OMTimes Magazine May A 2017 Edition

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May A 2017

Cover Story

Metaphysics

22

90

Judith Orloff - The Empath's Survival Guide

Before Evolution There Was Involution

Health & Healing

Personal Growth

40

100 Rising Into My Destiny 106 Exercising Safety from the Inside Out

Empathy is the Medicine the World Needs

Spirituality 46 50

Gravity and Vacuums Within Subtle Energies Being True to Yourself

World Vision 112 Technology’s Impact on Humanity

OM Living

Books

56

118 Sister Jaguar's Journey

60 66 70 76

Close Encounters of the Truthful Kind Walking the Balance How to do Group Meditation using Crystals Political Activism as a Spiritual Path OMTimes Radio Host Spotlight - Carrie Turcotte

Relationships 82 84

6 Parenting Traps That Will Turn Your Kid Into a Sociopath Love and Duality - Tapping into Absolute Love

Judith Orloff: The Empath’s Survival Guide

Life Strategies for Sensitive People from Judith Orloff Have you been told that you are too sensitive to family and friends? Do you actually feel the feelings of others, both positive and negative, as though they were your feelings? Do you experience

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the physical and emotional pain of others? Empathy is a quality that most humans share, but being an empath goes much deeper. It can entail the full gamut of experiencing what others experience, without filters. It can make it difficult to separate your personal feelings from what you are picking up from the outside world.

Dr. Judith Orloff, is an intuitive, an empath, and an expert on helping others understand and work with these gifts. Dr. Judith Orloff is a leading voice in the fields of medicine, psychiatry, and intuitive development.

An Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, her bestselling books include Emotional Freedom, Positive Energy, Dr. Orloff’s Guide to Intuitive Healing, and Second Sight. Her website is http://www. drjudithorloff.com. She joins me to discuss her latest book, The Empath’s Survival Guide - Life Strategies for Sensitive People. It is my great pleasure to interview an amazingly gifted woman,

and someone whom I have the privilege of calling a personal friend, Dr. Judith Orloff.

Judith Orloff Interview

by Victor Fuhrman VICTOR FUHRMAN: Let us talk a little bit about your path for our listeners and readers who may be meeting you for the first time. What was it like growing up in a family of physicians?

JUDITH ORLOFF: I had two physician parents, and I come from a family of 25 physicians, and I was a little girl who was an empath. An empath is somebody who can sense intuitively what is going on in others and absorbs the energy into their own bodies. Empaths are emotional sponges. The positive side of that is that it really gave me a deeper connection to the universe and to myself. Certainly now, as a psychiatrist, my empathy helps me with my work, my connections, my ability to love, my connection to nature.

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As a child, I did not know what was going on when I walked into crowded places. I would walk in fine and then leave exhausted, or sick, or depressed, or anxious, or something. There is a section in the book about raising empathic children and what to do if you are an empathic parent. I feel so strongly having gone through that as a child and not being given the support I needed.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: How old were you when you first realized that you had these abilities?

JUDITH ORLOFF: I think I always had them from the moment I was born, but I think when I realized it more was when I started to go out into crowds. That is when the empathy got really exacerbated because I got so overwhelmed, or when going to parties with my friends. So, I would say maybe nine or ten, but certainly as a teenager. I was all alone, and I had no guidance about how to handle

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this empathy and this intuition that was just flooding into me too much and too fast.

That is one motivation for writing this book to help people to identify if they are empaths. It is a diagnosis.

That is a specific diagnosis that needs certain treatments.

It does not usually need medication. There are so many other things you can do before medicating anxiety, or depression, or agoraphobia, which empaths often get misdiagnosed as.

“What if your child is an empath?” is a quiz in the book to get a grip on it, so you know what you are. It is kind of like when somebody finds out they are an alcoholic. And they go, “Oh my God, that is what I am, and now I know what to do.”

The same is true with being an empath. I get so many emails and letters from people saying thank you for helping me realize I was an empath.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: Is this gift something that is inherited?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Yes, it seems so. In my family, it was passed down through the women.

My father was not an empath.

He had a whole different constitution, and was not absorbed in this. He did not take on energy from other people, but empaths do. Yes, I think it could even be genetic.

I think when they get down to looking at this genetic component they are going to find something that is passed down. Certainly, Elaine Aron has done research on highly sensitive people, and she has found that they are 20 percent of the population. That is a pretty high percentage.

the dream would come true, but time passed and one year became two years and became 14 years of medical training. So, it was not what I wanted to do, logically, going to medical school like that. I went to medical school just trusting that I was supposed to do it because of this dream.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: How did you choose psychiatry as your specialty?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Yes, many of the people who have been told there are something wrong with them, or they are too sensitive, or too this or too that, are empaths and, by the way, you are not too anything! You are 100 percent who you are, and you want to maximize that. You want to maximize your sensitivity, and that is what the book is about, how to maximize it without

JUDITH ORLOFF: Well, I went into psychiatry by a dream I had where a voice came to me to let me know that I was to become a psychiatrist to help legitimize intuition. In that realm of medicine and empathy, by the way, is a form of intuition. I did not think

VICTOR FUHRMAN: Judith, so many people are told things like “You are too emotional,” or “You are too sensitive.”

And they grow up feeling like there is something wrong with them. In your experience, are many of these people empaths?

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absorbing so much stuff that you are becoming exhausted.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: What are some of the common traits of an empath?

JUDITH ORLOFF: There is a quiz at the beginning of the book. Some common traits of an empath include: “I require alone time to refuel myself” and “I do not refuel myself with people.” The signature of an empath is that they love to replenish themselves alone and that is very different from extroverts.

“Do I get drained by noise, crowds or excessive talking?”

Empaths have a very strong sense of smell, so if they walk into an elevator with perfume in it, they can often feel suffocated, whereas other people will sense, “Oh what a beautiful smell,” so it is a different perception. “Do I often feel that I do not fit in?”

“Crowds drain me. and do I need alone time to revive myself?”

“Do I prefer taking my own car to places so that I can leave

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early if I need to?” Empaths need to escape. They cannot stay somewhere for five hours and socialize, it is impossible.

“Do I overeat to cope with stress?” There is a chapter in the book on empaths and addictions, and often empaths like to put on a lot of weight because the armor stops you from feeling other people’s pain and negative energy.

Yes, that is one element, overeating. If you try diets and they fail, if you are an empath maybe you need some more techniques and strategies in addition to the diet that can help you deal with the energetic component of it.

This is a big one, too. “Am I afraid of becoming suffocated by intimate relationships?”

VICTOR FUHRMAN: What about the environmental stimulus. For example, are empaths more sensitive to fluorescent lighting, or electromagnetic energy?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Yes, they sense electromagnetic energy

and are sensitive to solar flares, changes in electromagnetic energy, computers, and radiation from any kind of technical device. It can make them sick and tired, and so empaths must really take some steps to take care of themselves around that, and they do not do so well with a lot of power lines. I know that is impractical if you live in a city, but it is true. Also, I just want to say that empaths are very sensitive and tuned into animals. There is a type of empath I talk about in the book called an Animal Empath, where they have a special communion with animals and can feel their needs and can communicate with them. Some of my empath patients are vegan because they feel the suffering of the animals if they eat meat.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: What about noise levels?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Empaths are very noise-sensitive. They cannot stand loud noises, they cannot stand yelling, and they cannot stand talking too much

or abrupt noises. They have increased “startle� responses, so little things will make the whole body shake. I could walk on the street, and if the traffic light is making some sort of weird beeping noise, it will scare me because it goes right up and down my system.

Empaths do not have the same filters that other people have.

People who are not empaths have different defenses and are more guarded. I do not want those defenses, personally, because I love my empath self. I have learned how to really work with it, so I am not drained, and I can flourish in my gifts. But it takes a lot of practice. It is a skill.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: What professions would empaths be comfortable in?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Empaths make great artists and musicians. They are great at working at home. There is a chapter in the book on empaths and work, which I think is practical for people regarding the best and worst

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jobs for empaths. So, working at home or having a home office, as opposed to being in a corporate setting which has a lot of office politics that empaths cannot handle.

Anything to do with the helping professions is wonderful. Clergy, hospice, psychiatry, psychology, massage therapy, acupuncture, veterinary, and the whole gamut of the service professions are so important.

There is another section in the book on how empath healthcare professionals can keep their center and be able to give without taking on the animal’s pain or the other person’s pain. It is a skill set.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: So how do we turn off the sponge effect?

What tips or exercises do you recommend in your book and to patients to close the pores of the sponge so that they are effective and compassionate without absorbing?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Number one, keep breathing, because

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breathing circulates out all kinds of stress and negative energy. The breath is sacred prana, so you want to keep breathing and breathe out the negative energy. If you, start feeling pain in your body when you are talking to someone, and you suspect it is somebody else’s pain, breathe it out. Do not panic; breathe it out, and that will help the process of getting it out of your system.

