Thursday, July 13, 2017

NEW PODCAST Preparing A People

We're pleased that Shawn Littlebear, an LDS Medicine Man from Oklahoma & Chad Daybell (author, publisher & speaker) are joining together to share some great news at this Conference!  Not only did Chad's new Book, "Living on the Edge of Heaven" just come out in May about his life, lessons, and what his ancestors have taught him along the way, but both these natural Storytellers have several more exciting things to explore and share.

Hear from Chad Daybell here:  http://preparingapeople.podomatic.com



Mike & Nancy James just filmed footage from Shawn's Hometown & Native American Pow Wows in Oklahoma just 2 weeks ago. Come experience sacred stories from converts, missionaries, the Oklahoma Temple, and gatherings few of us have experienced.


Also speaking at the conference will be David Warwick, Shelle McDermott, Jon Miller, Pamela Romney Openshaw, Julie Rowe, Rod Meldrum and other surprise Video Testimonies.  Find more about each speaker at:  www.PreparingAPeople.com

DISCOUNT TICKET PRICES until June 30th -  $40  (normal price $50)

Ticket price includes A BUFFET LUNCH catered by BYU Idaho.
WEBCAST will be available for Purchase within a week of the Event at a Discount.

Buy Tickets at: www.PreparingAPeople.com/events
www.preparingapeople.com

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Miracles in Hawaii



Mike & I felt grateful to go to Hawaii a few months ago. It was a “Dream Come True” for both of us in some interesting ways. I was able to go to Hawaii 3 previous times:


1)  In 1981, I toured with the BYU Folkdancers as their Fiddler, after performances in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, & Hawaii. Experiences from that amazing experience may be forthcoming, because of a seeming disaster that took place right before I was to play on National Television. 

2) My sisters and I, our brother Ben & his wife, Heather, went to the Philippines to pick up my parents after they served a mission there from 1995-1997. That was an blessing from heaven at the time, and a sacrifice, just previous to a great upheaval in my life. Of course, I didn't know that this upheaval would set me on a course to bring me to greater desires of my heart. One of those was my marriage to Mike, who had been a dear friend of my close sister and her husband for over 15 years. In fact, my Thai restaurant was just a few blocks below where they lived for 5 years, and I now get to live 5 houses away from that dear sister and her family now.

3) My mother turned 88 this past October. 16. In Oct. 2007 for her birthday, she wanted to take all of her 11 living children & spouses on a Cruise to the Hawaiian Islands. Our oldest sister had passed away a couple of years earlier. A sister-in-law had special travel-agent privileges, so we all went, in spite of a huge incident that one of my sons had just experienced, which almost killed the trip for me.I went in faith, because there was nothing I could do to help if I had stayed home. I got to room with my mother, and I will always treasure memories of her praying out loud when she thought I was asleep. I know she has the Lord's ear!

Back to Hawaii 2016: This trip represented a Leap-of-Faith type adventure, through several adversities & lots of unknowns. We both knew that many miracles manifest themselves because we just went ahead on some fumes of faith, just as happened with our trip to Ireland and Israel several years ago. This pattern has given us more courage to just bull forward when we both have a witness that we are to do something important, (but doesn’t seem so important at the time). What ensued were a lot of little miracles, that became huge to us!

I have always loved the Spirit of the Polynesian People, as well as all indigenous peoples. My great-grandparents were some of the first LDS Missionaries in Samoa in 1898, just a month or so after being married. It was a huge ordeal to travel half-way around the world on a train to San Francisco, then to the Hawaiian Islands, and to Samoa, among other stops. Our family had a Family Reunion up in Afton, Wyoming last summer where these Great-Grandparents had lived and left from to go to Samoa. My, were they hardy folk. Perhaps I will tell some tales of their escapades with Butch Cassidy, and some other bank robbers in later blogs.

We didn't get to visit all the major islands this last trip, as I had with some of my best friends in the whole world: brothers and sisters in all ways. We stayed in Oahu. It just so happened that my brother and his wife just happened to fly in the very same day, without even knowing until just days before. More miracles followed with our time together, and it was a blessing in so many ways.

Every trip though whets the appetite for more….more of the Aloha Spirit! I have studied and read many books and sacred teachings about ancient Hawaiian spirituality and history. I love the word "Aloha" and how "Ha" represents "the breath of life." But as in many things, I knew there was much more!

