Convergence-travel tip! -Tom Thomson

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:16:00 -0500

Many years ago......

�� I read a book that Aldous Huxley had written while taking mescaline in order to shift is consciousness so that he could see the world from a new perspective.� It was aptly named "Doors of Perception,' and it highlighted that we all interact with our world with our own limited perspective while trying to grasp at the possibilities and endless probabilities that present themselves in our lives.

�� In order to change our world, it would be necessary to change our inner thought processes and self talk, and to do this meant that we would have to seek out evolution of self through interactions with our environment that would make us question everything, and see our lives through a completely new viewpoint.

This was the case at the Tom Thomson Gallery during "Convergence," the current art show� with over 360 art pieces, that had a grand opening last night on January 22nd.�� I will not get into the juried aspect of the art show, and how 3 jurors had to make a choice about which piece was to win, which is incredible because the caliber of the artwork here, and the variety is unprecedented.��

Rather, I want emphasize that if you want to change your outlook on life, or see life in a different light, or in my case...find a new respect for the creative process, and become inspired......then you should take in this exhibit, and give yourself plenty of time to take in each piece individually, and then take them in as a whole!

�� my advice is meant to help those that I interact with live inspired lives...and I feel very strongly about this exhibit from an unbiased standpoint. If done properly, you will come out of that inner sanctum of artwork with an entirely different thought process if you let yourself experience the magnitude of the multiplicity of� thoughts and feelings, viewpoints and styles, mediums and textures that went into that work and the reasoning behind them.

�� I promise not to tell you about what is in those� rooms at the Gallery...as it has to experienced, and would rather hard to explain anyhow.� I could try, but then if I did it, it may give you the Alice in Wonderland feelings of falling down the rabbit hole and finding a world where normal logic does not apply.�

If you are from here, then consider it a civic duty, and a duty to yourself....and go inside and be amazed!

If you are a tourist, or tourists� visiting here, then do the right thing, put this on the top of your "to do list," and when you are going through, attempt the nearly impossible...if possible at all......judge for yourself , and try to pick a favorite out of the 360 pieces that are so very different....

Watch that first step down the rabbit hole, this trip is going to be a doozy!

for info...

http://www.tomthomson.org/exhibition.php?ExhibitionID=130

-Owen Sound Natural Happiness Guide

Skating in Harrison Park

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:13:00 -0500

This message is meant to be shared with those that haven't been to Owen Sound before or those that haven't been outside as they have been cooped up indoors, so you may want to forward it to your friends that are not only local, but also those are interested in visiting here from other regions.

What do you get when you mix a Canadian heritage sport, with a scenic backdrop, as well as air so crisp and fresh that your may find yourself smiling infectiously as you feel healthier with each breath?

The answer is outdoor skating at Harrison Park in Owen Sound!

There is no climate controlled environment with venting to move air which never feels as good as true fresh air.......

No.....

this is an outside ice surface with the possibility of the sun beaming down on you, the wind caressing you, the crisp ice calling to you to play upon it!

It is a rare commodity to have a feature like this, and it is a perfect place to spend a morning, afternoon, or evening with loved ones or perhaps the new beginner in the family. Every town with any element of escarpment has a lookout point, but for a place to take a date that is different...look no further.

When I visited there, I came upon children playing with each other, kids practicing their best moves, adults skating hand in hand, a small game of pick-up, and beginners that spent most of the time on bent knee, and on their backsides..which led to full upright enjoyment when they got past the few first steps.

If you have skates, bring them to Owen Sound and give them purpose!

I urge you to take advantage of places like these....For with the forest encircling you, and with the birds chirpping away, you are bound to have an interesting experience. Make a day of it...bring snowshoes, boots, and snowpants that may have been collecting dust, and hike along the trail system later.

Make your trip worth it, make it adventurous....

-Owen Sound Natural Happiness Guide

Correcting your Spine, may correct your Life! Local answers to holistic wellness!

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:18:00 -0500

Correcting your Spine, may correct your Life! Local answers to holistic wellness!

Most people assume that pain is quite natural, but there are far to many people that hold that same belief for agony!

Let me be the first person to set you straight....

Agony, is your choice....

Events in our lives offset our minds, bodies, and souls, and cause us to become injured in some manner or form.

The path to recovery though, is something that we must take on ourselves in order to regain our positive lifestyles that we like to have. Proper recovery is key to living a relatively agony free lifestyle and it reduces the possibility for reinjury as well as promotes complete holistic health.

