The Realization of Charselle: Knowlege/Wisdom

Athena goddess of Wisdom

"As knowledge increases, wonder deepens."
Charles Morgan

Wisdom begins in wonder.
Socrates

A little bit on aspect #1: Knowledge/Wisdom

Knowledge is an accumulation of the past and wisdom is a focusing of the future. My entire life I have had a continuing curiosity for knowledge...insatiable desire actually. My obession with wisdom is also unceasing. So what do I know for sure:

1. One should be known for integrity and honesty.

2. learning and introspection are exponential

3. today is sunny with possibility

4. to be a 'Silver-Lining Seeker' and to be positive, for the Universe is holding up a mirror

5. every day have some fun, notice something beautiful, breathe deeply

6. creativity is divine

7. boredom is of the self

8. love = respect, admiration and trust

9. The glow of inner grace is kindled with gratitude

10. I deserve, serenity, security and love

11. to remember to celebrate!

12. I was born to Dream big!

13. Instead of aspiring to normalcy to be exceptional!

14. A realized life is one of worthy purpose!

15. You can really learn a lot from Socrates and others:

As knowledge increases, wonder deepens.
-Charles Morgan

Wisdom begins in wonder.
-Socrates

Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a polluted mind, suffering will follow you, as the wheels of the oxcart follow the footsteps of the ox. Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind. If you speak and act with a pure mind, happiness will follow you, as a shadow clings to a form.
- Buddha

Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity.
- William Menninger

These days people seek knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is of the past, wisdom is of the future.
- Vernon Cooper

Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.
- Sophocles

You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.
- Naguib Mahfouz

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.
- Kahlil Gibran

"Not to know is bad; not to wish to know is worse."
African Proverb

"Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps?you make a life."
Sandra Carey

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."
Confucius

"The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it; not having it, to confess your ignorance."
Confucius

"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen."
Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
Immanuel Kant

"Where there is the tree of knowledge, there is always Paradise: so say the most ancient and most modern serpents."
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

"A true knowledge of ourselves is knowledge of our power."
Mark Rutherford

"Ignorance is the curse of God,
Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven."
William Shakespeare

"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance."
Socrates

"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing."
Socrates

"Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins."
Jim Rohn

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."
Johann von Goethe

The unexamined life is not worth living.
-Socrates

True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.
- Socrates


True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.
- Socrates

True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.
-Socrates

16. Begin!

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
- W.H. Murray
Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now
-Geothe

Today, instead of regretting my lack of wheels I sat out walking at 5:30 A. M. The Universe surprised me with the joy of the birds awakening with glorious song!

The Realization of Charselle

I am grateful for bodacity and the roof over my head, curiosity and my computer, survival of the brightest and my wits, my ability to'yee-haw and my health and the opportunity to make it better.

Today I am starting a project to realize myself. One of the first steps is to feel good now! When I succumb to depression the only thing I 'realize' is sleep. This is not what I am trying to achieve in my life. Trust me I am grateful that I can sleep. But when the ugly big 'D' comes on the scene... escape has always been in sleep. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing maybe I did need to 'recharge' but now I need to consciously move forward. Starting my day with meditation was great ...check out www.myinnerworld.com ... guided meditations under the 'meditation tree'.

today the universe is asking that I take a step in resolving my transportation situation...two things towards that today would be calling DMV and calling Patrick 'The magnificent mechanic' ....well, I've been on hold with DMV for 15 minutes...eventually someone must answer...and she did...now to email Patrick...

What is being realized? I see it as living to my full potential, to the best of my ability. What are the aspects of life necessary to be realized? I have broken it down to 10 categories that one needs to explore to reach satisfaction and self-awareness-acceptance. For me these are the aspects of myself that I must address to reach my higher-self:

1. Knowledge/wisdom
2. Spirituality/belief system
3. family/community
4. abundance/wealth
5. travel/the journey/helpful people
6. creativity
7. Love
8. Character/Fame
9. Purpose/Life Path
10. Health/Fun

Why not start with fun!

Reading at Book Passage

Last night I read at Book Passage in Corte Madera. What fun! Standing room only. The audience loved me!

Wine Wander

(This was written for and published on the www.bestofbayarea.com)
The site was recently rebuilt and unfortunately the archive of it was deleted, the owner of the site can verify this.

