OMTimes Magazine August D 2016 Edition

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August D 2016

Cover Story

Relationships

24

92

Matthew McConaughey The Sea of Trees

Health & Wellness 44

Finding the Strength to Heal

Spirituality 50 52

How to Remove False Masks Wisdom is Born, Not Acquired

OM Living 60 66 68 72 74 80 86

5 Myths Around Debt and Fool-proof Tools to Bust Through Limitations Movie Spotlight - The Sea of Trees Know Thyself - A Mystic Vision Program Spotlight Conscious Business Seminar The Secret of Having Everything You Want 12 Ways a Sacred Bath Can Make You Happier OMTimes Radio Spotlight Linda Joy

The Power of Appropriate Relationships

Metaphysics 100 The Divine Solar Feminine and Ascension

Personal Growth 108 Nature and Nurture: Before We Were Us

World Vision 114 Women Shouldn’t Run Away from the Middle East

Books 120 Book Spotlight - Star Magic

MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY OMTimes.com

Texas native MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after leading men. A chance meeting in Austin with casting director and producer Don Phillips led him to director Richard Linklater, who launched the actor’s career in the cult classic Dazed and Confused. Since then, he has appeared in over 40 feature films that have grossed over $1 billion; and has become a producer, director, and philanthropist – all the while sticking to his Texas roots and “jk livin” philosophy.

2014 was a game-changing year for McConaughey. For his riveting portrayal of Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey received an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and Gotham Award for Best Actor, OMTimes.com

THE SEA OF TREES UP CLOSE & PERSONAL

the Best Actor Award at the Rome Film Festival as well as the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival. He also made the move to TV starring alongside Woody Harrelson in the HBO dramatic series True Detective. The show was met by rave reviews from critics and fans alike and earned Matthew a Critics Choice and TCA Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series as well as an Emmy Nomination. Later that year he starred in Interstellar, directed by Christopher Nolan, and also starring Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain.

In 2012 Matthew McConaughey was spotlighted in four diverse career-changing performances. He won a Spirit Award for his portrayal of Dallas Rising in Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, and was named the year’s Best Supporting Actor by both the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics for his work in Magic Mike and Richard Linklater’s Bernie. Matthew McConaughey also received acclaim for his performance in Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy, and was a Spirit Award nominee for playing the title role in William Friedkin’s Killer Joe. He followed this up in 2013 with the release of Jeff Nichols’ Mud, which received rave reviews and was a sleeper hit in the national box office top 10 for five weeks and Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, which opened in December 2013.

His other films include Brad Furman’s The Lincoln Lawyer, Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, McG’s We Are Marshall, Jill and Karen Sprecher’s Thirteen Conversations

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About One Thing, Bill Paxton’s Frailty, Jonathan Mostow’s U-571, Ron Howard’s EDtv, Richard Linklater’s The Newton Boys, Steven Spielberg’s Amistad, Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, Joel Schumacher’s A Time to Kill, and John Sayles’ Lone Star.

In 2008, Matthew McConaughey started The just keep livin Foundation (www.jklivinfoundation.org), which is dedicated to helping boys and girls transform into men and women through programs that teach the importance of decisionmaking, health, education, and active living. The Foundation has partnered with Communities in Schools (CIS) – the nation’s largest, non-profit, dropout-prevention organization –in West Los Angeles to implement fitness and wellness programs in two large urban high schools.

OMTimes was thrilled to talk with Matthew McConaughey and Ken Kao, the Co-founder and CEO of Waypoint Entertainment, a production, development company and Producer of the acclaimed Sea of Trees Movie.

SEA Of TREES: THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY It all began with a Google search.

Chris Sparling was surfing the Internet and somehow stumbled upon Japan’s obscure real-life geographic oddity – Aokigahara.

In this powerful story of love and redemption, Matthew McConaughey stars as Arthur Brennan, an American professor who travels to Japan in the midst of a personal crisis. As he wanders through a mysterious forest with a dark past, he experiences flashbacks of his fraught but loving

The Sea Of Trees was the best script I remember reading in the last five years.” "It felt like a bunch of beautiful haikus, back to back. It was incredibly surprising.

I got chills just in my reading of it." ~Matthew McConaughey

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relationship with his wife, Joan (Naomi Watts), and meets an enigmatic stranger, Takumi (Ken Watanabe), who is lost and injured.

Arthur devotes himself to saving Takumi and returning him home to safety, and the two embark on a spiritual, life-changing journey of friendship, discovery, and healing— one which may ultimately reconnect Arthur with his love for his wife.

When asked why he chose this movie, Matthew McConaughey shares his own perspective: “Lately, I've been choosing roles that scare me… and this one definitely scared me!”

The actor recalls, “Interstellar had just wrapped filming. It was early 2014, prior to the Golden Globes and months before the Academy Awards… before Dallas Buyers Club received awards don’t remember OMTimes.com

when. I just immediately knew then that I wanted to be a part of it. It was not one of those projects that I really had to deliberate. I loved the pedigree around the project. I loved the story itself. I loved the fact that Gus Van Sant was attached to direct and I loved the ‘Arthur’ character and the fact that this was something that was going to be highly challenging for me.”

“The Sea of Trees was a very internal and intuitive choice for me. I’d just come off shooting of Interstellar, which was ‘let’s go on a voyage way out there,’ and this one was all about ‘let’s take an internal voyage deep inside.’ At that time, I had just completed a very public month campaigning for Dallas Buyers Club and I was looking for a long quiet walk with myself in the woods. I needed some meditation… some introspection.”

“After reading Sparling’s script, I said, ‘Guess what? This is a beautiful story and also get to go have a job and get that introspection.”

OMTimes asked Mr. McConaughey about the Sea of Trees, and what was it all about.

very heavy-handed in effort to impress a message. This thing is just poetic. It’s going to let everyone leave the theater and have his or her own talk through the parking lot to philosophize about what it was about and what it wasn’t about, who Takumi was -- was he my spirit, was he Joan’s spirit? Was the forest actually an existential place?

“The Sea Of Trees is a life-affirming story that should leave a lot of people questioning their own lives, in good ways. When they leave the theater, they will ponder: what have they taken care of since they’ve been here on this earth? What do they still need to take care of while they’re here? What do they need to make amends for?”

Mr. McConaughey shared: “The Sea Of Trees deals with something spiritual. Some may see it, as it has to do with God. Some may say it has to do with reincarnation… literal purgatories, what have you. Many films that deal with that subject matter become OMTimes.com

The screenplay was poetic and it didn’t preach, but yet it was elegant and at the same time… gnarly.

You’ve got to go through annihilation to get to salvation. And we get annihilated. I get annihilated.

So it’s one hell of a survival story as well.”

There’s a quite a bit of action in The Sea Of Trees, McConaughey explains why: “The story drives along. It’s Biblical… there’s fires and floods and cold and loss of blood and near death.”

OMTimes asked how Mr. McConaughey would describe his character On Sea Of Trees.

“Arthur is someone who finds out that he’s got to make amends for a whole lot of things that he thought he didn’t have to. Arthur’s wife is violently taken from him. He decides he wants to fulfill a promise that

he’d given to her as to when it’s time to go; he’ll go and die in a beautiful place, a perfect place. He finds this forest and those good intentions are interrupted by a man walking through the woods.”

OMTimes asked Matthew McConaughey what were his expectations about how the audiences would perceive the message of the Movie.

“I hope audiences walk away and just check in a little, clock their own life, clock their own relationships, clock their relationships with people they’ve loved that aren’t even here anymore. Looking at themselves in the mirror… that’s really what the picture does is it’s an honest reflection for each one of us, in our particular way, to say, “How am I

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doing with my relationships? How am I doing in my relationship with myself?”

“If you believe in reincarnation, there are versions of that that say, you know what, you’re reincarnated to come back and learn lessons you did not learn the first time around.

It’s another—in this story, it happens in Arthur’s life live. He doesn’t die and resurrected to come back and learn lessons, he’s learning them through purgatory…going through death to get to life. So I think it’s a good picture to take a little inventory for people and everyone will be able to take a little inventory, not in a heavy way, but in a spiritual way.” ~Matthew McConaughey

Ken Kao: Oh, great, glad you feel that way. I do agree with your thoughts about that. You know, I’ve had a couple screenings recently, and obviously over the course of the last year or so, and I think a lot of people that have seen the film share those sentiments.

