The Eden Magazine July 2023

EDEN

Four-time NBA Champion

John SALLEY

Photo by Jess Bailey

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.

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PHYLLIS KING

SHERI DETERMAN

ZEE

JOE SANTOS, JR.

ISABELLE RUEN GREG DOHERTY

ARTIN MARDIROSIAN

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GRETA PAZZAGLIA

SHERRI CORTLAND

DINA MORRONE

BEN ROLLINS

PHILIP SMITH

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BRAD WALLACE

Polly Wirum Susie Schroadter

EDEN

Since 2010

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

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COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHYLLIS KING

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

ZEE

POLLY WIRUM

JOE SANTOS, JR. SHERRI CORTLAND SUSIE SCHROADTER

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EDWARD HAKOPIAN

LISA JOY WALTON

GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY

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ISABELLE RUEN

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8 AKIN TO ANCIENTS by Edward Tick

14 JOHN SALLEY

An interview by Dina Morrone

30

THE 4 PARTS OF MIND by Isha Foundation

36

SAVING FORESTS, DROUGHT RELIEF BY SLOWING WATER WHILE STORING MORE CARBON by Dr. Rob Moir

40 ISLA ANIMALS RESCUE

44

THANE LAWRIE

An interview by Phyllis King

48

LIVING LIFE WITHOUT REGRETS; DBT SKILLS FOR A DAMP LIFESTYLE by Laura Petracek Ph.D., LCSW

55 FAST SPIRITUALITY by Nina Verkoeyes

60

CONSCIOUSNESS DOES MATTER by Peter Canova

66

FINDING INNER PEACE THROUGH HEALING CARDS by Susie Schroadter

70 AM I BEING KIND by Phyllis King

Life is Essential, Feel it

WHERE ARE WE NOW by Zee 80 LEARNING TO HONOR THE SPACE OF YOUR LIFE by Polly Wirum 84

THE FIRST BIG TRUTH I LEARNED ON MY JOURNEY by Sherri Cortland 88 IN THE STILL by

92

CAN YOU INHERIT THE FATE OF YOUR ANCESTORS? by Anuradha Dayal Gulati 96

EXPERT REVEALS SIMPLE TRICK TO BOOST MEMORY AHEAD OF EXAM SEASON-AND IT'S SURPRISNLY EASY TO DO by interaction designing

100 THE FUTURE OF WATER by Tara Lohan Covering Climate Now

Joe Santos Jr.

Akin to

Ancients

By Edward Tick

Most schools of modern psychotherapy seek to ease our suffering and struggles by reducing our troubling symptoms to restore us to conventional functioning. Our psychological system is based on the scientific medical model that diagnoses and treats nonnormative functioning as pathological, seeks to relieve discomfort and suffering, and restores us to everyday lives and activities. Our practitioners eradicate nightmares and anxieties so their afflicted patient can get some rest and go to work in the morning. We do not tend the dream or interpret the symptoms to find their import and messages. Communities certainly do not, as in some traditional cultures, share dreams upon first awakening and ask what messages for the day they offer.

In contrast to mainstream approaches, Jungian, archetypal, and transpersonal schools pass beyond the personal to reconnect us to invisible, psycho-spiritual, and collective realms—not intellectually, but through living experience. Carl Jung declared that his psychotherapeutic approach was fundamentally experiential; its purpose was not to cure neurosis but to lead the patient to an experience of the numinous. He wrote, “Everything about this psychology is, in the deepest sense, experience; the entire theory . . . is the direct outcome of something experienced.” He stressed that we must “experience a dream and its interpretation,” not receive a tepid rehash. “Analysis should release an experience that grips us or falls on us from above, an experience that has substance and body such as those things which occurred to the ancients.” Joseph Campbell and James Hillman also affirmed this goal.

Photo by J.J Jordan

Campbell taught that we must dredge up what has been “forgotten not only by ourselves but by our entire civilization . . . through the direct experience and assimilation” of the archetypes.” Hillman declared that we must “submerge . . . again into nature for this is what [w]e have lost—the archaic, instinctual response. And this response of nature appears as the archetypal image . . . ”

This is not new. It is an update in modern psychological terms of what the ancients knew from direct experience. Of countless testimonies from the classical world, Euripides declared: “If you had been there yourself and seen all this, you would have fallen to your knees and mumbled every prayer you know to the very god you now despise.”

The rupture between Freud and Jung can be understood in this fundamental difference. Freud denied the collective or transpersonal dimensions and thought the unconscious was solely the repository of infantile, repressed, and instinctual material. In fact, Freud confessed that he never experienced that energy, influx, broadening we refer to as the nonrational, or bonding to the universe. Though others claim such experience as mystical and the source of religion, he attributed the feeling to remnants of early infantile bonding to the mother and testified, “I cannot discover this ‘oceanic’ feeling in myself.” Standing in rationality that cannot perceive or understand mysteries and declaring they do not exist because we have not experienced or measured them is a denial of the irrational, the personal and collective unconscious, and the transpersonal as it visits human beings. “We do not know what we do not know.” We need experience.

“An experience . . . such as those things which occurred to the ancients.” What can this mean? How to access it today? Is years-long analytic psychotherapy the only way?

In contrast to Freud, Jung affirmed the collective and transpersonal as our deeper structure and foundation. He and his followers strove to engender through the long, slow practice of depth psychotherapy transformational experiences that the ancient world evoked in great numbers in a great many people for millennia. We are fascinated by the mythological world. We devour its stories and seek to squeeze its lessons and wisdom. But is it possible to so immerse in the stories, peoples, places, poems, plays, teachings, and practices of the ancient world that we indeed achieve experiences akin to the ancients?

Plato taught that reason is our best human tool for discerning truth; the only thing better is divine inspiration. Buddhism teaches the same lesson—carefully examining and evaluating our spiritual insights with reason. Revelation supported and examined by reason is not the same as revelation inhibited, disqualified, or erased by rationality. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The ancients were wont to express themselves, not with intellect alone, but with intellect inebriated by nectar,” the quaff of the gods. We work toward restoring the balance between the rational and nonrational rather than suppressing either sphere through domination by the other.

In our modern world, dreams seem to be almost the only remaining natural vehicle for contacting invisible dimensions. The Greek, Hebraic, and other ancient traditions affirmed the revelatory dimensions of dreams. In addition, they taught that we learn and know ourselves,

This is not new. It is an update in modern psychological terms of what the ancients knew from direct experience.

our destinies, and our connection to the divine through visions, oracles, and mysterious, synchronistic events. Divination was “the peacemaker between men and gods.”

Oracles led us to our destinies or downfalls; nobles and common folk from all over the known world traveled great distances and endured hardships to receive them. Poetry and the arts were divinely inspired; poets were “makers” channeling songs and stories from the Muses. Each art form was overseen by a demigoddess. Dreams and visions were had through numerous mystery practices under the divine beings Dionysos, Asklepios, Orpheus, and others. Every river, flower, tree, or mountain had its deity that might bless, guide, seduce, trick, or foil humans who encountered them. In short, the natural and invisible worlds were utterly alive, coexistent, and infused with spirits. In the Greek world, reason, objective and analytic thought and logic, and self-awareness of the individual and our souls were new to consciousness and greatly exciting.

Ancient Greece thus existed on a unique cusp when humanity stood poised between the invisible world of cosmic and natural powers, deities, or archetypes—everything we mean by the irrational, inscrutable, transpersonal, invisible—and the awakening human consciousness that would eventually reduce them to products of imagination and objects of analysis, dissection, and manipulation. “There was yet no division between the scientific and the imaginative mind.” For a brief time, many were “pregnant in the soul,” to use Plato’s words, and asked, “what is proper for the soul to conceive and bear?” Revelatory experience of divinity was available as direct experience shaping the lives of individuals and soci-

eties. Myths, stories, images, and oracles of this tradition were not merely prescientific explanations for things we did not understand, as modern thought likes to claim. They were disguised, symbolized, or mythologized records of living experiences that informed, energized, guided, healed, blessed, and cursed people for millennia. They were a cosmic psychology implicit in exciting and engaging divine stories.

Ancient Greece, in its fullness, stood poised between the spiritual or cosmic core, the soul, the human core, and the material and corporeal emanations. Sokrate (Socrates) warned us not to mistake the body for the person. Demokritos called the body the soul’s ragged tent. Epictetus said we are each a soul dragging a corpse. The Greeks affirmed, in the same breath, the same songs, what is eternal and what is gone in a moment.

For this epoch in pre-classical and classic times, almost unique in human history, civilization rose like the Colossus of Rhodes. Astride from the ocean of the unconscious, humanity stood with one foot rooted in the irrational and invisible and the other in the rational and corporeal. The Greeks loved both and separated neither. Together they create mythistorema, the mythic history that is our lives. Lacking either, we are incomplete.

Today we are indeed incomplete. We have lost one leg of the invisible and immaterial, and we have overdeveloped the other. “The soul that animated matter was discarded . . .” We hunger for the restoration of the imaginal realms. And we hunger for the experience of meaning, belonging, and being part of a larger story that it provides. We cannot stand forever on one leg. Restore the missing to stand in balance—or collapse.

Edward Tick, Ph.D., is a transformational psychotherapist, international pilgrimage guide, educator, author, and poet. A specialist in archetypal psychotherapy and the healing of violent trauma, he is the author of four nonfiction books, including The Practice of Dream Healing and War and the Soul. He lives in central Massachusetts.

SJohn alley

By Dina Morrone

Four-time NBA Champion, John Salley, is the first player in NBA history to win championships in three franchises. He is also an actor, TV host, wellness entrepreneur, and vegan activist.

In 2015, he encouraged US First Lady Michelle Obama to go vegan "for the planet."

When did you first realize that playing basketball would be your life's path?

When I was 12, I told myself, "I'm going to be a professional basketball player." You wouldn't have picked me out of a group of kids to be the one who became a professional player. But I told myself, "This is it." I worked hard. I'm not saying I worked harder than anybody else, but I worked in ways that I know those around me didn't, and I knew if I kept that up, there was no way for me not to become a pro.

But the initial seed of choosing that path actually happened much earlier. When I was six, I went to my friend Eric's house. His dad was sitting there eating dinner and watching a basketball game on TV. I remember him saying, "NBA basketball players got all the cool threads. They drive the best cars and have all the prettiest women." Those words stayed with me and stuck in my brain.

Another thing that convinced me I had to play basketball was an episode that occurred while playing football with my brother. My brother was a quarterback. It was very cold outside, and we played in the snow. This guy and I caught the ball at the same time on a button hook. I turned around, and this guy slapped me. I didn't drop the ball. Everyone asked if I was all right. I got up, took my helmet off, and started walking towards my house. My brother said, "We don't quit! You don't quit!" But I said, "I'm out of here."

Shortly after that episode, we were at the community center at my elementary school. It

was nighttime, and the basketball courts were packed. . It was nice and warm inside. I liked that it wasn't cold like when we played football outside. The roof was closed and it was condensed. I liked the vibe a lot, and it was so much better than being outside in the cold.

Around that same time, my cousin Russell Carter, whose mom had passed away, came to live with us so he could use our address and go to my high school. He and I were always making so much noise in the apartment. We drove her crazy. My mother would say, "Get out. Go outside and play." Russell and I would take the basketball and go to the court outside. There was one light in the park where you could barely see if the ball was going in. We would play and play, and people would yell from their apartment windows, "Go home, go to bed, stop dribbling that ball." But Russell and I didn't stop.

While other kids were watching sitcoms or playing games, I was always thinking of a way to play basketball, even in my bedroom. We would put the garbage pail and played with a Nerf ball. The room was small. There was a bump badge over here, a dresser over there, and so many things we could destroy, but the good thing about it is we learned to play in a confined space.

I took my basketball with me everywhere I went. Now kids carry a nap sack. But back when I was a kid, mine was more like a duffle bag. I swung it over my shoulder. One side held my books. The other side had my basketball.

At what point did it become a reality that you were on your way?

At 16, I played for this team in the Bronx called "The Gauchos". This was an important part of my life because they built this $2 million basketball court in the South Bronx. College coaches would go there to watch players instead of going to the high schools. So, I would leave Brooklyn to go up to the Bronx to play in a game with guys on my team, and I didn't even know their names or my coaches' names.

I knew I had to be there at five o'clock for game time. I would get out of school, and it would take two hours to get up there. I would play for 10 minutes after being on the train for two hours. It was a different atmosphere to watch other people playing. I was learning so much. When I would get back on the train to go back home to Brooklyn, I would have my books on my lap, and I'd be dribbling my basketball between my legs, dribbling with my left hand. And I didn't care if I was sleepy because I had a basketball as my pillow.

I told myself, "When I become one with this ball, no one is going to stop me." That's why I didn't like anybody else touching my basketball. And I believe that is why I became who I am.

When did you switch to a Vegan diet, and why do you feel it was important to do so?

I decided to go Vegan in 1991. My coach, at the time told me I had high cholesterol. I was one of the three youngest guys on the team, and I had cholesterol higher

than the oldest guys on the squad. They told me the big lie that it's hereditary, that my dad probably had high cholesterol, which goes along with high blood pressure, and that being Black, it was more common. All of it is a big lie.

I told myself there had to be another way. I'd heard about this lady, Dr. Jewel Pookrum. She is in Atlanta, GA now - @ DrJewelPookrum. But at the time, her health center was in this old Victorian mansion in Woodward, Detroit. She visited me and told me I was full of sugar, honey-iced tea. After that, I had my first colonic. I went from 235 lbs. to 219 lbs. My energy level was so high I was jumping out of the gym. My sex drive was through the roof. And my cholesterol went way down. I turned to a Macrobiotic diet, and she started me on herbs. She came to my house to talk to my chef and told the chef she couldn't feed me the way she was feeding me. My chef said, "Well, that's how I learned to cook."

I had to let my chef go because it was more important for my life to be healthy than how she learned to cook.

