Yogi,Mystic &Visionary
offers Powerful tools for human wellbeing
Discover the path to a peaceful life among other living beings. We are all made of vibration and light in the universe to manifest our energy around all livingness.
The Eden Magazine is a free online publication focuses on spreading compassion to all Sentient Beings living in a healing and peaceful world
FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
MARYAM MORRISON
EXECUTIVE EDITOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
DINA MORRONE
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ALEXIA MELOCCHI
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
ZEE
PHYLLIS KING
POLLY WIRUM
JOE SANTOS, JR.
HEIDI CONNOLLY
SHERRI CORTLAND
SUSIE SCHROADTER
GUEST WRITER
PHILIP SMITH
CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST
EDWARD HAKOPIAN
LISA JOY WALTON
GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY
GREG DOHERTY
BEN ROLLINS
ISABELLE RUEN
SHERI DETERMAN
GRETA PAZZAGLIA
ARTIN MARDIROSIAN (Nexision)
JSQUARED PHOTOGRAPHY @J2PIX
WEBSITE
www.theedenmagazine.com
325 N. Maple Dr. Po Box 5132 Beverly Hills, CA 90209
To purchase a copy visit us in www.theedenmagazine.com
SHY WOLF SANCTUARY & OAK WOLF SANCTUARY 12
AN INTERVIEW WITH SADHGURU By Phyllis King
30
DEEP BREATHS & HAPPY THOUGHTS CAN MAKE EVERYDAY GREAT By Polly Wirum
34
SLLOWING WATER FOR GREENER NEIGHBORHOODS By Rob Moir, Ph.D.
38
ANIMAL CRUELTY DOESNT TAKE A BREAK By Guardians of Rescue
40
CORRINA PORTERFIELD By Phyllis King
46
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MONEY? By Corin Grillo
54
3 STEPS TO CALL IN THE ONE By Phyllis King
58 EVOLUTION, METAPHYSICS & FREE THINKERS By Sherri Corland
62 DUALITY THE FALSE UNIVERSE By Zee
Shy Wolf Sanctuary, Education and Experience Center, was founded in 1993. Incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in January 2001, Shy Wolf strives to educate people about captive-bred exotic animal rescue while helping animals in need. Many of the animals they have rescued have been abandoned, neglected, and abused. They have stories to share of survival, thriving, learning to trust again, and the healing power of unconditional love. Shy Wolf Sanctuary has rescued over 1300 animals and provided valuable educational experiences to tens of thousands of human visitors from around the world.
www.ShyWolfSanctuary.org.
Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary was founded in 2006 by John and Debra Knight and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Green Cove Springs (FL). Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary is a faith-based wolf rescue and sanctuary for captive-born wolves and wolfdogs that were either neglected or abused by their owners or given up by those who were no longer able to care for them.
www.bigoakwolfsanctuary.org
Shy Wolf Sanctuary, Education and Experience Center, coordinated with Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary located in Northeast Florida in a joint rescue effort to save and provide veterinary services to seven feral eightmonth-old wolfdogs. These pups were part of an intentional litter that the breeder was not able to sell. Irresponsible breeding is a major problem that impacts domestic and exotic animals alike.
vent serious health issues such as uterine infections and cancer.
When Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary transferred this family of seven into its enclosure, Shy Wolf Sanctuary stepped in to cover the spay and neuter expenses. That many animals in one rescue are a major commitment and undertaking. The rescued siblings consist of five males and two females. Spaying and neutering are essential to prevent unsafe breeding practices and unwanted litters as they approach breeding age. These procedures also help pre-
With the efforts of both organizations, these neglected pups are now safe and slowly getting used to their new life in their spacious home at Big Oak Wolf Sanctuary. Shy Wolf Sanctuary’s mission of rescuing abandoned, neglected, and abused animals extends beyond Southwest Florida. Their team is grateful to be able to provide any kind of assistance to help all animals in need and values partnering with other organizations to save more lives.
Yogi, Mystic and Visionary offers an array of powerful Yoga programs, tools, methods, techniques for human transformation and wellbeing
Sadhguru has often said that “society is overripe for a spiritual process.” His fundamental vision is to offer the science of inner wellbeing to every human being – a science that helps a person realize the ultimate potential within. From this vision stem a multitude of projects, programs, and methods, all towards the same aim: to raise every human being to the peak of their potential, so that they are exuberant, all-inclusive, and in harmony within themselves and the world."
Sadhguru, thank you so much for your time. It is an honor to sit with you today. Please tell us, how did your life prepare you to become a guru?
Sadhguru: As a child, one thing I realized was that I was utterly, absolutely ignorant. I did not know anything at all, and because of that, I had to pay enormous attention to everything. My sense of awareness became like this – if I saw a leaf, I could sit there looking at this leaf for hours. If I sat up in my bed just staring at the darkness, I could do this for the whole night. This attention brought a different level of involvement and interaction with just about anything and everything around me, animate and inanimate.
Later, on a certain day, I went up Chamundi Hill in Mysuru, India, on my motorcycle. I parked my vehicle, went to a particular rock, and sat with my eyes open. Until that moment, like most people, I had always believed that this body was "me" and that is "somebody else."
But there, for the first time, I did not know which was me and which was not me. Suddenly, what was "me" was all over the place. The rock on which I was sitting, the air I breathed, the atmosphere around me – I had just exploded into everything. This, I thought, lasted for 10 to 15 minutes, but when I came back to my normal consciousness, I had been sitting there for about four-and-a-half hours – I was fully conscious, eyes
open, but time had just flipped in my experience.
I have always been peaceful and happy – that has never been an issue. But right then, every cell in my body was bursting with a new indescribable level of ecstasy. I had no words for this. I did not know what to say, but something phenomenal was happening within me.
Ever since, there has been no looking back. My life has been an effort to rub this bliss off on people because every human being can know this. When it comes to external situations, each human being is differently capable. But with interiority, all are equally capable. My effort has been to create mechanisms so people can experience this.
Why are human beings so focused on being right?
Sadhguru: In the Yogic understanding, there are 16 dimensions to the human mind. These 16 dimensions fall into four categories: buddhi, manas, ahankara, and chitta.
Buddhi is the intellect – the logical dimension of thought. The intellect directly connects with the dimension of your mind called ahankara. Ahankara is sometimes translated as ego, but it is much more than that. Ahankara gives you a sense of identity. Once your ahankara takes on an identity, your intellect functions only in that context.
If your body, mind, emotions and energy are properly aligned, suddenly the body and mind can do things that you have not thought possible in your wildest dreams.
The moment your intelligence gets entangled with identifications, it does not show you things the way they are. It will distort everything depending upon what types of identities you have taken. Whether it is of gender, race, religion, nationality, or being rich or poor, inevitably, our intellect will work only towards protecting our identity. You will not even know what you are doing. Even if everyone thinks you are a fool, you think you are doing the right thing because your identity makes your intellect function that way.
The whole spiritual process is to take an individual from a limited identity to an all-inclusive possibility, not just intellectually but experientially.
How do we learn to flow with life rather than control it?
Sadhguru: In your perception of life, there is you, and there is the world – so, it is you versus the universe. "You versus the universe" is a bad competition to get into. Do you think you have any chance of winning this competition? Don't compete with the universe.
This is why we found a way called Yoga. When I say "Yoga,"
people immediately think of twisting the body into some posture. No, the word "Yoga" means "union." Yoga, or union, means you consciously obliterate the boundaries of your individuality, so there is no such thing as "you and the universe" – it feels like one. You need to do a little Yoga; otherwise, your mind will get twisted out with all kinds of ideas, emotions, and opinions.
If you open it up a little bit. If you obliterate the boundaries of your individuality, it becomes very easy because you see the other person as a part of yourself. You have no problem whether it is a man, woman, child, or animal. You will communicate with everything absolutely because you have opened up your boundaries. It is only when you have concretized your boundaries that you will always have a problem.
It is time you work on bringing yourself to ease with life. If you are not at ease, you will never realize your full potential. There is a certain genius in every individual, but 99% of people live and die without ever opening up this genius within themselves. If the true potential within you has to open up, your life should come to ease.
Why do human beings find it so difficult to have peace? How can one align the mind, body, and soul to hold the three together in complete balance?
Sadhguru: Generally, for most people today, Yoga means asanas. Asanas are just a small preparatory aspect of Yoga. Yoga is not a practice, a particular action, or a posture – it is a way of being. As I mentioned, "Yoga" fundamentally means "union." When you begin to experience everything as a part of yourself, you are in Yoga. Intellectually, whatever we say about it at the most will make you curious to know more about it or inspire you to walk the path of Yoga. We can never say what Yoga is in words, but if a person is willing, experiencing Yoga is very much possible.
When the physical dimensions of Yoga were first taught, it was expounded as to how to align this human system to cosmic geometry. If you get it perfectly aligned, all the friction is taken away.
Internal friction means you are working against yourself; you are an issue by yourself. When you are an issue yourself, what other issue can you handle? – everything is stressful. As you take on more activity in the world, the challenges will multiply endlessly. That is why your own body, mind, emotions, and energy should work for you, not be stumbling blocks in your life. The only way for that to happen is through Yoga.
If your body, mind, emotions, and energy are properly aligned, the body and mind can suddenly do things you have not thought possible in your wildest dreams. People will think you are superhuman. But, whatever you do, you will do it with a certain level of efficiency and competence. This is because, essentially, somehow, either con-
sciously or unconsciously, you found the geometry of existence.
Are you optimistic about the future of people on the planet?
Sadhguru: People keep asking me, "Sadhguru, where do you think the world will be in fifty years? What do you think will happen in the future?"
I ask them, "Do you want a prediction or a plan?"
All those who are incapable of a plan are looking for a prediction. The very fact that creation gave you such big brains and the possibility to create many things means that you are supposed to have a good plan rather than wait for a stupid prediction.
I think the present situation neither needs optimism nor pessimism; what it needs is realism, which is always a necessity.
Today human intellect is sparking like never before. Never before have this many human beings been able to think for themselves. A priest, a pundit, a scripture, or something else thought for you, but now human beings are beginning to think for themselves. Whether they are thinking straight or not is another issue, but at least they are thinking something. So, once human intellect begins to fire like this, even if God comes and stands here and speaks unless he makes sense, people will reject him. So, once they reject this, it may so happen that the heavens will fall down.
Heavens may crumble, but human longing to experience something more will not go. The human longing to experience something will always be there. If you take away the hope of heaven that somewhere else, glorious things are going to happen to you, people will start seeking solutions here.
Energy is useful only if you can direct it the way you want. That is when a human being naturally transforms into a spiritual possibility.
If you do not show them a logically correct and scientifically ascertainable way where they can take charge of their inner experience to create the kind of experience that they want – if you do not give them the technologies for inner wellbeing – then I would say in another 60–80 years' time, 90% of humanity will seek chemical solutions; they will be either on drink or drugs.
Ninety percent of people being on drink or drugs is not a moral issue for me. But one fundamental responsibility we have as a generation of people is that when we leave, we should have left a generation that is at least one step better than us. But if 90% of people are on drink and drugs, we will leave behind a generation that is worse than us. This will be a complete failure of who we are. Everything that we have worked for, the development of civilizations, will go to waste.
At the same time, never before in the history of humanity have we had this ability to communicate with each other. Technology has offered us this phenomenal possibility that you can sit in one place and speak to the whole world. So today, when people are willing to load all kinds of rubbish on the internet and reach people, I don't see why the spiritual process should not reach everyone online. The most important thing to be done right now in the world is to raise human consciousness. With the kind of technologies, capabilities, and empowerment available to us, we should see that this becomes mainstream.
Our time on the planet is now. It is in our hands to make this the best time ever or the most irresponsible time. Both are in our hands. I wish we could make this the most responsible and wonderful time on the planet. For this to happen, you need to empower human beings beyond their body, and beyond their mind. Something bigger needs to touch them. That is the basic effort of what we at Isha are doing.
Sadhguru: There is no equivalent word in English for "prana," but we could translate it as "vital energy" or "life energy." Prana has ten different manifestations in the body, but for the sake of understanding, we usually bring it down to five. These five are referred to as the five vayus or pancha vayus. These are prana vayu, samana vayu, udana vayu, apana vayu and vyana vayu. This is because they are in charge of different dimensions of what happens in the human mechanism.
"Yama" means "to control" or "take charge." So "pranayama" means a method with which you want to take charge of these pancha vayus. Our Inner Engineering programs offer a twenty-one-minute process called Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya. Shambhavi also has an element of pranayama in it, which brings many benefits. If you are willing to dedicate this much time, it is a way of activating your energies so that the fundamental chemistry in your body alters itself within two to three weeks of practice.
There is a lot of research happening on Shambhavi. Some universities have studied it, including Rutgers, Harvard, Indiana University, and Florida University.
Scientists found that the cortisol awakening response is significantly higher for people who have practiced Shambhavi. The cortisol awakening response marks different levels of wakefulness. Enlightenment is also called awakening. Why? Aren't you awake already? No, you are not at the same level of awakening every moment of your life. If you have been practicing Shambhavi for at least ninety days, thirty minutes after you wake up in the morning, your cortisol awakening response is several times higher than usual.
The BDNF, which is the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, also increases. The inflammatory markers greatly improve too. And your DNA shows that after ninety days of practice, you are 6.4 years younger than you were on the cellular level. All this has been properly established by responsible scientists. And above all, the most beautiful thing is the level of calmness multiplies manifold while the brain is still active. This is a unique dimension of Shambhavi.
How do we find joy when we feel pain or lack? If we do not like our life or our feelings, what can we do to change them? So, are fear, jealousy, anxiety, created by our thoughts, and if so, how can one control them and not let them control us?
Sadhguru: There are two ways people can suffer. Generally, people think in terms of physical suffering and mental suffering. Physical suffering could be caused in different ways, but 90% of human suffering is mental, which is caused within ourselves. People create suffering for themselves every day – suffering anger, fear, hatred, jealousy, insecurity, and so many other things. This is the maximum suffering in the world.
Why would you create suffering in your mind? Simply because the basic faculties in you, your body and your mind, don't take instructions from you. Suppose you are driving. If your car is going out of control, what is the first thing you should do with it? At that moment, there is only one thing on your mind – you want to somehow stop it. Isn't it the same thing that you need to do with your mind also? You are using your automobile just a few hours a day, but it is through the vehicle of the mind that
you are traveling through your life. And it is in an outof-control state. It does not do what you want it to do. You want to be joyful, but your mind creates suffering! So when it is like this, isn't it time that we pay a little attention to our interiority as to how it should be?
Right now, your mind is the boss, and you are the slave. As you become more meditative, you become the boss, and your mind becomes the slave – and that is how it should always be. If you allow the mind to rule, it is a terrible master. It will put you through all kinds of endless suffering. But as a slave, the mind is extraordinary – a miraculous slave.
Why do so many people struggle with money?
Sadhguru: Money is a simple tool, but we make it too big. Without money, we would otherwise be dealing in a barter system, but now we have a more effective mechanism. Money can only create external pleasantness, not inner pleasantness. If you have a lot of money, you can stay in a five-star hotel, but if your body, mind, emotions, and energy are not pleasant, would you enjoy your five-star hotel? No. If these four are very pleasant, you could even enjoy yourself under a tree. So does it mean to say you should not have money? No, but the priority should be considered as to which should come first. There is nothing right or wrong about money. It is just that if you keep money in your pocket, it is excellent. It becomes misery only if it enters your head because that isn't its place. If it is in your pocket, there are many wonderful things you can do in the world. It is a means and empowerment.
People keep asking me, "Sadhguru, where do you think the world will be in fifty years? What do you think will happen in the future?"
I ask them, "Do you want a prediction or a plan?"
Why do so many people struggle to find love?
Sadhguru: Many people subscribe to the idea that there is a single "right" person out there for everyone. What is needed to make a relationship successful is not the perfect person – there is no perfect person on the planet. What you need is absolute integrity. Whether or not someone is watching, you should act the same way. Who you are should not change depending on where and with whom you are. Once you have established your way of being, interacting with another person can be a joy. Another aspect is that if you try to extract something out of each other, and you or the other person do not get what you both want, there will be constant conflict.
Do not look for the ideal partner – there isn't one. If you understand that it's your needs that make you seek a companion, find someone who is reasonably compatible with you. If you accept, respect, love, include, care for, and take responsibility for each other, it can be a beautiful relationship.
Please tell us about Isha Foundation.
Sadhguru: We decided to form Isha Foundation in 1992. The word "Isha" literally means "that which rules." Whatever that is which rules the existence – that is Isha. Or in other words, Isha means a formless divinity. When divinity is approached as a possibility – not as worship or as something that you look up to, but as something that you yourself can become – it is looked at as Isha. Because the fundamental purpose of the work we do is to help people experience the divine within themselves, the foundation is named Isha.