It’s great.

OMTimes Team continued the selections of interviews and also sat down with Ken Kao, the Executive Producer of “The Sea of Trees” and talked about how he helped to give birth to this project.

Christopher Buck: we enjoyed the film very much. And when I say it was very intensely inward, and really, I thought, made you think.

The Sea of Trees reminded us of--in a way of The Hero’s Journey but inward is far as outward, and it seemed to be a healing journey to the center of the heart of the main character. As Carl Jung said, “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”, and we thought the film was quite poignant in that effect.

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Christopher Buck: Why "The Sea of Trees"? Why did you pick this place as the most beautiful place to die?

Ken Kao: I can’t take credit for that because it’s obviously Chris Sparling who wrote the script on spec. But, you know, I would say that Chris who writes his idea from many people who actually do go to the Sea of Trees, or rather Aokigahara which is a real place in Japan where people have been committing suicide for the last few decades, if not even longer.

And I think for the Japanese it’s always been a part of their culture to commit suicide. It’s obviously an extreme thing but it’s not an uncommon event for them, and it’s something that dates back to even ancient times in Japan, and it still occurs every year. You know, the Aokigahara does have thousands of suicides, upping the number that happens every year, and people, and it’s not just Japanese people. You know, people actually go there--

travel from across the world as you see in one moment in the film.

That’s--it’s not, you know, that’s obviously a real person, and Arthur and Takumi aren’t real people but, you know, that’s the fiction of things of that actually do happen there. And, I imagine that's without being somebody who’s never contemplated doing that myself, of course, on a personal level, I think people do go there because it is a peaceful place for them. It’s--I think it’s unlike any other place I’ve been to. We went there to shoot for a week and having actually been there myself I think, you know, it’s a place for people to find a peace of mind I guess in an otherwise noisy world.

And, maybe it provides a start level of contrast for them, about where they live or where they live their daily lives.

Christopher Buck: It almost seemed like the mood that the forest itself was alive and was preventing them from leaving at the beginning. What was it like to film there? Did the place feel different?

Ken Kao: Yeah, I think part of it's the mystique and obviously the reputation, but I also think that atmospherically it really is a unique place. I think it got its reputation for a reason. You go OMTimes.com

there, and once you kind of start walking into for more than ten minutes, it becomes deadly quiet.

You know, it’s set on the lava. It’s at the foot of Mount Fuji. So there has been lava flow there over time, and so, there’s not a whole lot of wildlife, if any at all. And it has this--very unique, it’s very different than any other forest I’ve ever been to. And you start, as you walking you see these little memorials if you will.

You see people leaving flowers or photos at certain spaces, and the assumption is that those are places that have been memorial, that’s memorialized a place where somebody committed suicide. So, it gets real very quick.

Christopher Buck: The forest in the movie certainly seemed magic.

You know, when he entered the forest it was almost like going to a place where time stopped, a place of limbo. Do you believe that only through the journey within can one

reach self-forgiveness and redemption and absolution?

Ken Kao: I absolutely feel that way. I think, this is a story about a lot of things. But, like, in real life, life is also a part of a lot of things, and one of the things that you’re eluded to just now is looking from within. I think it’s easy to kind of get caught up in all the things around us and what we have. But generally or otherwise, we think that that’s going to satisfy us, but, you know, ultimately, it's about finding that affirmation in yourself in some way and looking at your own life and being mindful of what one needs to take care of, while we’re here.

To your point I think, you know, another element of this film is just an examination of how we all process loss and guilt in our own different ways.

Liane Buck: Yes, what I thought was very interesting about the movie was the fact when he realized that somebody else outside of him was needing help, he moved beyond himself to go beyond his own sadness and grief, beyond his own guilt, beyond his own shame to try to save that person. In the end, it was his compassionate nature that ultimately saved him.

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Ken Kao: I agree with your sentiments as well. I am happy that it triggered those types of thoughts in you.

Christopher Buck: It was interesting, and I seemed like his own past to self-redemption or selfforgiveness was through compassion and selfless service, and I thought that was a very intriguing.

Liane Buck: It is like he had to prove, you know, to the forest or to all these spirits that he was “worthy” to continue. The forest invested on him, somewhat. It was sort of challenging him like how do you like to survive that fall? How you like to survive after being hurt.

How you like to survive after this?

It’s more than a lesson on survival because he didn't want to survive initially.

Ken Kao: He wanted the other person to survive.

Liane Buck: Yes, he wanted the other person to survive, but it was kind of his alter ego, in a way. But anyways, I can go on and on here.

Ken Kao: Not at all, I am happy that this affected you in this way, and we can have this great dialogue about it.

Christopher Buck: The stranger Takumi that he met, we feel he was representative of what's called a psychopomp, which is a guide to help someone reach the other side, or not. In this particular case, it gave him the opportunities to find himself beyond his pain. How difficult was this to convey this kind of this imagery, when you were filming it?

Ken Kao: The imagery meaning what? The forest or Ken Watanabe's character in general?

Christopher Buck: No, his character in general, because he seemed on one hand, he seemed very human. On the other hand, he didn't necessarily seem real, and then we find out at the end he may not have been real.

Ken Kao: I think, again, I would attribute credit to that largely to the script obviously and the storytelling. It was always meant for Takumi to represent some type of spirit if you will, for lack of a better word, representation, a reincarnation, whatever word strikes your fancy of Joan's character. And, then, regarding execution, Ken always thought about when he discussed the character with us, he always thought about himself as, how am I OMTimes.com

a proper--how do I best become an avatar for Naomi's character? And, in the psychology of him as an actor was always to think about it in that way, and I think he did a really nice job. He was true to what he believed the Takumi character would be, a man, a Japanese man who's at this forest trying to process his own grief and survive this journey. And, then he also knew that he had to be some type of representation of an otherworldly representation of Joan Brennan, and then also, you know, to handle all those things simultaneously I think was--I think he did an excellent job.

Christopher Buck: We certainly thought so. I wasn't--what was the most difficult part of the movie in your opinion to bring forward?

Ken Kao: Well, we did shoot in western Massachusetts, which was pretty rough. We shot in a really smaller town, about Western Mass,

which was a couple hour outside of Boston. And, we were in all the forests, and its pretty rough terrain in there sometimes, you know.

They've got a lot of critters and ticks and everything like that, and, you know, our daily call sheets had a lot of guidelines and warnings, let's put it that way. So, you know, it was a bit of a physical marathon. You know, but other than that, you know, it’s the usual. It's just making sure that we dignify the material in a proper way, you know, from the actors and the directors, for Gus, all the way down to, you know, our crew. It's just making sure that we focus on the work and make the best film we can.

Christopher Buck: Well, it was, as I said, it was an awesome film.

And, we took our own messages away from it. What do you think, or what was the main message of the film that you wanted to convey, or you felt was to be conveyed through the story?

Ken Kao: Well, I think, if you'll allow me more than one single answer, I think to kind of go back to what I had mentioned before. I think I was drawn to this film, or rather the story. When I first read the script, nobody was involved yet, I was like, I need to make this film because I felt like it was such an important thing. It would be such OMTimes.com

an important message or story to bring to the world. And, I think that the beauty of it is that there're so many layers to it. We spoke about one already, I think this special lifeaffirming message in that, and it draws people to look at their own lives and be mindful of what, you know, that, you know, mindful of what they need to take care of while they're here. I think it's also about finding love and losing love, and what kind of awakening and, the consciousness that brings to you, whether that be a significant other or just somebody else in your life, friend or family, or otherwise that you love. You know, I think that it's also a reminder about being present.

Our world is so fast and complicated now in this day and age, I think it's important to take the time for yourself, those challenges that we all undergo on a daily basis. And, in this case, was an extreme example, but this is very much about Arthur's journey (Matthew McConaughey) to healing himself, you know, and healing his loss, healing his grief, his guilt with the relationship that never really reached its full potential. I think it's challenging for some, because immediately people wanted to dismiss this as, oh, it's a hard--it's about suicide. They want to know exactly what they're getting. They want to escapism or something like that, and that's fine. It's entertainment, this world. But, I had

the pleasure of doing a Q and A and screening with Pete Hammond in LA the other day, and he used the word demanding, which I think is a fair word. It is a demanding movie. It's not going to be spoon-fed to you.

