It is with great sadness and heartbreak that I heard of the passing of one of my life’s Angels, Stuart Wilde, Wizard Extraodinaire.

Stui was the first person that I met of incredible realised beauty. His was a beauty that came from being unconditionally, his authentic self, no edits and adulterations, no apologies nor adjustments made to gain approval. That courage to live without a mask, no matter what the consequences, created a radiant, precious and rare light.

He was a mystic with incredible gifts, the Merlin of his age whose ability to travel interdimensionally throughout the realms of this world were exceptional. A sage and teacher to many; he said what most would not have dared to say and foretold much of what is now happening in the world today as a result of darkness, greed and fear running the planet.

He was deeply irreverent in the best of ways, standing up to confront pretender powers, false authority figures and abusers. A champion of courage, truth, tenderness and beauty; he was undoubtedly an empowerer of humanity and dedicated servant of the divine feminine and Big Universal LOVE.

Such wonderful mischief; he was the funniest man I have ever met … playful , cheeky, witty, a sacred clown and self described “merry scamp”  full of glee who would have most of us rolling in the aisles, tickled to the core by his perception of  the robotic consciousness in the mainstream world he called Tic Toc.

If you have not read a Stuart Wilde book you might want to consider giving yourself that gift.

It is said that people come into your life for a reason, season or lifetime. His passing has made me realise that one category has been left out;

Many Reasons, Many Seasons and Many Lifetimes.

Beautiful Stui,

Too many words are needed and there will never be enough to capture your spirit and my love for you.

I am grateful for the precious memories and amazing connection with you beyond worlds.

May I live up to the path that you helped me discover.

My Eternal Love for My Eternal Friend,

See You Down the Rabbit Hole,  Amongst the Stars in the Fiery Field of Unconditional Love xxx

For you Stui …“Somebody loves you more than you know …”

Stuart Wilde : September 24, 1946 – May 1, 2013

Stuart passed away from a heart attack after his final meditation on a mountain top in Ireland.

It’s Not a Fairytale: Seattle to Build Nation’s First Food Forest.

The city’s new park will be filled with edible plants, and everything from pears to herbs will be free for the taking.

Seattle’s new food forest aims to be an edible wilderness. Seattle’s vision of an urban food oasis is going forward. A seven-acre plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood will be planted with hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees; blueberry and raspberry bushes; fruit trees, including apples and pears; exotics like pineapple, yuzu citrus, guava, persimmons, honeyberries, and lingonberries; herbs; and more. All will be available for public plucking to anyone who wanders into the city’s first food forest.

“This is totally innovative, and has never been done before in a public park,” Margarett Harrison, lead landscape architect for the Beacon Food Forest project. Harrison is working on construction and permit drawings now and expects to break ground this summer.

The concept of a food forest certainly pushes the envelope on urban agriculture and is grounded in the concept of permaculture, which means it will be perennial and self-sustaining, like a forest is in the wild. Not only is this forest Seattle’s first large-scale permaculture project, but it’s also believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

“The concept means we consider the soils, companion plants, insects, bugs—everything will be mutually beneficial to each other,” says Harrison.

That the plan came together at all is remarkable on its own. What started as a group project for a permaculture design course ended up as a textbook example of community outreach gone right.

“Friends of the Food Forest undertook heroic outreach efforts to secure neighborhood support. The team mailed over 6,000 postcards in five different languages, tabled at events and fairs, and posted fliers,” writes Robert Mellinger for Crosscut.

Neighborhood input was so valued by the organizers, they even used translators to help Chinese residents have a voice in the planning.

So just who gets to harvest all that low-hanging fruit when the time comes?

“Anyone and everyone,” says Harrison. “There was major discussion about it. People worried, ‘What if someone comes and takes all the blueberries? That could very well happen, but maybe someone needed those blueberries. We look at it this way—if we have none at the end of blueberry season, then it means we’re successful.”

By Clare Leschin-Hoar, Take Part

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

This story will warm you better than a coffee in a cold winter day

We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we’re approaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter -
‘Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended’

They pay for their order, take the two and leave. I ask my friend:

‘What are those ‘suspended’ coffees ?’

‘Wait for it and you will see’

Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made by three lawyers – three for them and four ‘suspended’.

While I still wonder what’s the deal with those ‘suspended’ coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square in front of the café. Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in through the door and kindly asks ‘Do you have a suspended coffee ?’

It’s simple – people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm beverage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich or a whole meal.

