Title: Gaia Explorer

Gender: Male

ALOHA ZADSTERS!

I appreciate that you've come to visit. I look forward to seeing where and how we can connect.

You speak consistently of honesty and transparency, so here I go. I make no apologies for the length of this intro. In Hawaii, we call it Talk Story so just relax and enjoy the trip!

If you connect with one of my themes, check out the corresponding web pages and please come back for more when you're ready.

AN ABRIDGED BACK-STORY

At eighteen years of age, while working as an orderly in a Long Island nursing home, I found myself really desiring to explore the fine line between life and death; between the healer and the healed. Somewhere in there, I declared my availability as an instrument of healing. That was 1969. Every moment since then, I've been immersed in the healing arts – it is who I am.

Twelve years of this was spent as one of the first Mobile Intensive-Care Unit Paramedics in the country (from NY, to FL, to CA). That's where I experienced not only many personages of what, out of laziness and convenience I call God, but even got to play tug-of-war with a few of them!

There I was, in one of the most grounded, technical professions you can imagine, discovering all these ethereal New-Agey concepts.  No! Make that living these concepts of healing and being a healer and being healed that had absolutely nothing to do with what protocol to follow or what I learned in books or was taught in classes.

Early on, I recognized that, like my peers (in whatever capacity of allopathic medicine they worked), I faced a critical choice: Would I experience myself as a human being in service and cooperation with other human beings in need, or would I choose to become what I call a Flesh Mechanic by donning a shell designed to insulate me from my experience?

I chose the former.  I estimate at least 80% of my peers chose the latter. Their choice was (and still is) simply going with the dominant flow of the culture of any form of healing that is taught in the “Western” manner, allopathic OR alternative.

I happened to have been born to buck the system I guess!

For simplicity's sake, let's define the dominant paradigm as responding from your head rather than through your heart. This goes beyond healers and into all aspects of our very real “military-industrial complex” – oriented society. 

The metaphoric act of “putting on armor,” gets much more complicated than most anticipate. If you're lucky, (or traumatized enough!), one day you wake up to discover that you actually sewed yourself into the armor. By closing your heart off to your immediate experience of the moment during working hours, you're actually cultivating a way of being that lasts through the rest of the day.

In a nutshell, I stand for a heart-oriented approach to living that encourages complete presence in, and experience of, the moment.

YES! I know that's subversive!

My travels have taken me through many modes of allopathic and alternative medicine, onto the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to work and live with a traditional Oglala medicine family, five years living in intentional community (permaculture design and sustainable-living center for the Pacific Nortthwest), and also includes over 20 years in creative and performance arts of all stripes, including, writing, acting, stand-up comedy, photography, music and art.

MY WORK'S THEME

As I've grown older I've come to realize how much more painful it is to be less than all you can be. Not only painful for self, but for everyone. By holding yourself back, you deprive the rest of us the opportunity to build on your unique contributions. We need all of us!

Yet, the pain aspect isn't half as meaningful (or even intense) as the joy that comes from the pursuit of wholeness, and the accompanying ecstasy of helping others come to their own personal fulfillment along the way. 

So that's where Zaadz and myself are on the same track. The seeds are already there. If I weren't a firetender, I'd be the guy with the water can!

My intent is to use this site as a vehicle of exploration of myself in relation to others in relation to healing and in relation to the greater good, which also involves the nuts and bolts of making my life's work into a business.

HERE'S WHERE I TURN TO ZAADSTERS FOR HELP

I'm in the midst of the most creative period of my life. I am laden with things to sell. I have laid the foundation for a unified theme that connects all my work.

But, technically, I have avoided the work of translating what I have – who I am, actually – into a saleable commodity, let alone handling the minutia of a business.

Would you believe that I, a healer, would describe my life's work as evolving into a saleable commodity? Me neither, but I can't avoid the truth of it, either.

So here I am, at Zaadz, come to find people to work with so that I can spread the word I was meant to spread, share the energy I was born to be, and do it without ending up on the public dole or selling my soul.

The time has come for things to shift into something more viable and sustainable. I've come to Zaadz for help in refining my life's work and increasing its reach.

(NOTE: Everything you see on these websites today may be different or even GONE, tomorrow. The exciting thing about this journey for me is that I'm consciously re-inventing myself to be something more effective for you!)

LIVING PROJECTS IN ACTION

For the full story, go to my site http://www.firetender.org/ which will show you how my themes connect and the goods and services I provide.

The hub of my life has been listening to my own still, small voice. What came through that pursuit is, ironically enough, a tool that is designed to help others access their own voices within – without my interference!

Take a few moments to explore the gallery for thestoryofthis… at http://thestoryofthis.net/  It is a stand-alone site, too, but designed to help its users get in touch with their still-small voices. This is a prime example of art facillitating healing.

Be sure not to miss http://www.firetender.org/rejection.html  This is the opinion of someone much more qualified than myself (a world-renown art expert with over twenty-five years experience, to be exact) who does an excellent job of “nailing” my artwork, where it will find its best audience, and the dilemmas surrounding selling it in today's art market.

If you go to http://www.firetender.org/Images.html/   you will find yourself in a gallery of other of my images. (I've included a couple of samples on this site in my photo albums, as well.)

As an aside, right now I've got over 1,000 images to work with, all with “here, not here” characteristics. What you see through these sites are just an intro to my work. I have a Gallery in my home where I display a number of these images on canvas. They look (humbly) incredible in that medium! (I've had a number of gallery displays on this Island.)

The firetender website  will also introduce you to my counseling work with healers and others, my music, and workshops designed to “jump start” healers into the art and use of connection.

And, last but not least, and, ironically, probably the hub of all my other offerings, is an overview of writings that I have published on the internet (all sharing my experience in the healing arts), and an excerpt from my book, “A Paramedic's Journey: 18 Things Healers Learn.” 

Please check in with my blog from time to time. In it, I will be reporting on my progress, the people here at Zaadz, who become part of the quest, and what I learn about what it means to be a healer under these circumstances.

AND, FINALLY…

The reason I have come to Zaadz is to connect with a group of people who are banding together to build win-win alliances that will benefit the world. I offer content in writing, art, music, counseling and workshops, not to mention presentations and performance, all geared toward inspiring others to be all they can be. 

To that end, together we can reach the people who can touch even more people for the benefit of us all.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Russell J.,
a firetender

Member Since: Saturday, October 07 2006

Last Visit: 31 days ago.

Profile Viewed: 2378 times (last viewed less than a minute ago)