Before going Vegan, for about 15 years, I was what I would call a lying to myself vegetarian. By lying, I mean I would eat Turkey on Thanksgiving and special occasions. I would eat shrimp and lobster and tell myself I could be a pescatarian. You keep coming up with all these different ways to defend that you're not being true to yourself. At the age of 40, I decided to stop lying to myself. Finally, at 42, I stopped lying about food and lying to myself when I became a very focused vegan. And I have been focused on Veganism now for 16 years.

Photo courtesy by Getty Image

I told myself, "When I become one with this ball, no one is going to stop me." That's why I didn't like anybody else touching my basketball. And I believe that is why I became who I am.

Tell me about your new Vegan Chicken Patty? I have a new Chicken Patty coming out soon and it’s not soy based. It's like a Burger Patty, but you can do so much with it. I'm planning on releasing it on TikTok Live. My goal is to do a whole line of plant-based products. I will start with the chicken patty and then tell them about the ribs. And remind them that no animal had to die to enjoy the delicious flavors in the food. Imagine you can be on your farm with your cattle, and they can watch you eat something that looks and smells like dead stuff, but it's not dead.

Then I'll move into lotions, potions, and pills. I want to build my audience of health and wellness, knowing I'm not for sale. If something is really good, I will tell you. If I like it, you get it from me, honestly. You're not going to have to worry. I will never say it because I am getting paid. I don't ever want to do that.

We've come a long way with Veganism and eating plant-based. But what about people who don't have the means to eat a plant-based diet?

Everyone can afford it. Let me tell you why. They call veganism poor food. If you're talking about processed Vegan, yes, that's expensive. Cooking vegetables or fruit or eating a hot meal will make it a vegan meal without an animal. Everybody has been doing that for years all over the world. Now, if you can't access vegetables or fruit, that's famine. But, if you can get access, then you can be a vegetarian, and that's not expensive. There's no excuse for it. It's affordable to be Vegan.

What do you do daily to stay focused and achieve peace of mind?

I learned that a positive focus doesn't mean you don't think of negative things. The first thing I do, when I wake up in the morning is have half a teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt. I have this dispensary of spring water that's connected to my house. I put the salt in about 32 ounces of water and shake it until the salt melts. And then I sip it slowly while taking breaks in between. It's about 32 ounces of water. I've been doing it now for nearly ten years. It has flattened my belly and helped my prostrate too. As I started adding that to my water, my kidneys were able to absorb all the minerals better.

I have discovered that we are all mineral deficient. So, I started doing more and more minerals, eating more fruits and vegetables, stretching, and breathing. That's the main thing. I like to practice what I preach, which is a big thing in staying focused. Practice what you preach.

Are there any lessons you learned as a young man growing up in Brooklyn that stayed with you and served you well in life?

This is the crazy thing. I was pretty good in school. In high school, we had to take this test, and depending on how you did, they separated the students who did better on the test from those who scored low. So, suddenly, I was in a different class than all my friends because I did well on the test. I learned that I was being taught differently because I was smarter. Many of my friends who tested low were given no language skills, no advanced science, and none of what I got. I realize now that I'm older, if they considered them below average, they kept them there. They didn't say, hey, let's push these kids. They'd say this kid didn't do well on reading comprehension, so he will stay here.

Because of my grades, I was in classes with white people, supposedly the smarter students. This all felt so wrong to me. Firstly, I was raised in a place that told me I had to be ten times better than my white counterpart because that's what we were always told growing up. But suddenly, I found myself in a class with them and ready to compete. And so, the fear and the whole thing that we have to believe individually, I learned there that it is the right thing to do. People get stupid when they're in a mob with a mob mentality. That experience taught me to deal with people individually, and I used it as a learning lesson throughout my life.

How did each of your four NBA championships make you feel emotionally and professionally, and what was different about each of your wins?

I felt accomplished and satisfied. And then I felt hungry for another one. It's a crazy high when you win your first. Imagine this… for your first win, it's like you go into a cave, a Golden Temple, and you have to deal with all these elements to get there. But once you get there, you know how to get in and out of the Golden Temple. And it's not easy the second time, but you know what it takes each step of the way because you've been there.

When it's your first win, you don't understand the media. You don't know that you shouldn't watch the news or read the newspaper. You don't realize they're going to say so much about you because that's what they're paid to do, but when you win everything, the things they said that were wrong, no one calls them out on it.

You realize it makes no difference if they cheer or boo you. It only makes a difference to you if you win or lose. Once you know that, you realize all the rest doesn't matter. It's just about the guys in the row, your teammates bringing in a high level of competition every time they play, and they're on the court. So, when you have a team that does that, you're a two-time champion, and then, of course, three becomes extra hard because everyone is trying to compete and win.

What was the difference between each win?

The year before winning my first championship, we had lost in seven games to the Lakers. When we were on the plane on the way back home, we talked about how the next year, we had to win all of our home games and half of our road games. Imagine that. I'm looking at this guy and thinking, what is he telling me? You've got 41 home games and 41 away games. And he was saying, "Hey, we've got to win 62 games to have home-court advantage for us to get this right." We went 63.

How do you get the strength and emotional fortitude to get up and go each time?

That's the heart of a champion or a winner. I will say that I may not be a champion, but that doesn't mean I'm not a winner.

Phil Jackson would bring this guy in, George, a mindfulness teacher. This was the first time I saw somebody focus on being mindful. Phil also allowed us to have yoga on Wednesdays. Sometimes some of the guys wanted to leave because they didn't understand it. But it was necessary. We only had one injury that whole year, and that was Kobe when he twisted his ankle in the finals, and that didn't last long or hold him up.

The mind is a massive part of winning championships. Most people think it is the body – if I keep working out, I'll be okay. But you won't be a champion if you don't have the mental side. That's how I look at it. You will hear that with Olympic athletes when you listen to their stories.

Where would you like to travel to and why?

I would like to visit Tanzania, Alexandria, Gibraltar, Sicily, and Capri.

Animals' Advocate

"Vegan eating is not just a slam dunk for human health; it's also the most effective way to combat climate change."

~ John Salley

What has been the most rewarding thing about being a father?

That my children were born healthy, I know people whose children weren't born healthy. I read their stories. I can't imagine trying to work with a special needs child 24/7. Sometimes it becomes challenging for them to do even some of the simple things in life. And I really feel for them. I'm happy all my children were born healthy - they can run, jump, play with other kids, swim, and be in the sun.

You have a new food venture in Los Angeles. Please tell me about it.

I am involved with Mother Plucker, a new Vegan wing stop located at 345 North La Brea in Los Angeles. It is charity owned, and by that, I mean the proceeds go to Dream Center, which helps homeless people, those who need help getting off drugs, and so much more.

We serve breakfast, chicken and waffles, boneless wings, tenders, and a chicken sandwich patty. And it's all vegan. My focus is making sure that my congregation is fed. If you're not yet vegan, this is the church that will convert you. Trust me.

What would you like to say to young men in their teens dreaming of becoming a professional athlete?

In the NBA one out of every one million Americans is a professional basketball player. You have to realize one million people are vying for your job. You're one in a million, and you should value that. In their brain, they should be saying, "I'm the one." If you don't say it, you won't be it.

My older brothers were great athletes, but they didn't realize their struggles. Their obstacles

were my stepping stones to becoming who I became. I saw the mistakes they made, and I went the other way. Everything they did that didn't work; I didn't try to do the same thing they did and try to make it work for me. It didn't work for them, so I went in another direction. They played football, I played basketball, and my brother Jerry played hockey. They told Jerry, "You should just go into football. There are no Black guys in the NHL." He said, "But I could be the first." And they said, "Man, you know how hard it is. You got those guys coming from Russia and Canada. It's already tough." It's terrible listening to other people project their negative thoughts onto you. And yet, most people don't know that the way Hockey in the NHL is played today was developed by enslaved Black people in Canada. When I went to play for the Toronto Raptors, I learned about this fascinating story that most people don't know and which is a part of Canadian History.

Is there someone (can be more than one) who changed your life for the better and that you’d like to acknowledge?

Coach Ted Gustus and Coach Barney Davis. Unfortunately, Bonnie Davis passed away in February. These two coaches spent a lot of individual time helping me become the best I could be. There was also a man named Arnie Hershkowitz. He also passed away. He would come around to the park daily with a few other guys and watch us play. Then one day, Arnie said, "We watch you in the park every day doing things that none of these kids are doing. And you're out here every day!" And then, he asked me if I wanted to get better, work with him, and have him help me learn the fundamentals. I said yes.

Finally, at 42, I stopped lying about food and lying to myself when I became a very focused vegan. And I have been focused on veganism now for 16 years.

I paid a lot of attention to the kids playing around me, always trying to be somebody else. But I was always working hard at being the first John Salley. I never wanted to be anyone else.

Other people who influenced me are my mother, father, brother Ron, and brother Jerry. Those people had the major focus. We lived in the projects called Bay View Houses in Brooklyn, New York. It's right on the Belt Parkway and in the jet stream of JFK Airport, so you would hear a plane land every three minutes. The television and radio were up loud because we were in the jetway. One time my mother came upstairs to my room and asked, "What are you doing up here?" I said, "Oh, this is my penthouse." She said, "Oh, this whole thing?" I said, "Yes. Right here is my room because I want to see the ocean. Over here, I have my kitchen looking this way, and this is west, and this over here is east as the sun lands here." Then she looked around and said, "Oh, Johnny, you can see Coney Island on a clear day from here." I said, "Well if you look this way, you can see Beverly Hills." She said, "You mean Manhattan?" I said, "No, Beverly Hills is past Manhattan."

In 1997, I moved into my mansion in Beverly Hills. I had these 33-foot ceilings; you can see the whole valley through my windows. My mother visited, and I said, "It's a great view, isn't it." She said, "I can't believe you made it." She remembered me having that conversation with her when I

was a kid. Imagine that my mom remembered me having that conversation with her.

I just put it into the system. That's why I like The Matrix. Once I put it into my brain, I was going to do it, and then it worked its way until it was done. Do you ever pinch yourself?

Yes. I pinch myself, and I say, "This is a great one."

You've been very busy working as an actor over the years. What are you working on now?

I just finished Bad Boys 4. I did the first Bad Boys thirty years ago! That was my first acting role in a feature film.

Is there a fond memory you'd like to share about Kobe Bryant?

I love him. We were at the Staples Center, and we were sitting there. He pointed to Vanessa. I said, "She's cute." He said, "Yes, she will be my wife. I will have my kids with her. That's it right there, not just my girlfriend, she will be my wife. I'm going to have children with her." He was just 20 years old at the time.

One last thought?

It’s the distractions in life that stop people. If the distraction can stop you, then it's doing its job. Remember, everything is as it should be.

Special Thanks to:

John Salley JSquared Photography

@j2pix

Getty Image

The mind is a massive part of winning championships. Most people think it is the body – if I keep working out, I'll be okay. But you won't be a champion if you don't have the mental side.

PartsThe4 of Mindthe

Sadhguru: In the Yogic understanding, there are 16 dimensions to the human mind. These 16 dimensions fall into four categories. These four categories are known as buddhi, manas, ahankara, and chitta. Buddhi is the intellect – the logical dimension of thought. Unfortunately, the modern education systems and modern sciences have largely limited themselves to buddhi. That is a buddhu (foolish) way of existence.

The Limitation of the Intellect Buddhi, or the intellect, cannot function without a certain bank of memory or data. Depending on the data you have, the intellect plays around. Suppose in your memory system, there are 10 gigabytes of memory. Depending on how sharp your buddhi is, one person can produce, let ’ 's us say, a trillion thoughts with these 10 gigabytes. Someone else can produce 10 trillion thoughts with the same 10 gigabytes of memory.

If you can think a little better than someone else, it is considered intelligence today. If someone says one thing and you can say ten things to that, you may be socially smart, but you are not any more intelligent. Unfortunately, in today’s systems of education and academics, everything is determined by this. If you can make more things out of it, you are considered intelligent, which is not true – you only have a sharper buddhi. The buddhi will not take you beyond limits in any way because it can only function based on the data that is already there. It is not capable of accessing anything beyond that.

The Memory of Your Forefathers

The next dimension is called manas. Manas is a complex amalgam of memory and has many layers to it. Manas is not just the brain – it is right across the body. Every cell in the body has a phenomenal memory – not just of this life but of millions of years. Your body clearly remem-

bers how your forefathers were a million years ago. Top to bottom, there is manas – this is called manomaya kosha.

What you call as your body and your mind are a certain accumulation of memory. It is because of memory –or you can call it information – that your body has taken the particular shape that it has. For example, if a man eats a piece of bread, the bread becomes a man. If a woman eats it, it becomes a woman. If a dog eats the same bread, it becomes a dog. That’s a smart piece of bread! No, it is not the bread but the kind of memory that one’s system carries that transforms bread into a man, woman, or dog.

Your very existence is an accumulation of memory. If we take away all the memory, you will cease to exist. This is what people mean when they talk about karma nashana – if you destroy all memory, the very being ceases to exist. That is a state of mukti because you are free from existence – you don’t have to exist anymore because your very existence is memory.

There is memory and intelligence in every cell in the body, but no intellect. Intellect is only in the brain. In the English language, everything comes under one banner called “mind.” The idea that intelligence is only in the brain has produced human beings whose consciousness is seriously constipated. What is in the brain is intellect, not intelligence. Intelligence and memory are right across your body. But people have never been trained on how to use this intelligence. Instead, they use their intellect for everything. No wonder they are stressed out whatever job you give them. The whole weight is on only one dimension of the mind out of sixteen. It is like loading a sixteen-wheeler truck and trying to drive on only one wheel –you can imagine the stress! That is what today’s world is going through.

Your very existence is an accumulation of memory. If we take away all the memory, you will cease to exist. This is what people mean when they talk about karma nashana –if you destroy all memory, the very being ceases to exist. That is a state of mukti because you are free from existence – you don’t have to exist anymore because your very existence is memory.

