoming committee. And being a person who really loved dogs I think she kind of got a kick out of it and took it good-naturedly.

Well - we put the tent up there in the exact spot they recommended and we not only had a nice restful nights sleep but the dogs stayed with us. I had the feeling they were protecting us.

The one that had sat down and showed us the space lingered for a while and the other one very politely stayed on the outside of the tent but where I was, rolled up against me - against the tent. So I had my friend on one side and my dog friend on the other side - all in all a good night.

In the morning dog friend was gone. They had never barked, never made a sound but had moved off back to their home and left us to greet the morning.

We folded up the tent, found the special place we had been drawn to and did a special prayer blessing in the most benevolent way we knew how. We drove home and what I remember to this day is how wonderful the experience was with our dog guides and teachers. These are truly wonderful beings.

Goodlife.

Some Of The Best Advice I ever Had

Many years ago I was driving, up north I think from Southern California, and it was late. I was trying to get to get to a town that was just a little bit past my capability for driving that day so I had picked up the speed a little bit.

I was going maybe 10 miles an hour over the speed limit and all of a sudden I noticed the red lights flashing behind me - I hadn't seen the police car coming up behind me.

I pulled over and stopped and didn't know exactly what to do but the next moment the sheriff had gotten out of the car and had come up to my window. I rolled down the window and he said, "Step back here for a minute." So I rolled up the window, got out and got in beside him in the front seat. He said, "Lets go."

I didn't know where we were going - I was worried that I was getting arrested but he never said anything like that. He drove down the highway for a bit - quiet - and then he gave me a gentle lecture about speeding and why it wasn't a good idea and he spoke in such a quiet gentle way I really listened to him - I paid attention.

After we had driven for quite a ways he drove across a part of the median, it was a divided highway, and we started heading back in the general direction of where my car was - not driving very fast. He was talking to me and all the while he was looking around the way a good police officer does but what he was saying didn't have anything to do with why he had pulled me over or at least, as far as I knew.

He asked me what I wanted to do with my life and at that time I had some interest in joining the police department in the town in which I lived. He listened to me and he said, "You know, I'm not sure if that's for you." I can't explain how he - he just said that.

He paused for a while and he said, "You know, the secret of life is to find something you like doing. Do it well and maybe it turns into a profession - see. Find out something that you're good at and then make sure that that becomes part of your job or is your job. Then find a good woman, settle down and have a good life."

We drove on for a while and I have to say initially I felt like maybe I was still interested in being a police officer because this person was such a stand-up guy but I brought it up again and he said, "No, I can't explain it to you but I just know that's not for you - that's not your life."

He said, "I have a way of knowing these things and I know that you haven't found your life yet. You haven't found your career and you haven't found the woman you're going to live with - but you will. Just stay with it."

We drove on past my car, he talked to me a little more - talking to me the way a good uncle or grandfather would. Then he swung back around behind my car and stopped and I didn't know what to do and he said, "That's all, you can go now. Slow down."

I got out of the car and walked back to my car and I did slow down. It didn't take that much longer to get to where I was going - maybe an extra 5 minutes. It's really funny - you think when you're going 10 miles an hour or even 15 miles an hour, as some folks do, over the speed limit you're going to get there faster.

I think that that sheriff wanted me to get to my life and wanted me to slow down because he felt I was going to do something important someday. I've tried to live up to his expectations.

Goodlife to you all.

Greetings

Greetings, I'm going to use this blog for stories associated with my travels and my experiences - pretty much exclusively. It'll take me a while to figure out what to put up here but I'll put something up eventually.

Goodlife to you all.