Inspirational Quote--A Course in Miracles

"What can it be but arrogance to think your little errors cannot be undone by Heaven's justice?"

--A Course in Miracles

How freeing such a thought is! Imagine, that no matter what you did or didn't do you would be welcomed back, like the prodigal son, in God. Remember this and be free and you will find that your actions will aligned with that Love.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Ram

MANTRA-OM NAMAHA SHIVAY-VYANAH- Download@ Vyanah.com

Beautiful music. The image is a little out of place since these children are no doubt Buddhists. But it's all One in the long run.

JANAKA'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER--JANUARY

JANAKA'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 2010

the morning breathes today--
trees and hills fade away;
the earth utters a sigh,
and grass-high fog becomes the sky.


Hello friends, family and associates,

Happy New Years everyone! I pray that you will find a year ahead of you that is full of peace, joy and dreams fulfilled. This is the month of initiating change in one's life, the month of resolutions. In numerology, January is a number one month; the month of the brilliance of the sun blazing through the clouds and sending its shafts to the earth to create new impulses. It is the the energy of saying yes to creating a new you. However, how many of us have started the year with the zeal of changing one's life for the better, only to find that once again resolutions begin to fade away into the habits of yesteryear, to become remembered only with winces of shame.

How to keep those resolutions? Here are a few tips: 1) Find a partner or group: It is to easy to not feel like doing the change today, whether feeling tired, upset, not in the mood. When I was a gym rat my friend Billy and I would get on each other's case if the other "wimped out." St. Francis would send his brothers out two by two so that there was the other to support the one who began to falter, who began to forget the original resolution. Twelve Step and other such programs use partnering very effectively to help each other resist addictions. 2) Have one or two resolutions to focus on so you do not become overwhelmed. And just like in fractal geometry where the whole image is found in every part, working on one resolution is actually affecting all areas. Take small steps in achieving your goal--set benchmarks where you can celebrate and assess. Many years ago I hiked up Kala Patar, basically a rubble mound at 18,500 feet in the Himalayas. At that altitude I had to go step by step, breath by breath; I couldn't look up to see how much farther I had to go, and I definitely could not look back to see how far I had come, or not come, without feeling overwhelmed. I had to have each step my goal to accomplish, each breath something new to attain. My little goals were possible to attain, climbing to the top was not. 3) Which is related to those steps--stay present. When you are in the present moment all is well. The mind is at rest, there is a relaxed condition that comes to the body and there is a knowing that who you really are is perfect. In the present moment there is no judgment and thus no shame. Many times we fail in our resolutions because it reinforces our sense of shame and tells us once again what a schmuck we are. In the present moment there is only freedom.

The desire to make changes comes more as an artist wanting to artfully work on one's life--not to become better and thus worthier to be loved and appreciated; but to simply manifest one's Infinite Self into the finite. So whatever changes you want to create in your life; put time aside to come to that Present Moment so you may know how perfect you really are, and from that place create a new life with the zeal and innocence of a child!

Happy creating!

Janaka

EVENTS

January 12: Storytelling--Do Tell Story Swap.
1000 Humboldt St., Santa Rosa
7-9 PM
A great venue to listen to tales or to come and tell your own. Contact me for more details.

January 16: Storytelling at Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Celebration
Santa Rosa High School
1235 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa
5-8 PM
I will be telling 3 short peace tales in the children's portion of the event.


January 18: A Course in Miracles study group
My place in downtown Santa Rosa
7-9 PM
We meet the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. For those of you who do not know this amazing work, it is a non-dualistic course about forgiveness and remembering your eternal divine nature. . The group is open, so if you would like to learn more about it let me know.

ARTWORK

Are you a patron of the arts? Have you ever wanted to be but found original works of art beyond your budget? I have a solution. If you have a relationship with me or you live in the northern part of California, you can rent to own original pieces of artwork of mine. How it works is this: Find an original art piece of mine and you can immediately have it in your home. You pay 10% of the cost of the work at the beginning of the month and in ten months it is yours. After the first month, if you think the piece does not fit your space you can return it and you will be credited that month's payment to another art piece. So visit my Artfire studio or my website, or better yet, come on by for a personal tour of my studio here in Santa Rosa and be a patron of the arts supporting my work and begin your collection of original artwork.