People may be using other dimensions of the mind marginally or unconsciously, but they are not trained to use them. They have only been trained to use their buddhi, or their intellect. They are very smart. They know everything about everything, but they do not know how to figure out their own life. They do not even know how to sit here peacefully and at total ease within themselves. If there is true intelligence, the first thing that you need to figure out is how to make life happen. You know how to make the world happen, but you do not know how to make your life happen. You do not know how to conduct your mind, your energies, your emotions or your body.

If you ask people to become fit, they become tight. If you ask them to live in a more natural way, they become fat. Where is intelligence? There is only intellect. Intellect looks good only in comparison. Suppose you are the only person on the planet; your intellect will not mean anything. Only because there are a few idiots around you, you shine. By itself,

intellect will not be of any consequence.

The Sense of Identity

The intellect directly connects with the third 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. It is important to function beyond the intellect because the intellect is seriously enslaved to your identity.

Our identities, such as belonging to a certain nation, community, or whatever else, are necessary for our survival in a particular society. But you cannot think beyond this because you are functioning only from your intellect, and the intellect takes its sustenance from ahankara. Only along the axis of ahankara the intellect can function. The intellect cannot transcend this because that is its nature. But there are other ways to know life beyond the identities we have taken on for our survival in the world.

The Cosmic Intelligence

The fourth category of the mind is called chitta. Chitta is a mind without memory – pure intelligence. This intelligence is like cosmic intelligence – simply there. Everything happens because of that. It does not function out of memory – it simply functions. In a way, what you call the cosmos is a living mind. By “mind”, I do not mean mind in the sense of intellect. Chitta is the last point of the mind. It connects to the basis of creation within you. It connects you with your consciousness.

Chitta is always on – whether you are awake or asleep. Your intellect comes on and goes off. Many times it fails, even when you are awake. If Chitta or the intelligence within you was not always on, you could not stay alive. Try to conduct your breath with your intellect – you will go crazy. Chitta is keeping you alive, keeping you going, and making life happen. If you touch this dimension of your mind, which is the linking point to one’s consciousness, you do not even have to wish for anything; you do not have to dream of anything – the best possible thing that can happen to you will anyway happen.

The Divine Enslaved

When people touch this dimension of the mind, it is called ishwara pranidhana in Yoga. This means God becomes your slave

– he works for you. You know, yogis say, “Shiva is my servant. He does everything for me.” In a way, otherwise, I would not be here. Once you know how to consciously access your chitta, everything that is needed will simply happen in the best possible way. If you go by your intellect or your buddhi, today you think “this is it,” tomorrow morning you think “That is it” – like this, it goes on endlessly.

But if you touch that dimension of intelligence that we call chitta, you can live in this entire edifice built of past memory, but you can be free of it, untouched by it. You can remain in such a way that this memory, which gives you a certain physical and psychological structure, has no influence on you.

Once you know how to consciously keep your chitta on, once the Divine is your servant when someone really efficient is working for you, you do not have to do anything. Simply sit; the best things will happen –things that you could not imagine. People always think if their dreams come true, their life will be great. I think that is a very poor life because you cannot dream about anything that is not at all in your experience. My wish and my blessing for you are things that you could not dream of, things that you never thought possible, must happen to you.

If you want human beings to have a phenomenal experience within but without causing damage to themselves, you have to turn them inward.

,,

If these aspects of life do not come into the experience of individual human beings, they will naturally seek other means for excitement. If people are not offered a way to engineer themselves the way they want to be – joyful and blissful – drink and drugs will become the biggest phenomena on the planet.

It is already becoming so. It has already become prevalent in the West, and it is becoming very big in urban India too. In another seventy to eighty years’ time, if we do not sweep the world with a logically correct, scientifically verifiable spiritual process, I would say 90% of human beings will be on drink and drug–chemical solutions to keep themselves pleasant.

Larger Slice of Life

This will happen because every human being is trying to have a larger slice of life. Whether someone goes to the temple or the bar, whether someone gets doped out or meditates, they are essentially looking for a larger slice of life. The question is only about what is sustainable. If you want human beings to have a phenomenal experience within but without causing damage to themselves, you have to turn them inward.

Turning inward can mean many things. One simple way of understanding it is that you touch chitta – that dimension of intelligence that is the very basis of your making. There is no such thing as your chitta and my chit-

ta. It is just there. The question is whether you, as an individual, have access to it. This is not yours or mine. This is cosmic intelligence – the source of creation.

Chitta is beyond ahankara, beyond buddhi, beyond judgment, beyond divisions – simply there, just like the intelligence of existence that makes everything happen. If you access this, you do not have to worry about what happens or what does not happen. It will happen in a way that you never imagined possible.

Once you have access to your chitta, it is also a multi-pointed telescope. It makes you see things that no one else can see – in every direction. It is your crystal ball. It is a magnifying glass that brings the very core of life close to you. For everyone else, it is far away. Everyone thinks the Divine is somewhere up there. Where exactly? No one knows. All they know is it seems far away.

The moment you start looking at life through your chitta, where there is no memory, no karmic substance, and no division, suddenly, the Divine is right there, bang on, in your face all the time. You cannot miss it. The Divine works for you from now on. You don’t have to wish for what you want in life. Everything that is needed will simply happen in the best possible way. Your life is in the hands of an intelligence beyond you.

Photo by Nathan Anderson

Saving Forests, Drought Relief by Slowing Water While Storing More Carbon

By Dr. Rob Moir

The forests of the U.S. Northeast are in peril. Global warming has raised temperatures, improving conditions for insects such as the emerald ash borer, to ravage trees already stressed due to drought and scorching summers.

Massachusetts forests experienced 97 wildfires across the state during the summer of 2022. Keeping pace with destruction by fire is the clear-cutting of forests for timber and primarily for development. Exposing forest soils releases carbon dioxide into the air, equivalent to carbon emissions from burning.

American forests are losing an abundance of carbon. Twelve percent of the carbon loss is from fire, drought, wind, and pests, 3% is from forest conversion, and 85% is from cutting forests. Growing existing forests to their biological carbon storage potential optimize carbon dioxide removal.

Researchers in Massachusetts recently established that an 80-yearold stand of trees is drawing more carbon out of the air and storing much more than twice the carbon of a 40-year-old forest. The most significant 1% of the trees were about 30% of the biomass. Every tree with a diameter at a breast height of 40 inches or more added an annual 4 to 8 inches of biomass. The researchers found that Eastern white pines over 150 years of age accumulated 75% of their total carbon after the first 50 years. Cutting to open the forest up for more sunlight is no longer recommended.

There is more. Organic soil carbon is half or more carbon extruded from the roots of intact forests. The rest is in standing and fallen trees that add soil carbon. Older forests bind soil organic matter more tightly than younger forests. Organic carbon in the earth goes through a chemical process to become humus, which stores carbon for thousands of years.

There is more. Organic soil carbon is half or more carbon extruded from the roots of intact forests. The rest is in standing and fallen trees that add soil carbon.

Long-term carbon sequestration is compared to short-term in biomass that lasts only hundreds of years.

With its 3.1 million acres of forests, Massachusetts has an opportunity to do much more to slow climate change while improving our quality of life with healthier forests. The state owns only about 10% of the woods. That is 311,000 acres of forested lands, reserves, parklands, and woodlands. Yet, it is here that most of the finest old-growth stands of trees survive because they are places, often with steep ravines, least accessible to loggers and developers.

For state forests, the Forest Cutting Practices Act requires the rehabilitation, maintenance, and protection of forestlands to conserve water, prevent floods and soil erosion, improve conditions for wildlife and recreation, and ensure income from timbering a continuous supply of wood.

The Let Forests Grow Carbon Offset Fund could pay

the timbering income so state forests are no longer cut and would reimburse woodlot owners who have registered a ten-year forestry management plan not to harvest. The state matches private donations to the fund. Businesses and individuals could buy carbon offset credits while supporting local foresters, increasing carbon drawn from the atmosphere, enhancing carbon storage, and increasing water retention in local landscapes while improving forest health across the state.

Massachusetts is the eighth most forested state in the nation. With our relatively small size and high population, we live in marvelous forested landscapes that define an aesthetic of life in Massachusetts.

The Let Forests Grow Carbon Offset Fund changes the conversations from confrontations and prohibitions to collaborations and mutual benefits. Together, we can move Massachusetts forward in the rankings of the most forested state, greener with more wildlife and cooling shade for all.

Dr. Rob Moir is a nationally-recognized and award-winning environmentalist. He is president & executive director of Cambridge, MA-based Ocean River Institute, a nonprofit providing expertise, services, resources, and information unavailable on a localized level to support the efforts of environmental organizations. Please visit www.oceanriver.org for more information.

Photo by By ustasAdobeStock

Animals Isla Rescue

This is the story of a situation that had to change. If animals could talk, the animals of Mexico would be screaming. They are starved, plagued with parasites and illness. They are neglected and unwanted, and powerless to help themselves. "There are things I could tell you." Says Alison Sawyer. "But I don't want to break your heart. I'm asking for your support to continue to do something to stop this cycle of suffering."

Alison Sawyer moved to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, in 1999 for the landscape, weather, and culture and to continue her career as a potter. Unfortunately, the scenery she so admired was tainted by the sad existence of the starving, wounded, and neglected dogs and cats on the island and the mainland nearby. She began by helping other concerned foreigners protect and rescue dogs and puppies. "The islanders were not to blame," explained Sawyer. "There was no vet on the island and therefore no way to spay and neuter the animals or buy the supplies needed to keep their dogs healthy."

After years of unchecked breeding, there were dogs and cats everywhere. I started by taking in puppies," said Sawyer. "The Islander's dogs would have puppies who

would be entertaining until the mother stopped feeding and cleaning up after them. I mean, how many dogs can one family care for?" When the puppies were weened, they were put in a box and abandoned in an empty lot or in the jungle.

By 1999 there were animals everywhere that fit into three categories, pets, street dogs, and wild dogs. By island standards, "pet" was a loose term. The dog simply hung around a certain house where the owners would accept them, throwing leftovers in the yard and hoping for a little security in return.

Some puppies stayed in the jungle and turned wild, which meant they stayed away from humans completely. Some puppies would stay where there was food and become street dogs who ate garbage and hung out around restaurants, often pelted by stones as an annoying nuisance. This was the situation when Alison Sawyer arrived, and the local solution was unacceptable. Hotels would put out poison to keep these unwanted, sad-looking animals away from their guests, and the government would round up any dogs they could catch and electrocute them.

"It was exhausting and wonderful, heartbreaking and exhilarating," Alison said. "I had never been as totally immersed in a cause in my life; I didn't want to do anything else."

Sawyer had a half-acre of land where she built her house with a spare room over her garage. That is where she started putting the puppies she found or were brought to her. She divided the space with cinderblocks in an effort to keep the litters separated or to keep the pups isolated according to size. She found some of these puppies' homes or sent them to friends in the US and Canada. But many of them grew up at her house, and on top of that, people started to bring her abandoned dogs, quickly increasing her numbers. "The most I ever had," said Sawyer, "was 65 dogs. The yard was divided up into as many different spaces as we could find materials to create barriers.

So, this was the beginning, twenty-three years ago. The neighbors complained, and the government resented the interference in a problem they thought they already had a solution for. Concerned tourists started coming to what was now referred to as her rescue, called Isla Animals, which Sawyer had registered as a 501C3 non-profit in the US. Soon the rescue was put in a travel brochure as a place

of interest to visit on vacation, so when tourists showed up, she put them to work cleaning and walking dogs.

"It's amazing how much I didn't know. I asked; I read, but these animals had so many problems: no vaccines, dewormers, tick, flea, or heartworm prevention. The mange and wounds were overwhelming as these poor, hungry animals had often been fighting for food or territory before I would get them. They were a mess." Sawyer explained.

Donations and concerns for these dogs and cats grew after Sawyer created a website. The island finally got a veterinarian who helped Isla Animals sponsor free spay and neuter campaigns. As word spread, tourists would volunteer and bring supplies. Once a fishing village, Isla Mujeres was rapidly becoming a major vacation destination.

In 2015 the local government recognized the difference that Isla Animals was making and gave them a space to work out of. "It was a lifesaver, my house was not big enough, and there was so much to do," said Sawyer.

Animal Shelter in Crisis: Help Needed to Save Critical Rescue Operation

The rescue did more every year, eventually spaying and neutering up to 4,000 cats and dogs a year and rehoming 300 to 400 animals in the same amount of time. With the help of volunteers and more donations, the group extended their services to as many places as they had the time and money to help.

"It was exhausting and wonderful, heartbreaking and exhilarating," Alison said. "I had never been as totally immersed in a cause in my life; I didn't want to do anything else."

Then the worst happened. The government reclaimed the space that had been home to Isla Animals for 8 years. The rescue was given 3 weeks to vacate. The team was devastated. "I think we did our Job too well," said Trina Noakes, the new director of operations since 2018. The government changes so often, and the new people in charge haven't seen the problem. We did all the work for them because their solutions were unacceptable."

So now Isla Animals is as homeless as the animals they are trying to save. They have had to cut the amount of service and rescue they were doing by ninety percent. They've had to cancel their spay and neuter programs, and they have had to say no to animals in need.

Luckily a piece of land has been donated to the rescue. It's in the jungle on the outskirts of Cancun.

But it has nothing, no water, no sewage, and no electricity. "We have used the money we put aside for spay and neuter campaigns to clear the land, build a fence and dig a well and septic

system. That is where we are now," said Trina Noakes. "We have plans but have to raise money to make it happen. We are excited to work in a place that no one can take from us, but we are not doing our work in the meantime. What do you do when three different people ask you to take in 3 different abandoned litters of puppies on the same day? Not only do we not have the space, but we are spending all of our time and money relocating; it's heartbreaking."

This rescue and the volunteers that work with them are known for their unwavering support of the animals and communities they serve. They only work to help animals, to make change, and to educate. No one is paid for administration; only a small group of local women are paid to care for the dogs at the rescue. There is so much need, these animals starve and suffer every day, and this can be fixed with time, money, and devotion.

Isla Animals has created a gofundme to raise money to build on the new land. Please help them get back to work saving animals.

