NEW
CONSCIOUSNESS SPRING, 2016 |
REVIEW
N C R E V I E W. CO M
The Energies
LOVE
of The Purpose of DEPRESSION Future-Fit
GOVERNMENT
Synchronicity:
ENLIGHTENMENT WHISTLEBLOWER OR PSYCHOSIS? Vaccine
REVIEWS | INTERVIEWS | ARTICLES
health - SELF-HELP - metaphysics - CONSCIOUS LIVING - SPIRITUALITY
Find out why Sting, the English musician, singer-songwriter, activist, actor, and philanthropist, believes Debra Silverman and her book
The Missing Element
are on to something that can help us all.
CONTENTS 7
31
33
51
5 FROM THE EDITOR
INSPIRATION
HEALTH
44 LIFE AND DEATH by Tim Braun
7 THE PURPOSE OF DEPRESSION AND DISEASE by Blake Bauer 12 THE WHOLE HEALTH DIET by Mark Mincolla 14 NAVIGATING ONLINE HEALTH INFORMATION by Julia Schopick 18 HARNESS YOUR BODY’S ENERGIES by Joseph Cardillo
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46 TRUE INTIMACY by Courtney Walsh 49 THE ENERGIES OF LOVE with Donna Eden and David Feinstein 51 TRUE COMMUNICATION by Leslie Shore 54 R.E.S.P.E.C.T. by Dr. Denee Jordan CONSCIOUS PARENTING
22 VACCINE WHISTLEBLOWER by Kevin Barry
58 CHILDREN AND FEAR by Janai Mestrovich
OUR WORLD
METAREALITY
26 ALIGNING BUSINESS & PERSONAL BELIEFS by Emmanuel Dagher
62 SYNCHRONICITY: ENLIGHTENMENT OR PSYCHOSIS? by Chris Mackey
29 A CALL FOR FUTURE-FIT GOVERNANCE by Anna Borgeryd
65 MANIFESTING 123 with Ken Elliott 66 SIDEWALK ORACLES by Robert Moss
31 THE TRAUMA BOND by Lawrence Swaim
68 ORDINARY MAGIC by Gary Sherman
33 THE SOUL OF ANCIENT EGYPT by Robert Bauval and Ahmed Osman
72 QUANTUM MODELS OF COGNITION by Jerome R. Busemeyer & Peter D. Bruza
CONSCIOUS CINEMA
74 EASY BREEZY PROSPERITY by Emmanuel Dagher
36 MOVIES & THE POWER OF CHOICE by Brent Marchant 41 THE PHYSICS OF THE SOUL by Frank Huguenard
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77 RISING STARS 82 REVIEWERS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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NEW CONSCIOUSNESS Review
Bold Perspectives on Life, the Universe and Everything Cover Personality: Blake Bauer SUBSCRIPTIONS New Consciousness Review is a quarterly publication covering media and people at the forefront of conscious awakening, particularly those whose perspectives provide tools and impetus for personal and global transformation. Subscribe for free at http://ncreview.com/magazine and view the archives on www.ncreview.com ADVERTISING For all advertising enquiries, call 503-892-3300 or email info@ncreview.com SUBMISSIONS To submit your work for review or interview or to submit articles, email us at info@ncreview.com or visit our website for guidelines. PUBLISHER & EDITOR Miriam Knight CONTRIBUTORS Reviewers Cynthia Sue Larson, Miriam Knight, Jannai Mestrovich, Brent Marchant Feature Writers Brent Marchant, Jannai Mestrovich, Julia Schopick Contributing Writers Blake Bauer, Joseph Cardillo, Kevin Barry, Emmanuel Dagher, Anna Borgeryd, Brent Marchant, Courtney Walsh, Leslie Shore, Denee Jordan, Janai Mestrovich, Chris Mackey, Gary Sherman Production Design Natasha & Neboysa Dolovacki NewConsciousness Review PO Box 80547 Portland, OR 97280 Tel: 503-892-3300 Web: www.ncreview.com Email: info@ncreview.com
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FROM THE EDITOR
A
Trader vs. Investor
professor of finance from NYU was pointing out the difference between a trader and investor on Bloomberg news. A trader is a person who looks solely at the potential for the price of a stock to move up or down, and makes a profit based on how well he can predict (or manipulate) these movements in the market. His perspective is short term, focused on the next quarterly report. An investor, by contrast, looks at the fundamentals of a company – its management, its net assets, its cash flow, its competition, and its long-term prospects.
A company’s valuation in the stock market, however, is determined by analysts with a trader mentality. They decide how they think a stock should be performing in the next quarter, and then mark it down if it doesn’t meet their expectations, even though the company may have delivered perfectly respectable results. The valuation of a company is based on the amount of profit it can generate for investors, and maximizing returns for shareholders has become accepted as the primary purpose of a company. Valuation has been completely divorced from values like serving the community, caring for employees, minimizing the carbon footprint, or even investing in development for the long term. Short-term profit drives everything, especially CEO salaries. (It was announced during the same broadcast that the compensation of the CEO of Citibank was $16.5 million in 2015!) This aggressive, opportunistic thinking was behind the stock market crash of 2008, and it struck me that this same mind-set is playing out in the political arena, and forcing the candidates vying for the presidency to adopt a short-term, trader mentality. Values and integrity seem to be readily sacrificed on the altar of poll numbers, and “rallying the base” is often done by manipulation ranging from cynical to hypocritical, appealing to – or arousing – fear and prejudice. I believe that all sides are filled with good people responding with their hearts and truly wanting what’s best for their families and their country, but it is easy to give up critical thinking when swept up in the rhetoric of faith and nationalism. Yet those who brandish their religion like a sword seem to ignore the moral values set out in the Bible, like feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, caring for the sick, welcoming strangers, and loving one’s neighbor. Respect for life seems curiously selective, and readily overridden by fear-driven calls for carpet-bombing and torture. Disrespect for others with different views is actively encouraged, heedless of the damage it may be causing to the social fabric of our country. This harks back to the trader mentality, where profit and power are seen as the only worthwhile objectives, but it can come with a heavy cost. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8: 36) If you think like an investor, however, you want to build real wealth for the long term. People like Anna Borgeryd, who is the fifth generation CEO of her family’s business, is a passionate example of and spokesperson for sustainability, corporate responsibility and good governance. Please read her Call-to-Action in this issue! Just think what the world could look like if we were to invest more than we consume, act more than react, build more than we destroy, unite more than we divide, appreciate more than we criticize, and love more than we hate. It has never been more urgent to focus on the values that bind us, rather than the issues that divide us. We would do well to contemplate this warning in the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, “Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground – the unborn of the future Nation.” Miriam Knight Editor & Publisher
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Nikola Tesla:
Afterlife Comments on Paraphysical Concepts Volume Two: HEALING AND MAGIC Channeled by Francesca Thoman
T
his extraordinary new book is a guide to help you re-create your reality in a positive and meaningful way by using your mental, psychic and spiritual connections with the higher dimensions of infinite, multi-dimensional reality. It covers truly unusual and fascinating ideas such as the sub-harmonics of injury and illness, the dimension of Identity and DNA, and Torsion Fields and enfolded, higher dimensions. Volume Two’s expanded format presents new concepts and meditations, from pulling in higher-level energies, or focusing on your body’s stem cells, to defining magic in terms of physics so that you can distill magic into action. Nikola Tesla is revealed as a man of tremendous compassion, insight and vision who is still interested in helping us reach into new ways of relating to 4-D reality. His intelligence, insight and enthusiasm shine through what he presents, and can energize your minds, hearts and sprits with new and fascinating perspectives, ideas, and unusual depths of mind. From celebrating the present human trend to live without needing to punish others, to describing the energies of para-light, para-gravity and para-sound, Volume Two: Healing and Magic is human and humanitarian, full of fresh and innovative approaches to understanding the infinite, multi-dimensional reality of the One Whole Being.
HEALTH ARTICLE
The Purpose of
DEPRESSION and DISEASE By Blake Bauer
Everything happens for a reason, including health challenges of the mind and body. Although this may be difficult to accept, my view is that we make ourselves sick and miserable looking for love and attention outside ourselves. We learn from a young age to seek mom and dad’s conditional love in order to survive but it is often at the expense of being true to ourselves and causes us harm.
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f we never wake up to this unhealthy internal dynamic, it eventually leads to depression and disease. The suffering in our body and mind are cries from our soul, from God and the Universe, calling us back home to ourselves and to the source of peace and strength within.
As adults we’ve become accustomed to living with fears of losing love, attention, approval, and security. We learned to feel guilty early in life about expressing what we need to be healthy and happy, because this is somehow too selfish or criticized as wrong, when in reality everyone is actually selfish whether they’re aware of it or not. Now, after years of pleasing others and not taking care of ourselves, we often find ourselves unhappy, unwell, and full of resentment, anger and regret. Confused, we ask ourselves how did I get here? No one is a bad person for wanting to live a deeply fulfilling and authentic life. Yet we feel shame for
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HEALTH having this desire. Entrapped in a web of our own weaving, we have yet to realize that we are waiting for a wholehearted commitment to our own wellbeing and that our suffering is simply asking us to speak and act based on what we truly feel in each situation and relationship.
oped toward ourselves in childhood. Because we tend to be so lost in this harmful way of thinking and acting, it’s very easy to overlook the simple fact that transforming this mental and emotional dis-ease can bring the long-term relief and peace we’re seeking.
I cannot help but point out the fact here that modern medicine has not discovered cures for aliments like cancer, autoimmune disease and clinical depression. Is it because we have been viewing these extreme symptoms from a limited perspective and completely missing the purpose of these challenges?
I have heard it said that life will take away anything or anyone we take for granted. Our life itself and our health fall into this category also. In my work with thousands of people I have witnessed time and again how individuals ignore and disregard their mental and emotional life, because they do not know how to navigate it, talk about it or respect it. The natural progression of this sentiment is a deep feeling of worthlessness; where one perceives their feelings, needs and desires do not matter. They feel their inner self or soul has no value or is not appreciated by those around them, and the byproduct is a body that does not matter or feel worthy of attention. In other words, a heart not cared for or honored by us becomes a body that does not feel good to inhabit.
I believe so. Although it can be hard to swallow, I have found that our mental and emotional relationship to ourselves is both the cause of and the solution to most forms of personal suffering. Our ability to express what we feel effectively and act in alignment with this inner truth directly determines the quality of our mental and physical wellbeing. In most cases deep unhappiness and chronic illness are simply the result of the self-destructive, critical, judgmental and fear-based relationship many of us devel-
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What’s the point of being alive if our soul feels trapped, misunderstood, and valueless? What sentient being would ever want to continue to live a
HEALTH mentally tortured, emotionally anxious, and overwhelmingly stressful life? Yet we as human beings feel so unworthy of creating a lifestyle, career and relationships that make us feel good, alive and well on a daily basis. Although objectively it seems natural to desire a healthy and happy life, the guilt, fear and underlying hurt inside us persistently hold us back. They leave us feeling disconnected and trickle down inside like acid slowly eating us alive from within. Addiction and suicide can be understood in this light. No one wants to live believing they must always be more, do more, or have more to find happiness, health, peace or love. But this is a psychological symptom of past internalized hurt caused by others and ourselves, which when left unresolved, leads us to live in our head in an attempt to protect our heart from further pain and also leaves us feeling alone and insecure. As children we learned to make our feelings, needs and desires wrong, and now for years we’ve endured a limited life of poor self-care and toxic selftalk. We need to swing the pendulum of attention toward transforming our dysfunctional mental and emotional life if we want our body to reflect a healthy internal environment moving forward. Traditional Chinese Medicine offers one the most practical and logical insights into how our thoughts and emotions can lead either to health and happiness or to depression and disease. From this worldview the causes of physical disease directly correlate to the flow of energy and blood in the body. In simple terms, when energy and blood are free flowing daily we experience health and happiness. But when they stagnate we will eventually encounter pain, tiredness, depression, and the toxic buildups that cause illness. The belief is that blood in the body follows the flow of life force energy. The best example of this is the energetic beat or pulse of the heart that causes blood to flow within our veins and carries our immune cells, hormones, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to all corners of the body. What is often overlooked in western medicine is the link between internalized thoughts and emotions that, coupled with fear and the resulting inaction, lead
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A 40-year-old person, who has on average been awake for 16 hours every day, has lived 840,960,000 moments or seconds. That’s 14,016,000 minutes of life experience, where this person is feeling and thinking something directly connected to their deeper wounds, needs and desires. to a decrease in the healthy flow first of energy and then of blood. A 40-year-old person, who has on average been awake for 16 hours every day, has lived 840,960,000 moments or seconds. That’s 14,016,000 minutes of life experience, where this person is feeling and thinking something directly connected to their deeper wounds, needs and desires. Objectively much of this inner process is made up of unresolved emotional pain and negative thoughts, which constantly circle the mind and body and are rarely expressed or addressed in a way we’re at peace with. Both thought and emotion are subtle forms of atomic energy, which when repressed constantly over time cause internal stress, limited oxygen intake, and imbalances in molecular and cellular processes. It also causes the flow of life force energy and blood to slow down and become severely blocked. Due primarily to the various manifestations of survival fear, most people don’t act based on instinct, intuition and what the heart truly communicates either, which creates further disruptions to the healthy flow of energy and blood in the organs and circulatory system. Symptoms like anxiety, shallow breathing, chronic fatigue, lethargy, digestive disorders, depression, bi-polar and sleeplessness set in, and we, and often our doctors, are not quite sure what the underlying cause is.
HEALTH Eventually, over days, weeks, months and years of this process guiding our lives and behavior, the blood and fluid in our bodies begin to coagulate to such a large degree that nodules, masses, growths and tumors begin to form. This then leads to toxins building up in the blood stream and organs, resulting in chronic pain and disease. In simple terms our body becomes at war with itself on a cellular level (like in auto-immune conditions) because we are at war with ourselves mentally and emotionally, living with a constant tear between what we really feel, want and need, and the fears that stop us from speaking and acting completely honestly. From this viewpoint it’s easy to see how living a stressful life compounded by work that is unfulfilling, or staying in relationships where one is not true to their deeper emotions, needs and desires, can create significant inner pressure on our major organs and central nervous system. If we are constantly fighting ourselves in this way, the inevitable result is our self-destruction. This does not even account for excessive consumption of alcohol, food, recreational drugs, and pharmaceutical drugs, which are merely unhealthy habits motivated by an unconscious desire to numb our deeper mental and emotional pain in a misguided quest for short-term superficial relief that only makes health concerns worse in the long run.
Depression and disease is our body’s practical and logical way of alerting us to the life or death importance of giving ourselves permission to be fully who we are now, because it’s the only path to lasting happiness and vitality. 10 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW
Most people understand that eating natural whole foods and adopting a healthy lifestyle will support health and prevent illness. What most don’t know though is that complete honesty and vulnerability in every situation is just as vital to our long term mental and physical health. We are so used to hiding our true feelings in order to survive and keep the peace, protecting ourselves from judgment, criticism, rejection, abandonment and aggression, that we remain unaware we’re relating to ourselves in such a harmful way - until of course we are forced to figure out why we’ve become so depressed or ill.