Then, if you are talking to someone you suspect you are picking up stuff from, you could move 20 feet away just to test it out. Because then you are outside of the realm of their energy field, and most likely the symptoms will dissipate at that point if you step away from what is disturbing you. Also, limit physical contact with people.

You know, hugs are a choice.

If you exchange energy when you hug, when you touch, when you look at someone deep in the eyes, it is all an energy exchange so be discriminating.

I also love the shower meditation, which is getting in the shower and just feeling the element of water washing all the negativity, all the stress, whatever has clung to you inside or out during the day, just washing it away. Also, learning to visualize and cutting a cord between you and other people who are not healthy.

If you feel like you are too connected with someone’s physical or emotional state, visualize a cord of light extending from your belly to theirs, and then lovingly set the intention to cut the cord to their discomfort. You are not severing the connection with the person entirely, only with the unpleasant energy that they carry. So, visualize taking up a pair of scissors and cutting the cord between you and the unwelcomed energy of the person.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: What about things like gemstones?

I know a lot of people use black tourmaline as a protective device.

JUDITH ORLOFF: I have five or six stones just in a formation on my nightstand. I have obsidian and some shells, but the obsidian is very powerful for me. Holding black obsidian grounds me. I think people must experiment with gemstones and see how they feel. The way to tell if a stone is grounding for you is to just hold one.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: Why is it that an empath has such a hard time with self-esteem?

JUDITH ORLOFF: They are always taught to be ashamed of their sensitivities, especially boys, who are called sissies and are weak and not embraced by the other boys who are going to all these sports events and playing video games. Empathic boys do not like those kinds of things. They do not like loud noises, and they do not like big crowds, so they are kind of put down.

You know, girls less so, but still girls are not empowered.

School teachers are not

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empowering them for being sensitive. They may be not as ashamed as boys, but it is hard growing up as an empath in western society, because our values are so overintellectualized. So, that is why I feel so passionate about giving empaths a safe place to express themselves and be and learn. And this book, hopefully, will help them do that. Also, there is a section in the book about how to set up empath support groups in your area.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: You also have an empath support group on Facebook, correct?

JUDITH ORLOFF: I have an empath support group on Facebook with over 7,000 empaths. It is just a place for empaths to talk about the challenges and triumphs of their empath journey.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: Why do empaths have a difficulty with boundaries?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Empaths merge with others because

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they do not have boundaries; because everything is oozing with everything else if they do not have the boundaries.

Part of the toolkit of being an empath is learning how to set clear boundaries with people and being able to know yourself from another person. To know the difference between you and another person and learn to say “no.”

“No” is a complete sentence.

To say “No, I cannot do that,” or “Could you please lower your voice as yelling is very painful for me?” Also, to state your needs; just say “I am sorry, I have made plans tonight,” or “I am too tired and just want to stay home and take a bath.” To be able to be brave enough to break a plan, even though you are disappointing someone, so that you can practice self-care. So, all those boundaries are so important.

To say “No, this is not okay with me.” “No, you have to talk to me in a respectful tone of voice otherwise I am leaving.”

VICTOR FUHRMAN: Judith,

how is it that empaths relate to people who have narcissistic personalities?

empaths are giving and loving and understanding and they want to please and all that.

Narcissists love that. They love to feed on that. So, empaths beware. I would suggest if you are suspecting someone is a narcissist to give them the Narcissist Quiz in the book and make sure that they are not.

JUDITH ORLOFF: Well, empaths and narcissists tend to have a toxic attraction to one another. There is a section in the book on combating this.

Narcissists are the number one energy vampire for empaths.

The reason that empaths are attracted to narcissists is that they could be charming and loving, and sexy and funny, and seemingly empathic in the beginning, and they get hooked in by that.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: In your book, we had mentioned it lists many types of empaths.

You had talked about earth empaths and animal empaths.

What are the other types of empath?

Then, of course, narcissists do not have empathy; they have what is called an empathy deficient disorder meaning that they do not have empathy.

They become cold and withholding and punishing if you do not do exactly what they want you to do. So, then you’re in love with them, or you are in a relationship with them, and you cannot get out because you are so hooked in. Then the narcissists are so attracted to empaths because

JUDITH ORLOFF: There are plant empaths who have a natural attraction to plants and trees and flowers. They can intuitively connect with the needs of the plants and trees and flowers and communicate with their spirits.

They often have a green thumb, and they can grow plants, and just have a wonderful relationship with plants and replenish themselves amongst nature, among the living things. Then there are also

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mediumship empaths. These people can communicate with people and animals and spirits on the other side because empaths do not have the same filters that other people have.

They do not have the same filters between this world and the next. So, for some empaths, it is just a natural talent. As children, they heard deceased loved ones. As adults, they just have a very natural connection to the other side.

Also, there are dream empaths.

Dream empaths regularly have vivid dreams that they remember, an experience that usually starts in childhood. You are attracted to the dream world if you are a dream empath. You look forward to going to sleep every night so you can dream, and I am one of such empaths, so I love dreaming. The first thing I do every morning is to remember my dreams and write them down in my dream journal so I can know what to do. They are guiding me. I had a dream the other night about something called mythic prayer. I heard

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the words mythic prayer, and I do not even know totally what it means, but I put feeling into it, and it is so beautiful.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: It sounds beautiful. A lot of people have a tendency to compare empaths to highly sensitive people. What is the difference between someone who is truly empathic and someone who is highly sensitive?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Well, sometimes there is an overlap.

Highly sensitive people have mainly the sensory elements, meaning they are sensitive to loud noise, to bright lights, scratchy clothes, to a lot of commotion and they need a lot of alone time to refuel. But highly sensitive people are a little bit lower on the empathic spectrum than empaths.

Empaths take it even farther.

They might have all the sensory elements that I mentioned.

But they absorb energy and emotions and physical symptoms from others into their own bodies. Highly sensitive

people do not necessarily do that. And the empaths I was talking about, the plant empath, the mediumship empath, the earth empath, that is way beyond highly sensitive. That has to do more with an intuitive, deeply empathic connection with the universe and nature, which is not usually associated with highly sensitive. But you can be an empath and be a highly sensitive person at the same time.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: In your book, you use the term, “emotional contagion.” What is that, and how does it affect empaths?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Well, it is a very interesting phenomenon that in part explains why someone is an empath.

Emotional contagion is when you are in an office and somebody comes in that is extremely anxious. That anxiety spreads across the workplace like a virus, so everybody is anxious. But empaths can feel this kind of emotional contagion even if it is not as

extreme as intense anxiety. An empath might feel fear, an empath might feel trepidation, and an empath might feel the incredible joy that is being spread. There is positive contagion, which is that all the positive, compassionate, loving emotions can spread like wildfire amongst people as can the more destructive or difficult emotions. An empath is highly attuned to emotional contagion.

VICTOR FUHRMAN: You also talk about “emotional hangovers.” What are they and how can they be avoided?

JUDITH ORLOFF: Well, empaths often get emotional hangovers, and this is the lingering residue after you have been in a crowded, intense, social situation where you feel that all the emotions of the people there are lingering in you, like a hangover. It feels terrible.

It feels just like you are carrying around a bunch of other people’s stuff. So, it is important to deal with it immediately.

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Empathy is the Medicine the World Needs

by Judith Orloff

Healing Medicine for Our World Our world desperately needs healing. The world is wounded and in pain. Our earth, our climate, our global relationships are not being honored and protected. Even so, division and polarization

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are not the answers. Rather, empathy is the sacred medicine the world needs.

What is empathy? It is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes--even if you don’t agree with them.

The great healing power of empathy is that you can see things through other people’s eyes--which gives you the best chance at communicating with them. Empathy doesn’t make you weak, sentimental, or cause you to make the wrong decisions because you’re too “soft” To the contrary: it opens your heart so you can combine the insight you gain from empathy with the reasoning mind to know what path to take towards peace.

Global and personal peace are always the goal. Being empathic doesn’t mean you’ll always succeed a bridging the gap between yourself and others.

But it does give you the best change at uniting your personal relationships and humankind.

Self-care Techniques for Empaths I’m a UCLA-trained psychiatrist-

-and I’m an empath. An empath is someone who is wired differently neurologically than many people. Empaths aren’t born with the same filters and defenses that others have. Everything hits us more strongly. Without the proper self-care techniques that I discuss in my book, “The Empath’s Survival Guide,” we become emotional sponges who absorb the stress and pain of the world.