Along with their website https:// www.islaanimals.org you can follow them on any of the sites below.

https://www.facebook.com/ IslaAnimals

https://www.instagram.com/ islaanimals/

https://www.tiktok.com/@ islaanimalsrescue

https://www.youtube.com/@ IslaAnimalsRescue

https://www.gofundme.com/f/ help-save-isla-animals-rescue

https://www.islaanimals.org/ blog/

hane Tawrie L

Thane Lawrie is an award-winning CEO in Scotland. A graduate of the University of Aberdeen and the University of Glasgow, he has had a diverse career, winning numerous prestigious business awards locally and nationally. He has been published in academic, peer-reviewed journals and his company featured in the Sunday Times' Top 100 Companies to Work for in the UK.

Thane's new book is The Buddhist CEO.

You like to contribute and keep busy?–need a question ark here – after busy?

Yes writing the book has kept me busy and I have been surprised by the level of interest in the book. Doing interviews and podcasts has definitely kept me busy but I have enjoyed the whole process of promoting the book.

I've read the book. It's a great read. Did you come from a spiritual family? What attracted you to Buddhism?

I didn't come from a spiritual family. My family was very outdoors-oriented. We spent a lot of time in the Highlands of Scotland. Being outside in nature was their religion. That rubbed off on me. I was drawn toward Buddhism in my late teens. I found a local group that practiced Buddhism. There was a monk there who had a big effect on me. The Buddhist philosophy of trying to live a peaceful life intrigued me.

I've read in different places that you call yourself the Accidental CEO. What does that mean?

In many ways, I never set out to be a CEO. I took a job at a not-for-profit organization in Scotland. I was one of the senior managers. There were five of us. The CEO tragically died suddenly. That resulted in me being asked to become the CEO. I was the accidental CEO because I didn't join the company intending to become the CEO.

There is a significant story in the book about Elaine. It involves betrayal, deception, personal attacks, and lengthy legal entanglement. However, fictional, it represents a view most of us don't consider.

Most CEOs have experienced similar situations. One of the points of writing the book was that monks write many of the Buddhist books out there. I'm a great admirer of monks. but most Buddhists in the West are people who put on a shirt and tie and go to work. I practice in the modern work environment and wanted to write from this perspective. I got to know quite a few CEOs in Scotland and very senior CEOs. I found that they were all inspirational in their way, but they all had struggles.

Quite often, it was around how they dealt with difficult people. I wanted to include that story with Elaine. CEOs come across that struggle frequently. They feel quite alone. I tried to describe how that felt and give some insight into it.

An interview by Phyllis King with

You must occasionally dismiss people from their posts or discipline them for certain things. I recognized it and had to be done well to create a world-class culture. As a Buddhist, I often asked myself if that was the right thing to do. Sometimes I needed clarification. I wanted to describe the moral and ethical dilemmas leaders face.

This is the crux of the book. How does a Buddhist navigate these environments? As you reflect, how do you feel about the choices you have made?

I've always lived by my values. Knowing who you are and what you're about makes it easier to make decisions or at least know where to go with the decisions.

At one point the main character became acquainted with a CEO group That chapter talks about the fellowship of the CEOs, where the main character on the face of it is very successful. The company is thriving. He's turned it around. But internally, he's struggling with some of the decisions he's had to make. As a Buddhist, he's thinking, is it reasonable to live under this amount of stress? It takes him away from a peaceful life. Hamish, the main character in the book, reaches out to other CEOs, and he finds a lot of support and relief from speaking to them. He finds that they have the same struggles as he does.

There's a part in the book that references FND (functional neurological disorder). Did this happen to you? You thought you had cancer or tumors; for you, it's a stress-related disorder.

Yes this happened to me and I was diagnosed with FND in 2020. Doctors think it is very likely that the cause of my FND is workplace stress. It was scary to have this happen to me, but Buddhist practice helped me to deal with it. It was a scary process, but I never got down or felt depressed. I still managed to meditate every day. I took every day as it came. When I first became unwell it took a while for me to accept it and I had to be persuaded to

stay off work by my family and doctor.

Eventually I had to accept like the main character in the book that I was too unwell to continue as a

CEO. Life goes on and I have found ways to keep busy through writing and other ventures I am involved with. I have had to adapt to FND and although I haven’t fully recovered I am at peace with it and despite it I enjoy my life.

Do you mind sharing a couple of the key tenets of Buddhism for people who may not be familiar with it at all?

There are different schools of Buddhism, and I follow the Soto Zen School. I suppose one of the central messages is we don't need much to be happy. There's nothing wrong with having a lot, either. But the Buddhist approach is that enlightenment can be found anywhere here and now. It's not something to be found in the future. The founder of the Soto Zen tradition tells us it can be found in daily life, even in mundane tasks like cooking food and cleaning your house. There is an emphasis on working meditation as well as sitting meditation. You try and do everything mindfully if you're cooking in the kitchen or cleaning toilets.

A lot of people think meditation is all about clearing your mind, which is actually very difficult to do. A lot of people get frustrated with meditation because they try and clear their mind and then get frustrated when they can’t. Buddhists take the approach that minds think, it’s just what they do.

Rather than clearing our minds we accept that minds think but we try and relate to our mind differently. When we are meditating and we realize that we are thinking we just gently bring our attention back to just sitting. There is something about this continual practice of not getting attached to our thoughts that helps bring peace into our lives.

In the book you wrote about wanting to be a monk. Is that true?

The monk's life has appealed to me, and it still appeals to me. I'm happily married. I'm never going to be a monk. The role that monastics could play in modern life is underestimated. Even if you never think about becoming a monk, just spending a week in a monastery is useful. It breaks you away from looking at your phone. There's no television. If more people, particularly those in stressful jobs, went on retreats like that, they would get a lot from it.

Do Buddhists believe in reincarnation?

What Buddhism has convinced me of is that we are connected to all things. In Buddhism, there's even a term - "are you ever born? Do you ever die? Did I exist in some form before I was born? And will I exist after I die? Even if it's just going back into the soil, into the air. I think that's true. But who knows? Maybe I was a monk in a past life, but I have no certain feelings about that.

The crux of the book is the conflict between ambition and being a CEO versus spiritual reality. But is it a workbook? Is it a memoir? What specifically did you hope people would come away with when they finished this book?

The book is a fictional memoir. I felt it was a story worth telling. I believe there are so many peoplev out there in the modern world trying to deeply practice their chosen religion or spiritual practice.

Everyday people with jobs and a family and are trying to bal-

ance modern day pressure with their deep commitment to practice their religion or spirituality. Often stories about people practising their religion comes from the perspective of a monk or spiritual leader. But I wanted to write from the point of view of an everyday person who happened to have a difficult stressful job. I hoped it would resonate with many people’s experiences of modern life and let them know they are notalone. I also hope that it would resonate with people of any faith or spiritual practice as they face the same dilemmas trying to balance their own faith with the demands of the modern world.

I thought it was captivating. You've done a great job implementing your vision. What's next for you? Tell us the best place to get the book. I have always seen the story of The Buddhist CEO as being in two parts and I am working on the second book now. I hope to offer some online classes for leaders interested in a spiritual approach to leadership sometime later in the year. When that happens people can find out about it on my website thanelawrie.com. People can get the book on my website or at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Book stores can order itto. There are links to my social media channels on my website where I write a daily zen poem andalso blog about twice a month.

Wonderful. Well, the book is The Buddhist CEO by Thane Lawrie. Thank you so much for being here today. My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

I've always lived by my values. Knowing who you are and what you're about makes it easier to make decisions or at least know where to go with the decisions.

WithoutRegrets: LivingLife

DBT SKILLS FOR A DAMP LIFESTYLE

By Laura Petracek, Ph.D., LCSW

A"dry lifestyle," in which alcohol is avoided altogether, is a well-known concept. However, the term "damp lifestyle" is a more recent development, which originated from a TikTok video by user Hana Danly. This lifestyle choice emphasizes moderation in alcohol consumption and examining and improving one's relationship with alcohol. According to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted in 2020, over half of American adults, 58%, reported drinking alcohol in the past month. Additionally, 26% of adults reported binge drinking in the same period, indicating that many already have a damp lifestyle.

Both mindful drinking and a damp lifestyle involve a deliberate and aware approach to consuming alcohol. Both focus on being cognizant of the drinking experience rather than engaging in it mindlessly or habitually. However, a damp lifestyle emphasizes mental well-being and examines one's relationship with alcohol in greater depth. It reflects the principles of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) - a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy designed to help individuals improve their emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, and overall quality of life.

Drinking culture typically encourages people to drink alcohol in a social setting. People in recovery or who choose not to consume alcohol may feel pressured by others to drink, especially in social settings where

drinking is the norm. They may also feel isolated or left out when others are drinking alcohol and participating in activities revolving around it, feel uncomfortable joining in social activities that revolve around drinking, or face stigma or judgment from others for not drinking.

"Somehow, my Dry January has blossomed into a Dry-Martini February."

Breaking a habit can take different amounts of time for other individuals. According to ACSM'S Health and Fitness Journal, it can take an average of 66 days for a new behavior to become automatic. Some habits may be deeply ingrained and take longer to change. Research suggests that people who quit drinking abruptly are more likely to relapse than those who gradually reduce their alcohol consumption.

One study found that people who suddenly quit drinking were more likely to experience severe withdrawal symptoms, which can increase the risk of relapse. That same study found that they were more likely to experience cravings for alcohol and relapse within the first month of quitting.

Gradually reducing alcohol consumption can help to minimize withdrawal symptoms, make the process more manageable and less overwhelming, reduce the risk of relapse, and improve the chances of success by giving the body time to adjust.

Photo by AdobeStock

Understanding how alcohol affects your thoughts, feelings, and behavior can help you develop greater self-awareness and control over your actions

For people whose lifestyles involve much social interaction where alcohol is present, staying sober can be difficult. A damp lifestyle is one alternative to complete abstinence that allows individuals to participate in these activities without feeling left out or isolated and to choose not to drink in certain situations or only occasionally.

As with drinking in moderation, the physical benefits of living a damp lifestyle include reduced risk of heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes, and a reduced risk of certain types of cancer.

DBT skills are grouped into four main categories: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. When comparing DBT to a damp lifestyle, we notice quite a few similarities:

• Mindfulness: Understanding how alcohol affects your thoughts, feelings, and behavior can help you develop greater self-awareness and control over your actions

• Distress tolerance: Identifying situations or emotions that trigger the desire to drink excessively

• Emotional regulation: Helps manage triggers by improving well-being and reducing stress, anxiety, and depression

• Interpersonal Effectiveness: Improves relationships and fosters social connections through better communication, building trust, and creating a much-needed support system

A study by the Internation-

al Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that individuals with better mental health tend to use alcohol less as a means of self-medication. This is particularly true for those who have low mental well-being and may be more likely to use alcohol as a means of coping with negative situations or emotions. Living a damp lifestyle involves understanding one's relationship with alcohol and utilizing DBT skills such as ABC PLEASE, which stands for:

• Accumulating positive experiences

• Building mastery

• Coping ahead

• Treating Physical illness

• Eating a balanced diet

• Avoiding non-prescription drugs.

• Ensuring balanced Sleep.

• Regular Exercise.

By understanding your relationship with alcohol and prioritizing your mental health, you can benefit from the damp lifestyle.

People must take the time to evaluate their situation when determining whether to go damp. Individuals who have an alcohol use disorder or are in recovery from alcoholism should abstain from drinking. However, for those who can assess their relationship with alcohol and determine that it will not negatively impact their daily life, moderating their alcohol consumption can be beneficial.

It's important to note that everyone's tolerance for alcohol is different, and what may be considered moderate for one person may not be the same for another.

Laura Petracek, Ph.D., LCSW, is a certified DBT therapist who, as a recovering addict herself, uses her experiences with recovery, treatment, and professional training to help others. Dr. Petracek received her Master's Degree in Social Work from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has been a therapist for over thirty years and is an LGBTQ+ member and ally. As a psychologist and author, she is committed to providing the highest quality psychotherapy services that honor where individuals are on their personal growth journeys. Dr. Petracek is the author of The DBT Workbook for Alcohol and Drug Addiction: Skills and Strategies for Emotional Regulation, Recovery, and Relapse Prevention and The Anger Workbook for Women.

Richard is revered for his multidisciplinary modalities, blending academic acumen with research and transformational acuity - embodying the role of a healer, intuitive engineer, and energetics specialist.

Richard has spent three decades transforming and elevating the lives of a client list that includes television personalities, entre preneurs, athletes, and actors. As a renowned author,inventor, and frequent featured guest across European TV networks, Richard is regarded as a leader in alternative energetics.

Richard trained in both Eastern and Western methodologies, Richard has gathered a unique library and toolbox of ancient energy modalities (Taoism, Tibetan studies, Qigong) and modern-day neuroscientific techniques (hypnosis, NLP/ neuro-linguistic programming).

Richard offers new perspectives, insights, and teachings from his travels around the world, and exchanges knowledge with thought leaders in alternative practices and disciplines, including Tibetan, Taoist, and Shaman Native American masters, among others.

The thought process plays an important role and influence on metaphysical energy.

~Richard Garnier

WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

pirituality SFast

By Nina Verkoeyen

How an unhealthy addiction to spiritual practices hinders true spiritual progress

When the New Age movement was born in the 1960s, everyone started visualizing, meditating, channeling, chanting, repeating affirmations, gazing into crystals, and drawing tarot cards - these are "spiritual intermediaries" between you and the Source.

It felt like a necessary progressive step forward from the rigid claws of religion. It was refreshing and expanding for the mind and liberating for the heart. It was indeed a renaissance of spirituality. A New Age.

Decades passed. Everything that was once new becomes old. New Age spirituality became "Old Age" spirituality.

We haven't progressed. Even in 2023, modern spiritual seekers still rely on spiritual intermediaries. We get caught up in this game, playing with techniques and methods, rituals and mantras, channeling, and prayers. We call upon "external higher forces," never connecting with our internal ones. We give our power away to intermediaries. We've been standing on these so-called "stepping stones" to the Truth for too long, and now they've become stumbling blocks for spiritual progress.

