JCV Healing Posting Page

Video: A tool that finds 3x more breast tumors, and why it's not available to you

2011-01-06T19:30:00.000Z

Working with a team of physicists, Dr. Deborah Rhodes developed a new tool for tumor detection that's 3 times as effective as traditional mammograms for women with dense breast tissue. The life-saving implications are stunning. So why haven't we heard of it? Rhodes shares the story behind the tool's creation, and the web of politics and economics that keep it from mainstream use.

Study: fluoridated water causes brain damage in children

2010-12-25T23:35:00.001Z

(NaturalNews) A new study pre-published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives confirms that fluoridated water causes brain damage in children. The most recent among 23 others pertaining to fluoride and lowered IQ levels, the new study so strongly proves that fluoride is a dangerous, brain-destroying toxin that experts say it could be the one that finally ends water fluoridation.

"This is the 24th study that has found this association," explained Paul Connett, Ph.D., director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). "[B]ut this study is stronger than the rest because the authors have controlled for key confounding variables and in addition to correlating lowered IQ with levels of fluoride in the water, the authors found a correlation between lowered IQ and fluoride levels in children's blood."

For the study, researchers evaluated 512 children ages 8-13 in two Chinese villages, one village with higher than average fluoride levels and the other with lower than average fluoride levels. After accounting for external variables like lead exposure, iodine deficiency and other conditions that might affect brain health, the team still found that the number of higher intelligence children in the low fluoride community was 350 percent higher than the number in the high fluoride community.

"In this study we found a significant dose-response relation between fluoride level in serum and children's IQ," wrote the study authors.

Though there have been numerous studies over the years the identify fluoride as a neurotoxin, most mainstream medical professionals in the U.S. have ignored them and continue to support water fluoridation. But the evidence continues to mount, and sooner or later the medical community will have to come to grips with the truth about fluoride.

"This should be the study that finally ends water fluoridation," explained Tara Blank, Ph.D., Science and Health Officer at FAN. "Millions of American children are being exposed unnecessarily to this neurotoxin on a daily basis. Who in their right minds would risk lowering their child's intelligence in order to reduce a small amount of tooth decay, for which the evidence is very weak."

To learn more about the dangers of fluoride, visit: www.fluorideaction.org

Sources for this story include:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fluoride-in-water-linked-to-lower-iq-in-children-112261459.html

Health organizations urge more sun exposure, less suncreen

2010-12-25T23:31:00.002Z

(NaturalNews, by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer) Seven U.K. health organizations, including Cancer Research U.K. and the National Osteoporosis Society, recently made a joint announcement that the population needs to get more sun. Reversing decades of warnings about the supposed dangers of sun exposure, the groups now cooperatively agree that humans need regular sun exposure without sunscreen in order to maintain adequate blood levels of vitamin D.

Government warnings about the sun have kept millions of people out of it, or at least lathered in chemical-ridden sunscreens that block the necessary vitamin D-producing ultraviolet (UV) rays from penetrating the skin. But myriads of research brought forth over the past several years has bucked the misnomer that the sun is dangerous, showing instead that it is necessary to maintain health.

"Some of the messages about sun exposure have been too negative," explained Professor Rona Mackie, from the British Association of Dermatologists, to BBC News. "[W]e're now saying that exposure of ten to 15 minutes ... without suncream, several times a week is probably a safe balance between adequate vitamin D levels and any risk of skin cancer."

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to numerous diseases including osteoporosis, heart disease, autism, diabetes, muscle degradation and cancer. Most people in the industrialized world, and now even in the developing world, are deficient because they spend very little time outdoors in natural sunlight. And when they do, many use copious amounts of sunscreen.

Studies have found that roughly 70 percent of whites and 97 percent of blacks are woefully deficient in vitamin D. And even though vitamin D prevents 77 percent of all cancers, U.S. health authorities have been slow to recommend that Americans up their vitamin D intake (http://www.naturalnews.com/030598_vitamin_D_Institute_of_Medicine.html).

Sources for this story include:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12013332

Scans prove that acupuncture induces clear metabolic brain changes that eliminate pain

2010-12-23T14:28:00.000Z

(NaturalNews) New research adds more evidence proving that acupuncture is effective at reducing and eliminating pain. Presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), the new findings include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans that clearly show a positive change in the metabolic activity of patients' brains receiving acupuncture treatment.

"Functional MRI gives us the opportunity to directly observe areas of the brain that are activated during pain perception and see the variances that occur with acupuncture," explained lead researcher Nina Theysohn, MD, from the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology at University Hospital in Essen, Germany. "Activation of brain areas involved in pain perception was significantly reduced or modulated under acupuncture."

Eighteen volunteers agreed to participate in the study, and all were observed using fMRI technology. Researchers applied electrical pain stimuli to the participants' left ankles and observed their brain activity both with and without acupuncture treatment. The team found that the pain activation centers in the participants' brains became less active and even deactivated in the presence of acupuncture treatment.

The findings also challenge some notions that acupuncture works primarily as a placebo. While certain brain responses to acupuncture indicate facets of a placebo response, others clearly highlight specific mechanical activities in the brain that demonstrably reduce pain symptoms.

"Acupuncture is supposed to act through at least two mechanisms -- nonspecific expectancy-based effects and specific modulation of the incoming pain signal," said Theysohn. "Our findings support that both these nonspecific and specific mechanisms exist, suggesting that acupuncture can help relieve pain."

Acupuncture has also been found to help improve fertility, increase heart function, and assist in helping people sleep.

To learn more about acupuncture, visit: http://www.naturalnews.com/acupuncture.html

Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-11/rson-acb112410.php

Video: What's wrong with our food system

2010-12-21T05:02:00.000Z

11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food -- far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.

Video: A Call to Men

2010-12-21T04:51:00.002Z

At TEDWomen, Tony Porter makes a call to men everywhere: Don't "act like a man." Telling powerful stories from his own life, he shows how this mentality, drummed into so many men and boys, can lead men to disrespect, mistreat and abuse women and each other. His solution: Break free of the "man box."

The Miracle of Ten Good Things

2010-11-29T14:23:00.001Z

by Angela Treat Lyon

Last week as I was working with a client who's gone
through more challenge than anyone I have ever met,
we were clearing the energy from an incident he was
particularly stuck on. I asked him to list ten things that
were good about it.

He exploded, asking me how I could be so cruel as to
think there was even one good thing.

I waited. There was a long silence as he cooled off
and began to contemplate. Finally, sounding very
surprised, he said, "Well, I'm a stronger person
because of it."

He added a couple more, and went silent again.

I continued to wait. Silence is like a magnet when you
want someone to spill deep information. Most of us
are so used to continual blather, but when we're given
the space to consider , we can jump right in and really
mine the depths of ourselves. The rewards of a
conscious silence are huge. He did jump in and found
amazing treasures.

So today, I'm taking time to feel grateful for all the stuff
I thought of in my life as mean, ugly, unfair,
unwarranted and impossible to deal with.

I thank my brothers who I thought were so cruel by
calling me fat and telling me my ears stuck out and
that I was 'just a girl' so I'd never account for much.
Because of them, I am acutely conscious of the
miracle of this body, how I'd never be here without it,
and how incredibly strong, vibrant and alive it is.

I thank my father for thinking of me as contrary all the
way up until the year before he died. We had met for
lunch and were in the middle of a huge, finger-
pointing argument, and suddenly as I turned to stick
him with another barb, he was no longer the big man
who wanted power over me. He was just my father,
who adored his only daughter, and just wanted a nice
lunch with her because he saw her so seldom.

I sat back and looked at him anew; he must have had
a similar shift, because he said, "I've been wrong all
these years. I thought you were contrary, but what you
really are is super-curious."

Would my curiosity about the world, how it ticks and
the determination to do more than he said I could
have grown so huge without his perpetual saying, "no,
you can't"?

I thank my schoolmates for shunning me and making
fun of me in elementary school, because I got to know
the smooth comfort of being in the woods and down at
the beach by myself and finding so much beauty and
love in nature.

I thank my high school mates for making fun of my
terrible grades, impossible sense of dress and a face
full of zits, so I spent more and more time hiding in the
art room. Would I ever have developed the innate
sense of what to do with almost any material in the
making of art if I hadn't spent so much time there?

I thank my three ex-husbands, especially the last, for
waking me up to how much I needed to find out who
was in this body, what she really wanted and needed,
and who she really was. I would have continued on
with one crummy relationship after the other without
that pain to make me wake up, love Me and live Right.

I thank my two amazing, intelligent, innovative, creative
love-saturated sons for having pushed every single
mother-button possible. I grew to become a much better
mother than I ever dared think I could possibly be. I'd
never, ever want to send you back!

I thank the terrible depression that had me in living
terror, curled up in the fetal position for much of the
35-year period until I was 55 for making me acutely
aware of how indescribably beautiful life can be.

I thank all my wonderful close buddies who never
allow me to slip into self-pity or less-than-excellence,
and who give me the opportunity to be present with
and adore them whether they are up or down.

I thank Gary Craig for creating EFT, the tool that
allowed me to rescue myself from that hell, and gave
me the ability to choose powerful service with my
coaching.

I thank every single one of you, and especially you
who have taken my teleclasses and coaching - for
honoring me by listening to what I say and following
my suggestions and finding yourselves more free and
getting 100 times bigger results than you'd imagined.

Most of all, I thank my mother for being timid about
showing her portraits and watercolors. If she had not
refused to show her love ly artwork anywhere but in
friends' houses, I'd never have thought to put my own
in galleries and exhibitions around the world so more
than just my local buddies could see it.

I thank her for being a master of manipulation,
because I'd never have learned to spot it when it was
happening and make new choices for myself.

I thank her for being socially prim...and yet open to
admiration of someone who isn't.

One night just before she died, I was preparing to go
out to a party - by myself. She had agreed to watch
my 1 and 3 year-olds. She said, "You're so brave...."
and her eyes were full of tears.

I didn't know what she meant. She told me that it
never would have occurred to her to go out alone,
unescorted, unprotected by a man. She held the
space for me to be brave, inventive, creative,
outrageous, resourceful and really alive. Thanks, Ma.

And I thank Spirit for being so kind to me my whole
life, presenting me with opportunity after opportunity
to connect and be At Home in my Being - and for
sticking with me even when I chose to rebel and be
miserable. For being completely non-judgmental and
presenting me with more opportunities even after I
had blown so many.

And you - no matter where you live, I send you my
most heart-filled love and wishes for a simply lovely
day today, and may you be grateful and find good
things where only the bad seems to exist, for the rest
of your life.

aloha -
Angela
http://AngelaTreatLyon.com

Depopulation Through Vaccines and Health Care???

2010-11-26T11:02:00.002Z

"The world today has 6.8 billion people. That's heading up to about nine billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent!"

This text will be replaced by the player

http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=A155D113455FAC882A3290536575C723

Study: Antibiotics have little impact on child ear infections

2010-11-17T12:54:00.000Z

By Miriam Falco, CNN Medical Managing Editor
November 16, 2010 -- Updated 2305 GMT (0705 HKT)

(CNN) -- Giving children antibiotics for ear infections does little to speed their recovery while raising the risk of some side effects, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study found that 80 out of 100 otherwise healthy children would recover from an acute ear infection within a few days if given medication only to relieve pain or fevers. If all 100 were given antibiotics instead, 92 would be better in the same period, said Dr. Tumaini Coker, the study's lead author.

"But we would also expect three to 10 kids to develop rash and five to 10 to develop diarrhea," said Coker, a pediatrician at Mattel Children's Hospital at the University of California-Los Angeles.

Coker noted that the increased number of children in the study who benefited from treatment with antibiotics was similar to the number that could be expected to get side effects from the antibiotic treatment.

"Clinicians and parents need to know the benefits and side effects on how to manage their child's ear infection," Coker said.

The study was designed to review existing research on the topic for the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is in the process of revising its guidelines for treating uncomplicated acute otitis media -- ear infections that cause pain and fever. The pediatricians' group and the American Academy of Family Physicians have suggested since 2004 that "observation" -- avoiding antibiotics -- is an option for treating ear infections in otherwise healthy children between the ages of 2 and 12.

