EDEN October 2019
Š
T h e
Magazine
DR.
LAURA LILE 21st-century healthcare
10 Best Cities
for Vegetarians in America By Brian Carberry
Ă&#x;
What the Ice Record Tell Us
Making Animal Shelters Fear Free Finding love in nature
A Powerful approach to fighting burnout
Our Sea Turtle During hurrican Dorian
How to Cope By Tara-jenelle Walsch
By Gloria Dickie
By Jennifer Marcenelle
By Jenny Lynne
By Thomas Madden
Table of Contents 6
DR. LAURA LILE
12
12
WHAT THE ICE RECORD TELL US By Gloria Dickie
26
MAKING ANIMAL SHELTER FEAR FREE
28
OUR SEA TURTLES DURING HURRICAN DORIAN By Thomas Madden
26 6 72 46 82
34
INTERVIEW WITH DR. ELLIOTT A VISIONARY HEALER
36
10 BEST CITIES FOR VEGETARIANS IN AMERICA By Brain Carberry
46
THE ITALIAN TELEVISION FESTIVAL IS BORN IN LOS ANGELES By Dina Morrone
48
HOW TO COPE
By Tara-jenelle Walsch
72
DAWN BREAKS IN MY HEART By Jayita Bhattacharjee
80
FINDING LOVE IN NATURE By Jenny Lynne
82
A POWERFUL APPROACH TO FIGHTING BURNOUT
By Jennifer Marcenelle
Cover Photo by SCOTT RANDALL
3 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e July 2016
DINA MORRONE
Maryam Morrison
ALEXIA MELOCCHI
MARIA ELENA INFANTINO
EDWARD HAKOPIAN
GREG DOHERTY
TARA-JENELLE WALSCH
ISABELLE RUEN
NANCY E. YEAROUT
SHERI DETERMAN
MICHAEL WHITE RYAN
ANGELA DUNNING
JAN DIANA
GLORIA KISEL-HOLLIS
JOE SANTOS, JR.
SASHA GARY
MARCO NUNZIO ALATI
PHYLLIS KING
MARGARET TOMASZEWIC
JAYITA BHATTACHARJEE
MEET OUR TEAM
Photo by Artin Mardirosian
Spreading Compassion to all Sentient Beings and Living in healing and peaceful world
EDEN T
H
E
MAGAZINE
Since 2010
The Eden Magazine is a free Online magazine focuses on spreading compassion to all sentient beings Living in a healing and peaceful world FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MARYAM MORRISON EXECUTIVE EDITOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER DINA MORRONE COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER ALEXIA MELOCCHI BRAND AMBASSADOR MARIA ELENA INFANTINO COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST GLORIA KISEL-HOLLIS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS JAN DIANA SASHA GARY PHYLLIS KING JOE SANTOS, JR. NANCY E. YEAROUT ANGELA DUNNING MICHAEL WHITE RYAN MARCO NUNZIO ALATI JAYITA BHATTACHARJEE TARA-JENELLE WALSCH MARGARET TOMASZEWIC CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST EDWARD HAKOPIAN GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY ISABELLE RUEN SHERI DETERMAN GREG DOHERTY WEBSITE
www.theedenmagazine.com 325 N. Maple Dr. Po Box 5132 Beverly Hills, CA 90209 To purchase a copy visit us in www.theedenmagazine.com Eden Magazine is an non-profit & independent monthly online magazine. Our aim is to create a better environment where we live among other living being in peace and harmony. We support artists that their work match our criteria. If you would like to submit your artwork, article or/and your Photography For our future issues please contact Maryam Morrison at; maryammorrison@theedenmagazine.com 5 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
A candid talk with Doctor Laura Lile
L
Laura Lile Dr.
21st-century healthcare
Dr. Lile has been a leading innovator and pioneer in preventative healthcare and wellness for over twenty years. She is a board-certified medical doctor and registered pharmacist, and is blessed to have the honor of being one of the only dual credentialed compounding pharmacists and preventative health medical doctors in the world. She has a global reputation of being a medical quarterback and problem solver for her patients. Dr. Lile's goal with all her patients is to help them win at the game of life, by being in the best physical shape possible. It is no coincidence that her clientele includes A-list celebrities, CEOs, and professional athletes. Dr. Lile makes herself available to her clients regardless of where they are, thanks to her Concierge, and pay per visit consulting services. She currently has health practice locations in Georgia, Tennessee, and Michigan. From preventive healthcare and restoration of the body's natural healing abilities to treat patients who are suffering from chronic illnesses, Dr. Lile works to individualize a treatment plan. She will always do what is best for her patients, and build a bridge towards better health and wellness. She is considered an expert for utilizing customized bioidentical hormone replacement to focus on the preservation of optimal health and to help patient’s age gracefully.
B y A lexia M elocchi
E dited 6 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
by
D ina M orrone
7 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2019
What made you gravitate towards becoming an alternative medicine doctor? I started down this path as a pharmacist. I gravitated towards this at first because of my love of chemistry. I practiced as a compound pharmacist for several years, and then I went back to medical school. I came into the world of compounding pharmacy because I loved being able to problem-solve, and my mother is the reason that I started working in alternative health. I researched European and international medicine and found that there were alternative ways to treat hormonal imbalances. That was the beginning of my journey of working in alternative health.
Stress has a tremendous impact. If there were one thing that I see impacting our health more than any other, inluding sleep deprivation, it's stress. This is because stress is the most significant part that changes our health.
At what point did you realize that every patient is different and that they should be treated differently? Very early on, as a compounding pharmacist, we used saliva testing to diagnose. What I realized is that when I would look at individuals' test results, no two individuals were alike. That's the beauty in compounding pharmacy. We are individualizing each person's formula. I have over 7,000 formulas that I've written over the years because they are tailor-made to each person and their symptoms. I began noticing the ability to treat conditions through these formulas, even fine-tune them. Then once I went to medical school, I started looking at blood work more methodically, not just as a moment in time. You cannot look at someone and know what to do only by what their blood work results show. You have to individualize the treatment for each person. What is the first step in evaluating a patient? It's a combination of different things, but first and foremost, it's looking at the blood. Twenty, thirty years ago, pharmacists, were not allowed to evaluate blood work themselves. The saliva-testing started with pharmacists needing to guide doctors because doctors were not trained in writing biogenetical hormones. Over time there's been an evolution, and now my process begins with blood work. I feel we have to have a foundation and look methodically at several different levels. Not just hormones because it's all interplay. For example, your thyroid levels
8 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
can be off when your progesterone levels are off. So we take a complete comprehensive look at bloodwork to start and then from there based on the patient's history we can start fine-tuning. For example, if somebody has got allergies or sensitivities, then you can start looking into specific testing. Do you believe in the mind-body connection and how that affects the biochemistry of the body beyond DNA? I 100% believe in the mind-body connection. I believe in it to the point where I have now partnered with Tayo Hendrix, daughter of Jimmy Hendrix. We plan to open a science and energy medicine clinic in London next month. We're looking at whole-body balancing medicine. We believe we have this matriarchal wisdom we can both tap into in different ways. We have both had years of experience, yet we're at opposite ends of the spectrum. And we're going to bring that wisdom together. When we met, it was like two magnetic forces coming together. I genuinely believe we have the authentic algorithms to re-connect and rebalance the whole person. This is a fascinating juncture because we are pulling international presence into the U.S. and vice versa. I believe that as we merge the physicality with spirituality, we will do great work. How do you think stress affects the body? What would be some simple steps to handle the stress on a physical level? Stress has a tremendous impact on the body. If there were one thing that I see impacting our health more than any other, including sleep deprivation, it's stress. I see changes in bloodwork, including an increase in blood sugars, cortisol, increased inflammation in the body. There are also noticeable shifts in female and male hormones. It is apparent when patients take the simple steps of incorporating mindfulness, proper sleep, and physical movement into their lives. We can see the shifts in their blood work, supporting stress reduction. It's one thing to say to someone that meditation, mindfulness, or exercise works, but to see those changes through physical markers can be very, very helpful to the patients.
Tell me the benefits of offering a Concierge Model in your practice. I had the concept of Concierge medicine to provide healthcare advocacy in 2006. I realized long ago that we did not have enough time with our patients. When I came out into primary care practice, I had added value to what I offered to my patients because of my experience as a compounding pharmacist for over a decade. Back then, I had more time for problemsolving and to help them. When I started my medical practice, I realized the visits with my patients were not allowing us to encompass all that needed to be disucssed and addressed. There wasn't enough time to get to know them at a level where we could tie everything together. I saw the writing on the wall and knew that patients needed a health care advocate, and I needed to be able to spend that time with them. One of the beautiful things about having a healthcare advocate (Concierge) is that the patient has someone to help them navigate through the complexities of medicine. For anyone out there, no matter their education level, there is a need to cross the t's and dot the i's as well as to fill in the pieces that are missing. In today’s healthcare arena, we're looking at defense medicine, not offense medicine, and we need to be on the offense with our health. How have you seen compounding pharmacy change over the years? The original compounding pharmacy started out providing biomedical hormones. There weren’t many in the country, so we encompassed many different services. Preventative health was not recognized thirty years ago. If you look back in time, even three decades, we didn't have rows of vitamins available in drug stores like we do today. The whole area of preventative health and nutraceuticals supplements has just recently become mainstream. We have grown to a point where we can tailor to an individual patient’s needs. When you think about it, you’ll read articles about supplements, and not know if you need them. That’s why you need to have them tailored to you and your specific health needs. This multi-billion dollar industry has people reaching for the fountain of youth and what they really need is to have somebody that can help guide them. It's actually saving funds for people because they're not purchasing things they don't need. It's like getting a tailored suit. It fits you. That's what we do for our patients. Which cases do you most enjoy taking care of? I truly enjoy taking on the role of being a healthcare partner and advocate with my patients to help as a medical quarterback and problem solver. I am often
taxed with complex cases, coordinating care, and taking the lead position on patients’ medical teams. I love being able to use methodical problem-solving skills to help patients get to the root cause of the health problems. II am excited about the mind-body connection aspect. I am growing old with many of my patients. I have gone through many of their ups and downs. When someone has stressors, I can see all of those shifts in blood work. When I have all of the data on them, I can see what's happening in real-time. We can see when they're doing great, when they're emotionally sound, and when they're in tune, through the blood work. 9 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
What drives you to be different in your approach? The thing that has been the driving force for me to approach medicine differently is simple. Over the years, I have heard the many stories of patients who have transcended well-meaning doctors who practice "sick care," which encompasses a combination of blanket medications and surgeries. I know there's a better way to heal the patient. I believe in a less invasive and more personalized medicine tailored to each person individually. Healthcare is a business, and it is up to every individual to assemble a team to manage you and your family's health. The world today is toxic soup, and it takes more to stay healthy. Once you are sick, it is an uphill battle navigating through the haze of a healthcare system that is antiquated. That is why I focus on 21st Century health, embracing new strategies to deal with the physical, emotional, and spiritual demands of today's world. I integrate the TRUTH - physical truth, emotional truth, and spiritual truth, using the art and science of your health. Do you feel optimized health can indeed be a game-changer in the game of life? Yes. Why is it that the more successful and wealthier people become, they have no hesitation in hiring and working with a stockbroker? They hand over their funds to have them invested in the future market. So then why are we not investing in our own health and wellness? We invest in our wealth, and it is time to invest in our health. That comes with balancing the whole life. You need both physical and spiritual well-being. 10 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Healthcare is a business, and it is up to every individual to assemble a team to manage you and your family's health. The world today is toxic soup, and it takes more to stay healthy Once you are sick, it is an uphill battle navigating through the haze of a healthcare system that is antiquated. That is why I focus on 21st Century health, embracing new strategies to deal with the physical, emotional, and spiritual demands of today's world. If somebody is out of state and wants to have a personalized blueprint, how does the process start? Anyone interested can contact our headquarters in Atlanta via phone at 678-381-1420 or email PC@lilewellness.com. They’ll be scheduled to speak with a New Patient Coordinator. We currently have patients in 44 states and in several countries. If patients can't make it to one of our physical locations, a phone consultation may be provided. In our experience, phone consultations have been as equally effective as in-person visits. We have had a tremendous success rate in diagnosing via phone consultations through trend analysis and spending time listening to the patient. It's unbelievable the value of not just looking at a moment in time. To me, that is where we are missing the boat with medicine. We are not looking and are not trained to get the historical data to know what's normal for a specific case. The numbers you get from a doctor are the fifth to the ninety-fifth percentile. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be at the fifth percentile. We have to start learning about patients and looking at what is more normal for them.
My mission is to effectively change the way healthcare is delivered. This phase in my career is about planting seeds of change throughout the country and throughout the world. My goal is to integrate both physical and spiritual well-being by partnering with patients. This is the reason I changed the name of my practice a few years ago. I felt the name needed to reflect what we do. At Lile Wellness Partners, we partner with patients on their quest for wellness.
What do you like to do in your personal life? I travel extensively, so one of the things I love to do is to be home with my fiancĂŠ. I've been able to be blessed enough to find the love of my life in my second prime. I love playing tennis and reading. I believe you have to start every day with gratitude, and I am so grateful for my fiancĂŠ, Jim, and my three healthy grown children. Spending time with family brings me great joy. Are there any charities that you support? I am very endeared to environmental issues. We won't have anywhere to live if we don't take care of our planet. But I am also very involved with Captain Planet Foundation and Hendrix Youth Foundation, and as a woman, I am an advocate for the fight to end human trafficking. My passion is to help young women that are not able to have the resources to escape from that ugly world. This is key. . What is your Mission? My mission is to effectively change the way healthcare is delivered. This phase in my career is about planting seeds of change throughout the country and throughout the world. My goal is to integrate both physical and spiritual well-being by partnering with patients. This is the reason I changed the name of my practice a few years ago. I felt the name needed to reflect what we do. At Lile Wellness Partners, we partner with patients on their quest for wellness.
Special Thanks to: Alexia Melocchi - Interview Dina Morrone - Story Editing John Scott Randall - Photography Brittany Pearson _ Make-up Leslie Sunshine - Stylist: 11 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Photography by Martin Balle 12 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e September 2019
We in The Eden Magazine are pleased to share this GREAT NEWS with our followers. Now we are proudly partnering with "COVERING CLIMATE NOW”. This story originally appeared in "Mongabay.com”. It is republished here as part of The Eden Magazine partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.
What The Ice Record Tells Us The Arctic and climate change (1979 - 2019)
By Gloria Dickie 2019’s Arctic ice melt season started out with record heat and rapid ice loss. Though cooler weather prevailed in August, stalling the precipitous fall, by mid-September ice extent was dropping dramatically once again. Then in a single day, 2019 raced from fourth to second place — behind only 2012, the record minimum. With 2019 offering no reversal over past years, scientists continue observing the Arctic Death Spiral with growing alarm. This story reviews the 40-year satellite record, along with some of the recent findings as to how Arctic ice declines are impacting the global climate. Researchers are increasingly certain that melting ice and a warming Arctic are prime factors altering the northern jet stream, a river of air that circles the Arctic. A more erratic jet stream — with increased waviness and prone to stalling — is now thought to be driving the increasingly dire, extreme global weather seen in recent years. The 40-year satellite record of rapidly vanishing Arctic ice — as seen in a new NASA video embedded within this article — is one of the most visible indi-
cators of the intensifying climate crisis, and a loud warning to world leaders meeting at the UN in New York next week, of the urgent need to drastically cut carbon emissions.
{
Arctic melt season watchers had a wild ride this year, with sea ice extent plummeting, and tracking with all previous record lows for time-of-year from March through mid-August, as 2019 appeared on course to challenge 2012 — the lowest minimum in the 1979-2019 forty-year satellite record. Then, once again proving the Arctic’s volatility and unpredictability, 2019’s melt slowed dramatically in late August and early September, only to take off again in a race to the bottom. As recently as Monday, September 16, extent appeared to be heading toward a fourthplace finish behind 2016 and 2007, but overnight 2019 surpassed both, placing second only to 2012. 13 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
"This year what we’re seeing is a good example of the natural variability of the system,” says Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). In the spring, it looked like we were heading for a new record low, but then, in August, the loss rate suddenly slowed. 2019 now ranks among the lowest ice minimums in the 40-year satellite record. More importantly, during the four-decade time frame, the world has witnessed monumental declines in ice extent and volume in the Arctic. “In all months, sea ice extent is going down,” reports Serreze, with the biggest changes seen at the end of the summer melt season. Compared to when the satellite record began in 1979, sea ice extent is down about 40 percent in September. “It’s a big loss,” he says. By the numbers, the 1979 extent minimum, according to NSIDC, came in at 6.895 million square kilometers (2.662 million square miles), whereas by 2012 the September ice locked in at just 3.340 million square kilometers (1.289 million square miles). This year, on September 17, sea ice extent sank to 4.100 million square kilometers (1.583 million square miles), shifting its ranking from fourth to second place, surpassing 2007 at 4.147 square kilometers (1,601 square miles) and 2016 at 4.145 square kilometers (1.600 square miles).
ice hanging around much of the sea ice in the Arctic is ≠≠forming and melting away every year. In 1979, the daily minimum for sea ice volume was 17,065 cubic kilometers (4,094 cubic miles). While 2019 has likely not yet reached its lowest point, at the end of August, volume had fallen to just 4,170 cubic kilometers (1,000 cubic miles), putting it in close second place behind 2012, and already 75 percent lower than the 1979 minimum. Such dramatic changes in the ice are being driven by warmer air and water temperatures which eat away at the ice from all sides. Summers are longer than they used to be, and winters are warmer. “You put that together and you have a pretty strong formula for getting rid of ice,” says Serreze. Still, that doesn’t mean ice loss has followed a clear downward trajectory with every year lower than the one that came before. Rather, based on the natural variability of the climate and summer weather patterns, the trend of sea ice extent creates a kind of “sawtooth pattern,” where year-to-year extent and volume vary, but the long-term trend is ever downward, in what has been dramatically dubbed “the Arctic Death Spiral.”
In recent years, we’re starting to see more significant losses in other seasons, too, says Julienne Stroeve, a senior research scientist with NSIDC. “The changes in summer have been dramatic, but it’s starting to manifest in other seasons as well, with later freeze-up and earlier melt. We’re lengthening the [progressively] ice-free season.”
2
1 And sea ice isn’t only covering far less extent, it’s also getting thinner causing the volume of Arctic ice to drop precipitously, making the sea ice far more vulnerable to warming Arctic waters and atmosphere. With less thick, multiyear
14 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Thus far, 2012 has experienced the lowest September sea ice cover in the satellite record. “It sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb,” says Serreze. But low years are increasingly more frequent and recent, with the top ten all occurring after 2007. And if global temperatures continue to rise — as expected in a world where nearly no nations are currently expected to meet their Paris Climate Agreement goals — that melting trend is bound to spiral downward.
