Thanks to some wild rides on the waves of transformation, I'm more and more in love with and inspired by the Beloved, the beautiful energy and intelligence that surrounds, infuses and connects all (including all of us!). And I've become even more passionate about sharing what I can so that others might navigate transformation more consciously and joyfully.

In that spirit, I created Ivy Sea, Inc. The more we understand it and flow with our higher purpose or 'blueprint' and Natural cycles, the more joyful, juicy, luscious, skillful, conscious, kind, rich, beautiful, and rewarding our own experiences, transformations, and contributions can be. This is often the focus of my own path, my writing, and my consultations with clients who want joyful, dynamic, truly abundant right livelihood and conscious entrepreneuring ? or just a vibrant reconnection to their inner Flame, creativity, authenticity and passion ? as pathways for powerful expression and making a positive contribution to a world in need of it. Wander over to Ivy Sea Online, one of my playgrounds for expression, connection, collaboration, service, idea-sharing, inspiring, and being and seeding the change. www.ivysea.com   Read more...

I would like to briefly speak with you about news. Because that's what Ode Magazine is about. And that's where we present a different perspective.

We are made to believe that news is whatever is presented to us on the daily front pages and what makes the headlines on television. Media pride themselves about their objectivity. But one can hardly argue that the media present us with an objective picture of whatever goes on in our world. We only learn about the mistakes and the problems. About fraud and violence. We only learn about whatever goes wrong. And then we are supposed to believe that that is our reality.   Read more...

We should really be able to start each day anew, I thought as I considered the recent changes to Ode. Why is it so difficult to let go of the past? Why do we cling so stubbornly to things that are over and done, to painful memories or bad experiences? These questions are a theme running through my life and over the years I’ve put them to the wise people I’ve had the privilege of meeting. And in the 10 years I’ve written for Ode I’ve met a number of wise people who’ve given me a number of answers.

In India I met Dadi Janki, a yogini and head of the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual University. I know few people who are as present in the here and now as she. Her secret: Dadi rounds off each day before she begins a new one. Every evening she asks herself how her day was. Did she hurt anyone? Does she need to make amends? Is there something she needs to say or someone she needs to forgive? Before she closes her eyes she makes her amends—sometimes personally and sometimes by sending an apology, thanks or love in her thoughts. When she wakes up in the morning, everything is clean and new.   Read more...

I recently came across a music site that professes to be fair trade. They detail just how, but the top level thing is that they pay the artists 50% of the money that's paid for their music on the site. (Artists typically get 10-15%, if that.) They made the point that an artist making even $250 could, depending on where they lived, support their family quite nicely. They've got some really tasty music on there. Check it out on www.calabashmusic.com   Read more...

Earth Day is like a birthday... It doesn't mean that you stop appreciating the one you celebrate after the event has passed. Our earth continues on her journey and allows us to live our lives. Like a loved one, she is forgiving of negligence and still keeps giving, even when taken for granted. Thank you Mother Earth! We strive to teach each other to appreciate you each day.

Speaking of reminders. I have been on a learning path for personal insight over the last few years, trying various professionals with couches, reading books, comparing myself against others, meditating, breathing, sitting in circles, realigning my chakras and meridians, and most recently, reconnecting with lost parts of my soul. What a great experience it is to learn about myself. It helps me appreciate the beauty everywhere.   Read more...

[In response to a post by Susan Corso on the Readers Blog]

What a great and beautiful cause you are dedicated to (and the most important one of all, I believe). Do you know of Peace Pilgrim? She was a compassionate, spiritual woman who also dedicated her life to peace. Friends of Peace Pilgrim continue to spread her message free of charge worldwide through the distribution of her books and pamphlets. Check out www.peacepilgrim.net   Read more...