Of the three basic types of ear infections, acute otitis media may benefit from antibiotics because it is often caused by a bacteria. But it also can be caused by a virus, which won't respond to antibiotics.

Another type of ear infection, otitis media with effusion, causes a buildup of fluid in the middle ear. That is also caused by a viral infection, against which antibiotics are ineffective. But antibiotics usually work for the third type, otitis externa, or "swimmer's ear."

It is the academy's policy to review guidelines every three to five years, according to Dr. Allan Lieberthal, a pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente in the Los Angeles area and chairman of the academy's committee revising the guidelines.

Lieberthal said that while he is not in a position to say what the new guidelines will be, the results of this study, which summarizes a much larger report on existing data, will factor into the new recommendations.

"We're hoping to be finished with the new guidelines by this spring," Lieberthal said.

The study found that it doesn't matter which antibiotic is used to treat an ear infection when antibiotics are warranted. It found older types such as amoxicillin work as well as newer and more expensive antibiotics. Coker said for a child who weighs 44 pounds (20 kilograms), a seven-day course of cefdinir costs about $96, while the same course of amoxicillin costs $34. The cheaper drug was prescribed in 49 percent of cases, according to the research. Lieberthal said newer antibiotics generally produce more side effects because they are more complex drugs.

Using antibiotics only when absolutely necessary may allow continued use of antibiotics for future generations, because overuse of the drugs is contributing to antibiotic resistance, the doctors said.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a campaign called "Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work." Educating parents about ear infections is one of the targets of the campaign, said Lauri Hicks, the campaign's medical director. Hicks said antibiotic resistance "represents a community problem" because every time bacteria get exposed to antibiotics, "they put on a new coat of armor that reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics."

Hicks said she understands parents want their children to feel better, but they can always ask their doctor or pharmacist if there are alternatives to antibiotics.

Modern medicine discovers that a strong immune system really does cure colds, flus

2010-11-03T23:18:00.001Z

Wednesday, November 03, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff

Researchers from the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, have made a fascinating new discovery about the way the body's immune system fights off infections. Contrary to popular belief within mainstream medicine, the body's natural antibodies are capable of fighting off a virus and killing it, even after the infection has entered cells -- and this phenomenon occurs naturally without the need for drug interventions.

Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study ransacks conventional thinking about viruses, proving that they really can be cured after taking hold within a person's system. Researchers observed that adaptable proteins within the body seek out viruses, attach to them, and enter cells alongside them, where other antibodies then identify and destroy them while keeping the cells intact.

The tripartite motif-containing 21 (TRIM21) protein in particular takes note of viruses when they enter cells and, because the antibodies are attached to these viruses, TRIM21 knows to eliminate them. And while conventional thinking up until this point has assumed that this process is not possible, the medical community will now have to change its ideology concerning prevention and treatment options for infections.

Interestingly, TRIM21 proteins do not even require outside help from other, outside immune cells in order to perform the vital task of eliminating invading viruses; they are capable of doing it entirely on their own.

Previously, scientists had assumed that in order to attack and kill a virus, it was necessary to attack and destroy the infected cells as well. But the new research confirms that it is not necessary to destroy the infected cells along with the virus in order to get rid of it.

http://www.naturalnews.com/030269_immune_system_colds.html?goback=.gde_1826962_news_244251839

Video: Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs

2010-06-28T09:51:00.000+01:00

Bored in school, failing classes, at odds with peers: This child might be an entrepreneur, says Cameron Herold. At TEDxEdmonton, he makes the case for parenting and education that helps would-be entrepreneurs flourish -- as kids and as adults.

Why You Shouldn't Drink Pasteurized Milk

2010-06-04T09:38:00.001+01:00

Why You Shouldn't Drink Pasteurized Milk
by Dr. Joseph Mercola

First of all, please understand that I do not recommend drinking pasteurized milk of any kind -- ever. Because once milk has been pasteurized it's more or less "dead," and offers little in terms of real nutritional value to anyone, whether you show signs of intolerance to the milk or not.

Valuable enzymes are destroyed, vitamins (such as A, C, B6 and B12) are diminished, fragile milk proteins are radically transformed from health nurturing to unnatural amino acid configurations that can actually worsen your health. Finally the eradication of beneficial bacteria through the pasteurization process actually ends up promoting pathogens.

The healthy alternative to pasteurized milk is raw milk, which is an outstanding source of nutrients including beneficial bacteria such as lactobacillus acidophilus, vitamins and enzymes, and it is, in my estimation, one of the finest sources of calcium available.

Raw milk is generally not associated with the health problems linked to pasteurized milk, and even people who have been allergic to pasteurized milk for many years can typically tolerate and even thrive on raw milk.

However, some people may still experience problems, such as upper respiratory congestion, when drinking raw milk, and the difference between the breeds of cows the milk comes from appears to hold the answer.

...read more.

Video: Teach kids to take charge!

2010-03-01T09:02:00.000Z

Kiran Bir Sethi shows how her groundbreaking Riverside School in India teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

Video: Embrace your inner girl

2010-03-01T08:41:00.000Z

In this passionate talk, Eve Ensler declares that there is a girl cell in us all -- a cell that we have all been taught to suppress. She tells heartfelt stories of girls around the world who have overcome shocking adversity and violence to reveal the astonishing strength of being a girl.

Video: Teach every child about food

2010-03-01T08:36:00.000Z

Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

Video: How to live to be 100+

2010-01-06T18:15:00.000Z

To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and team study the world's "Blue Zones," communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age. At TEDxTC, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100.

The Fight Within

2009-12-28T21:52:00.002Z

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life...

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves."

"One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego."

"The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

"This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old chief simply replied, "The one you feed."

-Author Unknown

Video: East vs West

2009-12-28T13:37:00.004Z

The myths that mystify

Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West -- and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death, and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another.

What Most Doctors Won't Tell You About Colds and Flus

2009-12-04T22:52:00.001Z

by Dr. Ben Kim

The next time that you experience a cold or the flu, remember this: giving your body plenty of rest while allowing the cold or flu to run its course is good for your health.

Conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry would have you believe that there is no "cure" for the common cold, that you should protect yourself against the flu with a vaccine that is laden with toxic chemicals, and that during the midst of a cold or flu, it is favorable to ease your discomfort with a variety of medications that can suppress your symptoms.

Unfortunately, all three of these positions represent a lack of understanding of what colds and flus really are, and what they mean to your body.

Colds and flus are caused by viruses. So to understand what colds and flus do at a cellular level, you have to understand what viruses do at a cellular level.

Do you remember learning about cellular division in grade seven science class? Each of your cells are called parent cells, and through processes of genetic duplication (mitosis) and cellular division (cytokinesis), each of your parent cells divides into two daughter cells. Each daughter cell is then considered a parent cell that will divide into two more daughter cells, and so on, and so on, and so on.

Viruses are different from your cells in that they cannot duplicate themselves through mitosis and cytokinesis. Viruses are nothing but microscopic particles of genetic material, each coated by a thin layer of protein.

Due to their design, viruses are not able to reproduce on their own. The only way that viruses can flourish in your body is by using the machinery and metabolism of your cells to produce multiple copies of themselves.

Once a virus has gained access into one of your cells, depending on the type of virus involved, one of two things can happen:

1. The virus uses your cell's resources to replicate itself many times over and then breaks open (lyses) the cell so that the newly replicated viruses can leave in search of new cells to infect. Lysis effectively kills your cell.
2. The virus incorporates itself into the DNA of your cell, which allows the virus to be passed on to each daughter cell that stems from this cell. Later on, the virus in each daughter cell can begin replicating itself as described above. Once multiple copies of the virus have been produced, the cell is lysed.

Both possibilities lead to the same result: eventually, the infected cell can die due to lysis.

Here is the key to understanding why colds and flus, when allowed to run their course while you rest, can be good for you:

By and large, the viruses that cause the common cold and the flu infect mainly your weakest cells; cells that are already burdened with excessive waste products and toxins are most likely to allow viruses to infect them. These are cells that you want to get rid of anyway, to be replaced by new, healthy cells.

So in the big scheme of things, a cold or flu is a truly natural tool that can allow your body to purge itself of old and damaged cells that, in the absence of viral infection, would normally take much longer to identify, destroy, and eliminate.

Have you ever been amazed by how much "stuff" you could blow out of your nose while you had a cold or the flu? Embedded within all of that mucous are countless dead cells that your body is saying good bye to, largely due to the lytic effect of viruses.

So you see, there never needs to be a cure for the common cold, since the common cold is nature's way of keeping you healthy over the long term. And so long as you get plenty of rest and strive to stay hydrated and properly nourished during a cold or flu, there is no need to get vaccinated or to take medications that suppress congested sinuses, a fever, or coughing. All of these uncomfortable symptoms are actually ways in which your body works to eliminate waste products and/or help your body get through a cold or flu. It's fine to use over-the-counter pain medication like acetaminophen if your discomfort becomes intolerable or if such meds can help you get a good night's rest. But it's best to avoid medications that aim to suppress helpful processes such as fever, coughing, and a runny nose.

It's important to note that just because colds and flus can be helpful to your body doesn't mean that you need to experience them to be at your best. If you take good care of your health and immune system by getting plenty of rest and consistently making health-promoting dietary and lifestyle choices, your cells may stay strong enough to avoid getting infected by viruses that come knocking on their membranes. In this scenario, you won't have enough weak and extraneous cells to require a cold or the flu to work its way through your body to identify and lyse them.

Curious about how to differentiate the common cold and the flu? Here is an excellent summary of the differences from cbc.ca:

A cold usually comes on gradually — over the course of a day or two. Generally, it leaves you feeling tired, sneezing, coughing and plagued by a running nose. You often don't have a fever, but when you do, it's only slightly higher than normal. Colds usually last three to four days, but can hang around for 10 days to two weeks.

Flu, on the other hand, comes on suddenly and hits hard. You will feel weak and tired and you could run a fever as high as 40 C. Your muscles and joints will probably ache, you will feel chilled and could have a severe headache and sore throat. Getting off the couch or out of bed will be a chore. The fever may last three to five days, but you could feel weak and tired for two to three weeks.

One final note on this topic: because the common cold and the flu are both caused by viruses, antibiotics are not necessary. People who take antibiotics while suffering with a cold or flu often feel slightly better because antibiotics have a mild anti-inflammatory effect. But this benefit is far outweighed by the negative impact that antibiotics have on friendly bacteria that live throughout your digestive tract. In this light, if you really need help with pain management during a cold or flu, it is usually better to take a small dose of acetaminophen than it is to take antibiotics.

Please share this basic health information on colds and flus with family and friends; although it isn't readily available from the annals of conventional medicine, this information can save you and your loved ones significant time, money, and angst.

Flu Shot: Is it worth it?

2009-12-04T22:23:00.004Z

Do you know what's inside a flu shot?

Finding Joy in Life's Surprises

2009-12-04T09:18:00.001Z

Releasing Your Expectations

As we endeavor to find personal fulfillment and realize our individual ideals, we naturally form emotional attachments to those outcomes we hope will come to pass. These expectations can serve as a source of stability, allowing us to draft plans based on our visions of the future, but they can also limit our potential for happiness by blinding us to equally satisfying yet unexpected outcomes. Instead of taking pleasure in the surprising circumstances unfolding around us, we mourn for the anticipation left unfulfilled. When we think of letting go of our expectations, we may find ourselves at the mercy of a small inner voice that admonishes us to strive for specific goals, even if they continually elude us. However, the opposite of expectation is not pessimism. We can retain our optimism and free ourselves from the need to focus on specific probabilities by opening our hearts and minds to a wide variety of possible outcomes.

