My #1 Idea for America and the World is . . . .

Peace.

No surprise there, right?

Then I got the email you see below, and I got to take action on my desire.

Vote for Peace at Change.org and Help Spread the Word

The website www.Change.org is holding an online event through Jan 15, 2009 calling for the “Top 10 Ideas for America,” which they will present to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day. Change.org says, “We will then build a national campaign to advance each idea in Congress, marshaling the resources of Change.org, MySpace, and our dozens of partner organizations and millions of combined members.” Imagine our campaign with expanded support like that!

The idea to “Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Nonviolence” is currently in FIRST PLACE in the category “Other” and second place overall. We need your help to keep it there all the way through January 15. Visit the site today and vote for peace, then use their “Email a Friend” link to spread the word.

Peace is the only umbrella I’ve ever found that encompasses the desires of all beings in all the world. Really.

Won’t you join me in the vote for peace?

Happy, peaceful 2009.

Approaching the Season of Reproach

Here they come, dear one, just as we expected, just as they do every year, just as many of us dread every year. You must know I’m talking about New Year’s Resolutions.

Let’s create a new page in the book of New Year’s Resolutions this year. Let’s work at what I call “the umbrella level.” Here’s what I mean: give up reproach this new year, give up goals or resolutions that measure you or your accomplishments, and instead switch to resolutions that, as you make choices which support them, will change your WHOLE LIFE not just one aspect of it.

Let me give you some examples:

Instead of deciding to lose twenty pounds, choose the umbrella of healthy living.

Instead of deciding to get a new job, choose the umbrella of world service.

Instead of deciding to quit smoking, choose the umbrella of free breathing.

These are not “positive thinking” ideas, dear one. Instead they’re the biggest concepts I can wrap my mind around which will make the farthest-reaching changes in a life.

Let me make this very personal. Since you follow this blog, you know I’ve decided to be a bestselling author. My first novel came out as an audiobook this fall; it should be on Amazon, iTunes and Audible this very week.

I got some very strange guidance about this bestselling author business this week. It was LET GO. Let go into asking that your books serve humanity. In fact, I need just to give thanks that my books serve humankind every time I think of it, and take the actions I’m guided to take, that’s all.

The thing about working at the umbrella level is that it transforms everything. How do I know what path my writing will take toward serving humanity? I haven’t a clue, so instead of stressing about my cluelessness, I can let the Universe, which is never clueless, help me serve on a worldwide level.

So when I pick up my umbrella, and you pick up yours, we will all be working toward transformation at the highest levels we can conceive, and the changes that we all want can come to be.

One of my favorite fictional characters is a lady who made all sorts of umbrella level visions come true; she carried a parrot-headed umbrella. Any guesses?

Mary Poppins, that magical nanny, who knew just how to transform anything for the best. So no more reproach at the New Year, beloved. Pick up your umbrella, transform everything, and fly!

Hiding Out in the Present

Seeds X, 52

Seed: Hiding Out in the Present

This phrase came tripping of my beloved’s tongue two days ago and stopped me in my tracks. I’d just read Mike Dooley’s More Notes from the Universe. (If you’re not on his subscription list, click and give yourself that gift.)

One of Mike’s Notes really touched me:

Always, the best remedy for dealing with a troubling past is living in the present.

Yeah, I know. You know this, but . . . did you know that you can HIDE OUT in the present? I’d never thought of it that way. We’re approaching the “reproach season” of the year when we review who we think we are. If you don’t like everything you’ve been, done or had in the past, consider hiding out in the present.

Soon enough you’ll discover that there was indeed a present hiding in your past and that now it’s safe to take it out, show it off and enjoy it in front of everyone.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Be content,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark.

Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at SeedsDrCorso@comcast.net

and please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

Couldn't Resist!

A wonderful supportive e-gift from my sweetie. I had to post it.

Happy, merry, joyous, peaceful . . . Susan

Inconceivable!

I hear the word of my title in Wally Shawn’s famous delivery from The Princess Bride.

