SjIdeasEtc has additional sites related to color. No Limits is a recently created blog that is dedicated to sharing images that show the vast palette of limitless hues around us. Follow the link to visit the http://wwwSjIdeasEtc.Blogspot images pages.

The No Limits site is frequently updated with recent photos and art images. The text is limited to information about the images displayed. For people planning to visit the Southern California area you can find photos of some tourist attractions on the No Limits image blog.

A few decades ago there was a very well received television ad for men’s clothing that utilized the song “What A Difference A Day Makes”.  The ad displayed handsome hunks transforming themselves into scrumptious guys dripping with sex appeal simply because they changed their apparel.  I am certain that women around the globe who heard that song coming from the T.V. stopped whatever they were doing and sprinted around corners to look and dream.  It was superb advertising.

So how do we choose our outfits when we dress ourselves for the day?  Hmmm, will it be the blue, green, yellow or red shirt?  Certainly you give it some thought. Unless you are wearing a uniform it would seem likely that you are choosing what is appealing to you at that moment.

It is easy to associate our choice of clothing with the degree of comfort that we feel while wearing the clothes or with the need to wear appropriate attire for the occasion.  That rationale is valid if you are confined by a dress code but if there is any choice of color in the decision then consideration must be given as to how you selected the color.

Being a colorist and a Reiki Master I associate the color of my clothing with my subtle body energy needs. I don’t always consciously think about my energy needs as I dress daily but at some point in the day I will take notice of the predominant color of my outfit.  In my previous blog about CranioSacral therapy I briefly discussed invisible energy meridians, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) aka acupuncture and energy flow. I’d like to expand that comment to include  Auryvedic princples and ancient theories involving chakras in the human body.

Believing that there are seven major chakra in the human body and that each of those chakra  has a color associated with it, I draw a direct relationship between the flow of my energy and my choice of color in the clothes that I am wearing. I believe that people seek to surround themselves intuitively with the color that is most soothing to them.

When noticing the color of my clothing I determine which chakra my choice of color represents and inevitably that chakra will be the energy center in most need of attention.  The most prominent and current issues in my life will be associated with that chakra.

In uncomplicated terms the seven major chakras are thought to be invisible energy centers adjacent to the spine. The image illustrates the location and color of those seven chakra. I also listed the chakra name and descriptive keywords.

7th Chakra – Violet – Crown – Spirituality / Awareness

6th Chakra – Indigo – 3rd Eye – Intuition / Imagination

5th Chakra – Light Blue – Throat – Expression / Voice

4th Chakra – Green – Heart – Compassion

3rd Chakra – Yellow – Solar Plexus – Willpower

2nd Chakra – Orange – Emotions / Sexuality

1st Chakra – Red – Root – Survival / Stability

I hope that by sharing this information you will be able to better understand your choices in the selection of color. Whether it is paint, fabric, clothing or food our inner design can influence and be influenced by our interior decoration. The choices we make about color are our unique affirmations.

THERE ARE NO LIMITS TO WHAT HUE CAN DO!

Karen emailed me after she got back from the No Limits policy lunch where Secretary Clinton and Barney Frank were speaking. She tells me she got to speak with Secretary Clinton and shake her hand and it sounds like she had a fantastic time. She was nice enough to share these photos that she took while at the event:

Thanks to Karen for the images!

I posted the video of her remarks here.

Is the State Department deliberately trying to drive Hillary bloggers crazy?  I think the answer is yes!

While I was writing the previous post, this came in from none other than the State Department! Now here is my question: How do they have the gall to post these remarks at an event they did not LIST on the Daily Schedule they sent out this morning? HOW?

To refresh your memory, here is the schedule they sent out this morning which I posted earlier today.

Daily Appointments Schedule for November 6, 2009

Washington, DC
November 6, 2009

SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON:

9:45 a.m. Secretary Clinton meets with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

2:30 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with Congressman Ike Skelton, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

4:00 p.m. Secretary Clinton meets with His Excellency Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council of the European Union, at the Department of State.
(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

THE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING WILL BEGIN AT APPROXIMATELY 1:00 P.M.

If you have been waiting with bated breath (as I have) to know what she said, here are her remarks.

Remarks at No Limits Public Policy Conference Luncheon

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Ronald Reagan Building
Washington, DC
November 6, 2009

Thank you so, so much. Thank you. I told Terry after that introduction, there was no limit to his enthusiasm. (Laughter.) I cannot tell you how excited and really grateful I am to be here with all of you. I want to thank Mark for his remarkable commitment to be the chair of the board of No Limits, Ann Lewis who has served the – so many roles, who is the president of this new, but exciting organization.

Before I start, I just want to say that our thoughts and our prayers are with the soldiers killed at Ft. Hood, and with their families and their friends and their colleagues. I join all Americans in expressing our sympathy and in wishing the more than 40 who were injured a full and speedy recovery. These terrible incidents, especially one like yesterday, reminds us of the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make every day. It is difficult when you lose brave Americans overseas, but it is horrifying when they come under fire because they wear the uniform of our country or they work to defend our nation right here on American soil. So we all owe them a debt of gratitude and are recommitting ourselves to make sure that they know that they have a grateful nation behind them.

This conference is really a special opportunity for me because I get to see so many of my friends. I look around this room and there are countless familiar faces of people who – (applause) – I have worked with and we have had some extraordinary times. You’ve heard from some real stars today, including the incomparable Barney Frank. Now, Barney, as those of you who may not have known before, is one of the most talented public servants in Washington. He’s also famous as the man with the best one-liners on Capitol Hill. But of course, we in this room know the secret of his success, namely, he learned from his long-suffering older sister, Ann Lewis. (Laughter.) And it was funny when I said to Ann, I said, “Oh, I’m so sorry I missed Barney.” And she goes, “Oh, he was brilliant, but he didn’t have his shirt tucked in.” (Laughter.) I mean, it sounded like every big sister, including myself, that I have ever heard.

Ann is the reason that we are here today, because she’s been in the trenches fighting for equal rights, and equal pay, and equal opportunity, blazing a trail for generations of women like me whose path in politics was a little easier because of the battles that Ann Lewis fought and won. Before there was an EMILY’s List, or a Feminist Majority, or even a sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits – (laughter) – there was Ann Lewis, and she is still going strong. I am so proud to call her my friend. And I am so impressed that in less than a year, she decided to bring us all together, put this organization together and create a platform for people to think of new ways to join together on behalf of issues and causes that we all share.

In this room are people who I went through the battles of the 1990s on behalf of healthcare. And I think tomorrow, we’re going to win a major part of that effort. (Applause.) I cannot tell you how excited I am at the prospect that, for the first time in American history, the House of Representatives is poised to pass a comprehensive health care reform. I am still keeping fingers and toes crossed because we know that there are those who would try to derail it, even at the last minute. But it looks so promising, and it is so long overdue. And as someone who has fought this battle for so many years, I cannot tell you how proud I am that it will be under a democratic President and a democratic speaker and a democratic speaker and a democratic Congress, that we’re going to actually get this to happen. (Applause.)

And there are others of you in this room who stood with me as we told the world something that was self-evident, but needed to be said, that women’s rights are human rights, as well. (Applause.) And as Terry said, there are many friends from New York who worked with me and stood with me and campaigned with me, on behalf of not only working families, but 9/11 victims and survivors and so many others who looked to us to help them have a chance to end the limits on their own dreams and pursue those.

And of course, there are so many of you here who were with me on that long, exciting, death-defying journey across our country. (Applause.) And you’re the ones who helped put all those cracks in the glass ceiling. And I want to thank each and every one of you for really committing yourselves to the political process, believing in the importance of what needed to be done in our country, working with me and then working with me to elect Barack Obama. And now working with all of us to try to translate into reality the dreams that we hold for our nation and our world.

We’ve stood together over all these years because we share a deep conviction about the importance of our nation and the significance of public service. And I have to say that, my path into politics and what still guides me today is my belief that every child deserves a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential, and that is what motivates me and what I know is important to all of you. (Applause.)

