_ Much of what we do in our lifetime ends up, as the saying goes, "in the dustbin of history." As I reflect on that I have to face the equally valid conclusion that I too will end up in the dustbin of history.

Naturally, that didn't make me feel very good so I decided to take a look at why.

Being fascinated with language, I like to think in pictures. I got an image of "the dustbin of history."

Today instead of "dustbin" we use the word "trashcan." So I got an image of a trashcan. I immediately could feel what a toxic industrial image it was. I don't want to end up in anybody's trashcan, not even History's.

I'm always looking for ways to express ideas using more truthful and more beautiful language than the kind that society installed in my brain. I usually look to Mother Nature for guidance.

I saw leaves falling and becoming nutrients for next year's seedlings. I saw myself taking kitchen scraps out to the compost bin.

I felt much more relaxed with the image of a compost bin instead of a trashcan. It actually gave me a warm feeling.

I don't mind ending up in history's compost pile. That way I know that I am being valued, even after I'm gone. My body, my life's work and life's energy will be food for the future.

I like thinking that we will all become one again in Life's compost bin.

Maybe I'll meet you there some day.

We all love a good story. Stories take us into new worlds of possibility.

Have you ever thought of your life as a story?

We write our life story with our thoughts. We live our life story through our actions.

It's not uncommon to get stuck in a repetitive story, a story that's become boring and limits our growth, or one that's painful to live. That's because our basic storylines were written long ago when we were younger and did have a lot of choice about what got programmed into our minds.

Since we are the ones writing our story we can change our story. If we don't like the storyline we're currently living, why not rewrite it?

New stories about who we are and what is possible for us can infuse our life with new energy and creativity. New stories can open us to solutions to chronic problems. New stories can change our approach to relationship issues and career questions.

Who is the author of your life story? Is it your true inner self? Or is your life story being written by a squabbling committee composed of characters from your childhood, from the media and society?

You can start writing a new story by asking yourself: "Who is writing my life story?" Your authentic life story can only be written by your true inner author. The words author, authority and authentic all come from the same root meaning "creator."

This New Year is a time of new beginnings. Please join us for a workshop or contact us for a Change Your Life Consultation if you'd like to get in more touch with your true inner voice and begin to write a more authentic life story.

Every religion has at its core the practice of gratitude.

I've identified two levels of gratitude; the natural and the sacred.

Natural gratitude is being appreciative of the "good things" in our life: having enough money, having things turn out the way we hoped, being treated the way we like by other people, etc. Even when we experience the good things in life, we sometimes take them for granted and forget to express our gratitude.

If it's hard to remember to practice natural gratitude, imagine how much more challenging it is to practice sacred gratitude.

Sacred gratitude means being grateful for Everything in life. Sacred gratitude is unconditional gratitude.

It is thanking the Creator for Everything She created. Appreciating Creation just as the Creator made it. No if's, and's or but's. No ego judging, picking and choosing.

If something exists, it is part of Creation. Many spiritual traditions teach that Creation is the Creator's Spirit embodied in material form. The Universe is the Creator's Body.

If there's something I don't like or don't think is right in this Universe, I have two choices:

(1) I can argue with the Creator about it.

(2) I can say, a little more humbly, "Thank you very much. I don't really understand the value of this part of Your Creation yet, but I want to learn to appreciate it because I know You created it this way for a reason."

Practicing sacred gratitude has enhanced my spiritual growth. It has confused and discombobulated me. It has changed the way I see the world. It has challenged many of my beliefs (especially those core beliefs having to do with "good and bad" and "right and wrong").

And my gratitude practice has had a most interesting "side effect." It has dramatically increased my enjoyment of life.

I sometimes still get confused and discombobulated in my gratitude practice. But I'm finding I prefer being confused yet in love with Life to being right but unhappy with Life.

So if you're up for it, you can do an experiment:

Practice natural gratitude. Or practice sacred gratitude. Or if you want to maximize your happiness, practice both.

Here's the basic practice:

Whatever happens in your life, feel your natural feelings and then express an unconditional "Thank you!" to the Creator. Enjoy the feeling of "loving what is." If the situation requires an action step from you then you can respond authentically from a center of love and gratitude.

If that "Thank you!" provokes a resistant inner voice that says, "But I don't like this! I don't approve of it and I think it's just plain wrong!" then feel free to have a good conversation with the Creator about it. She loves to hear from Her co-creators.