But, I think it's also more rewarding in that way. I think if one was to take the effort to scratch the surface of this film, I think you can have a uniquely personal experience. And, it could be very rewarding, I think.

Christopher Buck: I agree completely on that. Most movies, they are mind candy. This one provoked, introspection and thought afterward, and I found that quite refreshing.

Ken Kao: Well, thank you. I appreciate your support. We need more people like you to advocate, not just this film selfishly, but, all films that make you dig a little deeper.

Liane Buck: It's part of our human nature to avoid washing the laundry, I mean feelings. And, they get really unbearable, overwhelming, and taking the sweetness out of life.

And, God, how many people we know that are living in this same predicament, just the amount of energy that it consumes to keep up with things bottled up inside,

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that's kind of overwhelming, too.

Christopher Buck: Now, the film right now, it's rolling out in theaters nationwide. Are there any particular future plans for the film?

Ken Kao: It's going to start--it's going to release next week, in limited LA and New York on the 26th, and then also be available at the same time on demand. And, then it's going to have a wide release-wider release in subsequent weeks throughout the country.

Christopher Buck: Awesome.

Well, we're looking forward to seeing in theaters, and up on the big screen. So, thank you very much for you time today, and thank you for making time for us and further contribution of yours to society.

Ken Kao: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for being supporters of the film, and it's really wonderful to talk to you.

KEN KAO (PRODUCER) is co-founder and CEO of Waypoint Entertainment, a production, development, and financing company. In 2014, Kao established Bloom, a film distribution, sales and financing company with veteran international film executive Alex Walton.

Producer Ken Kao

In 2014, Kao produced two Terrence Malick films. The first of these films is Knight Of Cups, which premiered at the 37th Annual Berlin International Film Festival in February 2015.

The feature stars Christian Bale, Natalie Portman, and Cate Blanchett. The second film is Malick’s yet-to-be titled project starring Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, and Rooney Mara.

Waypoint Entertainment is currently partnered with Joel Silver and Silver Pictures to produce The Nice Guys, a detective thriller starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Warner Bros. will release The Nice Guys, Summer 2016.

In 2015, Waypoint began production on film legend Martin Scorsese’s Silence, starring Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield. The project is scripted by two-time Oscar nominated screenwriter Jay Cocks. Silence is an adaptation of the 1966 Japanese novel by Shusaku Endo, which details a pair of Jesuit priests who face violence and persecution in 17th Century Japan as they attempt to locate their mentor and spread the gospel of Christianity.

A graduate of The University of Kansas and DePaul University School of Law, Kao practiced law in the high-tech, sports, and fashion industries for seven years prior to entering the film industry.

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Health & Wellness

Innovative new approaches to Healing as well as holistic methods for dealing with health issues and personal growth

Finding the Strength to Heal

by Susan Luschas The Struggle to Find Healing Is Real People are taught to go to the doctor when sick. They do exactly as the doctor says.

However, what happens when they still don’t get better?

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Many chronic illnesses have no cure. Illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, Lyme disease, migraines, arthritis, and seizures can leave a patient unable to function, work, and live a full life. As a result, doctors manage symptoms, keeping the person as comfortable as possible.

4. Dietary changes

A Will to Live Fully - The “Radical Remissers”

9. Deepening spiritual connection

So, what happens to the people who are determined to get better? You know, the ones who brainstorm their own ideas, consult with Dr. Google, and have a strong will to live life fully?

Most noteworthy is the number-two commonality Dr. Turner found, ‘Taking Control of Their Own Health & Healing.’ –But how?

The work of Dr. Kelly Turner on ‘Radical Remission’ from cancer offers some insight. She studied late-stage cancer patients who were sent home to die.

Below is a summary of the nine hypotheses, or common themes, of how these patients healed themselves: 1. Strong reasons for living 2. Taking control of their own health & healing 3. Social support

5. Herbs & Supplements - detox, digestion, immune boosters 6. Intuition 7. Releasing suppressed emotions 8. Increasing positive emotions

Finding Strength Tip #1 Calm Fear and Anxiety First of all, fear and anxiety compromise thinking, paralyze the mind with second-guessing, and close the pathway to inner intuition. Mindfulness and loving kindness meditation can calm this fear and anxiety. Below are some additional healthpromoting mantras: “I am healthy and strong.”

“I always look forward to wonderful future events and experiences, and I have them.”

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Finding Strength Tip #2 Practice Gratitude Gratitude brings forward blessings that are already present. In addition, gratitude is an acquired skill that takes practice. Sociologist Christine Carter, PhD, offers some practical ideas for practicing gratitude: Write a thank-you letter.

Savor good news, replaying and reveling in happy moments.

Before bed, think of three good things that happened during the day.

Finding Strength Tip #3 Do Something Enjoyable Every Day No matter how sick one may feel, do something fun.

It could be taking a walk, gardening, watching a new movie, or even spending time talking to a friend.

Finding Strength Tip # 4 - Release Suppressed Emotions Suppressed emotions can not only hinder healing, they can hinder self-esteem and sense of self-worth.

How can we release suppressed

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emotions? There are many different paths to emotional release. The author’s favorites are Neural Emotional Technique (NET) and Dr. Lee Cowden’s “Raging Process.”

Since Dr. Cowden’s “Raging Process” is not well known, here is a brief description (from the article of S. Forsgren in the Resources section): “Close the eyes, visualize the face of the angering individual, and do a “shouting out loud” about all the things that person may have done and the feelings that resulted. Emotions are often released which leads to healing… Choose to forgive.

Holding anger does not hurt anyone except the person holding it.”

Finding Strength Tip #5 Find Spiritual Connection Spiritual connection is close to finding faith. Faith in what?

Ultimately, faith in oneself to take control of the healing process. --Where does one find spiritual connection?

Religion might be an answer for some. For others, it might be stories, pictures, gardens, or anything inspirational.

Finding Strength Tip #6 Avoid ‘Illness Behavior’ Often, the chronically ill can fall into depression, anxiety, or what is commonly called, ‘illness behavior.’ Illness behavior refers to identifying oneself with the illness. The whole sense of self, online and offline, is the illness.

The identity of self as independent from illness must be maintained. A psychiatrist visit is one idea to help ensure that this is true.

A Final Word of Encouragement The power to heal is within everyone. Healing might be ugly, painful, and difficult. Finding the strength to trust oneself ensures the healing path will become illuminated.

Resources: Turner, Kelly PhD. “Radical Remission Surviving Cancer Against All Odds” HarperOne, 2014.

Carter, Christine PhD. “The Sweet Spot,” Ballantine Books, New York, 2015.

Erika Lawrence PhD, “The Impact of Chronic Illness on the Family,” IG Living, June-July

2012, pp. 21-25.

Jane Turner and Brian Kelly, “Emotional dimensions of chronic disease,” Western Journal of Medicine. Vol. 172 (2) (Feb 2000): p. 124-128.Roy Eugene Davis, “Guidelines to Inspired Living,” Truth Journal, Feb-March 2016, pp. 16-17.

Deepak Chopra MD, “How Meditation Can Help Anxiety.”

Susan Luschas, PhD “Social and Emotional Aspects of Healing,” May 29, 2016.

Susan Luschas, PhD “Lyme Disease Cure,” July 26, 2016.

Scott Forsgren, “Expanded Treatment Focus Markedly Improves Lyme Disease Patient Out....” Public Health Alert, 2008. (Dr. Lee Cowden’s Raging Process is on page 6.)

About the Author Susan Luschas, PhD, is an MITtrained scientist and engineer.

She had to find the strength to solve her family’s chronic health issues after no practitioners could. This process drastically transformed her awareness and relationships. In 2016, she published everything she learned, for free, on the website Debug Your Health. http:// www.debugyourhealth.com Omtimes.com

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.

