Talking Our Walk
From the Editors

The Holyday season is upon us– a time for celebration, a time when many people seem to be more open to giving, sharing & reflecting as another year nears its completion. This is also a time when many of us will be dashing out to the malls, consumed with gift shopping. It’s easy to get caught up in all the commotion and in the frenzy, we may purchase some of our gifts out of a sense of obligation, rather than clear intention.

This shopping madness always creates discomfort for me. And since I do not require that much stuff, I’m often particularly troubled with the receiving end of the equation– especially when I’m given something that I really don’t need. I’m reminded of a book I read several years back, Mutant Message Down Under, by Marlo Morgan. In this book, an Aboriginal tribe details their definition of a gift: A gift is only a gift when you give someone what the person wants. It is not a gift if you give what you want them to have. A gift has no attachment. It is given unconditionally. The persons receiving it have the right to do anything with the gift– use it, destroy it, give it away, whatever. It is theirs without condition and the giver expects nothing in return. If it doesn’t fit those criteria, it is not a gift. It should be classified as something else.

Of course, there is delight in receiving gifts, too, and they appear in many forms. For us, "Christmas" came early this past summer when we were presented with the opportunity to acquire Creations Magazine. And, as the task of tackling this new business venture pushed us past our comfort zone, our good fortune was doubled.

Interestingly, another type of gift, is the kind that people give and receive all the time, often without even being aware of it. A gift can simply show up as a kind word or gesture. We’ve been aware of receiving these types of gifts ever since our first issue. They arrive regularly by telephone, mail and email from readers and advertisers alike, expressing their sincere thanks and good wishes for Creations’ continuation. Each and every comment is deeply appreciated, as it serves to validate our spiritually based business decision. These thoughtful gestures further encourage us to maintain and improve upon the high standards on which Creations Magazine was founded. Thank you, all.

This Holyday issue delivers to you an abundance of gifts. Appropriately enough, we feature the article On Giving, excerpted from Kent Nerburn’s book Simple Truths. In it, he extols the miracle of giving, which empowers us to create joy and happiness by our simplest gestures of caring and compassion. True giving does not subtract from what we have, but rather multiplies the effect we can have on the world.

Swami Beyondananda (Steve Bhaerman) returns to Creations after a long hiatus with 11 Suggestions for Having Peace on Earth, Swami offers a humorous approach to creating some serious constructive change. Read, laugh, and then take action.

Conversely, in No Place for a Poet at a Banquet of Shame, Sharon Olds soberly spells out her reasons for declining an invitation from First Lady Laura Bush to attend the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. In opposing the Iraq War, Olds forgoes great personal gain in order to preserve her principles and integrity.

Getting caught up in the Holiday festivities, many of us tend to eat and drink more that we really should. You may want to reconsider overindulging this time around after reading The Importance of Undereating, excerpted from Spiritual Nutrition. Best-selling author and spiritual teacher Gabriel Cousens, M.D., provides compelling scientific evidence advocating calorie reduction related to a slowing-down of the aging process and an overall reduction of almost every disorder, resulting in a healthier, longer lifespan. Dr. Cousens maintains that our lifestyle determines our "gene expression" rather than our genes determining our health and ultimately our life.

A really cool thing happened on the way to taking a classified ad– the ad morphed into an article. Denise Ramos is a music teacher from Islip who recorded a music CD as a means to consoling a bereaved colleague. The article A Healing Gift began with Denise emailing me at 10pm on a Saturday night, solely for the purpose of advertising her CD. I telephoned her immediately and we talked a bit about the ad and her recording. About twenty minutes later, I blurted out, "Denise, this is a great story. We’ve got us an article for the Holyday issue. Write down everything you just told me." Surprisingly, within the hour she emailed me her story. In her article, Denise credits "abounding synchronicity and going with some sort of Divine flow" for the relative ease with which her CD was produced. Then, subsequent to her CD, a submitted article rises out from a classified ad– all in under 90 minutes! I call that synchronicity and Divine flow "déjà vu all over again."

So there’s a sampling of some of our "gifts" to you-- unwrap and enjoy! You might even want to share a few in making this truly...
A Winter Celebration.

Peace & Blessings,