But more and more people are starting to realize that what we might call "fast spirituality," with its quick techniques and methods, has become detrimental to our spiritual health. It leaves us unfulfilled and disconnected from our true selves. It is no longer working. And it's time to take the next step — a step forward from old New Age spirituality to Meta Spirituality.

THE NEW WAY

Meta Spirituality is a spiritual tradition and movement founded by Nina Verkoeyen, a former psychologist and a spiritual leader with 20 years of ex-

perience, for those who want to establish a direct relationship with God within.

Meta Spirituality is for those who are ready to free themselves from the grip of religious dogmas, spiritual practices, and techniques. For those ready to close the gap between them and the God within, to create a direct connection with their innermost selves and experience genuine spiritual liberation. Meta Spirituality's teachings eliminate separateness on all levels, make you complete, and grant the truth so that you can express yourself as the Creator.

YOU NEED META SPIRITUALITY IF…

If you feel a lack of results Mainstream techniques like visualizations, affirmations, and meditations aren't producing the desired results.

You're tired of constant self-work your "life lessons" never seem to end. You want to graduate from being a student of life to being a creator of life. You feel incomplete regardless of the amount of learning you do, it always feels like something is missing.

You're tired of constant self-work. Your "life lessons" never seem to end. You want to graduate from being a student of life to being a creator of life.

You feel incomplete. Regardless of the amount of learning you do, it always feels like something needs to be added.

HOW IS META SPIRITUALITY DIFFERENT

Meta Spirituality is not a religion. Religions are partial truths that support separateness. Meta Spirituality encompasses all religions but also vastly transcends them and presents the complete picture we've never seen before.

Meta Spirituality is not esoterics. We are ready to interact directly with the Creator inside us without any

Empty the cup of your mind that has been filled with intermediary practices so that the Truth of who you are can rise to the surface of your being and can start being expressed through you into the world.

intermediaries such as rituals, visualizations, affirmations, channeling, and others. We don't use these common spiritual tools.

We don't practice meditation for 20 minutes a day. Instead, we show you how to be in a state of knowing and expressing who you truly are 24/7, without intermediaries like spiritual practices.

We don't visualize our "desired future" during some 30-minute visualization exercise. We show you how to consciously create the world you desire in every moment of your being as an expression of who you are - The Creator.

We don't channel our "spiritual guides." We show you that there is no separation between you and your perceived separate "guides," so you can only "channel" yourself. But even that is unnecessary - if you are constantly in union with and expressing who you truly are, you are not "channeling" yourself. You are just being yourself.

In Meta Spirituality, we are ready to become the Creator - instead of reaching out to something that is separate from us.

Meta Spirituality is not a psychological method.

Psychology works with the mind and tries to reprogram it. Meta Spirituality doesn't. It operates above and beyond the mind - it creates a new identity through which you will perceive yourself, others, and the world anew.

Meta Spirituality is not a practice of positive thinking.

Meta Spirituality will not ask you to be positive, good, or kind. Meta Spirituality will only ask you to let go of illusion in order to have the truth. To be who you are. To see the truth, rather than the illusion that surrounds you.

It is time to detach from the exter-

nal guidance systems and to realize and tap into our true power as The Creator.

It is time to close the gap between who we are and how we express ourselves, bringing wholeness and congruency that we never had before.

It is time we start growing not from the harsh life lessons and adversity but from applying the knowledge of who we truly are to every moment of our life.

THE FIRST STEP

And the first step - the doorway to that new level of freedom that Meta Spirituality provides - is to let go of our unhealthy addiction to spiritual practices that hinder our spiritual progress.

From this day forward, instead of praying to a seemingly separate god, instead of channeling seemingly separate spiritual guides, instead of performing rituals to reach out to seemingly separate higher forces, take ownership of who you truly are - The Creator.

Empty the cup of your mind that has been filled with intermediary practices so that the Truth of who you are can rise to the surface of your being and can start being expressed through you into the world.

Let's explore the depths of ourselves on an entirely new level and give birth to an entirely new identity of ours: the Meta Self that makes us one with our innermost nature of The Creator and shows us how to create anything we truly desire in life - directly, without any rituals and intermediary tools.

Let go of all the old and embrace Meta Spirituality as the next step in our spiritual evolution.

The time is now - are you ready to answer the call?

Nina Verkoeyen is a pioneering figure transforming the spiritual landscape of America. With two decades of knowledge in human consciousness and profound wisdom, she founded Meta Spirituality - a revolutionary spiritual tradition and movement that has captivated hundreds of thousands worldwide.

Follow Nina to open yourself up to greater levels of awareness, and visit her website to watch a free "Introduction to Meta Spirituality" masterclass.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/nina. verkoeyen

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CONSCIOUSNESS DOES MATTER

By Peter Canova

The title of this article is a double entendre. In part, it refers to an ongoing chicken/ egg debate about which came first, consciousness or matter. But it also refers to something rarely discussed in spiritual or New Thought circles, which is that varying forms of matter exist just as varying forms of consciousness exist.

By way of disclosure, I am squarely coming down on the side of matter deriving from consciousness, not the other way around. Many theories have been floated trying to demonstrate how conscious life arose from matter, all of them inconclusive. That puts them in the same category of the consciousness theories that materialist scientists criticize as unprovable, so we can acknowledge that we’re dealing with a mystery.

This means that mystical teachings are

every bit as valid in explaining conscious life as scientific gropings and cracks are appearing among scientists themselves as several theories are being put forth viewing the primacy of consciousness to explain reality.

The matter vs. consciousness-first issue is a segue to discuss the relationship between consciousness and matter, so just a few more words on the origins. It’s quite a stretch to say that inorganic matter just one day became organic on its own and then somehow gave rise to sentient life. However, if we assume consciousness is the source of all that came into being, it eliminates all of the infinities and paradoxes in quantum physics, and physicists hate infinities. Score one for consciousness. I’m sure materialists will have much to say about this, but that’s a debate for another time.

On to the relationship between consciousness and matter, but first, let’s define the nature of consciousness. Consciousness and energy are intertwined. Consciousness is an intelligent energy present in all phenomena in varying degrees. Energy is the vehicle consciousness employs to disperse itself, that is, to project its desired effect in both physical and non-physical forms.

The creation story of many mystical, spiritual, and religious traditions have a common belief about consciousness and energy. A supreme primordial Source—call it the One, God, Supreme Consciousness, or whatever you like—stirred to express Itself and know Itself. A thing can only understand itself in relation to another thing. So, this passive, static Oneness needed to cast Its consciousness into a different form of experience. It did this by limiting Its own consciousness to project other points of consciousness that felt a sense of individuality in their limited state of awareness. These spirit consciousnesses had a sense or an awareness of being part of the One Consciousness that generated them but they also had a sense of individual self.

Perhaps the most compelling and scientific of all the creation stories comes from the Gnostics, western mystics who had a great deal to do with the earliest form of Judeo-Christian mysticism. Gnostic wisdom was unfortunately destroyed by the rise of the Orthodox Church, though many corrupted elements were retained in modern Christianity. The Gnostic creation tale is so rich in meaning that it described

phenomena like the Big Bang, the God Particle, and parallel universes thousands of years before quantum physics.

In the Gnostic story, an important aspect of God’s projected being was wisdom (Sophia, in Greek), who fell into a state of chaos. Chaos was a dimension of random chance potential that could be thought of as the unconscious mind of the Creator. It was not a void but contained inert seeds of potential that the Gnostics called proto-matter. As the story goes, Wisdom Sophia plunged her high spiritual energy into chaos seeking to emulate the creative power of God, but things didn’t work out as she had hoped.

Her high spiritual energy activated the proto-matter, engulfing her and causing her to take on mass. This led to the creation of a new dimension, a psychic dimension characterized by matter that was incompatible with the spiritual dimension from which Sophia had fallen.

Herein lies our first key to the relationship between consciousness and matter.

The matter characterizing this psychic dimension is not physical matter but a finer form of subtle matter. It appears that the spirits or souls that fell into this dimension seeking to express greater degrees of individuality assumed energetic forms through this type of matter. Now, the Gnostic texts describe a number of dimensional gradations, parallel dimensions for short. Each dimension and the souls grouped therein were characterized by their vibrational level of consciousness or awareness.

Consciousness is an intelligent energy present in all phenomena in varying degrees. Energy is the vehicle consciousness employs to disperse itself, that is, to project its desired effect in both physical and non-physical forms.

A near-universal axiom of different spiritual traditions and even certain aspects of the psychological theory believe that humans are composite beings existing at differing levels of consciousness with corresponding subtle bodies composed of ever finer degrees of matter. So kind of like layers of phyllo dough in a Greek pastry, we’re walking sheaths of varying degrees of consciousness and matter.

If the idea of the subtle, invisible matter seems a bit speculative or “New Agey” to you, you might want to consider a few postulates of modern science. Our universe is not only permeated by unseen energies but by unseen matter called dark matter. In fact, dark matter is six times more present in the universe than visible matter. It’s what holds the universe together, counteracting the force known as dark energy that is causing the universe to expand.

Scientists know how to manipulate energy and understand some of its properties, but they have no idea what it is or where it comes from. The idea that unseen forces or matter are leaking into our universe from other dimensions is gaining ground in some scientific quarters.

Another more well-known fact gives us a further clue about the energy-matter relationship. We have Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2. This tells us that matter and energy are interchangeable. Everything we perceive as solid in this world is just a form of congealed energy. Matter originates with energy and resolves back into energy, as demonstrated by the

atom-splitting process that unleashes the tremendous nuclear force.

What does all this tell us? It tells us that consciousness and matter are intimately bound together (and remember, consciousness and energy are synonymous in varying degrees). If, as Einstein showed, energy and matter are inextricably bound in the material world, we have every reason to assume that the subtle bodies the mystical traditions speak of are also forms of matter, albeit of much higher, undetectable energy vibrations.

The conclusion—and here the more spiritually-minded might want to take note—is that matter may be the vehicle that spirit needs to express itself at all levels of being, so without matter, there would be no individual existence beyond the purely spiritual being of the Source. Matter often has a bad name in spiritual circles, and certainly, the grosser it gets, the messier consciousness becomes, but we are in physical form. That’s what we have to work with.

The good news is that we don’t need to be bound by random material fate. The interconnectedness of mind, energy, and matter indicates that if we learn to work with these factors, healing, dreaming, imagining, and meditating can all become real channels for personal and collective change in our lives.

Peter Canova is an international businessman who, after a series of life-changing spiritual experiences, began writing on spirituality and consciousness.

He is the author of the 25x award-winning First Souls Trilogy and has contributed to the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series. His latest book is Quantum Spirituality. /

By Susie Schroadter

Healing Cards Finding Inner Peace Through

As physical manifestations of our soul's energy, we experience lessons on Earth to aid our growth and healing. These lessons shape us into who we are. Some of these experiences leave us with emotional scars upon our hearts that continually haunt us, making it hard to find inner peace. Most of the time, it takes years of therapy to heal completely or to learn that lesson that we have been taught through the pain, but at times, even that does not help ease the inner ache.

Sometimes we need guidance from Divine Intelligence or our own intuition to help us find inner peace. Healing Cards are a simple yet powerful way to bring balance, mindfulness, and intention into your life. Whether you are dealing with a difficult situation, seeking guidance, or simply looking for a way to connect with your intuition, Healing Cards can be a gentle reminder that you are never alone. By surrendering to the sweetness of these cards, you can access the power of the universe, your higher self, your angels, and your spirit guides.

Photo by Edz Norton

Although the original Tarot Cards date back to around the 1400s, the offshoot of Healing Cards has become increasingly popular in the last decade, with unique messages of hope and love and with the purpose of aiding in healing. The decks of cards come in many shapes and forms and feature inspiring messages, affirmations, symbols, and artwork. Each card carries a unique message, intention, or energy that can help you tune in to your intuition, your inner guidance, and your higher self. The purpose is to bring clarity, inspiration, and healing to your life. Most often, the cards contain powerful imagery, symbolic meanings, and positive affirmations that speak to your deepest desires, dreams, and struggles.

The use of Healing Cards has been linked to many benefits, including reduced stress, increased emotional resilience, improved overall health and well-being, and better connection with your intuition. By using Healing Cards, you can tap into the power of your subconscious mind, your intuition, and the collective consciousness of the universe. They can help you gain a new perspective on your current challenges and opportunities and offer guidance on how to navigate them.

As you shuffle and then draw one or more cards, you're opening yourself up to receiving guidance and insights that are aligned with your highest good. The images, symbols, and messages on the cards can trigger your intuition, your subconscious mind, and your heart, thereby helping you connect with your inner power and your soul's purpose. You can use healing cards to set intentions, visualize your goals, shift your mindset, and foster a positive attitude.

The key to using Healing Cards effectively is to surrender to the sweetness of the experience. By letting go of your expectations, attachments, and fears, you can create space for the magic of the universe to work with you. Surrendering to the sweetness also means trusting in the process, having faith in yourself, and recognizing that you are worthy of receiving all the blessings that the universe has to offer.

To begin, choose the right deck for you. There will be one that calls to you for some reason or another. There are a multitude of decks, each with its unique message and artwork. It's essential to choose a deck that resonates with you and your beliefs. Take your time and do some research on various decks before settling on one.

Healing cards are a powerful tool that can help you transform your life. By tapping into your intuition, your inner guidance, and the universal energy,

When you have chosen the deck, ground yourself by breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth; take 3 deep breaths. Continue to do so until you feel settled into the present moment. When you feel ready, use your breath and guides to connect to your own soul.

When you are ready to pull a card, ask yourself what is intuitive for you. Shuffle until one falls out. Cut the deck in half, thirds quarters, or whatever is your own method. Feel what the card says to you. Quiet the mind, and whatever comes to you quickly is your truth. Intuition comes from the heart. Heart speaks to you quickly and within a concise sentence or few words. If it takes a moment for a thought to come, then that is your mind. Your mind hesitates, your mind tells stories, and it will use "because" it is not the truth. Quiet your mind and pick again.