How to Remove False Masks

by Sherrie Dillard

‘To Thine Own Self Be True’ –Shakespeare To know and express our authentic self, it is necessary to take off the false masks. In order to survive a difficult childhood, fit in with our peers, hide our emotional wounds and vulnerabilities or to be part of a group, we often become who and what others want us to be. Over time, we may begin to identify with these false masks and we forget who we are.

Eventually, these masks can feel more like a prison, than a coping strategy. No longer providing us with the safety and security we seek, we feel trapped by the false.

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ThereThe feeling of not living from the center of our power, the sense that there is something else that we are meant to be doing and feeling, an inner void and loneliness, are some of the signs that we have lost touch with our authentic self. When we continue to ignore these warning signs and persist in denying our true self, we suffer.

Hence, we feel hollow and empty and unable to experience true joy.

Remove False Masks Enjoy Authentic Living Authentic living begins with being able to discern and acknowledge our personal truth; however perplexing or unsettling we

may judge it to be. This is the fundamental building block from which all of our successes are built. Therefore, in our relationships, career choices, and all of the many decisions that we make on a daily basis, it is essential to know who we are. Otherwise, we only create and experience discontent and emptiness.

To take off the false masks, we need to speak our truth. We say, “no” when we mean “no,” and “yes” when we mean “yes.” We can be alert to when we allow others’ opinions and influences to quiet what we know in our heart and gut is true and right for us.

Before accepting an invitation or agreeing to take on a task or responsibility, we may need to ask ourselves if this is what we really want to be doing.

Discover Inherent Talents and Abilities If we are not sure, we can discover what we truly enjoy and what helps us to feel calm and centered. We can the take time to investigate dormant talents and abilities by taking classes or trying new activities. It is also important that we become more aware of when we are giving away our power to another or to a situation, and take it back. We can boldly

be who we are and, with kindness, express our feelings, opinions, and thoughts.

We are each an evolving and ever-changing mix of emotions, thoughts, beliefs, soul and spirit.

The work of self-awareness is to know and be true to all of who we are, even the conflicting and opposing aspects. Flow with the changes and challenges of life, and trust in the wise and loving masterful authentic self.

Additional Advice on Removing False Masks Finally, let go of the masks that suppress spontaneity. These limit the capacity to enjoy new opportunities and possibilities and experience a renewal. Strip away the false, and true intimacy with ourselves and others becomes possible. As we embrace the authentic self, we feel more alive and in sync with our soul’s purpose. We attract and magnetize that which speaks to and supports our true nature.

About the Author Sherrie Dillard is a best-selling author, psychic, medium and medical intuitive. www. sherriedillard.com https://www. amazon.com/Discover-YourAuthentic-Self-Happy/dp/073874 Omtimes.com

Wisdom is Born, Not Acquired

by Baba Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari

Is Everyone Born with Wisdom?

The spiritual journey begins with the deepest understanding that true knowledge is not acquired knowledge. It is not an

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intellectual, scholastic endeavor. Rather, it is something that begins with unlearning; with emptying, de-identifying, and deconditioning the mind to retreat back to its pure essence and wisdom.

That is the reason we find that a rustic, or so-called ignorant person, reaches God faster than the intellectual giants.

A Ramakrishna, Kabir, Tulsi, Nanak, or Jesus doesn’t come with intellectual patents in their bag. They only come with the richest possession of deepest yearning and love for truth.

It is one thing to know through reading or hearing, but knowledge acquired that way is only skin deep. It cannot see through the skin to the core of being of anyone in

this world. That is the reason we understand love in this world more from a physical dimension rather than the fragrance of the soul within.

The Tale of the Wise Boatman A physics professor having a boat ride asked the illiterate, simple boatman all about physics and cosmology and was surprised he knew nothing of it! Suddenly, the sky became overcast and they found themselves in a bad storm, the boat quickly filling with water.

The boatman then asked the professor, “Sir, do you know swimming?” Full of fear and panic, the knowledgeable professor said, “no.” And, in the next moment, the boat capsized and he drowned. The boatman, who knew how to swim, floated on the water and

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safely reached the bank.

What is the use of so much knowledge when we do not even learn how to swim?

After all, we have to cross the ocean of life! God has been kind to man to not only gift us with the sharpest intellect, but also the oceanic heart to fathom in its depth pure joy of union with the divine. The art of swimming is the art of love that celebrates only in giving and giving and asking nothing in return.

Why do we all crave knowledge and techniques?

And why do we so much want to fill our brain with more and more bites of information?

Can’t we have a world where we will fill each other’s hearts with more passion and love for humanity beyond the trifles of ego-inflating ignorance in the name of knowledge?

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Wisdom Passes Knowledge in Curing Ignorance We acquire knowledge, and become possessive about it, at times. Or, most often, obsessive about our ownership of that which is only the faintest echo of the truth.

Knowledge cannot cure our root ignorance; nor can it deliver us from the pains and agonies which we create for others and ourselves. It is more important for us to take the new journey of unloading, unburdening, unlearning the “word” and go to the deeper essence hiding behind the word; its intrinsic essence, the “wordless reality.” With awareness and awakening, we find the permanent cure of life’s maladies.

A person struggles throughout life to

create a personal profile to be marketable and acknowledged in the world. If that happens, success crowns that person. But out of all our efforts to create our “business card” is that who we are?

Hence, man alone can delve deeply into the cavity of the heart to unravel the mystery of “who am I?” Are you caught in the trap of your false identity on the business card? Do you hide behind all your academic degrees, or are you exploring every day to find the wisdom of who you are? It is only as you move on in life and mature more in the light of the wisdom of your spirit that you come to see the higher intentions of the infinite intelligence and Love that is God. It is only when you are in the moment that divine wisdom

dawns. As you begin to see with the eye of the spirit, you also see true knowledge is your eternal self.

About the Author Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari (Kolkata, India): Globally acclaimed motivational teacher (mindfulness meditation, stress reduction) author, peacemaker (Man of Peace Award 2012) Visionary social advocate; founded Lokenath Divine Life Mission, 1985. Serves thousands of poverty-stricken individuals in India. (Lifetime Achievement Award, House of Lords, UK, 2015) www.courseinmindfulness.com/ www.facebook.com/srisri. shuddhaanandaa amazon.com/author/ shuddhaanandaabramachari

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OM Living For those living a more Conscious Lifestyle

5 Myths Around Debt & Fool-Proof Tools to Bust Through Limitations

by Simone Milasas

There are many common misconceptions about debt. So many people feel the limitations imposed by debt each and every day. Let me show you just five of these myths and give you some fool-proof tools you can really use!

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Myth 1: I’ll never get free from debt People who have debt often feel that they can never change it; they can never get free. This is simply not true!

Everyone I know that’s been in debt has created more money for themselves. I myself have done it. Years ago, I was $187,000 in debt when I met Gary Douglas, the founder of Access Consciousness®. I started to use the tools of Access and to change my points of view around money. As I changed my relationship with money, it became possible to make more money and educate myself about money. Of course, the biggest thing is choice. I actually chose to commit to a life where I had money.

Myth-buster: It’s literally possible to change anything!

Myth 2: I tried before and failed, it’s simply too hard First, stop making yourself wrong. Judgment does not create anything. Second, realize that people often perpetuate

the same financial reality as their family and never question it. If your parents ignored their bills or avoided them, it doesn’t mean you have to do the same. You can always make a different choice. What if you could get out of debt joyfully?

Every time you think it’s too hard, say the Access mantra: All of life comes to me with ease and joy and glory®.

Myth-buster: Ask yourself, what is my point of view about money? What is my point of view about me with regard to money? Then be willing to ask for more in your life. Ask and you shall receive.

Myth 3: I just can’t figure out where all my money goes I find it totally amazing that many people have no idea exactly how much money they’re making or what their expenses are. I suggest you sit down with a pen and paper and write down your outgoings: your expenses, rent, food, utility bills etc. Not just the bare bones, but what you really

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spend in your life. Or, you could use a spreadsheet to record everything; that’s what I do. It’s just information, so don’t make it significant or judge yourself.

Figuring out where all your money goes will give you awareness of your entire financial situation. A lot of people avoid this knowledge hoping things will simply get better, or someone will help them out at the last minute. If you truly desire to get out of debt, you have to get clear on your finances. No one else is going to do it for you.

Myth-buster: Make a demand that from today - not mañana you’ll get clear on your expenses.