When we went to Hawaii, I hadn’t yet read a book by what turned out to be, the husband of a friend of mine! He spent a good deal of time there on a Mormon (LDS) Mission, and is a more insightful introduction to things that my heart had learned over the years about Hawaii and what “Aloha” and the Breath of Life means. The book is called “The Way of Aloha: Lana’i.” See it here: https://smile.amazon.com/Way-Aloha-Lanai-Cameron-Taylor-ebook/dp/B0182N223E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495644312&sr=8-1&keywords=the+way+of+aloha

I will share more about some of my own miracles experienced in Hawaii in my next blog or two. We just recently moved some of our business and operations to another state, and it was so interesting that we met up with the author Cameron Taylor and his wife, because we didn’t even know they had moved to the same area a few years ago! I raised my boys literally 3 houses away from them, and it was a heart-felt reunion of friendship…and so much more. We were gifted "The Way of Aloha: Lana’i ," and the gift is so much more than the book! I wondered why just the Island of Lana’i was named in Cameron’s first book title. That was the beginning of his real learning the ancient ways and spiritual truths that will help restore many sacred things in our future. His teacher there was a kindly, wise “Kahuna” (Hawaiian Elder and carrier of the ancient stories and sacred ways of Zion, unity with our Creator, Nature, and respect for all life).

The good news, is that Cameron is working on other books, one for each island! Once you have read his first book, the others will probably beckon you the same way most people have felt beckoned by the Hawaiian Islands. Why else would it be the #1 destination to visit or vacation in all of the United States, year after year? There is a “deep magic” there, as C.S. Lewis called those soul-inspiring truths that keep calling after our spirits and hearts over and over again. Does your curiosity call to you to explore those things like they do to me? What I like about my journey in life, is that every country and culture has treasures to be cherished and discovered. Each strand, each thread of beauty will one day be woven into the beautiful tapestry this Earth School was designed to be. If there is a design, there is a Designer. I know it. I marvel at the never-ending “MORE” available, the ever-expanding adventure we all call “Life.”  

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Tears or Fears?


How many of us remember the new wave, punk group "Tears for Fears" of the 1980's? The younger generation may not, but some have discovered they love the free-feeling in their songs that make you want to "cast your cares away" and take a drive down the California Coast. Most of the younger generation probably have heard of their songs. They weren't a favorite of mine really, but those of us who grew up in the 80's, remember pop songs from the radio, like "Shout," & "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

Does Private Virtue Matter in the Public Arena?

Do each of us have a Sell-Out Point

when we compromise our Integrity for Gain?

I never saw their video "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" until I looked it up to reference in this blog, and I wasn't one to really remember words to songs I didn't really want to learn,  because it was not so easy for me.  I found their songs' opening "statement" interesting considering many of our current affairs:

"Welcome to your life
There's no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find You acting on your best behavior
Turn your back on mother nature
Everybody wants to rule the world."

Every day now, we enter into news of so many war zones of various types: World Wars, Human Slavery in all its forms (human trafficking, economic slavery, food shortages & control of populations through countries' policies & politic, addictions, break-down of family centers and relationship) and much more. When we tune into the news, what percentage of it do you experience with positive or inspirational content to uplift, inspire and instill trust within our Human Family? 

How many of you feel you have witnessed a break-down of society in general and specifically, are feeling we are on a slippery slope toward a propped-up world of illusion that has to come down at some point? How are we "doing reality" like in all the "reality TV" shows? Where are you in the "Normalcy Bias" we have grown up in? As news keeps getting more outrageous, and people seem to be buying into the constant need to satisfy their curiosity to tune into the frenzied Social Media discussions, protests, shootings and hedging for media attention or money, where will all this spin end up? Division is happening. Are our Tears for Fears? Or are we numbing out?

Isn't it interesting that with the advent of this phenomenon, there is born another generation of titillating news to spin off "reality," which has spun out of control to the point that it is difficult for even masters at discernment to know what is fake news, and what is not. Do we choose to continue supporting and buying into this track of thinking or living, which, when the bridge is blown, makes us believe our only choice is to stay on this train because that is all we know? What, if any, is a better alternate Game Plan? Do you have one?

Over 20 years ago, I had a Master Teacher, Mentor and Great Human Being tell me "If you know that an oncoming train has so much money, power and weight behind it, why would you want to stand in front of it, thinking you can do anything to stop it?" Well, logic says it would be stupid. What is a good alternative, when so many of us have a gut feeling that what once seemed stable and "normal" is running a track even faster than we can keep "track" off?  (...pun intended. 😝)

One Chinese man did just that: he stood in the middle of the oncoming line of Tanks during 1989 Uprising in China's Tiananmen Square. Then the massacre took place. Most of us have forgotten this great act of courage, because it didn't change our lives any. Did we have Tears for their Fears? Many paid with their lives to stand up to obvious tyranny.

