The eden magazine april 2018

EDEN T h e

© Magazine

A

Modern Eco Goddess

KELLY

Vlahakis-Hanks THE IMPORTANCE OF ENDING TESTING ON ANIMALS

By Margaret Tomaszewicz

HOW TO CLEAR YOUR ENERGY FIELD

By Nancy E. Yearout

ARE WE RECYCLING OUR FEELINGS?

By Tara-jenelle Walsch

April 2018

Table of Contents 6

KELLY VALHAKIS-HANK

12

ANNUAL HUMANITARIAN CELEBRATION RED CROSS

34

16

JOE SANTOS, JR.

20

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENDING TESTING ON ANIMALS

By Margaret Tomaszewicz

34

THE GIFT OF AN AWAKENED LIFE & HOW YOU ACHIEVE IT

By Master Charles Cannon

58

42

LOVE ISN'T SOMETHING YOU FALL INTO

By Linda & Charlie Bloom

52

HOW TO CLEAR YOUR ENERGY FIELD

By Nancy E, Yearout

58

GUIDING LIGHT

By Jan Diana

62

62

ARE WE RECYCLING OUR FEELINGS?

By Tara-jenelle Walsch

66

POSITIVE MIND METAPHYSICS, WHAT I DO & SAY DIFFERENTLY

By Katerine Jegede

76

A MIND MAP

By Tony Buzan

76

Cover Photo by

JOHN GILHOOLEY

3 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e July 2016

EDEN

Photo by Artin Mardirosian

T H E

MAGAZINE

Spreading compassion to all Sentient Beings and Lliving in healing and peaceful world

FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MARYAM MORRISON

Maryam Morrison

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR DINA MORRONE PUBLIC RELATIONS MARIA ELENA INFANTINO SOCIALITE DIRECTOR GLORIA KISEL-HOLLIS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS JAN DIANA ANGELA DUNNING TARA-JENELLE WALSCH MICHAEL WHITE RYAN MARGARET TOMASZEWICZ ROXANA JONES & ARNAUD SAINT-PAUL CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST EDWARD HAKOPIAN GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY BRENDA SAINT HILAIRE PHOTOGRAPHY EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY SHERI DETERMAN WEBSITE www.theedenmagazine.com FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/TheEdenMagazine To read this issue online www.issuupublishing.com To purchase a copy visit us in www.magcloud.com

Eden Magazine is an non-profit & independent monthly online magazine.

Our aim is to create a better environment where we live among other living being in peace and harmony. We support artists that their work match our criteria. If you would like to submit your artwork, article or/and your Photography For our future issues please contact Maryam Morrison at; maryammorrison@theedenmagazine.com

Kelly

Vlahakis-Hanks A Modern Eco-Goddess

By Alyson Dutch

6 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

"Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks displays some of the fruits and plants used to create the company's signature blends of safer fragrances and essential oils in ECOS™ products

Earth Friendly Products' talented green chemists test U.S. EPA Safer Choice-certified formulas in the company's Cypress, California, lab

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Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks is a positive force in the universe; scion of sustainability whose greatest wish is to help build a global green legacy. As president & CEO of Earth Friendly Products, she creates ECOS™ environmentally friendly cleaning products that are found in almost every retailer throughout the nation, as well as in 60 other countries. While leading the ECOS brand to become the best-selling green laundry detergent in the U.S., and one of the most venerable, she is riveted on the impact she can make on social and environmental justice.

This first-generation American of Greek heritage is moved by the Hellenic ideals of democracy and justice, and they serve as the core of her life’s purpose. “I believe that every person is equal,” Kelly says, “and that everyone’s basic needs should be met so that they can be free to excel in mind and spirit.”

The way she leads her life (and business) seems to resonate with those around her. In 2017, when the company celebrated its 50th anniversary, Kelly hosted sustainable luncheons in the company’s four manufacturing facilities.

The farm-to-table, sunlit events attracted a collection of dignitaries, members of Congress, governors, celebrities and her employees, whom she pays one of the highest minimum wages in the nation. In her native Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner fist-pumped her arm into the air exclaiming, “This company is the epitome of the American Dream!”

A humble personality, Kelly stood on podiums at each of the celebrations and told the story of the company’s founding in 1967 by her father, a Greek immigrant.

“He was a visionary, a true eco-pioneer at the dawn of the environmental movement. He said that success is doing the right thing, and that vision guides us to continue breaking barriers in green science.” And it has—under her leadership, the company has achieved the unprecedented “trifecta” of sustainable manufacturing: carbon neutrality, water neutrality, and Zero Waste Platinum certification. Kelly has found new ways to source sustainable, plant-based ingredients and transform them into safer cleaning products made with renewable energy, yet still keep the products affordable for all.

Kelly’s unwavering focus on making the world a safer place is undoubtedly the product of two people who knowingly smiled in the face of radical adversity while powerfully moving forward despite it. Her father came to America, escaping the atrocities of Nazi-occupied Greece, with nothing but $22 in his pocket and a love of chemistry. Her mom, an African American girl rising

out of the American foster care system, profoundly affected her commitment to families and children everywhere.

Part of the family business since she was young, Kelly started by answering phones and working the production lines. She then pursued a love of political science and marketing at UCLA. Her career unfolded as she managed a stable of famed international fashion licenses, worked in publicity, and brought awareness about South Africa to Americans through the images of apartheid, just after Nelson Mandela was freed from 27 years in prison. She continued her path to leadership with an MBA at the Chapman University Argyros School of Business and Economics. It was, however, her first love of Mother Earth that brought her back to her family’s business, overseeing public relations to become Executive Vice President and eventually CEO. Today, Kelly is thoughtfully transforming the ideals of her heritage not just into products, but into programs that are changing lives and creating the next generation of environmental stewards. In 2011 she launched the ECOScience program for children, which educates and inspires thousands of 5th graders each year with a handson green science program that teach them about safer cleaners and, more importantly, about caring for the Earth.

To help ensure that her vision for a safer future becomes a reality, Kelly has made it her business to be an active part of the political process. She has spent countless hours in Washington, D.C. and on the capitol steps of states where she’s creating green jobs. Those efforts have blossomed in meaningful ways with organizations such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which twice named the company its Safer Choice Partner of the Year. More than 100 ECOS products have been awarded the EPA’s Safer Choice certification for safety.

Along list of other commendations have been bestowed, from environmental awards from the states of California, Washington, New Jersey, and Illinois to sustainability leadership awards from the Environmental Media Association, Global Green USA, and many other excellent guardians of the environment.

Personally, Kelly served as the Executive Director of the American Hellenic Council of California, where she oversaw political action and fundraising with an emphasis on the issues of Greece and Cyprus. Known now as “America’s Eco CEO,” she is an active member of several boards, including the Environmental Media Association and the American Sustainable Business Council, which awarded her its 2016 Sustainable Policy Makers Award for 9 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner joins Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks to celebrate Earth Friendly Products' success

Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks with (l-r) sister Ashley Dawson, daughter Alexsia Hanks, and stepdaughter Monika Boadi Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks with her daughter Alexsia Hanks

Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks and Green Chemist Victoria Tecson discuss the benefits of the essential oils used in ECOS™ formulas Earth Friendly Products headquarters in Cypress, California

10 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e March 2018

championing legislation that helps build a more sustainable economy. She also focuses on supporting and mentoring women. “I am extremely proud to say that over 50% of our C-suite executives are women, holding key positions in product innovation, sustainability, administration, and legal affairs,” says Kelly.

This past fall, an incredible thing happened. A massive shift occurred with the passage of the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act (SB 258) in California. For the first time in history, the cleaning product industry is now required to disclose all ingredients to consumers.

“It’s shocking when we realize that a dishwasher detergent has a “Do Not Ingest” warning on the back of the box, yet it’s the product we use to wash our dishes,” Kelly notes emphatically. “Did you know that your skin is the largest organ of the body and absorbs chemicals more quickly than anything we put into our mouth? What are the warnings on the back of the laundry detergent? Our body is touching clothing or bed sheets 24/7—what are we being exposed to?”

Family owned and operated since 1967, Earth Friendly Products® is the maker of ECOS™ Laundry Detergent and over 200 other environmentally friendly products that are safer for people, pets, and the planet. ECOS™ plant-powered cleaners are made in the U.S. using thoughtfully sourced global ingredients. Made without dyes, parabens, phosphates or phthalates, ECOS™ cleaners are pH balanced, readily biodegradable, and never tested on animals.

Earth Friendly Products is a leader in sustainable manufacturing with carbon neutral, water neutral, and Zero Waste Platinum certified facilities that save over 53 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually and divert over 95% of all their waste from landfills. The company has received many awards for its innovations in safer green chemistry and is a two-time winner of the U.S. EPA’s coveted Safer Choice Partner of the Year. ECOS™, Baby ECOS™, ECOS™ for Pets!, and ECOS™ Pro products are available at the major club and grocery retailers and natural foods stores throughout the U.S., in over 60 countries, and online at www.ecos.com.

“So far, this new ingredient disclosure law has only been passed in California,” she says, “but the good news is that every cleaning product company that sells here will be required to disclose ingredients on their labels and their website. This means that the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act will ultimately influence federal law, because not even the huge manufacturers want to spend the incredible amount of money it would cost to create separate packaging just for the state of California. I’ve had many incredible experiences in my life,” she says as she sits back, and a warm smile spreads across her kind face, “but this is a big one.”

Special Thanks to Photography by John Gilhooley Hair & Makeup by Caren Elle Wardrobe & Styling by Courtney Nejedly

Amber Enriquez, General Counsel; Mike Palmatier, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer; Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, President & CEO; Joe Janssen, Chief Operating Officer; Dr. Nadereh Afsharmanesh, Vice President, Sustainability & Education; Firas Jamal, Chief Engineer; Jenna Arkin, Vice President, Innovation.

11 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e February 2018

Annual Humanitarian Celebration

Red Cross

Honors LA’s Finest Humanitarians LA Chargers, California Resources Corporation, Dr. Laurence E. Paul On Friday, March 9, the Red Cross Los Angeles proudly kicked off its second century of service with the 2018 Humanitarian Celebration, the premier Red Cross event of the season where Los Angeles and the nation’s leading business leaders, philanthropists, elected officials, and celebrities show support of the Red Cross humanitarian mission. This year’s celebration honored Humanitarian of the Year Dr. Laurence E. Paul; Humanitarian Company of the Year, California Resources Corporation; and Humanitarian Organization of the Year, the Los Angeles Chargers for their distinguished dedication and support of the American Red Cross.

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As Humanitarian of the Year, the Red Cross paid special honor to Laurence E. Paul, M.D., co-founder and managing principal of Laurel Crown Partners, for his innumerable and transformational contributions to the Red Cross.

Dr. Paul began his service to the Red Cross when he was hired to represent the Red Cross in a financial transaction in 1998. In 2002, he became a member of the national Biomedical Board overseeing the blood operation that accounted for close to half the nation’s blood supply. Subsequently, he began his local involvement serving as a board member in Los Angeles from 2004 to 2006. In 2006, Dr. Paul became a distinguished leader of the national American Red Cross Board of Governors where he remained until 2017 serving in numerous leadership capacities including as Vice Chairman since 2008. He was recently the recipient of the Harriman Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service, the highest recognition for volunteer service in the American Red Cross.

“The Humanitarian of the Year award represents for me the culmination of almost 20 years of an extremely rewarding relationship with an amazing organization that is profoundly changing lives for those in need through acts

of goodness and kindness,” said Paul. “The American Red Cross serves a central role in disaster relief and blood supply in the southern California region and nationally. My affiliation with them on both fronts has been a profound, unique and deeply humbling experience. I am deeply grateful for this award and all that my Red Cross experience has provided to my family and me.”

The Spanos family and the Los Angeles Chargers were recognized as Red Cross LA’s Humanitarian Organization of the Year for their generous contributions and assistance in times of crisis. With their return to the Los Angeles area, the Chargers have wasted little time in displaying the heart and generosity for which they are known. The Chargers’ compassion begins with the Spanos family. Beyond making personal donations, the Chargers organization worked to raise funds and encouraged the team’s fans to join them in support of the Red Cross during this past year’s natural disasters. The organization’s financial support to assist Los Angeles neighbors is clear evidence of its already strong commitment to our region and a culture of paying it forward.

13 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e March 2018

“Being named Humanitarian Organization of the Year is a tremendous honor for us,” said Chargers Controlling Owner and Chairman of the Board Dean Spanos. “My father prioritized philanthropy from the moment he took ownership of the team and in the decades since, it’s truly become the heart of who we are as an organization. Being selected for this recognition is humbling because you don’t reach out to help others in time of crisis to be recognized; you help them because it’s the right thing to do. We come together when disaster strikes and fortunately for us, time and again, the American Red Cross has also been there to help us get back on our feet. That’s why we give.”