Deep down we all know we were not born to suffer. But no one can save, heal or free us beside ourselves. This is precisely why the purpose of mental, emotional and physical symptoms is to show us where and how we are not caring for ourselves well enough to thrive and flourish fully before we die. When we can understand the simple but profound truth that all suffering is the result of a constant rejection of the true self - a self that we never learned how to love, accept or value fully- we can begin transforming whatever struggles we’re faced with and find deeper peace and health immediately. There will never be a better time than today to begin practicing this. Depression and disease is our body’s practical and logical way of alerting us to the life or death importance of giving ourselves permission to be fully who we are now, because it’s the only path to lasting happiness and vitality. I have found we are given a choice in life between feeling sorry for ourselves and respecting ourselves, but we cannot have both. I have witnessed countless people stop being victims to their fearful and insecure thoughts and move beyond suffering into enjoying life daily. Once they wholeheartedly committed to speaking and acting in a way that values their thoughts and feelings in every situation as the priority, even when scared, they were able to heal and forgive their past, and finally stop hurting and betraying themselves in the present.
HEALTH The key then to letting go of depression and disease is to stop running from yourself and to start breathing in life and oxygen as deeply as possible right now. By staying open in each moment to yourself you will finally welcome your inner truth and feel deeply again, even if it’s scary or painful at first, which is the only way to truly heal. Then you can get clear about what you actually want in life, what feels good to you, and what makes you feel alive and well.
until we open to this power within, which means until we believe in our inherent capacity to heal ourselves and find lasting happiness, there will always remain aspects of our body and mind that are closed and thus will not heal. It doesn’t matter how many doctors we visit or how great a practitioner might be. The walls of the ego and the small separate self must come down through bringing our own loving attention and acceptance to all the parts of us we’ve rejected over the years.
I have found that when we focus primarily on these things daily, even when criticized for doing so, while speaking and acting with complete honesty and respect for ourselves, we support the healthy flow of energy, blood and emotion in the body and we naturally move away from any person, situation, or habit that is no longer healthy for us. Anything else that we need to address will naturally surface to be felt and liberated as we move forward.
I have found that it’s only through taking 100% percent responsibility for the depression and disease we’re experiencing now, regardless of how hard life has been to date, that we can finally see the purpose this suffering has served in bringing us home to our true selves and to the ocean of strength and peace that’s always existed beneath our mental and emotional struggles. Blaming anyone or anything external only wastes the time and energy we need to heal and free ourselves now. And choosing pride over honest vulnerability will only keep us trapped.
It is my view that each person is one with what we term God, or the Loving Universal Intelligence, and
Blake Bauer is a Chicago native whose fascinating life experiences led him to take the path of teacher. Remarkably young yet gifted with extraordinary wisdom he has become an internationally recognized author, counselor, and alternative medicine practitioner. Blake has traveled worldwide training with notable spiritual teachers, healers, and masters and has acquired a formal education in psychology, Chinese medicine, nutrition, herbal remedies, hypnosis as well as other forms of traditional healing and alternative medicine. His bestselling book, You Were Not Born To Suffer focuses on how loving yourself unconditionally is the key to healing yourself, finding peace, fulfilling your life’s purpose, and realizing your full potential on both a professional and personal level.
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HEALTH REVIEW & INTERVIEW
The Whole HEALTH DIET by Mark Mincolla, PhD
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It is both refreshing and encouraging to read a book about dieting that focuses on the bigger picture of health, rather than simply weight loss.
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n this case the bigger picture includes not only the reasons we overeat, but also how to construct a diet based on solid nutritional science, as well as one that caters to one’s particular food sensitivities and metabolism. We’ve all had the experience of reaching for food to meet a need other than hunger, and when that food or beverage or other substance doesn’t do the trick or satisfies us only temporarily we keep trying to fill the gap, and our weight keeps climbing. By helping us understand the interplay among the emotional, physical, chemical, and nutritional components of health, Mincolla provides practical information we can use to achieve vibrant health.
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HEALTH For example, he explains the effects of different types of exercise on the body. Exercise is vital to stimulate metabolism, but trying to sweat off pounds through vigorous aerobic exercise doesn’t really work. Weight training and muscle building actually increase metabolic efficiency and will lead to greater weight loss, because a pound of muscle burns 40 calories a day versus 2 calories a day for a pound of fat. But balance is also important, so he recommends alternating aerobic exercise with weight or resistance training sessions, plus some form of mind-body exercise. The most unique feature of the whole health diet is the use of muscle testing to determine what are the best foods for you at any given time. He also strongly recommends rotating your food selections across the week. Because any food can cause sensitivity if eaten continuously, he suggests allowing several days between repetitions of the same food, and retesting yourself for sensitivity at least once a month. He even provides recipes to illustrate his approach to healthy eating. While they may not be the most exciting recipes on the planet, you will get the idea.
The most unique feature of the whole health diet is the use of muscle testing to determine what are the best foods for you at any given time. He also strongly recommends rotating your food selections across the week. Mincolla’s holistic approach is not a quick fix, but a sure and steady one. It addresses all the aspects of your life that you need to get into balance, and gives you the rationale and the method for doing so. Observing the principles in this book would be a good investment in health. Reviewed by Miriam Knight
INTERVIEW
Mark Mincolla, Ph.D. has transformed the lives of many thousands of people over the past 30 years. Integrating ancient Chinese energy techniques with cutting edge nutritional science in what has become his innovative Electromagnetic Muscle Testing system (EMT). The main focus of his integrated east-west approach is what he calls Acutrition, as it zeros in on each individual’s unique nutritional needs. His website is http://www.maxhealing.com
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
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HEALTH ARTICLE
Navigating Through Online Information to Find the Right Treatment for You By Julia Schopick
Author, HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases
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Many people ask, “With all the health information online, how can I tell which treatments are worth trying, and which ones aren’t?”
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s the author of a book about innovative medical treatments many doctors and patients don’t know about, I want to share some tips about how to separate the wheat from the chaff—i.e., the good from the bad (or at least, the “questionable”)—when it comes to both alternative and conventional treatments.
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HEALTH FIRST, ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS Tip #1: If it sounds too good to be true,
it probably is!
With alternative treatments, the first rule of thumb is, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” So, beware of all the “miracle cures,” “miracle potions,” “breakthrough cures,” “biggest discoveries,” and any treatment that “cures all ____s.” (Fill in the blanks: cancers, infections, etc.) Oh, yes, and let’s not forget about all those “one minute cures” out there! Sadly, these quotes are taken from actual websites that are hawking actual “cures.” Remember, no one treatment can cure ALL of anything. The four treatments I feature in my book, HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases, are all promising treatments. But not one of them works for everyone. For instance, one of the treatments, the Ketogenic Diet—a high fat, low carbohydrate, low protein diet for childhood epilepsy—has helped thousands, maybe millions of children since its inception in the 1920s at prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic. In small studies since the 1920s, it has been found to help 60-70% of children who try it. But clearly, it does not help everyone. Yet, for those patients whose seizures are stopped or lessened with this diet, it is a “miracle.” But it is not a “miracle cure,” since it does NOT work for everyone. The same is true of the other three effective, time-tested, but not “miracle” treatments featured in my book: Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) for autoimmune diseases; intravenous alpha lipoic acid for end-stage liver disease; and Silverlon for non-heal-
Pharmaceutical companies are not likely to want to put money into studying natural treatments, or those that are too inexpensive. 15 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW
Ketogenic Diet—a high fat, low carbohydrate, low protein diet for childhood epilepsy—has helped thousands, maybe millions of children since its inception in the 1920s at prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic ing wounds. Like the Ketogenic Diet, these treatments help many thousands of patients who have used them, and my book contains contributions by several people who have been helped by these treatments. But still, they do NOT help everyone. Tip #2: Avoid Treatments with Obvious
Financial Ties.
Second, it is important to realize that in the US, money is closely tied to healthcare, both conventional and alternative. So, if you want to find a treatment that is worth trying, keep away from those with questionable financial ties. Be wary of a treatment if the only positive information you find has been provided by the doctors who are proponents of the treatment, or by people (doctors or laypeople) who profit from it. These are often thinly veiled testimonials, and it’s easy to spot them. You’ll be able to know which are obvious testimonials because they are too enthusiastic, too “salesy.” Instead, look for solid information provided by third parties— people who have NO “skin in the game.” Tip #3: Look for Small Studies on the
Treatment You’re Considering.
Third, if the treatment is reputable, there may well be small studies available on the government-run PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/). Please note that most so-called “alternative”
HEALTH treatments will NOT have large, expensive, class 3, double blind, placebo-controlled studies—the kind the FDA requires to give its approval—since a majority of those studies are conducted by the pharmaceutical companies that stand to profit from them. And pharmaceutical companies are not likely to want to put money into studying natural treatments, or those that are too inexpensive. In HONEST MEDICINE, David Gluck, MD contributes a fascinating chapter in which he explains the Big Pharma-FDA-Trial connection. I’d be happy to send this chapter as a PDF to anyone who writes to me at Julia@HonestMedicine.com. Please put “Dr. Gluck’s chapter” in the subject line. But many promising, so-called “alternative” treatments do have smaller studies performed on them. For instance, a recent check on PubMed showed numerous studies conducted on the treatments profiled in my book: e.g., 95 on Low Dose Naltrexone, 13 on Silverlon, 1584 on the Ketogenic Diet, and 2017 on alpha lipoic acid. Some people are surprised when they learn that a large number of nutritional supplements have been put through similar small studies, some conducted in foreign countries, but reputable studies nonetheless. (Try searching for studies on melatonin, magnesium, gaba, and some of the supplements you take. You may be pleasantly surprised!)
CONVENTIONAL TREATMENTS Just as there are signs to watch for in the alternative medicine world, there are also signs to watch for with conventional treatments—even in cases of treatments offered by some of our “best” medical institutions, and touted by some well known physicians. The reason for this is that some physicians and medical institutions receive financial support from pharmaceutical and medical device companies, which can lead to conflicts of interest. So, again: “Patient, beware!”
Tip #1: W atch out for Major Medical
Institutions with Financial Ties.
Chances are, if your doctor knows you will want to research your condition or treatment, he or she will most likely steer you to a website or websites that are considered by conventional medical practitioners to be “reputable.” But often, the websites doctors recommend are also fraught with questionable ties. For example, two of the websites most respected by conventional doctors are those of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. But, most doctors are not aware of the financial ties these institutions have to the pharmaceutical and medical device industries—ties that may well cloud the advice provided on their websites. For instance, a 2014 article titled “Mayo Clinic doctors making millions for private consulting” reveals: An unprecedented disclosure of payments from drug companies shows that $3.07 million for consulting was paid in 2,388 payments to Rochester-based Mayo Clinic researchers, doctors and hospitals during five months last year. And a 2012 article titled “MD Anderson’s president DePinho can keep pharmaceutical ties” states: The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer President Ronald DePinho will be allowed to maintain financial ties with three pharmaceutical companies, the Houston Chronicle reports. In a letter made available Oct. 23, Dr. Kenneth Shine, the UT System’s vice chancellor for health affairs, granted the waiver for Massachusetts-based companies Aveo Pharmaceuticals, Karyopharm Therapeutics and Metamark Genetics Inc. and said DePinho’s holdings in them will be placed in a blind trust, the Chronicle reports. There are numerous similar instances of financial ties for many other major medical institutions. You just need to do your research.
HEALTH Tip #2: D isease-Related Organizations Often
Have Financial Ties, too.
When patients are diagnosed with cancer, oncologists are quick to point them to the American Cancer Society website for information on the best treatments. Not so fast! If you check the ACS’s site, you’ll see that it has received contributions of over $250,000 each from several pharmaceutical companies, including Abbott Labs, AbbVee, Pfizer, Merck, and Eli Lilly. And other “disease organizations” your doctor recommends may also have similar financial ties. For instance, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society lists as its corporate partners Allergan, Genzyme, Novartis, and Biogen Idec, to name a few. Ditto the American Diabetes Association, whose corporate sponsors include a stunning number of pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Merck, Sanofi, and Pfizer. With pharmaceutical contributors like these, there is a good chance the information on these websites might be influenced by the organizations’ financial ties. Tip #3: Clinical Trials Have Financial Ties, too. Add to this the fact that a huge percentage (some estimates range up to 90%) of Phase 3 clinical trials—the ones doctors rely on when prescribing medications—are financed by the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the drugs they plan to sell and profit from. There is reason to question the results of these trials. See “Big Pharma’s Role in Clinical Trials.” Tip #4: L earn About Doctors’ Financial Ties. If you are curious as to whether a doctor you are planning to consult has questionable ties to pharmaceutical or medical device companies, you’ll want to visit one of my favorite websites, “Dollars for Docs”: https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/ . Even I, who consider myself to be a savvy researcher and patient advocate, was recently
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helped by this site. A friend recommended that I consult a particular orthopedic physician for a problem I was having. Imagine my surprise when I discovered—thanks to “Dollars for Docs”—that, from August 2013, to December 2014, this enterprising physician had earned $887,819 from a total of 116 companies. And—get this!—“Dollars for Docs” ranked him #5 out of 721 physicians in his specialty in Illinois in the amount of money he earned from these companies. In other words, he got more money from pharmaceutical and medical device companies than 716 other orthopedic physicians in Illinois. This, most probably, is in addition to his “real” salary! And this, apparently, is not of concern to the top medical institution where he practices. Make no mistake about it. There is an abundance of great health information online. As a matter of fact, most of the contributors to my book found the treatments that saved their lives on the Internet. But there is also information about treatments—both alternative and conventional—that are “too good to be true,” and/or have questionable financial ties. I hope the information I have provided here will help you separate the wheat from the chaff, and in so doing, will help you find treatments that will assist you in your quest for optimum health! Julia Schopick is a health writer, lecturer, patient advocate and coach, and the author of the award-winning HONEST MEDICINE: Effective, Time-Tested, Inexpensive Treatments for Life-Threatening Diseases. Through her writings and her blog, HonestMedicine.com, Julia empowers patients to make the best health choices for themselves and their loved ones by teaching them about little-known but promising treatments their doctors may not know about. Julia’s writings on health and medical topics have been featured in American Medical News (AMA), Alternative & Complementary Therapies, the British Medical Journal and the Chicago Sun-Times. Learn more at www. HonestMedicine.com. Write to her at Julia@ HonestMedicine.com.
HEALTH ARTICLE
Harness Your Body’s Energies for
YOUR BEST LIFE By Joseph Cardillo, PhD
Author of Body intelligence – Harness Your Body’s Energies for Your Best Life
One thing we all want is more and better quality energy. Many individuals, instead, get caught in the whirlwind of daily activities. This is especially true during current times when everyone is trying to crank more out you everywhere. By day’s end, you go to bed drained or with a racing mind or both. We wonder where we are ever going to get the energy for all those things we want to do.
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Getting the energy we need he major reason that people feel burnt out is that they there is a mismatch between the energy that they are expending within a particular activity – physical, mental or spiritual (I use this last term nondenominationally) – and the energy that is required for that task. For example, a weight lifter trying to bench-press 350
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lbs. will require different energy than a student trying to solve a difficult math equation or a mom or dad trying to get the children up and off to school or someone trying to play a melody on the piano. When energy and actions are mismatched you feel drained. When you use the right energy for the right task, you will feel invigorated and happy. You will flow rather than burn out. You will perform and feel your best and your life will feel vibrant. The things you do will bring you joy. This is why I wrote my book Body Intelligence, because I want everyone to plug their daily energy drains, replace them with energy gains, and live a luminous life. I encourage everyone to make learning more about Body Intelligence and body energy science a priority. A small commitment reaps long rewards for you and your family and really everyone you will ever touch. Part of the reason why people are not getting the energy they need is that we’ve been conditioned to think there are only two kinds of energy: high and low. As a result many individuals turn to en-
HEALTH ergy drinks, supplements, and other substances to bring them either “up” or “down.” But there is more to it than that. As long as we think of energy that way, we suffer daily consequences which include: overall low energy, memory fatigue, brain fatigue, increased errors and conflict, insomnia (the number one negative influence on workforce labor), body pain, emotional concerns, attention/ focus problems, interrelationship problems, and the beginnings of many top shelf health problems. Good energy management begins with identifying whether we are experiencing any of these conditions and becoming aware of their causes. In the scope of these health issues, body energy (when mismatched) can be both the cause and (when matched) the “correction,” “the” cure or a significant part of the cure. From the perspective of the new mind-body-medicine, this last point will be determined by several factors, including the individual’s and his or her caretakers’ efforts, tool kit and understanding of the body’s full spectrum of energy mechanisms and influencers.
