Suggestion for New Site

[Annie]

Hello,

I just read Steve's story posted today about how he lost his tiel Ronnie and it has made me very sad because this is not the first time we hear about someone losing a tiel and these stories always make us sad. Then all of a sudden I came up with an idea which I would like to at least suggest: What if we created some kind of prayer site or forum for people who have lost a tiel to go to for help? They will tell us what happened, post a photo of the lost tiel, and all the members can help by praying for the tiel's safe return. Now, before you think this is just some kind of absurd, hokus-pokus religious B.S., I want to explain why I made this suggestion. :blush:

I recently read about Lynne McTaggart's "intention experiments" (from the book "The Good Life with Jesse Dylan"). To summarize, she has conducted a series of experiements with plant and human subjects where she got a bunch of people (who were off-site) to send "positive intentions" to specific subjects at specific times, then measured how those subjects were affected. In the end, the subjects that were sent positive intentions were all changed positively; the plants grew much faster and larger, and the humans showed improvement in health. She also conducted group healing workshops where she directed a large group of people to send healing thoughts to certain people with health problems, and in the end those people had shown such a significant improvement in health that not even doctors could explain. One woman who was almost blind even regained 80% of her sight. Her conclusion is: Thought can affect matter. ;)

So, this has led me to think: What if everytime someone loses a beloved tiel, that person can immediately alert us by posting a call for help, thus calling upon a large group of people to send positive intentions to the tiel and pray for its safe return?

I want to also stress that this has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with POSITIVE INTENTIONS. So regardless of what religion we belong to, we will have the choice to either pray to our individual deities or just pray to the universe for the tiel's safe return, and we can do it however we choose to as long as it is a positive and sincere intention. For example, I'm Buddhist, so I would choose to recite the Great Compassion Mantra, which is a very powerful mantra, and I would pray to the Buddha to help the tiel find its way home. Others can chant other mantras or do whatever they wish.

I hope we could at least try this and see what the other members think. I just feel bad that every time when someone writes a tear-drenched post about a lost tiel, we can never do anything except to say some comforting words which, in all honesty, isn't really helping much. We are all tiel lovers here and can all relate to how heart-breaking it must be to lose a tiel. :( Imagine if a group of tiel-lovers like we could collectively send our positive intentions to one scared, lonely tiel somewhere in the world and help it find its way home before it's too late. I just find Lynne McTaggart's findings very inspiring and I think it's worth a try, especially when there's nothing to lose in sending out good thoughts. And who knows? We just might be able to make a difference. :)

Sincerely,
Annie

[dude]

I am all for it ! Good idea. It would make me feel I am helping in some way for people that are no where near me. Comforting words just arnt enough. Its a positive thing and i`ll support POSITIVE INTENTIONS!

[Annie]

Thanks for your support Dude...:D

Those with sick/unhealthy tiels can also post a call for support so we can collectively send positive intentions/healing energies to the tiels for a speedy recovery....the possibilities are endless! :p

[cinnamon]

I think its a good idea. Why not start a thread here?

[Annie]

Thanks Cinnamon, but I think we'd better wait for the administrator and/or moderators' approval and that a proper forum for this purpose is set up first...:D And I'm sure that they are having a very heated debate about this right now as we speak...:p

So let me now submit my formal written proposal to the site administrator and moderators for their consideration: ;)
1. The "positive intentions forum" would be for anyone who wants to make a "positive intentions request" for tiels that are lost, sick, or in any other situations where they could benefit from some positive intentions and good wishes.
2. The one making the request should provide a detailed explanation of his/her tiel's situation and try to provide a photo of the tiel so that we know who we are sending forth our positive intentions/healing thoughts to and for what purpose ;) ; this will add a personal touch to it and will help evoke compassion, and compassion, I believe, is the basis of all positive intentions ;);) .
3. This forum would be NON-RELIGIOUS and is NOT used for the purpose of promoting or commenting on any religions.

Submitted for approval on the 18th day of July 2010, in the city of Toronto, province of Ontario, country of Canada. :p

[roxy culver]

I support it whole heartedly...and who knows, maybe through the forum more tiels will be found because people in the area will check it out and see it and recognize the tiel and be able to return them. One more way that people may be able to recover their babies!!!:love:

[sidneymysnake]

That sounds like a lovely idea for a site, and not just for those who have lost 'tiels but other birds and pets as well :)

[Raven2322]

I think that's a great idea, I'm all for it.

[Cheryl]

I'm for this.
I honestly have nothing else to lose.. I have nothing else to try to get JP back either.

I have my own website and if it can't be done here, I would gladly allow it. The website is a bit of a deserted right now and i'm working on it just for a bit of a warning haha.

