In this issue:

—Best-selling author and groundbreaking HSP researcher Dr. Elaine Aron speaks frankly about being HSP: We’ve always adapted to the other eighty percent….We’ve heard the doubt and felt the icy change in the atmosphere when we bring up our needs….we all need to become more strategic, adapting what we say to the situation.
—Psychic and spiritual life coach Sarah Nash introduces her new column and forum section, The Cosmic Hooker: When a crisis hits, we need clarity and some kind of immediate relief in order to find the strength to breathe through the next moment—so we can find a permanent solution. It is in the moments we are brought to our knees that empathy is a crucial component to healing.
—Jacquelyn Strickland, LPN, shares the origin of the ever-popular HSP Gatherings: As a young girl, I often sought the “numinous.” I found this spiritual, emotional state by climbing high in my mimosa tree. It was there that I experienced…a deep, sweet tranquility, security and knowingness.
—Painter and photographer Dan Bauer provides real-life experience integrating his art into his daily life: After many years of being out in a heavily overcharged work world, it’s such a relief for me to be able to slow down and relax with the things of life that truly interest me.
—Discover why Yellowstone National Park is the best winter playland: With its mudpots, geysers, hotsprings, skiing and snowshoeing and hiking, camping and resort hotels–all amid wildlife aplenty–what’s not to love?
—Enjoy the latest ImagiNation Photo Challenge winners and lots more!

Tribe‘s 48 pages of inspiring narratives and stunning images are available in TWO ways:

·The PDF is available online immediately for only $3.50 – click here

· Order the print issue from MagCloud for only $10.00 – click here

We’re pleased to announce a print version of the Special Preview Issue of Tribe magazine is now available for purchase online. You can see a preview of all 48 pages of this special issue before ordering. Click on the magazine cover at left to be taken to MagCloud where you’ll be able to preview and make your purchase. Enjoy!

Or click the link below to download your free PDF. Depending on your internet connection, this file may take a few minutes to download.

Download a FREE PDF version of the preview issue

As a special “Thank You!” you can download free music from Simon Ashaan at his website. You’ll need the password found on page 32 of the preview issue of Tribe! We hope you enjoy this sneak peak while we are busy working on the first full issue of Tribe magazine which will be ready early next year!

We would love to hear what you think about the preview issue. Send us your thoughts to tribe@paramimedia.com

Special Preview Issue of Tribe

Click the link above to download your free PDF. Depending on your internet connection, this file may take a few minutes to download.

A huge thank you goes out to everyone involved in the creation of this preview issue. We couldn’t have done it without the generous contributions and voting from our forum members. We hope you enjoy this sneak peak while we are busy working on the first full issue of Tribe magazine which will be ready early next year!

We would love to hear what you think about the preview issue. Send us your thoughts to tribe@paramimedia.com

We are hard at work putting together a preview of Tribe magazine for you. The preview will be around 40 pages long and highlight the stories and features you’ll find in every issue of Tribe. This special preview is going to be a PDF available for free download in October!

In the meantime we need your photo contributions. We want to include the ImagiNation Photo Challenge in the preview — but we can only do it if we’ve got your contributions. So please, long on to the forums and upload your entry to the current theme challenges: Community, Connection, or Creativity.

Deadline to be considered for inclusion in the preview issue is August 31, 2009!
The winning entry in each category will receive a year’s free subscription to Tribe!

Here

Here are some early entries from each category:

Our first Tribal Council!

Please take a few moments to answer the 10 questions in our survey to help us understand what you want from Tribe. We think we’re doing a good job of creating a great community and magazine for you — but we’ll only know for sure once we hear from you.

You’ll find the survey here.

Choose “First Tribal Council” from the drop down menu to take the survey. We really appreciate your input.

Welcome to Tribe! There are a few things you can do right away:

1) Register on the forums —— 2) Enter the ImagiNation Photo Challenge —— 3) Spread the Word!

Get Involved!:

Our mission is to create a positive environment that encourages the exchange of insight, experience, and creativity in the HSP community—but it only works with your involvement.

Your active participation in the forums drives the conversation, enlivens the contests, and ultimately creates the content for the quarterly HSP magazine,Tribe.

Register for the forums and get involved. Post your poems and short stories, share information about what is important to you, and enter the contest—join the conversation!

Photo Contests:

You’ll find the ImagiNation photo challenge in the Dharma section of the forums.

There are three ImagaiNation photo challenges currently open:
Community, Connection, and Creativity.

Guidelines for Tribe photo submissions can be found here:
Photography Guidelines

Since this is our first competition we are leaving it pretty open. We haven’t given any parameters to what Community, Connection, or Creativity mean—we’re leaving it up to you to interpret however you want.

Have fun! Encourage your friends to register on the forums and vote for your pictures. You’re photo just might end up published in the premier issue ofTribe!

Spread the word!:

We are excited and pleased to be able to bring Tribe to life for the HSP community and creative thinkers everywhere. Since embarking on this journey we’ve discovered many amazing people, but we need your help!

