Conscious CT

One Easy Choice Toward Living Green

Every month you buy electricity. Are you paying for clean, renewable energy produced by wind, water and other sources or are you buying energy generated by oil, coal and nuclear plants? Did you know you have a choice? Here is an easy step you can take that will make a difference in how energy is produced.

CTCleanEnergyOptions is a Department of Public Utilities Control (DPUC) approved program that allows any CL&P customer the opportunity to support clean energy. Customers who enroll, pay a small clean energy surcharge and continue to receive electric generation services from CL&P or an electric supplier.  Currently over 20,000 Connecticut consumers have committed to support clean energy.

You can join by returning the insert with your electric bill, going to CTCleanEnergyOptions, or signing up at the Vernon Healthfest, Booth #210. Visit the website for more information and pricing.

Once you’ve made the decision to support Clean Energy you’ll want to know if your town is supporting it as well. If your community has joined the Connecticut Clean Energy Communities  program, you are also helping your city or town qualify for free solar electric systems for a public building. It works like this: In order to get communities behind the project and encourage towns to think about their own energy use each community is first encouraged to commit to having 20% of the electricity for all municipal facilities from clean renewable energy sources by the year 2010. Then a certain number of community households or businesses must sign up for clean energy. By meeting these criteria, your town can qualify for a free clean energy system (solar photovoltaic, wind or solar thermal) from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

Only 7 of the 15 towns that Conscious CT covers have pledged to have 20% renewable energy by 2010. Of the 7 only 3, Coventry, Glastonbury and Manchester, have achieved the first stage goal of meeting CCEC requirements and received free systems. With 2010 only a year away that's not very impressive. Our towns definitely need a prod from us. In our towns an average of only 1.6% of the households have signed up for clean energy; best is Glastonbury with 4.1%. To see how your town is doing visit Conscious CT's Scorecard.

The poor showing may be because people aren't aware of the program. Towns have other priorities and those with an active programs were often initiated by individuals who approached their town. If you are willing to take the issue to your town we can find you support from others who have done the same. At the Vernon Healthfest you can learn more by talking with JEFF BOULRICE, Vernon’s volunteer coordinator, who will be at Booth #210.

Conscious CT covers 15 communities and we think our readers are people who will work to make a difference. Together we can let our communities know we care and bring attention to this and other programs. Each quarter we’ll update and call attention to the Conscious CT Scorecard to let you know how your community is doing. Hopefully by shining light on this area we can make a difference.

Breakfasts

I host two breakfasts a month, one in Vernon at Charlie’s on the first Friday of each month and one in Windsor. Both have been meeting monthly for over 5 years. Although primarily attended by practitioners they are open to anyone who would like to stop by. Business professionals use breakfasts to network and make contacts. That happens at ours too, but most attend for the socializing and community.

Study after study shows that one important factor in good health and a long, happy life is a strong social network and a community of friends. In the age of email, text messaging and working from home it’s important for those in our holistic community to find ways to come together face to face. Its not unlike the psychological lift the patrons of Cheers get ‘where everyone knows your name.’

The breakfasts are a nice way to build community and make friends as they are informal and consistently there month after month - something that can be counted on when you need a lift or feel the need for some human contact. Some business does happen as people connect, set up workshops, plan advertising and once in a while form a joint venture. But I think this is secondary to the friendships that are made and renewed.

In Vernon we average 15 people each month - half regulars and the rest either new or stopping by when they have the day open.. In the course of a year we probably have 50 different people join us as they can. Charlie’s is informal so we can get as much or as little to eat as we please. We just greet and schmooze for the first hour. At about 10:00 I call things to order and we go around the table introducing ourselves and talk briefly about anything we are up to, sharing personal and community news. Then it breaks up into ever shifting little groups of people getting to know each other and catching up.

We close up at around 11:00 feeling refreshed, renewed and valued. Building and maintaining community is essential. If you are interested see the breakfast listing in the Calendar for the first Friday of each month.

Channeling

Channeling refers to a personality not in the physical speaking to or through a person. The personality is  specific to their host identifying themselves as a variety of figures - some from previous physical manifestations and some spiritual, including masters, Jesus or God. Many have dictated books such as Seth through Jane Roberts, God through Neale Donald Walsch or The Course in Miracles from Jesus. Whether or not you believe the entities are who they call themselves the material that comes through is fascinating and frequently of great value for those treading the spiritual path. As with anything else, whether read in a book, advice from a friend or teacher, it’s just another piece of information to be considered and weighed; if it serves you work with it, if not ignore it.

