The Eden Magazine June 2023

by MATTHEW KENSLOW

JUGGLING THE ISSUES CAN'T SLEEP?

THESE FIVE STRATEGIES REALLY WORK?

by DR. DAN COHEN

LIVING YOUR SOUL-FILLED LIFE

by ELAINE HOEM

Shai

Tubali

Leading in the field of self-development and self-empowerment

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.

MEET OUR TEAM

PHYLLIS KING

SHERI DETERMAN

ZEE

JOE SANTOS, JR.

ISABELLE RUEN GREG DOHERTY

ARTIN MARDIROSIAN

EDWARD HAKOPIAN ALEXIA MELOCCHI

Maryam Morrison

GRETA PAZZAGLIA

SHERRI CORTLAND

DINA MORRONE

BEN ROLLINS

PHILIP SMITH

LISA JOY WALTON JOE MAGNANI & JARED SCHLACHET JSQUARED PHOTOGRAPHY

HEIDI CONNOLLY

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

EXECUTIVE EDITOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER DINA MORRONE

COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHYLLIS KING

ALEXIA MELOCCHI

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

ZEE

POLLY WIRUM

JOE SANTOS, JR. HEIDI CONNOLLY

SHERRI CORTLAND SUSIE SCHROADTER

GUEST WRITER

PHILIP SMITH

CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST

EDWARD HAKOPIAN

LISA JOY WALTON

GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY GREG DOHERTY

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To purchase a copy visit us in www.theedenmagazine.com

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LIVING YOUR SOUL-FILLED LIFE by Elaine Hoem

16

SHAI TUBALI

An interview by Phyllis King

26

GRANDPA BERNIE'S BEDTIME STORIES CELEBRATES THE AUTHOR'S 100TH BIRTHDAY by Diane Lilli

31

JUGGLING THE ISSUES by Matthew Kenslow

38

EBOLA'S LIPID ENVELOP by Marc J. Seifer Ph.D.,

46

WAYSHOWER by Tammy Billups

50

CAN'T SLEEP? THESE FIVE STRATEGIES REALLY WORK! by Dan Cohen, MD

54

DANA DVOAK AN ANIMAL COMMUNICATOR

An interview by Phyllis King

58

A COWGIRL'S GUIDE TO EMOTIONAL FITNESS

An interview by Phyllis King

66

THE POWER OF A GRATITUDE FILLED HEART by Polly Wirum Cover photography Carolin Saage

Life is Essential, Feel it

IN SEARCH OF SERENITY

by Susie Schroadter

THE IDENTIFICATION OF SELF-LOVE CAPACITIES

by Zee

YOU WANT ABUNDANCE, BUT ARE YOU ARGUING FOR LIMITATION?

by Phyllis King

82

ARE WE REALLY EVOLVING? by

Sherri Cortland

WHAT A WORLD! by Joe Santos

Jr.

90 BOOST YOUR MEMORY by interaction designing 94

HOW THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS COULD BE IMPACTING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH by Delamere.com 102

MAKING SHIFT HAPPEN: MOMENTUM GROWS FOR NEW THINKING ABOUT RIVER RESTORATION

by Juliet Grable

LIVINGYOUR

SOUL-FILLED LIFE

By Elaine Hoem

I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. It is a place of love, of light, of truth, and of peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.

The beginnings of the stories of our lives today started long ago – in the words of the Yoga Vasishta and the Bhagavad Gita around 400 BC. The ancient yogis, through their meditations, developed ways that are urgent in their applicability for these current times. While reading their words today, we can remember and embody the truth that we are energetic, spiritual beings having ordinary experiences and that, as spiritual beings, we can embrace all that is magnificent, pure, infinite, and glorious within us. And. When we embody this awareness, we also become co-creators with the Divine and the wonders of who we are as spiritual beings.

We are all a part of the infinite cosmic Oneness that is of everything and everyone. Some of us call this energy God, others of us call it Brahman, and more of us today call it the Divine Feminine – the Healer of the World. This is awesome news, especially when our world seems so fraught with wars, violence, threats of nuclear and environmental annihilation, and personal tragedies of monumental proportions. We may ask: How is it even possible to think in terms of purity, magnificence, and beauty when so much within some of us and in the outer world is such a gigantic mess?

Photo by By julenochekAdoveStock

The answers lie within our very being and within the ancient texts which inform us as to the truths of our spiritual essence. With awareness, we live two lives simultaneously – that of our ordinary ego-based days and that of the sacred essence residing in each of us. According to karmic principles, we chose to incarnate at this time for specific reasons, each of us having a unique purpose in the sacred creations of these days as we all move away from that which is violent, greedy, and destructive into a more loving and purposeful world. In this world, all of us are brothers and sisters to one another. In these sacred ways of living, we resolve our own difficult karmas to heal within and to participate in the creation of a world that embraces all of us as we all grow in consciousness and compassion for one another.

Each day, and many times throughout each day, we have a multitude of opportunities to move beyond ego-bound ways that limit, reject, judge, despair, and define us as successful or not as we attempt to control others or limit ourselves. Instead, when we remember our sacredness and our divine purpose, we will explore vast universes within that are distinctive to each one of us. We will open to the light of our precious sacred hearts and to the infinite possibilities we embody. As we honor and live more and more from our infinite inner beauty, we change our ways and our world.

I like to think of this process as one of dropping our personas – those costumes we wear that seem so necessary to maintain as we live our daily lives, much as a snake sheds its skin and becomes anew. In doing so, we can remember that we are spiritual

beings and that, as such, we are fully alive and able to bring forth these enlightened ways into what previously seemed so ordinary and perhaps even boring. Then we open to brilliance, creativity, and joy because we know that we are a part of wondrous, flowing energies that are divine in nature and infinite in possibilities. In doing so, we literally see with new eyes, speak with inspired tongues, and act in ways that are strong in truth, gentle in manner, soft in wonder, and deep in love.

Let's look at the dichotomies of who we are in broad strokes: Are we contracted, or are we open?

Do we judge ourselves and/or others, or do we remember that each of us has karmic conditions to play out during this lifetime and that those karmas will come to fruition regardless of what we do or think? There is tremendous freedom in stepping away from our sense that we know best and how could this other person be as (fill in the blank) as they are. Once we become aware, we will do whatever it takes to resolve the karma we came into this lifetime to resolve and to have the utmost compassion for others as they navigate the vagaries of their lives.

Do we see ourselves as small, inferior, defeated, and victim to our circumstances, or do we use whatever is wounding us as a catalyst to grow, expand, and step into our sacred gentleness and greatness?

Do we see our lives in monochromatic colors, or are we constantly aware of the incredible brilliance and beauty in everyone and everything around us daily?

We are all a part of the infinite cosmic Oneness that is of everything and everyone. Some of us call this energy God, others of us call it Brahman, and more of us today call it the Divine Feminine –the Healer of the World.

You may have other such contradictions residing in you. Once you name them, you can begin to become free of them and then walk in the direction of your true Self.

The old ways, fears, irritations, and questions about who we are and who others seem to be are signs of too much focus on our outer lives and the dramatic enticements we are always navigating. When we live only in such states, we doubt we can cope, we may cope in ways that hurt ourselves and/or others, and we can develop psychological and physical conditions that draw us further into malaise, feelings of hopelessness, anger, addictions, etc. Often too, the sense that we are defeated and incapable of change is exactly what leads us to begin our search for something more, something better, something that draws us to look inside ourselves for different and better answers. And this longing is what will bring you home to your sacred soul-infused Self.

We may begin to find answers in messages from wise friends and teachers or a nudge to try something new and more uplifting and transformative instead of what is familiar. When we pay attention to these surprising new possibilities, we open to our inner world. This world is vast, amazing, and filled with possibilities beyond what our ordinary minds can fathom. Your inner world is free from all suffering, distortions, inadequacies, and fear. When you enter within your sacred Self over and over,

you will relax and become more peaceful, flowing, loving, and connected to your precious Soul Self. You also will realize that you are not alone and that, in fact, you are filled with this most amazing spirit that is of the sacred enlivened within you. Then you will know that you contain infinite possibilities beyond the ordinary, but which can inform your usual days in expanded, unexpected, and soul-filled ways.

We enter within with such practices as spiritual readings, contemplating, journaling, meditating, and learning from others who easily embody these states.

These are ancient ways made anew each time we invite them in we invite them in to explore and expand within our beings. We find joy, enthusiasm, creativity, possibilities, loving-kindness, and always awarenesses of how to shift from the lesser and ordinary ways into those which expand our very being.

As we practice moving from less conscious states to expanded sacred ones in all our ordinary actions, we find that we deepen in love, that our words carry the truth of our spirit, that we are strengthened in the fullness of who we are,, and that we act with clarity, assuredness, compassion, and an abundance of love.

May you enjoy your unique journey as you increasingly live your sacredness.

Namaste

Elaine Hoem had a long career as a psychotherapist focusing on Transpersonal Psychology, the psychology of the spirit. She also studied yoga and its philosophies. She has been a meditation teacher, a retreat leader, and a life coach. Elaine is fascinated with people, how they love, and how they transform into more beautiful versions of themselves.

Elaine wrote much of Everyday Soul Dances while living at Lake Tahoe. She now lives in Reno, NV, and continues her work by introducing others to the Everyday Soul Dance ways. www: everydaysouldances.com

Shai

By Phyllis King

Edited by Dina Morrone

Shai Tubali is a leading authority in the field of self-development and self-empowerment. His writings and teachings combine psychology, philosophy, Yogic traditions, and Eastern thought into powerful processes of inner transformation. Born in Israel in 1976, by age 19, he was an active journalist and columnist in Israel's major newspapers. He also wrote and directed a multi-awarded short film, After The Future. He has completed his Ph.D. in philosophy in mysticism, self-transformation, and Western philosophy at the University of Leeds, UK.

You have been writing since you were twelve. How did you write about the meaning of life at such a young age?

I was driven to write without understanding what I was doing. I found myself writing poems and essays about the meaning of life. I didn't have the psychological maturity to grasp life's meaning or the text I was crafting. There was an innate power guiding me. I come from the world

of academic philosophy. Plato talked about soul remembrance. Things that concern the soul are things you are being reminded of rather than knowledge you acquire. This calling was a drive to follow what I already knew.

Did your family cultivate this in you?

They did not understand what I was doing. They had a certain admiration and respect. They did not appreciate my passions or inclinations. I felt like a little alien observing my classmates deeply engaged in human matters while I was elsewhere.

You became a journalist at 16. I could write in complex and sophisticated ways. At 19, a prominent publishing house in Israel discovered one of my stories. I had given one of my stories to a friend. She took it to her mother. Her mother was a professor at the university. She sent it to a publisher. Several days later, I received a call. They wanted to sign a contract with me for my short stories.

That does not happen, at least in the United States. We should mention that currently, you have 23 books, and you're probably writing another.

Yes, there is always some work in progress. I am always writing.

You combine psychological and spiritual with ancient wisdom, philosophy, and science. Is it even possible to do?

This is a profound question because it concerns my life work. From the beginning, there was an initial spiritual awakening that has become the seasonless inspiration in my life. Soon after this initial awakening, I told a friend that spiritual enlightenment is everything all at once. I did not understand what I was saying. There was a sense that all dimensions, the essential truths, are like facets of one diamond. If you look at the diamond from one particular facet and follow it all the way, you will reach absolute reality. If you choose another facet, you will discover the absolute reality. But they are different dimensions. Because of this innate passion or vision, I found myself constantly spreading out in every direction in this lifetime. There is a sense of constant expansion with the wish to enlighten, to illuminate all imaginable dimensions of human existence. I believe that there is a concealed light in every human dimension, whether it is the lowest or the highest. It is this passion to extricate the divine essence and realize it.

I love that explanation. You said you are here, not for yourself. What does that mean?

That is a powerful point you are making. I think what took place at the age of 23 was the dissolution of my autobiography. This was an experience where my personal self discontinued itself. It has to do with my understanding of Buddhist teachings and Hindu teachings about the illusion of the personal self. The idea that we are becoming more and are continuously becoming more of

ourselves is an illusion. There is no becoming. That's an image we hold in our minds. This image shattered at the age of 23. I have been completely unable to imagine myself in a state of becoming a part of time, as a part of space.

Why would I be here? There is no reason to be in form. The Buddha says we usually take form because we have a certain grasp, a certain clinging to experiences, and the possibility of becoming something and achieving something.

For me, as I release this grasping, clinging, and achieving, it makes me available. This is the beginning because you are now starting to discover life without the obscuring personal self, and only then does life reveal itself.

That is such an extraordinary explanation of that perception. Did something precipitate this awakening?

Yes, there are certain profound positive experiences, which I refer to as 'positive traumas', that leave imprints in our body, mind and heart. At 21, I began to seek spirituality, and I came across the world of transcendental meditation.

Along with the teachings of Osho and the books of Jiddu Krishnamurti, I came to a basic and approachable course on transcendental meditation. The teacher abruptly mentioned that if you follow this, you will achieve oneness with the universe. These words were like a cosmic bell ringing and reverberating throughout the entire universe. I asked him to repeat what he meant by becoming one with the universe. He explained a little. I knew I had to realize this for myself. This was a question of life and death for me. From that moment forward, I did not care about anything else. I followed this so passionately and totally that after two years, I was fortunate to receive this vision.

You're a teacher, a philosopher, an academic, a scientist. You've embraced all dimensions that a human being can embrace. Do you have a partner or a family, or do you just belong to people in general?

That is an important point. When I was 26, I had the urge to engage in human affairs and challenge myself by being a part of the human family and creating a family myself. I married and gave birth to a child who is now 19 years old. A wonderful girl. But at a certain point, my vocation, feeling, and drive to belong to everyone overcame these primordial urges. At this point, I live as a celibate, and I live alone. This is pure joy and bliss and beauty. My ex-wife is my best friend to this day, and she is also a student and a collaborator. We have the most beautiful relationship I could ever imagine. That is a real blessing.

I noticed you have a new course about sexuality and love. You said it is not a good time to open up to love. What is your view about sexuality and opening our hearts to love?

That's a huge door that you're opening. We could access it from different directions. First, it should be clear that a true spiritual path will always focus on overcoming this sense that we are just half of something and are seeking to become complete by adding another half. In the same way, we are looking for a realization to become an autonomous source that generates its own uncaused emotions and feelings.

This means that everything we've ever hoped to receive from our surroundings, we can grant ourselves through the

power of our consciousness. We need to learn how to transform the heart and how to mature ourselves psychologically, humanly, and spiritually in a way that we are able.

Of course, we can engage in relationships if we want to, but we don't have to. In the same way, we don't have to engage in sexuality. Sexuality can be an extension, an expression of what I call our raw sexual energy. But raw sexual energy doesn't have to be used for these purposes. This does not mean that we become nonsexual. I am a complete sexual being, while I am celibate. Sexuality, in its transformed state, is an immense life force that generates tireless joy of life, passion and love, and compassion. This is how I would approach it initially.