I like the analogy of the sprained ankle as a point of reference as it really gets the point across. your body uses three systems to figure out its position in the environment; sight, sound, and touch. Any one of these systems will accept misinformation as true information if they are injured. This is the reason why a soccer player that walks off a sprained ankle is 75% more likely to reinjure that joint after the first accident. The receptor sites that are taking in the information from the nervous system are misfiring and accepting the injured tissue to be the norm after the pain has subsided. This is where the agony comes in, as the athlete repetitively injures their body because they lacked the intiative to go through a stage of learning whether or not their joint was clearly prone to reinjury or actually fully healed.

My story begins at

Heritage Chiropractic Service in Owen Sound.

I had recieved a referall for services through this awesome program that benefits a potential chiropractic patient with a reduced rate for intial services which was also part of a system that donates to children in 3rd world countries! check it out at

http://www.heritagechiropractic.ca/compassion.asp

It was heart warming to find out that I had found another health service provider in the area that was actually making a difference in the community and not just in their pocket book. I was overjoyed to take part in the experience right from the start.

I had no idea what to expect,I had merely pictured lying on a table and "Craaaaaaaaaaaaack, snaaaaaaaaaaaaap, Click, Ouch....Thanks doc....See ya!"

When I was greated by the lovely personality that beamed out of Collette, who is the Tech Assistant, I was instantly in a state of calm intrigue. I wanted to be there, and it felt like my intuition had led me to the right place, and that this appointment was not merely a chance occurence.

I looked for the simple chart, and the one table, but I was instead introduced to weighing my body to find out which side was heaviest to show misalignment, a thermal scan, a barrage of x-rays, and a consultation with Dr. Zoldy who I would aptly nickname "Dr. Straight Line," due to his approach to chiropractic medicine. I learned that I was 10 pounds heavier on one side....hmmm not good at all....no wonder my exercise, healthy eating, and meditation wasn't working on its own to heal me....hmmmm

I wondered what the results would be? How messed up was I really? what could I do to fix my body?

swoooooooooooosh.............sound effect for time passing....

A week later I returned to the office and I learned that when I had fallen skiing years before...that I had done some serious damage. I had been a snowboard park designer, and my job was to design..and...well..hit jumps...

This position had the element of surprise in it, and I had ended up 26 feet up on an angle in the middle of a halfpipe after hitting something we called "over-vert,"

Bang........quadruple dislocation....I will always remember that day! I had fallen sideways and become a rag doll because the pressure had crossed all of my limbs...

DR. Zoldy showed me the x-ray that proved to me that this is where my agony was coming from...my spine was misaligned almost entirely and it explained a whole serious of symptoms that I had been experiencing for years.

He also showed me multiple x-rays of anonymous patients that had been in my position before. These x-rays had before and after pictures. Before....messed up everything....after.......straight spine...

wow...He chose to only target the spine as a practitioner, because he understood that most nervous tissue ran through it, and it controls our entire body through the signals that are sent through it. He explained that he wanted to heal the body to a point where the body could work as it was meant to, and heal itself. I have since developed a great amount of respect for this simple straightforward, and rare principle of healthcare.

As it was explained to me, so many walk around with poorly curved spines, bad posture, injuries, different sized legs, straight spines, scoliosis, and other potentially harmful health problems that effect how one's spine sees itself in relation to its optimal position.

Many, including our youth, our athletes, our civil servants, to our parents, grandparents, and all wakes in life walk around in pain experiencing tons of ailments that can be attributed to pinched nerves, poor nutrient flow in the spine, and lack of movement in the spine itself.

This man's goal is to fix that... he does it through repeated adjustments.

Personally, My eye twitching, hurt neck, pain in my jaw, and weakend grip strength has all but dimished by going for 2 weeks... Imagine a 1 year program....

Stay in touch, and I will continue to keep you informed on the practitioners that matter in the area...those that are truly making a difference, and those that have your best interest in mind.

If you want to experience his services for yourself, but more importantly...you want to be living to the level that you should, and could be...please contact him through this link and tell him that you heard about him here.... I do this for the community and to show my support in his endeavors...

http://www.heritagechiropractic.ca/index.asp

I will also share about how my health is increasing as I go through the process of going for complete health of body, mind, and soul.

Your Guide..

The Owen Sound Natural Happiness Guide

An Interesting Sunday Experience

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:58:00 -0500

An Interesting Sunday Experience

This Past Sunday, I was fortunate enough to find myself as a passenger in my friend's car as we made our way to the RockFord Flea Market. I had never been to this market before, and I really didn't have any presumptions on what would be inside, for all I knew, it could contain the same old licence plate vendors and broken radio collectors that I had met at other markets in previous excursions.