I’m moved by how many people write me about what a revelation it is to find out they are an empath! I believe that most everyone has at least a little empath in them! For all sensitive people who want to keep their hearts open in difficult times, learning to nurture your empathy is key-and so is finding balance so you don’t experience compassion fatigue or burnout.

Lately, in my psychiatric practice there has been an epidemic of patients coming to me who are exhausted, angry, depressed, and overwhelmed by what’s happening in our country and the world. They become

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addicted to cable television news--but it only makes them sick to keep watching so much. The dilemma is that caring people may want to do something to help, but they are inundated by negativity and become exhausted.

Five Tips for Empaths and Carers Here are five tips for empaths and all caring people to keep your empathy alive and take good care of yourself: 1. Take period news and internet fasts. Do not watch news before going to sleep so you can have a restful night. Limit your news intake to 15 minutes per day max.

2. Regularly spend time in nature replenishing yourself.

3. Mediate at least three minutes daily focusing on the power of love, not hate.

The power of the good will win if we all focus on this, rather than fear.

4. Take daily baths or showers to renew yourself and wash away negativity and stress.

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5. Focus on what you have to be grateful for every morning.

The Gift of the Empath & Belief The gifts of empath are many but experiencing them requires us to “go higher.” You must be the wise one who says “no” to fear-and “yes” to the power of goodness. I realize this isn’t always easy, as one of my patients, Linda, found out.

Every time she had a dinner with her extended family, a relative would lash out at Linda about beliefs regarding the importance of solar power to help ward off global warming.

The relative was emotionally suffering. He was angry about being laid off from his job in the auto industry. Despite his attempts to find a new job, he hadn’t worked for two years. He was angry and took it out on her. But, to her credit, and with the help practicing a positive approach to deal with him in our sessions-she didn’t go for the bait. Instead, she took a deep breath and paused-rather than react.

She was able to empathize

with the pain he felt at being unemployed and she told him, “I love you. I don’t want to fight with you. So, I think we need to agree to disagree. I know how hard it has been to get a job. It must be really difficult for you.”

My patient was surprised by his response. He broke down crying at the table, sharing his grief about not being able to work.

She comforted him and they felt more bonded as a result.

Empathy Leads to Greater Understanding She didn’t change her beliefs.

He didn’t change his beliefs.

But the door was open for a loving relationship of understanding. When people are hurt-and don’t have the emotional skills to express the hurt-they may get combative and angry. Empathy give you the greater vision not to react to his expression of their “lower self” but try to win them over with your heart. You won’t always succeed but empathy will give you the greatest change of success.

If you want peace, you must be the messenger. If you want to see change in the

world you must belief in goodness and work in small ways every day to build peace. Empathy lets you come from your highest self rather than just reacting from your “lower self” which is entirely justified in feeling what it feels. However, staying in your lower self won’t create the changes the world needs.

Empathy for yourself and others will help you change the destructive patterns in the world. You mind might say “this is impossible” by remember to check in with your heart. It will tell you otherwise.

It will tell you that the good in more powerful than any darkness. And that even in times of darkness your belief in the good will ignite the light of others. As the Dalai Lama says, “Empathy is the most precious of human qualities.”

(Adapted from The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People by Judith Orloff, MD, which is a guidebook for empaths and all caring people who want to keep their hearts open in an often-insensitive world.)

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Simply Spiritual To perceive reality from a different perspective is to open oneself to the wonders and unlimited wealth of creation. Simply Spiritual offers the opportunity to visit new places, new methods, and different ways to perceive the vast human knowledge of our Universe.

Gravity and Vacuums Within Subtle Energies

by John Burton, EdD

Gravity and Vacuums in Our Physical World We are each familiar with the concept of gravity in the physical world. The size and mass, including density, determine the gravitational pull of a heavenly body, be it planet or star.

But here, I will describe another type of gravity that occurs in

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the world of subtle energies. I will also identify two kinds of vacuums that seem to occur within the realm of subtle energies. Finally, we will discover that these identified elements exist along a continuum that reveals our connectedness with Source or God. It is interesting that both gravity and vacuums can feel similar and yet stem from opposite sources. Gravity and vacuums each exert a kind of pull that we can feel. But the source of the pull in gravity is from the size and density of a body, the mass and internal presence. The pull of a vacuum stems from the absence of any internal substance.

Subtle Energies of Gravity and Vacuums Gravity and vacuums make up the two subtle energies. While these two energy states seem separate, they exist as polar opposites along a continuum. The gravity I’m referring to in subtle energies has to do with our sense of life purpose. This gravity resides within us and holds us here on the earth for reasons different than the physical gravity. At a deeper level,

subtle gravity allows us to live more fully from God or Source.

This subtle energy gravity relates to what we might call life purpose. What are we here to do and what is the driving force in our life? The clearer our sense of purpose, the easier it is to access, developing and express our gifts to the world.

While a sense of purpose moves us forward in life, purpose seems to also provide a kind of gravity, keeping us here in this life on this planet. Purpose helps us stay grounded, keeps us in life and acts to hold us here, the gravity of purpose. When we connect to purpose we also connect to Source or God as our purpose is part of the Universal Purpose, expressing forms of love. I’ll explain a bit more shortly.

Types of Vacuums and Emotions The first kind of vacuum involves the pull of what might be considered negative emotions or uncomfortable emotions. These emotions exert a kind of draw that may Omtimes.com

feel as though they threaten to consume us. The second type of vacuum occurs between people, where one is person is in need, feels empty and draws on others in an attempt to fill the need or the internal void. You could also say that an inverse relationship exists between gravity and vacuums.

The lesser gravity creates more of a vacuum.

These unpleasant emotions are uncomfortable for us to experience. When any of these uncomfortable emotions begin activating we can feel a kind of pull they exert. It seems they possess a gravity, but it’s really the vacuum, that threatens to pull us in and engulf us.

The effect here is a bit like a black hole in the realm of astrophysics. The unpleasant emotion threatens to swallow us and we react to this fear at a survival level.

Responses Relate to Source Energy There seems to be two effective responses to this vacuum of unpleasant emotions. The first response that helps is to connect more

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fully with your inner self, your purpose and therefore, gravity and, ultimately, God. The second effective response is to just let go and allow yourself to be fully pulled into the unpleasant emotion.

Do not stop, just keep going in and you will soon find that you are delivered to Source as this Energy resides at the center of everything. This process resembles the Buddhist approach known as “dissolving into emptiness”. You could imagine this as being like using a wormhole to travel through a black hole into a white hole.

Here, the white hole is serving as Source of Light.

About the Author John Burton, EdD LPC maintains a counseling practice in Greenville, SC. His is certified as a Clinical Hypnotherapist, NLP Master and Reiki Master. He provides individual counseling and conducts workshops on healing through Spirituality. His soon-to-be released book, fourth overall, is The Sacred Sequence; Remembering the One Truth. www.drjohnjburton.com

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Being True to Yourself

by John Holland

Being True to Yourself Reinforces Who You Are After 15 months of writing my new book “Bridging TWO Worlds” which is due for release next year, I am slowly coming out of the writing fog. For anyone who knows what it’s like to write a book, it’s all-immersive, often to a point where you think of nothing else, apart from the writing that’s ahead of you. It’s Omtimes.com

easy during these times to lose sight of yourself, what you truly believe in, and who you are.

Sometimes, all that’s needed is that check-in moment, to also stop and make sure that you really are being true to yourself.

To me, this means that you need to ensure that your integrity and core beliefs are intact, that your values remain the same, and

you’ve not let your principles become clouded by events.

It’s so easy to forget when you’ve immersed that normal life continues, that relationships still need to be nurtured and acknowledged, that your mind, body, and soul still need your attention. So, if this is resonating with you on whatever level, I hope you’re able to stop for a moment to reconnect with yourself!

JOHN’S LESSON One of my Hay House co-authors and colleagues, Don Miguel Ruiz, sums it up well in the way he describes it, thus: “Be impeccable with your word.

Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.”

Here are few tips for being true to yourself: Accept yourself for who you are - your strengths, your limitations, your passions, and tipping point.

Make your own choices. After

all, you have the power to choose the way you live your life, the way you work, the limits to which you push yourself.

Don’t live by other people’s standards. Set your own standards, but don’t set the bar so high, it becomes impossible to achieve anything.

When you’re true to yourself, you also become true to others. In turn, they respect you more, and the relationship is strengthened.

True Self-Discovery For me, as I put another book to bed, I realize that I am on this amazing journey of selfdiscovery. I am still becoming John; still discovering who I am. And I acknowledge that it’s okay to work on myself. I feel a deep sense of achievement right now, tinged with exhilaration and liberation.

Live a Soul-filled life!

About the Author John Holland is an artist, author, public speaker, and psychic medium. To learn more about John Holland, visit http://www. johnholland.com.