I think most people would feel they're giving something up or suffering a loss to achieve these ends.

This is a perceptive point. Yes, this is the thing- true renunciation is when you're given something better than what you had. So yes, you are renouncing something, but not because we are letting go of one thing, but because we prefer something higher, more tremendous, more authentic. I usually recommend that people not renounce it as a form of a spiritual ideal.

I shouldn't engage in sexuality, for instance, because sexuality is low. If you focus on increasing your spiritual awareness and your meditative capacity and spend more time with spiritual masters, at a certain point, you will realize you have renounced without attempting to do so.

What we don't understand about meditation is that the process of struggle, the conflict that we have with meditation, and the distractions, are all a part of the practice and not outside of the practice.

This is natural, spontaneous renunciation. I have never chosen to be celibate. I've never thought, oh, now I want to be a monk because I will become admirable. I simply looked at sexuality and realized my body didn't want it anymore. Why? Because it was now suffused with bliss. It was steeped in such immense bliss and satisfaction that I did not need physical touch, you see?

You explained it perfectly. Why do we resist meditation?

I think it's wise to start with the negative because when we understand the negative, the positive is revealed by itself. We resist meditation because we maintain a certain ideal about meditation. When it becomes frustrating in actual practice, we become disappointed or disillusioned. We sit for meditation and quickly become distracted. We say, "Meditation is not for me. I'm not the type that can meditate," and so on. What we don't understand about meditation is that the process of struggle, the conflict that we have with meditation, and the distractions, are all a part of the practice and not outside of the practice. We are not thrown out of the practice. We are practicing meditation. What is meditation in actuality? It is the understanding of the mind, the understanding of the way the

mind works, including the way the mind creates its imagined problems. If you enter meditation embracing whatever the practice will bring and invite the difficulties and obstacles gladly, it will enable you to study your mind. By studying your mind, you will liberate your mind. That is a whole different approach, which includes the difficulty of meditation.

The resistance is part of it. The struggle is part of it. Exactly. Your resistance is part of what you're observing. Suddenly meditation becomes associated with learning more about yourself, and it becomes fascinating. It's not a form of discipline for quieting the mind down, but it is a form of learning more about yourself. Then you can understand perhaps I resist because I cannot imagine myself existing without the world or without relating to something or to certain objects. Without being engaged in the world, I am nothing. Perhaps I am afraid of this nothing. I'm afraid of this, of having no anchor, having no place to put myself or to identify myself. I think this is why we continuously engage in action because we don't know who we are without action. Remove relationships, remove actions. And who are we?

Another area you teach about is the chakras. Why do you focus on the chakras?

When I was 33, after seven years of studies with an American yogi, I was initiated into a certain Hindu tradition called the Nityananda tradition. Its founder was Bhagawan Nityananda, a great yogi who lived at the beginning of the 20th century. Its main practice is the understanding of the subtle body and the role of chakras, and the activation of Kundalini. After this initiation, I began to realize that chakras are so much more than these energy centers. When awakened, they lead us to spiritual liberation because that's the traditional role of the chakras. You climb the ladder of these energy centers until you reach the 7th chakra, and that is the completion of your Kundalini awakening. Aside from that, chakras are the ultimate map for navigating our emotional and psychological maturation process. Chakras show us a way of life.

One of the most fascinating things about the chakras is that chakras even tell us what our personality type is. In other words, chakras are a typology of personalities. And this is my book. The Seven Chakra Personality Types.

You have over 23 books on your website in addition to the chakra books. Are you currently teaching these as courses?

Well, there is a reservoir of online courses, which are programs that I've taught in the past. I usually do not repeat myself. I don't teach the same course or the same subject. Every year there are new courses about different dimensions because there is so much to reveal and so much to fulfill. If you want to embrace life with all your heart with all your mind, I think one lifetime is not enough.

I assume you're always expanding into yourself.

That is correct. Always with ten

books in mind! Sometimes I need to relax because I do need to respect the body's limitations and the brain's capacity. I do teach publicly. I teach continuously. I speak to groups. I don't work one on one because that is just too much. But I did make a certain significant step lately, and it was to create a practicing community. It is open to everyone. This community practices the different practices that I've taught and developed throughout the years. Anyone can join and register on the website. This is an online community.

You have a YouTube channel as well. Is there something you'd like to share with EDEN readers we haven't touched upon? A message of encouragement. I would like to say that sometimes we are thrilled about visiting different countries and different exotic places. We think that external life, the life of objects, is a fascinating place to be. We are right. But we do need to understand that the inner universe is just as vast and, in fact, infinite. There are so many inner doors we can open. I'd encourage everyone to begin this journey into themselves in whatever way or form. Our work on the unconscious is the tip of the iceberg. Even if you begin your journey into yourself, you will discover that there is no end to this journey. You can travel and travel and never find the edge. You are infinite.

Shai, it has been my honor and pleasure to be with you today. Thank you, Phyllis. Your questions have been so intriguing. So delightful.

Special Thank you to: Carolin Saage https://carolinsaage.com/aboutme/ or https://www.instagram. com/carolin.saage/?hl=en.

THE AUTHOR BRINGS COMPASSION TO ANIMAL, INSECT, AND BIRD CHARACTERS with

Grandpa Bernie's Bedtime Stories celebrates the author's 100th birthday

a new edition of print & new Audiobook

By Diane Lilli

The magic formula for the fountain of youth, according to author Bernie Ditchik is a dash of optimism, a dose of imagination, and a heaping tablespoon of love and empathy for everyone and everything.

Grandpa Bernie, who will be celebrating his 100th birthday this coming January 28, is as special and unique as his beloved children's books are. His timeless stories of friendship, cooperation, and understanding be-

tween people from all backgrounds, humans with animals, and even insects with birds, subtly expose and teaches the readers and the listeners important life lessons in an engaging way.

His daughter, Ellen Mandel, remembers when she and her siblings were very young, their dad would sit on their beds just before they went to sleep. Instead of reading someone else's stories to them, he'd make up the most wonderful, exciting stories imaginable.

Grandpa Bernie reads with his great grand-niece, Malina.

As the family grew with grandchildren, grandnieces, and nephews, the tradition of "Grandpa Bernie's Bedtime Stories" continued with a new generation treated to his fantastical, fascinating tales, set in a world that was brimming with talking, caring animals and creatures of all kinds, who happily befriended children.

Bernie never envisioned himself to be an author until he was 72 years old when, at the urging of his family, he started writing down his delightful stories for his grandchildren.

Today,this effervescent, stillwriting 99-year-old looks forward to his upcoming 100th birthday and is still sharing his stories with family and friends.

Grandpa Bernie's powerful children's stories open empathetic, unique new ways of considering animals, birds, and insects, living and enjoying full lives in these tales. Every short story offers a universality among humans and all living creatures and shows, by example, a wholehearted acceptance of everyone and everything.

Bernie said that portraying lovable, loving, and intelligent beings was a cornerstone of his stories.

"I always wrote compassionate stories, and those characters

became real to me as I created them," said Bernie. "Whenever I think about them, I feel very emotional. No one character is my favorite, as I love them all".

As he approaches his centurion milestone, this tireless author said that he always trusted his imagination to lead the way, as he hand-wrote his stories on his yellow notepads, sitting in his favorite chair in his living room.

"When I wrote, my imagination guided me along," said Grandpa Bernie. "I followed it wherever it went, and it led me to great places and characters".

Asked about his writing process and obvious love for all creatures, Grandpa Bernie had some words of wisdom for anyone seeking to understand his timeless source of happiness.

"I am very lucky always to see the good in people and to be optimistic by nature," he said. Albert Einstein certainly agreed with him about the power of the imagination. As Einstein once famously said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Grandpa Bernie's Bedtime Stories may be written for children, but his tales will make even the most jaded adult feel a delightful shiver of happy childhood memories.

"For me, it has to come from within. You let your imagination go free. Imagination is a wonderful thing to possess. And I am lucky to be an optimist." ~Grandpa Bernie ,,

Bernie with his twin brother, Charles.

A photo of author Bernie Ditchik at the young age of 99

As Bernie sees it, writers, much like children, will always benefit from paying attention to their imagination. Being an optimist won't hurt, either.

Speaking about his prolific creativity, he said, "For me, it has to come from within. You let your imagination go free. Imagination is a wonderful thing to possess. And I am lucky to be an optimist."

Red Sky Presents CEO and publisher Micky Hyman, who has spent a legendary career as an attorney and in the entertainment industry as the president of MGM/UA HOME VIDEO, general counsel to CBS RECORDS GROUP, and EVP of Business Affairs at CBS Video Enterprises, among many other roles, said that he first read Bernie's manuscript when the author was in his nineties.

"A dear friend, Sheila Cromwell, approached me and said, "I hear you are starting a publishing company; I have a client who wrote a children's book. Would you be interested in looking at it?" I said certainly. But a lot was going on at the time, and the manuscript was at the bottom of a pile that I hadn't reached. A month or two went by, and Sheila called again, asking me if she had a chance to look at the manuscript. She also said to me, "You know, he's 92 years old."

Hearing that news, said Micky, made him do a double-take, and he dug through his pile to find the stories.

After reading them, Micky thought to himself, "Wait a minute. The letter this author gets from me is not going to be a rejection letter. The stories had heart, and the emotion was

just great. His simple stories and empathy are what really impressed me. As a publisher, this was really good content and had the potential to be used across not only publishing but into licensing, merchandise, TV, etc."

Micky is now issuing a new edition of the collection and publishing the first Audiobook for "Grandpa Bernie's Bedtime Stories."

"I am so thrilled and very, very happy Bernie has let us be part of his life over the years," said Hyman. 'This publishing venture is a labor of love for everyone in our company that's working on it. It has the potential to be a classic because it's simple and direct, written with love. Grandpa Bernie's Bedtime Stories will be read by people who love to read them and who love the people that they're reading them to."

As the author, he said he is back sitting in his favorite chair with his yellow pad and working on his next beloved masterpiece.

"I'm planning to put together a second book of bedtime stories soon," said Bernie.

The celebration for 'Grandpa Bernie's' 100th birthday is being kicked off June 1 and runs through 2024. Red Sky first published Grandpa Bernie's Bedtime Stories Presents in 2016. A revised edition is now being released with a new introduction by the author and an Audiobook is being published this month, produced and directed by Grammy winner Taro Meyer.

To purchase a copy of Grandpa Bernie's Bedtime Stories, go to amazon.com or visit www.redskypresents.com

issues Juggling the

By Matthew Kenslow

Iview Autism as if it is an enhancer plugged into my brain, enhancing my perception in life, thereby making things very easy or very hard. Autism has given me a different lens through which to view the world.

When I was three, I was diagnosed with a speech delay and was consequently enrolled in the Preschool Intervention Program later that year. This followed three years of special day classes, in the middle of which I got further tested and formally diagnosed with “Asperger’s Syndrome” under DSM IV. (Nowadays, “Asperger’s” is no longer a diagnosis, but simply “Autism.”) I was mainstreamed in third grade and was placed in regular classrooms.

Throughout my years in elementary school, I was trying to figure out why I felt so different from most of my classmates and why some of them treated me badly. In kindergarten, a couple of classmates yelled at me to go away and that I was not their friend. As I got older, several students wanted me to go away, one of whom resorted to chucking a handball at my face. Another student called me the same name incessantly. These early recollections lived with me as I grew older. Why? I never did anything wrong to them

By middle school and onward, the amount of discrimination significantly subsided.

At the same time, I was very shy. I waited for my friends to come to me themselves. I made hundreds of friends by high school graduation, but alas, I rarely spent time with them. In junior year, I tried my hardest to gain the confidence to put my foot forward. It helped a little.

I had other struggles, such as a lack of concentration. It is hard to shut my mind off when I am trying to read, take an assessment, do homework, and go to sleep at night. In all my school years, I had pull-outs for speech therapy and R.S.P. (Resource Specialist Program).

My mother was a number-one advocate for me to my teachers, and my teachers were very supportive of me, helping me fit in. My mother taught me a lot of skills, from calligraphy to cooking, to driving, to balancing a checkbook. My high school R.S.P. teacher helped us become our own advocates, speaking up for ourselves. This significantly prepared me for college and adulthood.

I spent five years attending Orange Coast College, eventually getting an Associate of Science degree in chemistry. I spent the next two years at Vanguard University, finishing my undergrad and obtaining a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry. While attending these two institutions, I made more friends, had professors who cared about me and had accommodations to help me succeed.

After completing my undergrad, I enrolled in Vanguard’s credential program and became a student teacher. I student taught Enhanced Mathematics at my former middle school, Ensign Intermediate, of Newport-Mesa Unified School

District. Less than three months after beginning my student teaching experience, I became a substitute teacher for days I was not student teaching. It soon became my daily motivation. It brought me joy each day to enter a classroom to either student teach or substitute teach. To date, I have substituted in over twenty schools around NMUSD and am usually begged by several dozen students to come back. Teachers whom I subbed for frequently tell me how much their students liked me and want me to come back. While I substitute teach, I reward their good behavior with “magic” tricks and juggling.

From elementary school to the present day, I continued to develop skills with which to entertain people and ultimately make a difference in their lives. In third grade, I started practicing piano. In fifth grade, I began juggling. I began juggling at my local elementary school in my sophomore year and have since performed at assemblies and events. In 2018, I developed my juggling analogy. If you make a small mistake or a big mistake in life, and something drops (at this point, I drop one on purpose), do not give up. Bend down, pick it up, and keep going, and you will do amazing things.

As a person with Autism, I can testify how easy it is to be frightened and angry inside, accumulating many things, such as stories of discrimination, being teased, or wishing something happened better. People with Autism, like me, might run into a room and stay there for a while. What we are doing is processing things by ourselves. These are times when we need to be alone, and it is a trait found in Autism. When the time is right, we will release the things that are troubling us. However, we might neglect to do so, leading to a depressing feeling of hurt and loneliness.

I was in high school when I began advocating for Autism Awareness and Acceptance, eventually appealing for everybody to put aside their differences and competition and come together. Nowadays, I ask people without “disabilities” to help those who do have a “disability” feel included. To accomplish this, talk with them and find out what they like to do. (I placed “disability” in quotes because a “disability” could be viewed as a “different ability” to live life.)

In my first semester of college in 2013, I began a new writing project which eventually – long story short (no pun intended) – led me to publish Juggling the Issues: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of 23.

With this book, I was able to encourage the entire world. I appeared on the news, radio, websites, magazines, and blogs (et cetera). At the same time, my social media accounts began to grow, with 80,000 subscribers on YouTube and a million followers on Instagram.

I count all of this as a tremendous victory for Autism. The reason why this is important to me is because my life has been quite a roller coaster. It was filled with love from family and friends, but it was simultaneously imbued with trials and tribulations. From 2014 to 2023, I still experienced discrimination. I have been yelled at many times by people in vehicles just for walking around in public. I have been cussed at, stared at, laughed at, ran away from, followed by a vehicle, and was nearly beaten by a name-calling individual with his skateboard in 2022.