Life and Times of a Bon Vivant and Raconteur

I lightly smash my fist against the flat side of my big knife, squishing the garlic clove into its bed of coarse sea salt. The morning air is so ripe with this Mediterranean perfume I want to bite it…my seduction begins …I am treating you to a day of dalliance in wine country. I’m the captain of this cruise and I want to create memories you can tuck in your pocket and pull out when you need a smile…I start by filling my wicker picnic basket with food fit for the gods and you…chicken breasts marinated in blood oranges and lots of cracked black pepper…I grilled them in the garden early this morning… the garlic is for the tomato panzanella with freshly plucked oregano…of course a sour dough baguette…a Danish Castello cheese that I have decided is my new “cream of blue decadence”…some of the first plump, ripe cherries and a baggie of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I wrap up the chicken and chocolate, separately of course, with one of those ice thingies but not the cheese, tomatoes and cherries…I want them at room temperature. Lots of napkins and my checked tablecloth and a corkscrew go in and I can hardly close my basket. I lug the thing down and put it in the trunk of my purple convertible. A few years back on another wine trip I christened my car “The Naked Grape” and gave her a theme song “Peel Me a Grape” sung by Diana Krall…speaking of music that’s the next essential for a wine country excursion. I load the car with music to tempt you, music that will become the soundtrack of our day.I’ve decided we’ll savor the delights of the Dry Creek Appellation. I had originally thought to show you around a bit of Napa but when I was doing my research, (a must), I discovered that it is a passport weekend in Napa. The place will be packed like a movie theatre with “Sideways” wannabe’s trying to hit 12 wineries in one day. By contrast our trip will be a leisurely stroll down a wine red carpet. I make it a rule on these trips to visit only about 4 wineries, that leaves room for changes in the itinerary. Today, I’m going to show you a little bit of everything, I want to see someone new “Christopher Creek Winery”, ogle the “nouveau riche” and check out the gardens at Ferrari-Carano , hug an old friend at “Preston of Dry Creek” then finish our quest with a surprise.The Dry Creek Appellation is an area of Northern Sonoma County on the west side of Highway 101; it is parallel to Alexander Valley on the east side. It runs from about Healdsburg up to Lake Sonoma. The primary varietals grown here are: Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. This is not all you will taste in Dry Creek…here will be a Chardonnay, there a Viogner and every once in a while that grand daddy of the wine world…a fine port reminiscent of the days of grand sailing ships when the world turned a little slower and one had time to savor the end of the day. I collect ports, one sip at a time. Port is one of the reasons for our first stop today.Patricia, my neighbor, climbs into the car with me. I put my sunglasses on and the ragtop down and sail off down the road with a heart felt ‘Yee-Haaaaw’ as K. D. Lang’s “Absolutely Torch and Twang” trots out of the speakers. The day is sunny and warm; the vineyards are lush and green; and the company is fine and feelin’ good…we’re heading north to our first stop, Christopher Creek.Christopher Creek is at the very top of the Russian River Valley right about where Dry Creek Valley begins. We find our way to Limerick Lane and turn up the long driveway. past hills that are like a verdant green corduroy with row after row after row of vines. I park and we get out and head for the tasting room but I am completely waylaid by the absolutely stupendous roses. I have to stop and cup my hands around one blowsy piece of perfection and inhale the sweet, sweet… but I digress …on to the wine.I tug open the wooden door and laughter comes bubbling out. My ears perk up, I hear locals talking; we may have struck gold here. The tasting room is presided over by the likeable and knowledgeable Christina. The door creaks and the locals leave with their treasures in tow and she starts explaining the tasting list to us; by the way I always ask for a copy of the list to make my notes on. Our first wine is a unique 2005 Russian River “Catie’s Corner Viognier. This wine is rich and lively with a wildflower-tropical nose. It would pair very well with Thai food or shellfish.The way I remember all of that folderol about how to taste wine is to imagine the wine is a gorgeous woman making a grand entrance:1. first I notice the color of her dress2. then I hold her up to the light to better appreciate her3. I set her down and she shows off by swirling around in front of me4. I pull her close for a couple of quick sniffs of her perfume5. slowly I take her in and let her dance all over my tongue6. Then swallow to see if this one lingers like an almost remembered dream.This is a little freaky but it works for me. Occasionally while performing this ritual some performer will pop into my mind, this happens to me with their jammy 2003 Russian River Zinfandel. The first thing that pops into my mind is the word naughty, then in walks Bette Davis. I respect this wine it is rich and sassy and would pair well with something spicy like Pasta Puttanesca.Christopher Creek has several wines to chose from, be sure to finish with the ports to get a taste of the wide range of their abilities. This place has a genuine ambience and the tasting is