New Quote of the Week

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius

Announcing the Title of my Second Book!

And what better way to announce it than with its trailer!





Tell me what you think!

Quote of the week 1-21-10

Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.
Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

Journeying Meditation from my First book

Journeying Meditation
(as printed in Under an Expanse of Oaks, A Druid's Journey by me.. Rev. David P. Smith)


Close your eyes. Now become aware of your breathing, in and out, in and out. Begin to notice of your body, starting with your feet and working your way up to your head as you become aware of each muscle and muscle group feel them loosen and become completely relaxed. (Pause here and give time to relax yourself.)
Now in your mind open your eyes – not your physical eyes but your mind’s eye. Envision yourself in a lush green field with a stream running through it. In the center of the field there is a large tree reaching up to the skies, its roots running deep within the earth itself. You approach the tree feeling its aura and power. This is the legendary world tree and it connects all worlds. The upper most branches of this giant tree reach into the upper world, the roots deep into the underworld, and its trunk in our realm the middle world. When you arrive at the tree, you see a crack in the trunk that opens into the tree itself and seems to lead down a long and winding passage way.
Take a moment to pause and think about this passage and how it looks to you. If you believe you are ready and you feel invited, enter the passage. If not just sit at the base of the tree and ask for guidance. A guide may come forth and meet you here if needed or you may find your guide once you have completed your walk through the passage. If you feel you are not ready end the meditation here and come back to it when you think you are ready, if you are ready proceed into the passage and continue on.
As you enter this long and winding passage you slowly move through the tree in a spiral. You are finding yourself spiraling down farther until you have reached the end of the path and come to another opening within the very roots of the world tree. Here again you see a lush green field, similar but more bright, more intense than the one you left when your downward spiral first began. Here at this field you must wait, you are awaiting a guide who will reveal themselves to you. There may be one or more than one, the guide may be human or humanoid, or even an animal or shimmering being of light. (Pause here and allow your guide to reveal themselves.)
Once your guide has arrived and has revealed themselves to you, greet them, tell them who you are and what you seek. Do you seek to speak with your ancestors or inner guides; do you seek to seek the divine inspiration and what wisdom may be granted by the gods or the faeries? Once you have told your guide what you seek wait for him or her to answer you in some way and lead you on. Here is where your path will diverge. You will continue through this underworld field to your destination, be it the land of the Faery or the land of the Ancestors, or you will reenter the world tree and climb the spiral upward and upward beyond our middle realm, to the upper branches of the tree and the land of the gods. You may ask your questions or wait and see what wisdom is imparted to you, your guide will aid you and tell you how you should ask, but remember to always show respect and be thankful for any knowledge or wisdom given to you. (At this point you will pause and wait until you believe you have learned what you seek to learn or that the guides and teachers have taught you all you are supposed to learn for this journey. You may want to leave space in your recording or pause it, or ask your friend to take a little break for 15-20 minutes or even hours whatever you see fit.)

When the lessons are finished and you have learned this entire particular journey can teach you, your guide will bring you back to the world tree and you can begin your walk back to the field in our middle world. When you arrive back where you started give thanks to the guides and teachers who have taught you and give thanks to the great world tree for allowing you passage through the realms. When you feel you have given thanks in your own way and it has been accepted, close your eyes again, in this world, and become aware of your breathing. When you are ready, become aware again of your physical surroundings, of its particular feelings and smells and open your eyes returned to this physical realm. Take some time to ponder what you have learned and/or possibly write down your experiences in your journal or notebook for later review as well.

Quote of the Week 1-14-2010

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.” –Anne Frank

Amazed by Avatar!

Tonight I went to see Avatar with my wife. Not only did we see this wonderful film but we went for the really big show and went to see it in IMAX 3D. After getting over the first physical reactions to the motion and heights (not a big heights guy) it was absolutely mind blowing.

In IMAX 3D it really is like you are right there and its larger than life. The storyline of the movie was amazing and I absolutely encourage anyone with a spiritual bone in their body to see it, as well as anyone who likes a great sci-fi/fantasy. I won't give anything major away but the effects were breathtaking especially in 3D. I am definitely buying a copy when its released on DVD. The storyline is great and I truly love the messages it puts out. It definitely fits in with many of my ways of thinking.

Well I do encourage everyone to check this out. If anyone knows me I'm not really at a lack of words, I may be brief from time to time in my writing but I am usually very verbal. When We got out of the film all I could really say to my wife was "WOW". And I still feel that wow feeling today. It was a wonderful trip full of emotion, action and a really great storyline... wait I think I said that a few times.. oh well GREAT STORYLINE!

Well that's it for now but it was great!

Guided Meditations Instructions

Hello all I do plan to add some Guided Meditations to this site so I wanted to add a few basic instructions here for those new to using them when written by another and not spoken.

In order to get the most out of a guided meditation it should really be guided by a voice so either a friend who will read to you or recording it to listen to while practicing it is always great. You may also wish to add music to the background but it should be rather laid back, relaxing and have no lyrics its really there for ambiance and to help you relax and reach that meditative state.

