Behind The Scenes At New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace (NH/ZOP)

Under construction. Here's one behind the scenes tale to get you started ...
Next Forest Bathing Sanctuary Event Scheduled …

Remember last month, at month’s end, I provided a report to our supporters and followers from behind the scenes?

You know, it was excruciatingly difficult for me to write even that much last month. But I wanted to stay in contact as best I could. This month, same struggle. So I thought I’d, at least, provide an updated summary of what’s going on here.

It’s BIG!!! I can tell you that much. And only an act of G-d can halt the progress. So stay tuned into our happenings.

Even if you don't participate, you might still draw some hope and inspiration from knowing how we are surviving the pandemic, doing optimally well, under the circumstances, with our approach, as long as we can stay healthy.

Here’s a taste of what is now in motion..

1. Present and future programs of NH/ZOP for the foreseeable future will focus on reaching out beyond the local into national participation, with an intention of establishing regular, ongoing nationwide conference call support (and discussion) groups, with a present focus on how to establish and maintain optimum emotional and spiritual pandemic survival, provided one is virus-free.

Update: 8.31.20 – We now have active members, meeting in our various groups, from west to east coast, with a few potential members in the Midwest and the majority in Maryland where we are headquartered.

2. Opening up our very peaceful Forest Bathing Sanctuary for limited, on-site, very small groups. Maximum 4 people. 

Update: 8.31.20 – Next NH/ZOP Forest Bathing Event. Saturday, September 26
See stories and details here, now under construction.

A slice of the NH/ZOP
Forest Bathing Sanctuary

3. Mss Study Group, Friday mornings. 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. 

Update: 8.31.20 – Introduced in February for NH/ZOP Board Members only, 

Now beginning to add new, “outside” members with the intention of building an exceptional community, grounded in being a professional-level training and transformation laboratory, for, first, helping us all survive the pandemic.

Remember: This study group is the prerequisite to all upper tier programs, one that earns you a ticket to participate in: 1. Our daily Pandemic Survivors Support Groups;  2. Monthly Truth Or Dare GAMES and; 3. GAME Community Support Groups (Temporarily on pause, as we start up our new tracks, as offered on this list.)

Daily Pandemic Survivors Support Groups (Now meeting, via conference call, on Monday and Wednesday mornings, time varies, usually begins 10 a.m. Led by Sue deVeer.)

Update: 8.31.20 – Going great. Challenges and obstacles of months past, during our initial start-up phase (We are still starting up!) have been transformed, using our very own, home-brewed recipe for turning lead into gold, in the process.

Monthly “Open To The Public Pandemic Survivors Discussion-Support Groups,” On-site spaces limited to 4 people. (Next August 22. 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Led by Anastasia.) 

Update: 8.31.20 – On hold.

Monthly storytelling at the NH/ZOP Fire Circle. Led by Anastasia.

Update: 8.31.20 –Next NH/ZOP Forest Bathing Sanctuary and Storytelling Event. Saturday, September 19

Also developing -- Anastasia The Storyteller Online Radio Shows to be increased, with future shows to include NH/ZOP Board Members. Some shows will also particularly want to encourage call-ins and after show conference calls support and dialogue to follow up on program topics.

Update: 8.31.20 –This project now being developed. May not be established and ready to fully operate for a bit yet.

For details and reservations, contact -- Anastasia at: 
MountainWomanRJ@aol.com

6:00 p.m. -- 6 hours yet to go until the clock strikes midnight -- and -- I will have, once again, taking another step forward in NOT having a monthly quota of blog articles to post.

PAID -- Student Internships, Career -- And --Volunteer Opportunities

The Forest Bathing Sanctuary project at New Horizons/Small "Zones Of Peace" Retreat Center needs YOUR help.

Find out how YOU can be a part of an exciting, uplifting and safe work experience, specially designed to support members of our various communities, near and far, through the pandemic crisis. 

Here’s Our Deal:

• We are now set to offer paid, part-time career opportunities, internships - with the potential for college credit and work from home.
• Woods and handyman work also available for local volunteers.

Our Forest Bathing Sanctuary, located on our 10 mountainside acres, just above the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers has now begun to develop our forested area, as a safe, social-distancing space of retreat from the stresses of present everyday life.

So -- we are seeking part-time, paid work-from-home employees, student interns and volunteers who --

• Like people;
• Are invested in social action, community development – and – forest bathing;
• Enjoy moving creative, big picture design-mind thinking into action.

The skills we are looking for are --

• Internet savvy and adeptness at making our message, mission and offerings more widely known;
• Research assistants to help us obtain copyright permissions from the Library of Congress and other resources where reports of our former impactful efforts are stored.

We need assistance with these tasks (and more)!

Find out how you can help and become a part of this exciting project, now laying down its foundations.

Read our stories on being an exceptional leader and on exceptional communities, at the top rung of personal involvement and development -- exceptional is what we are all about. 

That's what makes a small "zone of peace."

Bonus Opportunity!