Defining Body Intelligence Definition for my theory of Body intelligence begins with an understanding that the body is an incred-
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ible, intelligent instrument. Like a tremendously capable antenna, it can proficiently and literally download energy from everything in its environments, including from within itself. Then there is the other half of Body Intelligence which involves – BQ – and which (like IQ) refers to the individual – the individual’s understanding of the body’s full energy spectrum, e.g. chemical, light, electrical, heat, sound, mechanical, and the subtle energies. And BQ also refers to the individual’s comprehension for how to access and use these. Sounds difficult, complex? But not really. How about fun and liberating (freeing you to get the energy you need easily, accessibly, and fast and not having to wait for catastrophe to hit and/or being bound to pharmaceuticals when unnecessary or being bound “so much,” as well as having to deal with invasive procedures, and fears. Who wants that? Even in difficult cases, one’s ability to access their full spectrum energies helps keep them more positive and if nothing else, there are mounds of research showing a more positive mindset will help the more conventional procedures, chemical and otherwise, to have a better overall effect. So understanding your full being energies is always a win, win situation.
HEALTH Mixing and Matching Energies Whatever it is you are trying to do there is an energy you can harness to fuel it: Do you need more memory, more calm, more alert, more concentration, sleep, creativity and so on. Anyone who has a cell phone has labored over attempting a task on the device. Then later a friend shows you a super simple function or app already on your device that can do the job for you in a snap. What a difference that makes in relieving stress and replacing it with smooth sailing. We don’t have “apps” in our body, per se, but we do have mechanisms and templates that work similarly and can help us tap our energetic “sweet spots” fast and issue the changes we’d like throughout our entire being of body-mind-spirit. Body Intelligence is learning how to use these mechanisms to achieve the exact energy you need.
We Live in a Physical World for a Reason You are energy, your world is energy, and everything in your world is energy. We have a body and live in the physical world for a reason. As such, the body becomes an instrument to balance and evolve the mind – to higher consciousness. It can be so simple. When your mind is fatigued, depressed, disor-
ganized, you don’t want it imposing its influence over your body. If that happens you are going to have two problems. But the fix can be easy. Here’s a tiny example: Who in the middle of a rough day hasn’t taken a walk outside and felt better? Not only does the exercise refresh your energy reserves but the extra “light” reduces the amount of melatonin in your bloodstream – the hormone making you feel groggy in the first place. Sometimes that’s all you need. But there’s so much more you can do to rev your body’s electro-chemical patterns in similar simple ways. Ultimately, Body Intelligence is about learning how to take simple feel-good patterns of activity and amplify the feel-good effects. This can be seen, in some cases, as equivalent to increasing the dose of say a pharmaceutical or exercise, mental of physical. You can learn how to sustain the effects of feelgood patterns, giving them long-lasting power. Ultimately and literally, you can create a whole new brain and mind circuitry that will activate to spark the energy you need automatically, as you need it. Beyond ourselves, when you gift this personally nourishing energy outward, you change and evolve the world. For an in-depth look at how you can do this, you may wish to check out my newest book, Body Intelligence – Harness Your Body’s Energies for Your Best Life.
INTERVIEW Joseph Cardillo, PhD is a best-selling author and lecturer in the fields of health, mind-body-spirit and psychology. An expert in Attention Training™, creative thinking, and body energy, Dr. Cardillo has taught his methods to more than twenty thousand students at various colleges, universities, and institutes. He is a regular contributor to Psychology Today, and is the author of Be Like Water, the bodyenergy classic. His website is http://www.josephcardillo.com/ LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
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HEALTH ARTICLE
Vaccine Whistleblower By Kevin Barry The following excerpt from “Vaccine Whistleblower: Exposing Autism Research Fraud at the CDC” provides an Executive Summary of four legally recorded phone conversations between Dr. Brian Hooker, a scientist investigating autism and vaccine research, and Dr. William Thompson, a senior scientist in the vaccine safety division at the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC). Thompson is still employed at the CDC under the protection of the federal Whistleblower Protection Act. “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived
and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” —John F. Kennedy
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t a town hall meeting in Los Angeles on June 17, 2015, Dr. Brian Hooker revealed that he and Dr. Thompson had spoken on the phone over thirty times. Dr. Hooker legally recorded four of those calls. “. . . Over the period of November 2013 to August 2014, I had over thirty separate phone conversations with Dr. Thompson. He initially reached out to me in an unsolicited phone conversation to my cell phone. Dr. Thompson and I had talked on the phone and exchanged email correspondences much earlier, between 2002 and 2004, back when I was trying to advise the CDC on their vaccine safety studies related to childhood neurodevelopmental disorders. However,
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the CDC curtailed my conversations with him in 2004 due to my family’s participation in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program where we were seeking remuneration for my own son’s vaccine injuries. The phone calls from November 2013 to August 2014 were secret and Thompson did not let CDC officials know that he and I were talking as that could have cost him his employment. I made the decision to record four of the last phone conversations I had with Dr. Thompson, without his knowledge, based on the revelation of harm to children, caused by the CDC’s very dysfunctional and even criminal vaccine safety program. These recordings were obtained legally and involved advice from legal counsel in each instance. . . .”
HEALTH Call 1—Highlights of the May 8, 2014, call REFERENCE: http://www.ageofautism. com/2015/06/the-battle-for-californiapart-4-the-nation-of-islam-and-thechurch-of-scientology-join-the-fight-
1. D r. Thompson wants to “stop lying” about omitting significant data which suggested an elevated risk of autism in a subpopulation (African American males) from a 2004 MMR paper he coauthored. 2. D r. Thompson says “thimerosal causes tics,” thimerosal-containing vaccines “ should never be given to pregnant women,” and that he would never give a thimerosal-containing vaccine to his own wife. Flu shots with thimerosal are on the recommended vaccine schedule for children, pregnant women, and adults. 3. D r. Thompson describes how the CDC stonewalls Congressional requests for documents and how the CDC stonewalls requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act. 4. D r. Thompson says how the CDC and media “love” to “hype” measles and polio outbreaks in order to “scare” the public. In May 2014,Thompson essentially predicted how the CDC and media reacted to the measles outbreak at Disneyland in late 2014.
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5. Dr. Thompson says autism research is a “political hot potato” inside the CDC. 6. Dr. Thompson discusses in May 2014, some seven months before the CDC, drug companies, and the press fanned the fires of measles hysteria, that they love to hype and scare people: “But I also have to say these drug companies and their promoters, they’re making such a big deal of these measles outbreaks and they now they’re making a big deal that polio is coming back and polio comes back all the time in third world countries. It’s like a never-ending thing where the press loves to hype it and it scares people.”
Call 2—Highlights of the May 24, 2014, call 1. Dr. Thompson says what the CDC has been denying for years: “There is biologic plausibility right now, I really do believe there is, to say that thimerosal causes autism-like symptoms.” 2. Dr. Thompson hired a whistleblower attorney in May 2014 to protect his position as an employee at the CDC during the period he hopes to testify before Congress. 3. Dr. Thompson says the CDC is currently sitting on a treasure trove of data pertain-
ing to 1,200 children with autism—including vaccine records of children and their mothers (Rhogam, flu shots). It’s called the SEED (Study to Explore Early Development) study. 4. Dr. Thompson says that researchers at the CDC are not looking at the vaccine data, and Dr. Thompson urges that the data be looked at by genuinely independent researchers. Dr. Thompson’s suggestion disqualifies CDC partner organizations like Autism Speaks. The founding of Autism Speaks in 2005 was underwritten by a $25 million dollar gift from Home Depot cofounder and billionaire Bernie Marcus. Mr. Marcus is Chairman Emeritus of the CDC Foundation. (More on Autism Speaks in Chapter 9.) 5. Dr. Thompson says CDC staffers Dr. Boyle and Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp were invited to testify at the Congressional hearing held on May 20, 2014, but they declined the invitation. Thompson says Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp said she “won’t” testify and Dr. Boyle said she would “never” testify before Congress again. Knowing this, one can hope Congress will not hesitate to use subpoena power to compel these federal employees to be accountable. 6. Dr. Thompson says the “CDC has put the research ten
HEALTH years behind.” Dr. Thompson’s MMR paper was published in 2004. The Verstraeten and Madsen papers were published in 2003. The signals on the possible connection between vaccination and autism and other adverse events like tics and verbal IQ were not accurately reported by researchers. Because the CDC researchers omitted significant data, the flow of research was diverted away from vaccination. The autism rate has increased from 1 in 166 in 2004 to 1 in 68 in 2014. 7. D r. Thompson says “I am part of the problem,” and confides that he has “great regret.” 8. D r. Thompson predicts his coauthors at the CDC will try to undermine him when news of his whistleblowing gets out. Dr. Thompson predicts they will argue that he is mentally ill. Fortunately, Dr. Thompson kept his records from the study in question and he has turned those records over to Congress.
Call 3—Highlights of the June 12, 2014, call 1. D r. Thompson acknowledges that he and his coauthors changed the criteria of their 2004 MMR paper to alter the data in a way, which eliminated a signal which indicated that, for African-American
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boys, getting the MMR vaccine “on time” (before age three) increased the risk of an autism diagnosis. 2. Dr. Thompson reveals that because there was no outside review panel on the 2004 MMR paper, there was no one to stop them from changing the criteria. 3. Dr. Thompson describes the difficulty in getting significant findings about adverse health outcomes caused by vaccination published by medical journals. REFERENCE: https://oig.hhs.gov/ fraud/fugitives/profiles.asp
4. Dr. Thompson reveals that indicted fugitive Dr. Poul Thorsen, who is alleged to have stolen more than $1 million from the CDC, is the purported boyfriend of former CDC researcher Dr. Diana Schendel. Dr. Thorsen has been under indictment since 2011 for stealing more than $1 million dollars for his own personal gain from the CDC by falsifying invoices. According to the indictment, he executed a scheme to defraud and divert this money from approximately February 2004 to February 2010. The missing $1 million CDC grant money flowed through Aarhus University and Odense University Hospital in Denmark. Apparently, Dr. Thorsen and Dr. Schendel have
been dating the entire time Dr. Thorsen has been under indictment. Dr. Schendel worked at the CDC from 1993 to 2013. Thompson says she spent the summer of 2003 “in Denmark money laundering with her boyfriend.” Dr. Schendel relocated to Denmark after leaving the CDC and currently is employed at Aarhus University. 5. Dr. Thompson says those inside CDC want to include Dr. Schendel in research opportunities going forward with the SEED data. If Dr. Schendel and Dr. Thorsen are actually a couple, one can hope the CDC will not employ Dr. Schendel while her partner is still a fugitive indicted felon. 6. Dr. Thompson describes former CDC director Julie Gerberding taking a job as President of Merck Vaccines as “dark.” Like many parents, Dr. Thompson appears to share the opinion that Dr. Gerberding’s choosing to work for a corporation which she used to regulate was shady, dirty, or “dark.” The MMR vaccine is manufactured by Merck. Dr. Gerberding was the head of the CDC in the early 2000 when the studies alleging the safety of the MMR vaccine were done. Just after the required waiting period of a year and a day of leaving the CDC, Dr. Gerberding took her new position at Merck. She currently is Executive Vice
HEALTH President for Strategic Communications, Global Public Policy and Population Health at Merck, as of December 2014. Dr. Gerberding is one of many researchers using the revolving door between government and industry. She has made millions of dollars with Merck and from Merck stocks since leaving the CDC. 7. D r. Thompson describes a culture at CDC where “senior people do completely unethical, vile things” and they are “not held accountable.” One can hope Congress will hold hearings in the near future to hold them accountable. Hopefully, someday we will also have a president willing to hold the CDC accountable. 8. D r. Thompson makes an excellent policy recommendation regarding the CDC and the future of vaccine safety. Dr. Thompson suggests moving vaccine safety out of the CDC. He suggests a structure similar to the Federal Avi-
ation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). With this change, the CDC can concentrate on vaccine promotion while a separate agency would be responsible for vaccine safety.
Call 4—Highlights of the July 28, 2014, call 1. Dr. Thompson describes how CDC whitewashes and waters down attempts to replicate adverse effects from previous vaccine safety research. Data showing negative health effects from vaccination would sometimes “disappear” between submission of an original manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal and publication. 2. Dr. Thompson says there is a “very biased political agenda” inside the CDC. One way CDC blocks future vaccine safety research funding is to give research on this issue a
“low-priority score” so those projects will lose out to other projects in funding competition. 2. Dr. Thompson speculates that the Verstraeten study (2003) may have EXCLUDED specialty clinics from the data in order to game the data, in a reverse way that the Madsen Denmark paper INCLUDED specialty clinics to game the data. According to Dr. Thompson, when researchers “don’t like what they are finding” in the data, they “adjust” it. 3. Dr. Thompson tells Dr. Hooker that he provided Representative Darrell Issa and Representative Bill Posey with 100,000 documents regarding vaccine safety research, which would assist a Congressional investigation, some of which Dr. Hooker has had a chance to review inside Congressional offices.
*Kevin Barry, Esq. has three sons, one with regressive autism. Mr. Barry is a former federal lawyer. He is currently co-president of the Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law & Advocacy (EBCALA) and president of First Freedoms, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Mr. Barry is the former president of Generation Rescue.
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OUR WORLD ARTICLE
Aligning Your Business
with Your Personal Beliefs by Emmanuel Dagher Part of staying in alignment—keeping your outer life in balance with your true values—is remaining honest with yourself and others.
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business that doesn’t operate from integrity often doesn’t succeed. Being transparent, open, and honest will be a reflection of your true self and will encourage others to invest in you and your desires.
For example, I’ve noticed that many members of the wellness community don’t like having a social media platform. Some of my colleagues in the wellness and holistic health field don’t feel that social media can be an extension of their personal self. They only utilize social media, if at all, as an outlet for business purposes. What they’re missing is that social media can also be used to create communities. When I first began to develop my social media platform, I was advised by several people not to put too much of my energy into it, because it would take away from my practice elsewhere. I thanked them for their input, but I had a good feeling about social media, so I decided to give it a try anyway. It has worked out amazingly well for me. Without my social media connections, I wouldn’t have succeeded nearly as quickly.
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OUR WORLD Just last year, I was approached by Camden, a friend who had previously advised me against expanding my social media platform. He was amazed by what I had done but worried that if he tried to do the same thing, it would backfire, and he would wind up having to put all of his energy into something that didn’t help him or his client base. I encouraged Camden to pursue more involvement in social media as long as those actions felt as if they were in alignment with him and with his vision. I told him that I viewed the business opportunity of social media as an extension of my true self, so I made using it into a spiritual practice, and I hoped that he would do the same. Putting energy into a community creates a greater positive feedback loop than putting energy into a solo venture. We talked about how I integrated social media into my life and my business practices and what I avoided. I focused on how I try to remain honest and true to myself even on my professional accounts. If I allow a separation between my business and personal accounts on an internal level, I find it much harder to keep the balance. If instead I allow my personal and professional values to integrate across my social media accounts, I’m better at maintaining the balance necessary for integrity. Social media, when used both personally and professionally, allows for such a great public expression of positivity and energy. Camden had seen a lot of professional accounts that only focused on the business aspects of what social media can help you gain, without seeing what it can help create within a community—or even how it can help form a community. Running social media for your business doesn’t have to—and shouldn’t—feel like work. It should be a connection with your have. Social media isn’t a narcissistic practice unless you make it one. It’s community building and networking for both business and friendship. By using our professional accounts to also discuss ideas and concepts that matter to us personally, we open ourselves up to greater opportunities for raising awareness about our businesses or about something we are deeply passionate about, such as a cause, charity, or fundraising event. I look to social media as a way to ask how I can be kind, loving, positive, and of service to my community.
