Friday, January 2, 2009

The Book is Available

In Search of Simplicity offers a gateway into a world in which your deepest dreams and wishes are fulfilled, even before you are aware of them, a gateway into that place of simplicity where you stop struggling and trying to make it happen and simply allow it to happen.

When you're in the right place, doing just what you want to do, and genuinely enjoying it, the Universe bends over backwards to ensure your success.

As part of the final edit I read the entire book out loud to my best friend and partner, Lucia, and she never fell asleep once! In all seriousness, she and I both felt the energy in the book; and we know the story.

For more information and to read sample chapters navigate to the book’s website here.
To purchase the book go to Amazon here.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Do What You Love

The other day I interviewed members of an immensely talented local band, a sort of reggae/funk ensemble. I asked the drummer what he did when he wasn’t playing music. He gave me a perplexed looked and thought for a moment before replying, “This is what I do…every day.”

Years ago while living at our retreat centre in the valley we were regularly graced with the visits of WWOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), young people from many nations who exchanged about four hours of work per day for a bed, meals and our knowledge of the land and organics. One such visitor was an enthusiastic young lady from Ireland. She was a remarkably balanced and happy person with a clear vision of what she wanted in life. She spoke one evening over a meal of how her father had positively influenced her and her siblings when she was growing up. He used to tell them that his job was simple. All he had to do was to help them each to find what it was that they really loved and then to encourage them to pursue it wholeheartedly. A wise man and wise words.

Isn’t this the key to happiness? Find out what you love and then do it wholeheartedly. Like the drummer in the band. Simple, isn’t it.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Return from Canada

It is now almost three weeks since Asha and I returned from our trip to Canada and what a wonderful journey it was. It is so good to share quality time with those you love. We began our Ontario stay with good friends Vera, Scott and Aidan in Toronto. It was the first time we’d seen them in six years. We ended our trip with a short but sweet sharing with Chris and Carmen and their now grown up boys. I hadn’t seen them in more than eighteen years. In between, we spent part of the visit with my mother in Tillsonburg and part with my sister Cathy and her family in Cambridge. Aside from simple sharing of meals, meal preparation, walks, talks and the viewing of old family slides, there was a trip to my birthplace, Niagara Falls. I spoke with a curator in The Butterfly House near Niagara. Just as I told her of the great movie starring William Hurt, The Blue Butterfly, and describing the time when I was covered in butterflies in China, Blue Morpho butterflies landed on me. There are no coincidences.

Released in 2004 and based on a true story, The Blue Butterfly tells the story of a terminally ill 10-year-old boy whose dream is to catch the most beautiful butterfly on Earth, the mythic and elusive Blue Morpho. His mother persuades a renowned entomologist to take them on a trip to the jungle in to search for the butterfly, leading to an adventure that will transform their lives. The picture is filmed in Costa Rica and Montreal.

Near the end of our Ontario visit I was interviewed about my book by a London (Ontario) writer who was filling in for a Tillsonburg journalist who was off sick. I’m pleased with the article, John Haines’ Search for Simplicity, Jason Rip wrote.

We’ve had mostly amazing spring weather since returning to New Zealand. The garden continues to flourish, responding more than favourably to the almost four years of seaweed and compost it has received. My breakfasts these last weeks have been smoothies made almost exclusively from the fruits of our garden—bananas, tropical guavas, babacos and pepinos. It is so satisfying and nourishing to eat the fruits of one’s labours.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Book Is Almost Available

Every now and then a book comes along with the power to transform the lives of its readers. In Search of Simplicity has the ability to do just that. It is an autobiographical travel adventure story that reads like a novel. Over the years, when the author has told some of the stories of coincidences that are now contained within the book, listeners began to have (or at least to notice) magical happenings in their own lives.
The timely themes woven through the easy to read narrative include the power of coincidence; ecological, social and economic responsibility; and personal awakening.
In today’s uncertain world of mortgage pressures, global warming and seemingly endless war, many feel powerless in their ability to create positive change personally, nationally and globally. In Search of Simplicity provides answers to this dilemma of uncertainty. It points the way for each reader to find the life of their deepest longing, a life of simplicity and self assurance, while enjoying a rollicking good read.