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OM Living For those living a more Conscious Lifestyle

Close Encounters of the Truthful Kind

by Guy Finley Close Encounters with Crisis Can Bring Healing Any of us may have a close encounter with crisis; forced through these close encounters to find the way back to health and balance. Even though the truth is never further away from us than our wish for its

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awakening and self-healing insight, there are distinct moments in life when it comes closer to us. Unfortunately, almost all of these important, potentially life-changing close encounters or moments are entirely missed. This is because what is wrong with us, our false nature, sees what is true as an attacking enemy.

Never are the healing powers of the truth so close as when a crisis is at hand.

A crisis always precedes any real inner advancement. This is because real spiritual growth is a process of removing self-blocking thoughts and feelings. The reason a crisis must precede each new level of authentic self-unity is that the crisis, whatever it may be, points out where we have been holding on to a particular belief. It is a shaky pretense, or some flattering but deceptive self-image that is in conflict with reality.

Where there is conflict there is always pain And by the time this unconscious kind of psychological or emotional pain reaches the level of our consciousness, we

generally experience it as some kind of a crisis. This explains why a crisis is a close encounter of the truthful kind. What we call a personal “crisis” is really that moment when some previously invisible conflict within us becomes temporarily visible.

We can state this same idea in another way.

A crisis arises when some inner lie we with which we’ve deceived ourselves is revealed to be just that: a lie.

Let’s take an example or two of these close encounters.

Maybe a man pictures himself as always being in control of his own life, but now he’s suddenly aware that he can’t stop drinking -- or talking -- or endlessly worrying. He has reached a turning point.

Perhaps a woman has always thought of herself as being loving and kind, but all at once she begins to notice how critical and cruel her thoughts are toward others. She sees that she only does things for others to have them think of her as being kind, and this fills her day with resentment. She has reached a turning point.

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In both instances where the terrible cost of living from lying but flattering self-images has suddenly become conscious, the only alternative that the false self as the author of this self-deception, has is to start blaming everyone and everything for the unhappy circumstances.

This maneuver is almost failsafe for the false self. By seeing to it that everything outside of it is constantly laid to blame, it keeps us fighting with life instead of learning from it. It is really very cunning.

The more we take the side of defending what is wrong within us, the more the truth that exposed this unconscious wrongness appears to be against us.

The truth never causes pain. The only pain in a crisis is the false self’s resistance to the truth. A crisis only becomes a breaking point when we fail to use it as a turning point.

It is possible to transform a crisis into a personal turning point in your life. We must wish to see

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the lesson in the crisis, rather than allowing the world to convince us it is against us. This higher wish, followed by our willingness to endure a new kind of pain, gives birth to a higher consciousness in us that belongs to our true nature. This elevated consciousness never has to solve a crisis because it never has one in the first place.

Excerpted from The Secret of Letting Go, by Guy Finley, Llewellyn Worldwide.

About the Author Guy Finley is the best-selling author of more than 40 books and audio albums on selfrealization. These include: “The Secret of Letting Go,” “The Essential Laws of Fearless Living,” and “The Secret of Your Immortal Self.” He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for self-study located in southern Oregon where he gives talks four times each week.

For more information and to download Guy’s Free 60-minute MP3 seminar “Five Simple Steps to Make Yourself Fearless,” visit www.GuyFinley.org/kit

Walking the Balance

by Niรกnn Emerson Chase

Walking the Balance Between Worlds From the time I was a child, I have had dreams of higher, more sustainable worlds.

These worlds are saner, more compassionate, more

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reasonable, more joyful, and more peaceful than the one I am living in. I dream these visions of truth, beauty, and goodness when I sleep as well as when I am awake. Our joy can also come from knowing that there is reality beyond this one. It is a reality that lies in potential within us and within each human being.

In those times when all else fails us, we can go to this reality within. It is a reality that percolates in potential. It sometimes manifests in small ways that seem so big to some of us. This reality continues to unfold like a lotus flower, like a desert agave. It is within this reality that we can have faith and hope. Faith, in the stability and absoluteness of a loving creator who is continually renewing all things. Hope, in a better future for this world, and for a better “us,� as human beings.

What to Expect When We Walk in Balance Our joy increases daily if

we choose to try to walk moment to moment in our understanding of divine pattern and divine administration principles. We can peel away the layers of protective shields that we build up in this life and in other lives. We may peel these away, layer by layer, if we allow ourselves to be broken and to be rehabilitated.

Our hardness will soften, defensiveness will crumble, and ego will diminish. It is all part of this dying-of-lowerself process that we allow ourselves to go through.

Our hearts, in their desperate fluttering to beat the way they are used to beating, fight against their transformation into a more open, more compassionate heart. In their chattering to remain in certain mind sets, our minds argue with the divine mind we hear within. We fight against the unlearning and rethinking that transformation requires.

Our lower selves cower in

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fear and selfishness, pride and misunderstanding. We squeal and bleat like terrified and angry children asked to pick up after themselves. All to then graduate to the next grade, to grow up, to move on to the next, higher level of comprehension.

Walking in Balance and Awareness One New Year’s Day, a group of us who are members of Avalon Organic Gardens & EcoVillage shared about the highlights, accomplishments, and disappointments of the past year. We realized that life in the sustainable culture we attempt to create in this intentional community is dynamic and alive. It thrives by constantly moving forward.

It seems that there is no allowance for stagnation. In a lifestyle governed by our acceptance of the reality of spiritual values, these are ideals that we can apply to

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daily human living. There is no strolling on plateaus and plains of flatness for us.

Dedicated to implementing divine administration ideals in all areas of our lives, we climb the gentle slopes of rolling hills. We scale the steep sides of rugged mountains. When we think we ‘nailed’ the struggle of a difficult trek, we sit momentarily at the top for a rest. We realize that before us is another climb; another reach for a higher level of thinking, feeling, and doing.

In Balance with the Divine Pattern The Urantia Book tells us that idealism is “the approaching concept of the divine,” that idealism is “the higher urges of the soul and emanates from the spiritual forces that indwell the human mind.” In other words, true idealism and altruism come from spiritual leading. And though idealism is innate within us humans, we must opt to live by those ideals

every day with every choice.

We have the gift of the revelation of the life and teachings of Jesus (found in the fourth section of The Urantia Book) to inspire, educate, and encourage us in our struggles to live a life of true sustainability. His life and teachings, as well as the living spiritual forces within and around us, can help us reach for ideals within divine pattern.

Any act outside of divine pattern, outside of the Creator’s physical and spiritual laws based upon the supreme foundation of love and sustainability disrupts the balance of life and the chemistry of order and beauty on this world, even beyond our world.

What can we do about all of this? First and foremost, we must establish within ourselves on a personal level the balance of idealism within divine pattern and living it on a practical level. As citizens of

a troubled world, we too must step out in compassionate and intelligent activism for a kinder, more sane and sustainable world. Long-time activist and practical idealist Marian Wright Edelman once stated: “A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi to come back, but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.”

About the Author Niánn Emerson Chase cofounded Global Community Communications Alliance, a 120+ member intentional community at Avalon Organic Gardens & EcoVillage. She is a world-renowned spiritual leader, educator, activist, and prolific author of articles on society, spirituality, and sustainability. Niánn shares her visions and teachings revealing a global outlook toward a future of world harmony. http://niannemersonchase.org/ http://avalongardens.org/ http://spiritualution.org

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How to Do Group Meditation Using Crystals

by Andrew Pacholyk, MS L.Ac

Group Consciousness Using Crystals A group meditation is a wonderful tool for streaming one thought or “one consciousness.� Hence, it is usually a purpose-driven or one-inten-

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tion meditation geared toward a sole purpose for the desired outcome. You can sometimes experience this at the end of a meditation class or yoga class. This can also be experienced in a prayer group or even before a game or performance! Its aim is to honor yours (and others) highest spiritual hopes by bringing together the power of unity through conscious thought.

Another way of adding to this is by using crystals. I find that using a crystal cluster is a beneficial tool. Crystals, in rough form, have a raw energy in their untouched state. Clusters of crystals bring a “group” energy to its surrounding area. These stones are great to foster protection, cooperation, purification, harmony, friendship, intimacy and to break up negative energy in the environment.

a purpose matching your desires. Place this stone in front of yourself or a group of people. Choose to use a stone to enhance higher spiritual powers and bring into your conscious mind, the thoughts of Universal energy, humility, and selflessness.

A quartz cluster is the single most important stone you can use. It was “built” for this. Quartz is the Master Healer and the “stone of power”! Probably the most versatile multipurpose healing stone. Easy to cleanse, store information/ energy in, program or amplify energy and is used as a healing instrument. The natural tendency for quartz is for harmony. Quartz can both draw and send energy.