How ice loss affects us all With so few long-term climate data sets, the importance of the sea ice record is hard to overstate. Sea ice is an extremely sensitive indicator of changes in the global climate, and it’s also very visual — unlike, say, changes in the global average air temperature. “You look at satellite data and you can very well see what’s happening,” says Serreze. And then there are those stunning pictures of beleaguered polar bears whose feeding habits are impacted by sea ice loss — with other polar species seriously affected too. However, climate change is now becoming increasingly visual beyond the Arctic, with impacts ranging from devastating hurricanes to long-term droughts and raging wildfires. One metaphor says that the polar regions act as the Earth’s air conditioners, while also helping to set up many of the basic weather patterns that we have come to expect around the globe in the past. But as the Arctic grows out of sync, so goes the rest of the planet, “A strongly warming Arctic could influence weather patterns in the mid-latitudes,” says Serreze. As the saying goes: what starts in the Arctic, doesn’t stay in the Arctic.
can also cause temperate weather patterns to stall in place — bringing punishing bouts of extreme weather. This spring saw one of the waviest jet streams in recent history, and in turn, severe weather slammed into much of the mid-latitudes. Bomb cyclones, severe thunderstorms, heavy rain and catastrophic flooding in the Mississippi River basin were all possibly born out of this year’s deeply askew jet stream. One possible impact could be the stalling of major storms, such as Hurricane Harvey over Houston, Texas; that storm’s stuck-in-place rainfall totals topped 60 inches in some locales. The unprecedented melting of sea ice has other serious ramifications. Less ice means the Arctic is now open for business. The world’s superpowers are paying increasingly more attention to northern economic opportunities, and the region is now considered to be of significant geopolitical importance. US President Donald Trump’s sudden interest in Greenland is just one example. That country made headlines this summer for another reason, seeing a huge amount of glacial melt into the North Atlantic. Scientists now estimate that ice loss in Greenland this year alone was enough to raise the average global sea level by more than a millimeter — glacial melt that is only expected to escalate, unless the world’s nations and corporations act aggressively to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
2
3 Researchers are increasingly certain that the strong temperature differentials between the Arctic and the temperate zone are one of the primary factors that create and propel the northern jet stream — a fast-moving river of air in the Northern Hemisphere that circles the Arctic. As sea ice vanishes and Arctic temperatures increase, the temperature variant between these regions is getting smaller. That means there’s less force driving the winds in the jet stream from west to east, and the weakened jet stream starts to swing wildly, deviating from its typical polar path into lower latitudes (even as far south as the Gulf of Mexico) which
The Arctic has large deposits of natural gas, oil and rare earth minerals, as well as methane hydrates, that if mined, would likely be game over for reestablishing a stable global climate. Moreover, the loss of ice has opened up shipping routes, such as the Northern Sea Route over Russia, and the Northwest Passage in Canada. “Right now, both [routes] are open. It’s pretty much clean sailing,” says Serreze. “I’ve been studying the Arctic years, but now I’ve unavoidably been drawn into issues of climate change and geopolitics.”
15 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
5
Future of forecasting Despite the 40-year record, it’s still difficult for ice scientists to know how the melt season will shake out each year. Ice predictions are constrained by limited forecasting abilities for the natural variations in weather. Scientists like Stroeve are working on ways to improve measurements of sea ice thickness, which helps to inform ice forecasts. Currently, researchers aren’t able to directly map sea ice thickness in summer (relying on modeling for their statistical analysis), and are limited by how much snow lies atop the ice in other months. “That’s something we don’t observe well from satellites. Our understanding is pretty rudimentary. We have to make assumptions based on snow depths,” she says. The other big barrier in predicting sea ice outcomes is the accuracy of long-term weather forecasts. Right now, scientists can’t predict how natural variations in weather will impact the ice in the long run. Stroeve calls this the “spring predictability barrier,” which means that any ice forecast made before May isn’t very accurate. “Once you get to June, things get better.”
16 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
In a sense, long range forecasts are easier. Without governmental and corporate action to curb carbon emissions, the global trend in Arctic sea ice will almost certainly be downward — with impacts both seen and as yet unforeseen, for us all. This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 220 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.
Photo courtesy: 1. Pack ice after sunset in East Greenland near Kulusuk. Image by Markus Trienke, Flickr. 2. Pack ice off northern Baffin Island, photo by Paul Gierszewski (Gierszep. 3. chart PIOMAS Arctic Sea Ice Volume Death Spiral 1979-2019. Image © Andy Lee Robinson @ahaveland. 5..Arctic sea ice in eastern Greenland. What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. Scientists theorize that large-scale ice loss up north may be altering, and stalling, the northern jet stream, which can result in drought or storms hovering over one locale for long time periods. Image by mariusz kluzniak, Flickr.
Photography by Sergi Ferrete
17 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e September 2019
Pencil drawing by Joe Pregadio 18 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Suffers
Everyone
By William Arntz
S
o, that's me (except I'm more the Willie Nelson look), sitting in my mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a cold martini shaker on the table, moping about my suffering.
"What?" you ask. "How could you be suffering? You're rich!" To which I can only reply, "It doesn't look like it from the bleachers, but believe me, the rich share your burden." Maybe not the burden of worrying about money and trying to pay for your kid's education, but what I share with you and everyone else on this planet is: The burden of suffering. Everyone suffers. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining – at least not right now. I've had a great life. You could say I've lived the American Dream. Upon graduating summa cum something from Penn State, I worked as a Research Physicist in high-energy laser systems (later known as Star Wars) and retired two years later after creating the first wave optics simulator for high energy lasers. I drove around the country, hippy style, for a few years, got bored and did a film project with a friend. Then I got into spirituality. As part of a spiritual task assigned by my teacher Rama (aka Dr. Frederick Lenz), I created a software product called AutoSys and built a company around it which I sold for a small fortune to Platinum Technologies. (Keyword there being small.)
19 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
AutoSys went on to be Platinum's #1 product for 16 consecutive quarters, propelling the company from a $100M/ year enterprise to a $3.6 billion acquisition when Computer Associates bought it a four years later.
ed and licensed in over 20 languages worldwide. My resume' was varied and full, the bank account robust, everything I wanted to accomplish had been done and yet..., well, you know where this is going. Why? Because:
Yes, I sold the goose that laid the golden egg. (I am still suffering over that one.) But not that much. I mean, I was 45 and had just bought my first house with cash and settled into the successful entrepreneur lifestyle. So what? Living the American Dream of success is one thing; waking up from The Dream is another. And in those expansive days of chewing over my accomplishments, it began to dawn on me, that nothing had changed. I didn't have customers to bother me; I had barking dogs next door, contractors who didn't show up and a girlfriend who split.
Everyone Suffers.
Hmmm, something's missing, let's try the spirit again. Off to another spiritual school called Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, where I learned that metaphysics and quantum physics were often saying the same thing and that creating reality is something, we all do all the time. So, if we create reality all the time, we should be able to create the perfect reality in which dogs don't bark (at least near me), and girlfriends don't split. Wrong. There were still good days and bad days. And by definition, bad days are ones in which you suffer. There must be something I could do about it.
Whether it's a bad knee, a lousy childhood, a nasty boss, an unfaithful lover, a hurricane, there always seems to be something right around the corner that can turn a good day bad. But here's the kicker: we all are chasing The Dream. The Dream that if everything went my way, we would be happy – we wouldn't suffer. And in The Dream, we ignore The Reality: Suffering is. A thousand and one "to do's," a hundred and one easy steps to success, a dozen or more ways to find your perfect lover, and yet we never take it straight on: We suffer, we don't like it, why, why, why? I'm partway thru the why's. Having achieved everything I wanted to; I know the answer is not "out there." That leaves either "in here" or "(sh)it just happens." What was that bit about laying up treasures in heaven?
It was that golden goose! A year after I sold AutoSys, my main competitor, who I routinely beat in sales, was purchased by IBM for over ten times what I got!!! All right, I'm "spiritual" and all that, and, according to spiritual experts, the world's an illusion, which means it's a great idea to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." But still, this was just too much. Besides, since it's an illusion why not lay up some treasures in an interest-bearing Muni account? So, I created a second software product and just nine months after starting that it sold for twice what I got for AutoSys. For icing on the cake, I bought back the Lamborghini I had sold five years earlier to finance the first company. Now I didn't have to worry about money. I had some extra laying around and got the idea to make a little movie about that intersection of science and spirituality. I'd always wanted to make a movie, and here was my opportunity. Which is how I came to make the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? Which went on to be the first successful, groundbreaking movie in the Transformational Media genre and one of the most successful documentaries of all time, playing in theatres worldwide with box office totals of $23M. I wrote a companion book to What the Bleep that had the first run of 150,000 copies, going on to be translat20 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
William Arntz began his professional career as a research laser physicist, developing wave optics simulators for the high energy lasing systems that became the “Star Wars” strategic defense system. He then left the scientific world and spent 20 years studying with two spiritual teachers. During that time he wrote the system management software product, AutoSys, and sold the company for millions. Following his lifelong passion for filmmaking, he used the proceeds from that to produce, direct and write the film What the BLEEP Do We Know!? Incorporating his scientific background, spiritual training and a desire to make people laugh and think.
21 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT
Jenny Powers
Empowered: The Woman’s Guide to Following Your Heart”
Jenny Powers is an author and a speaker who grew up in Medway, Massachusetts. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Williams College. She has worked as an actress, a director of sales and marketing, and an investment banker. She has spent much of her life traveling around the world, seeking to live the best life she can live and fulfilling her passion for adventure, new experiences and following her heart. “Empowered: The Woman's Guide To Following Your Heart” is her first book.
A
year ago, I set out to find my greatest purpose in life. I left a life that I knew very well, a very safe life with lots of predictability. I left it all to follow my heart. What has unfolded has been a journey that has led me to a mission, a mission that I believe in with every fiber of my being. The vision for this mission has many pieces and continues to unfold as I write this. However, the mission is the same. To empower women everywhere to become our best selves. To awaken us to our own power so that we may live as the women that we are born to be. To free us from what we carry around as the caretakers of others so that we take the time to stop, breathe and reconnect to who we each are. To strengthen our relationship with ourselves so that we embrace our bodies, our hearts, our minds and our spirits, in everything we do. To build the tools that are necessary for us to be able to unleash the potential that is inside all of us so that we are each capable of doing amazing things. To grant us the space in this world where we can experience the freedom to feel, to express, to let it all out and to connect to our happiest selves. To honor and celebrate the brilliance, the passion, the fire and the joy of women, everywhere. To create the place on this Earth where extraordinary transformation happens so that we are all empowered to live our best lives.
22 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
When I began this journey, I began to write a blog. My book, “Empowered: The Woman’s Guide to Following Your Heart” is inspired by that blog. It started as a way for me to inspire others, but it soon became a way for me to inspire myself. It became a way for me to track my own experiences, a way for me to understand all that I was feeling, a way for me to work through everything that I was going through and a way for me to chronicle my journey. It became the place where I expressed myself – fully, openly and honestly – and in doing so, came to find some peace along the way in leaning on what I learned through what I wrote. I am still on the journey, but the revelations that I have experienced along the way are in these pages. They are authentic. They are genuine. This is truly the stepby-step journey that I have been on – nothing forced, created or manufactured for any other purpose than to express all that I felt in my heart at the time, as I found my way. These were not written for any effect or even with this book in my mind, so you can trust the integrity of these discoveries. I never intended to share my journey in this way, but I understand now, that I am meant to. The journey when you follow your heart is hard, and in moments, it can overwhelm you to the point where you feel like you will never find your way.
But you will, I promise. If you just keep going. You may feel crazy, lost, uncertain, and so alone at times. May this book always remind you that you never are. Sometimes in my darkest hour, the things that I discovered in these pages, have been my only light. I share them from this place. They are reliable truths. You can depend on them. They will show you the way. Use them as a light, as a reason to keep going, as a reason to keep believing, as a reason to never give up on your journey, on your dreams, on your heart and on yourself. It is not easy to follow your heart, to seek a life of purpose, to remain true to the song that is in your heart, the song that quietly whispers to you, the song that you are meant to sing that the rest of the world has yet to hear. But you must. The world needs you. To live the life that you are meant to live and to become the woman that you are meant to become. You are here for a reason. We are each here for a purpose, a purpose that is uniquely our own. But the only way that we will each get to our purpose and live our best life, is if we each share the story of our journey and the guiding truths that we discover along the way. They are the light by which all of us will see. These are my truths.
23 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
This is my journey Make This Your Beginning I can make this the beginning of anything that I want. So I will. Here comes a vision so big that it will change the way that we as women feel about ourselves, about our bodies and about our power. It is going to be huge. We will own who we are again. We will stop apologizing for being as amazing as we are. We will spread our wings. And we will fly. Make today the beginning of anything that you want in your life. As soon as you do, it has begun. Believe in the Magic The world rewards courage with beauty. Growing pains are hard and giving birth to the song that is in my heart is testing my strength. Risking it all and putting my heart on the line is uncomfortable and the unknown of the journey can be overwhelming. I am living this. But the magic in this world understands this and recognizes my bravery and says, I see you and I am in awe of what you are willing to go through to give birth. The most beautiful complete double rainbow awaited me in the sky out my front door at the end of my first big day of following my heart. Believe in the magic. Do What You Love What do I love? I love inspiring women, including myself, to feel better about ourselves. This is what I love. This is where my joy is. Today was a huge step for me. I'm not sure how it will all unfold, but I do know that today, I walked the walk. I walked right through all of my fears, and did what I love to do in spite of them. I don't know exactly how life works, but I do know that amazing things must come from doing that. In your life, always do what you love. If you do, you will always love what you do. Make Today That Day I must recognize and enjoy the little victories of today. I must be present in the space in my life that is begging me to stop and say, today was enough. Today, I achieved enough, accomplished enough, did enough and made enough progress. If I don't stop today and say this and recognize my victories, then when will I? That day in the future will never come, if I don't make today that day. So I am making today that day. Today, revel in your little victories. Make today the day that was enough. Do this every “today” that follows because strung together, these todays are your life. Speak the Truth I must speak my truth, always. As women, we are often so busy trying to meet expectations that we fail to honor our own feelings. But our feelings are right and justified. We are entitled to feel each and every one of them and we are allowed to tell people how we feel. This is the only way that we build a truly authentic and empowered life. This is the only way that we build a life that feels good to us. In every moment, speak your truth. And never stop. 24 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Be a Leader Today, I am inspired to lead. I am inspired to pave the way. Being a leader means going first. It means walking ahead. It means knowing the power of your influence, and using it to open the doors through which others will walk to their dreams. I am a leader and I own my influence. Be one too. Go first. Lead. Follow Your Heart Close Your Eyes. Follow Your Heart. I have. And I do. I set out on this journey to find my greatest purpose. I committed to following my heart. The journey has led me to the truths that are in this book. They are the foundation upon which I now stand. At every turn, I have followed them. At every step, I have trusted them. You can too. They work. They will take you where you want to go. They have led me to my greatest purpose. The Empowered Woman This is my greatest purpose. It is the vision that will transform the world by awakening every woman to her best self. This book is just the beginning…
25 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e Octoberr 2019
Making Animal Shelters Fear Free What if coming into the shelter could be a positive experience for animals? Today Fear Free, LLC, has launched a free online education program that will help animal shelter employees and volunteers create a Fear Free experience for pets from intake to adoption and beyond. Since 2016, Fear Free has provided online and in-person education to more than 50,000 veterinary and pet professionals. Its mission is to prevent and alleviate fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) in pets by inspiring and educating the people who care for them. Now they’ve launched the Fear Free Shelter Program, available at no cost to all who work and volunteer with shelters, rescue groups, and other animal welfare organizations.
ter Medicine. She is a member of the Fear Free Executive Council. Dr. Griffin was joined by three board-certified veterinary behaviorists with extensive backgrounds in shelters and shelter medicine. They are Sheila (D’Arpino) Segurson, DVM, DACVB, the Director of Research for Maddie’s Fund; Sara Bennett, DVM, MS, DACVB, co-instructor for the Shelter Animal Behavior and Welfare online learning course at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine; and Wailani Sung, MS, PhD, DVM, DACVB, of the San Francisco SPCA Behavior Specialty Service.
Developed by leading experts in shelter medicine and animal behavior, this free online program provides education in positive and progressive practices for all staff and volunteers. It will also provide resources adopters and foster homes can use to promote the emotional wellbeing of the pets in their care and ease the transition to a new environment.
“We created the Fear Free Shelter Program to improve the experiences of animals by educating shelter personnel about the emotional needs of dogs and cats,” said Dr. Marty Becker, founder and CEO of Fear Free. “This program will empower them to apply key concepts, strategies, and techniques designed to reduce the negative emotional states that are commonly experienced by shelter animals, including fear, anxiety, stress, and frustration.”
The course’s lead author is Brenda Griffin, DVM, MS, DACVIM, DABVP. Dr. Griffin co-instructs courses in shelter medicine and behavior at both the University of Florida and the University of Georgia and serves as the Regent for the new specialty in Shel-
After a brief introduction to Fear Free, the shelter program consists of four basic modules: Emotional Health, Recognizing How Animals Are Feeling in the Shelter, How Animals Learn, and Fear Free Communication and Animal Handling Basics.
26 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Free Online Program for Shelter Staff Members and Volunteers Launches
Additional modules are tailored to the needs of different positions and will launch in regular intervals. Fear Free also provides educational materials for pet owners and foster caregivers at FearFreeHappyHomes.com. These courses and other resources are available at no cost and are designed to help all pets live happy, healthy, full lives. You can learn more about Fear Free and sign up for the Fear Free Shelter Program at www.fearfreeshelters.com.
