Retail Store Closed

We had to close our retail store to save on energy costs and resources.  Thank you everyone for all of your support and positive energy, we could not have done it with out you.

We continue to sell Higher Self products at the Tampa Downtown Market on Fridays and at music festivals across the nation.  You can find all of our great products online and more.

Look for new photographic prints along with new teas and herbal blends.

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We Have Options

We Have Options
We as consumers have a duty to our fellow conscious brothers and sisters to use our mind and think about the “who, what, where, why and hows” about the products we are consuming.  At every moment in time we have infinite options, an inconceivable amount of different choices.  Leave your habits at home and use your mind to break it down into 6 questions.

Who made this product?
What is this product? and its true cost?
Where did this product come from?
Why do I need this product?
How good is it for you?
How long will it last?

Ok lets compare a can of beans and 1 lb of dried organic beans.
Who made this product? a factory farm grew the beans and a factory cleaned, cooked, packaged and trucked the product to your local supermarket.
What is this product? precooked, non organic black beans, non filtered water, salt, and preservative.  .99 cents and factory farming’s extreme use of water and pesticides along with fuel for harvesting, the energy at the factory to clean, can & label, plus the gas and energy to bring it to your local supermarket.
Where did this product come from?  Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Central and South America,
Why do I need this product? protein, ease of cooking
How good is it for you? How long will it last? not especially good for you all of the nutrients and living properties have been cooked out long ago.  One can is spent in one meal. and your left with aluminum waste.

Who made this product? Farmer
What is this product?  and its true cost?     100% dried black beans  $1.99-2.99/LB organic farmers use less resources and no pesticides,  no packaging, no label, still trucked in to your local health food store.
Where did this product come from? Oregon
Why do I need this product? life giving properties of sprouted beans,  Vitamins A, B, C and E,  Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Phosphorus, Potassium, All Essential Amino Acids, Protein: 20-30%
How good is this for you? How long will it last? excellent and reusing the soak water add even more nutrients to the meal or your plants. 1lb of dried beans will last you a month or longer cooking them once a week.

Take for example, our shopping habits. When you go to the store, are you buying a product that is made in a factory out of state, packaged by a multi-national corporation and driven across the country to you local supermarket? Or are you buying a product that has been grown locally with little or no packaging and added ingredients at the local farmers market?

When we buy products think about who and what you are supporting, every penny you spend is profits for someone.  Spend it wisely, support your local businesses, they need it to survive.  Support companies that are using sustainable “green” practices.  Buy bulk, less packaging is better.  Buy organic, if given the choice why buy food produced with hormones and pesticides?  You have a choice do not support genetically modified organisms in our food, if it is not labeled “non GMO” it is GMO.

Joshua Michael Poll is a glass artist and small business owner, he also designs and maintains the websites www.zenglass.com and www.higherselfgifts.com

Think About it – Food

Where does your food come from? Is it locally grown and organic, from markets and locally owned businesses? If so you are not only consuming the best fuel for your body (space suit). You are also taking good care that our planet (space ship) is sustainable by reducing the petrol carbons and chemicals used to a minimal, local distribution only. Many food products are transported in 18 wheel semi trailers, across the country, to your local supermarkets. Grown in factory farms with GMOs‘ (genetically modified organisms), pesticides and growth hormones, these manufactured foods are not fulfilling, they only fill the pockets of large multi national corporations. Check the labels on boxed and packaged goods and support local economies. 10 out of 10 times, you can produce better flavors and add fresher organic ingredients than manufactured foods. Save time, packaging, transportation, pollution and your insides by not buying manufactured foods. Canned foods are ok in case of emergency, but bulk organic grains and beans are best. No other ingredients have been added. Just soak and sprout for life. We use our soak water for sauces and to water the plants.

Is your food fresh or living? If not how long since it has been living? Dried seeds, nuts and beans can be sprouted to unlock the dormant nutrients and enzymes. Bulk organic seeds, nuts and beans can be bought by the pound for a surprisingly low price. Live, raw food has the highest possible levels of nutrients. Once you cut a plant or fruit you have a finite amount of time before all of the life giving nutrients dissipate and die off. Cooking further reduces digestible enzymes and nutrients in your foods.

Where does your food go when you are finished with it? Do you just throw it away and buy more to repeat the non cycle? Complete the cycle, compost your food scraps and leftovers with THIS NON TOXIC RECYCLED NEWSPAPER! Grow your own food with the fuel of your scraps. Bring your own bags with you to the store and encourage others in line to do the same. Bringing your own bags is one of the hardest habits to get into and a great way to begin the cycle.