Source : Unknown

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

Step 1 … Today is the world’s first International Happiness Day, declared by the UN to signal the importance of going beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of progress. We need, says the UN, better measures of society’s real well being — including happiness.

GDP was never meant for the job. In 1934, Harvard economist and Nobel Laureate Simon Kuznets devised the measure to help the U.S. climb out of the Great Depression, but he was clear about GDP’s limits, warning congress that “the welfare of a nation can…scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income…”

How right he was. Since the 1960s, U.S. GDP per capita has doubled, but average happiness? It hasn’t budged.

Finally, people are starting to pay attention. Noting what a poor guide GDP has been, an international movement is underway to create metrics of progress that incorporate multi-faceted well being. And, it could be game changer, if you consider this finding of the Gallup Millennium World Survey: Polling almost 60,000 people in 60 countries, Gallup ranked ten things that matter most to people. At the top were health, a happy family life, and a job, while “Standard of Living” — what the GDP supposedly captures — was one of the least important.

Leading the movement to remake what we measure has been the tiny, mountainous Asian nation of Bhutan, population of 740,000. Its goal is “Gross National Happiness.” Six weeks ago, as a member of a UN-promoted International Expert Group for a New Development Paradigm, I traveled to Bhutan where, with a couple dozen others invited from around the world, I deliberated on how to measure wellbeing.

Why Bhutan?

In 2005, after the Fourth King relinquished the throne to his son and instituted a British-style parliamentary democracy, Bhutan began in earnest to build the world’s first Gross National Happiness Index — a comprehensive approach to measuring well-being that includes not only psychological well-being (life satisfaction, emotions, and spirituality) but also subjective assessments in eight other “domains” that include health, education, good governance, and ecological diversity and resilience. Five years later a Bhutan survey found 41 percent of its people happy, meaning they’d attained “sufficiency” in two-thirds of (weighted) indicators, such as work, literacy and housing. Only 10 percent were “unhappy.”

Then, in 2011, Bhutan took leadership on the world stage. In July it sponsored, with 68 co-sponsors, UN resolution 65/309, “Happiness: Towards a Holistic Approach to Development,” which flatly stated that GDP doesn’t reflect the goal of “happiness” and declares that a “more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach is needed…”

UN General Assembly adopted the resolution by consensus and invited member states to take action. So in New York City last spring Bhutan hosted a meeting on new wellbeing indicators, attracting 800 enthusiastic attendees and exceeding all expectations.

Already, a number of countries, including Canada and France “have added measures of citizen happiness to their official national statistics.” Just one year ago, Japan launched its first Quality of Life Survey that leads off with “a sense of happiness.” Italy is also a leader, in part using online consultations with citizens to develop twelve domains for measuring well-being, including health and the environment, along with specific indicators like “quality of urban air.”

Here in the U.S., two state governments, Maryland and Minnesota, have gotten serious about happiness — generating more realistic, comprehensive measures of progress. Maryland’s Genuine Progress Indicator both subtracts and adds about two dozen things that GDP doesn’t capture: from, on the negative side, the costs of lost leisure time (as much as $12.5 billion a year), pollution clean-up and crime to, on the positive side, the value of volunteer work.

And in 2011 the city of Somerville in Greater Boston became the first U.S. metropolitan to survey its residents on their happiness and wellbeing — finding, among many discoveries, that the city’s “beauty and physical setting” are “relatively important” in how residents value Somerville.

On the first International Day of Happiness we must celebrate as it is most definitely a step in the right direction.

Let’s also stop to ask ourselves … Isn’t is absurd that we allocate just one day a year to Happiness and one to Peace?

Perhaps it is time to have a UN International Day of War & Arguing ?  Then we might start making some real progress then.

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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“To look good and feel good is work. To look great and feel great is a full-time job. There is no cheating! It’s daily! Minute-by-minute, second-by-second. This is the process I love and love to work at. The reward is liking myself and living a creative life. I will turn 90 on April 4 and hope I can still create this in 10 years time.

Life in itself is a challenge and you can either, accept it and take action, or you can sit and do nothing. My advice is there is only one winner: accept the challenge, take action and get on with your life no matter what age.

I’m not aware of being 90. I’m aware of feeling physically as good as I have ever felt and mentally even better. I practice dance and workout every day. This body has to know who’s boss and being 90 and feeling 20 is as good as it gets! People ask me all the time what’s my secret. I tell them move, learn and listen.

The reward is a healthy body and mind. I’m totally selfish in that me and my body and mind are one. We are partners and we work play and live as one. So if that is so, we can’t sit around and think about tomorrow. Our body and mind has to be trained from the first breath, otherwise it’s down hill all the way. Numbers and dwelling on age is a trap. There is no age, it’s living each moment to it’s fullest.