ABOUT FEAR FREE Developed by “America’s Veterinarian,” Dr. Marty Becker, Fear Free offers online and in-person education to veterinary professionals, animal shelter staff and volunteers, the pet professional community, and pet owners. Fear Free provides both professionals and pet lovers alike with the knowledge and tools to look after a pet’s physical and emotional wellbeing.
can visit fearfreehappyhomes.com to access cutting-edge videos, articles, and more that will help improve the physical and emotional health of their pets right at home. Animal shelter team members and volunteers can visit fearfreeshelters. com to enroll in the complimentary program. Fear Free also provides educational materials for pet owners and foster caregivers at FearFreeHappyHomes.com. Videos and other resources are available at no cost and are designed to help all pets live happy, healthy, full lives.
www.fearfreeshelters.com
Veterinary or pet professionals can learn more about becoming Fear Free Certified® by visiting fearfreepets.com. Pet owners
27 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Our Sea Turtles during Hurrican Dorian While protecting people's lives and property are the main concern during Hurricanes, there are those brave volunteers who look out for our Sea Turtles
Photogrpahy by Silas Baisch
By Thomas Madden
Everyone and particularly the media are focused on the stark danger hurricanes pose to people and property, particularly in vulnerable, sea-level places like Florida. But how many are focused on probably the most endangered and vulnerable of all—sea turtles? According to Palm Beach County, more than half the sea turtle nests, along with 1M cubic yards of sand, were lost on Palm Beach Co. beaches from Dorian. WPTV reported the eye of Hurricane Dorian may have missed the Florida mainland, but the storm still did a number on beaches and wildlife. The county said one silver lining is that there was a record number of sea turtle nests this year, about 50,000, and 2/3 of them have previously hatched. “Turtles actually come up six to eight times every season and lay nests, so that helps them mitigate the impacts from natural disasters," said Benji Studt, public outreach supervisor for Palm Beach County Environmental Resources Management. Of course, focusing on people and property is right and proper, yet sometimes this focus can reach to the point of ad nauseum, almost bordering on yelling fire in a crowded theater. That’s because authorities charged with protecting us believe if people aren’t frightened, they won’t move quickly as they should and someone is going to have to risk their life saving them from their false sense of security. That’s because many are living behind the tissue-thin walls of their homes while a veritable monster is on the way to crush them. Therefore, dire warnings predominate the news before those horrible hurricane force winds start whipping and lashing our shores, dislodging people
from their homes who like frightened following mandatory evacuation orders issued from on high by officials who know what they’re talking about . . . who in plainer terms are telling the public to run for their lives to higher ground, or to shelters or to a safe distance away from thundering winds and an angry, stirred up ocean. Fortunately, there are those who are also thinking of animal life so small and vulnerable, especially those tiny sea turtles waiting beneath besieged beaches to hatch and return to their mother’s arms at sea. So hail to those brave and caring volunteers at sanctuaries like Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Fl. Yes, for South Florida, Cat 5 Hurricane Dorian was quite a Labor Day disruptor Throughout “dangerously threatened” Palm Beach County so visibly vulnerable on the many ominous illustrations accompanying the incessant TV weather reports, Labor Day sales sank to a new low in a just few inches of rising surf. Flights got cancelled. Airports closed. Hotels, restaurants, stores went dark. Even Publix folded along with my oceanfront condo, The Chalfonte, and my club down beach from where I live, The Boca Resort and Club, became a veritable ghost resort. Everything closed, got locked up, shut down along with the bridges and all else in the path of, or should I say along the ever-widening side road, that ominous cone of uncertainty caused by the slow poke Dorian. Except for those poor souls killed offshore on Abaco Island, Dorian’s bark as she brushed the South Florida coast turned out thankfully to be a lot worse than her bite. And thankfully most of the thousands of silently nesting sea turtles along the imperiled coast of Florida were spared.
29 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
During calamitous storms, few talk about endangered sea turtles much as rightfully somber, intense TV news crews focus more on the powerful hurricane’s threat to people and property if they don’t heed warnings to evacuate swiftly. Then the official warnings from the governor on down provoke legions of frightened Floridians to dutifully evacuate en masse amid the gloomy and scary predictions of how destructive the hurricane could be. Unfortunately, our precious sea turtles have no access to local news, nor are they on any First Responders emergency evacuation list. Yet few are as endangered as our brave tiny sea turtles where they’re encamped, dug in deep and nesting within that dreadful cone of uncertainty. There they are, bravely nestling quietly beneath the sand all along our often battered, yet ever recovering coast. There they lay asleep and awaiting the time they would come alive and race for the ocean, from whence their mother came to bury them months before so they’d hatch and hightail it back to their mother sea. But as Hurricane Dorian pushed northward and the sea off South Florida became calm again, what happened to the sticks and red ribbons that marked our sea turtles underground nurseries? Where are the warning signs to leave them be or face prosecution and fines? Where are they now? Gone with the wind and the surging tide!
Sea Turtle Conservation, Rehabilitation, & Research Florida boasts some of the most important nesting beaches for loggerhead sea turtles in the world. Our beaches also offer important nesting habitat for green and leatherback sea turtles, as well as the occasional Kemp's ridley and hawksbill turtle. Florida's waters provide important development habitat for many species of sea turtles in a variety of life stages. All species of sea turtles in the world are either threatened or endangered. Sea turtles face many threats today that were not threats hundreds of years ago. Examples of these include: • Collisions with boats • Sky glow from artificial lighting • Interactions with commercial and recreational fishing gear • Loss of nesting habitat • Pollution If you want to help to save sea turtles, send a donation to https://www.gumbolimbo.org/general-donations As a beacon for environmental education, research and conservation, Gumbo Limbo’s 20 acres on the protected barrier island provide refuge to plants and animals, some rare or endangered. It represents a commitment to protect natural resources by staff, volunteers and organizations at the center.
Thanks to Dorian, the higher than normal tide had washed many of those markers out to sea, so no longer were the baby turtles’ neonatal plots clearly visibly, plainly marked and protected. What will happen to our poor sleeping sea turtles? Are they all right? Safe? Why weren’t they in the local news? Why was there no clamor for their rescue? No reporting on them? Why aren’t we talking about what that darn Dorian did to our beautiful sea turtles? Yet help arrived quicker than I expected as volunteers hastened to restore those nursery markers. Bless them. They worked hard to protect our sea turtles. Want to help? Here’s how you can protect our sea turtles and other rare plants and animals.
30 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Tom Madden is founder and CEO of TransMedia Group, an international PR firm with offices in Boca Raton, FL and Rome, Italy. Mr. Madden is also an author, whose most recent book is titled “Is there enough Brady in Trump to win the inSUPERable BOWL.” His new book “Love Boat 78” from Mascot Books is set to come out this fall and will be available on Amazon, Kindle and in bookstores across the country.
31 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e July 2019
MEDICATIONS By Amy Orr
Medications can be a complex and baffling area, with many chronic pain sufferers using a combination of prescription and overthe-counter drugs to combat their symptoms and achieve day-to-day normality. There is also usually an element of trial and error in finding meds that work, and what works today may not work next month. Lastly, many pain meds are highly addictive, so dosing and proper use become very important. All of these factors—plus the fact that most of us are not chemists—can lead to a lot of misapprehension and confusion regarding what we can and should take. One of the most under-utilized resources in health care is the pharmacist. For those many millions who visit only big-box pharmacies, seeing one of a number of interchangeable random people in white coats, giving your name and receiving a pill bottle with no explanation, then this is very understandable. Why would you engage with this stranger who acts as little more than a cashier in discussions 32 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
about your health? Sadly, the rise of these enormous multi-function pharmacy retailers has made knowing your pharmacist seem like an old-fashioned notion, but it doesn’t have to be. There are plenty of independent and smaller pharmacies still around. Even if you don’t have a choice and have to go to a larger retailer for your prescriptions, there will usually be one or two supervising pharmacists on duty, present at set times, who you can ask to speak to and develop a rapport with. Pharmacists are experts in medication—that’s their whole job. They have gone to extensive educational lengths to become so. They usually know more than doctors about dosing, best practice for taking your medicine, potential complications, and drug interactions. Even if a medication has been prescribed by your trusted doctor, I would still recommend speaking to your pharmacist about it. Make sure they know everything you are on, overthe-counter meds included, and the issue being treated.
They can advise on: • Best practice taking medication (e.g. times of day, with/ without food, in sequence or separate from other meds) • Possible side effects • Possible addictive qualities • Possible interactions with other meds you may or may • not be taking • What to do if you miss a dose • Expected efficacy, including a time window—especially if a slow- release pill • Ramp-up time required (some drugs take several weeks to build up in your system before becoming fully effective) All this information is needed for you to understand what you are taking, how to take it, and how to judge the efficacy of your meds. If it takes three weeks before your new prescription reaches effective levels in your system, there is no point in giving up on it after two weeks because it hasn’t done anything yet. Doctors usually do not have the information or the time to share all of this detail with you, so speaking with your pharmacist should be considered a necessary second step, after initial prescription, before starting any new medication. They are also valuable resources on overthe-counter options, how to alleviate side effects, and combining multiple medications at once. There will always be someone for you to talk to at whatever pharmacy you go to, because it’s the law. A registered, fully trained pharmacist is required at all drug stores. You may need to ask to speak to them—you may need to come back if they are on break—but the awkwardness of asking a stranger about your prescriptions passes. Soon they will know you, will recognize you, and will be able to have an open and productive conversation with you (without prompting) to ensure you know everything you need to. For this reason, I highly recommend visiting only one location for your meds, and not buying them online. You risk missing out on one of the most beneficial health care relationships you can have as a chronic pain sufferer, one that doesn’t even cost you anything extra. Exercise Write down your local pharmacy. Maybe this is the place you always go, maybe it’s just the nearest to you. Maybe it’s a new one down the street. Wherever it is, pick a single location you think you can reliably expect, from now on, to get your meds from. Write down its hours and make sure you will be able to drop off and collect prescriptions during those times. Google may be able to tell you the name of the pharmacist there—if so, great, write it down. If not, don’t worry. Go in and, at the pharmacy desk, ask to speak to the pharmacist. You may be told they’re not in. You may be asked what it’s regarding. Say you wish to discuss your medications with them, and leave your name and number if necessary. Explain that you have preexisting condition(s) and want
to make sure you’re taking everything safely and appropriately. The pharmacist may be in, in which case introduce yourself, state you are using their facility to fill your medication needs, and ask for a quick chat about what you’re on. If they’re not in, ask for a call back; if it’s a place you’ve used before, they will have your details on file, but, if not, leave your name and number and prescription details, make sure you get the name of the pharmacist who will be contacting you, and have the discussion over the phone. The advantage of developing a relationship of this kind is that, quite quickly, you will be able to call the pharmacy with any questions and they will be able to help you over the phone, as they will know you and have your details in their system. A little work up-front can ensure a simple route to quick answers down the line. All of this is designed to ensure you take what you need safely, but also to normalize a key aspect of your health care. Talking to your pharmacist should be and is a normal thing to do. They deal with medications all day every day; there is no shame in using their expertise. Removing the awkwardness, the embarrassment, the self-consciousness of such a vital component of pain management is a big step toward making it everyday and routine. It’s not mystical, it’s just chemistry, and the quicker you learn how to speak about it and treat it as such, the easier it will be to understand, manage, and control your medications.
Amy Orr is a passionate writer and researcher. Her writing ranges from long-form fiction to narrative non-fiction, to short educational pieces on healthcare, medical issues, and technology. Her latest work, Taming Chronic Pain, is based on over a decade of researching chronic pain and managing her own. A creative problem-solver by nature, Amy has used her scientific background to demystify many of the issues surrounding this difficult topic, and provides step-by-step guides on how to navigate even the trickiest of chronic pain issues.A Brit living in Canada with her family, she spends much of her free time volunteering with Progressive Animal Welfare Services, a Canadian non-profit, for whom she is a Board Member and Volunteer Coordinator. Her writing buddy is Pearl, a rescue greyhound who specializes in supportive, non-verbal critique of Amy's work. Check out all of Amy's work at www.amyorrbooks.com Taming Chronic Pain is available to order now! 33 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Interview with Dr. Elliott A Visionary Healer Hello Dr. Elliott, thank you for your time with the Eden Magazine. You have been referred to affectionately as the “Health Detective” why? My medical practice has attracted patients from around the country who have not been helped by mainstream medicine. They tend to have complex medical problems that have been undiagnosed—or misdiagnosed as being psychiatric problems. They get treated with multiple medications for their many symptoms while the underlying causes of their symptoms do not get addressed. Some of these causes include food allergies and sensitivities, unhealthy diet, nutritional deficiencies, exposures to heavy metals, toxic chemicals, gas leaks, and mold, Lyme Disease—as just a few examples of what mainstream medicine tends to overlook due to lack of training in these areas of environmental medicine.
Life Among the Navajo People”. The memoir begins in the early 1970s when I came to a remote area on the Navajo Reservation, near Canyon de Chelly, as a newly minted Anglo schoolteacher. Knowing nothing about the students or their culture, in my ignorance I made one cultural blunder after another, which resulted in serious misunderstandings. Beset by loneliness and despair, I was ready to call it quits and return home. At that turning point, my Navajo teacher’s aide asked me if I would like to learn about her people. I eagerly accepted her offer to teach me. With her help, I made a determined effort to overcome the barriers of language and culture. From the moment I began learning the Navajo language, the people opened their hearts and homes to me, inviting me into a world that profoundly impacted the rest of my life.
Please tell us what is your specialty? I am board certified and family practice and environmental medicine. The kind of medicine that I practice is eclectic and covers a very broad spectrum of medical conditions.
Over time, I fell in love with each one of my 36 Navajo students—along with their enchanting land, rich traditions and healing ceremonies that involved mind-altering plant medicine, chanting, drumming, and sacred rituals and prayers. I witnessed many miracles during this time and experienced my own miracle when the elders prayed for healing of a tumor on my neck. I survived fearsome encounters with a mountain lion and a shape-shifting “skin walker.” I learned how to herd and butcher sheep, make fry bread, weave traditional rugs, and more. I dove so deeply into Navajo life that sometimes I forgot that I was white.
You have many patients with depression, why is our society dealing with this chronic illness? This is a huge subject and probably needs a whole book in order to give a comprehensive answer. One could artificially divide depression into two categories: situational and physiological depression. There are certainly many reasons to get depressed about what is happening in the external world today, along with one’s personal reasons for getting depressed, such as one’s declining health or problems with relationships. The physiological causes of depression are manifold, and can include food allergies, lack of certain vitamins and minerals that the brain needs, lack of exercise, insufficient sleep, exposures to mold, heavy metals, gas leaks, and toxic chemicals. Most of the toxic chemicals have a high affinity for the brain and can cause severe mood disorders and cognitive problems. Please tell us about your new book “Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert: My 34 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Years later, I returned to serve the Navajo people as a medical doctor in an underserved clinic, performing emergency procedures and delivering babies. When a medicine man offered to thank me with a ceremony, more miracles unfolded, one of which was the most important gift of my life for which I give thanks every day.
This book is about bridging the cultural divide through efforts to understand and see the world through the eyes of other people — the people who were here first as well as to educate readers about the Navajo way of life, without revealing sensitive information about sacred ceremonies." You said in one of your interviews, please tell us more about this. To answer this question, I will quote from the endorsement given by Larry Dossey, MD, medical doctor, author, and speaker: “Elliott’s willingness to transcend her cultural conditioning and enter another complex society is an act of great courage—one that reveals her boundless empathy and compassion. This book is sorely needed at this moment in America, when divisive voices incessantly warn us of the other, the foreigner, those who “are not like us.” Mystery and Medicine in the High Desert: My Life Among the Navajo People reveals how diversity and inclusiveness can enrich our own society—a lesson on which our future may depend.” Why did you choose to write this book based on Navajo people? After the elections of 2016, I felt deeply troubled by the divisive atmosphere in the US. When I asked myself what I could do to help, that’s when I realized that I needed to write this book and get it out into the world because it contains an uplifting and deeply healing message. What is your message to our readers at Eden Magazine? Below is what one reviewer wrote about the message conveyed by the book: This is a book about how compassion, humility, patience, selflessness, and love of others can transform lives – both our own and those whose lives we have the privilege of touching. Dr. Elliott’s journey and wisdom show us that we all have the capacity to shape our perceptions and behavior in ways that can transform what might seem like a barren and foreboding environment (or, more generally, place in our lives) to a lush, nurturing, and highly rewarding environment (or life) simply by our own actions. Dr. Elliott could have cursed the desert and what she found there for everything it appeared to lack on the surface, walked away, and ended up on another path, likely continuing to feel as lost or empty as so many of us. Instead, she simply “watered it with her soul,” and the “desert,” her life, blossomed into previously unimaginable color and brought rewards that would otherwise have been impossible. Apparent deserts confront us all in our lives. What Dr. Elliot shows us is these deserts – indeed, our lives – are our canvass: We can curse or turn away from them for what we see on the surface, or we can love them for what they can teach us, water and nurture them, and reap rewards and make the world a better place in ways we never imagined possible. Dr. Elliott shows us that the choice is ours.
Finally, I will add that while this book is moving and meaningful for any age reader, I would particularly encourage this book for adolescents and young adults who, with Dr. Elliott as a role model, can see that there are richly rewarding paths for their lives that might never have considered, and that apparent adversity is not something to fear or from which to run, but rather, by choices within our own control, can lead to some of the most meaningful and lasting experiences and lessons of our loves. What have you learned from your past experiences? There are so many lessons that I have learned from my past experiences that it would take several more books to tell you all that I’ve learned along the way. In fact, these books are in the pipeline. How do you spend your time when you are not writing a book or seeing patients? I spend my free time hiking in the mountains, biking, swimming, gardening, being with my friends, helping out in my co-housing community. Do you have any other upcoming books? Yes. I will be writing at least two more memoirs about my almost mythic journey to finding my life purpose.
Visionary healer, Erica M. Elliott, M.D., also known as ‘The Health Detective’ has had many life altering adventures which helped form her into the inspirational doctor and empowering public speaker she is today. In her debut book, “Medicine and Miracles in the High Desert: My Life Among the Navajo People,” Elliott chronicles the early years of her extraordinary life which included living as a young Anglo woman among the Navajo people in the 1970s. In the book, Elliott reflects on her time as a teacher on a Navajo Reservation boarding school in Arizona where she ultimately became a student of their mystical, earth-centered wisdom, much of which has been lost in today’s modern world. She was allowed the privilege to learn their ancient spiritual ways after being determined to reach across the cultural divide by learning the Navajo language which opened up their world to her as she was embraced by their community. Elliott eventually found her calling to help heal others and served the Navajo people as a medical doctor in the 1980s.
35 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
The 10 Best Cities for Vegetarians in America By Brian Carberry
Vegheads, rejoice! Dining out is no longer limited to meat-shaped soy entrees and underwhelming salads. These 10 cities take “veggie friendly" to a whole new level. Meat-free eating has never tasted so good. The top cities based on vegetarians businesses per resident Spread out across the country, the 10 best cities in America for vegetarians offer the most vegetarian, vegan and organic dining options per capita. Translation? It's all about options.
36 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
10. Richmond, VA
From hands-on Ethiopian cuisine to a beloved vegetarian restaurant that's been around since long before being veggie became trendy, Richmond has endless options for residents who choose not to eat meat. Better yet, the average one-bedroom rent falls below the national average ($1,142). A one-bedroom in Richmond will only set you back about $1,085 per month.
8. Orlando, FL
Surprised that the home of Disney World is a haven for herbivores? Orlando's dining scene is finally starting to get the attention it deserves, and this multicultural melting pot offers plenty for vegetarians. It'll cost a bit above the national average to move in next to Mickey. A one-bedroom apartment in Orlando will cost around $1,328.
6. Savannah, GA
Dripping with Southern charm and antebellum beauty, this quaint Georgia city serves up vegetarian food with a side of soul. Start your day with soaked chia porridge, tuck into a roasted veggie panini for lunch, then end the evening with eggplant jambalaya. The lowest rent on our list sweetens the deal. A one-bedroom in Savannah will only set you back around $1,027 per month.
9. Portland, OR
Meatless meals are easy to come by in Portland, where you'll find no fewer than 132 vegetarian restaurants and 88 vegan eateries. With one of the country's strongest vegan scenes, you'll never want for “cheesy" vegan pizza, vegan ramen or coconut milk froyo. Ready to move? Expect to pay about $1,552 for a one-bedroom in Portland.
7. Salt Lake City, UT
With a strong vegan scene and a slew of outstanding vegetarian dining options, you'll find plenty of plant-based fuel to power your ski sessions on SLC's four nearby mountains. Rent prices fall in the middle of our top 10 list, with a one-bedroom price tag in Salt Lake City coming in around $1,260 a month.