And so here we are, and there has been just an enormous amount of extraordinary happenings in the time since I’ve seen many of you last. And for me, this new position just reaffirms that we live in an interconnected, interdependent world. Whether I’m in a small town in Africa or I’m in a big metropolis in Asia, I’m always reminded of how important it is that we see each other as fellow human beings, that we share a journey. We may come from very different backgrounds, have all kinds of experiences that are not at all in common. But we do actually share a commitment to making it possible for not only our nation, but all nations to forge a new future. It is hard because we face some of the most complex problems that I think any time in history has ever presented. And for me, being in this new position and being so mindful of the responsibility that the Obama Administration holds just encourages and urges me to work as hard as I can on behalf of creating new partnerships, on reaching out and explaining what the United States stands for, showing people the respect they deserve by listening to them, but standing our ground, making clear what it is we value, and how we intend to pursue our interests.

And so for the last nine months, I’ve had the good fortune and the high honor of representing our country around the world, whether it was in Zurich for the landmark signing of an agreement between Turkey and Armenia, with such a long and difficult history between them and seeing the last-minute falling apart of that, and having to work hard with my colleagues to make it happen and reminding people that every day leaders around the world have a choice – whether they continue to show allegiance to a past they cannot change or a new commitment to a future that they can shape. And one of the biggest issues we have to overcome is how people cannot leave behind their history. That doesn’t mean that they have to forget it. It doesn’t mean they have to deny it, but it means they have to be willing to keep looking forward instead of in the rearview mirror.

Every conflict we have in the world today is really bound up in whether people will invest in the future, whether they will seek common ground with others, or whether they will either stay frozen or go backwards. And part of our job in the State Department is to better explain what it is the United States represents. We got a little off track over the last eight years. We’re trying to get back on track today. I was very pleased that – some of you know Judith McHale was appointed the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, and she is traveling the world, looking for the ways that we can better connect so that we can tell our story. Because everyone has a story to tell, and everyone needs to be thinking about how we better tell America’s story.

Whenever I travel, as Terry said, I try not just to meet with diplomats and officials, but to go out and meet with people. And that’s been kind of a interesting experience the last nine months, because a lot of people thought, “Well, why are you doing that?” Well, it’s because no matter what society you’re in, public opinion matters to a greater or a lesser degree, but it matters. You can be an authoritarian dictator, but you still have to listen to what people are saying and thinking. And we needed to do some concerted work to try to create a better communication between our country and others.

That’s why I’ve held town hall meetings from Santo Domingo to Moscow to Nairobi to Bangkok. I even appeared on what’s called the Awesome Show in Indonesia. (Laughter.) And at every turn, I have listened and responded, but also stood up for what I think are our core values. It is critical in today’s world that we recognize information is not compartmentalized; it doesn’t stay in official channels or in diplomatic cables. It is pervasive.

And we are now using the new tools of technology. Some of you might remember during the demonstrations in Iran during the post-election period, the way people were finding out where they should go and learning what was happening was through Twitter. And the young men and women who work for me in the State Department, the twenty-somethings, realized that Twitter was going to shut down for some kind of technical rebooting whatever they do. (Laughter.) So these young people called Twitter and said, “You can’t shut down. The demonstrators in Iran are depending on you.” I mean, that could not have happened five years ago. And so part of what our challenge is, is to really try as directly as possible to reach people through governments, around governments, under governments, in every way possible. We’re also doing more to build partnerships, which I think are key to our success. Again, another long-time friend of many of us, Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, is now heading up our global public-private partnerships effort. And she’s reaching out, working with business, working with NGOs to create opportunities for people to contribute to America’s diplomacy.

And there’s a lot that we can do and we can do better, and it’s an area where I think that we can enlist the help of those of you who are interested in trying to be part of reaching out to the rest of the world. It is important that we look to the pillars of the American foreign policy that I have laid out in numerous speeches, pretty simple – defense, diplomacy, and development. We know defense because it gets a lot of the funding and a lot of the attention, rightfully so. But we can’t have a strong and positive and successful foreign policy without also building up diplomacy and development. So I’ve been working very hard to make the case to the Congress for more Foreign Service officers, for more civil servants, for more development experts, because we’ve got to do a better job.

So we’re doing a complete review. We’re having the first-ever what’s called Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, which mirrors something the Defense Department has done forever, the Quadrennial Defense Review. Because what we’re trying to figure out is what works and what doesn’t work. Let’s quit doing what doesn’t work and let’s start doing more of what we think will work around the world. (Applause.) Because if we truly believe, as I know all of you do, that there should be no limits to opportunity, then we have to forge partnerships that provide people with the tools they need to solve their own problems.

I like to say that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. And I think all the time when I’m in places that don’t educate women or do not respect the dignity of work for both men and women, that have systems that are engrained in their society, that really keep a large group of people subordinate to a small group of people, just think of what that society is missing. It is missing future doctors and academics and researchers and businessmen and women. What a loss that they really cannot afford to have.

So we are also investing in a new approach toward food and hunger. It’s a terrible problem in the year 2009 that so many people are dying of hunger or who are malnourished. And in discussing the priorities that I brought to the job, I asked if we could have a big focus on food security, and people said, well, sure, we do a program over here and we do a program over there and we do – I said, well, how about if we bring them all together and we actually have an organized whole-of-government approach? So President Obama asked me and the State Department to take the lead on that, and we’ve really had a remarkable process.

And it’s the first time where people from all over our own government are actually in the same room trying to decide what it is we can do that will deliver not only food aid, as important as that is, especially with drought and the effects of climate change, but better agricultural productivity. Let’s start helping people grow their own food, bring it to harvest, bring it to market, support themselves so that they can become more self-sufficient. (Applause.)

So every day, we wake up and we think about all of these great ideas, and then we work hard to implement them. But there is nothing that has been more important to me over the course of my lifetime than advancing the rights of women and girls. It’s been a cause of my public life. (Applause.) And it is now a cornerstone of American foreign policy.

We have appointed the first-ever Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. Some of you know Melanne Verveer, who – (applause) – was my chief of staff at the White House, went on to run Vital Voice, which some of you have become involved in, which I am delighted about because everywhere I go in the world, the Vital Voices women come to meet me. And they wear their little pins, the kind of Vs that look like wings taking flight that give them a better future. And we want to do more in partnerships like that, so we’re opening up on the State Department website that we will notify everybody about, a way for you to be part of supporting some of these projects and supporting individual women; individual women and their own needs, whether it’s a small microloan or a program to help rape survivors or victims.

Melanne, as you know, has been one of the most consistent voices turning up the volume on the problem of gender and sexual-based violence, especially in conflict areas. And on my trip to Africa this summer, Melanne was with me in the Eastern Congo when we visited a refugee camp, when we went to HEAL Africa, an extraordinary hospital that helps the women who have been attacked and so brutally raped, and met with the doctors and the advocates and some of the victims themselves.

And it was, as I’m sure you can imagine, the most poignant and personally painful experience, because this has become a tactic of war, not just in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but in other places around the world as well. But just to take the Congo as an example, about 1,100 rapes are reported each month. That’s an average of 36 women and girls raped every day. The camp that Melanne and I visited was home to about 18,000 people seeking refuge from a cycle of violence that has left 5.4 million people dead since 1998.

And when you see that, the depth of suffering and the brutality, it just tears at your heart. But what lifts your spirits is the courage and the resolve of the people themselves, the victims who go on every day, who show a resilience that I find awe-inspiring, and those who are there on the front lines helping them. The United States condemns these attacks. They are crimes against humanity. I announced more than $17 million in new funding to prevent and respond to gender and sexual violence and to help survivors rebuild their lives.

Then I was privileged to chair a special United Nations Security Council session that passed a resolution to strengthen international efforts to curb these atrocities and hold those who commit them accountable. We have to do more, and I think this is an area where a number of you have told me you’re interested in working, and Anne will give you a menu of options that you can choose from as to how you can personally try to strike back at this atrocity that happens all too frequently.

But there are good news stories as well. In fact, as I travel around and see the developments in many countries that I hadn’t been to for about 10 years, I see the change. Recently in Indonesia, I was able to celebrate 10 years of democracy and to really hold up what a democratic Islamic secular society looks like. And we have to keep holding up those examples.

And when we go and see the courage of people who are willing to risk it all against the forces that are arrayed against them, it just encourages me and gives me even more of a push to go out and do what I need to do.

But what’s important about No Limits is your message. That is such an American message, but it shouldn’t be only an American message. And what I’ve been trying to do is to help people separate their historical sense of limits from what is possible going forward, that it is hard in traditional societies, it is hard when the odds seem stacked against you, but it is part of the American message at core that we believe not just in a better life for our own people, but we think helping those around the world to a better life is good for America, that it gives us a chance to see our values in action.