Use the cards as many times as you are called to throughout the day. The more you use them, the more they will interact with your energy. Leave them by your bed, and carry them in your car. Use them to journal. Keep track of when you pull a card. At times the same card may assert itself again and again. If this happens, there is a message coming through that your Angels and Guides want you to communicate.

Once you've chosen your card, take a moment to read the message and contemplate its implications. Allow yourself to sit with the message

and let it sink in. You may find it helpful to journal your thoughts and feelings after reading a card as a way to process the message.

Healing cards can be a tremendous tool for self-reflection. As you use the cards more, you'll start to notice patterns and themes in the messages. Use these patterns as points for self-reflection. Consider how the message relates to your life and current situation. Reflect on how you can take the message and apply it to your life. Allow the cards to guide you on your journey toward healing and growth.

Lastly, and probably the hardest part, it is essential to integrate the healing message into your life. Take the messages you've received and apply them to your life through action. Small steps can have a significant impact on your overall well-being. Come up with a few action steps that you can take to implement the message in your life. Watch as the healing unfolds.

Healing cards are a powerful tool that can help you transform your life. By tapping into your intuition, your inner guidance, and the universal energy, you can access the wisdom, love, and magic that can help you heal, grow, and thrive. Whether you're facing a challenge or seeking to manifest your dreams, healing cards can be a source of inspiration, empowerment, and encouragement, and at the very least, they will bring a sense of play and magic into your life.

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

By Phyllis King

Am I KINDBeing

In a busy, fast-paced world, as we seek to fine-tune our energy, our habits, and thoughts, we can often overlook one of the simplest actions any of us can take at any time to raise our vibration. An action that often leads to some of our most profound abundant experiences. That action is of being kind. Even if we do not like a person or an experience that is happening to us, we always have the option of how we want to behave and what we want to contribute to a moment. The awareness of choosing to respond rather than react is much of the work of creating an abundant consciousness. Consciousness is what creates energy. Energy is what creates tangible matter.

When I first read the book, Am I Being Kind by Michael Chase, I was struck by the power of simplicity in his message. Although he had been through a tumultuous childhood and enormous pain and hurt were part of his experience through his vulnerability and willingness to surrender in a moment, it occurred to him the power kindness and unconditional love can have on our lives and our expe-

riences. His life was forever changed in remarkable ways. He became the kindness spokesperson.

We all are absorbed in the moments of our own life and discomfort. It is so very easy to forget that everyone we meet and see on the street is going through some challenges. We all fill many roles and wear many masks as we navigate our world. We are searching for ease, understanding, and love and doing all we can to avoid pain and fear. We can get so caught up in the quest to obtain or achieve that we can lose touch with ourselves and forget to respond rather than react. Before we know it, we are in the middle of something that feels awful.

If we can do nothing else at that moment, the choice to be kind to ourselves first is the best choice. Through that kindness and unconditional love toward self, we can restore balance. It is the path. Kindness is the vehicle that can take us to unconditional love. So often, the kindness and support we seek, we do not even give to ourselves. We have to know how to give it to ourselves first if we want to receive it from others.

Then there are those who are unkind to us. They have a greater burden to bear than most. It takes a truly tortured soul to inflict pain upon others. When I did my trauma recovery work, one essential piece to my healing occurred when I learned how to restore some level of humanity to my offender. In this, I did not overlook injuries perpetrated upon me. Rather I recognized there is a greater story at play than just my story. It doesn’t make my story less important. It simply reminds me that there is a larger story that is important as well. As we are all connected, the more we grasp, the larger story, the easier life becomes, and the more we heal. We heal individually and collectively.

As we learn to be kind to ourselves, we begin to create healthy boundaries. We strategize for success. We welcome and search for a deeper connection to divinity. As we connect more deeply to divinity, we recognize the humanity in the least humane people. We do not justify their behavior, but we understand the story is not complete when only looking at the inhumanity of their action.

As we remember that every single person we meet, no matter how beautiful, how plain, how wealthy, or how poor, we all are going through challenges. The challenges each of us face in our inner or outer world dominate our choices and our thoughts. We are all tested to our core.

As is the case in all abundance of work - the ability to maintain high-level vibrations in the face of fear and self-doubt is a key feature. Holding high vibrations is our best friend in remaining magnetic to all things benevolent. When our inner

narrative is filled with self-criticism or self-punishment, we are going to dig a deep hole in the reality of “not enough.” Not enough love. Not enough money. Not enough time. Not enough support. Not enough is a mindset. It’s only true if we make it true in our minds. When our mind’s narrative says, there is more than enough, then more than enough is what we will experience.

When we are kind to ourselves and learn how to be unconditional through our successes as well as our missteps, we forgive ourselves and others. We place ourselves in the flow of abundant energy. The difference from the moment of conflict to the moment of ease lies only in our thinking.

When we find ourselves in a moment of challenge, whether it is one of sadness or worry, or fear, think “kindness.” Kindness to yourself. Figure out how to give yourself what you need to restore balance. Make no excuse as to why you should not take that action that will restore balance. You deserve it. You are important. What you do affects the whole. We are all connected. As we learn to do this for ourselves – shift from contraction to unconditional love, we model a vibration and behavior that others will embrace as well. As we do this consistently, kindness becomes the strategy for a humane planet.

Today is the day. Start being kind and unconditional to yourself as a way of being. Watch the path unfold with more and more benevolence and joy. Even when contraction visits you, it will stay with you for less and less time, and you will find life eager to bring you wholeness and joy.

Known as the Intuitive Life Strategist, 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 available in bookstores now. Phyllis holds a B.A. in Sociology. www.phyllisking.com

HOW YOU CAN PLAY THE ENERGY GAME TO INVITE MORE HAPPINESS, LOVE AND ABUNDANCE INTO YOUR LIFE.

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

By Zee

Photo by Neom

ARE WE NOW Where

Starting off with a broad-reaching statement allows permission to open the mind to all possibilities. The phrase “anything goes” sanctions the development of business codes and strategies for success while at the same time forbids and hiding any real progress in allowing any open understanding of the nature of human existence. Who does that? We are told by science and rules of common functionality, “life is good,” thanks to our continually evolving progressive endeavors. This is where we are now!

A stick figure expresses movement, which can also be visibly expressed by modern humans. Alas, whoever dances today to the tune of a nondiverse way of being, could easily be described as a robotic being with limitations. Thus, the dynamic behaviour of our human spirit, having lost all memory of self, is now confined to social conditioning, leaving us in a perpetual state as a lifeless statue.

Our new age of wonder and advancements unfortunately only exists in the existence of technological reasoning, leaving us relegated to a common theme of being virtual at best. As for the progressive advancements for all human creatures regardless of stature, we find ourselves now in our proclaimed advancements being equal as “one born to be of service.” Let us remind ourselves of the positive benefits. There is tremendous safety in living in a controlled system. It’s a believable false narrative while being nothing more than a well-trained, controlled consumable living for consumption! Definitions

We as a species have traveled far from the days since mankind discovered fire. Yet one can’t help feeling when comparing way back then till now, who was more alive? As humans, now operating on automatic, slowly move along their chosen futures path, there exists still those limited few who are endowered with self-awareness. These few are reminded to maintain a connection to their past as they contemplate how to navigate this clouded, newly imposed cocktail of science and technology. These few are the smallest minority who are still capable of free thinking.

As for the majority of sheeple followers not interested in pursuing any meaning to their life, they just may be the most-free individuals on this planet, living “out of sight, out of mind.”

Have you ever considered how fascinating is the power of the human mind? Its ability to strategize and formalize its survival is beyond comparison. A recent gallery exhibition called “TRUST” gave a great insight into how this exhibit came to be. The artist spoke of and explained with feelings and deep emotions how they personally freed their inner being and opened-up by never interfering in the photographic process. By completely trusting in the process and never knowing of the outcome, they released pent-up personal limitations. How wonderful to witness the expressiveness of the individual who then went on to describe and define what TRUST is, as if that’s even possible. How bizarre, how bizarre.

Trust is individual to each person and has a different meaning specific to the many areas one encounter in life. Can any feeling or emotion ever be imprisoned by definition created within the mind? This is not in the slightest way any different from the logical reasoning and continued thinking behind the ever-ongoing enormous number of WARS around the globe, which will eventually, supposedly, contribute to world peace. Humans actually believe in this rubbish. How bizarre, how bizarre.

Opinions abound now that the internet has fully opened up all the existing “can of worms.” What you say or think is now governed by others, be it cor-

rect or false has no relevance in today’s world. All diverse forms of communication are banned. Now you can fit into being proper. And when human evolution is on the verge of massive unknowns, we teach a 4-yearold to speak the 4-letter word. It’s a careless maturity at its best.

Trust in the Process Dance with the devil.

So, what is next, will be up to those few self-selected-chosen human gods still working out how to squeeze the rest of us into further submission. Think about it, up till now; they have been doing a surprisingly excellent job at succeeding. Busy, busy are we, too engaged to be aware while doing their bidding. The power we give to logic and the reason is the downfall of each one of us is a subject of. Thus, never allowing the rise of one’s true self to ever witness the “light of day.” Great for drinking coffee and breathing but not good for much else.

Is Power a living entity capable of evolving itself while manipulating and hiding within the mindset of its human host? Which is not far from any different thinking we are now considering about AI. Will AI transcend within its contained network host? Will AI also evolve into a self-asserting power? Are we humans really aware? Have we ignored all the sequential steps in our goals to create by only focusing on the first step of the CREATION journey and leaving all else to chance? Remembering that change is one way of generating change, TRUST in the process. Have you ever heard this before?

WAR a dirty little 3 letter word

How did we get here? The questions answer is obvious. We chose to believe; we chose to ignore. We chose it all. We chose to be where we are now! Did you not read the memo explaining the definition of self-responsibility?

It is an unfortunate state of beingness; this dirty little word now defines all humans. We are living in numerous wars to control our human minds.

How did we get here? The questions answer is obvious. We chose to believe; we chose to ignore. We chose it all. We chose to be where we are now! Did you not read the memo explaining the definition of self-responsibility? Hence, uncertainty exists now as the apple cart has fallen, and business owners are unsure of what is next. The catchphrase is “we are holding on,” waiting for the good provide times to return.

Your power geminates from ideas you have already accepted as believable. They are the fuelling motivation that exists within every choice you formulate and then allow to be born as how you live your life. How is that going for you today?

You did what you were supposed to do. You followed all the social callings for acceptance and success. And you are still complying without question, with an increased life of growing unhappiness, encouraging stress to become the blame, and acting out your anxieties to attract sympathy for maintaining one’s connections. Are you serious?

How does one take a deep look into all aspects of how we live our lives? It takes a focused awareness after one has gathered the necessary courage, then decides to move forward, be mindful that this is regardless of all consequences. It is a very selfish forthcoming, not an action already existing from an ego-selfish attitude; instead, it is one freely decided upon and created

as a selfless act of absolute selfishness to override any incoming obstacles created from the existing confused egoic mindset. The ego mindset will take time.

The struggle is a pain in the butt at the best of times, and yet every time you managed to face an obstacle head-on, it ended quicker than anticipated, and the rewarding results were always in your favour. Now that is a challenge worth instigating, but due to the fact all humans already have so many unfinished from their past, you don’t need to create any new issues. Our wonderful modern-day advanced living will take care of new issues; one can be sure of that.

In this, we trust.

We, as a nation, give thanks to all the many positive phrases, affirmations, images, and great marketing slogans, which have given rise to how the modern human thinks and behaves in business and in all personal relationships. This is how one expects to be treated today and is how we behave toward other humans. The forthcoming list you will be already acquainted with; is Integrity _ Equality _ Respect _ Compassion _ Responsibility _ Lawfulness, and there are many others, but you know and practice all these already, don’t you?

And therefore, it goes without saying; we are collectively the creators of our own demise. This is where we are now> You can keep it going, or you may choose a different passage from, out of sight, out of mind, move from false-real and move into acceptance. There is a happier you inside.

By Polly Wirum

Honor The Shape of Learning to Your Life

Photo by Adobestock

The air was damp and cool, causing me to look up. I could see the heavy skies and feel the roundness of the Earth. I noticed a conspiracy of ravens flying in a way I have yet to witness again. They each took turns leading the others into lazy circles. Eventually, the ravens joined together, reminding me of an endless eternity symbol.

This occurred in my early twenties outside of a winery in Moab, Utah, where I held a very temporary job. The memory sits on a shelf in my mind that holds my favorite things. My most treasured experiences have drawn my attention beyond the expected.

Who would think that a minute of watching ravens fly would guide me for decades to come? This experience helped me realize magical moments are glimpses into other worlds. These can be a catalyst for unraveling our beliefs, so a new awareness can bloom into being.

The best of these experiences happen unexpectedly and are certainly a gift. They are personal. Many people would not have noticed or cared about the flow of the conspiracy, and yet it grabbed me.

Each of us has different keys or interests that unlock a cosmic door and add a new depth to life.

Allow things to catch your attention. Some experiences will be over in a flash, but other seemingly inconsequential moments are a portal to expanded awareness. It's almost like time stands still when we are meant to remember a vision or sound.

Honoring Your Discoveries

This article is about honoring the quick

flashes and the slow sweet pieces of life that help shape each of our lives.

I dropped out of high school when I was 15 and took the GED around my 16th birthday. I spent the next two years experiencing life and making mostly poor decisions. Near my 18th birthday, I took a job in Yosemite National Park. This random adventure helped me discover myself with love, confidence, and joy.

In Yosemite, I fell in love for the first time, not just with a beautiful boyfriend but with life. This is where I became passionate about hiking, rocking, climbing, and the pure joy of being outside. This love of physical adventures and nature has stayed with me throughout my life. In fact, it is where I find peace, balance and make sense of everything.