In 2020, I overheard a parent telling his child not to communicate with me, even though I was a distance away.

In 2015, I overheard a father tell his son I was a “weirdo” or something just for nonchalantly walking past them.

In 2017, a father expressed his annoyance with me just for walking down a public park. His young daughter got nervous about what he did. Two days thereafter, I was inside a Ralphs grocery market, and two teenagers were laughing and making fun of me. However, I later invited them to go ahead of me in line, to which their countenance expressed remorse for judging a book by its cover.

Nevertheless, I always kept these adversities from winning! I came to terms with my limitations, never allowing the label of “Autism” to limit me. I am currently working toward a Master’s in Education and ultimately starting a career as a middle-school math teacher.

I tell everybody that if I could do all the things that I could do – get a book published, earn a medal equivalent to the rank of Eagle Scout, get two science degrees, earn a full-math credential, become a substitute teacher who often hears “best sub,” become a social media influencer, play the piano, juggle, et cetera – then You Can Too, Plus More!

Everybody has a unique skill set and different levels of mastery per skill. In my Be Number One analogy, I tell several people to be number one. My definition of being number one is that you persevere on your goals and never give up on obtaining those goals. Be the best that you can be, setting standards on your own self.

I am a proponent of not just Autism Awareness but Autism Acceptance and Appreciation. This world will be better once everybody puts aside their differences and competitions, comes together, holds civilized conversations, and makes others feel included.

Disability or not, anybody can do whatever they set their heart and mind to do. Behind the disability, we have a heart.

Matthew Kenslow has grown up with a form of Autism that was once referred to as Asperger’s syndrome. Life has been an adventure as he pieced together all of his surroundings amid both praises and taunts. His mission is to teach others firsthand how people with Autism interpret things differently from the rest of the world. He feels he has been blessed with the gifts to juggle, play piano and recall facts about American presidents, geography, science, and mathematics. He juggles at elementary schools and encourages the students to never give up on their passions. He has earned the Gold Medal of Achievement (which is equivalent to the rank of Eagle Scout) through Royal Rangers, a program he has been in since he was 5. Now, he is giving back to children and teenagers, teaching and mentoring them with a wide set of skills and knowledge. He graduated from Orange Coast College with an Associate of Science degree in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the Vanguard University of Southern California. He aspires to be a middle school math teacher. Recently, he earned a full math credential after student teaching Enhanced Mathematics at his former middle school, Ensign Intermediate School. Currently, he is going for a Master of Arts degree in Education at Vanguard University and is an employed substitute teacher for NMUSD, often being called by students “the best sub” and begged by them to come back the next day or to sub for their class soon.

Frame 39 is a powerful new literary novel, now available in all bookstores and selling well in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Poland.

With the following passage, putting us in the realm of magic realism, author Rick Shands gives the reader a hint as to how to read this extraordinary novel: Frame 39. It is a story of an architect in search of a design for world ecumenism, of a filmmaker in search of a screenplay, of the nature of spiritual spaces and places, a collage of a myriad of voices from New York to Kyoto, all searching simultaneously for their place in this world - reaching out, building up, carving out, creating, interpreting, and re-interpreting - a world in timeless flux.

An architect by profession, Shands has lived and worked in 9 different countries, including his native America: England, Sweden, Malta, and most of the Arabian peninsula, and he is now residing, again, in London. Through all his travels, he has built up a view of the world that he now shares in the form of a novel, generated, he has said, out of an enigmatic epigraph "floating at the beginning of Michael Schamberg's 1971 book Guerilla Television" that lay percolating in his mind all these years.

pirituality

By Diane Lilli

Believing and knowing, certainty and uncertainty, and the search for s

Photo by Dario Veronesi

Tell me the story after Fez. Not the script, I mean your story."

Jennifer lay looking for patterns in the faint brushstroke clouds. "Imagine an altarpiece… like an altarpiece. Like a Mondrian triptych painting, divided into rectangles of varying sizes, all fitted together," she said, drawing crossing lines in the sky, "Everything I'm about to tell you is happening at the same time, in one frame or another."

And so she told him of a ballerina on a high wire. One end of the wire was anchored into a cliffside; the other side disappeared into an intense light. The ballerina had a pen in one hand and a book in the other. Every other page in the book was blank, and every so often, she opened it and either read or wrote. She walked carefully, with determination, kneeling regularly as she moved. Below her, a city was full of the hum and honk of city life. Some people shouted for her to come down, some for her to fall, and most paid no attention at all. She was not oblivious to them, but her concentration was immense.

She painted a picture of walking through the white marble of Delphi two thousand years ago and hearing the announcements from the priests of what the oracle had said that day, of hearing a muffled high-pitched female voice that she intuitively connected with, and knew the priests were bending the truth. Crowds built then dissipated, and the day

turned to night. She sat by the evening campfires and could see Artemis silently moving by among the trees, the voiceless scamper of her prey the only sounds out there. Travelers, pilgrims, some with name tags, sat a while and talked, then moved on.

She told him of perching in the upper reaches of the Hagia Sophia, one of four winged harpies. She described how she would swoop down, feeling the freedom of wings and the overwhelming responsibility of hearing the thoughts of all those who came into the space, not knowing that they continued to exist outside that gilded light-filled room that was, in fact, her cage, or indeed that there was any world beyond that one. She described the light, how it came and went, sometimes quickly on and off; sometimes, it was dark for hours. This happened with a regularity she had gotten used to over the centuries.

She told him of black-garbed men who parted mutely like the sea as she walked right through massive stones into the earth to be filled with the Spirit. There was only one lone prophet able to actually see her, and she turned and looked at him just before entering the earth through the cracks, taking messages of hope with her, and he nodded in acknowledgment.

She flew Bartolo to a desolate land of rock and shadow, where she sat atop a mountain as the earth tilted towards the light, like a child turning its head at the sound of its mother's voice.

A story of an architect in search of a design for world ecumenism, of a filmmaker in search of a screenplay, of the nature of spiritual spaces and places.

"…What do you think makes a sacred space?"

"That's a big question," said Zahira, looking at doubled Jennifers in the reflection of the window. She turned back to Jennifer and

Caption: Illustration: La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona. Antoní Gaudí, architect. Photo: Rick Shands

Asked, "Do you know how a hinge works? Like on a door?" Jennifer nodded. "A hinge has three parts. One leaf is attached to the door frame; the metal comes out and, like fingers, wraps around." She took one long, slender hand and demonstrated this. "The other leaf does the same, attached to the door, but the fingers are – how shall I say? – complementary. Where there is space on the one, there is a finger on the other, back and forth. And they pass each other perfectly." She brought her other hand up to demonstrate this, interlocking her curled fingers. "And then, in the middle, is the pin that each one embraces, and that holds the two together. I think sacred spaces are like the hinge on the door. The one on the frame is a, oh, cosmic duplicate of the other. And when we enter such spaces, the two embrace us. And we, in our consciousness, hold the two together. We are the pin. The

Leaf on the door moves with the door, with the mutability of a changing, material world, while the leaf on the frame, the cosmic one, has always been and will always be, and yet it forms itself and complements our humble attempts here."

Born in Princeton, New Jersey, and raised on the Jersey Shore, Rick first moved to the far side of the Atlantic to study architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

Returning to the United States, he moved to New York City to complete a master's in architecture at Columbia University. But the seeds of a life abroad had been sown in London. Rick spent the 1990s mostly in Stockholm, where work took him further abroad to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

These assignments led to further work 'abroad' from Sweden, with three years in Malta - which were formative for Frame 39 - followed by: London again, then Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Oman, and Riyadh, before a return to London, where he now continues to reside.

A colleague once accurately described him as a 'peripatetic American architect," not unlike the journeymen master masons of old. His transition from architecture to literature grew from an abiding fascination with the idea of architecture being like stage sets for innumerable, indeterminate dramas. Frame 39 grew out of his numerous travels, his sojourn in Malta, and his time in the multicultural milieu of Abu Dhabi, where he began the writing.

To purchase Frame 39, visit any local bookstore or order online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

To learn more about the author or Frame 39, visit https://frame39.co.uk/

Illustration: La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona. Antoní Gaudí, architect.

Photo: Rick Shands

EBOLA'S LIPID ENVELOPE

HOW

TWO INTREPID DOCTORS WENT TO WEST AFRICA TO DESTROY EBOLA

By Marc J. Seifer Ph.D.,

Photo by streamice/AdobeStock

Over the past month, Ebola has traveled from Guinea's remote forest regions near the Liberia and Sierra Leone borders and has already killed 83 people, including four in Conakry (capital of Senegal). Now with 13 cases in [this] densely populated capital of two million people, health officials say the challenge of containing the outbreak has become more acute. Ebola has killed hundreds in rural Central Africa over the past four decades, but it is unusual for it to reach urban centers. ~ New York Times, April 1, 2014

On March 23, 2014, the World Health Organization reported that this West African outbreak was "the largest Ebola virus epidemic in history with over 28,000 reported cases and over 11,000 deaths within the countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone." Fear rippled throughout the world that if Ebola broke out in those three countries, maybe there would be no way of stopping it. At the outset, in the first few months of 2014, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone were facing a similar experience that we are now facing with Covid-19. At that time, Ron Klain, President Barack Obama, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and many other officials had no idea of precisely how contagious Ebola was. But one doctor here in America saw a solution.

Essentially, ozone therapy improves oxygen delivery utilization, kills pathogens, and modulates the immune system. There simply is not anything like it in medicine anywhere.

~Robert Rowen, MD

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, with a medical

degree from the University of California at San Francisco, Rowen, who at that point had a 28-year career as an Ozone Therapist, knew that ozone therapy would kill this virus. When I asked if his religious upbringing played a role in deciding to go to Africa to deal with the pandemic, Dr. Rowen responded that it was not a matter of "charity" but a matter of conscience. "It was the right thing to do. I knew I had a viable treatment for the disease, and withholding my talents would be a sin."

In 2006, he began to put all the pieces of an important puzzle together. At that time, he was investigating such viruses as West Nile and also SARS, which were two coronaviruses, which Covid-19 happens to be as well. SARS erupted in China in 2002 and spread to four other countries the following year. What Dr. Rowen realized was that ozone would disable the coronavirus in two major ways—by disrupting its ability to bond to a host and also by punching holes in its outer lipid cysteine envelope. Dr. Rowen also knew that ozone performs other functions, such as helping to trigger the release of various antibodies. In addition, the injection of oxygen, which was part of the therapy, would aid in helping to boost the function of the immune system.

Thus, when Ebola broke out, although it was not a coronavirus, Dr. Rowen studied its construction and realized that it too had, in his words, "the same Achilles' heel," a cysteine envelope (outer skin) that would be vulnerable to attack by ozone therapy. Even though he knew how deadly this virus was, he was undeterred.

Following in a tradition that harks back to Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Rowen traveled to West Africa to teach medical personnel their ozone therapy so that they could stop this horrible pandemic from spreading.

During our interview, Dr. Rowen said that he was also concerned that Ebola could possibly "jump continents," so part of his motivation was to protect the homeland as well.

In planning the trip, Dr. Rowen, who was located in California, decided to call one of his closest associates, Dr. Howard Robins, a podiatrist from New York, who had at that time worked for 25 years as an Ozone Therapist. "I'm going to go to Africa to fight the Ebola outbreak there, Howard," he said. "Do you want to come along?"

Dr. Robins's immediate response was, "Are you out of your #%&*%! Mind? No way."

As Dr. Robins was in the process of hanging up, Dr. Rowen said, "Well, I'm going anyway."

The duo had met several years earlier at an ozone therapy conference in Kuala Lumpur and quickly bonded. Both had traveled to Malaysia on their own

dime as invited speakers to a conference on anti-aging. At a similar age, they both were connected to their Jewish upbringing, which emphasized that one should lead a life "to do good works." They also were in a field outside the mainstream, and so they felt much like brothers. But Rowen had another reason for calling. He wanted to use the particular ozone technique that Robins had perfected, which was different than the technique that is generally touted in Europe and America.

During the present Covid-19 pandemic, ozone therapy case studies, and clinical trials are taking place in Ibiza, Spain, Wuhan, China, Sierra Leone, and Italy. Except for Sierra Leone, the other three countries use a method called MAH, which stands for Major Autohemotherapy. During this procedure, a patient's blood is withdrawn, treated with approximately 97% oxygen and 3% ozone, and then reintroduced to the patient. This therapy in the Ibiza, Spain, clinical trial showed significantly shorter stays in the hospital for Covid-19 patients—one week for the treatment group of nine individuals as compared to four weeks for nine in the control group.

They wanted to cure the Ebola virus infection and, through that publicity, sought to educate that country and the world, including America, that ozone therapy was a safe way to disarm viral outbreaks.

Since Ebola was so deadly, Dr. Rowen wanted to use another method that was much less complicated, faster to implement, and would greatly reduce the chance of a medical doctor or nurse getting infected by contaminated blood. The technique that Dr. Robins perfected is called DIV, or Direct Intravenous. In this therapy, the two gasses, 97% oxygen and 3% ozone, are injected directly into the patient's bloodstream. DIV is widely used, but many Ozone Therapists prefer the MAH method. Where MAH takes about 20-25 minutes or even longer and involves much more medical equipment, including canisters, to contain the infected blood, the DIV method does not need these canisters, and the entire process can take place in three or four minutes. When dealing with large amounts of infected individuals, it was obvious to Dr. Rowen that his friend's method was better.

Dr. Robins had also further perfected this technique, which he calls HR-DIV (Howard Robins DIV), by making use of the smallest needle available, one used on newborn babies. A tourniquet is used to raise a vein, a tiny butterfly needle is inserted, the tourniquet is released, and the gasses are slowly introduced into the bloodstream. Dr. Robins began his practice in 1989 and performed over 40,000 treatments of MAH before he decided to switch to the DIV method. Since that time, he has averaged 200 treatments per week, which works out to over 200,000 times by 2014. There have been no embolisms, no serious side effects and no patient of his has ever died. In Rowen's case, he had performed "tens of thousands of ozone treatments by this time with

complete safety."

When asked about the inviolability of the DIV method, out of the literally hundreds of thousands of treatments Robins has given and overseen, only a handful of cases have had any type of allergic response, and some patients have experienced discomfort or irritation to a vein, but overall, Dr. Robins states emphatically, his method is safe. Compare that to the hundreds of thousands of Covid patients who have died on ventilators or the numerous debilitating side effects and even deaths associated with the many drugs that are advertised on television for various illnesses. Either through the MAH method or the DIV method, ozone therapy, which has been around for well over 75 years, has been performed millions of times worldwide, and the number of deaths is merely a handful.

Dr. Robins told me that he decided to call Rowen back in less than a minute. "I knew, of course, that ozone therapy would kill all kinds of viruses, so I agreed to accompany him to Africa because I didn't want him to get all the glory." Stressing that they were "not going to take a dime" for the venture, the two doctors received about ten ozone generators donated by Longevity Research, worth about $20,000, and raised additional funds for other medical equipment. Covering their own travel expenses, the two doctors were not in this for the money. They wanted to cure the Ebola virus infection and, through that publicity, sought to educate that country and the world, including America, that ozone therapy was a safe way to disarm viral outbreaks.