5. Pittsburgh, PA
The 'burgh boasts an eclectic assortment of plant-based eats, along with enough vegan eateries to keep up with the trend currently sweeping the nation. Once you're worked your way through Pittsburgh's 76 vegetarian and 36 vegan cafes, rest your head at a one-bedroom apartment for around $1,282 per month. 37 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
3. Boulder, CO
The second big university city on our list caters to its active,
veggie-loving residents with an impressive assortment of plantbased eats befitting of the town's eco-conscious rep. Unfortunately, you'll need a good job to live this close to the Rocky Mountains. A one-bedroom here in Boulder is just three bones shy of $2K per month.
2. Berkeley, CA
It's no surprise that the crunchy home of UC Berkeley is second on our list. Hungry co-eds and earthy locals alike appreciate plentiful plant-based treats like vegan buffalo bacon fried chicken ranch sandwiches and candy covered glazed cinnamon buns. Just save up your pennies for rent. You can expect to pay around $3,106 for a one-bedroom, making Berkeley the priciest city on our list.
4. Ann Arbor, MI
1. Charleston, SC
There are plenty of veggies among the University of Michigan's 44,000 students, and fortunately, they'll find an abundance of tasty study snacks, from vegan nacho dip to buffalo wraps and chili mac.
The best city for vegetarians in America is located in the heart of the Lowcountry. From Southern grit bowls to gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, herbivores will find a lot to love in this charming coastal city.
Expect to pay around $1,331 for a one-bedroom pad in Ann Arbor.
Ready for more good news? Living here won't break the bank. You can find a one-bedroom around Charleston for about $1,091.
38 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Beyond the top 10
Hungry for more meat-free eats around the country? Consider our top 50 cities for more inspired vegetarian dining. Vegetarian Businesses Rank City, State per Resident 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Charleston, SC Berkeley, CA Boulder, CO Ann Arbor, MI Pittsburgh, PA Savannah, GA Salt Lake City, UT Orlando, FL Portland, OR Richmond, VA Cambridge, MA Richardson, TX Seattle, WA West Palm Beach, FL Burbank, CA Gainesville, FL Costa Mesa, CA Rochester, NY Las Vegas, NV Atlanta, GA Grand Rapids, MI Cincinnati, OH Minneapolis, MN San Francisco, CA Washington D.C. Fort Collins, CO Pasadena, CA Tempe, AZ Denver, CO Scottsdale, AZ Madison, WI Miami, FL Eugene, OR Cleveland, OH Knoxville, TN Chattanooga, TN Austin, TX New Orleans, LA Wilmington, NC Boise, ID San Diego, CA Tampa, FL Springfield, MO New Haven, CT Athens, GA Syracuse, NY Columbia, MO Glendale, CA Reno, NV Orange, CA
1 per 2,141 1 per 2,308 1 per 2,329 1 per 2,641 1 per 2,653 1 per 2,663 1 per 2,674 1 per 2,721 1 per 2,768 1 per 2,948 1 per 2,990 1 per 2,994 1 per 3,084 1 per 3,149 1 per 3,177 1 per 3,226 1 per 3,252 1 per 3,467 1 per 3,667 1 per 3,712 1 per 3,824 1 per 3,863 1 per 3,875 1 per 3,896 1 per 3,921 1 per 3,930 1 per 3,962 1 per 4,023 1 per 4,097 1 per 4,166 1 per 4,184 1 per 4,371 1 per 4,445 1 per 4,536 1 per 4,684 1 per 4,842 1 per 4,875 1 per 4,916 1 per 4,960 1 per 5,035 1 per 5,277 1 per 5,280 1 per 5,399 1 per 5,459 1 per 5,465 1 per 5,736 1 per 5,796 1 per 5,972 1 per 6,070 1 per 6,111
Top vegetarian cities by total number of businesses
If you're just looking for the cities with the most vegetarian-related businesses without any population consideration, here's how the top 10 would have shaken out. Rank
City, State
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
New York, NY Chicago, IL Los Angeles, CA San Diego, CA Seattle, WA Portland, OR San Francisco, CA Houston, TX Austin, TX Philadelphia, PA Washington D.C.
Total Vegetarian Businesses 481 428 347 269 235 234 227 203 195 177 177
Methodology We took cities with populations more than 100,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau and used 8 million commercially available business listings to add up the vegetarian-related businesses in each city in the following categories – vegetarian, vegan and organic. We then divided each city's population by this total to determine a ratio of the number of businesses for each resident. The rent information included in this article is based on January 2019 multifamily rental property inventory on ApartmentGuide. com and Rent.com and is used for illustrative purposes only. The data contained herein does not constitute financial advice or a pricing guarantee for any apartment.
Brian Carberry has more than 10 years' experience as a content creator and award-winning journalist. He is currently the managing editor of Apartment Guide and rent.com, and his work has been featured on CNN, Search Engine Land, Campaign Monitor, Randstad and a number of other organizations around the world. In his free time, Brian enjoys sports, cooking and debating the correct pronunciation of "gif."
39 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
THE WAY I SEE IT
By Joe Santos, Jr.
Photogrpahy by Kuroko-uko
#notme
40 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
“I am my hashtag.” I recently overheard this from a conversation two strangers were having while waiting in line at Macy's. I was so tempted to ask what her "hashtag” was, but I didn't. I did think about it during the day, though. She may have been onto something. In the world we live in "paraphrasing" is the new normal. So, sayings things like "we are, what we eat," or "I am, what I am” and so on may be dated terms but say the same thing… nothing. “I am my hashtag.” What is a hashtag anyway? I always thought it was a "pound sign." I hardly want to consider myself or refer to any of my friends as a "pound sign." Do you? A "hashtag" in fact is a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic. So, let me see if I chose to identify myself as a hashtag, what would mine be? I "stutter" to think! Aren't most people lately identifying themselves in all kinds of ways? Even their sexuality by using words, symbols, and expressions, to excuse or establish boundaries in society? "Could it be it was all so simple then?" Oh, do we have some learning to do! I'll give you some examples. “Baby”: I’m baby became an Internet phenomenon mostly because it means what it says in the literal sense. If someone says, "I'm baby," they mean, I am baby; I am sleepy, I am hungry, I need to be held, be kind to me, and do what I want. "I'm baby" avoids confrontation at all costs. (Wow, who knew a conjunction and a word could fit together so harmoniously?) Example: “Hey, I think we need to talk about you coming into work hungover.” "I'm baby." Here’s another. “Zaddy”: A Zaddy is a man of a certain age who oozes sex appeal, experience, and swag. Although the terms do combine the same two elements: hotness and age. Often Zaddies have grey or silver hair and are peaking, aesthetically or professionally, or enjoying a comeback later in their lives, careers. Please, don't ever call me a Zaddy! Here's a personal favorite. "Gucci." And, no, not Gucci the Italian fashion empire we all know and love! "Gucci" in slang means good, fine, or okay.
"I'm coming over at 10 pm, and we're going to eat pigs in blankets before going out." "Gucci." And there's "Bible": Odds are, you've heard the Kardashian-Jenners throwing around the word "Bible" on KUWTK. The sisters will begin a statement with "Bible" if they're about to say the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's also a way to get someone to stop lying. "Bible, I didn't take your green dress." or Do you like him or not? Say "Bible." Just a few of these and I'm already exhausted. Trust me. I can go on! "Keep it, 100." If you're keeping it "100", you're acting in a way that's true to yourself and aligned with your values, as well as being respectful to others. Some of these have some thought behind them, even social consciousness. But not all! I guess my point is just this. Every generation goes through a period of sorting who they are. We've all done it, we all do it. Maybe it seems so different because in ways it is different. Things change at rapid speed. Technology, thoughts, emotions, ideas. We are constantly spinning and maybe out of control. All we can do is find some order, a sense of humor, patience, and an open mind, heart, and vocabulary. If we are going to find any hope in getting it together or keeping it together, we're going to have to stay #trill. ( true+real=trill )
Joe Santos, Jr. is a Celebrity Chef and Life-Stylist. He joins The Eden Magazine as a writer sharing his unique view on life, death, love, and the avoidance of mediocrity.Follow Joey on Instagram @jojoboy13
41 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
RECLAMING YOUR TRUE SELF
RO By Angela Dunning
H 42 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Remembering Ourselves Home There are times in our life when we can become disconnected from our essential-self. It’s amazing how quickly we can forget who we truly are; what matters the most to us and what our essential life’s purpose is guiding us towards. Whether through periods of stress, relationship problems, loss of a loved one or a job, ill health or injury, it is easy to lose contact with who we really are at our deepest core. In these times we can feel ungrounded and rootless, literally as if we are floating outside of our bodies. We are then also likely to feel further stressed and sometimes pain or illness can set in, as we struggle to cope with life and all its challenges while not being securely grounded and at home in ourselves. We can also experience a loss of power at times like this. Shamans refer to this literally as “power loss” and sometimes also “soul loss”. During these times out confidence levels drop and we lack the zest and strength we previously felt. We’re reluctant to tackle challenges or anything potentially further stressful and we might retreat from the world a little more until we have regained our power.
Photogrpahy by Patrick Schneider
43 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
In addition, if our childhood was challenging and we still perhaps lack access to solid, fundamental inner-resources and self-belief to support ourselves, then these times can be doubly challenging. In particular, those with a history of trauma; empaths; intuitive-types and highly sensitive people can be at a greater risk of becoming dislocated and disconnected from who they truly are, particularly as connection to the body is more difficult for them anyway. Such uprooted-ness from the core of one’s being can also leave them more vulnerable to others’ influences and the winds of life which can more easily further unbalance them. Therefore, it is vital during these difficult times that we look for the clues and threads to help us find our way back home. Thankfully, we have at least one ever-reliable and faithful ally in the form of our unconscious which gifts us with dream imagery and emotional situations each night, and which can gradually re-connect us back to our essential-selves. Our dreams can remind of our greatest gifts and abilities; of that we which love with all our heart but have forgotten or put away for the time being. Or they might shed light upon our pent-up grief which is still in much need of release, so that we can find our way back to our heart’s desires once more. From these nightly gifts we can take the energy and emotion we felt in the dream and then take active steps in our daily life to follow the threads back to our deepest loves. For example, if we have had to put on hold a beloved career, now we might start to find a gentle and easeful way back towards this, taking one small step at a time. Even just feeling into the love and confidence we felt in the past when engaged in this work is vital, so that we can re-tune our heart and soul again back to the frequency of this soul passion. Finding concrete, grounding ways to anchor ourselves again is key and may include any of the following: • Undertaking some simple body and breath-work exercises. • Remembering our spiritual practices and reaching out to our spirit guides for help. • Writing out a list of our core values, beliefs and heart’s desires in life and placing this in a prominent place to remind and anchor us each day. • Assessing how we are spending our time and allocating specific periods to devote time, energy and attention to our core passions each day, as what we put our attention on grows whereas, that which we neglect is at risk of withering further. • We might turn our attention to our unique creative outlet by writing a poem, singing, or listening to our favorite music and dancing. • We might also focus on how we can include more of
44 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COMe October 2019
those things, people or animals who are most important to our deepest soul’s wants and needs, particularly if they are currently absent. • Seeking out helpful resources: books, articles, videos, podcasts or online courses. • Meeting with certain people who can be conduits back to our lost treasures. • We might even decide to make big life changes, maybe by moving areas so that we can put ourselves more closely back in touch with who we fundamentally are by finding our soul’s physical home and landscape. Whichever method we use will be unique to us. Part of knowing ourselves well is figuring out just what really does speak to us and bring us back home at the deepest level. Then we can practice bringing ourselves home each time we encounter turbulence in life. We can grab hold of the thread that we’re hanging onto for dear life and slowly bring ourselves back down into the very ground of our being. Essentially, anything which is the soul’s delight tells us that we have found our way back home again to that which we love. This is the soul’s journey: a continual process of rediscovering over and over again and and which is neither a one-off nor a linear process. The sooner we accept that, the more able we are to undertake the journey of rediscovering ourselves once more, and the more love and compassion we start to feel towards ourselves as we see that our soul is kindly trying to guide us back home as many times as necessary.
Angela Dunning is a regular contributor to The Eden Magazine. She is the author of ‘The Horse Leads the Way: Honoring the True Role of the Horse in Equine Facilitated Practice’, and she writes regularly on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thehorsestruth/ and Patreon: www. patreon.com/angeladunning You can learn more about Angela and her work helping people and horses at: www.thehorsestruth.co.uk
45 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
THE ITALIAN TELEVISION FESTIVAL IS BORN IN LOS ANGELES By Dina Morrone
Academy Award winner Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”), as well as the director and creator of the Emmy Nominated television series “The Young Pope,” starring Jude Law, was present at the London Hotel in Los Angeles to accept the inaugural Italian Television Award at the first-ever Italian Television Festival (ITTV), for his contribution as an Italian filmmaker internationally, and for successfully bringing Italian stories to the forefront of the entertainment industry. The actual award, called “Hand…The Winner Is” was custom-made by Italian artist Fidia Falaschetti and inspired by his neo-pop piece “You Hand Me.” The award is a sculpture of a hand holding a remote control to symbolize the modern-day viewer’s freedom to choose whatever she/he so desires. The Festival is the brainchild of Valentina Martelli, Francesca
Scorcucchi and Cristina Scognamillo (Good Girls Planet Productions), along with Marco Testa, president of Armando Testa Group. The evening was a kickoff of what will become an annual Italian TV Festival in Los Angeles. ”The point of this Festival is that Italy is producing so much content with really good talent, and it’s starting to be recognized internationally. It’s an Italian TV renaissance," says Martelli. “It’s a never-ending market, so why not bring this opportunity to the states?” Netflix has opened the door to many international titles. The demand is such that television, and not just Netflix, but all streaming services, are seeking out more non-domestic programming to fill the tastes and needs of the North American viewer.
When I asked about how his life has changed since winning his Oscar®, he didn't have to even think about it and immediately responded, “It has not changed at all because my wife keeps me grounded. All credit goes to my lovely wife Daniela (D'Antonio), for making sure that nothing has changed.”
Sorrentino’s original television series “The Young Pope” (HBO), has been loved by critics and audiences and garnered several nominations including a win in Italy with the Nastro D’Argento. The follow up to the success of the show is the highly anticipated second series “The New Pope.” The ITTV Festival had the honor of screening the US premiere of the trailer. Sorrentino accepted his “Hand...The Winner Is” award, and in modest fashion, as he's quite shy about speaking in front of large groups said, ”I'm not good at speaking in public but I'm good at receiving awards and arranging them at home. I'll put this one close to my Oscar®.” I had a chance to speak with Sorrentino. He was very honored and humbled to be a part of the Festival and understood the importance of what Martelli, Scorcucchi, Scognamillo, and Testa were hoping to achieve with ITTV, “It's a necessary event, today.” I was curious to know what Sorrentino felt was the most significant difference between working for Italian television versus American. “There isn't much of a difference. The language is universal. And when it’s universal we all get it and understand it no matter what the characters are speaking. There’s a lot of excellent work going on in Italy right now.”
Many Italian filmmakers (not just Italians) grow up dreaming of working and making it in Hollywood. I asked Sorrentino if as a child, growing up in Naples, Italy, did he ever dream of one day winning an Oscar®, working in Hollywood, or being presented the first-ever ITTV award? He smiled and said an emphatic, “No.” And then went on to say that when he was growing up, he didn't know what he wanted to be. If anything, he said, he wanted to be a soccer player. But at 18 something changed. He started thinking about movies, and the rest is history. Sorrentino and his family have recently moved to Los Angeles for one year. He was not able to discuss his reason for being here or divulge any details of his upcoming project. But with Sorrentino’s highly creative vision, we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next. Among the other guests who attended the event were, Jarred Harris, (“Chernobyl”), nominated for 19 Emmys, Francesco Bauco (“Ford vs. Ferrari”), Moran Atias (“The Village”), Emanuela Postacchini (“Who Is America”), Logan Laurice Browning (“Dear White People”), Stefania Spampinato (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Massi Furlan (“Versace, American Crime Story”), James Kyson (“Heroes”), Lorenzo Lamas (“Lucha Underground”), Shawna Craig (“Housewives of Beverly Hills”), Oscar-nominated composer Marco Beltrami, and producer Martha DeLaurentiis. The Festival was sponsored by the Consulate General of Los Angeles and the ITA, the Italian Trade Agency.