So I hope that you believe, as I do, that foreign policy matters, that public diplomacy matters, that standing up for the rights of people we will never meet very far away matters. And who does it matter to? It doesn’t just matter to someone else. It matters to us as Americans. I say to my staff all the time, “I want to make sure that our foreign policy, our diplomacy, and our development are delivering for the laid off auto worker in Michigan or the laborer in Ohio. I want to make sure that what we’re doing can be explained and understood by the small business owner in Colorado or the homemaker in California who says, ‘Look, we’re having a hard time here at home. Why are we taking our money and educating somebody else’s children or providing healthcare to other people, or why do we involve ourselves in these conflicts far away that are so insoluble and hard to follow half the time?’” Because it is important to our security and it’s important to who we are as a nation, what we stand for in pursuit of our interests and in accordance with our values.

I think it’s imperative that in today’s world we keep our eyes on where we want to lead the rest of the world. Sometimes they claim they don’t want to listen. Sometimes they reject our advice. But that doesn’t mean we quit. It just means we get smarter about how we’re trying to work with everyone else.

I said when I got to the State Department on the very first day that I wanted to see smart power in action. And smart power requires smart people, and we have just a wonderful group of really smart, dedicated people here in the State Department, at USAID, and around the world.

But ultimately, it rests on you. It rests on our fellow Americans as to whether you think that the United States has to keep getting up every day and going out and trying to solve problems and manage situations and create space for good things to happen. I believe that. That’s what motivates me. But we have to make the case to the rest of our country as well.

I’ll be leaving again tomorrow for another trip. (Laughter.) I know. Hard to believe. One that will take me first to Berlin, where I will be representing the United States at the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (Applause.) And since I grew up in the Cold War, as some of you did, and I well remember the duck and cover drills in the hallway and under our desks, it was an extraordinary moment in history when the wall came down and the Soviet Union dissolved and people in Central and Eastern Europe finally had a chance to chart their own futures without the heavy hand of communism.

But I think that event 20 years ago was to some extent the end of an era where, perhaps as dangerous as the times were, it was easier to explain. It was us and it was them. Everything we did, everything that they did, was aimed at gaining advantage versus the other. We supported terrible countries and terrible rulers because they said they’d be against us – or against them, and then they did the same to us. So there was a very clear moral clarity about it. There was a very clear almost black and white sense of it. And I think people, when that wall came down, thought oh, great, the world will be so much better now, democracy is going to absolutely thrive. And people were saying history is over, we can go on with the dreams that America was founded on and export them everywhere.

That’s not the way the world works, and that’s not the way history has ever worked. So we find ourselves now in a much more complex world, and we just have to be up for it. And we have to be smarter about it, and we have to demand more from ourselves and our partners.

And from Berlin I’ll be going to Singapore for a meeting with my counterparts from Asia and the Pacific. And we want to have a very positive relationship with them, particularly with China, but we don’t get that by just sitting back. We have to be engaged and involved and working to create conditions that we think will foster democracy and development and human dignity and results for people.

And then I will be paying a visit to China with President Obama on a very important trip to further the dialogue between our two countries. And somewhere along that schedule – I’ve lost track of when – I’ll be going to the Philippines to show solidarity with our friends in the Philippines who have been battered by typhoons and have just suffered so much over the last weeks.

And everywhere I go, I will be thinking about how we translate the slogan “No Limits” into opportunities, how we give people the sense that they too, if they will be committed to democracy, if they will care about their neighbor, if they will make investments in their people and their children, they too can have a better life.

This, for me, is an extraordinary experience in a very blessed life that I really relish sharing with you. I’ve known some of you my entire life. My best friend from sixth grade is here. And I’ve known many of you in a very personal and intense way over a number of years, and some our relationship was created in the cauldron of 2008 politics. But every single one of you is here today because you want to stay involved and you want to give back and you want to be part of something bigger than yourself. And there is no limit to what we can do together.

So let me thank you for being part of this new organization that holds out such promise. Let me encourage those of you who want to personally develop an ability to speak out and participate to stay for this afternoon’s sessions about acquiring the skills of being able to speak. Public speaking – it ranks up as the biggest fear that most people have. It’s more than dying in a fire. (Laughter.) I mean, it’s just really scary to a lot of people. And so we want to help you and we want to give you that chance. That’s what Ann is setting up so that people can feel empowered. So it’s not just what you want to do. It’s how you get the tools to do it. Because we don’t think there are any limits to what any of you can do if you’re willing to invest the time and the effort.

So finally, let me just end by saying that we share a lot of history and we share friendships and we share all kinds of experiences together. But fundamentally, we share an optimism about what can be done if people are given the opportunities to break through glass ceilings, to break the chains of history that sometimes hold them down. And we believe strongly that our country has both the opportunity and the responsibility to take that message around the world. There must be no limits on human potential, and it is up to us to continue to make that a core value of who we are as Americans and what we hope for others around the world.

Thank you all so much. (Applause.)

Well if you, like me, were unable to attend the No Limits conference today where Hillary was the much anticipated keynote speaker for whose words you would be willing to cough up at least $175, you are probably, like me, waiting for the spectacular coverage of that event at NoLimits.org. There’s the homepage as of 8:30 tonight. Not a thing!

I had to work today, so I could not attend. Gosh! I honestly expected pictures, transcripts of speeches, coverage! On their homepage! But like so many social network sites associated with the Crafter of 21st Century Statecraft, the NoLimits site lags behind in getting the news of this event up.

*Note to Hillary: The news is not coming up fast enough – anywhere on any sites associated with you!*

Never fear, though, faithful Hillary loyalists and readers. There IS a report out there, and I found it – the easy way – from a “Hillary newsfeed.

This, from MSNBC (of all sources!) Clinton Addresses Policy Forum, tells some of the story. I have to admit that until I read this I had no idea Ann Lewis was Barney Frank’s sister!

From NBC’s Ali Weinberg and Wendy Jones
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today addressed the first public policy forum of NoLimits.org, an education foundation focusing on issues like work-family policies, healthcare reform and human rights. The nonpartisan group was founded by Ann Lewis, whose brother is House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.

Clinton said she recognized many friends in the audience, including her best friend from sixth grade, as well as many whom she met “in the cauldron of the 2008 election.” She called Lewis Rep. Frank’s “long-suffering sister,” joking about Lewis’s reaction to Frank’s speech earlier at the forum: “He did great but his shirt was untucked!”

Read the rest here….

Now I wish I had even one single photo from today to accompany this report, but of course there are none…yet. Why does the information leak as slowly as tar from a pine tree? I have no idea. What a way to run a digital community!

Here is the transcript of her remarks:

Thank you so, so much. Thank you. I told Terry after that introduction, there was no limit to his enthusiasm. (Laughter.) I cannot tell you how excited and really grateful I am to be here with all of you. I want to thank Mark for his remarkable commitment to be the chair of the board of No Limits, Ann Lewis who has served the – so many roles, who is the president of this new, but exciting organization.

Before I start, I just want to say that our thoughts and our prayers are with the soldiers killed at Ft. Hood, and with their families and their friends and their colleagues. I join all Americans in expressing our sympathy and in wishing the more than 40 who were injured a full and speedy recovery. These terrible incidents, especially one like yesterday, reminds us of the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make every day. It is difficult when you lose brave Americans overseas, but it is horrifying when they come under fire because they wear the uniform of our country or they work to defend our nation right here on American soil. So we all owe them a debt of gratitude and are recommitting ourselves to make sure that they know that they have a grateful nation behind them.

This conference is really a special opportunity for me because I get to see so many of my friends. I look around this room and there are countless familiar faces of people who – (applause) – I have worked with and we have had some extraordinary times. You’ve heard from some real stars today, including the incomparable Barney Frank. Now, Barney, as those of you who may not have known before, is one of the most talented public servants in Washington. He’s also famous as the man with the best one-liners on Capitol Hill. But of course, we in this room know the secret of his success, namely, he learned from his long-suffering older sister, Ann Lewis. (Laughter.) And it was funny when I said to Ann, I said, “Oh, I’m so sorry I missed Barney.” And she goes, “Oh, he was brilliant, but he didn’t have his shirt tucked in.” (Laughter.) I mean, it sounded like every big sister, including myself, that I have ever heard.

