Yoda

A lot of parents care more about what others think of their parenting than the kid's feelings. Fortunately, our generation has more freedom to make the decision that we don't care wtf society thinks and do it our own way. Here in Columbia, SC everyone is talking about homeschooling. 20 years ago it was illegal. Now, it's an option for everyone.

Having fun is the key with whatever you do. Your classmate got really excited about the potential of real estate and manifested 25k part time. I know a lot of people who made excellent money (myself included) on their first day on the job b/c of their positive energy. The one's that keep having fun and don't get bogged down in the many responsibilities keep making money. I know one guy who got a 60k commission check right off the bat part time and he is blind, but he struggled afterwards, lost his enthusiasm (spent it all on Russian girls ). I've been very inconsistent with it. I feel too much sympathy for people with problems which bogs me down. But it's all good--that's the magic of commission sales, as you well know, it's a laboratory where you get feedback on what feelings you are transmitting and gradually I learn to improve them. It doesn't take any money to do it. Just get licensed, print your cards and you are off to the races! Look up Todd Bookspan, he's a pal of mine in Phoenix and a mtg guy. He might suggest a few brokers to talk to. You can do it while working for the family as a side thing too. Go for a broker with an excellent commission split, not a nationally recognized name. Mark my words on that. I'd say that you are already in sales, so not much would change. Same drill. There are huge benefits to working in a family business, but if you feel that you need to get out of that then there will be more freedom in real estate. What your family gives you is a pre-made energy structure. You walk in the door and the energy says "sell carpets". When I worked for a builder, I had that 'pressure' around me which was good. When I went out on my own, I enjoyed my freedom to post shit on the internet, but I didn't have that pressure to get me off my ass and sell something. You can work for your family and post shit on the internet, best of both worlds! Everyone and their dog wants to be a real estate agent. Half of California is licensed, they say. But there's never enough good agents to go around. As an agent, you can make money in a hot market or a cold one. People will always need a home and people will always need to move regardless of the economy. -Yoda

MythMaker, Great post, very inspiring! Another vote for the blending camp. I'm reading "Eat to Live" by Fuhrman and he says that 90% of the diet should be fruit, veggies, or beans and as raw as possible. Subtract potatos, and Americans only get 5% of their calories from plants!!! I'm probably 20-30% raw right now, and look forward to upping that. You probably don't need to deal with supplements. If you are vegetarian, do you supplement for B12? How much protien do you get, from what sources? -The Green One PS. I figured it out, I need to brush my teeth right after drinking carrot juice to avoid plaque buildup.

I lied and cheated my way to decent scores on everything except the sexual center. I think that the AYP protocol done in its entirety is very good for the sex dept., so that's good.

Awesome results! It was a very inspiring book about the benefits of stretching in general, but I never tried the system.

We'll have to let our blenders duke it out to find out who's right. -Yoda My parents were progressive and idealistic in many positive ways, but I decided at a young age that I'd be a little 'less serious' with my kids.

I do need to get one... how'd you know?

Keep compliments like that coming, and you're higher up on the mountain than I. What you vibrate has WAY more to do with raising good kids than whatever strategy you use. My answer is simple, but not superficial. It is deeper than any philosophy, belief, or technique. If you are miserable and you have kids, you'll muck it up no matter your words and actions. Their happiness will upset you at every turn and you'll try to take them down a notch in the name of love, caring, education, discipline, etc. If you are gloriously happy and think that your kids can hang the moon, any old approach will work. But you'll *really feel* that your kids are perfect as they are, so you'll transmit that lesson to them that they can keep for life. That will be the foundation stone for all they do. This principle applies to all aspects of life. Look at your job, for instance. If you are negative about it and you dislike your coworkers, clients, tasks, etc then no action, technique or philosophy is going to work for you. But if you love your work, coworkers, clients, etc then your words and actions, whatever they are, will be perfect everytime. This is what Lao Tzu and the Zen dudes are getting at. It's your bliss that determines success in any endeavour and not the actions themselves. -The Green One

a nice little recharge: eat something raw and then do a tranquility drill.

I would say buy as high a model as your budget and/or spouse would allow, but don't loose sleep over it. I think my $20 juicer is more than enough to get the lion's share of the benefits from this great habit. Question re: raw diet, juicing, etc... When I've been drinking my carrot and celery juice, the inside of my teeth have some sort of coating on them. I assumed that this is simply b/c I'm getting more sugar in my diet now but I've been brushing my teeth constantly with both toothpaste, anti-tartar mouthwash, and salt and potassium and I can't seem to get it off. I love my juicing, so I'll keep that up and I'll brush my teeth and use Max's salt tip to protect my teeth from any acidity of eating raw. Thoughts? -The Green One PS The posts in general discussion are really coming in fast and furious these days--that's awesome!

Why teach them things that harsh their love? Even if they can stay cool through practice, they'll simply be treading water and not moving forward. Personally, I think that the banks are ruthlessly profit motivated just as God intended them to be which allows them to blow through the barriers of limitation and negativity quickly and effectively. Thanks in no small part to the banks and entrepreneurs of the world, technology is flying high and fast, bringing info to Yoda when and where he needs it. *sips beet juice* *smiles*

My philosophy is that kids are fully realized masters and it is the rules and teachings of parents, teachers, society, etc that finally 'civilizes' them and snuffs their amazing creativity, energy, and joy. As such, my parenting philosophy is to stay out of their way as much as possible. Keep as few rules as possible, discipline them and be negative towards them as little as possible, etc. Keep the kids out of school as much as possible, too. Be as praising and positive and worshipful as possible. We also let them sleep in our bed, too. Then, when they are set free, they can come to their own decisions and conclusions about right and wrong, yada, yada, but at least they'll have their self-esteem in one piece. That's not to say that there's any problem with the normal way to raise kids. It's a more challenging road for all involved, but it works fine too. My 6 year old daughter, knows what I believe and she knows what Mommy believes and she can decide whenever. Kids are too enlightened to cling to beliefs, anyways. Mrs Yoda is a notch more conventional, but only one notch. Yoda is several notches away and gunning for a few more as time goes on. -Yoda