You should remember that your speaker, or yourself if your recording should speak slowly. Don't rush things and if it calls for a pause or a time to think leave some blank space in the recording or just pause if your speaker is live. These are really just some tips you'll find over time what works best for you. Also remember that guided meditations do take a little while some can last over an hour so be sure you have the time before beginning, its never fun to have to end one early.

Of course you could always memorize the meditation and go through it in your head if you are good at memorizing things. Just remember to go with what works for you. If the particular meditation doesn't interest you don't do it, if you find one you really like and want to repeat go ahead and do that.

Some of the meditations will be written specifically for this blog and others may come from one of the books I have written as they both have some different meditations in them. I may adapt them for the wider audience of the blog if they are more specifically aimed. I hope you enjoy them and that in some way any that resonate with you help you along your personal journey.m

Sunday

Well its a nice lazy Sunday here and I plan to spend most of the day doing some research and thinking about new topics to write about. Don't forget to see the last post regarding my first blog only contest. I'm having fun coming up with new and interesting stuff for the blog. I am also looking for a couple new automated features in order to make things around here more interesting.

You may have noticed if your not new to the blog that my URL has changed to www.duirsforest.com as a friend of mine convinced me that it looked better if it had a custom URL and I had to agree. I really do enjoy writing these blogs and sharing my feelings and the status of my writing with you all.

The cover art of my second book is well under way and once its all done I will be announcing the title of the book and showing it off. Edits are still under way in the first step of a 2 step process. Some may know and others not that my first book is now coming out in its second edition already sometime next week due to some grammar gremlins that squeezed by the proofreader and we've don our best to fix it quick. This time I am looking to use an editor with an sterling reputation and keep the errors to an absolute minimum. We all know things can slip through from time to time but far too much slipped through the cracks the last time.

Well I truly hope I can keep this blog nice, light and interesting for all of you who read it. I enjoy writing it with all my being and I hope to continue on for many years to come.

Blog Only Contest

Greetings,

Well I've started my quote of the week feature and now I am going to hold a little contest. This has nothing to do with the quote of the week lol.

Ok this contest is open to anyone who reads the blog and wants to enter. There will be one prize. The prize will be a nice little pendant and with it I'll send a bookmark and perhaps something else a little special if I can find something suitable but I am only guaranteeing the pendant and bookmark.

To Enter First you need to post a comment to this thread saying that you want to officially enter. Second you have to send an e-mail to david@dreamz-work.com stating that you want to enter and answering the following questions that can be found by perusing my blog:

1) Who was my first quote of the week from?
2) When Is my Birthday?
3) What was the Title of my first Blog Post?
4) What is the title of my book currently in publication?

That's all you need to do and if this works out well I may hold other contests from time to time specific to the blog, especially around the time book 2 releases.

All Entries must be received in my e-mail by 11:59 pm EST on January 31, the winner will be notified by e-mail on Feb 1 and I'll ask for the info on where to send it then.

GOOD LUCK ALL!

Quote of the Week

Hello there this is new feature I mentioned in a past post called Quote of the week. The quote will have something to do with writing, nature, spirituality or just something really profound.. they may also have been used in my next book and now for the first quote of the week!

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”
–Mahatma Gandhi

New Year New Blog stuff

Well as 2010 starts I'm planning some new features to this blog such as the quote of the week, where I will pick a famous quote most likely related to nature or spirituality and post them once a week. Some of these quotes will be found in my new book (I should be officially announcing the title and blurb from the back of the book cover). Also shortly after my new book's trailer will be available as well.

With any luck my posts will become a bit more verbose as and entertaining. I'm trying to evolve my art for the new year and keep up with writing. Who knows, perhaps I'll have a book three on the way before we know it. A lot of work to do these days and trying to promote books definitely starts to take time, research, and quite a bit of thinking, investment and legwork. Hopefully these posts will start to really come together and after the new book comes out I should hopefully be able to come up with some other features relating to it as well as the quote of the week.

Every day many thoughts go through my head especially about my "day job" and of course how to promote my books so that I can hopefully quit my "day job" eventually and become a full time author. I really do enjoy the writing and feel the surges of inspiration which come along with it. Its quite an exciting and emotional catharsis getting my ideas out on the screen and then into print. My whole life I've dreamed of writing and others enjoying my writing. I truly hope that even one person, other than myself, will like my work, because then it truly is worth it.

Happy New Year and Status

Happy New Year everyone! As we enter this New Year I am working on the first edits of my second book which I personally believe is far superior to the first and definitely is aimed at a much wider audience. I will be revealing the title and the blurb written for the back cover once the cover art is finished and the final edits are underway, hopefully in just a couple of weeks.
I want to wish anyone who reads this an extremely Happy and Prosperous New Year filled with joy and love. I hope that everyone is well and though my posts are short I hope you all find them at the very least informative.
So far we have had a wonderful New Year and my 2 year old son even made it to midnight to see in the New Year for the first time. He marched proudly around our living room shouting "NEW YEAR, NEW YEAR" when he heard us shout Happy New Year. It was a marvelous experience. Today is also my sixth wedding anniversary and I am so grateful for the loving wife and son I have on this first day of 2010.