There are a number of channels in our area of the state, but the one I have been fortunate to work with recently is Creatious, channeled by Cathy Fischer. I don’t always agree with Creatious, but find his (or her) view on things thought-provoking and helpful on my own journey.

Creatious came to Cathy some twenty years ago as a result of a series of past life journeys she had with Norton Berkowitz. Norton then worked with her as the relationship developed and she learned to trust the voice that came through her. Creatious described himself as an aspect of Being manifested as a result of her questions; a spiritual teacher to work with those attracted to her.

Expos

The annual Whole Health Expo at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cromwell was held this weekend. Founded by Barbara Hardie over ten years ago this has regularly been one of the larger expos held each year. Last year Barbara retired from the expo business and the event was passed on to Jonathan Podolsky, who produces Whole Health Expos in Northampton, MA and throughout the northeast. Since last year went well for him he expanded the expo to a two day event this year. Being the largest expo producer in the area this event has a more professional look with pipe and drape decor than most of the others.

Expos and fairs are not just  a nice way to spend a cold winter day, but are also an opportunity to learn from the experts, meet and talk with holistic health practitioners, get a reading, experience a massage and find unique and unusual products and gifts. All in one place, all in one day.

Personally I’m far more interested in the learning and meeting practitioner aspects of a fair than the shopping, but that’s just me. The ladies try to explain to me the delights of exploring what is essentially a bazaar of goodies, but I have enough Stuff at this point in life.

What’s Happening

I’ve avoided using this blog for diary type entries, but I recently heard the comment that people aren’t aware of many of the activities and groups that are available to them in the area.

Since I have the time and opportunity to attend many events I thought for the next month or so I would provide some description of those I go to. Hopefully, that will increase awareness of what’s happening and perhaps make you feel a little more comfortable about participating. I’ll avoid repetition as some events may be weekly. Not all will be in the Conscious CT region as I often go further afield, but the events will be similar.

And remember that this is just a sampling; there are many more things happening every week.

To access all the blog entries in this series click the 'Events' category on the left.

Using Holistic Health

Holistic health - does it really work? To give you one perspective here is my experience over the past 30 years. Going into my seventieth year I take no meds and have no real health problems or limitations. Is that because of good genes, good luck, a holistic approach to health or all three? Since I’m healthy I really don’t care.

The key to holistic health is taking responsibility for your own well-being; physicians and practitioners are partners in your health, not dictators. The basics are simple enough - eat smart,  exercise, maintain low stress levels and get check-ups as needed. Easier said than done, but they are all under your control.

My first experience with the mind-body relationship came in my mid-thirties, shortly after I started reading on the topic. Although basically young and healthy I caught frequent colds and missed a few days of work each year as a result. I thought this was normal. When I read about how we are unintentionally programmed when we are young and automatically replay those programs as adults I thought back to the things my mother repeated to me as a boy about colds.
- If your feet get wet you’ll catch a cold.
- If you go to bed with wet hair you’ll catch a cold.
- If someone sneezes on you you’ll catch a cold.
- If you don’t get a good night’s sleep you’ll catch a cold.

I realized these programs were still playing and I was instructing my body to get sick whenever these situations occurred. Now that I was aware of what I was doing I gradually changed my programing (changed my mind) and stopped getting sick. At one point I got an ‘atta-boy’ at work for something like 12 straight  years without a sick day. It was a graphic example for me of the power of the mind.

Mixed Messages

During the 30 years I’ve been playing along the spiritual path I’ve read books by many teachers, attended workshops, listened to channels and had quite a variety of experiences. Some helped in my understanding of how the Universe might work, some were healing, some helped me grow as an individual and some were just fun and entertaining.

Although I found  a similar core message, the teachings themselves could be inconsistent, contradictory and sometimes confusing. The challenge is to sort through the information and find your Truth, not THE Truth.

I was reminded of this in a recent email from Dan Millman (in photo) (www.danmillman.com), one of the teachers I respect and author of “The Way Of The Peaceful Warrior” and many similar books on how to live a spiritual life. Following is part of his response to a writer confused from trying to follow  a variety of well-known teachers.

Citizen’s Oil Co-op

It’s interesting the tidbits you pick up at holistic gatherings. There is a quarterly dinner for people interested in the Abraham-Hicks material at the Taste of India in West Hartford organized by ROBIN CLARE and JENIPHER YOUNG-HALL. At the October dinner ROSIE STANKO, a holistic practitioner from West Hartford, mentioned that she worked for a statewide oil co-op that buys oil in quantity for co-op members.

