eclipse 2017

More great photos from CNN.

trust your instincts

Trust your instincts. It's the Universe inspiring you.

- lessons from The Secret

video: the milky way as we've never seen it before

This video takes a close look at a new image of the Milky Way released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL). The APEX telescope in Chile has mapped the full area of the Galactic Plane visible from the southern hemisphere for the first time at submillimetre wavelengths — between infrared light and radio waves — and in finer detail than recent space-based surveys.

Wow!

video: our sun in 2015

The sun is always changing and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is always watching. Launched on Feb. 11, 2010, SDO keeps a 24-hour eye on the entire disk of the sun, with a prime view of the graceful dance of solar material coursing through the sun's atmosphere, the corona. SDO's sixth year in orbit was no exception. This video shows that entire sixth year -- from Jan. 1, 2015, to Jan. 28, 2016, as one time-lapse sequence.

- YouTube

mystical circles

I've noticed that circles are the theme with this week's Reology retreat. The awesome sand sculpture was created on Bliss Beach by "Enough," a retreat participant.

I want to do this!

Animation of a Virgin Galactic flight from launch to landing

the milky way galaxy

...as it can be appreciated from Paya Bay.

This amazing photo was taken by Steve Juilianna, a recent guest [click image to enlarge]

follow your bliss

video: the unseen universe

completely and utterly in love with you

The Universe is completely and utterly in love with you. No matter how many mistakes you make, no matter where you are in your life, no matter what you think of you, the Universe loves you for all eternity.

- lessons from The Secret

the universe

Gracias, Lisa!

transit of venus

This photo of the Transit of Venus 2012 was taken by Honduran space scientists today.  ("Honduran space scientists"?! Who knew we had 'em?!)

Photo: faces.unah.edu.hn

100 billion stars

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image obtained Feb. 3, 2012, of the nearby spiral galaxy M74. Bright knots of glowing gas light up the spiral arms, indicating a rich environment of star formation. Messier 74, also called NGC 628, is a stunning example of a grand-design spiral galaxy that is viewed by Earth observers nearly face-on. Its perfectly symmetrical spiral arms emanate from the central nucleus and are dotted with clusters of young blue stars and glowing pink regions of ionized hydrogen (hydrogen atoms that have lost their electrons). [...] In its entirety, it is estimated that M74 is home to about 100 billion stars, making it slightly smaller than our Milky Way.

Source: Washington Post

Some very misguided people focus on (and -- in extreme cases -- live for) the supposed 'end of the world' phenomenon. A very pessimistic path to be on, at the very least. Meanwhile around us, in stark contrast and clear contradiction to this limiting "it's all going to end" line of thought, the Universe is in a perpetual state of creative effervescence, constantly creating new and ever expanding life. Note the example above: brand-new stars (and, most likely, their accompanying planets, moons, asteroids, comets, etc.) are popping out of the infinite ether, somewhere in the Universe, at every given instant.

Having put good use to our (God-granted?) gifts of logic and scientific reasoning, we have deduced that life here on Earth -- at least the carbon-based stuff we are currently familiar with -- still has a half billion or so good years to go (in other words, another 500,000,000 12-month revolutions around our still quite young and healthy Sun). The 'planet's end' is nowhere near "nigh." Our cute little solar system is going to be around "long time."

Like it or not, the carnival that is humanity is just getting started. It's critical we discard from our collective consciousness the idea that we will destroy ourselves and/or our planet. (An idea which - tragically - has become a self-fulfilling prophecy). We must choose a much more optimistic and inspiring "greater good" for ourselves. We can do it. To paraphase President Clinton, "There is nothing wrong with [humanity] that cannot be cured by what is right with [humanity]."

As I step off my soap box, I highlight the timeless wisdom contained in Bob Marley's revolutionary 1973 Get Up, Stand Up song:

Preacher man don't tell me heaven is under the earth
I know you don't know what life is really worth
Is not all that glitters is gold and
Half the story has never been told
So now you see the light, aay
Stand up for your right.

is it really this simple?

So, applying logic to some of this metaphysical stuff (something I really enjoy doing)...

We attract what we fear… so, why not make it a habit of fearing nothing? This should effectively eliminate anything we've chosen to label "bad" manifesting in our lives. Instead, let's always be sincerely and genuinely happy and grateful for the opposite of anything that concerns us. There is an amazing peace that results from this simple practice.

It is suggested we deliberately and consciously put our individual (and collective) life experiences in the "hands" of the Universe. (Or "God," or whatever label an individual may have for Higher Intelligence. I personally don't use the word "God" very often because, for me, it's too closely associated with organized religion, something I have a plethora of reservations about). I personally suggest while making requests to the Universe to go ahead and also request an amazing life experience (because... why not?). Then relax and be happy (see next paragraph), knowing (believing) that the Universe is in control and that every single person, event, and circumstance that comes our way is simply our greater good (as suggested by Higher Intelligence) unfolding.

Get into the habit of being present and living in the present moment. By design, the past is 100% irrelevant and the future is 100% uncertain (as Eckhart Tolle puts it, the past and the future "are illusions that exist only in our minds"). The present moment is all we truly have. And, magically, if we are completely present in any given moment it is impossible to be unhappy at that same instant in time (Try it! It's true!). Life is simply a stream of instants (i.e., we have this instant, and this instant, and this instant, and so forth...*). In each of these of these instants, we make a choice: 1 or 0 (yes, turns out we humans are digital too). 1 or 0. 1 or 0. 1 or 0... Half-full or half-empty. Half-full or half-empty. Half-full or half-empty... This finite string of that simple choice is our life experience. Think about that.

It all comes down to what seems to be (at least for me) the metaphysical buzzword of 2011: Surrender. Surrender to the present moment. It's been suggested that doing so may very well be the answer to life.

*Thank you, Paul Gonyea.

interacting galaxies

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a group of interacting galaxies called Arp 273. The larger of the spiral galaxies, known as UGC 1810, has a disc that is tidally distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813. The swathe of blue jewels across the top is the combined light from clusters of intensely bright and hot young blue stars.

Source: SpaceDaily

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

The time-lapse footage was captured between April 4th and 11th, 2011, from atop El Teide, Spain's highest mountain. At one point a sandstorm blows across, which rendered Sorgjerd unable to see the sky, but left his camera with some stunning images.

Source: Huffpo

viewing the entire sun

lunar eclipse

Early this December 21st morning, a lunar eclipse occurred that was really well observable in North and Central America.

Photo: AFP

300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000!

The night sky may be a lot starrier than we thought. A study suggests the universe could have triple the number of stars scientists previously calculated. For those of you counting at home, the new estimate is 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That's 300 sextillion.

- Associated Press

a pinwheel of stars

This face-on spiral galaxy, called NGC 3982, is striking for its rich tapestry of star birth, along with its winding arms. The arms are lined with pink star-forming regions of glowing hydrogen, newborn blue star clusters, and obscuring dust lanes that provide the raw material for future generations of stars. The bright nucleus is home to an older population of stars, which grow ever more densely packed toward the center.

- hubblesite.org