In the last few decades, we have really pushed Isha Foundation as an instrument for individual transformation because a larger transformation in the world can only happen through individual transformation.
Today, with the tools of science and technology, we have brought ourselves to a self-threatening situation where everyone in society needs to turn spiritual. Unless some sense of oneness touches people, especially the leadership on the planet, self-destruction is a live threat.
The fundamental goal of Isha Foundation has been, and will always be, to make the spiritual possibility available to people. The goal is that every human being, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, gender, or whatever else, must have at least one drop of spiritual process in them. A non-religious, scientific, spiritual process is the need of the hour. It is the need of the century, the need of the millennium, the need of eternity.
Isha Foundation covers a vast array of needs, from medical, educational, meals, women's empowerment, disaster relief, and recently in the past couple of years, Covid-19 support. Please tell us how your team manages to be supportive in so many different projects.
Sadhguru: We have over seventeen million volunteers doing a variety of activities. This massive volunteer force has functioned so wonderfully well until now, mainly because of a strong inner experience that Isha Foundation has managed to transmit. It's from that strong experience that all this work is happening the way it's happening.
Essentially, volunteering means becoming willing or becoming
an absolute yes to life. A volunteer means they have dropped this one calculation, "What can I get out of this?" Suddenly, they become a phenomenon.
A volunteer may not be particularly talented for the job, but they are enthusiastic and want to do it. And you didn't hire them, so you can't fire them. So instead, you have to shape them and re-shape them every day. It's difficult management!
I was teaching a program with the top twenty-five people of a major company. These are people who are every day hiring and firing people. They are managing thousands of people, so they have an eye for attrition. Our volunteers were all over the place running around, doing everything properly. So, one of them asked me, "Sadhguru, where do you get these people? The enthusiasm and involvement with which they are doing everything, where do you get them?"
I said, "You don't get them. You have to make them." They asked, "How do you make them?"
I said, "You have to make them fall in love with you. They're running around like crazy because they're in love with me." They said, "How do we do that?"
I said, "First, you have to fall in love with them." They said, "Oh, they don't pay us for that!"
So, you have to make them fall in love with you. You have to build that love and trust, and involvement in them. You have to inspire that. Then they will do their best.
Women's uprisings are happening in so many countries. What is your message to them?
Sadhguru: This is the unfortunate nature of the human mind that we are capable of turning every difference among us into a discriminatory process. We have done horrible things because of discrimination of caste, creed, color, race, and various other kinds. But gender discrimination is among the most abominable because it is irreparable, and everyone will suffer because of it.
Particularly in theocratic societies, women's rights are a chronic issue. Most of the religions in the world today are largely male-oriented or masculine. It is about God and His Son or His all-male messengers – never female. This has happened because the existence of the feminine as a divine form would never allow for an organization that these religions were planning to build. You can never organize religion if women have a role to play. You have to think masculine for "organization." The feminine is a certain spontaneity and exuberance, not organization.
Except in India and a few other places, the feminine has been violently uprooted. In India, women's preeminence was always prevalent because the culture represented the feminine as the most powerful dimension of life. A few thousand years ago, the whole country was matriarchal – feminine ruled. Even during ancient times, women were the leaders of society in so many ways. The understanding was that someone who has more feelings, and more love for life around them, should lead society. So, while work, business, and industry were handled by men, the general society as such – including education, religion, and family – was basically handled by the women.
This is why when India got freedom in 1947, we did not even debate whether women should have franchises or not. We have long had women in topmost leadership positions, including Prime Ministers, Presidents, state Chief Ministers, and Parliamentarians. Because culturally, there was no such thought in our minds about whether a woman is equal or not, whether she is a human or not.
This is our time on the planet. It is in our hands to make this the best time ever or most irresponsible time. Both are in our hands. It is my wish that we should make this the most responsible and wonderful time on the planet.
A home, a social structure, a nation, or humanity as a whole is not complete unless the feminine also finds full expression. If just masculine finds expression, we will have enough to eat, but we will have no life to live. Only when the feminine also finds expression there's a life to live.
There is no such thing as Women's Rights – it is just Human Rights. All that is open and available for the male members of a society have to be there for female members. As a responsible generation, let us eliminate these reprehensible discriminations and evolve into holistic societies through Global Action. Let us make it happen.
Humans want to live free. What is your perspective of freedom?
Sadhguru: In your misunderstanding, you may think freedom means doing wild things. That is not the truth. This is a very juvenile sense of freedom. When you are an adolescent, you may think freedom means doing wild things, but if you are an adult, if you have looked into life, freedom means you have absolutely no need within you to do anything. If nothing is to be done, you can sit, not doing anything. If something is needed, whatever it is, you can jump in, put your life into it and do it. That is freedom. If you have your own needs to do something, then that is not freedom. "I must do this" – this is not freedom. "I do not need to do anything, but whatever is needed, I can do it absolutely" – that is freedom.
Do you think our planet earth is facing a climate crisis, and how shall we proceed to help?
Sadhguru: When I was at one of the UN agencies, they asked me, "Sadhguru, what are the three most important things we need to attend to?" I said, "Soil, soil, and soil!" because it's connected to everything.
If you fix this one thing, everything will be fixed naturally. Whether you want to reverse climate change, do carbon sequestration, limit the temperatures rising in the world, or resolve water scarcity – we need to fix the soil.
Soil is a significant carbon sink and the largest water soak on the planet. A vast amount of carbon was always in the soil, but now a lot of it is in the atmosphere where it should not be, causing global warming. This is also happening because of emissions from industries and burning fossil fuels, coal, oil, etc. But nearly forty percent of global warming is happening simply because of soil degradation.
The same soil that can take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is now releasing it simply because we are leaving the land plowed and open without microbial activity as microbial biodiversity decreases, the expulsion of gases from the soil increases.
If the soil is rich, there will be water. The air will be purified if the soil is rich and there is enough vegetation on it. So, our attention has to shift to the soil. In normal agricultural soil, the minimum organic matter should be between 3–6%, but in large parts of the world, it is well below 1%. This means that most agricultural soil on the planet is inching toward desertification.
If we start now, in 15–25 years, there will be a significant turnaround. But let us say we wait for another 25–50 years and then try to turn it around.
They say it may take up to 200 years. And that period will be disastrous for human beings as a species.
You said, "Healthy soil is absolutely crucial to life on earth." Please tell us how essential it is to save the soil. Sadhguru: We, as a life, are a consequence of life in the soil. Even on the evolutionary scale of things, we have become who we are only because of the biome activity in the soil. However, we are not treating soil as a living entity but as a bunch of chemicals – this much nitrogen, this much phosphorus, this much sulfur, and so on. All these things are there, but the important thing is that the soil needs to be alive. It is not about nitrogen or phosphorus – it is about living soil.
We want to bring that perspective to the world that the soil you stand upon is a live process, and who you are is a consequence of the soil, not the other way around.
It should become a policy in every country that agricultural soil must have a minimum of 3–6% organic matter. Only by preserving the
Soil is a very significant carbon sink and the largest water soak on the planet. A vast amount of carbon was always in the soil, but now a lot of it is in the atmosphere where it should not be, and it is causing global warming.
quality of the soil will the quality of life endure. If we can ensure the soil is organically rich and healthy, the planet will be capable of regenerating itself, and we will be able to manage the other problems to a large extent.
An elected government usually has a term of four to five years and would not be willing to invest in long-term soil policies of 15-20 years unless citizens stand up and speak. That is why we aimed to move at least 3.5 billion people, or sixty percent of the world's electorate, to speak for a soil health policy.
In the last few months, the narrative towards soil has shifted already. Through the Conscious Planet – Save Soil movement, we have reached 3.91 billion people. Now, I'm very sure that policies will definitely be implemented almost everywhere. It is only a question of managing the pace. Let us make it happen.
October held the first snowfall in Montana. My daughter inhaled deeply as she put her running shoes on and headed out the door.
The conditions were perfect. Snowy but not slippery or too cold. It was like the Earth was awoken with the first breath of winter. The adventures promised by the mountains began to call. This is exactly why Chloe lives near Yellowstone National Park.
It wasn’t long before she ran into some horses that had crossed a fence line and freed themselves earlier in the morning. My daughter greeted them by name. The horses must have had enough time beyond their pasture because they followed her home.
Together they created tracks in the snow, back to the local cowboy’s barn.
There is nothing remarkable about this story, except Chloe recognized the magic of the experience and our world in general. She is a master at manifesting and creating a fulfilling existence and holds that little spark of joy that reminds us how good life can be.
She jokes that her ability to manifest brilliant experiences is because she always thinks about fun things to do. I believe it is her ability to breathe deeply and focus on what she loves.
The seam or midpoint between
now and our future is forever shifting. We inhale in the present and exhale into our future. Imagine your breathing, or flow of life force energy, as a sequential event where one thing naturally leads to another. Your exhale is followed by your inhale.
When we change the cadence of our breathing, both our inhale (present) and exhale (future) are modified. It makes sense that the changes we make now can shift our future in a new direction.
Your personal power comes to life when you recognize each breath holds one expansive thought or possibly many shallow thoughts. Yours inhales bring the energy of each thought deep into your body, mind, and consciousness. Your exhales release them into the world, but not before they have imprinted a vibration that helps create your future.
If you can change your future as easily as shifting your inhales, can your breath also cast a new vibration on your past? Is it possible to heal your life stories by sending breath and love into the past, causing it to crack open and release the painful lesson that was never meant to hold you down?
The answer is yes. You are powerful enough to release what no longer serves you in a deep exhale. Follow your exhale with an intentional inhale that offers to heal whatever troubles you may have had.
I often have clients send the energy of love into their childhood homes. Breathe in the intention of love and send it with breath to your home of long ago. Love can travel in all directions, shifting the energy of past and future generations.
Another powerful way to untangle yourself from a troubled past is by loving now. Enjoy the thoughts that feel good; breathe them in. Exhale the byproducts of good feelings in whatever direction you choose. I love imagining that colorful vibrations are exiting my body with my breath, traveling where they are needed most.
There will be some things outside our awareness that need to be released. Trust the Universe will remove what no longer serves you in your deep exhales. It’s like releasing a problem before it becomes a problem.
When you intentionally expand your breath while thinking joyful thoughts, you send love to your future. This creates a welcoming energy field for your high vibrational thoughts to land, take root and grow.
Imagine that your daydreams bump up against current reality, breaking things up and allowing lovely shifts to occur. The way you feel today influences your tomorrow, so dream big and exhale deeply. Your thoughts and dreams don’t need to be logical. There are many magical occurrences in everyone’s life that logic
can’t account for. Let your happy thoughts and daydreams flow uncontrollably.
Having gratitude for your breath and everything it offers now is an easy way to connect with this moment.
Placing awareness on your current inhale holds power to turn your thoughts into reality. I love taking a few minutes each day and thinking about my breathing. Breathing is not just sustaining my physical body but also whatever reality I choose to give my attention to
Are
We have the power to move with our breath in and out and beyond. Think of the way music and sound are carried in all directions across the universe; your breath and thoughts also travel beyond past, present, and future. We also are not bound by time and space. Breathe deeply and exhale into a place where you feel deeply loved, let your breath and awareness settle there. You may be surprised that you are not in the past, present, or future but in a completely different realm.
Are any of your life dreams seem out of bounds, or at least out of your current reality? Give them life with your breath.
Many people that we admire had dreams that seemed impossible, but someone gave life to those dreams. An example is Michael Jordan, who was dropped by his high school basketball team. He became one of
One day you will notice the low-vibration thoughts occur less; maybe you have been replacing them with breaths of gratitude.Photo by Laura Chouette
the most well-known names in basketball. Our dreams and our lives don’t need to make sense to anybody but the dreamer.
- We are constantly creating our future by the way we perceive this moment and what we think about our past
Our thoughts, like our breath, are a continuous flow of energy that can be guided in any form we choose.
- Open your heart and mind to the creative and loving energy that is available to each of us. Every day does something that feels good. Spend time daydreaming about things that make you happy. Thinking good thoughts while giving them life with your breath is a simple way to transform your life.
- Our most creative thoughts and high vibrational energy are not guided by logic.
Daydream, create, and allow inspiration and breath to flow free of logical boundaries. There is a continuous flow of energy.
- Some thoughts may appear more often; note how you feel when they appear. Only you can decide what thoughts are allowed to leave an imprint in your mind. Choose what feels good.
- Actively release with your breath what doesn’t feel good
Imagine filling yourself up with love and releasing in a deep exhale what you don’t want.
Each of us has experienced disappointments, and most likely, we will again. Depending on the level of loss involved, allow yourself to grieve what didn’t come to fruition.
With time you may be happy that your dream didn’t come to be. Perhaps what you had been dreaming about was replaced by something that is a better vibrational match with your truth and heart.
When thoughts focused on disappointment creep into your mind, allow yourself ten deep breaths, focusing on releasing the tension, anger, and anything else lingering in your body. Do this as much as needed.
One day you will notice the lowvibration thoughts occur less; maybe you have been replacing them with breaths of gratitude.
A couple of weeks ago, my daughter, Chloe, and I were hiking in the desert. She shared how her dream life included mountains, ski towns, and horses, but until recently, she was unsure how everything would materialize.
I love how she is guided by adventure and the way she feels. Her breath is just as important as her thoughts when making her dreams come to life. She breathes deeply when doing what she loves.
Deep breaths and happy thoughts make every day good.
It may sound like I have completely simplified the human life experience. Perhaps I have, but I have learned over the years that we are ultimately responsible for our experience. If you don’t like something, let it go. If you love something, appreciate it.
Join me in a world that values happy thoughts, movement, and deep breaths. It’s a pretty great place to be.
Polly Wirum is a psychic, life coach, and writer. Years ago, she experienced a health crisis that led to a complete spiritual and life transformation. When she thought her life was crumbling, the universe was easing her grip on everything, distracting her from the truth. The healing helped her discover the beauty of a joyful and uncomplicated life. It is here that she connects with wisdom and magic. She shares this with her clients through life's coaching psychic readings and spiritual retreats. I0 discover more, visit Pollywirum.com
Climate Change has brought fiercer storms with devastating floods and long-lasting droughts that stressed and killed plants and animals. Once we controlled water. These days, water is in control and is harming us.
What if we changed our relationship with water to understand its behavior better? What if we were more respectful and asked, what does water want? Communities that have taken a less confrontational and more collaborative approach with water have created better places where people are happier.
Louisville, Kentucky, suffered a great deluge when 7.2 inches of rain fell in just 78 minutes.
Flood waters that cataracted through proper-
ties at the University of Louisville caused $21 million in damages.
The university responded and adapted with various "green infrastructure" projects deployed to help keep stormwater runoff out of the combined sewer system.
The university slowed water by absorbing changes to the campus landscape. They disconnected downspouts, put out rain barrels, built cisterns, installed vegetated roofs, and built rain gardens and bioswales to facilitate groundwater recharge through infiltration. Pervious pavement and permeable pavers replaced impervious surfaces in lots, roadways, plazas, and sidewalks. Large underground infiltration basins were installed for remaining hard surfaces and fast runoff areas.
The University of Louisville gained a better understanding of sustainable water management. The university is now diverting about 72 million gallons of stormwater yearly, has a greener campus, and should never again suffer damages during rainstorms.
Farmers in Watsonville, California, irrigate strawberries, artichokes, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, raspberries, and natural plants with water pumped up from the aquifer beneath their fields. The trouble was the lens of water in the ground was shrinking, and saltwater from Monterey Bay was intruding.
In response to the over-pumping problem, California created the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PVWMA) to charge water users for the groundwater they drew in hopes that they would use less water. Still, the groundwater diminished.
With a better understanding of water, PVWMA paid farmers to run their irrigation pumps backward to recharge groundwater with rainwater that would otherwise go into storm drains to the sea. Farmers are credited 50 percent of the recharge against their future groundwater pumping costs. That figure is conservative because some infiltrated water will flow outwards into the more comprehensive hydrologic system before the farmer can pump it out.
Paying farmers to pump stormwater into the aquifer has multiple spinoff benefits. This water helps to push seawater back into the ocean, reducing saltwater intrusion. Pumped stormwater keeps the soil moist, reducing the
need to irrigate and maintaining higher groundwater levels. Best of all, there are no arguments as to who owns the water. In the Pajaro Valley, the water belongs to everyone.
In Falmouth, Massachusetts, rainwater washed fertilizer off the lawns into Little Pond. This nutrient pollution during the summer caused a harmful algal bloom that killed 16 striped basses. Falmouth adapted to increased rainfall by banning the use of fertilizers on established lawns. Ten years later, there has not been another harmful algal bloom, no fish kills, and the lawns are no less green than in towns where fertilizer is spread liberally.
