The Love Cafe & Conscious Business 

 My daughter and I have had this dream for many years and it just recently came to life on November 30, 2012, when we opened our doors to share our vision.

What is “The Love Cafe?”  TLC... tender love and care...

The Love Cafe is...

A local place to gather and build community, to share locally sourced food, to inspire a healthier way of life through food, learning to feed oneself healthy thoughts, positive re-enforcement, a genuine place where we love and care for our planet and people, sustainable practices in business, a place to learn about how to prepare raw, live and nutritious choices of food, learning about stewarding our planet for future generations and working together with our Loving the Planet Plan (see attached).

Everything that is served here at The Love Cafe is all homemade by each of our loving hearts and hands. 

  Each day brings a new platform to support creativity in each of us, those that are behind the counter and coming through the door.  TLC supports each individual to bring their passion and creativity through the food, the service, the education, the presentation of the food and establishment, conscious sustainable business practices and supporting of local artists.

TLC is the bridge to share a healthy way of life that we have been living for many years now.  It is not just about the food that we eat, it is much more than this and that is what our “Loving the Planet Plan” is all about.  We are incorporating the way in which we live together (whether you live alone or in community, you will always have to get along with others, which we feel is the foundation) with conscious business through building local community that supports each other in our passions/gifts and purpose.  Understanding our differences as each others’ own unique gifts/passions and purpose.  Coming together in a beautiful orchestrated community sweetly blending with each other.   

Hello,

For those of you who don't know Garner (he was my partner in the original Loving the Planet Research Adventure driving to Central America and back to Vancouver Island).  He has gone off to explore on his own adventure and we wish him so much success, love, joy and fun.

In the meantime I am being called to begin yet another adventure.

MEET THE:

Vancouver Island Cooperative Community Project

Loving the Planet (LTP) is making a very radical shift in the way we are doing business.   One of our main focuses is local healthy organic food growing.  We are looking to co-create a Vancouver Island Cooperative Community Project which will entail a lot of different aspects of sustainable living including #1, Healthy Organic FOOD GROWING!!!  I am being called to meet up with people, organizations, associations, and businesses that are active in sustainable practices.  I feel that I need to link and connect with these venues to create the Vancouver Island Cooperative Community Project, in support of the Vancouver Island Diet versus the 100 Mile Diet, and I am not opposed to this 100 mile diet as well, but feel that I need to expand on the Vancouver Island Diet further.

There is a huge shift that is occurring and that is in how we do business here on this planet.  I know it may sound out there, ridiculous, and I may sound like I have lost it!!!  AND I HAVE!!!  I have lost the Corporate way of being in business... in fact never did have it!!!  I have a vision that is within me... I cannot stop it... I cannot hide it and I cannot NOT DO IT!!!  I am being instructed from deep within what to do and I know it goes against all the corporate/business rules that we all know and have been serving.  Conscious Business is here and here to stay.  Those that can see this and get on board will succeed.  The changes that are occurring within Loving the Planet are part of this huge fundamental shift that must happen in order to come into Conscious Business (CB).  CB is all about being in alignment with the earth and so much more.  It is important that we find and support one another in this journey.

LTP believes that there are 3 fundamental aspects to Conscious Business:  The absolute direct connection to the planet and the entire process of the life of a product and service and how it truly affects our planet as a whole entity (people, animals, insects, mammals, plants, air, water), Community, and an exchange of personal value for such products/services.  We feel that CB is set up in this order of priority and that the money that we have been placing first in our society now transfers over to personal value (exchange) and becomes third in the order of priority of Conscious Business. 

The stable product that one talks of offering in corporate business is exactly what LTP is moving away from.  It is in fact the unstable product, thinking that we can continue to sell products from all over the world and just have them shipped every which way all the time... this is a system that is on its way out.   Local business, community business and support of localized/centralized food, products, and services are where we are headed.  I plan to help support and create a Vancouver Island Co-Operative Community Project which would include building community first and foremost through the support of local farms, gleaning programs (harvesting what we already have growing in our own yards) so much fruit goes to waste every year (did an experiment this summer in Port Alberni with respect to gleaning), sharing backyard gardening, creating edible gardens in our yards with indigenous plants, local currency (other than our money we have now), connecting all the local (Vancouver Island) sustainable projects, associations, and farms, sharing programs for services and items that we have in our home,  helping to support the growth of new/old industry and products (locally) that are actually sustainable, and linking up all the local farmers & markets on the Island and so much more.