Marc J. Seifer, Ph.D., author of more than 100 articles and a dozen books, including the acclaimed Wizard: The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla Having starred in the 5-part limited series The Tesla Files, he has given lectures at Brandeis University, Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England, West Point Military Academy, and the United Nations. Seifer has been featured in The Washington Post, Scientific American, MIT's Technology Review, New York Times, The Economist, Nature, and New Scientist and has appeared on Coast-to-Coast AM, the BBC, NPR's All Things Considered, and the History Channel.

https://www.marcseifer.com/

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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

ByTammy Billups

ay hower w s

The term wayshower is being used more frequently as humanity continues its evolutionary journey toward embracing and embodying higher levels of consciousness. Wayshowers are lightworkers with a strong commitment to serving others and sharing their gifts with all those who might benefit. Many wayshowers are driven at a soul level to partake in the creation of a new Earth, one that is grounded in community, harmony, compassion, and love. Wayshowers can also embody the namesake by unassumingly inspiring others to live an authentic, positive, loving lifestyle. As a result of a wayshower's ability to hold a higher vibration of light and more 5D love-based virtues, others are drawn to and inspired to "be like them." You might be thinking now of the people you feel guided to emulate and model yourself after due to a deep respect for how they live, how they treat others, and how they make you feel.

But what about your beloved animal companions? Perhaps the very beings you share your home and heart with are also worthy of your attention and respect for how they model living in a higher state of consciousness and are connected to the greater whole. Perhaps their soul mission is to exemplify compassionate and loving traits to raise your consciousness to the next level and be your ascension guides to the higher dimensions. Perhaps they are the best representations of how to be a wayshower that you will ever rub noses with.

As lightworkers and wayshowers, many times, our beloved companions are intentionally choosing to serve humanity in ways that might not always be obvious. One of the earliest memories a recent class attendee recalled was of her childhood family cat, Max. Christine shared that as an infant, she had a heightened level of fear of being alone in her crib. Her parents unknowingly contributed to her fears through their "let her cry it out" philosophy, but their beloved cat Max always responded to her need to be nurtured. Each and every night, he'd leap into her crib and curl up next to her, creating the safety and comfort baby Christine desired.

The nighttime fears persisted into her childhood years, and as Christine headed toward her room at bedtime, Max would predictably run to meet her in the hallway as if to say, I'mI'm here! Everything is going to be okay! And then he'd snuggle up with her until she felt safe and fell asleep.

So, let'slet's look deeper into Max'sMax's selfless acts during

Christine'sChristine's childhood. Max, in his mission to serve Christine and alleviate her fears, is expressing one of the endless ways that animal wayshowers reveal themselves. Through his dependable nurturing, a part of her psyche learned that she was worthy of receiving love and comfort.

Christine revealed that her relationship with Max was pivotal in helping her to embody and emulate the qualities he so beautifully modeled. Even today, Christine is empathetic and compassionate to others' needs because she learned the importance of being heard and cared for by her childhood feline friend. Max changed the trajectory of how she responds to and relates to others! He was a crucial early influencer and role model in Christine'sChristine's life through his high vibrational attributes. Can you imagine the countless times' animals have positively enhanced children's emotional development?

Let us never underestimate the profound effects of the animals that we are blessed to share our lives with and how they contribute to shaping who we are today and who we are becoming.

Animal wayshowers are not only caretakers and healers; they can also dramatically shift our emotional development, teaching us that we are lovable and worthy of receiving love and are completely accepted—perceived flaws and all. There are countless people that never knew what it felt like to be loved unconditionally until they shared their life with an animal. I happen to be one of those people.

The animal with an expanded reach of sacred service has an intention and higher purpose, at a soul level, to reach more beings that will benefit from their transformational gifts. And they have likely teamed up with a person that allows this to unfold. Many of these animals are indeed old souls.

Photo by ammar sabaa

Upon experiencing that intimate, vulnerable, beautiful feeling for the first time with a kitten named Khalua, a decades-old barricade of protection released from my heart that I wasn'twasn't aware was even there! This is at the heart of why people are magnetized to animals. It'sIt's truly extraordinary when you think about the enormity of their ability to help humans to experience love.

Animals' contribution to the opening of humanity'shumanity's hearts is unparalleled.

The reach of the animal wayshower depends on the sacred soul pilgrimage they designed with their person to engage in during this lifetime. The animal with an expanded reach of sacred service has an intention and higher purpose, at a soul level, to reach more beings that will benefit from their transformational gifts. And they have likely teamed up with a person that allows this to unfold. Many of these animals are indeed old souls.

All beings, regardless of where they are on their evolutionary journey, are sparks of the Divine and are here to utilize their unique and valuable gifts to cultivate the growth experi-

ences their souls long for to assist in their ascension process. Many times, the animals that express their wayshower virtues are utilized in healing circles, schools, and nursing homes or to assist those with medical needs like blindness or PTSD, to name a few.

Be it old or young souls, two or four legs, all beings have wayshower traits within them to activate and utilize on behalf of something greater.

Sometimes animals take deeper dives into their transformational journey alongside their person, for they are also on their evolutionary journey and reside at varying levels of ascension. One being that is holding a higher vibration and expressing more wayshower traits is not "better" than other beings that are at a different level of learning. Several examples of this deeper-dive type of relationship are revealed in the second part of this book. And even more incredibly, your animal might be hosting the soul of one of your spirit guides or soul group peers that has agreed to serve you and others in a more expansive way. Almost always, in these cases, the feeling of familiarity and the deep love bond between this pairing is off the chart.

Tammy Billups is an international healing practitioner, educator, and pioneer in the animal-human sacred soul partnership. The creator of animal-human Tandem Healings, she has been a certified Interface Therapist (Bioenergetics) for more than two decades.

The author of Animal Soul Contracts and Soul Healing with Our Animal Companions, she lives near Atlanta, Georgia.

All beings, regardless of where they are on their evolutionary journey, are sparks of the Divine and are here to utilize their unique and valuable gifts to cultivate the growth experiences their souls long for to assist in their ascension process.

These five strategies really work! CAN'T SLEEP?

By Dan Cohen, MD

Photo by By StockPhotoPro

Higher-quality sleep can improve nearly every area of our lives. If you're feeling drowsier as you get older, you're not alone. Our sleep cycles get messed up as we age. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than one-third of American adults are frequently sleep deprived.

Muddled, foggy thinking may sound like just an inconvenience. But it's more serious than that!

Routinely sleeping fewer than six hours is a health concern. Decades of research involving millions of people show that chronic sleep deprivation is associated with increased risks of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and dementia.

I've dedicated my career to helping people sleep better. For many people, the answer may involve combining tried-and-true sleep basics with new sleep technology.

Why you may not be sleeping as well as you once did

The slow wave sleep stage, also called Delta, is associated with deep, restorative sleep.

Delta sleep occurs mainly in the first half of the night, enabling you to sleep the rest of the night.

Here's why delta sleep is more important than the other sleep stages of sleep when it comes to our physical health. Delta sleep enables the body and brain to recover from daytime activities, relieves stress, and can have a dramatic impact on overall health. It is when the body secretes the human growth hormone. It is also associated with performing better on memory tasks the next day.

Unfortunately, Delta sleep can become very elusive as we age. In our 20s, we spend about 20 to 25% of our sleep time in Delta sleep. By our mid- to late-40s, we've lost 60 to 70% of our Delta sleep. By the time we reach 70, we've lost 80 to 90%.

Until now, restoring Delta's sleep has been easier said than done. The new technology called Soltec SES is finally making it possible.

Try these five better-sleep strategies. You may have read articles on sleep hygiene. I pioneered the sleep technology used in sleep labs across the country. I can improve on the standard advice. Here are some proven tactics to help you really sleep better and help restore your Delta sleep:

1. Go to bed an hour earlier. People often think they've slept eight hours if they are in bed between 11 pm and 7 am. Most of us need about an hour to fall asleep. If you want to sleep 7-½ hours, plan to be in bed for 8-½ hours. Because your actual time will vary, it's important to track it so you'll know more precisely how much time you need to add to your bedtime routine.

2. Prepare properly for bedtime. Don't do stressful things right before going to bed. And respect your body's natural circadian rhythm by going to sleep when your body tells you it's tired. Try to go to bed at the same time every night. Earlier is better to maximize Delta sleep.

Also, get into the habit of preparing for bed ahead of time. If you wait until you're tired to go into the brightly lit bathroom to brush your teeth, you'll be wide awake.

3. Focus on relaxing your muscles if you wake up in the middle of the night. If you get up or start thinking about things that cause you to stress,

your odds of falling back asleep reduce dramatically. Instead, pay attention to how your body feels.

4. Instead of just tracking your sleep, use new smart technology to improve your sleep quality in real time. Soltec SES is the smartest sleep wearable ever invented because it works to substantially improve your sleep, rather than just telling you about it. It actively determines what sleep stage you're moving into. Then it tells the second part of the closed-loop feedback system, which is placed under your bed, what protocol to use to facilitate that sleep stage. You'll sleep longer and deeper the entire night. And if you wake up at 3 am, it will help you get back to sleep.

While this is a tremendous accomplishment, keep in mind that it's taken decades for your sleep to diminish to this level. It will typically require about a two- to six-week gradual adaptation period to substantially change and restore your sleep quality.

5. Get up and move! Once you're getting more Delta sleep and more sleep in general, use that extra energy. Many of us get to a certain age and don't exercise to improve our fitness and build muscle. But if we want to maintain our quality of life, we need to move. Besides, regular exercise is associated with better sleep.

Neurologist and sleep technology expert Dan Cohen (SoltecHealth.com) is a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He holds many patents related to EEG and sleep analysis algorithms and devices. Dan invented the first automated sleep disorder diagnostic equipment used in sleep labs and by sleep professionals. He also co-founded CNS, the company that launched Breathe Right Nasal Strips, through which he later sold to GSK.

Dan has spent more than 15 years researching and testing technology to improve sleep quality.

Interview by Phyllis King

Dvorak Dana

An Animal Communicator

Dana Dvorak is an animal communicator. Born and raised in Communist Czechoslovakia. She had intuitive feelings early on but became a successful prosecuting attorney and then a fashion model around the world. Her “calling” emerged organically in full force in 2008.

Share with EDEN readers your evolution as you have lived several lives in this one lifetime.

I grew up on a farm in the In Czech Republic during the Communist regime. I was by myself, with no kids to play with. I was always around animals. We had cows, goats, pigs, geese, hens, chickens, dogs, and cats. We lived in a forest. We had a

pet deer. We had a little fox and a hedgehog who used to live on our veranda. I liked to sit next to the animals and be with them. I noticed when I did that, that there was a connection between myself and the animal. It came from the middle of my chest. It was a bit uncomfortable. It was like a draw that was strong and warm.

As a child, I did not know this was the heart chakra. It felt like I stepped out of myself. I emptied myself of myself, and I stepped into the animal. That was my childhood description of how it worked. I could feel how they felt. I could understand what they wanted.

Was your family aware you were doing this?

My family is very unspiritual in that sense. I was raised as a Catholic, and I used to go with my grandma to church. During the communist period, you were not allowed to be religious. You could not believe anything. Only communist dogma.

I went to school and high school. I remained close to animals. I put animal communications on the back burner. I was busy with life. I went to college. I studied law and became a lawyer and a prosecutor. I was the youngest prosecutor in my country. The General Prosecutor's Office had to okay me going to court as a prosecutor because I was so young.

Being a prosecutor would be a harsh energy to manage

When you are young, you are resilient. I was having fun. It did not affect me. I did not want to study law, but my parents made me because it is the old-fashioned way where you do what the parents tell you. I wanted to study art or paintings or philosophy, but I had to get a real job, which was as a lawyer. I do not regret it because it gave me grounding strength. Education is excellent no matter what because you utilize it later on.

While a prosecutor, I secretly began working as a model because I met a photographer

who introduced me to modeling. I became busier with modeling work. I never liked being a prosecutor, so I quit the job, and became a fulltime model for quite some time.

How did your family deal with that?

I have a strong personality. I am going to do my thing, and they accepted it and were okay with it. I modeled for a long time and traveled all over the world. I started to get much commercial work and work in the movies and TV shows here in LA. I wanted to be in the US, as I felt I had past lives here.

I am tired of modeling. I opened two modeling agencies. They were successful. For the spiritual person, modeling is as straining as the prosecutor's office, almost worse because the energies are chaotic and not always positive.

Eventually, I started to return to my spiritual roots. A friend who was a healer had classes and invited me to come. One person in the group brought a dog. An older golden retriever was lying with us as we sat in the circle. I began connecting to the dog. The dog shared with me that she had pain in her feet. It felt like she had tumors in her body and arthritis. I told the girl who was her person, and they took her to the vet, and everything was confirmed.

As a child, I did not know this was the heart chakra. It felt like I stepped out of myself. I emptied myself of myself, and I stepped into the animal. That was my childhood description of how it worked. I could feel how they felt. I could understand what they wanted.

Since then, people started asking me to read their animals. I was doing it for free. I was surprised to find out there was a profession as an animal communicator. Eventually, I sold my business and fully stepped into my calling in 2008.

One thing that is also unique to your practice is that you read animals’ past lives.

I had no idea animals have past lives. It came about completely out of the blue. I was working as an animal communicator doing the usual stuff like seeing how the animal felt, what they wanted to eat, what they liked, and what they did not like if there were any health issues or behavior problems. I remember having a case with a beautiful King Charles Cavalier. He had horrible separation anxiety with his person. But it was only with the lady, and there was a whole family.

He had such anxiety that he would follow even when the lady went to the bathroom. If she closed the doors, he would have a seizure. It wasn't nice. I was expecting normal stuff. As soon as I connected to Charlie, he flipped into showing me something I knew immediately was his past life. Not only was it his past life, but he was human. He was

born at that moment as a baby boy. It was a difficult birth. They took him out of his mother. His mother was the lady who was his person now. As they took him away, I saw much blood very vividly. He was screaming. They cut the cord. He never saw his mother again. She died during childbirth.

He had a sense of being taken away as a baby. In this lifetime, he felt that if he were separated from her, she would die, and never see her again. It was shocking for me. I could not believe he was human. You read about the pecking order. Different religions teach different things about reincarnation. This was a big breakthrough for me. I was scared to talk to the people about what I saw. They were going to think I was completely crazy. I told them what I saw, and the lady started crying.

It completely resonated with her. She said it was true and could feel it was correct. Once I saw the past life, I realized I was seeing it to resolve something. I talked to the animal and told him it was a memory that was no longer valid. He was living a different life now, and it would not happen. Since then, the separation anxiety has disappeared.

Are there common things that can make us better communicators with animals?