Ann is the reason that we are here today, because she’s been in the trenches fighting for equal rights, and equal pay, and equal opportunity, blazing a trail for generations of women like me whose path in politics was a little easier because of the battles that Ann Lewis fought and won. Before there was an EMILY’s List, or a Feminist Majority, or even a sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits – (laughter) – there was Ann Lewis, and she is still going strong. I am so proud to call her my friend. And I am so impressed that in less than a year, she decided to bring us all together, put this organization together and create a platform for people to think of new ways to join together on behalf of issues and causes that we all share.

In this room are people who I went through the battles of the 1990s on behalf of healthcare. And I think tomorrow, we’re going to win a major part of that effort. (Applause.) I cannot tell you how excited I am at the prospect that, for the first time in American history, the House of Representatives is poised to pass a comprehensive health care reform. I am still keeping fingers and toes crossed because we know that there are those who would try to derail it, even at the last minute. But it looks so promising, and it is so long overdue. And as someone who has fought this battle for so many years, I cannot tell you how proud I am that it will be under a democratic President and a democratic speaker and a democratic speaker and a democratic Congress, that we’re going to actually get this to happen. (Applause.)

And there are others of you in this room who stood with me as we told the world something that was self-evident, but needed to be said, that women’s rights are human rights, as well. (Applause.) And as Terry said, there are many friends from New York who worked with me and stood with me and campaigned with me, on behalf of not only working families, but 9/11 victims and survivors and so many others who looked to us to help them have a chance to end the limits on their own dreams and pursue those.

And of course, there are so many of you here who were with me on that long, exciting, death-defying journey across our country. (Applause.) And you’re the ones who helped put all those cracks in the glass ceiling. And I want to thank each and every one of you for really committing yourselves to the political process, believing in the importance of what needed to be done in our country, working with me and then working with me to elect Barack Obama. And now working with all of us to try to translate into reality the dreams that we hold for our nation and our world.

We’ve stood together over all these years because we share a deep conviction about the importance of our nation and the significance of public service. And I have to say that, my path into politics and what still guides me today is my belief that every child deserves a chance to live up to his or her God-given potential, and that is what motivates me and what I know is important to all of you. (Applause.)

And so here we are, and there has been just an enormous amount of extraordinary happenings in the time since I’ve seen many of you last. And for me, this new position just reaffirms that we live in an interconnected, interdependent world. Whether I’m in a small town in Africa or I’m in a big metropolis in Asia, I’m always reminded of how important it is that we see each other as fellow human beings, that we share a journey. We may come from very different backgrounds, have all kinds of experiences that are not at all in common. But we do actually share a commitment to making it possible for not only our nation, but all nations to forge a new future. It is hard because we face some of the most complex problems that I think any time in history has ever presented. And for me, being in this new position and being so mindful of the responsibility that the Obama Administration holds just encourages and urges me to work as hard as I can on behalf of creating new partnerships, on reaching out and explaining what the United States stands for, showing people the respect they deserve by listening to them, but standing our ground, making clear what it is we value, and how we intend to pursue our interests.

And so for the last nine months, I’ve had the good fortune and the high honor of representing our country around the world, whether it was in Zurich for the landmark signing of an agreement between Turkey and Armenia, with such a long and difficult history between them and seeing the last-minute falling apart of that, and having to work hard with my colleagues to make it happen and reminding people that every day leaders around the world have a choice – whether they continue to show allegiance to a past they cannot change or a new commitment to a future that they can shape. And one of the biggest issues we have to overcome is how people cannot leave behind their history. That doesn’t mean that they have to forget it. It doesn’t mean they have to deny it, but it means they have to be willing to keep looking forward instead of in the rearview mirror.

Every conflict we have in the world today is really bound up in whether people will invest in the future, whether they will seek common ground with others, or whether they will either stay frozen or go backwards. And part of our job in the State Department is to better explain what it is the United States represents. We got a little off track over the last eight years. We’re trying to get back on track today. I was very pleased that – some of you know Judith McHale was appointed the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, and she is traveling the world, looking for the ways that we can better connect so that we can tell our story. Because everyone has a story to tell, and everyone needs to be thinking about how we better tell America’s story.

Whenever I travel, as Terry said, I try not just to meet with diplomats and officials, but to go out and meet with people. And that’s been kind of a interesting experience the last nine months, because a lot of people thought, “Well, why are you doing that?” Well, it’s because no matter what society you’re in, public opinion matters to a greater or a lesser degree, but it matters. You can be an authoritarian dictator, but you still have to listen to what people are saying and thinking. And we needed to do some concerted work to try to create a better communication between our country and others.

That’s why I’ve held town hall meetings from Santo Domingo to Moscow to Nairobi to Bangkok. I even appeared on what’s called the Awesome Show in Indonesia. (Laughter.) And at every turn, I have listened and responded, but also stood up for what I think are our core values. It is critical in today’s world that we recognize information is not compartmentalized; it doesn’t stay in official channels or in diplomatic cables. It is pervasive.

And we are now using the new tools of technology. Some of you might remember during the demonstrations in Iran during the post-election period, the way people were finding out where they should go and learning what was happening was through Twitter. And the young men and women who work for me in the State Department, the twenty-somethings, realized that Twitter was going to shut down for some kind of technical rebooting whatever they do. (Laughter.) So these young people called Twitter and said, “You can’t shut down. The demonstrators in Iran are depending on you.” I mean, that could not have happened five years ago. And so part of what our challenge is, is to really try as directly as possible to reach people through governments, around governments, under governments, in every way possible. We’re also doing more to build partnerships, which I think are key to our success. Again, another long-time friend of many of us, Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, is now heading up our global public-private partnerships effort. And she’s reaching out, working with business, working with NGOs to create opportunities for people to contribute to America’s diplomacy.

And there’s a lot that we can do and we can do better, and it’s an area where I think that we can enlist the help of those of you who are interested in trying to be part of reaching out to the rest of the world. It is important that we look to the pillars of the American foreign policy that I have laid out in numerous speeches, pretty simple – defense, diplomacy, and development. We know defense because it gets a lot of the funding and a lot of the attention, rightfully so. But we can’t have a strong and positive and successful foreign policy without also building up diplomacy and development. So I’ve been working very hard to make the case to the Congress for more Foreign Service officers, for more civil servants, for more development experts, because we’ve got to do a better job.

So we’re doing a complete review. We’re having the first-ever what’s called Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, which mirrors something the Defense Department has done forever, the Quadrennial Defense Review. Because what we’re trying to figure out is what works and what doesn’t work. Let’s quit doing what doesn’t work and let’s start doing more of what we think will work around the world. (Applause.) Because if we truly believe, as I know all of you do, that there should be no limits to opportunity, then we have to forge partnerships that provide people with the tools they need to solve their own problems.

I like to say that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. And I think all the time when I’m in places that don’t educate women or do not respect the dignity of work for both men and women, that have systems that are engrained in their society, that really keep a large group of people subordinate to a small group of people, just think of what that society is missing. It is missing future doctors and academics and researchers and businessmen and women. What a loss that they really cannot afford to have.

So we are also investing in a new approach toward food and hunger. It’s a terrible problem in the year 2009 that so many people are dying of hunger or who are malnourished. And in discussing the priorities that I brought to the job, I asked if we could have a big focus on food security, and people said, well, sure, we do a program over here and we do a program over there and we do – I said, well, how about if we bring them all together and we actually have an organized whole-of-government approach? So President Obama asked me and the State Department to take the lead on that, and we’ve really had a remarkable process.

And it’s the first time where people from all over our own government are actually in the same room trying to decide what it is we can do that will deliver not only food aid, as important as that is, especially with drought and the effects of climate change, but better agricultural productivity. Let’s start helping people grow their own food, bring it to harvest, bring it to market, support themselves so that they can become more self-sufficient. (Applause.)

So every day, we wake up and we think about all of these great ideas, and then we work hard to implement them. But there is nothing that has been more important to me over the course of my lifetime than advancing the rights of women and girls. It’s been a cause of my public life. (Applause.) And it is now a cornerstone of American foreign policy.

We have appointed the first-ever Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. Some of you know Melanne Verveer, who – (applause) – was my chief of staff at the White House, went on to run Vital Voice, which some of you have become involved in, which I am delighted about because everywhere I go in the world, the Vital Voices women come to meet me. And they wear their little pins, the kind of Vs that look like wings taking flight that give them a better future. And we want to do more in partnerships like that, so we’re opening up on the State Department website that we will notify everybody about, a way for you to be part of supporting some of these projects and supporting individual women; individual women and their own needs, whether it’s a small microloan or a program to help rape survivors or victims.

