Volume Two, Issue One January 20, 2003
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Welcome to Conscious Living, our newsletter designed to share our current activities and growth, along with articles and information that we hope will be supportive and encouraging in your efforts to live each moment with more joy and satisfaction.
The theme of this issue is an exploration of the core values we can rely on in continuing to work at attaining our new years resolutions. |
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Contents:
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News: Telephone Courses Now Available Across The Country!
We have begun our new winter schedule throughout January with the addition of several new teachers and workshops. In addition, we are adding, for the first time, several telecourses. These are classes held over the telephone (something like a conference call) that allow you to attend a class every week without the necessity of driving to the class location. These telecourses are especially supportive of people who live outside of the Los Angeles area, and were not able to attend our prior classes because of the distance involved. We have received many emails from around the country expressing interest in our classes and we hope that our telecourse program will help to meet that need. All Class Times Listed Are Pacific As before, we are continuing to offer a wide variety of "in person" classes and workshops at various locations around the Los Angeles area. In the listing below, to read more information on the subject matter of a particular class, click on its Class Title. If you're interested in a class that has already begun, contact us by email at . Some of our classes are ongoing and are designed to accommodate new students joining after the start of the class. Others have a limited admittance once they have begun, but a new class series will often be beginning soon.
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Meeting Day |
Class Title and Teacher |
Enroll Here |
Location |
Fee Per Class |
| Mondays 7 to 8 p.m. New Telecourse | Loving and Respecting Our Children While Giving Them The Discipline They Need - Lucinda White | Enrollment | Telecourse | 4 One Hour Classes - $50 for Series |
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Mondays 6 to 7 p.m. New Telecourse . |
Changing Your Life Through Visualization and Affirmation - Jeff Braucher | Enrollment | Telecourse | 3 One Hour Classes - $40 for Series |
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Mondays 6:30 to 8 p.m. |
Walking - The Complete Exercise - Steve Hamlin | Enrollment | South Pasadena | $25 |
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Mondays 8 to 10 p.m. New Class |
For Yourself: A Class In Female Sexuality - Patty DeFrancis | Enrollment | South Pasadena | $25 |
| Mondays, 7 to 9 p.m. | A Little Bit of Music - Bill Simpson | Enrollment | Glendale | $25 |
| Tuesdays, 7 to 8 p.m. New Telecourse | The Fundamentals of Conscious Living: Heart & Mind - Bill Simpson | Enrollment | Telecourse | 4 One Hour Classes - $50 for Series |
| Tuesdays 7:30 to 9 p.m. | Reclaiming Your Singing Voice - David Joyce | Enrollment | Reseda | $25 |
| Wednesdays, 7 to 8 p.m. New Telecourse | For Yourself: A Class In Female Sexuality - Patty DeFrancis | Enrollment | Telecourse | 4 One Hour Classes - $50 for Series |
| Wednesdays, 6 to 7 p.m. New Telecourse | The Freedom To Love - Mike Van Dam | Enrollment | Telecourse | 4 One Hour Classes - $50 for Series |
| Wednesdays, 7 to 9 p.m. | Developing a Spiritual Lifestyle: The Fundamentals of Conscious Living - Bill Simpson | Enrollment | Glendale | $25 |
| Thursdays, 6 to 7 p.m. New Telecourse | How To Love Yourself - Elaine McBroom | Enrollment | Telecourse | 4 One Hour Classes - $50 for Series |
| Thursdays 6 to 7 p.m. New Telecourse | Silencing the Inner Critic - Kay Nuyens | Enrollment | Telecourse | 4 One Hour Classes - $50 for Series |
| Thursdays, 6 to 7 p.m. New Telecourse Starts Feb. 13th |
Love in Action: Practical Ways to End the Cycle of Violence - Frederick Rule |
Enrollment | Telecourse | 3 One Hour Classes - $40 for Series |
| Fridays, 6 to 7 p.m. New Telecourse | Accepting the Unknown With Love - Tom Rook | Enrollment | Telecourse | 4 One Hour Classes - $50 for Series |
| Saturdays, 8:30 to 10 a.m. | Exploratory Watercolors for Parent and Child - Lucinda White | Enrollment | Pasadena | $25 |
| Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. New Class | The Freedom To Love - Mike Van Dam | Enrollment | Pasadena | $25 |
| Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. New Class | Getting More Done In Less Time - Jeff Braucher | Enrollment | West Los Angeles | $25 |
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Saturdays 1 to 3 p.m. |
Spiritual Psychology: The Gateway to Healing and Freedom - Juan Girardi |
Enrollment | Pasadena | $25 |
| Saturdays 2 to 3 p.m. New Telecourse | Personal Story Telling - Michael Nye | Enrollment | Telecourse | 3 One Hour Classes - $40 for Series |
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Saturdays 3 to 4 p.m. |
Conscious Living Public Lecture Series Jan. 11 - “How To Love Yourself” - Elaine McBroom Feb. 8 - “Love In Action: Ending Violence” - Frederick Rule |
Join Us | Pasadena |
$5 Suggested Donation |
| Saturdays 3 to 5 p.m. January 25 and February 1 | Nonjudgment: Aligning Your Life With Love - Simon Kahn | Enrollment | Pasadena | $25 |
| Saturdays, 4:30 to 6 p.m. | Personal Story Telling - Michael Nye | Enrollment | Studio City | $25 |
| We encourage you to visit other pages of our web site to learn more about the Conscious Living Foundation and to peruse the wide variety of other classes that will be available soon. | CLF's Classes CLF's Discounts |
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| Quotations: Desires and Aversions | . |
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Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires. Lao Tzu Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires. Bertrand Russell If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so too. If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires. Epicurus |