“On behalf of the incredible men and women of California Resources Corporation, it is an absolute honor to be recognized as Humanitarian Company of the Year,” said Todd A. Stevens, CRC’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “A humanitarian is a person who promotes human welfare, going beyond their own circumstance to understand how they can impact and influence others in positive ways, and our employees embody those values. The American Red Cross seeks to lift people up in everything that it does, and we are proud to share that quality by supporting and lifting working families and providing a path to the middle class.”

This past several months have seen unprecedented disasters and stretched Red Cross resources more than ever before, including volunteers. The American Red Cross Los Angeles volunteers were there - saving lives, providing comfort, and offering hope when all seemed lost. Along with our honorees, this year’s Humanitarian Celebration focuses on the incredible commitment volunteers have made to the Red Cross mission to alleviate human suffering and provide comfort and care.

The Humanitarian Celebration was attended by a sold-out crowd of more than 500 guests who enjoyed a live auction and live entertainment from singer Judith Hill. Guests included Hollywood talent such as Laura Slade Wiggins, Danielle Savre and Xolo Mariduena along with Chargers Defensive tackle Damion Square. The evening concluded with an “After Party” where guests danced to music provided by DJ Flobito and enjoyed wonderful desserts and festivities.

The 2018 Humanitarian Celebration was presented by The Walt Disney Company, supported through generous gifts from: AMPCO Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Steelers and Wells Fargo along with Ares Management, Bank of America, Bosse Family Foundation, CareMore Health, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Crenshaw Christian Center, Cloudbreak Health, Edison, International, Jim Fielding, L.A. Care Health Plan, Los Angeles Rams, Pam & Jason Lavine, Rita Benson LeBlanc, New England Patriots Foundation, Richard & Alison Ressler, Fred Rosen, The Ryan Foundation, Josie Tong, UCLA Health, Jill & Joe Valenti, Walmart and Westfield.

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The Red Cross LA also honored the generous contributions of California Resources Corporation (CRC), the state’s largest independent oil and natural gas producer, as Humanitarian Company of the Year. From employeedriven fundraising campaigns, to corporate donations and thousands of volunteer hours each year, CRC’s engagement has amplified our relief efforts in a year of challenging natural disasters from California wildfires to Hurricanes Harvey and Maria. CRC is a longtime Red Cross supporter in Los Angeles County and across the state. CRC employees take immense pride in providing safe, affordable and reliable energy for California by Californians, and in supporting the communities where they live and work.

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THE WAY I SEE

with Joe Santos, Jr.

Joe Santos, Jr. Celebrity Chef & Life-Stylist

16 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

Joe Santos, Jr. is a Celebrity Chef and Life-Stylist. He joins The Eden Magazine as a writer sharing his unique view on life, death, love, and the avoidance of mediocrity.

He is the son of Joe Santos, an Italian-American film and television character-actor who was loved by many and respected by all who had the opportunity to work with him. During his long career, he made over 80 films and television shows, but he was best known for ten years as Sgt. Dennis Becker, the friend of James Garner's character, on the NBC crime drama, The Rockford Files.

"THE WAY I SEE IT." "Good Grief!"

I was in my twenties when my mom, Maria became ill and was given only a few months to live. Upon hearing the news, we joined together as a family to start the fight. Losing our mother was not going to be an option. As soon as my father heard the news, he moved our mother into his house in the hills. (They had been divorced for over ten years by this time) My brother Perry immediately moved into the main house and my childhood best friend, I call my "chosen brother," Philip and I settled into the guesthouse to begin the search for a "miracle".

I was ten years old when I had my first experience with tragedy.

My older brother Julius was killed at 18 years old in a motorcycle accident. I remember the feeling of emptiness, sadness, and confusion. Seeing my mother's heartache and watching my father's strength. I remember the funeral home. Our friends. The line of black limousines, the hearse, the hundreds of white gardenias so fragrant that to this day the scent takes me straight back to that moment of me sitting in the back row of the viewing room. Trembling. Terrified to look up. After a while, I finally found enough courage to make my way up to the silver coffin, and kiss his cheek goodbye.

Somehow as a family, we found our way through.

Two years later, our 16-year-old sister Victoria was abducted. This was an even greater challenge as we all tried to make sense, rhyme, and reason, of how she disappeared out of thin air. What happened? Where? Why? How? Detectives, lawyers, anger, frustration were everywhere. My brother and I confused. My Grandmother inconsolable, my father weak, broken, my mother strong, determined.

My outlook on life and death has changed, maybe because my relationship with "God" has changed. It was distant at one time but through self-realization and practice, it has become close and constant. My Spirituality is pure, clear, clean, and honest. It is based on silence, gratitude, humility, and reflection.

I don't know what's beyond all of this. I do, however, think it's safe to say that whatever there is or isn't, it won't be anything like it is right here and right now.

Keep your heart open‌ your mind and your home open. Take pictures of everyone and everything! Live well. Pay your debts. Do chores. Be responsible. Be available. Be punctual. Love completely, Laugh from your gut every day, work, play, pray, think! Be accountable. Listen. And for Gods' sake answer your phone. Yes! Answer your phone! It may be your last chance to hear or say, I love you.

My mother died just seven months after searching for her miracle. In that time we were very united as a family again. We cooked, we talked, we laughed, and we loved.

We were present. My parents fell in love all over again and we were a happy family.

My father died just two years ago of a heart attack. He never stopped searching for my sister Victoria. Never found answers or closure. He never stopped loving my mother. He was an amazing man, father, and my best friend. We are still a family. We are the lucky ones. We found our miracles.

There is something greater out there. Just look around.

Look within. You can see it everywhere. You can feel it everywhere.

If we keep the ones we've lost around with stories, pictures, memories, laughter, we will become less afraid to feel things. Less afraid to say encouraging words to one another and ourselves, and to share experiences. We will stop fearing our silence and learn to embrace it and find strength in it.

Find your way through! Let your legacy be your authenticity in life. Search for your "miracle".

Life and Death, it's kind of like two pieces of bread. It's what we put in between that makes the Sandwich.

So, stay hungry and make yourself a good Sandwich.

17 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

Your Board Room Voice

By Liza Boubari, CCHt

Did you know your voice can make it or break it in a meeting or during a presentation?

paying attention to what you have to say?

• Does your voice reflect your intent and delivery?

How do you speak?

• Do you articulate your thoughts in a simple and concise manner?

• Do people look at you when you speak? Are they even

Have you felt that your voice has not been heard in a company or a meeting? Is it because what you have to say is not as important, or you have not given yourself permission to speak up?

18 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e eApril April 2018 2018

Speaking clearly helps you be more conscious of what you say, and helps others understand your message better. When you speak softly, your voice and vocals do not exude the power it needs to vibrate and carry the message past the first few people in the room.

1. Speak in chunks.

2. Create better tonality.

3. Pause on key points.

4. Breath 5. Make full eye contact (without starring)

From the sound of your voice, your listeners will make judgments about your attitude toward them and the ideas you're presenting. They'll judge your sincerity and credibility in part by your voice. And in turn that will affect how they respond to you and your message.

When it comes to presenting, does practice make perfect?

Not always.

We all have multiple facets.

You have to realize that how you talk to your kids and talk in a conference room is still you – you just have to shift and allow different aspects of you to come through at the right time and the right place. To be a good presenter, you must take care of your voice and learn to use it well.

What is tonality?

There is quite a difference between power voice and being loud. One comes from within you – your gut, and the other is forced only to be over heard. Perhaps you are one of very few women in the executive room – so how do you project and express your ideas – is your voice strong and commanding – high pitched or soft and girly?

Take this test: If you were to ask a group of colleagues, how will they describe your tone of voice?

You sound like _______?

Is your voice: Calm, competent, confident, disheartened, harsh, timid, too soft or borderline boring?

Everyone wants to be heard. Your voice can be authoritative, and have a positive and emotional affect. Others’ reaction to what you have to say and who you are is very much in your control – the way you present yourself, the way you dress (for the occasion), your body language and the use of your voice and tonality.

Learning how to be soft and gentle yet speak with vigor, clarity and your inner power, this will help your voice carry, and give life and energy to what you have to say. Coupled with the body and essence of your message, you are guaranteed a powerful speech - achieving the result you wish.

Make power and lasting impressions. It’s in how you introduce yourself, your title, your company. Your tone of your voice can clearly make an impression on one person or in a group.

Practice makes permanent. The more you do something, the more comfortable it becomes. The more comfortable you are – the better you feel.

You have a voice – You Matter.

g In the last twenty-five years, there has been a growing interest in the connection between the mind and body and its relationship to stress and disease.

Liza’s knowledge of the corporate world came from years of experience in law offices as a paralegal and legal assistant. It was her own powerful healing experience through hypnotherapy and guided imagery that led her to these tools. Changing course to teaching and guiding, she chose a path to help others directly. In 1997, she founded InnerSite, now known as HealWithin, Inc., a Healing Center for Mind-Body Therapy.

Liza earned her Clinical Hypnotherapy Certification from the Hypnotism Training Institute of Glendale in 1996. She’s also a Certified Stress Management Counselor (CSMC), Certified Action Coach (CAC), Certified Domestic Abuse Consultant (CDAC), and a Certified Massage Therapist (CMT). She sits on the Executive Board of American Council of Hypnotherapists Examiners (ACHE. In 2013 Liza founded and was lead organizer for the HealWithin-The 3E Women’s Event. This is an event dedicated to empowering and inspiring women.

The 3E objectives: to Evoke-what was, Embrace- what is, and Evolve- to what will be -"YOU Matter".

HealWithin | 208 S. Louise | Glendale, CA 91205 818.

551.1501 www.healwithin.com

19 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

LOOKING GOOD & FEELING GREAT

with Margaret Tomaszewicz

The Importance of Ending

Testing on Animals

By Margaret Tomaszewicz

20 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

I am going to admit, I will buy and try any new cream or potion that is promising a breakthrough in anti-aging.

Being an esthetician and a skin care product developer, I am always on the lookout for the newest “best thing “ to offer to my clients.

Many of us do not give a thought as to what it took to manufacture the creams and makeup that we are using every day. However, as human beings and animal lovers we have stand up for animal rights and stop companies that are testing their products on animals.

courage manufacturers to clean up their act and stop selling animal-tested products across the United States” says Kristie Sullivan, vice-president of research policy with the Physician Committee.

In the near future I will be speaking with Dr. Sullivan to let you know how we can support this legislation.

In the meantime, since 2020 is still two years away we can vote with our pockets by not purchasing any products that do not display a “Cruelty Free” logo.

Personally I will not support any cosmetics companies that have flourished and benefits financially by selling products tested on animals, no matter how fantastic the results are that they are promising.

By doing this we can together save thousand of animals lives and use products that we feel good about.

Do you know that cosmetics in U.S. are largely and surprisingly unregulated? Currently there is no official agency in charge to oversee that beauty products are ethically manufactured.

f

Luckily things are changing.

California may become the fist state to formally ban testing of cosmetic products on animals.

The California Cruelty-Free Cosmetic Act would make it illegal for any cosmetic company to “knowingly import or sell any cosmetics, including personal hygiene products such as deodorant, shampoo or conditioner in California, if the final product or any component of the product was tested on animals after January 1, 2020.”

Senator Cathleen Galgiani is introducing the bill and it is formally known as SB 1249. The bill is sponsored by the Social Compassion in Legislation and Physician Committee for Responsible Medicine.

“Banning animal –tested cosmetics in California will en-

To your Health!

Margaret Tomaszewicz is a licensed esthetician with over 25 years of experience.

She is the owner of European Skin and Massage Studio in Santa Monica, California and has developed the Organic WODA European Natural Skin Care Line.

Her products are available on wodaskincare.com and on Amazon.com For every product sold WODA Skin Care plants a tree.

Margaret can be reached at 424-279-9771 or europeanskinandmassagestudio@gmail.com wodaskincare.com

21 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

An Interview

with Marcus Giers

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Reality is Negotiable Why do some people seek the life of their dreams while others already live it?

The German entrepreneur and top speaker Marcus Giers, has dealt with this question and will continue to do so in 2019 in his new lecture. He will come back onto the international stages with this topic but this time, it will also include a new message, which is a revelation. Radio Host, of Luxe Life Radio, Candice Bar called Marcus and his clients, the best speakers in Germany.

Eden Magazine (EM): What is the secret of successful people?

Marcus Giers (MG): I do not think there is just one secret or that there is a secret at all. Rather, I believe in a wealth of possibilities and principles that may be discovered and applied. In the development of my new lecture topic, I have used the latest results of research from various fields such as neurobiology, epigenetics, brain research and quantum physics.

EM: Can you please elaborate?

