Well, it's rare that I find myself being on the optimistic end of a discussion but having just glanced at the two responses on the home page--both feeling negatively, I am going to really savor this opportunity.
Yes, wholeheartedly I believe that consciousness evolves and equally wholeheartedly that we are!!  I don't particularly separate "human" consciousness from the "one" consciousness out of which I believe all things arise.  Even prominant, though sometimes/somewhat renegade scientists are promoting this vision of life.
Just take "gaia" as an example, all of us gathered here communicating on these topics, sharing our views on how to make the world a better place.  And there are hundreds of sites published by people who also share this goal and do their part to spread the word about how to evolve more effectively or quickly.
The number of alternative health practitioners is another example.  We are really beginning to believe that we can, and are, taking responsibility for our own well-being.  We no longer see ourselves as some kind of machine with spare parts that we can just cut out at whim.
We're able to discuss philosophies and needs and solutions with people all around the world--and many of us do.  We can, and do, offer help to our brothers and sisters no matter how far away--and we learn from them.
I think we're finally beginning to "get out of our heads" as Alan Watts was fond of saying and looking toward living from the heart--which so many religions (though I'm not a religious person per se) have taught for centuries as the "mode d'operandi" of choice.
Sometimes I feel like we're evolving so fast it makes my head spin........but then why am I there in the first place:>)
Wow, I'm an optimist.  I love it:>)
Sandi

Here are a couple of great recipes for home-cooked meals for our furry friends. Just don’t expect them to go back to “kibble” after being fed so lovingly:>)

There are lots of home-cooked diet recipes available nowadays, many of them I’m sure are really great. These have been put together by a group of vets that I have been working with during Kali’s epilepsy so I have great faith in their nutritional values.

If any of you are interested in a home-cooked diet for weight management I can post one of those as well--just let me know you'd like to have one:>)--not an overweight dog, the recipe. 

My two Golden's really gained weight when I took them off commercial dog food and began feeding raw meat (advised by a vet on Oprah, but not advised by my epi vet--).   Kali now weighs about 94 lbs and Yuppie was up in 117 lb range.   They are big dogs (height-wise), but not that big.   They have not been impressed by their change in diet!

1. Healthy Adult Diet - Crock Pot recipe

This can be put together in approximately 20 minutes and ready 8 hours later. It requires a crock pot or slow cooker, which can be purchased at any department store or discount chain.

You will need the following ingredients:

4 halved boneless, skinless chicken breasts - frozen (use any reputable brand that you would feed your human family). They are usually around $8.00 for a package of 10. Or you can use 4 cups frozen fish, or 4 cups frozen lean ground meat (about 2 lbs).

1 cup zucchini sliced thickly
1 cup sliced carrots sliced thickly
1 cup string beans cut up
1/2 cup white potato cut in 2″ pieces
1/2 cup yam or sweet potato cut in 2″ pieces

Combine all ingredients (leave chicken breasts frozen) in crock pot along with 4 cups of water. Put crock pot on “Low” setting and cook all day while you’re at work or all night while you’re sleeping, approximately 8 hours or until everything is tender. After the mixture is cooked, put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, skim as much of the fat off the top as you can with a spoon. Then you can mix and mash everything together so that the meat and veggies are well blended together. (If your crock pot has a removable liner, put the whole thing in the fridge - if not, you can transfer the cooked food to another container to sit overnight.) Once you have mixed everything together well, you should refrigerate the food - either in the container you have it in or divided up into individual meals. Do not leave it in the refrigerator for longer than three days - if you have more than you will use in three days, please freeze the extra portions. Be sure to reheat each meal in a microwave or at least bring it to room temperature.

2. Healthy Adult Diet - cooked separately

4 cups skinned and boiled chicken or fish or ground meat
1 cup zucchini (if zucchini is not available use summer squash)
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup chopped string beans
1/2 cup white potato
1/2 cup yam or sweet potato

Skin a whole chicken (or 2 or 3) and put in a large covered pot with water almost to the top of the chicken. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Drain the chicken in a colander and save the chicken soup in a bowl.
Put the chicken soup in the fridge and skim the fat when cold. You can add a little of the heated chicken soup to each meal. This gives trace minerals to the diet. Meals should not be eaten right out of the fridge but either brought to room temperature or warmed in a microwave.