Falmouth discovered that grassroots go deep into the soil without fertilizer to open it up and make it more porous and habitable for soil organisms. Long fungal strands fuse with roots to form mycorrhizal networks larger than the lawn. A single fungal strand inside the plant touches each cell. If a plant cell is stressed, perhaps by someone walking on the grass or a pest munching, it signals to the mycorrhizal network what it needs to grow and remedy the situation. Bacteria respond to signals to put what is requested into the "wood wide web" that is transported to the grass.
Plants combine water and carbon dioxide and create carbohydrates with energy from the sun. Absent sunlight in the soil, root exudate is a primary energy source for soil organisms. With grasses, about half of the liquid carbon grows the plant, and half is pushed out of root tips to build soil.
Here's the problem. The more carbon and water we have in the air, the less carbon and water we have in the soil. The less water and carbon in the soil, the fewer plants can grow, and the more carbon and water are left in the atmosphere.
Lawn soils are the best because they are high in organic carbon, mostly root exudate plus detritus. When the carbon-mineral mixture goes through a chemical transformation, it becomes humus. Humus is black in rich soil, high in nutrients, where water and oxygen move easily, thanks partly to the capillary action of roots and worms. This soil swells greatly when it rains. Four inches of lawn soil can hold seven inches of rainwater. The ability to absorb and hold water is greatly reduced in other soils. Sandy soils that are three inches deep will hold up to three inches of rainwater.
In Springfield, Massachusetts, 16 lawns were not fertilized or watered. Lawns were mowed with the blade set to 3.5 to 4 inches high, and cuttings were left on the lawn. A third of the lawns were cut every week. A third cut every two weeks and a third every three weeks. These lawns were found to have 36 kinds of flowers. The lawns cut every two weeks had the greatest diversity of bee species. Overall, 111 bee species! The one-week-cut lawns needed to give the flowers enough time, and perhaps the three-week cut had higher grasses than some bees prefer.1
Water was a determining factor for bee diversity. The bees of natural lawns are smaller than hiving bees and are more sensitive to falling water drops. Some are pith-nesting bees that cannot survive "a good soak." Researchers have also found that bee diversity goes down with inclement weather.
The four communities, one suffering from flood damages, one losing groundwater to agriculture, one blaming lawns for harmful algal blooms, and one keeping lawns while increasing wildflower and bee abundance with greater biodiversity, experienced a dramatic shift from a scarcity mind-
set to one of shared abundance. Arguments and the setting of priorities, and tradeoffs gave way to collaborative efforts, helping one another with quality-of-life benefits for everyone, even including what's good for nature.
Our rivers are fed with cool water that seeps in from the ground or gurgles from springs. Rivers depend on water in aquifers. Diminishing water in the ground is the reason for low water flows. There has been a great loss of aquifer recharge to lands covered by impervious surfaces. The faster water flows across the surface; the less will infiltrate into the ground. Topping off the aridification of neighborhoods is the loss of soil.2
Sometimes overlooked in all the climate change talk has been the importance of soil to the world's water and carbon cycles. Soils covering less than 10 percent of the Earth are more than three times the amount of carbon found in the air. Carbon dioxide amounts to 800 billion tons of carbon worldwide versus 2,500 billion tons of organic carbon in soils. Total global biomass is 600 billion tons carbon.
Here's the problem. The more carbon and water we have in the air, the less carbon and water we have in the soil. The less water and carbon in the soil, the fewer plants can grow, and the more carbon and water are left in the atmosphere. It's a vicious circle that we can change. The nature-based solution is to get more organic carbon into the soil, and water will follow.
In the best of conditions, a natural lawn can build an inch of soil in a year. No other plant comes close to the high percentage of manufactured carbon pushed out as root exudates. For a lawn that is 240 square feet, an inch of soil weighs one ton.
For one ton of root exudate, grass plants must make about two tons of carbohydrates, with half going to biomass and half coming out of the roots to build soil. Carbohydrate molecular weight is 3.64 times that of carbon dioxide. For a ton of soil, 7.28 tons of carbon is pulled out of the atmosphere.
If Massachusetts were to pay property owners by the ton for storing carbon as soil, there would be incentives to stop using chemicals, including quick-release fertilizers, and to replace hard surfaces with grass. With deeper soils, the need for watering is less, and plants stay green longer.
There's more. If Massachusetts incentivized property owners to pump stormwater into the ground, there would be reductions in stormwater damages, more water in the land, including soils, and steadier water flows in rivers during dry months.
Pumping is required when we simply do not have sufficient permeable surface areas needed for infiltration. The State paying property owners to pump water avoids the high one-time costs of purchasing real estate. Paying to pump is more than just in the application. Fixing a value on water would enable banks to make revenue projections and finance the construction of their neighborhood Community Water and Energy Resource Centers.
If an institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts, put 72 million gallons of water into the ground, as the University of Louisville does annually, essentially running the water meter backward at current water rates, it would save the institution hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Unlike generating energy, the
cost of managing water does not go down when put back into the ground. Governments must provide upfront funding for municipal waterworks to cover lost revenue. However, this expense should be more than offset by the savings in stormwater and drought damages.
We can adapt to climate change and reduce deluges or droughts by slowing water down with soil, with more green spaces, replacing or on top of concrete, and actively putting water back into the ground. Research indicates we can slow sea level rise by as much as 25%.
Working with climate change, we may set up a rainy-day fund measured in gallons of water. During extreme rainfalls, property owners could pump water into the ground and be compensated with reduced water bills. Property owners are also compensated for storing carbon by the ton of new soil.
By investing in pumping water and building soil in the ground, the Commonwealth would see big returns with more resilience during droughts, less need to water plants, fewer flood damages, more water in our cold stream rivers during dry periods, and a reduction in sea level rise. More difficult to quantify, but no less important, are the quality-of-life improvements when there is more green vegetation with shade and windbreaks, more cooling in summer (evaporation), and more warming when it's cold (condensation). Finally, there will be more verdant nature in our local landscapes and happier people in our neighborhoods.
1 https://academic.oup.com/aesa/article/109/5/713/2195339
2. https://e360.yale.edu/features/soil_as_carbon_ storehouse_new_weapon_in_climate_fight
Rob Moir, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Ocean River Institute and Director of Global Warming Solutions IE-PAC in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He is an educator, scientist, and advocate with a proven history of institutional management and climate policy success.
As most people deal with daily life here and there, the Guardians of Rescue teams responded to another horrific animal abuse case. This one involved 84 dogs, two older people, and a child living in inhumane filth in Monroe County, Indiana. This case shows how important it is for people to be able to spot suspected animal abuse and know what to do about it.
A call regarding a deceased person at the residence led to an investigation by the Monroe County Sheriff's Department. When officers arrived on the scene to investigate, they were shocked to find a corpse, an overwhelming amount of feces, urine, and rotting food, causing them to be unable to breathe.
"Unfortunately, this is far from our worst case this year, and the number of new cases just keeps growing," says Robert Misseri, the organization's founder. "As the economy turned and people's lives changed, we see the shelters around the country are full, and people are dumping animals anywhere they can. It's deplorable."
Additionally, he explains that puppy mills that couldn't keep up with demand are now just letting animals die in their cages, or they sell sick dogs to unsuspecting people on the side of the road. The group is involved in several ongoing investigations regarding such situations.
We help a lot of animals each year, but we can't do it without the generosity of people in the community," added Misseri. "Every dollar donated gets put to good use, and we appreciate all the support. ~ Robert Misseri
,,
From the Monroe County investigation, Guardians of Rescue took 64 dogs to a staging area where they were triaged and indexed. While it was a massive effort, they placed 56 dogs in less than 24 hours with their receiving rescue partners, and rushed 8 of the sickest to their critical care center, where they are still fighting to survive. All the dogs were ill and suffering. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, one died shortly after it arrived; many dogs had Coccidia, Giardia, Round Worms, Whip Worms, ear infections, stomach infections, and skin infections.
"We help a lot of animals each year, but we can't do it without the generosity of people in the community," added Misseri. "Every dollar donated gets put to good use, and we appreciate all the support."
Here are some tips to spot animal abuse and what to do about it:
• Living conditions. Animals that don't have adequate shelter, lack food and water and live in filthy conditions may be abused.
• Hoarding. Hoarding animals is a serious issue that often leads to neglect and abusive conditions. A home with an excessive amount of animals may not provide adequate care for them.
• Appearance. How animals look can provide signs of whether or not they are being adequately cared for. Animals that are emaciated or look sickly should be evaluated.
• Taking action. Those who see violence toward animals should immediately call 911 to report the crime. It should be reported to local animal authorities if animal abuse is suspected.
This year was challenging for the organization as we rescued over 1,500 animals. Their teams often arrived on the scene within hours from when we were called in. Other cases take months to investigate but end up with the responsible parties being held accountable and getting unscrupulous breeds shut down.
Guardians of Rescue is a grassroots organization with people around the country working together to save animals whenever and wherever they are suffering.
To donate or learn more, visit the site: https://guardiansofrescue.networkforgood. com/projects/181698-animal-cruelty
Guardians of Rescue puts animal cruelty in the spotlight with tips for identifying and reporting it
Headquartered in New York, Guardians of Rescue is an organization whose mission is to protect the well-being of all animals.
It provides aid to animals in distress, including rehabilitation, assisting other rescue groups, and providing support to families, both military and not, who need assistance due to economic factors.
To learn more about Guardians of Rescue, visit the site at www.guardiansofrescue.org
Eden welcomes Corrina Porterfield, a health and wellness expert with diverse life and spiritual experience. With a Master's degree in Wellness Program Management, she spent the early part of her career at Lockheed Martin, helping people reach fitness goals. A personal crisis led her to alternative modalities and subsequently to pilgrimages in Mexico and Central and South America. From the indigenous people, she learned powerful ways to heal the body centered on intuition, dream visions, and communion with nature. This became the foundation of her practice. She now offers multi-dimensional medicine. In this approach focuses on the mind, emotions, physicality, spirituality, and shamanism. She leads groups to Peru twice a year and hosts the Starseed Collective and Auric Energetics Groups.
www.corrinaporterfield.com
You have a fascinating story. Please share some of your awakenings.
Growing up, I was into athletics, fitness, and nutrition. My mom was an herbalist. She cooked healthy food. When it came time to attend college Colorado State University had a wonderful program called Wellness Program Management. Back then, in the '80s, wellness wasn't even that big of a word.
One day as I was sitting in Wellness 101, the teacher wrote SPICES on the chalkboard. She began talking about spiritual wellness, physical wellness, and intellectual wellness. Further wellness involved with your career, your cultural wellness, and finally, emotional and sensual sexual wellness. This was the beginning for me. I was fortunate to study it in college. I got a degree in wellness program management. Then I got my Masters and ended up working for Lockheed Martin at Buckley Air Force Base. I worked with the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines.
I was the wellness center girl. I had a place where people could work out, have a chat, and talk about behavior modification, but in a way that was manageable. I did a lot of stress management.
Did you implement specific programs?
The reason I got hired was to help Air Force members who weren't passing their annual health fitness tests. You had to be fit enough to at least run a mile or be able to ride a bike and have good cardiovascular fitness. People who were
failing their tests would come to me, and I would get them on a program. Since I worked for a corporation, they paid for continuing education. The next thing you know, I was getting certified in Yoga and Pilates. I did Jon Kabat Zinn's Mindful Meditation. We were beginning to realize that all these things were helping the performance of the employees.
When was the moment you said, "I need more."
I was in my late twenties. I clearly wanted to look at healing in a deeper, more meaningful way. I was preparing to attend the Naturopathic Medical School in Portland, Oregon. I ended up on a woman's healing retreat on an airplane to Belize with a couple of girlfriends. I had never been to Central America, and it changed my life. I began learning from indigenous healers who had never been to school. Some of them didn't know how to read or write, but they had a wealth of knowledge and information that they would get from dream visions. They would dialogue directly with the nature spirits and the plants.
Fill in a few blanks. From Lockheed Martin to Belize?
I started having synchronicities of "right place" and "right time." I had my own health crisis. It woke me up to the fact that there was more than the allopathic way of medicine. I was diagnosed with endometriosis ovarian cysts. I ended up in the emergency room with a ruptured cyst. I had surgery.
Earth-based medicine is the foundation of my work. Essentially, it is in rhythm with the physical and spiritual natural world. It promotes wholeness and interconnectedness with the natural world to help nourish the body, mind, and soul.
That's when I started exploring other healing options. The surgeon said to me, essentially, what we've done is pull weeds. They're going to grow back in three months or a year. That didn't sit right with me. This physician told me that the destiny of my healing was that this was going to grow back. I wanted to prove to him and myself that it didn't have to happen that way. I started acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and visualization. All ways we can holistically help the body to heal instead of just having surgery or taking medications, hormones, or whatever the case might be.
There must have been enormous frustration too -
It was frustrating, especially when it did come back. I realized through the synchronicities of finding natural healers that there's a lot more than physical going on here.We hold emotions in our bodies, with many other kinds of stuck energy. I had my degree in wellness, but it wasn't until I had practiced all those aspects that I really understood it. I said to myself, "you're going to have to dig deeper into that at some point," but I wanted to go to South America first.
I quit my corporate job.
I had been doing massage full-time. Then I was in a car accident. The physical therapist who was working on me said they needed to hire a massage therapist. The next thing you know, I was working at a physical therapy clinic, getting the last of my prerequisites for Naturopathic College.
I knew of several women in Denver, CO, that would often take a group of women to South America. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but my intuition said, "you have to go." On the airplane, these women were reading a book, Sastun, by Rosita Arvigo. Who is Rosita Arvigo? We got down there, and it turns out Rosia Arvigo is an amazing woman who had moved to Belize to apprentice with the last Maya shaman, Don Elijio Ponti. Rosita Arvigo did a twelve-year apprenticeship with him and wrote this book. It was all about women's health, abdominal health, and spiritual healing with the plants and the water. I arrived there with one person, and when I left, I was a completely different person. I had a profound healing experience.
Everything. In their tradition, they believe there are spiritual illnesses. We see anxiety, sadness, and grief or anger in the United States. They are issues we can treat with talk therapy or drugs. Down there, they see it so differently. They make a pulse diagnosis and work with plant spirits and prayer, and faith. One day they were talking about a spiritual illness called triste which in Spanish means sadness. It's the kind of sadness that you come into the world with. You don't know why it is that you have this low-grade sadness. You have it. They started speaking about unwanted babies and/or were supposed to be a boy instead of a girl. Suddenly I began to feel a wave of enormous emotion. I started crying deeply because I was the third girl in my family. I was the third try for a boy. I was supposed to be Michael David. In utero, I knew and felt that I did not fit the desires of the family unit. Suddenly I was fully aware of this "unwanted" sense.
I had this lovely experience where these granny healers came into the room. They were whispering prayers in Spanish with plants that they had gathered on my wrists, forehead, and heart. I was sobbing and feeling grief and sadness at not being good enough. That I was wrong for being
who I was. It was such a profound feeling. As they whispered these prayers, the sadness lifted. A heaviness lifted. Suddenly I could take a deep breath, and I could see more clearly. I felt more room in my body. I was asking myself, "what just happened?" I have to learn more about this, not only for myself but for other people. I keep saying it.
It was profound. That was the beginning of my exploring medicine beyond what I had learned in the United States. It was the indigenous oral traditions that were handed down from generation to generation.
Incredible. You have become a powerful teacher sharing these traditionsWhat I love about South America and being in the Andes and my dear teacher Puma is they have the consciousness that we seem to have forgotten in the United States and the Northern Hemisphere. It is that we are connected to all things. The crazy time on the planet right now was prophesized. It's part of a transitional time where we're moving towards a new era. And a new consciousness, a new Earth. We hear those words a lot. It is a new way of being on the planet, which is centered on cooperation, creation, collaboration, and harmony.
How have you incorporated these teachings into your work?
Earth-based medicine is the foundation of my work. Essentially, it is in rhythm with the physical and spiritual natural world. It promotes wholeness and interconnectedness with the natural world to help nourish the body, mind, and soul. It also has a reverence and appreciation for our ancestors and the traditional medicine that has been passed down from generation to generation.
It is also an honoring of the cycles - seasons, moon, and sun - that help enhance our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. When we connect to the spiritual aspects of nature, we can amplify transformational healing. For example, the equinox and solstice are great times for intention setting and rituals as powerful unseen portals open to supporting us during these times.
The spirit of nature wants to commune with us, to teach and heal us; We are being asked to slow down, get grounded, and take the time to listen to the natural world. We can only do this when we learn how to connect more deeply to our
intuition. Nature is the best medicine. I teach people to find the truth within themselves., I call this work Soul Embodiment.