MG: What we think and feel influences every single one of our body cells, and with it, our well-being. That's incredible! We also determine how we perceive reality and thus influence our lives. Reality is always the result of our own code. This is a realization that has the power to explode if we take it seriously!

EM: Will this be the focus of your next lecture?

MG: Yes, but not only this. The lecture is an exciting journey into your own interior. The audience will discover the fascinating power of the

mind and emotions - that it can influence both negatively and positively. Conditioning's are unmasked as such and thus open up a whole new world to the listener in which he determines his destiny. He becomes the director of his life, and he alone decides which pictures should be seen on the screen of his life.

EM: You are considered one of the leading story-marketing experts in Europe, and you are now also in demand worldwide. You lecture on the art of influencing, on the use of story framing on board of major cruise ships and in the Arab Emirates. You also write advertising and PR stories for major international companies, how does your new theme of "Reality is Negotiable" fit into all of this?

MG: Many entrepreneurs come to me to talk about new advertising and PR strategies. Their wallets are filled with money and they believe that business success is just a question of the right strategy, an instrument that can be found on the outside. Time and time again I am asked the question, “With money and the right PR story, can one open up new markets, arouse desires and achieve the desired success?” And the answer is always an emphatic “No.” Many PR and advertising agencies may want to sell that to their customers, but that's not the way it is!

To add to my answer, I would like to use this biblical quote: "As inside - so outside." Laozi, the ancient Chinese philosopher, and writer put this saying a little differently in his Tao Te King when he said, "All being comes from nonbeing." What does he mean by that? Everything we have, want to do, or want to be, arises first in us.

M G

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EM: But this is a tough break from real economy to spirituality. Do you think you can continue to be successful in your current markets?

MG: What is faith? Lincoln once said, "Believing in things that you can see and touch is not belief at all, but to believe the invisible is a triumph and a blessing.” But I digress and I want to come back to your penultimate question. Story marketing will always be successful, just because reality is negotiable.

The only question that arises is: How does it work?

EM: Please explain how it works?

MG: First of all, it is important to unmask your own conditioning. This opens up a whole new world in which everyone determines his or her own destiny. So he becomes the director of his life, and he alone decides whether something will be crowned with success. I'll give you a very simple example from our everyday lives: Most people probably do not connect when they meet with a friend for lunch and blabber about a mutual acquaintance, or when they are trying to deal with a very important customer at work over a huge problem. It is important to know that everything we send out into the lives of others comes back to our own lives. I think it is vitally important to bring the spiritual level and the material level into harmonious coexistence. In my presentation, I show how easy it is. So many people apply it and achieve extraordinary results in their private and corporate lives. It's those people who already live the life of their dreams, and for all the others who are still searching I show them the way to find it.

EM: Can you explain what the solution is - the quintessence of your presentation?

MG: For more than two thousand years, the words of the scriptures have been misunderstood and misinterpreted. Only very few people have realized over time that the words in the scriptures are a mystery - a puzzle that wants to be solved. Together with theologians and religious scholars, we have found a way to translate this ancient knowledge into today's “business” world and make it applicable to everyone. One word is especially important. This one word changes the world of every human and entrepreneur. This one word is a universal law. It affects every single one of our body cells - and thus our well-being. The results of current research studies in the fields of neurobiology, epigenetics, brain research and quantum physics confirm this. So it does not matter who they are, where they live or what they are doing. This lecture, with the solution of this one word, will certainly change the lives of the audience!

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Light of

Consciousness

By Jayita Bhattacharjee

It is our human thirst for a quest, a need to search for the divine wisdom so our whole being can be absorbed into a wisdom coming from the lips of a divine love. This is when we hear the whispers of an innate truth at a breaking dawn. From this, stems the devotional outpourings of our souls, --so we can have a personal glimpse, a humble hope, light of a profound truth, a wider opening of doors to unshakable faith in divine---to a richer love for one who is the soul of our souls. For those who are going through an unfulfilled spiritual longing, who are seeking to understand the enigmatic beauty of life, who have held in their hearts a glimpse of an uncertain shore, an uncertain hope---who have already tuned to wards the light of Beyond in their quest---May the beaming light bring a new sense of direction for each seeker.

We are inseparable from him, as waves can never truly be separated from the ocean. We are immutably a part of divine and we need to see this vision through the breaking of a new light, the light of Oneness---Oneness with God. A richer understanding of human’s inseparable connection God, an inescapable need for divine in every aspect of daily living makes knowing God the only true way that we can never run away from. As what we resist, persists. What we flee from chases us till the very end. Yet, we humans deny, and deny that behind everything, plays the hands of a higher power.

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Prayer is when you talk to God and meditation is when the divine talks to you. That is when your communion and oneness with God happens in a flow of spiritual ecstasy. This is when you realize the presence of the divine indweller in your sacred sanctuary, the temple within your body. This thirsting is your holy desire. If you ever dwell in the beauty of your thinking of divine in such a manner that you feel ‌God is walking through your feet, he is working through your heart, he is offering through your hands, he is speaking through your voice, he is singing through your lips, then you will see him in the sanctuary within your soul, as you being the ocean of life will see the wave of life in every detailed activity. A land more beautiful than temptations exists out there, if only we seek him truly in the silent communication, if only we can get ourselves absorbed in the communion of ecstasy, the flow that goes silently between us and him, it goes much deeper than the fleeting temptations can enthrall us with.

of our heart---that which is the omniscient power of the soul. This is the shooting star of a priceless wisdom that when bursts into its light, shows the path to a soul that is sleeping in a spiritual darkness and see the first twinkling of a timeless beam in the vast stretch of a night. The truth is finally revealed. There are two pathways to reach the divine.

One is by loving and offering services to mankind that have the touch of divinity, another is by meditation that will take us to our inner soul flowering. By immersing deeply in meditation, we realize that we are not the body, or the bones or the breath but we are that which is beyond this mortal frame, this breath and all that can be held within this body. When we come to the temple of divine truth that is within us, we are always flooded with light inside---the light of divine consciousness. We are all that is rooted in all the miracles of this universe. What captures the universe in a beauty to wonder at, in an awe to behold at, is deeply rooted in all that we are.

If we can conceive of divine as the utmost thirst in life, then we can break the shackles of our limitations and can dwell in the throbbing joy of knowing God, tasting the divine wine, do we feel a wordless joy that can throb as a priceless wisdom within our hearts. If we walk the earth seeking happiness from all fellow humans, it will end up in an unbearable agony, a misery beyond words--the relationship with God is the one that lives for this lifetime and beyond---this is the truth that is enshrined in eternity. The illusory world that we live says that happiness will come from worldly fulfillments, is a delusion that pushes us farther away from the golden truth. When we let our inner light be trampled by ego and wrong doings, we let our souls sleep, we insult our hearts by letting them go to a deep slumber and stand in their way by not awakening them to the light of truth. We keep our inner divinity buried deep by our fears. The soul of all souls is the soul of the Omnipotent. The wisdom behind all wisdom is the wisdom of divinity. the truth behind all truth is the truth of God. The light behind all lights is the light of Beyond.

t

Balance your heart’s feelings with the reasoning of the mind and when the two are in a balanced mix, then plunge deep in the sea of meditation and give in to the serenity of peace, the tranquility that arises from your communication with him. This is the peace that will show you the light of divine kinship. Dive deep into the realm of consciousness, that can break the ordinary realms and take you to the realm of something beyond the ordinary, that which is invisible to the naked eyes, and we can perceive it only with the eye

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Jayita Bhattacharjee....born in Calcutta, India and later on pursued education from University of Houston in Economics, she had chosen her career as a trustee and teacher. Her Indian residence is in the vicinity of the famous Belurmath. Currently, she is settled in Tampa, Florida.

Her love for writing on a journey of heart and soul was hidden all within. Looking at the moments captured in love and pain, joy and grief, the hidden tragedies of life... it was a calling of her soul to write with the ink that kept flowing from her heart. This is what gave her the fulfillment, the richness in her soul.

Her books "The Ecstatic Dance of Life', " Sacred Sanctuary", " Light of Consciousness", "Dewdrops of Compassion" are meant to shed light on what guides a person to respond to the mystical voice hidden inside, to soar in a boundless expansion with the limitless freedom of spirit.

"It is in the deepest joy that I write with every breath of mine."

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you.

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” ~Jane Goodall

“Humankind has not woven the web of life.

We are but one thread within it.

Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.

All things are bound together … all things connect.” ~Chief Seattle

“I only feel angry when I see waste.

When I see people throwing away things we could use.” ~Mother Teresa

"Teach us to walk the soft Earth as relatives to all that live.” ~Sioux Prayer

The good man is the friend of all living things.” ~Gandhi

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.

Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

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“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.” ~Einstein

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The Gift of an Awakened Life and How You Achieve It

By Master Charles Cannon

It takes something to impress a tech genius.

That was my challenge when LinkedIn invited me to present my High-Tech Meditation® program in Silicon Valley. What made the hour easy and successful was to not bother trying to impress them.

Instead, I assured them that they already had the key to living an awakened life in the 21st century: engage fully with life.

I learned that previous presenters kept telling them to unplug. I’ve heard the same thing from new meditation students, but I always urge people to go in the other direction. Instead of hiding from the world, embrace it. Why? Because that’s what you do when you’re awake!

True, our lives are busier than ever, and we can easily get overwhelmed by distractions. There is more activity and background “noise” than ever before in the history of our species. We can’t know even a fraction of what’s competing for our attention. Besides all that we hear and see, smell, feel, and touch, there’s now a broad range of frequencies beyond the perception of our five senses, like microwaves, EMF radiation, and odorless toxins.

Then there are all the thoughts and feelings of seven billion people.

We live in a thrashing sea of environmental influences, many of them toxic. This can overwhelm our experi-

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ence of self, marginalize our awareness of anything but consumer fever, and convince us that there is only one alternative: to unplug. After all, that noise can reduce the “still, small voice” of our own inner knowing to an inaudible whisper.

But rather than unplugging to escape, why not remain plugged in and choose constructive input to overpower the noise? There are always choices to make with our attention and the menu of possibilities now includes some truly nurturing choices. Sometimes it’s as simple as using our remote to change channels from a highspeed chase to touring a Japanese garden. Meditators make movies and they write books. Awake individuals blog and tweet. They work in our companies and they attend parties we go to. In other words, these days anyone who wants to live an awakened life has company. We can help each other to be, as the Bible said, “in the world but not of it.” That’s profoundly different than retreating on our own. The unique pressures of modern life call for us to help each other now.

This busy world is not our enemy. Time was when the idea of waking up and being more spiritual was a more solitary journey; it meant meditating for hours and/ or traveling to be with a guru in some remote part of the world. “Getting away from it all” is no longer practical, possible, or even advisable. The “noise” is inescapable because it transcends geography. So, I recommend a fundamentally different strategy: engage with the world in the identity of a universal lover.

Photo by Jordan Matter

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Love everything you perceive.

Love everyone you are in contact with, appropriately. That means giving them your attention and learning how to relate, moment-by-moment, in the most productive, enjoyable ways. In the final analysis, living an awakened life means expanding awareness. Awareness of what? Not just theories about life but your actual perception of what’s going on.

A friend told me a story about three men driving to work one morning. They stopped at a light and saw a woman walking across the street in her nightgown.

One man was offended and judged her for going out in public dressed like that. Another just stared in fascination. The third man noticed that her eyes were closed.

She was sleepwalking! He helped her get home safely.

Three men all saw the same facts but they each perceived something different. That’s because their perception was through a lens of their own unique prejudices. This story proves the reworking of that old statement: “You believe it when you see it.” As they demonstrated, it’s more likely, “You see it when you believe it.”

Living an awakened life involves surrendering our biases, the prejudices that filter our perception and determine our thinking and consequent behavior. This is central to living an awakened life. We don’t need a cave. We don’t need a placid life with no challenges. That belief guarantees remaining asleep. Discomfort is inevitable; we can’t have comfort without it. It’s how we deal with challenges that matters and we do better when we’re awake!

We can also give up tunnel vision – obsession with achieving one thing and seeing everything as assets or liabilities to accomplishing “success.” We can soften our perception … spread out our focus to include everything that is happening, appreciating that if it’s happening there’s a reason for it. We can become detectives of life and discover hidden value right here, right now.

We can learn how to appreciate and include everything in every moment as a valid part of our experience, rather than distractions from what we want to get done. Yes, we need to focus but there’s a different way, from a perspective that enables us to perceive more of what is really going on. Like, noticing that a woman on the street in the early morning is sleepwalking!

You might have a friend who is sleepwalking through his life. You can help him in the same way; take him home.

Home is awakening to the miracle of this life, moment 34 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

by moment, but we can’t just tell people about it, we have to live it so they have an example to inspire and awaken them.

When we study the reasons we limit our perception, it doesn’t take long to discover what we are really hiding from. Of the many topics we dance around and neglect, deny, and try to avoid in our modern culture, there’s one that tops the taboo list — the one we really don’t want to face.