That’s what I did!”

Phyllis Sues Bio :

Phyllis Sues was born in New York City on April 4th, 1923. At the age of 14, Phyllis had her first ballet lesson and from that day on, she knew dance was for her. In 1941, Phyllis performed as a Spanish dancer in a USO tour for the Air Corps. From 1942 to 1948 she performed in five long-run Broadway shows and also danced with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. In 1948, Phyllis met performer and dancer, Donald Weissmuller. They were a successful dance duo and toured the world. In 1953, Phyllis married comic actor, Alan Sues and they performed together in comedy sketches in New York and Los Angeles. Phyllis continued to dance on TV until 1968. After moving to LA, with former late husband, Alan Sues, Phyllis started designing her own line of women’s high fashion sportswear. Her company ran for 22 years, under her own label.

In 2003, the passion of her life gave birth to music. Her instrument, the piano. Her genres, Jazz and Tango. Not only did Phyllis learn to dance the Tango at 83, she also composed and produced her own music. Phyllis brought together an extraordinary group of musicians including, Pablo Motta, Coco Trivisonno, Ronnie Manaog, Marcello Caceras and Chris Trujillo, and at 87, produced six beautiful Tangos and debuted her CD “Tango Insomnia.” Phyllis also produced a Jazz CD entitled, “Scenes of Passion” which she also performs on piano and sings vocals with Scarlet Rouge.

Now, at 89, Phyllis dances with her teacher and dance partner; performing in shows and competing. She is inspiring audiences and dancers nationwide. Phyllis practices Yoga everyday, which she started at age 85. Yoga helps her maintain the balance, core strength and elasticity, she needs to continue dancing. Phyllis is currently working on her new CD. Her music is available on iTunes, CD Baby and Amazon.

More information www.phyllissues.com

Let’s Tell a Better World Story

The Delight Makers first project, A Thousand Grandparents & Bed Time Stories, is designed as a Gift of Love for the World’s Children. It is an opportunity for young people to experience wisdom and inspiration from many sources, and to validate all cultures and peoples of the world as keepers of treasure for the unfolding spirit of humanity.

A short introduction about “A Thousand Grandparents & Bedtime Stories” by Samantha
(Founder of The Delightmakers)

To find out more about A Thousand Grandparents & Bed Time Stories please Click the Button below:

Bed Time Stories

About the The Delight Makers :

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

Become A Champion of Delight

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One young man went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the initial interview, and now would meet the director for the final interview.

The director discovered from his CV that the youth’s academic achievements were excellent. He asked, “Did you obtain any scholarships in school?” the youth answered “no”.

“Was it your father who paid for your school fees?”

“My father passed away when I was one year old, it was my mother who paid for my school fees.” he replied.

“Where did your mother work?”

“My mother worked as clothes cleaner.”

The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

“Have you ever helped your mother wash the clothes before?”

“Never, my mother always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, my mother can wash clothes faster than me.”

The director said, “I have a request. When you go home today, go and clean your mother’s hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.”

The youth felt that his chance of landing the job was high. When he went back home, he asked his mother to let him clean her hands. His mother felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, she showed her hands to her son.

The youth cleaned his mother’s hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his mother’s hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in her hands. Some bruises were so painful that his mother winced when he touched it.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fees. The bruises in the mother’s hands were the price that the mother had to pay for his education, his school activities and his future.

After cleaning his mother hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for his mother.

That night, mother and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the director’s office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth’s eyes, when he asked: “Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?”

The youth answered,“I cleaned my mother’s hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes”

“I know now what appreciation is. Without my mother, I would not be who I am today. By helping my mother, only now do I realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done on your own. And I have come to appreciate the importance and value of helping one’s family.”

The director said, “This is what I am looking for in a manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life.”

“You are hired.”

This young person worked very hard, and received the respect of his subordinates. Every employee worked diligently and worked as a team. The company’s performance improved tremendously.

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop an “entitlement mentality” and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent’s efforts. When he starts work, he assumes that every person must listen to him, and when he becomes a manager, he would never know the sufferings of his employees and would always blame others. For this kind of people, who may be good academically, they may be successful for a while, but eventually they would not feel a sense of achievement. They will grumble and be full of hatred and fight for more. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying our children instead?

You can let your child live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch on a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow gray, same as the mother of that young person. The most important thing is your child learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

Try to forward this story to as many as possible…this may change somebody’s fate.