What is your Starseed Collective Group?
I believe our soul has many experiences. Starseed just means that you have an evolved soul that has wisdom and an inherent knowing that you're not going to learn just with your mind. It's also a knowing that you're here for a reason. You have a mission. Starseed often refers to people who are light workers or healers or artists, or singers. It's not to say that Starseeds can't be accountants and business people as well. It’s what many would call an old soul. I host this group to make space for community and healing among people who resonate with this description. They can come and talk and be "woo woo," and it's okay.
There is more we could touch on and share with readers. This is a great start. Corrina Porterfield, thank you so much for being here today.
I believe our soul has many experiences. Starseed just means that you have an evolved soul that has wisdom and an inherent knowing that you're not going to learn just with your mind.
Self-made millionaires, even the heart-centered, spiritual ones, have learned to love money and have let go of negative feelings and conditioning around it. They’ve stopped telling themselves that money is evil or only for greedy people and have embraced the reality that money is an amazing tool that can be used to serve their families, their communities, and even the world.
So the question is, how do you feel about money — greenbacks, cashola, cabbage, coin? And I mean, really feel about it? Do you resent money? Do you secretly think that cashola is evil? Do you hate cabbage? Does coin make you nervous? Do you think that only greedy or bad people have a lot of cash? Do you resent rich people?
Check-in with yourself about it real quick. If you want to know how you really feel about money, try this: Sit quietly for thirty seconds and let yourself think about money and your financial situation. Think about the money in your bank account, your bills, and your credit cards. Notice what happens to your body and your emotions when you do. When people do this brief check-in with themselves, some immediately feel their heart begin to race or experience nervousness in their belly or heaviness in their chest. Sometimes they even break out into a sweat! I know I used to.
So did you feel excited about money? Or did it make you a little anxious, frustrated, or angry? If you don’t feel all good about money, then it’s time to give your relationship with it a little love. Money is energy and responds to the energy that you put out toward it. If you spend a lot of time consciously or unconsciously sending a stink vibe toward it, then you may accidentally be repelling instead of attracting it. It’s much like wooing a new lover. When wooing a new lover, would you write
a dating profile that looked like this?
Hi, I’m Billy, and I hate dating. Dating never works out for me because I really suck at it, plus I’m not really worthy of love. For fun, I like to spend my time sulking, punching myself in the head, and taking long strolls down Butthurt Alley.
P.S. I don’t believe in love, I’m especially heinous in bed, and I hate you already. Hit me up.
Doesn’t Billy sound like a tasty treat? Not really. Just like Billy would repel a new lover with his not-so-hot profile, if your thoughts are full of negativity about money, you will end up pushing money away instead of attracting it.
If any of this negativity around money resonates with you, it’s time for a mindset shift. I want you to begin thinking of money more like a new lover than a foe. Keep an open mind and have curiosity about it. Make a choice to shift your attitude toward money. Take the time to really get to know it and to understand how the energy behind money works.
The following practice has helped me, and many of my clients detox their relationship with money and re-create a healthy mindset around it. This healthier mindset will bring you one serious step closer to your wealthy lifestyle.
Chatting with the Spirit of Money
This technique is rooted in Gestalt psychology and can help you quickly discover your wealth blockers so that you can rebuild a healthy relationship with money.
Take a moment to first write out all your negative thoughts and feelings about money on a sheet of paper.
Pull out your wallet and place it opposite you on a table or on a chair next to you. Your wallet is going to represent the spirit of money.
Invite the spirit of money to come and have a chat with you as if you are enjoying a cup of coffee or tea together.
You are going to ask money for a series of questions. In between the questions, you will listen and feel with your inner ears for the answers that money gives you. Trust the information that comes to you.
Next, you can ask money questions like the following. Feel free to change the questions or use questions of your own. I’m simply offering you a guidepost to getting you started:
• Money, why do you make me feel this way?
• Why don’t I have more of you?
• How can I make and attract more of you?
• How can I have a better relationship with you?
Ask any other questions you may have. After each, make sure to listen closely and trust the information you receive; then, write down the answer.
At the end of this process, thank money for the information. Thank it for all the support it’s already given you in life, and let it know you are ready to receive a whole heck of a lot more of it.
Reflect on and write down what you discovered during your meeting with the spirit of money. Based on your conversation, write down one specific action step you can take to begin healing your relationship with money.
What most people discover when they do this exercise is that the spirit of money is quite friendly and kind. They also discover that money is fairly neutral and isn’t “out to get” them the way they thought it was. They realize that their money situation is simply a result of their dominant thoughts about it.
If you know that your relationship with money needs a lot of work, I recommend that you keep doing this exercise frequently until you love the spirit of money and feel like money has become a true ally. Remember, if you love money, money will love you back. Say it with me now: “I love money, and money loves me.” Keep saying it until you can feel the truth of it, and watch the money begin to flow to you in magical ways.
Corin Grillo is a licensed psychotherapist, international best-selling author, speaker, healer, retreat leader, and founder of the Angel Alchemy Academy. A mind-blowing miracle from the angels saved her life, cured her of life-long depression, and awakened her spiritual gifts.
She now teaches others all over the world how to awaken their spiritual gifts, heal their lives, and discover their true purpose by working with angels and the Divine. She teaches by bridging others with direct mystical experiences, excessive amounts of laughter, down to earth spiritual wisdom, ritual, and powerful energy medicine that awakens the heart, mind, and soul.
Miracles are real. You are not alone. There is no such thing as coincidence. ~ Corin Grillo
Wellness Entrepreneur Rises from Mental Health and Illnesses to Launch
a Clean Beauty, Vegan Skincare and Cosmetics Line
Seattle-based Arvin Goods has created a new category called Clean Basics that defines how they work and who they partner with in the community. When they say they make the cleanest socks around, they mean it! The socks are made from at least 50% recycled or organic materials. The yarn is spun with post-consumer plastic waste and uses little to no dyes in the process.
Arvin Goods is the only brand using discarded fabric scraps to create the softest, best-fitting, most responsibly made apparel accessories.
Arvin Goods makes socks and other wardrobe basics that marry sustainability with modern versatility. The brand never compromises on performance, comfort, quality — or ethics. This dedication has recently earned them Amazon’s Climate Pledge Certified badge, meaning their products are made with 50% or more certified organic materials.
Arvin Goods works with several partners, including Ticket to Dream Foundation, Food Lifeline, and Seattle's Children's Hospital, for its philanthropic efforts. Arvin Goods donates 10% of profits to the Seattle Children's Hospital.
Photo by Houcine Ncib
It is now the time of year many begin to focus on finding a new relationship. With February comes Valentine's Day. It's the second month of the year. Many of us are still riding high from the energy of leaving the last year behind us. We have a new chance in our life. In February, everywhere we turn, we see red hearts, chocolate, and commercials with couples toasting the moment with champagne flutes.
Having coached thousands of men and women on calling love in, I know there are a few things many of us do unintentionally that impede our ability to do that. we may be doing many things right yet unintentional impediments often derail our best efforts. I will outline things most people do that get in the way of attracting a partner who aligns with their vision and needs.
The biggest issue is that we don't fully heal our wounds from the past. Many of us have very tender hearts. The first time or the second time, or the culmination of times that we have been injured, have left us jaded, closed off, and defensive. We have not given enough attention to our healing. Rather we halfway heal. Then we walk around in a somewhat wounded state all the time, pretending to ourselves and to others that we are available.
with that state of being in our consciousness, relationships become strategic. The activity becomes more about looking for red flags, green flags, avoidant disorders, and narcissistic tendencies than anything else. Connection is way down on the list. This strategic approach is
inherently all about defense and trying to protect ourselves. The only path to love is through vulnerability. If we do not feel safe enough in our skin to be vulnerable, we are sunk. No one but us can make us feel safe. We fool ourselves with our inner dialogue saying we are taking care of ourselves by being picky, or whatever the words may be, but what we are doing is keeping love at arm’s length. Energetically, all we can attract is unavailable people. Why? We are unavailable.
We can always easily identify our level of availability by what is showing up in our lives. The type of people and circumstances that keep showing give us great clues as to our level of openness and emotional health.
95% of the work of attracting is managing our own energy. Our own reactivity. Seeing how we are showing up in the world. Attraction is based upon like vibration to like vibration. Full stop. That is the number one thing people never want to hear but nonetheless is true. We do well at pointing out other people's flaws. We do well projecting out and justifying why something isn’t working out. Until we see that we are the creators of our life story we will not hit the target. The only way out of this quagmire is through our inner narrative and life story.
It’s an easy job to find fault in others. Fishing from a barrel. Everyone is flawed. There is no perfect person. There is no perfect relationship. We have to define what we truly value in life and in a partner. Then we work to cultivate those traits in ourselves.
We have to come to a relationship like a child with open arms, and enthusiasm for possibility.
If we feel we are attracting people who are messed up, I promise you there's something in your self view, in your state of being that is still not ready to receive a healed partner and be loved. I can say that with 100% certainty because there is an abundance of amazing people looking for other amazing people to love.
When we are locked behind the shields of our defense mechanisms, we are not going to recognize those people who are good matches for us. Use these three steps below to bring your energy into balance. They will help you draw someone to you who is on the same energetic, sociologic, and emotional page that you are on.
1. Quiet the Mind with Regularity.
We must unplug from our conscious mind. We are all creatures of habit. If we only orient from the conscious level, we will not deeply connect to ourselves to awaken our wisdom. At the conscious level, we are on autopilot. We are thinking relentlessly. This process requires us to silence the mind long enough to hear our inner voice.
2. Set Intention
As creatures of habit, we must define intentions based on the information we receive from our inner voice. As we become clear about who we are and what we need in our lives, we must commit to growing those traits in ourselves daily. If we want someone spiritual, we must become more spiritual. If we want someone affluent, we must become more affluent. If we want someone who has a good sense of humor, we must deepen our sense of humor. We must energetically become what we seek from another. In that, we align vibrationally.
3. Be a Kindergartner
Lastly, be courageous and see love as if it were for the first time, like a child. Recognize that many times we have not put our hearts on the
line in a long time. We have been going through the motions. Some of us have not healed from a heartbreak that happened 20, 30, or 40 years ago. We must recognize and honor our vulnerability and that we are emotionally out of practice. We have to come to a relationship like a child with open arms, and enthusiasm for possibility.
Sometimes when we open up for the first time in a long time the smallest deviation from our person of interest can throw us off. We need to develop emotional maturity to know that our partner is going to do something wrong. They are going to disappoint us. Likewise, you are going to disappoint them. We need the generosity of spirit to forgive and move forward.
When you activate these three things in your life, you will have a relationship. Why? Because you have become viable. You have become capable of opening your heart and being a partner.
We have to become viable before we ask for a partner. Most of us do not become viable before we ask.
The last bonus step is to go about living your life and be happy. Don't go through the motions of Facebook and Instagram happy putting out a version of yourself you want people to see. Dive into your passions. Have fun. Connect with your family and friends more deeply. Cultivate realness inside of yourself. Real happiness, real fun, real spontaneity
In this, we will call in a loving partner who is perfect for where we are in your life at this time. It’s possible. If you are reading this do the steps. You’re probably hungry for a partnership. Feed that hunger by answering the call of your inner world. You will have a partnership in 2023.
Known as the Common Sense Psychic (tm), Phyllis King has worked with tens of thousands of peoplein 25 countries. She is known for her practical and down to earth approach. She has been featured on, ABC, CBS and NBC TV, radio programs across the country, and has been published in over 70 print and online publications. She has four books, including Bouncing Back, Thriving in Changing Times, with Dr. Wayne Dyer. Her latest book The Energy of Abundance is vailable in bookstores now. Phyllis holds a B.A. in Sociology. www.phyllisking.com
Spiritual Growth Checkpoint:
By Sherri Cortland, ND
My Guide Group is all about our personal evolution and the evolution of the human race, and they recently channeled a message that included the words free thought. I was intrigued by the phrase and decided to do a little research to see what part free thought plays in the study of metaphysics and in our ongoing quest to evolve. Here’s a bit of what I uncovered.
Free thought is a philosophical point of view wherein it is felt one’s opinion should be formed and based on the basis of logic, reason, and research. This is the opposite of accepting the information that secular or religious leaders, authority figures, or traditions tell us to think or believe. Free thinkers look to facts and scientific inquiry, and so at first look, it would appear that a free thinker would have nothing in common with a Metaphysician, but that is not the case
A Metaphysician wants to find the answers to questions that human beings have asked since the beginning of time, i.e., who are we and why are we here? Metaphysics is concerned with being, how beings relate to each other, and where we fit in the bigger universal picture of life. To be a Metaphysician, one must also be a free thinker, and here’s why: a metaphysician must stretch beyond the boundaries of conventional thought and religious beliefs in order to investigate such matters as life after death, communication with Spirit, reincarnation, and karma. While anyone who wishes to connect with their Higher Self or Guides can do so, one must be a bit of a free thinker to
believe that such a thing is possible Free thinking and metaphysics both also share a connection with Humanism. Humanism, as a philosophy, emphasizes the importance of human beings collectively and individually, and the impact of ethics and morals on individuals and society are part of this line of thought. To entertain a Humanist point of view, one must be a free thinker in that the Humanist point of view is in many ways contrary to conventional dogma.
A Metaphysician understands that the actions of one person affect us all collectively—we are in this world together, and we are evolving together.
Metaphysicians know the universal truth that we are all connected on a soul level, and as one of us grows, we all grow. What follows this truth is the understanding that for human beings to truly evolve as a race of beings, to become all that we can be, to reach our goals, to fulfill our missions, to learn, to grow, and TO BE, we must each follow our own path. We must allow ourselves to think freely, and we must free ourselves from thoughts and dogma that keep us from moving forward. In this way, we will positively affect each other individually and evolve as a species.
How does one get started becoming a free thinker? Author, speaker, and philosopher Scott Berkun says that we should ask ourselves the following two questions: (1) Why do we believe what we believe; and (2) How do we know what we know?
Berkun’s questions made an impact on me. Instead of blindly accepting information that is given to us in textbooks, on the internet, in a newscast, in books, from teachers, and from our friends and family, it makes sense for us to explore the details and ferret out background information before we make up our minds; especially when it comes to controversial subjects and topics that will help us expedite our spiritual growth.
My first foray into the importance of free thought came during my early twenties after joining the Baptist Church in order to attend the same church as my then-husband’s family. In my mind, there was one God, Creator, and Source, so what did it matter what church I went to? Interestingly, during one of the first sermons I attended, the Pastor preached about worshipping idols and said that anyone who did so would be going to Hell. Since my entire family was Catholic and they all had statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ in their homes (and many of them wore crosses and medallions around their necks), after the church was over that day, it seemed that a talk with the Pastor was in order.
He assured me that, yes, all of my family members would be going to Hell if they continued to have these statues in their homes and wore the medallions and crosses around their necks. That sermon was a huge wake-up call because it set me on the path of free thinking without knowing that’s what it was called. That Pastor’s words caused me to spend a lot of time questioning his statements. It
made no sense to me that wonderful people would be going to Hell for such a thing, and it was clearly time for me to begin questioning what any authority figure had to say rather than blindly believing and following them.
According to my Guide Group, exercising freedom of thought is what will take us to the next level of evolution, and here’s a channeled message about where the human race is headed:
“The Time will come when all of humankind care about each other and race will not matter. People will revel in each other’s differences and be happy for the opportunity to learn about different cultures with joy and without judgment. This evolution in the making is attributable to the souls who are incarnating now and will continue to incarnate over the next few generations.
Each shipment of souls to the planet has a different aura or energy about them that is constantly getting stronger.
New energies are emerging that will enable the human race to make progress.”
In closing, let me throw out the fact that Albert Einstein is considered to have been a free thinker, and YOU could be the next Albert Einstein---unlocking great universal truths and assisting the evolution of humankind as you allow yourself the freedom of thought.
Namaste.
Sherri Cortland has been communicating with her Guide Group, the “GG,” since 1987 via automatic writing. Much of the information she has received is included in her four books, which were originally published by Ozark Mountain Publishing and are currently available on her website and on Amazon.
On Sherri’s website, you will find several free classes and meditations, along with more articles and workshops on video.
https://www.facebook.com/SherriCortlandAuthor
www.Sherri-Cortland.com
A metaphysician must stretch beyond the boundaries of conventional thought and religious beliefs in order to investigate such matters as life after death, communication with Spirit, reincarnation, and karma.
