On June 9 the eve of the Kosovo peace agreement, I had the occasion to hear UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan speak informally with Nicholas Platt President of The Asia Society. As the audience listened in on their discussion, I was truly inspired by the high tone presence of these two men, finding myself listening to world affairs in a new way, unencumbered by overloaded modern media delivery. Some enlightening themes emerged, that I share here as they relate to wellness and quality of life issues, in the awareness that we have the relative luxury in the West to ponder and indeed even perhaps over-explore after falling into addictions and depression. Central to this luxury, consider the real issue of survival in your own life as more than 850,000 Macedonian and Albanian refugees are now in shelters. One would agree stressing over the bills pales in comparison. Here then are a few others: 

     -Strength lies in unity, veto can only block, it doesn't make anything happen. I take this to also mean when and how we veto ourselves by censoring expression and opinion.

     -Power carries responsibility, to which I would add, to the self and others.

     -Listen and/or train yourself to listen never underestimating what or  who you're hearing, especially when it's the beat of your own inner drummer, which will help you develop your own inner compass. When the time to take a decision comes you're on your own, so stay in touch with that inner world. 

Wishing you a truly enlightening solstice in every way, be well,

Carolyn