Wealth can be represented in many forms.
Although we are most accustomed to associating wealth with money, we can also become rich in other arguably more important realms like Health, Happiness, Love, Friends, Gratitude…

Here’s a great summary of one persons philosophy for achieving wealth.
His book, written in 1910, has been inspiration for many well recieved subsequents like The Secret and The Attractor Factor.
The whole book can be read at
It is an easy read in a couple of sittings.

The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattle

There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.

A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

A person can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.

In order to do this, a person must pass from the competitive to the creative mind. Otherwise he cannot be in harmony with formless intelligence, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit.

A person may come into full harmony with the formless substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of substance, so that man’s thoughts are received by the formless. A person can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the formless intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude.

A person must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become, and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the supreme that all his desires are granted to him. The person who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout g ratitude. This is the process by which the impression is given to the formless and the creative forces set in motion.

The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the person who follows the instructions given above, and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce.

In order to receive his own when it is ready to come to him, a person must be in action in a way that causes him to more than fill his present place. He must keep in mind the purpose to get rich through realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every person a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life, and he must hold the advancing thought so that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes into contact.

The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich, and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.

On the occasions of birth, sickness or simple need, our community has gotten into a wonderful habit of setting up a Foodtree for those in need.

The idea is simple, when you have a newborn, sickness or injury, nourishing yourself properly takes valuable time and effort better focused on other things. Too often, a proper meal takes the backseat to a yelping baby in our case as we try to make something as fast as possible before the little one erupts again.

Not to mention, when people know you are in need, they want to help and directing their energy toward a nutritious meal is very rewarding for all parties.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Your friend has a baby..they need help!

2. Call you friend and get a list of their personal email addresses of those who would consider preparing a meal.

3. Good things to include in a food tree email to prospective cookers:

a. Find out your friend’s dietary restrictions and how many days of the week they would want food.

b. Please note, many mama’s prefer to steer clear of spicy hot foods during nursing.  O

c. Our past two food trees have been 3 days per week lasting for a total of two months.

d. Remind the food givers that the friends in need may or may NOT want you to stay long for a visit…just tell them to be sensitive.

4. Set up a Google Calendar where you can post a list of everyone who is bringing food and when they are doing so.

5. Send out the email!  In the email, remind people to mark their dishes (tupperware or other) with their name if they want them returned.

6. Write yourself a reminder to alert those who have signed up to deliver food a week in advance that this is their week.

7.  Watch the food tree go!  People will put an amazing amount of love and care into the prepared meals.  Watch how sweet notes and flowers accompany gourmet fare here and there.  Watch how your food recipients are relieved and happy to be receiving such a critical need in their daily life…a fresh, warm meal.

In honor of our new born Solei, our food tree has been outstanding this month.  Three days a week of gourmet meals.  Sweet potatoes, amazing soups, tantalizing desserts, stir fry’s…you name it, we’ve had it.  My wife and I joke that these food trees are one of the main reasons we enjoy having kids !

Either way…food trees for a friend in need are an amazing gift to organize or participate in.

Happy cooking!

Good morning!

I started surfing about 8 years ago and I am in love with the surfing experience. Surfing also happens to be one of the more difficult sports to pick up and excel at requiring a fair amount of dedication (aka “water time”), money and of course, a beautiful ocean nearby.

For those who surf, you know that some of the most rewarding experiences related to surfing have to do with sharing waves with a friend, watching the dolphins swim about, the pelicans cruise the waves, the stories shared with friends and the full blown salt flush of your entire nasal cavity .

For those of you interested in learning how to surf, here is a quick tutorial that was forwarded to me. I regret that I don’t know the author.

Regardless, the most important rule of surfing is surf with the STOKE! Smile, share waves and give thanks that you get to spend a couple of hours bathed in the sun and salt water.

How to surf…

1) START WITH A LONGER BOARD. You'll want a 9-foot or

even a 10-foot board for learning. If you're very

small, you might get away with an 8-footer, but

whatever you do, don't get a 6'5" potato chip just

because all your friends are shortboarders or because

the guy behind the counter at the surf shop thinks

longboards are uncool. You'll catch more waves, enjoy

yourself more and learn much more quickly on a

longboard. Even a second-hand longboard will likely be

expensive, but that just means you'll almost certainly

be able to sell it for the same price if and when you

decide to switch to a shorter board.

