Life is Transformative

Freemark Abbey, St Helena, California, USA

I am indebted to Victoria Hamilton-Rivers and to Gerard and Tamria Piazza who inspired this conversation.

Integrity* isn't your birthright. You're not born with it. It's something you make up. You create it out of nothing. To do that, you first need to be willing to be a stand for integrity. Until then, the actions (consciously chosen or not) which comprise a life lay the foundation for future skewing - a wobbly foundation makes a tall building wobbly.

Merryvale, St Helena, California, USA

From time to time when I'm not present to who I really am, my life shows up like a soap opera. That's when I'm dramatizing, entangled in the drama, the epic saga of it all. Occasionally I'm in the audience, absorbed, watching myself in the soap opera of my life. Sometimes I'm a critic reviewing the soap opera of my life, commenting on the plot, opining about the outcome, voting on its authenticity and on its fairness.

Bodega Bay, California, USA

This essay, Alive And Well, is the two hundred and fiftieth essay in the Conversations For Transformation internet series.

I am indebted to Dorothy Rosenberg who uttered a quote* I borrowed for this conversation.

Here we are with nothing going on. We've got the entire beach to ourselves, almost deserted except for a few gulls walking along the shore, in and around our bare feet, totally unconcerned with our presence.

Castello Di Amorosa, Calistoga, California, USA

This essay, Give It Away, is the companion piece to

* Free
* Getting It - The Big "IT"

"If you don't take it out into the world you didn't get it in the first place."

Sears Point, California, USA

This essay, Love Living Into Love, is the companion piece to I Am Love With You.

Calistoga, California, USA

This essay, Crisis Of Faith, is the companion piece to

1. Love And Kindness
2. Transformation And Medication

in that order.

"Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the
emptiness is so great I look and do not see, listen and do not hear." ... Mother Teresa to Reverend Michael van der Peet - September 1979

I am indebted to Mother Teresa who inspired this conversation, and to James Tsutsui who contributed coaching.

Nepenthe, Big Sur, California, USA

This essay, Stranger Out Of Time, is the companion piece to Friend Of The Planet.

I am indebted to Robert Heinlein and to Robert Zimmerman who inspired this conversation.

There's a certain background for the way we live life which isn't defined by where we live but rather by when we live. I'm not referring to the date or the time.

Rutherford Hill, Rutherford, California, USA

I am indebted to my Mom Andee and to my Dad Asher Manfred who inspired this conversation.

There's a point in my life when transformation occurred. There are my actions after transformation. There are my actions before transformation. I'm responsible for my actions after transformation. That's good news. I'm also, however, responsible for my actions before transformation, whether I want to be or not. That's not always good news.

Cowboy Cottage, East Napa, California, USA

This essay, Essays - Four Years Later: Side By Side, is the fourth annual State Of The Union celebration of Conversations For Transformation:

1. Essays - One Year Later: Critical Mass
2. Essays - Two Years Later: Glass Walled Studio
3. Essays - Three Years Later: Internet Presence
4. Essays - Four Years Later: Side By Side

I love the rain. As I reach out to stroke it to thank it for its gift, it cools my fingers. I assert you've never really felt the rain until you've felt it running down your back (as Paul McCartney may have said).

As I drive down this forty five degree steeply winding mountain road, low gear taking the strain from always required braking, rain transforms this rustic bucolic scenario into a gorgeous subtle watercolor painting. I'm driving in a watercolor and I love this artist.