Therefore, it is effective for sending/receiving guidance.

Your Choice of the Right Crystal

Alternative Stones to Use in Group Meditation

Choose a stone that also has

Other cluster stones such

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as geodes, thunderstones, tourmaline, conglomerate stones or apophyllite, azeztulite or auralite are conscientious group stones. Try working with a raw cluster of barite or any of its variations (barite rose, celestite, anglesite, or angelite).

One will lead the meditation.

Choose a higher purpose to meditate on. This is often a loaded question, since we may not even understand what our higher purpose is!

For a group, you can take a general approach, for it will be the strength of the group’s intention that will reinforce the purpose. Therefore, it is a great way to help “bring awareness” to your own individual growth.

Consider a group meditation for growing and evolving, more compassionate moments of insight, more loving ways to give back, more appreciation of our loved ones, or for creating a more joyful life.

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Crystal Group Meditation Exercise Close your eyes. Take several long, deep inhales, with twice as slow exhales.

Try these three times together as a group. Then repeat it three more times. The purpose is to get everyone breathing together, in the beginning, to connect to one another’s presence around you.

Then allow each person to move their focus behind their eyelids. Then slowly, have them, move that focus to the Third Eye. It is here that one can connect with the crystal in front of them. Allow yourself to slowly start feeling the crystal’s pulsating energy.

Slowly feel it’s crystalline towers reaching out to impart wisdom on your “eye.”

Sense the tip of the crystal’s point, then, with your mind’s eye, travel all the way down

the crystal tip or crown, down its smooth, glossy surface to the bed of stone it is rooted in. Sense how the towering spike spreads out as it reaches the base and then aligns itself with its roots, reaching deep into its matrix.

Crystals Work to Transmit Energy As you gather strength at the crystal’s base, sense its energy start to rise again, as it begins transmitting energy back upward, in a cycle, through the crystal’s perfect structure.

Sense again the message or purpose you wish to exude and manifest. Use the stone to help you do this.

Feel the message as it transmits upward and outward through universal energy and “one thought” or prayer… rising above the physical structures of the crystal, our bodies, the room or circle you are in. Follow its light or

message through the sky into the heavens. As it gets out of mental and visual reach, let the message go.

It is on its way to do its job. All thanks to the power of one thought, transmuted by so many! Slowly bring the focus back to the Third Eye. Sense your presence back in the room.

When ready, move your focus to back behind your eyes, and then...slowly open those eyes.

I always suggest journaling about your experience, so that you can come back to it and perhaps find an even deeper meaning! Consider other great meditations.

About the Author Find additional ways of “Living Life, Consciously” from Andrew Pacholyk, MS L.Ac, at: http://www.peacefulmind.com/ meditation-village Therapies for mind, body, spirit

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Political Activism as a Spiritual Path

by Tess Pender

Activism - Expressing Our Highest Values How can political activism be a path to know God? What do those words even mean? From dictionary.com: Activism – 1. The doctrine or practice of vigorous action Omtimes.com

or involvement as a means of achieving political or other goals, sometimes by demonstrations, protests, etc.

2. Philosophy. a theory that the essence of reality is pure activity, especially spiritual activity, or process.

From Wikipedia: Modern spirituality is centered on the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” It embraces the idea of an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality. It envisions an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being.

Activism is a means of expressing and living one’s highest values. Once a person understands and adopts a spiritual belief system, the next step, traditionally, is to reject the trappings of the former life, and devote one’s self to living in alignment with the new system. Jesus preached his “good news” in every town, offering a method to reach salvation. For those who are

not born the Redeemer, we need another path. That path is to live a life guided by moral principles – and that means be active politically.

The Value of Human Life Demands Activism A simple example is the belief in the value of all human life.

The believer can give away all worldly possessions, but this carries limited effect. A more universal act is to change the system so to meet all individual basic needs. The political activist can feed the poor in violation of local laws, can work to pass universal care policies, or can work on providing minimal “life support” (food, shelter, health care) to everyone. All these are political activities designed to change society to align with spiritual beliefs.

Most spiritual and ethical systems start with respect and care for others, so, unless you have adopted Ayn Rand as your spiritual mentor, the next logical step on the path is to

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work for societal improvement.

The most effective way to do that is to get active.

While the mystics who separated from the world to live in seclusion and prayer may be admirable for their devotion, they did not change society. Feeding, educating, delivering health care and shelter are the actions that demonstrate love and compassion on this plane.

Hence, it is impossible to care for a soul driven from the body by starvation or illness!

The Demands of a Spiritual Life To know God is to understand the demands of the spiritual life, then to live those ethics and help others to reach the same awakening. “A people that recognizes itself to be the focus of God’s special concern, or that devotes itself to the exemplary life called for by the truth, also recognizes that it is responsible to manifest the highest standards of faith and behavior.” (WORLD SCRIPTURE:

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A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts, Dr. Andrew Wilson, Editor, International Religious Foundation, 1991).

Thus, the steps of awakening are: 1) Adopt a value system; 2) determine what needs to happen on earth to bring about that value system; and 3) get active with others (the polity) to make it happen!

About the Author Tess Pender is an ordained Interfaith Minister, active in 12-step programs for thirty years. Her spiritual practice began in Native American Sweat Lodges under the guidance of a Medicine Women, led to four Vision Quests. She led a Teen Spiritual Education Program for four years, teaches classes on accessing intuition, practices Earth-Centered Spirituality and co-founded two Wiccainspired groups. Tess can be reached at: www.facebook. com/Rev-Tess-InterfaithMinister-1333335763419001/

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With over 20 years of experience in event marketing/management, Carrie Turcotte has orchestrated hundreds of high profile events, spoke at numerous conferences, association meetings, and sat on many industry boards/committees.She is also an authorized associate with the Insight Learning Foundation. She has specialized in instructing others on personality traits for over 25 years and has integrated this knowledge into her everyday life.

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Relationships The interconnectiveness among all human beings and, consequently, the relationships among us are the focus of this section. The dynamics of the web of connections we make is one of the most prominent aspects of human existence: how we interlace with each other’s existence in a meaningful way.

6 Parenting Traps That Will Turn Your Kid into a Sociopath

by Marcia Sirota, MD.

Is it Possible to Raise a Sociopath?

Could You Be Part of a Parenting Trap?

How do parents turn their child into a sociopath? There are six parenting traps that, together, will bring out the very worst in any child.

Parenting Trap 1: No limits.

Parenting Traps, therefore, are behaviors that seem “nice” on the surface, so parents think they are “good” for their children. They are, however, very bad for them.

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Instead of setting clear limits and guidelines around their child’s behavior, they completely indulge and/or enable the kid. Thus, this results in them being selfish, self-centered, selfindulgent, greedy, grasping, insensitive, and/or uncaring.

Parenting Trap 2: No consequences.

They fail to give the child any meaningful consequences for these bad attitudes and behaviors.

Parenting Trap 3: Inappropriate reactions.

They minimize and/or find “cute” all instances of the child’s hurtful, selfish, impulsive, destructive, cruel, or thoughtless behavior.

Parenting Trap 4: No values.

They fail to instill proper morals, ethics, compassion, empathy, kindness or self-discipline into the child.

Parenting Trap 5: Inappropriate “protection.”

They also protect the child from receiving any in-the-world consequences of their bad behavior. This includes the child’s lying, conning, cheating, stealing, bullying and hurting animals or other people.

Parenting Trap 6: No perspective.

They repeatedly tell the child or indicate through their actions that the child is “special,” better than everyone else, and deserving of more than everyone else.

Parenting Traps Bring Sociopathic Results All the above parenting traps will lead to a child growing up believing that they are superior to everyone else. They won’t care about anyone else, and they’ll feel like they should be able to do whatever they want, whenever they want, to get what they want, without any consequences whatsoever.

If you want to be a truly loving, caring parent, therefore, be careful to avoid all the above parenting traps. If not, you are, in part, also responsible for creating a monster.

About the Author Dr. Marcia Sirota is a Torontobased board certified psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of trauma and addiction, as well as founder of the Ruthless Compassion Institute. Read Marcia’s latest books on creating successful relationships.

“Women Decoded,” helps men understand what women want and how to choose the right woman. “Back on the Market,” helps women successfully return to dating. Sign up for her free monthly wellness newsletter: http://marciasirotamd.com Omtimes.com

Love and Duality: Tapping into Absolute Love

by Daniel Mitel

Absolute Love Dissolving Duality “In love, on a higher plane, the inner one moves, merges into the other, and there is a feeling of oneness. Duality dissolves.�

--Osho When we are in absolute love, our minds cease to be; they stop functioning. The reason is Omtimes.com

obvious: when we are deeply in love, the present is the only time that exists, we are completely open without caring about the past or the future.

