given the choice...

given the choice …

by j. martino

• i could choose to eat food that is young, juicy and warm (and a body that is young, juicy and warm) or i can choose old, dry, and cold.

• i could choose to move my joints in a free-flowing manner, through their full range of motion (and experience a body that is free, flexible, and fun), or i can choose immobility, stag-nation, and restriction.

• i could choose to listen to Love-ing, kind, gentle, yet motivational media (and experience a mind that is able to Love, support, and motivate), or i can choose violence, anger, criticism, judgment, blame, shame, and hate.  the latter choice, of course, if that of fear.

• i could choose to ‘shift thought’ to a more positive state (and experience a more positive earth-bound experience), or I can choose negativity, conflict, resistance, and pain.

• i could choose to drink water (which comprises more than half of my body), or i could choose drinks that dehydrate me and dry me out… drinks that slow-down my metabolic processes and depress the very systems that are designed to help me enjoy a Joy-ous life.   i can choose toxicity.

• i could choose to read books, articles, and essays that inSpire (thus nurturing my very Spirit), or i can choose that which is hurtful, painful, dark, and dreary.

• i could choose to spend time with optimistic people who support, inSpire, laugh, and in-Joy (co-Connecting with their a-bun-Dance of energy), or i can spend my time with those who drag me down; with those who live for the cut-down comment; with those who are so self-loathing that their only escape is to re-cognize the mis-takes of others.

• re-Cognizing the LOVE in ourselves and others is the essence of Namaste’.

given the choice… (every, single moment of every single day) allows us to pre-pave a future-path that literally defines itself, predicting its own future; setting-up its own experience; and influencing everyone and everything around itSelf.

-the beginning. 

president obama on letterman

Wholly cow

Wholly cow

by j. martino

Peace Is Whole (while pieces serve to separate [a-vow])

here we sit (at piece) while milking holy, holy cow

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• while a Holistic approach (to medicine?) might view the human body as Whole, at One with it’s env-I-ronment, at Peace withIn it’s Uni-verse…

•  a ‘piece-meal’ approach might interpret the Whole scene from a very different perspective.

• ‘Whole-Is-tic’ …Knows that wIe are All-ready Whole.  It man-i-fests (here, I’mmaterial) as preventative medicine, as cooperation, as synchronicity, as Harmony, as One-ness.

• ‘mini-me’ (manifests here, i’m-material), as ‘us vs. them’, as ‘i, matter’, and as ‘i’m going to get to heaven, while others might not’.

• mini-me sees himself as a piece, a-part from his creator.  capable of living and dying.  capable of winning and losing.   when separation is the perspective, medical systems focus on ‘pieces’ of you and i -- making it easy(errr) for them to cut us open, to remove, to alter, and to bypass.

• a mini-me medical system prides itself on keeping people alive… as if you-man Be-ings were somehow separate from their Destiny: Eternal Love, the True Essence of Life It-Self.

• a mini-me medical system, while doing the very best that it can, contributes to the silly notion that life on planet earth needs to be preserved, elongated, extended – via any means possible… even if the process further reduces the Person to he/r ego-ic self: a-part, apprehensive, afraid and alone.

• a mini-me medical system might make the mistake of convincing itself (and others) that the goal is for the human-being to avoid the reUnion.  would you attempt to delay someone from his/her family reUnion?  many current-day medical professionals would convince us to do just that.

• when the belief is that ‘man’ is somehow ‘separate’ from Spirit, it is easy to attempt to preserve life – as if we need to ‘do’ something here… in order to get some ultimate prize that we are (somehow) separate from.

• a system of separation and differentiation sees a cow as ‘parts’ – flank, filet, protein, milk, calcium, etc., apart from It-Self… while a Holistic approach would view the cow as a part of an intricate system of In-ter planetary Life: Whole, Alive, a part of (as opposed to apart from).

‘Wholly cow’ is an attempt to envision a Uni-verse of Love, man-i-fest as apparently separate pieces.

‘Wholly cow’ is an attempt to understand death, and to get some kind of grip on the ‘why’ good people die.

‘Wholly cow’ is a musing, a song, a ‘why don’t we All just get along?’

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‘Wholly cow’ is a stab at Now,

It is not a vow,

It’s Wholly, cow

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sidenote: while it might be easy for ego to view this piece as heart-less... believe me, it is exactly the opposite. it would also be a mistake to encourage a family to let a loved-one die.  what 'Wholly cow' is, is simply a re-mind-errr... if only to me, that there are systems in place that might convince us (self included, of Course) to keep someone in the equivalent of earth-bound hell, while Heaven is but a breath a-Way.

josephine...

as my mother battles through the decision to risk angioplasty (on one cardiac vessel) and bypass surgery (on another), it is time to re-view a few posts about josephine t. martineau.

 

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dear josie,

we Love you.  

here are (just a few of the many) josephine posts that honor the one and only...

 Mom:

uh... last year, today:
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/jo.al-anniversary.html

the summer of 2011:
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/three-sisters-in-wilmington.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/josephine-in-north-carolina.html

birthday times:
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/dear-josephine.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/call-grandma.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/eighty-years-preview.html

jo.al inspired:
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/instant-healing.html

vintage josie:
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/flashback-thanksgiving-prayer.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/meaning-of.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/fifty-eight-and-still-counting.html

this next one might just be the best description of some of my best memories of the martineau kitchen.
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-another-morning.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/thank-god-for-my-sisters-by-josephine.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/josephine.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/not-your-average-jo.html

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/mother's-day.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/typical-rhode-island-wake-up.html


http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/3-d-super-bowl.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/no-kidding-al-in-drag.html

the Gift Exchange Creator:
http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving-prayer.html

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/fifty-seven-years.html 

http://wellnesseducationblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/st-thomas-st-john-us-virgin-islands.html

as we pray for Mom, please feel free to share josephine memories (via phone, e-mail, blog, facebook post, etc.).

more to follow...

hall of fame

bobby... being bobby.
:)
thank you, coach.

.click here for bobby's chat about the waldorf astoria. 

vintage:

 http://youtu.be/QUEx1CHZktA

wakulla river

the wakulla river (just south of tallahassee, fl.) is an amazing kayak trip.  if you paddle upstream for an hour or so (against a strong current), you get to float back to your launch point, lazing in the florida sun.

on this particular trip, there were (the usual) 10,000 turtles and numerous alligators... but the highlight was an encounter with (what appeared to be) a red rat snake.

below, check out the fun pictures (and be sure to click on the short video clips):

left: the gorgeous wakulla river, down by the launch point at the hideaway.





below: sun turtles

left: a turtle gets caught in a tree stump.  by the time i got over there to help him out, he was so scared that he rescued himself.



below: a partially submerged rat snake.

left: the snake's head is to the right, looking up.  i got within a couple of feet but he woke up and darted toward the woods.


below, video: the sound of a boat (in the background) doesn't scare this turtle:

 

below: what's that, on the log just past that bush?

.

 

"alligator on the left!"

above: cute little guy (4-5 footer)

left: a tiny baby turtle.

.
below, video: "turtle family"

below, video: "wally gator?"

he actually swam out of the water, then slopped up onto the riverbank 

and sank his left hind leg into the thick mud.

he had lots of teeth, but "no toofbush to brush dem wif"

there were gators swimming in the water, reports of a manatee sighting, and plenty of boaters and kayakers, just enjoying the day.

 above: the road less traveled.