Double shots... Endangered Energy

Final book in the Endangered Series will be out in January 2015!

Think about how energy thirsty we have become in our lifetime. Our lifestyle has become so energy dependent. Blaring TVs, movies, computers, cell phones, all our travel.... we are all voracious consumers of energy. Even 50-years ago, the lifestyle was different. Nothing wrong in progress, but there are issues accompanying this boundless expansion...

• Children are 'digital fog' from using too much electronics
• Adults are becoming 'computer addicts'
• People are having 'withdrawal' to turn off their cell phones

 My newest book however talks only about fossil fuels. How are we using fossil fuels and how it is affecting our lives... the air we breathe, the water we get, and how does it affect our life now and forever...

My New Year resolution is to write more happy thoughts, beautiful Earth we live in...Wish me well!

Deep, Deep, Deep!

When I write fiction, I always struggle with myself. How deep is too deep? How much is too much?
 Writing is undoubtedly an intense activity. It takes a lot from within in and adds a little from outside. And, yet the most difficult task of a writer is to find a way to activate the writer's unique voice. It is a lonely, difficult, somewhat confusing task.

Lonely because nobody can help the author in this journey. It is for the author to listen to her voice and to the voice of the story and the characters that reside in there. Difficult because of the games we have played and we continue to play, both with ourselves and with others around us. It is time for me to become honest, in the deepest spiritual sense, and not indulge in any form of pandering, people pleasing or adjustments for the sake of others and society. It is time to unlearn and connect with the rawness of human experience I am living through. Scary stuff for all grown ups! It is confusing because we do not often realize the connections. We are not completely in the game and will never be, because I cannot possibly know how a person could react to my words.

And so here I am, looking for clues and directions on how to be both compassionate to myself and to grow in my art and craft. Imagine finding a list that can help me through the process.

Here is an article for guidance: http://bit.ly/1AXDatF

Some lead questions are:

• How comfortable are you in your own skin?
• When are you comfortable? When are you not comfortable?
• What is the difference between when you’re comfortable and when you’re not?
• What has to happen in order for you to become more comfortable?
• What thoughts do you think that are toxic?
• What is the damage of these toxic thoughts?
• What are the healthy thoughts you can think?
• What toxic words do you repeatedly use?
• What are your new words? What do these new words sound like?
• What do you have to do in order to transform your thoughts, words and actions?
• What parts of yourself have you been unwilling to acknowledge?
• Are you willing to acknowledge them now? Why or why not?
• What would happen if you decided to love and embrace all of you?
• When have you felt whole?
• What does whole mean to you?
• What makes you feel whole?
• Do you feel like the experience you’re currently having is leading you to wholeness or drawing you away from it? How?
• What does this information tell you about where you need to go from here?
• What do you really want?
• What would your life look like if you had this?
• Why do you want this and not something else?
• What needs to happen in order to bring this into your life?
• If you could do anything, what would it be?
• If nothing stood in your way, and you could truly do that, would you? Why or why not?
• What is needed right now? (Conner suggests writing this question on the inside of your journal because you can always ask it. “It applies to all times and all situations.”)
• What question should you be asking?

Moving Meditations!

I am delighted to share the news of my art work exhibited at Tri-cities. If you are traveling in the direction, please stop by for viewing the amazing exhibit of Women artists from the Columbia Valley.

Please visit my webpage to learn more about my artwork and find some samples: https://sites.google.com/site/raniiyerwriter/home/art

Thank you all so much for your encouragement!

River of life....Rivers for life

I am delighted to announce another new title to be released soon...

Endangered Rivers.

This is a special book for me. I dedicate this to all elders in my family who took time to take us around to visit rivers, lakes, dams, and estuaries. They never complained about having to wake up early or to drive so many kids or to have to cook for so many so early in the day...

My earliest memories of rivers is in Kerala. Bathing before dawn with my grandmother and her friends, visiting waterfalls, water bodies... Those were the days when people did not use shampoo or soap when they went to bathe in the river. My grandma always said that when something lathers without efforts, it would hurt the river. We used soap-nut powder instead and worked it to a lather. The process actually massaged my scalp and may be a little of my brain too... :-)

And not to forget the trip to Bhagamandala, Tala Cauvery, when the Cauvery River bubbled forth. It was an amazing experience to be with my grandmother and mother and the warm water on a cold morning is an unforgettable sensation....

Beautiful Brindavan, magnificent Jog water fall, the wide Pamba.... in south will forever enrich me. They were all tied to my childhood. As a child I felt that rivers on Earth were just like the blood in our body. Feeling connected with water seemed some how elementary and critical.
   

By the time I entered Masters degree in college, we were put off by the foul, offensive odor of River Vrishabhavati at Kengeri, Bengaluru. A beautiful tributary of Cauvery was dumped with uncontrolled industrial and domestic pollution. I hope that the River has had a chance to heal and things have turned around now.

My love for water bodies continues. We always find a body of water and visit it where ever we go. 

What about you? How do you connect with rivers?

One Sacred Mountain...Two...

