global warming and financial crisis – related?

We are witnessing right before our very eyes two global crisis’s in tandem that may very well dwarf any other issues mankind has ever seen prior. Not since the great ice age (in which many species became extinct) has our planet been faced with such a massive re-awakening of sorts. When we come out of both these crisis’s our human race as we know it today will never be the same.

Right in front of eyes we are seeing an evolution of sorts, an evolution of ourselves and the human race as we move into a new level of consciousness. A leveling of the playing field of sorts whereby we realize we are all in this together and that there is no such thing as us vs. them, That we are all connected.

It’s no coincidence our “we’re all connected.” inspiration wear tees are seeing an uptick in sales.

So I have to ask the question – are both the global climate issue we face as well as the more recent global financial crisis related to each other?

I already know the answer to this question and so do you… either consciously or sub-consciously, that is.

For too long both our country as well as our planet has been seeing a widening of the gap between the have and the have not’s. The richest countries continue to get richer while the poorest continue to get poorer. Even more frightening is that within each of these country’s the gap between the haves and the have not’s widening as well, reflecting the larger global widening crisis that is occurring. This simply cannot continue.

As a human race we are all connected. How we treat and take care of our neighbors, as well as every living organ on the planet, is ultimately a reflection of how we treat ourselves. Ultimately our actions are manifested back into our human lives (and human race) in some form or another and in recent months has manifested through both global warming (too much consumption) as well as financial markets (too much greed).

For too long we have had our perception what we believe to be “successful” backwards. We measure success by the amount of wealth and consumption one has whereas the irony is it is actually just the opposite of what the universe intends for us as a human race. That ultimately our lives are measured by how much we give and serve each other. We are all in this together.

For too long we have been busy consuming and consuming without worrying about the consequences of such actions. We have ignored the have not’s looking solely for own self interests. We have gone so far as to take over other countries because of fear and the actions of a tiny majority of the 4 billion plus people on our earth for our own self interest not worrying about the consequence such actions have brought about.

The irony is we elected, really attracted, a leader that reflected both the collective conscious, and sub-conscious, of exactly what we needed as a nation at that point in time. A leader who’s actions driven by fear, really our own fear, of losing what we already have and the persistence to have more and more and more not worrying about the consequences.

Well hopefully you get the picture. It is impossible to have everything, totally ignore others without truly listening, and surely continue the path we were following.

By continuing on this destructive path of consumption and fear, the universe had no choice but to step in and right the wrong. And thus it has with creating both the global warming as well as financial crisis that is currently leveling the markets.

The good news is that this re-leveling is a re-awakening and going to bring us and our children into an even more beautiful place. A new place whereby we as a humans put service first over consumption. A new world of communicating with each other. A place of realization that we are all connected. the universe knows…

New For Fall 08 – Plus Size Tunic Tees

After much ado we are very excited to announce for Fall 08 our new Woman’s Plus Line featuring Tunic Tees. After many requests for a Plus Size line for inspiration wear we decided on these wonderful Solid Tunic Tees.

We’ve are also featuring a new pearl “take the time” which can only be found on the Tunic Tees. It is so far very quickly becoming a favorite. You can read up more on the pearl at

http://www.theuniverseknows.com/p-wpt-take-the-time.cfm

Keeping in line with our philosphy of using the finest cottons we searched high and low for these wonderful Tunics and know that you will love every thread and ounce of love we put into these.

So enjoy these wonderful tunics and always follow you dreams… also stay tuned as we are working on really some cool stuff for Spring ’09… the universe knows.

we are so loved

trish and myself just recently got back from a spa show out in Scottsdale, az. we managed to squeeze in a bit of fun time the couple days prior to the show by heading up to Sedona and checking out the red rocks… and what an amazing experience it was.

for those of you who are unfamiliar with Sedona it is an extremely high energy place with “hot spots” of energy pockets know as vortexes… without getting too technical vortexes are like invisible stationary tornadoes of energy – although they are not windy like an actual tornado they do contain powerful swirling energy swirls that serve as portals for the spirits to enter and leave. really pretty cool stuff!!!