By Zee
THE WIND BLOWS: There is movement in the air. The tree sways and moves according to the direction of the breeze, and at the exact same moment, a section of the tree flows in the exact opposite direction. While other sections move from left to right and also in every other direction allowed at that exact time. It's the 360 degrees that make everything on this earth humanly possible. Every human thought wave individually and collectively flows just as the wind and moves in the exact same 360-directional pattern as the tree.
We live in a false universe. Our thought patterns are like the wind, and every decision we make shifts us into a new trajectory within one of the 360 directions, much like how the wind moves the tree. Decisions are the powerful force that chooses the ongoing path one now heads towards. Depending on one's wants, needs, and desires, it will resemble the same or a different path appearing as a new creative interaction for a well-rehearsed existing outcome.
Once this occurs and each time we change direction, our destiny will lead us to new and different experiences, maybe? Unfortunately, our conditional thought patterns will or may appear different at face value while being exactly the same energetically as that which we already created from our past. As an example, a divorce carries the same energetic structure as a rejection from another individual for different reasons at a different time, years earlier. The pattern is repeated; the mind doesn't connect the two, while the emotional strengths will appear different due to the lack of intensity.
Photo by By Jorm SangsornAdobeStock
Decisions are the number one Primary Deciding Factor that determines one's experimental existence here on planet Earth and all personal experiences while breathing. One may need to repeat that last sentence a few times to grasp its importance fully. The next big-e is, what is the hidden driving force motivating each decision one makes?
In the beginning, the cosmic void remained completely empty. That was up until the first human thought penetrated the "veil of silence." Then came the word, not as an audible sound; it was something much more powerful. It appeared as a single silent sound, one such as had never been heard before. It was formed in the shape of a piercing arrow which carved out a space and separated humans from the collective wholeness of the universe into this encompassing oneness of mindful human duality. It's an apple story about a bad seed.
We exist in a conscious space devoid of evolution, where humans have remained wholly and solely within the structural perimeters of a dual-thinking mindset since the beginning of time.
We speak of Macro and Micro as if they actually exist. Look around, and study the facts; our cosmic universe is a tiny spec in comparison to what we know exists out beyond the blue. This earth is small; we are small, and human thinking is small. What is blatantly obvious is, Macro only exists in the dictionary of the human mind, for there is no Macro here in this universe.
still, for those who can grasp
this understanding, we still function like apes. Fight amongst ourselves, harm and destroy lives, just so the quick-thinking pro-aggressive creatures can survive, as winning supposedly has no consequences.
To know the power of a thing, go and stand before the incoming waters, and you will know the definition of small and power in the exact same instance.
As a tree grows and carries forward in its new existence, it is equipped with that which was provided by the conditions its parent tree had to face during its lifetime here on earth. As do we grow from the conditions our human parents had to face during their life here on earth. What may appear to be different when observing the ongoing life of trees, in reality, is actually the exact same ongoing symbiosis process we humans experience from our surroundings. There is one exception, we judge sinfully from the mindful human duality of good or bad. And we are so blessed; not only do we rejoice in this fact, we humans are the only consciousness that has this amazing quality, dam!
Connection is not one of the Primary Earth Values for air breathing creatures.
Yes, duality does exist in connection, but only in the imaginary attachments of one's needs and desires within the human conceptual mindfulness and nowhere else. And as long as we continue to believe the storylines from our leaders, intellectuals, motivators, and all the various books that lay logic, reason, and so-called truefull experiences on the subject, one will remain a prisoner of a falsity.
When respect enters the awareness, we fully begin to grasp that everything in this universe is made up of the same energy. Humans, collectively, will in the future acknowledge that trees, oceans, and all the
various forms of nature are one's brother, sister, mother, and father. That is also when one begins a completely new understandable realization journey with one's self.
Not to be confused with "look who that I am now" has a certificate, diploma, or BA from blah blah land.
If we cannot define what is the base of all reality in this universe, then where do we stand when we constantly acknowledge that I AM this and I AM that designates the base of our self-defined reality? Then it appears via our own naivety that we have unwittingly separated ourselves from all that exists. How do we do this, you may ask? The obvious conclusion must be we live within our mindset; we think that all thoughts are real. We live as if all thoughts and beliefs are real. They are just ideas engineered from a preprogrammed mindset. Our everything, it's all in our head, dah.
One dual separation which has now become apparent is the distance between the functions of humanity before the new technological processes and those caught up in the changeover. We can see this in the great divide between the young and the old. It used to be when the young needed advice from outside of the parents; an elder or grandparent filled the gap. Now the internet fills its role as the adviser and influencer, and soon it will be AI.
All the ancient writings have duped us. They are not teachings on how to be enlightened or free from the dualistic matrix. Rather they are about how to exist or function within our earth's universe's laws. Following these teachings has kept us dualistic prisoners. If Neo can escape, then so can we. We have
had the proof for centuries but lacked the realization. Unfortunately, we humans observe facts as final; actually, what really occurs is they are portal pathways, inroads into the next discovery.
A wise, knowledgeable man delivers the news without the realization of its hidden meaning. Twenty, forty, fifty years meditating and nothing. Yet, for some, over the time invested comes enlightenment for others with no apparent reason, bang, instant enlightenment, a dimensional space where duality is dissolved. How does this occur? The conceptual mind has no real answer.
We have been educated that the human condition experiences life through universal laws, cause and effect, like attracts like, and what goes up must come down. If thoughts are one energy and feelings are a second energy, then it could be said that when we function via our thoughts only and/or feelings, we live in duality, black, white, hot, cold, and good bad. Humans acknowledge and interrupt each experience through their awareness. In fact, each human structure processes its capabilities, actions, and observations through its varying degrees of awareness.
As a human, the bases of one's existence and one's identity comes from how we experience the dualities of life within earth's universe, by our varying degrees of awareness, and yet we are not the degrees; it is only how we experience living. Therefore if how we observe, function, and live in this dual world is who we are, it has to be the biggest, greatest lie we have ever been led to believe.
Duality is an educated system of a false universe devoid of any scientific facts to prove otherwise.
Check your awareness finder.
Yes, duality does exist in connection, but only in the imaginary attachments of one's needs and desires within the human conceptual mindfulness and nowhere else.By Heidi Connolly
I have had a profound relationship with words my whole life. I was raised by English teachers, grammarians, literature fiends, and reading specialists who had me reading by age two, though the expectation was apparently sooner than that. My earliest memories are of sitting next to my mother or grandmother, or great-grandfather with a book in our hands. I guess the only one really surprised that I ended up in the world of writing and editing, albeit without intent or direction, therefore, would be me.
When it all started, I was a musician in New York City, playing concerts, and taking and giving lessons. I rented tiny studio apartments, moving from one to the next with my mattress and music when my sublets were up. I’d practice early in the morning and after I got home from whatever jobs I could find to support my musician habit, to the serious chagrin of my neighbors on the other side of the super-thin walls. I did not write, think about writing, or see words as a discriminating factor in my life. By this point, I did not trust that I had the ability to think or organize my thoughts, let alone have anything worth saying. I suppose being surrounded by people who are so word-savvy convinced me I would forever pale in comparison.
In New York, in need of a job after another move, a friend and fellow musician attempted to help me out by hooking me up to do some math editing. Uh…no. The editing marks alone filled me with anxiety and a crazy sense that the whole world was one unintelligible mass of indecipherable symbols.
It did get me thinking, though. Being inept at writing didn’t mean I couldn’t use all the skills drummed into me from such a young age, did it? You name it; I’d studied it for the SATs. I knew about dangling prepositions as soon as I popped out of the womb. And that’s when, instead of your typical starving actor/ server, I became your less typical semi-starving musician/editor.
Having authored, edited, rewritten, ghostwritten, and published numerous books since (and happily no longer starving), I find it’s a new world. I have developed a love affair with words. I love playing with them, sensing them, feeling them, exploring them, and embracing them. When I write, it’s as if all the words in the world are floating around in the ether, and the ones I need somehow, one by one, drop down into my lap.
The vibration of words is something that can be felt as powerfully as the vibration of your own heart, and the frequency of words can be as powerful as any action. Vibration means “moving back and forth from the normal stationary position,” while frequency is the number of cycles that a vibrating object completes in one second. A “complete cycle of vibration occurs when the object moves back and forth from its normal stationary position.”
I find this concept fascinating, in particular, how it is reflected by and affects the energy of words and, hence, the energy we share as human beings.
Here’s what I want to share about one-way energy can be used to help us or hinder us, lift us, or undermine us in our everyday lives. Take (“M”), for example, a smart—very, very smart—client of mine: a talented musician and artist, retired military who has traveled and lived all over the world, a powerful advocate for others in need. A more highly functional individual, you would be hard-pressed
to find anywhere, with a crazy wit and the ability to twist words in mind-bending ways.
“M” has worked very hard through the years to use her brilliant mind’s capabilities to try to solve her problems and can tell you more about medical research than most doctors. Unfortunately, this approach has had limited results. Still, it’s the approach she has been taught should work, and so she slogs on, suffering from chronic fatigue, depression, severe anxiety, and fibromyalgia, undergoing multiple surgeries for various conditions.
“M” is an HSP, a Highly Sensitive Person. She is typical of many of my clients who have no trouble feeling anxiety but draw an absolute blank when it comes to identifying their intuitive sense, their Intuitive Guidance System. When I ask her where she feels anxiety in her body (that is, somatically), she usually says, “I have no idea.” She draws no connection between how she feels emotionally and how she feels physically, using her mind to assure her that emotional “conditions” are separate from her physical conditions. Like so many HSPs, she’s quick to say she’s hypersensitive, but only in reference to her emotional vulnerability. There is a massive breakdown to connect those dots.
“M” uses words with a scalpel’s precision to deflect with humor whenever she feels the threat of exposure or the truth of what her inner being is trying to convey. She has tried to meditate since we started seeing each other, but “her mind never shuts off.”
When “M” came to her zoom appointment yesterday after a hiatus during which she was moving to another, much warmer state, she told me that her anxiety had been ramping up lately—a lot. Fear of not being able to procure the meds she needed when she needed them. Worrying about a friend, she couldn’t help. Concerned that her husband would drive her crazy with his negativity. And then she said something interesting. “As soon as I told ‘P’ that I had an appointment scheduled with you, I immediately calmed down. I pictured myself talking to you, and immediately my heart pounded less, and I could breathe again.”
Apparently, the only thing that had changed was that she was anticipating her upcoming zoom with me. “I knew talking to you would set me straight again,” she said.
She’d hit the nail on the head. I told her that her brilliant mind was used to filling her head with ideas less helpful than a bicycle to a fish. “M” made a joke at that point—making my point exactly.
Being “set straight” is the way “M” describes the feeling of alignment. It’s that place where nothing in the outside environment, no one, and nothing, can affect us to the point where we are shaken from our sense of self. “M” feels that way around me because I can be counted on to be firmly rooted in my Unique Energetic Signature when we are working together and because when I am solidly in my own energy, I choose my words carefully by feeling out their vibration before speaking them out loud. When a number of words become strung together to form sentences, which takes as long as it takes, their vibration as a unit becomes a frequency. That frequency can be felt by anyone choosing to feel it, and I always feel it.
I reminded “M” that the use of her brain is undermining the gifts she has been given, her innate abilities. These sensitivities have turned inward and against her, as manifested by her many physical ailments. The part of her that learned to despise her sensitivities because she was told they made her weak is so well-versed in denial that using words to deflect deeper reflection has become the go-to tool in her arsenal.
Feel uncomfortable? Deflect. Feel anxious? Deflect. Deflection and denial go handin-glove when it comes to breaking the pattern of the mind—which will do just about anything to hold on to and protect its territory.
At that moment, I was reminded about how, earlier in the day, a colleague told me that when she reads my writing, she always pictures me sitting in front of the computer where I magically download full articles with nary a thought. I laughed, but it’s true
in its own way. I told her I use my brain to be self-aware and self-editing, but not my mind, and I use the way my body feels to gauge the truth and authenticity of the words that end up on the page. I wait to feel the words’ energy, vibration, and collective frequency to assess their veracity as a whole.
I asked “M” to try feeling before speaking. Not how she felt emotionally but how the word(s) she was about to speak would feel in her body. There’s an easy test for this theory. Say out loud, “I hate you.” FEEL it. Now, say, “I love you,” and FEEL that. Few people would be able to say they don’t feel a difference, whether it’s in their shoulder blades, a tight jaw, or pinky toe. When you are in alignment, in the frequency of your Higher Self, you are poised to speak, listen, write, create, inspire, and uplift yourself and others. Your words carry forth the vibration set in place by your being right where you belong in your Unique Energetic Signature.
Here is the homework I gave “M.” Try it for yourself and let me know what happens.
Do not speak—I repeat, do NOT speak, do not let any words leave your mouth— until you have felt their vibration somewhere in your body. Take the time to assess their credibility through vibrational logic, not mind-logic; frequency-sense, not common sense. That quip on the tip of your tongue? Bite it back. The well-launched defense? Cut it off at the pass. It’s not about not being allowed to say what you want, but to begin to get a firm grasp on how each word you are about to speak has a frequency that will be translated into being through your body and out into the world. If, by the time you’ve assessed the somatics related to the words you want to say, you forget what they were or decide not to say them, let them go…they were not meant to be said. Then become aware of the focus you applied to experience this experience. Words are an empowering and powerful way we share energy in this interconnected universe.
Use them wisely and well. Spin them into vibrational gold.
When her husband Randy transitioned in 2012, Heidi Connolly’s life took a dramatic turn. Owner of Harvard Girl Word Services for over 20 years, Heidi focused on the work of others; now, through the writing with Randy of her award-winning book Crossing the Rubicon, Heidi understands that she is capable of much more than she’d ever given herself credit, including her ability to communicate with the Other Side. Currently, her multidimensional compass is set to the practice of writing, intuitive/mediumshipcoaching, spiritually guided healing music, and living life as a “Vacationing Angel.” Heidi’s newest book, The Gateway Café, is the enticing story of a teenager’s journey of awakening through inter-dimensional travel and angelic intervention.heidiconnolly.com
Life is a funny thing. But not always humorous. It's up to us to find and bring humor. It can be our life raft. Joy and laughter are the air that makes it float. Fill it, and it will sail through the roughest of seas.
Mornings for me, are my quiet time and space. I seldom set the alarm. If I do, it's when I'm going to catch a flight. Otherwise, it's a waste of bells. Strangely and always, I wake up five to 10 minutes before the time is set to ring or when my spirit whispers get up.
Regardless, it's always at the dawn of the day. I selfishly use my mornings for sorting. I call it God's Time. The preparation for what's ahead of me. The calm, patience, energy, time, and excitement we take from life's rewards, gifts, blessings, and challenges. Even from its disappointments. There is nothing worse than bringing DRAMA to the theatre. That's like bringing sand to the beach. There is already plenty of that waiting for us. Best to bring a towel, a pail, and a shovel. Lie in the sun or build your Castles.
Dawn is precisely that, a quiet and peaceful new time. It should be met with an embrace, wonder, and curiosity. And with that, a plan and a prayer. A plan for greeting the unexpected and a prayer that we can carry it through.
Life is a funny thing. But not always humorous. It's up to us to find and bring humor. It can be our life raft. Joy and laughter are the air that makes it float. Fill it, and it will sail through the roughest of seas.
I remember, as a kid, certain lessons I was taught each day, some by my parents, others by my grandparents, teachers, and clergy. And even strangers. For me, they are stored under the heading "How to Be." As I go through my list of "rights and wrongs" each morning, I ask the universe for my check, please! (Lifes' list: a reminder of the things we need to "check" each morning before we move forward with our day. ) For me, I check it so I won't forget determination, fortitude, and purpose. I always hope God grants me some grace in my quests so I remember my responsibilities and their integrity.
Let's be sure to check for accountability, kindness, and generosity of spirit. These are all parts of greater things! Think of all who have sacrificed or given their lives to learn meaning, purpose, and value. Could it be all that is asked of us in return is to review our commitments and live in gratitude?
How easy would that be!
So, "check please," each morning we wake, to each night we sleep. The list of importance that we all must keep, whether it sits by our bed or rests in our head, amidst something that's been heard and some that have been said, simply say thank you for the life that's been led.
Joey Santos is a Celebrity Chef, Life Stylist & Co-Host of The Two Guys
From Hollywood Podcast on iHeart Radio. A Columnist for The Eden Magazine since 2016.
Joey was raised in NYC, Malibu, and West Hollywood. He is the son of Film & Television Actor Joe Santos, and his Grandfather is World-Renowned Latin Singer Daniel Santos.
To follow Joey on IG: @jojoboy13
To contact Joey; whynotjoe@gmail.com
An Excerpt from the book, THE POTENTIALIST: Your Future in the New Reality of the Next Thirty Years
By Ben Lytle
Relationships, as we know them today, will appear unsophisticated by 2050.
