The Eden Magazine May

May 2021

EDEN T h e

Magazine

THE JOY OF LIVING

HOW TO SLAY STRESS

By Barry Shore

Mariel

Hemingway A TRULY EXTRAORDINARY WOMAN WHO IS GROUNDED, RADIANT, AND WITH A LASER FOCUS ON MENTAL HEALTH

JANE GOODALL WITH VATICAN CARDINAL; HUMAN SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON BIODIVERSITY

By Brain Roewe

THE GIFT OF CHANGE

SHIFT CHANGE

By Krista Nerestant

3

POWERFUL

TRAITS THAT DETERMINE HOW

ABUNDANT YOU WILL BE

inByLumbini, Phyllis KingNepal

EVERTHING IS

ENERGY & AWARENESS IS EVERYTHING

By Shelly Wilson

Table of Contents 8

3 POWERFUL TRAITS......

MARIEL HEMINGWAY

18

28

93RD OSCARS® Honoring movies released in 2020 at Union Station Los Angeles and the Dolby Theatre

20

3 POWERFUL TRAITS THAT DETERMINE HOW ABUNDANT YOU WILL BE

By Phyllis King

24

THE GIFT OF CHANGE SHIFT CHANGE

By Krista Nerestant

20

42

34

A MEMOIR OF MADNESS IN THE FAMILY

By Paolina Milana

46

THEGIFT OF CHANGE...

CHOOSE HAPPY

By Sarah Gregg

46

24

28

THE JOY OF LIVING HOW TO SLAY STRESS & BE HAPPY

By Barry Shore

52

FILLING UP THE EMPTY WELL WITHIN

By Angela Dunning

56

EVA LANSKA DISCUSS COVID, LOVE STORIES & BARDOT

60

52

HEALING TRAUMA & HANDLING LIFE CHALLENGES WITH GOD, LOVE & SYNCHRONICITIES

By Marni Foderaro

Cover Photo by

ARTIN MARDIROSIAN (Nexision)

Life is Essential, Feel it 66

THE JOURNEY OF ENLIGHTENMANT TAROT

By Selena Joy Lovett & Daniela Manutius-Froster

66

70

MENTAL HEALTH STUDY FINDS YOU CAN BE TOO PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUR PET

By Phyllis King

74

FOOL ERRAND

By Jeffrey S. Stephens

78

70

CO-PARENTING OR PARALLEL PARENTING, HOW DOES AFFECT THE CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH?

82

By Jayita Bhattacharjee

82

NATURE OR TECHNOLOGY?

By Lavandaia & Marco Nunzio Alati

88

EVERYTHING IS ENERGY & AWARENESS IS EVERYTHING

By Shelly Wilson

90

74 78

JANE GOODALL WITH VATICAN CARDINAL; HUMAN SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON BIODIVERSITY

By Brain Roewe

CO-PARENTING OR PARALLEL PARENTING.....

88 90

3 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

EDEN T

H

E

MAGAZINE

Since 2010

The Eden Magazine is a free online publication focuses on spreading compassion to all Sentient Beings living in a healing and peaceful world FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MARYAM MORRISON EXECUTIVE EDITOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER DINA MORRONE COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER ALEXIA MELOCCHI BRAND AMBASSADOR MARIA ELENA INFANTINO CONTRIBUTING WRITERS SASHA GARY VITO TROTTA PHYLLIS KING JOE SANTOS, JR. SHELLY WILSON ANGELA DUNNING NANCY E. YEAROUT MICHAEL WHITE RYAN MARCO NUNZIO ALATI JAYITA BHATTACHARJEE CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST EDWARD HAKOPIAN GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY GREG DOHERTY ISABELLE RUEN SHERI DETERMAN ARTIN MARDIROSIAN (Nexision) GRETA PAZZAGLIA 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 a non-profit monthly online magazine. We aim to create a better environment where we live among other living beings in peace and harmony. We support artists that their work matches 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 The Eden Magazine reviews article content for accuracy before the date of publication. The views expressed in the articles reflect the author(s) opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher and editor. The published material, adverts, editorials, and all other content is published in good faith.

4 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

MEET OUR TEAM

Photo by ISABELLE RUEN

Discover the path to a peaceful life among other living beings. We are all made of vibration and light in the universe to manifest our energy around all livingness.

DINA MORRONE

Maryam Morrison

ARTIN MARDIROSIAN

EDWARD HAKOPIAN

MARIA ELENA INFANTINO

ALEXIA MELOCCHI

VITO TROTTA

SHELLY WILSON

ANGELA DUNNING

MICHAEL WHITE RYAN

SHERI DETERMAN

PHYLLIS KING

MARCO NUNZIO ALATI

SASHA GARY

GRETA PAZZAGLIA

MARGARET TOMASZEWIC

ISABELLE RUEN

6 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e February 2020

JAYITA BHATTACHARJEE

NANCY E. YEAROUT

JOE SANTOS, JR.

GREG DOHERTY

7 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e March 2020

Mariel

Hemingway

Advocate, Activist, Author, Academy Awardnominated Actress, Producer, and Mother of two.

A truly extraordinary woman who is grounded, radiant, and with a laser focus on mental health, physical health, and living a more meaningful life.

8 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

By Dina Morrone

9 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2021

You were born into a family of celebrated writers.

And today, you are an author, but growing up, did you ever want to follow in their famous footsteps and become a writer?

I never thought about becoming an author when I was young, although I did love to write, especially poetry which I have been writing for myself for many years. I love to write not for the possible fame of it (as a Hemingway that is too daunting), but it is so rewarding in enabling me to express how I feel on my inner landscape.

What is something you enjoyed doing as a child that you wish you could back and do today?

The irony is I still do many of the things I did as a kid.

I still run through the mountains, play in rivers, lakes, and streams and laugh with my partner on a daily basis.

I love the question because it makes me realize that I am really living a life that makes me happy now. I realize that my life is connected to being playful like a child's life is. Bobby, my life partner, and I have a brand called Williams & Hemingway that is focused on living your best life through food, exercise, Nature, laughter, water, sunshine, and meditation. Play and laughter are among the biggest parts of our brand, and being childlike is a daily practice for us.

When did you decide you wanted to be an actress?

What were your first steps towards making that become a reality?

It was an accident becoming an actress. I was 12 yrs. old, and my sister was starring in a film called Lipstick, and she recommended me to play the role of her little sister.

It was a shock to be able to be in a movie. It was very exciting for a little girl from Idaho.

You were nominated for an Academy Award®, Bafta, and a Golden Globe at a young age. How did this mega-stardom impact your life at the time and your career?

I was thrilled to be recognized for the work I had done though I am not sure I really understood the impact of those first nominations I received at the time. Later, when I received a golden globe or Emmy nomination for a TV show I had starred in, I was far more aware of the impact of awards and how that affected your career. I was a little shocked by the sudden attention I received as a teen.

Mariel with Her dad Jack Hemingway

You practice Transcendental Meditation and Yoga. How has creating a healthy mind and body changed your life?

I practice ™ and Kriya yoga and breathing techniques along with my asana yoga practice, all of which have helped me to maintain a sense of balance. All of my practices have been transformational for me and continue to be. The journey of health, well-being, and balance is ongoing and always will be. That is why it is called a journey.

In the documentary Running from Crazy, the film chronicles your family, their mental health struggles, and even suicide. Today, more than ever, many families are struggling with mental illness, and the rate of suicides keeps going up every day, especially in teens. Please tell us how you have been able to stay balanced and grounded.

Again, a healthy lifestyle and tuning into what Bobby and I call the seven greatest Doctors in the world help me, you, and everyone to create balance. Our doctors are Dr. Sun, Dr. Air, Dr. Water, Dr. Exercise, Dr. Nutrition, Dr. Earth, and Dr. Rest. They are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and they are FREE! My belief is that how we lead our everyday lives physically, mentally, and emotionally helps us create a sense of peace, and that is what a balanced brain is. It is a brain at and in PEACE, and that is something I focus on daily.

Is there a role you played that you wish you could do all over again today, knowing what you know now?

You know, I am not a person who goes over the past. I know that everything that has happened in my life, the roles I have played on-screen or in life, have been exactly right in order to further my ability to understand human nature. So, I don't have a role or a past experience that I would want to change in any way!

Mariel with Her sisters 10 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

A healthy lifestyle and tun-

ing into what Bobby and I call the seven greatest Doctors in the world help me, you, and everyone to create balance.

What advice would you give to young adults struggling on their own or living in families with severe mental issues and overwhelming challenges?

First of all, I would say to the young people struggling with mental health issues (anxieties, fears, or whatever is bothering them), please remember that no matter what you are feeling in this moment, the feeling will change.

The Nature of energy (which feelings are) has to change.

Energy is always shifting and moving and changing.

It is hard when you are young because of a lack of life experience to realize that everything changes, so what feels like an everlasting hell actually has to shift. I would say, please trust that you are loved and guided and that you are 100% NOT ALONE. You wrote Healthy Living from the Inside Out and Finding My Balance, a how-to women's guide on strategies for beauty, renewed energy, and a radiant life, and Mariel's Kitchen, which was one of the first cookbooks with creative gluten and sugar-free recipes. Healthy living is certainly essential for you.

How can we protect ourselves from all the toxic foods and preservatives that are in the foods that surround us?

I do not believe that we have to struggle so much with what to eat. In Bobby and my book Running with Nature we recommend you look at your history, genetics, and where you live, and the season you are living in. Go to Farmer's markets in the spring and summer (75% of the US population is within 5-10 smiles of a farmer’s market). Buy fresh vegetables and if you shop at regular markets, stick to the outer aisles of the store where the food is REAL food, not boxed or processed. Make it a fun game to find simple, fresh food and teach yourself to cook a few uncomplicated meals. Understand that good food is also truly the best tasting food. There is a bigger explanation in several of my above-mentioned books about eating, but that is the idea in a nutshell.

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When you hear the words "Global Warming," what is your first thought?

I do believe we MUST be conscious of this planet's health, and we must cut back on Fossil fuels. That said, I think that most of us love this planet, and I believe most all of us want to preserve this incredible earth. We all need to come together in an effort to be more aware of the needs of the planet and be less gluttonous with our accumulation of things.

Awareness is a first step towards making kinder earth choices. And those choices start at home with your personal consumption and focus on the simplicity of living.

What are the charities that are close to your heart?

I started a foundation for the prevention against suicide called The Dead Poets Foundation deadpoetsfoundation.org I am working with my partners right now to be able to launch this foundation at the end of this year, and we are creating an extraordinary event plus actionable solutions that will highlight education and lifestyle and music to bring awareness to his subject and solutions for the problems. The foundation is currently in the process of creating an app with a definitive protocol that helps people to see their world from a different perspective. I want people to know there are solutions to mental illness and that suicide does not have to be a choice in anyone's life, especially in a child's life. Suicide, depression, and mental illness are at epidemic proportions, and I want it to stop. I am also producing and hosting a TV show that will focus on teen suicide and solutions for it.

Together we can do this.

Where is that one place in the world that you feel you are most connected with?

Without question, I am most at home and happy in Ketchum, Idaho, but I must say that my time in Southern California is always wonderful. (I spend half my time here in California and in Idaho, which is my home state).

We all need to come together in an effort to be more aware of the needs of the planet and be less gluttonous with our accumulation of things.

Awareness is a first step towards making kinder earth choices.

12 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

Mariel with her daughter Photo by Mark Squires

I do believe we MUST be conscious of this planet's health, and we must cut back on Fossil fuels. That said, I think that most of us love this planet, and I believe most all of us want to preserve this incredible earth.

Photo by Christine Marie 13 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

What is your idea of a perfect day?

It's a bluebird sky, and I am watching the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. I meditate, pray and do my breathing exercises. I then practice yoga overlooking the ocean. I drink my biodynamic coffee, then an amino acid drink, and head out to take the dogs for a walk, barefoot in the Santa Monica mountains (or the Sawtooth mountains if I am in Idaho). This all happens before noon. Then I answer some emails eat lunch, and write and take calls. If I start my day this way, and I usually do, then the rest of the day falls into place because I have set the foundation for a day of ease by manifesting it and being grateful for it already. Bobby and I move in and out of one another lives and business schedules with ease and so much laughter. I am truly happy with my life, and that wasn't always the case in the past, so I feel very blessed.

Please share a few tips with our readers on how they can work on achieving a healthy body and a healthy, peaceful mind.

I think one of the best ways to start having a healthy life is to focus on how you start your day. Look at my answer to my perfect day and think about how one or more of my morning rituals could be implemented into your day. Start a breathing practice (begin by reading James Nestor's book BREATH) and start watching sunrises (or sunsets). Take time in the morning to do things totally present… meaning when you make your coffee or tea, you do it with your full attention, doing only what you are doing in the moment. Smell the ground coffee, or pour hot water over your tea leaves, feel the cup in your hands and watch the leaves unfold, or watch the coffee turn its dark rich color. Be conscious of every simple thing you do in the morning. Another great practice is to take 5 minutes to be quiet in Nature every morning and, in those few minutes, say thank you to everything and everyone in your life (even yourself ). And if your desire is to be truly healthy, take a few more minutes seeing yourself eating well, exercising in a playful way, and sleeping deeply. Take time to visualize exactly what you want and see it in your mind's eye. If you make this a devoted daily practice, you can actually manifest the day you envision for yourself.

Special Thank you to: Mariel Hemingway Location: Sue Wong Malibu Residence, Arthaus Photography: Artin Mardirosian (Nexision) Makeup & Hair: Edward Hakopian

MAY LOVE & PEACE ABUNDANT ALL LIVING BEINGS

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“My mission is to bring a hopeful, accessible message to every corner of the world.”

SUE WONG’s Malibu Residence,

ARTHAUS

T

HE MALIBU ARTHAUS is a unique beach/bluff gallery residence conceived and created by renown fashion designer Sue Wong that also serves as a private art museum for the designer’s extensive collection of Modern Art. Its open, spacious, loft-like interiors with soaring high ceilings and clean Minimalist exteriors overlook a stunning 180 degree panoramic view of the blue Pacific.

The expansive statement of modernistic architecture and artistic interiors with colorful Mid-Century sculptural furniture is set in a context of unparalleled nature, and is truly awe-inspiring.

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Nestled in the prime Zuma Beach Bluffs section of Malibu, California, it capture a dramatic and unobstructed vistas of the Malibu coastline, as well as a hip and artistic modern interior.

The floor-to-ceiling sliding doors welcome the exterior into the interior in a dramatic, yet organic, modern statement of Yin and Yang, all reflected through the juxtaposition of beautifully-textured spaces of wood and concrete. In addition to the majestic jaw-dropping Ocean views, the airy interior spaces open up to magnificent desert gardens of many different cacti specimen, dramatically enhanced by rocks, boulders and gravel, available for great outdoor living.

As one of Ms. Wong’s principal private residences, The Malibu ARTHAUS is one manifestation of her creative expressions to represent our three levels of being, BODY, MIND, SPIRIT.

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93RD OSCARS

®

Honoring movies released in 2020 at Union Station Los Angeles and the Dolby Theatre took place on Sunday, April 25, 2021

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Photos by Todd Wawrychuk / A.M.P.A.S.

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Abundance Corner

Photo by Yury Orlov

By Phyllis King

20 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2021

3Traits

POWERFUL

that DETERMINE

HOW

I

ABUNDANT You Will Be

have had the good fortune to mentor with several of the most profound spiritual teachers on the planet.

After hundreds of hours of mentorship and digesting their wisdom, it is interesting what stands out in my memory.

That concept opened up abundance to me in a way I could not have imagined; I had no idea how much it would change my relationship to wealth. As I came to understand I was a receiver rather than a “go-getter,” everything in my life became exponentially easier.

One day during a conversation with Naya swami Asha, Spiritual Director of Ananda Worldwide, I had been going through a particularly challenging time in my life. I said to her, “just when I got over this enormous challenge and mastered it, there is another one waiting for me.” She responded simply, “yes.”

Before I embraced a receiver mindset, I used an achievement/ go-getter mindset. I am still tempted occasionally to focus on outcomes rather than a flow of energy. I love to create and move energy around. Now, movement in energy is tempered by the idea of what causes us to receive. Achievement used to drive and exhaust me. It often made me miserable. I felt I was at the mercy of my goals. It caused me to ignore other important aspects of my life.