Once you’re aware of something then you can change it.

Myth 4: I’ll never have enough money One of the tools that really turned my finances around was setting aside 10 percent of every dollar that I earned and not spending it. I have a friend who couldn’t trust himself not

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to spend his 10 percent account on bills. So he tricked himself into having money - by using that money to buy silver! At first he’d buy a silver spoon for $40 or perhaps a kilo of silver. After a while, they added up and the energy of wealth started to creep into his life.

You can exchange silver for money, but it takes time and is inconvenient. He always found a way to pay the bill without liquidating his silver.

Myth-buster: Don’t use your 10 percent to pay your bills, look at what other income streams you could use to create the money. Your 10 percent is not for a rainy day. Invest it by buying gold and silver or things that you know won’t lose money. Or, just set it aside in an account and watch it grow.

Myth 5: I’ve got to settle for what I’m given When I first started going to Access seminars around the world, I did it on the cheap.

I traveled economy class and stayed in friends’ houses. This was

fine, except I like to get up early morning and start work, without tiptoeing around people.

At some point, sharing a bathroom with eight people no longer worked for me. So, I made a demand of myself that no matter what it took, and no matter what it looked like, I’d make enough money to stay in a hotel room when I went for seminars.

After a while, I got to a point where travelling long haul in economy class didn’t work for me. Again, I made a demand of myself to travel business class.

What I did was work out how to increase my frequent-flyer points, so I could put in for an upgrade. The energy of my life gradually became more what I was demanding, rather than having to settle for things.

Myth-buster: What if you always demanded more for your life? Start with the baby steps. How do you get enough frequent flyer points to upgrade your flights?

Getting out of debt and having money doesn’t mean all the problems in your life go away. Your life gets bigger and, if you’re willing to allow that, different doors can open.

So many people out there think money is the answer, but that’s not it at all. Money is just fuel. It gets you where you’re going. The fewer points of view you have about money, the easier it is.

About the Author Simone Milasas is a dynamic business leader with a difference. She got herself out of $187K in debt, and now travels the world sharing the tools that lead to her financial freedom and success through her global seminars and best-selling book, The Joy of Business. The next Joy of Business live seminar will be held in Denver from 1st 3rd September 2016, at the Warwick Denver Hotel. Visit http://accessjoyofbusiness.com/ class/2016denver101/

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NOW AVAILABLE: iTunes Amazon

The Sea of Trees Produced by Ken Kao Directed by Gus Van Sant Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Naomi Watts and Ken Watanabe In this powerful story of love and redemption, Matthew McConaughey stars as Arthur Brennan, an American professor who travels to Japan in the midst of a personal crisis. As he wanders through a mysterious forest with a dark past, he experiences flashbacks of his fraught but loving relationship with his wife, Joan (Naomi Watts), and meets an enigmatic stranger, Takumi (Ken Watanabe), who is lost and injured. Arthur devotes himself to saving Takumi and returning him home to safety, and the two embark on a spiritual, life-changing journey of friendship, discovery, and healing—one which may ultimately re-connect Arthur with his love for his wife.

Know Thyself – A Mystic Vision

by Kathryn Remati

“Know Thyself” –Plato Plato’s famous words are inscribed on the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, a place where the ancient Greeks would gather for advice from an Oracle. The Oracles’ mystical

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vision from the Gods would then be translated, for the population, by the priests.

After hundreds of years, has anything really changed? Are we still looking outside of ourselves for the answers? Is an outside source filtering and tainting our reality?

Have We Created a Matrix of Fear?

Yes, we are being bombarded by negativity from the culture around us. When did a snowstorm become catastrophic round the clock devastating news? Why are the least educated and ignorant given the camera and microphone the most?

We are at the point where the over exposed brainwashed masses now think it legitimate for a greedy, egotistical businessman to bully his way onto the world stage through media, money and no talent, just because they have seen him exiting his private jet night after night on television.

He looks presidential on the

promos for his reality show and hey there is also that word “reality” which helps make it seem even more real.

Obviously, the fear-based culture we have surrounded ourselves with hasn’t evolved very far from the times of the ancient mystics prophesying death and destruction from the war mongering ancient conquerors.

Evolve we must. People are starting to turn off the TVs, tired of the numbness and ignorance it produces. Why is the media so intent on scaring us? Sex and violence sell and now they have discovered that fear sells too. We need to stop buying into it.

Unplugging from the media matrix that dominates our focus will allow us to become aware of the truth that is right in front of us. The truth that no one can put a negative ‘spin’ on to sell more stuff.

Accessing Our Inner Truth

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An inner knowing is available to us through a simple meditation practice, that moves our awareness inward to a place that is free of labels, politics, religion, race and the illusion of fear. To an inner world where we sow the seeds of truth, integrity, intuition, love, and gratitude. Selfawareness will grow as we evolve enough to see ourselves in each other. We will see the similarities in the human race as opposed to the race distinctions that separate us.

Knowing thyself not through someone else’s ego driven ideas of how they want us to be, but finding our own path of peace is easier than we think. To spread peace through the world, we must first become peaceful ourselves.

That means going within via a daily meditation practice that will re-calibrate and reset our inner world to match up with the outer world. As Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote, “ Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile

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people live in a hostile world.

Same world.”

We can alter our perception to see less hate and fear and see kindness and equality as a normal part of life rather than the exception. Choosing loving thoughts is a great place to start. Next time we make that judgment call on another person, stop and think how we would want to be treated in the same situation. Give each other a compassionate break.

Finding Peace Through Meditation All types of meditation will give us the benefits we crave at this time in history. A Buddhist Metta, or loving-kindness practice, is especially helpful.

It guides us to see each other through innocent, caring eyes.

We don’t need to be a Buddhist to appreciate meditation. Any variety will cancel out the noise so we can find peace is within, love is within, truth is all around us, and we are

all actually connected on a deeper level. We are one big human family that can evolve by helping each other for the good of all.

Moving from a fear-based reality of separation that accentuates only our outer differences, to a loving and uniting vision of the world is essential for the individual and the global community.

Spiritualist Marianne Williamson is not alone when she speaks of extinction as a real possibility for the human race. Many in the scientific community join her. In her book “A Return to Love,” she warns us that our decisions individually and collectively can make the difference: “One thing, however, is sure: we are the transitional generation.

The critical choices lie in our hands. Future generations will know who we were. They will

think of us often. They will curse us, or they will bless us.”

We have come a long way from the times of following the crowd like sheep. We are waking up from a bad dream.

Our consciousness is starting to evolve to the point where we can truly ‘know thyself’ and know each other as one human species that all bleed the same color.

About the Author Kathryn Remati is a certified Meditation Instructor and creator of the popular Tranquil Spectrum meditation app for Apple. Kathryn completed a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Australia. For more information and to retain her services for a guided meditation workshop, go to: http://tranquilspectrum.com or follow Tranquil Spectrum on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook and Instagram.

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Conscious Business Seminar Live in Denver and Online What if YOU are the only one who truly knows how to create your business and your life? This September, the Joy of Business is coming to Denver and Simone Milasas will be giving you tools and practices to discover what works for you to expand your business and your life.

Simone Milasas is a world-leader on the creative edge of consciousness. She is the worldwide coordinator of Access ConsciousnessÂŽ, a multimillion dollar change-creating business and the founder of Joy of Business. She sees a world of possibilities and has a deep yearning to make a difference in the world and see more happiness on the planet.

The 1-day seminar, Access Business 101, has no pre-requisites, and is followed by 2 days of Access Business 102 if you choose to dive deeper.

These classes are for anyone desiring to create MORE. Join us and learn more at http://accessjoyofbusiness.com/denver Is now the time to create what you know is possible but haven’t been choosing?

To learn more about the Joy of Business, you can sign up for Simone Milasas’s 3-part FREE video series, Putting the Fun back in Business. Click the banner to sign up!

The Secret of Having Everything You Want

by Guy Finley

Everyone wonders whether or not there is one great secret for truly successful living.

There is. And it is not a secret.

It has been quietly, steadily telling itself right in front of us all along. We just couldn’t

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hear it over the clatter and chatter of our own secret demands. Listen quietly for a moment. Everything can change right now.