Barriers that have separated human beings since the beginning of time will likely be reduced or overcome, including time, distance, language, culture, individual differences, unconscious bad habits, and generational and historical perspectives.
Relationships will become more important, not less. They will be easier to form with greater numbers of people digitally. Special new relationships will be possible with historical figures recreated through virtual and augmented reality, holographic technology, and other forms of automation.
Relationships will be possible over the extraordinary distances involved in space travel. Sustainable, meaningful relationships will be more widespread. More people will know what is most valued in relationships and how to develop them, as introduced later in this chapter.
The twenty-first-century relationship revolution will be powered by the same forces of change and emerging technologies that are changing work and lifestyles and creating superhuman qualities.
Connectivity innovations expand the number of people who can be connected to form relationships. Theoretically, in the future, an audience of seven billion people could be brought together and connected simultaneously. The volume of information that can be exchanged, and the complexity of the functions that can be performed while
connected, will steadily increase.
Language and cultural innovations will remove language barriers with an instant translation that includes cultural interpretations and suggestions to bridge cultural gaps as well.
Realism innovations will make our electronic-digital interpersonal experiences as real as those that take place in person. These innovations include virtual reality, augmented reality, holographic technology, gaming technology applied to commercial applications, and voiceand thought-activated brain-to-computer interfaces (BCIs).
Mobility technologies will make inperson relationships available to more people by making travel cheaper, faster, and safer.
Customization of electronic communications at the consumer interface will adjust for individual differences in relatability to lift each person to needed proficiency.
Relationship gains will not come from technology alone. Democratization will urge us to discover and project our true selves through our brands and to become stronger, more self-reliant, and more confident. Increased selfconfidence will assist in developing the trust needed for relationship depth. Deinstitutionalization will make relationships more important as institutions around us become less reliable, relevant, and available. Population declines in most countries, and living and working in the Cloud with automation will increase the value placed on human relationships.
The next few decades will be marked by a massive shift in how and with whom we relate, with significant consequences for civilization. You will need to learn new ways to relate and to increase relationship proficiency to thrive. Your new challenges will include receptivity to new forms of communication, developing healthy relationships with automation, bridging individual differences, embracing shared experience and empathy, developing kinship or intimacy without in-person proximity, and improving relationship proficiency.
Consider how the smartphone and social media have changed our lives; that is nothing compared to what lies ahead. Younger people in the past typically adapted to new forms of communication faster than older people. All generations will need to continue to learn and adapt in the future, but it will become easier as the brain-to-computer interfaces (BCIs) utilize voice, automated assistants, and thought instead of keyboards and screens.
Wayne Parker is a bright, successful, tough guy in his early eighties who seems twenty years younger. He spent most of his life working with his hands and avoided technology like it was a swarm of mosquitos. He never touched a cell phone or computer, so his wife, Mary, handled technology on his behalf whenever required. Recently, Wayne’s younger sister was diag-
nosed with an advanced terminal disease and given only a few days to live. Wayne and his siblings desperately wanted to travel to their sister to say their goodbyes, but their own health, along with complex travel arrangements to her distant home made it impractical. Mary arranged a Zoom call with all the siblings instead; it was their first experience with the new technology. The Zoom-enabled gathering of siblings was a tender, bittersweet, unforgettable experience. Wayne told friends and family that he had witnessed a miracle that only modern technology could have provided. He subsequently purchased a smartphone, and Mary is teaching him to text, email, and Zoom.
People will continue to develop relationships with humanlike automation over the next three decades—a relationship process that began years ago with voice response systems like Siri and Alexa. Movies have long showcased heroic, cute, or terrifying automation, ranging from just voices to near-perfect human replications. The movies probably got it right. In time, androids will almost perfectly mimic humans. They will provide life-improving benefits and unintended—and sometimes severe—consequences. Currently, several companies are developing automated solutions to combat loneliness in the elderly, children, and socially isolated people, while other companies are testing voice-activated killer drones.
Relationships will become more important, not less. They will be easier to form with greater numbers of people digitally. Special new relationships will be possible with historical figures recreated through virtual and augmented reality, holographic technology, and other forms of automation.
,,
The scenario that prevails will depend upon the wisdom of those of you living through the next few decades. The outcome of your first android relationship is as unpredictable as it would be if aliens landed tomorrow. Deciding how you will relate to a non-organic creature may seem premature, but perhaps now is the time to begin thinking about it, given what could arise from such an encounter and considering the historical tragic misunderstandings between explorers and indigenous peoples.
Consider the perils of confusing automation with human reality. For example, the automated assistants of the future could take on an outsized role in your life, leading to unexpected issues. When used properly, however, that same assistant could fast-track your career and serve as an extension of your own power. The Academy Award-winning movie Her was based on a feasible and creepy moral dilemma. A lonely man named Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with his smartphone’s humanized operating system voice named Samantha (played by Scarlett Johansson). Their playful interaction in the beginning develops into romantic love. But soon, Samantha discovers other automated assistants like herself and develops relationships with them. She recognizes Theodore’s human inferiority compared to her own kind and abandons him, leaving him heartbroken.
These stories and dozens of others
illustrate the perils of anthropomorphism, which is attributing human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. As humans, we seek a deep connection with those things we care about. We project our own feelings and values into non-human or inorganic creatures to create a relationship that, in reality, is not mutual. Most of us have anthropomorphized stuffed animals, cars, bikes, coffee cups, homes, and especially pets.
We are almost certain to anthropomorphize automation when it thinks like us, serves us, and may even mimic our emotions. Anthropomorphism seems even more likely to occur as human population declines, which it is already doing in many countries. Perhaps far into the future we will accept androids as human cousins deserving respect and special treatment. Maybe there will be movements and organizations like those today that seek inalienable rights for animals.
You will help shape the practices, attitudes, and social mores toward humanlike automation in your own life and in the lives of others. Those influences and decisions could endure for decades or centuries. Hopefully, you will be a thoughtful, careful adopter who avoids anthropomorphism and finds the balance between the inevitable downsides of innovation and its unimaginable benefits if used wisely.
Ben Lytle is a self-made serial entrepreneur-CEO known for being ahead of the curve, adjusting and thriving during change, Lytle now is a thought leader on the future. He launched five successful companies, two listing on the New York Stock Exchange. His best-known success being Anthem, with a current market value of more than $100 billion. He is a healthcare policy expert who served on state and presidential healthcare commissions, and a governance leader with extensive public company experience.
potentialistfuture.com
Photo by AdobeStock
By Susie Schroadter
Few other words carry as much power for me as this one. As a child, I was always trying to please others, be it by making them laugh, doing the dishes, helping out at school, or helping another person. As I grew from childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood, people-pleasing became a desire to please my friends, my partners, my clients, anyone, and everyone. This desire became a strongly rooted need. I needed emotional, psychological, and spiritual validation from others. I needed it as much as I needed air to breathe.
It was the only way I could feel valued in my life or have any sense of worth. If I was always nice and helpful, always smiling and giving, then I would not be in trouble, I would not be disliked, and I would not be discarded.
Inside I felt as though making others happy was my only purpose, the only reason I was put on this Earth. I did not trust anyone could actually like me, would actually choose of their own free will to be around me if I was not constantly giving to them.
Why was this angst inside of me? It was because I was not choosing myself, and I was not giving to myself. Pleasing others gave me a purpose and an identity; it gave me safety in relationships.
As I linked my identity to what I could do and give to others, I began to feel caged within the walls I had constructed around my life. It felt as though not only was there a ceiling above me and a floor below, but a wall on the left and a wall on the right. I was perpetual-
ly frustrated. There was a constant anger simmering below the surface at all times.
My light became dimmer and dimmer. Internally, I knew I was strong; I knew I was intelligent; I knew I had more to offer to this world. However, I was afraid to shine. I felt as if I shined too brightly; it would anger those around me or make them walk away from me. I thought I would be alone forever.
As time went on, I began hiding the essence of who I am, not only from others but from myself as well. I forgot who I was. I forgot what made me happy. I took care of others first and myself last, if at all. Others' needs became my needs. I gave and gave.
My ego kept telling me to continue to see past my needs and to excuse the mistreatment of others because I was strong enough to do so. I was a bottomless pit of "love" for others, and I took pride in that.
I could always find a reserve of compassion for someone else, but where was the compassion for myself?
This need to love others in order to have a purpose led me into multiple emotionally and psychologically abusive relationships. I would stay with men even when they treated me poorly, were emotionally unpredictable, and isolated me from my friends and family. I excused their behavior and attributed it to their own trauma. I lied to others about the severity of the situation. I lied to myself. I became severely codependent.
Freedom comes from being exactly who we are in any and every moment, no matter what anyone else thinks, and from loving yourself when you do
,,
My emotions were completely reliant upon others. I lost myself completely. I could not tell you my likes or dislikes. I was not living my own life. I was with men who diminished all of my achievements because I now know it threatened them. So I learned to keep my head down. I learned not to speak. I learned not to shine. I learned not to trust myself.
There came the point when the thoughts in my head were so jumbled because my only clear thought was how to keep the peace and maintain any sense of stability. I was afraid to speak, and I was afraid to stay quiet. There was a point in one relationship when I took pictures of the refrigerator and of the bed so that I put the food back on the proper shelf and the pillows back correctly.
One day I looked at my children, and I realized this was not the example I wanted to set for these incredible girls. The world needs them to be exactly who they are. The world needs their laughter, their sparkle, their power, and their authentic essence.
The question I was forced to ask myself is how am I teaching them to do what causes their soul to shine when not only am I not expressing my true identity, but I am constantly accepting and rationalizing toxic and abusive behavior? It took me a long time to learn that while we all have trauma, we all do not abuse others. Trauma is not a magic pass to act however you would like. We all have the choice to heal. Some of us choose to do so, and some do not.
And so, with this awakening, I made the conscious choice to heal. I chose to heal from the
trauma that caused me to leave myself hidden. I chose to heal from being codependent on others. I chose not to hide from the responsibility of being myself. I chose to shine.
I am not a person that colors within lines. I am bold, emotional, and at times chaotic, but I am also a lover, a warrior, and a healer. I can be extremely extroverted, and then at other times, I find comfort standing in the corner. It is not because I do not like others, nor do I not wish to be included; it is because I can easily be overwhelmed by the energy of others, by their emotions, or the emotions I am experiencing. I was conditioned to believe this was negative, but it is not. It is one of my gifts. My sensitivity allows me to care more, to love more, to feel more, and to live more.
True freedom comes from allowing ourselves to feel EVERYTHING. The good and the bad. It comes from laughing out loud and from crying unabashedly when the tears flow. It comes from acknowledging all of our strengths and not shying away from all of the places where we need healing. Freedom comes from no longer pretending to be someone we are, not simply fitting into a relationship or a community. It comes from not simply ignoring what others think but not caring.
Freedom comes from being exactly who we are in any and every moment, no matter what anyone else thinks, and from loving yourself when you do. It comes from knowing you are exactly as you are supposed to be, and that you have everything that you need.
Susie Schroadter, once a practicing attorney and mediator, has has turned her focus to creating Sage, a safe sanctuary to allow others to heal. She offers consulting and strategy for those going into mediation or dealing with life altering events so that they may be empowered and advocate for themselves. Once those events have occurred, she also offers different modalities for healing such as life and spiritual guidance and energy work. www.sanctuaryforpeace.co
The phenomenon of clergy burnout during these COVID years is well documented. The load we have borne has sometimes been unimaginably heavy, with so much sickness, death, and canceled celebrations. It was enough to break your heart every single day. Sometimes the only thing that kept us going was a sense of duty, a feeling, maybe irrational, that our flocks would not be able to function without our guidance.
And yet the pandemic impacted communities unevenly, and this is true for clergy as well. A small subset of us flourished and grew during the pandemic. I am one of those people.
And I feel so guilty.
I am a diary keeper, so one of the ways I processed this guilt was by writing a book and trying to figure out why I functioned well during the pandemic. In that book, I come out of the closet of neurotypicality and speak of my autism.
It was my autism, and specifically the gifts of my atypical neural wiring, that have allowed me to thrive during these pandemic years. I want to speak here of two of these gifts: the gift of patterns and the gift of veils.
One of my favorite pieces of biblical literature is Ecclesiastes 3, immortalized in English by the beautiful rendition of the Byrds:
To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die, A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.
This appeals to me fundamentally.
I am autistic, and I live a very patterned life. At 5:15 a.m. I wake up, and I spend the first 45 minutes reading about 10 articles in various online presses. At 6, my son Nadav gets up—he wants to be with his mother, and I transport him there. I then work on translating or writing a new book for about 15 minutes. And then I do some poetry.
Anything out of the ordinary is a stress factor. A difficulty.
Stress is not inherently a bad
thing! It is not a four-letter word; it is six letters long.
Stress becomes a deliberate catalyst to try something new. I incorporate stress into the pattern of my days. I plan for the inevitability of stress.
If my son Jaime starts screaming like a banshee at 3:30 a.m., either because of a bogeyman or because he wants candy, obviously, my morning will not look the same. I am not going to get the same things done. That is difficult. But like an experienced surfer, I ride the wave of exhaustion and do something with it. I write a poem about the quality time I spent with my lovely four year old at 3:30 am. I can’t translate, and I can’t do emails, but I have found, like other people who write, that particular flavors of exhaustion are conducive to creativity.
Even on bad nights, there is generally an hour or two of lucidity in the mornings when I can get important emails done, such as explaining to the board in excruciating detail why a kids’ service is not desirable for a particular event, so I do manage to work.
And then at noon, when the little imps are resting, I can lay down my tired head and sleep.
Exhaustion and stressors simply lead to a different type of pattern, which I fall into after figuring out the nature of the situation.
A veritable plague of mental health problems has been the result of forced separation. The continuity and patterns some kids need to thrive in their educational frameworks have been cut off root and branch.Photo by Marjorie Bertrand
Now that I have figured out how COVID-19 has shifted the way we do things, I can live in this brave new world." I can live in the world COVID-19 has fashioned. I can live, and I can thrive.
COVID-19 also allowed me the time and space to discover what was most important to me in my interactions with family, friends, peers, and colleagues.
For many years I have struggled with defining my deep need for others. The caricatured autistic person doesn't need anyone else. They are an island deep in the ocean while the rest of the people of the world are at the very least peninsulas This is nonsense, of course, as I articulate any chance I get. As I have articulated a few times. Autistic people need others, just in different ways than our neurotypical brethren. I often need the comforting presence of others near me while I do my own thing. I need my wife to sleep next to me. Otherwise, my sleep is disturbed. I need my two-year-old to call for Abba at 6 a.m. each morning, so I can pick him up and kiss him, and then I need him to ignore me the rest of the morning because he wants to be with his mother. I need others to validate my existence, but I also need partial anonymity. I need a veil.
That is why the COVID world is my world. It has imposed a veil between so many of us. A veil no one has chosen, a veil of necessity. For so many people, the veil has been destructive: Extroverts have been cut off from each other and have found the virtual world a pale shadow that cannot replace in-person interaction. A veritable plague of mental health problems has been the result of forced separation. The continuity and patterns some kids need to thrive in
their educational frameworks have been cut off root and branch. And so on.
And then there are people like me, people who feel guilty for how they have survived and flourished. Suddenly the expectations and pressure surrounding face-to-face interactions had ceased. The need to look other people in the eye is gone—no one can tell anymore. And in public, everyone is wearing a mask anyway, so they can’t read people’s expressions, just as I can’t.
I can create so much more content for my congregation because I am less tired. I can teach more classes, make more phone calls, and be present. I could never do that as fully as I wanted to before the pandemic; it would have been too draining. There is much less forced small talk, which is so very hard for me. When there is a conversation, a higher ratio of it is meaningful and substantive, and that is such a pleasure!
It is now becoming safer to congregate most of that time. But I have figured out when the veil between me and the world should continue to exist and when I should take it off to gaze upon the world; I have figured out my balance. I write this not to toot my own horn or in any self-congratulatory tenor. I feel so bad for my fellow clergymen, my dear friends, who had a very rough time in the past three years. I write this to demonstrate that integrating people with a significant difference is of great value to our communities. Autism and other neuroatypicalities are viewed primarily through the lens of deficits, and I want to shift the focus to our gifts, gifts we can share, but only if we are granted a place at the table. Please make room for us.
Rabbi Dr. Tzemah Yoreh is one of the intellectual leaders of Jewish humanism and the head of the City Congregation in New York City.
He attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he obtained his Ph.D. in biblical criticism in 2004. He earned a second Ph.D. in Ancient Wisdom Literature from the University of Toronto for the joy of studying the ancient text. He is the author of the new book, So Compassionate it Hurts: My Life as a Rabbi on the Spectrum, He is also the author of The First Book of God, the Kernel to Canon series, which include Jacob’s Journey and Moses’s Mission, and more recently, Why Abraham Murdered Isaac: The First Stories of the Bible Revealed
What do you really want? You're likely chasing a lot of things right now—like money, beauty, prestige, and love. But why do you want those things? Are your goals really yours, or are they simply a reflection of what the #hashtag world has conditioned you to believe you want?
"Once I lose the weight, then . . . I'll feel like the 'real' me."
"When my muffin top is gone, then . . . I'll stop needing to edit my pictures."
"If I just drop down a couple more dress sizes, then . . . I'll be able to sign up for that dating app."
Sound familiar? I thought so. For a long time, my entire existence was consumed by that sort of narrative.
At the time, I didn't realize what I was doing to myself. I believed I was just the kind
of gal who always had her eye on the prize because I was an unstoppable force dedicated to self-improvement. Sometimes it was about the number on the scale; sometimes, it was about fitting into certain clothes, and sometimes it was about achieving a certain "look." Whatever the goal, I truly believed that if I wanted it badly enough and that if I could just get there somehow . . . then—bam!—I'd also arrive at happiness.
Being goal-oriented had become such a habitual state for me that I felt like I had no identity without the "am I good enough to achieve?" narrative. Who was I without goals hanging over my head? Why was I so afraid of not having something to work toward? Would it always be a game of "more?" Would I ever be content? And if what I was working toward was always evolving into something else, then what was my motivation really based on? What did I really value?
Photo by Ali Paz
Being goal-oriented had become such a habitual state for me that I felt like I had no identity without the "am I good enough to achieve?" narrative. Who was I without goals hanging over my head? Why was I so afraid of not having something to work toward? Would it always be a game of "more?" Would I ever be content? And if what I was working toward was always evolving into something else, then what was my motivation really based on? What did I really value?
Creating specific goals for yourself can be a strategic step to achieving the outcomes you're looking for in life, especially when it comes to your body. I'm a big believer in setting smart, realistic, actionable goals. However, if you're not careful, creating goals can also serve as comfortable busy work that keeps you from doing the real uncomfortable work. You know, the messy soul stuff like looking inward, understanding what really matters to you, clarifying your motivation, and, most importantly, finding joy along the way.
Here's the deal: the reason losing weight or getting fit, or achieving the body of your dreams feels both overwhelming during the journey and underwhelming when you achieve success is because you don't know what really matters to you.
When asked, most people will say that their primary focus when embarking on a new fitness or nutrition regimen is to feel a renewed sense of health and vitality. But is that really always true? Are most people really after health and vitality? Or is it about gaining respect from others and hearing it in the form of admiration and praise? Is it about finally feeling more beautiful?
Whether you're the kind of person who struggles to stay on track with fitness and nutrition for more than a couple of months or you're the type of person who can stick to the plan until you achieve your goals only to fall off the wagon shortly afterward, the first step in your journey is the same: you must clarify what's really driving you.
Let me give you a few examples of how I spent years missing the truth of who I really am and what I really cared about: Body. I was striving to be skinny when what I really needed was to feel strong, fit, and full of vitality.
Self-worth. I was striving to be perfect when I needed to feel confident and good in my skin as is.
Career. I was striving for a high-paying corporate job when what I really needed was to experience inspiration and fulfillment in a calling that was uniquely my own.
Once upon a time, I thought I was following an unconventional path by getting a commerce degree - when you're raised by Indian parents whose only hope is that you'll grow up to become an engineer or a doctor, getting a business degree is considered pretty risqué.
I successfully clawed my way through four years of undergrad, graduated on the dean's list, and accepted an incredible offer to start my career in an executive position at IBM. On paper, things looked pretty sweet for me. I had twisted myself into a perfect pretzel, I was succeeding to the level of everyone else's standards, and I was living some version of "the dream."
Tuning in to the quiet whispers of my soul set me off on a journey to explore my values, break my constant self-hate, quick-fix cycle, and finally get into the driver's seat of my own happiness."
,,
Yet the perfectionist in me constantly wanted more. After every achievement, I'd feel glorified for a split second, but then I'd feel untethered without another challenge to face.
I continued to find ways to chase more, and when there was nothing left, I desperately chased the idea of being "skinny." The gym became my happy place. I started eating well (or so I thought at the time), I trained hard (too hard), and I loved the progress that I was making (because my clothes started to get looser). I felt stronger than ever, I felt more intense than ever, and I was thriving off those endorphins.
Until it happened—my first grownup rebound. I should have known my streak wouldn't last because I had all the classic symptoms of burnout. Perma fatigue had set in, and I ate everything in sight. I was in ooey-gooey, cheesy, bready heaven until my skinny jeans got too tight for me to wear without muffin-
topping over them.
I had been through the rebound cycle enough times to know how to get the weight off quickly, but this time around felt different. I felt like I couldn't buy my own bullshit anymore. The constant drive to chase accolades and thinness had exhausted me, and I felt utterly sick of myself. I wanted something more meaningful.
And so I decided, for the first time in my life, to look inward. I knew that if I wanted to be more, do more, live more, and love myself more that I would have to stop Band-Aidsolutioning my life. What did that really mean? I wasn't sure. I just knew that I needed to heal the most obvious, undeniable pain point first: my body.
I started by listening to a faint whisper that slowly became louder
and louder: "I want to be healthy." "I want to be happy." "I want to feel good." "I want to feel like me."
Tuning in to the quiet whispers of my soul set me off on a journey to explore my values, break my constant self-hate, quick-fix cycle, and finally get into the driver's seat of my own happiness."
When you fail to uncover what really matters to you at your core (and to be clear, that's not what you think is "supposed" to matter to you), you're simply flying blind on this journey of life, hoping that something like losing weight will do the trick. But in fact, when you're out of touch with what you really want in life, you're often working against what you really need.
When I began to peel the layers back, I discovered: I valued vitality. I wanted to nourish myself and build strength, not starve myself and run ragged.
I valued self-love. Sure, I wanted to be able to praise myself for toning up my arms, but I also wanted to be kind to myself in the mirror, no matter what I looked like.
I valued alignment. I wanted to work with my body instead of constantly fighting against it.
The more I focused on these three elements, the more connected I felt to the real Sonia. I could feel myself shifting. It was as if by focusing on the inner work and letting it blossom outward instead of focusing on the fake outer work, hoping that it would bleed inward, I was able to get to the core of who I am. Identifying and tuning in to my values was the first step in ending my decade-long love-hate relationship with my body. I made the leap, and I haven't looked back.
Sonia Jhas gave up her skyrocketing corporate career and began searching for a new path that resonated with her core. Eventually, she transformed her life through deep analysis, education, determination, and willpower. Through her journey, Sonia uncovered a deep passion for wellness, as well as a driving desire to help others. Sonia has made it her mission to help people live their best lives through online talks, speaking engagements, television appearances, and coaching. She has accumulated an impressive 80+ million media impressions and continues to spread inspiration all over the globe including appearances on Breakfast Television, Global News, CHCH-TV and more. The TEDx speaker and award-winning mindset and wellness expert’s enthusiasm, sense of humor, and openness about her own journey have earned her a reputation as an unstoppable force in the wellness arena. She is the author of the forthcoming book, I’ll Start Again Tomorrow (And Other Lies I’ve Told Myself)
After a short career in law, Leanne Kale Sparks is returning to her first love— writing about murder, mayhem, and crime. She is an author with Crooked Lane Books and is working on a new series featuring an FBI agent hunting down her best friend's murderer. The backdrop is the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the playground of her youth and the place that will always be home.
She currently resides in Texas with her husband, her German Shepherd, Zoe, and her Corgi, Win.
What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?
It is more a matter of what I need to keep out of my writing space that helps keep me focused. I tend to migrate around the house while writing—some books are written in my office, others at the kitchen table, etc. I don't need it perfectly quiet, but I do need some type of music. Nothing with words because that is too distracting—I start singing along, and that pulls me out of the scene. I can't have the TV on, unless it is one of the ambiance scenes on YouTube. Sometimes it has other writers around. It sounds counterintuitive, but even if we are not talking, camaraderie keeps my fingers moving and my mind creative.
What was your hardest scene to write, and why?
Oh, not sure I can say. It might give too much away. But, typically, it's difficult to write about children being victims of crime. Any scene that makes me cry while writing is usually a really good scene—if it makes me cry again while editing, it's even better—but they can also be difficult and draining.
Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Yes. Ha Ha. It's such an odd career because I can be energized some days, exhausted other days, and sometimes both simultaneously. Being creative is more than sitting at the computer and typing away. So much more goes into the process, and if things are flowing and ideas are coming out faster than you can write them down, it's energizing. It can be mentally and physically exhausting when you are fighting to figure out where the story is going, or what happens in the next scene, or (Yikes) where you have gone completely
off the rails. But once the book is done, it's all worth it.
How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
It made me more self-conscious. I was highly motivated to make the second book even better than the first one—which is a good thing—but it can also be overwhelming. The first book was written before I had an agent or a publisher, so it was purely a labor of love. Once it was published, I was so concerned that I would fail my editor, readers, and characters by not providing a better follow-on story.
What comes first, the plot or characters?
If it's a standalone book or the first in a series, it is plot driven at first. I usually come up with a story and have only a vague idea of who the characters are. If I'm writing in a series, even though I have fleshed out the characters in the first book, it's hard to really get to know them fully until the second or third book in the series. So, the plot probably takes center stage, but it is with the characters more in mind.
How do you develop your plot and characters?
I am constantly asking myself, "What if?" If I see a news story, a true crime show, or just by observing people in day-to-day life, I try to twist things. Insert various ways to manipulate the story. What if the car that just passed suddenly blew up? Was the driver targeted? What if the bomber got it wrong and killed the wrong victim? It's taking something and twisting it every which way until you find that interesting" moment that starts the wild ride.
Do you find it more challenging to write the first book in a series or to write the subsequent novels?
That's a difficult one. The first book in a series is difficult but fun because you meet all these new characters and set them in various places with unknown obstacles. It's a sort of happy difficulty. The harder books are the follow-on books because you have to stay true to the characters you've created. Readers have fallen in love with them (hopefully) and so you can't stray from who they are. That said, you don't want them to become stale and predictable, so you have to find ways of shaking things up and seeing how they handle the adversity without going overboard.
Can you tell us about the second book in the Kendall Beck Thriller series, Every Missing Girl?
Well, as the title denotes, Kendall continues her quest to search for missing children. She is called to a double homicide scene at a local convenience store, where a missing child turns up amongst the carnage. Once again, she is working with her favorite Denver Homicide Detective, Adam Taylor. In the midst of uncovering why the missing child was there and what connection she has with the murder victims, another child goes missing—this time, Adam's niece, Frankie. The race is on to find the young girl. But does Frankie's disappearance have anything to do with the missing girl from the convenience store? And, if so, what?
What is it about these characters that readers love so much that they want to keep returning to them and their stories?
It's because they are so relatable. Flawed,
normal, and slightly sarcastic— people you would meet anywhere. They have the same issues as the rest of us, just on a level that most of us don't deal with on a daily basis. I also think they offer a glimpse into an unknown world and how normal people deal with extraordinary circumstances like murder and kidnapping. In Every Missing Girl, it is Kendall's turn to help Adam through the disappearance of a loved one. I hope the readers will see a different side to Kendall without it being a complete departure from who she is and how she reacts to these types of crimes.
What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
I probably don't have a defined writing process; I mean, generally, I plot the story and then write it. But the way I plot is never consistent. Sometimes I prefer working it all out on a whiteboard. Other times I outline on legal pads. And then there are times I use colored sticky notes. And I have no idea why I do it this way, but then, who cares as long as I get something written?
How do you do research for your books?
For me internet mostly. Ideally, if you are writing crime novels with law enforcement characters, you have a contact at whatever agency you are portraying. Just someone to bounce questions off or will give certain scenes a quick read to check for accuracy.
What is your favorite childhood book?
I wore out "The Monster at the End of this Book." I loved Grover and would carry that book everywhere I went.
Choosing to keep a baby is just as important as choosing not to, especially when others try to influence the decision.
I know this all too well. After I became pregnant at the age of 20 in 1979, my parents scheduled an abortion appointment without my approval. But I never showed up—and I gave birth to my daughter several months later. This was part of the inspiration behind my debut novel, Never a Cloud.
In Never a Cloud, the main character, Violet Grey, when faced with a similar predicament, chooses to become a single parent. I wish I'd had Violet's strength and vision. In my youth, my father gave me an ultimatum: get an abortion or get married. So I acquiesced to a shotgun marriage. Yet I felt strongly then, as I do now, that keeping the baby was and is my voice and my choice—nobody else's. Getting married should have been, too.
That's why, throughout its storyline, Never a Cloud reminds all women to take charge of their lives. Not to make choices driven by a fear of what people will say; not to lose themselves to relationships or subsume their identities to the whims of husbands, fathers, or brothers; not to slip into the false comfort of financial dependency on a man.
Though it can be frightening, there is a great strength that comes with making our own decisions and letting others do the same.
My parents were good people and certainly professed open minds. In fact, they had left the Catholic Church for the Unitarian Universalist one specifically so that their two daughters would be exposed to the ideas of many religions and be taught to think and to choose — taught that life is not didactic; but rather filled with many opportunities to choose and determine the course of one's life. The following quote stuns as so contemporary:
"As a faith tradition, we are committed to Reproductive Justice, which espouses the human right to have children, not to have children, to parent the children one has in healthy environments and to safeguard bodily autonomy and to express one's sexuality freely."
It is not a coincidence that Roe vs. Wade was based on the constitutional rights of liberty and privacy. Our country today is still, sometimes violently, sorting out both.
My parents were good people, but I think that when confronted with my pregnancy, they fell back on shame, and their good sense was overwhelmed by worries about what others might say. Sound familiar today? Unfortunately, it is.
I chose to have my baby, but I might have chosen abortion. (Three years later, I was about to choose abortion, having scheduled one, only to arrive at the clinic and learn that the test had been a false positive.) The important thing is that I felt as strongly then as I do now— that it was, and is my voice and my choice—nobody else's. This gave me a much keener sense of who I was then and who I am today. The conversations around "my body,
my choice" usually surround abortion itself, but let us be reminded that it is CHOICE ITSELF we are fighting for.
I dropped out of university and left home at nineteen. In 1977, my roommate and I boarded a Greyhound bus in New England; our destination was CA. Susan sold pies at Heidi's Pie Shop, and I scooped ice cream around the corner. From LA, I flew solo down to the Yucatan; later, back in the states, I joined a hippie commune, practicing eastern meditation. I didn't become more enlightened; I got pregnant. It's almost a cliché now, and yet still hard to explain, the sense of entitlement we young people felt then—we felt entitled to have adventures; we felt entitled to choose our own lives and our own futures. No less important now, just a little lost, perhaps.
Being a single mother wasn't easy, of course, but it sure was wonderful. I went back to school, got my degree, and became a teacher. And now my daughter has two girls of her own—my beautiful grandchildren. "Life is a tree of many branches," as someone very wise probably once said.
In my novel, life asks Violet, Ava, and Margot, to circle over their lives, and examine them from a new perspective. Sometimes self-understanding comes from within, like mist slowly clearing, and sometimes from without, like the cry of a hawk.
Ava, my young feminist, on her white horse, lance in hand, charging happily at the future, would never have imagined that the Supreme Court would reverse Roe vs. Wade! She speaks, and I write, for women everywhere.
Let's celebrate Violet's arc in the rainbow. See the white dove fly.
www.giovannabrunini.com
Among her regrets are losing the handwritten letter addressed to her from William Steig and not taking Tasha Tudor up on an invitation to tea.
At various times in her life, she’s lived in Mexico, and Italy. Jo lives in Vermont with her family.
Hello Suzi, you are Photographer, Animal Rescue, Intuitive Interior Design, Stylist, and Angel Messenger. Let's start with What determined your passion for design? Tell us about the moment when you decided to become an interior designer.
Since I was a little girl, I have been enjoying the process of bringing out the diverse beauty that exists in the world around us. When I would tap into my creative side, it was another way I could connect to higher energy, and I found that I could spend hours & hours, for example, doing interior design in the bedroom I shared with my sister or making an outfit for my grandmother's poodle to wear. When my mom noticed this, she put me in charge of setting up rooms and decorating them when we had parties. It's probably more than likely that people were being polite and humoring me because they noticed my excitement, but their positive energy was very encouraging regardless. It felt like a win/win.
What do you like most about being an Interior Designer?
