The air has a slight crispness to exposed face and hands, as I head of into the carpeted wooded path that would lead me to the sacred Zen spot, of which I long to return often. There is an echo of a dog’s bark, followed by the couple who seek tranquilty with their own beast, I with the black squirrel.

Crimson and gold dominated the forest floor, as black squirrel, rooted with snout, beneath the blanket of leaves. In search of prospects for winter storage I thought…and suddenly a leap from forest bed to fallen branch…to embed the nimble clawed paws that enabled quick ascent. Soon there would be a reversal…and eye contact, him and I. The babbling of the brook would soon bring me solace. I had spent days, reviewing news and magazine articles of political, social and financial dismay, I was feeling that perhaps my place as “wellness consultant” was more valued then ever, but would I soon find myself, in over my head.
It is harvest time. Or for some, the thankful day, the crops are in off the fields, and the “yield”…abundant. My understanding is that many a farmer (depending on what part of the country…and what crop) were quite happy with their “bumper crop”. Others, related to high winds and/or flooding, watched in dismay as what “would have been”.

We do not have much control over uncertain times…and the uncertainty of the weather…or …of life. It is now apparent that we have every reason to believe we are in the midst of the “troubled times”, a few had predicted. Market changes…and the climate changes are the talk of the day. Tomorrow, we will be forced to re-visit and re-think, about the health care crisis…and getting back to the business of “greening up our lives”.

All these items mentioned are connected, I hope you can all see that. The crisis that is certain to visit all major items on the Political Agenda’s (or what should be)…is unfolding as what some have predicted. I had written years back about the ecological issues and health care shortages and shortfalls…I am not astute enough on the financial and economics, to have seen something even more urgent for the entire planet.

As I ventured off into the woods this morning, to visit my tranquility space…I was able to let all of the trouble I have “incorporated” into my psyche, go. There are many millions suffering financial losses, job losses, and or loss of home and nearly all equity. I had “a lived experience” that would match the dismay and discouragement other’s are felling (anyone remember the early 1980’s, Chrysler nearly went under).

There will be falling leaves that had presented as brilliant colours in the forest of our lives….and winter winds will soon start to blow…many will feel a chill as never felt before. I feel blessed being able to transcend this pain that others are feeling, (that which I once felt quite dramatically with extreme vulnerability) but would like to encourage all to seek out a deeper meaning and purpose to our lives. WE are more than money making machines. WE exist to do more than just cultivate success or to gather and cherish things. (or to give our children all that we did not have growing up). WE are all deeply connected to one another…and to the forces of nature…if we just stop and contemplate and reflect on what IS. Nature’s beauty and splendor one day, can have blue skies turn to grey…strong winds can uproot the home of bird and squirrel. Economic forces will no doubt uproot those that were over-extended…or living on someone else’s money through credit. The Mortgage companies that evolved…and even many of the banks were taking a gamble…but driven by the same forces that individuals and families were basing their “entitlement” philosophy of living on. Were their “victim’s of greed”. Were the ambitious rising middle-class exploited? Should government’s put some kind of law or leveraging policy in place to stop these mortgage brokers from going to far. What of the AIG’s, the “Insurance Brokers” for the new “mortgage machine”…that in a “run-away” scenario, became like a “threshing machine” gouging into, and chewing up, the stability of speculative markets?

Finding one’s Zen will be a difficult prospect in the face of economic loss or uncertainty. I am certain it is near impossible for the “insurgent” to find their Zen. Must be hard also for the soldier who feels he/she is in a just and reasonable role, yet the “intent” is a hard pill to swallow, whenever or where-ever lives are lost.

You can cultivate peace, love and tranquility, any day of the week…any circumstance. It begins with the appreciation of life, and of nature…but of “the other”…and our intent toward the other. If we are not at peace with ourselves, Zen will not come. If we are not at peace with the other, Zen will allude us. If we cannot reconcile our destiny…Zen remains but a word or a concept becoming more popular, but more allusive…as we strive for those things….things that we know have come at a cost to ecology and/or future generations.

