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 As the Pearl Swirls
Documentary from Founder and CEO   Organizing
to start a second house and autonomous sister organization. Cut to the Chase Everybody's looking for a better life; Some have become The Forgotten Shoe by Angela Micelli Suarez ;void(0)) Hi Everyone. There is much information on our website, but there are those that tell me they just want the bottom line. A friend of mine recently suggested that I "cut to the chase", so to speak, and let you all know that there IS a benefit to this work to everyone. I think the way to discover that together is by creating shared visions, some thing a friend of mine asked a long time ago: "How do we create a shared vision"? Guy de Mallac in his book 7 Steps to Global Change synopsized Gandhi's work into seven steps, one being conciliation. We each get to the mutual benefit by creating a shared vision through the process of conciliation. This information could be an unwanted intrusion into your world, or it just might be the solution, or at least part of a solution, for you or someone you know or care about. So, if you care to find out, read on. If not, you just might miss out on - what you may never know� About three years have past since I first began to formulate some ideas and solve some of my own life issues. Some of my life issues and personal questions have been: How do I get a good nights sleep, when I have a grown son with a serious persistent mental illness (Bi-polar), who runs the street seeking out excitement, but often makes the wrong decisions that hurt him and others? (Such as the violent attack he and some of his "friends" made on another young man. He is now incarcerated in prison.) How do I stop the pounding in my heart, the tears that fall, and anxiety from concern for my loved one? How do I live a life I dream of travelling and experiencing all the positive, wonderful things that life has to offer, when both my husband and I are tied to day to day "normal" jobs in retail and health care? How can I be expected to be a good mother, wife, family member, friend and citizen? And, I asked myself: How can I be the best I can be, and how can I help others to be the best that they can be, so they to can do the same, and by working together we can make the world a better place? For me, these have been the questions that have filled my days and sleepless nights. Now, I have some answers. My eyes are now open; I can now see the way. I have now what some term vision, a dream, my destiny is clear. And, I have a plan. And, I am working this plan today. Part of that plan includes creating shared visions with others. By making it clear that we can have any kind of world that we want, and by working together within a shared vision, we can have a peaceful world that shares unconditional love and tolerance for all people. Maybe you don't face all of these issues or questions. But, chances are you may have a loved one, or a friend who does, that are just a little "outside the box" of every day happenings of acceptable social thinking patterns or behavior. This person doesn't really hurt anyone, but is just not like the majority of other folks. Maybe they are just a little too quirky to spend much time with. Or, maybe you know a really (economically) poor person or know someone who does. They seem to have a real struggle with money issues of one kind or another. And chances are, you have a dream, vision or desire that hasn�t quite come to pass. Seems, most people want "a better life". Some want a "better" car. "Better" house. "Better" job. "Better" health. On and on it goes. And, most people, if you talk to them about our social systems, the attitude is generally, "It could be "better". Some tirelessly work to make it "better". Some do a little. And, others seem so overwhelmed by the complexity of our government and social systems, etc.; it freezes their ability or willingness to act. These people become apathetic and just flow along with the status quo. They let others deal with the big life issues of the masses. And others fall somewhere between. Seems, we as a society are on this ride of life to work, pay tax upon tax that eats away at our lifestyle, and we are so busy with our own every day to day affairs, that we have inadvertently created an invisible part of our society. I refer to this as The forgotten Shoe. Many great organizations have programs which exist to day to help the homeless, programs that benefit those that have a mental illness or disadvantage, an emotional disadvantage and/ or an economic one. And, on some level, these organizations and their programs benefit us as a society. They alleviate much of the day to day burden from our individual shoulders as care takers and social service providers. Jobs are created for the public, which contributes to economic development. Those who are served, some of them move on to independent productive lives. All of this is good. But, there seems to be something we could do to improve what we have, make a few tweaks that would benefit us all. What about a way to lower our taxes that pay for food stamps, Social Security Income for those with mental illness, etc.? And, creation of businesses and jobs which adapt to those with various challenges, which would alleviate their need for economic government support? What about affordable cooperative housing and live/work community centers to include daily social support for those with various challenges? And, what about the cause and effect of multiple businesses being created? Others that are not so challenged, but just need a job would benefit. I believe people with challenges and disadvantages taking care of each other and creating lives of mutual benefit, an interdependent lifestyle, is the way of the future. But, we need those with open hearts, willing hands and people with resources to empower us and give us a chance to prove we can do it. And, I believe it is a solution to positively affect us all on many levels. So, what is your dream? And, where do you fit into all of this? Only you know the details. But, I believe we can create a better world together. Just maybe there need be no Forgotten Shoe. What IF I'm right and I'm on to an idea that we could cooperatively tweak that would benefit us all and we could create the next evolution intentionally? Thank you for taking your time to read through this article. It could be of mutual benefit, so while you're at the computer now, why not take a closer look at what is in the works and how you can get involved? *Though NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) has not put their stamp of approval on our work, we include them in our model because of their established educational programs, support meetings and network, and other advocacy endeavors. Check them out. www.nami.org Tolerance... by Angela Micelli Suarez
