Expansion Encounters - with Dusty
Life is Heaven in 2007!

A special thank you to all of you who continue to support Life Now and our ventures!

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If you prefer to read this online, you will find it as "December, 2008"

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We're at that time of year again! We need a healthy phrase for 2009. Send your phrases (as many as you'd like) to Life Now (Subject: EE Contest) and our judges will decide which phrase will appear in each issue of Expansion Encounters through next year. We will even create a Winner's Page at the Life Now site that will offer a referral to your site if you have one. Contest ends December 31, 2008.

Here is the holiday greeting I wish for each of you!
Happy Holidays!

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Erasing Yesterday
By Dusty Reed

Erasing our yesterdays and starting anew and refreshed each day is a wonderful concept. Is it possible?

The Lord does and I am sure He expects us to do so, too. "I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins" - Isaiah 43:25.

Erasing yesterdays does not mean changing our activity on purpose. That supports effort and to be spontaneous does not require effort. It does require a mindset of today being the day to "begin a new life." As with tunnel vision, we only see today; the healthy, good memories will come along naturally. The less-favorables will fall away.

From studying the scrolls in Og Mandino's book, "Greatest Salesman in the World," I am absorbing the lessons they offer. After studying the first scroll for three weeks, a light bulb in my head began to blink. Mr. Mandino shares a healthy thought: "Experience is comparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkable and impractical tomorrow."

Filling a blank page with just today's experiences can teach some powerful truths about ourselves. What do we do automatically, as from habit? How much of our activity involves making an impromptu choice rather than falling back on habits? Do we purposefully touch a new experience?

A friend shared that she keeps a special time free each day for doing whatever she chooses for that time. Some have shared that they go with the flow every day. How much of that flow includes daily, necessary routines? Keeping a running list of what we do through the day will tell us how much we are doing from habit and how much we are choosing to do spontaneously. Do we automatically fix meals for our family at a certain time? Do we make the bed before we leave for work? Do we drive a certain route to work each day? Our habits are myriad, even though we seldom give them any conscious thought. Do we smell the same fragrances each day? Do we only hear certain sounds around us? Or do we see something new?

I have written and allowed to happen, at various stages in my life, what I would consider my "ideal" day. Sometimes this includes a desired schedule of activity. Sometimes it includes a scenario of how I would like to see my life transformed into a desired lifestyle. By focusing on this in times past, with prayer, I now see all of these desires molded into my life as my desired lifestyle. My ideal day now continues by beginning every day with meditation to "clear my slate" and start a new page at that moment.

"Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" - Psalm 16:11.

By staying in God's presence with each "today," we experience success in every moment! We can thus enjoy life to the fullest!

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Be in Health
By Dusty Reed

Are you seeking to be more attentive to your health? Rest, nutrition and fitness are three areas that require our love and attention.

In the ruthless busyness of modern life, the symmetry between work and keeping good health has been lost.

Pursuing a healthy regime is a personal decision. A person will continue to follow through with a regimen only if a personal commitment is made to do so. Once that commitment is built, nothing can get in the way. There may be temptations but commitment will reign superior. It becomes a lifestyle.

All life requires an identity with rest. There is a harmony in our waking activity and the body’s need for sleep. There is a time in all seasons as with the active growth of spring and summer being subdued by the necessary dormancy of fall and winter. There is a tidal rhythm, a deep, eternal conversation between the land and the sea. In our bodies, the heart rests after each beat; the lungs rest between the exhale and the inhale.

Maintaining healthy exercise is the dream for many. It often goes in spurts and eventually gets set aside for other so-called needs. When it becomes a desired passion, it can become a desirable lifestyle. That approach can find fulfillment with a few simple changes in one's current way of living.

Any lifestyle, especially a simplistic one, can offer many occasions for natural exercise. Walking or bicycle riding for errands, raising a vegetable garden, or developing an appealing landscape all promote natural exercise. Joining a group at an athletic club encourages discipline as well as a time for getting together with friends.