Of all the files. I mean it. Of all the files. Yesterday ONE FILE turned up corrupted in my computer, and none of the Help suggestions helped.

It was a big file that I’d been working on for months—a little book of all my blog posts on Peace from Ode Magazine for the past year and half. I’d searched and found wonderful illustrations in Google Images to make just the words on peace more interesting. It was almost done, too. Just two more weeks of posts.

And it was corrupted. Irreparably. I closed my computer down to see if it would restore itself. Got back on it after dinner, and no dice. Then I put it aside. Nothing to do till morning. I told myself I had offsite back-up. It would be no big deal to reclaim the next day.

I got in prayer that somehow I’d get it back. I let go. Good thing.

Morning appointments kept me busy till 2. A dear friend suggested I look in the Trash. I don’t use a Mac but there is a Recycle Bin on a PC. I found it! Not whole, or not as it had been, but closer than starting at zero.

Then I got on the phone with the back-up peeps. Oh, yes, it would be a piece of cake to retrieve it. No problem. I was sailing—for a moment. Then we discovered that the guy who had set up my back-up on this new computer had not included that particular set of files! Dashed to the rocks! HOWEVER, and here is looking on the bright side, we got everything backed up now that needs to be!! And that’s quite a Christmas gift.

Then, I decided to brave Microsoft for Windows Vista. They were no help at all. My software was installed by my computer’s manufacturer so Microsoft wasn’t responsible.

I called Dell. Their people told me to reinstall Microsoft Office. No can do. It came on my computer. And besides, they only dealt with hardware not software! Wait, I said, wait just a cotton pickin’ minute, that’s not what Microsoft says!

Eventually (25 minutes later) they transferred me to their software department, which, after asking me another 25 minutes of interminable (and often repetitive) questions tell me that they can offer me a one-time attempt for $69 plus taxes, etc., or a $269 one-year software service contract.

I let go again, thanked the lady, and hung up.

One file, dear one. One file, and tomorrow’s Christmas Eve.

I’ll reconstruct it over the holidays.

And if this hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have known that all the rest of the “missed” files weren’t being backed up.

Cloud. Silver lining. It’s all in the view we take.

Happy, merry to you and yours.

The Light Returns

Ah yes. We can’t see it, but yesterday, in the Northern Hemisphere, the light returned to Earth. At 7:04 AM, we passed the point of the darkest dark. Starting today, the day is minutes longer than the night. Day by day those minutes grow till we meet the longest day at Midsummer once more.

What does it mean to face this darkness? What does it mean to face darkness no matter the time of year?

Darkness, dear one, is. There are all sorts of things that cause darkness in a human being. Confusion, unwillingness, fear, worry, thwarting of our wills. The issue isn’t whether there will be darkness. The issue is when there is darkness, how do you respond to it?

Some people respond in anger.

Others get sad, or depressed.

Some lash out.

Others turn inward.

Some act.

Others are paralyzed.

Over many years of working with my own darkness and that of others, I have learned to let darkness in myself be, and to be with it. Still, calm (mostly), unafraid. Let the darkness happen. (It will anyway.) Know that Annie was right, the sun’ll come up tomorrow. It does every day.

And wait, trusting the darkness, knowing that something is happening within it, something that could be good for us if we’ll just wait instead of reacting in an unconscious way.

Making friends with darkness means not resisting it or denying its existence. Darkness will come and darkness will go. Trust in the light within you for it is that light which even allows you to perceive the darkness. Make friends with darkness trusting that it is for your highest good, and watch the miracles come as the light dawns once again.

Little Pleasures

Seeds X, 51

Seed: Little Pleasures

I know, I know, spiritual teachers since the beginning of time have recommended that we appreciate the small things in life. It’s a good idea. Really.