complimentary. I recommend a visit.Our next stop is at the top of Dry Creek Valley, the very grand, Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery, for the visual candy of the Italianate Villa Fiore and the spectacular gardens. The Villa is surrounded by classic Italian/French geometric gardens and there is a magical enclosed garden. There you will find a foot path wandering along a little stream, crossing foot bridges and leading to gazebos and waterfalls. There is wonderful statuary sprinkled throughout both gardens. Today the grounds are a frippery of color. This place is also home to over 2000 varieties of trees and bushes among them a few successfully growing Portuguese cork trees. See if you can find them.I have never been enthralled with their wines and today after an exceptionally weird tasting, (white poured on top of the dregs of a red), I‘m leaving and will have no recommendations. I am sure some people find their wines delightful; I’ve even heard they are served at the White House. I do love the gardens and recommend visiting them and I also found the ladies room quite nice. As we drive away the Moody Blues “I know you’re out there somewhere” pours out of the speakers.We head for, Preston of Dry Creek. I see the sign and turn onto a dirt road that splits, around both sides of a lovely tree, then bends to the right past some very happy artichokes. To our left an old house, covered with wisteria vines, borders one side of a lawn with tables under trees, flower and vegetable beds, a fountain and a bocce ball court. Across the yard is the wide front porch of Sue and Lou Preston’s Winery. To the side of the door there is a table with fresh produce, a scale and a jar for leaving money. We walk into this genial place where we’ll be tasting not only the Preston wines but also their homemade bread and fresh virgin olive oil, all that and you! I just might start spouting poetry. I am a big fan of their 2005 Zinfandel. If you’ve ever wanted to know what is meant by “a peppery finish” taste this wine, it is a text book example.From the tasting bar I take us to the doorway at the back of the room. We step through and are enveloped in cool air and the heady smell of wine in oak. We’re in the barrel room where people are clustered around a table. The guy behind the table is filling jugs, not bottles, with a wine that I instinctively know I am going to like. He looks up and smiles. This is Preston. He starts telling us how he only fills jugs, with Guadagni red, on Sundays. He created this wine in honor of his old, Italian neighbor, Jim Guadagni. When they first settled in Dry Creek in the early 70’s, Jim made it his job to pass on his wine wisdom to them. You can only buy this rich, red wine here and only on Sunday. If you are lucky Lou Preston will fill your jug and tell you about Jim. $30 bucks for 3 liters of good wine and a good story. Love it.Now for the surprise! We’re going to Raymond Burr Vineyards and Winery, yes, the place that Perry Mason built. We turn up the driveway and shortly we see the greenhouses that are home to his world class orchid collection, (make an appointment and you can tour them.) We park and walk up to one of the most picturesque pergola’s in wine country. Immediately we are greeted by Francisco and offered wine. Turns out we’ve fortuitously arrived for a celebration in honor of what would have been Raymond Burr’s 91st birthday!Patricia mentions port and Francisco says “let’s go inside and meet Sue.“We walk in and my eyes are immediately glued to a high shelf, my goodness, those are real Emmy’s. I comment on a Bacchus on the wall and immediately realize the drawing looks suspiciously like Mr. Burr. We meet Sue who is a down home gal. She starts chatting with us like we come by every day to borrow a cup of sugar, inviting us to try the 2004 Chardonnay. I take my little sip and my tongue does a back flip…this is what I first loved about chardonnays and what I had forgotten about them…dare I say it… this is a buttery Chardonnay…honey overtones and a long vanilla finish…oh, I’m happy…and look over there all those TV Guides with Perry on the front.The view is the rolling vineyards of the estate. The wines are 100% estate grown. This perfection was created by Raymond Burr and his partner Robert Benevides. I want to taste the 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon and Sue disappears… then pops back in with two pieces of chocolate birthday cake, yes! I do my silly “glamour gal” tasting ritual and gads this isn’t some movie queen of a wine! This handsome, rich, bold, red is Raymond Burr in a bottle. I take a bite of cake and it is shear bliss, no pun intended, but this is a match made in heaven. Immediately I’m planning a menu to go with this wine: a richly marbled steak grilled over wine cask staves, sautéed porcini’s, a baguette, green salad and this cake. Sue brings me back from my reverie to taste the 2005 Estate Port. Mr. Burr personally picked the Portuguese Grape varietals to make this rich, ruby wine. Sue says we have to have some more cake with the port …of course…why not?...one should never refuse birthday cake!Join me next time in my pursuit of the “Julia Roberts” of bubblies.“May your company be the kind you keep,May your love be returnedAndMay you find a way to give back to the world”Charselle© 6/1/08
Posted by Charselle at 1:38 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: California, Napa, Sonoma, Tasting, Wine, Wine Country
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The Magic of Christmas!