Visitors to our Retreat Center and Forest Bathing Sanctuary, get to, personally, know and " hang out" with the Wise Woman of Elk Mountain, a.k.a. Anastasia, Executive Director and Founder of New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace” Inc., two entwined non-profit 501 C 3 organizations,.

To apply, contact: Anastasia at: MountainWomanRJ@aol.com.

Our Next Steps...

For related background on the following, visit The Crowning -- And The Next Chapter.

For the past fourteen years, the work of the two intertwined non-profit organizations, the New Horizons Support Network, Inc. and Small “Zones Of Peace” Inc.  (NH/ZOP), I founded, the latter co-founded by Sue deVeer and myself, have presented many programs on behalf of groups and organizations in our closest local community, Frederick, Maryland, most frequently on a pro bono basis that I/we happily considered a way of paying forward.

Among the best known of these have been our Coffee House Conversations, our Abkhazian Dinners and our specially designed "Conflict Resolution And Anger Management #101" programs for the UNESCO Center For Peace for high school students from around the world, based out of Frederick. But there will be no more of these, on our local level. Certainly, not anytime in the foreseeable future.  

Question: So where are we going from here?

Our coming attractions, already in motion include two major priority shifts:

1. Present and future programs, of NH/ZOP for the foreseeable future will focus on reaching out beyond the local for national participation, with an intention of establishing regular, ongoing nationwide conference call support groups, and

Anastasia, Compassionate
Warrior Guide

2. Opening up our very peaceful Forest Bathing Sanctuary for limited, on-site, very small groups. Maximum 4 people. (Next NH/ZOP Forest Bathing Event. August 22 11:30 - 2:30)

Other developments, now in progress

Mss Study Group, Friday mornings. 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. 

This is the one that earns you your ticket to: 1. Our daily Pandemic Survivors Support Groups and;  2. Monthly Truth Or Dare GAMES and; 3. GAME Community Support Groups (Temporarily on pause, as we start up our new tracks, as offered on this list.)

Daily Pandemic Survivors Support Groups (Now on Monday and Wednesday mornings, time varies, usually begins 10 a.m. Led by Sue deVeer.)

Monthly “Open To The Public Pandemic Survivors Discussion-Support Groups,” On-site spaces limited to 4 people. (Next August 22. 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Led by Anastasia.) 

Monthly storytelling at the NH/ZOP Fire Circle. (Next Fire Circle Storytelling, August 22, 6 on. Led by Anastasia.)

Also developing -- Anastasia The Storyteller Online Radio Shows to be increased, with future shows to include NH/ZOP Board Members. Some shows will also particularly want to encourage call-ins and after show conference calls support and dialogue to follow up on program topics.

For details and reservations, contact -- Anastasia at: 
MountainWomanRJ@aol.com

Pandemic Survivors Discussion/Support Group Network Makes Its "Official" Debut

Look for details on our next "Open To The Public" Pandemic Discussion/Support Group, now scheduled for Saturday, August 22 -- 3 to 5 p.m. by conference call --  and -- very limited (4) on- site guests. Reserve early. We will let you know how  soon.

You will also want to know about our new NH/ZOP Forest Bathing Sanctuary, developing right alongside our "Open" Pandemic Support Group Meetings -- to provide our housebound, lock-down land, lots of land places to roam -- by arrangement.

Transformation is in the air at ...
New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace

Hear about the adventure we, the Board Members Of NH/ZOP are having traveling to awe, on podcast ..

Pandemic Survivors Support Group Network 

Makes Its "Official" Debut

.
In spite of the inordinate crisis of the pandemic. In spite of the hardships, the tragedy and distress, the two organizations I head (NH/ZOP), founding one -- New Horizons, with its

roots in the early 1970s, and one, the Small "Zones Of Peace" Project, in 2006, co-created with board member, Sue deVeer -- are celebrating, almost as if we were having a new baby birthed into our family.

How very wonderful to be able to bring new life in, with joy, and find opportunity to celebrate during such a difficult time!

Hear the NH/ZOP Board Members, on podcast, as we share the adventure to awe we've been on, together, throughout the pandemic lock-down. We invite you to join us.

Request details and information on how you can participate in what's happening next in this exciting project, contact Anastasia at: MountainWomanRJ@aol.com

Travel Guide For The Journey To Awe

Available soon on eBay. Look for details.

If you aspire -- to travel with us to awe, you will need this guidebook for our shared adventure, in this era of tragedy, confusion, polarization and corruption.

Introducing – Anastasia The Storyteller’s

“Surviving Addictions”

On the Origins and Cure of Excitement /Urgency Addictions 

in Contemporary American Life”

The unedited, unpublished, original version circa, 1991

 New Working Title For Forthcoming Completed Version, Expected Publication Date, 2022

Surviving The U.S.A., Circa 2016 -- Fwd

Copies of “Surviving Addictions,” Part I/X
Available soon on eBay, $50 plus shipping and handling

For additional information and details on publications, contact – 
Sue deVeer at suedeveer@juno.com

Also look for discussion opportunities on the above publications through the following: regular ongoing online classes, radio show broadcasts and articles.