[Solace.]

I just read through this thread, and I have to say I think it is a great idea! I myself have lost 2 Cockatiels, one last year, and one the year before.

With this idea, is it that you are wanting to put a separate section on this forum specifically for this idea? if that is what you are wanting, that is something you need to talk to the Admins about since they would be needing to make the section for your idea, us Moderators aren't able to do that. :)

[Velvet]

I support it also, and if the person places the location in the post, maybe they can arrange a group to go out in the area, via the post, to search. The potential way outweighs anything that exist now, which is nothing.

[Annie]

Thank you Solace and you all for your support. Yes, I think it is best to have a new forum established for this purpose, called the POSITIVE INTENTIONS FORUM or something. I suppose another way to do it is to create a sub-forum under an existing forum, but I'm not quite sure which forum it should be under. Should I send a personal message to Dave and ask him about it?:)

[tielfan]

I appreciate the good intentions behind this idea but I'm not crazy about setting up a separate forum for this purpose. That would make it look like this board officially promotes the idea of religion, the supernatural, using your psychic powers to change the course of events, or whatever you want to call it. There are a lot of people who don't go in for mysticism and they might not want to join a board that looks like it's run on mystical principles. The board will be better off if it looks like it's firmly based in the natural world.

It's fine with me (and presumably the admins and moderators too) if board members want to start "positive intentions" threads whenever they feel the need, or start one long thread and keep adding to it. Such threads are common on other forums, but I've never seen a bird forum that actually had a separate section set up for it.

[mpayjr]

I thinks its a good idea. Even if you didn't want a whole forum on religion, it could be a sub-forum. That way if people wanted prayers or things, they could go there. If not, they could always put them in the general forum.

[tielfan]

Even if you didn't want a whole forum on religion
See, this is the kind of misconception that springs up so very easily. The proposed idea wasn't intended as a religious forum but it serves a semi-religious purpose so people tend to think it IS a religious forum. All the other bird boards I belong to ban discussions of religion (and politics too) because it's the kind of super-sensitive issue that can tear a board apart the first time someone thinks their toes have been stepped on.

On other boards people are allowed to say things like "please pray for me" or "I'll pray for you". But they don't have a special subforum encouraging religious or quasi-religious activity because it's too much of a minefield. The board is supposed to be a place where everybody can talk about birds and feel comfortable about it. But it isn't possible to set up a quasi-religious subforum where everyone feels comfortable because there's too much variation in belief.

The subforum idea was presented as a way to send good vibes in a prayer-optional way to try to change the course of events and get a happier ending than there would have been otherwise. That concept will be uncomfortable for two types of people: (1) those who don't think it's possible to get help using supernatural or psychic powers, and (2) those who think there's a right way and a wrong way to call on supernatural powers and this is the wrong way. For some people, anything that's too different from the way they do things looks like false religion or occult practices, and they're not comfortable with it. I know a lot of people like that so this isn't a hypothetical statement.

[Brian]

This idea must be the reason for the PM I received containing a link to a meditation buddhist site. I'm not active here due to time issues but that will change this winter. I really don't care to get PM's with links in it to any religious site. This PM was sent by a member with zero posts. Please don't PM me with anything. How do I turn off my PM?

[Annie]

This idea must be the reason for the PM I received containing a link to a meditation buddhist site. I'm not active here due to time issues but that will change this winter. I really don't care to get PM's with links in it to any religious site. This PM was sent by a member with zero posts. Please don't PM me with anything. How do I turn off my PM?

Hi Brian, I would just like to confirm that I was NOT the one who sent you that Buddhist meditation site. I know you're probably not referring to me anyway because you did specify that it was sent by someone with zeo posts, but I'm just worried that some people may misunderstand and THINK that was me and I just don't want people on this forum to think that I would do something like that ;).

Thank you all for your support and your comments. I thought that the idea of a "positive intentions forum" would be a good idea that could further strengthen our bond of tielhood :p but, as some fo you pointed out, it's just too "dangerous" and can be easily misinterpreted and misunderstood by some people. So at this point I have decided to stop requesting to have a separate forum for this purporse. But if people request specifically in a post to "please pray for me", then I will continue to do so happily. :)

[lperry82]

I think thats a great idea

[tielfan]

But if people request specifically in a post to "please pray for me", then I will continue to do so happily.
Great, this is an excellent way to operate. It lets some people feel like they're helping and other people feel like they're being helped. Both sides feel better and that's good.

You had good intentions when you proposed a special section on the board for this activity and I appreciate that. But the special section would have had some unintended negative side effects and the board is better off keeping it informal.