Becoming Your StellarSelf

Roman Holiday: Holy Profiterole-y

Two nights ago, we had an unusual and delightful dining experience in Rome at L'Eau Vive, a restaurant housed in the 16th-century Palazzo Lante della Rovere and run by the Travailleuses Missionaires de la Conception Immaculee (Missionary Workers of the Immaculate Conception), an order of lay Carmelite women from Asia and Africa. The restaurant specializes in French cuisine, but offers daily specials representing different regions of the world including Africa, Asia and the United States.

When we arrived for dinner around 8:30pm, we were lead to the second floor dining area where the high ceilings of the simply decorated rooms are covered with frescoes. We ordered the avocado and mango salad, which sat atop a bed of incredibly delicate butterleaf lettuce and was topped with a drizzle of perfectly balanced vinagrette. Our entrees were duck with orange sauce, pork with prune sauce and salmon with a ginger saffron sauce. The house wine was quite good, and very inexpensive by Roman standards.

Around 9:30, our waitress came to our table and handed us printed cards with the words to Ave Maria in French and in Italian. Part of the dining experience at L'Eau Vive involves
a nightly ritual of pausing the serving of dinner so that all the Carmelites can sing. Patrons are welcome, and encouraged, to sing along. Having read a review of the restaurant in Fodor's Rome's 25 Best, we were aware that this was their custom, so were prepared for this break, and were happy to join along.

After the singing, we finished eating dinner and took a look at the dessert menu, which featured a large selection of French specialties. While everything looked wonderful, we narrowed our choices down to the lemon tarte, the chocolate mousse and the fruit gratin. All were exquisite.

The mission of this group of Carmelites is to spread the Word of God through cuisine. Since food is the international language, and the way to every person's heart is through their stomach, there is definitely something to this, especially if the food is as good as that which we experienced at L'Eau Vive.

You can find a full story on the history of L'Eau Vive, or to read a current New York Times review of the restaurant. L'Eau Vive is located at Via Monterone 85, between the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona.

Dec 17th Bloggers Unite in Acts of Kindness

Last month I wrote about my intention to participate in BlogCatalog's challenge for bloggers to commit an act of kindness, then post about it on December 17. The goal of this effort, dubbed Bloggers Unite in Acts of Kindness, "is to expose their kindness and generosity as well as serve as an example to non-bloggers that volunteering for a charity, donating to a cause, or simply doing something kind for another person has a ripple effect around the world." A few people have expressed the opinion that kindness should be practiced every day, and I wholeheartedly agree. But I also feel that it doesn't hurt to remind ourselves about the power of simple acts of kindness.

So, I decided that I wanted to write about my experience volunteering at a local hospital that offers Reiki to people with cancer, as well as their spouses and caregivers. I am one of almost 40 Reiki practitioners who have signed up as volunteers for a wonderful program that offers a variety of educational and support services, including holistic programs such as meditation and yoga classes, as well as massage and Reiki.

Last week, I gave Reiki to four people -- two people with cancer, one spouse and a caregiver. I find it very satisfying to work with people with cancer, as they find the Reiki sessions very helpful in helping them relax, and it often helps to reduce any pain or discomfort they may be feeling. And the two people I worked with reported feeling much better as a result of the session.

Interestingly, I found that the spouse and caregiver had the "heaviest energy". For those of you who are not energy workers, I'm not sure how to describe it other than to say that I felt something like mild electrical energy flowing through me very strongly and rapidly out through my hands for the entire time I was touching them. I feel this to some extent with everyone, but in their cases, it was much stronger than usual. Both of them fell asleep during their sessions, and woke up with beautifully peaceful smiles on their faces. When I asked how they were feeling, they both said that they felt "wonderful." And I felt that they looked wonderful, too. In receiving this healing touch, the stress and tension on their faces melted away, revealing their true, beautiful, luminous selves.

I felt great satisfaction from the "thank you"s and appreciative smiles, and in return I thanked them for coming in for the program. As with any other act of giving, when one gives Reiki, one also receives it. And as I left the hospital to drive home, I felt light -- in body, mind and spirit.

Resources:
Reiki In Hospitals
Network For Good
Volunteer Match
Goldberg, Carey “For good health, it is better to give, science suggests.” Boston Globe, (November 28, 2003)

Nov 17th Book Signing Event to Benefit NVFS

The public is invited to a free event November 17th from 4:00pm-6:00pm. I will be signing copies of my new book, Growing Toward Balance: Achievable Ideas for Bringing Harmony to Your Mind, Body and Spirit.

The event featuring wine and cheese, door prizes and bonus download materials, will be hosted by Be You Wellness Center and Spa, 5602 Shields Drive, Bethesda, MD. Ten percent of gross sales will be donated to Northern Virginia Family Service and one tree will be planted by Eco-Libris for every book purchased.

In addition, every guest will receive $10 Be You bucks. Be You has a beautiful shop full of great gift items. It’s not too early to start your holiday shopping!