(this was written for and published on the front page of www.goodnewsnetwork.org on Sat. 20/Dec/2008)

“Will you help with the holiday party for the abused kids?” asked my lawyer girlfriend.

“Sure, what do you want me to do?” I replied.

“Oh, just be some fairytale character” she said and hung up.

I sat there staring at the phone wondering which character.

My girlfriend was on the board of an organization, in San Francisco, that dealt with child abuse and worked on prevention through parental education.

I grew up with loving parents and a secure home life, so of course I wanted to help. I sat about deciding what I would do. I’ve been a performer all of my life and had no problem with that part of her request. I just wanted to make sure I chose the right character.

At first I started thinking of holiday characters like Frosty and Rudolph but they weren’t really ‘fairytale characters’ . Then spent time on fairy tales and nursery rhymes. I wasn’t the Pinocchio or Little Mermaid type, more like the grandmother, than Little Red Riding Hood.

Then the perfect idea came twinkling in, as if by magic! Of course …Cinderella had been abused…maybe the kids would relate to The Fairy Godmother.

I was sure it was the perfect character, even though I didn’t really know what she would do at the party. I went to College of Marin, to the drama department’s costume lab. Everyone was delighted to help me turn into ‘The Fairy Godmother.’

That was fifteen years ago. I remember Fairy Godmother’s debut like it was yesterday…I arrived for the party in street clothes and went upstairs to change into my costume. My costume looked like Disney9 9s Fairy Godmother: not fancy but everything was the right color and she and I definitely have a resemblance. I put on my costume and went downstairs.

The center was packed to bursting with children and parents that really needed some holiday cheer. Amazingly the children immediately knew who I was. I sat down on the floor and a little boy crawled on my lap, as I heard one of the center’s workers expressing surprise and telling someone that normally he didn’t let anyone touch him. Then I felt a tug on my cape and turned to a little girl whose eyes were as big as Christmas.

She beamed at me and said “I’ve seen your movie.”

I quickly stashed my fairy wand realizing, to the children, I was Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother…not just someone in a costume.

That first year, like all of them since, was pure magic. I thought I was there to give some cheer to kids, who had nothing. Little did I know I was there to receive the greatest gift. God gave me the pure gift of children’s love. You see children know Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother and they love her unconditionally, she is safe.

That first year it was hard to hold back the tears when I saw a little boy with a black eye. I realized some of these children were there because their parents were substance abusers, like you would suspect, but others were children of children who themselves had been abused. I had a young girl, who wasn’t old enough to be out of middle school, with a tiny baby on her hip ask if it was ok for her to visit Santa. I’m better at holding back the tears now but my heart still cries. Yet, still they have the magic to make me laugh and smile as they share their childhood wonder.

The party is all encompassing, like the love of Christmas. During the party I give lots of hugs, sing Bibadibobadido many, many times along with lots of Christmas Carols. I visit Santa, play dreidal, go to the Kwanza room and face paint with the fairies.

Abuse happens across all social stratums, cultures and ethnicities. It is a repetitive generational cycle that can be broken, that must be broken.

Recently, out of the blue, I received a phone call from a woman wanting to know if I had created my name.

“No,” I told her, “I had a very creative mother.”

She then told me she had been to my website and wanted to know about “that Fairy Godmother stuff.” I told her my story. Then she said:

“I am so pleased to meet you, you are truly a realized person.”
Confused I asked “why.”

“Well, when you analyze the fairy tale, The Fairy Godmother is Cinderella’s higher self, because the answers to our problems are within.” she said.

“Okay” I wondered.

“You realize about the meaning of your name?” she asked.

“No, my name is an original, It’s not in books.” I stated.

“Well, Cinderella was a charwoman right?” she stated.

“Yes” I agreed.

“Char just like the first part of your name and the last part of your name ‘elle’ means girl,” said the voice on the phone, “You are Cinderella’s higher self, magic.”

Stunned, all my life I had wanted my name to mean something, the glow of gratitude flowed through me as I thanked her.