I’d like to put a slightly different spin on it. From today until Christmas is seven days. Consider your six senses—one day at a time—as a path for appreciating the little pleasures. Friday: sight. Look for things that please your eyes. Saturday: sound. Listen for things that please your ears. Sunday: taste. Let your tongue be your guide. Monday: touch. Let your skin speak to you. Tuesday: scent. Follow your nose. Wednesday: intuition. You can view it one of two ways—either as a combination of the preceding five or ignoring the five and raising your awareness to your inner knowing.

Even though I’m writing this over July 4^th weekend, I can tell you some of the little pleasures I’m anticipating . . . red, carols played by baroque trumpets, cinnamon buns, chenille sweaters, vanilla, and a revelation of a greater sense of who I am meant to be in the world.

Merry Christmas—what a pleasure.

Be content,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark. Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at susan@susancorso.com and please visit my website www.susancorso.com

and my blogs

Ode Magazine, and The Huffington Post.

Ode’s Intelligent Optimist Issue

Ode Magazine’s January/February 2009 Intelligent Optimists issue is fascinating, especially so for me since I was nominated to be one of them!

The assignment was:

This year Ode launches its first annual Intelligent Optimists Issue where we will feature people who are not famous yet but should be because of the work they are doing to bring positive change to their communities, their countries, and the world. As part of this special issue, we would like to hear your nominations, too: tales of ordinary people who do extraordinary things.

Just tell us who your nominee is and write a few lines explaining why this person is special and why their work is important.

I thank everyone who took the time to register and comment. It was an honor to be nominated and the comments people left on my nomination made me blush in secret delight! To read them visit, http://www.odemagazine.com/blogs/intelligent_optimists/3849/dr_susan_corso.

To be included in this list is thrilling. People really do work to make a difference on this planet. Personally, I think the only ways to be in the world are intelligent and optimistic!

Thanks again, everyone! I start the holy-days with a heart brimming with joy.

To Change!

I have been a big fan of the work and person of Barbara Winter and her Winning Ways newsletter for many years. I even had the joy of dining with her on one of her many visits to New York City.

If you are an entrepreneur or a wannabe entrepreneur or a I-might-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-when-I-grow-up, Barbara’s work is for you!

Go to www.joyfullyjobless.com to learn about all her marvelous classes, tools and ideas for a joyfully jobless journey!

What appears below is from her e-newsletter. Her wisdom about different kinds of change grabbed my attention big time.

Imposed Change—we all know about that kind and our own acceptance of or resistance to it.

Instigated Change—still, at its core, change! How we handle it is up to us.

Ah, but Embraced Change! I consider this sort of change an email to the Universe.

I’ve decided.

I’m changing.

That’s it!

That’s when the Universal Conspiracy for Good kicks in. You take one step and the Universe takes five to meet you where and how you want to be met. In my experience, the Universe always, always, always delivers much more and better than my original request.

To change!

Tradition

Seeds X, 50

Seed: Tradition

I never hear this word without the three notes from the song in Fiddler on the Roof coming to mind. Tevye sings, “Tradition! Tradition! . . . Tradition!” In the song, Tevye argues for traditional family roles for papa, mama, son and daughter. Tevye wasn’t living in the 21^st century.

The OED says that tradition comes from Latin roots meaning a saying handed down. It surprised me a little because I’d always associated the word tradition with the word trade. And that’s my real recommendation to us all for this Season of Light.

Are there traditions in your family? Good. Now, get conscious about them. Do you like them? Do you want to keep them? If so, excellent, but if not, trade your old traditions for new ones. Things are going so fast in our world these days that traditions of any kind are of some value, except those that no longer suit who we are.

Consider putting a new tradition in place of an old one that no longer serves, dear one, and enjoy the holy-days.

Be content,

Susan Corso

Dr. Susan Corso

Seeds are remarkable gifts. Sown in consciousness, they bring you to the most important part of your being—your Divine Spark. Check out the Seeds Archive for past messages of inspiration.

When you have friends you would like added to the Seeds e-mail list, send their addresses to me at SeedsDrCorso@comcast.net and please visit my website www.susancorso.com and my blogs Ode Magazine. and The Huffington Post.