So, I encourage all to begin that inward journey, that comes with a “Zen life”…but first, reconcile your relationships. Are you okay with yourself? Have you love for the “other”…the many other’s who we are connected to. Last, reconcile your relationship to Mother Earth….and what your legacy is. WE are all living a legacy…my hope is you choose a legacy, that is filled with Peace, Love and Tranquility… this being what we are entitled to.Like an “Idiot’s Guide to” or Life “for Dummies”, I hope I can make this a book for the masses…and no one is left out of understanding what the heck I’m talking about. There will be much that is “simplistic”…much in metaphorical stories.
I came from humble beginnings, so there will be “country bumpkin” type anecdotes. You will get to know that I am country boy, southerner of Canada, exposed often and for a long time by American culture. Not just media, such as TV, movies, mags, and newsprint…but by American people I worked with, befriended, partnered with , worked for and worked with….I lived there for a short period…the bulk of vacationing in “the States”…and I have children whose step-father is American…their Mother works and lives in the U.S.

I married an American Woman, and a deeply loving co-habitation for more than 5 years with another. So, thinking that you are reading an American born author, is what it may seem at times. You may prejudice against the “country hick” in me, the Canadian that I am…the male in “male nurse”…or you may wonder how, when what and why, does any “macho-jock-rockstar wannabe”…choose Nursing.

This book will include some explanation of how I got to this point. The coach, teacher, nurse, will all be revealed over time. What is more important is that you grasp early on that this is a theoretical piece…my philosophy, more than my biography. It is also a metaphorical potpourri, that begins with coming to understand when I ask you to, “think beyond the box”. You will also be invited on a journey to explore the meaning and future of the “interface” between generations and different cultures. As I refer to cultures there will be the typical understanding of culture, while there will be contemplation and theorizing on such culture as, “Health Care Culture”…American Culture interfaced with Canadian Culture. I will ask you to think about the places in History…where “culture” as defined, demanded or forced on others…and what do we think of, when we hear organizations we work in, defining “growing our culture”. Is there some possible “questionable” motives and agendas, that should be transparent. Is there a “covert” side to culture. Is there something to the notions of “conspiricy theory”. What if some of the greatest conspiricies of our lifetime were true. Where does that lead us in the evaluation of ethics and “values”. (thoughts coming from Robert Pirsig Novel, Lila.)
You will also be invited to reflect on …”the nature of things”…(and yes there will be more than one reference to David Suzuki…and of differing takes of “nature”. For the academic, to sample on their “scholarly” palette…I will bracket and footnote…more than just a little “ontology” of culture (ontology being…the nature of something). Culture is gaining in “buzzword” status…it is gaining in researchable methodologies to come to terms with (“reconcile”)…what all that culture could mean. And yes, I will be borrowing from others, referencing an blatantly asking you to “read for yourself” great sources of information, such as wikipedia…seminal journal articles and books. I am well read, that should become apparent. I am not very “talented” with proper grammar skills…I trust I can be forgiven…being the “country-bumpkin, rise from rags to riches (spiritual riches) and no I need not be forgiven for being Canadian, nor should I have to apologise or regret the part about being “a man”. Being a Nurse (yes a machismo, goes to college and works with 95% women)…for more than 25 years now…and still learning…not ready or qualified for graduation or a degree…in understanding women…or understanding myself…or the nature of the spiritual being living a human experience. (borrowed from Wayne Dyer)
A very loud thunder clamp, was the introduction to a “new reality”, my new paradigm” and my “ new life”. I was not the first to coin the terms new “paradigm” or new life.

It was not the first time, I “bridged over” to a new life…I would not be anywhere the newest, latest…first?, last? or greatest…of anything at all that day….in comparison to all the “greatest teachers of all time”…but I would forever be “new” to me….and to my world….my world of work, my world of “family life”…my world as a “private” practitioner.

Things said, done, and believed “In Private”….is and absolutely immense concept….stopping to contemplate what one has seen, done, heard or witnessed…”in private….is immeasurable and unimaginable. At least in terms as to what all 6 (soon to be 7 billion human organisms…may “experience” in their private lives….and the privacy of our own thoughts and minds….immense….no doubt….imaginable??? that is the cruxt of this book…

I embrace this new dawn (even if it began with “wretched vomiting” of someone “communicating…a call for help” (nature of illness)…then reawakened by “mother nature” Rolling Thunder “clap” and “echo”.