47 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
SOUL COURAGE
By Tara-jenelle Walsch
How to Cope How, then, can we stay updated and educated on current happenings without getting jolted into the gloom of despair, anger and We’re all feeling it. How can we not. The in- hopelessness? flux of stress, grief and fear brought on by ongoing natural disasters, negative political There’s got to be a way to preserve an emoenergy and unthinkable acts of violence has tionally healthy life amongst the deplorable left many of us shaken and stirred. events that are consistently arising. A way to witness dreadful tragedies and political Mornings now include taking a deep breath upheaval, and feel compassion for those afin apprehension before opening the news- fected, yet all the while not lose a sense of paper or turning on the television. Evenings our self, hinder our joy, or shape-shift our following with prayers for others and the psyche. state of our world. The solution isn’t positive thinking, reciting Life’s unpredictability has been walking a prayers of gratitude or donating to the lattightrope, weebling and wobbling our spirits est disaster relief fund. Yes, those things help and keeping us on quite the edge. At times, and let’s keep doing them. But just doing them even threatening our mortality and putting is cookie-cutter grade for what the world is survival mechanisms on high alert. going through right now. It’s time to step things up a notch, folks. Much of the world is left confused and wondering—short of us burying our head in the In order to keep humanity from falling apart, sand, how are we to cope? We can’t go on we must first, hold it together. And we do so whistling in the dark, trying to convince our- by holding it, together. selves things aren’t as bad as they actually are. And we mustn’t pretend everything’s alright What does that mean in practical terms? It when the reality is we’re feeling upset or wor- means that more is needed than hope and ried. prayers. We need Collective Engagement; all hands on deck. There’s got to be a way to preserve an emotionally healthy life amongst the deplorable events that are consistently arising. A way It’s time to demonstrate hope, to witness dreadful tragedies and political upheaval, and feel comprayer, gratitude and generosity. passion for those affected, yet all the while not lose a sense of our And do it with certainty— self, hinder our joy, or shape-shift our psyche. in the face of uncertainty. 48 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
How? Where do we begin? By making a renewed commitment to our physical, emotional and energetic connection with all living things. And then (this is the notch-up part) bringing that commitment to life through action. Actively reasserting and extending our genuine selves to each other becomes a glue for unity. So, in addition to thinking those hopeful thoughts, let’s actively represent hope to others by lifting their doubts and angst when we speak. As well as sending prayers from our mind, let’s actively extend prayers through our daily movements by smiling, sharing, offering and blessing others. Along with feeling grateful inside, let’s exercise gratitude outward through kindness, respect and verbal appreciation. Keep donating when possible to those less fortunate, but also exhibit generosity through presence, encouragement, spending time with and helping others. Pimp up your hopes, prayers, gratitude and generosity through the demonstration of them. Bring all of your inner faith and support, to the outside. When you do this, it turns on a light in your heart and others feel it in a way they otherwise wouldn’t have. It’s a beautiful two-way gift, in that they were the vehicle that inspired your inner light to show up, which you inturn handed to them in the midst of their darkness.
simple as playing with an animal or child, or even watching a funny re-run of an oldie but goodie. No need to throw out joy that sits right beside you. Applying action to your highest thoughts is demonstrating them to the universe as well as to yourself and others. This is a coping mechanism that each and every one of us can use when things look grim. The ability to demonstrate our most earnest thoughts and emotions into expression that actively communicates love, joy and peace to another or to ourselves—this will ease angst and hold humanity together. So long as we hold it, together. RoadMap to Coping 1- We’re all feeling stress, grief & fear from world happenings 2- We can’t burry our heads in the sand 3- How can we stay updated & compassionate w/o losing ourselves? 4- The answer isn’t just thinking positive, praying or donating 5- We must demonstrate hope, prayer, gratitude & generosity 6- When we demonstrate high vibrations to others, they light up & it circles back to us 7- When we demonstrate high vibrations to ourselves, we light up & it flows to others 8- We can hold humanity together, when we hold it, together
The bonus track is that it’s just as effective when you demonstrate faith and support to yourself. It’s actually the same outcome, in reverse. By bringing hope, gratitude or any high vibration to life through action, you also bring it to life within yourself—which ultimately ripples out touching the lives of others. So, instead of just “praying” to be surrounded by love, go out and surround yourself with love. Call friends and family or strike up conversation with strangers. Instead of praying to be protected, go out and protect someone else; buy a 33 cents banana for a homeless person on the corner or donate clothes to the local free box. Why settle at “hoping” for more joy or strength, how about calling it forth by bringing one of your heroes forward. Heroes are all around us. They can be anything from great names from the past, people we know presently, animals, nature or anything that lifts us to a place of joy and inspiration. Refer back to what works. Make it a reference point to bounce from without going to the past. Do something as
Tara-jenelle Walsch is a monthly columnist for the Eden Magazine. She is the author of the book, Soul Courage, and the founder and spirit behindthe Soulebrate greeting card company. You will also find her speaking publicly about emotional and energetic awareness, and a sacred formula which she believes has the ability to enrich the world at large. Tara-jenelle was raised in Annapolis, Maryland and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Towson University in Baltimore. She currently lives in the beautiful hills of Ashland, Oregon. www.soulcourage.com 49 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2018
LANGUAGE OF SPACE
By Michael White Ryan
Source: GEOMETRISK
Ceaseless is an interesting word to throw off these pages? It fits right along with other words like pattern, habit, tradition, that are counterproductive to another word I like to use, evolution. Let’s for a moment contemplate a time when you were, say 2 years young, the cells in your brain were ripe for educating and storing information. Large numbers of these cells are replaced every day. As we travel down/up life’s pathway we experience all manner of thoughts and emotions. Those original cells now many years later have taken on board all of life’s daily collective-happenings, patterns, habits, traditions and we the sheepole, are no longer as-open to the vastness of our surroundings. Hence the cells ability to evolve has been diminished by the accumulation of life’s layers, having landed upon us through our discerning likes and dislikes. The accepted and resisted are diligently building the egoist minds identity. Don’t sweat, it’s neither a good thing, nor a bad thing, it just is! I was going to mention two other powerful words we use to divide, separate, and conquer, “Positive and Negative”. We all know the old story, the glass half empty, the glass half full. We have been so conned by language! Our ego relishes in the fact, you know the glass is half full, it’s a false-reality, sold to us and we bought into it whole heartedly. The actual, not the subjective-reality is the same for both phrases, either way the glass contents is the same. What is even more interesting, the artist discovers, draws what’s in, the not so empty, space.
What Does it Take to Maintain Ones's Multiverse-Identity
50 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
I had a dream, I lived a life, it made me weak it made me strong and now I ceaselessly maintain, “I am” Is the “I am” complete in what we say and think, that binds us to be the creator, playing out One identity of life’s hit and misses? Is our feeling-body a Second separate identity functioning on its own, stuck in revolving patterns of habitual emotions? I remember the book “the body never lies” I was thinking to myself, that’s the biggest lie!.
We swallow ideas of human-needed-truths from the socalled learned, thankfully lost as time moves on to greater realizations. At times the thinking ego and feeling body come together to be a resource for each other, possibly creating even a Third identity? And now we are many. What we know as real/perceive is so far under the table, that the actual stands upright in plain sight, unseen. If we live in a 3D world consisting of a specific set of laws, it stands to reason that all thoughts/actions are birthed from the same immutable set of laws, resulting in an equivalent outcome. Therefore, if the macro multi universe truly exists, it contains an equal micro multi universe, and that would be you, me, we! A single identity are we, I think not? Multi implies we are much much more. Open the door/portal (seaof-vision) and see all that is to be seen, layers upon layers we can no longer ignore. Like all the accepted, believed impressions laid across our years, shackled/ binding us to ego’s safety of multitude-personalities. Sadly, actuality has no place in our conceptions reality, we for one reason and another, identify as a singular self. One day you may find a thing, become a hero of the self, pivot, find courage and step into shadows-light, a thing can change everything. How many pivots, will be different for each individual? You’ve got to hold on no matter what, the mind tells us lies. Search deep within, for the “will” that guides life to new horizons, rise above the past, the pain, the losses, the would be/could have been. When time moves, you move. There’s no more standing in line at the bus stop, the mail box, the whatever, waiting. adjust the body-mind and drive, drive till realization sinks in, for that is all there is, for now! The body beautiful, look after it, for it is also another separate you! Nurture the body in as many ways possible, for your body’s sake, not for minds sake! Mind has other specific chores, remember the layers, are they hiding where… they are in plain sight? Likes and dislikes are the same negative energy sucking you dry, leaving you empty of true sight, “awareness”. Listen to the many stories we tell
ourselves, while wasting away with no inkling of our actions repercussions. What is the self-cost to Ceaselessly Maintain our Positions of Multiple-Identities, bought, blindly paid-for, owned by the very thoughts and actions we deem to be real, believed, factual, unconditional. It takes time and energy to avoid one’s self. Avoidance comes in the form of reasons/ excuses that support us conditionally. Bound by reasons lost in times past, and fully-accepted without any prior inspection, to “their” validity! All thoughts birth from a prior intention. Energy, thought, action, follows intention. Now we exist? All those intentioned identities-personalities…..complete….. encapsulated….. Blessing to one and all, you are more than an idea
Michael White Ryan is a co-founder with his wife Pamela Edwards of Language of Space. They are leaders in sustainable business growth via PerformanceDesign and Performance Code. Sustainable design encompasses both Western and Easternphilosophies including advanced Feng Shui principles, Environmental Design, Buildings, Alternative Health, Business Advisory Consultants and 20 plus years as entrepreneurs. Recognized in the top 100 globally and are Americas Leading Feng Shui Business Consultants. They are on faculty at CEO Space International one of the oldest business organizations in America today, currently operate in 7 countries and reside in Carlsbad CA.. www.languageofspace.com
51 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
How to get unstuck
Photogrpahy by Adrian Moise
By Sasha Gary
We all go through different growth periods in our lives, and if you are doing the work on yourself you know when you are in the middle of a growth spurt. I love self development and always have since my first book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay was gifted to me at 15 years old. As I began to work in the world of health and wellness professionally, I have found myself deep in my self development, spirituality and growth. Yearning for something new and break past my barriers of where I am in my career and love life. Have you ever felt stuck? Like nothing is moving forward? I have been in that position and all I want to do is break free, run through the finish line, and I feel like I am doing everything I can and nothing is happening. It can be so frustrating. How do we get unstuck? Taking time to go inward and meditate to find the answers and allow the answers to come up is a great way to listen to your inner being. Write down exactly what you really want. Then, write down what you don’t want. Stop wasting your time on those things that you don’t want. Trust me the Universe will test you! When I did this exercise I had to turned down two things in my don’t want list. These things could have helped me in the short term, but it was causing me to not focus on the long term. Then, two days later on my want list two things popped up in my life. Itwas exactly what I wanted and I felt a break through. When things pop up you have an option to say yes, I want more of that, and no I don’t want that. You have options in your life and the Universe will present it to you and support you. I love going to see live performances, art shows, concerts, live music that stirs my soul. It makes me feel something inside so profoundly and deeply that it helps me to tear down walls. You can even turn toward creativity yourself and paint, draw, play the guitar. We are made of up energy and if you’re energy is feeling stagnant, then do something physical to get your chi flowing. This can be a mental shift too! You may need to meditate, journal or listen to a positive speaker who shares something with you that sinks into your subconscious to help clear a thought that is blocking you.Taking action in anything you do is forward movement, so move your body, do something for your career that puts you in action as opposed to sitting feeling stagnant. Setting goals for yourself everyday to help you work your way toward your purpose.
Maybe you stopped working toward your goal because it’s boring, tedious and repetitious. Guess what? Everyday life can be all three of those things. Staying consistent everyday is what wins the day! Starve out daily distractions. How much tv are you watching? Are you being distracted by friends who are not on the same trajectory of your life’s vision? You have to starve those things to get anything done. I do enjoy a life of balance, so as I work smarter, I have my own free time to enjoy this thing we call Life! Stop comparing yourself to other people! We are all on our own journeys in life. Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. Comparison is the thief of joy! I look to other people as a reminder of how I can accomplish the same thing! I use them as a muse. It’s amazing for me to see other people accomplish what I am striving towards. Getting unstuck comes from within us, it comes from inside. Changing your daily routine, changing your mindset, doing things to make you happy, and believing in yourself knowing you can do anything will get you in action of feeling unstuck. Feeling stuck is just that, a feeling. Just change the way you feel! Feel like your in flow instead.
Sasha Gary is an actress, writer, and Transformation Life Coachat www.balancedbellasonline. com a 16 week online health program for women that shows you how to implement small sustainable changes one by one to help you with whole food nutrition, self-love and a conscious movement. Sasha is a yogi of 25 years, a crystal healer, and an avid sound bowl meditation participant and lives in Venice California!
53 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
MESSAGE FROM THE GODDESS MOTHER
Photogrpahy by Elias Vicario
With Jan Diana
54 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e September 2019
My Beloved Children of Heart, “Today is a grand day. Every day is a celebration of life. Life is a gift for us to explore pathways of new experiences. It is an opportunity to expand and grow into elevated consciousness. Of course, your plans for expansion are designed by you. You are the orchestrator of each thought. Each thought leads to action or no action. However, the source of their projection is you. You may feel as if your thoughts are not your own. And sometimes this is truth due to the nature of a history of living on a duality planet where much has been conditioned. You have a rich history of your genetic lineage as well as the collective of humanity, as you share in this grand adventure of life on Earth. Agreements were made with great excitement well before you made your journey here. And so here you are now living in this time of great advancements. Yes, you are awakening in a time of greater awareness, a time for beginning to recognize your truth. Navigating through these times of change can be an interesting challenge. You may find it to be a bit uncomfortable in these new Earth energies. You may even feel unsure of your footing as things don’t feel the same to you.
You will begin to entertain new ideas, new perspectives and open to the idea of new thoughts and actions. This then allows you to feel into the potential of a new thought, a new choice, a new experience, a new reality. Imagine if you master your thoughts. What if you purposely chose and fueled with a focus what you desire most to experience? What if you could achieve your dreams through pathways of self-discovery of what is possible, simply by choosing new thoughts with a focused purpose? This is the same pathway taken by the many greater masters in the history of humanity. These are the masters you know about, such as St Germaine, Buddha, Mary, Jesus, St. Anne and many others. They each walked a path of self- discovery. Then through that greater awareness, they began to develop their innate abilities. They learned to choose their thoughts of what was desired and with focus were able to create their dreams. They became great masters of thought and energy fulfilling their sacred purpose. The same is possible for you. You have also been endowed with these same master abilities. It is merely a matter of having a greater awareness, and of learning the higher principles associated with these. Then with practice, you develop them as with any other gift, or talent innate to you. Take for example how child discovers an interest in painting. Perhaps through an activity at school or at home, they find that they really enjoy creating pictures.
Change has always been a constant. All you have to do is observe the seasons of life to know this truth. Now more than ever you are beginning to realize that this is the way of things.
With practice they become more proficient. Their paintings may start out simple but as they continue on practicing and enjoying this activity, they become more confident in their abilities. They can now begin to challenge themselves to create even greater masterpieces.
Change is a part of your divine nature. The passion for having more wonderment, more joy, a greater understanding comes from within you.
It is a process of discovery, reflection, practice, and of focusing thoughts and energy. All this comes together to create the desired masterpieces, the realities of choice.
This passion propels you into taking steps onto pathways perhaps you have never dreamed possible before. When you look upon your past experiences with a reflective mind, you can begin to see how you have moved to new levels of experiences, which allow you to see beyond, the “what used to be” mentality.
It is the same steps for any personal development on the path of mastery. It is a process of developing your divine gifts and abilities, your divine attributes. Many of these have been dormant waiting for your time of discovery.
55 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Now with the new elevating energies of Earth, it is even easier to make these discoveries. Perhaps you feel a longing for something. Perhaps you are drawn to something of great interest. You are being guided and prompted to feel these connections. These are little whispers from your heart, that part of you that knows your truth and that it is time to pursue these dreams held within your heart. Take note of these as they are of great value and will lead you to a greater sense of self. They will guide you into experiencing the joy of a life fulfilled, living the dreams and passions of your heart. Your true self is constantly lighting pathways of possibilities for your todays and your tomorrows. Following the light will be a great source of joy to you. It all starts with noticing the whispers, entertaining new ideas and new thoughts. And then practicing choosing those higher thoughts and fueling them in confidence. There are many tools offered to assist you on your path of mastery. You will be guided to what is your ideal when you choose thoughts that support that concept. It is that simple. Becoming the consciously aware master that you are, developing your innate gifts and abilities and then directing energy to create your dreams is your deepest desire to achieve. You knew the time would come when you would be able to break free from the past stories of lesser value and begin to see the truth with greater clarity. The elevating light of Earth dances and uplifts each with the opportunity to see the greater vision. The potential to know the greater value of self, that sweetness that is truly free to be and live whatever dreams and desires are held within the heart. Now is the time to claim your destiny. To walk upon Earth as an enlightened being, to develop all those beautiful gifts of wonderment that you have been given. It is your time to begin to create more of what you desire, letting go of lesser perceptions of self that really are not your truth. It is a time to play more, to dream more, to envision new and greater possibilities and potentials. It is a time to dance to the music of your heart. To let go of beliefs and perceptions that create the illusion of you feeling or being less than who you really are.
56 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
It is time to recognize your divine truth, to accept the fullness of the gift of life in gratitude. It is time to explore the many possibilities you desire to experience. It is time for you to know that you are a being of infinite love, of infinite potential. This is your time to be consciously fueling your divine destiny, your birthright, and to be that master of love that you truly are. Shaman.” With great love, Your Beloved Mother FREE CLASS: As a Gift I am offering you a Free TeleClass, “Remember Who you are”. -Restore pathways to remembering the truth of yourself using the tools of SVH, a prayer modality that can shift the old stories, old beliefs and perceptions that are not relevant to your truth. -Receive tools that you can utilize in your life to further free yourself from the veils of forgetting -Take a journey to meet your true self and receive a priceless gift You will leave this class filled a greater vision of yourself and what is now possible for you. This class is a great joy bringer! Note: Register by subscribing by email at: http://www. jandiana.com/
Jan Diana is an intuitive healer, spiritual teacher, and master practitioner. Her mission is to assist clients & students in creating harmony, balance, heightened levels of clarity, develop innate gifts & abilities, empowering them on their personal evolution to create the dreams of their heart. She utilizes several modalities including SVH L4, Animal healing, GHM, Language of love, Reiki Master, and more. Free meditation journeys, articles, & classes. http://www.jandiana.com
THE
SCENARIO STUDIO
Interactive Photo Experience,Opensed to the Public
LOS ANGELES, September 6, 2019 - On Friday night, a crowd of over 150 social media influencers, some with well over 1M followers, anxiously gathered on the mysterious downstairs level of Grand Central Market in Downtown LA to experience the VIP Grand Opening of The Scenario Studio. The experience gave guests the opportunity to take professional-looking photos using their own smart phone cameras on elaborate, full-size photo sets including professional lighting, props, and costumes to make every guest look incredible. The Scenario Studio staff went above and beyond to teach and train each guest in about a minute how to change a few key settings on their smart phone cameras before shooting on each photo set, to make their images look just like the professional photos that Scenario has been taking of A-List celebrities for the past 12 years.
The influencers ranged from acting stars like Naomi Grossman from American Horror Story, to various musicians, YouTube personalities, Tik-Tok stars and of course numerous Instagrammers. Specific VIPs that attended the event included: Carson Lueders and Kaycee Rice, who dominated the "Classroom" photo set originally created by Scenario for Katy Perry's birthday party. Amanda and Elke were head over heels on the interactive upside down room. Kelsey Darragh channeled her inner goth that kept the others on their toes, and Brighton Rosie Sharbino slipped away, unseen into the camouflage "Koi Pont" photo set.
60 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Co-founded by famed photographer and set designer, John Ganun, The Scenario Studio’s 2 month pop-up is an alluring playground for any social media or photography enthusiast. John and his staff thought through every detail, including special instructions for the best camera settings for each type of camera phone beside each set, and special marks on the floor to guide visitors on how to take the most scroll-stopping shots. The cutting edge LED lighting and exquisite photo sets did the rest. In the past, the only guests fortunate enough to enjoy one of Scenario's photo sets had to be invited by a celebrity or Fortune-500 company. Now, for the first time ever, the general public did experienced not one, but eight differentScenario photo sets in one evening, and went home with their very own professional-looking pictures after visiting the Scenario Studio. www.TheScenarioStudio.com 61 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
How to Make Something Out of Nothing
Photogrpahy by Joyce Adams
(Tuning into the Abundant Flow)
By Phyllis King One of my favorite prosperity sayings originated from one of my favorite stories. The saying is “the answer to prosperity, is creativity.” Essentially, if one thing doesn’t work to reach your desired result, try something else. Keep trying until you find the thing that works to bring the desired result. The favorite story is an old Yiddish folktale often told to children, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Tayback. The story begins telling the reader that Joseph had an over coat that he loved. When the overcoat became old and worn rather than throw it away he made a jacket out of it. Then the jacket became worn, and rather than throw it away he turned it into a vest. Then he turned the vest into a scarf. He turned the scarf into a necktie. The necktie into a handkerchief. Finally, when the handkerchief became too worn he made a button out of it. One day he lost the button and nothing remained from the beloved overcoat. So Joseph wrote a story and made a book about it. The moral is you can always make something out of nothing.