4 Years! Zoinks!! You should do an ABCs of Raw Food for the rest of us at some point. 100% raw is some crazy shit, too. I thought that was only legal in Amsterdam? -Yoda

the l'equip is rated highly on the discountjuicers.com site. The only downside is that the carafe is small for a big family. As we are lone wolves here, it sounds like the most affordable of the elite units. If Cam were to ever deign put a carrot into his machine (homophobia?) we could find out if more sensibly priced units can get the work done. Mrs. Yoda's blender I mentioned before is actually a food processor, but about a $150 one, so I figured that it would work. It didn't cream my carrots, though. Maybe it's a food processor thing or maybe I didn't run them long enough. The carrots became little grains that weren't very drinkable. Are we all blender newbies here, then? Any long term rawists here? Pietro, you've been raw for 2 years, yes?

I've never cared for the path of inquiry, myself. But this thread featuring our fearless webmaster is excellent, and now I am able to see its place: http://www.aypsite.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=968

I'm on Bill Bodri's email list from meditationexpert.com and he had a nice piece on stretching. Here's the best section of it: Learning yoga or Pilates with videos and dvds is a great way to start stretching your whole body, getting in shape and help with dealing with learning how to sit cross-legged in meditation. No, yoga is not meditation itself but the flexibility exercises will help in all sorts of beneficial ways. Meditation-wise, by stretching the body and even-ing its chi flow, you help cultivate a stable personality and emotions that makes it easier to succeed on the path. Here's the real key, though, and the reason that learning martial arts can also help you cultivate. People often wonder why, and here's the real reason from Master Nan: Practicing martial arts or stretching exercises makes it much easier for you to succeed than an ordinary person simply because you'll already open some of your chi channels through the practice, and if they're open and you're healthy, it's then easier to conquer sexual desire. As a result, then it's easier to practice meditation "without leakage" and open all the unopened chi channels whereupon you'll be able to experience a taste of emptiness and can experientially realize the real meaning of Buddha's enlightenment teachings. Emphasis added. Interesting stuff. Reading Advanced Yoga Practices opened my eyes to this effect and now before I do any practice, I'll do a bit of stretching just to help open the channels first. The AYP mini stretch workout is to touch the toes, to arch back, to look right and left, to do a vaccuum breath or two and then you are set for energy practice and/or meditation.

Pietro, From what I can tell, the pro-juicers say that juicing is easier to digest and assimilate the nutrients esp if there's any digestive weakness or sickness. So it's better for healing, purifying, and fasting. Juicing may well taste better, and thus be more sustainable of a habit. And it's cheaper to buy a juicer over a blender that'll actually work. The pro-blenders say that you get extra fiber which is good for you and there may be some nutrients that are attached to the fiber, so you get those too. Plus you don't have as much work to clean. Blenders seem to be in the lead here on taobums. That's all I've been able to glean. I think I'll pick up Trunk's blender and get to the bottom of this debate. I'm sure it varies per person, like in your situation. -Yoda It's very odd that I'm learning about this raw food thing right now, btw. I feel like I should have picked this up in 5th grade. That's why we have taobums, of course. When we die and come back, we can pick up where we left off minus a decade or two.

I'll get one soon, then. Thanks for the review. btw, I was looking at 'we want to live' on amazon and check it out, the sequel is our very own Ken Cohen's favorite book ever written: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188935684...glance&n=283155 (it's the only one he's ever reviewed, so I'm calling it.) related link: http://www.karlloren.com/diet/p52.htm

Keith, Cam refuses to try carrots on his machine, but let me just doublecheck--it can do a smooth job on carrots? Not grainy? I'm stoked if I only have to pay $170!! Mrs Yoda will still register disapointment, but she won't think that I've totally lost my mind! -Yoda edit: www.discountjuicers.com is a good product review site. Keith's blender made the short list. It looks like I won't need to spend $400 for my purposes. But they straddle the fence on the juicer vs blender issue and seem to imply that juicing is superior in several ways, especially those who are may have fasting motivations. Given that and the fact that a good juicer is $35 including shipping (the refurbished Waring Pro on amazon) , juicing may be the right way to start and then get a blender down the road.

Keith, What model? Have you tried it with veggies? What do you think? Thanks for the links, y'all. I'm embarrassed by missing the boat on this whole raw thing until now. 2006 really has turned out to be a 'back to the basics' year for me! -Yoda

I think that there's yin and yang to getting the job done, and the business plan, focused desire, "bodhisattva fever" etc is the yang part. I think that the yin part is the relaxing and allowing things to just chill and not need to change one single bit--like the Lao Tzu quote. Too much in either direction and you can get stuck.

It's sort of like driving a car. Now you can drive it effortlessly and without intention like the above quote, but at one point you had to learn and that took some focus, practice, and desireful intent. He's talking about what it's like to be on top of the mountain, but not so much how he got there. Ramana Maharishi and E. Tolle sort of just woke up at the top of the mountain one fine day so they focus on the view but not the path. That kind of teaching while "true" has a very limited ability to get you anywhere.

Wow! Now *that's* inspiring!

My Mom could use one too. (just kidding, Mom)

I don't have an ab wheel, but I think I can check it out w/o. Sounds like another cool drill!