An “encore” career, WILL unfold…my openness to the Universe….the human nature manifestation of my own, that of my son….and my co-workers….the evolving “interface” of my “new world” of “Old South”.

“it’s a new dawn, a new day, a new life….for-or-or-or me…and I’m feeeeeling gooooooood!!!” (Michael Buble) would solidify in my mind as the opening of a soundtrack for my life story…also inclusive would be “there are two paths you can go by…but in the long run….there’s still time to change the road yer on” –Led Zepplin lyrics included in Stairway to Heaven.

Yes and aging Baby Boomer…

Yes, fresh from a concert that was Heal-lined by Bachman/CummingsApril Wine,….followed by Mark Farber of Grand Funk Railroad would have be good enough…that it was a charity concert for recipient organizations for Children with Cancer and with Type 1 Diabetes…and also funds to support ongoing efforts to “battle Type 2 Diabetes….

But to hear the B & C stories (heard Mark Farber share a piece of his and Grand Funks Railroad “boxcar and caboose” baggage)…this was far beyond the price of admission ($60 for the “elitist” bleacher seats, which were not at the back, but near the front…elevated enough to view the entire crowd ‘s “Clap for the Wolf-man”
And the “younger generation, boomer and beyond interface….certainly the fella in the pony-tail with cigarette in mouth is 100…he looooks 100. The “kids on the lawn” circle of friends…or the Hackie Sack strangers…many of whom “enjoying” a “herbal therapy” consciousness enhancing medicinal of choice. I know from my previous experience in street health, some a choosing to represent “freedom of choice of living- beyond- their- means. Every generation to date…has lived with the creed (and the greed) that one could call “unwarranted entitlement”.
Creedence Clearwater Revival, was mentioned at the Concert ( by Mark Farber)…”rollin’ in the jungle” breaks out in my head as I reflect back on their attitudes and ‘behaviours “ in which is left to interpretation. “natural” is left to interpretation…as is “consequences”….and “natural consequences”….is yet a huge concept…to reflect on …if we choose to contemplate the state and the consequences of the human organism. All the potential “interface” that exists between “us” and “them”. ..between human entitlement and the “universe” in all its’ “bloomin’ onion” interpretations, context and concepts that are possible 8 billion time over (6 billion population now….Where will we be by 2012….

Will you still need me, will you still feed me….when I’m 64… Beatles Legacy collection…a Boomer Favourite that is building in popularity with each passing year.
This is the “inner dialogue” that goes with the soundtrack of my life…and with which plays out…the bulk of the lyrics…as I think of or sit down with my son, for discussion.

Any “takers” out there (Ishmael)…on the concepts and context of symbolism…may want to read others “take” on 2012….after I give you a “context and concept’ evaluation and analysis of 2008….in “symbolic fashion. My living legacy, includes the interface of Protestant white meets First Peoples of Canada…while North America, was not known as Canada and/or the United States…and the “transformation” that took place…is not a BIG as the Transformation that is needed.

Stop here and read others if you wish…I give you the “guided tour” of inside the Book Store/Library/ News Print…that help shape my life…”transform” it.

Or read on and reflect…I encourage, small bites and long digestion….I suggest, some may not “have the stomach for all of what is included”…I trust no one will suffer nausea…I trust no one shall neeeeeed wretched heaving and expelling…elimination of such thoughts, feeelings and brain chemistry changes….that are sure to be “radically” different taste….and distinctively “multi-cultural”…in an expansive context of (“Bloomin Onion layers with spicy sauce) of one man’s (male nurse) (driven athlete/fitness buff) (tormented Artist/singer song writer…music buff 0
And if you think this is “pure” spirituality” without me “exposing myself” as if “in the BUFF…’aka RAW…you are hereby warned, not likely to be welcomed by the deeply religious or fundamentalist , elitist…purist vegan or yogic saint (self-imposed Swami’s beware…Mike Myers felt you needed some humblin (satire induced humility…if not “expose”)

Ours is not normal or usual conversation…father to son….this will be the determination of a large percentage of those that may choose to read this book…as Boomers, as parents, as Nurse, as Athletes, as Musicians, Artists, Gay, Lesbian…or simply as possible to find a “homogenous” “label” for readers of the book ….Spiritual Seekers”…or as “spirits having a human experience”….Wayne Dyer.