Our language is different when we are in love.

Normally, we are concerned to prove something; principles and beliefs, opinions and arguments are at the base of our language.

When we are in love, our language is concerned with our lovers, it helps their transformation.

It is a communication from heart to heart not a debate from mind to mind.

The Little Brain in the Heart The author, pioneer, and neurocardiologist Dr. J. Andrew Armour, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Montreal in Canada, discovered a sophisticated collection of neurons in the heart organized into a small but complex nervous system. The heart’s nervous system contains around 40,000 neurons called sensory neurites that communicate with the brain. Dr. Armour called it “the Little Brain in the Heart.�

It has been known for many years that memory is a distributive process. We cannot localize memory to a neuron or a group of neurons in the brain. This is big - a scientific confirmation that our hearts can make decisions independent and free of the brain, that our hearts have memories!

A few years ago, an interesting medical case happened: a

gentle, soft-spoken woman who never drank alcohol and hated football got a heart transplant from a donor who had passed away after a motorcycle crash.

She turned into an aggressive, beer drinking football fan.

The biker was a well-known football fan who drank a lot of beer. This is only one of many reported cases where something extraordinary happened to heart transplant recipients: they seemed to take on the likes and dislikes of their donors!

Heart Communication without Words How is unconditional love communicated between master and student? Through the Heart! The favorite language between the two is silence, quietness, and stillness. When the students meet the Masters, spoken words are almost irrelevant. The silence between words becomes important. Their compassion, their love, their gestures were important. Their eyes and their signals, their empathy and tolerance were more important than words.

On the subject of love and duality, the spiritual teacher Osho said that Krishnamurti Omtimes.com

and Zen systems are all concerned with how to create more consciousness because we are unconscious. They are concerned how to be more aware and alert; how to move from unconsciousness toward consciousness. But this is duality - unconscious and conscious.

Basically, Osho said that if we move from unconsciousness to consciousness we are moving from one duality to another.

Unless we move beyond both, we can never reach the ultimate.

We need to go beyond both states of being, we need to be neither the unconscious nor the conscious; just be!

Absolute Love - More Than Duality In our earthly experiences, only love can give us a glimpse into what Osho is talking about.

Only love goes beyond duality.

Only when we are in deep love, we become one rather than being two separates. We are two human beings, but inwardly we transcended the duality, becoming one. Duality dissolves and we arrive at absolute love, absolute oneness!

The Masters tell us that Omtimes.com

unconditional love is a beautiful journey that for a moment, helps us touch upon the absolute of love. This is the ultimate peak; then we will have to come back.

We get so dizzy up there, on this peak, that we need to go back to the valley. It is so elevated there that it is difficult to stay. So, we need to go up constantly again and again until we learn to pass the dizziness, the sensation of spinning around.

We need to learn to live on the peak, learn to live in absolute love. We might ask ourselves what is the difference. Well, when we are on our way to the peak we feel love, but when we arrive on the peak, we became love.

About the Author Daniel Mitel is a world-class master of meditation, helping people understand the intimate connection to their inner selves.

Interviewed and published around the world, Daniel’s books are highly regarded as some of the best meditation and spiritual guide books. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter, and discover more at www.danielmitel.com, and www. motivate-yourself.org

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Metaphysics

Before Evolution There Was Involution

by Marguerite dar Boggia

The Involutionary Arc of Ageless Wisdom Charles Darwin developed a theory of evolution, which changed the way we understood our place in the world; but he neglected to mention the involutionary arc.

Before there is evolution, there is involution.

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The ageless wisdom teaches that the involutionary arc is the term that applies to the first part of the evolutionary process. It covers the path of descent, or the coming down of spirit into ever denser matter until it reaches the lowest point, the point of densest concretion. We call the latter half of the process evolutionary. It marks the ascent, or return of spirit to its emanating source, plus the gains of the evolutionary process.1 Spirit is the electrical reality of “life” itself. The consciousness of man must be fully awakened before one can ever understand that great energizing something of which the other types of energy are but expressions.2 Involution and Elemental Natures The lives of Spirit that descend in involution until the lowest point of densest matter is reached are called “elementals.” Nature itself is composed of them for no entity anywhere can separate

itself from the “boundless all.” Although “elementals” is a generalizing term, a better use of the term would signify beings arising from the first in and of the seven elements of nature before other and more advanced evolution came into manifestation.3 The names of the classes of these elementals are too numerous to mention. We call these nature sprites, faeries, the sylphs of air, the undines of water, the salamanders of fire, the gnomes of earth, etc. When the elemental lives reach the densest element, to wit: the mineral kingdom, then they will be ascending on the evolutionary arc. We call these “devas”.

The church calls the devas, “angels.” These lives gradually evolve from the mineral kingdom to the next kingdoms, to wit: the vegetable, animal and human kingdoms and then to the three superhuman kingdoms until they return to their source: the “one life.” This is a picture taken on 10/15/12

by NASA of what appears to

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be an angel going towards the Sun. It is estimated to be twice the size of the earth.

god-sparks.’ Divinity is as much at the heart of every elemental being as it is at the heart of a god. But until that core of divinity evolves into manifestation, so that the entity is thereafter governed by the spiritual flame within as an ego or soul, it is said to be without a spiritual soul.5

Who Guides the Universe?

As a human being is composed of all the great elements: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Ether, thus the elementals which belong respectively to these elements, feel attracted to a human being due to their coessence. That element which predominates in a certain constitution will be the ruling element throughout the life.

For instance, if an individual has a preponderance of the earthly gnomic element, the gnomes will lead him toward assimilating metals--money, wealth, and so on.6

The whole universe is guided, controlled and animated by an endless series of hierarchies of sentient beings. Thus, each performs its mission. They vary in their respective sizes and degrees of consciousness.4 Some function as elementals, some as hierarchies of angels or devas. Their size, however, can be twice the size of the Earth or more. Some exist as gods, some as rivers of lives vitalizing galaxies, solar systems, planets, and all the kingdoms of nature.

Evolution means the unfolding, the unwrapping of what is within. In all cases, elemental beings are ‘unconscious

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Elemental Legends and Lessons of Involution Many beautiful legends and stories exist about the

elemental. Some of these romances or stories have even described the union of human beings. These are ensouled entities, beautiful and in some cases mechanically wise, but nevertheless ‘soulless,’ elemental beings of the cosmos. (As an instance cf. the mystical legend Undine, by De la Motte Fouque.)7 The elements of the cosmos are seven, not four. Four are manifest; that is, possessing a form, a vehicle or a body;) but there are also three higher or formless classes. Consequently, some of these elements composing the very fabric and structure of the universe, are spiritually, vibrationally high, and contrariwise, some of them are very gross and material. There are also those of an intermediate character; and the elementals that spring from each one of these elements partake in each instance of the character of the mother-substance out of and from which they are born.8

We understand elementals properly as the unevolved life-atoms of the several cosmic elements. The medieval European writers alluded to these beings, also the mystical and initiated writers of other countries, under different names.9 Involution and the Master Initiates What originates these lifeatoms from the cosmic elements? They are ‘thoughts’--for thoughts are ensouled energies; thoughts of the super-gods; thoughts of the gods; and thoughts of the daimones; (godlike beings) of the heroes; of men. Every thought is an ensouled energy.

As nature divides into seven cosmic substances, all classes of beings can trace their origin back respectively to one or to another of these seven mother substances.10 The Tibetan Master, D.K., took his Fifth Major Initiation in 1875. He worked through his amanuensis, Alice A. Bailey, dictating to her using mental

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telepathy. They wrote about twenty books together. He also suggested that the best way for a human being to evolve, is through “study, meditation and service.�

Therefore, for those eager to evolve more rapidly, I offer three pages weekly online of the Ageless Wisdom Teachings known by Pythagoras and Plato. And it is free; this is my method of service. If you have interest in expanding your consciousness, and moving beyond involution to evolving, you can contact me through my website.

About the Author Marguerite dar Boggia presently serves as Secretary and Membership Chairperson of ISAR (the International Society for Astrological Research). She formerly served as publisher of Kosmos, the ISAR Journal and as Secretary and Director of ISAR and UAC, (the United Astrology Congress). She was a cofounder of UAC. Read her

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published articles in the ISAR journal and in other publications. At this time, she offers free of charge three pages weekly online of the Ancient Wisdom Teachings as known by Pythagoras. Contact her through her website: www.

FreePythagorasTeachings.com References: 1. Bailey, Alice, A., A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, Lucis Publishing Co. 1925. p. 95 2. Ibid. p. 876 3. de Purucker, G., Invisible Worlds and their Inhabitants, Point Loma Publications 1987 p.