Death.

Most of us walk backward towards death, focused on regrets and ambition, memories and fantasy, afraid to face what’s coming. But death comes for us all. When we turn to face it we can come to understand what native Americans meant when they said, “This is a good day to die.”

When we live an awakened life, every day is a good day to die. Why? Because we are engaging fully with life, with no regrets. Also, because we have come to understand that death is not the end. Yes, every flower withers and dies. Every human life completes. But we are more than our bodies. We are an in-dwelling spirit, an eternal spark of light in this star-filled universe. How could our light separate itself from the light? In a body, in soil, in the wind, in a dimension beyond imagination, we live as all life does, forever.

In the end, we must settle for immortality. Experiencing that in each moment is what characterizes living an awakened life. That is the real genius.

t Master Charles Cannon is the Spiritual Director of Synchronicity Foundation for Modern Spirituality.

His other books include: Living an Awakened Life: The Lessons of Love, Forgiving the Unforgivable, Awakening from the American Dream, The Bliss of Freedom, Modern Spirituality and The Meditation Toolbox.

For more information, contact Synchronicity Foundation.at www.Synchronicity.org

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LANGUAGE OF SPACE

with Michael White Ryan

OUR LAST ACT AS A CREATOR

WE SOLD OUR SOUL TO A SMOOTH-TALKING WINGED LOBBYIST TO EXPERIENCE EGOIC CREATIONS

By Michael White Ryan

Photo by Katerina Plotnikova Photography

Flying high and going nowhere…hats, friends and I am feeling good.

Round eyed observation seeks safe secure saneness in insanity regulation prisons. The collective twenty first century mindset has gorged itself on knowing right from wrong, black from white, good from bad, with nepo whole-heartedness. The human condition unknowingly addicted to “thoughts in lines of solidified formation”. Individual pied pipers, whispering collectively/unanimously, an energetic army of how to become/live free in social correctness. With open hand turned towards the heavens, we announce a joyous YES. 36 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COMe April 2018

Buzzed in agreement, what, are you not wearing the markings! The idealistic struggles to gain their head above the watermark, will/can never be held down, look around, the proof is in the poop! Standing in coffee waiting lines, I am a projection individuality expressing, I move in absolute, kiss the forehead of this me time lover, living in the now, this today. In fluidity motion we bypass actual visions and see from internal motivative-trained focuses, needs upon needs upon needing’s. the I am incarnated from/into timeless meisms..

Our lives have become a metaphor of endless reincarnations a living walking dead As I open wide eyes, the I AM in all its innocence, believes unknowingly, the I co-creates all that I can see.

My whole world made up of, where do I/we go from here. Breathe in deeply, from this dead and dying darkness, walk in well-rehearsed lines of refracted light, mindset does right by me. I think, therefore I know.

It’s a never ending classic ballet mind game. Free-mind existed way back in depths, before centuries bygone.

Smells once alive silently penetrate layers of misty fogs in actual time past, memory/dream. Desire has tricked the once all knowing.

Be here now, lost in meaningful personalized consumptions I raise my glass in celebration of tomorrows comings. Believed visions, transiting successful imagined realities living in lost. Come on people keep on believing, follow the light back to the source. Congregational tribes of brothers sisters dancing in the light. Oh, what an innovative mindset, creations indoctrinated in the mindset of becoming, I am a co-creator celebration!!!

Give it up, give it all up, if not at what cost. For we are the misunderstood mighty, drowning in cluttered caverns of all-knowing. Undress that beauty-tee-fried knowledge mistress, see, see scarcity’s illusion, and awake once more in the first again-time. Sit ye down, way down and release/loose that mister confusion, with liberated decisiveness. Be that strange stranger never no more. Multiple sounds of language past, throw out ever forgotten constipated tears of painful joy, bliss feelings flooding, sweep throughout my creature therenow, the I am lives. I exist in limitless frozen vibration.

Once again,

attached addiction turn on, at every tick and tock accepted creations maketh the artificial human I AM stands in knowing the I has to leave home the AM spreads it’s wings to live in single freedoms of solitary moments SEOB, Savoring Every Ounce of Breath as if it were your last God given gift, comes with a no refunds attached policy. Enveloped in legions of natures light delusion.

Smell the baby, kiss the dog, bliss out and discover the here and now in mindful stillness. Learn tantra, blow the mind out, into portals of parallel sanities. Entertain, feed, constantly feed the out of control, in control metoo creature, know, acknowledge the power of choice.

Hold me, stand by me, pull me in ever so tightly, invisible programed imprints of fear still hold my hand.

In heavens oneness I seek salvation. Armed with all that has been before, evolved in winds of time, AM hands the falsified contract back to the smooth talking winged salesman. No longer drowning in musical waters I am born whole. OUR FIRST ACT AS A CREATOR, remove the creation… I am found found found found found found……………….

Blessings one and all

t Michael White Ryan is a co-founder with his wife Pamela Edwards of Language of Space.

They are leaders in sustainable business growth via Performance Design and Performance Code.

Sustainable design encompasses both Western and Eastern philosophies including advanced Feng Shui principles, Environmental Design, Buildings, Alternative Health, Business Advisory Consultants and 20 plus years as entrepreneurs. Recognized in the top 100 globally and are Americas Leading Feng Shui Business Consultants.

They are on faculty at CEO Space International one of the oldest business organizations in America today, currently operate in 7 countries and reside in Carlsbad CA.. www.languageofspace.com

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Reclaming Your True Self with Angela Dunning

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The Power of Surrender

By Angela Dunning There is a tremendous power and freedom that comes with surrendering to a situation and accepting a reality just as it is. To surrender involves great courage and humility.

Often we feel compelled to hang on for dear life to that which needs to be let go of, including those who have departed this life; a career, or a beloved partner when a relationship ends. We think that if we keep holding on this will keep us connected to that which once was. Yet anything which needs to be released or undergo a death necessitates our participation through actively surrendering to the release. We need to consciously let go of the attachment, need, or nostalgia for that which was once a significant part of our life.

Surrender is different to submission. With surrender we regain a sense of personal power, whereas with submission we give away our power to someone else. It is also the opposite of undertaking a battle which drains our precious energy; knowing which battles to invest in is deep wisdom indeed. Surrender, therefore, is not a passive act nor is it a protective one, instead it opens us up to new energies, possibilities and beginnings.

Often our Ego and protective defences fight tooth and nail to avoid surrender. However, in our own personal and professional lives we can practice the act of surrender many times a day. The key to entering surrender comes when we are willing to look truth squarely in the face, without our usual rose-tinted glasses, blinkers or fantasises of how we think a particular situation should be.

Instead, we courageously and honestly stand willing to see the life before us just as it is.

Death and grief brings us all to this point of surrender at some point in our lives and in the most vital and painful way. We have absolutely no choice about the departure of the other. They are gone. Our task now is to untangle the heap of memories, attachments, feelings of love, daily routine and the physical emptiness we are left with.

Having recently lost my most beloved horse I have been deeply immersed in this process. I found that the key to

finally coming up for air and feeling like I could live again was in the act of surrender. This involved moving slowly through the process of accepting the truth of his passing; it happened suddenly and without warning and so was a shock. And, although part of me felt this acceptance was a betrayal of him somehow, once I entered into the possibility and feeling state in my body that I could begin to accept he was gone, then I felt myself falling into the loving soft embrace of surrender. Only after this have I felt a sense of hope again and the desire to move forward.

There is tremendous inner peace that comes when we do finally surrender. A deep softening within takes place, slowly melting the painful ridges of our heart and mind.

Many spiritual practices encourage active surrender and my own honorable teachers, the horses, show me time and time again how to accept what is, in each moment.

They remind me to stop striving for how I think things should be and, instead, to fall into alignment with the present state both within and around me. To stop fighting my feelings, to stop acting in a way which betrays my deepest truth, and above all, to let myself fall into the soft place of surrender with each breath I take.

e Angela Dunning is the author of The Horse Leads the Way: Honoring the True Role of the Horse in Equine Facilitated Practice. You can learn more about Angela; her work helping people and horses reclaim their wildness, and read more of her articles at: www.thehorsestruth.co.uk You can also connect with Angela on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehorsestruth or www.thehorsestruth.co.uk 39 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

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"Lovers are those for whom no minute is like any other, people between whom nothing habitual takes place, just what is new, unprecedented, unexpected. In such connections there exists an almost unbearable happiness. When we love, we must not forget that we are beginners, bunglers of life, apprentices in love. We must learn love and that takes calm, patience, and composure."

Love Isn't Something You Fall Into

By Linda and Charlie Bloom

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote these words nearly 100 years ago and they are still true and most likely will continue to be 100 years from now.

They represent the essence of what is unquestionably one of the most difficult to describe experiences known to humanity. The notion “learning to love” may sound strange, especially coming from a poet known for his mystical writings. And yet for those of us who have traversed the territory to which Rilke refers, his words serve as striking reminders of the inner qualities that are required of those of us who have committed ourselves to this path of the heart.

It is a great mystery that a process as natural and universal as loving should be as difficult as it so frequently can be. And yet, mastering the art of loving may well be the most demanding challenge of our lives. Many people, having made a number of painful or unsuccessful attempts to develop sustained, loving relationships, conclude that they’re just not up for what it takes or that perhaps they’re not the type to settle down with one person.

They choose instead to forego their dream rather than risk the prospect of risking pain, frustration, and disappointment.

Why is it that loving relationships can be so difficult for us to create and sustain? Is it true that there really are very few good candidates out there who are willing and able to relate honestly and authentically? And is it possible for us to unlearn defensive patterns that may have served us in childhood but now cause us to feel frustration and isolation?

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These and many other questions inevitably arise once we make the decision to embark upon the path of love.

And the further we go on this path, the more daunting it can appear to be. Many believe that the opposite should be true; that is, that the deeper the connection that we develop with someone, the easier it should be, and if it’s not getting easier it’s because something is wrong; wrong with them, wrong with me, or wrong with us.

Not necessarily. Deep relatedness can bring out the worst as well as the best in us: our deepest fears and our greatest hopes, our selflessness as well as our possessiveness, our kindness and our insensitivity, our generosity and our self-centeredness. In working consciously with these aspects of our experience, we can begin to feel more trusting and open with each other and gradually let down the defenses that shield and protect us from the emotional distress, that we must be willing that least occasionally endure in even the most loving relationships.

Great love, great sex and great intimacy are the hallmarks of great relationships. Like the pursuit of happiness, great relationships don’t happen by seeking them directly; rather they are a by-product of living life in a way that creates the conditions that will support the fulfillment of our intention. Getting clear about the kind of relationship that we want and the kind of person that we want to share that relationship with are undoubtedly important steps in the realization of our dreams. But the most important aspect of creating an optimal relationship has less to do with finding the person of our dreams than being the person of our dreams.

It’s about who we become in the process.

When we identify the qualities that we seek to strengthen within ourselves, the likelihood of attracting the right person increases exponentially. Being a great lover has less to do with technique than with our quality of being.

As we cultivate qualities like presence, generosity, compassion, commitment and trustworthiness, and integrate practices that embody those qualities into our lives, the quality of our relationships will naturally become enhanced.

There is truly no limit to what is possible when two people are partnered in a mutual commitment to support each other in this amazing quest of discovery. Yes, it does take effort, time, and energy, and did we mention courage? The courage to live with an open heart rather than 42 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

a defended or closed one. But as anyone who has stayed on the path for a while will tell you, the result is worth every ounce of energy that it takes to do the work, and much more. The choice is yours and you can make it at any time. So, what are you waiting for?

2 Trained as psychotherapists and relationship counselors, Charlie Bloom M.S.W. and Linda Bloom L.C.S.W. have worked with individuals, couples, groups, and organizations since 1975.

They have lectured and taught at many learning institutes throughout the USA, including the Esalen Institute, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, 1440 Multiversity, the California Institute for Integral Studies, the Meridian University, John F. Kennedy University, the Crossings, Omega institute, the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, Sonoma State University, University of California at Berkeley Extension Program, the Hoffman Institute, the World Health Organization and many others. They have offered their seminars and lectures seminars throughout the world, in countries including China, Japan, Indonesia, Denmark, Sweden, India, Brazil, Mexico, and Canada.

Charlie and Linda are the authors of three published books, including their best-seller, 101 Things I Wish I Knew When Got Married: Simple Lessons to Make Love Last (Over 100,000 copies sold). Their new book That Which Doesn’t Kill Us: How One Couple Got Stronger at the Broken Places, will be published by Sacred Life Publishers in April 2018.

They blog for several on-line journals on a regular and frequent basis, including, Huffington Post, Psych Central, OM Times and Psychology Today where their posts have received over 5 million hits. Charlie and Linda have been married since 1972 and are the parents of Jesse and Sarah and grandparents to Devin, Ashton, and Seth.