Learning to hear this supreme secret is no more difficult than choosing whether to swim against a current or to let it carry you safely to the shore.

Let it speak its wisdom to that secret part of you that can not only hear what it is saying but that is, in reality, its very voice.

Listen to it now. It is saying, “Want What Life Wants.”

Locked within these four simple words is the secret of an uncompromising power for effortless living; a new kind of power that never fails to place you on the winning side of any situation. Why? Because when you want what life wants, your wish is for life itself.

Here are two lists that will not only make these life-healing ideas more personal for you, but they will help you to help

yourself make a higher choice when it comes to what you really want from life.

Let’s look at what happens When You Want What You Want: 1. You are often nervous and anxious because life may not cooperate with your plans 2. You are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to get what you want, and this may include your integrity 3. You are usually scheming in some way to win your next victory.

4. You are either in a battle or recovering from one.

5. You are unable to rest quietly when you need to.

6. You are easily angered when someone or something gets in your way.

7. You are forever driven to want something else.

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8. You are against anyone else who also wants what you want.

9. You are certain that what you have is who you are.

10. You are always trying to convince yourself that you got what you want.

Now carefully consider the following When You Want What Life Wants: 1. You are never disappointed with what happens.

2. You are always in the right place at the right time.

3. You are quietly confident no matter what the circumstances.

4. You are out of the reach of anger and anxiety.

5. You are awake and sensitive to your surroundings.

6. You are free of ever feeling as though you’ve missed out.

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7. You are never thrown for a loss 8. You are in total command of events.

9. You are mentally quiet.

10. You are eternally grateful.

Always remember the following. If any want is the source of anxiety or sorrow, that want is yours and not life’s. Never accept the presence of any mental or emotional suffering as necessary, no matter how much importance these impostors lend to a particularly pressing want. By refusing their dark presence, you make space for the present moment to give you its indefinable presence.

This is where the life that you want -- and that wants you -is waiting.

Some might ask, “But what will happen to me if I give up my demands? Won’t I lose control of my life?”

The Secret about Control and Life You cannot lose control of something you never had control over in the first place.

No human being controls life -his, hers, or anyone else’s. If it weren’t for higher cosmic energies coming down, filling and animating your body right now, you couldn’t be holding this magazine in your hands or reading its words. If you want to measure the level of an individual’s stress, measure his insistence that life does as he wants. The only thing you will lose by learning to want what life wants is your fear of not being in control-which was never real control in the first place.

Here is the most important point of all. No human being needs control over life because, in reality, no one is apart from it. Who you really are, your true nature, is not separate from life.

Let life bring you itself.

Welcome it. At each instant, it is new, full-untouched and undiminished by any moment before it. To enter into this full relationship with life is to give yourself to your self. Fulfilling the true purpose of life is fulfilling your self.

(Excerpted from The Secret of Letting Go by Guy Finley, 2007 revised edition, Llewellyn Publications.)

About the Author Guy Finley is the best-selling author of more than 40 books and audio albums on self-realization. He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for selfstudy located in Southern Oregon where he gives talks four times each week. For more information, visit www. guyfinley.org, and sign up to receive a free helpful newsletter each week.

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12 Ways a Sacred Bath Can Make You Happier

by Dr. Paulette Kouffman Sherman

A sacred bath includes prayer, meditation, intention, essential oils, crystals and visualization.

It’s a consistent, inexpensive time and any bathtub will do.

In addition, sacred baths have a specific intention, meditation and prayer. They are done with a colored candle, a few essential

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oils and a crystal. All this energy supports the intention for that particular bath ritual, to build that thought form.

So, if our intention was to relax, we could have a meditation asking our guardian angel to help release our tension and burdens. A prayer could be for this angel to assist us in surrendering to love in that moment. Matching essential oils could be lavender for relaxation and frankincense for spiritual grounding. A matching crystal to place in the bath water is celestite, to release stress.

The candle could be white to represent peace.

Here are 12 reasons that taking a sacred bath can make you feel happier: 1. Self-Care: Having 25 minutes of enjoyable self-care (at least weekly) is incredibly important. It is therapeutic to connect with our selves, emotions, and spirit in silence.

2. Meditation: Meditation focuses our mind on an intention. Furthermore,

stilling our mind allows guidance to come in. It can release toxic thoughts and distractions. Research by Fredrickson, et. al., showed that people who meditate daily display more positive emotions than those who don’t. They also display more mindfulness, life purpose and social support, even three months after meditating.

3. Intention: Our intention directs our outcome in life.

Intention is the mental, emotional and spiritual context that aligns our feelings, thoughts and behavior. Research also shows that intention can manifest in physical reality.

Dr. Masaru Emoto asked 2000 people in Tokyo to focus positive intentions toward water samples in an electromagnetically shielded lab in California. There was a different location with water samples that the people didn’t know about, as a control. Ice crystals formed by both sets of water samples were blindly analyzed and photographed

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and the results indicated that intention did influence the structure of the water.

Thus, perhaps the thoughts feelings and intentions we hold when immersed in win the bath affects the structure and quality of that water.

4. The Law of Attraction: Our vibration consists of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. So, we can shift our vibration to become what we want to attract. Our sacred bath, therefore, allows us to release blocks and to focus on what we do want.

5. Visualization: We can visualize what we want to attract in every sacred bath. Research shows that visualization works. In one study, two groups never played the piano. One group played the scale and the other group imagined playing the scale. Afterwards their brains were scanned and the part of their brain that corresponded with finger movements was the same!

6. Call in a Higher Power: Part of taking a sacred bath is calling in a higher power

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or our higher self. This also helps us us to see the bigger picture and to get guidance.

Research suggests that calling in a higher power may aid depression and increase well-being.

7. Essential Oils: These carry the highest frequency known to man and have healing properties. Our bodies respond to different environmental frequencies.

And essential oils may cleanse our aura and clarify our vibration. Therefore, if our aura affects what we attract, clarifying it may help us to manifest our desires.

8. Crystals: These natural stones have their own vibration, color, and healing properties. Crystals cleanse negative energies so we feel happier. Each one has its own structure, frequency, and attracts different things.

They work on the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels to align our subtle energies. For example, using a quartz crystal in the bath may amplify and broadcast our energetic intent.

9. Ritual: A ritual is a set of actions performed for their symbolic value. In addition, research shows that rituals help us to value something more. Personal involvement allows us to feel deeply involved in our experience, which can heighten its perceived value.

Also, practicing something in a consistent way can heighten its efficacy. Rituals often bring us a sense of wholeness and well-being.

10. Journaling: After our sacred bath, we can journal about the guidance that we received while tracking the changes we want to integrate. Most noteworthy, research shows that writing about our feelings helps the brain overcome emotional upsets and it can leave us feeling happier.

11. Improve Relationships: We can take a sacred bath with the intention to attract love, to wash away a bad date or even take a sacred bath with our spouse to improve communication. As a result, this practice can raise the vibration of our relationship

and help couples to embrace a higher shared purpose.

12. Relax & Switch into our Parasympathetic Nervous System: Sacred baths shift us into our relaxed healing nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system handles “fight or flight,” preparing us for defense.

Our parasympathetic nervous system rebuilds our body, stimulates digestion, and aids physical and emotional healing. When we breathe deeply we shift into this healing nervous system, which enhances our sense of well-being.

About the Author Dr. Paulette Kouffman Sherman is a psychologist & author of The Book of Sacred Baths, published by Llewellyn. The Book of Sacred Baths has 52 bath rituals in the areas of relationships, health, career, emotions, finances and Spirit, one for every week of the year. It’s available on Amazon now. Her websites are www. sacredbathing.com and www.

DrPauletteSherman.com

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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.

The Power of Appropriate Relationships

by Crystal Presence

What are ‘Appropriate Relationships?’

Appropriate relationships are relationships we know to be good for us. First of all, they are fun, inspiring and empowering.

They align with our values and give us clarity on why other inappropriate relationships never worked.

The word “appropriate” refers to being suitable, fitting or right in any particular circumstance.

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The wonderful thing is that we each have an internal guidance system that allows us to feel and know what is appropriate for us at any given moment.

With all that said, have you ever noticed that the topic of “appropriate relationship” is often a touchy subject? How some people become reactive when the concept is mentioned?