Scrub the potatoes well and cut them up crosswise into 2″ pieces so the skin circles the potatoes. OR, you can peel the potatoes before you cook them. Simmer the white potatoes in a covered pot for 30 minutes and then add the yam/sweet potatoes and cook both for another 30 minutes. When cooled, remove the skins.

If using ground beef, simmer in a frying pan with a very small amount of oil. (If you dog is more sensitive to fat, you can also boil the beef, discard the liquid and then rinse it well with hot tap water.)
If using fish, simmer/poach in a frying pan with a small amount of water until the fish is white.

Wash the zucchini (or string beans/summer squash), carrots and celery and cut up and steam or cook in a covered pot until very tender.

Mix all the above ingredients together until it is well blended. This will give you approximately 8 cups of food. Depending on the size of your dog, you can double or triple the recipe. One recipe can be made with chicken and the next time you can make it with ground meat for variety. You should only need to make this recipe once a week.

Try and feed in 3 or 4 small meals (depending on your schedule), the last one being at bedtime. Smaller meals spread apart will burn more calories. Put one meal portions in baggies and freeze what you won’t use in 3 days. Then you can put them in the fridge the day before and they will be thawed out. You should be able to cook once a week and freeze what you don’t use. This recipe will stay fresh for 3 days in the fridge.

For supplementation, use an Infant’s liquid multi vitamin (use the dose for the body weight recommended). Or alternatively, you can give 150 IU’s of Vit E and some raw calf or beef liver. 1 oz for each 10 lbs per week. Cut the liver up and freeze it and give pieces as a treat. Not more than 1 oz per 10 lbs a week. This gives lots of natural A and B.

I've just begun a blog at:   www.canineepilepsycare.org because I have been living with and helping my Golden Retreiver deal with grand mal seizures since Christmas Day, 2005.   In this time the seizures moved from one every four or five months to--suddenly--four or five in ten to fourteen hours.   In the first while I was only researching the disease slowly, thinking the next one would be the last (??).........
When Kali began to cluster I got really serious and have found great research and help in controlling the intensity and frequency of the episodes.    I've found that some dogs are much more chemically sensitive than others--and why not, aren't we all similarly differentiated? 
I've begun a group here at Gaia for pet owners who want to exchange ideas on natural living for their animals.
I hope you'll join me.    And, if you have an epi dog please check out my blog at:  www.canineepilepsycare.org where I'm sharing all I've learned and have put together a small report explaining the importance of journalling, checking for and noting triggers, what they may be, how you can help etc.  
The incidence of canine epilepsy is getting greater, what can we expect with some 120,000 synthetic chemicals in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat.............and share with our animals.
So I know there are a lot of us out there and it's a whole lot better going through it together.   You are not alone.

Here's a video clip that speaks to each of us on the Eve of the New Year.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5GnfpA0dE8

Childrens' faces are so beautiful, all around the world.  Every single one deserves to enjoy the world that I enjoyed as a child.    I look back with great gratitude on my early days playing "Annie Oakley" in the woods behind my home, or "Barbara Ann Scott" skating on the ice on Lake Ontario--that used to freeze so solid that the only way to Amherst Island in the winter was to drive your car across because the ferry couldn't break through the ice.

When I consider what I know as an adult, like how many children starve to death every single day while we consume such a large percentage of the world's resources, or how I have taken so much for granted during my lifetime, I truly have to look back on those years with wonder as I recall the joy such simple pleasures produced.

The reality of what we now face can seem daunting,  so many in need, so much igorance and waste--but wait--so many with great love, so many joining together, such huge energy driving this strong intent to save and to love--and I know that the "little engine that could" still can!!

The best to all of us, this great big huge One in 2008.  I know we can, I know we can, I know we can is my new mantra!!

With great love to all.