2) POP-UP METHOD. A lot of people will tell you should

"pop up in one smooth motion". This is by far the

least useful piece of advice given to beginner

surfers, and you should ignore it completely. Break

your pop-up down into three distinct steps:

a) Place your hands on the board in front of you and

do a push up. All of your weight is now supported by

your hands and by the tips of your toes, just as in a

regular push up. Rather than keeping your back

straight, however, you should arch it so that only

your upper body is elevated; your pelvis should remain

more or less planted on the board.

b) Keeping your hands firmly on the surfboard, bring

your knees up to your chest, so that your feet swing

in under your body like a pendulum. You want your feet

to end up pointing somewhat across the board, with

your left foot in front and your right foot behind

(reverse this if you are "goofy-footed").

The key point to keep in mind in this step is that

your feet move forward to be under your body, rather

than your body moving back to be over your feet. A

rearward shift of weight on a surfboard puts the

brakes on, allowing the wave to overtake you. If you

find yourself kneeling on your surfboard at any point

during your popup, you are probably making this

mistake, rocking your hips back to be over your knees,

causing your surfboard to slow down. Avoid this

mistake by remembering these important words of

wisdom: "bum low, head high".

If you find yourself making an A-frame of your body,

legs straight, bent at the waist, with your hands and

feet on the board, you are not bringing your feet far

enough forward. You will find it very hard to stand up

from this position.

Note that this step SHOULD be performed in one smooth

motion.

c) You should now be in a deep crouch, with your hands

still planted on your board. Stand up (this step is

optional).

So why do people say you should pop up "in one smooth

motion"? Because that's how it feels when you put it

all together on a steep wave. Watch people surfing for

a while, though; you'll notice that on gentler

waves--the kind you should be learning on--surfers

will often hold the arched-back push-up position for a

second or two to be sure they have caught the wave

before completing their pop-ups. Obviously, breaking

the popup down into discrete steps is not just a

mental exercise for learning, but an actual,

functional technique as well.

3) PADDLE SMARTER, NOT HARDER. The second most useless

piece of advice given to beginners is "paddle harder!"

Sure, you have to paddle hard to get a wave,

especially when you lack the judgement and

manoeuverability needed to be at the wave's sweet spot

at just the right time, but come on--you're already

paddling harder than any of the experienced surfers

out there. What you need to do is paddle the right

way, using your body posture to adjust your

fore-and-aft weight distribution at certain, critical

moments.

When you see a wave coming, start paddling to get up a

bit of speed. Just before the wave gets to you, keep

paddling steadily, but adjust your weight distribution

backwards by arching your back, moving your head and

shoulders as far up and back as you can (watch some

shortboarders sometime to see how they do it). Just as

the wave catches up to you, and you feel your speed

starting to increase, throw your body down onto the

board, simultaneously reaching one arm forward for a

final, extremely vigorous stroke (once you have caught

the wave, you may have to arch your back again to

avoid digging the nose of your board into the bottom

of the wave).

I find that throwing my weight forward in this manner

is far more effective than simply paddling harder.

This explains how an experienced surfer can sometimes

catch a wave with a single stroke, while a furiously

windmilling beginner just falls off the back of the

same wave.

4) DONT GRAB THE RAILS WHEN POPPING UP. I already

mentioned this, but it is worth repeating here as a

separate tip: when popping up, place your hands flat

on the board in front of you, rather than grabbing the

rails. There is a tendency for beginners to cling to

their boards like grim death rather than popping up

when they slide down the face of a wave, and having a

firm grip on the board will make this all the more

likely. Later, when you are a good surfer, grabbing

the rails may be useful in some circumstances, but it

can hold you back when you're learning.

The final two points are safety tips:

5) FALL FLAT. Just as you should always assume a gun

you are handling is loaded, assume that the water

below you is shallow and full of sharp rocks or coral.

Head-first falls should definitely be avoided.

6) DONT BE AFRAID TO TURN TURTLE. "Turning

turtle"--grabbing the sides of your surfboard and

capsizing it--is useful for getting under waves. It is

also useful for avoiding being hit by another surfer

who is getting too close. Don't wait to find out if

you are going to be hit; turn turtle right away if you

are in any doubt at all. 