A University of Nebraska study shows that proper foods and exercise give added benefits in reduced fatigue, sharper memory and sounder sleep.

Routine vigorous exercise is important. Running, jogging, aerobics and bicycle riding are highly promoted. Much of the emphasis and importance is to develop deep, healthy breathing. Putting fresh oxygen into the body system in big doses helps unclog the blood system, increases cardiac and lung capacity and provides new energy. It is used as it is supplied and cannot be stored for future benefit. Food can be stored but oxygen needs to be consumed continuously.

A person tends to forget to breathe deeply when in a passive activity. The body consumes enough air to keep him alive but without the full, deep breaths, there is not enough to supply a healthy dose to all parts of the body.

If there are any medical problems, a physician's advice is recommended. For a healthy person, doctors usually recommend bicycle riding, swimming, or walking at a spirited pace. The body may complain but that is because it is aging and wants to continue the process. Detemination can slow that process. A healthy affirmation offers service: "My body is firm and strong."

Exercise should and can be joyful. A ten or fifteen minute segment can offer a quick walk. People must let themselves feel free to give themselves this slice of time as often as possible. It offers a refreshing vitality.

Upon retiring as a schoolteacher, a friend decided to join a group in a walk-across-America from California to New York. It would take nearly five months. She was in a good state of health, eating properly and getting exercise by running whenever possible, even between buildings at her school. The walk proved to be a delightful adventure and a warm memory. From there, she put her teaching skills back to work by joining the Peace Corps and travelling to China for two years. Her good health enabled her to easily accept the suitability of a different lifestyle.

Developing the follow-through for this inner yearning for good health is not complicated if one is truly dedicated to his passion.

Finding five goals to achieve to become more physically whole brings awareness to the situation. What are five activities for each of these goals? For example,

Goal 1: Get an hour of fresh air daily.

Activities:
A) walk around the block when going to get the mail;
B) water the yard and flowers;
C) sit outdoors for morning meditation and Bible reading.

Goal 2: Lose ten pounds.
Activities:
A) walk briskly for ten minutes each day;
B) go swimming twice a week;
C) eat well-balanced meals;
D) "pig out" one meal a week;
E) do twenty sit-ups every day.

These are realistic activities.

Anyone can begin this moment doing something on his list. For example, if Goal 2 above, eating well-balanced meals, were my choice, right now I could write a menu and grocery list. If I choose to do twenty sit-ups every day, I could do ten of them right now. The key is to get to the action. Thinking or writing the goals do not bring them into being. Doing an activity immediately begins to bring the goal into focus.

Performing actions repetitiously develops habits. By being aware and filling life with favorable actions, those that are not desirable as part of the regime can be shooed away.

Playing games to make desired actions more desirable to appropriate into one's lifestyle may sound childish but it works. No one else needs to know one is doing it. It is a method that challenges the old thoughts and brings about desired changes. By games, I mean something meaningful, which helps get the job done. As an example of games to play, for developing a regime and doing it every day could bring the reward of a special leisure time. It could be giving self a special time to accomplish some new physical exercise. Each person must create his own rewards.

Eventually, after developing the desired habit, the mind and body do not need the reward each time. Accomplishing the activity will provide the reward. This may take discipline. Developing the follow-through for this inner yearning is not complicated if one is truly dedicated to his dream. When an individual attains his desired state, he can be assured he is on his way toward maintaining a healthy body.

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Some sites I recommend:

A wealth of spiritual resources

Online Diet & Fitness Journal

MS Sunshine's Garden

All Things Christmas

Oodles of Ideas for Holiday Decorating

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And, for anyone who enjoys playing at ebay, I continue to have a few items (which change daily) available for sale -
Dusty's eBay

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Working toward consideration and to better humanity, we want to encourage free enterprise, free speech. We are Life Now, a spiritual happening on and off the Internet.

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PATHWAY

LIFE NOW

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