Last Friday Chris and I visited Occupy Boston which is Boston's version of Occupy Wall Street. It's located on Dewey Square across from the Federal Reserve Building and South Station. Occupy Boston is a well-organized tent community on a small strip of land between two streets and towering office buildings.

The Occupy movement is now nationwide. They describe themselves as "a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that we are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%."

I felt both disturbed and excited by what I saw.

I was disturbed to see that here in America, life has become so desperate for so many people that they are willing to live on a traffic island and sleep in tents with temperatures getting down in the 40's.

Here in the world's richest, most powerful nation, one that prides itself on being a bastion of democracy and equal opportunity, millions of people, from recent college graduates to midlife professionals to elders, are living without meaningful work, without basic necessities and without financial security.

Combining the Tea Party and Occupy Wall St. messages paints a picture of the average American being oppressed by both tax payments and interest payments. The first goes to the government and the second to Wall St.

The mass media do a good job of ignoring the tidal wave of pain that has swept over this country since the financial meltdown of 2008. They report the facts but leave out the faces. The We Are The 99% movement shows us the faces.

That's the disturbing part.

What got me excited about my visit to Occupy Boston is seeing people who have changed their consciousness and are helping to change the consciousness of America. These people have stopped blaming themselves, stopped believing in corporate media propaganda, and are directing their anxiety and anger toward an unjust system.

They are thinking for themselves and waking up from the trance of apathy. They turned off the TV and computer, walked outside into the real world and joined forces.

These protests are a healthy sign that the immune system of the country is still working. Our nation's families are being sickened by toxic financial viruses spread through a corrupt economic system. Now people of all generations are responding by speaking truth to power.

The government and the corporations have merged into GovCorp, a monster that runs on our money and no longer cares about the people it purports to serve.

It's exciting to see people demonstrating in the streets saying, "This is what democracy looks like." It's exciting to see citizens practicing democracy in their General Assembly meetings. This is exactly how the patriots of Boston began freeing themselves from the domination of the British Empire.

No knows where this will lead. The ruling class (the 1% that owns 40% of the country's resources) will undoubtedly try to marginalize and suppress the Occupy movement. They tried to suppress the protests against segregation, war, greed and environmental destruction in the sixties.

The future of this country depends on how each of us responds to the crisis facing our nation.

Chris and I are returning this week with blankets, tarps and other supplies collected from our neighborhood for the people encamped at Occupy Boston. It's a start.

Is the economy getting you down?

Maybe it's not simply "the economy." Maybe it is also the way you're talking to yourself about the economy. Of course it's important to have enough money to pay your bills. But what a lot of people are learning today is that you can't depend on money for your sense of security.

Spiritual teachers have been saying this for thousands of years. Buddha taught that being too attached to material things means we will inevitably experience suffering when they are taken away. In fact we don't have to actually lose anything to experience suffering. Just worrying about losing things creates suffering. Jesus likewise advised his followers to focus on developing a rich spiritual life more than accumulating earthly treasure.

Spiritual teachers can teach, but each of us has to learn this powerful lesson for ourselves. The current economic crisis presents each of us with a priceless opportunity for genuine spiritual growth.

Our biggest asset in difficult times is our ability to stay calm, think clearly and act confidently. Instead of saying. "I need more financial security," trying saying "I need more spiritual security."

We can begin searching for a spiritual path if we haven't found one yet. We can focus on deepening our spiritual life if we already have an active spiritual life. There's no time like the present to think about what's really important to us and how to live our life purpose.

We all have direct access to the Source of Life. When we are connected to our Source we experience inner peace and find the strength to take our next step.

On a practical level we can use the current crisis to get our financial house in order. We can examine our relationship to money. If we've worshiped money or been a slave to money, we can turn money into our servant. If we've let our desires run ahead of our earnings, this is a good time to practice some practical Buddhism and upgrade our desire for more money into a deeper yearning for inner harmony. True happiness comes from within.

On a political level, if we feel the system is unfair and favors wealthy investors over working men and women, we can boycott credit cards (or pay them off in full each month). Credit card debt just transfers our hard-earned money into the already overstuffed pockets of the rich. And if the unholy alliance between Big Government and Big Corporations (GovCorp) gets us really outraged, we can channel that anger into demanding that this outdated, corrupt and broken financial system be replaced by one that is fair and just for all Americans.