Sedona actually has 4 vortexes or portals where the energy is quite amazing… they are known as bell rock vortex, airport vortex, boynton canyon vortex and the cathedral rock vortex.

trish an myself managed to hike a few trails (Sedona has many hiking trails and is a outdoors person’s heaven) and actually get close to a few of the vortexes. another quite amazing thing is that as you get close to these vortexes the juniper trees are twisted by the high energy of the vortex. we had managed to take a few pics of these trees on of which have listed below.

we managed to sneak a lunch in at the enchantment resort and for those of you who are luck enough to ever visit Sedona make it make sure to make it over to the enchantment resort for either breakfast, lunch or dinner – it is quite a magical place!!!

however the main reason I am writing this blog is to show these two pictures (below) that were taken as we were close to these vortexes… if you look in the 1st picture you will notice a spirit like comet flashing up the back of this vortex in boynton canyon… it is really quite amazing to see this… the other picture below was also take at sedona’s cathedral vortex … notice the suns rays are shining all around me…

it is really pretty amazing and I guess the universes’ way of letting me know that I (and everyone for that matter) am so loved and always taking of… if only we knew how each and every day we are so loved by the universe.. I must admit that I forget this many times.

so i wanted to say thank you to the universe for shining its ray on me and always supporting me… and most of all how grateful I am to be able to visit such nice places while I am here… thank you universe!!!

celebrate your life. conference

I just recently came back from the “celebrate your life.” Conference in Chicago and had an amazing experience. The conference, which is about “discovering who you really are” and living your best life both spiritually, mentally as well as physically, was really inspiring. It included many famous speakers (i.e. regulars on Oprah) such as Marianne Williamson, Iyanla Vanzant, Cheryl Richardson just too name a few.

It also included one my favorite authors and someone who has such a profound impact on my life Neale Donald Walsch who also happened to be the key note speaker. For those of you who don’t know Neale he is the author of the books “Conversations with God.” series.

At the conference I was able to show Neale all our inspiration wear products as well as communicate to him on how much of an impact he has had both on myself personally as well as on the universe knows inc and inspiration wear – he was quite impressed with the line and also discussed perhaps doing some work together with inspiration wear – stay posted

It is really amazing how we can influence so many things around us without us even knowing it – we truly are such powerful beams of light capable of accomplishing anything we set our hearts and minds out too do … so I just wanted to say a big shout out to Neale for being such a great motivator as well as educator in my life as well as so many others and thank you for having such a positive influence on the universe knows inc. and inspiration wear – Thx Neale!!!

the Celebrate your life conferences are held 2x a year and you can find our more information at the following link http://www.mishkaproductions.com/speakers.php

talk to you soon… Ron

NYSPA Symposium

I just returned from the New York Spa Promotion Alliance (NYSPA) convention and had an amazing time – the convention was held at the historic Mohonk Mountian House in New Paltz, NY and for those of you who have never been there I highly recommend you go there and visit. It is truly and amazing place.

It is literally a slice of time taken out of the past and if you could picture living in Teddy Roosevelt’s old house this is a best a I can describe it – the rooms all have fireplaces in them, the floors creek throughout the Resort and there a great energy that just exudes throughout.

I must say the trip was amazing for me because it got me out of my normal routine of running the universe knows inc and also helped me to grow myself from a personal standpoint as well –

too make a long story short we were one of the featured exhibitors showcasing inspiration wear to the attendees of which there were roughly 150 Spa professionals throughout the Northeast United States – during one of the meetings we were asked as vendors to give a quick speech to the crowd about our products – we were told the day before we were going to be called upon to give a quick speech about our products.

when it was time for me to stand up and speak I literally lost it – I got so nervous, I could barely breathe, much less talk, and as my talk continued to progress it got worse and worse – I literally felt like crawling into a hole and hiding … I am sure most of you can relate.