Let’s Tell a Better World Story

The Delight Makers first project, A Thousand Grandparents & Bed Time Stories, is designed as a Gift of Love for the World’s Children. It is an opportunity for young people to experience wisdom and inspiration from many sources, and to validate all cultures and peoples of the world as keepers of treasure for the unfolding spirit of humanity.

A short introduction about “A Thousand Grandparents & Bedtime Stories” by Samantha
(Founder of The Delightmakers)

To find out more about A Thousand Grandparents & Bed Time Stories please Click the Button below:

Bed Time Stories

About the The Delight Makers :

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

Become A Champion of Delight

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From an interview with Oscar Winning film Director Ang Lee  on staying true to our dreams …

“In 1978, as I applied to study film at the University of Illinois, my father vehemently objected. He quoted me a statistic: ‘Every year, 50,000 performers compete for 200 available roles on Broadway.’ Against his advice, I boarded a flight to the U.S. This strained our relationship. In the two decades following, we exchanged less than a hundred phrases in conversation.

Some years later, when I graduated film school, I came to comprehend my father’s concern. It was nearly unheard of for a Chinese newcomer to make it in the American film industry. Beginning in 1983, I struggled through six years of agonizing, hopeless uncertainty. Much of the time, I was helping film crews with their equipment or working as editor’s assistant, among other miscellaneous duties. My most painful experience involved shopping a screenplay at more than thirty different production companies, and being met with harsh rejection each time.

That year, I turned 30. There’s an old Chinese saying: ‘At 30, one stands firm.’ Yet, I couldn’t even support myself. What could I do? Keep waiting, or give up my movie-making dream? My wife gave me invaluable support.

My wife was my college classmate. She was a biology major, and after graduation, went to work for a small pharmaceutical research lab. Her income was terribly modest. At the time, we already had our elder son, Haan, to raise. To appease my own feelings of guilt, I took on all housework – cooking, cleaning, taking care of our son – in addition to reading, reviewing films and writing scripts. Every evening after preparing dinner, I would sit on the front steps with Haan, telling him stories as we waited for his mother – the heroic huntress – to come home with our sustenance (income).

This kind of life felt rather undignified for a man. At one point, my in-laws gave their daughter (my wife) a sum of money, intended as start-up capital for me to open a Chinese restaurant – hoping that a business would help support my family. But my wife refused the money. When I found out about this exchange, I stayed up several nights and finally decided: This dream of mine is not meant to be. I must face reality.

Afterward (and with a heavy heart), I enrolled in a computer course at a nearby community college. At a time when employment trumped all other considerations, it seemed that only a knowledge of computers could quickly make me employable. For the days that followed, I descended into malaise. My wife, noticing my unusual demeanor, discovered a schedule of classes tucked in my bag. She made no comment that night.

The next morning, right before she got in her car to head off to work, my wife turned back and – standing there on our front steps – said, ‘Ang, don’t forget your dream.’

And that dream of mine – drowned by demands of reality – came back to life. As my wife drove off, I took the class schedule out of my bag and slowly, deliberately tore it to pieces. And tossed it in the trash.

Sometime after, I obtained funding for my screenplay, and began to shoot my own films. And after that, a few of my films started to win international awards. Recalling earlier times, my wife confessed, ‘I’ve always believed that you only need one gift. Your gift is making films. There are so many people studying computers already, they don’t need an Ang Lee to do that. If you want that golden statue, you have to commit to the dream.’

And today, I’ve finally won that golden statue. I think my own perseverance and my wife’s immeasurable sacrifice have finally met their reward. And I am now more assured than ever before: I must continue making films.”

Let’s Tell a Better World Story

The Delight Makers first project, A Thousand Grandparents & Bed Time Stories, is designed as a Gift of Love for the World’s Children. It is an opportunity for young people to experience wisdom and inspiration from many sources, and to validate all cultures and peoples of the world as keepers of treasure for the unfolding spirit of humanity.

A short introduction about “A Thousand Grandparents & Bedtime Stories” by Samantha
(Founder of The Delightmakers)

To find out more about A Thousand Grandparents & Bed Time Stories please Click the Button below:

Bed Time Stories

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

Become A Champion of Delight

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Human beings have been campaigning against inequality and poverty for 3,000 years. But this journey is accelerating. Bono shares inspiring data that shows the end of poverty is in sight … if we can harness the momentum.

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

Become A Champion of Delight

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Thank you again to all those who have helped us to this point … Good News for all those who wish to support us from here on in … you write your donations off against your tax bill

What a process !