Help us get the ball rolling by telling your friends about Tribe! The more people who get involved the better the online experience for everyone. The more contributions to the site the better content we’ll have forTribe magazine. It’s all up to you.

This is Your Tribe:

The idea for Tribe was inspired by you. We’ve developed the forums and website with you in mind. The quarterly magazine,Tribe, will be created from your contributions to the online forums.

We have chosen the structure of the site and the forum topics based on our idea of what HSPs would be interested in. We think we’ve done a fairly good job—but your ideas and comments are always welcome.

Tell us what you want from Tribe, ideas for making the site better or different topics you would like to see in the forums. Post your ideas in the forum, use the contact form on the site, or email us at info@paramimedia.com with “Tribe idea” as the subject line. We look forward to hearing from you.

Strut Your Stuff!:

We believe in abundance. There is enough for everyone, if only they know about it! That’s why you’ll find the Marketplace in the Oracle section of the Tribe forums.

The Marketplace was created for registered members to promote their work, blog, website, service, or product. Include a brief description with links and photos of your product if applicable.

Promote your unique offerings. We are excited to discover what the community has to offer!
(Tribe reserves the right to edit Marketplace postings for content or length. We will delete inappropriate posts.)

Did we mention that it’s FREE!

Quick Look:

A recent short story from the forums:

THE BEAUTY I HAVE MISSED

By Brenda Wilson aka HeartLight

Photo by Brenda Wilson

I recall waiting and watching for the barren trees of winter to finally put forth the first green buds of the spring. As the weather got warmer, I kept my vigil, waiting and watching, watching and waiting. I remember seeing those first buds of the season emerge from the stiff, twig like branches of the trees, to be gently covered in the softest of green color. I kept my daily watch and I waited to capture the miracle of those tiny buds being transformed into bright, bold leaves… and then… one day… in a moment in which I must have blinked, those tiny beauties miraculously burst forth in all the magnificence and glory of the spring season. Some how I’d missed this miracle. It was as if I’d been in some deep slumber or blinked too slowly and the world set in motion something that was faster than I could capture. I watched in awe as over night the trees were transformed from leafless gray creatures, reaching their limbs toward the sky so the sun could warm their branches, to great beings of fresh green color, full of life and moving in the breeze like some marvelous giant dancing in the wind.

I promised myself that I would not miss the next change, the one from the summer to the autumn season. That whatever had transpired in the course of Mother Nature’s timetable, that had prevented me from seeing the transformation of summer’s miracle, would some how not happen again in the fall of the year. I would watch more carefully. I would trick the forces of nature and time so that I would not miss the next miracle of the seasons.

Alas…A great slumber must have befallen me, for I sit and watch from my window as one after another, the leaves drift from their perches amongst the branches and slowly float in their bold, beautiful oranges and yellows to the ground. Like vibrant jewels in our midst they gather in mounds on the ground and blow about at our feet in the wind. I know I was here, I thought I was aware, but Mother Nature tricked me once again. I saw her visiting with Jack Frost one day and I suppose that should have been my clue that another great and marvelous event was about to take place. I must have turned away for a moment or so, and in that time Jack came and painted all the trees in beautiful color.

I know I’m slowing as time goes by, but I promised myself not to miss the miracle of the winter season. I watch as the beautiful color of the trees gently float to the ground. The days become shorter and the nights wear on endlessly as the weather becomes colder. Everything everywhere seems so lifeless.

The branches of the trees are transformed once more to great, gray barren arms, reaching toward the sky, empty and sorrowful like a mother who has just lost her child. They sway in the wind and the creaking they make sounds like desperate cries of sadness and moans of desire for something to fill them one more time.

I awakened one cold morning in the early part of the winter season, to a beautiful white softness covering everything. The trees all wrapped in a fluffy blanket of snow, as if Mother Nature has reached out and provided comfort for those sorrowful, barren arms. The air is fresh, and filled with a crispness that tingles my nose. In the stillness of the day the snow glistens in the sunlight like millions of diamonds strewn about.

It seems that in the hustle and bustle of my busy life I have once more missed the transformation of the season that has taken place. Year after year the seasons come and go and it seems I have missed them all. In the stillness of a single moment, great changes take place that I will never have the opportunity to witness again. As I grow older I vow to slow down enough to catch all that this life has to offer, to witness the transformations of time and space, of life and death. The always moving and ever changing miracles of life.

A recent photo from the forums:

Community: Harbor Seals by WaterbirdRising

A recent poem from the forums:

Lady of the Night, Lady of the Day

By Ainsley Allmark aka DolphinDancer

Sleep,
That beautiful lady,
Draws her shawl around my shoulders

Her gentle hand
Caresses my brow
Her voice
Bids me close my eyes
Surrender to the night
And let the dreams
Surround my soul
Encase my mind
And wrap my thoughts
In gossamer
Floating free

The midnight stream
Carries me
Onward, through the darkness
Toward the waiting dawn
When my lady will rest
And permit the golden lady
Of the day
To take me by the hand
And lead me on
To experience vistas new

Until the time shall come
When
Sleep,
That beautiful lady,
Draws her shawl around my shoulders.