Freeing the Bull in the Barbed Wire
I've had an amazing experience of the power of believing in someone. I have, for well over 10 years, put my faith in a friend who has been plagued by more than his share of traumas, and who often flailed about and hurt people close to him because of the wounds. He could be wise, mystical, generous, smart, and compassionate, alternating with outbursts of vehement anger and controlling behavior. I thought of him sometimes as a bull tangled in a barbed-wire fence. He often hurt me as much as he helped me. For some odd reason, though, I never rejected him, but kept talking to him about who I saw behind his gapped, polarized actions and thought patterns. I've always believed that people live up to how you see them. In his case, this is becoming true at last. Deep healing and insights come when they're ready, not necessarily when you want them to. Recently, certain trigger events in his life catalyzed a drama that helped him feel through to the deep causes of his suffering, and showed him how to correct his thinking. The elegance of it was awesome. And the speed of his transformation was too. It makes me so happy, because my whole life is based on the premise that transformation of fear into love is possible in any situation. Sometimes with very dense or stuck cases, there is a tendency to doubt. But deep down, I know. Love does conquer all.

The Courageous Innovators
I'm headed home from New Mexico, having been inspired by people who are taking chances to be innovative. Some have quit prestigious jobs to start new businesses, like Colleen who is a Harvard MBA and management consultant to manufacturing businesses, who is founding a company to manufacture healthy building blocks for "green" walls, made from recycled wood chips and concrete. Like Alan, who works for the state but on his own time composes amazing, upbeat, contagious songs for children and sells the CDs quite nicely online. Like Christa, who is popularizing the benefits of drinking hydrosols, the watery byproducts of distilling essential oils (I tried them and they are stunning!). I visited Mesa Verde and the Anasazi cliff dwellings, and here's another example of incredible innovation and fortitude. What is next for me? How can I be proud of myself, live on my own innovative edge, and combine old with new to reinvent myself? I feel this urge to sprout new sprigs, to be current, to be even more contributory in a way that adds more sanity to the world—AND, that is fun!

Regreening the Proverbial Desert
I am in Santa Fe, New Mexico and have attended several meetings for my friends' conscious real estate development project, Na'avoteh and The Rainmaker Institute, which has been birthing itself for several years, but is now actually happening. They are a spiritually-sophisticated group, with much knowledge about the ecosystem, sustainable buildings, and the subtle underlying patterns that need to be aligned before a truly correct form can manifest. They are basing the project around the water element, and acting as the ancient Native American rainmakers did, calling for the regreening of the arroyos and the regreening of our minds—by loving the water and letting it love them. They are doing it right, building to high "green" standards, and the plan is to have an incredible spa combined with a learning center like Esalen or Omega, as well as a variety of housing, a plaza and village center with live/work spaces, and an egg-shaped kiva with a water feature as the heart of the place. My designer-self is in heaven watching this love-based vision come together!

A Strange Sense of Coordinated Flow
I have been in Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting a friend who lives across the street from the vast open space of Sandia Mountain. I've heard the coyotes at night, seen hummingbirds darting everywhere, and the unseasonal thunderstorms produced the most dramatic charcoal gray clouds and brilliant double rainbows I've ever seen. What a gift to be plunked there! I did an evening reading on future trends and met interesting new people. While driving with my friend looking at houses, we had a close call where a motorcyclist tried to pass us on a curve as we were pulling off the road to the left to take a picture. We missed him by a hair and he was seriously angry. She got out and expressed true concern for him, and though he was severely shaken, he calmed down quickly and all was resolved. I have the sense that everything is being coordinated at a higher level, that I am sliding along a waterslide, mind not involved with perception of meaning and purpose, but more importantly, my consciousness is showing me that what could have been uncomfortable or destructive can turn out miraculously well.