We all should not be so surprised regarding the energy crisis many of us around the world are now facing. It has been a long time coming. I am old enough to remember the gas lines of the 1970’s here in the United States, and the many who lined up during those times to wait for hours to fill up their gas tanks speaking among themselves that this has to change. Fast forward thirty plus years and guess what? Very little, if not anything, on a grand scale, has changed!

Oil and gas are now higher in demand than ever before. While the Middle East pushes supply more and more, the increased supplies can no longer keep up with demands. Added to the problem is the argument of whether speculators are pushing the prices even higher. This is not really addressing the problem….what we are faced with is an addiction to oil and a rejection or stubborness to try other forms of energy. In the short term, whether we like it or not, to get to where we need to be we are going to have to adapt some form of combination of solar, wind, electric and dare I say, nuclear power. One alone will not be enough…and will take too long to get us to energy independence.

Some countries are already there….France for instance has fully adapted nuclear power. Yet a lot of us look like a bunch of bumbling fools arguing over every detail, while nothing gets done and Winter is fastly approaching. Have the chickens come home to roost? You betchya! Many are running around the hen house looking at each other saying, “What do we do? What do we do?” At the current rate of oil increases, it just may be possible that there will be some coal under the Christmas tree, with a little Spam on the dinner table. Santa Claus this year may just have to settle for half the milk and cookies!

Hey, you’ve got to laugh….I look at my car and I can slowly hear a voice saying, “Feed me!” And when I open my wallet, I hear an eerie sound croaking, “Is that all you’ve got?” No joking….many are feeling the pinch! Here in the United States the state of Utah is going to a four day work week, for the workers and the state to save on energy. I’m sure more states will follow. It is a crisis and I do believe some incredible innovation and good will come out of this, in the end. We’ve been lazy too long…there are solutions…we just have to think and be realistic. The world is growing, and so must we. The day of having one dominant force for energy is coming to an end.

Hybrid cars, electric cars, who knows what’s next? But we will look back and question why we settled for so few miles to the gallon….future generations will shake their heads and wonder why it took us so long. I still look at rooftops and say to myself, why don’t they all have solar panels? I know it’s expensive, but like everything else, as more people use them, the cost will go down. Look at the plasma television screens…remember how expensive they were at the beginning? We will innovate and we’ll obtain a more personal understanding of what powers our lives and heats our homes.

Conservation and a little innovation can do wonders. We all just have to learn in government, work, and life, to compromise.

Be energized,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2008 Jennifer Avalon

Imagine a place where the Light is incredibly bright but soft at the same time…where the Air you breathe in is made completely out of Love, where the Universe is laid out before you like an endless sphere of stars….where your body is there but made completely painless….where God is the Guiding Voice that gently puts the smelling salts under your nose….the place where you are finally Awake.  That is Death….and that is Love.

The very thing most of us fear above all is the very thing that gives us Ultimate Peace of Mind….it is Home Base, where we return to review our Life’s Lessons….did we overcome our personal obstacles, and did we leave the world below us a bit better than before we went there? And, as we sit under the Tree of Life near the flowing waters, can we look at ourselves and say we tried our best?  This is Death….and this is Judgement.

Death is the land where we can see the Heart Light in everyone….the potential of each Soul, including our own. It is the place where all fear, anger, jealousy, and hurt is evaporated….where we get back much of what many of us lost on earth, because of those feelings. Real Love is Peace. This is Death….and this is the Gift.

So why must we go through Life? Because it is the only way back to Death…the journey on the path chosen that shapes what our Souls become. The body will dissolve, but the Soul will always live on….it is this we are Loved for, Judged for, and given the Gift of Death for. Never be afraid of Death….if there is anything to fear, it is a life lived not understanding the consequences of our actions, because we will face them eventually…better to face them here, then to have to try later, from such a distance…..

Carpe Diem,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2008 Jennifer Avalon

Many people are quite good at more than one thing, yet they consistently force the issue trying to accomplish multiple tasks, when their specialty and their passion may be one. Well folks, like it or not, we can’t do it all. We may want to believe that there are more than 24 hours in a day, but unfortunately, there are not.

Pessimistic, you say? No….realistic! I myself have been told that I am a pretty good oil painter….but I know if I spent a decent amount of time at it, my music would suffer. I had to make a choice….what will come first? This is before one starts factoring in family, friends, and Life. At some stage we all have to sit down and ask ourselves not only what we want to do with our lives, but what we can reasonably accomplish.

So here’s a suggestion…when you get a chance, jot down on a few index cards, or a sheet of paper, what talents and skills you know you have.  Then ask yourself, what one thing do I want to do over all the rest? Then let that one thing become your focus. It’s sad….I wish we all could be more than one person….split ourselves into multiple people and send those persons off during the day to accomplish many missions…unfortunately, it cannot be! Focusing allows us to get better at the given talent or skill we choose.

The landscape is littered with businesses and corporations that started off focusing on their niche in the marketplace. Over time, in order to expand their businesses they drifted so far from their center that their identities became blurred to the public. The latest victim of this scenario is a very famous boutique coffee chain. They tried to expand beyond their store atmosphere and coffee base to include music and multiple items and their core business began to suffer. They also tried to expand too fast, and are now setting about to correct their mistakes, which they probably will. Yet, the lesson to learn is that you can’t be everything to everyone….you can’t do it all.

Growing pains happen to everybody…still, we must try not to take our eye off the ball on what it is that we do well, and love the most.

Choose wisely,

Jennifer Avalon

© 2008 Jennifer Avalon