When we expect a situation, event, or confrontation to unfold in a certain way, it becomes more difficult to enjoy the surprises that have the potential to become profound blessings. Likewise, we may feel that we failed to meet our inner objectives because we were unable to bring about the desired results through our choices and actions. Consider, though, that we are all at the mercy of the universal flow, and our best intentions are often thwarted by fate. As you grow increasingly open to unforeseen outcomes, you will be more apt to look for and recognize the positive elements of your new circumstances. This receptivity to the unexpected can serve you well when you are called upon to compromise with others, your life plans seem to go awry, or the world moves forward in an unanticipated manner by granting you the flexibility to see the positive aspects of almost any outcome.

The further you distance yourself from your expectations, the more exhilarating your life will become. Though a situation in which you find yourself may not correspond to your initial wants, needs, or goals, ask yourself how you can make the most of it and then do your best to adapt. Your life’s journey will likely take many unpredicted and astonishing twists because you are willing to release your expectations.
-DailyOM September 18, 2009

Spreading Your Light

2009-12-04T09:16:00.002Z

How You Affect Others Daily

As the pace and fullness of modern life serve to isolate us from one another, the contact we do share becomes vastly more significant. We unconsciously absorb each other’s energy, adopting the temperament of those with whom we share close quarters, and find ourselves changed after the briefest encounters. Everything we do or say has the potential to affect not only the individuals we live, work, and play with but also those we’ve just met. Though we may never know the impact we have had or the scope of our influence, accepting and understanding that our attitudes and choices will affect others can help us remember to conduct ourselves with grace at all times. When we seek always to be friendly, helpful, and responsive, we effortlessly create an atmosphere around ourselves that is both uplifting and inspiring.

Most people rarely give thought to the effect they have had or will have on others. When we take a few moments to contemplate how our individual modes of being affect the people we spend time with each day, we come one step closer to seeing ourselves through the eyes of others. By asking ourselves whether those we encounter walk away feeling appreciated, respected, and liked, we can heighten our awareness of the effect we ultimately have. Something as simple as a smile given freely can temporarily brighten a person’s entire world. Our value-driven conduct may inspire others to consider whether their own lives are reflective of their values. A word of advice can help others see life in an entirely new fashion. And small gestures of kindness can even prove to those embittered by the world that goodness still exists. By simply being ourselves, we influence other’s lives in both subtle and life-altering ways.

To ensure that the effect we have is positive, we must strive to stay true to ourselves while realizing that it is the demeanor we project and not the quality of our wondrous inner landscapes that people see. Thus, as we interact with others, how we behave can be as important as who we are. If we project our passion for life, our warmth, and our tolerance in our facial features, voice, and choice of words, every person who enters our circle of influence will leave our presence feeling at peace with themselves and with us. You never know whose life you are affecting, big or small. Try to remember this as you go out into the world each day.
-DailyOM September 17, 2009

Getting Back to Wellness

2009-10-04T18:55:00.002Z

Seven Quick Fixes To Feel Better

The signals our bodies use to tell us we need to cleanse ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally are multifaceted and often mirror symptoms we associate with illness. If we heed these signs, we not only feel better quickly but also stave off poor health before it can start. These quick fixes for common ailments can get you started.

1. Applying pressure to the acupressure point between the thumb and forefinger can release blockages causing pain, tension, and fatigue. You can relieve a headache naturally by squeezing for 20 seconds and releasing for 10 seconds, without letting go, four times.

2. To breathe freely, irrigate your nasal passages with a neti pot and warm salt water. As you clear and soothe the sinuses, congestion associated with allergies or infection will gradually disappear.

3. Apple cider vinegar is a powerful purifying and detoxifying agent. Soaking for 20 minutes in a warm bath infused with two cups of apple cider vinegar pulls toxins from the body and can clear blocked energy.

4. The foods you eat can have a profound impact on your outlook and mood. Eating a small yet satisfying meal rich in complex carbohydrates can lift your spirit and help you let go of feelings of anger, irritability, and depression.

5. Anxiety and fear dissipate quickly when countered with conscious breathing because concentrating on the breath enables you to refocus your attention inward. You can ground yourself and regain your usual calm by taking a series of deep belly breaths as you visualize your feet growing roots that stretch miles down into the earth.

6. Though tuning out can seem counterproductive, a few minutes spent lost in daydreams or listening to soothing music can help you see your circumstances from a new angle when you feel frustrated.

7. If you feel ill health coming on, brew a wellness elixir. Simmer three sliced lemons, one teaspoon freshly grated ginger, one clove freshly minced garlic, and one quarter teaspoon cayenne pepper in five cups water until the lemons are soft and pale. Strain a portion into a mug and add honey by tablespoons until you can tolerate the taste. Drinking this potent mixture of antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal ingredients three times each day can ensure your symptoms never progress into a full-blown illness.
-DailyOM, September 29, 2009

Video: Let's revive the Golden Rule

2009-10-04T18:46:00.001Z

Weeks from the Charter for Compassion launch, Karen Armstrong looks at religion's role in the 21st century: Will its dogmas divide us? Or will it unite us for common good? She reviews the catalysts that can drive the world's faiths to rediscover the Golden Rule.

THE WONDER OF IT ALL [Part 1 of 2]

2009-09-13T14:52:00.001Z

by Patricia Diane Cota-Robles
http://eraofpeace.org

This is the most difficult article I have ever written, simply because words cannot adequately express the wonder of what has taken place. Since the beginning of this year, the Beings of Light in the Realms of Illumined Truth have been saying that 2009 is a turning point. They said it will be the year that is referred to throughout the Ages as the Cosmic Moment when the collective masses of Humanity changed our course of direction and reclaimed our Divine Birthright as Beloved Sons and Daughters of God. Even though Lightworkers around the world heard those words, I do not believe anyone grasped the magnitude of just what they meant.

What I am going to share with you now is known through your I AM Presence and is recorded within the deepest recesses of your heart. This is not something new that you are learning through this article. This is something that you personally experienced through the Presence of God pulsating in your Heart Flame. Ask your I AM Presence to help you remember on a conscious level the glory of this event. Allow the Flame of Truth within your heart to reveal to you the miracle that has transpired.

For clarity, the Company of Heaven asked me to reiterate a little of the information that they have shared with Humanity in the past. Their intent is to help all of us understand the groundwork that was laid in preparation for this moment. As you read these words, please ask your I AM Presence to help you "see with new eyes and hear with new ears." This glorious occurrence has been a work in progress for millennia.

At the beginning of the Piscean Age, a little over 2,000 years ago, our Father-Mother God observed the progress of their Sons and Daughters evolving on Earth. This evaluation allowed them to determine what the greatest need of the hour was for our spiritual growth and what our next learning experience should be in order to accomplish that goal. This type of evaluation occurs at the dawn of each New Age. It is a natural part of the evolutionary process in this Earthly school of learning.

Our God Parents knew that their precious Children abiding on Earth had truly lost our way. We were buried in the illusion of separation, and we had forgotten that we are Divine Sons and Daughters of God. We were no longer conscious of the reality that all our Father-Mother God have is ours.

Humanity was experiencing the oppressive grip of unbearable pain and suffering. This was caused by our free will choices and the misuse of our creative faculties of thought and feeling, which occurred as a result of our fall from Grace aeons ago. In the throes of our misery, we came to the erroneous conclusion that we are worthless sinners and worms in the dust. Since we become who we believe we are, this self-destructive belief was catapulting us into the depths of darkness and despair. It was clear that in order to reverse Humanity's downward spiral into oblivion, we needed to remember the Truth about who we are and to reclaim our Divine Potential.

A Divine Plan was set into motion, and a Beloved Son of God was summoned from the Great Silence. This precious Being is the one we know as Jesus, the Christ. Jesus volunteered to embody on Planet Earth to demonstrate to the Children of God evolving here the Truth of our own Divinity. He was chosen to anchor, through his example, the archetype for Humanity's return to Christ Consciousness. A critical facet of his Divine Mission was to model the path of Oneness and Divine Love, which is the only way Home to the Heart of God.

During what is referred to as "the lost 18 years," Jesus studied in the mystery schools of India, Tibet, and Egypt. At the age of 30, when it was time for him to begin his mission of anchoring the archetype for Humanity's return to Christ Consciousness, he demonstrated for all the world to see the imperative first step- the return of the Divine Feminine, our Mother God, the Holy Spirit.

The Divine Intelligence we refer to as God is a radiant forcefield of pure Light that encompasses every particle and wave of Life in the whole of Creation. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. God is the Alpha-I-and the Omega-AM-the beginning and the ending-the Cosmic I AM. God is All That Is.

This Divine Intelligence pulsates with a masculine polarity and a feminine polarity. The masculine polarity is our Father God. This aspect of God radiates forth a sapphire blue frequency of Light that infuses all Creation with Divine Will, Power, and Authority. The feminine polarity is our Mother God. This aspect of God radiates forth a crystalline pink frequency of Light that infuses all Creation with Divine Love, Adoration, and Reverence for All Life. The activity of our Father God is the Outbreath of Creation. The activity of our Mother God is the Inbreath of Creation.

When they are in perfect balance, the sapphire blue frequency of our Father God and the crystalline pink frequency of our Mother God merge into an unfathomable frequency of Divine Light. This balanced pulsation of our Father-Mother God is the Sacred Fire, known through all Creation, as the Violet Flame of God's Infinite Perfection.

In the beginning the sapphire blue Flame of our Father God activated our left-brain hemispheres and the power center within our Throat Chakras. The crystalline pink Flame of our Mother God activated our right-brain hemispheres and the love center within our Heart Chakras. When these two Sacred Fires merge within us in perfect balance, the resulting Violet Flame activates our spiritual brain centers.

These centers consist of our pituitary, pineal, and hypothalamus glands, and the ganglionic centers at the base of our brains. When these spiritual centers are fully activated, our Crown Chakras of enlightenment open to full breadth. The Sacred Fire associated with our Crown Chakras is the yellow-gold Flame of Wisdom or Christ Consciousness. Only when the masculine and feminine polarities of our Father-Mother God are balanced within us and our Crown Chakras are fully open, can we attain our Divine Potential as Sons and Daughters of God.

These three Flames: the blue Flame of Power, the pink Flame of Love, and the gold Flame of Wisdom are secured within the Divinity of every person's heart. They form what is known as our Immortal Victorious Threefold Flames. These Flames were clearly seen pulsating within the heart of Jesus. That is why the Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted with a Flame blazing within its center.

Our Immortal Victorious Threefold Flames represent the true meaning of the Holy Trinity: the blue Flame of our Father God's Power, the pink Flame of our Mother God's Love-the Holy Spirit, and the gold Flame of the Son or Daughter of God's Wisdom-the Christ.

The most tragic facet of Humanity's fall from Grace is that when we began using our thoughts, words, feelings, and actions to create patterns of imperfection that resulted in pain and suffering, we closed our Heart Chakras so that we would not feel pain so intensely. This horrific event blocked the portal through which the Divine Love of our Mother God, the Holy Spirit, entered the physical plane.

This event forced our Mother God to withdraw her love to a mere trickle of its original influence in our lives. This imbalance caused the hemisphere of our right brains to atrophy, which in turn caused our spiritual brain centers to deactivate and our Crown Chakras to close. We lost Christ Consciousness and the awareness that we are Divine Sons and Daughters of God. We also lost the awareness of our Mother God.

In desperation, we clung to a distorted perception of the Holy Spirit. We knew it was the Holy Comforter and the Love Nature of God, but because we no longer knew the Truth of the existence of our Mother God, we thought of the Holy Spirit as a masculine aspect of our Father God. For the first time, we began using our masculine power without the balance of our feminine love. This caused us to become aggressive, warlike, and domineering when we were in masculine bodies, and it caused us to suppress our power by allowing ourselves to be oppressed and dominated when we were in female bodies. We can observe the dire results of this extreme imbalance to this very day.

The reversal of this tragic situation, which involved the anchoring of the archetype for the return of our Mother God, was the imperative first step of Jesus' Divine Mission. At the age of 30, Beloved Jesus came to the banks of the Jordan River and immersed himself in the sacred water element. Water represents the emotional strata for the Earth as well as the emotional bodies for Humanity.