I am paraphrasing now, but she went on to share that my perception is a karmic reality of life. Life is evolutionary. Experience is not just “experience,” but who we become because of it. The growth we achieve in each experience prepares us for the next opportunity to progress. In that awareness is where we begin to understand that abundance is mostly about learning how to receive.

I thought I could not take my hands off the wheel for a second.

Otherwise, my life would suffer some dire consequences.

The ego-mind wants to convince us that when we arrive at a destination, a goal, or an outcome, we will feel happier. Why else would we do it? The truth is that achievements never fill us up.

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Contribution fills us up. Science has shown us that when we reach a goal, the stimulation of the “success” lasts about 20 minutes. Further, than most people experience a “down” after the goal has been reached. Joy comes in the mastery of a process moment to moment much more than arriving at the destination point.

Western culture feeds us the myth that achievement is the path to happiness. Achievement is not bad when performed in the context of a broader point of view.

Most of us use it to prove our worth and value to ourselves. Until we perceive the interconnectedness of life on a micro-level, our achievements are only as good as the consciousness we use to execute them. Our level of happiness will reflect the state of consciousness we have used.

We all need an income.

We all need a place to live. We all want a level of comfort and safety. We master certain achievements to accomplish meeting those very real physical and human needs. When we then desire to up-level our income or relationship status or professional standing, we discover the tools and mindset we used to get us to those first levels of comfort and safety will not get us to the next levels.

This is when people find themselves in my office. They feel like they are in a video game going round and round, unable to find the door to the next level. There is an awareness component to the “next level,” but there is also a physiological component.

We trained our minds to a certain set of practices and beliefs that worked for basic needs in our life. We created neural pathways in our brain that have been set for years, even decades. As we embark on change, our mind senses change and automatically says to our system, “danger, abort.” In that, our mind complies by creating scenarios to stop us from moving our lives forward.

“I don’t have enough time. I do not have enough money to do said activity.

It is not the right time to make a change. This is not a good idea after all.” We talk ourselves out of our next steps. Change requires we work against our own minds and history.

When we want to up-level our abundance in any area (career, relationships, personal well-being,) these are the traits we must embrace: RISK. Are you out of your comfort zone?

Do you feel challenged? Does this moment require 22 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

something different from you than any other situation has to date?

If so, you are embracing risk and a critical element to becoming a good receiver and abundant. It can be an emotional risk, financial risk, or experiential risk. So long as you are out of your comfort zone, you are in the right place.

VULNERABILITY. Are you exposing yourself in ways you have not in the past? Are you showing the world aspects of yourself you have kept under wraps or hidden? Are you giving yourself permission to lean into your truth?

When we are naked in the world, our vulnerability causes us to attract our tribe, those people who care about what we are about. We match more readily with like-minded people and situations.

COURAGE. Are you digging deep to find a way to take a risk and to be vulnerable? Are you finding the inner “fuel” to step out of the comfort zone and be vulnerable?

If not, are you asking for help to sit in your courage to make a shift or change that is necessary for your next steps? When we ask for help, it is an act of courage.

Courage is most often the determining factor in whether we succeed in becoming good receivers.

Most of my clients have an idea of what the right steps are to reach success. The order of the steps does matter.

If you put step five before step two, you will thwart your progress.

Achievement must follow a foundation of understanding how to receive. It must be the subordinate. When we follow the order in our creative process, not only will our achievements result in greater abundance, but they will truly bring happiness to our lives and those around us.

Known as the Common Sense Psychic (tm), Phyllis King has worked with tens of thousands of peoplein 25 countries. She is known for her practical and down to earth approach.

She has been featured on, ABC, CBS and NBC TV, radio programs across the country, and has been published in over 70 print and online publications.

She has four books, including Bouncing Back, Thriving in Changing Times, with Dr. Wayne Dyer. Her latest book The Energy of Abundance is available in bookstores now. Phyllis holds a B.A. in Sociology. www.phyllisking.com

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Photo by Ernest Tarasov

An excerpt from Indestructible: The Hidden Gifts of Trauma by Krista Nerestant

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The GIFT of Change: Shift CHANGE

By Krista Nerestant

D

isruption to my status quo keeps me accountable and responsible for my actions and decisions. A dark night of the soul, growing pains, or a wake-up call are factors for lasting change—the necessary ingredient—the foreign element—in transformation.

There were multiple new elements rapidly thrown at me within such a short amount of time, between nine years old and eleven years old. Everything was changing: new country, family, friends, culture, life, school, laws, and on and on. However, it didn't spiral me into a depressive state, as one might have expected, given my trauma-filled past.

I had developed a severely optimistic attitude—verging on delusional. It was imperative to my survival that I not let the atrocities of my life dictate my worldview.

"Change is inevitable.

Growth is optional." ~John Maxwell

There were three principles I grounded myself into and continue to exercise in my Self-ish Lifestyle Practice: • My perspective is my reality.

• I am equipped with whatever I need to survive.

• I am a spiritual being having a human experience.

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These all led me to ask the right questions when a foreign element was causing me chaos: • What resources do I need to survive?

• How am I using these resources to overcome?

• Is this healthy?

Nothing is permanent. Everything changes. And isn't that a wonderful thing? Did you know that every seven to eight years, you are made—on a cellular level— brand-new? That fact alone should inspire anyone to welcome change.

I'd had so much practice from enduring trauma after trauma that I figured this all out mostly on my own.

My goal was and will always be "happiness", to feel the electricity of life, knowing that life is ultimately good; there are just some bad people in it.

The disruption of a foreign element may cause me to double down and hold on to my current state or accept its proposed change. The one thing I love about this process is that because of it, and life is never boring.

Wisdom is gained through experience, and I would not choose to live life any other way.

As a coach, I wanted to reframe the terms "growing pains" and "tough love" to something more positive.

But the truth is, change, good or bad, can be a painful and ugly process. Discomfort is always felt to some degree.

Nothing is permanent. Everything changes. And isn't that a wonderful thing? Did you know that every seven to eight years, you are made—on a cellular level—brandnew?

I continued to unravel the puzzle of how I somehow ended up okay after all I had been through. The discovery of a well-balanced attitude regarding my past was necessary. I wasn't going to sugarcoat or water down the ugliness of my past. But I held on to the fact that my choice to shift, adapt, and proceed positively had brought me success.

My next steps were to make decisions about how to live with my mind, body, emotion, and spirit intact. To this end, I: • Began yoga.

• Became conscious of my diet.

• Started a meditative practice.

• Came out of the spiritual closet as a spiritual medium.

• Sought therapy.

• Invested in my mental well-being through coaching certifications and hypnosis and applied what I learned to myself. All of these things changed me for the better. There were many roads to transformation. Mine was a multitude of scenic routes full of detours, bumpy roads, unglamorous pit stops, and dangerous cliffs. The secret was to keep going no matter how many times I diverted from the path. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't a passive journey; it was one that required commitment and consistency.

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Krista Nerestant is a practicing life coach, educated and certified in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and The Satir Method of Transformational Systemic Therapy to heal family dynamics and trauma, and an advocate for women and children.

She hosts a podcast, Self-Care Tuesdays, that is dedicated to encouraging, empowering, and elevating the journey of self-care.

She's teaching women it's okay to be "Self-ish"!

g n i L f iv o y o J e h T

HOW TO SLAY STRESS & BE HAPPY Photo by Kevin Fitzgerald

By Barry Shore "The Ambassador of Joy"

28 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

T

HE PROBLEM: STRESS…KILLS! Not directly. More like death by a thousand sighs.

It's insidious. Invidious, invasive, and, if continuous and not stopped, will ruin Your physical, mental, and spiritual being.

Stress is a common occurrence. While You can't remove every stressor from Your life, it's possible to manage and reduce stress and maintain your health.

This is important because chronic stress can cause mental fatigue, irritability, sleeplessness, obesity, skin ailments, heart issues, anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal problems.

evident that money issues can and do cause tremendous pressures. The same for work. And, certainly, for home/family. Often in times of recession and disaster, these factors are intertwined and exacerbate one another. They truly cause a stomach-turning reality.

STRESS can also mean: Stomach-Turning Reality…Enabling Self-Success.

The same exact situation/s dealt with in a different way/s. Your response to the stomach-turning reality makes all the difference. Struggling is the continual and real test of life. And it's something we all face every single day.

Yes, that list of symptoms observed across the population tells You that You're not alone in this battle.

But even when You know the physical and mental effects of stress, You may be unaware of the different stages of stress, known as general adaptation syndrome (GAS). When You understand the different stages of stress and how the body responds in these stages, it's easier to identify signs of chronic stress in Yourself.

Right now, the most searched word in the world after Covid (and its related causes/cures) is STRESS. It's affecting everyone.

STRESS is an acronym that I use to describe how to deal with the effects of untoward circumstances. Essentially there are three factors that cause STRESS. These are and have always been: • Money • Work • Home Yes, these are universal and constant, even in the best of times.

There are, however, two divergent ways to deal with STRESS, both revealed in my insights.

STRESS can stand for: Stomach-Turning Reality…

Enabling Self-Sabotage.

There is little need to go into depth regarding each of the three stressors above. It is self-

Stress is a common occurrence. While You can't remove every stressor from Your life, it's possible to manage and reduce stress and maintain your health. This is important because chronic stress can cause mental fatigue, irritability, sleeplessness, obesity, skin ailments, heart issues, anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal problems.

29 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

to horizontal stress. I do not mean that we should have no concept of self-worth. But we want to have a clear definition of self-worth that comes from knowing we were brought into this world for a purpose. That knowledge is a settled knowledge and doesn't change just because of what others think or say.

How You deal with the reality of these issues determines how Your physical and mental wellbeing will be affected. Certainly, You can't be cavalier. Yet You can utilize practices, tips, and tools to enable You to direct Your mind and guide Your body to avoid falling prey to a pity party which can lead to the use/abuse of medications, alcohol, or to other aberrant behavior.

Mind is the master. Once You grasp this fundamental fact and leverage this powerful tool, You can and will achieve success under all circumstances and vicissitudes.

In our competitive society, there is another prevailing stress—the fear of losing. The specter of losing by our choosing stresses us. When we make one decision, we give up other options. These are the "Y" points. Marriage and career are two of the biggest examples. One of the pitfalls of our current day is buyer's remorse. "If I choose the left fork and it grows dull, I opt out and choose another road." This is a mistake. The stress of always looking around for the better option steals the joy of commitment.

The true test of life is never in what happens to us.

It is always in how we choose to respond to situations.

As we'll learn later in the 11 Strategies, the six most important words You can learn and internalize are: Choice, not chance, determines Your destiny.

Repeat this. Often.

Think about it.

Internalize and utilize.

Choice, not chance, determines Your destiny.

How do You maintain inner strength during stressful periods?

Consider a submarine. As the ship goes down, the pressure (strength) inside needs to increase to counterbalance the pressure outside. Likewise, when we are in stressful situations, we must make sure our internal strength is adequate to offset the external forces pushing against us.

Anger also produces stress. Have You ever known people whose lives seemed to have a thin veneer of civility and calm, yet once the surface was scratched, anger bubbled up like a volcano? Stress and anger go hand-in-glove.

We also know that there are two types of stress: vertical and horizontal. The vertical is healthy because it pulls You up. Think of a flower on a stem. Without turgor pressure, the stem droops. Without the fluids pushing through the cells, the flower dies. We can grow limp as well. A useful example of the sort of pressure that pulls us up is the sense of awe or reverence of God. Horizontal stresses pull us apart and create damage. Designing our lives to meet others' demands and standards is horizontal. All the current talk about self-image leads

30 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

"Ambassador of JOY" Barry Shore is a philanthropist, multi-patent holding entrepreneur, speaker, author, podcaster, and former quadriplegic. After a rare disease paralyzed Shore from the neck down, he created the JOY of LIVING Institute™, a platform that teaches people to live in joy, no matter the situation. He also founded Keep Smiling, a movement that has reached multiple celebrities and distributed millions of "Keep Smiling" cards worldwide.

In addition, Shore has built several philanthropic platforms including Changebowl, which was featured in Oprah Magazine. His podcast, The Joy of Living, is heard globally by hundreds of thousands and has over two million downloads.

Barry's book, The JOY of LIVING: How to Slay Stress and Be Happy releases May 2021 and it reveals 11 strategies for living in joy, daily. For details, visit: BarryShore.com/book.

L

ate nights, stress, and binge-watching (yes, you Bridgerton fans!) perhaps are not the best rituals for maintaining luminous skin. Add to that maskne woes, and it is a recipe for a lackluster look. Oh, what to do!

Your skin deserves better than this. MÉRV Skincare is here to help.

We are currently obsessed with this natural skincare line that is EASY (no more multi-step program requiring harsh products)! It provides effective products that nourish your skin while reducing environmental harm. Made with replenishing and antioxidant-rich ingredients, MÉRV’s Facial Oils leave your skin refreshed, balanced, and naturally glowing.

Let’s face it. When a skincare regime is simple, we tend to use it more, right?

Whether your skin is dry, oily, or a combination of the two, they have complexions covered with their daily essentials. Say hello to your new go-to spring regimen.

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Deep Nourish Oasis Face Oil: Ultra-nourishing, miracle oil made with a pure blend of natural oils, such as avocado and macadamia nut oils, leaving the skin remarkably supple, soft, and hydrated. Made to use for the day, good for all skin types.

Inspired by personal values and her love for nature, Melissa founded MÉRV, a socially and environmentally conscious skincare line that reflects her respect for the planet.

Dewy Day Glow Face Oil: This ultra-luxurious floral face oil provides a rich source of natural antioxidants and vitamins to leave the skin dewy and glowing, giving you a radiant complexion and an appearance of an even skin tone. Made to use during the day, good for all skin types.

Moonlight Renewal Face Oil: This high-performance face oil provides a rich source of powerful natural antioxidants and Essential Fatty Acids to revitalize and nourish your skin. The revolutionary formula beautifully sinks in to reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles, leaving your skin noticeably younger-looking, replenished, and glowy.

Made to use at night, good for dry and normal skin types.

MÉRV was named after the city of MÉRV(‫)مرو‬, an oasis located on the southern edge of the Karakum desert. The plentiful water reserves of this ancient oasis city once made it a renowned world capital despite being in a desert.

Drawing inspiration from this once magnificent city, MÉRV was created to use the power of nature to make a difference.

Every single product from MÉRV is handcrafted and formulated with the highest quality natural ingredients to give you a healthy, glowing skin.

Garden Rose Toner: This toner uses rose hydrosol, rose extract, and vegetable glycerin as the key ingredients to brighten, tone, and soften your complexion while retaining moisture in your skin and providing deep hydration. MÉRV recommends applying their toner on clean, dry skin before applying the facial oils.

33 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

A Memoir of Madness in the Family

Photo by Taya Iv

By Paolina Milana

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Imagine keeping a family secret about your mother’s mental illness and growing up as one of the offspring charged with “caring for crazy.” Then, to compound the horror, witnessing another version of schizophrenia as it consumes your younger sister. As a 20-year-old, Paolina gets a chance to escape her circumstances by attending an out-of-state school. Still, the madness she tries to leave behind will not let her be as letter after a letter arrives, constantly reminding her of the insanity from which she longs to break free. Making matters worse, the voices in her head whispering words, “Please don’t make me be like Mamma,” she prays to a God she’s not sure is listening.

Soon after she returns home, the unexpected death of her father leaves Paolina in shock—becoming fully in charge of her paranoid schizophrenic mother. But it isn’t until at age 27, when her younger sister explodes in a psychotic episode, is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and must be committed, that Paolina descends into her despair, nearly losing herself to the darkness.

Beautifully written with flourishes of handwritten letters (in Italian) from her parents, recordings of her own inner voices challenging her every move, and a heartbreaking slew of sticky notes revealing the harrowing thoughts of her sister’s delusional mind, Paolina’s epistolary memoir invites readers into her inner circle of intimate encounters with mental illness. Committed is poignant and impactful, a story of resilience that teaches and inspires, not as a tidy narrative, but as an authentic and rare share that speaks to the struggle of staying sane despite being surrounded by madness.