My back hurts as I write this…I blow my nose (which is often enough, today, but not as much as most days…at present employment settings…as much as when “living” in or near Windsor Ontario….and not as often as when I worked in one particular living environment (when in old farm house….putting in Insulation….the re-furnishing of house…the Landscaping in Grand Bend….and or…exposed to incense as a teen or as of late with “spiritual “ partners….and /or my son….in his “lived experiences” of choice.

So that to dispel the immediate nervousness of my Family especially….my Son especially….to former partners, co-workers….anyone at all to whom has shared items with me “in private” ( now that would include former and current patients…and the many others who I refer to, prefer to refer as “clients”…

Doc’s….as many as out there I have spoken with, you have confided in my for or relied on my “supportive skill-mix, talents and tolerance”…rest assured…this while the most “controversial” as I choose to get, will not “illuminate” those items of interest for a curious public…..it will be as with patient confidentiality…part of my Code of Ethic….you (personally) will not be talked about here. Many of you have been good friends and colleagues….those we agree (them and I) have been supportive, not exploitive of power, competitive, discriminatory, or oppressive, I rest assured I will remain professional….and empathetic to “your truth”.

It will be all who understand and grasp and “assimilate” ….the chapter on “your truth, my truth….will get the BIG picture…likely beginning to end….or find that it “unfolds” as one emancipates themselves from their state of “ego” based thinking and feeling …and finds enlightenment at some point in time as the reading unfolds.

This book is for everybody, young and old, male and female, Doctor or Nurse or PT,…OT RD, NP.ND. DO DC…APN (Advanced Practice Nurse) This is my “comfortable designation. While RN,….or Nurse Practitioner…Clinical Specialist….Education Specialist…Experiential Learning Facilitator….all fits (depends what day it is…what City I am in….Something totally different occurs at the University of Windsor than in London…differences are obvious depending whether in which Hospital, which Unit, which “role” (educator or “staff”)….and there are many “private” parts of my day than what is the context of my “Private Practice” lived experience. Fair enough….you will be confuse right now as to what I actually do, who or what I actually am…and for the most part…this book stands as a testament that all of you will learn something new, provocative,…and/or possibly out-right profound…as many have told be after talking with me…or sharing the content of book, mad, journal article, conference coverage….or news show or news print…..The Media influence on all of us is huge….Music has been a HUGE part of my “mother culture”…and to this day and beyond….there will be a New Song…added to the sound Track of my life….and this excites me….every New Day.

MY NEW LIFE JOURNAL…

What each client and friend (and a few family members) have been encouraged, by me to write.
(Now this stands….in print…that I tell all of you…family members, community members….friends…on and all.

What became one of the Biggest…days of my life….in terms of “transformative power”….the day was usher in by the “language” or communication of “illness”/”I need help”…to Nature’s BIG wake-up call in the metaphorical “thunder clap”…
Followed by…thoughts and feeelings so powerful….disarming, confusing and discouraging…”bridging to” “wake-up” to walk, walk for coffee, walk into book store, with intent to “browse” and then get Globe and Mail…which I began reading in eclectic central…”0ld South”…Little Red Roaster, then met Darlene got referral…met Mitch…mutual bitch session ensued…saw and commented on the “puppy’s peace”… they hold the secret of the peaceful balanced life…returned home with Book, so I could go in Library…but instead went to grocery store….met up with Kelly…(also from work) different energy and perspective…the deli, coniseur “bittner deli story…Toronto…K/W

I also read tons in a short period….short in terms of how long I can read on any given day…when I don’t work ….I will read that day…something…news…mags and or health fitness, nutrition wellness related….biggest of all….most time spent on “spirituality….most often eastern thought and practices….yoga…over tai chi…at the current time…while when studying Tai Chi, Chi Kung and assorted Martial Arts….Buddhism…Hinduism, Taoism …ZEN and the like.

So, about the early reading…Shirley MacLaine…and Camino….purchased hardcover

Discussion ensued with my son, as soon as he had come home…it seemed I was ready…but I had prepared no script…I spoke from a source of Love…with the flavour and “sense” of tough love.

