KBOO Interview 11/11/09

The wonderful KBOO Community Radio of Portland, Oregon interviewed me about my time in Afghanistan. This was my first radio interview ever! Obama still has not officially said how many troops he will send to Afghanistan. I'm praying that he will change his plan and let the Afghans have a say in what happens. It's their country after all. Listen to the interview here. It's 30 minutes long.

Butterfly On The Road

I just publicly released the name of my upcoming book, Butterfly On The Road, which is very thrilling for me. I kept the title quiet for a while because I didn't want to jump the gun, so to speak. I also posted a form where you can sign up to get an email notification once the book is released. Click here to sign up.

The book is about how I got to Afghanistan with just $100 to my name with no promise of a job and how everything miraculously worked out, despite the great challenges that I had to face. When the wording on my synopsis is finalized I will definitely post it here.

Until next time...

The Turkish Vagina Debacle

Hawaii 2009

I Love My Reality :-)

I have to say, I don't know what's going on these days, but ever since the lunar eclipse earlier this month, everything has been flowing like water. There is synchronicity in every step I take, and it's more than I've ever experienced before.

It all started when I went to Mount Shasta to enjoy nature with my friend Gregory Wendt. Well, actually it started the night before when I was still in Portland. I went out in the evening to the local food carts on Hawthorne Avenue and ran into a woman named KT who I met at the house of my aforementioned friend Greg, which is in Los Angeles of all places. KT is a good friend of his and they hung out in Hawaii years ago. Of course, I didn't expect to see KT because she lives in Hawaii. She was just passing through town, so it was quite a surprise. When I told her who I was going to see the next day, she was giddy and blissed-and so was I. She gave me a message to pass on to Greg the next day. There I go as the global messenger again! This happens to me so much. I always run into people I know or friends of friends wherever I go in the world and deliver messages to others, just like a carrier pigeon. It's way better than email when it works this way!

An hour before I got to Shasta a good friend named Katrina called me-also a friend of Greg's. She asked me if I was in Portland, but I was not. When I told her that I was going to Shasta, she said she would be driving through Shasta the next day and that she could come hang out with Greg and me for a morning hike. I love these unexpected surprises. It always seems to happen when I hit the road. No wonder I love traveling.

Katrina showed up the next day. We frolicked and had fun on the mountain and then she went on her way. The following day, I was sitting at the organic food market in Shasta and I heard my name. I looked up to see a friend from about 7 years back. Her name was Jess and we knew each other in Santa Cruz. The best part was that I was thinking about her and her partner Tosh the day before, with a vague memory that they either used to live in Shasta or that they moved there after I last saw them. To see her in the flesh the next day was such an amazing gift from the universe. Were my thoughts of her from the previous day psychic vision, or did I manifest her because I thought about her? Is the law of attraction working so well? Is there a line between the two? What's up in the universe these days? Everything I think of appears. Another instant occurred the other day, when I was out with my mom and I wanted a lemonade. Minutes later we found a lemonade booth on the street that was giving it away for free.

My life over the past few weeks has been a whole chain reaction of events like this. I could write about it for days, but I don't have the time. However, I will sign off with this lovely miracle. Several days ago, I got a message from my friend Jim Aplington, who I met in Nepal but I just happened to run into him in Bali, California and Oregon. When I saw Jim in LA, I introduced him to the aforementioned Greg.

In Jim's message, he said that he was soaking at Harbin Hotsprings, north of San Francisco, when he saw Greg appear. He said that it was the same day when Greg and I parted in Shasta, so Greg told him all about our time at the mountain and let Jim know that I was doing well. What to say? It's wonderful. My life works like this all the time (as it does for many of my friends). I don't know why it does, but I'm so delighted that I can be a human who lives life in such an unlimited and magical way.

Here's a thought... What Do Afghans Want?

Muppet Movie Revisited: Childhood Lessons In Manifestation

"Life's like a movie, write your own ending
Keep believing, keep pretending.
We've done just what we set out to do.
Thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you."

-The Muppets, final scene of The Muppet Movie

I just watched The Muppet Movie for the first time since I was in my early teens, and it was so wonderful to see it from a new perspective. For one, I realized that the story was absolutely Homeric, steeped in the great journey of the hero and packaged with ancient mystic wisdom. I didn't see it that way at all as a child, but I wonder if it had an effect on me as I blossomed into a young adult, traveling the world on a shoestring and creating my reality through manifesting dreams.

Some say you don't even need to know the meaning of sanskrit mantras, all you need to do is repeat them over and over in your mind, and eventually they'll kick into your reality. Is this what I did with the Muppet Movie? I watched it to the point where I can still recite the whole thing. When I watched the scene with my favorite song last weekend, I found my epiphany. See here and listen closely:

Now read the words of the song, with some of my notes in parenthesis. These are all the guidelines of manifestation, as I've learned from some of the greatest miracle workers and shamans on the planet:

I focus on the pleasure, somethin' I can treasure, can you picture that?
Can you picture that?

Floyd Pepper:
Let me take your picture, add it to the mixture, there it is I got you now!
Really nothin' to it, anyone can do it, it's easy and we all know how.
Now begins the changin', mental rearrangin', nothing's really where it's at (My translation-Reality is not what it seems)

Dr. Teeth:
Now the Eiffel Tower's holdin up a flower. Can you picture that?

Floyd:
Fact is there's nothin out there you can't do
Yeah, even Santa Claus believes in you. (My translation-We're all unlimited beings)

Dr. Teeth:
Beat down the walls, begin, believe, behold, begat.

Floyd:
Be a better drummer, be an up and comer. Can you picture that? (My translation: Hold the vision!)

Floyd:
All of us are winnin, pickin and a-grinnin, Lordy but I love to jam

Janice:
Jelly-belly gigglin, dancin and a-wigglin, honey that's the way I am!

Dr. Teeth:
Lost my heart in Texas, Northern lights affect us, I keep it underneath my
hat,Aurora Borealis, shinin down on Dallas! Can you picture that?
Can you picture that?
(Chorus)

Can you picture? You gotta see it in your mind! (My thought: This is the most important part! If you can't see it, it won't happen!)
Can you picture? You know it's quick and easy to find!
Can you picture? You don't have to buy a frame!
Can you picture? Can you picture that?
Can you picture that?

Dr. Teeth:
Use it if you need it

Floyd:
Don't forget to feed it! (My thought: you have to keep feeding your imagination and your mind with the images of the dreams you want to create. If you stop doing that, the dreams can't be fed and you can lose them)

All: Can you picture that?