M

ADNESS HAD MADE ITSELF a member of our family. It had pulled up a chair at the dining room table one day long ago, bringing chaos as its dish to pass, and stayed to feast for nearly two decades. I expected it now. I had almost gotten to the point of welcoming it.

Crazy had become more comfortable than calm. It was normal—whereas quiet caused panic and the pins and needles of waiting for that other shoe to drop. Maybe that shoe would be a steel-toed leather boot capable of delivering a painful kick in the kidney, or maybe a sleek and spikey stiletto that could drive itself straight through the heart; whatever form it would take, I knew it would come, so I had to be ready for it.

What I failed to consider, however, was that the other shoe dropping would be in the form of Papà. His sudden death was more than a surprise; it was the fuzzy slipper that lulled me into slipping it on and snuggling into it, unaware of the venomous scorpion hiding inside. Papà had been the security blanket I always assumed would be with me. I had never really considered the possibility

of him not. Nor had I thought of what I would do if he was taken from me.

Funeral arrangements need to be made.

Calls have to be placed to let others know.

Robotically, I made a list and set off to execute By the Following Thursday, I was sitting on a folding chair on the manicured lawn of the little cemetery across the street from the grocery store where Papà and I had shopped together. Dominick’s: the sign, with its bold, red letters and the red and green squiggles that went off to its sides, seemed to wave at me. I had never looked at the storefront from that vantage point before.

I had never seen a grave up close before either.

Severed roots poked through the earth where the hole had been dug. The closed bronze casket seemed to hover and shimmer in the sunlight. I thought of my papà inside, resting on the ivory velvet.

The funeral director said the concrete vault would make sure water wouldn’t get in. Rosario’s hand shook, and his face grew white as he signed the paperwork allowing for Papà’s blood to be replaced with embalming fluid.

Kissing Papà goodbye before they closed the casket, I noted how cold and gray he had become. He didn’t look anything like himself. The life force he’d had inside before was for sure no longer. He was now just a hard, cold lump of clay. I wondered where the spark, the light, the soul that made Papà who he was had gone. Had it just disappeared forever? Was that it? It couldn’t be.

Please don’t let it be.

“Don’t worry, sweetie. Soon you won’t even remember what your dad looked like.” The words someone had said while paying her respects echoed in my head.

Did she mean to be funny, like that Mary Tyler Moore episode?

What a stupid thing to say.

I shut my eyes, committing every detail of Papà’s face to memory.

I don’t remember where Mamma or my siblings sat at the gravesite. Others showed up, but I couldn’t say who.

Someone shook my hand, saying that they hadn’t even known apà but had heard so much about him from the other neighbors that they wanted to pay their respects.

People asked if he Phad been sick. I answered over and over that he wasn’t. They were surprised to learn he was seventy-three years old. “He seemed so much younger.”

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I heard that line over and over, too.

So many questions and comments; I nodded and smiled and made sure everyone else felt heard and cared for. In truth, I wished everyone would just disappear so I could fall apart.

On the outside, I projected as normal an image as I could muster— smiling, nodding, and participating in editorial meetings that no longer mattered to me. I pretended they did.

I went through the motions as if my life had possibilities, despite having come to realize it didn’t.

On the inside, I could not escape the whispers that grew louder.

MY WISH CAME TRUE. Almost immediately, I found myself alone and forced to be in charge.

Rosario let go of anything he’d once thought mattered. The new car he had just bought was returned to the dealer. The properties he owned, the start of his empire, were sold. School and his ambitions of being an architect all died the day our papà did.

My two sisters retreated into their own respective worlds, as did Mamma. We all broke apart. But as the only one in the house who could even drive, someone had to pick up the slack. I reluctantly volunteered.

Days into living life without Papà, I did my best to become him: Mamma needed to be chauffeured to her doctor’s appointments. Social security and social services for both her and Viny needed to be applied for. Household bills needed to be paid (the funeral had added $8,000 to the tab). Groceries had to be bought.

The lawn had to be mowed. And Papà’s once-thriving garden needed to be tended.

Weeds were choking the life out of it, and I couldn’t figure out how to keep it from dying either.

I never meant to abandon Papà’s garden, just as I was sure Papà never meant to abandon me. He had said he’d come back to tell me how life on the other side was, but he hadn’t yet delivered on his promise. Mamma said he had appeared to her, laughing and telling her that he was having a great time and had met Lucille Ball.

I wondered why he didn’t share that with me.

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I tried to immerse myself in my work at the newspaper, but not much of anything gave me any kind of joy anymore. I silently simmered with rage.

It’s not fair.

Why him?

Why not Mamma?

I cursed my fate, being left at home alone to not only resume my caregiver role as la piccola mamma but also to take on Papà’s responsibilities. At work, watching coworkers excel, win praise, have fun with their friends, and live their own lives gave rise to envy within me. And if even for a moment, I felt the tiniest glimmer of excitement or hope or happiness, guilt tortured me.

Don’t you realize who’s no longer around?

You should have tried harder to save him.

How can you be happy?

Mamma and Viny have nobody else.

You are stuck here.

On the outside, I projected as normal an image as I could muster—smiling, nodding, and participating in editorial meetings that no longer mattered to me. I pretended they did. I went through the motions as if my life had possibilities, despite having come to realize it didn’t. On the inside, I could not escape the whispers that grew louder.

Would anyone care if you weren’t around?

You could go be with Papà.

Keep it together.

You can’t fall apart.

I feared my thoughts. They no longer seemed to be on this side of normal. And I no longer seemed able to control them.

I prayed, just in case anybody, including Papà, was listening: Please don’t let me be like Mamma.

I could not share my feelings, let alone the life I went home to with anyone. Our Sicilian family’s unspoken code still ruled: What happened in the family, stayed in the family, a la la cosa nostra. I was committed now to live a life of obligation and servitude.

Money to keep up the house, help care for Mamma and Viny and pay off my own debts never seemed to add up. Yet I couldn’t stop spending. Every new project at work pushed me to ask for more money—or, if not that, at least more credit in the way of bylines and titles. My rising star was starting to fall. I fought with others, even coworkers I considered friends. And as everyone around me seemed to shine, my own light began to dim.

A few weeks into life without Papà, my boss Karin had had enough; she hauled me into her office one day and said loudly, “Paolina, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but it’s been ever since your father died!”

She was right. A cancer was growing; darkness was consuming my heart and soul. No matter how much I stuffed myself with pasta, bread, sweets, and alcohol, I couldn’t ease the pain.

Friends tried to console me. Donna, for one, came over to coax me out for a ride one day, seemingly determined to drag me back among the living. As I sat inside the garage, its door wide open, I watched her drive up in her brand-new red convertible. She pushed open her car door, stepped out of it, and tentatively approached me while I continued to paint the wooden cross I had made out of two-by-fours.

“Hey, bud,” she said. “Whatcha doin’?”

I stayed focused on my project. The hammeredin nails weren’t as straight as I had hoped they’d be, so I filled in gaps with a second coat of white paint.

“Temporary grave marker,” I could barely be bothered to respond. The thought of Papà under the ground, with no sign of him being there, further made me feel as if he already was forgotten. I thought maybe that was why he had forgotten me.

Donna managed to get me to take a break from my amateur woodworking. Patrick Swayze, whom we had both lusted after ever since seeing him years before playing Johnny in Dirty Dancing, was starring in a movie that had just come out called Ghost. We took in a show. Sitting in the theater, watching Swayze’s character Sam unexpectedly die and then try to communicate with the love he’d left behind immediately flooded me with tears. Was Papà trying to find a way to talk to me? Had he just not figured out how yet?

When Whoopi Goldberg’s character Oda Mae started hearing voices, my sobs turned into an uncontrollable laugh.

Get a grip! You’re acting crazy.

Were my voices normal? Or like Mamma’s? Maybe they were like Oda Mae’s?

I tried to swallow back my emotions, grateful to be sitting in a darkened theater.

My hand, resting in my lap, began to warm up. I kept my eyes on the movie screen. Slowly, it began to feel as if someone was holding my hand. The grip tightened, gently squeezing. Suddenly, I knew it was the comforting warmth and leathery touch of Papà’s massive hand. The moment I looked down, however, the feeling left me.

Paolina Milana is an author, speaker, podcaster, and founder of Madness To Magic, Paolina’s mission is to share stories that celebrate the triumph of the human spirit: To unleash the power that lies within each of us to bring about change for the better.

Milana’s professional background is rooted in journalism where as a features writer for a major daily newspaper in the Midwest, she told the stories of other people. Then she moved to the field of PR/ media and digital marketing as an executive in both corporate and non-profit environments. Given her experience in an emotionally tumultuous household where she was put in the position of caregiver to unstable family members, she is uniquely qualified to serve as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in foster care and as an empowerment and resiliency coach, using storytelling to help people reimagine their lives, write their next chapters, and become the heroes of their own journeys.

Paolina has won awards for her writing, including her first book, The S Word, which received the National Indie Excellence Award. Her self-help picture book for adults, Seriously! Are We There Yet?!, and her holiday fiction novel, Miracle on Mall Drive both published in late 2020. Paolina is first-generation Sicilian, married, and lives on the edge of the Angeles National Forest in Southern California.

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Paul Gervais: Faces and Forms

Leaning In to Reveal

The Museum's premiere of these new paintings by Paul Gervais features portraits with a tenderness that urges the viewer to lean in closely, to really study them. All of the portraits' subjects are personal, from the life he has shared for 46 years with his husband Gil, of whom there are several paintings. The exhibition is curated by Kathleen Goncharov, the Senior Curator of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. She chose to accompany the 14 portraits with a series of 13 paintings

by Gervais of imagined objects. The exhibition is on view through May 30 and features an exclusive online conversation with Paul Gervais as part of the Museum's Collectors Forum Series for Members.

This virtual visit to the artist's studio will also be made available free to the public later on as part of the #BocaMuseumatHome series sponsored by Art Bridges Foundation and PNC. "Whether real or imagined, all the paintings in this exhibition are a reflection of Gervais's life and perceptions," says Irvin Lippman, the Executive Director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. "The intimate scale of these works forces the viewer to move in closer in order to see each painting's fine details, and in the case of the portraits -to more closely read each subject's personality," adds Lippman.

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THE PERSONAL & THE IMAGINED

Always Seeking the True Likeness The artist was driven to explore portraiture for the first time by two events in early 2020 that left an indelible mark on Paul Gervais: after he saw the exhibition Lucian Freud: Self-Portraits at London's Royal Academy of Arts; and after reading The Lives of Lucian Freud by William Feaver.

"To me, when I observe Lucian Freud's body of work, his portraits come across as a kind of autobiography. When viewing them, I feel as though I could fill in the blanks of his life and the history of art in that place in time."

Also an acclaimed author, his first novel was a finalist for the prestigious PEN/ Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1991.

Presciently, Gervais's first book's title was Extraordinary People, foreshadowing his focus today on painting people who are extraordinary because they stand out in his life.

"When I'm painting a portrait, I'm thinking about that person all the time.

A true likeness is what I am looking for most of all," says Gervais, who always paints his subjects from a photograph.

"I prefer to catch them while they are in a reflective moment," he says. "I don't usually want them looking at the camera. I prefer they never pose nor aim to please, to show a more intimate look at the person."

"All of a sudden, one day at home, I came down to breakfast, and there was my husband Gil, and it all clicked: in a flash I took his photo and rushed to my studio to paint my very first portrait," says Gervais. The intimate, smaller scale of these paintings was inspired by Freud's smaller works, especially Freud's petite portrait of Queen Elizabeth.

"The Abstracts are also a Portrayal of Something that is Me."

Although the forms referred to in the title of the exhibition are imaginary, they reflect Gervais's sensibility and experience and are closely linked to his portraits. Gervais refers to these forms and figures as "all-time, from throughout all cultures of human history." These abstractions have personal relevance for Gervais, such as Sculpture and a Pool - when Hockney was a guest lecturer. An homage to David Hockney, who Gervais met when he was a student at the San Francisco Art Institute in the 1970s,

The work of Paul Gervais is in the collections of several institutions, including the Museum of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Bank of America Collection, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Hall Collection in New York. In 1980, he earned his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Gervais also earned a B.A. in English Literature at Saint Michael's College in Vermont in 1969. At San Francisco State University, Gervais studied poetry with Robert Creeley and Phillip Lamantia.

Hockney became friends with Paul and Gil. He pictured the couple in one of his Composite Polaroid works during that period, and they have remained friends ever since.

"The abstracts are also very much a portrayal of something that is me," says Gervais. Some are imagined interiors, such as the hybrid style of Enfilade, a cross between a minimalist home and a contemporary art gallery.

In some of these interiors, Gervais includes depictions of paintings behind the forms as nods to iconic abstract expressionist works. In some of his other abstracts, Gervais projects tones inspired by 18th-century neo-classical colors.

Others show forms with oxidized copper hues that give heed to the Statue of Liberty, with a horizon line of pale blue sky.

"When I'm painting a portrait, I'm thinking about that person all the time. A true likeness is what I am looking for most of all,"

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In addition to his literary success with the PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist nomination, other short fiction and articles by Gervais have been published in anthologies and periodicals, including The Los Angeles Times.

"My lifelong devotion to art, both visual art, and writing, are my two passions. I believe that both art and writing come from the same place in the artist. They are just different disciplines," says Paul Gervais.

His work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe, including The Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts/The Museum of the Legion of Honor; Sunne Savage Gallery (Boston); Leah Levy Gallery (San Francisco); Fritz Gallery (Palm Beach); Bagni di Lucca Art Festival (Italy); and Gavlak Gallery (Palm Beach).

Gervais met Gil Cohen in 1974, and the artist credits their shared life of more than four decades as being instrumental in his art. They now live in London and Palm Beach County. In 1982, the couple became internationally famous for the garden at their celebrated home in Lucca, Italy, where they lived for 34 years before moving to London in 2016. The 60-acre estate, Villa Massei, was built in 1500 by Counts Sinibaldi. Hundreds of garden lovers and botanical clubs visited their garden.

It captured the attention of Prince Charles, who invited Paul and Gil to his Highgrove Royal Gardens. Many notables visited the garden and stayed at the villa, including David Hockney, the Queen of Norway; Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma (the daughter of Italy's last king); Hubert de Givenchy; James Lord; Edmund White; Kathleen Turner; and Michelle Phillips, among others. His book, A Garden in Lucca, is a personal memoir recalling the author's journey of self-discovery after caring for the extensive garden.

Regarding this new pairing of his portraits alongside the paintings of imagined forms, Gervais states: "I am thrilled the Museum is showing them together because they are linked. Faces and Forms take a closer look at figuration in art. The abstract forms are positioned like actors on a stage, interacting with light and shadow and with each other. This show could be seen as people in my portraits contemplating the mysteries of abstraction, their faces surrounded by their inner artistic conundrums. Also, could this pairing be seen as an affirmation that all painting is simply portraiture, whatever the subject? This brings to mind a quote by Jamie Wyeth: Everything I paint is a portrait, whatever the subject."

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On View through May 30 at the Boca Raton Museum of Art BOCA RATON MUSEUM OF ART Kicking off its eighth decade in 2021, the Boca Raton Museum of Art encompasses a creative campus that includes the Museum in Mizner Park and the Art School. As one of South Florida's cultural landmarks, the Museum has provided cultural and artistic service to the community and to many visitors from around the world since artists founded it in 1950.

Visit bocamuseum.org/visit/virtual-visits to enjoy the Museum's current online content, including video tours and digital gallery guides.

Support for #BocaMuseumatHome and #KeepKidsSmartwithArt virtual programming is provided by Art Bridges Foundation and PNC. Museum hours, admission prices, and more visitor informationavailable at bocamuseum.org/visit.

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Spiritual ILLNESS

TREATING A

Photo by Pixpoetry

By Carl Greer, Ph.D., PsyD

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W

hatever our state of health and well-being, however hard we strive for greater wellness, we might not realize we are neglecting our spiritual well-being. We may need to treat a spiritual illness.