CATS AT THE STUDIOS, INC http://catsatthestudios.com/

Cat & Kitten for adoption

Cats At The Studios, Inc is a non profit rescue organization comprised entirely of volunteers.

We are dedicated to nurturing, neutering/spaying, and finding a good homes for abononed cats and Kitten.

We are looking for volunteers and help please contact us at CatsAtTheStudios@yahoo.com

THE PORTRAIT PAINTER GOES WHERE FEW OUTSIDERS CAN

with Juan Bastos

The Count and Countess of Alastaya

By Juan Bastos Photos by Tom Parry

One of my favorite books when I was a boy was “Lost Horizon”, particularly the enchanted Shangri La, a lovely green valley hidden in the freezing Himalayas where no one ever got old. Well, almost ten years ago I was invited to an unfor-

gettable party at Dawnridge, the home of Hutton and Ruth Wilkinson, where I experienced my Shangri La moment.

Dawnridge was the former home of the late designer Tony Duquette, and Hutton, his business partner, had purchased it after his death. Hutton is a celebrated interior designer, jewelry designer, and best-selling author. Following the purchase, Hutton made some changes, adding his own personal touches to the house and gardens, and then recently built his own house on the property. The blend of creativity of Wilkinson and Duquette is absolutely magical. My friend, Maria Luisa de Herrera, took me to the party, where waiters dressed in Indian turbans and silk dhotis offered us drinks. A glittering circle of their elegantly dressed friends were strolling through the ornate rooms, and ventured into the gardens at sunset, which feature many of Duquette’s works, plus pagodas, Indian elephants, and obelisks. Following a garden path, I found myself walking downhill to the edge of a waterfall-fed coy pond. A two-story Asian temple was reflected in the water and was lighted, as was the rest of the garden, like an enchanted fairyland.

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When I was introduced as a Bolivian-American artist, Hutton mentioned that his grandfather, Jose Luis Tejada, had been the President of Bolivia from 1934 to 1936. However, his mother and family had come to live in Los Angeles when she was a child, but her father returned to Bolivia, ultimately suffering exile and death in Chile. Hutton had been to Bolivia several times and expressed a great fondness for the country. I told him that my grandfather had been the Bolivian Minister of Labor in the late 1940s and had earlier worked in Tejada’s government, and had also been the ambassador to Argentina. Nevertheless, after the revolution of 1952, our family went into exile in Venezuela, but in 1969 returned to live in La Paz. Hutton and I bonded over our shared history, which was when we sealed the deal to have me do his and Ruth’s portraits.

Hutton’s family background is rooted in Spanish nobility, los Condes de Alastaya (the Counts of Alastaya). For the portraits, we decided to show the family crest, similar to how some portraits of nobility were depicted in colonial times.

I also helped Hutton compose a thank-you letter in Spanish to King Juan Carlos, who had been instrumental in returning the title to Hutton, the rightful heir, after it had been legally usurped by an imposter.

Working on his portrait in pastels was probably one of the most entertaining experiences that I’ve ever had with any client. His wit and storytelling during the posing sessions, while working at their beautiful home, was certainly inspiring. He was so happy with my work that he decided to have an unveiling for his portrait, inviting 40 guests for dinner in the garden down by the pond. It was another magical evening, this time in honor of my portrait. By the time I painted Ruth, she had selected a gorgeous dress that she had designed, using a silk vintage fabric they’d purchased in Venice during their honeymoon many years before. She wore a pair of family heirloom earrings from the collections of the Counts of Alastaya and a breathtaking necklace from Hutton’s exclusive line of jewelry. Since then, our friendship has grown and, today, Ruth’s portrait hangs opposite Hutton’s on each side of the entrance to their library, of one of the loveliest rooms of their new home, surrounded by other family portraits from the past.

I recently had a retrospective of my California portraits and Hutton and Ruth lent me their pastels for the show, which hung proudly in the gallery. Dawnridge may not be Shangri La, but the portraits of el Conde y la Condesa de Alastaya will never age.

Juan Bastos is widely known for his several hundred portrait commissions over the past three decades in the U.S., South America, and Europe. He has also been featured in a number of one-man and group shows, the most recent being his November 2017 retrospective of 40 California portraits at Denenberg Fine Arts in West Hollywood.

Mr. Bastos lives in Los Angeles and a selection of his work can be viewed at www.juanbastos.com.

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with Roxana Jones

HEALTHURWORDS

The importance of men in the divine feminine energy awakening

By Roxana Jones

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he world is not in the current situation because of its religious, political or economic wars. The world is the way it is because at the deeper levels its human inhabitants have not yet healed and made peace with both, the masculine and feminine energies that simultaneously flow within each and every one. On subtler levels that might not be evident to the naked eye, what is still unsolved and not forgiven is all the pain and suffering that men and women have inflicted on one another throughout human history in the name of any inherited belief or judgment revolving around religion, politics, or the economy.

This might be quite an unsettling claim to some, but whether we like it or not, we must admit that we are a by-product of our past‌ let us not forget that energy - we are only that – can only be transformed and never be created or destroyed.

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My asseverations however, are not intended to find out who is to blame or who is not to blame. My heart sees a world where the roles of victims and villains are often times interchanged, but that is a different topic so let us focus on the fact that...

As the old saying goes, it “takes two to tango” and what this means is that it is impossible for the feminine or the masculine energies to survive independently without the other.

After many years of researching gender conflict and having experienced and healed it on quite complex personal levels, I have come to the conclusion that the equitable world a vast majority of us dreams of, an egalitarian world free of war, is still distant from the global reality if men don’t begin to include in their everyday beliefs and practices, the fact that a great part of their energy, and a great part of what they are, is nothing less than the DIVINE feminine energy at its best.

Some men reading this might ask: “why not see it the other way around, why not ask women to begin understanding their masculine energy too?”

It would be totally valid to do the exercise both ways. But then, isn’t this a reality where the majority still promotes the idea that “men rule the world”? Isn’t this an unbalanced so-called patriarchal global society where men AND women continue to reproduce this distorted system, simply because it hurts too much to go deep inside and forgive ALL women and men that have “harmed” us in ANY shape or form?

In an excessively masculine society such a ours, men are the ones who must take the lead and start changing the way we are still defining and conceptualizing the feminine energy so that we can stop thinking it is simply a synonym for women, when in truth it is so much more than that.

What happens if men don’t change the way they see their divine feminine energy?

Haven’t you seen how the planet has begun to balance what we are not capable of balancing on our own? Even if the sciences studying our past still don’t accept it, Earth has been home to other civilizations that lived here before us. Why they vanished and weren’t able to continue living in the energetic imbalances they created, just as it is

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happening to us? I am sure your heart is already giving you that answer.

Now, some of you might think that there is nothing you can do about all this. Many of you will think that policy makers and governments are responsible for such major societal changes, which can only be implemented through education, and so on.

Please take a few moments from your busy schedule to think otherwise and regardless if you are a male or a female, reflect on the following: It is now scientifically proven that what you live on a personal level impacts the world as a whole. If this is so, don’t you think it is a good time for you to allow the world you are sharing with all of us, to be healed through the forgiveness you can offer to your own past?

Believe me when I say that, even if it is at the subatomic levels, the whole planet and every living being will feel and be affected by the actions you take toward healing all the wounds that have been caused by the masculine and feminine energies embodied as all the men and women in your past.

In short, even if it sounds simply absurd, the future of the world is literally in your hands…

Thank you for reading and until next time!

, Roxana Jones and Arnaud Saint-Paul are successful copreneurs and philanthropists who have been working together since 2009. Through their different online ventures, Roxana and Arnaud empower individuals and businesses through the common goal of promoting the growth and expansion of positivity around the world. Up to now, Roxana and Arnaud have inspired 40M people on social media and their HealThruWords® online community counts with 200,000+ members.

Please visit healthruwords.com

Be Mindful, Be Heartful, Be Empowered

Roxana Jones Arnaud Saint-Paul

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How to Clear Your Energy Fields

By Nancy E. Yearout A sea-salt bath is a quick and easy way to cleanse your chakras and clear your energy fields from unwanted debris. This works wonderfully when you come home from work or a crowded event, where you have been exposed to many people’s energies. An overabundance of other people’s energy may cause your chakras to become dim, depending on how well you protect yourself from other people’s stuff.

All you need to do is run warm bathwater and sprinkle several tablespoon full of sea salt (found in groceries stores) evenly throughout the water (the more the better if it’s your first time). Soak in the tub for at least twenty to thirty minutes. This is something that you should do often to stay balanced. The properties held within the salt will assist in balancing out your energy fields.

It is important that you do not use sea salt all of the time. Alternate your salt baths with a sugar scrub.

Oftentimes sea salt is too harsh when used consistently; you may be adding salt to the wound, for example. Another great benefit to using a sugar scrub is that the sugar will make your energy field sweeter and people will act a bit kinder.

Try this; the result is amazing! If you choose to make your own, here’s a recipe for my favorite, an orange sugar scrub: You will need: ½ cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil 2 cups granulated sugar 6 drops orange essential oil Zest of one orange (grate the peel) 1–2 teaspoons ground cinnamon • Combine sugar and coconut oil in a small bowl. Mix until it becomes a paste.

• Add essential oil, orange zest, and ground cinnamon.

• Put into a jar and cover with the lid.

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Another one of my favorite remedies for clearing any space is the steam of cinnamon. Yes, plain old powdered cinnamon, found in most households. Cinnamon has numerous benefits and healing properties: it is armed with antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-fungal properties. Cinnamon essential oils are used in aromatherapy in order to cleanse the air of airborne bacteria. When cinnamon oil is combined with another strong essential oil such as eucalyptus, tea tree, or rosemary oil, for example, the aroma kills 99 percent of the airborne bacteria circulating in the air.

Here is the recipe: You will need: Medium-sized saucepan filled with water 3-4 teaspoons ground cinnamon or 3 cinnamon sticks • Place the pot of water to boil on the stove.

• Add ground cinnamon or, even better, cinnamon sticks if you have them on hand.

• Bring to a boil.

• Lower the temperature, and let the steam seep out into the space.

The energy within the cinnamon is wonderful for clearing, as it can get into all the nooks and crannies of your home or workspace. It is the properties within the cinnamon steam that clear the air of negative energy. This is also a great thing to do during the holidays when the relatives are over. It is amazing how it changes the energy of the room.

Another helpful method to rid yourself of negative energy and balance your chakras is to exercise. Yoga, for example, is a wonderful way to keep your chakras balanced. I particularly like the exercises referenced in Peter Kelder’s book, Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth. These exercises were acquired from his time spent in Tibet with the Tibetan monks, learning their ways.

I mention these exercises because they have improved my upper-body strength and have kept me centered. The exercises take only about fifteen minutes to do daily. These particular exercises not only balance your chakras but help you strengthen essential muscles.

There are numerous meditations available to clear your chakras as well. This is a fun and easy way to stay clear.

There are many awesome visualization CDs on the market today. Just pick up a CD, and follow along. I enjoy Doreen Virtue’s book with audio download entitled Chakra Clearing: Awakening Your Spiritual Power to Know and Heal. It’s powerful! I always feel rejuvenated when I complete the session with her.

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Now here’s something for you to think about: How many things do you touch with your hands on a daily basis? When you touch anything, you are intermingling with that object’s energy and everyone else’s energy who has used that object before you. As you go through your day, you may stop at the ATM machine. When you touch the keypad to enter your information, you are picking up the energy of all the other people who have used that ATM. When you are at the grocery store checkout counter and you enter your PIN number and accept the charge, you are again touching a heavily used keypad with an abundance of both good and bad energy.

The next time you are at the keypad, before you punch in your number, take your hand and sweep it over the numbers and simply say, “Negative energy, begone!” or whatever you feel comfortable with. You are asking the Universe to remove any unwanted energies from the keypad so that they don’t attach themselves to you and your card. The Universe will comply. Ask, and have pure intention.

This is from Wake Up! The Universe Is Speaking to You

2 Nancy E. Yearout is an author, a spiritual life coach, and a motivational speaker.

Nancy has enjoyed an extensive corporate career as a sales coordinator with one of the Big Three automakers in Detroit.

Her sales, management, and marketing skills have grown with each step of her business.

Her success has blessed her with the real life experience, knowledge, and common sense that is required to help others through life’s challenges.

Nancy has been fortunate to acquire hands-on energy healing skills from an Aztec healer from Mexico, and she has helped many balance their energy fields.

She has received guidance from religious and spiritual teachers along the way, resulting in the development of her skills as an intuitive, a tarot card reader, and a life coach.