I really felt that I had failed so miserably and that everyone was going to think so much less about me and just as important what they were now going to think about what I think is best company and product in the whole world … the universe knows inc. and inspiration wear respectively. .

But in reflection I learned about myself from the situation because I chose not to crawl into the hole and hide.

There were a few monumental signs and messages the universe provided me right after the speech that helped me to learn more about myself from this experience –

Right after the all the vendors gave their talk about their company the meeting adjourned and everyone was invited back into the vendor display room to meet with all of us –

I quickly had one of my peers whom I had just befriended at the show named John Harney (who by the way own the most awesome tea company – John Harney and Son’s – please check them out ) come to me.

After telling John how nervous I was during the speech, he responded with “ahh you were fine Ron… at my age Ron, I could really care less about what people think of me” – now keep in mind John is a very successful Business owner and quite honestly one of the nicest people you will ever meet – so there was a lot to learn here for me personally…

that was my ah-ha moment – I realized how I am always so concerned about what people think of me which was the reason I got so nervous during my speech –

John had picked this up immediately during my talk and was quick to come to me right after and give me some great advice .. I realized that loving myself and being comfortable in my skin is my life journey and something I will continually need to work on during this lifetime – to give myself hugs each and everyday

After, we showcased our products in the display room Trish and myself decided to take a quick break from the Symposium and were able to get outside and walk one of the trails at Mohonk that lead up a mountain top with a large lookout tower (you can literally see 6 states when you get to the top) –

Once we got to the top Trish said to me – look at what we just did and the symbolism here – we just reached the summit – Just over an hr ago from my perspective I felt like crying and what a failure this whole trip had been … I literally bombed giving a quick talk about the universe knows inc and roughly an hr later here I am a top of a summit overlooking 6 states – how quickly we can go from what we think is such a low point to the summit in less than an hr -blessings are everywhere

As we came back down the mountain and reached the bottom we ran into a bunch of folks from another conference that was going on at Mohonk. – I quickly noticed one of the attendees from the other conference was wearing one of our shirts (we sell inspiration wear products at the Spa at Mohonk) – I was so excited and quickly looked to see the message she was wearing which said – “embrace the obstacles.” – perfect – I then looked up and said “thank you” to the universe. the universe knows…

I guess what I really learned everything is perfect – although we do not always see the perfection in everything it is there to teach us and help us grow…

what I thought was a huge failure and disappointment really was not. that there is no such thing as failing but rather embracing the obstacles and using them to help us grow.

it is about continually working on oneself, enjoying each and every moment we are alive, being in gratitude, and putting things into perspective – I am still here, I have a great family and friends, my health, and I am running an awesome company

So Thank you NYSPA for having both Trish and myself attend the Symposium and for all the great people we had met. It was a wonderful experience.

and thank you for opportunity for helping me to help me Stretch my boundary and to learn more about myself.

angels among us?

I am curious to get others viewpoints as to whether or not you think angels are among us.

I truly believe there are.

I can think vividly think of a few instances that stick in my mind of which one of these I have decide to write about below.

Back in 2003 when we 1st started the universe knows inc both Trish and myself started selling the shirts at street festivals in NYC – in the early days in particular I used to get very nervous selling our products because I wondered whether anybody would actually “get” a shirt that says “notice the messages.” or “rewrite your script.”

In this one particular spring festival I remember it was a beautiful early Sunday morning and Trish and myself were all ready to go after setting up the booth.

As the festival started to get busy I remember the booths around us were very busy with many customers and yet our booth didn’t have many people at all.

I was starting to get very uptight (and probably on some level actually attracting “no” people) when right then a gentlemen walked up to our booth an started talking to us – he was very nice man probably in his 60’s and was extremely impressed with our shirts messages and in particular our company vision and message – in a short period of time he made me feel very much at ease – and helped to take my mind off our slow start to the day.

I do remember he was quite talkative and stayed at our booth for a good 15 min before he wondered off. But before he wandered off he asked whether we take suggestions for our shirt sayings – “of course” I said – me being the ultimate sales person I said “its our customers who make us who we are!” – “ I would love to hear your pearl.” and of course we would would consider it for one of our future shirts.