Just because they do not speak a human language does not mean they feel less or have different emotions. They are the same, except they have different physical bodies. They feel pain. They feel sad. They react to changes in their environment. When people decide to bring a new pet home, we do not realize animals are just like us, living with other human beings.

We need to respect animals. That is one important thing. For example, let them know of any changes that will be happening. If you are leaving for vacation or for a couple of days, you need to tell them.

Do we tell them verbally, or how do we tell them?

If you decide to learn, you can take a class on how to communicate. Many people at least do Level because it teaches you how to connect.

Besides a class, you sit with them, take a quiet moment, and slowly tell them I will be leaving tomorrow, and I will be back next Thursday. Give them the dates but speak clearly and slowly. What happens is that animals communicate mostly with visuals. When we speak, we need

to realize we are making visuals about what we speak about. When you speak about an apple, you create an image of an apple. We make hundreds of these visuals as we speak. Animals are connected to us, and they will pick it up.

Do you do your sessions in person or remotely?

Most of my work is remote. I do not need to have the animal physically there. I have clients all over the world. I need a picture of the animal, its age, name, and details. I connect to the animal telepathically.

At some point, you began doing readings for people too. How did that come about?

I was strongly opposed to readings for people. When I had the experience of seeing the past life of Charlie, it helped me to start working with people to help clear up the problem. I realized it does not matter what physical body a soul is in.

You mentioned classes. Yes. For Animal Communications, I have several levels. Level one is for anyone interested in improving their communication with animals. It is mandatory before you take anything else. Level two is health and healing. Level three is the area of past lives.

I was strongly opposed to readings for people. When I had the experience of seeing the past life of Charlie, it helped me to start working with people to help clear up the problem. I realized it does not matter what physical body a soul is in.

A Cowgirl's Guide

Emotional to

An interview with Dulce Garcia-Morman and Jan Wakefield by Phyllis King

Today I am speaking with two dynamic women. Dulce Garcia-Morman and Jan Wakefield. Both have a rich background in academia but are grounded in spiritual truths and holistic practices.

They each have unique gifts and talents centered around working with animals and energy. They now collaborate to offer life-changing growth and healing opportunities. They use the idea of the Cowgirl Archetype as a means to transformation. Their workshop/retreat experiences are named A Cowgirl's Guide to Emotional Fitness. We are going to learn about several breathtaking destination vacation retreats that are upcoming and much more about this unique pairing.

Dulce- Garcia Morman - www. life-is-art.us and Jan Wakefield - www.jan-wakefield.com

We had meditation practices. Every day we had more new and interesting things to share. It became obvious to us and the people around us that we were best friends. It was so funny because people would say, "You guys have known each other forever, haven't you?" I would say, "Actually, we just met two weeks ago."

And what about you, Dulce? How was it for you?

I think that sometimes we have a karmic connection with others. What is interesting about our journey is that, in many ways, we have lived parallel lives. We have both been on healing journeys through joys and biting the dust. We fall off the saddle and get back on. There have been times we have said," Oh, my God, this is almost a parallel experience." I think that has given us the ability to understand one another. We have shared similar things. Often, we can have conversations we probably could not have with anyone else. That rapport is an amazing foundation for our work. Jan knows what I am talking about, and I know what she is talking about because we both lived it.

Please tell us how did you two meet?

Jan: Dulce and I were both working at a university together. It was clear that we had a lot in common within a few days of getting to know each other. Not only did we have the academic piece, but we had a spiritual component we connected on. We both had been working with Buddhist teachers.

At what point in the relationship did you decide to collaborate?

Dulce: When I moved to New Mexico. We began collaborating with the horse workshops. Jan was still in Prescott, Arizona, before moving to Hawaii. She would commute and help me out. What we have been doing more recently is a long time in the making.

What did it look like in the beginning?

Jan: We had established that my strengths were in the energy world and doing shamanic work. I had a sweat lodge built on my property. I did ceremonies with teen girls, mostly for moms of our generation who wanted to help their girls transition. Then it developed into many other fun things. Dulce and I did a lot of ceremonies. That piece connected her with what she wanted to offer and her larger vision. We married the two ideas together. It was truly putting our gifts together in this collaborative effort.

Why Cowgirl, Cowgirl archetype? Why that name?

Cowgirl can be a persona, but it is more of an inner quality. What we try to do for women in this aspect is get in touch with their inner cowgirl. It is more about qualities we embody, such as resilience, perseverance, commitment, courage, strength, and grit.

Do we need to get dirty?

We need to be able to bite the dust and get up and get back in the saddle. Most women were amazing cowgirls, especially when I look at my grandmother and those in my lineage. It is about connecting to those cowgirl qualities and how we can apply those qualities to be in the world in our everyday life. We work with the qualities of the cowgirl archetype.

Jan: In another example, in Bali, we may not have live horses, but we are going to work with horses in a different way, in a more archetypal or mythological way. There are many ways to connect to the principle of horse and woman as cowgirl.

There is a highly capable, tenacious woman in every person. When we lose connection to that, sometimes things go haywire in our lives. When we reconnect to the strength within us, the power and wisdom of the cowgirl archetype, transformation occur quickly.

Dulce, You said in your doctoral dissertation that horses are highly attuned to humans' emotional states. What does that mean for people who attend your retreats?

A horse's prey mechanism has been highly refined over millions of years. It is almost like a biofeedback machine. If you are the leader in a herd and there is a mountain lion two miles away, you have to be able to detect it in a nanosecond. That herd leader has to detect whether the mountain lion is on the prowl or he was just hunting and is now just walking it out. Horses are wired by evolution to detect all these emotions and feelings. Many of us have disconnected from our gut and heart, where our feelings and emotions are stored. Horses can recognize these signals not only in the animal world but they can recognize them in humans. When we are in the presence of horses, we are forced to be authentic because horses will react to anything that feels incongruent.

Jan, You have developed a unique system called Hack Your Biofield. Explain what that is and how it works

First, it should be said I have been a teacher my entire life, from a teenager, elementary school teacher, and higher education teacher to where I now teach people about personal transformation. Along the way, I have had to expand my own insights and education. I trained as a shaman about 20 years ago, and I worked with Indigenous people from the Andes. It was a wonderful way of experiencing my life from the perspective of having different types of gifts. The shaman's perspective was fabulous. We all inherently have

the power to look into the energy world and perceive what is happening. From there, we can understand why we have experiences in our lives based on the biofield.

In terms of energy work, I use "Hack Your Biofield," which essentially is the energy field that surrounds the body. It goes out the top of the head around the physical body and the width of the outstretched arms down into the earth, and it circles back up through the spine and the central nervous system.

As a shaman, I realized people were coming to me for one item at a time. I thought if we did not speed up this process, it would take four hundred years to work through every tiny detail. As an academic, I started doing research. I discovered the term biofield is what is used in science. As our world is science-oriented, I started calling the work the biofield to bridge the gap between the mind and the spirit.

Wonderful You have an upcoming workshop/retreat - The Cowgirls Guide to Emotional Fitness. Dulce: Our next workshop is September 27 through October 1 here in New Mexico, and it is five days. We will have horse activities. We are going to do reflective and active work with the horses. We will do yoga, breath work, and a lot of embodiment practices. We want to really explore the world of emotion and how our body is so important in that process. Also, how to get movement and flow back into the body, we will work and play and connect with the horses to help guide us in how to do that. They are experts at that.

As a shaman, I realized people were coming to me for one item at a time. I thought if we did not speed up this process, it would take four hundred years to work through every tiny detail.

For whom is this workshop/retreat designed? Is it a workshop?

Dulce: It is more of an experience. It is a bit of a retreat.

Jan: I would say it is designed for women. We are open to both men and women being at the workshop. It is for people who want to have a new experience. We find a lot of women reach out who have horse experience, but that is absolutely not necessary. There is no riding involved. Your feet are firmly on the ground, and the horses are essentially our partners.

For whom is this workshop/retreat designed? Is it a workshop?

Dulce: It is more of an experience. It is a bit of a retreat.

Jan: I would say it is designed for women. We are open to both men and women being at the workshop. It is for people who want to have a new experience. We find a lot of women reach out who have horse experience, but that is absolutely not necessary. There is no riding involved. Your feet are firmly on the ground, and the horses are essentially our partners.

People come because they are curious about horses or they have done other healing work, and they need or want different results. It is a lot of different things. New Mexico has a lot to offer. There is a vacation component in there too. People can come and have fun, play with the horses, and do the things we do to have a transformational experience. Then they can go to Santa Fe for the day and hit the hot springs.

How many days is this experience?

Dulce: It is for five days. It starts on a Wednesday afternoon and ends on Sunday.

Where is the lodging? How do people get there?

Dulce: They would fly in. If they are flying, it would be Albuquerque. We are 20 minutes from the airport, just south of Albuquerque. The retreat does not cover accommodations, but plenty of accommodations are nearby and Airbnb's. It is a smaller town. It has a small-town rural feel to it. Santa Fe is an hour and 15 minutes north, and it is a beautiful time of year to visit the high desert in the fall. It is just beautiful.

The Cowgirls' Guide to Emotional. This is from September 27 to October 1 in Los Lunas. And where is the best place for them to sign up or get more information?

www.life-is-art.us or www.jan-wakefield.com

What else do we need to know that we did not cover?

It is important to register sooner than later because we fill up quickly in the horse retreat. We take a small group. It is a maximum of eight. We make this a highly personal and very intimate experience. We have to build a lot of trust to work in a group situation. We intentionally keep it to eight women.

What about the Bali Retreat that is happening later?

Bali is also an intimate retreat. It is limited to eight people. We rent an entire villa for the experience. We have a private space. There is only room for eight people. It also fills up quickly. Our June retreat is already full for Bali, and the next open one is December 10 through the 17th, December 2023. And we have another booking for June of next year in, 2024. A lot of people who want to come to New Mexico also want to go to Bali in December. So, we would love to hear from any new people who are interested in experiencing the Dynamic Duo.

By Polly Wirum

GRATITUDE-FILLED THE POWER OF A Heart

Photo by Drobot DeanAdobeStock

We have all heard about the importance of gratitude. Yet many people rarely pause in appreciation as they move through their day. Even fewer people consciously choose to connect with the energy of gratitude on a regular basis. Keep reading and discover the power of choosing to live with gratitude and how it can change your life.

Several years ago, there was a big snake that liked to spend her afternoons by my front door. This was not a problem, except the snake didn't like sharing the entrance with me. One particular afternoon this snake was particularly feisty.

Luckily there was a couple walking nearby. They frequently walked the neighborhood with their dogs. I waved to them, hoping they had snakehandling skills or advice.

The man quickly offered his wife's help as she was more informed of desert life. She spent a couple of minutes with me. I learned about this type of snake. We shared a laugh about life next to a desert preserve. This was the only conversation we would have.

Grateful for Love

This story is about a wonderful couple that stepped into my life because of a territorial snake. To be honest, I can't remember their names.

It's funny how we can pick up so much about people in one tiny moment. It felt like these two souls were joined together through eternity. They were destined to walk the same path, breathe the same air, and feel the same sun.

As the collective welcomed 2023 into

being, the man no longer had his wife at his side.

Chance Meeting

After being away from my home for several months, I was incredibly grateful to be back in Arizona and on the dirt trails behind my house. At the base of a climb, I ran into the man with his two dogs. He was much taller than I remembered, wearing shorts and an athletic shirt with stains on it.

I reminded him of how his wife helped me charm a snake a couple of years ago. He began to share their beautiful love story that bloomed over 50 years ago. After they met in college, their lives easily merged into one. It was very easy for me to imagine him as a gangly, athletic college kid that fell head over heels in love with a girl from Oregon.

He lost his wife months ago, but his gratitude for their shared life keeps her nearby. He has many photos that were taken throughout their incredible journey together. Each day he sends a new digital image of their love story to their kids.

He spoke with gratitude for their incredible luck and magical time together.

His words touched me. I could feel love expand and shift the desert air around us. When I asked if he believed in life after death, he laughed. He joked about being too smart to believe in an afterlife. Yet, sometimes he hears his wife's voice. He feels her presence. He knows she is responsible for some of the electrical issues their house has now.

His gratitude keeps him believing that his wife is never far away and they will meet again.

My Gratitude

I was touched by his love and overwhelmed with gratitude for this chance meeting. It was a brief encounter that reminded me of how love and gratitude are not easily separated.

Five Ways Gratitude Will Change Your Life

• Gratitude opens your heart and becomes a platform for believing all loving possibilities can happen. Life becomes limitless.

• Gratitude opens up the channels to receive messages from the other side. Gratitude is the perfect energy to connect with your loved ones on the other side.

• Gratitude is the perfect energy to connect with your angels and spirit guides.

• Gratitude can help you find peace and heal in all areas of your life.

Manifesting high vibrational experiences becomes easy when your heart is open with gratitude. Gratitude helps you release fear and receive love.

Five Easy Ways to Stay Connected to Gratitude

• Do something every day that brings you joy.

• Thank the Universe daily for all the little things that work in your favor and all the big things you have experienced in life.

• Make a list of 10 things you're grateful for. Change it up if it begins to feel flat. This is a great opportunity to refresh your mind and spirit.

• Have easy access to pictures that remind you of happy times; an example of this is the screensaver on your phone.

• Begin a gratitude journal. This can be part of your daily spiritual practice.

Rivers of Energy to Choose From

Each of our lives have moments that include love, grief, joy, and an entire kaleidoscope of possibilities. These emotions are forever connected to us as ribbons of energy that we turn to for coloring our reality.

The story of love I shared shows how this particular man chooses to feel grateful for every minute he shares with an amazing life partner. This colors his day and offers him hope, even during his grief process.

Our conversation reminded me of the power of gratitude and our free will to choose what energy we connect with.

Gratitude Practice

Empower yourself by choosing gratitude and watch your world open up. What might begin as a deliberate and intentional practice of connecting with gratitude can become as natural as breathing. Your gratitude becomes part of who you are and the way you move through life.

Our souls thrive in the energy of gratitude.

Through love and gratitude, the Universe is always providing us with opportunities of merging human existence with expanded spiritual awareness. Our reality shifts when the thread of this increased awareness transforms into a web of Divine light. Our memories of love and compassion are wrapped in this fabric, tethered to humanity by our hearts. It is impossible to fall from our truest calling, the divine plan.

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

Photo by Alexander Grey

By Susie Schroadter

SEARCH OF SERENITY In

None of us are perfectly content, even though we may think everyone else always has it completely together. We are all constantly searching and changing, striving to find happiness and stability in our internal and external worlds. It is as if we are walking on a tightrope; it seems that as soon as life is flowing smoothly, there is a disruption, and something goes wrong. It may seem minor to those around us, but it throws us off our flow and makes us feel alone and isolated. When this happens, we become sad, angry, or unsure of ourselves. Our self-care often plummets, and we may enter a state of fight or flight. We return to mere survival mode with unhealthy coping mechanisms simply to get us through the day. Yet, is there a better way? Is there a way to remain present with our self-care so as to not dig our hole any deeper?