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I look to social media as a way to ask how I can be kind, loving, positive, and of service to my community. It took a while for Camden to see these possibilities, but once he did, he welcomed the opportunities it provided with open arms. He changed his perspective on what social media really can do and allowed its positive energies into his life. As a result, he has attracted greater interest in his business and has developed an engaged social network community, both of which have had a positive impact on the success of his business. I see social media as an extension of us as people, as human beings. It allows us to connect with people we might have otherwise never met. This generates a huge, positive network of like-minded people who are capable of creating great change. Similar to the way mantras work—where the energy you tap into has been built upon by thousands or millions of people—social media has access to a wealth of energy and the possibility of creating intense, meaningful relationships across the globe. My follower base on Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms built themselves because I didn’t see it as work. I saw it as a way to connect and share with other people. Creating balance in your life is an important investment in your future growth and prosperity. When one area of your life demands the bulk of your time, an imbalance is created in that area, and you will inevitably feel that imbalance in other areas of your life. There are three keys to creating balance and alignment with who you are: 1. Do what you love. Work should be fun! It shouldn’t feel like work, and it shouldn’t feel separate from
OUR WORLD your personal life. Your work and personal lives should be entwined, to a healthy extent. You should be able to go out and have fun with friends and family, but you should also be having fun at work and feel a sense of enjoyment while working. 2. Cultivate a spiritual practice. This can include things such as meditation or taking a walk in Nature. This practice should help you find your center and give your mind a break from thinking about your To-Do List, so that you’re better able to focus on your spiritual development. Without spiritual development, we cut ourselves off from a huge portion of the energy that the Universe is willing to give us. 3. Play. This one always makes my clients grin. Play can come in many forms, from things like drawing, painting, or playing an instrument, to literal playing—running around the yard with your kids or going to an amusement park. It’s your time to turn off your mind and to just let loose. You might prefer play when it’s in the form of going to the movies or putting together a dinner party with your friends. Either way, play is crucial for all stages of life and development. These three keys allow for balance in your life between work and personal time. It’s important to keep your own energy “cup” full, so you can both give to and receive from others. If your cup is perpetually full, you might want to find time to give a
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bit more. If your cup is always running dry, remember to let others give to you, and to honor them by accepting their gifts. Your cup running dry might also be a symptom of being out of alignment, so make sure to double-check that what you’re doing in each area of your life is making you happy.
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The preceding is excerpted from EASY BREEZY PROSPERITY: THE FIVE FOUNDATIONS FOR A MORE JOYFUL, ABUNDANT LIFE by Emmanuel Dagher (Rodale/January 2016) and reprinted with permission of the publisher. Emmanuel Dagher is a highly sought after Transformation Specialist, Holistic Health Practitioner, Inspirational Social Media Personality and Speaker. He is the author of the Amazon bestseller Easy Breezy Miracles. Considered by many a next -generation new thought leader, Emmanuel is a gifted humanitarian who is devoted to assisting people and the planet in positive transformation, in service to the well-being of humankind. To subscribe to his popular Energy Forecast and for more information please visit : www.emmanueldagher.com Twitter:@emmanueldagher FB: facebook.com/emmaneuldagher1
OUR WORLD ARTICLE
A Call for Future-Fit Governance
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nna Borgeryd addressed this call of a Swedish working group, The StepWise Group, to governments and businesses across the world to take action to promote a positive systems change and work strate gically towards sustainability. She pointed out that while climate change, toxicity, shrinking biodiversity,
poverty, degradation of food production capacity or corruption are all great challenges, the greatest challenge, the one that drives the rest, is ignorance or inaction on the part of our political and industrial leaders regarding the mechanisms of destruction of our ecological and social systems. They call upon leaders to adopt a systems perspective to help society become sustainable.
Anna Borgeryd A Call for Future-Fit Governance
Stockholm 2016 02 03 Sustainability is scientifically defined by robust operational principles. Scientific studies of planetary
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boundaries show global systemic consequences of humanity’s present, unsustainable behavior. We know that the economy currently powering our civilization comes with yet-to-be-paid-for external
OUR WORLD costs, some of which are unthinkable: We are fast approaching biophysical tipping points and risk irreversibly pushing the world into a state dangerously unfavorable to civilization and all higher lifeforms. The historic COP 21 Paris Agreement shows that, although we still lack sufficient plans even for urgent climate actions, we now have widespread, at least partial, recognition of the need for profound change. This is an urgent call to move further and act faster to secure a sustainable future. In order for agriculture, fisheries, transportation, housing, industry and other crucial sectors to work in the future, they all need to comply with the sustainability principles. We represent businesses currently working to realize this transition towards sustainability, and we know this to be true: 1. I t is already profitable and in our self-interest to stepwise move our organizations towards full sustainability. 2. T his is possible because we set our goals by using basic sustainability principles as the boundary conditions for what will work in the future, and then develop concrete actions to move strategically, taking steps at the right pace and in the right order, towards these goals. 3. B ut the transition is too slow. Many leaders in businesses and municipalities would like to increase the pace of change and are now asking for more proactive governance, including legislation and infrastructural investments. 4. The prevailing global economy is dominated by norms and practices that rapidly consume natural and social capital, funneling us globally into a future where the indispensable biosphere capacities are shrinking, and social stability is weakening. These mounting costs are made invisible by dangerously flawed, current economic accounting. 5. I ndividual organizations, regions and nations do not have to wait for global agreements in order to act on this call. Strategic sustainable development in line with the above offers us a competitive edge, while at the same time aiding society in the necessary global transition.
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The StepWise Method is a Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) that includes guidelines for achieving ecological and social sustainability alongside improved economic returns. It was adopted by a unique and growing group of corporate leaders and owners in Sweden who meet regularly to discuss the application of science for strategic sustainable development to their respective organizations. They cover topics like learning how to: deal with system boundaries, evaluate trade-offs, estimate sustainable resource and market potential before investing in new technologies, manage supply chains and cooperate effectively across sectors and disciplines. The group members seek to identify technologies and creative innovations that contribute to sustainability while also being economically viable for their companies. We call on business leaders and policymakers at all levels to engage with the StepWise method, and to adopt and implement sustainability strategies for future-fit governance.
Anna Borgeryd, Chairman Polarbröd; Karin Bodin, CEO Polarbröd; Anders Ehrling, CEO Braathens aviation; Martin Malmros, CEO Aura Light; Jenny Lindén Urnes, Chairman Lindéngruppen; Erik Urnes, CEO Lindéngruppen; Johan Castwall, CEO Ports of Stockholm; Jonas Kleberg, Chairman Soya Group; Torkel Elgh, CEO Wallenius Water.
OUR WORLD REVIEW & INTERVIEW
“How Finkelstein Broke the Trauma Bond and Beat the Holocaust” by Lawrence Swaim
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This book is difficult to read, detailing as it does some of the most horrific episodes of brutality and evil in the wars and armed conflicts of recent history.
t is however ultimately encouraging, because, it tells the story of people who have bravely told the truth and found the way to maintain their humanity in the face of evil and serve the greater good. The trauma bond in the title refers to that quirk in the human psyche whereby victims of torture or brutality may identify with those who hold power over them and then go on to vent their pain through aggression toward others. The chapter that gives the book its name is about Norman Finkelstein, the son of two Holocaust survivors, who wrote his PhD thesis on exposing the untruths in a book written to morally justify the expulsion of the Palestinians from their villages during the establishment of the state of Israel. Later published as a book, Finkelstein’s work earned him the enmity of the Israel lobby and indirectly resulted in
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OUR WORLD his being blacklisted from academia despite being recognized as a gifted researcher and teacher. There is a chapter about Eric Lomax, whose story about ultimately forgiving his Japanese torturer was made into a movie with Colin Firth called “The Railway Man.” Another chapter talks about the work of Gerry Adams and his brave decision to seek a political solution to the Irish troubles that had cost so many lives over 30 years. Iris Chang was a Chinese American whose grandparents and parents were present in Nangking during the Japanese invasion and exceptionally brutal treatment and massacre of its citizens. Known as the Rape of Nanking, the history of these events had been suppressed, presumably due to the US desire to foster good relations with Japan and avoid embarrassing revelations. While the other stories in the book were about freeing oneself from the effects of the trauma, in this case Iris was working on behalf of an entire community to give voice to a story that had been silenced because of political pressures. Iris was driven to write several highly regarded books on the subject, at considerable cost to her delicate mental state, and interviewing survivors of the massacre for her last one may have contributed to her suicide. Another particularly moving chapter for me was the story of Noam Chayut, an Israeli author and former soldier who was moved to become one of
the founders Breaking the Silence – www.breakingthesilence.org.il – an organization of Israeli soldiers dedicated to talking about their experiences serving in the occupied territories, and exposing to the Israeli public the reality of everyday life for the Palestinians who live there. What ties these and all the other chapters together is the author’s thesis that two things are necessary to break the trauma bond and successfully combat systemic evil: one is to acknowledge the truth about a situation and speak of it to others, and the other is to take some kind of positive action for the greater good. This brings to mind the quotation from Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Throughout the book are examples of how even good men may be drawn into complicity with terrible acts. When brutality becomes commonplace and winning at any cost is the only criterion of right action, the moral compass loses direction. There are far too many resonances with present day events, and one can only hope that Swaim’s call is more that of a rooster at dawn than a canary in the coal mine. “How Finkelstein Broke the Trauma Bond and Beat the Holocaust” would have benefited from some drastic pruning and copy-editing. Its length is rather off-putting, which is a pity because it does provide valuable perspectives and sobering food for thought. Reviewed by Miriam Knight
INTERVIEW
dictions and chronic mental illness. He writes a regular column on religious liberty issues and has written three novels and a trilogy of books on aggression, trauma and systemic evil.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW Lawrence Swaim is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit established after 9/11 to oppose bias against religious minorities and Islamophobia, and to advocate religious liberty for all. He served for 25 years as a counselor dealing with emotional trauma, ad-
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OUR WORLD REVIEW
THE SOUL OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Restoring the Spiritual Engine of the World by Robert Bauval and Ahmmed Osman
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This fascinating book provides an overview of the history of Egypt across the last 7000 years, illuminating the dynamics of its shifting fortunes.
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he authors are two expatriate Egyptians, one a Christian and the other a Muslim, who bring a rich and authoritative perspective to the turbulent tides of Egyptian history, from the time of Isis to the bewildering rise of ISIS, putting it all in context. Looking at the cover and the tagline, I kept passing on it, thinking it was about the iconography of this ancient civilization. What I found was something far more riveting - a narrative of the tangled streams of politics and power, religion and cultural identity, national pride and humiliation, arrogance and corruption across the millennia. Until recent times, Egyptians had lived in harmony with the rhythms of the River Nile, whose annual flood resulted in fertile crops and engendered
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OUR WORLD Maat, the spirit of balance with the natural world that was part of their cultural legacy. This balance was lost in the rush to modernize the country and enjoy the fruits of the consumer society. This led to rampant corruption; the population increased catastrophically, outstripping the ability of the land to support the people; and there were multiple waves of bloody uprisings. In the Arab Spring revolution of 2011, it seemed for a brief while that the Egyptian soul was crying out for a return to Maat. I suspect that very few of us have much knowledge of the early attempts of the prophet Mohammed to forge an alliance among the followers of the Abrahamic religions. Tribal allegiances quickly short-circuited these ecumenical attempts, and left a bloody legacy of Shia and Sunni enmity in the power struggle that followed the Prophet’s death. The book also provides a context for understanding the wounds in the Arab psyche inflicted by the West that eventually led to the rise of the Muslim brotherhood and the more extreme and bloody expressions of fundamentalism. A substantial burden of blame can be laid at the feet of Western imperialists, who carved up the Middle East without regard for tribal identity, and whose greed to control the riches the East was only matched by their condescension and arrogance. Puppet rulers kept in power by foreign forces were happy to drain their country’s resources and take out massive loans to support pet projects and the lavish lifestyle enjoyed by the few elite at the expense of an increasingly desperate populace. When the people rose in protest, the British brutally restored order and essentially occupied the country for over 60 years. It is easy to see the parallels across the world through modern times where appetites for power and corporate greed seem to know no limits, and cynically feed corruption in the name of progress. The authors explain the culture shock experienced by conservative members of a society rooted in patriarchy and the seclusion of women when they see the permissive culture of the West. This was the re-
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A substantial burden of blame can be laid at the feet of Western imperialists, who carved up the Middle East without regard for tribal identity, and whose greed to control the riches the East was only matched by their condescension and arrogance. action of Hassan al-Banna, and it inspired him to found the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that set the template for Al Qaeda and ISIS. Edmund Burke observed that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. Bauval and Osman have provided a fine overview of the history of the country that in many ways is the cultural leader of the Arab world, and the historical record of Egypt has much to teach us about what is going on today across the region. I believe it is incumbent upon us as citizens of the world to at least have some inkling of the complexities of the issues we are dealing with, when we try to wrap our minds around the whys of terrorism. Trying to impose our will through carpet bombing and bullying tactics will only clamp the lid down on a boiling pot that is bound to explode. If we learn anything from this book, we must see that these cultures have a history thousands of years older than ours, and they want to be treated with respect. We must listen to the pain of their souls and work together to rediscover the spirit of Maat. Reviewed by Miriam Knight
CONSCIOUS CINEMA
MOVIES ANDTHE POWER OF CHOICE By Brent Marchant At any given moment in time, we can proceed in myriad directions as we move into the future.
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ome possibilities may be more likely than others (the quality that distinguishes those options as probabilities), but the full range is always open to us. And, whether we look at this notion from the scientific viewpoint of quantum physics or the metaphysical perspective of conscious creation/law of attraction concepts, the principle is essentially the same in both cases. The determining factor that governs which option we ultimately pursue, however, rests with something else entirely – our power of choice.
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CONSCIOUS CINEMA As conscious beings imbued with free will, we innately possess the ability to select which probabilities we experience. This power to choose our destiny is a birthright, one of the qualities that make us intrinsically human. It’s a precious gift to be cherished, used judiciously and never taken for granted. What’s more, it’s always available to us, whether or not we opt to exercise it, a circumstance that effectively renders expressions like “I had no choice in the matter” to the trash heap of flimsy excuses. In a conscious creation/law of attraction context, choice is most crucial when it comes to the beliefs we embrace, for they provide the juice that make the process work. And the beliefs we choose are fueled to a great degree by the intent backing them. Intent helps frame and/or nuance the beliefs we employ in the manifestation process, giving them the color and character that shape the forms of the outcomes that eventually spring forth from them.
a variety of movie genres and narratives. One of the most fundamental choice-related questions we face is what to do when assessing multiple options, a conundrum posed to a fiercely independent young woman in “Far From the Madding Crowd” (2015). When the wealthy mistress of a 19th Century English estate (Carey Mulligan) must address the advances of a trio of would-be suitors (Michael Sheen, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tom Sturridge), she finds her power of choice to be a valuable ally in making a decision, as well as in balancing her desires for independence and companionship.
Considering the power associated with our beliefs and intents, it’s important that we make use of it carefully. In light of that, it’s something about which we could likely benefit from some inspiration. And, as in so many other ways, this is where the examples set in film can prove so incredibly valuable.