Getting your government to validate you as a charity is one thing. We understand that they need make sure you are true in your intentions. However, once you have been validated and made an officially registered charity you are then made to jump through more administration before they will let you be a tax beneficiary.

Why is a mystery to us as it must cost tax payers vast amounts of money to put more administration on to an already long and costly process. It’s a wonder that any new organisation ever gets off the ground.

We made it …

You can make direct donations to The Delight Maker Foundation

It says something about where we’ve come as a society that the simple act of fixing something that’s broken is considered a revolutionary act. Yet here we are. It’s cheaper and easier to buy a new toaster, lamp, printer, or chair than it is to mend the one you have when it breaks — never mind that you may already be jonesing for an upgrade.

For 80 years or so, planned obsolescence has been the dirty little engine that drives our consumer economy. Today the members of a nascent fixer movement say it’s been long enough.

In 2010 in the Netherlands, disgust with Europe’s throw-away culture led former journalist and new mom Martine Postma to stage the first Repair Café, an event where members of the community could drop by with defunct items they would otherwise have thrown away, and have them repaired free of charge by volunteer fix-it experts.

Since then, Postma’s concept has thrived. Almost 40 groups across the Netherlands have started their own Repair Cafés to date, and the Repair Café Foundation has brought in over $500,000 from the Dutch government and other sources to support its operations.
In addition to fixing what’s broken, the collective encourages acts of creative transformation

Held in community centers, auditoriums, and coworking spaces, Repair Cafés are practical but also social events. Part of the mission is teaching repair skills, which are lost quickly, so people who bring in broken items are asked to be active participants in their repair. People with nothing to fix can enjoy a cup of coffee and read from a selection of DIY books — or just watch as fixers try their best with an assortment of broken bicycles, kettles, printers, toys, holey sweaters, fritzing hair dryers, and lightless lamps.

The Repair Café foundation makes information available to groups in the Netherlands who want to start their own Repair Cafés, and it’s working on translating the material for the use of groups in other countries, including the United States. But a few stateside groups have already coalesced around the environmental — and social — benefits of fixing.

The West Seattle Fixers Collective, an offshoot of the West Seattle Tool Library, holds Repair Café-like meetings for projects that range from “re-sewing umbrellas to “repairing kitchen mixers, laptops, espresso makers, desk lamps and even a few antiques.”

The New York City-based Fixers Collective has been holding events since 2008 — like the Repair Cafés of the Netherlands, it was an offshoot of an art installation based on the idea of mending — at Proteus Gowanus, a sprawling gallery and reading room in Brooklyn. Tamara Pittman, a cofounder of Fixers Collective, called the project “a reaction to the economic downturn that had just happened.”

But the Collective has thrived in (slightly) better economic times. Typically, its monthly meetings attract 10 to 15 visitors with broken goods.

Pittman said that over the years, finding skilled fixers to staff the meetings hasn’t been a problem. “More people come in who are good at fixing things than people who have something to fix,” she explained. Different regulars have different areas of expertise, with electronics, computers, sewing, and woodworking all covered.

In addition to fixing what’s broken, the collective encourages acts of creative transformation — “you know, like, ‘I wanna take my high heels and make them into flats, or turn my salad spinner into a lampshade,’” Pittman said. “Some very creative fixes have been invented around that table.”

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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Photo credit Lu Feng

Here’s a little story about a remarkable bird with a lot of brains (and heart!):

A black swan feeds its fish friends every day to the amazement of passers by at a Safari Park in Shenzhen City, China. The swan picks up the feed and takes it to the mouths of the waiting fish. They became close friends after 3 years of playing together.

Every time they come to feed the swan, all the fish follow him to the bank, with mouths open and he takes the food and puts some into each of the hungry mouths. When everyone has eaten enough, the swan goes back onto the water and plays with his fish friends again.

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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Jadav “Molai” Payeng started his project 30 years ago when he was still a teenager. Then, in 1979, flood waters washed a large number of snakes ashore on the local sandbar in Jorhat, some 350 km from Guwahati. When the waters receded, Payneg (who was 16 at the time) noticed the reptiles had died due to a lack of forestry.

“The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested,” said Payeng, who is now 47, to The Times of India.

Payeng chose to live on the sandbar, starting a life of isolation as he began work to create a new forest. Planting the seeds by hand, watering the plants in the morning and evening, and pruning them when required, he cultivated a huge natural reserve. After a few years, the sandbar was transformed into a bamboo thicket.