Once he was in the water, Jesus participated in a Divine Ceremony through which he anchored the archetype for the return of our Mother God, on behalf of all Humanity. In that ceremony, John the Baptist symbolically washed away the sins of the world by Baptizing Jesus with the Love of our Mother God-the Holy Spirit.

We have all seen pictures of Jesus standing in the Jordan River with the Dove of the Holy Spirit descending into his Crown Chakra. In that moment, Jesus' right-brain hemisphere was brought into perfect balance with his left-brain hemisphere. His spiritual brain centers were activated, and his Crown Chakra was opened to full breadth. When this occurred, Jesus became the Christ grown to full stature, and his mission of modeling Humanity's Divine Potential as Beloved Children of God began in earnest.

For the next three years, Jesus modeled the path of Oneness and Divine Love that each of us must follow in order to reclaim our Divine Birthright as Sons and Daughters of God. The path of Oneness and Divine Love is the only way the Children of God will return to the Heart of our Father and Mother. Jesus demonstrated our Divine Potential through the various miracles he performed, and clearly revealed the Oneness of Life through his dedication and reverence for ALL Life.

Much of Jesus' mission has been misunderstood. He did not come to establish a new religion. He came to remind every man, woman, child that we are Divine Children of God. His mission was to demonstrate this Truth by the way he lived his life. Many believe that Jesus alone is the Divine Child of God, the only begotten Son. They believe that he came to do everything for us because we are such lost and depraved souls. They have the misconception that if we just speak the words that affirm that we accept Jesus as our personal savior he will save us. This distorted belief is based in Humanity's deeply ingrained feelings of unworthiness, but it is certainly not what Beloved Jesus taught us.

Jesus' message was that the Divinity within each of us-the Christ-is the true Child of God, the only begotten Son or Daughter. He said throughout his ministry, "These things I do you shall do, and even greater things than these shall you do."

There are some other statements in the Bible that also reflect this Truth:

And Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, I said, 'YE ARE GODS'?"

"YE ARE GODS, and all of you are Children of the Most High."

And from Romans 8: 14-17, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God-the Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God; and if Children, then heirs, heirs of God, JOINT HEIRS WITH CHRIST."

At the age of 33, Jesus accomplished the final facets of his Divine Mission. Thirty-three is the master number that reflects the Christ made manifest. There is a lot of discussion at this time as to whether Jesus was actually crucified and whether or not he resurrected his body. The Company of Heaven has confirmed that both of these events were vitally important to the fulfillment of Jesus' Divine Plan.

Contrary to the guilt-inducing things we are often told, Jesus was not tortured and crucified in order to atone for Humanity's sins. This concept comes from the belief that we are worthless sinners and that we are so lowly someone outside of ourselves must save us. This belief perpetuates the notion that we are incapable of saving ourselves, but nothing could be further from the Truth. In fact, our Father-Mother God gave each of us the gift of free will and NO ONE is allowed to do this for us.

We lost the awareness of our own Divinity through our free will choices and the misuse of our creative faculties of thought and feeling. Consequently, the only way we will return to Christ Consciousness is through our own endeavors, and by following the path of Oneness and Divine Love that Jesus demonstrated for us.

Jesus agreed to be crucified in order to prove to the world that there is nothing the fallen human ego can do that will destroy the Divinity within us. His crucifixion and resurrection proved that even if one's physical body is abused, tortured, and crucified, the Christ within is eternal and lives on in our Light Body.

It is said that Jesus forgave the sins of the world, and in a way he did. When Jesus was hanging on the cross a Centurion pierced his side with a sword. His intent was to accelerate Jesus' death, and put him out of his misery. As his blood and Lifeforce flowed onto the Earth Jesus said, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." In that instant, through the Grace of God, our Father-Mother God allowed the Law of Forgiveness to be initiated for the first time as the order of the New Day on Earth.

Prior to that moment, the Children of God were subject solely to the Law of Karma or the Law of Cause and Effect. After the Law of Forgiveness was established on Earth, we had another option. Humanity could ask for forgiveness for the misuse of our precious gift of Life and be forgiven. We are still subject to the Law of Cause and Effect, but now when we recognize the error of our ways we can ask for forgiveness. This allows us to be forgiven without having to personally experience everything we deliberately or inadvertently created through the misuse of our thoughts, words, feelings, and actions.

It is important for us to understand that we are not forgiven just because Jesus was here, as some believe. We are forgiven if we recognize our mistakes, ask for forgiveness, and change our behavior patterns.

After Jesus' crucifixion and his resurrection into his Light Body, he had one more very important Truth to reveal to Humanity. It was obvious that the Children of God had been beaten down into a consciousness of unworthiness. Jesus realized that because of this low opinion of ourselves the chances were great that we would misunderstand the example he modeled for us, the example which we must each follow if we are to return to Christ Consciousness. Jesus knew that our lack of trust in ourselves was overwhelming. The potential was great that we would misconstrue his mission by believing that he had saved us, and that he had done for us the very things he came to demonstrate that we must do for ourselves.

So the final facet of Beloved Jesus' mission was to clearly reveal to Humanity that he cannot do this for us, and that we are not saved simply because he was here. Jesus left an example to prove that no matter how dedicated we are to him and his teachings, we are each responsible for our return to Christ Consciousness. In order to accomplish this facet of the Divine Plan, Jesus invoked the assistance of his Beloved Disciples.

After Jesus' resurrection, he remained on Earth for 40 days. During that time, he demonstrated to the Disciples what it was like to experience Christ Consciousness. Jesus expanded his Light Body and lifted the Disciples up in consciousness, so that they could know what it was like to become the Christ.

In this elevated state, the Disciples remembered their Divine Heritage as Beloved Children of God, and they were able to perform all of the miracles Jesus performed. They quickly learned the lessons that would enable them to continue the mission that had been started by their Beloved Brother. They prepared to spread the Truth of Humanity's Divinity, and to teach the path of Oneness and Divine Love that would lead to Christ Consciousness for every evolving soul.

At the end of the 40 days, it was time for Jesus to Ascend into the next phase of his mission. When the Heavens opened and Jesus Ascended into the Realms of Illumined Truth, it was no longer possible for him to sustain the Disciples in the elevated frequency of Christ Consciousness.

Since the Disciples had not attained Christ Consciousness through their own endeavors, once Jesus withdrew his Light Body they began to falter and become afraid. The Disciples realized that in spite of their great love for Jesus and their dedication to him and his mission, he could not save them or sustain them in Christ Consciousness. This was something each of them would have to accomplish on his own. The most Jesus could do was anchor the archetypes for Humanity's return to Christ Consciousness and demonstrate the path of Oneness and Divine Love that we must each follow.

For ten days the Disciples struggled with their predicament. On the 50th day after Jesus' resurrection, the day we now call Pentecost, the Disciples realized what they must do in order to attain and sustain Christ Consciousness.

On that day, the Disciples entered what was called the "Upper Room." This, in fact, was a higher state of consciousness that they each attained by consecrating their lives to the path of Oneness and Divine Love. In that elevated state of consciousness each of the Disciples opened his heart and from the depths of his Being invoked the return of our Mother God through a Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This time, the Baptism was by Sacred Fire instead of water.

In that instant, the Disciple's right-brain hemispheres were brought into perfect balance with their left-brain hemispheres. Their spiritual brain centers were activated, and their Crown Chakras were opened to full breadth. We have all seen depictions of the Disciples after their Baptism by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. They are shown with a Flame pulsating from their Crown Chakras reflecting that they had regained Christ Consciousness, and that their mission of spreading Jesus' teachings to the world was at hand.

On that holy day of Pentecost, the Disciples were given what has been called "the gift of tongues." This is another aspect of the Piscean Age that has often been misunderstood. The gift of tongues did not mean that the Holy Spirit would speak through the Disciples in unintelligible syllables and sounds for someone to try and decipher. The gift of tongues gave the Disciples the ability to travel the face of the Earth and to teach the Truth of Humanity's Divinity and the path of Oneness and Divine Love to the peoples of the world in their own language. This eliminated the problem of language barriers and ensured the clarity of Jesus' message.

Even with all of the groundwork that was carefully laid during the Piscean Age, Jesus knew that it would be millennia before Humanity would really understand his message and reclaim our Divine Birthright as Beloved Children of God. He confirmed this knowing in Revelations when he stated, "In the Day of the Seventh Angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God will be fulfilled and time will be no more." He said this would involve the Second Coming of the Christ.

The predominant influence flooding the planet during the 2,000 years of the Piscean Age was the Sixth Solar Aspect of Deity. This Sacred Fire is ruby-gold and it reflects the Divine Qualities of Peace, Healing, Devotional Worship, Ministering Grace, the Christ working through the personality, and the Divine Image embodied in flesh. These influences were the perfect support that Jesus needed in order to accomplish his Divine Mission.

The Piscean Age was the Day of the Sixth Angel. Jesus is known as the Prince of Peace because of these influences, and his symbol is the fish because he was the Avatar of the Piscean Age, which is represented by the fish.

Now we fast forward to the Day of the Seventh Angel, who is beginning to sound. This Angel is heralding the Dawn of the New Age of Aquarius.

There is a lot of misinformation about the term New Age. Let me briefly share with you what a New Age really is. It is not a new religion, a movement, a philosophy, or the work of the devil as some are professing. The Dawn of a New Age is nothing more than a span of time.

As our Earth revolves on her axis every 24 hours, we experience a new day. As she orbits around the Sun every 365 and 1/4 days, we experience a new year. On this orbit around the Sun the Earth passes through the forcefields of the 12 natural constellations, which form our zodiac. During this annual orbit, the Earth and all Life evolving upon her are held in the Light and influence of these constellations for 28 to 31 days. These are our familiar Sun cycles, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, et cetera.

In addition to these very obvious time frames, the Earth is part of a much larger celestial event that is called the Precession of the Equinox. This rotation of the Earth's axis creates a counterclockwise movement through the 12 constellations in our Solar System. This slow rotation of Earth's axis takes between 24,000 and 26,000 years to complete. The Earth's movement is measured at the point where the Sun passes the equator on the Vernal Equinox. This point moves about 52 seconds per year, so it takes about 70 years for the Earth to move one degree. During this rotation the Earth is held in the embrace of each constellation for approximately 30 degrees, or 2,000 plus years. These 2,000-year cycles are what we refer to as the various Ages.

The Dawn of a New Age is a period of time that lasts between 150 and 300 years. It is a window of opportunity during the Precession of the Equinox when the energies of the Age we are leaving begin to ebb, and the energies of the constellation that we are moving into have not yet taken hold. It is during this lull of energy that our Father-Mother God evaluate the progress of their Children and determine the greatest need of the hour for our spiritual growth.

Since the latter part of the 1800's, we have been experiencing the Dawn of the New Age of Aquarius. The predominant influence for all Life on Earth during this 2,000-year cycle is the Seventh Solar Aspect of Deity. This Sacred Fire is the Violet Flame, which reflects the perfect balance of the polarities of our Father-Mother God. It also reverberates with the Divine Qualities of God's Infinite Perfection, Mercy, Compassion, Forgiveness, Transmutation, Liberty, Justice, the Power of Invocation, Divine Ceremony, and Victory.

It is because of the astronomical power and might contained within the frequencies of the Violet Flame that Beloved Jesus knew that in the Day of the Seventh Angel Humanity would at long last regain Christ Consciousness. This is what Jesus was referring to when he spoke of the Second Coming of the Christ and the mystery of God being fulfilled.

He was revealing the time when the Sons and Daughters of God evolving on Earth would reverse the adverse affects of our fall from Grace. This would be the time when Humanity would consecrate our lives to the path of Oneness and Divine Love by opening our Heart Chakras, invoking the return of our Mother God, and receiving a Baptism of the Holy Spirit by Sacred Fire. This would be the time when the Sons and Daughters of God would reclaim our Divine Potential and become the Christ grown to full stature-the time when we would accept our true reality as the only begotten Sons and Daughters of God.

Because of Humanity's feelings of unworthiness, many people believe it is blasphemous to think that anyone but Jesus could become the Christ, but in Truth Jesus came to reveal to us that every Child of God has the Divine Potential of becoming the Christ. This does not mean that everyone will be just like Jesus. Every Child of God is unique. We will each have our own individual way of living and expressing our Divine Potential as the Christ.