62 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
This children story illustrates so simply how we are all innately creative, and how we can keep our dreams alive. When desire expresses itself through creativity this is how we tune in to the abundant flow. To create anything tangible an exchange of energies must occur. The exchange can be an idea, a service, or money. When we are in the process of “looking for a way” to achieve our end we activate reception in our own universe. We tune in to the abundant flow that is available 24/7. The following steps can you help tune into and stay in the abundant flow: 1. Ready your personal universe. Clear out the old. Old clothes, old thoughts, old pictures of past lovers, things that don’t fit in your life anymore. Allow the present version of your evolved self to call in and draw to you what is now appropriate for you. You align with abundance when you honor the present and release the past. 2. Become inspired. Joseph was inspired to keep his beloved coat in some form. We all need a project, a purpose or an idea that gives us reason to engage with life authentically. This causes our creativity to flow. If you don’t have something that motivates or inspires you to act. Find something. In that discovery is your pathway to abundance in any form you desire. 3. Take Action. Move energy around. There’s a phrase that says you should visit some place you’ve never been every year of your life. Do something different with your actions. Get out of the comfort zone. Do something new with your creative energy. In that you create a direct link to receive abundant vibrations into your life. 4. Appreciate. Practice feeling gratitude for what you have. Stop any focus on what you don’t have. A daily recognition of life’s gifts deepens our connection to Divine Mother. Even challenging moments are meant for our good. Appreciate all experiences as divine food. This inherent trust of life produces fertile soil for anything that matters to us to sustain and grow. 5. Enjoy Enough. Our consumer culture is obsessed with having more, being somewhere we aren’t, or getting something we don’t have. Step out of the race to nowhere and repeat often I AM ENOUGH, THERE IS ENOUGH, I HAVE ENOUGH. When we have enough striving ends. We become powerful receivers to
abundance in all forms. When we are in a state of “want” we send a signal to life that there is not enough. We create and recreate “not enough” in our lives. It takes intention and presence of mind to learn how to interact with life in a clean manner. Too often we forget that the work of life is mostly internal. When our inner life is balanced and clear, the outer world lands at our feet. It’s a beautiful thing to life free from fear, scarcity and forced energy. It takes practice when the world at large wants to tell us that everything we need exists outside of us. Abundance is not something to get or achieve, it is something we tune into. The sooner that concept is embraced, the sooner life becomes easier, more calm, more rewarding and more authentic. For a deeper dive into the topic visit my website and email me. I will send you a FREE PDF copy of my best-selling book, The Energy of Abundance.
Known as the Common Sense Psychic (tm), Phyllis King has worked with tens of thousands of people in 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
63 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
DORIS BERGMAN’S 10th ANNUAL LUXURY LOUNGE & PARTY HELD AT FIG & OLIVE RESTAURANT, HONORS TELEVISION’S BIGGEST NIGHT! Photography by Sheri Determan West Hollywood -- On Thursday, September 19, The Hollywood Hotspot on Melrose Place, opened its doors to Bergman’s Style Lounge and Party – in celebration of the upcoming 71st Annual Emmy® Awards. Over 100 of Hollywood’s finest turned out to celebrate and honor the television industry’s Emmy® Nominated actors, former Emmy® winners, presenters, stylists and industry VIPS. This highly anticipated invitation-only event, hosted by Buywine.com and presented by Precious Vodka & PRSVR, showcased an incredible array of fashion for him and her including couture gowns, bespoke tuxedos & suits, men & women’s casual wear, chic chapeaus, fabulous sunglasses, vegan leather bags, the finest in beauty, skin & hair care, outrageous Cannabis and CBD products, stunning jewelry collections, gorgeous accessories, Napa Valley wines, health foods, scented candles, Fig & Olive signature cuisine, Bulgarian vodka, delectable gourmet sweets and much more -- all the while being serenaded by The B2wins – charismatic twin brothers from Rio de Janeiro who deliver unforgettable performances on Violin and Ukulele. 64 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
65 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
2019 Emmy Nominee Glynn Turman (“How To Get Away With Murder”), former Oscar Nominees Edward James Olmos & Eric Roberts, Grammy Winning Bonnie & Anita Pointer (“The Pointer Sisters”), Rebecca Metz (“Better Things”), former Emmy Winners Patrika Darbo and Kim Estes, Makenzie Moss (“The Unicorn”), Hollywood Icons Marilu Henner, Dee Wallace, Tristan Rogers and Deidre Hall, former Emmy Nominees Shanti Lowry and Miles Tagtmeyer, John Brotherton (“Fuller House”), Danielle Nicolette (“The Flash”), Deborah Joy Winans (“Greenleaf ”), former Golden Globe Nominee Steven Bauer, Chris Browning (“Bosch”), Jeryl Prescott (“Swampthing”), Keo Motsepe (“Dancing With The Stars”), Award-winning Actress Kimberly Elise, former Los Angeles Laker Norman Nixon, Sofia Milos, William McNamara, Ryan Ochoa (“Pair of Kings”), to name a few, were among the cadre of celebrities and industry VIPS who were treated to the best of the best!
66 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
In the spirit of giving back, guests & sponsors made monetary donations and/or donated unwrapped gifts for young adults (ages 13-18) for a Pre-Holiday Gift Drive benefiting ‘Wednesday’s Child’ -- a weekly segment airing on KTTV FOX 11 News, Los Angeles, with Anchor Christine Devine. ‘Wednesday’s Child’ highlights ‘harder to place’ young adults in the LA County foster care system who are in need of adoptive families. “In Los Angeles County, alone, there are over 30,000 children receiving child welfare services,” says social worker, Dr. William Wong. Bergman always invites at least 2 foster youth to join in on the festivities and experience what it feels like to be treated as a VIP. http://www.foxla.com/ wednesdays-child Gifts and services were provided by: Green Goddess Collective; Popcornopolis; Spa Girl Cocktails; Zirconmania; Diamond Veneer; Author Kathlyn Heim “The Rules of Nine; Precious Vodka; Twisted Silver; Debbi DiMaggio; Hint; Pia Gladys Perey Designs; O Skin & Med Spa; Browlesque; Buywine.com; Charise Noel Jewelry; My Saint My Hero Blessing Bracelets; Art Lewin Bespoke; Sue Wong Couture; Beauty Kitchen; True Gold Honey; LuLaRoe Clothing; Pachamama CBD Products; PRSVR; Beviva Foods; Kam Shield; Lucy Pet Foundation Dog Treats; Harvest Snaps; Sea Snacks; Green Goo Skin Care; Dog TV; Rock Your Hair; The Hollywood Trinity; Emmy’s Hope Dog Accessories; Chapstick Lip Balm; Cameo Social Media App and VIP Gift Bags provided by Popcornopolis.
67 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Photogrpahy by Aziz Acharki 68 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Choosing the Flow of Life By Lavandaia and Marco Nunzio Alati
The sun was rising in the sky and a warm breeze appeared in the air. Lavandaia gazed out the window, washing a few last dishes before getting ready for her workshop, “Connection with Nature”, which she had been holding for the last few months. The sun rays on the horizon were telling her it was time to head out. At that moment, as she stood, feeling the warmth of the water through her hands, her mind drifted off to a message that had come through a few days before: “Remember your Soul’s purpose, the higher purpose, the voice which is your only truth. As humans, there are two very different goals you can experience. Firstly, the one which most humans relate to, is the Mental goal, the one that makes you want and achieve, strive and struggle towards accomplishing what you are programmed to believe the goal is. From a very young age, many of you are taught only to focus on social recognition and expectations, such as graduating school, getting the perfect job, marrying the perfect person and buying the perfect house. You forget to fully enjoy the process and experience the journey with joy and lightness. Sure, some of these goals may be accomplished, but at what price? So many of you experience anxiety, stress, illness, as you press forward to achieve the dream and, instead of dreams, you end up making nightmares come true.
69 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
The Soul’s goals have a completely different flavor. They are not like the Mental goals, as they are already part of your Matrix. When you incarnate, you choose a series of soul goals to experience in this Earthly life. These are like checkpoints you decide to go through and navigate. Soul goals are not only objectives and positions to achieve but also learning experiences, explorations of fears and recognitions of your own potential. You might ask yourself, where is free will then? And that is a very legitimate question that can be answered through a metaphor. If you are in Los Angeles and you have already chosen to get to San Francisco during your life, you will surely get there. Your free will resides on your decision, moment by moment, on how you want to embrace the journey itself. One option is for you to get there while your mind is desperately wanting to go to Las Vegas. In that case, you would go against the current, against the flow of your life. Your reality – as a perfect mirror- will then give you challenges and constant detours. So, as you go to Las Vegas you may find yourself crashing your car, hitchhiking, sleeping in dirty motels, falling on a rock and finally being taken to the hospital in San Francisco with a broken ankle. The second option is for you to be fully aware that your job is to enjoy the ride, honor life as you only focus on what resonates with you, what tickles your hearts in every single instant. So, as you are in Los Angeles, you detach yourself from “the wanting” and you simply feel drawn to go to the café right in front of you. Most people would say you are wasting time at that café’, that you are not making any progress by choosing that option. But what most people don’t know is that you are simply following that current, you are following the flow and your instincts are guiding you through it. You enter into that café’ with a smile and certainty that there is not a better action that you could take. This is when magic happens - or as quantum physics likes to say, synchronicities start appearing in your life. You truly enjoy your coffee with the knowingness that you are in the right place. As you do this, the person sitting next to you notices your smile and starts talking to you. You two connect and speak passionately for hours and he tells you he is on his way to San Francisco. He invites you to join him in his Maserati, driving through majestic Pacific Coast Highway and stopping along the most luxurious hotels on the way. This simple metaphor shows you how it is not about finding or going after goals, as they are innately part of you. All you humans need to do is allow them to be remembered and allow your intuition to shape them. Let the Soul’s goals tickle your heart, as these goals are within you. Consciously choose to step into that tickle and take action towards it, even if it seems like the least relevant 70 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
action you could take. The key point is: It is because you choose to take a step forward with trust in the perfection of the divine’s plan, that the path itself, vibration ally, becomes the path of least resistance. As life unfolds, you will find yourself joyously and effortlessly accelerating towards the Soul’s goals. The more you move freely through life, the more you will be able to trust, in knowingness, that the gifts have always been there, and they just need to be recognized and unwrapped.” As she dried the last cup, Lavandaia turned to take another look at the beauty of the sun rays, as she smiled and went to her workshop with a different awareness. She drove with the certainty that the flow of her life had brought her to that day to express one of her main Soul’s goals called - Teaching...
After graduation in Industrial Biotechnology, Marco played a key role in international research projects in Canada, Austria and Spain. He stumbled upon the Reconnection by mere chance and it enlightened him in ways he hadn't realized he needed. Three months after that unique experience, he left his job in biotechnology and embarked on his journey to become a full time Reconnective Healing Practitioner, and one of the two Italian Mentors and Teaching Assistants of Eric Pearl’s direct Team. He is currently living in Los Angeles and collaborating with a number of independent scientific studies that are exploring Reconnective Healing and its extraordinary benefits. For info contact marco.alati@gmail.com 323-617-2289 “Description” is all in the eyes of that who is experiencing, thus “description” of “who” becomes irrelevant. And the truth is, that describing Lavandaia using “words” is like trying to catch a fragrance. Scent cannot be caught, it can only be enjoyed and discovered through the experience itself. Who Lavandaia “is” is her mission, Giving clarity and divine knowledge to those who are willing to move forward in life and explore how to express their highest self. For more information visit www.lavandaia.org, or contact us at paola.seed@gmail.com
A Cat Cafe Experience
www.crumbsandwhiskers.com
Adopted: 800 | Saved from euthanasia: 1,710 | Amount donated to charity: $24.5K
WE HELP RESCUE & FIND HOMES FOR HOMELESS CATS
71 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e September 2019
Dawn breaks in my
heart By Jayita Bhattacharjee
From deep within, you unfold petal by petal, awakening the sleeping poetry that has slept all along inside of you. Isn’t this the fragrance that has been waiting all along to be released? Isn’t this the essence that takes you to the whispers of enchantment, when the night seems to weep for you? Come, take a walk inside of you, to see what has been sleeping there, from the beginning of time. Will you come, as time never stands still? Yet when it comes to wandering within, time has always stared at you, wondering whether you will walk away from this inner search or will you pause and look inside? From such a look, comes the search, the roaming eyes within—they travel to the deeps unknown, to places unexplored, so somewhere somehow, they can find an astonishing light of your own being. Will you see the unseen blooms that lie hidden behind the rocks of life? Will you see the untold smiles waiting behind every crushing agony? Is it not the fount from where ecstasy seems to rise? Is it not the well spring of life, so what once seemed to kill you, at last makes you feel alive? Yes, it is. Have you ever 72 70 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
wondered why? As such is the melody of life, the melody that we chase to catch, yet it flies away, but if we hold it loose, it seems to stay in the breath of eternity. Such is the understanding that makes us blow all things in the passing breeze, keeping that is worth keeping, and passing that is worth passing, in the blowing winds. Life breathes in many things, some of which are worth drifting in the wind and some are worth living by the side. It is revealed in the rising light of yourself what to take and what to leave all along this pathway of life. There will always be some questions in your life that will remain unanswered, but those are the ones that will make you think. Why? Look within your soul, see what is not answered. Such is the search for the mysteries of life that beg you to go within your passionate deeps, so you travel from what can be seen to what remains unseen. Let the wind caress against your soul, as in such a caressing will you rest in serenity, in the inviting tranquility will you roam within the unanswered mysteries of life. And there will come a time, when you will be able to make peace with your past, present and give the unknown future in the hands of divine.
Photography by Logan Armstrong
73 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e Octobe 2019
The unsettled you becomes settled, as you accept the piece of this truth—the truth that comes to knock on your doorway, so you can enter inside an elysian bliss. This act of surrendering when practiced with love, with faith, then becomes an act of beauty. Such a beauty is what life calls from you. And as you delve deeper and deeper within this beauteous transformation of your very being, you open petal by petal. Such is the releasing of your unreleased fragrance. Have you ever smelled the scent of your own soul? Isn’t it mesmerizing? Does it never take you to the enchantment that lay all along there, hidden deep within your intimate depths? Has your soul ever whispered to you, in its lifelong intimacy with you? Yes, it has. The question is –Have you fallen in for its whispers? Does your heart ever walk into this enchanting invitation? Or do you just push it aside, fearing something so beautiful is going to emerge, that it will almost scare you. Walk into the enchanting delights of falling in love with yourself, time and time again. As with the rolling of time, you are evolving in a light of consciousness. Time is rolling, and so are you. You are never ever the same. The you that you were yesterday, is different from the you that you are today. Is it not true? Have you never felt the winds of change? Did they ever caress your soul the same way they did yesterday? Life delights to feel your bare soul, with your rare emotions rising through the struggles of life. Would you want to deny such a beauty to yourself, most importantly to life? No, of course not. How can you deny such a beauty to yourself? Is this not the beauty that you wanted to behold for your whole life? To be able to feel in the richest sense of the word, to be able to touch your own soul in a deepest intimacy with your soul—this is called life revealing in its full blooms. This is one life, inviting you to go into its passionate depths. Live it from the dancing ecstasy of your heart. Ride upon the whispering winds, as they have something to say. Dance in your desires, as this is the dance that will reveal your heart in the light of eternity. From such a dance, a thousand other blooms will be born, every bloom carrying your soul in way, that the world has never seen before. The you that will emerge from this ecstatic dance, will be a soul in the light of awareness, who will whirl in the melodies streaming alive in the heart of this cosmos. Thousand words will write themselves on your heart, filling the book of your life. Thousand pages will bind to create the book of your soul. Every page will carry your heart, the way it was born when seeded with light. Just that, somewhere amidst the struggled, the light got dimmed by the clouds
74 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
that came in the heavenly blues. Don’t you think, its time, you walk into that light, again? Such is the book that will carry your saga from this lifetime to another for the world to read and carry it on from one age to another. Voiceless, it writes itself out and such is the way, you open petal by petal, unleashing your fragrance. Your fragrance becomes your very voice that once looked like lost. You are the bud, shyly waiting for the rising light so the world can behold your blooming beauty. Be wild and free.
Jayita Bhattacharjee was born n Calcutta, India and later on pursued education from University of Houston in Economics, she had chosen her career as a trustee and teacher. Her Indian residence is in the vicinity of the famous Belurmath. Currently, she is settled in Tampa, Florida. Her love for writing on a journey of heart and soul was hidden all within. Looking at the moments captured in love and pain, joy and grief, the hidden tragedies of life...it was a calling of her soul to write with the ink that kept flowing from her heart. This is what gave her the fulfillment, the richness in her soul. Her books "The Ecstatic Dance of Life', " Sacred Sanctuary", " Light of Consciousness", "Dewdrops of Compassion" are meant to shed light on what guides a person to respond to the mystical voice hidden inside, to soar in a boundless expansion with the limitless freedom of spirit. "It is in the deepest joy that I write with every breath of mine."
We could do something similar but on a smaller scale in our own households to teach our kids how to make better food choices. Stay with me here. I’m excited about these simple ideas! I’ll bet you start doing at least one of these today. Eat outside. Help your kids connect with nature by skipping the table and snacking under a tree or even on your front porch. Cleaning crumbs and spills will also get a whole lot easier.
Snacking Ideas that Teach Kids to Love our Planet
By The Sustainable Chef Gerard Viverito As parents, we try to set a good example for nutritious eating and not rely on meals in a bag. But I know it’s not always easy! Between busy schedules and picky eaters, sometimes we’re just happy when our kids get anything into their growling stomachs. But something I read recently made me stop and think about how easy it would be to teach our kids to make smarter food choices both for their health and the wellbeing of our environment. This year, the entire country of Malaysia is conducting a Love MY Palm Oil campaign. The idea is to instill national pride and greater appreciation for Malaysian palm oil. As part of this campaign, kids are participating in fun cooking classes where they learn about palm oil’s health and societal benefits. They also learn how Malaysia’s mandatory certified sustainability program for its palm oil industry is helping to protect the environment.
Keep eco-friendly foods in your pantry. Whether you know it or not, your kids are paying attention to your ingredient choices. It’s human nature to gravitate toward familiar foods that we grew up with. So, as you unpack your groceries, explain why you chose one brand over another. And teach them to look for ingredients on food labels such as garlic, nuts and berries, which come from perennial plants that are reharvested year after year. Grow your own snacks. Plant a garden with kid-approved vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers and seedless, thinskinned cucumbers. Concepts learned by gardening, such as plants’ need for water and sunlight, may help kids develop responsibility and respect for our planet. Teach your kids about food origins. Visit nearby farms and orchards to show your kids which foods are produced locally. Encourage them to sample new things. Then explain that our food is produced all over the world, such as tropically grown bananas and pineapples. Share stories about family farmers who practice sustainable farming, such as these Malaysian oil palm smallholders.
al meals in different parts of the world. Encourage them to share what they’ve learned around the dinner table, and discuss what dishes you might want to try making at home. It’s a wonderful way to take your family on culinary adventure without having to pack a bag.
