Several topics in this edition of Marc’s Life and Travels:
1. Travel plans and goals
2. In praise of mothers
3. Resource for healing and conscious entrepreneurship
1. Travel plans and goals
I am moving to Austin, TX, from early July for a minimum of 3 months. My idea is to explore Authentic Relating community there with the goal of joining or starting a residential community that would combine elements of A/R, yogic lifestyle and functional medicine, and conscious entrepreneurship (see below). In this plan I harken back to my days of running the Trellis commune with Rebekah, which was the happiest time of my life despite overwhelming challenges.
Itinerary as follows:
June 29: Philadelphia, PA
June 30-July 2: Drum ‘n’ Splash festival, Artemas PA
July 3-6: Washington DC
July 7-10: New Culture Camp, Virginia
July 11-12: Asheville, NC
July 14-16: All-Texas A/R retreat near Austin
Returning to Whitefield NH (or not) end of September
If you would like to participate in this project or have any resources that you want me to know about, please share!
2. In praise of Mothers
I am wrapping up 6 months at my mother’s and “booting myself out into the world” with some nostalgia. I have been living a rather surreal life here. I mean: I am here in this nature paradise, living on the generosity of my mother as far as rent is concerned, on an exhilarating ride through the Circling (Authentic Relating) movement (all of it virtual!), writing, working whenever I feel like it or not at all, with money flowing into my bank account from the hosting business. Not a lot of money but sufficient for my needs. Can a cooler life be imagined? And especially as it’s not any kind of imposition on my mother. We enjoy each other.
But I have to say: while my case is, admittedly, extreme, I am finding life in the 21st century equally surreal. We are living, at least those of us in the West, at the time of greatest freedom, power, and access to resources of any period in human history. It has become possible for almost anyone who wants to, to re-invent ourselves as individuals, do what we want and go where Spirit calls us — whether we are called to outer or inner explorations, or both as in my case.
And while this won’t necessarily make us popular and wealthy, think: is it not a miracle that this is even possible? And that we can, thanks to the internet, find like-minded people for whatever weird journey we want to undertake?
Resources for transformation
I am in a bit of an intellectual mind-storm here after discovering a number of resources that are in perfect alignment with who I am and what I want to become.
The Avalon Community
The Avalon Community is something like next-generation circling. It has more consciousness around the trauma conditions that affect most of us (the trauma of being born in Western culture, on top of everything else) and very practical modalities for healing that. The site has some excellent audios that are available via opt-in, that explain all this (although they might not make a lot of sense if you have not experienced Circling). It’s a new movement but there are communities in Amsterdam and Austin (lucky me!)
Kelly Brogan and Functional Medicine
Functional Medicine is the belief that most health conditions, and specifically depression including so-called mood disorders, can be effectively dealt with through nutrition and lifestyle changes. Which is nothing other than what Hyppocrates said, duh. Except that it’s backed by most of the scientific research. Kelly Brogan is a rebel, an anti-pharma crusader, and has written two definitive books on the treatment of depression including A mind of your own. Her claim is that anti-depressants work only 30% of the time and long-term they are actually useless. Needless to say I am paying a lot of attention here regarding my own bipolarity and addiction issues.
Brian Clark and the Rainmaker platform
Brian Clark is founder of the Rainmaker internet marketing platform. You can read his story here, of how he created two successful businesses through what he calls “content marketing”, one for legal services and the other for real estate. He then went on to start the highly successful Copyblogger blog, and finally started Rainmaker which he built into a 10M business in 8 years. This guy is the “real deal” and his techniques are applicable to any kind of business. If you are interested in this let me know, as the starter offer is now a little pricey, but I may be able to plug you in.