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p.s. A big thanks goes out to Susan Moorenko, owner of Moorenko's for hosting last night's event, Susan Anderson, of Stately Affairs by Susan Anderson, for bringing it all together, and to all of you who came out to support NVFS!

Nov 14th Book Signing Event to Benefit NVFS

On Wednesday, November 14, from 6:00pm-9:00pm, the public is invited to a free event where I will be signing copies of my new book, Growing Toward Balance: Achievable Ideas for Bringing Harmony to Your Mind, Body and Spirit.

The event, featuring feature food, door prizes and bonus download materials, will be hosted by Moorenko's, 1359 Chain Bridge Road, McLean, VA. Owner Susan Moorenko studied with Carolyn Myss for over a decade, which lead her to open her shop. So, not only is her ice cream amazingly delicious, it is also created with Love and Gratitude. Besides her retail stores, the ice cream is also carried by Whole Foods in the DC-area and My Organic Market (aka MOM'S).

I wanted to give back to the community, so ten percent of gross sales will be donated to Northern Virginia Family Service and one tree will be planted by Eco-Libris for every book purchased. For details, please contact info at growingtowardbalance dot com.

Dalai Lama in DC

I received the following email from a few different sources, and have decided to share it with you. I have heard the Dalai Lama speak a few times (in Central Park, Constitution Hall, and Verizon Center in DC). Each time I was struck by the unity I felt with the tens of thousands of people of all ages, races and religions, sitting in complete silence listening to his simple, yet profound words. If you have an opportunity to hear him, I highly recommend it.

Dear friends,

On Wednesday, October 17, 2007, the Dalai Lama will be making a free and public address on the west lawn of the Capitol. Speaker Nancy Pelosi just helped pass a bill that gave ICT use of the west lawn and west steps of the Capitol to allow for this free event!

We need help in publicizing it because its less than three weeks away and so we are asking you to forward this e-mail to as many friends and colleagues in the DC area as possible. If you know of good list serves to post this, please do. We need help reaching out to dharma centers, churches, colleges, workplaces and other networks in and around DC.

The Dalai Lama will be receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from Speaker Pelosi, Congressional leadership and the U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda at 1:00. This will be simulcast on a jumbotron onto the West Lawn of the Capitol. At 2:20, Richard Gere will make a few remarks, and at 2:30, Speaker Pelosi will escort the Dalai Lama from Capitol to the West Lawn, where he will give an address.

This will be the first time in history that a sitting US President will publicly appear with a Dalai Lama, and it will happen at the halls of Congress, who have been so supportive of Tibet over the years.

Before this, from 11:00 - 1:00, Tibetan dance, opera and song troupes from all over America, will be performing. If you can join for that as well, feel free to bring a picnic lunch, blanket or folding chair.
There will be about 1,000 Tibetans in D.C. for this and it will be a wonderful and colorful celebration. Many of the highest lamas and Rimpoches from around the world will be attending.

While this is free to the public, it is costing ICT about $185,000.  If you can make a donation, we would be enormously grateful! You can donate at www.DalaiLamaDC.org/WestLawn or send a check to ICT. (Congress is providing security and security fencing but we have to pay for staging, the sound system, the jumbotron, press tents, medical tents, etc.)

We also need volunteers. If you can volunteer all day on Wednesday, Oct. 17, please e-mail
tenzint [at] savetibet [dot] org, and include your phone number.

For more on the Dalai Lama's visit, go to www.dalailamadc.org.

Thank you for whatever you can do to make this historic day successful. And I hope to see you there!

John

John Ackerly,
President
International Campaign for Tibet
1825 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Going to Beautiful Lengths

This morning I received an email from my friend, Jenn, with pictures of her new hairdo. It is a really flattering cut, but the great thing is that she had her long hair cut short so that she could donate it to Beautiful Lengths, a charity specializing in creating wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer-related chemotherapy. Seeing how cute her hair looked, and what a great cause she was supporting, I commented that it was a win-win situation.

Jenn explained, "I heard about the program originally on the Today Show - [actress] Diane Lane cut her hair off for it. Most people donate to Locks of Love, which is just for children. So I researched both and chose Beautiful Lengths because not only did I want to help my peers (grown women who've had cancer -- and most children give to Locks of Love) and draw attention to another organization, but, they required less hair - only 8 inches versus 10 inches for Locks of Love. I looked over their website and really thought it sounded great. I have to now mail the hair in. I'm excited to help someone and I love the change. So you're right, it's definitely a win-win situation!!"

Locks of Love, a wonderful organization whose mission is to provide "hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis," has been around for a many years, successfully helping children. More recently, Pantene Beautiful Lengths was developed in a joint effort by Pantene and the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) as a campaign "to encourage people to grow, cut and donate their hair to create real-hair wigs for women who've lost their hair due to cancer."

If you're thinking of getting a makeover that includes cutting your long hair to a shorter style, I recommend looking into one of the great charities. You can make a huge difference in someone's life and get a great new look at the same time!