She utilizes these tools to guide her clients to joyful and successful lives. Nancy is the author of Wake Up! The Universe Is Speaking To You. www.TheEnergyProphet.com

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WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

with Sue Wong

Sue Wong

Fashion Retrospective & Lifetime Achievement Award

Photogrpahy by Sheri Determan, James Pan & Bob Delgadillo

Los Angeles based designer Sue Wong is known for dazzling fashionistas with her couture techniques and glamorous signature and elegance of iconic bygone eras with a modern sensibility to create timeless works of art. Distinguished by the impeccable quality of traditional couture dress making, her designs are steeped in romance and mystery while being thoroughly modern and accessible to women everywhere. Sue continues to forge new ground in defining fashion that transcends generations and boundaries even as she creates masterpieces of passion and desire expressed through inimitable style. Sue Wong has dressed countless celebrities including Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Minnie Driver and Taylor Swift.

In addition, iconic fashion designer Sue Wong now expands her SUE WONG Design Universe - a vortex of creativity featuring a unique signature which is now diversifying into the arenas of Home, Lifestyle, Architecture and Interiors.

SUE WONG Boutique Hotels as well as Designer Homes are in the near future awaiting manifestation.

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SUE WONG Interior Designs, unlike any other, are multi-dimensional, living experiential Temples of Art, promoting transformation and self-healing. To comprehend Sue Wong designs celebrating the Art of Living, is to embark on a journey accessing a portal into the renowned designer’s professional acumen, awakening a magical experience of haute style, glamour, and alchemy. Other new artistic projects in development include a biopic feature film based on the designer’s dramatic life as well as her autobiography.

Celebrities in attendance included actor Billy Zane, actress Jacqueline Murphy, screenwriter/director Mick Davis, rocker Chris Pitman (Guns N' Roses) and Brit rocker Steve Cooke.

The Sue Wong runway included celebrity guest model Eugenia Kuzmina who electrified the audience, along with 22 models - articulating the message of allure, timeless glamour and feminine beauty, invoking the Goddess. The mystique of the goddess is a mythological aspect synonymous to the Sue Wong signature.

International fashion designer Sue Wong delivered a Retrospective Fashion Show extravaganza of beauty, sorcery and magic. The event captivated the audience with a 67 piece archival haute couture collection that showcased Wong’s most exquisite work of the last 18 years. The astonishing collection included Renaissance to Deco, and exotic Asian looks. In addition, Sue Wong was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award by Erik Rosete of Art Hearts Fashion to celebrate her 50 years as an iconic designer.

Beautiful headdresses by Maritzia Regalado for Atzi Designs, Bobby Love, Kicka Custom Design, and What a Betty informed the Sue Wong runway with an artful edginess. The Vintage to Modern exquisite statement jewelry of PK BIJOUX and Bobby Love completed the fabulous Sue Wong style. Sue Wong takes her signature beadwork, embroidery and handwrought couture techniques to unprecedented heights, unveiling a fashion canvas weaving Classic-romanticism juxtaposed with Avant-Garde edginess into riveting beauty. Sue Wong is the embodiment of fashion, celebrating every woman--from exhilarating cutting edge to classic romantic elegance.

The elegant venue of The MacArthur in the historical Wilshire District of Los Angeles hosted over 1,500 celebrities, media, press, stylists, and fashion editors, as well as Sue's many friends in Art, Music and Entertainment. It was the perfect backdrop for Wong's alluring romantic styled gowns--which recalled her quintessential Hollywood palazzo, The Cedars.

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Sue Wong's styling and production was assisted by the fine efforts Gemini, as well as Bobby Love, Courtney Tyne and Amanda Gwen Crawford.

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Message from the Goddess Mother

with JAN DIANA

GUIDING LIGHTS

By Jan Diana

My Beloved Children of Heart, “Greetings! Today marks a very sacred anniversary of our meeting of hearts. It is a time for us to celebrate our connections to one other.

Radiance of sweetness filters upon you my darlings as we step into the new vision of greater tomorrows. The vision itself is beginning to blossom and unfold within your very heart. Yes, feel the excitement of this truth as it washes over you bringing the awareness through experiencing joy.

The joy that floats upon you now, finds its way to the greatest outreach of your very self.

You are so vast and so magnificent. Your light carries forward this joy filled experience in this moment into the all and the everything. Your loving presence is felt by us all.

It is a great time to begin to allow yourself to feel and to know the bigger self.

To see, feel and know the nature of you, for indeed you extend beyond the constructs of your mind.

Your heart knows all truth. As you develop the greater connection to your heart, your awareness of this truth unfolds before you. Have no concern of how this happens, just accept that it does and you will feel and experience the many shifts in your present of days.

To know yourself is to know the greatest joy, the greatest beauty, the greatest peace and fulfillment. You are so vastly capable of knowing truth and developing that awareness into experiences perhaps beyond your imagination at this time.

It is after all a journey to remember and experience. As you discover the many jewels along your path, you connect to the greater sense of who you are and what your journey is about.

There is great value in developing these connections. As you develop and integrate a greater sense of yourself, you will find it becomes easier to discover the next steps which will lead you to even greater connections.

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The journey itself is like a gentle loving parent, guiding you through the many steps of development. Just as a loving parent is always presenting options for the discovery of lighter pathways, while patiently honoring your choice and free will to experience.

What lies before you is a glorious golden road that will take you back to that place of remembering yourself. Each one has their own individual unique journey, yet all pathways lead to the same destination. You choose many steps adding your own personal flavor to your story.

As you align more with the vibration and frequencies of the divine truth, your journey becomes easier. Your lightness of heart elevates into experiences of greater joy.

You have before you so many new opportunities to experience more joy, more peace, and an abundance of your hearts desires fulfilling. Just look at the stars above, shinning so bright and know that the days ahead offer you many stars, guiding lights leading to the destination that you long to remember.

Recognizing the blessings of joy in your life now, shifts your focus to being in your heart. As you master this simple principle, your awareness will expand to encompass the visions of sweetness that lay before you, available for you to embrace and accept.

The days ahead are shining bright before you, yet even now in this moment you are offered all. You go at the pace you choose and are ready for.

Remember always that you are guided and supported. You are surrounded by many Masters, Angels and Guides, offering their love, guidance and support. They love you; they know of your truth, they know of your greatness, they know you are a part of their family.

How awesome and amazing you are. How honored and adored you are. There is only one you. You are special, you are unique. Each one contributes a spark of such delight to the wholeness of us all, for we are one family of lightness, a family of heart.

Enjoy your journey My Beloveds. Let your light shine. Accept the guiding lights that shine upon you offering their wisdom and love.

Know that you are always held in my heart. Remember the sweetness of your truth and dance in the radiance that

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lights the way back to remembering our home. Shamon.”

With great love, Your Beloved Mother

FREE CLASS: As a Gift I am offering you a Free Tele- Class, “Remember Who you are”.

-Restore pathways to remembering the truth of yourself using the tools of SVH, a prayer modality that can shift the old stories, old beliefs and perceptions that are not relevant to your truth.

-Receive tools that you can utilize in your life to further free yourself from the veils of forgetting -Take a journey to meet your true self and receive a priceless gift You will leave this class filled a greater vision of yourself and what is now possible for you.

This class is a great joy bringer!

Note: Register by subscribing by email at: www.jandiana.com (if the time is not convenient, register to receive the recording when available)

2 Jan Diana is an intuitive healer, spiritual teacher, and master practitioner.

Her mission is to assist clients & students in creating harmony, balance, heightened levels of clarity, develop innate gifts & abilities, empowering them on their personal evolution to create the dreams of their heart. She utilizes several modalities including SVH L3M, Animal healing, GHM, Language of love, Reiki Master, and more.

Free meditation journeys, articles, & classes. http://www.jandiana.com Sessions and Classes by phone. You can reach her at website http://www.jandiana.com or by email sunsinyourheart@aol.com.

SOUL COURAGE

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with Tara-Jenelle Walsch

Are We Recycling our Feelings?

By Tara-jenelle Walsch

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t even know why I’m crying.

Actually, I really understand where you’re coming from.”

Tears were flooding my face without my consent. The things she said to me weren’t upsetting. In fact, I totally agreed with her point of view. Oddly, though, it felt like something inside wanted me to be sad.

This is a common example of feelings being recycled by the mind. I call it our Default.

Each of us has a Default mechanism, a subconscious pattern of returning to memories of previous experiences in our mind to find a response to a current experience.

It’s similar to how a computer creates algorithms by

watching our shopping preferences to predict future purchases. Our mind finds patterns between past experiences and the feelings they’ve created, and anticipates our behavior for the next similar experience. It’s like an emotional algorithm of past responses, at the ready for any new, similar experience.

The mind thinks it’s helping us, but it’s simply recycling old emotions, over and over. Until we become aware of it, that is, and instead choose to feel into the moment organically.

Meanwhile, your Default becomes qualified as your “Go-To” energy, and powers your very first, almost automatic, reaction in response to the events of your life.

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There are two energies from which we all choose: Contraction or Expansion. The energy of Contraction produces thoughts that generate feelings of concern, caution, worry, anxiety, apprehension, nervousness, tension, etc. The energy of Expansion produces thoughts that generate feelings of confidence, excitement, joy, eager anticipation, exuberance, etc.

Most of us move primarily into Contraction as our Default response to moments arising. We do this because we are being cautious, as we naturally want to protect ourselves from pain.

There are also those for whom a first response to incoming events is Expansion. This is their Default. But these people are definitely in the minority.

Neither of these Defaults is “good” or “bad,” they simply are what they are, and both provide instances when one would serve us better than the other. And there are occasions when all of us spontaneously combine the two, if we recognize quickly enough that our automatic first choice does not serve us. It’s not often that we respond with this combination, however, because unexpected events are seen by the mind as “emergencies” of a sort, and so our Default is the First Responder.

What has created your Default is the accumulated energy produced by your prior experiences. It’s how you feel without thinking when something occurs in your life. You don’t have to do any fresh thinking now because you’ve already done your thinking about what’s in the moment confronting you, based on your past.

Your old thoughts are triggered by a familiar energy pattern that magnetizes you to them, and this powerfully diverts you from any new ideas you may have been tempted to entertain about the current moment.

It takes strength to pull away from that magnetic attraction. It takes Soul Courage.

Reprogramming your Default Thinking about the energy behind your thoughts this deeply on a day-to-day basis may seem tiresome, but it’s important to do initially to bring awareness to how you may have been inadvertently allowing this energy to navigate you through your days and ultimately affect the

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course of your life.

The good news is that your Default can be adjusted so that it can work for and with you more often.

The first step in reprogramming your Default is to not be ashamed or afraid of it. Go ahead and get to know it a bit, like you did in the exercise above, and become more familiar with the energy it holds.

We can do this by allowing ourselves to really feel into a moment when we remember that our Default is on.

As noted earlier, most Default responses are contracting, not expanding. For this reason, fear, doubt and worry are very often the emotions that we frequently find ourselves covering up during the course of our days.

Yet even a consistently expansive Default is not always in our best interest. Ideally, a combination of both our expanding and contracting energies will open our vault. We need this balance of concern and caution with joy and confidence to release us from being so stuck in our old ways that we find it near impossible to experience a new moment in pure form. Fortunately, most of us know that combination and we can unlock ourselves from what we thought was going to be our safe space.

You know this pattern well, and recognize it I’m sure now that it’s being spoken of. You'll be trucking along great during the day, then something happens out of the blue that wakes up worry or a sense of eager anticipation. Either way, it can keep you up all night. Then you step away from your usual first response so that you can get back to living your life.

The key to identifying, feeling and expressing your true feelings in the moment is to be ultra-aware of your Default, especially if you notice that your Default thought doesn’t support you in that moment. This awareness alone will assist in stopping the old patterns from repeating themselves, and present you with an opportunity to respond to life through organic feeling.

This is the place of pure creativity—when automatic responses are shelved, the blackboard is erased, and a new story about this moment can be written.

Organic Expression Getting out of your Default requires you to look at your Default very closely so that you know immediately when your Mind has taken you there. Initially you may not be comfortable looking at your Default, but here’s the thing; the more aware of it you are, the more you can recognize it—and then decide if it serves or does not serve your best interest in any given moment.

As soon as you sense that you’ve gone to your Default energetic response, pause for a few seconds and ask yourself silently: “Is this really how I feel or am I carrying emotions from past experiences into this moment?” You will immediately know the answer.

If you are sufficiently aware and honest with yourself to see that you are running on a Default response, take control right then and there. Pause and consciously breathe into what is happening in that particular moment, making sure that you give yourself the freedom to Soulrender to feeling and expressing whatever is coming up for you.

Do you see what you’re doing? You’re catching your Default in the act of trying to pre-form your reaction to a new experience in life. It is doing this by using the recycled feelings and thoughts that an old experience once gave you. Immediately following this “bust,” you’re re-focusing and re-directing yourself inside to connect with how you really feel when your Default is defeated.

