OMTimes Magazine September A 2018 Edition

September A Issue

Nick Ortner

MY MAGIC BREATH

August A EDITION

what's inside this issue

Nick Ortner

UNITY IS OUR SALVATION

Interview

7 Ways to Recover from Emotional Burn Out

Healing Through Different Dimensions

Our Soul’s Evolution through the Mind’s Eye

Are YOU Intuitive?

Feng Shui, Mini Mountains and Mini Lakesf

Evolving to a Compassionate Outlook

Looking to connect with the Conscious Community?

Let OMTimes point the way!

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September A 2018

Cover Story 24

Nick Ortner - My Magic Breath

Health & Wellness 44

50 54

7 Ways to Recover from Emotional Burn Out Healing Through Different Dimensions Late Summer and the Doyo

Spirituality 62

64

Do You Know How Powerful You Really Are? Our Soul’s Evolution through the Mind’s Eye

OM Living 72

76 82

Feng Shui, Mini Mountains and Mini Lakes Nurturing the Muse Vastu, The Yoga of Interiors

Relationships 88 94 98

5 Ways to be Emotionally Independent In a Relationship Evolving to a Compassionate Outlook Is Technology Making it Harder to Find Love??

Metaphysics

104 Crystals Associated with Strength 112 Unity Is Our Salvation

Personal Growth 120 How to Access the 3 Parts of Your Core Creativity 124 The Seven Levels of Inspiration

World Vision

130 Are There Animals That Are Not Sentient?

Books

138 My Magic Breath

Interviewing

Nick Ortner OMTimes Sandie Sedgbeer

Nick Ortner is probably best known as the New York Times Best Selling Author of The Tapping Solution series of books, which have helped millions of people across the globe find

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freedom from mental, physical and emotional pain, stress, and challenges. A leading teacher and proponent of the benefits of Meridian Tapping and mindfulness, Nick Ortner is now advocating for teaching tapping and mindful breathing in schools and to preschoolers to help them deal with the escalating stresses of everyday life as well as the trauma and anxiety of specific situations.

Sandie Sedgbeer: It’s been said, Nick, that despite all our modern-day advantages, today’s children and youth are facing one of the worst mental health crises in decades.

Is this what inspired you to write your latest book on tapping, My Magic Breath, which is designed as an entry level mindfulness tool for preschoolers?

Nick Ortner: Yeah, absolutely.

You know, those early are so formative and we can be influenced by so much around us. Kids have influences that they’ve never had before. We

tend to forget that cell phones and iPads and all this different media coming at us and social media is really very, very new and certainly nothing that I experienced.

If I think back just to my childhood, which, having just turned 40, wasn’t that long ago, none of these things existed.

And it provided for, you know, a different life experience. It comes with good and bad, and what we are trying to do with My Magic Breath is to mitigate some of the bad¾i.e., not slowing down enough, not taking the time to breathe, to be present, to just be in the world.

Sandie Sedgbeer: I recently hosted an online summit on rethinking education with Daniel Goleman, Daniel Siegel Siegel, and Congressman Tim Ryan, who secured funding in 2009 to teach mindfulness in classrooms in his congressional district. Given what’s happening on the world stage, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at the news that stress, depression, anxiety and mental health issues are on the rise, not just among adults but also among adolescents and children. But, what surprised me when I Omtimes.com

hosted this symposium - and also gives me cause for hope - is that even as people are feeling more pressured, exhausted and anxious about the future, many are responding by taking action in a new way, just like you said slowing down, paying attention, and gaining awareness of the inner resources at their disposal through simple practices such as mindfulness and tapping.

So, what you’ve been doing for the last twelve years or more is tapping in to what people need right now. So, I’m curious to know, what attracted you to Emotional Freedom Technique in the first place?

Nick Ortner: Yeah, great question, and I love that you mentioned Tim Ryan. He’s become a good friend of mine, and a champion in this kind of thinking.