I had a significant amount of lived experience that was a representation of “interface” of what is known as Street Health. There would be over the years an evolution of spirit but also of knowledge, theory and orientation. Much of the “new material” or the makings of a “new paradigm” (way of thinking), was inclusive of social justice, harm reduction…reducing the “risk factors”. Nearly all of society interfaces with a tapestry of “risk factors”. It is called living in modern times…in a so-called “civilized” society. Some sources refer to us as human organisms, as now…”domesticated” The New Earth- Eackhart Tolle.

Tolle will also expand on consciousness…inclusive of higher consciousness…and the ever presence of the ego…(Beyond Freud…differing from Wayne Dyer).

So what is my consciousness capable of when I lived a chapter or two (too many versions to share here) as the homeless, one to reduce homelessness (teaching life skills…and eventually though my Advanced Practice Nursing training with Street Health, Addictions and Mental Health…to facilitating Community Health Nursing Clinical experiences for Degree prepared nursing students. My University Life would be very diverse…beyond what many would attach to Nursing or even Health Care….I have evolved to be a citizen…a very concerned citizen of the world and beyond. What the beyond means we will cover in an up-coming chapter.

Back to Shirley MacLaine for chapter 2, and reference to Health Ledger, Jimmy Hendrics, Jim Morrison of The Doors, and Janis Joplin. Oh yes, back to mark Farber, Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman and the Boys of April Wine.

I will also be opening up discussion (or thought) about Britney Spears…Whitney Houston….Robert Downey Jr. Where Burt Bacharach and “Raindrops keep fallin on my head”…the singer…B.J. Thomas, Clayton Thomas Jr….and my life as a Gospel Recording artist. Yes you read that right…a few chapters will reflect, I had yet another persona, besides endurance (maniac) athlete….and male nurse…and father, brother, son.

The day was Wednesday (hump day) July 30, 2008. The place, Wortley Village, in the heart of London Ontario Canada.
Sharing a name with the most famous city of colonialism history, and perhaps from World War II fame…the London fashion scene, World Banking…the home of London Towers, London Bridges and London….Buckingham Palace, yes home of The Queen, once home to Diana…lingering dialogue of scandal….from more than one source.
Perhaps home of Labatts…home a Banting and the discovery of insulin therapy for Diabetes….home of Sidney Crosby…or the London Knights for whom Crosby played. Yes the Pittsburg Penquin captain if I missed a few…that is Hockey for those totally oblivious to the world of sports, or feel they do not matter…that Hockey does not matter. Could there be a Canadian out there that does not appreciate Hockey…and the History of Canada. Hoping some are interested at least enough about my current home, all previous digs I called home…and then there is my birth place, Kingsville, the most southern town in all of Canada…home of Jack Miner, is what is on the welcome sign. Signs of a different era, Victorian homes in large percentage…would be comparable to the percentage of homes (Victorian) while Kingsville holds no comparison to the architecture (castles to new age) and where these London Knights play. Where else but the John Labatts Centre.

Stay tuned for my analogy to (The Blue River) Labatt Blue, that is,

Making cents, scents, sense of it all?

If it is not my “intention” to offend…and yet some will take offense (the nature of the beast)…how do I “intend” to describe and include “intentional living” as one solution to be offered in the Theory of Transformative Living Community.

Some back ground to my theoretical development. The first big theory that I had put to print and submitted for grading was on the Social Integration Model. It was followed by the Community Development theory…(online community development included) I would call the Transformative Living Community. Prior to this official submission as part of my “Master’s Thesis” work…I was ask to define Nursing…I would later be asked to submit a paper critically appraising Nursing in the greater context of Health Care Culture. This would evolve while being exposed to the Theoretical and Philosophical Foundations of Advanced Practice Nursing. So, yes…in my graduate studies I was asked to define my position in the greater scope of the Universe as an Advanced Practice Nurse. In other words what did being an APN or Nurse Practitioner mean to me personally, and professionally.

Since I was carrying on with this need for my spiritual self to be manifest in my personal and professional life, I drew from literature designated as well as all the I had ever read (and believed) up to that point in time. I feel I have grown Quantum leaps. Personally and Professionally, I have come a long way. Attaining my Master’s Degree, opened up a world, In which I did not know existed. The courses in research methodology, philosophy and Theoretical Frameworks, would change my perspective (my take on things, and my “intent”) forever.