Attached are images of three oil paintings:
Mt. Shasta, my favorite spiritual place on this planet
The Dolmen, is a painting of one of the many standing stones found in the British Isles. Visiting such places of living stone I felt I was coming home
The Fisherman, is an oil pastel based on a Van Gogh work, my favorite artist

CONSCIOUS PET CARE

One of my new hats, is that of a care provider for animals. My partner, Aiden (my 5-year-old), and I are available to take care of your animals in the Santa Rosa area. We had a wonderful time with Mazari, a pit bull/boxer mix, who became part of our family over the holidays and we will be having the pleasure of walking the 17-year-old Betsy, a spry beagle/boxer. Check out my web page for more details at http://www.janakastagnaro.com/animalcare.html

TAROT READINGS

I was talking to someone at my gym and he looked at my card. "Tarot readings? Sorry, I don't put much faith in fortune telling." I agreed, and proceeded to inform him that the way Jung used the cards in his practice of looking at the archetypes that influence our lives, which are really primal aspects of our greater Self; I, too, use the cards as a reflective tool. Yes, the cards will show probabilities of future manifestation due to how we use the energies of the present and what still influences us from the past, such as habits. For example, a few months ago the cards kept turning up the Tower, a card of drastic change (think the Twin Towers and 911), right before my sudden departure from teaching. Having been prepared it was easier to deal with the change of situation, for I knew the situation was just a piece of a bigger picture. However, I feel by embracing future possibilities in the present one can modify or soften future presents. The cards are great for helping us see obstacles we have created in manifesting our heart's desires or revealing such desires.

If you have not experienced a session with me I am offering half price for the first reading. And if you refer a friend you will receive half price of your next session. Sessions are either 30 minutes or an hour and cost $40 and $75 respectfully. I will not turn anyone away if their financial situation does not allow full payment. Sessions can be in person or over the phone.

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. Pass it on if you would. Your support is vital. If you want off the list just press Reply and message No Thanks.

Peace

Offering to the Community:
Fine Art; Tarot Readings, Meditation and Spiritual Guidance; Inspirational Books; Storytelling; Conscious Pet Care

Janaka Stagnaro
713 7th St. #A
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
707-528-8677

Dante's Prayer ~ Loreena McKennitt

Heaven's Here On Earth - Tracy Chapman

It’s Just a Dream

I just woke up from a series of dreams that I had awakened from while dreaming. It started off when I was rehearsing for a movie. I was one of the three main characters in the movie. However, I wasn’t quite sure what the movie was about, which was a little disconcerting. So when the director asked the three of us to improvise a scene with the image of snow as the main theme, I began winging it until I got to the point of telling one of the others, as I placed my hand over his heart in a very solemn way, that…I then had to stop and ask the director: “Where am I going with this? What is this movie about?” Just when he was going to tell me his phone rang and he said, “Sorry guys, but the producer wants this to be a musical!” “What the hell?!”I walked away, lamenting the fact that I had not joined a musical; for singing was not my specialty and I was one of the three main characters! All of a sudden I woke up. Well, not exactly woke up as coming back to this level of consciousness that I am writing this in, but into a place between states, I guess you might say. And I said to myself: “What does it matter? It is just a dream.” So I plunged back into the dream with an acceptance to enjoy whatever came my way.
I entered the next part of the dream riding a motorcycle, thinking about the movie (which turned out to be about Gunga Din) and I came up to a narrow bridge. I was uncertain as to where to stop to let the oncoming traffic come through, when a bike pulled up beside me. I knew it was a police officer before I even looked. I looked over and he is pulling out his ticket book. “Did I stop too far forward?” I timidly asked. He nodded his head and began to write me up. Then I pulled back to that In-Between space and reminded myself: “What does it matter? It is just a dream.” I came back and immediately the officer said, “Are you going to be in Gunga Din?” Yes, I said. And he tore up the ticket.

The scene changed and I was a teacher ready to pass over my 8th grade class to my successor. The students were finishing up an artistic project and some of them were cutting out graphics for their work. Now in Waldorf education, we have the students do their own work and have them stay away from the media as much as possible. Well, the new teacher had a conniption when she saw these graphic pieces being placed into their main lesson books; I just pulled her aside and said, “I used to be really concerned about such matters. But I have come to realize that in the end it really doesn’t matter. What is most important is having the students feel good about themselves and to be creative in whatever way they see fit, especially when they are older.” And I left.

And I woke up. We get so worked up about so many things—the Thousand Things. How many raised voices can be heard in a household over things and events that, when it is time to move on to the other level of consciousness we call death, will mean absolutely nothing. The only thing that will be remembered or re-experienced is the feeling of being hurt or hurting. We hold so dearly to opinions as though they were absolute truths, yet when watched over time they will fade and change like wisps of morning fog. I pray every day that I value what is Valuable and see only what is True. What is Valuable? That which does not change, that is untainted by time. God, All That Is, the Inexpressible. And what is True? To see God in all things, in every event, shimmering on the other side of the shadows of our world of fleeting forms. To remember and to see that, at all times, is to be at last awake. The world does not need to be changed, nor the people around us; we just need to wake up and see God smiling back at us as us. So when some event comes your way that wants to shake you up, just stop a moment, take a deep breath and connect to the real You who is watching it all like the sun shining upon everything, and relax, remembering that it is just a dream. . . .

Mantak Chia DVD Sexual Vitality Clip 1

Here in America we are obsessed by sex; yet we are ashamed of this primal urge. So on one hand we chase after it constantly, while flogging ourselves for being sinful or immoral. We have so much to learn in how to harness this powerful energy. Mantak Chia has being teaching this for decades and offers much wisdom.

TAO Universe Nassim Haramein and Marko Rodin 1of4