I've always known I was somewhat introverted but didn't really know how little I had to say until I began a blog to go along with my primary website (http://www.macarthurparknaturalmedicine.com/) and then added a blog to that site.     It took me a while to figure out that it's somehow "against the rules" to write one post and post it on more than one blog--in other words I have to think of enough to say to submit two blogs.     I do like to write about organic and natural, earth-friendly living, and I like to pass along new things I've learned about toxins and other issues that affect our lives physical, mental and spiritual but I've found that if I do it once I'm not really up for much the second time around.     So let me pass this on and hope you love it as much as I have.      Watch it and then remember about the lion lying down with the lamb!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZjZQ6KkiUk         It is so cool!!

I'm taking an Internet Maketing course.     When I first had the MacArthur Park site built I was not only basically computer illiterate I was also extremely computer naive--I thought it was like "build it and they will come"--didn't question from where they would come or how they would know to come, just "build it and they will come".    WRONG!!      So, after having such a pretty site built and having put a great deal of my heart and soul into it I figures I ought to at least try to learn how to get "them to come".    I didn't think I'd enjoy this learning process, technically challenged as I am, and technology not being my generation and all, but i have to say that I am enjoying it.     I have been blessed to have found wonderful teachers who really care and give far beyond what is called for--so I've made new friends.    And having made new friends, this new learning experience is actually quite enjoyable and very, very, very instructive.     I'm now learning how to put videos and graphics on different spaces so now I can have fun and really pass on some of the wonderful stuff I'm seeing and hearing all around this new global neighbourhood.    I really like it.    I really, really like it.   
I hope you will visit me at:   http://blog.macarthurparknaturalmedicine.com for more of the informational stuff--I promise to put some fun stuff there too, but would really love to have your feedback and all your help in giving me new directions.
I would really appreciate it if you would take a bit of time and tell me about what your deepest concerns are  with respect to your health.    Is it the incorportation of so many pesticides/herbicides, gmo's, the soil depletion that has drained our foods of all nutritional value??     Is it the Western over-dependence on pharmaceuticals, the way Big Pharma sells its' wares to us with TV ads showing happy, healthy people, living joyous lives--apparently as a result ot taking drug ABC??   Is it the lack of honest, open media coverage (please all find FSTV--Free Speech TV, Dish channel 9415 or Link TV, Dish channel 9410, Direct TV channel 9410, or get the shows online at  www.democracynow.org )     I'd really like to have your input on these questions to help me direct my thoughts and for topics for the Mac Park blog.
I love you all and am so very proud of all the beautiful things that zaadsters are doing.     It's a fabulous world we are creating--I'm mainly observing but my thoughts, intentions and prayers are with you all.
Have a wonderful evening.

Hi All,
I've recently become involved in an investment that leads me through the process of building several new sites for  myself.     Why??     I'm not sure, must have been a moment of insanity.    In any case, my intent has been to have several sites linked that are all devoted to alternative health, eco-friendly products and information etc.    Reduce/recycle/reuse.......and make it all organic and earth friendly.     My next site is for hemp and other natural fibre products.    As you know if you've read before, I have http://www.macarthurparknaturalmedicine.com http://macarthur.mionegroup.com  and http://www.netmarkaid.com/macarthur already running as well--of course--as zaadz.    I say it was a moment of insanity because I'm not as computer literate as a youngster and I do find that there is a lot more involved to taking good care of a site than I had ever dreamed--"build it and they will come!!"
I have just read a great article about the power of love (the energy that runs our Universe) and the heart and I did try to copy and paste it here for all of you to read--no luck, seems I can't bring in outside "copy".
Do any of you know about finding "virtual" assistants??    I don't mean a pretend assistant, I just mean an assistant who can be anywhere but will help with my work online???
Enough of my personal trials and tribulations:>)--may they all be so small.    I hope you all did your "gratitude dance" this morning, I can't quite feel the earth shaking here in my small corner of Tennessee yet......I send my thoughts and prayers to all who may be in California struggling with the fire issues.
Love to all of you and have a wonderful week-end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NeMC1Fl3J0

I guess it's a circadian rhythm thing.........but doing the dance helps so all join in!!
I know you know this, but Democracy is not a spectator sport.    We are all needed at this time, we all need to add our voices, our intentions and our hearts.     And this is from Kim Allen, one of my Heartmath mentors.....what we value is at the core of who we are.     These 'core values' are powerful because they are the embodiment of intelligent operating principles that give meaning to life, rejuvenate spirit and create a sense of well-being.   When there is alignment between what we value and the actions we carry out we feel fulfilled.
This is what we mean when we speak of "heart".
The more consistently we act from our hearts, the better life seems to work.    We feel care, appreciation, love, joy, compassion, kindness---heart-felt emotions that serve us well.   Life has more texture.     Is it any wonder we all live for the moments our hearts come alive??