Get your kids involved with the actual cooking. Make meal time a family event. There are tasks even smaller children can do in the kitchen, such as mixing the panko bread crumbs with parmesan cheese for my betterfor-you chicken nugget recipe, which is a hit with youngsters. Encourage your kids’ interest in nourishing foods by letting them choose a healthy entrée or side dish each week. Drink smoothies. Food waste is estimated at between 30 and 40 percent of the American food supply. This uneaten food is often sent to landfills where it quickly generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Keep a container in the freezer for fruits that are past their prime. Bananas that are turning brown and peaches getting soft are ideal for smoothies. www.chefgerard.com
Have your kids use their phones and tablets to research tradition75 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
road but became accustomed to the freedoms that it offered him. Zack loved to travel and experience different places and sights. The driving was freeing for him. He said that he not only loved his job but loved that he was able to give his kids all the extras that life had to offer. Since he was gone all week long and home only on the weekends, he was the dad who took his kids to soccer practice, ice skating lessons, piano lessons, and anything else on the agenda. His wife did not join them, as she was off doing her own thing. Over time he grew further and further apart from her as their lives seemed to go in different directions. He confessed he had stayed in the marriage because of the kids.
Don’t
Confuse Money with Love By Nancy Yearout
Zack said that there were many four-day weekends when he took his kids to the amusement park, boating on the lake, camping, or shopping. He told me almost under his breath, “I was the fun guy with the money. But I never disciplined them. When I was at home on the weekends, I wasn’t a father to them; you can say I was more of a friend.” He said that the years passed quickly, and he confessed that before he knew it his oldest daughter, Meadow, was entering her first year of college. Meadow was a smart, beautiful girl with much ambition who was used to getting what she wanted. She had grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle and wanted to maintain it at the university. She had become a child of privilege as her father bought her whatever ever she wanted. When it was time to pay her college tuition, she did not have to worry. Her father was there to pay the bill. Zack did not want his kids to be concerned about paying student loan debt. He had heard horror stories from many friends and business associates who spoke of the high interest rates attached to student loans and how many years it takes the person to pay the money back to the lender. He told me that he was prepared to pay all his children’s college tuitions if they passed their courses and received their degree.
This story is a sad one for me to write but necessary for me to tell you. The story was told to me by a father who loves his daughter but has not seen or Zack said that there were many four-day weekends spoken to her in many years. when he took his kids to the amusement park, boating on the lake, camping, or shopping. He told me When I met Zack, he was constantly joking around, so you would never almost under his breath, “I was the fun guy with the know he had been through so much heartache in recent years. I realized money. But I never disciplined them. When I was at later that the joking around was his way of covering up the hurt inside. home on the weekends, I wasn’t a father to them; you Zack had always been a good worker and a good provider for his family. can say I was more of a friend.” He went into sales right out of high school. At first, he sold insurance and did quite well. Then a friend who knew of his people skills recommended He said that the years passed quickly, and he conhim for a position with a large pharmaceutical company. He landed the fessed that before he knew it his oldest daughjob and became a pharmaceutical representative. This meant quite a bit ter, Meadow, was entering her first year of college. of travel, as his territory covered three states, but it also meant a big Meadow was a smart, beautiful girl with much ampaycheck for his family. He missed his wife and kids while on the bition who was used to getting what she wanted.
76 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Photography by Wei Ding
77 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
She had grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle and wanted to maintain it at the university. She had become a child of privilege as her father bought her whatever ever she wanted. When it was time to pay her college tuition, she did not have to worry. Her father was there to pay the bill. Zack did not want his kids to be concerned about paying student loan debt. He had heard horror stories from many friends and business associates who spoke of the high interest rates attached to student loans and how many years it takes the person to pay the money back to the lender. He told me that he was prepared to pay all his children’s college tuitions if they passed their courses and received their degree. Zack shared that Meadow was in her first year of school when he and his wife divorced. Although it was best for all involved, it caused friction between Zack and his daughter. She wanted to make sure he was going to pay for her school tuition. He assured her that he would continue to give her a monthly check for tuition and books. Her dad continued to pay for her cell phone bill, her health insurance, and her car insurance. He said, “As if I wasn’t doing enough for her, she asked to move into my rental house with her boyfriend. She said they could ‘take care of the home with the pool and help you out,’ Zack said.” Zack explained that he had purchased the upscale home as an investment. “If truth be told,” he said, “I needed the tax write-off.” Zack had been surprised by both of her bold requests. He had told her no.
Zack was overwhelmed with his work and the divorce. It was not until his funds got tight that he came to the realization that the $2,000 monthly check he had been giving his daughter for the last five years had surely exceeded the amount Meadow required to finish school. He had taken her at her word that she needed this money and had believed her because he wanted to. He did confess to me that he had had his doubts, but Meadow was his daughter; she would never lie to him. He did not bother to call the university that she was attending to check on her progress. He had trusted that she was old enough to handle her college tuition and use it wisely, Zack said.
78 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
“Meadow was too young and needed supervision, but I didn’t give her any. My mistake. I believed in my mind that I had taught her by example to be responsible and trustworthy, but apparently not.” “The next time we spoke, I explained to her that she had been attending school now for five years and that I could not afford to continue to send her a check for $2,000 a month any longer. She argued that her final classes were almost complete.” Zack loves his daughter, so he agreed to give her $1,000 a month to help with her expenses until she was done with school. He told me that several months had passed when he received a call from his youngest daughter delivering the news that her sister, Meadow, was pregnant. He was shocked and disappointed that Meadow had not called him herself. He said that he dialed her immediately; he wanted to find out how she was and to congratulate her. Her father was disappointed that she had not told him herself but loves his daughter. When he did reach her on the phone, Meadow was quite emotional and said that she was angry with him for not sending more money. He explained that since his divorce, he just did not have the extra funds to give her. He was still struggling financially from paying her mother a large settlement. Meadow screamed at her father and told him the money did not matter anyway, as she already had taken out a $50,000 student loan a few years back! Zack could not believe what he was hearing from his daughter. Who was this person? His daughter had become a selfish spoiled brat! Now he realized that he had not been paying for her school, he had been funding her life style! They argued, and she hung up on her father. The letdown was hard on Zack. Several months had passed with no communication between Zack and Meadow when he received a call from his son with news that Meadow had delivered a healthy baby girl. Zack was happy for his daughter and called the hospital to congratulate her, but she did not answer his call. Although Zack was not in town when his granddaughter arrived, he attempted to contact Meadow once more on her cell phone. Her voice mail clicked on, and he left her a nice congratulatory message. Again, she did not return his phone call. Time passed, and he heard from a relative that Meadow was graduating from college. Zack was happy that Meadow had completed her school, but why had she not invited him to attend her graduation ceremony? “After giving her a monthly check for five years so she didn’t have student loans, and this is how she repays me!” Zack said.
He realized that maybe he did not know his daughter as well as he thought he had. The only time he had seen his kids was on the weekends when they were having fun or at the store when he was buying them stuff. Zack realized that Meadow associated him with money. Where’s the love? he thought. I have been a good father, and this is how I am treated by my own daughter?
of age or gender. Mentor someone—having a positive influence will change their life. Teach them that material possessions do not equal love.
He had a difficult time finishing his story. He continued and said that she became pregnant with her second child and he heard through the grapevine that she had married the father. “She didn’t call me to invite me to her wedding or invite me to meet my second grandchild,” Zack shared. He continued to say, “My grandkids are probably seven and eight years old by now. “Meadow has never attempted to let me see them, so I’m not sure what their names are. My ex-wife called several times regarding money but did not let me know what was happening with our daughter. She said it was between the two of us."
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
He expressed to me that he feels that what Meadow has done is irreversible. “You can’t fix it or take it back, they are years lost that will never be, and cannot be, recovered. You can’t buy lost time!” Zack said. She used her father for his money, and when he stopped giving her money, she moved on to her next financial target, her husband. Her boyfriend had married her after their second child had been born. Zack wanted me to know that he has forgiven Meadow for her behavior. He realizes that she is young and may change how she feels about her father when she is older and more mature. He told me the door is always open to his child. This is a sad truth that you just finished reading, but without the proper supervision our children are compiling a large amount of college debt. They are young and are not realizing how long it will take them to pay the money back, with interest, to the financial institution. There are many young adults who have signed on the dotted line, taken several thousand dollars and spent it, and must now get a job to pay it back. Some students end up not finishing school. Their intentions were good, but after they take out the loans, they don’t manage the money properly, and it’s too easy to spend it on stuff. We must change the mind-set from material items being the most important thing in life to a spiritual mind-set where people are the most important thing in life! A New Mind-Set: As the guardians of our youth, it is up to us to step up and teach the younger generations about honesty, integrity, and love. Everyone benefits from a role model to help guide them in life regardless
I can live without money, but I cannot live without love. ~Judy Garland
~1 Timothy 6:10
Nancy Yearout is an Psychic Reader, Intuitive Life Coach, Author and Inspirational Speaker. Her religious and spiritual work has enabled her to help many people to live the life they desire! Her motivation and drive come from Source/God. Nancy feels inspired to share the wisdom and the messages she receives with others. Her real-life experiences are shared each week on her Radio Show/ Podcast, High Road to Humanity where insightful, spiritual guests share their story. This is Nancy’s way of each sharing new insight about raising the vibration and consciousness for all of us to create a healthy, Loving and kinder people as well as a safe harmonious place to live. My Credentials: Sales Coordinator for General Motors Corporation, Sales Manager for multiple, Owner and Qualifying Broker of The Harville Estates Real Estate & Development LLC, Owner of Energy Girl Publishing LLC., Author of, Wake Up! The Universe Is Speaking to You, Author of Monthly Contributor to Eden Magazine, Motivational/Inspirational Speaker, Intuitive Personal Coach Intuitive card reader, Energy Healer, Radio Host/ Podcast High Road to Humanity. Today she is happily married to the love of her life. Nancy Yearout Hosts a Radio Show/ Podcast every week on Toginet radio and iTunes called High Road to Humanity. Visit her website www.NancyYearout.com or her Podcast www.Highroadtohumanity.com
79 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
FINDING LOVE IN NATURE By Jenny Lynne As Fall is upon us, it’s time to shed the old fickle patterns, messy mindsets and dirty habits that aren’t serving us anymore. Immerse yourself in nature and take an introspective moment to listen to your heart. After all, in nature comes clarity. Love is everywhere and nature gives us subtle hints as proof. You may even start seeing the universal symbol of love – a heart! Make this Fall all about you. Listen openly to and take interest in YOU. Jump into your head and see things through your own eyes. Go for a hike, walk or just sit on a park bench. Take in a deep breath with the intention that you’re about to create an opportunity where you can introduce a new way of cultivating a loving environment. Metaphorically nourish yourself and become reconnected with your own voice. Follow the path of things that ignite that spark. Surrender to all things love. Love is everywhere; are you seeing it? • Love out loud. What would that sound like? • Love your life. What would that feel like? • Love in 3D. What would that look like?
80 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
A heart shaped rock, commonly found, is always welcomed and should be treated like treasure when stumbled upon. Do you pick it up and take it for yourself or leave it in its place for others to take pleasure in nature’s largess? There’s no right or wrong answer. The heart, symbolizing surrounding love, has its own personal meaning. What does it mean to you? When nature shows you a heart, cherish it! Love – what a powerful word. It can move mountains or take your breath away. Never underestimate it. When you’re on your walk, do you really see what you’re seeing? Learn to be present and your heart will become one with nature. Open your mind and your heart will follow. How do you show love? uDo you live it? uDo you give it? uDo you hide from it? uDo you run towards it? uDo you dabble with it? uDo you withhold it?
uDo you believe in it? uDo you crave it? u Do you connect with it? u Do you need it? uDo you seek it? u Do you speak it?
Being clear on what love is to you is crucial in order to make any healthy adjustments to your mental and spiritual wellbeing. Hopefully the message is clearly being conveyed on the importance of disconnecting, unplugging and finding peace in a quiet and a natural way. Nature’s unexpected hearts will appear in the most beautiful form. It could be a leaf, stone, puddle, plant, in the sky or even a snake keeping its distance. But you have to be mindful of them! Don’t show up half way. Disrupt all unnecessary and negative thoughts then shift back to the fundamental and basic knowledge that we all long to love and to be loved. Understand that not all the hearts have to be perfect in shape or something that was manmade to represent love. They come in all shapes and sizes and are as unique as snowflakes. Each has its own beauty. Some are strong while others are fragile. Kind of resembles us, don’t you think?
After an evening rain, there could be a heart shaped stain leaving its heart print, holding onto last remnants of moisture in the air before it disappears like it was never there. Only a few who chose that path during those fleeting moments would share space with that heart. And even fewer would be aware of its existence though it’s right there in front of them. Would you see it? Be present to the point you draw a blank and have to create a thought. Here’s your chance to create a loving one. Awaken a new awareness and engage in finding new forms of love! Let’s see love as a vehicle to move us towards that ever moving target called happiness starting with self-love which is something that is as important as the air we breathe. Short, sweet, simple yet true. Love is in the heart of the matter. Seek it, live it. You’ll be a better version of you. There’s nothing wrong with being cheesy or sappy. Pull out the slingshot and shoot out hearts. Snack on love, or better yet, eat it for lunch. Be infectious about it. • Life is precious. Love with all your heart! • Be compassionate. Have a bleeding heart! • Rediscover. Make a change from your heart! • Be cautious! Stay away from a poisonous heart! “Look up, look down, look all around… be open to nature’s hearts that abound.” ~Jenny Lynne
Jenny Lynne is an inventor, connector, entrepreneur and an author. She found her passion and is devoted to inspiring others to find hearts in nature. Her two beautifully illustrated picture books, HEARTS and HEARTS FOR KIDS, capture naturally occurring or accidental hearts found around the world and photographed by her. Each heart image is accompanied by a caption that encompasses her wit, humor and sometimes seriousness by describing the emotions and perceptions that were evoked. Nature's incomparable beauty and sometimes not-so-subtle appearance is a reminder that love is ever present. She encourages people to email her heart images (www. JennyLynneBooks.com) or post them to her social media (#jennylynnebooks.) Please let me know if you would like to feature this article in the magazine or online. You can find 300 dpi images at https://jennylynnebooks.com/media-page 81 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
A Powerful Approach to Fighting Burnout
Photography by Hailey Kean
By Jennifer Marcenelle
Over the last several years, I have been aggressively working to spread the word from the tallest mountains: burnout is real. It is not only an alarming, fast-spreading epidemic but also a crippling reality ravaging our nation’s healthcare system.
Former ER Critical Care Nurse Offers Insights Into Burnout Epidemic; Describes How Holistic Approaches Can Offer Hope to Those Struggling
My efforts on this matter were further validated last month when I turned on the TODAY show, and a news anchor reported that “burnout” had officially been declared a legitimate medical diagnosis by the World Health Organization. In fact, NBC medical correspondent Dr. John Torres spent a good amount of time on the popular morning show sharing and discussing the main symptoms of burnout. As a former ER and Critical Care nurse who experienced a health crisis – and near suicide – from burnout in my mid-40s, I urge people to pay close attention to burnout and work to discover alternative and more holistic ways to combat it.
Jennifer Marcenelle MBA, BSN, RN, HBC-HN is a Board-Certified Holistic Nurse with over 30 years of experience in the medical industry. She currently holds degrees in nursing and business, with a specialization in Holistic Healing for burnout. As an energy medicine practitioner and the Founder and CEO of Burn Bright Today, she helps people improve mental wellness and recover from burnout and other challenges. A certified Gemstone and Diamond Therapy Practitioner, Marcenelle has dedicated her career to helping people move from Burning Out to Burning Bright. For More Information www.burnbrighttoday.com
Burnout Symptoms and How Therapies Available to Help In most cases, mainstream media describes burnout as “a loss of engagement,” depicting an image of person (often a female) staring into space. However, burnout is much more complicated. From low energy, exhaustion and fatigue to physical aches, burnout symptoms can also surface in the form of irritability, anxiety, depression, self-medication and in some cases, suicidal thoughts. As a result, some nurses that experience burnout also tend to turn to drugs or alcohol to numb their feelings. But there is hope. For many suffering from the effects of burnout, the use of the increasingly popular and unique approach to wellness – Gemstone and Diamond Therapy – is on the rise. Gemstone and Diamond Therapy are complementary, natural healing methods that address the underlying energetic causes and contributing factors of illness and lack of wellness. Gemstones have been used for hundreds of years to cure health issues and to enhance inner peace ¬¬¬– making it an ideal fit for combating burnout.
The therapeutic benefits of gemstone energies are vast: • Research suggests that various gemstones send out different vibrations which can resonate with the frequency of the healthy cells in a specific part of your body, and they may also help bring back unhealthy cells to vibrating at the same level as healthy cells. • Holistic approaches to battling burnout, such as Gemstone Therapy, can offer relief from various mental, physical and spiritual challenges. From helping with stress and depression to chronic and acute pain, the holistic practice energizes the body and mind, decreases blood pressure and inflammation, frees blocked emotions, reduces toxins, minimizes stress and boosts positive energy. During gemstone therapy, a patient relaxes on a table with his or her eyes closed, and a therapist uses various gems to feel the “stuck” energies, and then releases them. The treatment, which typically lasts approximately 30-50 minutes, is different based on each person. For instance, the gemstones that a therapist selects are based on the patient’s vital force – his or her primary health concern and which chakra feels blocked. The process itself involves strategically placing gems along a person’s body in order to balance the major energy chakras. By putting particular gemstones over the seven chakra centers of an individual’s body, the energy of each chakra is returned to balance, promoting health and vitality. Struggling with Burnout? There is Hope Burnout is an unfortunate element of today’s human experience. And while advances in Western medicine continue at a rapid pace, they are often limited to treating solely the physical being. To truly heal, we must work with the energetic causes of what’s disturbing us from deep within. We must address these issues by tuning in to the thoughts, memories and emotions behind what is causing our physical symptoms. If you are suffering from burnout and want to explore something that can truly transform your life, a holistic healing approach, such as Gemstone and Diamond Therapy, might be the answer to help you move forward on your journey to greater health. 83 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
An Interview with Jennifer Marcenelle
Thank you Jennifer for your time, please tell us about yourself. I was classically trained in Western medicine as an ER and cardiovascular critical care nurse before I entered the high-pressure world of scientific hospital laboratory equipment sales. I spent the next two decades living the jet set life as a sales executive getting rapidly promoted into leadership and management knocking myself out to be all things to everyone and knocking myself out to meet the unrealistic expectations of others and driving change against unrelenting resistance. All of this built up over the years until one day I was publicly humiliated by my manager and I crashed and burned. I had reached the end stages of burnout and found myself home alone in a health crisis and near suicide. I had hit rock bottom and it was time to face myself. I survived when I had a remarkable out of body experience with my spiritual guide where I was shown the energetic injury and damage all of the hate, anger and resentment that had been imposed on my by others, that I had imposed on them, and worst of all what I had imposed upon myself. I learned that I was my own worst enemy. I learned that burnout is an energy problem and for an energy problem I needed an energy solution. I’m one of those people who has been blessed with a second chance to clean up my life and get it right. In short, if I was going to survive this thing called life, I was going to have to get my energy right. You are a Board-Certified Holistic Registered Nurse with over 30 years of experience in the medical field, you have seen a rapid rise in interest for the Alternative Treatment, why you feel we are interest it more than ever for this kind of treatment? I believe there are 5 reasons: 1. People are waking up to the fact that pills are not wellness. We’ve been conditioned to think that we can take a pill for a symptom and our problem will go away. Just take a look at the current pharmaceutical ads running on prime time TV, this pill works for
84 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
those who X,Y,Z pills did not work well, followed by a list of side effects worse than the illness you’re taking the pills for. 2. The Millennials are here to help us step forward in consciousness. The Millennial generation has fully entered the workforce as highly productive members of society. They are brilliant and here to help us leave behind our old way of doing things and move forward in the way we construct and manage our lives. In other words, they are very open-minded and willing to try anything to help themselves. They’re not just asking for – but demanding - alternatives to pills. They are highly interested and actively seeking all-natural therapies without side effects. 3. People are smart. It is now well accepted that we are more than our physical bodies and that we are made of energy. People now understand the concept that we are made of energy and if we have an energy problem we need an energy problem. With this understanding, people now feel comfortable seeking new and cutting-edge energy solutions. 4. The #1 cause of burnout is our relationships. I see this across the board in my practice and am noticing that there is a phenomenon taking place where many of us are breaking up relationships that are out dated and no longer working. Relationship issue are an energy problem and for an energy problem we need an energy solution. 5. Today’s leader has to burn brighter than ever. These are transformative times and we are all starting to see both in our personal and professional lives that the top-down approach is no longer working. People simplyaren’t going to follow being dictated to by someone on top who think they know what’s best for them or how they should be doing their job. Today’s successful leaders are looking for a new, cutting-edge way to privately seek treatment for their burnout. To be a leader in this new landscape they have to turn their wounds into wisdom so they can lead their company or business units to success. Leaders have to change and they know it. Successful leadership is about getting your energy right.