What is necessary for the world to come to its senses? What will be necessary for those who consider themselves to be good, filled with love and light that is not necessary to stab and hurt others in order to be themselves and live their own lives of peace ? When will we truly treat others the way we want to be treated without our own political agendas and self preservation in the way of our own evolution to become at peace with ourselves and others? Today, May 10, 2007, I have had my own test with tolerance. I could say and make public information that would hurt others, other organizations, and other forces, but I choose tolerance, non-violence and peace! When others hurtfully undermine others, what should our reactions be? Some say, "Get back. Show them a lesson." That is the easy way, I suppose. But, tolerance of anothers ideas, thoughts and actions is, I believe, the greater lesson to be learned and taught. So, what now? We keep moving on, doing the work, fighting with our minds, hearts and emotions to BE mercy, love and justice in action! Who will help us fight? Pearl House of Peace members, including my husband and myself, reside at 1429 Pearl Street, Anderson, Indiana 46016. I am most efficiently contacted through my email at angelasuarez@sbcglobal.net for more information. I ask you to come!!! Bring your familes, your resources of helping hands, open hearts, open minds, and now I implore you to being your pocket books with little or much. YOU are needed!
NOW! It is time Those who have been and are still mentally, emotionally and economically disadvantaged (MEED), those who have been labeled and emotionally branded by so many, are rising to sing in unison an ancient song. Let freedom ring! The darkness of oppression, suppression, ostracization, stigmatization and ever so subtle still to often discrimination of those whose minds operate differently, their expressions unacceptable and their wallets devoid of abundance is coming to light. We as a human species have many different values systems we live by. It seems, this has been the way we have decided it is to be. But, there are voices rising and singing in unison songs filled with light. Voices which will no longer be squelched. Though the world is both good and bad, according to some, I know that it just IS. The IS of what I see is love and hate. A dear friend of mine uses a two word incomplete sentence that many times gets her point of view across to me, perhaps it will you, too. "Easy, simple." I began this work with many ideas to include the MEED State of Being Theory and MIM's Model of Empowerment to address the theory. And, it works!!! After a year now of total submersion into this work, I have rediscovered for myself that the Personal Adaptive Need (PAN) spoke of the model IS the model. The PAN is really about our ability and willingness to adapt to others needs and desires with unconditional love. Moment to moment, day to day, week to week and month to month we choose to love or hate. Love has a different meaning to different people, depending on culture, upbringing, religion or lack thereof, etc. And, amidst the members of Pearl House of Peace, including myself, I have witnessed a myriad of expressions of both love and hate. The bottom line, or what another dear friend of mine says is, "The Thing" we are striving to do and teach is to love one another and not hate. When we can end our own personal internal wars of the mind between the IS of love and hate, I believe we can then help others. So, the reality of our work, at its basest idea, is to learn to be at peace with our own selves, in our collective house. As we become peaceful, our vibrations of peace will cause an effect of peaceful waves to spread. Peace also has a different meaning to different people. We at the Pearl House of Peace, believe that the freedom of expression is fundamental to our human experience. So, we allow one another the freedom to express ourselves in a myriad ways. Many times, some would think the way we yell and holler at each other is not peaceful at all. However, our collective experience has taught us that to suppress our emotions attached to our ideas, has caused even more conflict in our past lives. So, here it is encouraged to talk, debate and even when emotions mandate, yell and holler, or whatever. But, we each are working towards the acceptance of an idea - Be the willow and walk away before physical contact in anger with another human being occurs. I wonder, how many globally are willing to entertain a new idea? I wonder as a human species how many are willing to learn to just walk away from physical contact in anger with one another and be a willow? I wonder how many are willing to think to learn, to learn to think of alternatives to the wars in their own backyards, countries and at the global level? Many peace groups across the globe exist. As do many hate groups. I believe in coexistence, absolutely. The idea of war and peace do exist. That is what I know now. But, I am willing to entertain a new idea of what war and peace can be, and how we define them. And, I believe we as a human species can learn to cease from spilling one another's blood in anger. I say it is time for the bloodshed to stop! Tolerance of one another at the local level, can lead us to tolerance on the global playing field of life. Can you entertain a new idea?