Not long ago, I received a strong message in a dream: Death can be a spiritual illness. I understood that what my unconscious was telling me was to explore the relationship between spiritual illness and the type of death we experience when we feel drained of joy, vitality, and enthusiasm for life.

it through its trunk and surviving branches. It keeps the life force moving through it, through every cell and every leaf and twig. As you think about a tree that may have suffered some damage but continues to grow and thrive, can you identify any areas in your life that are growing and thriving despite your having suffered or been hurt in some way? Do you need to prune something away? Can you let something “die” and not give it any more attention? Is it time to focus instead on some aspect of your life that is working for you and giving you nourishment?

The death most of us worry about is physical death— an end to our mortal existence and the body’s loss of the life force. Yet there’s another death we should be concerned with, a slow death we experience when we don’t fully embrace our lives today. Yearning for the past, wishing for a better future, and being unable to recognize the gift of today is a sort of spiritual illness. If we feel we can’t transform our lives, we might feel so frustrated and melancholy that we fall into despair and hopelessness.

Choose to find the beauty in some aspect of your life today.

You might focus on the health you have instead of any ailments that reduce your mobility or cause you pain.

You might draw your attention to an area of your life that is going well instead of an area of your life that you tend to obsess about. Why are you successful in that area of your life? What can you learn from your successes that can be applied to other “chapters” in your story?

Spend some time in nature and tap into its wisdom.

Nature offers spiritual lessons if we are willing to slow down and observe what it is communicating to us. A scarred tree with a few dead or dying branches doesn’t give up creating nourishment from the sun and sending

Photo by Ali Kazal

Accept this moment, whatever it holds.

Doing so can help you to shift your perception of your situation and appreciate what you have instead of what you don’t have. You can free up the energy you are currently spending in longing for a quick and easy cure to your unhappiness—or in distracting yourself from it. Distractions only keep emotional discomfort at bay temporarily.

As I grow older and have to deal with physical challenges, I’m much more aware of my mortality than I was years ago. It’s easier for me to focus on my vitality and the potential for continued growth, healing, and thriving if I remember to accept what is, shift my focus to where my life is satisfying, and spend time in nature absorbing her wisdom. I reconnect with nature in any way I can. Time in nature can be a spiritual tonic, strengthening your spiritual immune system that you can draw strength from when life is particularly stressful.

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I also relate to death differently from how I would have years ago. I see that endings—things dying—are a part of the cycle of life. I let go of anything that reduces my enthusiasm and vitality, such as focusing too much on medical problems or the limitations I have right now as one of the billions of people dealing with a pandemic.

Consequently, I feel a sense of vitality despite having health challenges and being aware that while we can do our best to delay physical death, it will eventually claim us.

I believe that where we put our attention in the river of life will determine what we experience. If you want to feel a sense of vitality, optimism, and enthusiasm for your life, lay the foundation for all of that by consciously choosing to focus on what gives you spiritual nourishment. Are there practices that help you feel connected to your spiritual self and to the cosmos and the love and wisdom of Spirit? What are they, and why aren’t you using them more often?

You have control over the meaning you make of the experiences you have had and are having right now.

Suppose cynicism and moroseness seem like they’re your birthright, given what happened in your past and the family in which you were raised, question that. Maybe you have inherited a spiritual illness that is robbing you of the energy to be adventurous and explore the possibilities before you, and that is as yet unseen.

Every time you wake up to another new day, you have the potential to transform how you perceive your life.

Make a conscious choice to focus your awareness on what gives you vitality and see if the circumstances of your life don’t shift. In doing so, you may be remedying a spiritual illness that has kept you from living fully for too long.

Every time you wake up to another new day, you have the potential to transform how you perceive your life. Make a conscious choice to focus your awareness on what gives you vitality and see if the circumstances of your life don’t shift.

What if you were to make the time to engage in those practices instead of doing what you know drains you of vitality?

What if you were to spend more time in nature, observing it as it observes you? What if you were to ask it to share its wisdom with you?

What if instead of struggling to distract yourself from your sadness and feeling that your life should be different, you looked at how you frame what you have experienced and are experiencing and consciously chose to change the story of your life?

There are some things we have little or no influence over, but we don’t have to be mired in hopelessness, helplessness, and inner turmoil. We can reclaim our vibrancy by appreciating what we have and the potential to transform our lives if we’re willing to let go of some things—resentments and attachments, for example, or rigid ideas about what we have to have in order to be happy.

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Carl Greer, Ph.D., PsyD, is a retired clinical psychologist and Jungian analyst, businessman, and a shamanic practitioner, author, and philanthropist funding over 60 charities and more than 850 current and past Greer Scholars. He has taught at the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago and been on staff at the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being. Learn more at CarlGreer.com.

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Photo by Molnar Balint

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Choose

Happy

By Sarah Gregg

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T

he past can hold us back, and fear of the future can keep us stuck in place. By letting go of fear and incorporating mindfulness into your day-to-day life, you can accept the present and, in essence, Choose Happy.

Happiness can seem elusive despite its seeming ubiquity out in the world, especially on social media. In Choose Happy, certified Neuro-linguistic Programming Practitioner and member of the British Psychological Society, Sarah Gregg uses the practices of positive psychology to gently guide you through your past, present, and future to improve your well-being for a life full of joy, contentedness, and hope.

By addressing the common roadblocks to happiness, you too can develop sustainable happiness.

Enjoy Your Present: Regaining control of your narrative Inviting in fun and play Releasing judgment The comparison catapult Countering your inner critic Building effective boundaries Cultivating curiosity Investing in your relationships Believe in Your Future: Have courage Accepting uncertainty Befriending fear Embracing your future Finding meaning in your life Embracing patience Combating imposter syndrome

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Photo by Mattia Ascenzo

Just follow the three sections to find your way to happiness.

Learn From Your Past: Advantage of habits Let go of hurt and anger Firing and rewiring new beliefs Freedom in forgiveness

BOUNDARIES THAT WILL MAKE LIFE BOUNDLESS“ Imagine your daily energy as an invisible bucket of water that you carry in your hands. On some mornings, you wake up to a full bucket, and on other mornings, there’s barely enough to fill a cup. As you and your invisible bucket journey through the day, you meet people and engage in activities that either take water out of the bucket or fill it back up. This energy exchange between people and activities that can either diminish or renew our energy requires careful management. Setting boundaries is an essential part of keeping your bucket as full as possible so you can use your energy to work toward what matters most to you.

SAYING NO For some readers, saying no may come easily. For others, the thought of uttering the simple word “No” can evoke feelingsof anxiety and guilt. I’m certainly no stranger to the flood of people-pleasing panic when someone asks me to do something that I don’t want or feel able to do. I’ve said.

yes when I meant no far too frequently out of fear that saying no would anger someone or lower their opinion of me.

However, I’ve come to understand that saying no when your intentions are good can be a loving and compassionate act toward yourself and others. It began with considering if anyone really benefitted from my need to please Was it really enjoyable for the other person to watch a movie, eat a meal, or work on that project with someone who didn’t want to be there? Was it really nice to feel frustrated and resentful because you were always there for others? As author and researcher Brené Brown say, “Clear is kind. Unclear is unkind.”Saying yes when we mean no is unclear and unkind not only to ourselves but to other people who will quickly drain our energy bucket.

SCIENCE OF BLISS Research from the University of California in San Francisco shows that people who have greater difficulty saying no increase their likelihood of experiencing burnout, stress, and depression. By learning how to say no and set healthy boundaries, we can minimize our experience of negative emotions and cultivate happiness.58 HEALTHY BOUNDARIES AND HAPPINESS Being clear on our boundaries and being honest with ourselves and others about how we feel is an act of authenticity and love. It’s through saying no that we create space for the other person to find someone who wants to participate in what’s being asked of them. This also allows us to protect our energy and time, ensuring that we invest in what matters most in our lives. Sometimes this can mean we have to establish significantly uncomfortable boundaries in friendships, families, relationships and work.

If you’re in the process of constructing those firm boundaries, I appreciate that it can be a stressful and emotional whirlwind. Just remember, although sometimes it’s helpful to gain the opinion of others, trust your gut and follow your inner intuition.

After all, these are your boundaries, and often there is no right answer, just the answer that feels right for you right now. Happy Tip When saying no, use “I don’t” instead of “I can’t.” Research shows that the use of “I can’t” implies they are resisting temptation, and their decision could be up for debate, compared with people that used “I don’t.” So instead of saying “I can’t do after-work drinks during the week,” say “I don’t drink during the week.”59 EXERCISE Mastering Saying No Saying no can be a challenging but essential skill. Here are my top three tips to help master the art of no..

PREPARE A PHRASE: When you are asked to do something that you don’t want to or aren’t able to commit to, it’s easy to panic and says yes. However, having a phrase already prepared can help.

For example, you can say, “I think it’s going to be a no for now, but I’ll let you know if anything changes,” or “Thanks for asking, but I can’t (insert the ask). I hope you find someone who can (insert the ask).”.

PROTECT YOUR TIME: It’s hard to say no when you haven’t intentionally blocked out how you want to use your time. By clearly planning when you’re going to exercise, work, and catch up with friends, it makes it harder for other people’s priorities to nudge their way into your calendar.

VALUE YOUR INTEGRITY: If you don’t want to go out to dinner or volunteer for that extra project at work, it’s OK to say no. After all, it’s better to say no and be yourself than to say yes and pretend to be someone you aren’t.

58.Bradberry, T (2013, March 11) “The Art of Saying No,” Forbes, Retrieved fromhttps://www.forbes.com/ sites/travisbradberry/2013/03/11/the-art-of-sayingno/#670474ea4ca8 59. Patrick, V. M., & Hagtvedt, H. (2012). “I don’t” versus “I can’t”: When empowered, refusal motivates goal-directed behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(2), 371-381

Sarah Gregg is an Irish girl with a huge passion for unlocking human potential (you could call it a bit of an obsession). She is a certified life coach, business coach, and certified NeuroLinguistic Programming Practitioner. Sarah prides herself on her professional coaching service. She has had a diverse career, during which she has worked with hundreds of individuals and businesses, big and small; from large corporate clients, like IKEA and House of Fraser, to startups and entrepreneurs. She's also worked with the European Commission to design an innovative business for entrepreneurs.

The common thread that runs throughout her career is her passion for moving people closer to their goals—no matter how far away they may seem. At the end of 2016, she took a bold leap into the unknown.

Practicing what she preaches, she went after her own goals, and established The Power to Reinvent thepowertoreinvent.com.

You can connect with her on Instagram @powertoreinvent.

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POWERING UP

S

FOR THE FUTURE

ome problems are invisible; others are just not easy to look at. When there exists no good solution, we choose to avoid eye contact with the problem. This can go on for years, decades. Then, if we're lucky, a spark of inspiration or a technical innovation enables a solution, and suddenly, the problem becomes crystal clear.

We don't feel any nostalgia for leaded gasoline, incandescent light bulbs, or Styrofoam dishware.

All the same, there will be no nostalgia for single-use batteries when we all move on to something far better. That transition has already begun with Pale Blue redefining the rechargeable battery. This may sound strange to those who have tried traditional rechargeables and found them too inconvenient or lacking in their power output, but they have created a solution that will convince you to make the change to rechargeables once and for all.

A few years ago, when Tom Bishop and his team first conceived of a means to move the world beyond single-use batteries, before they even had a name for the company, they realized that sin-

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gle-use batteries (still around 85% of the market) couldn't be the future. "I can't imagine someone being excited to buy a brick of alkaline batteries at a warehouse store during the holidays or having any emotion other than resignation to the sad reality of the situation," said Bishop. "I can't imagine people being happy about the container full of used batteries in their house waiting for a trip to the recycling center (or worse, the landfill). It's just been a reality that we have all lived with for decades, and we're here to catalyze a shift by making it as easy as possible for people to make that change."

Inexpensive electronics have enabled some amazing technologies, many of which legitimately help you take better care of your family, better enjoy your time outdoors, or those long hours commuting or in an airport. Demand for battery tech has grown along with the growth of electronics and the electric vehicle market. Still, innovations in battery chemistry and tech have been sluggish in making their way to large-scale commercial viability.

"Fortunately, Lithium-ion battery tech has become developed sufficiently to make it affordable and safe for consumer applications," points out Bishop.

When it comes to development and driving widespread adoption, Tom and the Pale Blue team know that the category has been stagnant for too long. The history of household rechargeable batteries shows that simplicity, convenience, and user experience matters. Simply put, if they don't perform reliably and fit seamlessly into people's lives, they won't be widely adopted. Rechargeables have just not lived up to most customers' needs and expectations, so 85% of the market is still reliable single-use alkaline despite it meaning customers spend more money and create more waste than is necessary.

"Every time I look at my kids, I'm reminded that this planet doesn't belong to us. It's on loan from our kids and their children after that. I've long felt it was my responsibility to do the most I can to make sure that this beautiful place is preserved and kept in balance as much as possible for future generations."

~Bishop

To move customers and the world beyond single-use batteries, Pale Blue Earth has put charging ports and safety circuits on every battery, even their AAA. This means you can think of them and charge them just like a power bank or cell phone. Easy charging anywhere you go, and the 1000 charges rating means customers may finally decide to stop buying single-use batteries and save a lot of waste and money along the way.

"We don't do it for us," says Bishop. "Every time I look at my kids, I'm reminded that this planet doesn't belong to us. It's on loan from our kids and their children after that. I've long felt it was my responsibility to do the most I can to make sure that this beautiful place is preserved and kept in balance as much as possible for future generations."

It seems clear that this category shift is coming, that there is a better way. "There is still a lot of work to do," Bishop concludes, "and that's what we're here to do."

There are other looming problems that Pale Blue and the battery industry, in general, are also facing - the recycling https://paleblueearth.com/ of Li-Ion batteries, first and foremost. Li-Ion is becoming the new standard and will likely be with us for quite some time. We should all be super excited to see the investments recently in lithium-ion recycling. It's critical that electronics, batteries, and resources can be recycled and recovered from being put back into use. Too many products don't last long enough, and too many materials are not being recovered for reuse, either efficiently or, worse yet, not recycled at all.

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RECLAMING YOUR TRUE SELF

By Angela Dunning

FILLING UP

The Empty Well Within

I

f your sense of self and self-esteem were constantly eroded from an early age, then this leaves a deep hole in the core of your being, and no matter how much you try to fill this hole from the outside through achievement, qualifications, people or objects sadly it can feel like trying to fill a bottomless well.

This hole is so deep and constantly ravenous that no matter how much you try to put in there, it literally feels like a drop in the ocean. TThis hole is also what creates most addictive types of behaviours.

We simply can’t fill this empty well alone or through compulsive behaviours such as always keeping busy or gaining more certifications or accolades.

Nor can we fill it up by pulling others around us down in the process. Sadly this often affects those closest to us, maybe a partner or worse, a child, but it can also manifest in whatever profession we are in where we may have a cruel, punitive boss, or we may try to damage another’s reputation in order to make ourselves feel better. None of these tactics work to fill us up; in fact, they just recreate relationship conflict and trauma all over again (this is referred to in psychology as “repetition compulsion”) and leave us feeling just as empty afterward when things have calmed down again.

Self-worth and self-esteem come from knowing deep in your whole being that you are worthy of love, attention, and the right to life itself.

Self-worth and self-esteem come from knowing deep in your whole being that you are worthy of love, attention, and the right to life itself. However, if this damage came about through your initial care-giving relationship, usually this is with your mother but it can also be affected by your father and other adults in the house/family network, then it follows that true, lasting repair of this gaping

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wound can only come about through loving and trust worthy relationships. Through learning to find ourselves at last through the loving responses of others.

Photo by Engin Akyurty

Changing HOW you go about filling yourself up can make all the difference.

Finding true, safe relationships with others, and sometimes it’s necessary to find a professional to work with for a time, is the only viable route to healing such early damage to one’s sense of self. In addition, it seems that creative pursuits, so long as they are approached consciously and not obsessively, can also, over time, add to an inner sense of worth and esteem. But it is primarily through entering into loving and safe relationships that the real healing can start to happen, and we start to fill up our sense of self from within.