When doing interior design, I like the exercise of really feeling the space and understanding the personalities of the souls who dwell there. One must pay homage to all of these energies. It's easy to make a space beautiful, but it's imperative to me that the end result reflects those souls, so when they walk through their door, it's their sanctuary and they can feel that energy welcoming them home.
If you had no limits (money, resources), what would you create?
If I had no limits, I would still use the majority of my creations from what already exists because we already have such a multitude of beautiful treasures to draw from and we need to tread lightly for future generations. Everything has energy, too, so I am always on the hunt for the things that speak to me and tell a story.
I have often found that when you put a handful of creative talents together and everyone leaves their ego at the door, the end product synergistically is a sum greater than the parts.
If you know how to put it all together in a clever & meaningful way, you don't actually have to have limitless everything to have a beautiful end result, but if things were limitless, I would joyfully spend my life making as much as possible beautiful for future generations to enjoy as well in a way that celebrates our earth home. Nothing that any of us can ever do will ever be as beautiful as the gift of Mother Nature, so we must all always take this into account, & honor and preserve it with much gratitude.
So, tell us now more about being a Stylist.
Styling is another creative outlet that's incredibly enjoyable for me because when you help someone bring out the best in themselves with how they present themselves in the world, it's a joy to see them shining. Often when people live incredibly busy lifestyles, just taking the edge off of the fact that it's one less thing for them to worry about or being a part of a team creating beautiful images is a special honor. I have often found that when you put a handful of creative talents together and everyone leaves their ego at the door, the end product synergistically is a sum greater than the parts.
Sometimes you have a bit of time to know the client and they are very forthcoming with you. Other times they just want to have you figure it out because they like other things that you've created, so you have to rely more upon your intuition. No two clients are alike, but everyone deserves your very best. Anyone that is in a creative business will tell you that they put lots of love & passion into what they are doing. It's definitely a joy economy if that makes sense.
I know you are a true Animal Rescuer, we talked a while ago during Woolsey Fire in Malibu,
and at that time you lived there, we were talking about rescuing 40 plus horses that were trapped in the fire. Please tell us when your passion for saving animals started and how you are involved with it now.
Another thing my family was really big on growing up was having animals and nature as parts of our lives. They were both really good sports if we would bring an animal home too. I remember playing down near a lake and there was a duck there with one hardly functional webbed foot and missing one eye. I was watching all this commotion and sure that another duck who had climbed on top of her was trying to drown her, so I waded out, gently swaddled her in my jacket and raced her back to the house. I spent the rest of the day digging her a little pond in the backyard while my parents were trying to figure out how to break it to me that it was mating season and nobody was actually picking on her.
Later that day, my father and I took the belle of the ball back to the pond, but our parents never discouraged our efforts to help animals and rescue them.
In my family, it's always just been a part of our lives. I was volunteering at a pro-life shelter up until I gave birth to my first daughter, and advocating mostly for wolves and whales. I have always been helping in every way that I can; animals are both wild and domestic. I'm a giant supporter of the wildlife bridge and #SaveLACougars. Some of my favorite neighbors are the local wildlife.
I have a handful of lovely besties with rescue ranches and they call on me often to go grab, mostly lots of cats and dogs, but also, over the years, I have helped rescue a pig, sea turtle, owl, songbird, and sea lion to name a few. During the Woolsey Fire and other California wildfires, because I was premed, I was helping a friend at
her rescue with displaced animals in need of first aid, including shots. Some of the sadder situations involved horses. My favorite animal work at the moment is actually picking up rescued Puerto Rican street dogs from LAX, being flown over by lovely volunteer passengers and transporting them to fosters or their new forever homes. One of my dreams is to start a rescue for senior cats in need. I am getting great practice with my rescue cats, as they all live to old age & some came with remarkable medical conditions.
In your opinion, how can an individual do their part to save animals?
While I am not against buying an animal, I firmly believe in rescuing as many animals as you can realistically give a good home to. You can even rescue specific breeds if you love a particular breed. Here is one of my favorite stories from having worked for years at a pro-life shelter. We had a cat there that we all loved dearly, who we named Freeway. I'm sure I don't have to tell you why.
For years everyone passed him by at the shelter to adopt other cats. Please understand that it was also over a year before anyone who drove past him actually attempted to pull over and grab him from the underpass. Freeway wasn't getting any younger. A woman came in one day telling us that her son was despondent since his cat had died. Bless her, because she wanted to know who the cat had been at the shelter the longest. She returned a month later to share with us what a wonderful addition Freeway was to their family. She said he immediately started sleeping on her son's bed, but it was the darnedest thing because the litter box was always clean, but she couldn't find any signs of him going anywhere else in their home. Then one day, she watched Freeway jump up onto the toilet to do his business. She said not only had her son's spirits finally lifted, but Freeway was such a special new family member. I real-
ly think that we think we are rescuing them, but it is really the other way around. A house is more of a home when you have 4-legged family members! That's actually my first design tip. Welcoming the beautiful energy of animals into your home. Like children, the beautiful energy they bring with them is absolutely priceless.
You receive messages from Angels; what is an Angel, and do you have to ask for help from the angels to receive the messages? Oh, how I love this question. I believe that earth is a giant school and we come here to evolve and hopefully also leave earth and everyone who we come into contact with here a better for having known us, but that heaven is our real home. To me, our angels and guides are beautiful souls who have evolved to or have always been in a higher place evolutionary than we are in our current human form. It must be said, though, that we are not humans having soulful experiences but souls having a human experience. So when we come to earth, every one of us is given some angels and guides who watch over us while we are on our journey here. Now, this part is important. They are not allowed to interfere unless it's a matter of life or death and it's not your time. That being said, they are over there watching over you and literally chomping at the bit to help you.
All you have to do is talk to them & ask for their help. It's truly their greatest joy to watch over you & help you. In this regard, we're more blessed than we know.
How can one first connect with the angels?
Thank you so much for this question! Nothing would be greater than everyone connecting regularly. We truly would all be creating a state of heaven on earth by starting with ourselves and raising our vibration and it's absolutely achievable. Happiness really is an inside job & this is definitely one of the best ways to manifest all things good in your life. What I will share with you is how I have been doing it for years & it bears repeating that the more you connect, the more peace, joy & happiness you will feel in your life, regardless of the trials and tribulations you're currently enduring. You will also become much more aware of how connected we all are and how caring for others is actually an important part of caring for yourself too. First, you must get into the right headspace. For example, I find the best times for messages are in those in-between times when you're just about to doze off or wake up. Another great way to connect is near resting animals or in nature, but any quiet space can do that. Water is a great conduit for energy, too, so water elements can be helpful as well, but if you have a hard time clearing your head, a walk on the beach with your feet in the saltwater or a bath in salt water and or lavender can also be helpful. I always start by asking Archangel Michael to bring in protection, Archangel Gabriel to bring in guidance and Archangel Rafael to bring in healing for all concerned and to help me remain an open and clear messenger/channel for any messages they wish to share through me from only the Highest & most benevolent beings and for the good of all concerned.
You must come from a state of unconditional love and no judgment. From this place, you are raising your vibration upwards & this makes it easier for them to communicate with you. They actually have to lower their vibration temporarily as well. I like to say I am the car; they are the driver. I am in-
credibly humble about this because I am well aware that it's not that I am particularly special, but rather that I am allowing myself to be that vehicle through which they can help guide me or those who they care about that I am doing a reading for, to help us along in our present incarnation. Anyone who wants to and comes from a pure heart can do what I am doing.
Like any other gift, we all have this gift to varying degrees and the Higher that we choose to vibrate while here on earth, the better we will be able to do this. From this place, you can then ask your question, thank them for having your back and be open to how they will provide you with an answer. Answers can come in many different ways. If you don’t initially receive the message, it may be because you are missing the signs. Ask for the answer to be presented to you in some specific way that you can interpret more easily, like a random song, number or some other sign that is meaningful to you. If you only knew how often they send us signs that we overlook; it's almost laughable. I say almost because if you only knew how much you are loved and watched over, it would bring you tears of joy.
To me, our angels and guides are beautiful souls who have evolved to or have always been in a higher place evolutionary than we are in our current human form.
Making healthier choices can be stressful for those who are just starting to get in shape; with a vast amount of information, it is often hard to know where to begin.
Patrick Dale, a fitness expert and personal trainer at FitnessVolt.com has compiled this beginner-friendly guide to get you started.
Nutrition
Diets are not one size fits all, so use these steps to create a diet that works for you.
- Determine your daily calorie requirements
Use a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator to find out how many calories it would take to maintain your current weight. These calculators can be
found online and use your height, weight, and activity levels to calculate how many calories you need to maintain and lose or gain weight.
- Create a calorie deficit
Take your maintenance number and subtract 500 calories from it. You should aim for this daily, and one of the best ways to monitor your calories is to track your food intake. This can be done using an app or manually writing it all down but remember to look at the portion sizes on packets and weigh your food carefully.
To help you lose more weight, you can also drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated and eat foods high in fiber to keep your digestive system healthy.
Patrick has this advice for beginners: “A lot of people focus on cardio for weight loss, but strength training is equally important. In fact, you’ll lose weight faster and more easily if you do both.
Beginners may be tempted to dive head-first into an intense workout plan, but that would be a mistake. Doing more exercise than you can comfortably handle is a good way to end up sore and even injured. Also, training too hard too soon could put you off exercise for good.”
Most beginners will start with a full-body plan that includes strength training three times a week on non-consecutive days with cardio in between. It’s important to give your muscles time to recover after training to prevent injury.
This workout on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is what Patrick recommends:
1. Goblet Squat, 3 sets
2. Chest Press Machine, 2 sets
3. Seated Rows, 2 sets
4. Lunge, 3 sets
5. Dumbbell Shoulder Press, 2 sets
6. Lat Pulldown, 2 sets
7. Triceps Pushdown, 2 sets
8. Dumbbell Biceps Curl, 2 sets
9. Cable Crunch, 3 sets
10. 45-degree Back Extension, 3 sets
Each of these requires between 12-20 reps with 60-90 seconds of recovery time between them.
A good weekly plan should look something like this:
Mon: Strength Training
Tues: Cardio
Wed: Strength Training
Thurs: Cardio
Fri: Strength Training
Sat: Cardio
Sun: Rest
For your cardio workouts, it’s best to maintain a steady pace for around 20 – 30 minutes. This can be done at the gym by using treadmills or stationary bikes or by just going for a walk around the neighborhood. The sweet spot is making sure you’re out of breath but still able to talk.
It’s also worth remembering NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) - an everyday exercise that will help to burn those calories. NEAT can include washing the dishes or playing with your kids; anything that gets you moving more will help you to lose weight and be healthier.
Alia Al-Haj strides down the half-kilometer boardwalk, a wagon full of power tools and PVC pipes in tow. Off to each side, a vast marsh stretches into the distance, the wet ground punctuated by tall sedges waving in the cool spring breeze. Al-Haj closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath of the salty, sulfury aroma.
“It’s really important to me being able to smell the marsh,” she says. “I know it may not always be there. That smell is something I think about a lot, how much I’ll miss it.”
For the past 35 years, scientists with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, including Al-Haj, have been coming here to the Global Change Research Wetland in coastal Maryland to conduct extensive long-term research. The scientists have turned the tidal marsh off the Chesapeake
Bay into a giant experimental laboratory designed to simulate how marshes might respond to climate conditions decades into the future.
Sea level rise also causes higher methane emissions because the more time a marsh spends underwater, the more time methane-producing microbes spend in low-oxygen conditions where they can consume soil carbon and emit methane.
Tidal salt marshes are coastal guardians. They filter runoff, protect the shore against storm surges, and shelter wildlife. On a grander scale, they are incredibly effective buffers against climate change. Tidal marshes sequester carbon at a rate 10 times higher than even mature tropical rainforests.
Land development has already stripped the world of half its salt marshes. Along the US East Coast there’s an ongoing push to restore these rare, service-rich ecosystems. But with sea level rise, severe storms, and warming temperatures, scientists are concerned salt marshes could wash away entirely. About 1,500 square kilometers has disappeared in just the past 20 years, according to new NASA research. Globally, that loss of carbon storage is equivalent to the annual emissions of 3.5 million vehicles.
Short of their outright disappearance, there’s a chance the marshes could unpredictably flip from carbon sinks to net carbon emitters, causing a measurable shift in the carbon balance of the world. That’s where Al-Haj’s experiment comes in.
At the end of the boardwalk, Al-Haj unloads the wagon. Here and at a nearby freshwater marsh she’s building “marsh organs”: a series of sedges planted in white PVC piping that she submerges in the marsh at different elevations in an attempt to simulate future scenarios of sea level rise. Sitting in
the marsh water, they look like very lost pipe organs. To simulate warming, the pipes have heating elements that maintain a constant temperature 6 °C above the ambient air. Nearby, other odd infrastructure covers the marsh, such as the octagonal plastic igloos pumped full of carbon dioxide to test the effects of elevated emissions.
In tidal marshes, sedges suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and preserve it underground in the form of dead root material. But when microbes decompose the material under low oxygen conditions, they can emit methane and other greenhouse gases. Exactly which gases get produced depends on a number of factors.
The funky, salty smell permeating the air is from hydrogen sulfide gas, Al-Haj explains. That the odorous gas is so prevalent is a good sign. It means that in the submerged sediment beneath the boardwalk, microbes that consume sulfate—a component of seawater—are outcompeting other microbes that produce methane.
“It’s like a schoolyard battle, or a war for resources,” Al-Haj says. “We don’t think about it, we can’t see it, but we can measure the amount of methane and carbon dioxide coming out, so we can get at the outcomes of those battles.”
For now, in this marsh, the sulfate-consumers are winning. But if the methane producers take over, the outcome of this microscopic battle has the potential to change the makeup of the atmosphere.
A few months after installing the marsh organs, Al-Haj’s results are in. Compared with the nearby freshwater marsh site, where methane-producing microbes have free rein, the experimental salt marsh is producing 50 times less methane.
That squares with similar research being done by Kevin Kroeger, a biogeochemist with the United States Geological Survey’s Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center in Massachusetts who was not involved in Al-Haj’s work. In experiments in tidal wetlands near Cape Cod, Kroeger found that tidal wetlands cut off from seawater freshen, resulting in more methane production.
Under Kroeger’s guidance, the National Park Service is currently converting dikes to bridges to let seawater back into former marshland at the Cape Cod National Seashore—a bid to undo this freshening, restore the wetlands, and prevent future methane emissions.
“We have solid evidence now that tidal restriction, building structures across the tidal landscape, drives changes in salinity,” Kroeger says, which ultimately contributes to carbon emissions.
There’s a limit, though, to how much we can avoid marshland methane emissions. As Al-Haj’s experiments have shown, higher soil temperatures mean more methane production across the board. Sea level rise also causes higher methane emissions because the more time a marsh
spends underwater, the more time methane-producing microbes spend in low-oxygen conditions where they can consume soil carbon and emit methane.
Al-Haj will continue her experiments over the winter to see how more frequent freeze-thaw cycles can affect emissions. So far, her data suggests that, at least over the next 20 years, salt marshes should remain carbon sinks. But as climate change progresses, they won’t be able to offset as much carbon as they do now.
Many other factors affect marsh methane emissions and threaten to throw off that prediction. For instance, nitrogen runoff and the presence of invasive grasses can upend the math. But at this point, Kroeger says, restoring former tidal marshes is the right move.
“The negative outcomes of not restoring these ecosystems can include total loss, and in specific locations, the emission of that old, stored carbon back into the atmosphere. If you’re asking whether there’s a potential carbon bomb scenario, that would be it,” he says.
Restoration efforts have to happen sooner rather than later, Kroeger says, to give marshes time to build up enough elevation to withstand sea level rise.
For her part, Al-Haj feels hopeful. “There’s a big movement to restore marshes right now, which is great,” she says.
“But we also know with sea levels rising, marshes need room to migrate landward, and in a lot of places, they don’t have that room. I’m expecting we will lose a good amount of marshes on the East Coast. With that, the outlook is a little more bleak.”
His work has appeared in National Geographic, Discover, Sierra, MIT Technology Review, and elsewhere. He is a graduate of the science journalism master’s program at Northwestern University’s Medill School in Chicago, Illinois.
“We have solid evidence now that tidal restriction, building structures across the tidal landscape, drives changes in salinity,” Kroeger says, which ultimately contributes to carbon emissions.
Known as the Common Sense Psychic (tm), has worked with tens of thousands of peoplein 25 countries. She is known for her practical and down to earth approach. She has been featured on, ABC, CBS and NBC TV, radio programs across the country, and has been published in over 70 print and online publications. She has four books, including Bouncing Back, Thriving in Changing Times, with Dr. Wayne Dyer. Her latest book The Energy of Abundance is available in bookstores now.
www.phyllisking.com