Using the power of choice to deliberately exercise our independence also comes in handy when pressed by others to conform. This theme is revealed in several films, such as the quirky domestic comedy, “Housekeeping” (1987). When a free-spirited woman full of wanderlust (Christine Lahti) is asked to settle down and care for her two orphaned nieces (Sara Walker, Andrea Burchill) in a small Northwestern town in the 1950s, the temptation to eschew expectations and live her own life proves quite strong. But, given her obligations, what is she to do? Under these circumstances, choice just might prove to be her saving grace.
Since choice permeates every decision we make with regard to our beliefs, it’s a common theme in
This theme pops up again in the sci-fi thriller, “THX 1138” (1971). Director George Lucas’s debut fea-
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CONSCIOUS CINEMA ture follows the adventures of a nonconformist (Robert Duvall) who quietly rebels against the behavioral dictates of a sterile future society in which people are treated more like cogs in a machine than as human beings. Under conditions like this, choosing to be different comes at a high price, but, considering the alternative, such resolve could be essential to preserving one’s sanity – as well as one’s very existence.
ordeal. Choice, it seems, can be an ally even when we might be tempted to think otherwise.
The degree to which we deliberately make our choices can have a direct – and tremendous – impact on how successful we are in realizing our goals. Sometimes this benefits from choosing to do some research, employing a variety of beliefs to try out various probabilities to see which one fits best, either in our life overall or some particular area of it. Such is the case in “Hector and the Search for Happiness” (2014) in which a London psychiatrist (Simon Pegg) who believes he’s ill-equipped to help others feel joy sets off on a globe-trotting adventure to find its source. What he discovers may prove to help him as much as it does any of his patients. In stark contrast to such deliberation there are those who blindly engage in behavior they know to be wrong but do it anyway for reasons that elude them, a conundrum that naturally prompts the question, what beliefs drive them? It’s an issue skillfully raised in “Experimenter” (2015), a factbased, offbeat comedy-drama profiling the studies of Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard), who conducted a series of controversial experiments to learn why people would acquiesce in inflicting pain on others just because they were told to do so. The results, to say the least, are quite fascinating, not to mention rather telling about our belief patterns and the choices we make. Holding fast to our power of choice may be what it takes for us to survive under appalling circumstances, even if those choices are difficult and reprehensible in themselves, a notion probed in the gripping drama, “Sophie’s Choice” (1982). When a Polish concentration camp survivor (Meryl Streep) must confront her past and the choices she made to stay alive, she comes face to face with her choices and their consequences, both for better and worse, in helping her see her way through an unspeakable
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Difficult choices also surface in the action-adventure thriller, “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012). When Gotham City’s Caped Crusader, Batman, and his alter-ego, philanthropist Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), must make some hard choices about the future of their beloved metropolis, they must look to their beliefs to decide what’s right to save their community, as well as their own souls. With high-stakes consequences at risk, they had better choose carefully. The consequences of our choices provide a recurring theme in a number of films, including such offerings as the dark Martin Scorsese comedy “After Hours” (1985), in which a bored New York office worker (Griffin Dunne) seeking a little excitement in his life gets a valuable lesson in “be careful what you wish for”; the raucously funny road trip comedy “Thelma & Louise” (1991), in which a pair of girlfriends (Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis) become unwittingly embroiled in a multistate crime spree as a result of the choices they make; the bittersweet
CONSCIOUS CINEMA romantic comedy “Le Week-End” (2013) in which a long-time married couple (Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan) return to the site of their honeymoon in Paris to reassess the choices they’ve made and those they want to make for the future; and the inventive one-man drama “Locke” (2013) in which a philandering contractor (Tom Hardy) sincerely seeks to make restitution for the missteps he’s made in a heartfelt act of personal redemption. Of course, as noted earlier, understanding the intent behind our choices is just as crucial to assessing why our reality unfolds as it does. For instance, when we clearly see the intent behind our choices but willingly look the other way, we may set ourselves up for serious consequences, as seen in the gripping Roman Polanski thriller, “The Ghost” (2010). When a ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) is hired to tweak the political memoir of a retired British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan) knowing that this type of work is not his specialty (but that he takes on anyway because it carries the promise of a big payday for a month’s work), he suddenly finds himself swept up in a web of intrigue that he never saw coming – and from which he may have unimaginable difficulty extricating himself.
Similarly, attempting to unduly finesse our intents into agenda-satisfying solutions frequently leads to ill-considered choices, as is apparent in the made-for-cable movie, “Game Change” (2012). This docudrama chronicles the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ed Harris) and his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore) as his running mate, a decision driven by intents other than finding the most qualified candidate. As the story plays out, viewers come to see how far off-base our results can be when we try to game our beliefs; this practice might indeed change the game but in ways far flung from what we had hoped for. Using our intents for purely self-serving reasons often proves unsatisfying, too, a theme that underlies the quirky romantic comedy, “Ruby Sparks” (2012). Calvin Weir-Fields, a onetime-wunderkind writer (Paul Dano) seeking to recapture the success of his previous efforts is stifled by writer’s block, in part because of the pain of a failed relationship. To get back on track, he begins work on a new book in which he creates a character, Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan), who embodies his idealized woman – and who is so utterly realistic that she literally comes to life. With his dream girl now alive, Calvin also discovers he can manipulate her persona by simply writing those qualities into her character. But, with such tremendous power at his disposal, will he be able to control it responsibly, or will he selfishly employ it purely for his own ends? This is a thorny question Calvin must address for the sake of himself and his creations – all of them, Getting a handle on our intents may be easier said than done, however. Our own uncertainties can creep in, making us unsure of what we’re actually trying to achieve and leaving us to sort out the options available to us. That’s the case in the nostalgic comedy-drama “American Hustle” (2013), in which a pair of con artists (Christian Bale, Amy Adams) wrestling with going straight become involved with an overly ambitious FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) seeking to make a name for himself through the government-sponsored sting operation known as Abscam. Coming to terms with the motivations driving intent proves crucial for everyone. Seeing intents compared against one another can be an effective way of bringing clarity to them, as
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CONSCIOUS CINEMA is the case in the Nora Ephron comedy, “Julie and Julia” (2009). The film parallels the experiences of famed chef Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and author Julie Powell (Amy Adams), who chronicled her year-long experiences of cooking her way through Child’s seminal cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. With the two biographies playing out side by side, viewers have a valuable opportunity to witness how different intents toward the same subject matter can lead to markedly different results – and how harmonizing those intents can yield remarkable symmetry.
When deciding upon or choices and intents, we clearly have many options and opportunities available to us. In the end, engaging in such a pursuit ultimately may not bring us any closer to finding any of the answers we seek, but it certainly enlightens us to a range of possibilities broader than what any of us might have ever imagined. When deciding upon or choices and intents, we clearly have many options and opportunities available to us. However, as many of these films show, there’s also a tremendous degree of responsibility associated with this task, regardless of the context involved. So, with that being the case, if there’s any one lesson we can take away from these principles (and the films that illustrate them) it’s this – choose wisely. Copyright © 2016, by Brent Marchant. All rights reserved.
Sometimes being able to view intents from a variety of perspectives can be helpful in understanding them. Such is the case in the quirky comedy “Please Give” (2010), in which a New York antique furniture dealer (Catherine Keener) seeks to understand what drives her and those around her in the decisions they make regarding everything from business concerns to relationship fidelity to service to others. Her exploration brings her into contact with an array of intents in a multitude of contexts.
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A lifelong movie fan, longtime student of metaphysics and presenter, Brent Marchant is the author of Get the Picture?!: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies and Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover’s Guide to the Law of Attraction books that provide a reader-friendly look at how the practice of “conscious creation” is illustrated through film. Brent blogs about metaphysical cinema and other self-empowerment topics at http://brentmarchantsblog.blogspot.com. He is also Featured Contributor, Arts & Entertainment, for VividLife magazine and Featured Contributor for Smart Women’s Empowerment, as well as Library Journal, BeliefNet, New Age News and Master Heart Magazine. Brent holds a B.A. in magazine journalism and history from Syracuse University. His web site is www.BrentMarchant. com.
CONSCIOUS CINEMA REVIEW & INTERVIEW
The Physics of the Soul Movie by Frank Huguenard The search for cures to today’s ills has slowly been turning in new directions. The traditional materialistic view that science has relied on implicitly for ages has begun to be challenged by new thinking involving the role of consciousness and the mind-body connection.
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ut bringing such new ideas to the fore has been met with resistance from those married to the existing paradigm, primarily because these revolutionary concepts require a fundamental shift in how we view reality, not just science or medicine.
In “The Physics of the Soul,” the first in a five-part series of documentaries examining healing and consciousness, filmmaker Frank Huguenard presents an insightful examination of this subject, providing viewers with an introduction to the basic ideas underlying it. Through a series of monologues featuring new thought leaders in the scientific and philosophical communities, Huguenard offers an insightful, well-organized summary of the key points necessary for understanding how and why outlooks must change if true progress is to
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be made. Among the on-camera experts are Gary Zukav, Marilyn Schlitz, Bruce Lipton, William Tiller, Norm Shealy, Larry Dossey, Bill Bengston, Stuart Hameroff and Lynne McTaggart. Admittedly, the documentary’s single-camera, virtually motionless filming technique is a bit bland and tedious (some might even say “clinical”), and the inclusion of a music video featuring a collection of wildlife shots at the end – though entertaining – I find rather incongruent with the rest of the presentation. These shortcomings aside, however, the film makes worthwhile viewing for anyone interested in this groundbreaking topic. Reviewed by Brent Marchant
CONSCIOUS CINEMA INTERVIEW
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rank Huguenard worked in Silicon Valley for 20 years, and has always possessed a keen fascination about the truth of nature and reality. He has spent a lifetime pursuing knowledge from every source available, and this search ignited in him a passion to share this knowledge with the world. This resulted in a series of documentary films on Science, Consciousness and our future, including: Beyond Me, Beyond Belief and Beyond Reason, and now The Physics of the Soul. Gary Zukav said of his new film, “The Physics of the Soul is the most cogent and intelligently presented vista I have encountered of the evolution of science
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that is underway. It points directly toward the species-wide transformation of human consciousness that is in motion.� http://www.beyondmefilm.com/index.php/beyond-space-time/physics-of-the-soul LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
INSPIRATION REVIEW & INTERVIEW
LIFE AND DEATH
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by Tim Braun
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The job of a medium is to connect with dead people. It’s perfectly understandable that a child exhibiting this ability would either freak people out or be accused of an overactive imagination.
either option is a lot of fun for a kid, so it’s understandable that Tim Braun suppressed this ability for many years. It is fortunate that he met James Van Praagh, and was able to accept and develop his abilities under James’s guidance. Tim has now fully embraced his role as a medium, and 13,000 sittings later, he has penned a wise, compassionate and useful book, rich with the insights into the grieving process that he has accumulated over his 20 years of helping people to connect with lost loved ones. Even though it frequently means experiencing in his own body of the pain and anguish of the passing, the comfort and joy that he is able to bring to people by demonstrating to them without a shadow of a doubt that their loved ones are still with them has been a rich reward for him. The stories of the messages he has been able to deliver are very moving, but this book has a broader goal. With so much experience dealing with grief, Tim is able to offer a wide range of concrete steps not only to overcome one’s grief, but also in a real sense to continue the communication on their own. He offers a good range of suggestions on how to do so. When anyone, whether grieving or not, is able to truly accept that death is not the end, life takes on new meaning. Tim shares perspectives on the purpose and mystery of life from both sides of the veil, and urges the reader to live life to the absolute fullest. Citing a study from a nurse that listed the top 10 regrets of patients on their deathbed, the number one regret was, “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” Reviewed by Miriam Knight
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INSPIRATION INTERVIEW
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im Braun is an Internationally renowned medium and has conducted over 14,000 Sittings over the past twenty years. He helps those grieving a loss to re-establish ties with those who are no longer with us. Many of Tim’s clients, including many renowned celebrities, have had their lives changed dramatically, when they have been given hope through his mediumship that there is a place of beauty and joy that exists on “the other side” where we will go at the end of our lives on this earth. Loved ones are there, and love doesn’t die. In fact it is the link that allows us to connect with them.
Tim’s website is: www.TimBraun.net
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LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
INSPIRATION ARTICLE
An excerpt from Dear Human: A Manifesto of Love, Invitation and Invocation to Humanity by Courtney A. Walsh. In this excerpt, Courtney, whose meme Dear Human went viral, writes about love and relationships….
TRUE INTIMACY Naked by CAW
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Naked isn’t about clothes. Naked isn’t about skin. Naked is about the heart. Sex isn’t about lust. Or love as we know it. It is life force. Shared. The rest is smoke and mirrors and fantasy and image. It’s what they sell you and tell you until you forget, strip that all away to bareness and remember wholeness again. Skin and sweat and hands and mouths and wetness and sighs and thighs and moans and breathing. Tension. Friction. Release. Peace.
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The primal beautiful, soulful erotic, innocent wild act that bodies were designed for. Woven with the spiritual energies that we truly are. The whole thing. The sum of more than just body parts.
INSPIRATION Electric. Alchemical. Vibrational. Sense-ational. Desire and transcendence. Holy fire and ripened purity... bursting and blazing.
stories and potential inside us. And...yes...the relationship with ourselves and the Divine is key and determines the depth and growth levels. But avoiding relationship? It will stagnate you. The same as never knowing how to be alone. Balance. Openness. Willingness. These are ingredients for happy & healthy connections. And to step up and dive in or walk away and let go with as much love as possible.
Tender sweetness and volcanic eruptions. Naked isn’t in the flesh. It’s in the eyes. The touch. The silence. Absence. Presence. The whimpers and whispers. It’s the grace space between lips. The pause and the thrust. The invitation and the completion. Naked. It’s how we are created. It’s how we are born. It’s every Garden of Eden and every forbidden fruit. We are gods and goddesses. Real and scarred and flawed and perfect. Naked is the soul. Naked is our light. Naked is our true source. Defenseless and bare, we are born anew...as infants into a new dawn.
REALationships Brevity or longevity are not necessarily markers of a “successful” relationship anymore. A successful relationship is one in which you learn, and then apply, major soul growth lessons. One in which you get to a place where you never blame or credit the other person for your happiness or misery. It doesn’t matter whether you stay friends after a breakup or never speak again. It’s about...did we complete our spirit mission together? What did we learn about love and life? Did we grow? There is no such thing as a “failed relationship”. Every relationship gives us powerful gifts, tools and lessons. They are all mirrors of beliefs, programs,
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“The man who fears being possessed or owned by a woman can never give his heart fully. The woman who fears losing herself in a relationship with her man can never find herself fully.” ~ CAW (Again: Always feel free to use whatever gender combos/pronouns) apply for you. I once thought intimacy was attachment, engagement, communion, affection, shared presence, vulnerability, authenticity. Then I went in the other direction. I thought intimacy was detachment, overcoming desires, trying to give or receive unconditional love, lack of expectation, not taking things personally, not being needy, not having an object for your love. Now I see the eloquent and erroneous bullshit of ALL that stuff. Total fear... with different faces. Both are equally illusions. The gushy sentimentality and the cold rationality. It’s none of that. It’s neither avoidance nor immersion. It’s letting it all be whatever it is and not judging it or trying to change it. For me the dance of true intimacy is not between you and your higher self or you and the divine. It’s not between you and another person. It’s not a war between mind and heart. It’s seeing all of that and holding it gently. It’s the dance that blooms from moving past these absurd isolating or codependent extremes. It’s the passion AND the compassion. It’s juicy and alive. It’s messy and delicious. And it also has ebbs and flows and learning curves. Crunchy crackle and shimmery sparkle. Life IS relationship. We can make it easy or we can make it complicat-
INSPIRATION
ed. By finding our own intimacy style and evolving with that...we grow. By learning and honoring our boundaries, we become limitless. When we wed our higher consciousness to our body awareness, divine and sexy sacred union happens. First within. Then reflected. So fall and rise in love. Don’t run from it or chase it. Don’t cling or repress. Just be with all of the versions of it and learn which
ones feel best to you. Then go be that kind of love in the world. Because we do not need more theories, philosophies or stories. We need more application. Love in action. Devotion in motion. Though the stories weave us together and have an important place in inspiring action. So maybe we do need more stories. We just need ones that spur us and stir us, that ignite, delight and unite us.