G'day, I'm living in a wonderful corner of the globe...a stunning location at the top of the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The town is called Karamea and it's enveloped by the Kahurangi National Park and sealed in by the Tasman Sea. I own and operate Rongo Backpackers & Gallery and Karamea Motels with a team of volunteers who humble me with their support and help. Together, we are developing the businesses into profitable ventures that will fund and financially support the building of a centre for artists to live and work. The initiative is called the LivinginPeace Project and the motivation is to help overcome the paradox faced by all aspiring artists that no one buys their work because no one knows who they are, and no one knows who they are becasue no one buys their work! We will bring together creative artists and creative marketers who will help artists sell their work and get established to the point where they can support themselves. The project has been going for three years and we have achieved a lot, the backpackers is a microcosm of what we hope to achieve in the long term...a funky, creatively inspiring, artistic place where people from the world over meet and share their thoughts, talents and passions...check it out at:

www.livinginpeace.com/livinginpeace.html   Read more...

Imai Sensei is a Baptist preacher with five kids. He wears heavy leather and rides a motorcycle. He works at a small college in Japan, where the students think he is cool because of his black leathers. But he just laughs and says he had an accident once that almost killed him. That scared him into sensibleness since he is responsible for so many and has so many mouths to feed.

And indeed Imai Sensei (Sensei means teacher and is a polite form of address) has far more lives to care for than the six he produced. As part of his seminary training, he studied in Germany for several years. While there, he awakened to the social action dimension of his faith. So, when he returned to Japan and saw the increasing number of homeless gathering in parks and train stations, he decided to do something about the situation.   Read more...

I would like to share the amazing story of the 7,000 Polish people who were exiled to Uganda during and after World War II, between 1942 and 1952. Some 100 of them are buried in a cemetery in a village 100 km east of Uganda's capital, Kampala. Many people from Poland are not aware of this piece of history concerning their citizens, who suffered the worst atrocities of World War II. Perhaps there are survivors or their relatives who may be interested in the site. I foresee a possibility of developing historical tourism between the people of Poland and Uganda. The site is marked with a memorial stone bearing the names of the dead (see picture) where i took a Polish Visitor in 2005. The cream marble memorial stone was the good work of a Polish priest who lived in Uganda.   Read more...

The future is past – as greedership turns to real leadership.

I heard it once said, that the future is already here, but just not evenly spread around, just yet. And so what is this future, that I'm beginning to see?   Read more...

Here's a story you might find encouraging - it's a story that makes it seem entirely possible for the entrepreneurial impulse to exist alongside fierce altruism.

Three years ago Rene Geneva was a single mom at the end of her rope, finding food in the nearby community garden and scrounging for change. A Christmas card from her grandmother enclosed $100 and this message: I hope next year brings you good fortune.   Read more...

Tourism in Africa has not benefited local people. The broad population is excluded from mainstream tourism. Traditional packaged safari tourism practiced in Africa leaves no benefits to local people. It offers no cultural interaction and is mainly focused on wildlife and protected areas. Tourists travel non-stop through rural villages, taking with them tourism benefits and opportunities to lodges and hotels operated by international operators and their rich local partners. Unlike agriculture, where local people have access to markets, tourism has barriers to entry, particularly for rural communities, yet they can offer unique tourism experiences by sharing their lifestyles, cultural heritage, green environment, indigenous knowledge, organic foods and rural hospitality.

There is need to break down the walls that have for long separated local people in Africa from the benefits of tourism by educating Western tourists to change their holiday behavior and contribute to the places they visit. There is a need for travelers to Africa to shift from products to experiences, to travel independently using local service providers of small accommodation and travel activities. Instead of driving through villages in safari vans heading for national parks, they should divert to local villages, get involved and make contact with local people. The shift in attitude of Western tourists from traditional packaged safari type of tourism to interactive holidays will direct travelers to rural villages, moving them away from products to experiences in areas rich in activities, interacting with local people and learning from each other. These holidays are mutually beneficial for both guests and their local host villages.   Read more...

The first book that I read back in Germany is a book written by a journalist, a comedian, and a priest from the Cologne area. Without pointing the finger at its readers, it is a scrapbook of inspiring stories and links for people who want to make a difference in their community. How are people that are well known for their German Angst changing the world? Who are they?

There is the visionary dentist in Darmstadt who provides free basic health care for homeless people with his organisation "The Health Angels." www.die-gesundheitsengel.de   Read more...