Most of us are not aware to what extent our desires are compulsive. We do not realize how often they push and shove us about without any say on our part. But when we think “I would like a hot fudge sundae,” it would be more accurate to say that the desire is thinking us. Intellectually we may know that a hot fudge sundae means more calories than we need; but the desire has a hold on us, and we believe, temporarily, this is what will satisfy us. Not until we have eaten the sundae do we reflect, “That’s not what I really wanted. Why did I go and eat it?” Not that there is anything wrong in eating sundaes. The important point is that we do not have the capacity to choose. Eknath Eswaran
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He who would be useful, strong, and happy must cease to be a passive receptacle for the negative, beggarly, and impure streams of thought; and as a wise householder commands his servants and invites his guests, so must he learn to command his desires and to say, with authority, what thoughts he shall admit into the mansion of his soul. James Allen |
I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them. John Stuart Mill He is a king who fears nothing, he is a king who desires nothing! Seneca |
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Know the Self as Lord of the chariot, the body as the chariot itself, the discriminating intellect as the charioteer, and the mind as the reins. The senses, say the wise, are the horses; selfish desires are the roads they travel. Katha Upanishad |
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. Aristotle To understand the true quality of people, you must look into their minds, and examine their pursuits and aversions. Marcus Aurelius |
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Even in the most intimate of personal relationships, most of us still live inside our own private mental worlds. Our attention is often preoccupied – sometimes more in the past and future than the present – so that we have very little attention to give to those we want to love. Despite our best intentions to draw closer, all kinds of distracting thoughts – likes and dislikes, attachments and aversions, private moods, dreams and desires – come in any time they like, keeping other people at a distance. We yearn for closeness and find, more often, disappointment. Eknath Eswaran |
In the Self all desires are fulfilled. Chandogya Upanishad Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied. While man's desires and aspirations stir, he cannot choose, but err. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
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A desire arises in the mind. It is satisfied immediately another comes. In the interval which separates two desires a perfect calm reigns in the mind. It is at this moment freed from all thought, love or hate. Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves. Swami Sivananda
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Selfish desires need a lot of attention to thrive. They are like delicate houseplants, not very hardy. Unless their needs are met precisely, they cannot last long. If we do not water and fertilize them regularly – think about them, dream about them, plan and wish – they will wither and die. To get plants to thrive, it is considered helpful to talk to them in soothing, friendly tones. Selfish desires thrive on talk too; the more we talk about them, the stronger they get. So whenever you feel driven by a compulsive, destructive urge, don’t analyze it; don’t talk about it; don’t dwell on it. Turn your attention away from it by throwing yourself into work for others. It can starve the desire away. Eknath Eswaran |
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| A Poem: by Rabindranath Tagore |
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Thus it is that thy joy in me is so full. Thus it is that thou has come down to me. O thou lord of all heavens, where would be thy love if I were not? Thou hast taken me as thy partner of all this wealth. In my heart is the endless play of thy delight. In my life thy will is ever taking shape. And for this, thou who art the King of kings hast decked thyself in beauty to captivate my heart. And for this thy love loses itself in the love of thy lover, and there art thou seen in the perfect union of two. |
| Article: The Personal Side of Storytelling michael d. nye |
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The art of personal storytelling is about describing a unique personal experience that has a shared emotional content. When astronauts talk about going to the moon, it is something that is far beyond most of our experiences. If they just talk about scientific facts, we may find the facts interesting, but they will not move us, excite us, or inspire us. The astronauts that affect us deeply are the ones that use shared emotional experience to describe their journey. Why do we need to tell stories? More than any other class I teach, this class addresses a fundamental human need - the need to communicate our emotional self to other people. As far back as the beginning of human history people have told stories. Mythology, legends, fables, and parables have all originated from the individual accounts of men and women. From ancient times, huddled around a campfire, to today’s storyteller nights at neighborhood cafes, people want to recount and share in the personal journeys of other people. We all tell stories about events that have happened to us - stories that have taught us something about ourselves, or affected us in some special way. In CLF's telecourse, Personal StoryTelling, we learn how to tell a story, in a humorous or dramatic way, that will communicate to an audience our emotions, observations, and what we have learned, with clarity and distinctness. When we use storytelling as a way of communicating, we should have a personal investment in the story. We must also be willing to share that personal investment. And that “emotional content” must be in a structured context, otherwise we end up all over the place and we will confuse, rather than enlighten our audience. We must have the tools to be effective communicators of that personal investment, the “emotional content” of the story. In Personal StoryTelling we start by considering the following: · Why is this story worth telling? · What do we want to communicate to the audience? · How do we feel about what has happened in the story? We need to be clear on what we want to communicate, otherwise how can anyone