Joshua Poll is a glass artist, small business owner in St. Petersburg, Florida, maintains the Web site www.zenglass.com and designed and built www.higherselfgifts.com

Slo Goods… what it means

Things take time, if you run to the 7-11 and pick up a donut, a starbucks frappuccino, 5 gallons of gas and a bag of Doritos, you are consuming and polluting our environment in one fail swoop.  Good things take passion and respect for our environment.   When our society and leaders reward these distributors of consumables like fast food(McDonald’s, TacoBell) fast times(ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, Halliburton, Boeing,) fast deals(Walmart, Carlysle Group, Blackwater) fast cures(Pfiser, Budweiser, Phillip Morris, coca-cola) quick buck(Enron, Tyco, Firestone, Starbucks) and the likes, the small locally owned store fronts that sustain our community, are lost and put out of business by the huge multi-national conglomerates.  There is no way to compete.  Consumers are wising up, it seems there is a resurgence of MADE in the USA and locally owned, catch phrases.  We would rather support our communities by buying from these types of resellers.

Slo Goods are goods created by passionate hands and our mother earth, with adherence to a code of honor.  To take your time, listen to your heart. And always create goods that will not harm our environment or our bodies(they are one in the same).

We have created a term that encompasses that practice of preserving our environment and making a living to support our families and our community.  SLO goods stands for Sustainable Local & Organic.  That is our code of honor.

Next time you buy anything ask yourself: do I need it, where did it come from, what was used to create it, what I could buy instead that was made locally, sustainably or organically and where will it go when I am done using it?

Ride your bike when you can, go for long walks, carpool, cook at home, sprout, grow food, turn off the TV, open a book, listen to your heart, enjoy nature, conserve water & energy, compost, catch rain water, teach children how to live sustainably, respect mother earth and each other, talk to and learn from our elders so knowledge will not be lost.

Summer Music In the Park

Summertime in the Northwest brings spectacular blue skies filled with bold yellow sun.  A community of gathering smiles bloom in every neighborhood. Flowers and vegetables abound, while children laugh and dance to music in the park.

I’m just returning home from a Colombia Neighborhood gathering for Music in Elizabeth Park.  Colombia is one of about twelve distinct and celebrated neighborhoods in Bellingham WA.  Music for all ages entertained the family crowd ranging in age from 8 months to 80 years.  The park dates back to the early 20th century and is lusciously arbored with large shady deciduous trees.  Summer smelled so sweet in the lingering evening sun.

On one side of the gazebo stage, a few food vendors and sustainable exhibitors set up.  The ice cream vendor featured homemade blueberry/raspberry ice and ice cream made from local organic grown produce.  The Thai Cuisine was done with all local and organic vegetables.  Even the kettle corn was local grown.  All the plastic wear was made of bio-degradable and compostable corn-starch plastic.  Everything was completely recyclable or compostable.  Friendly neighbors were manning the trash cans to help you make sure you were properly placing your trash.

The coolest little sustainable exhibit touted the new local “be cool, stop global warming now” project.  They were promoting ideas to reduce the carbon footprint of each neighborhood with each household pledging to make simple lifestyle changes like unplugging appliances and maintaining the family car more frequently.  Neighbors are encouraged to log onto www.imcool.info to update a data base tracking changes in the carbon footprint of each neighborhood.

Ahhh, summer sun, community fun and savin carbon tons….this is livin!

New E-commerce Site is now live!

Check out the new higher self gifts website, where you can find, local art, blown glass, sustainable gifts, clothing and much more.  Visit www.higherselfgifts.com today!

New Mark Nicholas Clothing

Come on in to Higher Self Gifts and be the first to try on the new designer clothing from Chicago artist Mark Nicholas.

Internationally acclaimed Chicago tattoo artist, Mark Nicholas, is known for his talent and passion of creating one-of-a-kind hand drawn designs. Nicholas’ art has graced the skin of professional athletes and performing artists, as well as trendy magazines and other print mediums. Now, his uniquely famous, original designs can be seen with the launch of his quality, high-end clothing and
accessories line – Mark Nicholas Clothing™. To ensure the designs stay fresh, additional artist’s designs will be added to the line in the future.

Daily insights for a new way of living

You need space – the past is so much inside, a junkyard of dead things, there is no space for the present to enter.  That junkyard goes on dreaming about the future, so half the place is filled with that which is no more and half the place is filled with that which is not yet.  And the present? – it simply waits outside the door. OSHO

If you go on throwing responsibility on the other, remember that you will always remain a slave because nobody can change the other.  How can you change the other?  Has anyone ever changed the other?  And because you throw the responsibility on the other, you will never see that the basic responsibility is yours.  The basic change is needed there inside you!  OSHO

Now Open!

Higher Self Store

Higher Self Gifts

One foot in front of the other is how we accomplish great things.  Each day our dreams become reality.

HigherSelfGifts.com is live.  Please check it out for news, photos, opening date and important information.  And in the future higherselfgifts.com will be your source for SLO Goods, meaning sustainable, locally produced and organic fine products.

Go to www.higherselfgifts.com today.

Higher Self Store