Starting the day you receive this, (and as often as you wish) please spend a few minutes sending peace and harmony to the Hamas-controlled Gaza area and Israel, most especially to their leaders.

To the citizens of both regions, let us send loving thoughts of strength and courage.

May Higher Will and humanity's love of peace prevail, establishing harmonious relations between Hamas and Israel.

Diane Eisenberg is the recently-appointed Director of the TOS Healing Network, but she is no stranger to theosophical service.  Diane joined the New York Lodge of the Theosophical Society in 1980, and volunteered in the Quest Bookshop, occasionally introduced speakers, and helped out wherever needed.

Having served as the Registrar at Olcott for many years, Diane is now Vice President of the Wheaton Olcott Branch of the TS, and can frequently be found volunteering around Olcott.

Diane collects names of those who need meditative healing assistance, and submits those names to one of 41 TOS healing groups in the United States. 

Diane reports that the TOS Healing Network is not only reaching people in the US, but that it also has a global outreach and receives names internationally via its internet presence.  Diane's heart is fully in the work, explaining that the TOS healing ritual "means a great deal to me as well as those groups who conduct this ritual.  With the wonderful assistance of these groups in addition to calling on the angelic kingdom for their assistance, it is a gift of giving and a wonderful way of being of service to humanity."   Diane believes we are more powerful than we know and that "there is very strong evidence that our thoughts, words and deeds do have an impact beyond our immediate awareness. If we accept this as a fact, it becomes our responsibility to contribute in any way we can to the positive energy of the universe."

You can submit names to the TOS Healing network via the internet,  by email to TOS2healing@gmail.com or by calling 800-838-2179.

Wheaton Olcott TOS Healing Group

Diane's favorite part of the TOS Healing Service is a Sanskrit mantra followed by an invocation of angelic assistance for those whose names have been submitted to the group.  An excerpt of the angelic invocation follows:

"Let every cell be charged anew with vital force; to every nerve give peace.  Let tortured sense be soothed.  May the rising tide of life set every limb aglow as by your healing power, both soul and body are restored.  Leave with each an angel watcher to comfort and protect till health returns or life departs, to ward away all ill, hasten the returning strength, or lead to peace when life is done." 

The healing service ends on notes of gratitude and dedication: "Let us turn our thoughts to the angelic hosts in gratitude, recognizing our privilege in working with them.  We rededicate our lives, together with the added power we have received, to the service of the world in which we live." 

TOS Healing Network:  http://www.theoservice.org/node/23

The Spiritual Life TV Channel:  Practical Wisdom for Spiritual Living

Olivia Hansen, a long-time TS/TOS member, and student and teacher of the ageless wisdom, has recently launched a new internet TV channel: The Spiritual Life TV Channel: Practical Wisdom for Spiritual Living, where you will find free inspiring, informative videos that you can watch any time.  www.SpiritualLifeTVChannel.com

Don't miss these video talks:

The Dalai Lama World Peace Talk at the US Capitol, July, 2011

Glenn Mullin's "Easy Enlightenment"

Olivia Hansen has led local TS groups in Omaha and Denver, and delights in sharing spiritual wisdom teachings with others, which can help make their lives happier and more spiritually fulfilled.

In this time of dynamic global change, Olivia sees the opportunity to consciously "shift" ourselves and the world into a higher way of inter-connected living that fulfills our own life purpose and benefits everyone. She feels we can enhance our lives and the world through spiritual living that is transformative, inspiring, joyous and fun.

Olivia works with many collaborators, teachers, authors and presenters as well as a dynamic creative media team to present the spiritual wisdom in an easy to understand and practical way.

A good day. 

If you have not yet seen Brother David Steindl-Rast's exquisite video, "A Good Day," do yourself a favor.  Take 5.5 minutes to shift your energy into your heart, and into the frequency of gratefulness.  It's just what we need, especially in this holiday season of busy-ness, to bring us back to mindfulness of often-overlooked miracles for which we can be grateful right now.  To hear Brother David's voice is, in itself, a gift that will shift your energy to a quieter, deeper place.