Photo by ZanaPq

Prayer as a Healing Tool

When we reach this lowness, we wonder if it will get better. The answer is almost always yes. However, we must learn how to handle the feeling of being unsettled and scared. We must remember how to find our way back to the center. For thousands of years, people have turned to prayer to help them in their time of need. It is a powerful healing tool. Beyond the spiritual aspect of prayer, recent medical and psychological studies have acknowledged the ability of prayer to reduce stress, heal bodies, and increase moods. When we are feeling low, prayer can actually release dopamine, sometimes termed the ""feel good neurotransmitter", which allows us to feel pleasure and motivation. Furthermore, prayer allows us to feel not alone. It reminds us we are connected to a Higher Power.

Prayer requires nothing but ourselves and the act of surrendering to the belief of someone or something outside of ourselves. Sometimes, the words for prayer come intuitively to us as we speak from our hearts. Although we do not need to follow specific words to pray, one common and simple prayer is the Serenity Prayer, which offers hope and guidance when spoken to our Higher Power or used in quiet meditation. When we are feeling alone or uneasy, prayer can help ground us and let us feel connected to something

outside of ourselves. Hence, speaking to our Higher Power allows us to feel protected.

History of the Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer has a surprising history. Many of us have heard of The Serenity Prayer in connection with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). However, through this program, it has become synonymous with a means of asking for help from a Higher Power. A man named Reinhold Niebuhr either wrote the original version of the prayer or adopted one he had heard and then offered it at the end of a sermon he gave in Massachusetts during World War II.

At the time the prayer became popular, Niebuhr had no connection to AA. He, in fact, was an anti-Nazi immigrant to the United States and was wrestling with the ethical issues of how other immigrants, such as himself, should live their lives with the immorality of Hitler. At the time, Niebhur and similar like-minded individuals were dealing with the concept that the "Christians in Germany will have to face the terrible alternative of either willing the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying civilization." Grappling with this impossible situation, he concluded one sermon with the now-famous words:

The powerfulness of this prayer was immediately recognized by all who heard it. Soon, the Founder of AA asked if he could simplify and use these words in his organization to fight the evil, not of Hitler, but of disease and alcoholism.

At this point, the prayer became more recognizable:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Why the Serenity Prayer is Effective.

Although AA has used this to aid those fighting alcoholism, if we deconstruct the words of the prayer, it may be used as a simple tool or means to ask for guidance at any point in our lives.

The prayer begins with the acceptance and acknowledgment that we need help. Once we admit to ourselves that we cannot handle a problem on our own, rather than being a place of weakness, we actually are in a place of strength. It is only once we admit that we need help that we can begin to find the way out of the darkness. Opening our hearts to ask for help is the first step in healing.

The next phrase is" to accept the things I cannot change." This refers to other people and their actions. We cannot change or control what people do. We do not live their life, nor do we understand why they may act in a certain way or make the choices that they do. However, healing occurs when we decide not to take everything personally and when we allow it to just be and accept the situation as it is.

"To change the things I can." At this point in the prayer, we then turn to ask our Higher Power to help us with ourselves, with what we can control. We can control our actions and how we treat others. We can control the choices that we make. When we become conscious of the difference between what we can control and what we cannot, it allows us to rise up to a higher vibration to find peace and become the person we know we are.

Finally, "the wisdom to know the difference." Can we find the space to pause and breathe? Can we acknowledge what we can change and what we cannot? And can we ask for guidance?

The next time you find yourself searching for answers or asking for help from a dark space, you may call upon prayer as if you are reaching up for a hand to hold. There is someone or something outside of you willing to stand by you. Know that you are not alone. Know that you are loved.

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

"God give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

The next time you find yourself searching for answers or asking for help from a dark space, you may call upon prayer as if you are reaching up for a hand to hold. There is someone or something outside of you willing to stand by you. Know that you are not alone. Know that you are loved.

THE IDENTIFICATION of SELF-LOVE CAPACITIES

Photo by Tim Zankert

The bets are on; there is not one person while growing up as a child who didn't have a secret love that may or may not have been expressed. And you may remember there was that moment in time while together all alone, the exchange of under threads was interrupted by a parent, which then led to lessons quickly learned. And for those still young at heart, there are those same moments, 40, 50, 60 years later, in the middle of the day at the far end of the shopping car park. Life is alive; how blessed are we?

Here is a reminder for those fortunate to remember the joy one felt when in the other's presence, now possibly a lost love. "Where do you go to, my lovely When you're alone in your bed, I know the thoughts that surround you 'cause I can look inside your head" by Peter Sarstedt.

What is so amazing about human "love," given and received, is experienced in thousands of different ways by all the various cultures and groups around the globe. And yet it is only an appearance of. Sadly, every culture practices the exact same delivery. We, humans, in our attempt to communicate love, fall short as it does so from some pre-learned mental construct, and therefore any attempt to do so falls short by a thousand percent.

Love is Love

Everything else is a bastardized version.

If we are ever to understand anything of love, how, who we may be, the time, well, hopefully, that time for some exists now. Whatever you think you know is real because you have lived the experience. The hanging fruit question is, could I have given, or better yet did I perceive love correctly? Could I have experienced it differently? Have I acknowledged any sign of a lesson, or am I happy reliving the not-so-great repetition every time love enters and leaves one's arena?

Understand this, no matter who you may be, the question to ask oneself is, "Do I give from love genuinely, or do I love for

what I will get in return" Folks remember, this getting comes in many colored sets of verified past consequences. Now, please let's be completely clear, this is not about right or wrong; this is not about any form of condemnation. We are deeply looking into how one functions to grasp, no matter what the result may be. Are you making past patterned decisions, or can you transform those past results by making real-time choices?

What we are alluding to here is a failed love of ten years ago, maybe for the very same unseen reasons as the love lost or failing last week. Why, well decisions during the friendship were automatic without you realizing it. During the lost experience, you thought you were making the decisions, resulting in the same experience. Next time consider before deciding on any verbal or action, ask, can I choose a better option? Just maybe, as has previously happened, you will send this one an invitation to the happy "I do" ceremony.

LEARN TO ACCEPT LOVE THYSELF, BABY.

Hurry up, where is this all leading? Well folks, moving over into the next lane on this highway of living, there is a lot of talk about destiny, are you born with it, or do you make your own? Talk about constantly being stuck. The good news, it doesn't need any attention, as we all have many destinies, born, made, chosen, and otherwise. A lot of fuss over nothing, and the answers are all in the words you were reading before you got to now.

Well, possibly not all the answers. Firstly one enters into a discovery mode of being, minus any form of blame. If not, give up now and continue doing your doingness. Next, let's consider what we are left with after examining the end results from the anatomy of a reaction. My apology; the head just clued me in on a forgotten. You may remember, ever since the time of motivation leaders, the phrase, "It's all in the journey, not the result." This has to be the greatest definition of baloney ever expressed verbally or written.

Those thinking patterns (talking about the originals) came from where and how did they originate? Well, it will be a different time for each individual, yet it all began when we moved from observation to thinking. Throw in some cement known as and often referred to as "experience," after the settling has dried hard, we are forever standing on its foundation and thinking, "this is I." Then we cried.

This task will not be easy, especially for the sensitives. The reason being the answers have been buried in the darkness, never to be relived or witnessed again. On another tangent, grasp this one, and doors will open. Strange as this may seem, coming out from the womb into having to experience life may be remembered deep down as the scariest memories ever. Therefore, for some, the birthing into real-life experiences, coming out into the "LIGHT," is their scariest memory.

No wonder life is unpleasant for some, yet this is not a reason to give up. The reason is that thinking may not be the culprit; the associated emotions and feelings bind one to submission. When those past reoccurring patterned emotions spring to the foreground confusion of one's being, learn how to just walk away. Ice-cream anyone.

FROM THE GETGO ONE NEVER EVER NEVER WANTED TO BE IN THE LIGHT

As a side note, if you ever wondered why life sometimes feels so complicated, if that's your reoccurring experience, then that's because it is. It may not be the same for another; best not to make comparisons; it just creates another issue. Try to become aware to acknowledge in your current reality the adjunct attached emotions; this is the first step to rearranging from those reoccurring past unseen thoughts to a newer future. Decide to move from automatic to in-the-moment, in-time choices.

So if one's world was yours, what are

we talking about here? Why awareness? Awareness is vision, awareness is understanding, awareness is realization, and awareness is healing! It's like finally deciding to commit to a new level of education and how that flow, why sequential, obviously. Now if this is for you, before you read on, go back and reread the paragraph starting with, Hurry up.

What's next, well, that will completely depend on how far each person trespasses into that never neverlands of one's self-history. At each new discovery, one may capture what was a false memory and gain new insight into how each step moved us over into a direction that wasn't meant to be. What, who made that decision, and why? If serious, I cannot tell myself a lie. "It was I." This may come as a thought, as an emotion; it may be more than a physical feeling. It's a new dawning that will reawaken and germinate a healing process within one's whole being.

Understand you are not a generalized human; any therapy you receive is from someone who taught someone, and they didn't know what an individual is. Yet, fix the day-to-day stuff and get a full-time purpose; you are ripe to fit in.

Sheep teach sheep, Sheep fix sheep. ice cream anyone

Ok, who wants to jump head-first into the real stuff? Ask, is being unworthy self-love? Is fear self-love? If you created these and they function as your survival mechanism, then these function as love to your beingness. Enough for now.

What to do? How does one move from a preserved being of the past, forward? Humility shown to self allows one to move out of the auto-egoic self into a space of neutrality. A space that allows a clear vision and love states you are an equal fellow human being.

Are you a big enough capacity? Be the person to swim in that space.

By Phyllis King

YOU WANT ABUN DANCE

BUT ARE YOU

ARGUING FOR LIMITATION?

e all want it. Abundance-- in all forms. Desire is fun and easy. It should be. All creations begin with thoughts and desires. From a thought and a desire, we create or manifest an outcome we believe will please us.

As we study the law of attraction and manifestation techniques, we begin to understand how critical energy awareness is to their success. Each thought and feeling correlates to a vibratory frequency.

There are two primary sinkholes I see when people are trying to use intentional manifestation techniques: Mind chatter that argues for limitation. What occurs most often is we do not focus on manifesting anything until we “lack” some sort. We come to a desire to manifest in a state of scarcity. It can be money, or a relationship, or a job. When life contracts, we suddenly feel the need to pay attention to the energy we have been using to create our lives.

By the time lack is part of our reality, we begin to only see the negative.

This is where the argument for limitation sets into our creative process. We begin to conflate every incident occurring in our life or that has occurred as a negative pattern. We regurgitate stories inside our heads about how life never works out, how hard things are, and how difficult our moment is.

Often, we will go even further to tell ourselves how much better other people have it than we do or how much easier others

Whave it than we do.

That storyline is often supercharged with challenging emotions at the moment. Any positive affirmation work or thinking we are doing is negated or even annihilated by the negative story we sit in during these moments.

We go from desiring a positive outcome to energetically arguing against that desire.

In these moments, what is often highlighted is the residue of longstanding feelings of inadequacy and a belief in lack or limitation.

We must practice the right thinking and feeling, i.e., abundant perspective at all times, not only when we need something. So that when a contracted moment is upon us, we have tools in place, practices, and habits in place that allow us to face the moment we are in with abundance, not scarcity. If we have that habit in place, we will shorten the time it takes to fall back into a flow of energy and again become a receiver via high-vibration energy experiences.

We forget we are divinity itself.

Rather than focus on our intrinsic abundant core, we lapse into focus on our identification points in our human moments. Our focus becomes external. The truth is we are having an internal crisis.

In these moments, the most critical action we can take is to remember who we are. To take time to connect to that awareness. Through that awareness, we can once again become receivers of the good we desire.

These are examples of perspective-changing thought patterns: “All my needs are met beyond my wildest expectation.”

“I am treasured and adored by my creator.”

“I cannot be given a learning experience I do not need.”

When we remember these truths, it brings our perspective back into the larger focus, which creates space. Space is the precursor for the opportunity.

A general consensus is that we all want abundance. The more, the better. Abundance, in truth, is the ability to attract what we need when we need it. Even more – than our needs are met before we ask.

From this perspective, we focus on magnetism---which is a drawing to us, rather than a “make something happen” or “go after something” energy.

As we develop greater magnetism as a way of being, we cultivate an abundant consciousness. Consciousness is what creates energy. Energy is what creates tangible matter. It is a formula that never fails. It is how everything is created. We must remain mindful to focus on the correct order of things in our creative process.

This does not mean we cannot ask for something when we feel we need something. If we ask from a place of expanded consciousness, the things we desire are going to come to us with less effort and will answer our needs more completely.

The greatest skill we can develop in the quest for abundance is that of getting back on track when we fall off. In our lowest

moments, it is easy to make our situation worse by arguing for limitations. In the moments when we are thriving, we want to engage even more in appreciation and acknowledgment of our divinity and in seeking ways to expand our consciousness.

The karmic nature of life has ups and downs. When we are up, it is only a matter of time before we will be down. Vice versa. It is a bit like saving for a rainy day. We have the money we need in reserve.

Energy is the same. Create momentum, and we may not need to utilize it at the moment. When a down moment arrives, we are energetically prepared and do not fall into the trap of arguing for limitations.

In my book, The Energy of Abundance, I coined the phrase “the energy game” for a reason. Although life can feel so serious in moments, playing with energy and understanding its relationship to our thoughts and our feelings is critical as it pertains to attracting abundance.

We are always creating. That is the nature of life. The more intentional we become with our thoughts and our emotions, the more we can positively influence outcomes in our life. When we remember to actively engage with our energy, we become fully realized creators understanding our potential as divine beings.

Argue for your strengths, not your weaknesses. Train your mind and make it your friend. These habits will serve you forever in your quest for an abundant life.

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

Spiritual Growth Checkpoint:

By Sherri Cortland, ND

Photo by AdobeStock

Evolving? WeAreReally

I've been pondering the evolution of the human race as a whole and individually. With everything that's going on in the world today, I have to wonder---are we really evolving? And if so, how can we tell?

Our lives are not all flowers and candy and cake, yet based on channeled information from my Guide Group (The "GG"), this is how we learn, grow, and move forward. We hear buzzwords like vibrations, awareness, and evolution a lot, but what do they really mean to us?

According to the GG, raising our vibrations and the process of evolution go hand in hand and are all about our souls. Our soul evolves as we raise our vibratory level, and we accomplish this throughout our lives with our thoughts, words, and actions. The GG says that our souls are comprised of our life force, which contains the imprint and intent for our current incarnation. Olexeoporath has this to say about our souls.

"Your soul is energy, your higher self is energy, and the Source is energy. Raising your vibrations is a matter of altering your energy. Some are of a higher vibration than others, yet all can raise their vibrations through thought and action."