How you describe your work. My practice is completely unique and truly holistic. As a Registered Nurse I am well-versed in and respect the western medicine approach and how it ties into the holistic healing model. I specialize in treating the energetic causes of burnout and work with the physical, mental, emotional and karmic causes of my client’s symptoms. In other words, I work with the root cause is creating their burnout.
One way to look at mental health is that we are open systems made of energy. We absorb all of the negative thoughts and energies around us 24/7. Over time these negative mental energies accumulate in our energy field and can mental issues. If this goes on long enough and the negative energies are strong enough we may develop mental health issues. The more diligent we are at keeping our own energy free, clean and clear the more we can enjoy living mentally healthy lives.
Who can benefit from Holistic Treatment? Anyone who is open to or even curious about healing. Healing is a lumpy bumpy road, you didn’t get into the place of burnout overnight and it won’t correct itself overnight either. Holistic treatments work best for people who are open to the idea that we are made of energy and that it takes positive energy to heal a negative energy problem. Even if you’re new to the idea or just curious about how it might help you, I invite you to give it a try.
Do you feel is it possible for us to avoid Depression or any other mental health problem? First of all, I think it’s important to understand that cycles are natural, even depression. As we go through life experiencing growth it is completely natural to go through cycles of depression. These cycles of depression can serve as valuable learning tools of what is good for us and what isn’t, who is good for us and who isn’t. Every time I experienced a cycle of depression, it was in a cycle of tremendous growth. I just needed a holistic treatment to help me learn my lessons, understand it and heal so I could grow. Every time I learned the lesson and moved forward in life the depression I was experiencing dissolved on its own. When managed and worked with appropriately, Depression is an important part of our natural growth cycles.
Is this safe for children in young age? Holistic healing is safe for anyone of any age. Although my practice is largely comprised of young adults in the workforce, I also work with their families. One thing I know to be true is that if an adult is suffering from burnout so are their family members including their children. If the child is old enough sit by themselves the parent can sit next to them by the table. Smaller children can receive treatment sleeping comfortably in their parent’s arms or seated in their lap. We cannot ignore all together the Medical Treatment that helping many lives. In your opinion, can we mix the medical treatment with holistic treatment? As a western medicine trained Registered Nurse I am a huge proponent of providing a holistic approach to every client’s care. I believe that every client should have the opportunity to choose their healing team to include holistic treatment. One of the benefits my clients enjoy is that as a Registered Nurse I speak the language of every member of their healing team whether it be their physician, therapist, naturopath or acupuncturist. A client is best served when their healing team is a holistic one with open communication and a sharing of insights and perspectives.
What you do in your spare time? The first thing I do is head out into nature to recharge. My favorite way to recharge is to hike the mountains and swim in the ocean. How our readers can contact you? They are welcome to visit my website at www.burnbrighttoday.com, take the free 1-minute Burnout Assessment and schedule their complimentary 15 min consultation.
How you describe a Mental Health Problem? Many if not all illnesses or life issues are caused by an energetic issue. If we can locate, address and work with the energetic causes of our mental distresses we can help the client understand and resolve the underlying problem.
85 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Why I Am Challenging what the Menopause Industry Tells us about our Bodies By Sally J Duffell Author of Grow your own HRT
86 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
Photography by Ashton Bingham
The menopause industry, doctors, most leaflets you get in doctors waiting rooms, books (both conventional and alternative) all give one version of the way we menopause. That menopause happens when the ovaries pack up and are not creating enough hormones. It is therefore logical that you have got to supplement them artificially and aren’t we lucky that HRT exists even though increases your chances of cancer, heart disease and thrombosis. Plus don’t get hooked on it, because you can only be on it for 10 years because that’s when the real risks kick in. But what happens in women who don’t get hot flushes, and there are millions of them all over the world, particularly in non-industrialised societies that are still living in traditional ways. Plus, there are women in the West who don’t either. Why aren’t their ovaries packing up? Where are they getting their hormones from? There is an alternative model, but here’s the crucial point it’s not put forward by the menopause industry, but by the fertility industry who are really serious about the way women’s bodies and particularly our ovaries work. i In this model, the healthy woman’s ovaries never pack up, they always give the brain what it asks for. When menopause happens the body handles hormones differently that’s all. Obviously for some women this doesn’t happen. But this shouldn’t be the norm and if your ovaries do start to falter, we should look at what’s wrong with them and get them working again. Because just replacing the hormones with artificial ones gives rise to so many other problems, not least breast cancer, that it should never be the first port of call. So, what causes ovaries to fail? Some women might have genetic problems but for the rest of us it’s the changes bought about since industrialisation. Our bodies (and ovaries) are bombarded with chemical and industrial oestrogens. Study after study has proven that they interfere with both our hormonal signals and our ovaries ability to function normally Secondly, we don’t eat as many plant hormones as we used to. There are a number of books on how you can change your entire diet in order to get more plant hormones. Many people can’t manage it so instead take expensive plant hormone supplements or pay even more to get “bio identical” HRT. Luckily though there are easier (and indeed cheaper) way to get plant hormones into our bodies. ii If you start eating sprouted foods, you will be ingesting one of the richest sources of plant hormones on the planet. Every successful culture has a tradition of them, including our own. You can add them to whatever else you are eating and give yourself a plant hormone boost. Plant hormones then get to work on our hormonal balance, they can either top the body with hormones if we don’t have enough or calm it down if we have too much. If we were in any doubt that we need plant hormones, scientists have recently discovered that we 88 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
have special plant hormone receptors in our cells just looking for them. iii There is also scientific evidence that sprouted foods can help rid our body of polluting chemicals and turn harsher oestrogens into more gentle ones. The biggest bonus is that these foods have such a rich bounty of plant hormones and other nutrients that we only have to eat a small amount to get a big effect. Much of the research I have done isn’t in the public domain, yet I found over 400 scientific. The reason there is so much research is that scientists are very interested in the potential of sprouted foods, they test them and dissect them, and measure their contents and isolate them so they can be put into supplements and drugs and sold to us as an alterative to HRT. They never say that we can cut out the middle man and grow them ourselves on our windowsills. It just takes a couple of minutes a day to water them. Yet this simple act challenges the menopause industry on many different levels. I also looked into the way plant hormones react with cancer and cancer treatments. Many women who are at risk of hormone dependent cancer think that plant hormones just add more oestrogen to the body. Yet there is tons of research how, plant hormones eaten as part of a healthy diet, rather than pills, or supplements, are perfect for everyone, even those who have had cancer. It’s time to challenge the menopause industry and the way we think about menopause that also offers practical solutions for menopausal women everywhere to return to the natural health that should be our birthright. Neal-Perry G, Nejat E and Dicken C. The neuroendocrine physiology of female reproductive aging: An update. Maturitas. 2010 ii Craig ZR, Wang W and Flaws JA. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals in ovarian function: effects on steroidogenesis, metabolism and nuclear receptor signalling. Reproduction. 2011 iii Kojima H, Takeda Y, Muromoto R, et al. Isoflavones enhance interleukin-17 gene expression via retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptors α and γ. Toxicology. i
Sally J. Duffell has been growing, teaching and writing about bean sprouting for many years. She extensively researched the scientific proof behind their rich bounty of plant hormones, their effects on menopause symptoms and the diseases of ageing. She lives in Hastings, UK. www.sallyholloway.com
Have you seen Gretchen?! Missing since 11/11/2016 Please contact us
info@theedenmagazine.com
Movie binging in the Six By Alexia Melocchi
Toronto- the city of the true North whose nickname "the Six", originally created by one of its Celebrity residents, rapper DRAKE, has been the backdrop for many years of one of the most prominent Film Festivals in our continent. The go-to place for celebrities championing an Oscar nomination and for movie critics and press representatives from all over the world eager to watch incredible storytelling from five continents, this is the place to first screen some of the year's upcoming titles that may become Oscar contenders. For the second year, it is my honor and privilege to report on the most talked-about movies of the Festival and to also recommend some hidden gems. Unlike other Festivals, Toronto is open to the public and about 280,000 attendees show up from all over the world. It is quite exhilarating to sit with members of the press, creators and film fans to get a first look of what could be the film that wins the 2019 Academy Award. It is right here at TIFF where the buzz started on a movie called THE GREEN BOOK stealing the hearts of everyone who saw it that ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. My personal standouts this year were HUMAN CAPITAL, JUDY, and FORD vs FERRARI.
90 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
HUMAN CAPITAL, was not a must-see by everyone. But it was on my list and I found it a true gem among hundreds. It is the remake of an Italian Film by Paolo Virzi and loosely based on the Stephen Amidon novel. Starring Liev Schreiber, Marisa Tomei and Peter Sarsgaard, the film is a dramatic study of people being pushed to their limits, not just financial but emotional and social. Telling three consecutive stories from the point of view of two families, after a hit and run car accidental killing of a cyclist, the director slowly exposes us to the collapse of values and morals, that are caused by the members of an entitled and corrupt wealthy family trying to protect their son whom they believe may have caused the hit and run, and an act of desperation of a single father, who had seen his finances crumble by a Ponzi scheme investment into the hedge fund run by the patriarch of the wealthy family. With excellent performances by the cast and a dramatic twist and ending, I appreciated how money and wealth played into the background, acting as a trigger, but ultimately the core message was about showing the frailty of the human spirit, when making the choice of trading a life as a necessity for survival, because of financial stress and human manipulation.
JUDY, is a biopic of Hollywood actress and Wizard of Oz darling Judy Garland. Played to the tee by an unrecognizable Renee Zellweger, the film explored the final years of the life of the larger than life actress, when she puts on one of her finals Shows in London. Judy Garland, in spite of her fame, found herself financially broke, aging and addicted to pain killers, and having to leave her children behind in the care of her former husband, to make ends meet by doing Theatre in London, where she was still considered a Hollywood Legend. We see powerful flashbacks to her life as a teenager, and a revealing plot of a young actor being overworked, abused and put on extreme diets and the soul crushing effects of the price being paid for her early childhood fame. However, in a sad portrayal of this incredible entertainer in the sunset of her life and career, I was inspired by Judy Garland's inexhaustible thirst for "putting on a show", and her awareness that to her fans, she was and always will be Dorothy of Oz, clicking her red shoes, and wanting to go home after having learned, that beyond witches, flying monkeys and the yellow brick road, there must always be a balance between heart, courage, and frailty. With the end credits rolling to "Somewhere over the Rainbow" there was not a dry eye in the house.
FORD vs FERRARI, makes your heart race, even if you are not into cars. Starring a charismatic Matt Damon and an intense Christian Bale, the film explores the friendship of automotive designer Carrol Shelby and fearless British race car driver Ken Miles as they are hired by the Ford Motor Company to build a revolutionary vehicle to compete against the sexy Ferrari cars at the 24 Hour of Le Mans in France in 1966. This is not a movie about
rivals though, but about a lasting friendship of two very different people, who defy the rules of their ego ruled employers, to make history. Just as on the road, life is about making that perfect lap, where nature, man and machine are in perfect synch, and at that moment, as we pursue not just the goal but are one with the journey to reach it, we lose sense of time and ourselves, and we feel, just for a few brief moments, immortal. I choose to cover these three films for THE EDEN MAGAZINE because I left the theatres inspired and enriched by all three very different stories and themes. A director friend of mine said recently to me that the movies we remember more vividly and talk about the most, are those where there are those moments that draw us in, making us feel like what we see is not just about the characters, the actors, the lines they speak, it is all about us, and feeling that it could be us, and about our lives, our emotions, our thoughts, our struggles, our victories. There is definitely magic in those hours sitting on a chair and staring at that white canvas screen filled with moving pictures, where we are reminded, more than ever, that we are part of humanity, that we are all one.
Alexia Melocchi is an accomplished film producer and worldwide distribution executive and the partner of Beverly Hills based LITTLE STUDIO FILMS. Alexia Melocchi has an experience of more than twenty years in in Hollywood and has produced 11 award wining movies and3 documentaries that were shot bymerging film makers that she has personally discoveredand mentored. She also acquires on behalf of her international distributor clients films and television shows from all over the world for release in the Middle East, Italy, Greece, Spain, Canada, South America and Germany. She attends all major film festivals in the USA and abroad and has been often invited as an expert panelist on the Film Business forhigh profile film and television conventions. Alexia is fluent in five languages and is the proud mama to3 rescue cats. She supports environmental and animal causes , meditatesdaily, and is an avid reader of spiritual and self helps books. IG @lexybella @LttleStudioFlms www.littlestudiofilms.com 91 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
From Grief to Grace Pet Bereavement Counseling Monthly Column With Pina De Rosa
The loss of a beloved pet can be the deepest heartbreak of our lives. Each month we will address and answer a key topic
In our September column on Pet Grief Counseling, we looked at "anticipatory grief". For this month's topic, as the holidays are around the corner, we will address two questions that I was asked recently. About dressing up pets in Halloween costumes: "What are your reflections and opinions about pet owners dressing up their animals? Is there any possible problem or potential danger in this behavior?" My reflections and opinions about pet owners dressing up their animals are that if it is a once-off special occasion like a fun Halloween costume or a few cute moments with a Santa hat for a holiday photo, it can be quite sweet. If it is enjoyable for all (including for the pet), then there would not be much reason for concern. There are times when pet owners take care of their animals by dressing them up for warm weather or for rain protection or even putting on a vest in the case of a service animal. In my opinion, those are quite normal circumstances. That said, it is a distorted situation when the pet is dressed up in various costumes for multiple occasions, or even receives baby toys and gets carried around in a baby stroller (even though the pet is not disabled). It becomes quite strange when a pet owner relates to the animal the way we would relate to a human baby and transfers any potential unmet nurturing needs to that pet. If this conduct is ongoing, it can become a significant issue and such pathology would then warrant appropriate professional help. That is an unhealthy fantasy. Sometimes the owner is aware of it, oftentimes they are not. In such instances, there is quite definitely a possible problem-or even potential danger. This type of behavior is a conscious (or sometimes unconscious) redirection of the feelings that a parent would have for a child. This would then quite often lead the owner to experience and express a heightened responsibility for the animal. In extreme cases, such as when the animal has pushed around in a stroller, then it is not only strange, but it can deprive the pet of living its true animal nature which is considered a form of abuse. Once that pet passes, the grief counseling for the pet owner will likely need to be referred for a longer and deeper therapy or psychotherapy.
92 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019
About religion: "How would you counsel a person who will not euthanize a terminally ill and suffering pet, because of Judeo-Christian religious reasons? Without criticizing their beliefs, how would you deal with a friend who thinks only God has any right to take a pet's life? Some of our friends want our help, but they will accept only what they see as legitimate scriptural justification." How I would counsel a person who will not euthanize a terminally ill and suffering pet, because of Judeo-Christian religious reasons is the following. Aware that a counselor's "logical" approach will not be effective with someone who is deeply religious, I would bring up compelling religious references such as the biblical thought of "Man is God's appointed steward of all living things." Because some clients rely on their severe religious beliefs, they will decline to have their pets euthanized, erroneously believing their faith forbids it. With that awareness, I would ensure to solely counsel them through their religious beliefs. I would never attempt to convince them of the inaccuracy of their beliefs as it would only alienate them. Without criticizing their beliefs, how I would deal with a friend/client who says only God has any right to take a pet's life is the following. Firstly, I would ask them what kind of assistance they believe I may be able to offer. Then, with the awareness that their religious beliefs can often create rigidity in their thinking, I would ensure to not antagonize them. I would make certain to work with them solely from their religious perspective. Working with nothing else but that approach would be the best way to reach this kind of client and be of service to him/her. I would not expect that normal counseling techniques, or logic would work in this very challenging type of case. I would also keep in mind that if they come to me for help, it is because even in the midst of their emotional turmoil, they desire being assisted. The following are several biblical or religious references or examples to justify my perspective with this troubled person who wants my help but will accept only what he/ she sees as legitimate scriptural justification. Remembering that this person wants my help, but will accept only what he/she sees as legitimate scriptural justification, I would remind them of Genesis 22. It describes how Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, his own son, to prove his faith. God sent an angel to instruct him to sacrifice a ram instead of Isaac. Hence Genesis 22 clearly demonstrating that God does not forbid the killing of animals. With this reminder, the client may be able to reframe euthanasia as an honorable act of mercy and compassion, just as God's love advises, especially for terminally ill animals in pain. Another biblical reference that will help is the Old Testa-
ment commandment "Thou shall not kill" which, in most recent Bible editions, has been revised as "Thou shall not murder". The first translation can be somewhat misleading. The latter is a more appropriate biblical Hebrew translation. Also, a helpful Old Testament reference is when God reminds us of the Covenant to have a loving relationship with all His creatures. The Judeo-Christian theology is grounded in a God of love, a God who created and cares for all things in a loving way. After the flood, in Genesis 9:8:17, God shares His intention regarding that Covenant. "And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and every beast of the earth. This is a sign of the Covenant, which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you. For all future generations, I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between Me and the earth." And more about the Covenant that God made with all living creatures, including animals, Jesus says in the New Testament: "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father." (Matthew 10:29) Through His Covenant, by making the humans the stewards of the animals, God gave us the sacred responsibility for them. These are some of the biblical references that will help counsel a troubled friend/client who wants help in seeing a legitimate scriptural justification they can accept.
Pina De Rosa (APLB / AAVSB) is a two-time TEDxSpeaker and Certified Pet Grief Counselor, founder of www.PetBereavementCounseling.com. You may reach her directly for 1-1 Pet Grief Support (sliding scale available). Her passion project is #MissionWellington and his www.TreatsForPups.com, bringing “doggie bags� of pet food, blankets and supplies to the homeless pups living out in the streets. Follow her at or submit your questions to www.Instagram.com/LifeAccordingToWellington
93 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e October 2019