Advance Praise for
In Search of Simplicity

“Like an innocent child, John Haines lures us to join him in awesome wonder at life’s beauty, magic and mystery. His enlightened temperament oozes on every page into a simple philosophy that life has good, everywhere.”
Roselyn DeGaris, Adelaide, Australia

“As you read the many colorful accounts of John Haines’ true story you find that he has all the color and verve and life experience of an Indiana Jones.”
Elan Sun Star, Photographer-Writer-Teacher, Hawaii www.sunstarphoto.com

“As modern society takes us further away from simple living, the message in this book brings us back to what matters most, by reminding us that ‘simplicity’ is available at any time when we are prepared to open our hearts and minds and engage fully with the world around us. In this way, being present to each moment reconnects us with the preciousness of life.”
Suzanne Stewart, Buddhist practitioner, Wellington

“…interesting, captivating and thought provoking …a great read and a great author. You won’t and can’t put it down!”
Jenny Hamberger, New Zealand

For additional information including excerpts visit:
http://groups.msn.com/InSearchofSimplicity



ISBNs: 1-4392-0731-3 and 9781439207314

Order additional copies on-line www.amazon.com
In the USA call toll free 1-866-308-6235
Elsewhere phone 1-843-789-5000

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Restoring Respect for First Nation Wisdom

I am just finishing the first book by Laurens van der Post that I have ever read. It won't be the last. The book is called A Story Like the Wind and it follows the life of a 13 year old European boy, Francois, living on a remote farm in a country in Africa. His father, a former school superintendent who left public service because he disagreed with the public policy of inferior education for native peoples, home schools Francois. But the true education of this child of the frontier is derived from the native people who help to raise him, principally Matabele and Bushmen. The respect that van der Post paints of the tribal cultures is profound. Laurens was raisedin Africa in the early 1900s in a family with 15 children and he grew up immersed in the stories of the original African cultures. Many of these stories are no longer told. These people had a profound awareness of their connection with the natural world. It is this awareness that we in the West need to foster and expand.

As Europeans colonised the rest of the world they did their utter best, based on a dangerous mix of ignorance and arrogance, to eliminate all vestiges of tribal culture and wisdom that they could not understand. The European mind, post-Descartes, has been fragmented. Anything that could not be scientifically proven was discarded as primitive nonsense. But the science used to disprove or approve new ideas was flawed. It became increasingly specialized and compartmentalized and reflected the vast collective ‘forgetting’ of the supposedly superior colonisers. Only today with the huge growth in concepts such as ‘The Law of Attraction’ are we beginning to tap into an awareness that pre-existed ours in the wisdom of the ancients. But we colour this new awareness with our culture’s seemingly insatiable need for ‘more’.

I cannot too highly recommend several books that have helped to reawaken in me a respect for the First Nation peoples who have preceded the onslaught of my forebears.. These books have reinforced lessons I have learned while working intimately with nature. I hope you can gain as much pleasure and insight in their reading as I have:

Marlo Morgan's Mutant Message Down Under explores the almost unbelievable powers and practical wisdom of an aboriginal nation during a walk the author shared with them across the vast outback of Australia.

Forest Carter's The Education of Little Tree only became part of my literary milieu in recent years while reading with my children. I continue to pick up the book from time to time and delight in its humour and perception of a native wisdom dying out in the Appalachians.

First Light by Carol O'Biso covers the journey from America to New Zealand and back of the author, who was the conservator of Te Maori, an exhibit that toured the States in the 80s. It is a celebration of Maori culture and the magic it imbues.

Finally, I must mention Millennium: Tribal Wisdom for the Modern World, the compendium of anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis, based on his ground-breaking PBS television series. I continue to dip into its vast wisdom when I feel the need to enhance my awareness of humanity's oneness.

May this awareness grow in each of us daily.

By the way, the touching 1993 film set in Africa called A Far Off Place is based on two Laurens van der Post books.