This is a post by fellow LoaTree blogger “Tree Carpsian” who will be joining us a regular blogger….

Gratitude Cards

It only takes five minutes and a stamp.
And it guarantees a smile every time.

My wife has started writing and sending one card every week to a different person in her life.
In our technologically based society of cell phones and email we are so readily in contact with people, but at a much more surface level.
The idea of handwritten correspondence even seems archaic at times. It is too rare that we get to enjoy the satisfying feeling of receiving a handwritten letter from our mailbox.
The entire process of handwriting a letter is intentionalized: from the card that you choose, to the pen that you write with, to the style of your handwriting.

The first person she chose to write to is someone that she interacts with daily, but her handwritten letter allowed her to appreciate her friend with words and intentions that too often go unspoken.
Its not often enough that we take the time to appreciate people through intentionalized handwritten correspondence for the roles that they play in our lives-from the past through the present.
After watching her glow when writing and finishing the letter, I realize that she is as stoked as her friend will be.

Just one card a week.
It only takes five minutes and a stamp.
And it guarantees a smile every time.

I love my wife…

You know those times in your life when you get that warm fuzzy feeling vibrate through your body and you think to your self, “feels good to be livin’!”

Well, I had one of those this past weekend, let me explain.

My wife Terra, with daughters Solei and Talia along with our friend Heidi and her two sons all took off on a walk. We’ve all been cooped up on the ranch with a powerful storm that has penned us in for almost a week now. We’ve seen snow on the mountains, 45 mph winds from the east, rivers of water running around our house and an ocean in front of us that seems more like a hugh washing machine in the middle of a load.

Well yesterday, the sun broke briefly in all her glory onto the ranch. Those of you who live with small kids know that rainy days can be brutal. The kids are bouncing off the walls, you are trying every trick to keep them entertained all the while everything is damp and dirty.

So the sun broke and Terra, Heidi and family decided to make a break for a long over due walk down the road with the kiddo’s strapped to the back (literally) and the bigger ones in joggers.

I drove off to do some work as they sauntered down the road bathed in a beautiful light…you know that light erupting from puffy clouds and landing on glistening water droplets all around you.

30 minutes after I reach my destination, the dark clouds move in quickly again. While I’m safe and warm, I know that my wife’s desired destination is about an hour round trip.

I sit in the car and alternatively am pelted by sun and heavy rain in staccato bursts.

I figure it is time to return home.

I’m pulling up our muddy ranch road and see Terra, Heidi and kids right in front of me…drenched and laughing hysterically.

I pull past them and their big smiles as I peer in closer to see how the kids are doing.

Despite the best efforts of the joggers sun shades and rain jackets, the kids are pretty wet. Only the infants wrapped tightly against their mothers underneath rain jackets appear to be totally warm and dry.

Amazingly, my dauther Talia in the jogger is sleeping all the while a steady drip of water is landing on her head.

Although wet, both of these amazing mama’s are refreshed, revitalized and simply stoked. You can see the glow as they quickly replay in their head their adventure of getting caught in multiple pounding rain and sun within their hour long walk.

Terra told me later that this whole episode reminded her how alive she was. Trudging through a rain storm with family and friends..yes, the simple pleasures and experiences.

Good to know when you are living the good life.

We’ve all watched Apple over the past decade turn into a powerhouse in the consumer electronic world with the introduction of the iPod.  Known for their outstanding user interface, aesthetically pleasing form factor and designs, and innovative marketing, Apple has heavily influenced business and society.

With the long overdue rise of environmental concern in CE manufacturing, it is exciting to see Apple turn their immense intellectual power toward creating more environmentally friendly MacBook.  Thinner, more energy efficient, cutting out most of the highly toxic chemicals found in most computers and low-volume packaging, the MacBook will likely pave the path for more consumer electronic companies to get off their addiction to toxic materials and overpackaging.   Kudo’s to Apple.

As always, it is the consumer and their dollar who will stimulate the continued growth in ‘green’ technology.  The next time you go to purchase a desktop computer, monitor or laptop, make sure it is certified by Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT).   The provide ratings on computers and monitors as their reduction in toxic materials.

The more EPEAT “Silver” and “Gold” products you buy, the more will be created!