For over 100 years, the Violet Flame has been building in momentum on this planet. This caused a gradual awakening to take place within the hearts and minds of spiritually orientated people all over the world. Then on August 15th, 16th, and 17th, in 1987, we experienced a global phenomenon that was referred to as Harmonic Convergence. This event involved an influx of Divine Light that caused a quantum shift of energy, vibration, and consciousness for every particle of Life evolving on this sweet Earth.

Since that Cosmic Moment, the Earth has been moving up the spiral of evolution at warp speed. This has inspired myriad activities of Light, which have involved the unified efforts of embodied Lightworkers and the entire Company of Heaven. These events have accelerated the awakening of people who are seeking Truth, and those who are looking for answers that will reveal their true purpose and reason for being. These activities of Light have resulted in miracles beyond the greatest expectations of Heaven, and they have catapulted Humanity toward the fulfillment of our Divine Destiny.

Now it is time for the next step; it is time for Humanity en masse to awaken to the Truth of who we are and why we are here. It is time for every Child of God to reclaim our Divine Birthright, and to regain Christ Consciousness. It is time for the Second Coming of the Christ.

In 2008, we reached a critical mass of Light on this planet that allowed the patterns of perfection for the New Earth to be anchored in the physical plane. This event took place during the 21st anniversary of Harmonic Convergence. Once the patterns of perfection for the New Earth were securely anchored, the I AM Presence of every man, woman, and child on Earth was given permission by our Father-Mother God to expand our Immortal Victorious Threefold Flames.

When the expansion of the Divinity in every heart was God Victoriously accomplished, our Father-Mother God granted a Cosmic Dispensation designed to help even the most recalcitrant souls remember their Divinity and the path of Oneness and Divine Love that would lead to Christ Consciousness. This extremely rare dispensation gave the I AM Presence of every person on Earth permission to intervene in our awakening process in an unprecedented way.

Our God Parents determined that the greatest need of the hour was for the Children of God to remember our Divinity and the Oneness of ALL Life. To assist us with this critical facet of our awakening process, a plan was set into motion. Our Father-Mother God issued a Divine Fiat requiring that the Temple of the First Initiation in the Heavenly Realms be open to all Humanity for a 12-month period in order to accelerate our illumination and enlightenment. Beginning in August 2008, and continuing through the 22nd anniversary of Harmonic Convergence in August 2009, our I AM Presence was allowed to escort us, in our finer bodies while we slept at night, into the Temple of the First Initiation.

There is no such thing as our soul being unconscious, so we always leave our bodies when we sleep. But this time it was different. This time, the I AM Presence of every man, woman, and child had a special mission. For this 12-month cycle, we were all escorted into the Temple of the First Initiation where we were taught the process for returning to Christ Consciousness. The First Initiation is the initiation of Oneness and Reverence for ALL Life. It is the path that Jesus modeled for us during the Piscean Age. He did so in preparation for this very moment.

This rare dispensation was granted to Humanity's I AM Presence by our Father-Mother God because of the urgency of the hour. Due to the miracles that have taken place over the past two decades, every Child of God evolving on Earth has, at inner levels, made the choice to do what is necessary to move forward into the 5th Dimension. The problem is that there are many people who do not realize on a conscious level that they have made this choice. Consequently, as the human miscreations they have deliberately or inadvertently created throughout their Earthly sojourns are pushed to the surface to be transmuted into Light, they are becoming afraid and overwhelmed.

The intent of the Cosmic Dispensation granted by our Father-Mother God is to help with this situation. When we attain Christ Consciousness, we "see with new eyes, and hear with new ears." From this higher perspective, we are able to recognize new solutions to the maladies existing all around us, and we understand the importance of handling life's challenges from a consciousness of Oneness and Reverence for ALL Life. Our Father-Mother God knew of the opportunities that would be presented to Humanity in 2009, and they allowed this final step of preparation in order to help the masses of Humanity take a quantum leap into the Light.

Daniel Goleman on compassion

2009-07-27T19:00:00.000+01:00

Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, asks why we aren't more compassionate more of the time.

Video: A.J. Jacobs' year of living biblically

2009-07-27T18:59:00.000+01:00

Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically -- following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.

Rev. Tom Honey on God and the tsunami

2009-07-27T18:49:00.002+01:00

It's a classic problem in theology: How can the existence of evil be reconciled with a God who is supposed to be all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful? Reverend Tom Honey attempts to answer this question in the wake of the tsunami:

Tom Honey

I have been a parish priest in the Church of England for more than twenty years. For most of that time I've been grappling with questions about the nature of God. I'm very aware that when you say God, most people within and outside the church, still have a picture of a celestial controller, a policeman in the sky who orders everything and causes events to happen. He will protect his own people and answer the prayers of the faithful. In the worship of our church the most frequent adjective when we address God is 'almighty'; but I have become more and more uncomfortable with this common perception of God over the years. Do we really believe in the male boss that our liturgies proclaim?

Of course there have been thinkers who have suggested a different way of looking at God. Exploring the feminine, nurturing side of the divine being. Suggesting that God expresses herself or himself through powerlessness. Acknowledging that God is unknown and unknowable. Finding deep resonances with other religions and philosophies as part of the universal search for meaning. These ideas are well known in liberal academic circles, but clergy like myself have been reluctant to air them, for fear of creating tension and division in the church community and upsetting the simple faith of traditional believers. I have chosen not to rock the boat.

Then on December 26th, just two months ago an underwater earthquake triggered a tsunami of massive proportions. Two weeks after the tsunami, Sunday morning 9th January. I found myself standing in front of my congregation, intelligent, well-meaning, thoughtful Christian people. I needed to express, on their behalf our feelings and our questions. This is what I said.

Shortly after the tsunami I read a newspaper article, written by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, about the tragedy in Southern Asia. The essence of his words was this: the people most affected by the devastation and loss of life do not want intellectual theories, about how God can let this happen. "If some religious genius did come up with an explanation of exactly why all these deaths made sense, would we feel happier, or safer or more confident in God?"

If the man in the photograph holding the hand of his dead child was standing in front of us now, there are no words that we could say to him. The only appropriate response would be compassionate silence and practical help. It isn't really a time for preaching or theology, but for tears.

This is true, and yet we are here, semi-detached from events so far away, with our faith bruised, and we want an explanation from God.

Some have concluded that we can only believe in a God who shares our pain. In some way, God feels the anguish and grief, and physical pain that we feel. In some way the eternal God can enter into the souls of human beings and experience the torment within. And if this is true, it must also be that God knows the joy and exaltation of the human spirit. A God who weeps with those who weep and rejoices with those who rejoice.

This seems to me both a deeply moving and a convincing restatement of Christian belief about God. For hundreds of years the prevailing orthodoxy, the accepted truth was that God the Father, the creator, is unchanging and therefore cannot feel pain or sadness. The unchanging God feels a bit cold and indifferent to me. I wonder if you agree.

The devastating events of the 20th century forced people to question the cold unfeeling God. The slaughter of millions in the trenches and in the death camps, caused people to ask, 'Where is God in all this?' And the answer was, God is in this with us, or God doesn't deserve our allegiance. If God is a bystander, observing but not involved, then God may exist, but we don't want to know about him. Many Jews and Christians now feel like this, I know. And I am among them.

So we have a suffering God. A God who is intimately connected with this world, and with every living soul. I very much relate to this idea of God. But it isn't enough. I need to ask some more questions, and I hope they are questions that some of you want to ask as well, some of you.

Over the last few weeks I have been struck by the number of times that words in our worship have felt a bit inappropriate, a bit dodgy. On Tuesday mornings we have a Pram Service for Mums and their pre-school children. Last week we sang with the children, one of their favorite songs - The Wise Man Built His House on the Rock. Some of the words go like this "the foolish man built his house upon the sand.......and the floods came up......and the house on the sand went crash". Then at a funeral there was the familiar hymn "We plough the fields and scatter". In the second verse comes the line, "the wind and waves obey him." Do they? I don't think we can sing those words again.

So the first big question is about control. Is God in control? Does God order each moment? Does God have a plan for each of us? Do the wind and waves obey him?

From time to time one hears Christians telling the story of how God organised things for them, so that everything worked out alright. Some difficulty was overcome, some illness cured, some trouble averted, a parking space found at a crucial time. I can remember someone saying this to me, her eyes shining bright with joy, as a wonderful confirmation of her faith and the goodness of God.

But if God can or will do these things, intervene to change the flow of events, then surely he could have stopped the tsunami happening. A local god who can do little things like parking spaces, but not big things like 500mph waves. That's not acceptable, and we must acknowledge it. Either God is responsible for the tsunami, or God is not in control.

After the tragedy, survival stories began to emerge. The man who surfed the wave. The teenage girl who recognized the danger because she had just been learning about tsunamis at school. Then there was the congregation who had left their usual church building on the shore to hold a service in the hills. The preacher delivered an extra long sermon, so that they were still out of harm's way when the wave struck. Afterwards someone said God had been looking after them.

So the next question is about partiality. Can we earn God's favor by worshiping him or believing in him? Does God demand loyalty like any medieval tyrant? A god who looks after his own, so that Christians are ok, while the others perish. A cosmic us and them, and a god who is guilty of the worst kind of favoritism. That would be appalling, and I would have to hand back my membership. Such a god would be morally inferior to the highest ideals of humanity.

So who is God, if not the great puppet-master or the tribal protector of Christians? Perhaps God allows or permits terrible things to happen, so that heroism and compassion can be shown. Perhaps God is testing us, testing our charity or our faith. Perhaps there is a great, cosmic plan that allows for horrible suffering so that everything will work out in the end. Perhaps, but all these ideas are variations of God controlling everything. The supreme commander toying with expendable units, in a great campaign. We are still left with a God who can do the tsunami and allow Auschwitz. Almighty God is just incompatible with loving God.

In his great novel The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky gives these words to Ivan, addressed to his naive, devout younger brother Alyosha, "If the sufferings of children go to make up the sum of sufferings which is necessary for the purchase of truth, then I say beforehand that the entire truth is not worth such a price....we cannot afford to pay so much for admission....it is not God that I do not accept. I merely most respectfully return him the ticket." Or perhaps God set the whole universe going at the beginning and then relinquished control for ever, so that natural processes could occur and evolution run its course. This seems more acceptable, but it still leaves God with the ultimate moral responsibility for human behavior and natural processes. Is God a cold unfeeling spectator?......or a powerless lover, watching with infinite compassion things God is unable to change?.....Or is God intimately involved in our suffering, so that God feels it in his own being.

If we believe something like this, we must let go of the puppet-master completely, take our leave of the almighty controller. Abandon traditional models. We must think again about God. Maybe God doesn't do things at all. Maybe God isn't an agent in the sense that we are all agents. Early religious thought conceived God as a sort of super human person, doing mighty acts all over the place. The God of the Old Testament fought for his people, drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, wasted cities, and wiped out the enemy down to the last woman and child. The people knew their God by his mighty acts.

But what if God doesn't act? What if God doesn't do things at all? What if God is in things? The loving soul of the universe. An indwelling, compassionate presence, underpinning and sustaining all things. What if God is in things? In the infinitely complex network of relationships and connections that make up life. In the natural cycle of life and death, the creation and destruction that happen continuously. In the process of evolution. In the incredible intricacy and magnificence of the natural world In the collective unconscious, the soul of the human race. In you and me, mind and body and spirit, in the tsunami, in the victims. In the depth of things. In presence and in absence. In simplicity and complexity, in change and development and growth.

How does this in-ness, this interiority of God work? It's hard to conceive and begs more questions. Is God just another name for the universe, with no independent, external existence? I don't know. To what extent can we ascribe personality to God? I don't know. In the end, we have to say "I don't know". If we knew, God would not be God.