I used to think I knew the best place to find peace for my mind. It's a place in France, a farm tucked away in the most northern parts of the Provence. I have been going to that farm since my parents bought it with two friends when I was six. I have been there as a child, as a student and as a father and over the years I have learned that whatever pressures I bring to this decades-old family hideaway just melt away on the ancient hills. A friend once wrote a poem about the place referring to the power of the ‘mountains that would always be there.' Indeed there is relief in finding things in the same place and order year after year. Somehow the rapid changes of modern life pass by this farm and its surrounding hills. When I sit in a chair gazing into the horizon that stretches 50 kilometers and beyond, I know that as much as change is good and necessary, there is a deep value as well in things staying as they are.

Much to my surprise I recently found an experience that seems to bring my mind even more at ease than our annual retreat to the Provence. I had been to a conference in Arusha, Tanzania. It had been an exciting experience being together for four full days with an enlightened group of people from all over the world who shared a passion for Africa. We heard stories of promise and hope that put shades on the usual news of despair about the continent. Africa is much more than disease and poverty, which the media only seem to report about, it turned out. We left inspired and energized with a bag full of uplifting African stories for Ode. And yet such conferences are exhausting as well. We spent late evenings meeting and talking with new friends, only to get up early again to listen to the morning's first speaker.   Read more...

I don't think Brad Odekirk, a friendly photojournalist who went by the name of 'Ode,' ever knew of your magazine. Ode was a prolific photographer, a man whose enthusiasm for capturing life in a lens was matched only by his love of life itself. He lived in the heart of the Rocky Mountains-in the close-knit ski community of Summit County, Colorado-where he plied his craft as a photographer at the Summit Daily News, where I used to work with him. Each day locals were treated to a clean slate of Ode's work, pictures that seemed to capture the world at its happiest and most inspired of moments-pictures that, unbeknownst to Ode, conveyed the very essence of the magazine that shares his name.

Before Ode died last year in a tragic accident at the age of 42, he had stepped foot on six of seven continents and had taken his camera-and his knack for friendship-wherever he went. People came from Japan, Thailand, Africa, South America, and across the United States to attend his memorial service in Colorado. They were inspired, I am sure, by their memories of Ode and by the photographs he left with us. They remain a beautiful proof of the good in this world.   Read more...

The End of Hunger Fund (EHF) was founded in 2005 with the sole purpose of inspiring people everywhere to join the peaceful revolution to end hunger. EHF produces compelling and inspirational film and television programming that documents this peaceful revolution in action. Investigating those organizations and strategies that mobilize and inspire grass-roots movements to end hunger through creating self-reliance. Strategies that empower women and girls through leadership training and fostering community gender equality, creating micro-credit savings and loan programs, establishing access to basic education, health care, clean water and safe sanitation, and cultivating communities to create locally-inspired solutions to ensure food security. Our intention is to give audiences a clear window into the foundation, heart, and overall effectiveness of such organizations so that they can take action in the war on hunger. Through the power of film and television to reach massive amounts of people, we seek to cause unprecedented support of organizations covered. It is our goal to make ending hunger and poverty a global priority of unprecedented proportions. In the same way that John F. Kennedy inspired the United States to put a man on the moon, and Martin Luther King inspired a generation to relinquish its prejudice, we seek to help transform humanity to reach a milestone that is already in the making: The End of Hunger. By combining inspiring programming with website interactivity, building partnerships with organizations we cover, raising awareness through concerts, speaking engagements, and fundraisers we will offer people clear and direct actions to end hunger. The End of Hunger is not just about ending the hunger that claims the lives of 7.3 million of us every year. It is about ending the hunger within each and every one of us to make a positive difference in the world. For more information about our organization please visit our website at www.endofhunger.org or email info@endofhunger.org.   Read more...

After reading "Patient, heal thyself" in this month issue of ODE I find it absolutely necessary to tell you about Dr. Gladys T. McGarey, age 86. She was born in India of American missionary parents. She was one of the first women in the U.S. in the early 30s to study allopathic medicine, something not at all well received by the male oriented American Medical Association. Years of practice, spiritual belief, studies from the Edgar Cayce works, and what she learned living in India taught Dr. Gladys what medical schools could not.