Enjoy more gifts at www.Gratefulness.org.

Monday:  the day when all health breaks loose

Los Angeles City Council members unanimously approved a resolution earlier this month that encourages citizens to become vegetarian--at least on Mondays. The resolution was introduced by Councilwoman Jan Perry, who explained, "Eating less meat can prevent and even reverse some of our nation's most common illnesses. We've become disconnected in some ways from the simple truth that our health is directly affected by the foods we eat."  LA is now the biggest city supporting the "Meatless Monday" campaign, originally the 2003 initiative of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health.  Other cities have embraced the initiative too, including San Francisco, and the Baltimore Public Schools.  Meatless Monday aims to cut down on meat consumption for both health and environmental reasons. 

Can eliminating meat only one day per week really make a difference? This short video explains the dramatic difference a day makes.

Visit the Meatless Monday website to learn how your group can support this movement in your community.  While many resist the idea of becoming a full-time vegetarian, giving up meat just one day per week is an easy adjustment that promotes better health for people and the planet.  Download free pdf toolkits to help individuals, restaurants, communities and campuses easily climb on board.  The Meatless Monday website offers a huge variety of free vegetarian recipes.  Paul McCartney and his daughters offer even more in their new "Meat Free Monday" cookbook. 

What the world needs now is . . . more love letters.

(Thanks to the Houston TOS for passing this along.)

Not another app, not another website, not another social network.  Just love, person-to-person.  Stranger-to-stranger, even.  Writing love letters to strangers in New York City was how Hannah Brencher healed herself of loneliness and a depression that had, as she puts it, "sucker-punched me in the face" after college.  Hannah tells her story that began on 10/10/10: 

"I began writing letters on the train to individuals who seemed like they, too, could use a boost. I would leave them all over the city–crooked into cafes & libraries & coat pockets. I began blogging about the love letter writing & watched as my inbox became a vault for letter requests from all over the world. In the span of 9 months, I wrote & mailed over 400 love letters to people in need around the globe & the process healed me. It absolutely healed me."

Hannah is the Gen-Y founder of www.MoreLoveLetters.com, a service that collects and bundles letters from lovers-of-life such as yourself, and sends them to people who need an encouraging word.  If your TOS group would like to get together over some coffee or tea and write love letters to a total stranger who could use a lift, check out the Starter Kit.  Don't miss Hannah's TED talk (it's only 4 1/2 minutes). 

Do the letters really help?  Amanda E. found the letter pictured at left and wrote this:

I found this today in a restroom in the Safeway in Anacortes, Wa. My family and I have been going through a rough time lately and I've taken it especially hard. I took a drive south to Anacortes from Bellingham today as a personal day to try and sort things out, and finding this made my day. It completely changed my entire mood more than anyone knows; it was EXACTLY what I needed, as though that person knew I needed to be the one to find it. What you guys do is great and I will never forget this act of kindness! Cannot wait to pass it on! --Amanda E.

See more found letters and how they uplifted those who found them.

For instance, did he attend church?  TS meetings?  No.

Was he generous? Did he give money to the poor or donate to the TSA Annual Fund?  No.

Did he do any good deeds? Serve via the TOS?  Anything?  No.

St. Peter, becoming concerned, said, "Look, everybody does something nice sometime. Work with me, I'm trying to help you. Now think!"

John said, "Wait, now I remember. There was this elderly woman coming out of a grocery store who found herself surrounded by a dozen guys who were part of a motorcycle gang. They had taken her purse and were taunting her. I got so mad that I fought through the crowd and got her purse back. I then helped her to her feet and went up to the biggest, meanest biker in the group and told him how despicable and cowardly he was."

"Very impressive," said St. Peter, "When did this happen?"

"About 10 minutes ago," replied John.

Theosophical Order of Service

"a union of those who love in the service of all that suffers"

www.TheoService.org