The Challenge WOW! Cooperative living, now that is a challenge! After nearly 6 months, we have just started to begin to understand the concept of cooperative living. What must all the great spiritual guides of our past be thinking of our human species today? Seems, most of them have tried guiding us to and through this very process. I guess that puts us in good company, because those of us of the Pearl House are in the midst of learning this very process ourselves. Some have doubted if it could be done. But, we are still here! We are continuing to work and learn what it means to cooperate with one another without becoming dictatorial and flaunting imperialistic ideologies. We've even managed to write our own household constitution - by consensus. That was a challenge which has taken the past 4 months to complete. We are still working on conciliation and accountability to one another which we have agreed needs work. And, economic sustainability is becoming an issue more and more every day as our numbers build. We now have 15 who live together and another 20 or so affiliated with this work right in our home town. We've got the basics covered...the house- food from within our own membership and those who care enough to help us through to our own sustainability-utilities, though with the winter here our most recent gas bill of $383 was quite a shock. We are needed. Some are beginning to recognize this work for what it is - a social service and an empowering force of love, mercy, tolerance, acceptance and learning another way, a more peaceful way, of life is possible. When folks walk through our doors, we say you can have a life of your choosing, including your dreams. We'll help. But, we also say we can cooperatively work together to create a better world - a world of cooperatively seeking lives of peace together. This process takes time. But, we are growing, stretching and becoming a little more peaceful each day. We are slowly getting our 501(C) 3 articles of incorporation written. We are beginning to organize our efforts to help each other. And, we are in the beginning process of extending ourselves to not only help our own community at large, but also beyond. We still have much work to be done! So where are you lightworkers, peacemakers and hands of compassion? We need you to help us plan our expansion, build our businesses and work towards healthy interdependent sustainability. I am most efficiently contacted by email. I await the lights of love to answer this call. I know you are out there and ready, willing and able. So, come. Let us journey together! We began with publishing and open-mikes as an advocacy endeavor for families experiencing symptoms of mental illness. In The Know - SPRM Publishing is a continuation of the same endeavor. FYI - Our first Prototype Affordable Housing Cooperative - Pearl House of Peace - is now in operation! Seeds in development of MIM's Place of Community Cooperative, on a day to day basis, is beginning to function as a think-tank , clearing house, publishing service and retreat center. We serve as a link between decision makers - who invest in people, donate equipment and supplies, make contributions to worthy endeavors, and sponsor youth leadership initiatives - to those seeking solutions. We create jobs by teaching members to participate in the process by learning how many letters, appointments and presentations lead to a signed contract. In the process they learn how to identify qualified decision makers, write effective customized proposals, close deals and put a team together that can accomplish the necessary goals and objectives to the client organization. We call this process the One Stop Work Shop - a tool of empowerment of learning the process of building and sustaining a business and relationships. Pearl House is already operating on a tiny scale of how our center will! Come by and take a sneak peak and preview. We welcome all people of peace! | MIM's Model | Chess | MEED Defined | MIM's | | Pearl House of Peace Constitution | MIM's Power Point Presentation | Positions Availiable | | Return Home | What's New | Schedule of Events | Our Services | On-line Catalog | Great Links | FAQ Page | Contact Us | Download Page | Get Help Now | |
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