Loving the Planet will be going into Housing, Water, Waste, and Transportation as well, all sustainable of course.

While travelling we are learning about and raising consciousness around issues related to truly loving the planet: accessible, clean water, healthy nourishing food, safe and loving social environments and sustainable energy and travel systems etc. We know it is not only possible but absolutely essential in these rapidly evolving times for all people to live together in harmony with each other, the Earth and Divine Wisdom.

On this Loving the Planet Research Adventure I will be implementing the spiritual technologies of synchronicity, (so called) chance and intuitive hunches in order to come into complete flow with the subtler yet more profound manifesting energies of this awesome, consciously evolving planet that we love so much!  We are intending a beautiful heart connection with any of you who choose to meet with me in this universal spiritual technology.  Loving the Planet welcomes and encourages your questions, comments and contributions and looks forward to meeting you on the road, at an artesian spring, in the forest, at your farm, market, business, office or even on-line in the internet dream world.

In travel, love and light...

Namaste & Sweet Blessings

Dana Lynn

July 2011.

Well its been a full year since I completed my Permaculture Design Certification Program in July 2010.  After returning from that and pondering the presence of my partner Garner in my life I found my Adventurer and went on an 8 month epic adventure, driving through areas of the USA, all through Mexico, Belize, and ended up living in Guatemala for 4 months.  What I thought I would do and  my agenda that I planned  really turned into something all completely different.  What happened was this incredible journey to the inner realms of myself... facing my greatest fears, doubts, and beliefs to date.  I wanted to create an agenda that I thought would be practical and something that I should do.  What happened was I met my unattended and incomplete energies of my addict, victim, perpetrator, abuser, my extremely wounded child and I met my heroes as well.   My daughter, Cayla and her friend Hayley flew down to meet us in Guatemala and actually ended up driving all the way back home with us.  These were 2 of my heroes I met while I was on my trip.  The other heroes I will be writing about more in my blog as time goes on.

I arrived back in Canada on April 16, 2011, Garners birthday, however Garner-less, exhausted, confused, a rag, tag crew, and homeless with absolutely no idea where I would go, and what I would do.  I could only rely on my intuition and so I dug in a little deeper asking for help.  A kind and beautiful goddess rose to the surface and invited me to come and stay with her for a night or two, which then turned into ten days.  It was a god-sent for me to just be able to rest, to be still.  I had been on the road for almost 8 months and my whole entire being just wanted a dark cave to hide out in.  After my stay with my friend another Goddess rose up and I went to her place to care for her wonderful dog while she went away.   I stayed there for about 1 1/2 months.  And what an absolute blessing that was... it was a wonderful cave... warm with a woodstove and dark... just what this tired Goddess needed to integrate.

Now I am living in Port Alberni with two very dear friends.  It was what absolutely flowed with the greatest of ease.  I would have not selected Port Alberni as my next place to live and I guess that's where getting out of the mind, that thinks it knows what to do and allowing the ease and flow of the inner mind, the mind of the heart to instruct, comes into play.   I still have no idea how I am going to be here, what things will transpire, how I will earn enough money to live, and there is something much greater at work within me.  I must continue to keep trusting that there is a higher resonance at work within and without.  That all things are truly connected and that I am called here to learn, to be, to share and to love.

And so the adventure continues, without an agenda of my next chapter, all I can say is that whatever happens will be from a place that is absolutely in alignment with the higher presence of myself, god, spirit, whatever one wants to call it.  It is a practice of the unknown every moment, feeling rather than thinking and resting in the quiet and stillness of my higher self, waiting for the guidance and then moving from the mind of the heart.

Namaste

DL

I would like to address my original blog posting of when I began this journey back in July 29 2010.  You can go back to that one and read it all here.