Raising our vibrational level is how we evolve, and in a book published in 1972 titled The Life Beyond Death, written by the late medium Arthur Ford and gifted to me by my Grandmother, I found the following tidbit that I want to share with you here:

"When we consider the vast multitude of significant vibrations [i.e., x-rays, radio waves, electromagnetic waves, etc.] which surround us at all times, and of which we are

totally unaware, we see how ridiculous it is to imagine that our five senses give us anything like an accurate picture of the universe we live in…This matter of vibrations is important to me. I am convinced that becoming aware of the next stage of existence beyond the earth's biosphere is very largely a matter of becoming its vibrations."

Ford's words were written half a century ago, and much has been written about our vibrational levels since then. I think we can all agree that raising our vibrations is important, but how do we know, actually know,

that we're making progress in this way? In researching the answer to this question, I found a book called Your Magical Soul: How Science and Psychic Phenomena Paint a New Picture of the Self and Reality by psychic medium Jeffrey Marks. Here's what Marks has to say about what it's like to feel our vibrations rise:"…you might think that in raising your vibration, you should feel something vastly different from your normal vibration—like you're sitting there, and all of a sudden, you should feel like you have a rocket pack strapped to your back. Sorry to say this doesn't happen. But when you reach a good meditative state and with enough awareness, you can actually feel a rapid pulsation go up and down the core of your body through your chakras—it is about double the speed of your heart rate—and you will also notice your breathing is smooth and equal in terms of time spent inhaling and time spent exhaling. This pulsation, now that I think about it does extend to your skin, too, as I have felt a buzzing sensation across my epidermis during these moments of awareness."

Remember that all species evolve as a species when a certain number of individuals understand and acknowledge a particular behavior or ideology as being correct. What is happening now is a great cleansing opportunity for many souls."

Marks also notes that if you don't feel this rapid pulsation, that doesn't mean it isn't happening; it just means you don't have the awareness yet of your vibration level rising. Speaking for myself, I tend to feel a kind of vibrational buzzing or hum in my ears that the GG tells me is a type of energy signal that's giving me a little bump up in frequency. I'm sure it's different for all of us, and there is no right or wrong way to perceive an energy boost. It comes down to, I think, learning to be aware. As we begin to pay attention, we'll discover what our individual signal is.

When I was writing my book, Spiritual Tool Box, I discovered the Hypnotherapist and healer Marilyn Gordon. I remember being struck by how similar what Marilyn had to say about raising vibrations was to what the GG was channeling to me at that time. Marilyn talked about the fact that we are made of electromagnetic energy, and like a magnet, we draw to ourselves things, people, and events that match our rate of vibration. She suggests creating a powerful force field around ourselves to help raise our vibrations by:

1. Looking for the positive potential in everything.Standing back and observing rather than being quick to judge. This gives us a chance to take the negative spin-off of things.

2. Cultivating gratitude and giving thanks for what we have and all we are.

3. Watching how we speak to ourselves and learning to be kinder.

4. Paying attention to how our worries are negative thoughts about the future and working to transform that thinking.

So, what did I learn from researching material for this article? My initial thought is that through awareness, we can become better and nicer people and, in this way, continue to raise our vibrations and help our souls evolve. Even if we're already nice

people, which I'm sure is the case, we can begin to consciously take ourselves to the next level and the next level as we move forward.

That said, like many of you, I've been extremely concerned about the shootings and the blatant racism that we are dealing with now as a country. To me, it has felt a bit like we're going backward as a species instead of moving forward; and so I turned to the GG for their take….

"Sherri, let us say this: It is always surprising to see the level to which the human species moves forward and the level to which they retreat. It seems like two steps forward and one step back, yet there are great strides being made by individuals and by groups.

We know that you are focused on the amount of racism that has continued to raise its ugly head over the last few years.

You and others did not think racism existed on this level any longer, and you were wrong; it was simply hidden away in the dark. However, a great light has been shined on this, and the revelation of this level of racism exists so that human beings can focus on its eradication. Individuals evolve in their own time according to their own plans, and overcoming racism is a big step forward when it comes to raising one's energy frequencies.

Remember that all species evolve as a species when a certain number of individuals understand and acknowledge a particular behavior or ideology as being correct. What is happening now is a great cleansing opportunity for many souls."

I realize that this month's column gives us much to think about and meditate upon, and our souls will thank us for it.

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

By Joey Santos, Jr.

WHAT A WORLD!

Photo by Andriyko Podilnyk

"Where did all the blue skies go? Poison is the wind that blows

From the north and south and east…..

Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas Fish full of mercury….

Radiation underground and in the sky

Animals and birds who live nearby are dying….

What about this overcrowded land?

How much more abuse from man can she stand?"

Marvin Gaye wrote these lyrics to one of his most brilliant songs in 1971. Talk about a genius and prolific songwriter!

Fifty-two years later, we have the same struggles, fears, and woes. Only now, with less acknowledgment, unity, and time to solve them.

What would the lyrics be if Marvin Gaye, were still on earth to write another song today? And would we hear them? Would we realize our responsibilities to their truth and urgency? Or would we keep doing what we always seem to do? Dance out of step and time and pretend nobody is watching?

"Oh, mercy, mercy me, things ain't what they used to be…."

How would our world be today if we listened and trusted greatness, wisdom, philosophy, fact, science, and nature? Think about it. These are truths. Instead, we subscribe to fiction, fable, fantasy, and lies. If we subscribe to anything at all. How does one sleep at night, spending their "waking" hours not "WOKE"? Human zombies without conviction. Without empathy or compassion for our earth, its beauty, resources, riches, animals, and people? How desensitized have we become by what is happening to the world around us? When did

we stop hearing the noise? How do we no longer see the destruction, the collapse, the inevitable? Why do we feel "it's not our problem"? As long as we gain "followers" and "likes" that fuel our theories, do we think we're ok? Herd mentality much?

So, whose problem is it? Our children? Other people's children? Gen Z is suddenly going to put away their "blow up the world" video games, quit their ridiculous TikTok dance moves, and "watermelon firecracker" challenges?

Or, stop emulating and imitating everyone and anyone who is or isn't a "Reality Star/Scar"?

Or once they turn 18, decide to buy a belt, pull up their pants, realize their brilliance and how much they need the earth, their parents, family, and elders, and start the reparations they owe for a future only they now can create! It's time to clean up our act and stop blaming the "virus", our parents, teachers, ex-girlfriends, or boyfriends for breakups and disappointments held responsible for creating

anxieties! Read, think, learn, grow, accept, and love. There are weak, greedy, insecure, evil, hypocritical people out there. Get to know who they are! VOTE them out! There are brilliant, wonderful, kind, intelligent, compassionate people. Learn who they are. VOTE them in! Fight for the right side of History and be on it for our future, your future, our planet's future.

Make room for the next brilliant philosopher, teacher, genius, songwriter, gamer, TikTok'r, or Reality Star/Scar to "dance in step and in time"…Oh, Mercy!

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

By interaction-design.org

Photo Laura Chouette

Expert reveals simple trick to boost memory ahead of exam season - and it’s surprisingly easy to do

• 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 more detailedly 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.

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.

“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 welllit. 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 canmeaning 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 day-to-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-to-day 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.”

Photo AdobeStock

A survey by BACP revealed that two-thirds (66%) of therapists said that concerns about the cost of living are causing a decline in people's mental health.

The events of the last few years have placed a significant strain on individuals' mental health. The uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis has pushed money worries into everyone's minds.

That's why Wellbeing Guide, Mel Craghill at Private Rehab Clinic Delamere, has provided insight into what impact the rising cost of living could have on your mental health, as well as some advice on managing feelings of financial stress.

"The current climate around the cost of living is having a detrimental effect on people's mental health. From concerns over rising energy bills and the price of the weekly shop increasing, money worries significantly negatively impact people's mental wellbeing. As well as this, stress and anxiety levels are also increasing.

"It is common to feel concerned and potentially overwhelmed during these challenging times, especially as we head towards winter. However, there are clear warning signs to look out for that could show the cost of living crisis is impacting your mental health or others."

"These are some of the potential impacts on mental health that may occur, the warning signs to look out for, and what support is available.

HOW THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS COULD BE IMPACTING

Financial Stress

"A person's financial situation can have a significant impact on their mental and physical health. The Financial Health Institute defines financial stress as "a condition that is the result of financial and/or economic events that create anxiety, worry, or a sense of scarcity and is accompanied by a physiological stress response.

"In the current economic climate and as the cost of living increases, money worries are a common concern. 61% of therapists reported that their clients are feeling anxious about being able to afford their household bills in 2022, according to research published by BACP.

"If financial stress is occurring regularly or on a consistent basis, this may have a negative impact on a person's mental and physical wellbeing and may lead to a person experiencing anxiety or depression.

Symptoms of financial stress

"If a person is experiencing financial stress, there are common symptoms that occur physically, mentally, and in terms of behaviour:

• Anxiety - financial stress will commonly lead to a person feeling symptoms of anxiety. An individual may feel consistent and sustained feelings of worry in regard to money. They may become restless and have trouble concentrating. Physiological responses to anxiety can include shortness of breath, chest pains,

feeling lightheaded, and hot flashes.

• Trouble sleeping - a person who is feeling stressed may find that they are having trouble sleeping on a regular basis. This is due to the worry and anxious feelings about their financial situation keeping them awake at night.

• Angry and irritable moodsstress can also manifest itself in the form of anger and irritability. A person's low mood may cause them to lash out and become short-tempered to those around them.

• Becoming socially withdrawna person who is feeling stressed and overwhelmed by their financial situation may become socially distant and isolate themselves. They may avoid social situations or avoid taking part in activities that they would normally enjoy.

• Ignoring the issue - a person who is concerned about their finances may become reluctant to discuss their money worries. They may avoid talking about the subject and may avoid any existing debts.

• Depression - in some cases, financial stress can lead to a person experiencing depression. Studies have found a positive association between financial stress and depression."

How can financial stress impact addiction?

All types of stress can have a negative impact on those who are susceptible to addiction or substance abuse. People who suffer from substance abuse are hypersensitive to stress triggers. Stress and concerns around the cost of living may make people susceptible to relapsing or consuming drugs and alcohol to block out their financial worries.

A YouGov poll commissioned by the charity Forward Trust has revealed a sharp increase in addiction since the start of the deepening cost of living crisis. 32% of adults reported having relapsed into addiction or know someone close to them that relapsed. 61% of respondents reported the cost of living crisis as the most significant trigger of stress and anxiety.

Tips for coping with stress

"Financial concerns and worries are common, especially given the current economic climate. Not everyone who experiences these concerns will suffer from financial stress or the response symptoms listed above.

"However, it is still important to recognise the signs of stress and the impact that the cost of living crisis is having on your mental and physical health. Fortunately, there are some handy tips for coping with feelings of stress and improving your mental wellbeing.

Relaxing with mindful meditation

For many of us, relaxation means putting our feet up and enjoying some television at the end of a stressful day. But according to research, despite feeling calm in the moment, this doesn't relax or rejuvenate you, as it worsens your feeling of stress and leads to feelings of guilt.

Techniques used to relax the mind and body are the best coping strategy for stress, such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, and visualisation.

When dealing with stress, you need to activate your body's natural relaxation response, which helps to slow your heart rate, lower blood pressure, and balance your mind and body.

Meditation has many health benefits and is a highly effective way to relieve stress, soften anxiety and improve your mental wellbeing. Taking time to relax the mind with meditation gives you the space to separate your energy, attention, and emotions.

Distinguishing the difference between valid emotions and those which are not is a big part of mindful meditation, and recognising this will help your experience with stress and anxiety.

Distract your negative thoughts with physical activity.

Physical activity can help reduce your stress levels and can have a massive influence on your physical and mental wellbeing. Exercising regularly, even if that's just 10 minutes a day, can help individuals suffering from stress cope with their symptoms.

When exercising, breathing deeper triggers the body's relaxation response. But there are certain exercises that can be more helpful than others when it comes to relieving stress.

Just like any other cardiovascular activity, walking outside for 20-30 minutes several times per week can improve sleep, increase energy and increase stress-busting endorphins. According to research from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, when walking in green spaces, your brain is taken to a calmer state with little to no signs of anxiety.

Expressive writing to express your hidden feelings

Writing can help to boost positive emotions and reduce stress and anxiety, according to research from the British Journal of Health Psychology. Spending a total of 20 minutes per day writing about positive experiences can improve your physical and psychological health.

The aim is to find the positive during stressful periods to reduce tension and built-up anger. Start by thinking of an experience that makes you feel unhappy or uncomfortable, and begin writing about the positives you can take from the experience.

Social support for stress relief

Reaching out to family and

friends for help and support is crucial in coping with stress. Socialisation increases a hormone within our bodies that can decrease levels of anxiety and make us feel more confident in our ability to deal with stress.

Limited social support has been linked to increased levels of depression and loneliness. It has also been proven to alter brain function and increase the risk of alcohol use, drug abuse, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Social interactions with family and friends play a crucial role in how you function on a daily basis; spend time each day talking and interacting to relieve stress.

Improving your nutrition can help to improve your wellbeing

Another approach reportedly effective in helping individuals cope with the symptoms of stress is adopting a healthy lifestyle through nutrition and diet. Certain foods are proven to help combat stress levels and improve emotional response.

It's tempting to reach for a heavily stacked burger or grease-covered fries, but instead, opt for green leafy vegetables, which produce dopamine. Dopamine is a feel-good brain chemical that keeps you calm.

Other alternatives include oatmeal filled with carbohydrates, yoghurt which helps to reduce brain activity, salmon containing anti-inflammatory properties to counteract stress, blueberries that boost a natural cell to help immunity and dark chocolate which improves circulation."

https://delamere.com/ blog/2023-wellness-report

The aim is to find the positive during stressful periods to reduce tension and built-up anger. Start by thinking of an experience that makes you feel unhappy or uncomfortable, and begin writing about the positives you can take from the experience.

Activists Appeal Criminal Convictions and 30-Day Jail Sentence for Exposing Animal Cruelty at Excelsior Hog Farm

By Kris Hermes

An appeal was filed in April with the BC Court of Appeal in the case of two animal activists convicted last July of break-and-enter and mischief for their role in exposing animal cruelty at Excelsior Hog Farm in Abbotsford, BC. Amy Soranno and Nick Schafer received a 30day jail sentence in October, but both were granted bail pending their appeal.

The appeal filing marks the fourth anniversary of Soranno, Schafer, and scores of others was arrested on April 28, 2019, following an occupation of Excelsior Hog Farm in a civil disobedience action organized by Meat, the Victims. The Crown charged Soranno, Schafer, and fellow activists Roy Sasano and Geoff Regier, who together are known as the Excelsior 4, with more than 20 indictable offenses. But Regier's charges were dropped after a pretrial hearing in May 2022, and Sasano was acquitted at trial.

In the appeal, Soranno and Schafer argue that the trial judge, BC Supreme Court Justice Frits Verhoeven, made errors in law by blocking them from showing the jury video evidence of animal cruelty at Excelsior, including the footage the activists were accused of exposing. Furthermore, Justice Verhoeven prevented Soranno and Schafer from arguing that the hog farm had engaged in unlawful animal abuse, eliminating any possibility of making the case that

Soranno and Schafer believed their actions to be lawful.