Melanne, as you know, has been one of the most consistent voices turning up the volume on the problem of gender and sexual-based violence, especially in conflict areas. And on my trip to Africa this summer, Melanne was with me in the Eastern Congo when we visited a refugee camp, when we went to HEAL Africa, an extraordinary hospital that helps the women who have been attacked and so brutally raped, and met with the doctors and the advocates and some of the victims themselves.

And it was, as I’m sure you can imagine, the most poignant and personally painful experience, because this has become a tactic of war, not just in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but in other places around the world as well. But just to take the Congo as an example, about 1,100 rapes are reported each month. That’s an average of 36 women and girls raped every day. The camp that Melanne and I visited was home to about 18,000 people seeking refuge from a cycle of violence that has left 5.4 million people dead since 1998.

And when you see that, the depth of suffering and the brutality, it just tears at your heart. But what lifts your spirits is the courage and the resolve of the people themselves, the victims who go on every day, who show a resilience that I find awe-inspiring, and those who are there on the front lines helping them. The United States condemns these attacks. They are crimes against humanity. I announced more than $17 million in new funding to prevent and respond to gender and sexual violence and to help survivors rebuild their lives.

Then I was privileged to chair a special United Nations Security Council session that passed a resolution to strengthen international efforts to curb these atrocities and hold those who commit them accountable. We have to do more, and I think this is an area where a number of you have told me you’re interested in working, and Anne will give you a menu of options that you can choose from as to how you can personally try to strike back at this atrocity that happens all too frequently.

But there are good news stories as well. In fact, as I travel around and see the developments in many countries that I hadn’t been to for about 10 years, I see the change. Recently in Indonesia, I was able to celebrate 10 years of democracy and to really hold up what a democratic Islamic secular society looks like. And we have to keep holding up those examples.

And when we go and see the courage of people who are willing to risk it all against the forces that are arrayed against them, it just encourages me and gives me even more of a push to go out and do what I need to do.

But what’s important about No Limits is your message. That is such an American message, but it shouldn’t be only an American message. And what I’ve been trying to do is to help people separate their historical sense of limits from what is possible going forward, that it is hard in traditional societies, it is hard when the odds seem stacked against you, but it is part of the American message at core that we believe not just in a better life for our own people, but we think helping those around the world to a better life is good for America, that it gives us a chance to see our values in action.

So I hope that you believe, as I do, that foreign policy matters, that public diplomacy matters, that standing up for the rights of people we will never meet very far away matters. And who does it matter to? It doesn’t just matter to someone else. It matters to us as Americans. I say to my staff all the time, “I want to make sure that our foreign policy, our diplomacy, and our development are delivering for the laid off auto worker in Michigan or the laborer in Ohio. I want to make sure that what we’re doing can be explained and understood by the small business owner in Colorado or the homemaker in California who says, ‘Look, we’re having a hard time here at home. Why are we taking our money and educating somebody else’s children or providing healthcare to other people, or why do we involve ourselves in these conflicts far away that are so insoluble and hard to follow half the time?’” Because it is important to our security and it’s important to who we are as a nation, what we stand for in pursuit of our interests and in accordance with our values.

I think it’s imperative that in today’s world we keep our eyes on where we want to lead the rest of the world. Sometimes they claim they don’t want to listen. Sometimes they reject our advice. But that doesn’t mean we quit. It just means we get smarter about how we’re trying to work with everyone else.

I said when I got to the State Department on the very first day that I wanted to see smart power in action. And smart power requires smart people, and we have just a wonderful group of really smart, dedicated people here in the State Department, at USAID, and around the world.

But ultimately, it rests on you. It rests on our fellow Americans as to whether you think that the United States has to keep getting up every day and going out and trying to solve problems and manage situations and create space for good things to happen. I believe that. That’s what motivates me. But we have to make the case to the rest of our country as well.

I’ll be leaving again tomorrow for another trip. (Laughter.) I know. Hard to believe. One that will take me first to Berlin, where I will be representing the United States at the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (Applause.) And since I grew up in the Cold War, as some of you did, and I well remember the duck and cover drills in the hallway and under our desks, it was an extraordinary moment in history when the wall came down and the Soviet Union dissolved and people in Central and Eastern Europe finally had a chance to chart their own futures without the heavy hand of communism.

But I think that event 20 years ago was to some extent the end of an era where, perhaps as dangerous as the times were, it was easier to explain. It was us and it was them. Everything we did, everything that they did, was aimed at gaining advantage versus the other. We supported terrible countries and terrible rulers because they said they’d be against us – or against them, and then they did the same to us. So there was a very clear moral clarity about it. There was a very clear almost black and white sense of it. And I think people, when that wall came down, thought oh, great, the world will be so much better now, democracy is going to absolutely thrive. And people were saying history is over, we can go on with the dreams that America was founded on and export them everywhere.

That’s not the way the world works, and that’s not the way history has ever worked. So we find ourselves now in a much more complex world, and we just have to be up for it. And we have to be smarter about it, and we have to demand more from ourselves and our partners.

And from Berlin I’ll be going to Singapore for a meeting with my counterparts from Asia and the Pacific. And we want to have a very positive relationship with them, particularly with China, but we don’t get that by just sitting back. We have to be engaged and involved and working to create conditions that we think will foster democracy and development and human dignity and results for people.

And then I will be paying a visit to China with President Obama on a very important trip to further the dialogue between our two countries. And somewhere along that schedule – I’ve lost track of when – I’ll be going to the Philippines to show solidarity with our friends in the Philippines who have been battered by typhoons and have just suffered so much over the last weeks.

And everywhere I go, I will be thinking about how we translate the slogan “No Limits” into opportunities, how we give people the sense that they too, if they will be committed to democracy, if they will care about their neighbor, if they will make investments in their people and their children, they too can have a better life.

This, for me, is an extraordinary experience in a very blessed life that I really relish sharing with you. I’ve known some of you my entire life. My best friend from sixth grade is here. And I’ve known many of you in a very personal and intense way over a number of years, and some our relationship was created in the cauldron of 2008 politics. But every single one of you is here today because you want to stay involved and you want to give back and you want to be part of something bigger than yourself. And there is no limit to what we can do together.

So let me thank you for being part of this new organization that holds out such promise. Let me encourage those of you who want to personally develop an ability to speak out and participate to stay for this afternoon’s sessions about acquiring the skills of being able to speak. Public speaking – it ranks up as the biggest fear that most people have. It’s more than dying in a fire. (Laughter.) I mean, it’s just really scary to a lot of people. And so we want to help you and we want to give you that chance. That’s what Ann is setting up so that people can feel empowered. So it’s not just what you want to do. It’s how you get the tools to do it. Because we don’t think there are any limits to what any of you can do if you’re willing to invest the time and the effort.

So finally, let me just end by saying that we share a lot of history and we share friendships and we share all kinds of experiences together. But fundamentally, we share an optimism about what can be done if people are given the opportunities to break through glass ceilings, to break the chains of history that sometimes hold them down. And we believe strongly that our country has both the opportunity and the responsibility to take that message around the world. There must be no limits on human potential, and it is up to us to continue to make that a core value of who we are as Americans and what we hope for others around the world.

Thank you all so much. (Applause.)

We were busy part of the week & quiet part of the week – having multiple transportation-related issues but we are working on it!

Herman and Gael both had birthdays last week, Happy Birthday to them. We started working on the pine cones, look for pictures of that next week.

The group worked on laying down newspaper & mulch under our invisible sign so we can put a ground cover garden in. Here’s Amy working on that:

Amy and the mulch

Joann came to see us on Wednesday and brought some gifts, including new karaoke CDs, so we got the karaoke machine out and gave it a whirl. It was fun, we may pull it out again for our holiday party!

Karaoke!

The pine shatters are neverending so we did more raking. First is a group raking shot, followed by our new member Herman helping out.

Raking, raking, raking

And more raking!

My first two-fer. I went to yin practice tonight and felt a little off afterward. When we’d release from a pose, I kept getting these floods of emotion, and I left a little blue and a little off balance. I was curious about the class after, ‘power flow,’ and I argued with myself in the parking lot as to whether I should stay or go.

I checked my voicemail, chatted with dad, hemmed and hawed, put my mat in the car, took it out.. and stayed. Boy did I stay! And I had an interesting revelation. We did this pose that totally intimidates me called bakasana.

Looks like this:

LOL! Man the things you can stumble upon on youtube..!