But at that moment he couldn’t remember the saying he had in mind and stated if he remembered it he would definitely let us know… and then he walked off. after he left it was quite strange what happened but I remember our booth traffic started to pick up immensely and before we knew it we were selling shirts left and right – we had a crowd of a few people deep who were buying our stuff and saing how amazing our shirts and messages were – it was amazing.

for the next hr or so we were doing very well selling many shirts, I could barely keep up when I noticed out of the corner of my eye the stranger who was in our booth earlier. he poked his head from the back of the crowd and then pointed at me and said “allow the miracle.” and the disappeared into the crowd. I never saw him again.

At the time I didn’t think much about it but now I frequently reflect back on that moment and in particular what the man had said to me.

I use that message a lot and at times when I find myself forcing things I take my hand off the wheel and let the universe do its part – I allow the miracle

So I ask anyone out if they have/had any similar circumstances and if they think angels are among us.

as I’ve gotten older I tend to observe with more awareness and notice the messages much more … I know the universe is always talking to me.

And yes we did create a shirt “allow the miracle.” which is one of my favorite shirts till this day.

emmet otter’s jug band christmas

well its that time of year again to whip out the egg nog (yes i do love egg nog) and celebrate with those we love… it’s also the time of year which i get to dust off and take out my favorite christmas movie of all time – and no it’s not “rudolph” or “frosty”, or a “christmas story” or “it’s a wonderful life” although these are timeless classics – but its emmet otters jug band christmas…

the show was originally cast back in the late 70′s on HBO as an original christmas special and back then every christmas me and my and my younger sister would hurry on downstairs to the family playroom to watch this classic.

emmet otters jug band christmas show was a jim henson (famed for the muppets) creation which he based off a children’s book.

till this day every time i watch it i still cry – yes i know men are not supposed to cry but it stirs up some deep rooted emotions that are still in me …

everything in this movie is brilliant, especially the songs the songs which are similar to the songs in a movie George Clooney did not too long ago called “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

the story is about a dirt poor family (emmet and his ma who are otters) who risk everything they have (although not much) to win a town’s 1st annual talent contest – both ma and emmet secretly enter the contest to buy each other gifts – emmet see’s a mother of pearl in-lay guitar while walking with ma that he would absolutely love – but of course its $40 and way too much money for “ma” to afford.

emmet’s father “pa” (who had passed away) was a snake oil salesman who had taken many risks when he was alive and although he never made it financially left behind so much more for emmet and his ma… his presence is constantly felt throughout the movie and is really central to the theme of the whole movie.

emmet says a couple times in the movie how when things where slow for dad he would always say “not many people want to oil their snakes these days”

one of my favorite scenes is where both ma and emmet are sliding down a slide built by pa down the river bank wall – both ma and emmet take time out to laugh and have some fun – in that scene “ma” says “pa” didn’t leave much behind but this is about the best things he left us – and the emmet says “gee … I think pa left us a lot”  – and this is where I start to cry.

I won’t ruin the plot or give away what happens in the contest (beware though of the river bottom nightmare band … but the movie really leaves an impression and teaches many great lessons about family, friends, how we are all connected, and just plain old taking chances in life.

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year.

act on faith.

i am so excited to start my 1st blog… i truly do not know where this blog will take us but as long as i act on faith i trust the universe will do its part and take it to where it wants to go.

I am not sure why the 1st category i created was “faith” but somehow i feel at ease knowing that my 1st blog ever was manifested with “faith” – thank you universe.

in fact as i look over my desk right now i have a quote that reads…

“faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.”

i frequently look up at the quote when things aren’t going my way or as planned and it always makes me smile and reiminds me that although i may think i am in control i really am not – the universe is – and once again i smile knowing that someone else is looking over me… hmmm … i guess thats whats faith is all about.

well that’s it for now – talk to you soon. bye.