I still believe in the power of one! I know that any positive ripple of good can keep rippling, and keep blessing, maybe in never-ending ways! That concept is encapsulated in each new little life that begins with the conception of each human being. I could never look at a fertilized embryo as a piece of protoplasm to just "be managed" as if there were no miracle behind the majesty, that something so tiny (and if protected, nurtured and mentored), couldn't change our world! Look at the ONE in these pictures, and tell me this obscure Chinese man didn't matter. Each human being IS a world without end...and a CHANGE AGENT for good!
Photo by Jeff Widener - Associate Press

Why else would we learn about "great" human beings who gave their contributions to us? What if we all chose to believe EVERY human being is great? Every time we touch a light-switch, (for the most part), there is instant LIGHT! Now, from space, we see a grand network of lights at night, all across our world. That light provides infinite possibilities for further expansion and innovation, doubling our hours of operation as societies, countries, cultures and progress! OR, people can use their wills to do harm in light or darkness. Still, it doesn't negate those like Tesla (and Edison, who gets most the credit), gave a contribution that changed the world for good. Steve Jobs did that with Technology.

So, electric light and any technology can be used for good....or not! We as human beings, determine how that goes with resources entrusted to us by a Creator. If you don't believe in one (A Creator), then what are you?  We all create...and I buy into the vision of knowledge and empowerment to become greater at it (creating) as we learn and grow! We all have TIME to use for good...or not. Fair enough? It's our choice!

The easiest way for me to explain morality (our points of choice) is this: To be a moral person is to choose to HELP, not HURT.  Every choice can atleast determine what our Intentions are, or allow our pure, child selves, to operate in our highest wholeness. Most don't DO attributes we don't know, until we practice doing those higher attributes we come to know...and love. Isn't it common sense to assign value to our world, our experiences, our relationships, material contributions, and each of our creations? We are practicing. So why the Tears, or Fears? (I'm speaking as almost an expert of both...lol).

Could it be, that it's ALL good!?  Of course, we all make mistakes...but for me, that is why I came to mortality. If we did want to practice making choices in order to learn Wisdom, why do we bellyache when we ourselves, buy into a narrative that may or may not align with self-evident truth? Where did we sell out what our inner-knowingness was trying to tell us? Wisdom for me, has been choosing courage to move forward helping in this world. I choose to see my value, beauty and growth, as well as that in others. I choose to own my path and my creation. I inherited many "Tears WITH FEARS" that came by my parents' or other' experience, but as I have been able to identify my own scripts, tapes, mind-traps, or "stinkin' thinkin'" I have always wanted to overcome those parts of myself that even I don't like. 

So, why do most of us keep "acting out?" Why do we keep acting up, reacting, knee-jerking, etc. etc. etc.? Because we are still KIDS....that is, until we're NOT! Or, maybe it's because we GET ATTENTION, or expect OTHERS to take responsibility for our hurts, deeply-held beliefs that don't seem to be serving our lives very well! In all of the confusion most of us encounter with the "Pecking Orders of the World" (a whole other series of BLOGS), maybe, just maybe we choose NOT to have the courage to really look at it impersonally. We have chosen to be VICTIMS!

Well, is God a victim? If we have Heavenly Parents, and if they are complete, and whole through a process THEY went through (which archetype stands true for any great human being: they had parents who chose to take responsibility for their own lives, creation, choices, etc. no matter their circumstances)! Some did better than others. Where can any of us say that something is NOT possible, if time were not an issue? Frankly, perhaps being gifted with time on this beautiful earth (are we the ones who make it ugly?), is actually merciful. We are mortal, and we all get tired. I'm thankful for sleep at night, to reset, and try again another day. Ouch.

So. why are we so many of us disappointed in this mortal realm? (Forgive me if I make an observation based on over 50+ years of experience). Who are we to blame? Do we see our higher powers as being weak? If you choose to believe in our God-path, becoming better, working on a higher plane of hope, of dreams, of creating, then why do we get stuck? We all do, of course. I believe that Breakdowns, can become Break-throughs!  I am often very frustrated that my spirit seems to know the best answers in the quite holy places of my heart, and my good efforts don't seem to yield all the awesome results that I yearn for. Does anyone else relate to that?

So, at that choice point, I choose to get down-n-dirty with myself. I practice getting a little humility to access the best teaching...my own spirit will tell me the truth eventually, if I sit with my questions long enough, and with even the most painful honesty. Often, where there is pain, there is a LIE. Can I be my own best friend, and work it out with battles that erupt within my higher self, and include the ugly self that sold out somewhere, that bought into a lie as a wee little one, and calm this warrior part of me that truly wants and will receive the answers? Can I then have enough courage to align my life with the truth?  The roar in us, perhaps is our higher self fighting to claim better things, our own innocence. Evil or darkness never was light or happiness. Let's get real, and admit our own self-hate when it's there. We aren't unworthy. We just want validation and love through our experiences. Tears can turn things. Tears can cleanse. Fears can be gently retired, and given hope to make our Tears like gentle dews from heaven. We want safe havens from our hearts. We are heaven...when we are. Why not choose something like purity of our true desires as we did when we were yet like a child?
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“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.”
― Washington Irving―

By writing this over a couple of days, I hope I was blessed most, and I send it on with love to all our brothers and sisters who will join hearts to help, not hurt...even through the tears or fears.

Nancy James 
www.PreparingAPeople.com