My plans to live and begin a sustainable community are still alive in my heart.  I guess I have begun this journey by moving in with my two dear friends in Port Alberni as of July 29, 2011.  We will be living communally, sharing a kitchen, one bathroom and the home together.  As for my stuff... I don't have much anymore... infact it took 1 SUV full to the rim and a small truck load to move my things here.  I have no furniture, no kitchen stuff, but what I am finding that I do have is all holistic items.  Things that have spiritual value and items to assist in living a healthy lifestyle.  I have come to realize what is truly important in my life and that is things that inspire creativity and care of myself and others.

As for Garner and I we are not together anymore.   I love him very much and will always have a place where he will reside. in my heart.  We are going in two very different directions and had to say goodbye.  I am very sad about this part and had really thought he and I would be able to do this together.  To really be free and live in a beautiful relationship, sharing, loving and living on purpose.  Garner turned out to be another one of my heroes on this journey.  I admired his courage, his tenacity to keep going no matter what, and his unquenchable drive for life.  He has turned out to be one of my heroes in so many ways and I love him always.

As for going on the road to research/study, document, photograph and video:  communities (collective/eco-villages), sustainable systems, farming (organic, bio-dynamic and permaculture) and to also study sacred ruins/cultures and plant medicines.  And by building my knowledge and experience I would be ready to get onto my own land and begin developing it.   Well some of this happened and for the most part it really turned into a deep inner quest and these things became unimportant.  They became things that I should do, rather than wanted to do.  We did experience quite a few sacred sites, visited a few farms, met a day keeper for the Mayan Calendar, and many Nana's & Tata's from the Mayan Culture.  Attended a number of Mayan Ceremonies.  I learned a little bit about some medicinal plants in Guatemala.   I studied briefly with a Mayan Priestess.  Visited a Chocolate Shaman.  As for finding my own culture this has become one of my main inner discoveries along this journey... I experience everyday a new opportunity to be myself in culture and practice it.

And finally to take myself out of my comfort level and transcend my fear that has kept me locked up inside the four walls of this society of which I had become a collective member, CHECK... I am now travelling around with no real set home, no car, nothing that my normal life would have provided for me for my comfort level.  I feel I am in process of transcending what I knew to be safe and a normal life which was actually keeping me a prisoner.  I feel more free than I have ever, and I must say I still get afraid, afraid of the unknown and I am learning day by day to keep trusting the unknown, the part that just is.  And I find myself out on my bike chanting, "there is only this moment" and when I find myself doing this I also find myself with a huge smile on my face.

Well I think this is as caught up as I feel I want to be.  Thank you all for continuing to share in this journey... Much love,

Dhaina Lynn xoxo

My journey towards becoming healthy, happy and living in heart began in 2001. After years of living a life devoted to the next high and the next party, I woke up in a crack house (my home at the time) and realized that I was dying. My addiction to drugs, alcohol and cigarettes had ravaged my body, my mind and my spirit. I was being haunted by thoughts of death, but there was always a voice that said to me “THERE IS A BETTER WAY OF LIFE FOR YOU.”  I really didn’t know what that could look like, but that morning I chose to listen. I went to the local social services office to see if I could get some money so that in a few months I’d be able to save enough to get out of the Crack House. To complicate matters, I had a very abusive partner who controlled any money I had. I knew that even if I could get assistance I’d have to find a way to get the cheque(s) from the postal box before he found out about my plans.

To my amazement, I left the social services office with a cheque for $500. I took that cheque and dragged myself to the bank to open a savings account. At the bank, they asked me to have a seat and told me someone would be right with me. I waited for 10 minutes, wondering why I was asked to wait when all I wanted to do was open an account and deposit my cheque. What I was in store for was nothing I could have imagined myself.  I was greeted by a bank representative, he invited me into his office and asked me to sit down while he filled out the paper work; I obliged and placed my cheque from the Ministry on the top of his desk in front of where I was sitting.  We exchanged small talk and he proceeded to place the paper work in front of me while telling me that I now had a line of credit for $2,000 and he just required my signature at the bottom.  Without blinking I signed it, grabbed my social services cheque off the desk, got a bank card immediately, set up the password, and left as quickly as I could.  I’d like to summarize, I went into the bank a penniless addict and walked out with access to $2,500.  This was a miracle.  I left the crack house that day and moved into a hotel and began working on that “Better Way of Life for Me.”