"I searched for God and found only myself.   I searched for myself and found only God."    May we all live accordingly.....and have a wonderfully blessed day.

Just had a wonderful and long overdue conversation with a great friend of mine.    Glenn recommended I go see a site belonging to a friend of his, and I liked it so much I thought I'd pass it on.....it's always nice to be reminded--when I forget, which seems often--that this wobbly, slightly confused state of mind, and also of my life, may just be the result of all this transitioning that's going on these days.    Out with the old, in with the new--paradigm that is.    Oops, almost forgot, the website--it is  www.spiritualhangover.com   and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.    It's seriously, quirkily, addressing all these incredible changes that we are all an integral (thanks Ken W.) part of.
I was completely suprised at the Internet Marketing seminar I attended last week to find that the "dog eat dog" world of business I was raised in and rebelled against so hard has finally been replaced by a business atmosphere where the first question in any business relationship or endeavour is "how can I help?"     I just love it.    After all these years of being indoctrinated that I would never survive if I continued to refuse to enter the dog-eat-dog model and being quite summarily punished--severely and often--for continuing to refuse, it's gone.    It's really gone!!
I've been released:>)
I've not mentioned this here before but I highly recommend a daily dose of FREE SPEECH TV or for those of us without TV's the programming can be seen on www.freespeech.org   Careful though, this is only for people who want to know what is really going on in our world, not the brain-washing and brain-destroying mush that passes for news/entertainment on the normal channels.     FSTV can be seen on Channel 9415, Dish Network and it's sister channel, Link TV can be seen on 9410.    Link can also be seen on Channel ???--I've forgotten, on the Direct Satellite system.......I'll remember in a few minutes or a few days and I'll pass it on.
and--please join me in my prayers for the people of Burma during this very dark time for them.    It's the 80's deja vu

I love my dogs, I love my bed, I love my hummingbirds and cardinals and doves.     I love the deer in my front yard, I love my own coffee, I love my office, I LOVE MY HOME!!!
I've just returned from a really great Internet marketing seminar--about which I knew basically nothing when I had my (http://www.macarthurparknaturalmedicine.com) primary site built.     It never occurred to me that I had to know anything about it--really, a few ppc's perhaps, "build it and they will come"??
I'm brain-drained but I've been thinking about you all and so just want to give you some of the quotes that meant enough to me at the time to actually write them down.    I have post-it notes all over the place.     I really have to apologize because I can't properly credit all of these because when I post-it them I don't always do that.    Just be assured that I am neither this wise nor this prolific....

So, let us all remember that "Democracy is not a spectator sport"--especially these days.

& that "we can be knowledgable with other men's knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men's wisdom"   Michel de Montaigne

&--"the art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician"

"Conscience is God's presence in man."

"Honour has not to be won:  it has only not to be lost.."

"Courage without conscience is a wild beast."

"The language of truth is always simple and unadorned."

"The highest result of education is tolerance."

"We have the right not to tolerate the intolerant."

"BE KIND--BECAUSE EVERYONE YOU MEET IS FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE"

"In charity there is no excess."

"Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience."

"FORGIVENESS IS THE FINAL FORM OF LOVE."

"To forgive is to set a prsoner free and discover that the prisoner was you."

"PLEASURE CAN BE SUPPORTED BY AN ILLUSION, BUT HAPPINESS RESTS ON TRUTH."

"the fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there."

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly."

--speaking of the heart, Professor Bill Tiller has been involved with the Institute of Heartmath for many years now, and just today I came across an article by Dr. Tiller re. the "orbs" that many folks are taking pictures of and talking about so much these days.     I'll try to get it copied and post it here for you tomorrow........in the meantime....ENJOY, and think deeply  or not at all/?   No, that can't be, sometimes it's just best to think lightly.......

I am so sorry to have been ignoring my conversations here.........I'll be back soon, please know that  you are on my mind!!