I’m a political junkie after years soaked in political activity in and around Santa Barbara. Political discourse and activities are such an amazing reflection of the state of our society not to mention the real impact on our daily lives.

I’ve been following the current Presidential primaries very closely. If it isn’t already clear, I definitely lean toward a more progressive viewpoint. That being said, it is interesting to follow the rhetoric of the various candidates and parties.

Striking to me is how certain candidates so depend on fear…fear of recession, terrorists, gays, immigrants, renewable energy. Candidates running on ‘fear’ is truly a troubling sign. Fear causes people to revert to very primal reactions of fight or flight and worrying about consequences of their decisions later. Fear causes people to set aside important values and promises in order to satisfy a very short term need to feel safe.

Unfortunately, fear has been used to lower the quality of our country’s dialog about our own future and take numerous legislative action that have severely damaged our own freedom and ability to control our destiny since the 9/11 attacks.

For that reason, I have been drawn closely to the message of hope and inspiration of Barack Obama. Speaking from experience, to run on ‘hope’ and ‘optimism’ isn’t easy in the best of times. In contemporary times of daily “orange” and “red” terror alerts, it is even more difficult.

Senator Obama’s appeal for people to believe that we can achieve more together and united is utterly refreshing and directs people toward reaching for a higher level.

Many are skeptical of Obama’s calls for hope and understandably so given how much this country has suffered for the past seven years under fear based governance.

Inspired Governance:

As I’ve evolved as a person, I’ve realized that this is how I want to live my life. I want to continually live an inspired life, reaching for new ground and creating a better world. I want to live on a higher level where we are constantly pushing each other to live positively, passionately. I want to see us harness the power of our minds and passions to create a better planet.

Life is too precious and short to let fear dictate your destiny. I want a president to call on his countrymen and women to make powerful movements and sacrifices to make our country energy independent, to become the world’s environmental and climate leader, to excel in brokering peace deals amongst warring nations, to be on the cutting edge of sustainable business models and practices, to attack global health and hunger epidemics.

I want to be inspired and I want our country to inspire others.

In my opinion, this is what we the people should be seeking in our current and future leaders.

Please take a moment to engage the current election, arguably the most important in decades.

A fascinating site for political discourse:

Daily Kos

Barack Obama

And if you want to laugh (very important) about politics: The Onion

2007-shots-177.jpg

The Story of Solei (‘sun’ in french) Lani (‘heaven’ in hawaiian) Fortson

I was desperate for a little surf.

As due dates near, expectant fathers will use the due date as reason to squeeze in any extracurricular activity. So, I posed the question to Terra and she agreed that I should go surf and she and Talia would join me.

So we headed down to Refugio with the surfboard in the truck and Terra, Talia and I squeezed in the cab. It was a gorgeous late afternoon. A bit warm considering it was December 31, 2007. The swell wasn’t that big, but quite clean and plenty big to bring out the longboards.

We threw out a couple of towels and just goofed off in the last of the sunlight in the sand. With the sun dropping, I headed out for a lovely session on the point and watched Terra and Talia go for a walk. Heidi, Guner, Sequoia and Kai joined us as well (this was little 1 month old Kai’s first trip to Refugio). It was another epic time at the beach.

Given that the Tautrim family had a newborn and we had one on the way, we all decided to take it easy for New Year’s festivities….cook, chat, play some board games and spend some time with people we loved.

So we all headed back from the beach and it was clear that Talia was not feeling well again. The day before, she got sick all over my friends nice hard wood floors during his son’s 1^st birthday party. So, we got home and kept a close eye on Talia while we started planning out dinner for the evening. Before we even started cooking, Talia vomited all over her changing table…bummer.

I tromped up to Tautrim home and told them we were going to stick close to home tonight as Talia was sick. On my way back down from their house, I also started to feel a little off. We continued on making a Chinese chicken salad to give to the Tautrim’s in exchange for some pizza from them. Terra and I agreed that neither one of us were hungry as we finished making the salad.

By 7:30pm, Terra was feeling off as well and decided to head straight to bed.

Well, our New Year’s plans quickly unraveled as I pulled up on the couch to watch a movie solo style.