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ourtney A. Walsh has been a professional writer/editor/author/ inspirational speaker for fifteen years. She has an extensive background in marketing, advertising, creative writing, film, cultural studies, and languages. Courtney has created a successful career as a blogger, social media figure and professional speaker.
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INSPIRATION INTERVIEW
The Energies of Love with Donna Eden and David Feinstein
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e all know energy levels directly affect our physical health, but clinical psychologist and energy psychology expert Dr. David Feinstein and energy medicine pioneer Donna Eden know just how much this matters for relationships too. In their new book, THE ENERGIES OF LOVE – Invisible Keys to a Fulfilling Partnership, they provide a step-by-step framework for how to navigate emotional storms and minefields and achieve and maintain a more loving bond with those we care about. They describe the four main ways we process information when we are under stress, and why you or your partner may not feel seen or heard. The insights in their book could be just what you need to save a relationship, or realize that it will never work! To discover your Energetic Stress Style and what that means for your relationships, you can take a free quiz on their website. Just go to www.energiesoflove.com
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
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FREE 7-minute QUIZ
Create a happier, more joyful, more loving, and more intimate relationship with our new book The ENERGIES of LOVE
To discover your Energetic Stress Style, go to the website & take the free quiz: www.energiesoove.com
INSPIRATION ARTICLE
TRUE COMMUNICATION REQUIRES YOUR PRESENCE by Leslie Shore
Deepen your listening skills by removing distractions and your ego
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he most important skill needed in building and keeping a loving relationship is communication. When we begin relationships, we attend to the other person because we want to get to know them. We listen to their likes and dislikes, history, family dynamics, dreams and fears. We spend hours in conversation, discovering each other. No fact too small, no story too long. The building of the relationship has newness and surprises. Then, over time, real life happens. Work pressure, money issues, no time to connect, and parenting tensions become our ever-present companion. More and more conversations have morphed into an argument or confrontation. How did we get here? Whatever happened to the way we used to communicate? The Roman philosopher Seneca said, “Who is fair in all the world who listens to us? Here I amthis is me in my nakedness, with my wounds,
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INSPIRATION my secret grief, my despair, my betrayal, my pain, which I can’t express, my terror, my abandonment. Oh, listen to me for a day, an hour, a moment, lest I expire in my terrible wilderness, my lonely silence. Oh God, is there no one to listen?” There is. The person who you love and loves you is there to listen. And like you, they have forgotten the most important component of deep listening, being present. There are two parts of being present, one physical and one emotional. Both of them need attending to if a conversation is to stay rational, adult, and successful. First we’ll look at the physical aspects of the distraction of technology and multi-tasking. When we add the distraction that comes with multi-tasking we are in trouble, because listening is a single-minded, reasoning task, and multi-tasking and listening effectively at the same time are mutually exclusive. When we look at technology, with phones ringing, computers popping up e-mail, cell phone ring tones, and text messages beeping, we know technology is at work distracting us from effectively listening. Now, let’s add yet another layer of multi-tasking, the kind that is second nature and almost invisible to us as multi-tasking. Many of us are guilty of looking through the mail while talking; typing a quick email on our smartphone while in conversation; or having a conversation while the television is on.
When we look at technology, with phones ringing, computers popping up e-mail, cell phone ring tones, and text messages beeping, we know technology is at work distracting us from effectively listening. 52 | NEW CONSCIOUSNESS REVIEW
By creating such an environment, deep listening will take place. And DO make the debriefing a ritual! Even if you can only get five minutes of uninterrupted time, make it happen at the same time every day. One of my students made this point in his listening reflection paper, “As a manager, I am required to constantly interact with others every day. When I come home at the end of the day I want nothing more than to sit in silence without the requirement to listen. My wife, however, wants nothing more than to tell me about her day, and so the listening challenge begins. While I have previously heard her talk, I realize now that I have not really listened. I have allowed my needs to get in the way of my ability to be present to what my wife’s thoughts and emotions are.” There are some simple steps to pull the distraction of multi-tasking out of our conversations. When sharing a conversation with your significant other, find a place, away from distractions, where the ritual of debriefing is the top priority in each other’s eyes. Finding out what happened in each other’s day, and how they feel about the day requires that you choose a physical space away from the television, video games, computer, music, the mail, cooking, children or others who might distract you. Make sure what you are sitting on is comfortable. By creating such an environment, deep listening will take place. And DO make the debriefing a ritual! Even if you can only get five minutes of uninterrupted time, make it happen at the same time every day. Now we’ll tackle ‘being present.’ We need to do everything in our power to take the “I” out of listen-
INSPIRATION ing. When we “suspend self” as the listener, we are able to truly take in the speaker’s message without filtering the incoming content and emotion through our own listening barriers. Being “present” is a simple concept, yet difficult to achieve. Being present is the act of being in the present moment in our mind and body, not thinking about the past or future, but being in the moment with the person we are listening to. We are not wishing to be somewhere else. Being present means practicing self-control. It means suppressing the urge to convey our own thoughts. It means focusing, not on ourselves, but concentrating on understanding what the other has to say and how they are saying it. We need to stop talking! As difficult as that may be sometimes, not talking can move a conversation forward because the speaker gets a chance to develop and finish a complete thought. It is amazing what we can learn about people’s lives, what motivates them, what they know, and what they are passionate about if we just listen.
L
eslie Shore is an expert in the surprising and exhilarating power of listening. As the owner of the consultancy Listen to Succeed, Leslie has worked with corporations, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, health professionals, and educational institutions to up-level their intra-personal and inter-personal communication skills. Her book, Listen to Succeed: How to identify and overcome barriers to effective listening, is currently used in four universities. Website: www.ListenToSucceed.com
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Eckhart Tolle, in Stillness Speaks, says it wonderfully, “Far more important than what you are listening to is the act of listening itself, the space of conscious presence that arises as you listen. That space is a unifying field of awareness in which you meet the other person without the separative barriers created by conceptual thinking. And now the other person is no longer “other.” In that space, you are joined together as one awareness, one consciousness.” Being present is no easy task. It requires taking our ego out of the conversation and keeping our reactive mind under control. However, the brain is an amazing muscle that can be trained and strengthened. In the coming months I encourage you to become aware of when you are present in a conversation and when your mind – and listening – is wandering, When you notice your mind wandering, you can take action by pushing aside for the moment what you are thinking about, and get back to listening fully.
INSPIRATION ARTICLE
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Find Out What It Means To You Advice on your most important relationship from psychologist Dr. Denee Jordan
We’ve all heard it: “You have to love yourself before you love anyone else.” Actually, this isn’t true. In fact, most of us love other people much more easily than we love ourselves.
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requently, we even love our pets more easily. However, though we can love others without loving ourselves, the truth is our relationships are much healthier when we do. We can’t feel true contentment unless we learn to love, and even more importantly, respect ourselves. When we do not respect ourselves, it manifests in all of our relationships. It can manifest as irritability, hyper-sensitivity, or being overly critical of other people. All of our interactions are distorted to a certain degree, but it is our own happiness that is impacted the most. Respect is considered a key element in any loving relationship, including self-love. Self-respect, how-
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INSPIRATION only the ‘good’ parts of your life for examination. All of your life has had value!
ever, is a learned skill that many people are never taught. We are taught that we should have self-respect, but not how to get it. Too frequently the belief is that we can earn self-respect by making enough money, pleasing others, getting promoted, losing weight and so forth. In actuality, the opposite is true; self-respect is the precursor to success. So how do we learn to respect ourselves if we are not yet, in society’s terms, beautiful, fit, talented, or wealthy? It is no small feat to be a surviving Human Being in our present society. In fact, it is amazing! Nobody but you knows what your experience has been. Gaining self-respect involves recognizing the effort you have put into living your life, no matter your present circumstances- acknowledging all of the time and energy you have spent struggling, loving, hurting, suffering, discovering, working, succeeding, failing, and feeling frustration, joy and disappointment in order to be alive in the present moment. Notice that there is no mention of culling
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Take obesity, for example. In today’s society, most overweight people feel badly about themselves because of a perceived notion that they are somehow ‘lesser than’ because of their weight. They try all kinds of diets to shed pounds and beat themselves up when they gain them back, sinking lower and lower into self-disrespect. What a tremendous shift there would be if, on the other hand, they were to add up all the pounds they had lost and gained, the money they had spent on weightloss treatments, the time spent worrying, feeling isolated and depressed and said to themselves, “Wow! I am amazing! How wonderful that I can invest all of that emotion, energy, and time into trying to feel better! I have actually demonstrated tremendous ability!” The self-respect they would gain with that recognition would be the impetus for true, lasting change. Remember, self-respect precedes success! Self-respect requires that we give ourselves credit for our efforts, without exception. One might say, “Yes, but I know better.” Knowing is not enough; we only do what we have learned. If we had learned better, we would have done better. We need to be honest about who we are and accept ourselves as completely as possible, including the things we think are ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’. We might hear, “That’s crazy! If I accept myself, nothing will change.” Though it may seem counterintuitive, finding the value in respecting ourselves even for the ‘bad’ choices we may have made paves the way for positive change. Respecting ourselves does not necessarily mean that everything is the way we want it; it is a decision to accept and honor ourselves as we are so that we can move forward positively! Finding love or self-respect doesn’t necessarily involve changing anything in your life right this minute. It involves finding the courage to give yourself
INSPIRATION credit for all of the remarkable effort you have put into living, regardless of your present circumstances; knowing that you have done the best you could have done based upon what you have learned up to this point. Ready to change? Try coming from a place of self-respect and self-acceptance first. It will make all of the difference, because it is true that other people will not treat us any better than we treat ourselves. We attract people into our lives who mirror our perception of ourselves. Give yourself respect, compassion, and gratitude and it will be returned.
D
r. Denee Jordan, PSY.D is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist and the founder of Already Well, a progressive approach to treatment that works on the premise that no matter your present circumstance, you are already well. Today she serves as Mental Health Services Director for the Exceptional Children’s Foundation in Los Angeles, CA. www.AlreadyWell.com
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CONSCIOUS PARENTING
CHOICE POINT:
FEAR FREEZES OR FREES HUMAN POTENTIAL Strategies for Children to Understand Fear by Janai ‘Grandma Boom’ Mestrovich I will take you on a journey of my childhood fear into managing it as an adult. Then I have some great tips on how to help children develop healthy patterns of dealing with fear. Harnessing the awareness and tools at a young age gives children a boost for higher consciousness and understanding about their own empowerment.
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ome childhood events were traumatizing but provided empowering lessons. I was nine when I was playing outside one summer evening. Dad was working just outside the basement door. I ran into the basement in the dusk light to get something, a toy. It was darker in the basement than outside, and objects were hard to distinguish, but I was in too big a hurry to turn on the light. A dark figure a foot high was suddenly in front of me. It made a hissing noise and drew closer. I froze. A snake. Every part of me was frozen stiff with fear and I could not make my voice call for Dad. Still hissing, the snake jumped closer. I could barely hop back because of my stiffened body. Again, the snake moved closer. I hopped back. This happened several times as the fear continued to choke my mobility. Finally, I managed to scream, “DADDDDDDD!”
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In an instant, Dad appeared. I was still frozen. He grabbed a hoe and struck the snake several times, making sure it could not move. Then he asked me if I was all right. He turned on the basement light and discovered it was a poisonous copperhead snake. My own fear made me vulnerable to a near-fatal bite. I knew there must be a way to win the war against fear. Growing into my twenties, biofeedback, self-calming relaxation skills and human potential workshops allowed me to advance in emotional intelligence and self-control. The greatest test demonstrating a landmark of not allowing fear to immobilize me came in my mid fifties. I went for a walk up the mountain. I walked up a steep incline on a dirt-logging road and reached the small plateau at the top. I stopped, and there, not fifteen yards in front of me was a wildcat. It looked to be sniffing, hunting for food. He did not see me behind him. A lightning bolt of fear shot from my feet through my head. I was downwind, so he could not smell my fear.
CONSCIOUS PARENTING I knew I had to make a choice, and quickly. Either I could quietly back down the mountain, or I could stay and follow the wildcat. If I stayed, fear could play no part in this. I chose to stay and release my fear. Quietly, slowly, I bent to pick up a stick. They say that if a wild animal sees you waving a stick slowly above your head, it makes you appear larger than it. It was my safety stick. The wildcat started to walk away slowly. I kept pace, walking when he did, and followed him for a few minutes. Then he turned and went into a grassy meadow. I walked to the edge of the meadow and waited. Suddenly, the wildcat jumped into the air and pounced into some tall grass. He stood, and turned his head. He had a mouse in his mouth.
slowly lowered my back end, then slowly lowered my front end, until I was in the same position. Our eyes remained locked. We stayed put. After several minutes my legs begged me to stand up. Going as slowly as I had before, I raised myself up in the same way. When I was again standing, the wildcat copied me, keeping the mouse in his mouth. Our eyes were still locked. Finally, I decided to speak to him. I said out loud, “Hi. I am Janai. I am so grateful you have shared this special experience for my birthday. Thank you from my heart.” He seemed to be listening. “My work is for the children in the world, including the children of nature, like yours. Today I want to see if the irises are blooming. I ask for safe passage to the iris field.” When I finished the world “field,” he looked away, turned slowly and walked up the side of the mountain, with the mouse still hanging from his mouth. I was filled with ecstatic energy, a state of grace and gratitude. My human potential had expanded beyond what I could have imagined. It is fascinating to me to compare these two stories showing how fear can freeze or free human potential, each choice bringing about vastly different results. The choice is always ours. And teaching children about fear and how to work with it in order to have choices when it shows its face is a monumental gift to them. WAYS TO ASSIST CHILDREN IN UNDERSTANDING FEAR’S GRIP
Then our eyes locked. We stood, motionless, for a good three to four minutes. Then he started to move in slow motion, lowering his back end to the ground. He slowly lowered his chest and head, keeping his eyes high enough to see over the tall grass. The entire time, his eyes were locked on mine. My inner voice told me to follow suit. In what seemed to my leg muscles to take an eternity, I
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Fear is blocked energy. Feeling safe and secure is always a goal and fear threatens that reality for children. Teaching children not to feed fear but to own them and go beyond its freezing grip is the focus. It is also important to keep in mind that fear can be a guide post in situations of potential danger. Children who are taught to understand fear come to realize many of their fears are unnecessary and can be damaging....fear of being honest and getting in trouble, being afraid to be who we really are, being afraid to change or to speak up, being afraid to be wrong, to say ‘no’.......and on and on. Fear of the unknown is the ultimate fear. Demonstrate to a child how a sound outside the house at
CONSCIOUS PARENTING Christmas time can bring thoughts of Santa. The same sound in the summer might bring a mental picture of a scary monster. Same sound. Different image that either brings joy or fear. Children can begin to see how they create fears.