I began my journey, to find myself, through first ending the addictions. Then I looked at my lifestyle which included; diet, products and services.  As I began to experiment with different foods, supplements and holistic services I realized I was beginning to feel better and look better. I was living a life that was honourable to myself and to others.  I became more aware of unconscious thought patterns, of which I sought help through counselling, holistic practitioners and reading and studying everything that I could get my hands on.  My life was all about living a lifestyle that was in alignment with my highest purpose, being well, feeling happy and joyful and sharing with others.  And so almost 4 years ago I received the whole concept of this company.  I have been living this life for almost 9 years now.  Had a falling off of the wagon and I now know that I am not an alcoholic nor a drug addict, they were simply means for me to channel my lack of love and harm myself.  I realized from that place that anything that becomes obsessive in a behaviour and gets out of control, that leads me into an imbalanced lifestyle and it is simply me not paying enough attention to my little people inside myself, the part in me that needs love/attention/safety and nurturing.

I have been working on all different areas of it... taking some time between projects to always make sure I was on track to the best possible way of living.  My personal life of becoming healthy, happier and in my heart brought me to the creation of Loving the Planet.  I am always looking for the most natural, organic and integral solutions to everyday living.  It’s my passion and it is now what I do to sustain myself.  We are going through a big change with Loving the Planet so stay tuned to see how we present ourselves this time.

In loving heart,

DL

I just went to a celebration of a friends life (a wake).  And through this amazing experience something became very clear to me.  It has been something that I have working with for a while now, however being at this beautiful celebration really brought it home for me.  Love people, and share with them my love while they are in my daily life.  Meaning tell people how much I love them, let them know how they have touched my life and what they mean to me daily.  I have taken on a project to connect with everyone that is in my address book and connect with them on a very personal level to share with them how they touched my life and what they have brought into my life through knowing them.

I am about a quarter of the way through this loving project and how it is changing my life is profound.  I feel so abundant, so alive, so present and in such a state of love when I am in this practice.   The energy that is coming back in this practice is actually very amazing as well.  What I have found is that when I put something out into the world without an expectation of anything other than love, the love that comes back is riveting.  The place that I meet this energy that goes out and comes back into my life is the fuel and source of all things.  It is the plain of love... the destination and location of all things... LOVE !!!  Thank you for letting me share... Wishing you much abundance in your travels...

In loving gratitude,

DL

My life has changed incredibly since my decision to sell everything I owned and move into my partners VW Westfalia Van and travel through the United States, Mexico,  and Guatemala.  I have been held up here in Guatemala now for 3 months.  The original plan was to travel to Costa Rica, that being my partners plan.  I really didn't have a logistical plan, just a feeling plan, to travel into Central America and learn by observing and being quiet in the process.  I had no idea that I would have such an intimate and personal journey with myself, reaching into levels of ego that I could not have imagined that I would do.  I have come into contact with my deepest darkest secrets and I didn't even know I had these secrets.  My life has come into a place of such humility, that I just breath now and wait.  I have written about many of my personal and intimate processes in my travel blog of which I invite you all to have a look.

I am working on my sustainable area of my personal life which will soon become a part of the business I am sure.  My game plan is to find some land and build a cob/eco/sustainable home, implement the sustainable technologies that I studied in my Permaculture Design Certification Course and begin living off the land and growing as much of my food as possible.  It is a big endeavour and at times it is somewhat overwhelming, but I am very inspired and eager to begin this project.  I will be documenting every step on my website so that you can all follow along.  If any of you have experience in this area I invite you to contact me and advise me of your knowledge... I could sure use some assistance.

My goal is to be living on land and building within the next 2 - 3 years.

In loving heart,

Dana Lynn