To have faith in this God would be more like trusting an essential goodness and benevolence in the universe, and less like believing a system of doctrinal statements. Isn't it ironic that Christians who claim to believe in an infinite, unknowable being, then tie God down in closed systems and rigid doctrines?Faith in God demands the huge step of saying, "despite all appearances to the contrary, I trust that there is a loving presence, but I will live without knowing."

How would one practice such a faith? By seeking the God within. By cultivating my own inwardness. In silence, in meditation, in my inner space, in the me that remains when I gently put aside my passing emotions and ideas and preoccupations. In awareness of the inner conversation.

How would I live such a faith? By seeking intimate connection with your inwardness. The kind of relationships when deep speaks to deep. If God is in all people, then there is a meeting place where my relationship with you becomes a three-way encounter. There is an Indian greeting 'namaste', accompanied by a respectful bow which roughly means, 'that which is of God in me greets that which is of God in you'.

How would one deepen such a faith? By seeking the inwardness which is in all things. In music and poetry, in the natural world of beauty, in the small ordinary things of life, there is a deep indwelling presence that makes them extraordinary. But it needs a profound attentiveness, and a patient waiting. A contemplative attitude, an awareness of my own infinite value, and a generosity and openness to those whose experience is different from mine.

When I stood up to speak to my people about God and the tsunami, I had no answers to offer them. No neat packages of faith with Bible references to prove them. Only doubts and questions and uncertainty. I had some suggestions to make - possible new ways of thinking about God. Ways that might allow us to go on, down a new and uncharted road. But in the end the only thing I could say for sure was I don't know, and that might just be the most profoundly religious statement of all.

Video: How to grow your own fresh air

2009-07-27T18:44:00.000+01:00

Researcher Kamal Meattle shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air.

Video: Dean Ornish on healing

2009-07-27T18:42:00.001+01:00

Dean Ornish talks about simple, low-tech and low-cost ways to take advantage of the body's natural desire to heal itself.

Video: Letting go of God

2009-07-27T18:39:00.002+01:00

Julia Sweeney (God Said, "Ha!") performs the first 15 minutes of her 2006 solo show Letting Go of God. When two young Mormon missionaries knock on her door one day, it touches off a quest to completely rethink her own beliefs.

Listening to Our Bodies

2009-07-07T20:19:00.000+01:00

Illness Lessons

When our body, mind, and spirit are in balance, we experience good health. But sometimes we get caught up in life’s parade of change and movement, and things get out of balance. Just as there are seasons in nature, our bodies go through times of cleansing and times of activity. Illness is one way our bodies restore the balance they seek, as it cleanses the buildup of unwanted manifestations of negative energy in our system. When we are not feeling our best, we can go beyond addressing the physical symptoms to listen to our bodies as they tell us the changes needed to restore balance.

Our bodies give us signals, but if we don’t listen when they tell us that they are tired or stressed, then the imbalance increases and a stronger message is required, one that is generally expressed by illness or dis-ease. The first step to regaining equilibrium involves slowing down, eating healthy food, getting more rest, and taking soothing remedies. Once we have nurtured ourselves with these things, we can begin examine our illness for the message. A heavy head may be a sign that we have been thinking negatively, harboring anger, resentment, or guilt. A sore throat may be telling us we have been speaking without integrity—gossip, insults, twisting the truth, or even speaking ill of ourselves, all of which can knock us off balance. A sore throat and swollen glands can also mean you are cleansing and processing some powerful emotions at present. Stomach problems could mean that we are having trouble accepting or “digesting” something. Only you have the knowledge of your th! oughts and choices that will allow you to decipher the messages from your body. All it takes is time and attention.

When we take the time to listen to our bodies we can learn how to restore our balance and improve our lives. By honoring the messages of our bodies, we can turn a time of illness into a constructive time of restoration, healing, and revitalization.

-DailyOM July3, 2009

Conscious Decisions

2009-07-07T20:14:00.000+01:00

Going Against What Is Popular

Just because an idea or way of doing things is popular doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. However, part of the way that something becomes popular is that many of us don’t take the time to determine what’s right for us; we simply do what most of the people we know are doing. In this way, our decisions about life are made by default, which means they aren’t what we call conscious decisions. There may be many other options available, but we don’t always take the time to explore them. This may be the result of feeling overwhelmed or pressured by family, peers, and humanity at large, to do things their way, the way things have always been done. Regardless of the cause, it is important that, as often as we can, we decide for ourselves what to do with our lives rather than just drift along on the current of popular opinion.

It is not always easy to make decisions that go against the grain. Many people feel threatened when those close to them make choices divergent from the ones they are making. Parents and grandparents may be confused and defensive when we choose to raise our children differently from the way they raised us. Friends may feel abandoned if we decide to change our habits or behavior. Meanwhile, on our side of the fence, it’s easy to feel frustrated and defensive when we feel unsupported and misunderstood simply because we are thinking for ourselves. It can be exhausting to have to explain and re-explain our points of view and our reasons.

This is where gentleness, openness, and tolerance come into play. It helps if we are calmly persistent, consistent, and clear as we communicate to those around us why we are making the choices we are making. At the same time, we have the right to say that we are tired of talking about it and simply need our choices to be respected. Our lives belong to us and so do our decisions. Those who truly love us will stand by us and support our choices, never mind what’s popular.

-DailyOM July 6, 2009

Clinging to beliefs; denying reality

2009-05-20T15:21:00.001Z

Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But one creature said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."

The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"

But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. Yet, in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.

And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!" And the one carried in the current said, "I am no more Messiah than you. The river's delight is to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.

But they cried the more, "Savior!" all the while clinging to the rocks, making legends of a Savior.

Source: This story was extracted from Richard Bach (author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull), in his book "Illusions"

Talking points:
(1) We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are.
(2) Ideas, theories and beliefs are not necessarily truths.
(3) A belief is not an idea held by the mind; it is an idea that holds the mind.

(http://www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/sunday-stories)

Allowing Others To Be

2009-05-19T21:04:00.000Z

We all know what it’s like to want to be in control. In some ways, exerting control is an important survival skill. For example, we have every right to be in control of our own bodies and our own lives. Taking control in these cases is empowering and necessary. Controlling behavior in the negative sense comes from a tendency to reach beyond our own boundaries and into the lives of others. Many people do this with the rationalization that they are helping. This can happen with parents who are still trying to force their grown children into behaving in ways that they find acceptable. It can also happen when people try to control their partners’ behavior. If you have control issues, you will see that in one or more areas of your life, you feel the need to interfere with what is happening rather than just allowing events to unfold.

Almost everyone has at least one situation or relationship in which they try to exert control. This often happens because someone’s behavior makes us uncomfortable. We may feel it makes us look bad, or it embarrasses us. For example, if your best friend tends to drink too much, you might spend an entire party just trying to prevent her from doing so. This is different from directly confronting her about the problem and allowing her to decide what she should do. Controlling behavior generally goes hand in hand with an unwillingness to be direct about what you want, as well as an inability to let go and let people live their own lives. If you are the one that is controlling, it’s probably because you literally feel as if you are out of control and it scares you. Try to pick one thing you could just let unfold without any control on your part. Examine how it made you feel both before and after, and examine why you wanted to control the situation.

It is hard sometimes to allow others to be who they are, especially if we feel we know what’s best for them and we see them making choices we wouldn’t make. However, if we are to be respectful and truly loving, we have to let people go, trusting that they will find their own way in their own time and understanding that it is their life to live. Just reminding yourself that the only life you have to live is your own is the first step to letting go.

- DailyOM May 13, 2009

You Are Who You Are, Not What You Do

2009-05-17T11:48:00.002Z

Our perception of the traits and characteristics that make us who we are is often tightly intertwined with how we live our life. We define ourselves in terms of the roles we adopt, our actions and inactions, our triumphs, and what we think are failures. As a result it is easy to identify so strongly with a decision that has resulted in unexpected negative consequences that we actually become that "wrong" decision. The disappointment and shame we feel when we make what we perceive as a mistake grows until it becomes a dominant part of our identities. We rationalize our "poor" decisions by labeling ourselves incompetent decision-makers. However, your true identity cannot be defined by your choices. Your essence—what makes you a unique entity—exists independently of your decision-making process.

There are no true right or wrong decisions. All decisions contribute to your development and are an integral part of your evolving existence yet they are still separate from the self. A decision that does not result in its intended outcome is in no way an illustration of character. Still, it can have dire effects on our ability to trust ourselves and our self-esteem. You can avoid becoming your decisions by affirming that a "bad decision" was just an experience, and next time you can choose differently. Try to avoid lingering in the past and mulling over the circumstances that led to your perceived error in judgment. Instead, adapt to the new circumstances you must face by considering how you can use your intelligence, inner strength, and intuition to aid you in moving forward more mindfully. Try not to entirely avoid thinking about the choices you have made, but reflect on the consequences of your decision from a rational rather than an emotional standpoint. Strive to understand why you made the choice you did, forgive yourself, and then move forward.

A perceived mistake becomes a valuable learning experience and is, in essence, a gift to learn and grow from. You are not a bad person and you are not your decisions; you are simply human.

- DailyOM April 27, 2009

What is Pranic Healing?

2009-05-15T09:09:00.002Z

Pranic Healing is a simple yet powerful and effective method of energy healing. It is based on the fundamental principle that the body is a "self-repairing" living entity, which possesses the innate ability to heal itself. Pranic Healing also works on the second principle that energy can be projected from one person to another. As a result, the healing process can then be accelerated by increasing the life force or vital energy on the affected part of the physical body. Pranic Healing is the process of influencing this natural life force to bring about a healthier physical body. Pranic Healing is applied on the electromagnetic field also known as aura, which contains the mold and blueprint of the physical body. Diseases first appear as energetic disruptions in the energy field before precipitating as ailments in the physical body. Pranic Healing practitioners realign the whole energy system to help initiate specific biochemical changes to accelerate the body's innate ability to prevent and alleviate a wide spectrum of physical, emotional and psychological ailments.

For more information: http://www.globalpranichealing.com/

In Line With Spirit

2009-05-14T08:37:00.001Z

In a world where we have routines for nearly everything—our route to work, our physical fitness regimen, and our weekday schedule—it’s amazing how many people forget to create a routine for meeting their spiritual needs. We run around in an attempt to be at our many appointments on time and meet our many obligations. In our efforts to be as productive as possible, however, our spiritual needs tend to take a backseat. After all, taking care of our spiritual needs doesn’t directly pay the bills or tone our abdominal muscles. We may even wonder who has time to meditate or write in their journal when there are more pressing matters to see to. The truth is that nurturing ourselves spiritually is what gives us the energy and grounding that we need to make sure that our lives stay on track.

How you choose to nurture yourself spiritually is a personal choice. For some people, meditating once a day may be what they need to stay centered. While spending 10-20 minutes with your eyes closed and your brain devoid of thought may seem like a lot of time doing nothing, this state of nothingness actually allows you to stay calm and focused so you can be as productive as possible. Writing in your journal everyday lets you stay in touch with yourself so that you are always tuned in to your feelings. Repeating affirmations for success, happiness, and well-being on a regular basis can help you live with optimism and enthusiasm and create what you want in life.

Having a routine for nurturing your spirit that you do each day lets you feed energy to your soul and can serve you well if your life suddenly takes an unexpected turn into a difficult period. This kind of routine grounds your spirit in your body so that you stay anchored in yourself as you move through each day. Nurturing yourself spiritually allows you to not only stay on track in your life, but it allows for your life to stay on track with what your spirit wants.

- DailyOM March 18, 2009

Laurie Garrett on lessons from the 1918 flu

2009-05-06T12:49:00.002Z

In 2007, as the world worried about a possible avian flu epidemic, Laurie Garrett, author of "The Coming Plague," gave this powerful talk to a small TED University audience. Her insights from past pandemics are suddenly more relevant than ever.

Video: What do we really know about AIDS?

2009-04-17T10:17:00.000Z

Emily Oster re-examines the stats on AIDS in Africa from an economic perspective and reaches a stunning conclusion: Everything we know about the spread of HIV on the continent is wrong.

Video: Jill Bolte Taylor

2009-04-17T10:09:00.003Z

Great video about Jill Bolte Taylor who got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story...

