I am so blessed to live by a river. There is amazing energy when it comes to water and when the water comes in the form of a river the energy is truly palpable at times.

It is mid-July as I write this and the days here are long and hot, into the 90’s, which is pretty warm in this part of the country. So taking a ride on the river has a lot of great advantages right now, not the least of which is to cool off a little and take in the nature that comes along with this assignment.

So a friend from out of town is visiting and we decide to float down the river from the nearest point of entry to the south, which is a bridge at Creswell. It is about 4 miles on the odometer from my house to the bridge. Only about 4 miles as the crow flies, which I came to find out is different than that same four miles on a meandering river. I still figure it will be about two to two and a half hours. Give or take.

Coast Fork of Willamette River

Let the floating commence. We started out in a very slow part of the river and then got to our first rapids that kind of shot us down the river and I reaffirmed my assessment of having a leisurely ride down the river.  And that is exactly the way it was for the first three hours. Just beautiful and warm and lots and lots of birds and nature to look at and appreciate.

By my reckoning we had to be very close to my house where we would take our ‘inner tubes’ out of the water and do our high fives. Well, one river bend turned into another river bend and nothing looked familiar and then the sun started going down over the trees. It is one thing to be floating down the river in the sunshine and quite another when you are in the shade. All of a sudden it is cold and then it is not quite so fun.

But it was funny. We had to keep laughing and making fun to keep our spirits up as the river bends kept coming but we were not close to home yet. The standing joke was that “I think the house is right around the next bend.” Ha ha. NOT.

We started shivering and then we started doing the backstroke on our inner tubes so that we could get down the river faster. Yahoo, it soon became an obsession of necessity to get as far as we could as fast as we could so that we could get out of the river and warm up.

‘Hey, I think it is right around the next bend.’ And finally, we were right. What a welcome site to see my house sitting on the river bank and pulling into the little beach where we could take the ‘inner tubes’ out of the water and then drag ourselves out as well. Wow, that was one wonderful feeling to be back on dry land where we could warm up and get some grub.

But first it was a lot of howling laughter as we danced around in the warm sunlight of the deck. The shivering stopped and the glow of the river showed in our faces as we high fived and headed to the hot shower about four and a half hours after we put in upriver.

Here is the deal: Perseverance and total belief that you are going to make it to your destination. No matter where you are going as long as you keep your end result in front of you and persevere in your actions you will reach your goal, no matter what it is that you desire. KNOW that it is already a done deal because it is as long as you BELIEVE it is. Then just keep going. Sometimes you are going to be going through rapids and seem like you are rocketing to your destination and then at other times you are just barely moving and it doesn’t seem like you are making any progress, but you are.

You are in a river, it is called the ‘River of Life’ and the current in the ‘river of life’ is ‘well-being.’ When you stay in the flow of the river you remain in this well being and it always takes you to where you want to go. You absolutely know that as long as you keep your destination in mind and stay in the flow of the river you will get there eventually. Never lose heart in the middle of the journey even when the going seems slow. The flow of well-being will take you to some rapids soon enough as long as you BELIEVE it will.

Faith, Perseverance, and Belief. Go with the flow.

Live in love,

Posted on July 19th, 2010 by Richard
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I woke up this morning to silence. This is quite unusual because every morning for the past couple months I have been waking up to the sound of swallows feeding their chicks. Let me explain:

I live in the country on one of the most beautiful pieces of property in the world. The house is situated on the banks of the Coast Fork of the Willamette River and is very private and secluded. It is ensconced in nature with lots of plants, animals and birds. The river is a natural bird fly-way and I get to see the birds playing all the time.

Coast Fork of Willamette River

The house that came with the property is a big manufactured home that is quite comfortable until I am ready to build my dream house and take this one out of here. In the meantime I am living here and really like the house. It is roomy and when I step outside my door I can see the river flowing by and the birds playing in the trees.

In the spring the birds start nesting and there are several families of swallows who have found a way to get into the eaves of the house and make their nests in my attic. That is perfectly okay with me because I like the idea of living with the birds in our little ‘bedroom community.’

Once the chicks hatched out a couple months ago I began to wake up to the sounds of the parents coming and going feeding their noisy chicks all morning long. It is not an unpleasant way to wake up; in fact I really enjoyed it. Every morning I can see the parents bringing food in and swooping under the eaves to enter their nursery and feed the hungry squawking chicks.