But, back to your original question: it was about fifteen years ago that I was first introduced to EFT, to tapping. I found it online.

I’d always been interested in personal development and self help, and I’d heard a little bit about tapping before but I hadn’t tried it. It still seems strange to me at times, even though I’ve dedOmtimes.com

icated my life’s work to it, that we can tap on these endpoints of meridians of our body, and somehow they can bring us emotional and oftentimes even physical freedom.

But, when you hear about something enough times, you say, I’ve got to give this a chance; this many people can’t be crazy, right? So, I tried it. At the time, I was following Gary Craig, the Founder of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and Carol Look and other teachers.

So I followed their instructions and directions and started using it in my life.

It began as a practice of using it personally, and with friends and family. The running joke at the time was don’t say anything is wrong around Nick because he’s gonna make you tap on it.

I was just so excited about the power of this technique in so many different instances. I tried it with one person after another, and I got such incredible results time and again, and so around 2007, I started to do some coaching on the side with it, and decided to make a documentary film about the process. That film eventually became “The Tapping

Solution.” It was released a year later in 2008, and I’ve spent the last decade sharing that film, writing books and just spreading the word about tapping in any way and every facet that I can.

Sandie Sedgbeer: For the benefit of any listeners who don’t know, tell us how and where it first originated and how it works.

Nick Ortner: It’s got a long history, but it’s modern history starts around 1980 with Dr. Roger Callahan who was a traditional psychologist. He was working with a client named Mary who had a severe water phobia. He’d tried every traditional therapy with her over the course of about a year and a half; one psychological technique after another, with little to no results. In fact, Mary would get awful migraine headaches from doing the work because it was painful for her to think about it and explore it.

One day, they were at his home office sitting by his pool looking at the water, doing some basic exposure therapy, and Dr. Callahan had said, ‘Tell me what you feel when you look at the

water,’ and she said, ‘I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach.’

And he’d been reading about the Chinese meridian and acupuncture systems and had read that the stomach meridian ends underneath the eye. So, on a whim, of through divine inspiration, he said ‘Try tapping underneath the eye while you look at the water. And she did so, and her phobia cleared¾I mean, in that very moment, in just a minute of tapping, her fear vanished and the butterflies, were gone from her stomach.

It’s one of those unbelievable tales that I see happen all the time with tapping. But, you can imagine Dr. Callahan’s shock when that worked so profoundly. So, he took that knowledge and he built upon it and developed Thought Field Therapy (TFT), which is still around and still very effective.

Thought Field Therapy has different points and different sequences of tapping for different issues, and one of Dr. Callahan’s students, Gary Craig, said, ‘You know, this is a little confusing to do different stuff for everything, so why don’t we do all the points at the same Omtimes.com

time, simplify the process, and share it with the world.’

And that’s what Gary Craig did.

So, he developed Emotional Freedom Technique, which is the basic process that I’ve been using for the last fifteen years where we do the same tapping sequence for whatever issue we’re dealing with.

And what the latest research is showing is that beyond the meridians and the acupuncture system, where research is catching up on what ancient cultures have known for thousands of years, when we tap on these endpoints of meridians, we send a calming signal to the amygdala, the fight or flight stress response center in the brain.

So, when you’re anxious, angry, overwhelmed, or it’s the amydala that is firing. And when we do tapping, we’re sending a calming signal, in a sense rewiring the brain, turning off that alarm system that is firing. And that’s why it works so effectively on so many aspects of our life, because so many of them are related to the stress, the anxiety, the overwhelm, the pace of modern life.

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Sandie Sedgbeer: And tapping in itself is a very mindful practice.

Nick Ortner: It is. You know, so many people ask me is it the tapping that does it? Is it the words you say? Is it this or that? couple of components, right?

When we tap, we normally take a moment to actually focus and acknowledge the issue.