Checking it out I find that Citizen’s Oil Co-op has been operating for 25 years. The oil is distributed to members through normal oil dealers such as the Kasden Fuel Company, who work with the co-op and provide all the normal services of an oil delivery company. The negotiated prices are below the state average and they are moving into biofuel green programs.

At this point I don’t have any personal experience with the program but since the cold winter is upon us I want to pass along the possibility of saving you some money. Check it out for yourself at www.oilco-op.com or email Rosie at rosie@oilco-op.com.

And please tell them that you heard about the program from Conscious CT. We are trying to raise funds for reaching new people with the site and the Co-op has a referral/donation program we may be eligible for. We’d also like your feedback if you are currently a member. By commenting on this blog you can share your experience with other readers.

Where To From Here?

Conscious CT is entering its second year of networking our regional community. It has all been a grand experiment and we’ve learned a lot. In the first year we laid the foundation for the website  playing with photo albums, blogs and calendars. So far, so good and we hope you are finding the site helpful in your own journey. Now where do we go from here?

Strengthen the community, reach out to more people, and encourage education.

The advantages of using a website are that they are flexible, easy to update and very low cost to publish. We kept down the expenses so were able to create and maintain the site with volunteers and relatively little out of pocket expense.

Our goals for our second year are a little more ambitious:

1- We want this to become a community effort, with area businesses that benefit from the site also getting involved with planning and development.

2- At this point we have about 550 who receive our monthly emails and about 3,000 unique hits on our website per month. Not bad for doing no advertising; but our readers are primarily the existing holistic community and our intent was always to use the website to reach the larger public - the audience that put "The Secret" on the best seller list and watches Eckhart Tolle on Oprah. A large segment of the population doesn't know our community exists and what we can offer them, yet has a strong interest in spirituality, holistic health and the environment.

3- Education is the key to personal growth and healing. Much of the website supports that goal, but there is room for improvement in organization and what is offered. It’s not something we can do alone, but perhaps we can be a catalyst for improvement.

Meeting all three goals will require community involvement. To reach a larger audience we have to advertise, and to advertise we have to raise funds. To do this we are inviting 12 businesses to become Sponsors. But we don't just want to sell advertising; we are asking our 12 Sponsors to partner with us in defining how the website and the community evolves. It's a different way to run a business, but then it is all a grand experiment.

In our September newsletter we introduce several new features on the website that begin to support these goals. And we introduce our first Sponsor, Breathe..more of Tolland. We are very grateful to Cherie Trice for being the first business to support us.  With the support of the community we’re very optimistic about what we can accomplish together.

In Chaos You Can Only Be

“The 500 Year Delta” is  a book about the changes we’re moving into at this point in history - the splintering of social, political and economic organization; the collapse of producer controlled markets; and the shift from reason to chaos based logic. The book targets businesses, but being an analytical person I enjoy the perspective of futurists who step back, look at history, study trends and attempt to project where we are headed.

Published in 1997, the book provides ideas and strategies for moving into an unpredictable future and the increasing chaos of everyday life as we move into the “Age of Possibility.” What caught my eye and got me thinking was the following: “In Chaos you cannot do, you cannot plan, you cannot reason to an end point. In Chaos you can only be.”

That sounds like the same concept that Eckhart Tolle is teaching us in “The Power of Now,” that we learn from Eastern philosophy or when learning to meditate. Stay in the present moment, let go of the past, don’t fear the future, just ‘be’. Let all thoughts go, tune in to your intuition, flow with events and trust that the Universe will support you.

As I look around the world it certainly feels as though we are moving into Chaos. Global warming, floods in the Midwest, fires in the Far West, earthquake in China, collapsing housing and mortgage markets, rising energy costs, falling stock market, continued unrest in the Mideast, and on and on.

In Chaos you can only be.

When the levees break, the ground shakes, the bills pile up and the future is uncertain it is not the time to chew over past choices or to quake over what might happen. Just be, be present. Then when the Universe presents an opportunity, and it will, you will be ready to respond and move with the flow, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone.

The “I Ching” says: “Out of Chaos, brilliant stars are born. Before a great vision can become reality there may be difficulty. Before person begins a great endeavor, they may encounter chaos. As a new plant breaks the ground with difficulty, foreshadowing the huge tree, so must we sometimes push against difficulty in bringing forth our dreams.”

Spiritual techniques and practices are for much more than reducing stress and deepening spirituality; they also teach us essential skills as we move into this new age of possibility.