PS: i still crack up at Anita and myself of course XD

Hello everybody! We had our monthly luncheon this week, it was fantastic. Everybody – and I do mean everybody – pitched in somewhere along the way.

We harvested our fall crop of green beans & cooked them up, delicious! Our garden volunteer Bob Gelhard said we had the most beautiful crop of green beans he’s ever seen (and he’s seen a lot!). Here they are: We also had meatloaf, baked corn, rolls, sweet potatoes & cake. The cake was in honor of Isaiah’s birthday, and here’s a picture of him working on the meatloaf: We had our monthly outreach visit to the GF Horne Assisted Living Community with Sensei’s exercise group (partially funded by the United Way of the Eastern Shore). When we got back to the building, Isaiah’s cousin Pastor Alice Collick had left us bags of gifts from our wish list, courtesy of the Rehoboth Temple Community Outreach Ministry. There was a blender, a wisk, a colander, a skillet, a cutting board, and a rolling pin – THANK YOU!!!
We also took a trip to Exmore Village to collect a couple of plants that the manager there, Julie Matthews, told Diane we could have. We don’t know what they are yet but we’re looking into it! And finally, here is a “before” picture of the pine cones that fall in our yard. Check back to see the “after” picture as we are getting ready to transform them into lovely holiday decorations for area nursing homes and assisted living centers. Happy Halloween!!

Today at the Book Case, we’re welcoming author Sara Morgan, an entrepreneur who explains how readers can achieve success on their own terms in a new book, No Limits: How I Escaped the Clutches of Corporate America to Live the Self-Employed Life of My Dreams. Today she shares her top 10 tips for successful self-employment with Book Case readers. Give your own in the comments, and you’ll be entered to win a free copy of No Limits!

Top 10 tips for successful self-employment

By Sara Morgan

I have been self-employed for the past four years, and in that time I have learned a few things about what to do and what not to do. The following are what I consider to be the top 10 tips for finding your way to successful self-employment.

#1 – Do something you are passionate about. Without passion, it will be very difficult for you to deal with the inevitable problems that will arise. Don’t pick a business just because it promises a lot of money. I think many small businesses fail  because the person running the business did not really love what they were doing.

#2 – Don’t wait till the last minute to consider things like taxes. Schedule a consultation with a CPA if you need to, but don’t put it off until the end of the year unless you enjoy facing stiff penalties.

#3 – Use an accounting program to get organized—I recommend the online version of Quickbooks. It is very affordable and easy to use. Don’t make the mistake of trying to manage your finances with a pen and paper. You may quickly become overwhelmed.

#4 – Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to reach out to others. This includes not only your family, but people in your community as well. You may be surprised to find out how helpful people really are.

#5 – Consider having multiple streams of income to ensure that you are able to survive financially, even in the event of a downturn or unforeseen circumstance. Just be careful not to take on too much. You do not want to compromise your primary business by putting too much on your plate.

#6 – Trust your instincts. Too many times we ignore our instincts, but research has shown that our instincts are typically correct.

#7 – Become a feedback machine. Get advice from everyone you can before starting out on your own and even after you are established. Don’t think of it as criticism, but rather a source of valuable information.

#8 – Schedule breaks and stick to them. It is very easy to let things get away from you when you own your own business. Resist the urge to over work yourself. You will not be doing your business or family any favors if you are stressed out from working too much.

#9 - Never give up. Most often people fail because they gave up too soon. Running your own business can be hard, but it can also be very rewarding. Hang in there, even during the tough times.

#10 –Don’t forget to have fun. Your business and life should be fun. If you’re not having fun, then it just ain’t worth it.

Another hectic but fun week on the Eastern Shore, where we are having gorgeous weather after all the rain last week.

We did some more work potting & re-potting plants to get ready for next month’s plant sale. We have fig trees and Earthstar plants & kalanchoe, Rose of Sharon, miniature ivy, special shamrocks & one unidentified citrus tree ready to go.

Working on the plants

Zel and his mom surprised us by donating a rake, a set of cooking pots, and trash bags, thank you so much Zel and Christine!

Zel and the pots - Thank You!!

The highlight of our week was our fishing trip to Kiptopeke State Park. It was a glorious day on the water. We didn’t catch anything but we had a lot of fun.

At the pier

Zel & Chris

Diane fishing

We also worked on our garden outside this week, putting the tomato pots to bed for winter, fertilizing the beans & lettuce & peppers that remain, and raking up more shatters. Sensei & our friends from CSB/Exmore were here this morning for exercise group, we’re getting ready for next week’s luncheon, and we’re preparing pine cones to decorate and distribute to area nursing homes/assisted living centers over the holidays. Have a great weekend everyone!

Wet, gray, & kinda cold on the Eastern Shore but we had a great time at our Open House yesterday. Gael couldn’t be with us that day but she came in on Tuesday & Wednesday to help us get ready. Thanks Gael! Here she is baking cookies.

Thank you Gael!

On Tuesday our volunteers Irene and Margaret Ann came in to help us scrapbook our photo collection. We know how to do it now!

Scrapbooking

Thursday was our Open House. The guys made a sign.

Our sign!

Matt (our Executive Director) made a speech.

Matt Buckley

We each got one of the really cool new Mary Buckley Foundation bags, available for $3/each through either MBF location.

Great for holiday giving! (the bag not Rachel!)

Lots of people came to see us, despite the rain, including old friends and new. We had groups from two CSB divisions, representatives from the ESAAA, National Counseling Group and Intrepid Home Health Care, Bob Gelhard our garden volunteer, board member Rosemary Pendleton, a local doctor, folks from G.F. Horne Assisted Living, family members – Rachel’s son even came by!

Rachel's son Luke

It was a great crowd. We’ve never had so many people in our building before, especially during Sensei’s group we had a full house. Here’s a shot of some people mingling, stay dry and have a great weekend!

A meeting of minds

on tuesday i only came last wek due to i had to goto hospital again on wensday for more testing so i cannot give too much info about last week i just know we been talking about our OPEN HOUSE that’s why me and jodi made calls and faxed flyers to places rachel gave me and jodi job because we work great together now today we making cookies smells good making me hungry (LOL) rachel doing the ussal stuff just being her self giving out jobs now to speed up little bit on every monday’s i’m a volunteer at QUEEN HIVE FARM in atlantic va. i love horses there is loads of horses there i going try talk to group about trip to queen hive farm thanks to my case manager mondays i’m now busy

Have I mentioned that we are kinda busy out here in Onancock? There has been tons of yard work with the coming of fall, loads to do to get ready for Open House, crafts fair, fishing trip, October lunch, whew!

Rachel’s birthday was this week so we celebrated with cake & spaghetti (thank you Christy & Rosemary!). CL, Denise & baby Daniel came by to join us, making the day extra extra special.

We have a new member who prefers to remain anonymous but we have to thank him so we’ll thank him anonymously. He has cleaned our gutters, weed whacked, raked shatters, & advised us on plant propagation & weed removal already – not bad for his first week!

Please enjoy the pictures below.

Diane & Daniel

Amy & Daniel Dale

Happy Birthday Rachel!!

Fixing the ground where we pulled up plastic

Jodi & Vinnie faxing Open House invites out

Jackie hard at work

Zel getting ready to fertilize the garden

“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the WILDERNESS . . .” (Matthew 3:1)

“While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called “the Baptizer,” was preaching in the desert country of Judea. His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: ‘Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.’ John and his message were authorized by Isaiah’s prophecy: Thunder in the desert! Prepare for God’s arrival! Make the road smooth and straight!” (Matthew 3:1-3 – The Message)

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the WILDERNESS . . . From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:1, 17)

1.  Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I am not afraid of the wilderness experience, for the preaching of the Kingdom always begins in the wilderness . . . away from the organized paths and paved roads . . . away from the structure of the world system . . . in a place where I must walk by the faith that relies entirely on God’s ability to make ways in the wilderness, and streams in the desert  (Isaiah 43:19).

2.  Today I will repent of long-held paradigms of my personal wilderness, rethinking my present position as Jacob did when he had the vision of heaven’s gate (“Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God . . . the gate of heaven!’” – Genesis 28:16, 17). Awaking from my sleep today, I will see my salvation, right where I am in the now, embracing my own wilderness, and saying, “How awesome is THIS place!”