If you ever wonder why having undergone a new training, taken a career change, produced some piece of great work, or any other accomplishment still leaves you lacking confidence in yourself and a nagging sense of emptiness within, then look to how empty your well really is. Because it may indicate that what you’re trying to fill yourself up with are the wrong things altogether. Instead of taking another course, maybe you need to work with a therapist. Or, instead of taking on more and more work, maybe you need to create time and space to dive into your creative yearnings. Or maybe simply, you just need to devote more time to genuine self-care actions to love your body and soul and soothe your aching heart in the process. Or maybe, and most likely, you need to find a spiritual path that fits for your soul’s yearnings, something you can connect to for support, safety, and guidance on your journey.

Although at times this well can literally feel bottomless and that the constant raw ache is never going to go away, changing HOW you go about filling yourself up can make all the difference. Finding new routes to inner fulfillment which aren’t dependent on something outside of ourselves but instead learning to discover what truly fills us up inside and nourishes us to our deepest core is the best place to start this journey.

Photo by Ammar Sabaa

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.

Angela 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.

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WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

Eva Filmmaker

Lanska Discusses Covid, Love Stories, & Bardot

By Nicole Muj

E

va Lanska is a London-based director and screenwriter. After graduating from the London Film Academy, Eva has focused on producing both documentary and fiction films. She has directed several award-winning films recognized throughout Europe and America.

Across her films, Eva studies the concepts of acceptance and love in challenging circumstances. She poses pressing questions to direct her audience to reflect on the choices to be made, putting themselves in the shoes of her protagonists.

Her previous film, Little French Fish, starring British actors Jonas Khan and Devora Wilde, draws attention to the global stigma against interracial marriages through the relationship of an Orthodox Jewish woman and a Muslim man. In 2020, Little French Fish was selected by one of the world's oldest and largest Jewish festivals, the Washington Jewish Film Festival.

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Her previous picture, Okay, Mum, won Best Picture at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was selected for the Short Film Corner at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. She recently announced her first feature, I Am Not An Actress, inspired by the philosophy of Brigitte Bardot.

Her new romantic Web series Motek, created and filmed during the pandemic, premiered on Valentine's Day on It's A Short.

She has already received numerous accolades, awards, and nominations for her innovative, creative pivot during these times.

Motek (the term of endearment' sweetheart' in Hebrew) is a love story set in London during the pandemic and is comprised of a series of short vignettes featuring the logline "the more perfect the couple, the more terrifying their secrets from each other are."

The Eden Magazine had the opportunity to interview this rising star on the global entertainment scene.

Why did you decide to make your first feature, I Am Not An Actress, about the philosophies of Brigitte Bardot? What makes Bardot such an inspiration to you?

When I lived in Paris, I had the opportunity to take part in a musical project about the works of Serge Gainsbourg. One of his muses was Brigitte Bardot. I began to study her work more deeply and realized that the world knows only one part of her life and not the most important part for her.

Meanwhile, Madame Bardot has had many achievements in various fields. In her own way, she was one of the first international stars to fight for women's rights. She also dedicated her life to protecting animals from abuse. It is important to note that this is not a biopic and that there are many different collective characters in the script, both real and fictional.

Taking all this into account, this is a very important project for us.

In it, we touch upon such urgent problems as labor discrimination on the basis of sex and, in particular, discrimination against women.

We raise questions of the age-old conflict between parents and children, the theme of the creation of an idol in show business. We also touch upon the issues of the cruel treatment of animals and others.

Are you active in fighting for some of the same causes at Bardot? If so, which specifically?

I am concerned about the problems of cruel treatment of animals and the existing environmental crisis. Through the books and films that I create, I hope to encourage people to take better care of the natural resources given to us. For example, today, there is a large number of alternative packaging options that can replace plastic.

We can tell our children about this and teach them to use natural products. If you think about it, by saving these animals, we help not only them, but above all, we help ourselves. To begin with, all that is required from us is to refuse to buy products packed in plastic.

Stop opening your wallet to pay for these poisons. If there is no demand, there will be no supply. The state can provide grants to support producers with eco-packaging.

I suggest holding a flash mob on social media, so every time one makes a product choice in a store in natural packaging, put a hashtag such as #environmentallyfriendly. The sustainable lifestyle must become fashionable. Each small individual act in defense of our ecology can give an impressive result.

I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE PROBLEMS OF CRUEL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS AND THE EXISTING ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS. THROUGH THE BOOKS AND FILMS THAT I CREATE, I HOPE TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO TAKE BETTER CARE OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES GIVEN TO US. I have read that you are also planning a series about the First Ladies of the world. Can you name some of the women you will be featuring and why in particular, you have selected them?

The wives of the heads of state often become an example of a female style and also creates an image for her husband.

This role is incredibly responsible because many women follow her example, and the whole world is watching her actions. These women all have or had a real opportunity to change the world for the better, and everyone is interested in how this opportunity was realized.

Recognizing the importance of the institution of the first lady is the creation in 1995 of The National First Ladies Library, a unique educational resource in which we hope to find additional information for our work. The list of names for the film is quite long, and most likely, it will include women who have made such great contributions, such as Dolly Madison and Eleanor Roosevelt.

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You work in an industry (film industry), where women and men occupy leadership positions extremely unevenly. Can you tell me your opinion on this, and have you noticed any changes in recent years?

I have noticed that gender inequality in the professional field in the film industry is especially pronounced.

Just look at the statistics. In 2011, 95% of Hollywood releases were signed by the names of male directors (in 1998 there were 92%), 89% of the scripts were written by men, men also produced 67% of the tapes, and among the camera operators, 92% were men.

In the IMDb's Top 250 Films, only 7% of films were shot by women. Does this say that women are not capable of making good films? For example, Katherine Bigelow, the only woman in the world to win an Oscar for Best Picture, believes that gender inequality affects the image of the entire industry.

She is quoted as, "Hollywood is a community of progressive people, but the perception of women here is prejudiced.

Gender discrimination has permeated everywhere. Changes are needed; you cannot hire people based on their gender. "The situation has not changed much, and this year, men stubbornly do not seem to want to open up access to women in this area. This is only one of the professional areas, but many others paint the same picture.

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If you can share (if not too personal), what is your personal and professional experience and history that has shaped you in your life today and empowered you to fight for children and women's rights, equality, etc.

As a child, I had to face many difficulties. At that time, many of my peers faced indifference and cruelty from adults. At the state level in Russia, it was not possible to provide assistance to each individual family. However, if we are open to influence through the media or works of art, then there is a greater chance that people will gradually begin to think and change.

Can you tell me about your involvement with such organizations as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation, Women for Women International, The British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel, and Anatevka Jewish Refugee Community Foundation, and Tel Aviv Museum of Art. I believe in the power of women's solidarity, which to me is an invaluable resource. A woman holds the most important mission and ability - to give the world love and mercy. During my working trip to the Middle East, I came across the fact that local women are especially inclined and try to help each other selflessly at every opportunity. This is a big difference in the situation in Eastern Europe, but I really hope that with my work, I can place the spotlight on the importance of such mutual support.

I believe that even with small resources, you can move big mountains. The most important thing is to take steps in this direction.

You have lived in Russia, France, Israel, and London?

Do you have a preference? And why?

The experience that I received in different countries helps me a lot in my work, but my main inspiration is still Paris. The color of the sky, the taste of coffee, and the aroma scattered in the air all cannot be compared with anything and permeated with a hidden artistic sophistication.

Another topic that is prevalent in your works, specifically French Little Fish and Motek, is the concept of love and the exploration of love relationships between people of different cultural and religious backgrounds. Why is the exploration of this theme important to you?

The topic of relationships in couples of different cultures is quite controversial and conflicting and can be studied for many years. I am interested in contradictory and deep stories.

In Little French Fish, I showed sketches of the relationship between a Muslim man and a woman from an Orthodox Jewish background.

The two are in love with each other. However, their families have different opinions about their relationship. We used ancient Arabic and Jewish instruments and melodies and with the help of the music created and certain color symbolism, I tried to emphasize the depth of this couple's feelings. Will they be able to keep their relationship?

I always try to leave the end open with several options for personal interpretation. Our reality is what we believe here and now. It is important to me that each viewer finds his own answer to the questions I ask.

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Photo by Michał Bińkiewicz

HEALING Trauma and Handling Life’s Challenges

WITH GOD, LOVE, & Synchronicities Dr. Marni Hill Foderaro 60 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

I

always considered myself to be a happy, accepting, and positive person. I was living “The American Dream,” raising my two beautiful children, working in a fulfilling career as a special education high school and university teacher, residing in a gorgeous home complete with the quintessential white picket fence, studying for an advanced degree, pursuing my hobbies and interests, volunteering for worthwhile causes and enjoying a “fairytale life.” I was on top of the world. A deep sense of compassion was woven into the fabric of my being as an empath.

As a person of integrity who believes in honesty, commitment, perseverance, and goodwill, I thought that everyone I was close to had those same intrinsic moral values. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that even family and close friends can betray you and take advantage of your good trusting nature.

My upbringing and early experiences molded me into a nonbeliever. I was raised without exposure to organized religion. Like most children, my beliefs were formed from the role models around me. I grew up with the positive core values of honesty and integrity, and I knew in my heart to treat all people with equality and respect. I didn’t judge others on the basis of their skin color, ethnic background, sexual orientation, political affiliations, or religious practices. Scientific and evolutionary concepts were incorporated into my belief system, so death was seen as permanent; life on earth appeared very temporary. I knew the difference between right and wrong, good and bad. I was a creative free-thinker who appreciated the earth’s natural wonders and beauty. Spirituality, faith, and believing in God were not part of my early life lessons.

In my efforts to cope with my own childhood challenges, losses, and intergenerational abuse, I felt compelled to grow up fast. Driven to be independent and consumed with striving for success, I equated achievement with having a rewarding career, getting married, owning a suburban home, and having a family with 2.5 children. As the years passed, I began questioning the merit of these ingrained goals and searched deep within my soul for meaningful answers on my quest to live a more purposeful life. I still had an open mind to others’ viewpoints and beliefs, but I had trouble shaking the notion that there must be a higher purpose to our materialistic, tangible,

ego-driven existence on earth. It wasn’t until experiencing a parent’s worst nightmare that my view of life, death, and the Afterlife was forever changed. I was certain that I had already endured my share of life’s obstacles, and then, after I left my marriage, the unthinkable happened: I lost one of my adult children.

One night over a pizza dinner at the local pub, the world as I knew it came to a crashing halt. My husband’s secrets accidentally slipped out, and the truth about his double life was revealed. That was my “light bulb moment” and “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” I realized from my husband’s unintentional confession that for almost 30 years, I had been slowly and methodically narcissistically abused.

Without an exit plan, I immediately filed for divorce and luckily escaped that toxic partnership. Abusers, though, don’t let their targets go easily or quietly, and for years I continued to be smeared, stalked, and silenced. In addition to the shock of extreme betrayal, I lost everything that provided safety and security, including my home, my money (cash, credit, and investments), and my relationships with friends and neighbors. When he knew that I knew of his many deceits, my husband shoved me up against the wall and threatened me: “Don’t you dare divorce me, or I will take your house, your money, and your children.” This was one promise that he kept.

I was facing a crisis in midlife, just when I thought I could coast into a fabulous future. It wasn’t until the revelation that I was dealing head-on with extreme Parental Alienation — the covert malignant brainwashing of our children with lies, using them as aligned weapons in revenge to destroy me — that I was forced into a period of emotional introspection.

I began questioning why bad things and injustices happen to good, upstanding people. Although my child is living, Parental Alienation can be compared to experiencing your child’s physical death; Targeted Parents go through all of the same stages of grief.

Days of no contact with your child turn into weeks, months, and in my case, years. It is still hard to accept that an adult child would estrange themselves from a loving parent who raised them and gave them such a wonderful life. As an Erased Mom, I was forced into survival mode, but through the painful and malevolent darkness, I chose to embrace goodness and light. I was miraculously guided to embark on an illuminating and positive Spiritual journey that opened up my eyes to God’s love.

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Photo by Jackson David

OUR DEPARTED LOVED ONES HAVE NOT LEFT US AND ARE STILL VERY MUCH “ALIVE.” OUR SPIRITUAL SOULS AND PERSONALITIES CONTINUE ON AFTER OUR PHYSICAL DEATH ON EARTH. I NOW EMBRACE THE CONCEPTS THAT THERE ARE NO COINCIDENCES AND EVENTS ARE SYNCHRONISTICALLY ORCHESTRATED BY DIVINE INTERVENTION.

The horrifying experience of unexpectedly having a loving relationship with my adult child abruptly severed due to vindictive Parental Alienation was the worst pain I had ever experienced but ultimately became the impetus to my Spiritual Awakening. Research has documented that miracle knowings often present themselves after a person survives extreme trauma or loss, especially the loss of a child. Carrying on seemed impossible because motherhood was such a huge part of how I defined myself. Coming to terms with my new reality, I pleaded to an unknowing God for answers. Almost immediately, an intense clarity saturated my soul. I was engulfed with reassuring and peaceful feelings of pure love instead of anger, despair, or vindictiveness. My heart was filled with hope and gratitude for so many wonderful years of treasured memories and happy times.

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I take full responsibility that for decades I blindly handed over my paycheck and trusted my former spouse with all of our family’s finances as I mainly focused on our children and home. After I escaped my abusive marriage, I came to realize that I no longer was able to — or even wanted to — live “the American Dream.” It took all of my strength and courage to take back my life and move forward. This healing journey led to a watershed moment that opened me up to numerous Spiritually Transformative Encounters where mystical experiences came out of nowhere and seemed to be uniquely personalized. I embarked on this journey that forever changed my thoughts about our existence on earth. As I began the process of physically shedding the extensive material remains of my accumulated memories, hopes, and dreams, I had a weekend garage sale that also changed my life. The signs and synchronicities I experienced (pennies, dragonflies, repeating

numbers, cardinals, songs, feathers, electronic interferences, and dream visitations) provided inspiration for my 2020 Best Books Award-winning and prominently endorsed Spiritual fiction. God Came To My Garage Sale.

These amazing and enlightening experiences opened up my world to the reality that there truly is a God. Our departed loved ones have not left us and are still very much “alive.” Our Spiritual souls and personalities continue on after our physical death on earth. I now embrace the concepts that there are no coincidences and events are synchronistically orchestrated by Divine intervention. The painful trials and tribulations experienced on this earthly plane are really karmic lessons that we choose to receive as part of our soul’s contract, which we plan and agree to before we are born. As a result of my Spiritual Awakening, my soul was saturated with acceptance, forgiveness, love, and light. I am fortunate to have escaped Domestic Violence. I have an overwhelming sense of purpose and choose to live a joy-filled life. Even though I currently face life without my adult child, I understand that we all have our own journey.

Love, honesty, and goodness have always guided me. I pray that my children remember that I raised them with those same values.

I found tremendous healing in processing my feelings and experiences through meditation, prayer, and the written word; thus, the author in me was born. Recovering from the trauma of Domestic Violence, Narcissist Abuse, and Parental Alienation is a process.

I am now finding my voice in the hopes of inspiring others and validating their journeys as I continue to heal—the experiences and voices of survivors matter. Despite how uncomfortable the conversation may be or the abuser’s direct or indirect efforts to silence us, our words need to be heard. Truth, compassion, goodness, peace, and love will and must prevail.

I want to extend a message of empowerment to all those beautiful souls who find themselves in darkness and despair or living through life’s challenges. Trauma and devastating loss could actually be the most positive turning point in your life. Just when you think you can’t survive and go on, your heart can be opened to the possibility of experiencing your own transformational Spiritual Awakening. Instead of humans having Spiritual experiences, we are really Spiritual souls having human experiences. I was clearly shown that there is more to this life than I had previously believed. God led me to a place of living in peace and gratitude when I had lost all hope. Seize life’s challenges as opportunities to reflect and meditate as you search for deeper meanings to make sense of your existence. Be mindful and open your eyes to signs and synchronicities as you become enlightened and grow Spiritually. I sincerely pray that your journey brings you lasting joy, authentic love, and many blessings.

Dr. Marni Hill Foderaro is an award-winning author.