Fear has colors. Young children may not be able to verbalize their feelings and thoughts on fear but they can color what it feels like after an experience that is fearful. Helping children to relax with deep breathing during something that appears fearful is an important first step in gaining control. Fear can precipitate breathing to be on ‘hold’ or to be very shallow. Without proper oxygen intake, tension builds and fear can become more intensely felt. Oxygen can release some tension and bring a calmer feeling during fear and even help eliminate the fear. Knowing where the tension starts in the body during fear is essential. Just labeling fear is not enough. There is a connection to one place where it begins in the body. If that builds tension and spreads throughout the body, fear gains control of a person. If it is ‘nipped in the bud’ and self-help tools are used, fear diminishes and a person feels ‘in control’ of fear instead of the other way around. It is empowering! Making a list of fears with a child can bring greater awareness as well as discussions around fear. We all have them and experienced fear since childhood. Share with each other. It will enrich the understanding and the fact that all humans know what fear is. What matters is what we do with it so that it does not freeze us into submission.
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After practicing deep breathing, coloring fear, using puppets to do role plays and any other creative endeavors you create around fear to education children, ask young ones for ideas about how to learn more about things they are afraid of. Make up some role-plays and act them out together or take turns. Try contrasting experiences, demonstrating fear gaining control and causing a freeze as well as using self-help tools and gaining self-control to overcome fear. Have fun. Kids love this kind of thing. Use body outlines to mark and X where fear starts in the body. If every family member does this, children will readily gain awareness and not feel alone in this endeavor. Each person can color their own body outlines and show what fear looks and feels like inside. It will stimulate inspirational discussions.
CONSCIOUS PARENTING
Be creative. Show a picture or image that gives the feeling of fear as well as freedom from fear such as the picture shown with my wings spread. Children relate to images. Let child feel a soft or peaceful sound with music or as shown in picture with a singing bowl. Touching it gives a soothing feeling into the hand that is opposite the feeling of fear. Explore! Drum the feeling of fear to release it. Blow it out. Tap on body part that holds the fear tension. March pretending to feel afraid then switch and march
feeling in control of fear and notice the differences. If there is a fire pit/bonfire at a gathering, write or draw fears on a paper and throw them into the fire, watching them disappear and transform. There are many ways to empower children on the topic of fear. Ask them for ideas and see what unfolds. (See the SUPERKID POWER GUIDEBOOK by Janai Mestrovich for more ideas.)
J
anai Mestrovich, aka Grandma Boom, lives in Ashland, is an international speaker, Self Help Consultant and has taught at the University of Oregon and SOU. Her book, “The Grandma Boom Chronicles...More Alive at 65!” and children’s books are available at Bloomsbury, Renaissance Rose and Amazon. com. Her website is: ww.grandmaboom.com Janai recently was featured in NBC’s Bravo Reality Show entitled, FRIENDS to LOVERS. Her expertise in holistic education and holistic aging has received awards and recognized by educators, politicians and human potential leaders. Check out her Awesome Aging Blog online in the Ashland Tidings newspaper.
http://blogs.esouthernoregon.com/awesome-aging/
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METAREALITY ARTICLE
Synchronicity: Enlightenment or Psychosis? by Chris Mackey
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T
How could an enlightened state of mind be confused with psychosis? How could legitimate mystical experience, which a person relates to their further spiritual awakening, be dismissed as mere pathology?
his issue relates to how we define mental health. In my view, our mental health is too often viewed solely in terms of what we perceive as rational behaviour. This leads many people, including many health professionals, to dismiss any form of mystical belief as illegitimate. Mystical experiences are partly defined in terms of being virtually impossible to describe in words, and as being influenced by something beyond our will. They cannot be reduced to ready scientific explanation. To many, this means that they don’t exist. So, what do we make of people having visions, or seeing ghosts, or hearing voices, or thinking a radio program is sending them a personalized message, or having a compelling belief that they know what
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METAREALITY is about to unfold? In usual psychiatric parlance, these experiences are confidently described as illusions, hallucinations, ideas of reference and delusions. By definition, such experiences represent signs of psychosis. Indeed, when accompanied by signs of deteriorating functioning or wellbeing, it is truly important that people seek help from mental health professionals. However, in other circumstances, such phenomena might represent legitimate extraordinary, or even sacred, experience. This alternative view is rarely considered in mainstream mental health care settings. This is despite such paranormal phenomena being recognized by a wide range of cultures across the millennia as potentially representing aspects of a fuller, elevated experience of the human condition. These issues have intrigued me for a long time. As a clinical psychologist, I entered the field as an atheist. I believed that any belief in a deity or other paranormal experience represented an uninformed, superstitious bent, or a weaker, untrained mind. But then something changed. As a 25-yearold skeptic I was introduced to the notion of synchronicity, or markedly uncanny and meaningful coincidence. I read about it in a book called The Aquarian Conspiracy by Marilyn Ferguson. I was intrigued to learn more about why a number of scientists had turned further to mystical thinking in response to findings of quantum physics. Until then I had assumed that any scientist worth their salt would be agnostic. Then it happened. Whilst reading about synchronicity, I started to experience an explosion of remarkable coincidences that I could not dismiss as random. Fast-forward 20 years to 2005. By this stage I’d long come to view synchronicity as an important, core aspect of my life experience. I’d long felt that remarkable coincidences were related to a hidden order or organizing force in the universe, which seemed benevolent in further pointing me towards my destiny. I came to see synchronistic experience as an affirming “tick from the universe” that I was on the right track in pursuing the path I was on. I didn’t discuss this much with many of my clients, as this would extend well beyond my mainstream clinical psychology practice. However, it was clear from occasional comments that numerous others, including clients, shared similar views.
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These issues have intrigued me for a long time. As a clinical psychologist, I entered the field as an atheist. I believed that any belief in a deity or other paranormal experience represented an uninformed, superstitious bent, or a weaker, untrained mind. Then in 2005 I faced a cluster of wicked problems associated with circumstances around my mother’s impending death. My usual rational ways of dealing with a range of challenging circumstances would not be enough. I had a compelling feeling that I would need to mindfully and deliberately draw on synchronicity, and what I termed “the power of supra-rational thinking”, to find a way through. This worked like a charm. As a result my wicked problems were resolved. Ever since, I’ve considered how I dealt with things at that time, supported by the mystical experience of synchronicity, to be the greatest achievement of my life. But there was a hitch. During that period it was clear to others that my thinking seemed different. I commonly read particular meanings into newspaper headlines, or the words of songs, as though they carried a particular personal message. I felt that I could predict some future events, seemingly against rational expectations. I felt that I was gaining greater insights into the nature of the universe. Accompanying this, I displayed a number of recognized “hypomanic” tendencies, including heightened energy levels, decreased need for sleep and heightened symbolic thinking beyond the rational. Actually, I had deliberately intended a number of these changes to address the wicked problems I faced, as I explicitly stated to many others. A number of friends, and especially those exposed to medical training, had an increasing conviction
METAREALITY
The mental health field is gradually changing to allow more consideration of spiritual or mystical phenomena, or sacred experience. that I was psychotic. Their solution was to try to get me to see a psychiatrist to take medication. It made little difference that I felt that my admittedly unusual strategies were already leading to an uncommonly favourable resolution of my wicked problems. Fortunately, at my request, my friends gave me a couple of days to show that all could be back to normal before I see a psychiatrist. In those two days everything did return to normal, including my sleep. This occurred without drugs, and without seeing a psychiatrist. According to mainstream psychiatry, this should not happen. This is my personal tale of psychosis versus satori, a term referring to transcendent states of mind whereby people have a sense of being part of unified consciousness. In this state the usual “rational” sense of boundaries between ourselves and the world around us may dissolve. Ironically, this perspective conforms more accurately to what quantum physics tells us about the true nature of reality: ultimately everything is reducible to an undivided consciousness where seemingly disparate objects are related in nonrandom ways. The mental health field is gradually changing to allow more consideration of spiritual or mystical phenomena, or sacred experience. I think it needs to change much further. This has emboldened me to write about my own satori experience in Synchronicity: Empower your life with the gift of coincidence. As a mainstream clinical psychologist, I’ve attempted to relate the marked advantages of going beyond the rational to further appreciate our intuitive awareness of a fuller reality – one that incorporates tran-
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spersonal experience. It is a contemporary view that follows in the tradition of William James, Abraham Maslow and especially Carl Jung in acknowledging numinous forces that help shape our life experience and personal destiny. I believe that acknowledging such experience helps us to be more whole, more alive, and more well. In particular, my book also describes some practical ways to help differentiate between psychosis and satori that are rarely considered in mainstream mental-health settings. It is an important distinction. One circumstance represents a person being at risk of harm to themselves or others, whereas the other alternative may involve experiencing an enlightened state with uplifting attributes and positive outcomes. I am struck by the greater extent and ease with which my clients report their own transpersonal experience, including synchronicity, now that they know I have written a book on the subject. Previously they generally kept such stories to themselves, lest they be judged mad. My own experience shows that their fears were not baseless. I have included many of their stories in Synchronicity. Apart from anything else, when we can acknowledge those meaningful aspects of life that go beyond the rational, life is more energized, rich and fascinating. Chris Mackey is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and is the principal psychologist at Chris Mackey and Associates, with 35 years’ experience in public and private mental health services in Geelong. He has presented at numerous national and international scientific conferences over the past 20 years on the assessment and treatment of psychological trauma, anxiety and depression. He is the author of Synchronicity: Empower your life with the gift of coincidence (see www.synchronicityunwrapped.com.au for additional articles).
METAREALITY INTERVIEW
K
en Elliott is an award winning artist and author who has been showcased on media all over the world. Ken has learned how to manifest items both big and small, first creating his desires on the Other Side and watching those thoughts take form in our physical world. Ken is living a life that many call “magical and miraculous.” Over the last 20+ years Ken has been teaching thousands of others these simple techniques so they can create the life that they desire. His book is called Manifesting 123 and you don’t need #3. Website: www.Manifesting123.com
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
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METAREALITY REVIEW & INTERVIEW
Sidewalk Oracles by Robert Moss W
Wouldn’t it be nice to discover that magic is real and all around us? By magic, I mean events that have no “rational” explanation in our 3-d world.
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ell Robert Moss has been teaching his students for many years how to pay attention to the synchronicities and other forms of communication the Universe uses when it wants to convey information to us for our benefit. According to Robert Moss, these communications can happen anywhere, and may take any form; they can come from the messages of the medium or from a divination system like the I Ching or tarot cards; they can come from snatches of conversation heard in the street (hence “Sidewalk Oracles”); from a song heard on the radio; or the Shelf Elves may cause a book to fall at your feet that has a message full of meaning for you. The bulk of the book is full of examples and games you can play to experience the magic for yourself. They are all illustrated by anecdotes that one certainly could dismiss as coincidence, though with incalculable odds, or you could simply accept them as the gift of a loving God and marvel at the weird and wonderful workings of a connected universe.
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“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous,” as the old saying goes. The author’s grace and fluidity as a writer makes it a delight to read. I particularly enjoyed his neologisms, such as kairomancer, describing one who is attuned to the whisperings of possibility within the synchronicities and prepared to take action to manifest them in one’s reality. The great gift of this book is that it encourages us to jump joyfully with both feet into the puddle of life and make the biggest splash that we are able. In fact, playing any or all of the games suggested by the author just might convince you that the world is indeed full of magic. Reviewed by Miriam Knight
METAREALITY INTERVIEW
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obert Moss is the author of Sidewalk Oracles and numerous other books about dreaming, shamanism, and imagination. He is a novelist, poet, and independent scholar, and the creator of Active Dreaming, his own synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. He leads creative and shamanic adventures all over the world. Visit him online at www.mossdreams.com.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
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METAREALITY ARTICLE
Ordinary Magic By Gary Sherman
“A thing is not seen because it is physical. It is physical because it is seen.� - Plato Even though it appears as if magic has disappeared from our modern world, in fact it still exists, and is very much alive. Magic lives within us in a form we rarely recognize, and when we investigate the role that attention plays in the construction of what we experience and how we perceive, we discover properties of attention that are truly magical.
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ttention is the most powerful tool we have to work with. There is no other aspect of self-experience in which we have such direct control -not in our thoughts, feelings, sensations
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or behaviors. Attention is the creative instrument we use to construct our state of being, and is the active dynamic that determines what we perceive at any given moment; it is our most direct act of self-expression.
METAREALITY Imagine a symphony conductor on his podium, arms extended out and above his head, in front of the orchestra he is directing, baton in hand. He points his baton at the musicians and the instruments he wishes to bring into the foreground, at the right time, and within the context of the piece being played. In our metaphor, the baton is attention and the conductor is the will that directs it. The magic that attention performs naturally as part of our everyday experience happens so smoothly, and with such congruency, that we barely notice its actions at all. It wasn’t until I investigated my own ordinary experience that I realized the extraordinary nature of attention.
Attention can travel across the barrier between subjective and objective reality without changing its form. No other aspect of the self can do this. Attention can move from the world of matter, perceiving a material object, to the world of the mind, perceiving a thought, to the world of the body perceiving a sensation. It can also travel deeper into subjective reality and perceive energetic dimensions of higher consciousness, all without changing its nature -which is to focus, point, target and illuminate the object under its gaze. Attention moves continuously from our internal to our external perception of reality. For example, thought resides in the mind until it crosses the barrier by becoming speech, written word or is mimed through behavior. A feeling, which is subjective in nature, can only reside in the body; it has to remain as a felt experience until it is transformed into an objective act of self-expression. You can verify this by simply sitting quietly, looking at an object near you. Look at the object and give it your complete attention. Next, think about the object or entertain any other thoughts in your head. You have just shifted your attention across the barrier from an objective world to a subjective one. Why is this important? Because our attention, the capacity to focus, point, target and illuminate a particular object of perception, can move through-
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Attention moves continuously from our internal to our external perception of reality. out the whole spectrum of experience. It grants us access to our whole self, becoming our major tool for self-exploration.
Attention can join with any experience, no matter its substance or vibration. Attention is always present regardless of the state of consciousness being experienced. It can target a thought, feeling, sensation or outer perceived object with ease. It can also point its conductor’s baton toward and within higher states of consciousness, where the physical body no longer has substance, and the field of perception takes on more rarefied qualities. Attention is always where we are, regardless.
Attention always places us at the center of our experience. As if tethered to an unseen force or presence, attention moves out and returns to the will that directs it. Although attention reveals its object to the perceiver, it can keep the perceiver unknown to its self. Only when attention is directed at the perceiver does the process of self-awareness begin.
Attention can bring the movement of the moment to a standstill or it can join the stream of unfolding experience.
METAREALITY Attention has the ability to contract and expand. I can narrow and hold my focus on an object and stop the propensity of attention to keep moving. Or, I can allow my attention to follow the flow of movement from one moment to the next, illuminating and bringing new content into awareness.
Attention can expand to hold many different levels of experience simultaneously. We are multidimensional perceivers with a multilayered point of view, one where attention is active in discerning each layer and able to target experience within each layer. This capacity is central to meditation practice and is instrumental in allowing shifts in consciousness.
Attention can join with any inner or outer sense modality, and magnify its function. Most of us have had the experience of listening to music while we stare off into space or float off into thoughts and pictures evoked by the music. In this instance, attention moves between hearing, seeing and our inner sight. Each time it moves and lands on one of these modes of perception, it magnifies that modality, giving it greater acuity and focus. Often, we move from seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, smelling, thinking, sensing or imagining with such ease that, without being consciously focused on any one particular sense modality, we only experience a continuous stream of consciousness. Yet when we bring our full attention to any one state, that particular one jumps out and becomes foreground and the other senses fall to the background with less intensity.