3. Today I will recognize the power and potential that is present in what I have in my hand, for that is where the Kingdom is. The Kingdom is not just at hand, it is at MY hand – it is “handy” — so I will do what I know to do today with excellence and with all of my might  (Ecclesiastes 9:10)!

4.  Today I will find a river of life in the wilderness as John the Baptist did, and I will follow his example and get busy with the work of the Kingdom . . . where I am . . . with what I have to work with . . . just as I am.

5. Today I will preach (prophetically) that the Kingdom is here (Matthew 4:17).

6. Today I will say (conversationally) that the Kingdom is here (Matthew 4:17).

7.  Today I will be happy in the wilderness, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to discern why I am in the wilderness today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Anything worth doing warrants a great deal of sacrifice and ambition.  But when the task at hand relies on human ability and strength, people tend to lose heart.  We often see the negative or difficult aspects of our circumstances because we are human.  Our heart argues with our mind and ignores our gut and we are left paralyzed by the inner workings of our psyche.  Sometimes this requires us to look outside of our circumstances to see other people’s triumphs.  Acknowledging the accomplishments of others inspires us to carry on.

Thomas Alva Edison says this, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.  The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.  The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”  Living through the turn of the twentieth century, Thomas Edison was an American inventor, scientist and businessman that never gave up.  He did not let obstacles like his deafness get in the way of his goals.  A man like this would no doubt be termed one of the most prolific inventors in all of history.

Someone once told me that the walls we encounter along our journey are meant to redirect the misguided or challenge the journeyman’s determination.  This challenge helps them realize their pure potential.  Sometimes the obstacles reveal our true intentions and help us to realize that our passion is falsely rooted in our current path.  Other times the walls help to rejuvenate us.  We learn new skills and climb right on over the circumstances.  When we get caught up in the doldrums of negativity and defeat, we may need new methods of tackling the problems at hand.  Other times we may just need a heart adjustment.

Nick Vujicic

Like Edison, Nick Vujicic is a man of integrity and great passion both of which have helped him overcome adversity.  He was born without limbs.  He actually says in an interview that his mother asked the doctor to take him away.  This initial devastation was short lived as they fell in love with their first born child.

“I used to think that I needed my circumstance to change before I had any hope. I wanted to know that there was someone else out there in my position, to know that there is hope, that there is more than just the little box that I see in my life.”

Growing up in Australia, Nick was one of the first physically disabled students allowed into mainstream schools.  His rare disorder of Tetra-amelia left him limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, and legless but with two small feet.  You can imagine the bullies in school and by the age of eight he was already contemplating suicide.  But with the help of God he was able to see his circumstances through an entirely different lens.  He began to give more priority to the people he was changing for the better rather than let the negativity win.  Now in his early twenties he travels the globe sharing his story and changing lives.

He is the founder of Life Without Limbs, a non-profit organization dedicated to reaching the hearts and inspiring the souls of the world!  Their mission states, “Because of Nick’s unique personal story, he is able to speak to groups of all kinds.  It gives him entree with both the young and old, impoverished, imprisoned, business people, children, young people, peoples of all races, those with disabilities and those without them.”  He is leaving a global legacy with his ministry and motivational speaking events.  Nick has chosen to look at the wall of his disability another way which enables him to successfully climb over it on a daily basis!

A few Nick Vujicic Videos:

Nick speaking at a school event (2:41)

Short Video with video of Nick and narrative (6:12)

Looking at his life makes wanting to give up after one bad day or even season of life seem like a foolish response to trials.  Whether you are starting a new business, struggling with a physical illness, or trying to live out your dream in Nashville you have a choice to look at your circumstances as immovable obstacles or the chance to grow a positive outlook.  Grouping all of these circumstances by no stretch of the imagination equates them.  Where the similarity lies is in our attitude and response.

To all of you musical, artistic dreamers… the choice is yours.

I pray you keep going and live a life without limits.

I’ve just been doing some page editing and file uploading on my web site. And while I was uploading some files via the FTP program it occurred to me as I dragged the files from my C drive window over to my server window just how much the internet has broken down our confinements and boundaries.

Here I am sitting  at a computer in New Zealand with two windows on my screen, one is my own hard drive and the other is a computer sitting in the USA and I’m transferring information onto that US computer in the blink of an eye simply by dragging a little icon from one window to the other.

Could there be a better example of how the internet has removed our restrictions of distance and time.? Geographical location and time mean nothing in Cyberspace. It doesn’t matter where a computer is, or what time it is because the internet is just one giant melting pot of cyber-consciousness that never stops working.

The internet really has broken down our boundaries.

Another crazy busy week but we are having fun & doing good stuff on the Eastern Shore!

We had our monthly full in-house luncheon on 9/29, and we also celebrated Jason’s birthday that day. It was our first time using our new BBQ grill.

Jason blowing out his candle

Our scrumptious lunch!

We have increased fertilization in the garden boxes, whether it is ’cause of that or they just like the fall our peppers have made a huge comeback. At Diane’s suggestion we put in stakes to help the plants stand up. Our lettuce is doing great, too, already ready for harvest!

Pepper plant, pre-staking

Pepper harvest!

Look at our lettuce growing!

We took advantage of the lovely weather to get caught up on lawn maintenance. The No Limits group really did a great job this year of taking care of our own yard, just us & the electric mower – and now a cordless weed-whacker!

Diane mowing the grass

Isaiah working on the weeds

We also had Jodi over from G.F. Horne Assisted Living on Thursday to celebrate her birthday. It was another great week!

Happy Birthday Jodi!

It’s much harder to work for

yourself, by yourself, than

to create work for a gallery,

because there are no limits

and you can do anything

you want. It’s always easier

when you have a parameter,

when you have a limit. You

can work within the limit

and push it and walk the line,

but when you’re given absolutely no limits, it’s harder. You must

really think. It’s more challenging.

David LaChappelle

(1963-    )

American Photographer

Have you ever wanted to escape the clutches of Corporate America – or some other job you don’t love – and live a self-employed life of your dreams? That’s exactly what dream chaser, Sara Morgan, did. Read on to find out what inspired her to make this life-altering change and how she did it.

Q: Tell us about yourself.
SM: My name is Sara Morgan and in 2005 I made a rather uncalculated leap towards self-employment with the start up of my own software consulting company. Prior to that, I worked for large and small companies spanning multiple industries, including Health Care, Finance, Retail, Government, Robotics and Information Technology. I am a Microsoft-certified web developer with over 15 years of experience and a recognized expert in the field of web development. 

Most recently I wrote a book, No Limits: How I Escaped the Clutches of Corporate America to Live the Self-Employed Life of my Dreams. In addition to No Limits, I have published six technical books as well as dozens of articles. My dream is to enjoy life as much as possible. I am driven by a quote from Joe E. Lewis, “You only live once, but if you work it right, once is enough”. I firmly believe in those words and I am trying to do what I can to make sure my life is well spent. My motto is, “Work, live and have fun.”

Q: Describe a gray time in your life. How did you overcome it?
SM: As with everyone, there have been quite a few gray moments, the most traumatic of which occurred several months ago. My second husband, and the man I believed was the “love of my life” left and moved to Arizona. The reasons behind our separation are complicated but the result was devastating. However, as someone who always strives to be happy, I knew that I had to turn this traumatic moment into an opportunity and a source of life-giving energy.

In an effort to redefine myself, I decided to write No Limits and self-publish it. As I describe in the book, I spent the first three weeks after my break-up searching my soul for answers and I was able to do this because I was self-employed. I was not expected at a regular 9-to-5 job, so I was able to spend A LOT of time just thinking.

Here is a passage from the book:

I decided to start writing this book based on an “aha” moment that occurred to me during all that soul searching. I read the negative news headlines and hear about all the challenges facing people these days. These challenges can be especially acute for hard-working parents, like me. I want to tell all these people that there is still hope and that if you want more from life and are willing to work hard and think creatively, it is possible to be happy. I know that I am happy and I hope that this book inspires other people to reach for the stars and realize that there really are no limits.

Q: What challenges and fears have stood between you and your dreams? How did you overcome them? 
SM: Being a woman software developer has been a big challenge, but I think that was even more the case here in the deep south (Louisiana, specifically). Things are a little different here than they are in the other parts of the world. Tradition and religion are very fundamental to this place. As a result, I suspect some people would prefer it if we went back to a time when women were still considered a man’s property.

I don’t mean to put anyone down and most people here are very nice and decent, but the level of education and exposure to the rest of the world is somewhat limited. There tends to be a strong attitude of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. While that mentality may work for some scenarios, when it comes to technology and innovation, it is not so good.