16 4. Blavatsky, H.P., The Secret Doctrine I, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, CA. 1963, Verbatim with the original edition, 1888, p. 295 5. Ibid. de Purucker, G. Invisible Worlds and their Inhabitants, p.

19 6. Ibid. pp. 18, 19 7. Ibid. p. 19 8. Ibid. p. 18.

9. Ibid. p. 18 10. Ibid. p. 21

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Life Stages Heads up for next 12 Months

Make the most of meaningful events and encounters and lessen the effects of any negative experiences.

Life Stages alerts you to specific occurrences, where you should best consolidate, or when to experiment; otherwise where to be cautious; when it’s down to you, or someone else; when to wait and when to act.

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Personal Growth & Development

Rising into My Destiny – Sister Jaguar’s Journey A Prayer by Sister Judy Bisignano

A Healing Plant Ceremony in Sister Jaguar’s Journey I never intended to coauthor the book, Sister Jaguar’s Journey with Sandra Morse, my friend and mentor who suggested I participate in a shamanic (healing) plant

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ceremony in the Amazon jungle. I sat at river’s edge and waited for my friends who were hiking the rainforest.

That’s when I spotted the black jaguar.

The shaman explained that the jaguar has a powerful spirit that purifies and renews life. When the native Achuar people see a jaguar, they know immediately that radical change is coming. In the spirit world, seeing a jaguar can trigger immediate healing within a person.

I wanted my experience of seeing the jaguar to imprint my soul forever. I started to write. My thoughts quickly reached my heart, then poured onto notepaper. The result is Prayers from the Rainforest.

Since first seeing the jaguar, then visiting the Achuar several times, my daily spiritual practice has taken a huge detour from the emptiness I experienced for decades as a Catholic nun. I no longer observe nature;

I am a fundamental part of it. Spirituality doesn’t just happen; I am a willing participant in its process. God is not some remote entity outside of me; I am an integral part of her creation story.

May your prayerful journey take you to the center of your soul as well as the outermost edges of the cosmos.

All My Relations, Sister Jaguar

Rising into My Destiny Opening Prayer: When soft rays of light ascend over the trees, it is always as if for the first time. Clarity of purpose rises with the advent of a new day. Dawn beckons with the invitation to begin anew, to see things in fresh ways. “Yesterday is past,” it whispers. “You have only today and all its possibilities.”

I join the Achuar by beginning each day anchored in stillness, taking nothing for granted; open to whatever the coming day’s gifts may be. It is the

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beginning of a new day and a new dream.

The morning silence is interrupted as Pachamama yawns in a new day. It draws from me a quiet prayer that leans on the presence of hope and requests that I seek her throughout the day. It all starts with the morning, the fertile soil that helps me realize my destiny to leave this world more whole and holy by day’s end.

Introduction: Dreams are the language of God spoken through the soul of Pachamama. Dreams allow me to recognize the immensity of life’s possibilities.

They allow me to articulate a personal legacy within local and global communities.

Dreams allow me to identify and bring my unconscious thoughts into this present moment of ordinary reality.

Pachamama has chosen a life path, a destiny, for me.

She desires that I achieve my destiny--my destination-before leaving this Earth. I

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become aware of my destiny by having the courage to confront my dreams. When I tend to my dreams, desires and destiny, Pachamama conspires to help me achieve them. My dreams are realized because they reflect her intentions for the planet. What I need comes easily because Pachamama moves freely through me.

When I communicate in and through my dreams, I perceive the world through the soul of Pachamama. I overlap my story with her story. The goal is to have one dreamone story-written in identical handwriting. Pachamama becomes the context through which I continue to write her creation story as well as my own personal story. To achieve my destiny is to fulfill my dreams, to live with integrity, to be whole and holy, to live in communion with Pachamama.

Reflection: The Achuar believe there is a dream dreaming them.

Because they relate to Pachamama through the

intimacy of their dreams and hearts, they have a sense of being known by her, understood by her and loved by her. All people, those in the South and those in the North, are part of this dream; part of this vision.

If there is a dream dreaming me, it is Pachamama’s vision of me. She is doing the dreaming.

And if I have a sense of being part of that dream, it is my heart’s vision of her. I am doing the dreaming. My seeing Pachamama, then, is really my awareness of her seeing me.

I no longer see myself as attempting to control nature.

I recognize my place in the natural world.

Thus, I partner with the wide scope of goodness, wherever it appears.

I commit to sustaining and sharing the gifts of creation.

I am a single link in a collective rise of consciousness that benefits all creation.

Hence, I recognize that the universe and life on Earth, including me, are in a continuous state of transformation.

I know that I am a thinking, loving being. I have the wisdom and courage to shift my mode of consciousness, to wake up to a new dream for creation.

Therefore, I have a sense of being known by God, understood by God, loved by God. I am part of her and she is part of me.

So, I look to fulfill Pachamama’s dreams as her dreams, too, look to fulfill me.

I know where and how to find Arutum, godly energy, that allows me to perform miracles in her name and on her behalf.

Closing Prayer: Pachamama, I ask: How can I immerse myself in you? You tell me: I must listen to and with my heart. My heart knows all things because it comes from you and will one day

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return to you. My heart has held the plan for my destiny for all eternity. The more I fulfill my destiny, the more I fulfill my dream and your dream for the world.

You tell me to: Quiet myself.

Listen.

Breathe slowly and deeply.

Pachamama, you tell me no heart suffers when it searches for its dream, Closing Prayer: Pachamama, I ask: How can I immerse myself in you? You tell me: I must listen to and with my heart. My heart knows all things because it comes from you and will one day return to you. My heart has held the plan for my destiny for all eternity. The more I fulfill my destiny, the more I fulfill my dream and your dream for the world.

Pachamama, you tell me no heart suffers when it searches for its dream, that is, its destiny, because every second of the search is an encounter with you and eternity. I discover new things along the way I would never have seen had I not taken risks on your behalf.

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Sleep soundly.

Dream and remember my dreams.

Pachamama, when I awake from my dreams, I feel my heart beating in synchronicity with yours. I know contentment and peace. I see things in fresh new ways.

Thank you for dreaming me into being. In doing so, I am certain you know me, understand me and love me. As I lean into you in the presence of hope, I have the wisdom, courage and grace to leave this world a better place by day’s end and by life’s end.

I seek wisdom to these questions: What is Pachamama’s dream

for herself? And what is her dream for me?

What dreams do I have that I want Pachamama to help me fulfill? Are my dreams for me the same as her dreams for me?

What would it take for me to know and embrace the dream-the destiny--that Pachamama has for me? How would my life change? Am I ready for these changes?

The Achuar and Pachamama are in continuous conversation with each other. As I listen, what thoughts and words are exchanged between them?

How can I participate in their conversation?

The Achuar go for hours consumed by the stillness of nature. They do not need words to communicate with Pachamama or with each other.

How is this possible? How can this be possible for me?

What can I do to encourage creative, peaceful dreams for myself and the planet? How

can I remember these dreams when I awake?

Nothing is more beautiful than the loveliness of the forest before sunrise. ~ George Washington Carver You do not have to understand the totality of the rainforest. All you have to do is recognize that one simple leaf represents a moment in time that Pachamama took millions of years to create. Then you will know her marvelous creation! ~ Anonymous.

About the Author Sister Jaguar’s Journey on Amazon: www.amazon. com/Sister-JaguarsJourney-Bisignano-Sandra/ dp/0990968812 Website: http://www. sisterjaguarsjourney.com/ Facebook: https:// www.facebook.com/ SisterJaguarsJourney/

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Exercising Safety from the Inside Out

by Crystal Presence

Safety & Our Sense of Independence As we first came into the world, we came forth within the flow of a greater intelligence guiding us in the manifestation of Omtimes.com

our physical bodies. Thus, we emerged from the womb and we were met with variety of conditions, some feeling good, some uncomfortable and frightening. We set out on the journey of discovering who we are and how to feel safe in our lives.

In times of not feeling safe, we conjure up ways to control ourselves to soften the truth of what is really happening. We also assemble an illusion that our caretakers are keeping us safe and meeting our needs.

Looking inward, we try to fix what we think is wrong with us. We focus our anger, the strong desire for change, inward. Turning anger in on ourselves becomes selfrejection. We then make up a false sense of self-importance to cover up the self-rejection.

An Illusion of Safety Gets Triggered A good example is Julie and John. Their parents had been too busy to adequately meet

their needs and give them a bonding experience of safety.

Julie and John were quick to assemble an illusion that they were safe, connected and bonded. They also assembled a false sense of independence, thinking they had to take care of themselves since no one else was.