You're being creative instead of reactive.

And you are being creative from the most authentic part of you, not the least. You are responding from the deepest part of you, not from your automated surface reaction. You are living from the inside-out, creating your experience of life from a place that is truly in alignment with your Soul.

This will change your life.

It certainly changed mine.

RoadMap to Reprogramming your Default: 1. Watch your emotional expression more closely and become familiar with your Default.

2. Increase your awareness around how and when your Default shows up.

3. When you recognize your Default recycling past emotions into a new experience, pause for a moment and silently ask yourself, “Is this really how I feel?”

4. Be honest with yourself and consciously move into your true expression.

5. If there is another person involved and your Default response is expressed to them before you recognized it as recycled, openly explain that it’s not your truth in that moment, but rather an emotional pattern. Then ask for a redo. They will highly respect you and also become more aware of their own recycled emotions.

e Are you in a soul quandary?

Feel free to ask Tara-jenelle for courageous insight.

Submit your question to https://www.facebook.com/tarajenellewalsch Tara-jenelle Walsch is a monthly columnist for the Eden Magazine.

She is the author of the book, Soul Courage, and the founder and spirit behind the Soulebrate greeting card company. You will also find her speaking publicly about emotional and energetic awareness, and a sacred formula which she believes has the ability to enrich the world at large. Tara-jenelle was raised in Annapolis, Maryland and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Towson University in Baltimore. She currently lives in the beautiful hills of Ashland, Oregon. www.soulcourage.com

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Positive Mind Metaphysics, what I do and say differently

By Katherine Jegede

During my interview with Mitch Horowitz for his series One Simple Idea (available on the New Thought Channel), I shared a little of what my experience of ‘Positive Mind Metaphysics’ is. It was exciting to hear my ideas described as radical and essential especially since I had never really given much thought to how my perspective was being interpreted by others.

In my view, we have reached the limits of the New Thought discussion, everything that needs to be said about the philosophy of Positive Mind Metaphysics has been said by the countless voices that speak on it, but I don’t see that as a bad thing, necessarily. If the New Thought community is re- galvanised it will inevitably draw into its orbit, people who had never given Positive Mind Metaphysics thoughtful consideration before.

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So, what is different about what I have to say? Well, three things which are ideas that I feel are crucially missing from current New Thought discourse.

Firstly, that despite our advancements, the world tends to feel more violent, and chaotic than ever before, a state of affairs that overshadows any evidence of the global transformation that was promised long ago. For that to change, humankind must take a fresh look at New Thought, rediscover its original intended purpose, and shift responsibility on to the individual who must willingly accept the challenge of fulfilling that purpose for themselves. With this should come the doing away with of New Thought leaders. I firmly believe spirituality to be deeply personal.

If it cannot be practically applied, it has no value.

Secondly, that there needs to be a revival - or as Neville Goddard himself once put it - there needs to occur the unveiling of a true religious attitude, one in which everyone accepts for themselves the challenge to embody a higher value of themselves. This means that Positive Mind Metaphysics, which was originally intended to be a very individual and personal thing has become a vague communal concept, namely that as long as enough of us embrace the ideas associated with New Thought, then the world is going to become a better place.

This is not the case. All of the darkness and evil in the world are permanent, but just as all of the love and light are and that is because the world is a schoolroom and we are here to rediscover who we are, we are here to rediscover our authentic identities and we do that through our interaction with both good and evil.

And thirdly, that there needs to be greater dissemination of esoteric knowledge. I think that when more people are familiar with the laws that underpin Positive Mind Metaphysics their relationship with this philosophy will change. It will become a practical and powerful resource in all of our lives. “For lack of knowledge the people perish� is a literal statement and should be taken as literal by the New Thought community. The knowledge I am talking about includes understanding of metaphysical language which needs to be taught or studied in order to be understood.

Although we use English vocabulary when discussing Positive Mind Metaphysics, English vocabulary changes

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when put into a metaphysical context, for example, the word LOVE in English actually means ATTENTION in a metaphysical context. This sort of information is essential to prevent the misconstruing of the fundamental principles of Positive Mind Metaphysics.

The aim of my work is to make Metaphysical knowledge available and accessible. When we really understand Positive Mind Metaphysics it becomes valuable, and anyone who engages with this philosophy will be able to gain from it in line with its intended purpose.

f Kate Jegede is a British television presenter and author with a background in science. She was first introduced to metaphysics as a teenager by her mother, a former yoga teacher and education specialist.

She developed a penetrating and enduring fondness for the self-empowering teachings of Neville Goddard, and remains just as steadfastly devoted to spreading his message today.

After completing her studies, Kate moved to Switzerland to work at the World Health Organization, developing educational resources for rural communities in Sub-Saharan African. In addition to her academic science career, Kate has worked with the BBC Science Unit and BBC Radio Oxford, and served as news editor of the international journal Africa Health, for whom she has conducted research trips, helping set up a learning resources and study center at one of Nigeria's forefront teaching hospitals. She has been published in the internationally acclaimed science journal, Nature.

Kate has also presented two science series aimed at young adults for Channel 4 in the UK, earning a BAFTA nomination. Her new book Infinite Possibility will be published by Tarcher in June 2018.

She lives in London.

Generalizations Don’t Serve Us

By Ellen Tadd

For over forty years my spiritual teachers have been remarkable individuals residing in the spiritual realms. Through my clairvoyance and clairaudience I have been able to see and converse with these extraordinary beings. When they first started to teach me, every time I spoke in a generalization I was corrected, until I started to become self-observing and self-correcting. It was emphasized that the inaccuracy of generalizations lead to much confusion in our attitudes, which then translates into inappropriate actions.

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Since the early days of my training, I’ve learned to pay very close attention to how people speak and write and have discovered that expressed generalizations are all too common. Whether they involve attitudes about a whole group of people, believing that gentleness is always best, or that if we are loving to others they will be loving to us.

My guides say, “Be like a zephyr, be like a hurricane, bend like a willow and steady like an oak,” Fitting thoughts, words, and actions are always situational.

My guides also say, “Only spiritual principles are consistent, everything else must vary.” You can’t have too much compassion or too much clarity, but you can have too much action or too much patience. I’ve been taught that when we get stuck in the repetition of an action or attitude that is not based in spiritual principles we create internal blocks and external conflict.

I’ve noticed that it’s not so unusual for people who have a significant personal experience to conclude that the same recipe of attitudes and actions is equally beneficial for others. But not necessarily. An example is the huge number of books written about the correct diet we humans should eat. Why should there be one best diet? When we live in different climates, have different body types, diverse genetic backgrounds, and varying degrees of health. Physically we are not identical. So why should we have an identical diet? I love muscle testing to determine the diet that is right for me and others. I have muscle tested large numbers of people for foods to determine what is best. One person will have muscle weakness from wheat, while another person will be strengthened.

Broad sweeping generalizations often find there way into our cultural philosophy of life. Such as, it is best to be rich and famous or winning competitions will prove our value. However, our deepest desires and our deepest concerns are not necessarily the same. I have worked with thousands of people through the years and have observed remarkable individuality even at the deepest levels of our identity.

Why is an important topic to write about? The simple mistake of projecting our experiential conclusions on others is a key problem in not understanding each other, causing a pattern of discomfort with diversity and looking for camaraderie by searching for

sameness, rather than understanding that all humans are variations on a theme.

I remember once being told that I could not understand another through my own experience, but needed to learn to project my consciousness into them to learn about their perspective, like the concept of walking in another’s shoes. Image a world where it is understood that difference in people is the norm and does not need to be threatening. We don’t need to eat the same, talk the same, create the same, and look the same.

My guides advise paying close attention to what is “universal” and what is “unique”. Universally we all have value and purpose. We are all on the earth to learn to actualize our deepest nature and to contribute our creativity to the wheel of life.

d

Ellen Tadd is an internationally known clairvoyant counselor who has been teaching and counseling for more than forty years.

She is widely respected for the integrity of her work the accuracy of her perceptions and guidance, and the clarity and usefulness of her teaching.

Her work has been supported by the Edgar Cayce Foundation, the Marion Institute, Deepak Chopra, Child Spirit Institute, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the Boston Center for Adult Education, among others. Her work has been covered in Newsweek, and Tadd has lectured across the country at colleges, universities, hospitals, and community groups.

Tadd’s first book, Death and Letting Go, appeared on the Boston Globe bestseller list. Her latest book The Infinite View: A Guidebook for Life on Earth was published in March by Tarcher Perigee.

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Interview with

Helen Parry Jones Helen Parry Jones has spent the last thirty years working as a spiritual healer and empathic medium. A well known figure in the world of health and wellbeing she has positively affected the lives of tens of thousands of people through her healing clinics, private consultations, seminars and sold out theatre demonstrations.

Her latest book Beyond Boundaries, published April 2018 by Aurora Publishing combines anecdotes from her life as well as real life accounts from those she’s helped from around the world offering both comfort and proof of our survival beyond this life.

Helen is able to locate illness and discover malfunctions within the human body, and that of animals, whether it’s battles with depression, troubles with conceiving or easing the pain of a terminal illness, and is able to identify and alleviate suffering and stress with astounding accuracy. Examples of this are featured in the book including many stories about how Helen has helped couples conceive. Explores and explained the role of a medium’s spiritual guide, in her case Sam, in enabling her to reach a higher level of consciousness not only to communicate with other dimensions but where she can access the energy that surrounds and connects us all.

Shares stories of messages delivered to her by Sam —from a startling revelation about the murder case of schoolgirl Anna Humphries in 1988, to relieving a doctors guilt over a friends death and her own near death experience whilst on holiday in the Caribbean.

Provides an illuminating window into not only the comforting but also the valuable role a genuine medium can play in helping not only make death less frightening but also allow for the Afterlife to feel within reach and provide answers. And opens skeptics minds to new ideas.

Helen Living in Wales with her husband, Helen Parry Jones has been a professional spiritual healer and empathic medium for over thirty years. She has filled theatres and auditoriums across the country and has regularly appeared in national print and broadcast media including; The Daily Mail, Psychic News, RTÉ, BBC Radio 4 and Woman’s Way. Previous titles include, Hands of An Angel (published 2011 by Arrow) which was named The Daily Express’ book of the week.

Beyond Boundaries by Helen Parry Jones (published 26th April 2018 by Aurora Publishing in hardback, paperback and ebook) is available to purchase from online retailers including amazon.com and to order from all good bookstores.

For more information please visit: www.helenparryjones.com or follow her on Twitter @HelenTheHealer

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Please tell us about yourself My adult life has been shared living with two men. One, a former African slave who was brutally murdered at Liverpool Docks in 1797, who now exists in an invisible dimension, and is devoted to advancing my spiritual growth.

The other is my husband and soulmate of thirty years, with whom I have raised four children and shared a full and complex earthly life.

Throughout my life, I have been driven by an extraordinary ability to connect with a reality beyond the boundaries of our understanding and communicate with a greater consciousness existing outside the physical laws that are the materiality of our dimension.

I have devoted my life journey to honing my ability to link with this consciousness, and channel an energy that seems essential to our very wellbeing for the advancement of humanity.

You are connecting with the spirit world since your earliest childhood, how this connection started?

My earliest recollection was meeting my guide Sam when I was four years old at my Aunty Joan’s house. Like so many tenement houses of that era, the toilet was in the backyard next to the coal shed. On this occasion, after I had spent my penny, sitting on the back doorstep was this large black-skinned man. He looked very young, probably in his late teens. Obviously, I now realize I could have walked straight through him, but he seemed as solid to me as my own flesh and blood. I believe I’d had previous sightings of him, but up until that moment he seemed more like a shadowy figure following me around in the background.

At this time I also remember seeing my Nan Ada’s deceased cats running around her home. Throughout my childhood my spiritual ability steadily progressed, and Sam introduced me to all manner of people wanting to enlighten me about the spiritual dimension and to pass on messages of comfort to the living.

How you be able to locate illness and discover malfunctions within the human body and animals as well?

My guide Sam tutored my spiritual development from an early age, especially helping me to develop my ability to discern illness. At first, he would show me ticks and crosses over a picture of a skeleton – wherever the ticks appeared that area was okay and wherever the crosses appeared there was a problem.

Since that time, I have developed the ability to see the aura and chakra points. The aura is a type of energy field around the physical body, and its density and colour tone is indicative of illness. The chakra points are rather like energy funnels, that join the physical body to the aura and beyond - an interconnection of physical and spiritual. The tighter the chakra, the more it indicates to me that there

is a difficulty within that vicinity. Utilizing this ability and using my other spiritual senses, I can somehow see right through people’s bodies as if like tissue-thin layers of an onion, almost like x-ray vision. And, by spiritually accessing this energy network as a whole, it allows me a more comprehensive understanding of an individual’s imbalance and needs, specifically the patients’ blood, bone structure, hormones, toxins, psychology, and physiology. It is as if I can see or sense illness that has been, or that is current, or that is going to happen.