Love,
John

Monday, July 7, 2008

Extending Friendship

Whenever uncertainty arises, stop. Be present, fully present. Watch your breath. If this isn’t enough, take a walk in nature, work in the garden or turn to a practice that cultivates stillness and inner connectedness such as yoga, qi gong or meditation.
Life is an ever-shifting balance between stillness and activity. Whenever activity dominates, and this easily happens in our busy lives, consciously cultivate stillness and the sense of peace this engenders. We can spend our lives chasing castles in the sky, when that which we seek has been with us all along. As Peace Pilgrim said, “You cannot give me anything I don’t already have.”
All desire comes from a sense of lack. If there is one message I would like to make, it is that we already have enough stuff. Let’s put our focus on the real stuff of life. As Thoreau said, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” I might add, “Give me friendship.” For me, this goes further than traditionally understood. Whenever I rest in the stillness, I feel immersed in a warm womb of love. I feel forgiven for all of my errors of judgement, for all of my frailties. I am loved and I Am Love. I know that we are surrounded by unseen, loving friends. They guide us and urge us to aim always for the highest.
Last night I joined our teenage daughters, Amira and Asha, and Amira’s boyfriend, Toby, on the beach for a campfire. The wind was roaring from the west. From time to time, it brought a driving rain. We huddled against a cliff somewhat protected from the elements. The night came on and the stars jousted with the clouds. We watched the fire, enchanted by the constantly changing colours of the flames. The salt in some of the driftwood burned an eerie yellow. Ultraviolet, royal blue, green and an occasional flash of turquoise created a rainbow of fire.
Potatoes, broccoli and carrots were placed in a bed of coals. The tide came in. I felt a deep sense of gratitude. I reflected on what I already had in my life and knew, in that moment, that I was fulfilled.
We dragged the aluminium-wrapped vegetables form the fire with sticks. The aluminium tore and some of the contents spilled on the sand. We laughed. As I ate my salad, the three teenagers munched on charred, sometimes crunchy vegetables. As always happens by the beach, a little sand found its way into the food. We laughed some more. Desert, prepared by Asha, was bananas with chocolate and marshmallow, also wrapped in aluminium. When removed from the fire they were a sticky, delicious mess.
The tide came in further and threatened to smother the fire. Asha, the active one, perched in the swaying branches of a nearby Pohutukawa tree, cackling with glee as successive waves flowed under her.
I relished the exquisite ecstasy of the moment. Immersed in darkness, flames dancing, wind crying, occasional drops of rain finding our sheltered alcove; an unknown bird calling from the water. Times like this remind one of our connectedness with everything. Are not the stars our sisters, the sun an elder brother, the moon a maiden meant for love? The sand crushed beneath us, yet supported our steps. The salty water of the sea and the sweet water falling from the sky cleansed and purified our thoughts. The entire orchestra of nature kept us fully present.
Cultivate a relationship with everything. One cannot feel alone with such a sense of connectedness. This is what I call extending friendship.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Service Starts at Home

I know people who talk a great story and can quote from all sorts of books but, they're not living what they speak, fully, that is. Actually, do any of us? We can only try. I love family life and gardening because they’re real places in which I can practically express love. Simple isn't it?

When it comes to thinking globally we definitely need to begin by acting locally. A friend, a very down-to-earth gardener, once pointed to his hand and said, "Look at my fingers. Each one represents a place I can serve. The pinkie is for me. I can't serve anyone else properly until I love myself. I can engender self love by growing and eating healthy food, exercising, etc. The ring finger represents family. This can be my immediate family or an extended one like the whanau of the Maori. The second finger stands for my community. There are myriad ways in which I can serve locally. The index finger represents my country. I'm not talking about patriotism here. As you know, patriotism is as dangerous to a country as pride is to an individual. One place to get involved is in politics at a grass roots level; or in simple peaceful movements and protests. Finally, my thumb represents the planet, and if you like, the universe. The internet allows us to shrink the Earth and create global networks of like-minded friends."

I have modified the above 'hand analogy' when working with children in schools. They can apply their love and actions to their fellow students and their teachers, as well as friends, siblings and parents

Think about it. How effective will our efforts be without starting at home? In my mind, since everything is interconnected, every positive action affects the whole. The entire world is contained within me. Therefore, inner peace implies outer or world peace. I need to heal myself in order to heal the world. I need to start with me.

Our words have real, lasting meaning when they totally reflect our being, our presence. When we live what we speak, we do make a difference. I do my best to live up to this intention each day. Some days I succeed. Some days I fail. No matter—tomorrow’s another day.

Here’s an affirmation I made years ago based on a Sting song:

Every step I make; every breath I take; every thought I have; every word I speak brings me peace.

Say that aloud while looking in the mirror each morning with a big, cheesy smile and repeat it to yourself throughout the day. See what happens with your feelings and in your life. You may be pleasantly surprised.

I've got to go. It's time to make breakfast and play a game with Amira. Service starts at home.

Don't worry. Be happy.

Love,
John