The magic of Christmas had begun …I had just pulled Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother’s garment bag from the back of the closet!

copyright 2008 Charselle

http://www.charselle.com/
charselle@aol.com

It's My Job!

I started Saturday so well, I was a ‘Be-Here-Now, New-Age Marinite’….I wrote in my gratitude journal, I meditated, I visualized…I was sure, “everythings going my way” just like the character, Curly, sang in the musical ’Oklahoma!’

I was downstairs enjoying my new storage, planning eBay sales, when the phone rang. It was my apartment manager telling me that my eighty-some-odd-year-old landlord had decided he wanted my new storage and that I had to move back into my old storage (which has no shelves and that I had completely dismantled, emptied and cleaned.) It is also uphill to my old storage. I felt my self start spiraling upstream, upside down in my kayak. I locked the door and went upstairs.

Determined to not let this unreasonableness defeat me, I decided to consciously take myself to another head space and work on my vision board. I was at the section I had designated for career and at first I was looking for images of books and poetry….then all of a sudden it hit me…I have always said I am my career so I switched gears and started printing out pics of me…then I remembered how the little girl I raised used to always color pictures of me using lots of different colors (other people were always one color), as she got older she would tell me the rainbow followed me where ever I was and I realized she was seeing my aura (people who read auras have always told me I have a rainbow aura)…I started looking for rainbows to put in my collage….then I remembered the visualization a friend had taken me on about my favorite gift as a child…the one where I had found my tiara in the Christmas tree from Santa and decided to put tiaras on all of the images of me in my collage…. Needless to say by this time I had completely forgot about the storage debacle. I loved the collage.

I started getting ready to go out, my neighbor was taking me to see “Dame Edna’s First Last Tour” in the city. We had great seats in the 4th row and I was ready for a night of laughter. She was hilarious and the audience was great and really responsive so she was having a great time and started talking to individuals in the audience. I immediately wanted to be one of those people and I deliberately started vibing that at her and every time she walked my way I would fan myself, like I was having a hotflash, because I knew that movement would catch her eye….sure enough she pointed at me and said “You darling”…I said “me”…she said “yes, schnookums, come up here on stage with me”….well, I was out of my seat and up those stairs before you could say abracadabra….some people ran up and slapped a name tag on me and put something on my head… I was given a stool…then she pulled some guy out of the audience…he had a name tag slapped on and was given a top hat and I saw that his name tag said groom…Dame Edna told us that she was going to marry us and started interviewing us…she asked what my name was did a double take and said something like why and I got to do a whole spiel on my name…the guy said he was Forrest (appropriate I was wearing my Goddess pendant) …then Dame Edna asked him what he did he said some thing like truck driver…she turned to me with an indulgent grin wanting to know what I did ….there I was on stage, in front of hundreds and hundreds of people, wearing a tiara and veil telling everyone that I wrote and illustrated children’s books and that I had one coming out titled “Don’t Touch My Body Where I Go Potty!” she almost came unglued and squeezed my shoulder trying to hold in her laughter, because that was a comic opening if you ever saw one but then she kept up her banter with me and we were (performance wise)feeding off each other and the audience was roaring …we did like 10 minutes of improv, then she asked me if there was anyone who would be disappointed to not be at my wedding and I said yes, Joe (my best friend, I had been his best person at his wedding) she wanted his phone number and they brought a phone on stage that was hooked into the loud speaker system…she called him and he thought it was me imitating Dame Edna!...I hollered out “Joe, I’m on stage with Dame Edna” then she had the whole audience say hi to Joe, they were cheering…with Joe in attendance she married Forrest and myself we kissed and then took a huge bow with Dame and the audience roared with approval and she was great and had the whole audience singing….I thought it would end there but at the intermission this old friend, Peter, came running up to hug me…I couldn’t believe it he and I had done “Oklahoma!” at the Mountain play a dozen years ago...every performance he would ride in on his horse, as Curly, singing “Oh, what a beautiful morning” to my Aunt Eller …I had always told him he would sing at my wedding, and he did! At intermission all sorts of people seriously asked about my book…then throughout the second half of the show Dame Edna kept referring to “Our author Charselle and her book we are all going to buy “Don’t Touch My Body Where I Go Potty!”….admittedly it was an odd endorsement but it was like an hour long infomercial of me. I was thrilled and higher than happy…I am my job! Thank you Dame Edna! And so it is!

When I Grow Up

http://www.actionext.com/names_m/michelle_shocked_lyrics/when_i_grow_up.html