“I then decided to grow proper trees. I collected and planted them. I also transported red ants from my village, and was stung many times. Red ants change the soil’s properties . That was an experience,” Payeng recalled.

Over the years, the reserve has seen a huge variety of flora and fauna blossom on the sandbar, including endangered animals like the one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger. “After 12 years, we’ve seen vultures. Migratory birds, too, have started flocking here. Deer and cattle have attracted predators,” claims Payeng . Unfortunately, locals reportedly killed a rhino which was seen in his forest, something that Payeng clearly disapproves of. Nature has made a food chain; why can’t we stick to it?  Who would protect these animals if we, as superior beings, start hunting them?”

Amazingly, the Assam state forest department only learnt about Payeng’s forest in 2008 when a herd of some 100 wild elephants strayed into it after marauding through villages nearby. It was then that assistant conservator of forests Gunin Saikia met Payeng for the first time.

“We were surprised to find such a dense forest on the sandbar. Locals, whose homes had been destroyed by the pachyderms, wanted to cut down the forest, but Payeng dared them to kill him instead. He treats the trees and animals like his own children. Seeing this, we, too, decided to pitch in,” says Saikia. “We’re amazed at Payeng. He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero.”

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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The Delight Makers is a Social Enterprise and Charity that is Governed by Love.

This means that we place people and planet before profit. Our intention is to create projects that will help move all of us toward a planet that is Governed by Love. We want to see Love at the heart of education, health care, food production, business, community, environment, animal welfare; basically every aspect of life. We want to see Love and service at the centre of government at all levels, local to international.

We have all witnessed the result of a world where Love has been side-lined, forgotten, invalidated and dismissed as an emotional irrelevance for centuries; the result has been violent degradition of the human spirit and the natural world. Profit, greed and accumulation of power as priorities has left us with a world where all life has been desecrated, reduced to a commodity and desecrated for the “benefit” of the few. It is time for change.

Fortunately many people throughout the world are awakening and more and more people are beginning to stand up to reclaim their power …  that power comes from our ability to choose LOVE, to act from and on behalf of LOVE, and to choose to let no false power stand in the way of our choice to Love.

IMAGINE, IMAGINE, IMAGINE

Imagine if governments could only create laws that served love
Imagine a constructive media that focused on Love and truth and positivity
Imagine is food were grown with love; no intensive farming or animal abuse
Imagine if business were run for people and nature before profit
Imagine if schools taught children how to think instead of what to think and how to love and be loved
Imagine health care, law, community protection and policing, fashion, tourism, industry, arts, the military …
Imagine a world run by Love.

How would your profession, work place, community, family … life change?

Is there something you can do now to start the shift?

As a reminder for our own governance we have  created our BIG LOVE POLICY

The 10 Delight Makers’ Commandments

1. Remember and recognise Love/Source/God in all beings; every being and everything is sacred. Remember you are Love.
2. Love; be friendly to all life, care and be kind
3. Honour all life and protect the vulnerable
4. Speak from Love; speak the truth of your heart
5. Be potent and own your power with full response-ability; give no power to false authorities, pretender powers or usurpers of personal sovereignty and your direct connection to Love/Source/God
6. Make and create from, and with, love
7. Shine; share your merits with the world for the benefit of all
8. Empower with Love; share your wisdom, experience and gifts to bring healing and liberation to the lost, confused and dis-eased
9. Appreciate and celebrate; vibrate gratitude, beauty, laughter, joy, and happiness
10. Do not desecrate or violate a single person, being or thing; do not undermine, diminish, judge or reduce a single person, being or thing to a commodity or anything less than sacred, priceless and whole.

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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In the beginning of September, Tammy Strobel and Logan Smith moved from Portland, Oregon, to a ranch in northern California. But unlike many homeowners who move, the couple did not have to put their current home on the market or pack up their belongings into moving trucks. Instead, they simply attached their 128-square-foot home (which is on wheels) to the back of a Ford F350, and drove 400 miles to its new location.

This freedom and flexibility is just one of the many benefits Strobel notes about living a simpler, debt-free life in a tiny home. Without financial stress holding them back like it had previously, they are more prepared for drastic life changes. “Jobs move, people lose jobs, people die. So how can you structure your life so that you’re more flexible and embrace the good stuff even when loss makes it really really difficult?” she asks. For her and Smith, the answer was a tiny home.

It took about five years for the couple to downsize, first moving to smaller and smaller apartments. Each time they moved into a smaller place, they got rid of more, Strobel says. And it took a lot of reminding themselves of what items they actually needed and used. “Keeping that in mind as a big picture as we moved along was super helpful,” she says. “Also, I’m always reminding myself that my relationships are more important to me than stuff.” Strobel and Smith even went as far as to sell both of their cars, which allowed them to pay off their debt faster.

