Blazing Desert

Temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona the other day set another record, reaching 116 degrees.  Sweltering heat keeps most residents inside, visitors may venture out briefly, only to retreat to a better climate controlled environment.

For the few people who do get out; it is with a sense of purpose.  During my visit to Phoenix recently, I reconnected with a friend who is extremely athletic, she is well traveled, has climbed numerous mountains including the Rockies, hiking the White Mountains in the Northeast, and even some of the world highest mountains.  Her energetic spirit motivated me to step up my game.

Thursday morning I got up to hike one of the local mountains, the sweltering heat I spoke of earlier, was upon me, and it was only 7:15 a.m.  Moving at a pretty good clip, I topped the small mountain in about 24 minutes.  From here you can see most of Phoenix, Tempe, Glendale, parts of Mesa and upward beyond northern Phoenix.  Visibility about 50 miles.  I had just arrived the night before around 10:15 p.m. and did not sleep well that night; I also did not eat that morning before I left for the hike but I did not want to wait too long and allow the heat to intensify (good think too- on this record day).  I don't think about much as I make my ascent on Squaw Peak, there are multiple areas to be mindful of due to the dryness.  The dirt in some areas can seem like ice.  Though I brought water with me, the relief was minimal.  Looking outward beyond multiple horizons, I do my best not to pause, (to restart is just too draining)  but merely slow my pace, and make a momentary observation.

Nearing my destination, I capture the reason why I put myself through this draining exercise.  Those of us who partake in such events, against reasonable odds, and down right grueling conditions, are part of a unique assembly of individuals; not all are at the same level, but are driven by the end game.  Sometimes the end game is satisfaction of the achievement, other times it is being able to remove ourselves from the mainstream population that we feel does not reflect the soul of who we are; some of us are running away or towards something we have not yet identified; and at times we just need to escape.

As I continue to produce photos for a photo installation (art show), I am working towards, I find that today I was making my journey to to enjoy; enjoy all of the things I mentioned above, to let go and embrace what I might experience in the end, or perhaps somewhere in the middle.  By the end, I got exactly what I needed, something undefined, without boarders and restrictions-- a continued sense of inner peace.

As I continue to learn new things about Arizona, more importantly, experience new friendship, my perspective continues to evolve.  I see something more beautiful here, each time I arrive.  Nothing can disrupt the balance I am achieving at this time; it is a good space to be in.

Zen at 304

What is Zen, and how do you achieve it?

Zen is not something you pursue, Zen is an enigma yet ubiquitous, it will find when it is time for you (i.e. the current [flow] in which things occur).

It is a point at which you arrive in your own life; you learn to understand that nothing has dominion over you, not even nothing. Zen is about peace, balance, but not to achieve those things- it is more like being those things.

Allow yourself to be in the joy of your struggle; if you believe something to be so and it is not, accept it not being so; you are not wrong; it is only that what was to be, was different that what might have been so.

When you arrive you will see it is more a state of being rather than any form of attainment-- this is the what is around you; you become an observatory where each of your actions reveals a new layer of understanding.  You stop with yourself, and in each moment you, accept/ reject, and uncalibrate what has been ordered in your life.  There is no order in Zen, in some respects, one should not follow Zen, the mere act of doing so rejects Zen.

Enjoy Life; Balance all things; Come into yourself; Breathe the gift of the human experience; Allow expectations to escape- un-expect; Fear is nothing and what is, is everything- but do not want for it.  Detach and allow yourself to be unconsumed by all things- then observe them.

Everyone should know Balance

by Scotland Willis

Balance

Balance is something we strive for in our life.  We see it in how we try to manage work and our 

personal life; balance between consumption and preserving the environment; balancing disruptions and getting tasks done; and in our personal health versus stress.  The list is extensive.  By and large balance is a very difficult goal to achieve; this assertion could be made anywhere in the world.

So here is something to consider about balance you may not have thought of; 1) the most important balance in our body is pH balance; while that may sound simple, achieving it is like trying to balance yourself on a tightrope (ok perhaps not that difficult but it might seem that way) but certainly as challenging to achieve balance in other areas of our life; 2) alkaline and acids make up these two very important chemical that represent this balance, which also influence many other activities that occur in our body.

A bit more understanding migh make you more conscious about your eating decisions and thereby resulting in a happier healthier you.

So why is this make up so important?  Let's not   focus on things like kidney, liver and blood disease, to avoid talking about thsi from a medical perspective- though they are legitimately related to the matter at hand.  Rather I would like to share important factors to understand which will make the importance of acids and alkaline a little easier to digest.

 Most foods (especially processed foods) have high levels of sugar or high fructose.  The result is that most of our diet is made up of sugary acids that means that we have a alkaline deficit much more often than not in our body, across the majority of our U.S. population.  Alkaline foods mean more green foods and raw veggies (which don't appeal to most peoples taste buds the way sugary sweets do).  It's time to change that.