As a result, Louisiana has experienced a huge “brain drain“, as many of the best and brightest have moved out of state for other opportunities. Since I had my children my options for moving out of state have been limited, so I’ve had to get creative in how I stay connected with the world. For this reason, the Internet is vital to my existence.

Q: What inspires you to keep pushing forward when the going gets tough?
SM: My three kids inspire me the most. They truly are the best thing I ever did. They excite me and challenge me to be a better person since I know they are a direct reflection of me. I cannot simply tell them to be happy and just give them things. I have to show them how to be happy by being happy myself and always doing what is right.

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to someone else who is struggling to move beyond the gray and follow a dream, what would it be?
SM: NEVER GIVE UP!!!! I have a picture that hangs next to my desk of a crane trying to swallow a frog. The frog’s head is inside the bird’s mouth, yet the frog has it’s hands around the birds neck to prevent it from swallowing. I have used this image to keep me going for many years now. I am big into seeking inspiration from pictures, words, music, wherever I can find it. To keep myself motivated and on track I locate things that inspire me and post them up where I can see them all the time. I also love music with good lyrics, especially anything by Jason Mraz. He is my hero. I talk about this and other ways I stay on track in my book.

Want to escape from Corporate America? Check out Sarah Morgan’s blog: http://nolimitsthebook.ning.com.

Are you actively pursuing or living a dream? If so, I’d love to hear from you! Please e-mail me at: Erika (dot) Liodice (at sign) hotmail (dot) com. 

NO LIMITS
Series 7 Season Set
The complete Seventh Series Set of No Limits must be at the top of your wish list this year, surely. With 5 discs and 13 amazing episodes full of info, entertainment, issues, celebrities and a sack load of diversity and plenty of sass! Plus some unseen footage and a new gadget that you didn’t see on tele, and our pics from behind the scenes… what more could you want?
Order by Wednesday 19th to get it in time for Christmas and get yourself a new No Limits swap card to add to your collection! Order forms are at the end of this newsletter or drop a line to HYPERLINK “mailto:disabilitymedia@yum.vic.gov.au” sarah.sneddon@yum.vic.edu.au

Photo Gallery
Keep a lookout on the website www.nolimits.org.au for a brand spanking new photo gallery with a stack of behind-the-scenes shots from Series 7, including all the stars, guests, crew and plenty of candid camera action. This will be up in the new year.
Series 8
Back by popular demand, and a driven passion to bring you the very best of the very best, we have a new series of No Limits coming your way in March 2008, so stay tuned. Preceding this season will be a range of specials we have created, a highlights Series 7, Hurdinni special, Black & White (the results of a Grit Media Training Project) and our highlights from Back 2 Back Summer School.

Around the country
Screening shortly around the country is Series 7 in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, stay tuned to our website and our enews for dates.

New Series Producer
Yep we need another one!! If you are interested in applying to be the producer for No Limits season 8 then email Erin at HYPERLINK “mailto:disabilitymedia@yum.vic.edu.au” disabilitymedia@yum.vic.edu.au for a position description. You must have experience, be committed to Grit Media and our philosophies and being a current volunteer and a person with disabilities will be advantageous. Applications close 17/01/08

GRIT RADIO
On The Air
Finally we hear you scream, we are finally on air at 3CR with a new show with a working title of ‘The Boldness’. Our first show goes to air Wednesday 20th February at 6pm for a half hour. It promises to be a brilliant show investigating all that is BOLD in pressing for Human Rights in this country and abroad. We have created serials, news, soundscapes, guest interviews and a pair of hosts that have to be heard to be believed. A great crew, bold ideas and a commitment to irony in all its forms. Hear you then.

SPONSORSHIP
We need sponsorship and funding to continue to create the media we do. We have had some great support in 2007 to do what we do that best. It is with sincere thanks that we tell you about the wonderful people who think we are brilliant:

WISE Employment has been our longest supporter and we are very pleased to announce that they are back for another season of No Limits. So if you need support to gain fulfilling employment WISE are just the people you should see.

Jenny Shaw RMIT Disability Liaison Unit has been instrumental in securing corporate work for Grit Media, she loves our outlook and our bold ‘in yer face’ style, in return RMIT is seen as a leader in the education of people with disabilities.

City of Melbourne provided avenues for Grit Media to support the training and involvement of young people in media creation.

ANZ Trustees have put us in a great place with No Limits now able to tour country Victoria so that the bushies don’t miss out on us and our creations, and that we get to provide some much needed training to country media and make a few connections for those media developers working in country areas.

ABC (Randal Mathieson) who has provided us with a level of support and entrée into the media industry that we hope will explode into great things for Grit in 2008.

Department of Human Services saw early our potential and gave us seeding funds, otherwise we might still be stuck in a dark dank place convinced we could do better.

Office for Disability backed us to document the Bar None campaign that ran earlier this year. The campaign was good, the documenting was brilliant, even if we do say so ourselves.

Victorian Volunteers Small Equipment Grants have ensured that we continue to build up the equipment we have to use to create broadcast quality high-end media.

Australian Business Arts Foundation (Sharon Nathani), Blake Dawson & Waldron (Bronwyn Kirkwood), WHK Group (Stephen McArdle) whose pro bono support for Grit Media keeps us flying within legal boundaries

And of course then there are the people who do the real work of media creation:
No Limits Cast & Crew:
Stella Young, Sara McQueenie, Paul Gianni, George Taleporos, Steve Hurd, John McKenna,
Peter Johnstone, Larry Lawson, Tracey O’Brien, Riki Domagalski, Ron Frim, Sam Millard, Merlyn Gwyther-McCuskey, Sarah Sneddon, Anne Chibnall, Tony Tait, Anna Foote, Walt Collins, Vaughn Goyne, Shaun Briody, William Pettigrove, Michael Gwyther, Erin McCuskey, Larry Lawson, Anthony Koedyk, Katherine Sneddon
Radio Crew:
Jane Trengove, Jenny MacPherson, James Dunn, Anthea Skinner, Michael Uniacke, Margaret Bayly, Erin McCuskey, Janice Florence, Trevor Dunn, Kath Duncan
Bar None Crew:
Sam Millard, Ashley Heenan, Rhiannon Jenkinson, Walt Collins, Shaun Briody, Erin McCuskey

GRIT TV
Piloting Away
We have been busily developing some exciting new pilots for Channel 31 in 2008. Among some of the gems are:
FrogLines ~ for the kids, being developed by Sara McQueenie.
Black & White ~ a storytelling archive starting with residents from the Collingwood Housing Estate.
Hurdinni ~ our favourite adventurer gets his own show to see what damage he can do to the prevailing myths about people with disabilities.

Basic TV & Radio Training
Our 11 trainees have girded their loins in an intense and exciting week of training with Grit Media. We’ll be producing a range of short story segments resulting in the “Black & White” show mentioned above. Stay tuned to see the fruits of their labours and the curves of their learning in the 2008.
We went off to Back 2 Back Summer School recently and delivered a two-day workshop in creating TV. Most of the participants wanted to be in front of the camera so we have created a great show about Summer School which includes some student work, vision from the other workshops in dance, movement, voice and ends in a completely amazing event called ‘Box Wars’. Great fun, crazy people and a camera!

YOUR STUFF
The mailbag has been filled with a whole heap of media creations from you and we are busting our chops to get it out in the world as fast as we can. But guess what…? We want more, more, more…so get busy and send in your short films, digital stories, music and animations and we’ll do our darndest to broadcast them online and on the box.

MEDIA DEVELOPERS DATABASE
We have met so many wonderful amazing fabulous people that we want to share you with the world. We are planning to develop an online database to build support for career pathing into media for producers with disabilities… This along with actually screening some of your work from the site will put you in front of people who are interested in you and your work. Applications forms will be sent out to all members early 2008.

MEMBERSHIP
We’ve come a long way baby…but let’s keep going! Membership has steadily grown over the last 12 months but there are still a millions of people who should be members but aren’t so…spread the word to as many people as you can and don’t forget to mention…
… only criteria for membership is willingness to support Grit Media and our philosophy
… the membership is free
… the monthly e-news
… the invitations to events and screening
… the access to online artists
… the crew and actor database
… the fantastic opportunities to volunteer and participate in media training.
New registrations will receive as much of our admiration that we can muster! Grab an application form at www.gritmedia.com.au