How the concept of appropriate relationship is rarely talked about in ways that would make a difference in people’s lives?

Think about it....

Getting Creative with Relationships We sense that the relationships we dream of are “out there” somewhere. Quantum physics helps us understand how we create our realities. We get excited about creating relationships that will meet us in the passion of taking full responsibility for our lives.

Furthermore, we intend our relationships will appear in their perfect timing, as we become more and more clear on what we want.

Even with all our good intentions, we sometimes find

ourselves feeling powerless to create the relationships we want. We settle for inappropriate relationships, with the hope they will provide us with the following: • Security • A sense of belonging • Fulfillment and happiness • Someone to blame for our lack of fulfillment and happiness.

• A person to join us in holding back as a way to feel safe.

• Someone to control and manipulate us, as a way to avoid taking responsibility for ourselves.

• Engagement in playing out the different roles that collective consciousness thinks it needs to keep things together and under control (the caretaker, the responsible one, the victim, etc.)

• On-going validation that there is something wrong with us to justify why we cannot take responsibility for our lives.

• Someone to settle with who Omtimes.com

goes along with the fantasy that the relationship is working.

Unfortunately, inappropriate relationships require lying to ourselves, draining our power and ignoring the effect we are having on the people around us. We feel touchy and reactive when we know others are aware what we are doing. Furthermore, we are hesitant to admit that we are holding back out of fear, powerlessness and guilt around using our relationships inappropriately.

The Good News in Appropriate Relationships The good news is: Inappropriate relationships can be dissolved, resolved and evolved. No one involved is bad or wrong.

Therefore, each person can take responsibility for changing the form of any inappropriate relationships they have. They can make the change in a loving and empowering way.

The following exercise can bring clarity and resolution into the nature of appropriate relationships:

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• Gather together a group of people who want to participate in learning how to make their relationships better.

• Ask them to huddle as close as they can in the middle of the room.

• After being in the huddle for a while, ask them to notice how they feel.

• Ask them to notice who they want to be close to, or not close to, at any given moment.

• Let them know they are free to move around whenever and wherever they want.

• Ask them to bring awareness into what other people are choosing (some people pulling out, some shifting to a different parts of the huddle, some being content where they are etc.).

• Ask them to notice if they have any hesitancy to let people see their preferences.

• Encourage them to be flexible, adjust and move to wherever feels best.

• Give them time to think about, feel, and explore their choices.

• Ask if they notice whether their choices build their power or drain it.

• Assure them that the choices they are making are all okay and part of the process.

• Assure them that the appropriateness of a relationship is flexible and can shift back and forth.

• If a relationship is not working for them, do they think it is working for the other person?

• Highlight that when they let go of an inappropriate relationship, they create space for an appropriate one.

Insightful Questions to Ask Participants As the exercise is coming to a close, ask participants to think about the relationships they have in their lives right now. Due to everything they have learned, who would they choose to work with? Who would they choose as friends? And, are there any they

would want to be at their dining room table?

Also ask: Who do they want to be intimate with? Who have they been settling with?

Are they willing to shift into appropriate relationship with anyone? What feelings and beliefs are coming up as they explore this?

Finally, conclude the exercise with this question: What is the nature of experiencing the ease, joy and empowerment of appropriate relationships in my life?

About the Author Crystal Presence is an author, coach and facilitator. Her career began as a registered nurse and midwife. For the past 35 years, Crystal’s passion has been creating a safe, fun and nurturing space for people to discover what stands between holding back and the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual freedom they seek. http://www.

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

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Metaphysics

The Divine Solar Feminine and Ascension

by Ahtayaa Leigh

It’s happening. We rapidly approach the end of a major cycle of fear and separation. We also enter a new cycle of peace and harmony.

Many thousands of emissaries of light, now in position around the globe, are ready to anchor the next influx of high frequency light. This will reach us in waves from the great central sun between now and 2018.

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These upcoming waves of light are being channeled to us through the divine solar feminine aspect of the 12th dimensional golden ray. Its mission is to balance and unify us, within and without. Thus, it brings us into alignment with universal law and divine order.

Development of the Solar Feminine Outside the central still point of creation, the universe is always seeking to find balance.

Opposites make up the realm of duality. There is light/dark, male/female, increase/decrease, yin/yang. The sun (traditionally all masculine) and moon (traditionally all feminine) have been considered opposites too.

However, in reality this is a gross oversimplification and one that has caused the energies of the masculine and feminine to become disqualified throughout the dark ages.

For many thousands of years, as we passed through a cycle of separation from wholeness, the earth’s energetic polarity has been tipped in favor of the masculine. For most of this time the feminine has been undervalued, ignored and in many cases even demonized.

The feminine has been associated with the subconscious, hidden, and often darker side of humanity. By conceptualizing in this way we forgot that the sun and moon actually contain both polarities, just as we do. We will only find balance and unity when we remember and embody the truth that the all is in everything.

Solar Feminine and Soul Re-calibration As the Earth now moves closer to our source of light, the galactic center, it is necessary for our souls (sols) to be recalibrated. In this way, our light bodies can receive the higher frequencies of light.

The trigger for this recalibration and activation of our crystalline light bodies is the divine solar feminine aspect of the golden ray. It arrives with the purpose of bringing the masculine and feminine aspects of the divine back into unity and balance. It also uplifts us all with the qualities of peace, balance, harmony, courage, strength, beauty, creativity, unconditional love, compassion, abundance, and joy.

The divine solar feminine Omtimes.com

energies channel to us through the Pleiades star system and Venus. This pathway was chosen by the creator for a very specific reason. By stepping down the golden ray through these predominantly feminine cosmic entities bring back into balance the masculine and feminine polarities of Earth.

The Energies of the Solar Feminine Bring Balance The Mayan civilization revered both the Pleiades and Venus.

They knew that during the dawning of this new cycle these celestial bodies would play an important role. They serve in rebalancing our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical bodies.

Thus, it allows us to integrate the higher frequencies of light.

Incarnated into every culture are crystal humans. These crystal humans are channels for the golden ray to enter the Earth’s consciousness grid. Crystal humans facilitate activation of the diamond light codes, triggering the upgrade of our collective DNA. When the light quotient we receive from the galactic center is high enough the crystal humans awaken to their purpose. That time is now.

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When our light bodies become crystalline we can embody Christ Consciousness.

Therefore, we have the experience of wholeness and oneness with the creator.

The solar goddess is here now and she is the key to the next phase of our transition. She is both nurturing and courageous and she will bring us much comfort during these final phases of transmutation. May we all feel her strength in our hearts and her joy in our souls as we herald the new golden age of peace.

About the Author Ahtayaa Leigh is Founder of Gold Ray Healing™, an energy healing technique that channels the Golden Ray. Walking the enlightening path of physical and emotional transmutation leading to spiritual rebirth, Ahtayaa dedicates her life work to guiding others through the process of deep healing and transformation. Learn more about her work at goldrayhealing.com and connect with her on Facebook at Gold Ray Healing.

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Personal Growth & Development

We grow as individuals as we face challenges and overcome life’s obstacles. This section is dedicated to helping you chart your course.

Nature and Nurture: Before We Were Us

by Judi Lynch

Do Nature and Nurture Both Play a Role in Who We Are? At our birth, we are new in human form but not in consciousness. In consciousness, our spiritual self has always been; the soul, alive in light.

Born new in these bodies, we’re waiting to discover amazing, incredible things about this Omtimes.com

Earth and ourselves.

The first human faces seen, the touch of another person, the sound of voices and activities around us help form our first impressions. We are accepting and innocent, non-judgmental but curious. As we grow, we experience a unique life only we can understand as we also take

on others words, actions and vibrational energy around us.

As small children, we friendly accept other beings like us. We are not aware of differences in color, religion, political affiliation, etc. until something or someone makes us feel we should be. Before we became adults, before we formed alliances, opinions, oppositions and separation, we only understood the importance of connection. In that connection, there is unconditional love, acceptance, gratefulness and most importantly compassion for other human beings.

From Where Does Our Acceptance Originate?

Maybe you heard a few things from a relative or family friend as a child that made you question the blind acceptance of others who believed or looked differently than you.