Eventually, I left Yosemite, believing it was time to pursue higher education. This plan didn't stick. Soon I was working in a bicycle shop and planning to pedal my bike on Highway 50, the loneliest road in America. My route was on the back roads from Sacramento, California, to Moab, Utah. I loaded my panniers with food, a tent, a sleeping bag, a dictionary, and a journal. The dictionary was inspired because my spelling was atrocious.

Taking off across the desert in June was probably not one of my brightest ideas. It was hot and dry, and most of the campgrounds had their water turned off because of drought. I had to map out where I would fill my many water containers every day. Luckily, I love a good plan, and as I began gaining elevation, the temperatures dropped.

I also love how ravens hold the thread of insight or prophecy from our ancestors. They remind us to be adaptive in life, but most of all remind us of our connection to all that is.

In total, I pedaled almost 900 very slow miles. I didn't listen to music or have any distractions except the sky and the grade of the road. The portion on Highway 50 had very little traffic. My passion for adventure and the excitement for my future kept me mostly focused on the road ahead.

One particularly challenging day was in the Nevada desert. I had camped by a creek and a small waterfall. In the morning, I filled my water containers and attempted to climb out of the canyon. It was so hot and steep that by the time I made it to the top, I had to turn around because I didn't have enough water to make it to my next water stop. This was a tough and disappointing day. I still remember how I felt, physically exhausted and alone. Maybe this helped me with other life experiences that required me to dig deep and find a way out.

Along The Way, I Experienced Some Magic

Raven Magic reminds me of transformation in this life and beyond, our connection to eternity. I also love how ravens hold the thread of insight or prophecy from our ancestors. They remind us to be adaptive in life, but most of all remind us of our connection to all that is.

Coyotes have dipped in and out of my life for a long time. My first experience with coyote medicine was in Moab, Utah. I was woken up by the call of a coyote. I looked outside my tent, where a coyote was sitting and watching me. He didn't stay long, but I'll never forget the energy. I still love hearing the Coyote's song. They remind me to stay curious, remember my resiliency, and appreciate when laughter breaks the silence.

In Utah, I was lucky enough to have a wild Mustang stop running

right in front of me. This was one of those moments that didn't last long, but I remember the power of the horse. Her strength, courage, and independence remind me to break free of what's holding me back. I also call this energy in when I'm taking part in an endurance event.

I was caught in a huge thunder and lightning storm on Boulder Mountain. There was no shelter for miles. I huddled next to the road, in a wash, until a camper van came by. I hitched a ride to the bottom of the mountain. I believe this electric storm helped me release some of my fears and gain clarity on my dreams.

Today

I eventually made it back to college and successfully raised three children. Yet, it took years for me to appreciate the journey on the road less traveled. I was comparing myself to others and forgetting the messages and lessons of long ago.

When I find myself in uncharted territory, I call on the Raven, Coyote, and Mustang magic. These memories are still powerful enough to brand my thoughts and behaviors with courage and the supernatural magic that I connected with decades ago.

What Shaped Your Life?

I encourage you to reconnect with the beautiful memories that helped define and shape your life. Do some journal about where you found love, strength, and clarity. Remember the moments when there was nothing between you and the Universe, as time stood still.

Many more magical moments are waiting for you and me. We only need to make room for these experiences by believing in and honoring the possibilities of the Universe.

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

Spiritual Growth Checkpoint:

By Sherri Cortland, ND

Photo by Iurii Melentsov

Big Truth I Learned TheFirst

on My Journey

While I have always been interested in all things metaphysical, my true journey as a seeker of truth began in 1980, and I will get to what pushed me to move forward in just a moment.

From the time I was ten years old, I can recall not wanting to walk through this lifetime blind; I knew from a very young age that I wanted to learn the truth about who we are and why we’re here. And as I began and continued on my initial journey of more than forty years now, I read everything that Hans Holzer and Edgar Cayce wrote, and later I inhaled every word written by Ruth Montgomery, Shirley MacLaine, and Dolores Cannon, among many others. As part of my search for the truth, I learned to do automatic writing in 1987, and that led to four channeled books of information by my Guide Group, the “GG.”

When I was channeling my first book, Windows of Opportunity, the “GG” had this to say about those of us currently incarnated in human bodies…

“We will begin with a talk of inspiration. The human being is not what it seems. Humans have tremendous capacity, which many never aspire to utilize.

Why? Because, for the most part, humans are unaware of the Source from whence they come. Some human beings believe in God; some do not. Human beings believe in a myriad of things, but many never reach out or search for the truth,

while some take up the quest.

Why is it this way? To begin with, through the centuries, human beings have rewritten or altered everything handed down to them. This was done to gain power, to make the information fit personal or political agendas, and to give certain individuals a hold over others and/or sway them to their own agenda.

It comes down to power. By manipulating and purposely reinterpreting religious documents, human beings find ways to accomplish their goals by removing those who oppose them.”

To hear from the GG that religious doctrine was altered for political purposes wasn’t really a surprise to me. I had read many books that described how Constantine of Rome copied pagan religious practices and incorporated them into early Christianity.

Constantine purposely absorbed pagan holidays and ideas into his new church to make it more palatable to the masses.

Next, he set out to obliterate the very pagan religious practices he had copied in a quest to unite Rome under one religion, Christianity, which he could then use to control his subjects.

If pushed for a label, I now identify as pagan, but I was brought up Catholic. When I was married to my first husband, Bruce, I started attending church services with his family at a Baptist

Church in Montgomery, NY. I didn’t feel like I was turning my back on Catholicism or on my family—my feeling has always been that there is one God, one Creator, and one Source, so what does it matter where you go to church on Sunday?

Switching churches turned out to be an important part of my spiritual development, though, because it was the moment in my personal history where I broke from formal religion and truly began my search for the truth.

One Sunday morning back in 1980, the Pastor preached that those who have statues of Christ or the Virgin Mary were practicing idolatry and would not be going to heaven.

My entire family is Catholic, and they wear crosses with Jesus on them, in addition to having crosses on the walls of their homes.

I was in such pure shock when I heard these words that I waited around after the service to ask the Pastor to go over this with me again; I really wanted to make sure I was getting this straight. I asked him point blank, “Are you saying that anyone who wears a cross with Jesus on it or has a statue of the Virgin Mary will go to hell?” I just could not wrap my head around the notion that I, or anyone in my family, would be forced to suffer eternal damnation because of jewelry or statuary choices.

Well, the Pastor stood by what he preached. That was one step out the door for me, but I continued to go to church. Step two out the door came just a couple of weeks later when the Pastor preached that believing in the theory of evolution was

evil, Darwin was evil, and Satan planted those dinosaur bones to throw us off our spiritual path. The third and final step away from organized religion for me was when he preached that anyone who was gay or lesbian would be going to hell.

I remember thinking that if we were all children of God, why would God condemn individuals for being different? And what kind of God would send people to hell for having a statue or wearing the wrong cross around their necks? And I simply could not picture a Johnny-Appleseed Satan running around the earth planting pseudo-dinosaur bones to lead us down the path of eternal damnation. And that’s when I realized this big truth: When something doesn’t resonate with you on a soul level, it’s time to examine that information.

That was an important realization for me, and as simple as it looks written down here, it was a very big deal for me because I never thought that one could question folks in positions of authority. I thought priests, pastors, politicians, teachers, etc., were the be-all, end-all of factual information. Learning to question, research, and question some more has been life-changing for me.

I even question my Guide Group when something they channel seems way out there to me. And I guess that’s the point of this column: If something doesn’t resonate with you, no matter where the information is coming from, question it, including what I share in this column!

Happy truth-seeking and 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

THE WAY I SEE IT

By Joey Santos, Jr.

In The Still

Do we know what it means?

If we do, how often are we still? I'm not sure that in the world we are living in if it's even possible anymore to "Sit still!" As kids, we've all heard that command from a parent or a teacher. For most kids then, it was a daunting task. It still is. Now, it's even harder for most adults.

Maybe because the pace of the world has us running ragged, trying to keep up. Or, perhaps it's the amount of technology constantly nagging at us from our fingertips. Even sleeping isn't still anymore. I can't remember the last eight-hour night's sleep I had. Wait, High School. Yes, that's how long ago it was. Now, I'm lucky if I can manage five hours of sleeping straight through. It's no wonder most people are cranky. Think how great things might be if we got more sleep. Or found the quiet. Remember that? As important as having a good night's sleep, it is equally important to find rest. And more difficult. Eventually, we will find sleep because the body will automatically shut itself off by conking out. Ahh, but rest, that one is still quite elusive. Hence: The "still."

Meditation is the best way to find it, but that takes relaxation and practice. Silencing

the mind quiets the body. However, we can find that quiet place for ourselves. We should seek it.

STILL: NOT MOVING OR MAKING A SOUND. DEEP SILENCE AND CALM; STILLNESS.

At the beginning of the pandemic, there was a moment outside the confusion, fear, and anxiety when I heard absolute quiet. Can you imagine hearing silence? It was healing, cleansing, safe, and magical - to hear nothing for a moment. Then gently, sounds began appearing. Birds chirping, wind howling, leaves rustling. It was glorious. Turning off the noise for most people is not a simple task. We are always on the go. Whether work or play, our ambitions and drive propel us to keep moving, hustling, competing, and creating. I find myself longing for a simpler time and space. Is there such a thing anymore? Was there ever? The answer is yes. There was, and there is. STILL. Take moments to sit, breathe, and be. Speak softly and kindly to yourself. Think kindly of others. Be grateful and humble. Trust. The universe is a vast and powerful place. It is also still and quiet as it shimmers. We are created from it. Reflect on it, and be still. The rest will follow.

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

Photo by By pornpunStockPhoto

Animals don't belong in cages They deserve to be free

Can You Inherit the Fate of Your Ancestors?

By Anuradha Dayal-Gulati

Photo by By BrAt82

Your family members, alive or departed, immediate and extended—as well as their emotions and experiences—create your family energy field. Repetition of events and their attendant emotions often serve as messengers from our family energy fields, calling us to heal the pain we carry.

Carol came to me to help her with the emotional challenges she was facing. In our sessions, she would talk about whatever she was grappling with and often shared news about her daughter, Marianna. Now, as she sat across from me, she said, "Marianna has just been fired."

I was stunned. Carol's soft brown eyes welled up with tears, and I handed her a tissue from the box on my desk. From what I could gather, Marianna was a bold, outside-ofthe-box thinker.

However, her newest project at the nonprofit where she worked was controversial, Carol said, and some of Marianna's bosses and coworkers pushed back against her initiatives. "But she didn't give up, and her project is going forward!" Carol had said the last time I saw her. I could sense her pride in her daughter and the determination they both carried. Marianna and Carol were both creative women who weren't afraid to put their ideas out there into the world and take risks professionally. Carol had headed up a department at a local hospital until

her pressuring of physicians and administrators to introduce what she felt were much-needed changes led to her having been passed over for promotion. Carol had switched jobs, taking a cut in salary, because she recognized that salvaging her position would be a massive uphill battle. The stress of it all had caused her to feel very anxious and even have some panic attacks.

That, in turn, had started her on a journey of healing that led her to find me.

"Do you think Marianna's situation is similar to what happened to you at the hospital? Do you feel that she pushed too hard for change, and it put people out of their comfort zone?"

Carol thought for a moment. "I didn't make that connection, but you're right. She learned that from me, I guess." I had heard enough stories about her extended family to have spotted a pattern. Would she see it too?

"Where did you learn it from, Carol? Who in your family—your parents or grandparents—tried to change existing norms?" Carol paused. "My father's business partners pushed him out of the business he started because they didn't want to take it in the direction he wanted to go. He was too forward-thinking for them. I guess that part of his personality got handed down to me and Marianna," she said finally.

As our conversation continued, I listened to Carol explain how her father's plans for change had been thwarted and how his bitterness at his perceived failure colored her childhood and early years. He had carried this sadness with him to the very end until he died at a relatively young age of heart failure, or— as Carol described it—of a broken heart. Even so, his daughter and granddaughter were repeating his pattern of pressuring people too much to try to get them to change, which was causing a family pattern of suffering.

"I was just thinking about my dad the other day," Carol said.

"It was his birthday, and Marianna happened to call. I could hear in her voice that she was upset. Then she broke the bad news."

It was his birthday. Was it a coincidence that Marianna lost her job for being too forceful about change on the birthday of her grandfather, who had experienced the very same loss?

The Universe tries to get your attention in multiple ways, including through coincidences and patterns. In 1960, psychologist Carl Jung wrote in Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting.

The principle is that synchronicity is a "meaningful coincidence of two or more events where something other than the probability of chance is involved." In other words, while they might seem to be the result of random chance, on closer examination, they have greater meaning. I've found that "mere coincidences" are worth paying attention to because they are one way the Universe can

get its point across to us. Patterns of events repeating in your life or the lives of your family members are often subtle and might alert you to how your family energy fields are influencing you. These fields exist within the energy matrix human beings share with each other, the planet, and all life on Earth, and they carry the memories and emotions of family members past and present.

Ancestral energy patterns come in many forms and play out in different ways. For instance, behavioral patterns may be easily visible. As much as you don't like to admit this, your behaviors do mirror those of your parents and generations prior. Some of us are frugal; others get angry quickly, and a few are overly suspicious.

You may also have patterns of being generous or feeling passionate about issues. Sometimes, themes remain the same in relationship after relationship. And in families, the themes reappear several generations in a row. A "family curse" is real: it's a repetition of an old energetic pattern passed down the family tree. Maybe you have known someone who vowed they would never again get involved with a certain type of romantic partner. Then you saw that, despite their falling for someone who, on the surface, was very different from their previous partner, the same old dynamic was at play in this person's new relationship. Maybe you have experienced this yourself. You might say you will never again become involved with someone who is hypercritical, only to end up with a partner who doesn't openly criticize you but shows you through their actions that they disapprove of you.

If you stop to notice how your family's energy field influences your life, you can be more conscious of any decisions you make in that moment of choice. Will you do what you've always tended to do, or will you pivot, breaking out of an old pattern of action and reaction?

