Last month, a reader named Merry-Ken Piper shared a song she had written. I would now  like to share that song. Titled, "White-Flag Surrender", I found it particularly poignant and  timely since, as she writes, "It looks like the end is near."

Indeed, the end is near.  We are in a time that I believe will be like no other. We are on the edge of tomorrow which means we have reached the edge of today.

Merry-Ken Piper's song is one of acceptance. Change cannot be avoided or denied and extreme change is what is about to happen. It will not be easy to transit.

Her song is wise beyond measure. Here is the link to her video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Woh8K-krcbE&feature=channel

Good luck,

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

We have visited many cities this past year, e.g. London, Vienna, Budapest, Venice, New York, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Auckland, Sydney, etc. and last weekend another was added to that long list - Portland, Oregon - a city unique among the many we have visited.

 Martha and I read the many articles about Portland's food scene, the restaurants, the creativity, etc. but it was not so much the food that impressed us (though much did, e.g. the shortbread from Grand Central Bakery was perhaps equal to those from Cindy's Bakery in Penzance, England) as it was the palpable sense of community that was evident.

Perhaps it is the size of Portland that lends itself to the feeling of community or perhaps it had something to do with Portland, a city at ease with itself, not striving to be more than it already was and content with the many gifts it has already been given.

In the coming crisis, community will be among the most important of the survival tools necessary to transit increasingly difficult times. Portland offers such a sense of community. If your area does not, then create it. Portland is a model that can be replicated elsewhere.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

 Life spins fastest at the edges. Like a spinning disc, the farther from the center the greater the centrifugal force and the greater the liklihood of falling off. The opposite is true at the center.

At the very center, IT is still.

 At the very center, so are YOU.

This is how to transit times of intense change. In such times, the rise in outward chaos forces us to go inwards in order to gain peace and direction. We are in such times today.

Peace,

Darryl Robert Schoon

http://www.survivethecrisis.com/

http://www.drschoon.com/

 The reappearance of swine flu has changed our collective psychological landscape. Suddenly, the possibility of a global pandemic has relegated even economic collapse to a secondary position. It is my belief that more  such crises are on the way.

We are in uncharted waters. This is a period of great change that will alter our lives and human nature in the process. I have said that until humanity changes, history will not. Well, history is about to change.

As severe as this economic downturn will be--and it will be severe, there will be equally disturbing crises such as geopolitical, ecological, and humanitarian. I have long believed that a series of crises will befall humanity in order to bring about consequential planetary change.

The earth has been living in an unbalanced state due to the unbalanced nature of humanity. We are about to be rebalanced. The process will not be easy.  The result is, however, long overdue.

 Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

The recent rise of stock markets revived the hopes of many.It is as if a dying patient was given steroids and felling better, the patient believes a cure has been effected and that health will return.

Most do not understand the gravity of the  crisis and believe the stock market bounce is a sign the economy has turned a corner. It has not. During the Great Depression, several bear market rallies occurred where prices rose only to fall even lower.

This is what is happening now. Economic fundamentals are deteriorating even as stocks rise. There will be other rallies but each one is only an opportunity to take your money out before it is too late.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

Warm weather came too early this year. Even in the southwest US, t-shirt weather and days in the upper 80's are highly unusual for February and March. But this year, flowers are blooming early and a dove hatched chicks in our backyard.

She was beautiful as only nature can grace a new mother. We saw her two chicks stick out their tiny heads this week to see their new world. That evening, however, temperatures dropped back into the 40's as the cold was not yet over even with spring's early arrival.

 The next day when I went to check on the new mother and her newborn chicks, the mother was gone, the chicks having died that night because of the cold. I put the nest and the chicks away but the feeling stayed with me throughout the day.

I have the same feeling about what is about to happen to the US and indeed much of the world. Lured not by warm weather but by easy credit, families like the mother dove and her newborn chicks will become the casualties of  what is now about to descend as economies collapse.

Unnatural weather patterns, unnatural cycles of credit. Both caused by the hand of man. Nature's rebalancing will be as unexpected as today's credit crunch. Both will be brutal.

Be prepared. Good luck.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

 Many observers of the  financial crisis are predicting increased violence as the economic crisis worsens. A breakdown of societal controls is not beyond possibilities and levels of protest have escalated in countries where pre-existing social problems are exacerabted by economic distress.

Barton Biggs, author of Wealth War & Wisdom, Wall Street hedge fund manager and former Chief Investment Strategist for Morgan Stanley, suggested that readers should now consider buying a remote farm, stocking it with food supplies and medicines and should arm themselves in order to protect themselves against marauders.

That such advice is being suggested by a Wall Street advisor is indeed cause for worry as we have no idea what the consequences of the unraveling will be. We only know that things will unravel and are in the process of so doing.

I would like to suggest, however, there is another ways we should prepare for what is about to be.  In times of intense turmoil and stress, it is of utmost importantance to be centered spiritually and emotionally in order to respond appropriately.

Mistakes in such times can be and are often fatal. Going to ground in its highest sense means grounding yourself in the center of your being. Don't worry about how to get there. Circumstances will show you the way if you are willing.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

 Gold has now pushed above $1,000 in 2009. Whether it will rise further or fall back to retest its lows is unknown. What is known  is that gold's rise someday will not be stopped. Whether that day is today or in the future is uncertain. It is certain, however, that it will come.

The battle of central banks against gold has been in progress ever since the US dollar was  officially de-linked from gold in 1973. The battle is now over 35 years old. When it began, the price of gold was $35 per ounce. Last year and again this year, it reached $1,000. For those unaware of the battle over gold, there is little appreciation of what has taken place.

For those aware, the 35 year tortured ascent  of gold is a sign of its strength. Against all odds, the wishes of central bankers and those intent on preserving the empires that fiat currencies have built, have been thwarted.

That despite their best efforts, gold has continued to rise and will continune to do so until the resistance of the bankers is finally broken. On that day, the markets will reflect the triumph of truth and the fall of hubris.

Until then, wait.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

 We just returned from a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There we attended the wedding of the son of close friends. His bride was gracious, attractive and of strong character. Together, they possess the wherewithal that will be needed in the tumultous days ahead.

 We stayed with friends in a large villa above the town. Talk of the impending crisis was not obviated by the weeks wondrous events. The wedding would be celebrated and life would proceed irrespective of the problems we were all aware of.

The reception was held at a private villa on the beach with tables lit by candlelight and a ten piece mariachi band led off the evening's festivites. We remembered the photographer from the wedding of our friends' daughter two years before in Florence, Italy. He had flown in from Italy to photograph this wedding and was enjoying it as much as the participants. By the time the night ended, three generations had taken the dance floor including great-Aunts and grandmothers. It was a sight to behold and enjoy.

Such is life and we should not pause in our celebration of what it brings us. Its gifts are many, even among the hardships to come.

Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com

 As we move deeper into crisis, we should consider what will be needed in the days ahead. Perhaps the most ephemeral is the idea of community. I think that community, however, is the most concrete and will be among the most important resources in the coming days.

 Community is not a natural state in our present society. However, I believe it will be the underpinning of what is to come, the result of an overwhelming need to cooperate and share on more than a familial level.

 Community will be born out of the need for survival. You might consider this seriously while there is still time. Someday, in the future, it will be too late to do so.

Share, give and receive, interact with others. It will help you and your family in the future that is coming but not yet here.

 Darryl Robert Schoon

www.survivethecrisis.com

www.drschoon.com