For over 60 years of practice she taught her patients about the physician within each of them, something the AMA was not at all enthralled with. She was accused of practicing witchery, she was ridiculed, it took many years for Dr. Gladys to finally take the bull by the horns; pioneering holistic approaches to chronic medical conditions was not enough, the birth of the American Holistic Medical Association took place and became a natural passage to what Dr. Gladys now calls Living Medicine.   Read more...

I just received my first issue of ODE and feel compelled to share my initial experience with you. Thay (Thich Nhat Hahn) has long inspired my life so I first held the beautiful gift of his Touching the Earth CD in my hands, read the words on the CD jacket, and dreamed of getting out of my car (where I ate lunch) and experiencing his meditation practice right there in the parking lot. But knowing my schedule, I resumed eating and began reading the magazine. I read the entire cover: LOVE your slogan, appreciated the lovely Eden organic noodles advertisement, read the perfect "dear subscriber letter", and read your letter titled "A visit to the maternity ward of a new movement." I began to cry after the first paragraph and realized just how much stress my body is holding due to the increasingly painful disconnect I experience working in an industry so far afield from my values (commercial banking). I stopped myself from too much sentiment with the usual "get a grip" refrain and finished Jurriaan Kamp's letter as well as the introduction of Max Christern.

Ode's mission to convert Max to organic apples (slowly, over time, of course) reminded me of my efforts to bring socially responsible banking to two financial institutions. The first 8-month project failed completely and the second experienced a very near miss. I have resolved myself to the notion that it is still too much of a good old boys world to hope for such accountability. Nevertheless you have inspired me greatly. So I also resolve to grow my little side business pedaling wholistic journal notebooks to the point where I can leave this particular world and fully commit to being the change I want to see in the world, the kind of change being carried out by organizations like SocialFunds www.socialfunds.com, CSRWire www.csrwire.com, Vancity www.vancity.com, and the Center for Sustainable Innovation www.ustainableinnovation.org. And I'll keep reading ODE!   Read more...

The other day an acquaintance dropped by unexpectedly. I had only met Laura recently, but there had been an immediate click. We seemed to have a lot in common. My wife also liked her, so we settled on the couch with some drinks and talked about our lives, to get to know each other better. After a few hours, Laura seemed to feel so relaxed and at home that she shared some of the deep pain that had been troubling her since childhood. She was very reluctant to do so, because she didn't want to impose upon us and certainly didn't want to burden us with her "stuff." She kept apologizing and checking if it was ok to pour her heart out.

We managed to convince her that it was fine. We had all the time in the world, we weren't going anywhere and we liked listening to her. She relaxed and decided to trust us. Over the next hour, the whole story, including all the emotions, poured out. When she left we all felt great. Laura felt great because she wasn't carrying the burden alone anymore. And we felt great because we realized that Laura had given us the greatest gift any human being can possibly give: trust.   Read more...

Why do people bother to have all sorts of debates about religion? Why do people try to convince each other that their God is the right God and that their religion is the right one? Why do we try to impose our philosophies about life, death, truth, love, and the Big Questions on each other, when none of us really knows the answers anyway? The only relevant question about any religion or philosophy is not if it is true or not, but if it is effective. If your belief system is not making you happy, if it does not bring peace and love to your heart and to the hearts of those around you, it does not work. And, by the way, if it doesn't work, it can't be true.   Read more...

One of the last columns I wrote for Ode was about my notion that God is not a beached whale or a broken bicycle. What I meant to say was that, if we degrade God and turn him into the source of both good and bad, there is no longer any absolute truth and beauty that can act as a standard for our thinking and doing. I like to write about these matters, not because I know the answers or want to impose them on you, dear reader, but because they help me understand these things better and because I get feed back from so many readers around the world. One of them is Cheryl Hamilton, who answers by asking some very profound questions that are worth pondering.   Read more...