It was New Year’s Eve of 2007 that they discovered a video online of Dee Williams of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and her tiny home, and Strobel knew right away that it was perfect for them considering their financial circumstances. “Our intent was to be happier, to be more engaged in our personal relationships, and to get a handle on our debt,” she says. And now, living in the tiny home, they have accomplished those goals and more.

The act of downsizing itself had enormous benefits for Strobel. “Research shows if you give money or stuff away to charity, friends or family it actually makes you happier. I was surprised, the more I gave stuff away the happier I felt,” she says. Finally freeing themselves of their financial burdens also allowed Strobel to quit her job in the social services field and pursue her writing career, something she had always wanted to do but could never afford. Now, she has been able to focus on freelance work, create e-courses, and publish her first book, “You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap): How One Woman Radically Simplified Her Life and How You Can Too.”

Strobel’s simple, debt-free lifestyle also allowed her to help her family in their time of need this past year. She was able to travel to and from Portland throughout her father’s sickness and passing.” I had the freedom and flexibility to do that,” she says. “So I think not being constrained by stuff can be a really liberating and it can allow you or others to focus on their loved ones.”

So why don’t we all follow suit? Strobel knows that living in a tiny house isn’t for everyone. But she thinks that the biggest thing holding people back from living a simpler life is the fear of what other people will think of them. “I think there’s still cultural expectations that bigger is better and if you decrease your living space or change your buying habits that you’re not as successful,” she says. But really, people should look at it as a re-prioritization of what really matters. Keep in mind what you want to do with your life, she says. “Think about who you want to spend time with, the work you want to be engaged in,” she adds. Because those things will probably be more important to you than the material goods you own.

“When you’re 80 years old, are you really going to be saying to yourself ‘Gosh i really wish i had bought that $4,000 purse or Macbook Air?’ Probably not,” Strobel challenges. “You’re going to wonder why you spent so much time working and not enough time with your family.”

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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It looks like this year’s East Coast grey seal hunt season might have already fizzled out due to a lack of markets.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada set February 28 as the official opening date, but Robert Courtenay, a spokesperson for Cape Breton sealers, told the Cape Breton Post on opening day: “We had to call everything off, so it doesn’t look good. I don’t think there will be anything going.”

Courtenay said one buyer wanted a few hundred grey seals but couldn’t wait the necessary amount of time to deal with regulatory arrangements and paperwork.

In a release, Michelle Cliffe, Canadian spokesperson for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said: “We are relieved that…the grey seal hunt for 2013 will not proceed. This is the second year in a row that lack of domestic and global demand for seal products has resulted in no hunt, clearly showing that the sealing industry is dying.”

Cliffe also stated that it appears that an unrelated proposed grey-seal cull on Sable Island is “off the table”.

Last year, only about eight grey seals died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence during a hunt that normally has a quota of more than 1,000 of the marine mammals. No animals were killed in 2012 on Cape Breton’s rocky Hay Island, a major killing ground for the seal hunters. Hay Island is off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and is part of the protected Scaterie Island Wilderness Area.

Courtenay told CBC News in March 2012: “Some years we have taken up to 1,500 animals out of that area.”

In January, Taiwan banned all marine-mammal products. At the time, that country was the world’s fourth-largest consumer of such goods. A Canada-China trade agreement that would allow export of edible seal products has not been ratified. In a January 2012 statement released prior to his China trip, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: “Our government will continue to vigorously defend this humane and highly regulated [seal] industry and to seek new international markets for Canadian seal products, including China.”

Previously, the European Union, the United States, Mexico, and the Russian Federation have banned seal products.

According to the Humane Society International, Canadian seal processors admitted in 2010 that they have hundreds of thousands of seal furs stockpiled because they are unable to find buyers.

Story : Wild Wolf Pack

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

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Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support empowering projects, such as Ocean Story, and the Beautiful Wave Maker Campaign to people around the world.

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This Story Will Touch You Most Unexpectedly

“As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn’t stop for directions.

I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch.

I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play.

The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.

And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full.

As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

Apparently, I’m still lost… It’s a man thing.”

Orginal Source : Unknown of Ireland

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq is an Eskimo-Kalaallit Elder from a long lineage of shamans, medicine men, elders and ‘carriers of the drum’ in the Far North of Greenland. The Eskimo-Kalaallit people, a peaceful culture thousands of years old, have never known war.