Coming next: 

Mss Study Group: Introductory Seminar
Friday, May 29 By invitation only

All proceeds from the sale of these programs and publications are used to support the projects and programs of the –

New Horizons/Small “Zones Of Peace” Project,

Two  501(c)(3) education and charity nonprofit organizations, working together

We Are Getting Ready For You To Join Us On Our Pandemic Adventure To Awe

Under construction

Are you ready for us?

Here’s what’s happening next and a bit about how we got here –

Part I: Reviewing How We Were, Before The Pandemic Led Us Into Quarantine

The New Horizons/Small “Zones Of Peace” Project Board Of Directors started off, in early February, before there was a national pandemic crisis, with a purpose of making sure my (Anastasia) professional legacy would be passed on, by beginning an in-depth, board members only, Manuscript Study Group.

Our agenda would be to strengthen our personal and organizational foundations which go back to the mid-seventies, by systematically digging in to the whole body of my written works, ten sections in all as it stands now, especially that which we have titled my Random House Trilogy, based on my work with Marty Groder, M.D., my former psychiatrist mentor and original publishing co-author.

Wow!!

What a gift my board set out to give me in this way – and –seemingly I am giving them in return too, as together we prepare for me to ease the pressures of my work responsibilities and begin to add more leisure to my life.

Total win-win!

Just like a trip to the peak of the Mountain Of Awe should be.

Ah!

Climbing The Mountain Of Awe!

You ask --

“But what do you mean by awe? And, why and how now in the midst of the pandemic?

We say –

“Well “awe is the destination adventure we are pursuing, in spite of the threat, pain and tragedy surrounding us.  

It is an attainment that is important now, more than ever! And, from here forth we are intent on telling/showing you why and how from every angle and in every manner that we can. 

For example look for online radio broadcasts and classes, Coming soon!

 We are getting ready for you, to join us now as our new infrastructure develops and unfolds into public access.

Be sure, from here forth, to keep checking in on all three New Horizons/Small “Zones of Peace” blog sites for which I write.

• This one, the New Horizons Small "Zones of Peace" Project
• Anastasia The Storyteller
• Exploring Your Dark Side: The Adventure of A Lifetime

In total the three will give you clues, if not hard, scientifically-backed details about this treasure hunt of ours that we are now inviting you to join us.

Facts and science are coming along too from where we stand. So be sure to ask all the questions and get all the answers you need in order to find us credible and profoundly empowering and we do not want you to have doubts about us, if you are to travel with us.

Are you ready for us?

For details on our developing projects and programs and reservations, contact me, Anastasia at: MountainWomanRJ@aol.com.

Stay safe. Stay well. 

Prayers and wishes to all of you, especially our most loyal readers.  We know you are out there. We are struggling along with you and we wish you to know we are intent on contributing our best efforts, body, mind and spirit, to our collective well being.

From Anastasia and the New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" Board of Directors

Up Against The Challenges, We Are On Our Road To Awe

On our self-defined path to awe in this time of mortal challenge, my board members and I’ve skirted sinkholes that might have destroyed us, as a working entity, tripped over potholes, metaphorically twisting our ankles, and, so far, have landed right side up because 

… we pledged at the onset of the lock-down to hang together and support one another through the ordeal. 

Sure we were going to be challenged, once we began to understand what it meant to be threatened by this pandemic, but heading toward awe seemed to be our best bet, if making lemonade out of the barrel of lemons this virus pandemic has brought into our lives is our intent. 

And, surely, we could manage that lofty destination, better together than each on our own.

Even if together means back and forth only by phone and text, as we aren't yet comfortable with video and, of course actual, live contact is NOT an option.

We knew, of course, that if we could manage this well, the lifting of ourselves and one another, on behalf of our own selves and within our small “elite” Truth Or Dare GAME Community, our next steps would be to easily offer ourselves as guides in service to other virus survivors, destination: AWE, even in this time of crisis. 

Not only would we offer to guide the kinds of community building we do best, a much needed craft for these hard times, but, through support and teaching – and – also being role models, though only a mere few chapters ahead of many, dealing with things with which we have no previous experience, coronavirus and quarantining for starters, to help save ourselves and others from unthinkable tragedy, should it strike us, personally.

If only, if only we could make it through, infection-free, intact overall health-wise, emotionally and spiritually.

But then came the other, the stuff people bring into difficult times, making them even more difficult –

STUFF!!

Seen any STUFF around you these days?

You do? So you know what I mean. 

Goodness gracious the STUFF we are dealing with these days is hard!

At New Horizons/ZOP, however, we are moving through our stuff, with such unity and grace, it is truly wonderful, sometimes even seeming like a miracle. 

I'm sure you will want to hear how we are accomplishing this "awesomeness" which we will gladly share when the time is right. So I'll do my best to get back here with more storytelling of NH/ZOP adventures through ....whatever lies ahead.

And, in due time, once we have managed to navigate our small group of board members through our stuff in reaching for awe, we are going to be able to invite you, too, in for the climb with us. 

Hope y’all, our readers, are doing okay, out there.

My Board and myself send you our very best wishes and prayers that you stay safe and well.

More later.