Mexico Border Fence | Immigration | Another Berlin Wall?

Posted on May 14, 2009 by Rio

imagesWe are building an incredible new fence. Is that the solution?

Mexicans cross the US border illegally in search of work because they don’t earn enough money in their own country to sustain themselves.  I can vouch for that. Is a fence going to stop them? I don’t think so.

We have to address the problem not the symptoms. They need a decent minimum wage.  They need schools and libraries. They don’t need a fence; they need a supportive government. If they would have that they wouldn’t even think about the United States. They have a beautiful country and a deep cultural background.

images 2We applauded when the Berlin Wall fell. Are we building another one?

What do you think?

“Be Kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”–Socrates

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Mother’s Day | Gift Ideas | Anderson Cooper

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Rio

There are really great suggestions in this video for a mother’s day gift. Enjoy!

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Mindfulness | Mission Bay Park | San Diego CA

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Rio

mbay1I visited Mission Bay Park today…in mindfulness.
People walking… seagulls flying…sailboats,…kayaks.
People fishing, a crow flying by and shitting…a fisherman looking up.
Girls and boys running…a man in crutches.
Wind blowing…palm trees swaying…rustling leaves.  
Blue skies…jumping fish…people having lunch…lifting weights…
Beautiful day!

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Website Magazine | Twitter Image

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Rio

I have been receiving website magazine for a few months and I find it enlightnening. They have educational articles on just about everything: blogging, marketing, search engine optimization etc. Here is a short article as an example:

The Importance of  Your Twitter Image:

“As Twitter continues to sweep the Internet, it only makes sense that users are adding more and more followers each day. And while services like TweetDeck can help manage all those incoming tweets, not everyone is using them. That presents a problem for those using Twitter to market their brands. How do you stand out amidst all the noise?

Twitter is an excellent tool for finding breaking news. As such, many users scan their Twitter accounts quickly to find something of interest. Pay attention to how you scan Twitter, and you might find yourself looking at users’ images more than the actual list of tweets. That’s because as you become accustomed to the value of a particular user’s tweets, you look for them specifically. It’s much easier to pick out an image of value rather than the entire tweet. Therefore, it’s important, as a brand, to have an image that is instantly recognizable – one that stands out. That way when users are scanning a long list of tweets, the chances increase that they will stop and read yours. That all depends, of course, on the value you are providing with each and every tweet associated with your image”.

You can subscribe at www.websitemagazine.com You can also follow them on Twitter.

“You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you”.–Barbara Sher

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Buddhism | Mindfulness | Meditation

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Rio

These two quotes from two different Buddhist teachers are quite helpful. One explains the problem that we face, the source of our discontent. The other tells us how the problem is solved.

“Lack of vigilance is like a thief, who slinks behind when mindfulness abates.
And all the merit we have gathered in. He steals, and down we go to lower realms.”

–Shantideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva

“The more I doubted, the more I meditated, the more I practiced. Whenever doubt arose I practiced right at that point. Wisdom arose. Things began to change. It’s hard to describe the change that took place. The mind changed until there was no more doubt. I don’t know how it changed. If I were to try telling someone, they probably wouldn’t understand.”

Ajahn Chah, Food for the Heart

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Sycamore Ranch | Sycamore Forest | New Mexico

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Rio

After I left Arcosanti, Arizona, I eventually reached The Sycamore Ranch in New Mexico. I worked there as a ranch hand for a little over a year. At the ranch I started working on the manuscript for The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda.

It was by chance, while digging some facts about the ranch for my book, that I found these pictures on the web. Here they are. Enjoy!

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This is the entrance and the Cactus Garden.

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This is the main house and my pad to the right:

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The forest. Animas Creek runs through it.

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Amazing place! It is right in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert.

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The Four Agreements | Don Miguel Ruiz | Toltecs

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Rio

The Four Agreements

In a simple way, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz show us how human beings distort our reality, trapping ourselves in negative beliefs that we never challenge. In the book don Miguel, also a Toltec shaman, gives us four agreements to help us break free from our limiting belief system:

1.Don’t take anything personally,
2.Don’t make assumptions,
3. Be impeccable with your word and
4. Always do your best.


It is interesting to note that if practiced consistently, each of the first three agreements would  take us to inner silence.  The fourth one refers to doing your best, just your best, with the other three.

“All paths, Arjuna, lead to me.” Krishna—The Baghavad Gita (4:11)

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Storage | Attachment | Non-attachment

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Rio

I recently realized that I had wasted over $1500.00 in storage space due to my attachments and I gave notice. We get attached to things that we don’t use (and maybe will never use again).  They have been with us for awhile, and we plan to use them again eventually…maybe!

If I would have gotten rid of everything I had in storage for over two years instead of putting it in storage, I would be able to buy three times what I had stored. Everything I had in there was not worth more than $500.00

Does it makes sense to use storage? Maybe sometimes. Most of the time, however,  we are just wasting money due to meaningless attachments. What do you think? Are you using storage space?

Quote: “A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm”.–Charles Schwab

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Door to Door | Movie | Bill Porter

Posted on April 10, 2009 by Rio

I had heard people talk about the movie Door to Door and recently came across a post at the Mawhinney blog,   reviewing the movie. I was impressed!  Bill Porter was born with cerebral palsy and against all odds became the top salesman for the Watkins company.  So I did a search in Wikipedia to corroborate the facts and this is what I found:
“Porter had been told for many years that he was not employable, but he threw all of his effort into working as a salesman for Watkins. Despite the pain of his medical condition, he would walk eight to ten miles a day to meet his customers. Porter has been able to support himself, and continued to work as a salesman at the age of 69 at the time of the film’s showing.”

At the age of 76 Mr. Porter is still working; you can visit him on the web.

The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.– Paramahansa Yogananda

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San Diego | Pacific Ocean | Water Shortage

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Rio

On my last visit to the YMCA gym this past week, I found a note on the shower room refering to the fact that new shower heads had been installed which reduced the flow of water in order to conserve it.

I am trying to figure out why in San Diego, CA , a city famous for its beaches on the Pacific Ocean we are having a water shortage.  We do have  the technology (desalinization) to treat seawater and make it consumable, don’t we? I have asked around but nobody seems to know. Any ideas? Do you know?

Thanks for your input.

“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.” ~ Alfred Adler

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