Angaangaq was recognized and trained by his grandmother to become the last shaman of his lineage — a role and responsibility he accepted in 2004. He has been a longtime ‘runner to the world’ of the messages of elders from tribes all around the world.

He was taught by his father that “the greatest distance in the existence of man is from his mind to his heart,” and that man must learn to conquer this distance. He was told his work would be to learn to melt the ice in the hearts of men, and to change his own ways. For him, the greatest hope for mankind is that we each learn to change ourselves to access and use our unique wisdom in the world. He encourages we walk our spiritual path “with practical feet,” and learn to bridge the gap of imbalance — both personal and global — though strength, gentleness, compassion, love, courage and grace.

Angaangaq is quoted on the effects of global warming as well as on environmental and indigenous issues, and has represented the Arctic peoples at the United Nations. He speaks before governments and universities, and in schools, prisons, senior homes and businesses. With teachings rooted in the oral tradition of his people and promoting interracial and inter-cultural harmony, he leads healing circles, intensives and traditional sweat lodges. His work has taken him to five continents and over 50 countries around the world.

His name means ‘The Man Who Looks Like His Uncle.’

Visit his website:

www.icewisdom.com

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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Billy Ray Harris, 55, has been living on the streets for many years. Recently while panhandling for change on the streets of Kansas City, Harris received an unexpected donation in his collection cup; a platinum diamond ring.

Harris had no idea who gave him the ring, which he found when he closed up shop for the day in the loose change he had earlier acquired. He assumed it was a fake, but took it to a local pawnshop to be sure. There, moments after showing the pawn broker the item, Harris was offered a cool $4,000 cash. He declined the offer, and left the store as poor as he walked in.

Harris said his grandfather raised him to be an honest man. He defended his decision to not sell the ring, “I am not trying to say that I am no saint, but I am no devil either.” He planned to keep the ring, and if the owner came back to claim it, he would return it to them no questions asked.

The next day Kansaas City resident Sarah Darling went to Billy Ray Harris’ usual begging spot, and she asked him if he had received anything unusual in his cup yesterday. Harris then immediately produced the ring, and Darling’s eyes grew large and he knew it had belonged to her.

Stunned, Sarah Darling did not expect her search to be so easy. She said to Harris, “It was just such a feeling of loss when it was gone. I am eternally grateful to you.”

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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The film speaks for itself through the open, heartfelt sharing of the profound experience and awakening from the astronauts involved in space exploration.

“Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from the outside, is available, a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose.”
Sir Fred Hoyle, 1948

Make some time to sit back and really take it in.

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

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This is a story sure to create mixed emotions about humanity. To thank oru lucky stars that we have beautiful souls still with the couragte and heart to walk the path in the face of very sick system. What on Earth are the values that would ever allow this to have occurred in the first place? Wake Up World !

The next time you catch yourself crying on a street corner, just hope that Maria Sanchez is taking clandestine photos of you.

Last week, Dave Thomas, a San Bernardino man, was briefly jailed for failure to appear in court for traffic violations, leading to the impoundment of his dog on Feb. 13.

Upon release, Buzz Lightyear, a 2-year-old pit bull mix, was waiting for him at the San Bernardino City Animal Shelter. But Thomas couldn’t pay the $400 to get his pet back, KABC reported.

Just as Thomas found out he couldn’t get his dog back, Maria Sanchez, a photographer at the shelter who happened to be watching, captured the scene on camera.

“He was pouring water into his dog’s water bowl, his dog sat there and licked up the water for about a minute, he sat down next to him and started weeping,” Sanchez told KABC.

She posted the photo to Facebook, where strangers pledged to help the man.

Since Thomas hadn’t left a phone number or a name at the facility, Sanchez needed to identify him before she could reach out.

She made phone calls and posted calls for help online. She drove around town posting flyers. She received a traffic ticket and had her car sideswiped.

All the while, donations poured in. On Monday night, KABC identified Thomas and put him in touch with Sanchez, who told him the cost of getting Buzz back was covered.

“God bless you darling,” he said over the phone.

About the The Delight Makers :

This is the first time a charity has been created to unite all of the world’s wisdoms … ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific … and share them through joy, art, beauty, love and celebration.

Our mission is to raise the consciousness of our planet in an inspiring, joyful and empowering way. If you would like to find out more about being part of our amazing community, Champions of Delight, please Click on the Button below. Your support will enable us to bring the gift of love and wisdom, through beautiful bed time stories, to children around the world, of all ages.

Become A Champion of Delight

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