Quote for the Weekend

"The Earth Changes that we all anticipated are upon us. This is why lightworkers such as yourself are on this planet at this time. We are here as role-models of peacefully walking through these changes, and staying centered in love instead of fear. The angels have shown me an energy field that looks like a thick layer hovering over the earth. They said that we have the choice of living below this energy field, or above it. You live below it by becoming fearful about the news stories of earth changes. You live above the energy field by taking healthy action and staying centered in love." -- Doreen Virtue

Barbara L. Bakus, DO, Graduates from Pioneering Integrative Medicine Program

After two years of intensive training in areas including botanical medicine, mind-body interactions and nutrition, Dr. Barbara L. Bakus, a Balanced Living advertiser, has completed her Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Launched in the summer of 2000 by internationally-recognized integrative medicine pioneer Andrew Weil, MD, the Center in Integrative Medicine Fellowship combines residential sessions in Tucson with a “distributed learning” model in which participants learn via the Internet, in the comfort of their own home or office. Bakus, a board certified family physician in Chagrin Falls joined 74 other physicians and nurse-practitioners from all over the world in a graduation ceremony on December 12 in Tucson.

“Dr. Bakus has received the best training available in integrative medicine,” stated Dr. Andrew Weil. “I consider her fully prepared to go out in the world and help transform the practice of medicine and healthcare in the directions consumers want,” he concluded.

The program, which includes 1,000 hours of instruction, emphasizes clinical applications and collaboration to establish a broad knowledge base that will transfer into clinical practice. The curriculum utilizes patient simulations, collaborative dialogues, research updates and dialogues, problem-solving exercises, selected readings, group projects, and presentations. The focus is on the practical application of approaches that have scientific evidence and/or a history of traditional use. Methods of healing are explored, and physicians gain the ability to discuss these areas with both their patients and the practitioners of these disciplines. Fellows explore the Art of Medicine, Philosophy of Medicine, Medicine and Culture, Mind-Body Interactions, Nutrition, Botanicals, Physical Activity, Spirituality, Leadership, and Legal Issues.

Quote for the Weekend

What are you being? What are you choosing to be? Is it loving? Is it caring? Healing?You can be more of that no matter what you are doing. Yet, the magic of it is, the more of that your are BEING, the more what you are DOING will fall perfectly into place to allow you to "be" even more of that!Trust this process. It works.You will discover that forms - physical ways to "be" a thing - will suddenly start to just "show up".Beingness becomes form. -- Neal Donald Walsch

I have some good news!

It's time everyone got to know more about the Good News Network. It's mission is to provide a "Daily Dose of News to Enthuse." The Good News Network is a clearinghouse for the gathering and dissemination of positive news stories from around the globe. Daily stories will confirm what we already believe — that good news itself is not in short supply; the advertising of it is. Negative news is an important staple of any well-informed citizenry and necessary for society's evolution. But, today we are in dire need of a well-balanced media diet. Local TV news, especially, has been continually feeding us junk food. We need to be informed by a world view that is not dripping with sensationalism and attuned to the police scanner. Let's start looking up! Check on the Good News Network today.

Quote for the Weekend

“What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live with your self-respect alive and growing.”

Paper or plastic?

An article in the Christian Science Monitor reports that in an effort to curb waste and generate revenue, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for a 6-cent fee for every plastic shopping bag given to shoppers. Under the proposal, for each bag, 1 cent would go to the retailer and 5 cents would go to the city. Officials estimate that the surcharge could bring in $16 million a year, offering a revenue boost to a city that faces a $4 billion deficit over the next two years.The surcharge is technically considered a fee, not a tax, so it needs only to be approved by New York’s City Council, not the state legislature. While this is considered a lower hurdle, the proposal’s passage is by no means assured, according to The New York Times.

Evening for the Earth

Don't miss the Earth Day Coalition's 11th Annual Instrumental Evening for the Earth. In addition to tasty food and a fabulous silent auction,the evening culminates in a performance by Cleveland Orchestra members.

Wednesday, November 12, 6:00 - 9:30 p.m.

West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church
20401 Hilliard Blvd
Rocky River, OH 44116

$75
RSVP by Friday, November 7
Call (216) 281-6468
Click here for details.

FirstEnergy: mercury in retrograde?

