As It Was: High wheel logging in Northern California
When timber was king in the early 1900s, the tremendous size and weight of the fallen trees required special transportation. One of the unique vehicles was a horse-drawn cart with wheels 9 to 11 feet...
View ArticleAs It Was: Josephine County grows hops for beer
When early pioneers settled in Southern Oregon they missed their beer. They needed hops for the brew, so they planted them.The first hops in Josephine County were set out in 1875 just west of Grants...
View ArticleAs It Was: Valley's first flour mill made way for Ashland park
In August 1909, Judge C.B. Watson eulogized the old flour mill in Ashland, which had been torn down and burned two weeks earlier to make way for what would become Lithia Park.Speaking to pioneers...
View ArticleCar created campground demand
The invention of the automobile required the building of better roads and highways as the number of cars in America increased from 8,000 in 1900 to 40 million by 1930. Touring motorists packed food,...
View ArticleBaby steps to forgiveness
There are people who want to forgive and can’t. Others lack the desire to forgive the object of their grievance. Within the deep and long-held grievance is overwhelming emotional pain that has...
View ArticlePeace is never piecemeal
Chronology: At the age of 8 years old, growing up in India, I enjoyed school as much as playing different village sports, which was rough and at times tough and challenging. There was no expectation of...
View ArticleHappy Holi, Easter, Passover and Ramadan
Dear Inner Peace followers:In March the Hindus celebrated the Holi Hindu Festival, Passover is from April 11 to 18; Easter is April 16 and Ramadan will fall on May 27.All four arrive during the spring...
View ArticleInner Peace: Daily worm rescue for health
Being an old guy, I take a brisk two-mile walk every day to maintain my health. Along the way I see dozens of squashed earthworm corpses on the road, so I rescue them from the pavement after the rain....
View ArticleInner Peace: Easier ways to navigate life's headwinds
“May the road rise up to meet you,May the wind always be at your back …”I ponder this Irish blessing when I’m on a challenging bicycle ride into headwinds. This helps me to have the strength to succeed...
View ArticleInner Peace: Learning to say 'so long'
When I was a child, my godfather had a requirement when parting. He would say, “Never say 'goodbye,' always say 'so long.'" If I forgot, I would be corrected, remembering to reply as he wished with a...
View ArticleInner Peace: Is the world broken? Can we fix it?
Don't worry about this world; it is not broken. And don't worry about others. You worry more about them than they do. There are people waging war; there are people on the battlefield who are more alive...
View ArticleYou are responsible for your own happiness
One of the wisest things I’ve ever said was in a group that I was leading about 45 years ago at the height of the Human Potential Movement. Most people in the group were in their 20s. I was in my 40s....
View ArticleFind ways to accept the unacceptable
At times we accept what is a profound pointer, a suggestion, easily verbalized but yet difficult to apply in one's life. Let us be honest: Severe pain, constant debilitating symptoms or a death in the...
View ArticleInner Peace: To be or not to be a Buddhist
We are told that a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, who lived around 400 BCE, left his home and family, went on a spiritual quest and became enlightened — “awake.” Buddha can be translated as “awake.”...
View ArticleInner Peace: Wisdom marries awareness with consciousness
The mind of an enlightened human being is flexible and adaptable.The mind of an ignorant person is conditioned and fixed.—Ajhan Sumedho, "Don’t take your life seriously" (Buddhist Publishing Group)A...
View ArticleOnly the closed mind is certain
To me, political polarization is the biggest challenge facing us today. Until we start bridging the divide between "left" and "right" we can't work together solving problems effectively. We’ll be stuck...
View ArticleHow the 'Killers of the Flower Moon' affected my life
What does genealogy have to do with inner peace? In my case, a great deal. It has to do with the Rogue Valley, my Osage ancestry, the Osage Reign of Terror and a current best seller, "Killers of the...
View ArticleInner Peace: Aikido is a peaceful philosophy to live by
I am a person who never studied or practiced any form of the martial arts. However, I have been intrigued by the foundational philosophy of aikido. The purpose of studying aikido is not perfection of a...
View ArticleInner Peace: Characteristics of an Enlightened Soul
"The Enlightened Soul is not one to whom the Truth has been revealed, but one who has summoned it; and not just when they’ve been driven by pain, but when life’s seas were as calm as glass."—Notes from...
View ArticleMedford prepares for annual Pear Blossom Festival
For decades thousands of Southern Oregonians have celebrated the arrival of spring at the annual Pear Blossom Festival in Medford, Oregon.The festival began in 1954 with a 10-float children’s parade...
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