As animals are so similar to us, it is no different to assess their illness as it is ours.

Is it different to work with human than animals and how?

Fundamentally, from a healing perspective, there is little difference between treating humans and animals. Physiologically, we are all quite similar in a general sense. When treating animals, an obvious difference is they do not have any preconception of what I am doing, so they make very good patients! Where the difficulty arises, is the logistics of getting us both in the same room, and sometimes the size of the animal. I cannot get a horse to come to my clinic and lay down on my healing couch, so I might have to travel long distances and then improvise with step ladders to reach its extremities. I have noticed that domesticated animals are easier to work with, perhaps its because they are more at ease in our company and have a deeper level of trust.

You wrote couple books, what is the main message on these books?

The main message in my books is to take away the fear about the process of dying and death, and address some of the questions about our continued existence in the next dimension, without the bias of theology or cultural prejudice. Without doubt, the answers to these questions are of paramount importance to everyone, as physical death is inevitable for every living being. Furthermore, by using the backdrop of my own life as the platform of my own spiritual education from my guide Sam, I hope to enlighten my reader in an inspirational and down to earth manner about an unseen dimension. Science’s understanding of the universe is constantly changing, even more so in the last twenty years. It is discovering more and more about the vibrations and energy that surround and connect us to our physical form, and how that energy relates and interacts with our universe. Our minds should not be limited by what we think we know or understand, and what our eyes can see. I hope my books will impart the emotional tools, not only to deal with death and grief, but to embrace all the energies around us, to bring spiritual growth, fulfilment and true happiness into the lives of my readers.

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Is it true that the Spirit World also has animals in it and do we ever get to see them again?

Yes, there are dimensions or spiritual planes specifically for the energy residue of wild and domestic animals. However, as some domestic animals can prefer human contact, they can often be reunited with their owners when they have passed into spirit. Often, there is a strong unconditional love bond between human and animal.

Also, when I am having a sitting with someone, it is not uncommon to have pets from the Spirit World visit. Obviously they cannot voice words but they can portray characteristics to validate their continued existence.

A chemical imbalance within the body can cause all manner of physical and mental problems. However, people do bad things to people for all manner of reasons, not necessarily due to a chemical imbalance, but in certain instances it may well be the cause.

I think it important to establish by what parameters do you consider an action to be ‘bad’. That expression means different things to different people, may vary between cultures, and most certainly has changed over time. For example, the taking the life of someone else might be abhorrent to one person but an absolute necessity to another.

Helen, why do you charge? Surely, as it is a spiritual gift, you should be giving it for nothing.

Like all responsible members of the community, I have to pay my way through life. I believe whatever profession you choose, whether that be a surgeon, actor, entrepreneur, musician etc., it all involves having a special ability of sorts.

Would I expect the surgeon or the entertainer not to charge for their services - it would be nice, but most certainly not a practical reality in our material world. As it is a reasonable expectation for them to be monetary reimbursed for their professional services, … so it is me for mine. How else could I provide a service people, want and simultaneously put roof over my head and food on my table!

In general, peoples actions are made by personal choice, as a reaction to a set of circumstances. So, if someone chooses to inflict a ‘bad thing’ on another person, essentially the reason is by personal choice.

Could you please describe how you see and feel emotional problem or illness within the body Emotional problems first show themselves to me within the aura. In the more simpler forms of stress related illness, quite often the aura around the head can become thin and less vivid in colour and shape. However if the patient has had a severe shock or suffering grief, the throat and head chakra can be seriously affected. When someone is very depressed or severely stressed, the head and throat chakra areas can tighten to such an extent it reduces the amount of energy flow, causing the person to feel tired, run down and low in moral. This usually passes once the person recovers. In severe breakdowns, the chakras can tighten so much they appear to be closed, causing much disruption to the energy flow, and in some cases may result in amplified aches and pains.

As a simple response to the question, why do people do bad things to others? The same reason why people do good things to others, self-gratification!!

However when a person has severe mental illness though a psychosis, the head and throat chakra becomes completely blocked, creating a feeling of total detachment from reality.

Under these circumstances, experienced therapeutic care is essential.

Why people do bad things to others, is it chemical imbalance?

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Personally, I think rather than trying to establish if someone is doing something bad or good, it is more enlightening from a spiritual perspective to establish whether the action came from an inclination of good or bad intent.

You can do a seemingly good thing with really bad intentions! Conversely you might do what is perceived to be a bad thing with the very best of intentions, for a very valid reason and for a positive outcome.

When you channeling how you be able to control which spirit visiting?

All my channeling comes through naturally, it is not forced or any spirit entities summoned. The intent of my channeling is to better understand the spiritual dimension and bring emotional and physical healing to others. With focus on that positive outcome, the consequence is that my spirit visitors have similar intent. Like usually mixes with like.

In the same way I can make an appraisal when meeting a stranger in my earthly life, I can determine the quality of the energy of the spirit visitor. Just as you may sense danger from an unpleasant stranger, so I feel the same when a spirit approaches me. Also, it must be said I have my guide Sam with me on most occasions, and he would try to protect me from anything inappropriate. However, over the years, there has been the odd occasion I have interacted with a malicious spirit entity. Once I am alerted, I break the contact immediately, in a similar way you would close down an objectionable conversation and simply walk away.

In a professional situation, when I have several spirit visitors vying for my attention to communicate with a relative, I would focus on the more articulate spirit with whom I have a stronger link, choosing to fine tune the frequencies of our energy to further enhance the link.

Is it true that you can see into the future?

Just so there is no misunderstanding, I cannot see into the future. Always remember, I am just the go-between, the message bearer, the link or whatever else you want to call being in the middle of a conversation. Actually, it’s not that the future is being predicted, it is more like your spiritual guides use their collective wealth of experience to predict the likely outcome based on your current actions and life choices. In a simple way, it is rather like seeing a young child handling a razor blade. Experience demonstrates the razor blade is highly likely to harm, so you would warn the child accordingly. He may listen to your warning and put the blade down, or he might continue to play with the blade until he cuts himself. If that happens, does he say, "You can see into the future.”? Likewise, the greater consciousness has infinite experience and views our complex lives through a heightened awareness, and so when offering guidance they endeavor to examine the potential outcomes of our actions. So when complex circumstances materialize as predicted, it is no more staggering than a child with a blade cutting himself!

How could you describe the physical body and spiritual body, how they are different from each other?

I would describe a physical body as an identifiable collection of matter, which has an identifiable boundary existing in three-dimensional space.

A spiritual body is harder to identify as we don’t as yet have the correct vocabulary to describe it accurately. For the purpose of this interview, it seems to be made of a combination of energies not detectable within our physical laws, which are identified as solid within their own dimension.

How the two bodies differ from each other is beyond my level of understanding.

without the right training, I do not advocate you actively try to make contact with the spiritual dimension - you just don’t know what you are doing! Yes, it is possible if you do try to make contact, something might well happen.

Many have tried to summon spirit through a Ouija board or suchlike. In spite of that, just as you wouldn’t invite total strangers into your home, you are well advised not to force open a link to the spiritual dimension. Is it safe to let strangers into your home? It might be okay, but you might be inviting all manner of problems. Similarly, you might be safe forcing a link to the spiritual dimension, but you might also be inviting all manner of problems.

Do you have any upcoming seminars and how our readers can reach out to you?

If you decide you want to reach out to me, I am very interactive with my enquiries and clients. Forthcoming seminars during May and June are centred in Australia, and in Ireland during September. If invited, I would love to come to America. Event information can be found on my website, social media and Eventbrite. My website www. helenparryjones.com has all my details, and my email is helenparryjones@gmail.com.

What is your message to our readers?

At this time, as we witness wars ravishing countries, the devastation of thousands of lives, wanton destruction and pollution, cruelty and abuse - we need to unite to protect our planet and the animals we live alongside.

My message to your readers is quite simple. From my earliest recollection, the underlying message in everything I have been taught is love. Love is the key. We can only feel love, we cannot see it. It’s through this invisible force that everything flourishes, and it provides the nourishment necessary for our spiritual growth. Love is an essence that can soften a single heart. United it can change our world for the better.

Is it possible for any individual to contact to the spirit world, is it safe?

Everyone and every living being is connected with the spiritual dimension. Consequently, it is possible for anyone to have an experience from that dimension in some way.

Many people report on a regular basis glimpses or momentary sightings of departed relatives trying to make contact.

However, there is a difference between ‘in contact’ and ‘to contact’.

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A Mind Map

By Tony Buzan

A Mind Map is a revolutionary thinking tool that, when mastered, will transform your life. Mind Maps can also be used for boosting wellbeing; breaking free from unproductive ways of thinking; for uncovering solutions; providing an incisive overview of a subject and for inspiring new projects.

With Mind Map Mastery, Tony has distilled years of global research into the clearest and most powerful instructional work available on the Mind Map philosophy.

What Is a Mind Map? A Mind Map is a colourful, creative diagram that uses branches, words and images. It mirrors the structure of the brain’s neural network, with branches that reach outward from the centre of the diagram and evolve through patterns of association. This structural link with the workings of the brain is one reason why Mind Mapping is so effective. To create a good Mind Map, you need to follow these ten Laws of Mind Mapping: 1. Always use a blank sheet of paper, placed in landscape position. Make sure the sheet is large enough to allow you to create sub-branches and sub-sub-branches.

2. Draw a picture in the centre of the paper, representing your subject, using at least three colours. For example, if you were using a Mind Map for wellbeing you might put an image of a heart or something to represent radiance. 3.

Use images, symbols, codes and dimension throughout your Mind Map, so that your Mind Map is as creative as possible and expresses the innermost workings of your mind.

Remember that no special artistic skill is needed to create a good Mind Map, the important thing is the meaning the images have for you.

4. Select keywords and write these using capital letters.

5. Place each word or image on its own branch, so that it stands by itself.

6. Radiate flowing branches out from the central image.

Make the branches thicker toward the centre of the Mind Map (these express the key themes), and thinner as they radiate outward into sub-branches.

7. Keep branches the same length as the words or images on them.

8. Use colours throughout the Mind Map, developing your own colour code in the branches.

9. Use emphasis, arrows and connecting lines to depict associations between different related topics in your Mind Map. 10.Aim for clarity in your Mind Map by positioning your branches in carefully thought-through space. Remember that the space between things is often as important as the things themselves. Imagine, for example, the space between trees in a forest: your brain negotiates these gaps to understand where you are and where you are going, rather than the trees.

Achieve Holistic Wellbeing These days we understand that getting in great shape is not about focusing solely on exercise and restrictive diets, but about promoting all-round wellbeing, including nourishing our bodies properly, getting enough sleep, destressing and doing the things that make us happy. The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on the services of a personal trainer or a lifestyle coach to help you feel and look great. Instead, use a Mind Map to create a personal holistic wellbeing plan of your own. Try to create images that 77 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2018

will inspire you by radiating vitality and good health. Your main branches could reflect the key areas that contribute to your all-round wellbeing – the example below explores nutrition, exercise, destressing, sleep and happiness, but you might choose to focus on slightly different areas. As you fill in the sub-branches, looking at what supports your overall wellbeing and what hinders it, you will see how certain activities benefit you in many different ways. Perhaps exercise crops up not only as a wellbeing target of its own but also as a means of getting more sleep and destressing, which in turn helps promote happiness. In my experience, mental health and physical fitness are inextricable. The more you work on your Mind Map, the more it will speak to you and offer you all the coaching you need!

Eat Well A more targeted Mind Map can also be used for nutrition, to make sure that you eat a healthy diet that includes a balance of all the major food groups (carbohydrates, proteins, dairy, fruit and vegetables, and fats and sugars). You can use a Mind Map as a weekly meal planner by adapting your personal weekly planner Mind Map to focus on food rather than activities. The sub-branches could list the day’s main meals, spreading out to detail the ingredients of each meal, along with its nutritional value. If you create a Mind Map focusing on eating well at the start of each week, you’ll provide yourself with a handy shopping list. Then you can frame your magnificently illustrated Mind Map and hang it on the wall as a guide and inspiration to ensure you always eat a balanced and varied diet.

d Tony Buzan invented the Mind Map technique five decades ago.

Tony Buzan’s work on Mind Maps has been published in over 30 languages and 100 countries.

There are many books on Mind Maps, but this is the most complete volume from Mind Maps inventor Tony Buzan.

Tony Buzan is also the author of the multi-million-copy bestselling How to Mind Map and Mind Maps for Kids series. He appears regularly on television, radio and in print, and lectures all over the world. He advises international businesses, governments, educational authorities and Olympic athletes.

Mind Map Mastery is available through Amazon and all good book stores from March 15th.