Do You Love of Fear God?

2009-01-11T11:45:00.007Z

Mysticism is the child-likeness of consciousness which penetrates through all involvements and confusions and, with a single integrating power, brings order out of chaos. The greatest source of help within man, which is forever available and will bring ultimate security, is the simple and direct feeling of love for God. This loving of God is the answer to more things than we can possibly imagine in this world.

With true love there can be no sacrifice, in as much as the service to the beloved gives man greater joy than service to self. If love does not make one forget self in bringing happiness to another, then one has never known love. If love does not reward itself through loving, then it is not love. And if the dedication of the individual to loving the infinite Divine Source of Self is not a simple, natural, and direct affection, untouched by creeds and dogmas, he/she has not yet learned the most powerful aspects of love, that of humility and compassion. Love is allowing oneself to quietly disagree with others without the need to prove them wrong. Love is allowing others to disagree with you without separating from them.

Man must gradually penetrate through every mask which hides his love for God, Creator, and Source of all energy. Man has permitted himself to obscure the power that comes of loving God by justifying hate and prejudice. He is unable to penetrate appearances or to find good in those things with which he has previously been in discord. Too many people claim spiritual insight and still live in an attitude of constant criticism and condemnation because of their own disillusionment and failures. The love of the Divine can fail only because man does not truly experience it. Once it is experienced, it cannot fail. There is no prejudice within love. The more simple and direct way to spiritual progress is through kindness, in which we sense our individual potential for good. Thus, our life of wisdom begins not just in study, but in kindness, in the gentle recognition that there are attitudes available to us if we hold them with discipline and cultivate their seeds with integrity. These attitudes will reduce confusion and make possible the peace of the soul.

The life of a mystic begins with this great love of God which in itself overcomes all confusion, both of the body and of the soul. The soul loves God. If man's ego separates him from his soul's love of God, man feels split and isolated. There is only one way to heal the split and isolation. The way is often too simple for man's mind to accept as real and profound. However one's soul is not found in the mind but within the heart. The mind is only an instrument of the heart, whose role is to fulfill those aspirations that our heart finds meaningful and fulfilling. When our soul is free on Mother Earth, we love our Sacred Self, others, and our world. We give up the need to divide others and classify them as good or bad. We give up prejudice and the need to condemn. We feel loving compassion for our self and our fellow man who is suffering, and wish all human beings well on their arduous journey towards Self-Enlightenment.

Mystics examine their lives as wisely as possible, identifying confusion and resolving that this confusion must gradually be removed. The solution is not in neglecting responsibilities, but by guiding every action with a new method of understanding. It is far more important to our ultimate good that we shall learn patience than that we shall escape from the causes of impatience. It is more important that we gain one of the greatest aspects of love, humility, than to gain dominion over the minds or the attitudes of others. There is only one path that leads man out of misery, and that path is the practice of humility, patience, and trust in Spirit. The end of learning is not that we shall know everything, but that we shall be patient with everything; not that we shall gain all things, but that we shall discover the vanity of that which is not true; not that we shall be the masters of men, but that we choose to be the servants of love and wisdom. Mystics think with their eternal mind, feel with their eternal heart, and become one in the service of the eternal work. Only in these things does man find his completion. The natural and spiritual journey of man is simply a movement out of loneliness into the presence of the only One who can ever understand. It is the return to our Divinity within our hearts. It is a love of sharing that which is true and good. It is bringing that depth of understanding into our lives which by itself can delight the soul. If a child proves to be a wonderful person and rich in values, the soul of the parent is truly delighted. For the thing that gives the true parent the greatest joy is to know that the soul of their child is good and happy, and has found peace. The Mystic moves out of loneliness into love, out of separateness into unity, and out of the fear of life into the love of God. This motion is the fulfillment of all things, and in it all other things are perfected. While man is lonely, he is frightened, and in his fear, he seeks to build defenses. He seeks any consolation, right or wrong, that will give him a moment of escape, a second of joy in a world of uncertainty. But there can be no loneliness in God, and, when the soul has returned to its home in the lotus of the heart, it is mature, complete, and secure. It then becomes natural to organize his material concerns and responsibilities from his inner life. He will meet them and fulfill them, and always from an expanded state and depth of understanding. His works, deeds, and thoughts will be kinder. He will be moved by the love of God, and the love of God will move through him.

Man's search for Spiritual and Self-knowledge is his tremendous effort to overcome ignorance, and that ignorance is separation from God. No matter what else we may want to call it, ignorance is a state of separateness from that totality which provides and is a feeling of Unity, Oneness, and Deity. Our immortal Self is the soul and who each of us really are. Ego, our temporary personality, travels through lifetime after lifetime in the dark, until the whispers of the soul are heard through one's inner hearing. And when the soul has once been heard, it cannot be silenced. Our souls will shake, rattle, and roll our lives to make sure we are at the right place, at the right time, for the right reason. Our lives may change and frighten us to death in the process. However, the alchemy of enlightenment will always be present and active. We will become stronger and our lives will always be better and more fulfilling. One's soul loves goodness, wisdom, harmony, beauty, and understanding. If we do not feel this in our daily lives, our souls will begin to move us in new directions with more meaningful values. Man's unconditioned surrender to his own love of God is surrender to his own soul. Feelings of unity are joyful to the soul. Separation is a pain, a shock, and a stress. Each time we actually give up a prejudice or harsh judgment towards another, that has perhaps become so much a part of our lives; we embrace unity, goodness, wisdom, understanding and our kinship with all of life. We embrace Love as all powerful. We can recognize the supreme fact that it is not important whether we are right or wrong. The desperate effort to defend the attitudes or convictions we hold is a false loyalty and can only bring further sorrow and tribulation. A house divided falls. We all have one common bond. We are Man, created in the image of God! We are spiritual children becoming who we are. We are many, we are One. We are all in different stages of spiritual enlightenment. We wish each other the very best and the smoothest path possible. We love one other. We feel compassion or the sorrow and suffering of our brothers and sisters. We allow our healing love to touch each other and the waters of Mother Earth so they may flow purely and provide health to all. We use our healing thoughts and feelings to cleanse Mother Earth of her toxins because we love her. She is born of Spirit as we are. We care about her. We care about our fellow man. We care about ourselves. Our soul is free and it is not necessary that other people agree with us. We will not separate from them as brothers and sisters for such a silly reason. We are more than that! I Am that I Am! I Am free to Love and Be Loved. And, so it is!

Man is only able to create receptivity to the experience of God in his own life. Man cannot demand this. Man cannot insist that this must happen, nor can man storm heaven with a creed or doctrine. The individual, by themselves, must enter into the silence that arises out of the simple acceptance of the love of God.

If and when man attains the dedicated purpose of being the living instrument of the Divine Will, he becomes ensouled with the dynamic energy of the Divine Being. Under these conditions, he is strong. True strength comes when we gain that strange dynamic which preceded creation, and from which all things come forth, the silence of the heart of God. This silence is the root of sound, and from it pours forth the colors and shapes that fashion our world. For out of the silence of the Infinite comes the clamoring of the finite. Yet this clamoring is not as strong or as great as the silence from which they came. There is no strength in clamoring, nor virtue in much noise. The virtue lies in life itself, in the richness of the power by which all living is possible. Man is divided only because he has never learned to love anything better than self, and because of this, he has never given the full devotion of his own nature. And so, by the simple act of grace, man shall learn to love, not because he expects to be loved, but only for the privilege of serving and the right to be humble in the presence of his Beloved. Then he will move away from all complexities and will become fully united. And in this union with God, he will find the end of loneliness and the beginning of the golden sun of hope. He will then find all solutions in the silence of great loving, as his own soul unites with universal power. Empires rise and fall, but love is eternal. The maturing of Love is one of the grandest works of man.

My promises and commitments to self, my fellow man, and Mother Earth in 2009:

I vow to allow others to disagree with me without my need to separate from them.

I vow to allow others that do not agree with me to live in the world.

I vow to agree to be able to disagree with others without attempting to prove them wrong.

I vow to be an instrument for love, harmony, and unity, rather than chaos and divisiveness.

-Patricia Hayes, Healing Arts Journal, January 2009

What is Ro-Hun Therapy? [Spiritual Psychotherapy?]

2009-01-05T23:03:00.008Z

RoHun™ in a Nutshell
RoHun™ reveals the postures of our inner being that isolate us from the personal relationships and achievements we deserve and desire. It unmasks the characteristics of self that hide in immobile states to create circular thinking patterns that narrow our perceptions, and taint our hearts with tendencies, wishes, endeavors, and motives that produce emotional, mental, and physical distortion. RoHun™ becomes a way of life and leaves you with self-knowledge, sensitivity, insight, and the spiritual awareness to recognize when entering a negative state, and it provides “how-to” wisdom to lift above frustration to access the greatest solutions. There are thirteen RoHun™ Self-Healing Processes. Each process gently guides and leads you to a greater ascension of mind and being and a deeper level of purification. As you continually see and experience the positive feedback from each progressive process of RoHun™, you become your own healer. RoHun™ has become a way of life. You have discovered your spiritual strength. This is the ultimate healing. Your own wisdom and love guide and direct your choices. Your mistakes are now perceived as lessons learned that don’t have to be repeated. You no longer fear the failure of making a mistake. You can move forward and make wiser and more sophisticated choices. As you walk through life, your thoughts become more positive, inspired, and productive. Positive and productive thoughts beget more positive and productive experiences. The result is the emergence of the greatest treasure you could ever discover; the true nature of your illumined Self. This is the Pearl of Great Price that lies hidden in the depths of your heart.

What is RoHun™?
RoHun™ is an exceptional process of enlightenment and spiritual psychotherapy that specifically acts to awaken our hearts and spiritual memory, and to cleanse and purify the faulty perceptions and negative beliefs about self that we have accumulated through life’s experiences. The focus, aim and purpose of RoHun™ are to access our spiritual strength, vision, love, wisdom, and abilities in order to live our lives in the natural world fully and joyfully. A dogma that has been perpetuated for a very long time is “Suffer on earth because your reward will be in Heaven.” Spiritual experience allows you to know this as a myth. The only death that is experienced is the death of the physical body. Our emotional/mental and spiritual consciousness continues life in our astral bodies on the astral plane. We are still recognizable to our loved ones on the physical plane. Many people see and feel the presence of their loved one(s) that are operating in their new lives on the astral plane. The faulty perceptions and negative emotions that we hold within our consciousness continue with us in our upcoming lives. The faulty perceptions that limit us in the physical world will continue to limit us in the next dimension of life. It is our consciousness that creates our experiences. When you cleanse and purify old faulty beliefs about self, prejudices, fears, and guilt, you cleanse them from your consciousness forever, which will affect you positively on whatever dimension of life you are on.

RoHun™ is an alchemical process of both ascension and purification. The process of evolution as man has known it has been constant but painfully slow. But today we can accelerate our own process and spiral upward to greater states of consciousness and enlightenment. I have thanked God many times for the gift of RoHun™ as an effective way to ascend to higher states of mind and being. Ascension lifts our minds and vision to a greater and universal perspective that awakens our sleeping prophet. Albert Einstein knew that the tragedy of separateness and the delusion of experiencing ourselves apart from everyone else becomes our prison. Attempting to change ourselves doesn’t work in the long run because we’re resisting our own energy. Self-improvement can have temporary results, but lasting transformation occurs only when we have self-knowledge and we honor ourselves as a source of wisdom, love, and compassion. It is only when we begin to relax within ourselves that we begin to transform. When we are able to relate with our self without moralizing, without harshness and resentment, without deception and self hatred, we are able to let go of negative trauma, shame, guilt, fear, and anger.