Keep this in mind increasing your alkaline intake will result in more energy, healthier bone structure and a wide range of health benefits including lower blood sugar levels, less chances of heart disease and the other major threats to human health.  For children it can mean improved neurological performance.

Understanding the Scale

The pH scale reflect whether the pH in your body is acidic or alkaline.  The scale ranges from 1 to 14.  A pH of 7 is considered neutral; above 7 is considered alkaline below 7 is considered acidic.  Seven then is the ideal balance for humans.  Because we have a diet that is so heavily influenced by sugars, achieving the balance (i.e., consuming more raw or alkaline foods) is a real challenge.

Less important to understand but good to know is this:  a pH of 4 is ten times more acidic than a pH of 5 and 100 times (10 times 10) more acidic than a pH of 6. The same holds true for pH values above 7, each of which is ten times more alkaline—another way to say basic—than the next lower whole value. For example, a pH of 10 is ten times more alkaline than a pH of 9 (epa).  Sounds impressive but the simlicity if each level of increase refelcts an acidic increase of ten times that.  The same would be true for alkaline, except most people don't have alkaline saturated diets. 

People and Plant Benefits

And here is something else you probably did not know; your plants require a similar pH balance to that of humans. Depending on what region of the world your food is from will also influence whether that food requires more alkaline or acid in its uptake.  Beets for example do best in a alkaline environment(pH) around 7-8; while grass  are slightly acidic or close to neutral between 6.5 to 7.  Basically plant life also thrives in close to this balance of 7.  

All of this makes sense if you consider a couple of different points: 1) we consume a lot of plant life (or we should)  so we should attempt to maintain a similar balance 2) we are evolved from single cellular organism that thrived on plant life (if you subscribe to the scientific theory) as such, our biological system  should have similar requirements.

 Maintaining a better pH balance means a better quality of life.  Eating more alkaline and raw vegetables, fewer sugary and processed foods (which includes milk) will reduce the negative affects of an acidic body.  

If you are a gardner, seek to balance your soil as well (there are devices to monitor this).  I use to have a 100 gallon ( 378 liters)  salt water aquarium at one point; maintaining the pH balance was critical to the fish survival, so it is no surprise the level of importance pH has on the body for me.

From healthy bones to healthy blood, pH affects everything about you and your bodily function.

Please work harder to stay healthy by balancing what you eat and likely adding more alkaline type food to your diet, while consuming less sugary and processed foods.

Alkaline foods: flax seed or oil, brown rice, millet, soaked almonds, tomato slices, fresh avocado, natural vegetable soups or pressed vegetable juices (not canned likely to have sugar) and beets. For a comprehensive list email me

Alkaline foods: flax seed or oil, brown rice, millet, soaked almonds, tomato slices, fresh avocado, natural vegetable soups or pressed vegetable juices (not canned likely to have sugar) and beets.  For a comprehensive list email me

Peering into the Future

by Scotland Willis

Peering into the Future is the title for my new book which I expect to be out early to mid next year.  This book is about the impact, implications and phenomena of peer-to-peer networks.

The world is an amazing place from a human perspective, it a benefit we (reasoning, abstract thinking and introspection) we experience as a result of our genetic superiority.  Technology has made this experience more amazing by allowing us to connect over vast spaces and discover things that would once have been considered impossible.

And while technology typically creates isolation and distance among people, the notion of cooperative consumption serves as a medium to help reconnect people; peer-to-peer (p2p) networks serve the same function.  As it turns out, p2p networks bring people with common interests together and familiarize individuals with like-minded people, thereby accelerating the bond and relationship process.  While p2p networks can serve as a vehicle to bring groups together, cooperative consumption serves as a similar medium, but it depends on a surplus system.  I have something that meets your needs and I have little or no use for it at the time.

Key to all of this exchange of goods or services in either system is a pivotal foundation of trust.  Trust is the one element that would force the entire system to collapse.  But with so many hundreds of millions of people engaged the level of compromised trust is not as prevalent as it could be for several reasons.

As we advance the use of the internet system, banks, business and others who depend on it as a resource for their commerce, it is critical that they themselves demonstrate to their customers that the system is trust worthy.  Despite cyber crimes costing hundreds of billions of dollars over the years, the general populations faith in the Internet continue to grow if you look at it in terms of the number of users.  And that decision is what fosters the growth of peer to peer networks.

What once was considered a barrier to human interaction is not serving as a force that brings people together for different reasons; it may be goods or services or it may be a social calling, either way, more people are being connected as the world becomes a smaller social environment.

How we should be able to live life

Locatis ad manus mihi in fide quod alii responsibily aget.


Placing my trust in the hands of others with the belief that will act responsibily. 


This adage is simply the way I believe we should be able to coexist with all others and all things.  The human experience is a good and wondrous thing; we should take time to appreciate it; insist that those we care about take time to do the same or help them do so.


Enjoy life, you only have one to live.