In that instant, you made a choice to ignore, argue with or explore their opinions to decide for yourself. Children can sometimes be extremely honest and also brutally cruel to others who are different.

Where do these thoughts

originate? A myriad of things influences our abilities to show and feel compassion for another. Our experiences with parents, siblings, close relatives, friends, social media, the entertainment industry, reality shows. The list is growing!

If you take all those distractions, judgments, and control dramas away to sit in a room with just the purpose of understanding one another, many conflicts can be healed. When we can have honest, intelligent conversations flavored with integrity, compassion, and a real purpose to heal a situation, we can learn to rise above the negativity.

Before We Became Who We Are...

Before anyone told us we shouldn’t, as children we believed in magic. We knew we were spiritual beings who could feel, hear, see and know being in life was special. We were happy before anyone told us anything scary or mean.

Wondrous creatures, we wanted to talk and walk before we could crawl. Inside every one of us who may feel fearful, sad, unworthy or defeated that incredible child still exists. The

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one who believed in fairies and dragons is still alive. That part of your soul that wants to dance, sing and feel the music for the first time.

If we can keep remembering who we really are in spiritual consciousness all the other things which weigh us down can fall away. Our hearts and minds can truly be reprogrammed by our ability to evolve the thoughts of separation and judgment.

We can transform into understanding how and why we thought we were apart in the first place. The fear we have nurtured has to be quieted and replaced by courage to change.

Spiritual Oneness and Our Essence Even though it may seem otherwise most recently in worldly events, more people than ever on this Earth want peace between us all. When collective energy is given its true voice and power the momentum of real change will begin to grow louder, stronger and real progress will be known. Our spiritual oneness can far surpass what organized religion, rules and dogma have done to keep us separate.

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The love of our children and the legacy we leave with them should matter to each and every soul on the planet, if we are sincerely working towards making this a better place to exist. It begins in the hearts and minds of everyone who feels empathy. We understand the miracles of unconditional love and acceptance. These are the seeds we need to plant if we are to grow enough love to drive out anything that causes harm to our humanity and our evolution as spiritual beings. We can remember who we were, at that time, when all we knew was love.

About the Author Judi Lynch is a psychic medium, intuitive counselor, healing channel and author. She is president of the Crystal Healing Foundation, Inc., a 501(c) spiritual charity and featured columnist for OM Times Magazine. She has authored two books, Friends with Lights and Conscious Ascension, and has read for clients all over the world. To learn more or contact for a session see psychicmediumjudilynch.com or email judi@ judilynch.com

GROUP MEDITATIONS

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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.

World Vision

Women Shouldn’t Run Away from the Middle East

by Chivvis Moore

The Welcome of the Middle East When I arrived in Cairo in 1978, I was welcomed into the home of an Egyptian woman, the sister of someone I’d met only briefly in the Omtimes.com

United States. The questions she asked, within minutes of meeting me, surprised me: What does it cost to get a university education in the U.S.? What do American women earn in comparison to men in the same jobs?

She asked the same questions raised at the time by feminists in my own country. In striking contrast to the Western image of the helpless, unthinking, beaten-down Arab woman, Nahid, was a natural homegrown feminist.

She was the first of the many females I met during my years in the Arab world.

Ladies whom I respected and admired for the strength, inner fortitude, and selfesteem that I came to see as characteristic of Arab women.

Hardships of Life for Women in the Late-’70’s In Egypt in 1978, most women had harder lives than those in the USA. In the poorer Arab countries today, women

still have less opportunity for education. They do more physical work, without the aid of washing machines and dryers, freezers, and dishwashers. Fewer families have cars than families in the U.S.; shopping is more difficult, traffic and stores more congested, many buildings have no lifts.

The Arab women I met in Egypt in 1978-79, and in Egypt, Syria and Palestine later, in 1991-2008, confronted the whole array of challenges.

Challenges that all of us, except the wealthy, have to face—working outside the home and yet, doing the work inside the home as well.

But from Nahid and the other women I met, I got the distinct impression they valued and respected themselves as much as or more than I or many more in my own society.

Freedoms for Arab women were more limited than those in the USA, it seemed to me.

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Nevertheless, they carried their heads more proudly, seemed surer of themselves, and appeared more comfortable in their own bodies.

Comparing Culture for Women in the Middle East and the U.S. In the United States, we consider showing more skin as modern, and therefore preferable. Many American women wear low-cut dresses and short skirt, and both genders wear tank tops and shorts. We view the long dresses and veils worn by many Muslim women as backward and repressive. How quickly we accept what is around us: by the time I had lived in Cairo a year, the flesh displayed by tourists of both sexes struck me as unattractive, as well as culturally appropriate.

Back in the U.S., I wear shorts again. Certainly, some Arab Muslim countries require women to veil. But when I

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lived in Arab countries, I knew Muslim females who covered their heads to indicate their difference from Western ways.

Others veiled because they believed that God required of both men and women a certain modesty in dress, as set forth in the Qur’an.

Most who make judgments about Arab women’s status blame it on Islam. They equate Islam with the violent and repressive rhetoric and practices of the Taliban in Afghanistan, or of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But Islam is a peaceful, tolerant religion.

In the time of the Prophet Muhammad, many of its tenets were progressive in their treatment of all human beings. Most Muslims want as little to do with the values of ISIS or the Taliban as you or I.

How Treatment of Women in the Middle East Differs Countries in the Arab world

differ in their treatment of women. Saudi Arabia bans women from driving, although in the countries in which I lived and visited, they can.

These laws come not from Islam, but from men. Men, who have always had the power in those societies, as they have traditionally in ours.

Just as the founders of the U.S. kept women as slaves and decreed white women unfit to vote, the men who have ruled Arab countries have kept rights for themselves.

They justify their actions by their own interpretation of religious texts formulated centuries ago. But the Qur’an is open to as many interpretations as the Torah and the Christian Bible.

In every country on the planet, women activists and writers work to change the practices that hurt them. For the U.S., it is domestic violence, trafficking of women and

children, and gang rapes on college campuses. While in the Middle East, it is early marriage and clitoridectomy in parts of the Muslim world.

Across the Muslim world and beyond, women interpret the Qur’an and the Traditions of the Prophet in ways that make sense to them. Female Arabs and Muslims are working to change their societies just as American feminists are working to change ours.

About the Author Chivvis Moore is the author of First Tie Your Camel, Then Trust in God. She lived in the Middle East for 17 years, working in Egypt, Syria, and Israel, before teaching at Birzeit University. Before her journey to the Arab world, Moore earned a B.A. from Harvard University. She also worked as a journalist with The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, and the Daily Review in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Books

Star Magic

In his new book from Findhorn Press, author Jerry Sargeant writes about how he discovered a healing system that he believes is possibly the most powerful healing tool on Earth. The book is called – Star Magic Heal the YOU-Niverse: Rooted in Love, Not in Logic.

Sargeant describes how he discovered the ability to heal after experiencing using a serious road accident. Sargeant as his subtitle suggests tells us that this hard to believe healing method is ‘rooted in love and not in logic’ and that he has successfully removed tumors, restored eye-sight, dissolved fibromyalgia and more. Star Magic comes from the use of an extraterrestrial light frequency and according to the author everyone carries the potential to create miracles.

The book goes on to explore the five main ingredients of Star Magic; love, intention, imagination, knowing and light. It is presented as a healing modality for healers or anyone wanting to explore their own YOU-Niverse and unleash their full human potential. Sargeant works at a level of superconsciousness, by harnessing extra-terrestrial light and sound codes traveling through ether.

Sargeant explains how riding the rhythm and vibration of time, sound and energy takes the healer into a world that knows no logic but still makes perfect intuitive sense. It is a world known to Ancient Civilizations who used the same channels to communicate with the beloved allies of the Spirit World. It is these same guides who work with the author to perform distance healing and psychic surgery.

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MAGAZINE

August D 2016 Contributors Writers Ahtayaa Leigh Baba Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari Chivvis Moore Christopher Buck Crystal Presence Guy Finley Judi Lynch Kathryn Remati Paulette Kouffman Sherman Sherrie Dillard Simone Milasas Susan Luschas

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To learn more, visit humanityhealing.org

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