I must say that I was pleansantly surprised! As I entered the building, I was met by the faint smell of coffee brewing at the cafe that reminded me of a 50's diner, which came complete with a sweet little older woman that wore a smile cheek to cheek. As I ventured further, I came across a gregarious coin collector who actually had a line up to look at his rare coins. A young boy stood before him, fixated on pennies that dated back well over a hundred years, and I recalled when my Dad first gave me a rare nickel. This imagery was exciting to me , as I have watched many small towns welcome big box stores that have all but replaced these diamonds of a kinder past in the rough of a modern, commercial existence. This place was to prove itself to be a treasure trove of the strange and the exotic.

I headed through the ceiling high stacked isles of previously owned merchandise, heirlooms, collector's peices, antiques, glasswear, clothing, etc...... with the feeling of looking through someone's old heritage. It was like a long lost episode of an Indiana jone's, where Indy found himself accidentally falling into a vault of antiquities of an ancient civilization.

Kitch; wasn't that the term that I had heard from my parents as they had described the artistic work of the 70's and 80's,? I thought to myself as I walked past a booth of old paintings and lights that had felt and strings worked into their design.

This place was not for those that want stark condo living, or homes that seem more like show houses then lived in and comfortable. This was a place to find that conversation item that steals your guests gaze as they visit. I personally found blown glass from the 60's that was made from Europeans that had migrated to Canada. These artisans had created peices of such precision and vibrant colours, that they made any modern circular dish look pale in comparison.

There was even what appeared to be the worlds largest pry bar...a tool for taking apart old decks..which I am sure weighed 40lbs on its own, and tons of old tools and craft making devices.

All in all, a wild experience!

Words of advice...

Bring cash, as there is no debit or credit card here!

Take your time...This is where you may find something that well eventually end up on Antique's Road Show!

-Owen Sound natural happiness Guide

Owen Sound Bridal Show

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:52:00 -0500

Marriage: a union of two individuals who have vowed to spend their lives together...

Wedding: A venue to celebrate the union of the lucky song birds that have found each other.

Bridal Show: A wild showcase of wedding based services that has to be seen and participated in to get the true value out of the mesmerizing event itself.

It is an all encompassing event that brought together future brides with their potential photographers, make-up artists, music providers and entertainers, cake decorators, wedding dress makers, fashion designers, wedding planners, flower arrangement providers, caterers and so very much more...

What can I say...

I can only compare the experience to witnessing an eclipse and staring directly at the Sun. It was mind mind blowing, and it left me stunned. Brides to be that attended the event excitedly took to each booth in a frenzy to try the tempting free samples, to sign up for the free facials, and other contests that had enticed them. I personally learned a great deal about the unseen efforts that go into weddings, and I highly recommend going to these types of events in order to meet your potential wedding service providers, as well as to see what all the hype is about!

I personally became involved and modeled tuxedo's while doing promotions for this site as well as my other referral services. I loved every minute, and was overjoyed to be a part of something that pushed me beyond my normal lifestyle.

I wore a smile all day, and I have to say that it was nice to see so many excited people in one place.

Thank you to those that are getting married, or attended in general; you all made the day spectacular!

-OwenSoundnaturalhappinessguide

Over the Holidays/Torch Run-Family Fun Day!

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:30:00 -0500

Over the Holidays, Owen Sound had an abundance of events that really pulled the community together...

These events showcased that our city is certainly one where community spirit flourishes. It was a frigid evening as the Olympic Torch Run headed its way into Owen Sound, and as I stood there waiting for what I hoped to be a perfect shot, it dawned upon me that this city has more volunteers per capita then any other that I have lived in before. That the element of community spirit cannot be contained easily here as it overflows and it seems to be something that transcends the practical existence of a normal citizen.

Those that live in Owen Sound and the surrounding area are a blessed people, that have made the choice to step away from the hurried pace of bustling metropolitan living, so that they can get to experience more actual living then the average citizen. The people that waited in line that night to urge on their own athletes, as well as those that came out to support the speakers, the dancers, the volunteers, the stage performers, where filled with something that is inspiring. It was not solely a sense of community pride, and they weren't there for just the acts themselves; They where filled with an intensity and joy of being a part of something much greater then themselves.

The torch was merely a symbol, and as such it represented the unity of all, and this community is aligned with those values.

Photo courtesy of J.Skultety Photography

This space serves as the blog of wonderment to be had here!

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:29:00 -0500

This is a blog that will showcase the people, places, events, and the photos that I will be taking on my personal journey of spiritual exploration while in Owen Sound. It is a blog to help show the true inner nature of what we have to be thankful for locally, and what you have in store for you, if you should choose to visit us, and the places that I have visited along the way! enjoy! and be sure to email me with your awe inspiring stories of the area!

- Owen Sound Natural Happiness Guide -