She earned her doctorate in education and completed postdoctoral studies at Harvard. Marni is a lover of animals, nature, music, and world travel. She handles life’s challenges with love and compassion and prays for peace on earth. Marni was born in the South, raised her children in the Midwest, and has made the Caribbean her home. Inspired by hundreds of true accounts, Marni’s critically acclaimed Spiritual fiction God Came To My Garage Sale, is about a questioning Atheist woman who experiences numerous Spiritually Transformative Encounters. Marni’s message encouraging all to be open to Spiritual signs and synchronicities while living in the present with mindfulness, compassion, peace, love, and light is timely because “the veil is thinning” and people around the world are more open to God and the possibility of the Afterlife. In addition to her speaking engagements (including gracing the bLU Talks stage in 2021 at Columbia University in New York) and various writing endeavors on embracing Spirituality after surviving Domestic Violence, Narcissistic Abuse and Parental Alienation, Marni is a contributing author to numerous Best-Selling anthology books, including: The Last Breath, The Evolution of Echo, The UltiMutt Book for Dog Lovers and bLU Talks Presents: Business, Life and the Universe. www.godcametomygaragesale.com

63 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

Buddha Board

This blank slate offers you a chance to paint away the daily stressors that sap us of our creativity and energy without needing a long list of supplies or a lengthy chunk of time.

Simply grab your board when things start to get overwhelming and let the act of putting brush to tablet absorb your focus. Water “paint” in the abstract, make a picture, or give shape to your feelings. As the water evaporates you’ll be left with a clean slate and a clearer mind.

Buddha Board Highlights:

• Designed with a sleek, modern aesthetic • Reusable • Quick to set up • Painting is truly MESS FREE • Encourages mindfulness • Doesn’t add to your digital footprint • Taps into your creative side • Fun for all ages • Helps kids explore the creative process judgment free • Perfect for relieving stress at home, in the office, or when traveling • Original Buddha Board measures 12” x 9.5” x 1/4”

Take care of yourself, and you’ll help take care of the world with a little help from Buddha Board 64THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2021

By Selena Joy Lovett & Daniela Manutius-Forster

66 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

THE JOURNEY

TO ENLIGHTENMENT

TAROT

T

he Journey to Enlightenment Tarot was created to help you bring forth the life you want. The cards are designed to help you deal with issues and blocks so that you can manifest your future. In this spread, the creators focus on the power of self-love.

do a spread about self-love to see how amazing we are and celebrate where we excel.

Shuffle and ask to be shown the following – layout 6 cards in the form that appeals 1. What do people love about me?

2. What are my talents and strengths?

3. Past accomplishments I should be reminded of and be proud of 4. How I see myself 5. What do I need to let go of to move forward with more freedom 6. Something I need to honor within myself

Photo by Kayla Maurais

Self-Love Spread Well, it's been quite a ride since the start of the Covid pandemic. I feel we have been putting ourselves under a lot of strain lately, perhaps not giving credit where credits due and perhaps taking ourselves for granted. Hence, I felt drawn to

By Selena Joy Lovett & Daniela Manutius-Forster

67 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

1. Ace of Wands What do people love about me? You may not see this, but others love your passion and energy for life, the uniqueness of your experiences that have made you this wondrous passionate, creative being. There is a magical spark inside of you, a gift that means that you shine as a leader when following what you feel moved by. A fire that burns, shining the light for others and leading the way as your fearlessly follow your beliefs and heart. People know when they come to you with a problem that you will get things done!! Hard work, focus, and dedication to your missions, helping things bloom and grow in abundance where ever you lay your attention.

2. Temperance What are my talents and strengths? You have the ability to be fair and compassionate to all. Nurturing and calm, you try to discover the best solution, finding where life is out of balance, whether on a personal or business level. Gifted with the talent of being able to listen with patience and then peacefully bring solutions to disagreements. You can often discover just 'the thing' that people need to bring alignment into their situations. You naturally bring the best out of any group gathering – adding excitement to the atmosphere when things are a little flat or tranquillity if the atmosphere is charged.

A great friend to seek out for fair advice.

3. Nine of Wands Past accomplishments I should be reminded of and be proud of. You have bravely soldiered on even in dire situations. Carrying all your responsibilities and those of others – without giving up!!!! You have resiliently fought on with determination through countless situations, even when tired and against the odds. You have used the life lessons that you have gone through to the benefit of yourself and others. Throughout these ordeals, you focussed on and have accomplished the success that you aimed for.

4. Six of Swords How I see myself – As things have been difficult, and there have been a lot of trying situations in the past, that you have been left dealing with and carrying all the responsibility of getting through them, this has led you to see yourself as a bit of a martyr – sometimes you feel that there is no one else that can accomplish the things that need to be done and perhaps you don't trust people enough to get things done. So this places the weight of responsibility on you, so you can often feel ignored, taken advantage of, and not appreciated enough for all that you do, as others just think that you can get on with things as you always do. You see yourself as the only one

68 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

that can and forget that it's now safe to trust and let go of all the responsibility you have been bearing.

5. King of Wands Something I need to let go of to move forward with more freedom. Being in charge of everything, perhaps relaxing a little and trusting the universe has your back, and you don't have to be consumed with things working out the way that you command – after a difficult period of having to stay on top of everything for yourself and others there is now almost a fear /survival mode that you are living in that is actually quite stressful – so this card is saying that although it is fine to set intentions and to want to manifest the best for your future if you become so consumed with this control, then it is actually blocking your way forward with feelings of stress, so perhaps it's best to send out your intentions of what you wish to manifest to the universe and then relax and know that the universe is bringing in the best that it can in for you in divine timing and being relaxed is more receptive energy then the tension of wanting to be in control.

6. Strength Something I need to honor within myself.

Look how strong you are!! You are so much stronger than you realize – this is something you seem to take for granted as you just expect this of yourself. You are able to use this strength to gently but firmly persuade people to do what is needed. You bring calmness and leadership into even the most stressful of situations where you can lead without shouting and force, but with patience, compassion, and using the wisdom learned from listening and pausing before reacting. Honor this as it is indeed a superpower.

Selena Joy Lovett is a psychic medium, Reiki Master, mindfulness practitioner, and life coach, trained in Chinese medicine, CBT, and NLP counseling.

Daniela Manutius-Forster is an artist, a storyteller, and a pilgrim of sacred spaces. Her love of philosophy, imagination, and spirit finds creative expression in her unique art.

The Journey to Enlightenment Tarot is available is published by www.watkinspublishing.com and can be found on Amazon.

69 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

The Lead South Australia

MENTAL HEALTH STUDY FINDS YOU CAN BE TOO PASSIONATE ABOUT

Photo by Connor Home

YOUR PET 70 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

A

ustralian researchers have studied how the love of a pet can adversely affect our mental health.

The study, conducted by University of Adelaide and La Trobe University, explored the relationship between the human-animal bond and human social support and how this impacted wellbeing and resilience.

The researchers were testing the theory that pets “have been shown to provide a buffering effect in times of adversity for those with mental health conditions”.

The researchers, Lian Hill, Helen Winefield and Pauleen Bennett, polled around 400 pet owners and 146 non-owners and found that for most people having a pet didn’t increase their resilience but it becomes more complex if the bond is either extremely strong or extremely week.

The study found that having an extreme human-animal bond can act as a substitute for certain aspects of human interaction, such as emotional connections and support, and therefore reduce a person’s capacity to build resilience and work through adversity.

“Those with exceptionally strong bonds with their pet may develop negative mental health outcomes resulting in isolation and reduced social contact or engagement in self-care activities,” the report concluded.

“For example, that might apply when they are forced to relinquish their pet due to public housing policy, or alternatively not be able to leave home if they fear separation from their pet or for their pets’ health.”

The study also found that the inverse is true, and mental health can be adversely affected if there is no bond.

“Individuals who have inadvertently come to care for a pet through relinquishment from family members or friends and have an particularly weak relationship with the pet, yet feel compelled to care for the pet, may experience pressures of continued care that can negatively impact on mental health.”

The researchers said future research should study health and mental health are impacted by the number of pets owned and pet selection biases.

Photo by Tran Mautri Tan

The study found that having an extreme human-animal bond can act as a substitute for certain aspects of human interaction, such as emotional connections and support, and therefore reduce a person’s capacity to build resilience and work through adversity.

71 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

72 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2021

Have you seen Gretchen?!

Missing since 11/11/2016 Please contact us

info@theedenmagazine.com

73 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e March 2021

Photo by Joanna Kosinka

FOOL'S

ERRAND

By Jeffrey S. Stephens

74 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

Fool’s Errand from Jeffrey S. Stephens takes readers on a fast-paced quest for riches that skillfully explores the complexities of father-son relationships through the eyes of Blackie’s son, who feels compelled to unravel the mystery his father left him to solve. Why hadn’t his father simply told him about the hidden treasure before his death?

It’s just one of many questions as Blackie’s son follows the letter’s trail of breadcrumbs from the mean streets of New York to the Las Vegas Strip, and ultimately to the South of France.

Along the way, he is confronted by dangerous mobsters, dishonest relatives, suspicious friends, a mysterious woman and the risks of a journey his father may or may not have planned for him.

Each secret revealed leads to more questions, as his life-altering pursuit for answers takes thrilling twists and perilous turns until the very end.

Fool's Errand is poignant and entertaining, humorous and exciting, romantic and mysterious — an adventure that convincingly explores the dynamic between a father and son, and the events that will eventually lead a young man to discover both the treasure and himself.

I

t was September of 1979, and my father had been dead more than six years when I discovered his letter. I can still imagine him sitting down to write it, enjoying the prospect of carrying his secret to the grave, leaving behind a mysterious legacy, creating a puzzle for me to solve, all of that. I don't believe he intended

to cause me the trouble he did. Still, he had to realize that once I found the note, I would have no choice—I would have to chase after the clues he provided, fumbling for answers no one was willing to give, tracking down an international theft that happened decades before.

By then, I had a successful career in advertising; my life was on a decent course, and—to the great relief of my mother—I had navigated the dangers his life posed for me. When his letter surfaced, all of that was turned upside down.

So there I was, in my apartment on East 55th Street, sitting in my living room, staring at this old carton on my coffee table, waiting as if it would move of its own accord. Or speak to me.

I stayed that way for several minutes, just waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did, so I tore away the masking tape and removed the top.

Most of what I found inside is the type of stuff guys collect when they served in the armed forces. Old letters. Discharge papers. Blackie's service record, which is how I came to know about some of the things he did at the end of the war in the south of France with Benny, became important once I found the letter.

There were also a lot of photographs. Ribbons.

Medals. Several medals. They gave out medals like crazy in World War II, which was the least they could do for that incredible generation of soldiers who fought overseas. I couldn't make heads or tails out of what any of them were for because they don't say anything about them. I supposed you need a book to explain them, and I decided to buy one first chance.

75 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

The photographs were interesting, old black and white snapshots of various comrades in arms, all of them looking young and thin, and some of them staring at the camera with posed grins that could not do much to hide their fear. There were pictures of different girls from back home with catchy notes on the back. "Hi, Blackie. Thinking of you." "This is my friend Janet that I wrote you about. She's cuter in person." "For you, doll." Things like that.

I didn't recognize anyone in the photos except my father, my uncle Vincent and Benny.

There were also a lot of letters Blackie received when he was overseas, many of them from his sister Anna. I wasn't interested in reading them just then.

In a large brown envelope, I found poetry and a few short stories my father wrote. I knew they were written when Blackie was in the service because he dated everything.

I thumbed through them, brittle old pages that were so delicate to the touch I thought they might crumble in my hands. I remembered Blackie telling me that he wanted to be a writer when he was young but that he'd given up on that and thrown away everything he wrote long ago.

Now here it was, a portrait of the failed artist as a young man. It made me feel like crying, so I slipped the pages back inside the big brown envelope. I decided to read those later too.

There were other things from after the war. More photos, papers from his days as a liquor salesman, old driver's licenses and so on. And then I saw the white, letter-sized envelope. He had written on it, "For My Son." That one stopped me cold.

I turned the envelope over in my hands a few times as if there was some ceremony I should follow before I tore it open. I was only going to get to do this once in my life, open this and read it for the first time, the last words I would ever hear from my father. I studied the thing carefully for what felt like a long time, wondering what it might contain, then began to carefully pull the flap away.

Some of the envelopes tore as if they came apart, so I worked around the edge in case I might be ripping whatever was inside. Then I took out the letter. It consisted of two pages, with a date on top of the first, just over a month before Blackie died. His handwriting was as familiar to me as my own.

From the moment I finished reading his letter, I knew my life would never be the same.

76 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

Jeffrey S. Stephens a native of the Bronx who now lives in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife Nancy, where they raised their two sons, Graham and Trevor, Stephens is the author

of the Jordan Sandor espionage thrillers, beginning with Targets of Deception and, most recently, Rogue Mission. and the steamy murder-mystery Crimes and Passion. the first in a planned series featuring Lieutenant Robbie Whyte.

Stephens has also practiced law for several decades, having represented a number of celebrities and other successful people who populate his novels in various guises.

77 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e April 2021

Photo by Bethany Beck

co-parenting or parallel parenting

how does it affect the children's

mental health?

By Jayita Bhattacharjee

78 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

T

he conflict in a separated couple can be the most damaging thing for the kids.

Having both the parents engaged and involved is a healthy option for the children left. There needs to be a balance in minimizing the conflict and keeping the split couple collaboratively engaged, so they are constructive and creative for those they brought on this earth.

It is a struggling journey for those who have gone through a separation or a divorce or have reached a mutual agreement to share the custody of a child. But looking back, it is the child whom two parents once brought into this world out of love and commitment to the family. And with the rolling of time, the love fell out, the threads got bare, and the relationship fell apart. But the glaring question is, how is it going to impact the children's lives? Where do they stand now?

We can visualize co-parenting as a continuous sequence, with parallel parenting on one end and collaborative co-parenting on the other end. Now, as a parent, one has to decide where on this orbit does your co-parenting lies. Will it be extreme parenting separately or a synergetic one?

If they choose to co-parent, then they can choose to decide collaboratively, hold some family events which can bring together the family bonding. You and your ex-spouse can agree on most of the things related to children. It can be an uncomplicated process, a unifying force though personally, you and your ex-spouse now live under different roofs. Continual communication, a healthy way of problem-solving, and mutual respect leave a positive impression on the impressionable kids. Children are, in general, highly susceptible to picking up any sort of family tension.

So, to be creative in doing things with them would overpower any possible damage that might arise from your separation.

The term co-parenting can sound simple, but it can create enormous stressors, and for those who are already grappling with depression, it can weigh them further down. Coparenting can be defined as joint parenting or shared parenting, and it is the process of raising children as a single parent when a divorce or separation has happened. In such a painstaking process, co-parenting is impacted by the reciprocal action of each parent and the communications between them. Is it collaborative or retaliative? So, if one parent is behaving in a healthy manner and the other is not, then the children are prone to risk

for developmental problems. Or if one of them is permissive and the other appears to be stern, then it is the children who become the suffering victims.

Co-parenting requires patience and understanding, sympathy, insight, and open communication to turn it into constructive co-parenting. For couples who have encountered marital problems, it is not an undemanding thing for them to accomplish.

But keeping the children's well-being in mind, the efforts can be the significant factors in giving collaborative co-parenting a try.

But parallel parenting is entirely different. It signifies, there is a partition between you and your ex-spouse.

There is infrequent communication between you both, and your children reside in two parallel households. As a parent, you may choose to do this if you feel that your ex is too imposing, controlling, dominating, and is interfering in your life in every aspect.

In that case, you may desire complete independence from the other for freedom. If a mere mentioning of the other parent's name becomes a triggering force in another's mind, they may opt for parallel parenting to keep it less uncomplicated. But suppose the conflict between you and your ex is unavoidable.

In that case, parallel parenting may be the healthy option left to minimize the tension and everyday conflict, the damaging effects it can have on the children.