By 9:30, Terra was out in the living room with me complaining of nasty stomach pains and chills, and my own stomach was aching bad as well. I pulled out a pan for Terra and then I headed straight outside to wretch. When I got back, Terra was on all fours on the floor making a deposit in the pan. I cleaned her up and then headed back outside to return my lunch back to the planet…again.

We were both a wreck. Beyond my concern for Terra and our unborn baby, I couldn’t make it more than 20 minutes without horrendous heaves that continued on through the New Year.

Terra finally made it to bed and I decided to spread out on the couch. Mercifully, we all fell asleep.

6:30am, January 1! Happy New Year!

Talia woke up still feeling sick and came out to join me on the couch. She wanted to eat bananas and I just wanted to sleep. Groggy from the night before, I looked over at Terra standing in the doorway. She informed me that that she thought she was in labor. It was 7:45 am.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

Serious she was.

Immediately running through my head: No bags packed (again), is the baby ok?, what am I going to do about all the puke piles around the yard?, who’s taking Talia, it’s New Years, call the doctor, what the hell happened to our house (it looked like the apocalypse)…

(Back to reality). Terra was experiencing contractions…every 4 minutes and laid up on the couch now.. Geezus Christ. I called the hospital. They thought she was experiencing ‘simulated labor’ due to dehydration. I looked over at Terra moaning on the couch…nope, not simulated.

I ran up to the Tautrim’s, dropped off an ailing Talia and loaded Terra in the car between contractions. With Terra in the back on all fours and me in the driver’s seat, we took off out of the ranch at 80 miles per hour down Highway 101 on the 25 minute drive to Cottage hospital in Santa Barbara..

Twenty five minutes is generally a short time in one’s life. With your wife on all fours moaning in the back in advanced labor in your dirty little sedan, things tend to slow down a bit. Terra told me to drive faster and threatened to give birth in the car. I was humming along at 80 mph without a soul on the road New Year’s morning praying I wouldn’t get caught in the speed traps.

We pulled up to the Emergency Room entrance (aka, valet parking with a security attendant now that Cottage is under renovation). Terra was losing it and I was just stoked we didn’t have our baby in car.

We loaded Terra into a wheel chair and started through the labyrinth to Labor & Delivery at Cottage.

Thankfully, Terra’s OB Suzanne R. was on duty. She knew us and Terra loved her. She confirmed that Terra was near crowning already and this baby was coming very fast. Terra was stripped down, they put a monitor on her and she was pushing like mad.

I did remember the birth plan (again) and (again) it was thrown onto a desk and buried by a nurse. I kept encouraging Terra to breath through the painful contractions and she leaned on my for rest. They installed a birthing bar which allowed her to get into a full supported squat position.

Dr. R was cool and collected as she peered and prodded underneath Terra in her power squat on the bed. Just one more push…

At 9:12am, January 1, 2008 Solei Fortson was born. 6 lbs, 14oz, 19 inches, happy, healthy, everything was great.

We sat there in the room relieved, in awe at what just happened and thankful that Solei was sitting there with us….not being whisked away to the NICU like our daughter Talia almost two years before.

Terra was amazing again. Another natural birth, an amazingly short labor, and when she was done…she looked better than most anyone in the room.

After 30 minutes hanging out in the room, we were informed that the media were clamoring for interviews as Solei was the first baby born in 2008 in Santa Barbara.

By 11:30am, Terra was giving television and newspaper interviews and Solei was resting peacefully in her bosom.

The next two days we rested and were cared for intently by the wonderful cottage staff. Our community rallied as always delivering all sorts of nice things, cleaning our disaster of a home and caring for our daughter.

We give thanks for our daughter Solei (French for ‘sun’). We give thanks for Cottage who supported our birth experience in every way. We give thanks to our community of friends and family who care for us and our family..every day.

May you have an inspirational new year!

Love,

Terra, David, Talia, Solei and Roman

Hi all:

The past two weeks I’ve been tending to my new baby daughter Solei born on January 1, 2008.

It has been an absolutely wild couple of weeks to say the least.  Everyone seemed to pick up this nasty gastrointestinal virus including my entire family.  The weather went from nasty rain to high 70’s with glorious sunshine today.

Who knows and who cares.  2008 is here and I’m stoked.

best,

david

Hi all,

We rang in our new year with the birth of our daughter Solei..more details when we get settled.