As adults, when Julie and John feel threatened in their relationship, their illusion of safety gets triggered. The more they try to keep their illusion in place, the more they feel disconnected and separate from one another and their world. Julie cries and criticizes herself which is provoking to John and their relationship is deteriorating.

John acts out by rising up to feel self-important which is also provoking. They also try to control each other for fear their illusions are falling apart. They are so wrapped up in keeping their illusion in place, they fail recognize that the illusion is what keeps them feeling

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threatened and unsafe.

and other systems.

Robert Firestone, author of “The Fantasy Bond,” refers to this phenomenon as “fantasy bonding.” A fantasy of safety that is held in place by attracting, distorting and provoking one’s reality. From his perspective, all the labels we call mental illness such as neurosis, schizophrenia, etc., are different levels of the fantasy bond. The more deprivation and abuse we had, the more isolated and “crazy” we feel.

We know the resolution is within us, yet we still wonder how can we be sure we are really safe? Are we willing to uncover the truth of how we assemble our illusions of safety?

Are we disappointing ourselves by missing our appointments with power to co-create the safety available to us?

How to Resolve the Fantasy Bond?

Resolving the fantasy bond is tricky. We set up our fantasy bond in such a way as to keep it hidden from ourselves and others.

Meditation, therapy, and going to workshops still does not get to the core of it. We bounce back to feeling uptight, controlling and disconnected. It reflects in our families, politics, corporations, institutions

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The following is a Gestalt exercise for creating safety inside…

Gather four pillows.

Sit on one and put the other three in front of you.

You be the spirit that is guiding a conversation with your body, emotions, mind and heart.

Let each part speak and express their feelings and concerns about being part of you. For example, your emotions may feel angry that you try to control and avoid them. Then you respond from your perspective as their spirit.

Let all the aspects interact with each other in a similar way.

Acknowledge that you are empowering yourself.

Keep it going until you arrive at a sense of resolution, safety and alignment inside.

Receive the joy of creating safety within yourself while being a catalyst for safety in your world.

and Hudson, a great source of revealing the strength of your essential self by recognizing the many different thoughts, feelings and behaviors used to keep the illusion of control in place.

Ask the question, “What is the nature of experiencing safety from my inside out?”

More tips on creating our safety from the inside out...

About the Author

Move, express and circulate your energy.

Embrace the truth that we connect to a loving source who is always there guiding us in safety.

Trust your internal guidance system.

Change beliefs about safety and how to create it.

Notice any need to have to control yourself or others to feel safe.

Change the belief that someone needs to save you.

Conjure up the bodily felt sense of safety and practice it.

Avoid movies, media and stories that perpetuate fear.

Read the book, “The Wisdom of the Enneagram” by Riso

Crystal’s career began as a registered nurse and midwife.

With a passion to be part of ending suffering in the world, a five-day transformational event called “Freedom at the Core” was born. For the past 35 years, Crystal has been creating a safe, fun and nurturing space for people to discover what stands between their suffering and the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual freedom that they want. http://www.

CrystalPresenceOnline.com www.facebook.com/ crystalpresence www.facebook.com. crystalpresenceonline

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World Vision

When you look at the view of Earth from space, you are immediately in awe of what you do see: the incredible beauty of Creation. It is not until you look closer that you realize what you do not see.

You do not see lines partitioning countries.

You do not see separation between races.

You do not see division between religions.

You do not see the walls people build to isolate themselves from each other.

There is only One Planet. There is only One Humanity.

This section is dedicated to introducing thoughts and ideas to foster a greater understanding of Humanity’s interdependence.

Technology’s Impact on Humanity

by James Heim

Why our current technology culture endangers human diversity and freedom About 3.8 billion years ago, a type of molecular complexity arose on Earth, which we now call biological life. And for nearly as long these self-replicating

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structures - having evolved into countless forms - remained the only type of evolving complexities on our planet.

This changed about 2.5 million years ago with the advent of the first stone tools. The new type of evolving complexity which we now call technology - has been key for human development. It isn’t selfreplicating - yet. But with our help it has also evolved into a myriad of forms.

Over the last 200 years, technology’s capabilities have been increasing very quickly - particularly so since World War II. In doing so technology’s relationship with humanity is gradually shifting. In the times before industrialization, technology has taken a supportive role in our human endeavors. It was one aspect among many other defining aspects of human existence.

Modern Tech is Domineering Our Existence In our times, this is changing:

technology is increasingly domineering our human existence. The faster technological capabilities progress and the more varied they become, the more minutely and comprehensively human life will be defined by technology. This development - if left unchanged - is bound to steadily dilute and displace other defining aspects of human existence.

We have always been technological beings. But we are also, for instance, social, spiritual, artistic, and moral / ethical beings, with a sense of self and a sense of freedom.

In order to live out these other aspects of our human essence they must receive our basic human resources. These include our time and attention, our creativity, or cooperative abilities. By devoting ever more of these resources to technology creation and use, they are no longer available for all things not technology.

Our relationship with

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technology is becoming increasingly complicated. It’s easy to get lost in the great amount of both advantages and disadvantages that our technology culture produces.

But if our species is to be more than merely a very brief evolutionary stepping stone for the next big “evolutionary thing”, we must pay a lot more attention to the fundamental aspects of our relationship with technology. Following are three examples of these kind of basic aspects.

Instincts Regardless of all the able technology we’ve created over the last few hundred years, we are still biological beings, millions of years in the making.

Our most basic motivations and behaviors run deep. Even though the concept of “instinct” is not used for humans, using it nevertheless serves as a reminder of how deeply ingrained the motivations and behaviors are that compel us to

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invent and apply technology in the ways we still do.

Not acknowledging these archaic catalysts makes real change far more difficult. We stay blind to the root causes of our knee-jerk behaviors, vainly dealing with symptom after symptom.

Responsibility There are so many things to consider in our efforts to form decisions which do our ethical views justice. The flood of appeals to our sense of responsibility, understandably, makes us feel weary at times.

That our lives - for those of us who pay attention - have become so complex has a lot to do with technology. By increasing our technological abilities, we in turn expose ourselves to more and more intricacies that formerly were nature’s “responsibility”.

This kind of responsibility is not primarily an ethical one.

It is, first of all, a matterof-fact one. An example: if we humans create increasingly powerful means of prenatal diagnostics, we, by consequence, increasingly burden ourselves with questions of evolutionary selection. Perhaps it’s time for us to acknowledge that the speed and breadth of our technological development exceeds, by far, our managerial abilities.

Restraint Connected to the above two points is the one about selfrestraint. If we acknowledge the power of our deep-seated motivations in technology creation and use. And if we understand that by indiscriminately manipulating intricate circumstances intricacies that used to be embedded in the grand extent of nature’s overall complexity - we take on liabilities that are beyond our capacities. Then we may conclude that self-

restraint is in our best interest.

We cannot invent and apply technology the way our ancestors did when they came up with the spear or a better bow. By now, our realms of manipulation have become so fundamental that we must find equally fundamental new ways in our approach towards technology creation and use.

About the Author James Heim graduated with a Master’s in economics from the University of Zurich. He has worked with a Swiss foundation to bring technology companies to Switzerland. James’ work in this field, along with his close connection to nature, informed the research for his book. For more, see Voluntary Enslavement: Technology’s Fast Development Reduces Diversity and Freedom. http://www. voluntaryenslavement.com

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Books

Sister Jaguar's Journey A Nun's Ayahuasca Awakening in the Amazon Rainforest Sister Jaguar's Journey, a book by Sister Judy Bisignano and Sandra C. Morse, is the fiercely honest story of Sister Judy Bisignano, a Dominican nun, who after spending 68 years looking for God in all the wrong places, finally found the peace and divine connection she was looking for in the Amazon rainforest. It all starts with a simple invitation from Sandra Morse to visit the Achuar community in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.

Here in this place, with these special people, using plant medicine, she was propelled onto a new path. Guided by the indigenous wisdom of Pachamama (Mother Earth), and the sacred rituals of the Achuar people, she confronts and lets go of her turbulent, abusive, angry past, ultimately discovering that her life's purpose was not to be an American educator, author and nun but rather a compassionate human being.

In many ways, Sister Jaguar's Journey is the story of one nun’s transformational passage from self-rejection to self-acceptance, and from self-blame to self-love. It is, perhaps, the journey of each of us as we search for peace in this life and beyond. The Achuar call her Hermana Otorango - Sister Jaguar, and so will you....

For more information, or to purchase the book, click the cover or visit:

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MAGAZINE

May A 2017 Contributors Writers Andrew Pacholyk Crystal Presence Daniel Mitel Guy Finley James Heim John Burton EdD John Holland Judith Orloff, MD Marcia Sirota MD Marguerite dar Boggia Niann Emerson Chase Sister Judy Bisignano Tess Pender Victor Fuhrman

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