The emotional maturation of the children is hugely affected by the interactive conversations between the parents. The parent-to-parent relationship impacts the children's development. Co-parenting is a process that comes with an undeniable value. It has the huge potentials to create a relational environment in a healthy, positive manner that can foster a child's emotional and psychological growth. As the interactions between the parents are cooperative, a sense of kinship and team spirit arises from there. It becomes an alliance, a collaborative effort between the split couple. That, in turn, fosters the sense of conscience between the children and their sense of morality, their decision-making power. A brightened, interactive behavioral pattern between the parents leads to a cheerful disposition amongst the children, and they develop an easygoing temperament rather than growing up as aggressive individuals. It automatically teaches them how to be respectful of others as they see their own parents being respectful of one another, even after they have split up. The impression they collect from them becomes ingrained in their brains, and they act accordingly.

79 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

We can visualize co-parenting as a continuous sequence, with parallel parenting on one end and collaborative co-parenting on the other end.

On the other hand, if there is the presence of a conflictual parenting process, then it pushes the children to be misbehaving, and their developmental brain gets affected. It leads to developmental brain problems, creating depression and anomaly in thinking by the observance of their parent's discord. In that case, parallel parenting is the desirable outcome left.

But in almost all cases, children are benefited when the split parents can willfully engage in positive co-parenting processes. By the conscious act of providing a nurturing home environment, the parents can make it nourishing for their children as they attempt to attain a co-parenting process that exhibits supportiveness, solidarity, and warmth. This is an environmental factor in which the parents can exercise some amount of control by making a well-thought choice.

Any exposure to the parental conflict will adversely affect the children, especially at a young infant age.

If there is a waning parent-child relationship, then it can have an unhealthy impression ingrained in a kid's head. A strong parent-infant relationship should be arranged involving a wide range of activities through which a primary attachment can be developed and sustained. Or else, with time, the parents turn to be complete strangers to their own kids. Familiar people become unfamiliar in the eyes of their own children.

Young kids and especially infants tend to develop an attachment through bedtime practices, comforting and hugging in the middle of the night, snuggling and security in a mother or a father's arms right in the morning as they open their eyes, the reassurance

80 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

that comes with their hug, the protection they find in a parent's arms. These rituals need to be collaboratively practiced and maintained by both the parents, or else the infants will be affected most, and they will live in continual fear and confusion, which will affect their brain development. If attention is not paid to this, they will tend to be depressed and cranky.

The father needs to be supportive of the ongoing mother-child relationship, and similarly, the mother needs to be understanding of the father-child relationship and the role a father plays in their lives.

An alienated father can push a child towards a lack of self-identity as they grow up because it takes a father as much as a mother to contribute towards the identity formation of a child. Infants and young kids lack the proper communication skills, and any detachment from the parents can push them towards depression and anxiety problems. Their cognitive development is very immature at that age, and they may fail to grasp the things at that infancy. So, any impoverishment of a parent-child relationship may be mishandled by the infants as they do not know how to cope with the loss.

On the other hand, if the relationship is profound and secure, then the child will be able to adjust to the transition in the family, despite the fact that the parents do not cohabit with one another anymore.

Especially for an infant, if both the parents have acted as caregivers in their lives, then the frequent visitations and activities need to be continued by them, so their emotional well-being is ensured. After infants, preschool children are very vulnerable to a family transition and their parent's separation. As the mother and father live under the different roofs, to a young child, the concept of family crumbles down, and the ground beneath their feet begins to shake. They suffer from confusion and depression, and lack of clarity in interpersonal relationships, and undergo a regressive behavior, a fear of being thrown away from the familiar place they once knew as home.

From this perspective, in a sole custodial arrangement, the children are at risk of losing their ties with their non-custodial parents. Consequently, when they grow up, they tend to search for their whole lives that missing piece, that missing mother or father who had been strangled away from them as it took away one half of their identity at that young an age. So dual parenting roles need to be recognized for maintaining stability, consistency, so there is not much of variability in the family structure.

Photo by Katherine Chase

But though from the perspective of identity formation, both the parent's involvement is absolutely necessary, still the bigger thing is to avoid the conflict between you and your ex, so your conflict does not adversely shape the mental growth of the kids. The questions you can ask yourself would be. Are you comfortable being in contact with your ex, and if so, to what extent? What is the optimum tolerating point, beyond which any further communication would be aggravating? Are both of you willing to jot down the factors that instigate arguments, and what steps would both of you take to minimize them?

An argumentative atmosphere would build up tension in the home, which would push the kids off the edge.

But in all cases, for impacting the children's emotional well-being, the parents can keep the parenting process unchallenging, and do so, they need to be compromising and lean a little towards the collaborative co-parenting unless there are exceptional circumstances like physical abuse or substance addiction. It is a salient thing to remember that with a divorce, there comes the need for a restructuring in the family. To be certain that the children are benefited from the newly structured family unit would be to maintain a comprehensive and documented parenting plan where it is explicitly written about parenting agreements as to how both of you will share time with your children and how the holidays are going to be spent.

The goal needs to be successful parenting with zero con-

flict or keeping the conflict minimal while maximizing children's emotional well-being. That needs to be an unchallenging process for the sake of children and their emotional welfare.

The author's opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints on this article do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of The Eden Magazine. and strickly is the author's opinion.

Jayita Bhattacharjee was born in Calcutta, India and later on pursued education from University of Houston in Economics, she had chosen her career as a trustee and teacher. Her Indian residence is in the vicinity of the famous Belurmath. Currently, she is settled in Tampa, Florida. Her love for writing on a journey of heart and soul was hidden all within. Looking at the moments captured in love and pain, joy and grief, the hidden tragedies of life...it was a calling of her soul to write.

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."

81 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

By Lavandaia & Marco Nunzio Alati & the Team

NATURE OR

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado

TECHNOLOGY?

S

omething was in the air; Lavandaia stopped sweeping the floor and let the wind caress her face. Her 4 cats felt the shift in the powerful yet gentle energy coming her way. They started to dance joyously between her steps, requesting their daily breakfast. What a perfect moment, she thought, feeding the cats while taking in a Spring breeze.

Lavandaia advanced towards the kitchen door with a sense of inner grace gratitude, and the cats began to speak to her: "People and animals enter your lives for very specific reasons.

There is no randomness. It is never a coincidence if, on that day, you find a red cat, an injured turtle, or an abandoned

82 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

happy puppy on the side of the road. Even when it seems mere chance, that "random" event occurs only because you open the door of your heart.

When you welcome the presence of an animal in your life, it is always a decision, a choice. In this world, souls meet, communicate, and intertwine in a very profound way. Souls have very intimate, authentic, and real relationships. Men often go in search of spiritual guides and wise masters of life. They often seek absurd, initiatory tests, and they do not realize that their own animals are themselves spiritual guides with great wisdom, as well as friends, acquaintances, or strangers met by "chance".

You should develop more courage to truly observe the reality surrounding you and humbly welcome the guides you meet on your journey every day. The rigidity and the expectation of finding the great wise old man who can "guide you" makes you miss life-changing opportunities every day.

Man is surrounded by nature, a Kingdom rich in wisdom and knowledge. Unfortunately, however, today's man aims to build a new Kingdom, the kingdom of Technology, Nanotechnology, and Cryonics, with the only scope of detaching himself from nature and ultimately obtaining a total replacement. The separation of man from nature and its principles will be irreparable.

Also, because of this separation, children and teenagers are already seriously damaged. They are great little souls who come here to face a sterile, cold world.

This new creation is entering the destiny of mankind.

Technology is getting out of hand and wants to impose itself. By introducing micro and nanodevices inside man, technology now wants to express itself through transhumanism. This process aims to modify him, penetrate him, transform him and bring him to a new evolutionary stage which will be the beginning of his "destruction."

"All of nature begins to whisper its secrets to us through its sounds. It sounds that were previously incomprehensible to our soul now become the meaningful language of nature...

To every man who thus perseveres, the day will come when spiritual light is revealed to him, and a whole new world, whose existence was hitherto unsuspected, is discerned by an eye within him." ~Rudolph Steiner

It is an abomination to think of creating a man born from the union between man and machine. In the past 10 years, efforts have been made to create a new civilization through nanotechnology. Entire vital functions are being replaced in the human organism through microtechnology. Here we are not talking about improving the physical conditions of man but "perfecting" his cognitive behavior, thus "improving" the social functioning of the man himself. Obviously, this will soon create prevention, control, and repression of different behaviors.

What will happen to freedom?"

And as quickly as the moment came, it suddenly dissipated. Lavandaia changed the cats' water and offered them a few treats. Many miracles can be witnessed every single day, she thought, if one's heart is open and willing to recognize them.

LAVANDAIA (Paola, Marco and the Team) Lavandaia's mission is to provide clarity and awareness to those who decide to embark on a serious journey towards the discovery of their deepest self, with humbleness and inner courage. The pioneer and founder of Lavandaia is a gifted woman named Paola. Her loving patience, firmness, and wisdom are a source of resonance and inspiration for hundreds of people, as well as a distinctive trait of the life she chooses to embark upon and live. As Paola receives deep and profound messages from Mother Earth and what she calls "The Sky," Marco and Lavandaia's team translate them into written compositions and opportunities to share this Timeless Intelligence. to get in touch with lavandaia:paola.seed@gmail.com

83 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

The Healthstyle Emporium Sasha Gary

World

Needs

Photo by katerina plotnikova photography

The

More Love 84 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

I

f you raise your vibration to higher frequencies of love, we can all begin to help change the world.

The world needs more love right now! I see so much hatred, violence, racism happening each day.

It's been heavy on my heart, and you may think to yourself, this doesn't affect me, and turn the other way! It does affect us all. When you come from a loving place in your heart each day, you can raise the energy or the frequency of the people you meet and come in contact with. You don't have to be on vacation or on a retreat to be kind, spiritual. Every day you can smile at a stranger, say hello, offer someone in need a helping hand.

When I meditate, I like to turn on the 528 Hz Solfeggio frequency, the love frequency. It connects our hearts and spirits. It can manifest miracles and can be healing for your body. It brings your entire body into a state of love, mental clarity, awareness, and inner peace.

People feel this energy in the world when you are on this frequency. This frequency boosts your immune system and enhances antioxidant activity.

The love frequency lifts us to a higher state of consciousness, and you become more compassionate, joyful, and tolerant. Love is connecting all things on this planet the animals, human beings, nature, and organisms.

I once had the opportunity to meet Amma, the hugging Saint here in Los Angeles, and if you received a hug from Amma, you know she is radiating in the love frequency every day of her life. When I first approached the stage, I was still downstairs in line when my body began to vibrate. The woman next to me said do you feel that? I said yes, I do! As we got closer to the stage, the loving energy was intoxicating. So beautiful! I got closer in line, and they told me what was going to happen and asked for my language. I was so excited to be there, and I saw Russell Brand in prayer next to Amma, and then it was my turn. My hug! It was a beautiful, loving embrace. Pure love! This was something I had never experienced before in my life. I was overcome. I received the loving energy and frequency from Amma.

You see, what we forget in this human drama we call life is that we are love! The loving vibration is our birthright.

It's where we came from beyond the stars, beyond the galaxies.

Every morning and night, I do a love self-healing meditation, and it aligns me on this frequency. The other day as the day wears on, I had this feeling of anger and

hate for a split second. I said, damn, that's not who you are! Where did that come from? It was hurt, anger at another person who hurt me. I stopped what I was doing, and I put my hand on my heart and sent that person love. I knew that person needed the love and I know deep down inside that is who I am. In a split second, I changed my frequency back to love.

You can too, every day! Starting the day in gratitude, taking time to meditate and connect to this loving energy, seeing the love in other people, so go into the world and share your love with a stranger, be kind, send them loving energy, and maybe, just maybe we will see less violence and destruction in the world, and we will begin to live in a beautiful more loving existence.

John Lennon recorded Imagine in 528hz, one of the most popular songs of all time. One of my favorite songs too! Yes, you can feel the love when John sings it!

Imagine there's no heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people living for today Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people living life in peace, you You may say I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope some day you'll join us And the world will be as one...

The love frequency connects us all it’s the connection to God who whoever you choose to believe in, it’s the frequency of miracles! Miracles happen everyday when choose to believe.

Sasha Gary is Gratitude Life Coach. actress, and writerin The Healthstyle Emporium www.theHSE.net. at is 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!

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Everything is

Simply speaking, everything is energy. This energy vibrates in frequencies. We are essentially walking vibrations. Like a radio station, the frequency we vibrate at is what we broadcast out to the world around us. Our emotions affect our physical bodies. If we are vibrating with fear, worry, stress, or lack of trust, the energy is being focused in a lower vibrational way and resisting flow. Our self-talk and the other thoughts running through our minds are similar to radio signals. As you are guided, take a moment to become conscious of your own energetic emission.

Energy

& Awareness is Everything

The level of consciousness you choose to tune in to each moment of each day will determine the quality of your experience of the world. This is because everything in the universe is made up of energy, and this energy vibrates at different frequencies. ~ Debbie Ford

By Shelly Wilson

A

ccording to science, everything is made up of energy; it is the building block of all matter. Everything in this universe is made up of the same stuff. It´s just present in different forms and shapes. The energy that composes our body is the same one that composes the materials of the house we live in, our car, our phone, animals, trees, and so forth. The energy is the same and is constantly flowing and changing form all the time. We learned about protons, neutrons, electrons, particles, atoms, molecules, and so on in school. We also learned that energy could be changed, manipulated, moved, and altered, and it may be in the form of a solid, liquid, or gas. No activity is possible without energy, and the total amount available in the universe is fixed. In other words, energy cannot be created or destroyed but can only be changed from one type to another.

Our physical bodies are also made up of energy. This includes our thoughts, words, actions, and emotions; this energetic emission is similar to a radio transmission. Our physical body walks in the world of matter, but a subtler facet of ourselves, which is woven within and throughout our physical body, moves and interacts on a level of pure energy.

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What energetic emission/radio transmission are you sending out?

Is your energy focused/grounded or scattered?

Empowered or dis-empowered?

Confident or clingy/needy?

Stable or unstable?

Joyful/happy or unhappy?

Light or heavy?

No need to dwell upon the answers as neither response is good or bad. Simply become aware of your energy as it is at this moment. Take a deep breath, knowing that our breath is life-force energy. The power is within us to change our energetic emission if we choose to.

When we fully recognize that everything is indeed energy, our awareness will increase. Throughout this progression, we will also continue to expand our understanding of who we are and why we are here having a human life experience. We operate, function, and respond from our individual level of awareness and consciousness. Throughout our lives, the universe will typically present contrasting experiences to truly experience life in all possible ways to learn and grow, which is why we have a human life experience, to begin with. These life experiences provide a point of reference and influence our perception.

Phtoto by MaddiesCreation

Ultimately, there are two ways to view everything we experience. We can view life and our experiences through the lens of love or through the lens of fear. Love is a heart-spaced higher vibrational energy, whereas fear comprises every emotion that is not love, including worry, fear, doubt, regret, guilt, shame, frustration, and so on.

Choosing to stay in the heart-space and doing our best to see every individual and experience through the higher vibration of love — through the lens of love — is essential for our journey into consciousness. According to the Law of Polarity, everything is on a continuum and has its opposite or contrast. There are degrees of difference between the extremes or poles, but no absolutes.

It is all in how we perceive them.

Experience life in all possible ways — good-bad, bitter-sweet, dark-light, summer-winter.

Experience all the dualities.

Don’t be afraid of experience, because the more experience you have, the more mature you become. ~ Osho

As humans, we are supposed to experience contrast and are able to do just that by the awareness of these vibrations. Without one, we would not have the other. Consequently, within each one is the potential for the other.

If we did not experience sadness, we would not know enough to experience joy. Without pain, we would not have pleasure and so on. We create our own polar opposites by recognizing the lack of something of the perceived positive. Examples of polar opposites or dualities based on perception include: good and bad easy and hard light and dark wellness and illness night and day sad and happy pain and pleasure failure and success big and little large and small black and white love and hate full and hungry yin and yang masculine and feminine I have posed the question before on my social media page, asking, “What is one thing you are ready to release and let go of?” Individuals who chose to comment indicated fear is what they were ready to let go of. I asked

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them to go a bit deeper by inquiring, “fear of what?”

Responses were fear of failure, fear of losing everything, fear of doing the wrong thing and not doing the right thing, and so forth.

Defining the fear helps us to become more aware of what we are fearful of. I believe this feeling of fear is much different than the healthy fear needed to recognize danger. Focusing on feeling empowered that every choice we make is the right choice for us at the moment helps us to move through those moments of fear.