Attention can make things appear or disappear. The statement “What you give your attention to, is� embodies this particular magic. By focusing my
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Without giving our attention to past or future thought projections, we find ourselves resting in the present moment. attention, I can make things appear or disappear in the moment. I can be in thought one moment, then shift my focus and give my attention to the person sitting next to me. They can say something that pulls me back into thought, and they disappear, replaced by an inner narrative, until I hear them asking for my attention again. This happens all the time as our attention moves and refocuses moment to moment. We all have the experience of being so focused in what we are doing that the activity replaces the self-consciousness we normally carry into each moment. The actor disappears into the action. We become one with the activity. We don’t realize we have disappeared until we notice that our sense of being the perceiver has returned.
Attention can create time or timelessness. This bit of profound magic is shows us that attention is instrumental in the creation of linear time. Without giving our attention to past or future thought projections, we find ourselves resting in the present moment. From this vantage point, time is a mental construct. As we learn to become more conscious with our use of attention, we gain greater control over our state of being, particularly when it comes to falling in and out of time. The more we move into higher states and away from everyday consciousness, the sense of step-
METAREALITY being and perception; it is used to satisfy us, not fulfill us.
We recognize attention as the major building block for creatively constructing our state of being. ping out of time increases. When attention is not being used by the conscious mind to create the conceptual categories of past, and future, there is a direct awareness of timelessness or eternal presence of the here and now.
Attention is still present even when we are not.
This bit of magic shows us a paradox of our being and the necessity of learning to control our attention. Taking control of attention begins the essential process of breaking this unconscious habitual pattern. We start to regain the freedom to choose our focus, and therefore our perception, in the moment. We recognize attention as the major building block for creatively constructing our state of being. All of the attributes of attention I have described here belong to the magic of everyday experience; they become the instrument used by the self, consciously or unconsciously, to create the reality we know and encounter. To practice the magic hidden within our capacity to focus and attend, we first have to become the conductor, comfortable with choosing where and how to point our baton.
Whatever form we find ourselves in, attention seems to follow us. It is as if attention belongs to a more comprehensive awareness that includes all the manifestations we are capable of inhabiting. For instance, when we awaken within a lucid dream, in which we are conscious that we are dreaming, we can follow the unfolding action with the same sense of attention that characterizes our normal awake state. Yet the usual self we know is unconscious and not present.
Attention can be directed by choice or not. Our tendency to surrender to attention’s automatic movement and conditioned preferences is a major source of our suffering. It throws us into reactive states of thought and feelings that dominate our ability to respond appropriately to the present. In other words, when not consciously choosing our focus, it is chosen for us by habit and conditioning. Attention then serves our psychology, our habits of
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Gary Sherman is a psychotherapist and teacher of meditation and self-awareness, and author of Perceptual Integration, The Mechanics of Awareness, 2014 Nautilus Book Awards winner. He is cofounder of the Creative Awareness Project in Santa Rosa, California, a non-profit formed to develop and support education and research into the nature of consciousness and its relationship to physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. www.mechanicsofawakening.com
METAREALITY REVIEW
Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision by Jerome R. Busemeyer and Peter D. Bruza
While scientists have assumed that classical probability theory and logic was the best way to comprehend human cognition, research studies have found numerous aspects of cognition and decision to behave differently.
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he new field of Quantum Cognition presents us with new ways of thinking about cognition that better match observations of actual human behavior, and Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision presents an outstandingly clear and thorough overview of this exciting new field. Busemeyer and Bruza do an outstanding job of incorporating key concepts and ideas from quantum theory, showing how aspects of quantum phenomena and behavior can provide valuable insights into human cognitive processes. Thanks to their observation that some puzzling results in the field of psychology are similar to aspects of quantum mechanics, Busemeyer and Bruza demonstrate through utilization of mathematical models, how one of the larger contributions of a working theory of quantum cognition is the way it allows for people to experience ‘indefinite’ states, or superposition states. The authors argue that “the wave nature of an indefinite state captures the psychological experience of conflict, ambiguity, confusion, and uncertainty; the particle nature of a definite state captures the psychological experience of conflict resolution, decision, and certainty.”
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METAREALITY One of the greatest joys of reading Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision is the way numerous detailed examples are presented that show how well quantum theory and quantum probability theory provide clarity in some of the more intriguing areas of recent research in psychology. One such example is how the quantum approach agrees quite well with the constructionist view of belief, attitude, and intention proposed by social psychologists such as Schwarz, so there is a way to better understand how our beliefs, attitudes and intentions are not simply stored in memory as fixed, never-changing properties, but instead are constructed and re-constructed when needed. Many chapters of Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision begin with engaging examples to illustrate the concepts being described, which bring the ideas into the realm of daily experience where the subject of quantum cognition springs to life. Suddenly, we find ourselves nodding in agreement that of course, reality viewed from a quantum perspective can be described in something much more complex than a boolean exhaustive description–of course, reality is much better described in various incompatible ways, using descriptions that sometimes can’t be compared or combined. This complexity of the world shows up in many ways, such as where certain combinations and associations can be surprising. When people hear the combination of the words, “pet” and “human,” for example, they often come up with the association “slave”–which is really quite remarkable, since the concept of slave is not commonly associated with either the word “pet” or “human.”
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Optimal strategies for planning multistage decisions usually rely on backward induction processes that require planning from the last stage and working backwards to the current stage
One of the most fascinating sections of Quantum Models of Cognition and Decision has to do with ‘dynamic consistency,’ or the resolution of complex decisions through planning for the future while considering complex sequences of potential events. The authors explain, “Optimal strategies for planning multistage decisions usually rely on backward induction processes that require planning from the last stage and working backwards to the current stage (von Winterfeldt & Edwards, 1986). This requires the current decision to be based on plans for future decisions.” This kind of decision-making is clearly ideal for quantum processing, since in quantum theory and quantum cognition, the future becomes a superposed state. Quantum Models is highly recommended for anyone interested in consciousness and quantum theory, and is highly accessible for readers of all levels of expertise in these areas, from beginners to experts. There is necessarily a good deal of math, balanced by wonderfully descriptive narratives–so readers can either pore through the mathematics or skip over it, and gain a great deal from this book either way. This book is highly recommended as being one of the very best books available that provides insights and clarity as to how quantum models of cognition can model changing, ephemeral, mixed qualities of human thought. Reviewed by Cynthia Sue Larson
METAREALITY REVIEW & INTERVIEW
Easy Breezy Prosperity by Emmanuel Dagher
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Imagine what it must have been like for a small child to flee from his home with his mother during the Lebanese civil war.
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hey hid out in a tiny convent room for seven years, with only the cement floor as their bed, yet remained positive and grateful for what they had. Psychologist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl said in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, “Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude.” One can only look on in admiration as the young Emmanuel, his compassion and wisdom forged in the flames of war, went on to dedicate his life to teaching others how to choose their own attitudes and develop practices that allow love and prosperity to flourish in their lives. Coming in the wake of his earlier book, “Easy Breezy Miracles,” this new book focuses on reframing the insecurities most of us feel around money, and making it our friend. Like everything else in the world, money is simply energy, suggests Dagher, and he has developed a number of practices we can use to heal our relationship with money,
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remove the blockages we may have to prosperity, and get it flowing into our lives. The 28-day prosperity plan included in the book is actually a delightful daily program for changing ingrained negative habits while having fun.
METAREALITY What I particularly like about this book is that it concentrates on gratitude and giving of oneself. Its approach would probably work to get that luxury car into your garage as well, but the focus of the program is rather to cultivate inner happiness and wealth through service and alignment with
the higher forces of the universe. I also think that the tone of the book is exceptional for its purity of intention and generosity of spirit. Highly recommended. ď‚Ą Reviewed by Miriam Knight
INTERVIEW
Emmanuel Dagher is a highly sought after Transformation Specialist, Holistic Health Practitioner, Inspirational Social Media Personality and Speaker. Considered by many a next-generation new thought leader, Emmanuel is a gifted humanitarian who is devoted to assisting people and the planet in positive transformation, in service to the well-being of humankind. He is the author of the Amazon bestseller Easy Breezy Miracles, and has just released a new book, Easy Breezy Prosperity: The Five Foundations for a More Joyful Abundant Life His websites are www.EasyBreezyProsperity.com and www.emmanueldagher.com
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
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Rising Stars Profiles of Conscious Creatives you may not yet have met ... Anna Borgeryd is a musician and filmmaker, has a PhD in conflict management and is chair of the family business, Polarbröd. She has been an adviser to the Swedish government’s Future Commission, and given a TEDx lecture on The Dawn of a New Economy. Named one of the most influential environmentalists in Sweden, Anna has just published her first novel, “Integrity” - a love story between a woman trying to change the world, and a man trying to change with her. Anna blogs at Wood and Blue: www.annaborgeryd.tumblr.com/
Blake D. Bauer is an internationally recognized author, counselor, and alternative medicine practitioner who has trained with spiritual teachers, healers, and masters from all over the world. He practices and teaches various forms of meditation, qi gong, qi gong energy medicine, and dao yin (a health and longevity yoga). Blake’s formal education includes traditional Chinese medicine, five-element Chinese medicine, nutritional medicine, herbal healing, psychology, past life regression therapy-hypnosis, and various other forms of traditional healing and alternative medicine. Bringing together the most effective spiritual practices and holistic approaches to health and wellbeing, Blake’s work and teachings have successfully guided thousands of people internationally toward greater psychological, emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual freedom. He has integrated all this in his bestselling book You Were Not Born To Suffer and in his pioneering work that centers on loving yourself unconditionally as the key to healing yourself, fulfilling your life’s purpose, and realizing your full potential both personally and professionally. His website is www.unconditional-selflove.com
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Rising Stars Profiles of Conscious Creatives you may not yet have met ... Ken Elliott is an award winning artist & author who has been showcased on media all over the world. Ken has learned how to manifest items both big and small, first creating his desires on the Other Side and watching those thoughts take form in our physical world. Ken is living a life that many call “magical and miraculous.” Over the last 20+ years Ken has been teaching thousands of others these simple techniques so they can create the life that they desire. His book is called Manifesting 123 and you don’t need #3. Website: www.Manifesting123.com
Alex Hermosillo’s gift of divine healing was awakened in 1997 when a woman handed him her dying baby and the child was spontaneously healed. He is now he is one of the most highly sought after spiritual healers in the world. For over ten years now, Alex (aka the “Happy Healer”) has been offering energy-healing services and has assisted over 7,000 people in healing from ailments such as heart disease, cancer, tumors, chronic migraines, grief, depression, and much more. He is the founder of Mastery of Energy Healing and author of A True Story of Hope, Healing & Miracles, which chronicles life experiences and the wisdom he gained through a profound near-death experience. He also has recorded a therapeutic audio meditation CD “MEDITATION TO HEAL YOUR MIND, BODY & SPIRIT.” More at www.masteryofenergyhealing.com or thehappyhealer.com
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Rising Stars Profiles of Conscious Creatives you may not yet have met ... Robert Kopecky survived a traumatic childhood, traveled extensively as a young man. His journeys around the world were punctuated by three dramatic “Near Death Experiences.” Interspersed through a life of professional successes and personal setbacks, and his own “dark nights of the soul,” the three NDEs, and the subsequent need for answers, led him to years of study and meditation. Elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Gnostic Christianity, physics, philosophy and more, have contributed to his unique transpersonal realizations about life and death, and inspired his direct, humorous transformational prose, and all the lessons he’s learned - obviously the hard way. He has gathered them together in his book, How to Survive Life (and Death): A Guide for Happiness in This World and Beyond Website: http://robertkopecky.blogspot.com
Robert Moss is the author of Sidewalk Oracles and numerous other books about dreaming, shamanism, and imagination. He is a novelist, poet, and independent scholar, and the creator of Active Dreaming, his own synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. He leads creative and shamanic adventures all over the world. In Sidewalk Oracles, Robert teaches us to practice that real magic by becoming “kairomancers” who walk the roads of everyday life as conscious dreamers. Kairomancers learn to recognize how the world is speaking to them in signs and symbols, and how a deeper order of events may reveals itself through the play of synchronicity. The art of kairomancy is taught with playful techniques for engaging with the world around us. Sidewalk Oracles is full of games that invite the reader to come fully awake and alive in both their bodily and inner senses. Visit him online at www.mossdreams.com.
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Rising Stars Profiles of Conscious Creatives you may not yet have met ... Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over 30 years. He is best known for his New York Times #1 bestseller, The Book of Awakening. He has published sixteen books and recorded eleven audio projects, and has just published a new, expanded edition of Inside the Miracle: Enduring Suffering, Approaching Wholeness (Sounds True, 2015). In it Mark shares his transformative experience of cancer in his mid-thirties, and how it changed the way he sees the world and made him a student of all spiritual paths. Although the lessons in this book emerged from his journey through cancer, they are really for anyone struggling with hardship. Mark was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on Super Soul Sunday and with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. His websites are marknepo.com and threeintentions.com
Paul Selig is a playwright, educator, medium and author whose books are considered breakthrough works of channeled literature. They include I Am the Word, The Book of Love and Creation, and The Book of Knowing and Worth, and his new book, THE BOOK OF MASTERY, which is Book 1 of The Mastery Trilogy. Taken together, these books offer extraordinary insights into our potential for personal and planetary evolution. His website is paulselig.com.
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Rising Stars Profiles of Conscious Creatives you may not yet have met ... Francesca Thoman is an author, painter, Akashic Record reader, and conscious channel. When she was asked to do a piece with Nikola Tesla, Francesca was so enthralled by the depth, integrity, and complexity of the material, she asked Tesla for more. His responses to questions posed by her and others presented a new approach to physics and life sciences, which she is compiling into a series of books called, Nikola Tesla: Afterlife Comments on Para-Physical Concepts. Volume Two, “Healing and Magic” has just been released. In it Tesla covers truly unusual and fascinating ideas such as the sub-harmonics of injury and illness, the dimension of Identity and DNA, and Torsion Fields and enfolded, higher dimensions in this extraordinary book.
Anthony William, known as the Medical Medium®, has helped tens of thousands of people heal from ailments that have been misdiagnosed or wrongly treated or have baffled medical communities. He’s accomplished all this by listening to a divine voice—called Spirit of the Most High—that literally speaks into his ear, telling him what is at the root of people’s pain or illness and what they need to do to restore their health. Anthony has been called the Edgar Cayce of our time, and what he does is several decades ahead of scientific discovery. His methods achieve spectacular results, even for those who have spent years and many thousands of dollars on all realms of medicine before turning to him. In his revolutionary book, Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal, he gives readers access to all that he has learned in over 25 years of bringing people’s lives back: a massive amount of healing information, much of which has never appeared anywhere before. His website is www.medicalmedium.com
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Reviewers in the Spotlight Cynthia Sue Larson, a best-selling author, life coach, and inspirational speaker who is known as “The Quantum Optimist” for helping people discover their many possible selves and jump into their favorite lives as they focus on the question “How good can it get?” Cynthia has been featured on the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, Coastto-Coast AM, and BBC. You can watch her videos and subscribe to her free eZine at: www.realityshifters.com
Brent Marchant has been a lifelong movie fan and longtime student of metaphysics. He is the author of Get the Picture?!: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies and Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover’s Guide to the Law of Attraction, books that provide a reader-friendly look at how the practice of “conscious creation” (also known as “the law of attraction”) is illustrated through film. Brent maintains an ongoing blog about metaphysical cinema and other self-empowerment topics at http://brentmarchantsblog.blogspot.com. Brent holds a B.A. in magazine journalism and history from Syracuse University. Miriam Knight is a lifelong bookworm who is inveterately curious about how the world works. A passionate proselytizer of unity consciousness, Miriam found her sweet spot as Publisher of New Consciousness Review and host of NCR Radio. She also offers book and eLearning narration services at www.miriamknight.com
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