This the picture of the most sacred Arunchala Hills. It is considered to be alive with Shiva's energy. Walking around the hills, girivalam, is a sacred offering and considered panacea for our fears, incompletions and inadequacy we carry in our inner spaces.  Sight of Arunachala, Shikaradarshan, is considered to grant one inner peace. Remembrance of Arunachala, Smarnath Arunachala, is said to capitulate a person into higher vibrational and spiritual realms.

Here is the image of another most sacred mountain, Mount Kailash.


Know some of the world's most sacred mountains:

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2013/10/22/holy-heights-the-worlds-7-most-sacred-mountains/

Chances are you have a sacred mountain near your home. Find it, discover it, and enjoy it!

Sacred Spaces

Within each of us lies a sacred space. It is one space we do not violate, negotiate, or compromise for any reason. We suffer when our inner spaces are compromised. It takes us a long time to recover our equilibrium.

Outside of us, are the sacred spaces, the sacred forests. Preserved for centuries by careful cultural practices and social taboos, the last of the sacred forests are dwindling today. In the weeks that follow, I will blog about the sacred forests and sacred natural elements.

Read about Sacred Forests in  Faces Magazine. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to write about the beautiful practice and beautiful Earth.

Wonder why we should save sacred forests, this article can give you an idea:
 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/dec/21/save-our-sacred-woodlands

Visit a sacred forest near you today!

New Joys! New Books!

Delighted to see the draft layout of my newest book on Endangered Rain Forests for grades 3 to 5, published by Capstone Press. It has been a wonderful experience re-living my research days and bringing it back to let the kids experience it.

Writing for children is a humbling experience. When I write for academic publishing, I use lot more words than necessary. Really, much of academic writing is also packaging. There is no room for humility in scholarship. That is hard sell and sets the trajectory of your career.

However, when I write for children, I am constantly asking myself - can the reader understand this? Why is this important? If the child did not know this, will the knowledge be incomplete? And my best critique is my son. My editor is much gentler than my son is! I appreciate these critical voices that enrich my writing. This constant engagement reminds me to write close to the interests of my readers and grab their attention. I am competing for their attention as a writer and I strive hard to make it worthwhile. 

I love the concept of this book. It moves away from the gloom-doom scenario and presents the causes in the manner of an investigation. I hope the students and teachers will join in debating how our habits, even if we are far removed from the rain forests, are affecting them miles and continents away.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey! I could not have done this without your support!

A walk saves...

There are times I wish I lived in a small village (not to mistake it with the shrunken, global village) filled with green, street full of friends, family, kith and kin for neighbors. I would not have to think twice about anything, except I don't like anywhere remotely near such a place. These concerns are secondary for me...

My primary reason in wanting to live in a village is for the walkability. I would walk everywhere. I could still be late, but I would be lighter in body and mind. At the most, I could race to meet my friends at the other end of the village. I miss walking.

Walking everyday supports the environment, one foot step at a time by...

• Saving gas we use for fuel
• Drastically decreasing our carbon footprint
• Conserve gas with walking habit
• Drastically reduce transportation costs
• Improve physical health and wellbeing

Now you can measure the walkscore of your neighborhood...http://www.walkscore.com/ 

 I wish you all wonderful walking week ahead!

Read more about sustainable ways to transport in # Green Transport.

Thank you!

New Book!

My new book on Sustainable Transportation, for teenagers, will be released soon!

Thank you all for your support and encouragement! :-)

 

Daily miracles!

 

      Now that summer is folding into fall, and leaves dance in riot of color, I notice the pronouncing play of the miracle. Life, I realize is the presence and absence of this magic ingredient. The miracle and magic of water never ceases to fascinate me. May be everyone will be enamored by it- if they pause long enough from their daily grind.

The entire climate system is tied to this miracle. The clouds, snow, rainfall, rainbow… its all latent and present in every drop of water. Floating snow flakes perform a heavenly synchronized dance, always fascinating and perfect. Everything, everything about the snow is a silent miracle…Earth seems to be just a giant bubble.

Not so the monsoon. It is served with gusty windy, crackles of thunder, chaotic swaying of the trees and plants, like ghosts dancing. The dust balls that dissolve in rivulets of brown water and the brown that gradually dissolves into the rapid whites…the foaming cliffs…the celebrations around monsoon…

Dry deserts with hidden waters…fossil waters…the Antarctic ice sheets…the floes of ice teeming with life underneath… The mist, the fog, the rain, the sleet, the hail, the snow…and the water in my cup…I love it all.

The miracle of water, chemists say, is the unity bond of hydrogen and oxygen…togetherness at all times. In blood and body, in tears and delight…, everybody from the layman to the rocket scientists think about water...It encircles our globe as ocean and connecting us in ways unknown…

 Everyday I remember this miracle as I drink my first cup of water in the morning and offer the verse from Devi Mahatyam

II Ya Devi Sarva Bhooteshu Vishnumayethi Sabdhitha

Namastasyai    Namastasyai    Namastasyai Namo Namaha II

What is your miracle of the day?

Vasundhara- The Beautiful Earth!

For as long as I remember, when I see the lofty natural formations, I have felt a joy and a deep connection. The scale of the majestic mountains, the spread of the forests, innumerable animals and plants have always fascinated me! This blog celebrates all that and more... the joy of living and how I share my joys and living with my friends.

Welcome to my pad!

google.com/+RaniIyer