On a societal level we can reexamine our priorities. Money is not the source of wealth. Wealth comes from Mother Earth: from fertile soil, sparkling waters and clear air. Let's take better care of Mother Earth. Wealth comes from healthy, energetic human beings working together to create dynamic creative communities. Let's take better care of each other and think about the kind of world we want our children to inherit.

So don't let the economic depression get you depressed. Don't let those negative voices drain your energy. Do what spirited, courageous people have always done. Turn problems into opportunities for growth. Transform despair into a deeper faith.

Invest a half hour a day in your spiritual life. Invest it any way you like: meditate for peace, pray for faith, dance for joy, sing with gratitude, serve with love. It's the best investment you can make. The dividends are divine and the rate of return is infinite.

by Robert Gerzon

We live our lives in the same way that we chew our food --  consciously or unconsciously.

Conscious eating: Eating with freedom, enjoyment and full awareness.

Unconscious eating: Eating from habit, with minimal enjoyment and awareness.

Living consciously is a challenging practice in today's world. I've found that conscious eating makes staying conscious during the rest of the day so much easier.

Conscious eating is the "guts" of conscious living.

When I eat calmly and consciously, I feel calm and conscious for hours afterward. The mood in which a meal is eaten persists for the duration of the entire digestive process.

The act of eating is a moment of profound energy transformation. In earlier times eating was accompanied by ritual, by prayer.

Conscious eating has many benefits including greater enjoyment, better health and optimal weight. The more attention I pay to my food, the more I enjoy it, the better I digest it, and the less I need to eat.

There are two "rules" to conscious eating.

Rule 1: Eat whenever you want, whatever you want and however much you want.

(No problems so far, right? I'd like to stop with Rule 1, but there is one more.)

Rule 2: When you eat, eat. Focus all your attention on your food and the process of eating. Enjoy your meal or snack fully by paying attention to it fully. Don't distract yourself with other activities, like reading, TV, computer, smartphone.

Here are some additional guidelines that have helped me eat more consciously over the past few decades (some days more consciously, some days not so consciously).


• Before I eat, I ask myself, "Is what I am feeling hunger or habit?" I take time to visualize the foods that I desire most and that will make my body feel the best. Eating the right food at the right time is deeply satisfying.

•  I take a moment to breathe and feel gratitude for the food I am about to eat.

• When I eat alone, I often eat as an act of meditation -- with full awareness. I avoid distractions like reading and TV. I close my eyes and savor each mouthful. I meditate on the earth, water and sunshine that I am eating. I meditate on where my food came from and the people who helped bring it to my table. Meditating on delicious foods is one of life's easiest and most enjoyable meditations!

• When I eat with other people, I enjoy conversing during the meal. At the same time, I keep my attention focused on my own eating experience.

• I chew consciously. Chewing is the first stage of the entire digestive process and the only one I have conscious control over. Thorough chewing breaks food down into tiny particles and mixes it with the digestive enzymes in saliva. This benefits every subsequent stage of digestion from the stomach to colon. "Chewing meditations" can be very enjoyable. Sometimes I'll count each chew. I am still surprised how easy it is to get absorbed in it and chew one mouthful one hundred times.

• "Drink your food and chew your drink." Chew your food until it turns to liquid in your mouth. Savor and gently swish your beverage around in your mouth before you swallow.

• If I feel bored while eating, I stop eating until I find it interesting.

• I savor the flavor. I notice the subtle changes in how my food tastes while I'm chewing it. I'm aware of this magical transformation that's taking place: food is turning into me.

• I eat as much as I want. When I begin to feel full, I stop eating. My body is telling me, "Thanks, I have all I need for now." By listening to my body I can avoid that sluggish feeling that comes from overeating. I keep that light, energetic feeling.

• I remember all the people in the world who are literally starving to death because they do not have access to the good food that I am eating. This helps me to take no more than I need and to do what I can to make this world a place where all people have access to life's necessities.

• Having eaten this food, I ask myself "To what purpose can I best direct the energy I have received?"

Conscious eating is a simple, powerful idea. But actually doing it is not so easy. Our whole society fosters unconscious eating. My ego has been conditioned to use food in lots of unhealthy ways, like using food to feed a hungry heart. My ego gets anxious when its familiar habit patterns are disrupted by conscious eating. This reminds me that conscious eating, the most biological of practices, is also the most spiritual of practices.

If you are interested in eating more consciously, experiment with making the first mouthful of each meal a conscious one. Set aside one meal each week as a sacred meal to be eaten in a quiet and meditative way.