Naturally, some situations warrant extreme concern for our safety, and we may feel overwhelmed and even consumed by fear in those instances. The increase in public mass shootings undeniably makes us question if it is safe to leave our homes.

Love is what we are born with.

Fear is what we have learned here.

The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts. ~ Marianne Williamson

Awareness of fear, while not residing in the fear vibration, is significant. There is no need to allow fear to consume our energy. However, recognizing fear’s vibration and choosing to experience its contrast is beneficial if we wish to consciously create the positive.

So, what does fear have to do with it? Everything or nothing. Rather than being fearful or fearless, just have an awareness of the vibration of fear, but don’t reside there. It’s time to consciously shift the fearful energy we may feel as we continue to recognize that everything is energy and awareness is everything.

Shelly Wilson is an author, intuitive medium and conscious creator who is passionate about helping people wake up to their greatness. She supports others as they navigate their own journey into consciousness to experience aliveness. Shelly’s books, 28 Days to a New YOU, Connect to the YOU Within, Journey into Consciousness and Embracing the Magic Within are available in paperback and eBook.

She is also the creator of Cards of Empowerment and Clarity Cards. ShellyRWilson.com EmbracingTheMagicWithin.com

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Photo by Alenka Skvarc

Jane Goodall with Vatican cardinal: Human survival depends on biodiversity

By Brian Roewe A Vatican-sponsored webinar paired famed primatologist Jane Goodall with Cardinal Peter Turkson for a conversation about biodiversity and its importance in preserving life on Earth, not just for people but for the entire planet.

Goodall joined Turkson, prefect for the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in a webinar April 20 spotlighting the plights of species and ecosystems ahead of a key United Nations summit on biodiversity scheduled for October.

The Catholic prelate and the primatologist reviewed a range of topics, from the responsibility humans have to protect 90 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

ecosystems, to the ways humans' disrespect for nature can invariably hurt themselves, whether through climate change or pandemics.

"We've got this one, beautiful, green and blue planet created

by God. How is it possible that the most intellectual creature to ever walk on this planet is destroying its only home?"

Goodall asked.

Goodall, who before beginning remarks shared a greeting in chimpanzee, said that even amid the multitude of environmental crises, she draws hope — from young people, science and the pope — that humanity can change its ways.

The threats facing the planet's biodiversity — its ecosystems and the living species inhabiting them — have come into sharper focus in recent years. Earth has seen five mass extinctions, and many scientists say a sixth is under way, and possibly accelerating.

A 2019 U.N. report projected that 1 million of the estimated 8 million species on Earth face extinction by the end of this century, a disappearance hastened by changes in humans' use of the land and sea, exploitation of species, climate change and invasive species.

"Today, there is a devastating deconstruction of God's gift of creation," Turkson said.

The cardinal said that in the Bible biodiversity represents the form that God's creation takes, and humans were given the task of looking after nature.

He said church teaching recognizes the intrinsic value and purpose of each of the plants and animals that make up the tapestry of the Earth.

But as human activities increasingly threaten plant and animal species with extinction, humanity has run up "a serious and huge ecological debt," Turkson said.

"The cost of the damage caused by the human exploitation of nature is much greater than the economic benefits that are obtained. Where certain species are destroyed or seriously harmed, the values involved are incalculable," he said.

Through its TACARE program, the Jane Goodall Institute has worked with local communities around the globe to put into action holistic, community-based conservation to restore overused land without pesticides or other chemicals. Goodall said it has helped people see the interconnectedness among species and how protecting the environment benefits not just wildlife, but people, too. (Pronounced "take care," TACARE stands for Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education.)

"As one of these species becomes extinct, it tears a hole in that tapestry. And as more and more holes are torn, as these species become extinct with horrifying rapidity, in the end we're going to be left with a tapestry so torn that the ecosystem will collapse. And that is what we depend on for our lives," Goodall said.

The primatologist said she believes the window remains open to save chimpanzees and other species

from extinction, but it begins with reducing "unsustainable lifestyles" that destroy the environment and the conditions that feed them. Doing this includes moving away from fossil fuels, phasing out industrial agriculture and factory farms, and moving toward permaculture practices.

"We have to think about the choices we make each day," she said. "We go to the supermarket to buy food. Let's ask ourselves, 'Where did it come from?

Did its production harm the environment? Was it cruel to animals? Is it cheap because of inequitable wages in other parts of the world?' And if the answer is yes, yes and yes, don't buy it."

Those changes may cause a product to cost a bit more, "but that means we'll value it more and waste less," Goodall said. Several things give her hope that such changes are still possible.

One is the concern for nature she sees in young people, including those who participate in her institute's Roots and Shoots program, and another lies in the industrial and scientific advances she has seen throughout her 89-year life. She also draws hope from the pope.

"One of my reasons for hope is Pope Francis, because in that position as pope, with the whole of the Catholic Church around the world, his stand on the environment really has made a big difference," she said, adding, "and the other reason for hope is that the other religions, too, are beginning to talk about the environment more and more."

"Let's ask ourselves, 'Where did it come from?

Did its production harm the environment?

Was it cruel to animals?

Is it cheap because of inequitable wages in other parts of the world?'

And if the answer is yes, yes and yes, don't buy it." ~Jane Goodall

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Photo by Leon Pauleikhoff

The webinar was organized by the integral human development dicastery and the Vatican's COVID-19 Commission's ecological task force, along with two dozen partner organizations, including Global Catholic Climate Movement, CIDSE, the International Union of Superiors General and the Parliament of the World's Religions. The event served as preparation for COP 15, the U.N. biodiversity conference scheduled for October in Kunming, China.

The Vatican, which will take part in the biodiversity conference, has outlined several goals for the gathering, among them increasing protected areas, valuing nature's contributions to people, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from biological resources.

But primarily, Turkson said, the Vatican's role begins with raising awareness about the twin cries of the poor and the earth resulting from human abuses of nature and inviting people to ecological citizenship and ecological conversion.

"Ecological conversion would be a change of mentality, a change of outlook, a change of lifestyle and habit, moving from a desire to control and dominate, to a desire to safeguard, to protect. This is what we ensure and we propose as a way of safeguarding biodiversity for all of us," Turkson said.

Holding the biodiversity conference in China is likely to place further scrutiny on the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Scientists and health officials continue to investigate how COVID-19 emerged, with a leading theory tracing it to Wuhan, China, possibly to a market where live wild animals were sold.

Goodall said the destruction of ecosystems and habitats has pushed animals into closer contact with humans.

This proximity, in places like wildlife markets and fac92 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

tory farms, creates conditions for a pathogen to pass from animals to people.

"We brought it in large part on ourselves by our absolute disrespect of animals and our disrespect of the natural world," she said.

Turkson said that "the current pandemic alerts us to the fact that when nature is sick, humanity itself is very sick."

Pope Benedict XVI made that connection in 2009, in his encyclical Caritas en Veritate, the cardinal added, in which the now-emeritus pope wrote, "The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa."

"The health of humanity then depends on that of nature," Turkson said. "When nature is sick as a result of human-caused or human-centered pollution and destruction, humanity also invariably suffers. This shows that everything is interconnected."

Brian Roewe is NCR environment correspondent. His email address is broewe@ncronline.org. Follow him on Twitter at @brianroewe.

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

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LANGUAGE OF SPACE

By Michael White Ryan

the IMAGE OF… 94 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021

MADE IN

T

his is a story so real, we have avoided all knowledge of its existence. It is the 21st century, and during the previous year, we heard a number of commonly repeated phrases, one of them being, we are all connected. The fundamental question standing at the attention that needs answering in order to unravel the mysteries of one's nature just might be, do we understand, do we as humans have any idea of the depth surrounding the term connected? Now the curious mind is struggling with this notion, connection to what.

M I t I O… Imagination I believe this is where we all started our journey into the real world. We chased butterflies and danced to music as if tomorrow didn't exist. Love was a spoonful of sugar, birthday parties, presents, and Christmas. The park became a jungle for the neighborhood game of "hide and seek", then along came parents, education, teachers, rules, then along came gender, and somehow it all just floated away.

Now that we are all grown up, we use imagination to seek life.

M I t I O… Ridicule In the mix of all this, imagination was funny, bullied sadistic ridicule. Not one single human escaped words that cut them deeper than a knife. Do to another, as only you would do unto you, and so in our innocence, we did. For some, the pain, the hurt, is forgotten; for others, after 50 years, the scars remain, and we are still waiting to get back at them. The overly sensitive have buried their traumas so deep, they don't even know they ever happened. What is certain, like a brain-changing drug, we have all been altered through the happenings of our past. Judged by others and self, for never living up to knowing, being what each of us is capable of accomplishing. The unknown lessons, meanings, and results of these unattended experiences remain hidden within our shadows yet are always connected, active in one's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors!

M I t I O… Success As humans, we are compartmentalized into a thousand different areas to maintain one's existence. It's impossible to know which area to start with first, the chicken or the egg. Success as material wealth is the order of the day. Follow and do what successful peo-

ple have done in the past, and you will arrive. The choice to follow allows you entrance into that special club. One is now central in a pattern of others telling you what you can and cannot do! Fortunately, behind closed doors, you have the freedom to improvise, that is if you still remember how?

These M I t I O are in no particular order; rest assured I will eventually get to you.

M I t I O… Competition As observers, we only need to look towards nature for an understanding of how to conduct the "Way of Competing" Unfortunately, through a misguided mindset, mankind has approached this through various negative processes. Still thinking he is fighting off and killing the dinosaurs, he treats his fellow human with the exact same disrespect to life.

Competition has never been about winning, and Competition has always been about finding the best solution/strategy/leader to better serve the tribe, humanity. Through a mind that has been blindsided with "I am" and with the help of creative consumption, leaders have been consumed by their actions, and society continues to blindly follow.

M I t I O…Relationship Now here is a connection that brings out the bare, raw reality of one's feelings, agendas, and the one person missing from one's life, the self. In search of what makes us complete, we search Harmony to bring that much-needed love, within seconds, into existence, thus fulfilling the empty spaces of one's desires. We find contentment in choosing another who thinks and functions as each other, choosing to live life your way, or choosing, life is good with arm candy.

Relationships bring out pain, service, blame, accountability, and for those who open to unconditional love, untold blessings are discovered at the turn of every corner. It's the ultimate orgasm, folks. Being a together affair can be a connection with the separation. Divorce arrives with unfulfilled desires, expectations, assumptions, self-worth, anger, lack of trust, the social Joneses, other stuffiness, and basically bad choices on your part.Yes, the ultimate gift, standing by, living with another human, growing within a relationship, finds maturity within oneself. On a scale of 1 to 10, have you checked your level lately!

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M I t I O…Fear The so-called big daddy of them all? Now is the time to face the facts? If you just have one of these M I t I O's or all and then some, does it really matter when they are all holding the same space in the get lost box?

Fear is like the chicken or the egg; is it a feeling, or is it thinking of running amuck? Look up. Could it be a bird in the sky? You know exactly what it is in your life; no explanation is needed. It's here, we are here, no biggie, what are you going to do about it? Go here, go there, your choice, you choose, better yet, follow the silver monkey, walk on hot coals, do the rubber band leap. It's all up to "the one," and that's all folks.

M I t I O… Disappointment This one is physically depilating. Disappointment is more than an idea. When generated by whatever means, it stabs deep into one's feelings past, present and future.

It can crush one into complete submission of helplessness in seconds. It's a pattern of regret, missing out, lost opportunities, and you know this feeling? When the opposite occurs, through the process of recapitulation, powerful energy emerges as the realization into a past love, or experience, when one becomes aware and acknowledges their part/cause. This is a time to embrace a beautiful moment for final release fully.

MItIO I wish I was special.

Here exists an idea that thrives in humans across all walks of life and cultures. By focusing on lack, the grass is always greener elsewhere. The catchphrase being, "I would give everything just to be like you." We undermine/downgrade how special we really are. Yes, it's special we are alive, yet more than that, one is special when all judgments are put aside, and as we journey from our cocoon, one awakens in a complete acceptance of self.

MItIO Update Shame Update on ridicule, enter its cousin. We shame another because, how else could we possibly deliver such a vital process without knowing shame at such an intimate knowledge personally? Through our misguided expectations on how one is supposed to be/act/behave, we become the creator by forcing a human into an unseen isolation chamber of existence. When we judge, please wait for it; what also happens via our own misguided judgmental response is, we now take on the exact same role as creators and deliver unto self our own personal pain and guilt. The precursor is, one's pattern functions to unknowingly search out relationships and elicit the needs for our pain are met. Thus guaranteeing we are

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going to inflict more judgment-pain into one's future.

It's a horror story unfolding.

MItIO Blame Blame has become a common process as one's coping mechanism when having to deal with uncertainty.

Unfortunately, when we respond to stress and anxiety, we look for, search out, and find another existing pattern, trying to forget, pretend certain experiences never happened. These patterns also are already set in stone. Therefore one's behaviors function automatically caught up in the "Patterns of Circles." All one is trying to do, is remove ourselves from the discomfort. Bam, instant gratification is in finding safety from the discomfort of one's feelings. Is this not the definition of avoidance?

MItIO The process of avoidance occurs/remains until the day we stop pretending and stay with our discomforts and experience their truthfully. It's day one that allows you to heal those wounds. Don't fret, and the memory will remain. Now released, those memories are nothing more than a hollow mist, powerless, floating in the ether, no longer binding. The accomplice feelings and emotions that robbed us that had control over our very existence, never again, this a beautiful end.

Blessings are what we give ourselves, dear ones.

Michael White Ryan is a co-founder with his wife Pamela Edwards of Language of Space. They are leaders in sustainable business growth via Performance Design and Performance Code. Sustainable design encompasses both Western and 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 BusinessConsultants.

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 Australia. www.languageofspace.com

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HIGH ROAD TO HUMANITY

By Nancy Yearout

Think

Happy

Photo by Brooke Cagle

Thoughts

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When you wake up in the morning, what's your first thought?

Is it a happy thought?

It's interesting how our human minds work. Many of us wake up feeling happy-go-lucky, while some of us are often grumpy until we are fully awake. I believe you can reprogram the mind to think more joyous, happy thoughts, but why should this be our focus? Do these thoughts that swirl around in our heads have that much impact on our lives? The answer is Yes! It's the universal law that whatever energy you send out to the universe is returned to you. To understand the concept, you must understand how universal energy works.

Everything is energy; we are energy, our thoughts, and feelings, and words are energy. Everything has its own unique vibration. So, whatever you say or think, good or bad goes out into the universe, and your requests are granted.

When you look at life in this way, you begin to realize what good vibrations mean. Now you see that your thoughts' energy, along with your words, is creating your reality. This is how the universe is set up.

That's why you will hear people say, change your words and thoughts and change your life!

Many times, this is done by using affirmations. If you are in a funk and have difficulty getting out of it, turn on the radio and sing!

The vibrations of upbeat music are joyful to the soul. Music is an easy and fabulous way to bring joy into your life.

And you can bring in that joy quickly as you punch the button on the stereo. Another way to change your energy is to say positive affirmations. Affirmations do work because you are reprogramming your thoughts to be more positive.

We are these powerful souls in human bodies, not realizing that we can create the life we desire if we use our natural power. Manifestation is the movement of energy into another form by intention.

My hope is that we, as the collective, will learn how to use our natural abilities to focus our energy on creating the life we would desire. Unfortunately, we have not been taught thus far how to use our energy to create our reality.

Or made aware that this is a fact, now is the time that many people are waking up and realizing that we do have these abilities.

Everything is energy; we are energy, our thoughts, and feelings, and words are energy. Everything has its own unique vibration. So, whatever you say or think, good or bad goes out into the universe, and your requests are granted.

You can make a difference is by paying attention to your own word and thoughts and sending out good energy and words and thoughts to others. If each of us pitches in, we will make a difference. When you wake up in the morning, say positive things like, "It's a fabulous day," or I feel grateful for the new day. Whatever feels comfortable for you. Make an effort to change your thoughts and your words to be happy. I believe that's why Peter Pan could fly, happy thoughts!

Sending you good energy 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! 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.

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

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