Well, this morning I woke up to silence. The chicks have all grown to the size and maturity that allowed them to take wing and move on from this temporary habitat. They have all flown the coop in the last couple days and so now I wake up to silence from the bird menagerie.

Such is the nature of nature. Now I can observe in the air what was once a baby chick in my attic and I am so grateful to be witness to the wonder of life as a bird and my relationship to one of the most wonderful creatures in my world.

I am so blessed and I thank the universe for this opportunity to witness my connection to Source Energy in such a wondrous and magnificent manner.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

Posted on July 7th, 2010 by Richard
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The Vision Alignment Project is all about creating a grand Vision for Humanity and then having as many people ‘align’ with that vision so we can co-create it into our collective reality.

Tony Burroughs is the founder of the “Intenders” which is a grass roots organization dedicated to helping people learn the fine art of manifesting by consciously using our ‘intentions’ to create what we want in our lives. You can check out the ‘Intenders of the Highest Good’ at www.Intenders.com.

The “Vision Alignment Project”  is designed to manifest a new world model based in love instead of fear. We see a healthy and whole planet earth where everybody is loved and thriving, just as we were meant to live life.

Check out our first intention at our new website:

http://www.VisionAlignmentProject.com.

This is an interactive website because we want you to be part of the movement we are initiating. We would love to have you ‘Align’ with us by just reading the ‘intention’ and then clicking the button that says “YES, I align with this intention.”

If you really resonate with the intention we would like you to tell your friends as well so that we can take this idea and move it around the world. This is how you change the collective consciousness, you start thinking about ‘a vision whose time has come’ and then you pass it on to your friends and then they start thinking about it and the next thing you know we are living within the new intention.

Thank you so much for checking out this new website and putting in your vote. We are taking this viral so thanks again for being a pioneer in changing the way life is lived on planet earth.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

Posted on June 23rd, 2010 by Richard
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It is the middle of fall here right now. One of the most absolute beautiful times of the year. The trees are about half full of fall color and the days are brisk. It is a good time to be out in nature.

I had some errands to run yesterday and it was late afternoon when I finished up and decided to stop by and see a friend of mine who had just recently returned from a two month trip to the east coast and back with his mate. They stopped and visited friends all across the country and did a ton of site-seeing. One of those trips of a life time.

So I stopped in to catch up on his trip and then I was going to catch the very late afternoon sun by going for a run down by the river. It was one of those sunny fall days where it is fairly warm when you are in the sun but not so warm when you are in the shade. So I wanted to catch the sun before it went down, which comes earlier and earlier this time of year.

For some reason we kept talking about subject after subject and by the time I left his house it was about a half hour to forty five minutes before sundown. Okay, I am still going for a run. So I get down to the park where I can park my car and start my run and I realize why I kept being delayed at my friend’s house.

I was supposed to be here at this right and perfect time for a “Sunset Run.” This is where I start my run about a half hour before sunset and end the run about a half hour after sunset. It is just the perfect time of evening and tonight was one of those perfect nights.

When I start out a run like this I am so full of gratitude that just being thankful for my life is about all I can think about for the first mile or so of my run. As I write these words I am thankful again for the most wonderful life I am creating. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

My run is along the bike trails that border the Willamette River here in Eugene, Oregon. It is one of the most picturesque bike trails in the world. Especially at this time of the year when the trees are aflame with color and the leaves cover the path and make a mosaic carpet to run on. It is gorgeous.

About half way through my run I have to cross the Owosso Bridge to get to the other side of the river. I love crossing these bridges because you get to see up and down the river and all the birds and animals that populate the river.

Birds are moving right now to get to their nesting place for the night. Lots of ducks and geese flying around. Still lots of light even though the sun is going down. So I cross the bridge and make my way back on the other side of the river.

On this side of the river I can see the sunset and tonight there are these long pinkish rays that play on the clouds to the west to make this really cool pink light in the sky. Totally awesome. This is what a sunset run is all about.

It is hard not to be grateful for everything in life when you experience this kind of show in nature. Me, the river, the sunset, the trees, the birds, the animals, everywhere I look I am privy to this spectacular nature just showing off. Wow, double blessed.

I finish up my run at the Valley River Bridge and as I walk across the bridge to the park where my car is I marvel even more at the way the river water adds so much to our lives. I used to think that the running was the thing I was after but now I realize that the running is just a byproduct of the real thing.

And the real thing is just being out in nature. When you are walking in nature you are attending the theater of life and there is no better show in town.

Live in love,

Richard D. Blackstone

Posted on November 5th, 2009 by Richard
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