Purification is the process that systematically transmutes and releases energy blocks from the seven major chakras within our subtle bodies that prevent our kundalini energy from flowing upward and activating our higher spiritual centers. These blocks, that are lodged within our chakras, are accumulated through life’s experiences. They cause us to continually access old opinions of self rather than embracing and trusting our new and more mature thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Anger is often a symptom rather than a cause. Emotions and feelings of helplessness often trigger anger. In this case, a person is really angry at self for not feeling equipped or able to effectively handle a situation. He/she blames another for his/her feelings of helplessness and then becomes angry. Sometimes a person takes their anger out on the nearest subject rather than the person they blame. Feelings and thoughts of helplessness attract many situations and experiences that trigger anger. If we have numbed our feelings unconsciously so that we do not feel our own painful emotions and the negative energy of others, we have numbed ourselves also from feeling the joy of Life. This is an unconscious act that goes unnoticed unless you examine it. The process of individuation and developing a healthy ego and individuality requires us to manifest the “feeling of our living.” We must be able to “feel” in order to receive. We won’t accept something as real and valuable if we are not able to feel it. If someone says; “I love you” and you can’t feel the love, you reject the attempt and feel no particular value in what is said. If someone tells you that you are gifted and a natural leader, you may think to yourself: “I sure fooled them”, because you have difficulty believing his words. You cannot feel your own value and the truth of what is being said when you have numbed the emotional aspect of self. If you have either numbed your feelings because you don’t trust them, or you feel unworthy to receive, you cannot manifest a feeling of abundance and self-esteem. Our life force is an intense passionate energy that, when allowed to ascend to its natural and highest center of purpose, becomes the pure ability to live, love, and create with wisdom. Ascension and purification are both an integral part of the enlightenment process.

“Man is never helped in his suffering by what he thinks for himself, but only by revelations of wisdom greater than his own. It is this wisdom, which lifts him out of his distress. Hence we find that after years of therapy, some people’s quest for deeper meaning is still not quenched. They then become spiritual seekers, drinking from the fountain of their inner perennial wisdom.” - Carl Jung

In the RoHun™ Process, we first ascend to embrace our spiritual strength and abilities and then, through the light of our wisdom, cleanse and purify the blocks, the negative emotions, and perceptions we have about self that have limited us. Blocks cause the knots that strangle the heart and prevent us from being a source of loving wisdom, harmony, and creative productivity in our world. We can’t accomplish higher consciousness through intellectual discussion. We must be able to apply the wisdom we express. We cannot demonstrate wisdom through artificially contrived situations, but must apply our spiritual realizations in our daily lives, the circumstances that we encounter on a daily basis. This means releasing any conditioned attitudes and self-limiting beliefs which cause frustration, chaos, and suffering and block our ability to receive and feel love, and a sense of well-being and abundance. We are our brother’s keepers. When an individual is consciously working to ascend to a greater state of mind and being, our vibratory rate goes up because we are enhanced by a new frequency. This transformation spreads out through the earth’s grid work system and benefits the Collective Consciousness of Man. Gaining spiritual and self knowledge is not an escape from daily life and responsibility. Rather, it is living on Mother Earth with greater purpose, creativity, enjoyment, and productivity. When you step into the light of Self, you feel the joy that flows within and you feel good about yourself. Every experience you have ever had, are having now, or will ever have, positive or negative, becomes your story. Although sometimes you may not be always be able to choose what happens to you, you can definitely take control of your response. And, this makes all the difference in the world. As we all know, suffering is a shadow that can act as a teacher for our personal and spiritual growth. Suffering teaches empathy, loving compassion, and strength. However, if you get caught in the victim role through your negative experiences, you suffer endlessly and are unable to discover your true purpose.

"Our great whirling planet, our human individuality, were not given to us merely that we might exist for a time and then vanish into nothingness, but that we might question what it is all about. To live without understanding the purpose of your life is foolish, a waste of time. The mystery of life surrounds us; we were given intelligence in order to solve it." - Paramahansa Yogananda

RoHun™ is an efficient and accelerated method of spiritual development that gently awakens our higher centers and purifies our lower centers. We have many dimensions of self and each requires something different. Until we have knowledge of and understand the various, specific, and major aspects of self, and bring them into a harmonious state of being and purpose, we can never fully be happy, healthy, or satisfied with life. It is like chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow without a map or any way to find it. Self eludes us, confuses us, and we give up trying to understand ourselves. We become victims of self rather than directors of self. We are all intelligent beings. When we are able to reason, we find answers. To reason, we need structure and order. We have never known a way to structure self that has worked or satisfied us. Old and traditional psychotherapies that are most readily available, sometimes take years and still provide only a very limited view of self. Few of us have the time in our lives to devote 12 years or therapy to solve a single problem. We need answers and creative solutions daily. RoHun™ is a holistic process that targets and addresses spirit, mind, emotions, and body. Knowing and understanding self is man’s great challenge. RoHun™ engages in the most fascinating science yet to be explored, the Science of the Self. It is a unique science. I refer to it as a science because enlightenment is a systematic and progressive process that is repeatable and attainable. The wisdom attained through exploring self, and understanding the negative forces that delude us, gives us the knowledge and wisdom to enjoy life.

The RoHun™ process can best be imaged by thinking of a map that is clearly marked with specific signposts that systematically direct and lead you to finding the ultimate treasure chest. The pursuit of the treasure can only take place within one’s own consciousness. Doctors of RoHun™ have been extensively trained in both the ascension and purification process. They have had both academic and experiential training in metaphysical, intuitive, and spiritual studies, and have developed their inner senses and spiritual vision to a high degree. They are doctors that are vitally interested in your holistic health. There is nothing more wonderful than to have an interested, loving, and caring individual to guide, direct, and monitor your progress and give support, so that you are continually able to reach greater states of illumined mind and health. Doctors of RoHun™ are intuitively and spiritually skilled and able to assist you in the journey of self healing that results in the discovery of your treasure and Higher Self. All spiritually aware and enlightened people, places, and things of beauty and harmony in the natural world are supporting facilitators and sacred mirrors and reflectors of light that reveal your true spiritual nature. All healing is Self healing.

How are we really different after RoHun?
One significant characteristic of RoHun™ is beginning to experience more synchronistic events in your life. Synchronicity according to Jung is a casual connecting principle that manifests itself through meaningful coincidences. For example, you may be single and feel ready for a new relationship and suddenly meet a person that resonates to that intent. Or you become clear as to what type of job you need and desire to support a system of values. And at a group gathering, you may find yourself unexpectedly seated next to a person who has that type of job opening. Even though it is often difficult to explain the coincidences, these events are intuitively experienced as significant. There are no rational explanations for these situations in which a person has a thought, intuition, or inner psychological state that coincides with an event. By attuning to your inner life you become more connected to your outer life. This process of feeling connected continues as you experience more synchronistic events. Each offers greater perception and transformation. Each synchronistic event becomes a confirmation for the feeling that there is a pattern of underlying oneness. These affirmations become reinforcement for sensing that life is a spiritual path for self-discovery, and motivation for you to want to know more.

Your inner senses naturally develop during the RoHun™ process because you are effortlessly and naturally using them continually. The more you use your inner senses, the better they work for you. Your intuition increases and becomes a source of perceptive intelligence. When you can sense and feel your Higher Self and spiritual purpose on a daily basis, your confidence increases. You begin to know and trust Spirit. You truly begin to trust yourself. You trust that you will know when to say “no” in a loving way. You trust you will know when to say “yes”. You trust in your “spiritual wisdom”, and you trust the many “spiritual friends” that you connect with in both your meditations and RoHun™ processes. You trust that you will be in the right place at the right time for the right reason. The opening of your higher centers and psychic eye of perception makes a major difference in your life. Psychic means “Breath of God”. Being psychic means “seeing and sensing” beyond the five senses. We are not limited to the boundaries of our physical world. Every genius and enlightened being that has ever walked in the world has awakened his/her higher centers. They have seen through their third eye what already “was” and brought the concept, idea, invention, music, art, or technology into the physical world. They tapped into universal consciousness and shared what they saw, sensed, and/or heard with the world’s people.

Through our spiritual progress, we know that it is no longer desirable or advantageous to hold onto destructive energies. When our thoughts reflect light and wisdom, they serve the greatest good of all, rather than solely serving our ego’s needs. This increases and expands our own light as well as the light within the Collective Consciousness of Man. We begin to heal our relationships one by one. We expand our family to include all of mankind. We take time to be alone and nourish ourselves through the beauty of nature, so that we are able to sustain our spiritual sensitivity and loving compassion for self and others. Individuals who have cultivated the habit of enriching their inner lives are never bored. The love of learning is one of the most constructive habits that we can acquire. Constructive habits and positive and inspired thoughts attract experiences that are also positive and filled with light. When we recognize the need for deeper spiritual and philosophic insight, we focus our attention in this direction. As we do, we experience an increased flow of psychic energy that stimulates our enthusiasm and contributes to our greater enlightenment. We become authentic because we have stopped imitating who others would like us to be, and we believe completely in who we already are. We appreciate our progress and sacred self, and the freedom to make wise choices that benefit our families and our lives. We live connected to Spirit and have access to our highest inspired thoughts and feelings. Rather than asking what we can get from others and our world, we begin thinking of and asking our soul how we can serve God and best help our fellow man. We ask our souls for guidance and direction and how we can better manifest our inspired ideas and thoughts in life. Thought is set in motion by the energy we transmit to it. Thought can produce tangible results on the physical plane immediately, if you succeed in setting up an analogous series of connections within self. This can be positive or negative depending on the nature and quality of your thoughts. When enlightened, we energize ideas and create projects, relationships, and homes that reflect love and abundance. We act from who we are, a spiritual being bringing our wisdom, love, light, and healing to help others and our world.

Our Future
When we are enlightened, Spirit is integrated within matter through you and me. We know we are one with the One Light of All that flows through us in all we do in the natural world. We are the Light of Today. Our minds work and have interplay within a field that is called in the field of Quantum Physics, the Quantum Hologram. Within this Quantum Hologram is encoded the complete history of every event. This is also called Nature’s mind. In the animal kingdom, hyper communication has been successfully used for millions of years. When a queen ant is separated from her colony, construction continues. If the queen is killed, all work stops. The queen sends the construction blueprint from great distances at times via the collective consciousness/DNA of her colony. She can be anywhere to do this as long as she is alive in the physical world.

Prehistoric humanity was, like the animals, closely connected to group consciousness. When man was evolved enough to begin to develop the ego and individuality, group consciousness was abandoned almost completely. In his continuing evolution, man is sufficiently well-grounded in individual consciousness to begin to create a new network of group consciousness, one in which we are able to obtain access to all information via our DNA. This is similar to the concept of morphic resonance. Just as on the Internet, one can upload data into the biological internet that is the DNA. One can also download data from it, and email other participants. This holds major significance for man’s immediate future. At a certain point of man’s evolvement towards enlightenment, things will start going faster and faster. It’s an exponential curve. At a certain point the curve starts to take off.

"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern." - William Blake

Transformation and Integration always lead to greater enlightenment. Enlightenment is living in the light. It is turning on the light within that clearly provides the direction and the path of least resistance as you walk on Mother Earth. Man’s time keeping methods only have relevancy when events are viewed from the earth. If the speed of the earth’s movement on her axis and of her orbit accelerated by even 12 percent, our present time keeping methods would fail because they would “warp” in proportion to the variance of the earth’s speed. This same warp continues to grow until we reach the speed of light. At the speed of light, time as we know it warps into something else, and creates the perception that time is stretching. Then time continues to stretch to the point where we are everywhere at once. We enter another dimension where subject and object merge into unity. When we are everywhere at once, we are merged with God and all that is. It was from this dimension that the Christ Light entered the earth to assist man in finding his own Divine Nature. Love is our true nature. Love is who and what we are. When we remove the veils of illusion that cloud and block our perception, we stand in our true, loving, and creative productive nature. When we have integrated our spirituality within the natural world, we feel and are the oneness with Spirit and Mother Earth. Our wisdom flows through our love. We have transcended time and space. RoHun™ is a journey of finding the love, the wisdom, and the harmony that we are.

- Patricia Hayes, Delphi Healing Arts Journal, June 2008

Welcome!

2009-01-05T16:09:00.003Z

Welcome to JCV Healing Blog! This blog is set up as a forum talking about things related to Health, Spirituality, Religion, Psychology, and more. Enjoy!