As you may or may not know, know, FirstEnergy's Lake Shore Plant in Cleveland has
petitioned the Ohio EPA for a mercury variance that would completely eliminate any limit on their mercury discharge into Lake Erie. According to World Can't Wait-Cleveland, they currently exceed the legal limit of 1.3 parts per trillion at a rate of 2.9 ppt. They are also requesting that their copper discharge limit be upped, from 38 parts per billion to 77 ppb. FirstEnergy has consistently shown itself to be a bad neighbor in Cleveland as they have been found to be non-compliant with various environmental standards for the past 12 consecutive quarters and have been issued a formal violation twice in the past 5 years. The neighborhood surrounding the plant is in serious jeopardy; residents within a three-mile radius of FELS find themselves above the 90th percentile nationwide in terms of risk for cancer (95.1 percentile); neurological hazards (95.3 percentile); and respiratory hazards (91.5 percentile).

It is my hope that you will forward the following link to anyone you know interested in this issue.

Quote for the Weekend

"Your life will be transformed when you make peace with your shadow. The caterpillar will become a breathtakingly beautiful butterfly. You will no longer have to pretend to be someone you're not. You will no longer have to prove you're good enough. When you embrace your shadow you will no longer have to live in fear. Find the gifts of your shadow and you will finally revel in all the glory of your true self. Then you will have the freedom to create the life you have always desired." -- Debbie Ford

Walk for Autism

Random observations from the Walk for Autism, by Balanced Living guest columnist Paul Sherlock . . .

On my travels to the walk:
I witnessed an interaction between a guard dog that was protecting an auto repair shop and a child in a stroller being pushed by his dad in front of the fence around the building. The dog got up and wagging his tail greeted the small child - as if to say I won’t bark at you, you are young and innocent so I won’t scare you. To me it was a moment of vulnerability and protection, the dog could have easily done what he was trained to do which is to be defensive and bark and growl at people approaching in case they might be an intruder, which may have ended up traumatizing the child, but the dog must have sensed differently and instead chose to be friendly.

At the walk:
The energy of community and love at the autism walk- people united behind a cause. The energy fed upon itself: each individual’s energy being enhanced by the positive energy from all the people around them. People from all backgrounds: political beliefs, faiths, and nationalities united behind one common cause. Committed to helping loved ones and those born. The ability to unite, to have a cause greater than our differences gives me faith that we can endure and prosper as a country and member of the global community. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the walk.

After the walk:
I sat down to lunch with my family and I had a civil discourse about politics with people who don’t share my beliefs. In the past these conversations usually deteriorated into arguments since we are generally diametrically opposite in our beliefs. But what I observed today was a much more productive discourse because we were honest in the assessments of our respective candidates and their flaws. We abstained from playing politics and defending our candidate without exception simply because he is our guy. This more honest interchange of thoughts I feel helped lead to a better understanding of one another’s beliefs. We won’t change each other’s opinion but at least the honesty helped to promote greater acceptance and lessen the animosity towards one another.

And after lunch:
The idea of us being up front about the flaws of the candidate my family and I support got me to thinking about the political games most people play. This gamesmanship is the refusal to ever admit that you or your candidate is wrong. This gives you the candidate an illusion of being a decisive leader and prevents their opponent from gaining ammunition that can and will be used against them. Yet when we look back at some of the historically and universally admired leaders, it is the honesty with themselves and with others that they have about their humanness that makes them so revered. We look at the humility on display by the Dalai Lama or Mahatma Gandhi - their willingness to admit that they do not know all the answers, to the self doubt experienced by Mother Theresa and Abraham Lincoln about some of the tough choices they made in their lives, and rather than being repulsed by such struggles in a leader, we embrace them further. These leaders and those that they influenced knew they weren’t perfect and as leaders they accepted and even embraced this imperfection as part of their being; enabling people to better accept them as one of their own

Therefore I would love to see a politician in this day and time be a little more disarming, be willing to deal with the fall out of being honest about their doubts and concerns and see if people might not gravitate towards them. Leadership is not always about being decisive. Leadership is about taking stock of the situation and admitting that one is human and will make mistakes. A huge part of the charisma that is essential in leaders is that people see you not as being better than everyone else but instead that you are just like everyone else- ordinary men and women doing extraordinary things.