else be clear about what we’re saying. What are the elements of a good story? A good story contains elements that work for a reason. We humans have a natural rhythm in our psyche and we respond to a story the flows into that natural rhythm. We are able to follow it and be carried away by it. Some of these elements include: · A beginning, middle and end. · A strong Opening - to capture the audience’s attention. · Building the story through the arcs and turning points. · Resolution. These and other elements allow us to communicate our personal history and connect with our audience. And it is through the art of communication that we leave behind the wisdom and experience of our journey through life. Michael Nye offers a telecourse with CLF entitled "Personal Story Telling" The class consists of 3 one hour classes and is held on Saturdays at 2 p.m. Pacific time. The fee is $40 for the entire series. To enroll or for more information, click Here. All “personal storytelling” material copyright 2002 MDNyeWorkshops |
| Article: Who Counts? by theodore roosevelt |
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It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat; who strives valiantly; who errs and may fail again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who does know the great enthusiasm, the great devotion; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. |
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| Article: Love I Corinthians 13, 1 - 13 |
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If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing. If I can give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails. But when there are prophecies, they will cease; when there are tongues, they will be stilled; when there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.
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| Article: Anything Is Possible by anonymous |
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If there was ever a time to dare,
to make a difference, to embark on something worth doing, IT IS NOW. Not for any grand cause, necessarily... but for something that tugs at your heart, something that's your inspiration, something that's your dream. You owe it to yourself DREAM BIG. Know, though, that things worth doing PERSIST. Because with an idea, TRUST. Believe in the incredible power of the human mind. The start of something new
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News: Kay Nuyens Joins the Conscious Living Foundation -
Kay's first telecourse with CLF is entitled, "Silencing the Inner Critic". It begins on Thursday, February 14th at 6 p.m. (Pacific Time). It consists of 4 one hour classes and the fee is $50 for the entire series.
Many of us have a tendency to criticize ourselves, making harsh self-judgments. We don't have to label ourselves because of some of our past choices. Choices just teach us to do it differently next time for a different result. Our life is a journey, and we really need to be patient with ourselves along the way. Dealing with her own struggle of a perfectionist personality, Kay offers this workshop to allow us to let go of that inner critic, forgiving and loving all parts of ourselves. In this workshop we will:
We will use meditative exercises for the following:
Kay invites all of her students to join her in connecting to the greatness of who we are! Kay’s mission is to move into the fullness of who she knows she can be, and to empower others to find their inner connection, healing issues through awareness, compassion and the power of love. Invitation to Greatness- a workbook for Personal Growth, was written by Kay, MA, C.Ht., to assist us in clearing blocks and creating life-affirming patterns. Kay believes we are self-healers and presents the tools to embark on the wonderful journey of self-discovery, creating a successful life script. For More Information, Or To Enroll, Click Here. You can meet Kay at her website: http://www.changingfocus.net |
| News: Free E-Books Added To Our Web Site | |||||||||||||||
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CLF has just added a new page to its web site that contains several inspirational books in digital form. These can be downloaded for free.
Our current titles include:
To download a title, click on it with your right mouse button and select "save target as". If you are interested in downloading other public domain books, please email us with your requests at . Check our regular web page (click Here) regularly for new additions. |
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News: New Audio and Video Products
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CLF is continuing to offer an increasing range of audio products. They include:
In addition, we are in the final stages of completing the first in a series of video products, entitled "The Sacred Rivers Of India" - a meditation and visualization experience. If you are interested, please check our Products page on the web site for further updates. |
| News: First Conscious Living Expo Scheduled! |
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Mark your calendar! The Conscious Living Foundation has scheduled its first "Conscious Living Expo" for Saturday, March 22, 2003. Included in the $5 price of admission will be 45 minute CLF workshops presented at no additional charge through out the day, live musical, dramatic and comedic stage performances all day long, and a wide variety of products and services will be available to support your efforts to live a more conscious life including: books, audio and video products, jewelry, meditation products, massage, chiropractic exams, yoga related items, alternative healing information and many other similar products and services. In addition, there will be a variety of healthy, delicious vegetarian meals and drinks available at very reasonable prices. Watch this space for further details. |
| News: New Quotations Page On Compassion Added To Web Site |
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One of the most popular areas on our site is our collection of quotations.
We have now added a very large selection of new quotations on the subjects of the Heart-Centered approach, suffering and compassion. Click Here to go directly to the new Quotations page. |
Copyright 2003 The Conscious Living Foundation (all rights reserved)