The appeal also accuses Justice Verhoeven of erring in not staying the proceedings based on lost evidence. It was revealed during the trial that the Abbotsford police had both lost and destroyed crucial evidence central to the activists' case. Three hidden cameras were found at Excelsior Hog Farm in March 2019, along with SD cards containing hundreds of hours of video evidence, some of which depicted criminal animal abuse, according to Excelsior 4. Instead of ensuring the preservation of this evidence during an active investigation, the SD cards mysteriously went missing while in police custody. Then, in August 2019, for no apparent reason, the Abbotsford police ordered the destruction of all three cameras the activists were accused of planting in the hog farm. Police records show that the evidence destruction occurred soon after Regier emailed the BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BCSPCA)—the sole agency tasked with animal agriculture enforcement—to let them know that the cameras in police possession contained evidence of animal abuse.

Another argument central to the appeal is that Justice Verhoeven erred in his instructions to the jury by not limiting the testimony of Dr. David Dykshorn, a veterinarian who attended the farm on the day of the protest.

Dykeshorn's testimony discussed biosecurity at length and left jurors with a false impression that the activists had put the pigs' health at risk, a claim that was never proven in court.

"The prejudicial nature of Dr. Dykshorn's testimony during the trial, and the judge's jury instruction to use Dykshorn's testimony 'without restraint' in reaching a verdict, warrants a new trial," wrote Peter Sankoff, the appellate lawyer for Soranno and Schafer, in the appeal factum.

The activists argue that they were prevented from using a "necessity defense," which would have allowed Soranno and Schafer to argue their actions were necessary to prevent greater harm to animals from occurring. They further argue that their actions were necessary to expose the animal abuse and neglect taking place at Excelsior Hog Farm and that the trial judge erred in not considering this defense. Instead, Justice Verhoeven claimed that the activists had a "political agenda" in seeking to publicize the video evidence of animal cruelty, thereby using irrelevant considerations in determining whether certain evidence should be admissible at trial.

"Animal agriculture is an entirely hidden industry, with zero transparency and accountability," said Soranno. "Because the BCSPCA cannot make unannounced inspections of animal farms without a warrant, their ability to prevent or curb animal abuse is extremely limited. Even when the BCSPCA is provided with video evidence of abuse, like the footage of Excelsior Hog Farm, they still fail to prosecute the abusers." The Excelsior 4 and other animal activists are demanding an enforcement agency that adequately protects animals and is accountable to the public. Animal activists are also calling for the installation of publicly monitored CCTV cameras in slaughterhouses throughout BC. "We will continue to fight for animal rights and to hold accountable those responsible for animal cruelty," continued Soranno.

Soranno and Schafer seek to set aside their convictions and request a new trial. An appeal hearing will be scheduled in the coming weeks.

Additional information can also be found at the Excelsior 4 website: www.excelsior4.org.

Susan

Goodwin

We will continue to fight for ANIMAL RIGHTS and to hold accountable those responsible for animal cruelty, continued Soranno.

A SIMPLE WAY TO PREVENT HEAPS OF METHANE POLLUTION: COMPOSTING

A new study says the practice could slash landfill emissions by as much as 84 percent.

By Max Graham

Photo by Kalyakan?AdobeStock

The global food system is a climate mess, from the widespread use of greenhouse gas-emitting fertilizers to the methane-spewing livestock to all the food that gets tossed into the trash. In the United States, a staggering onethird of all food — something like 130 billion meals annually — gets thrown out. Each year, that discarded stuff represents an estimated 170 million metric tons of carbon emissions — the equivalent of 42 coal-fired power plants.

But there’s a simple solution, beyond simply reducing waste. According to a new study in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, composting food scraps results in 38 to 84 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than tossing them in landfills. Unlike trash in landfills, compost heaps are watered and turned, which aerates the decomposing waste and prevents bacteria from churning out as much methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

“Composting still has some methane emissions, but it’s much, much lower because most landfills aren’t turned as frequently,” said Whendee Silver, an ecologist at the University of California Berkeley and a co-author on the study. Landfills are a big climate culprit. Garbage dumps generate one-third of all methane emissions in the U.S., in part because the most common item in them is food. The organic matter in landfills breaks down through a process called anaerobic decomposition, in which bacteria feast on it and burp out methane. Food scraps often end up at the bottom of landfills, where it gets compacted and “creates the perfect storm for methane emissions,” Silver said.

Silver’s group measured emissions of three greenhouse gasses — carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane — at a commercial compost facility in California. They continuously tracked emissions over the course of the com-

posting process. Although other studies have done similar landfill-compost emissions comparisons, Silver said this one stands out because it used a new method that “allowed us to figure out exactly when and where and under what conditions the greenhouse gas emissions were occurring” and didn’t alter the conditions of the compost while taking measurements.

The big range in the findings — an emissions reduction of 38 to 84 percent — is a result of uncertainty around estimates of greenhouse gas pollution from landfills, which is “a really difficult thing to measure,” Silver said.

The researchers wrote that “fine tuning” the composting process, like turning the pile more and adding water more frequently but in lower quantities, could further lower emissions. Silver said that new tools like aeration tubes below compost heaps could also help slash methane emissions.

The study didn’t account for the climate benefits of applying compost as fertilizer. Other research has shown that laying compost on agricultural fields is key to storing carbon in soil. Some estimates suggest that adding compost to an acre of land can sequester enough carbon to offset 75 percent of a car’s annual emissions.

A handful of states and cities have passed laws to mandate curbside compost pickups and to prevent food scraps from entering landfills. Two years ago, President Joe Biden set a target of capturing 70 percent of methane emissions from landfills nationwide through a voluntary program. In 2015, the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency announced a goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030. But the country hasn’t tacked toward that target. Between 2016 and 2019, the amount generated in the U.S. actually increased by 6 percent, from 328 to 349 pounds per person each year. And only about 5 percent of that waste gets composted.

Making Shift Happen: Momentum Grows for New Thinking

ABOUT RIVER RESTORATION

An unconventional gathering helped spur ideas to speed the pace and scale of river restoration projects across the West.

By Juliet Grable

Brian and Pat Robertson first noticed something wrong nearly 30 years ago. A stream called Little Bear Creek ran through their property in northern Idaho, but the waterway had long ago been altered during a logging operation and essentially functioned as a ditch, carrying water swiftly away from the valley. Trees were dying; the water table was dropping; neighbors were digging dry wells. After consulting with Natural Resources Conservation Service and touring several Forest Service restoration projects in Oregon, the Robertsons decided to take the creek back to Stage Zero.

Stage Zero is like hitting the reset button to a time before the stream had formed a channel. With help from 10 agencies, the Robertsons filled in their stretch of Little Bear Creek until it was flush with the surrounding landscape. They scattered large logs about to help slow the flow of water. Then the stream could decide where it wanted to go: spreading out in fingers across a valley; pooling in wetlands; creating little micro-habitats — places where water-loving plants could grow, insects could hatch and young salmon could thrive.

Since the restoration at Little Bear Creek began more than five years ago, the water table has risen several feet. The meadow is transforming into a wetland. In time, the Robertson say, willows may return, then beavers.

The Robertsons’ project is an example of process-based restoration. This approach differs from conventional form-based restoration, which emphasizes building discreet structures and modifying a river channel. Process-based restoration is about restoring functions, and its scope expands beyond the channel to include the floodplain and valley bottom — the whole riverscape.

Chris Jordan, a fisheries biologist at the Nation Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was an early pioneer of process-based restoration. In 2009 he led an experiment sinking posts into a riverbed in central Oregon to give beavers points of attachment for their dams. The beavers responded. Four years later the water level had risen, and juvenile steelhead had increased by 175%. The processes set in motion not only improved the quality of the habitat, but the quantity, too.

Photo by Momentum Grows for New Thinking

Could the same thing happen elsewhere?

River systems across the West are degraded from logging and grazing, channelization, the removal of beavers, and the construction of dams, diversions, dikes and roads. Twenty-eight species of salmon and steelhead are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act.

There’s a whole industry — Jordan calls it the restoration-industrial complex — focused on form-based restoration: building log jams, excavating river channels, and populating riverbanks with native plants.

“There’s billions of dollars being spent, yet on the salmon recovery side of things, we’re not seeing the ecological uplift of the projects,” he says. Notably, you do see those benefits with process-based restoration projects, which include such things as removing dams and breaching levees as well as newer strategies such as building beaver dam analogs. But they aren’t happening fast enough to address the crisis at hand.

“I think it’s crystal clear that everyone in the restoration community and people throughout government understand that we’re dealing with catastrophic species and habitat loss that’s only going to be exacerbated by climate change,” says Erika Lovejoy, director for Sustainable Conservation’s Accelerating Restoration Program. “If we don’t do the restoration more quickly and put these solutions in place, we’re going end up dealing with everything on an emergency basis.”

Jordan and his colleague at NOAA, senior policy advisor Irma Lagomarsino, wanted to get more people on the process-based restoration bandwagon. Their solution: a special workshop called Restoring Riverscapes. The three-day event, held this March, gathered students and scientists; fluvial geomorphologists, aquatic ecologists and fish biologists; civil engineers and regulatory specialists; private landowners, tribal members and ranchers — in the same virtual room.

“The workshop was designed to help the very large community in California, Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho to learn and think together about potential solutions or ideas to expand the rate and the pace and the scale of process-based habitat restoration,” says Lagomarsino.

Jordan and Lagomarsino didn’t want Restoring Riverscapes to be an ordinary workshop. They brought on a team of producers, led by filmmaker Sarah Koenigsberg, who, among other projects, produced the award-winning feature documentary The Beaver Believers.

Restoring Riverscapes took over a year to plan. Koenigsberg helped them shape the workshop experience like a story, with a clear narrative arc. They created a color-coded chart of the presentations: inspiring stories of stewardship interspersed with pre-recorded presentations and live panels — no snoozy PowerPoints. The planners knew they would have to appeal to people from career restoration practitioners to graduate students to decision-makers — many of whom aren’t scientists.

An Unconventional Workshop

Photo by Steffen Lemmerzahl

River systems across the West are degraded from logging and grazing, channelization, the removal of beavers, and the construction of dams, diversions, dikes and roads. Twenty-eight species of salmon and steelhead are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act.

“We needed to change people’s minds,” says Jordan. “And you don’t change someone’s mind when they’re asleep.”

The first half of the workshop laid the foundation: explaining what process-based restoration is, why it works and showcasing examples. A trio of career Forest Service biologists traced their long evolution as restoration practitioners who now embrace the concept. Lisa Huntington talked about restoring a creek and floodplain in a Portland neighborhood. A short film presented the Robertsons’ story.

With help from a team of filmmakers, editors and other creatives, Koenigsberg produced this and three other films specifically for the workshop. The films are moving, the production values high. Storytelling is critical for winning hearts and minds, she says. “When you see other people who persevere and were inspired and didn’t give up, that’s what gives us this inspiration to go try, and to also keep at it.”

Cutting the Green Tape

Midday on Day 2 the focus pivoted to why it’s so hard to get more of this work done. Topping the list are regulatory compliance, landowner cooperation and funding.

Restoration projects typically require a host of permits: water quality certification, removal-fill permits from the Army Corps of Engineers, floodplain development permits from the county, Endangered Species Act compliance… the list goes on. Whether seeking permission to build a beaver dam analog or a bridge, the regulatory requirements are the same, and

they are costly and time consuming.

“The systems that were created to protect the environment and stop bad things from happening were designed for development type activities,” says Lovejoy. “They aren’t designed to help fix the environmental problems that we face in any type of efficient manner.”

Lovejoy is part of a coalition that successfully lobbied the state of California to create separate streamlined permitting pathways for restoration projects. Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot took up the cause, launching Cutting the Green Tape, an initiative to accelerate ecological restoration across the state.

Cal Trout is taking advantage of a new programmatic permit for its project on Big Chico Creek in Northern California, which aims to restore over eight miles of salmon and steelhead habitat. They estimate it will cut permitting time in half and slash costs by $250,000.

During her presentation, Lovejoy outlined the ingredients needed to catalyze such a sea change: strong coalitions, empowered agency staff, and support from leadership. She hopes other states, or maybe even the West as a whole, can develop similar initiatives to speed restoration efforts.

“When you have the permitting, the technical assistance and the funding under one roof, I feel it helps change the mindset,” she says. “You’re not regulating development, but helping steward restoration.”

The Human Dimension

In many cases restoration projects need to happen on private land: farms, ranches and urban neighborhoods. But how to earn the cooperation of people who may care about different things than you do?

To address that question, two social scientists presented at Restoring Riverscapes. Laura Van Riper, with the Bureau of Land Management’s National Riparian Service Team, shared ways to build trust with landowners and communities affected by restoration projects. Hannah Gosnell of Oregon State University talked about rivers as social-ecological systems.

Lagomarsino lobbied to include the social component in the workshop.

“A lot of us don’t have the tools and the concepts at hand,” she told me. “We just think we’re doing this really important work.” But cooperation requires trust, and the key to gaining that trust is finding ways to appeal to different values. That may require talking less about salmon and more about how a wetland could create a fuel break, helping protect a community from fire. Or how a restored riverscape could help a rancher through the dry season.

Gaining trust and engaging diverse stakeholders might be one of the most important challenges, Lagomarsino told the virtual audience in a session on collaborative conservation. But “it might be our greatest opportunity to expand the scale, pace and efficacy of process-based actions.”

Next Steps

Over 1,200 people showed up (virtually) for Restoring Riverscapes. Lagomarsino and Jordan are still sifting through mountains of com-

ments and figuring out how to build on the momentum.

“Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” says Koenigsberg. “That’s really hopeful to me. It can be hard to maintain positivity when we’re facing such an uphill battle.”

One of the workshop’s aims was to nudge people into seeing, thinking and talking about rivers in a new way.

Some of the bullet points Gosnell, the social scientist, used in her discussion of Resilience Thinking — embrace dynamism; work with Mother Nature; relinquish control — could have easily belonged in a different workshop. At one point she read aloud comments she’d captured from other workshop participants:

Rivers are a series of scenes in a really long movie.

Rivers need room to play, like kids on a playground. We need to think of riverscapes as biological beings with agency.

The final keynote speaker was Amy Cordalis, cofounder of Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation and Yurok Tribal member. She talked about the Tribe’s long advocacy to remove four dams on the Klamath River — the biggest process-based restoration project ever — and the reciprocal relationship between people and rivers. She invited the hundreds of people hunched over screens all over the West who care deeply about rivers, salmon, people, and the future health of our planet, to draw strength from the very ecosystems they’re working to repair.

“The river, if you ask it, the water, if you ask it, will tell you what you can do to help it to get back to that good place,” she said.

This story originally appeared in "The Revelator" It is republished here as part of The Eden Magazine partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global journalistic collaboration to strengthen coverage of the climate story.

Photo by Derek Otway