Or maybe you're in a relationship with someone who respects and supports you but complains that you're very critical of them. It's as if you're in the same relationship you were before, only with the roles reversed.

There is another kind of pattern that I call "experiential patterns." These are instances where you see the same kinds of experiences recurring across generations. A grandfather was betrayed by his business partner, and the same type of thing happens again to his son and to his grandson. Or someone faces constant setbacks in their professional pursuits, and this pattern repeats itself. While it's possible to call this a "family curse," if there are positive patterns, you call them "family blessings." Or, more broadly, you may even call this "family karma."

Many of us accept these patterns as karmic—something you have to accept and live with. But what if there is more to this than meets the eye? What if there is a message behind these patterns? I call this what it is that is wanting to be seen. What if you need to unlock something to release yourself and also those who may come after you from repeating these patterns?

As decades of research on the psychology of emotion have Shown, each of us has a response system that is activated by a range of triggers. What if your emotional response system is a window into understanding some of these patterns you are trapped in? And what if, by developing an understanding of this system and these underlying family patterns, you can then start to unlock the cycles of behavior and experiences you may have found yourself in? Does your frugality come from honor-

ing the earth or due to a fear of lack? Does your worry about not having enough manifest in you, holding yourself back, and not taking some risk, thus putting a ceiling on your professional life? Or does this emotion and behavior make its presence felt by having too many possessions that clutter your home (hoarding) or by your demanding financial control of your partner? Do you feel that you are not enough? Who else in your family has felt this way? What is the origin of this story you tell yourself? I encourage you to begin to journal some of the answers to these questions.

If you stop to notice how your family's energy field influences your life, you can be more conscious of any decisions you make in that moment of choice. Will you do what you've always tended to do, or will you pivot, breaking out of an old pattern of action and reaction?

My own experience has shown me that letting go of old habits and establishing new ones can be very difficult. If you don't consciously choose a new way of thinking, feeling, or acting, your unconscious chooses the familiar path. When I started noticing and working with patterns, I wasn't aware that I resisted making plans far out into the future. Planning vacations or social events too far ahead of time was fraught with anxiety for me. My parents didn't like to plan too far ahead either, perhaps because of my father's unpredictable travel schedule, but as an adult with my own children, I didn't have to deal with this when making plans. My unease about looking at hotel websites to compare and contrast lodgings made no sense. It took me a long while to realize that I was repeating an old family pattern.

Anuradha Dayal-Gulati is an energy practitioner and transformational coach with a Ph.D. in economics. After fifteen years in finance and academia, she began a new path of helping people release the past and reclaim their power.

Trained in flower essence therapy and family constellation therapy, she lives in Boston, Massachusetts. https://floweressencehealing.com

Expert reveals simple trick TO BOOST MEMORY AHEAD OF EXAM SEASON -

AND IT’S SURPRISINGLY EASY TO DO

By interaction-design.org

• A design expert has revealed a simple way that you can improve your memory as exam season nears closer, and all you need are colored pens

• Writing revision notes in color has been proven to help retain up to 80% more information, with the most impactful colors being red and orange

• Expert Mads Soegaard also highlights further tricks to boost retention, including using graphs and not revising for over 30 minutes at a time

• As well as improving revision tactics for exams, the tips can also help adults to remember login details, shopping lists, and important dates

Mads Soegaard, Founder of Interaction Design Foundation (IDF) has revealed a hack that will help boost memory just in time for exam season - and almost anyone can do it.

Instead of typing up reams of revision notes and hoping that you’ll take in the vital information, it’s much more effective to write notes by hand using different colored pens to increase your chances of remembering them when you head into your exam.

Mads Soegaard explains: “There’s a common misconception that taking down as much information as you can when revising is the best way to learn, and so many students opt for typing up their notes to write more with less effort and save some time.

“However, it’s much more effective to write down key points by hand using colored pens, highlighters, and

sticky notes, as the color works to boost our memory.

“Writing notes by hand stimulates retention as you’re forcing your brain to process the information in a more detailed way than typing. It also forces you to be more selective about what you’re writing down - it’s about choosing quality over quantity.”

According to a psychological study, writing in color can help us improve memory performance by up to 80% because 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual.

In fact, the brain processes images a whopping 60,000 times faster than text, as the brain sees words as individual images that we must first recognize before understanding. Luckily, there’s an easy way you can make written words easier to process quickly.

Mads continues: “Using colored pens when writing keynotes allows us to see words as visual information rather than a block of text, which means we’re more likely to understand what we’re reading and can take in the information much faster than we could otherwise.

“As well as boosting our memory, color also helps to form associations between notes, as when you recall a fact linked to one shade, your brain will naturally start thinking of the other facts that share the same shade.

“You can also use this association to your advantage when it comes to actually sitting your exam. By bringing something that’s the same color as your notes into the exam with you - such as a bracelet or pen - you’ll trigger your brain to remember facts in the same shade.”

This is due to context-dependent memory, where recall improves because you have similar context cues around you as when you first took in the information.

Mads Soegaard explains that some colors are more effective than others: “Colors invoke different reactions, and so it’s vital to choose attention-grabbing shades associated with importance - particularly warm shades like red, orange, and yellow.

“Picking contrasting colors can also help make information stand out more, so you may want to incorporate different sticky notes or highlighters for important points. However, make sure not to overload your notes, as making facts more distinctive is key. ”

And incorporating color isn’t the only way to use visual learning to your advantage, the experts at Interaction Design Foundation (IDF) reveal, as you can also boost memory by:

Using diagrams to link information. If you find yourself zoning out when faced with a wall of text, you may want to write notes as a diagram like a spidergram, flowchart, or table. This helps separate the information into a more digestible format and makes it easier to color-coordinate critical points without color overload.

Making sure your room is well-lit. As revising in the evening after school or work is typical, you’re likely writing notes without proper daylight. Just as color can be a strong context cue, so can

light, so make sure you’re revising in as close to test conditions as you can - meaning in a well-lit room without any other visual distractions (like TV or your phone) that will pull your attention.

Taking a break every half hour. It’s easy to fall into the trap of spending hours on end sitting and writing notes, but doing so actually reduces the odds of you retaining information. You lose 85% of your input after reading for 25 minutes as it’s visually repetitive, so it’s essential to take frequent breaks to recharge and reset.

According to Mads Soegaard, some will benefit more from these tips than others, as he says: “If you’re someone with a preference for seeing and observing things in your dayto-day life - including pictures and written directions - you’re a visual learner, and you’ll struggle to retain information that’s just written down with no visual elements to trigger the memory.

“Incorporating visual elements like colors, diagrams, and images into your day-today note-taking can help in a range of situations, not just revision - so try it out if you’re somebody who often struggles to remember important dates or personal details.

“Of course, some people do better with visual memory prompts than others, as not everybody is a visual learner. It’s important to leave yourself plenty of time to revise before an exam so that you can figure out a strategy that works for you.”

The brain processes images a whopping 60,000 times faster than text, as the brain sees words as individual images that we must first recognize before understanding.

Photo by J V

Future of WATER the

By Tara Lohan

It’s time for a reckoning … with water. It’s central to our bodies, the planet, our modern lives, and yet we continue to use it unwisely, to pollute rivers, to overdraft groundwater, to dewater ecosystems, and to leave some of our fellow humans without this most basic necessity.

Faced with mounting water problems, compounded by biodiversity loss and climate change, we have an opportunity — and a necessity — to chart a new course.

“We are a minor character in the scientific epic of water — and we’re at a moment in time when we must decide whether to recognize that fact and all its consequences and move to a sustainable and equitable future or to barrel forward in catastrophic denial,” writes Peter Gleick in his new book, The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future

Gleick, a scientist and founder of the global water think tank the Pacific Institute, has been a leading voice on water’s connection to conflict, climate change, human rights and privatization. He’s written 14 books but it’s his most recent that brings together much of his work over the past three decades into a call for action.

The book stretches from the Big Bang to our future path.

Gleick’s first age covers how water shaped the planet and later how it shaped the lives of early humans. The second age encompasses advancing civilizations like the Greeks and Romans and continues into our own lifetimes. This includes the advent of aqueducts and dams, deadly waterborne diseases, scientific and technological breakthroughs, and “replumb[ing] the entire planet” — what Gleick calls the “hard path.” The third age is what lies ahead, and

Gleick presents a “soft path” that takes humanity on a less perilous course than where we’re currently headed.

The Revelator spoke to Gleick about where the “soft path” takes us, what conflicts lie ahead, and how far we’ve already come.

Why this book now?

This book is in many ways a sort of culmination of all of the work I’ve been doing. It’s a synthesis of my thoughts about the role that water has played in human history. It’s also a reflection on the water crisis that we’re facing.

But maybe most importantly, from my point of view, it’s an opportunity to talk about the choices we have today to move forward to a different future, a better future.

I offer an optimistic view, a possible future that’s more sustainable and more equitable than the one [we’re headed to] if we follow our current path. I really think of it as the book I’ve been wanting to write for a long time to address all of those pieces.

What should we learn from earlier people?

We’re much more dependent on water than we really understand in general. Many of us, not all of us, take the advantages of the second age of water for granted — the science and technology that developed that permitted us to turn on the taps and flush our toilets and wash our clothes and grow food.

But [earlier civilizations] couldn’t really take water for granted in the first age of water. They had to figure out how to manage it in order to survive, to support populations, to maintain the empires that developed over time. In some ways, we’ve lost that connection to water that I think many of the earlier cultures had to have.

A new book from water expert Peter Gleick urges a rethinking of how we use, manage and value one of our most important resources.

What is the soft path?

I think of what we’ve been doing in the second age of water as the “hard path.” Hard as is in hard infrastructure. Hard as in not-flexible institutions. The hard path ignored ecological values in decisions about water. And so many years ago, I formulated this idea of the soft path for water.

The characteristics are the need to rethink supply. That is, instead of taking more water out of natural systems — more water out of rivers, more overpumping of groundwater, more draining of lakes — we rethink supply. Alternative ways of thinking about supply are recycling and reusing water, capturing more stormwater, and desalination. These are nontraditional supply options that have the potential to reduce the impacts we have on the hydrologic system.

The second aspect is rethinking demand. In the hard path, demand was something to be met. If there’s an assumed demand for water, let’s meet it. That’s true for resources in general. Populations grow, economies grow. We’ll figure out where to get the resources for them. But in the soft path, rethinking demand means a focus on conservation and efficiency. Doing more with the water we already have, that we’re already extracting. Grow more food with less water, making semiconductors more efficiently. It’s basically an efficiency revolution, and I would argue we’re already doing a lot in that area.

The third area of the soft path is ecological values: incorporating the critical needs of ecosystems into our decisions about water policy. In the hard path, we didn’t think or didn’t care about the environment, but those days ought to be over. And the soft path says ecological values are critically important and need to be integrated into water policy,

planning and management.

The fourth category is economics. The hard path thinks about water as an economic good. The soft path thinks about water as an economic good, but also a human right. The human right to water has largely been ignored. I wrote about the human right to water in the 1990s. And in 2010, the United Nations finally formally declared a human right to water. But we’re still not very good about understanding what that really means for water management.

There is an economic value to water, and there’s a human right to water. And the soft path says combine them. Think about them together. Part of that means providing basic water and sanitation services for everyone on the planet, independent of economic ability to pay. The ability to pay shouldn’t be relevant to whether or not people have access to safe water and sanitation.

The final category in the soft path is rethinking our institutions. Institutional development around water has been very fixed. We have water utilities. We have water management systems. They tend to be old school, very narrow, very disciplinary. And the soft path says we need better institutions that are more decentralized, that integrate water with energy, and water with food, and water with climate. And the institutional structures we have now for water aren’t good at that, but the soft path says better institutions would be more interdisciplinary, more integrated, more community focused.

How well are we doing this already?

I argue in the third age of water that what needs to be done isn’t magic — and that these things are already happening.

Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo

There’s a figure in the book that shows economic productivity of water in the United States going way up. It’s evidence that we’re doing more, even with just the economic things we can measure with the water we’re already using. It’s direct evidence of the success of efficiency improvements and pieces of the soft path.

There’s another graph that shows that our economy is continuing to grow. Our population is continuing to grow, but our total water use has gone down. That’s evidence, in my opinion, that this new path is not only possible, but that we’re in the transition now. That’s why I describe myself as an optimist, because I see some of the things that are low-hanging fruit actually being captured, and I see success stories and evidence in each of those areas of the soft path where things are being done differently.

Is this path an opportunity to address water and climate solutions together?

It takes a lot of energy to produce and to collect and treat and distribute and use water, and then to collect and treat the wastewater we produce. Anything that we can do to reduce the water footprint of our energy use has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the cheapest carbon emissions reductions now available turn out not to be energy efficiency policies, but water use efficiency policies, especially things that save hot water. So there’s a clear opportunity there for tying water and energy together on the mitigation side.

On the adaptation side, some of the worst impacts of climate change on water resources are changes in demand for water

because of rising temperatures, loss of soil moisture for farmers from higher temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, loss of snowpack in the mountains, faster runoff of snowpack when we do get it because of higher temperatures, more extreme events, and more frequent extreme events. All of those things are happening already.

Tying water and climate together in people’s understanding offers us an opportunity to address both problems. If people care about water, if you can explain to them the connection between water and climate, maybe we can help them care about climate.

What are other areas of concern?

Water and conflict. There are a couple of sections in the book about the first water war in Mesopotamia, but also the history in the early west in the United States where there were conflicts over water. And then more recently in the Middle East.

I worry about that. I just think there’s a growing risk of conflicts over water. We’re seeing more and more of it. To the extent to which we can solve water problems — meet basic human needs for water, restore ecological health — I think is an opportunity to reduce the risk of conflicts as well.

I gave a lot of attention to it in the book, in part because I see it as a worrisome trend, but I also see it as an opportunity. I think the third age of water could not just be one where we’ve solved our water problems, but where we’ve reduced conflicts in general.

Tara Lohan is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.