And that by itself is a powerful process. That is mindfulness at play; instead of being angry, taking a moment to say ‘I am angry’¾and the tapping process normally starts with, ‘Even though…’ and you fill in the blank with what you’re feeling.

So, ‘Even though I’m angry…’ there’s mindfulness of how you feel. I’m acknowledging it. And then, ‘Even though I’m angry, I love and accept myself,’ or ‘I choose to relax now.’ So you’re becoming present to that feeling, acknowledging that this is the truth of how you feel, and then using the tapping process to let it go.

I think it’s that combination that is really magical when you put all those components together.

That’s why people have such extraordinary results. People will say to me, ‘You know, I’ve

been angry my whole life, but I’ve never admitted it, or I’ve never been present to it, or I’ve never acknowledged it.’

Or, ‘I’ve been angry my whole life, and I felt guilty and full of shame for being angry. The world told me not to be angry, my parents told me not to be angry, so I had to push it down and swallow it.’

What we do with tapping is create a safe space to acknowledge that this is the truth of how we feel. And that, by itself, is a healing process.

Sandie Sedgbeer: At what point did you start thinking about teaching this to children?

I mean, I know you’ve got an incredible video online that’s had over 44 million views of children in schools practicing. But, did that come before your books or after your books for children?

Nick Ortner: It came after. So, it probably arose out of having kids. My younger brother, Alex, has used tapping with his three kids. He wrote our book Gorilla Thumps and Bear Hugs, which is another kids’ book that is specifically for tapping, after his experiences with his two sons and daughter. The other

thing that’s been happening for me personally especially over the last couple years is that I really feel my role in spreading the tapping message is to take something that can be a little esoteric, something that, though it might be normal for those interested in personal development and self-help, but is not necessarily the way most of the world operates, and say, ‘How can I take these tools and concepts and translate them for a lay audience.

And that has evolved in the last couple years as I’ve been thinking about what we can do with children, making it easier to get it into schools and do it with kids. It certainly takes some adjustment. In working with teachers and schools in the past, sometimes the approach would be, ‘Well, this is the process that you do with the kids.’ And, yes, we need to explore the trauma that the kids may be facing at home and their deeper psychological issues, the teacher would often say that the space they have to do anything outside of the curriculum is five minutes.

And I’d think, Okay, what can we do that is at least a step in the right direction, that isn’t going to fix every problem every Omtimes.com

problem these kids have, but at least begins to open a door? So that’s where we started working.

And that same kind of thinking applies to my latest book, My Magic Breath, which isn’t about tapping. It’s simple, it’s directed, it’s a couple breaths lightly taken at night or in the morning, at the start of a class, it’s opening a door. Those couple of breaths aren’t going to be the answer to a seven-year-old child’s deeper psychological issues, but they could be a step in that direction.

Sandie Sedgbeer: How do you get the children to be interested in being mindful, in thinking about their breath and practicing tapping?

Nick Ortner: I know it’s a selfserving answer, but the books are created for exactly that reason, because it is tough for a parent to say ‘Let’s do this, let me teach you this.’ It’s so much easier to say ‘Let’s read a story,’ right? ‘Let’s read about these kids and the challenges they had. In Gorilla Thumps and Bear Hugs my brother ingeniously developed all the points into animals, so they have the lion cry point and the dragon fire point Omtimes.com

and the wolf chin point. I’ve actually found adults tell me that they remember the points better now because they have the animals, so it’s not just for kids.

It’s the same thing with My Magic Breath:’Let’s take a couple breaths and blow it out on the page and smile, making it interactive, fun and different.

The other side in terms of teaching kids is just being that example yourself. Time and again, I’ve heard parents say, ‘I tried to get my kid to do this, they wouldn’t do it, they pushed it away, but then I started using it,’ and two things happened: one, they started releasing the stress, so they interacted and acted differently with their children in a healthier, more positive way, and, two: their kids saw them doing it, and they were curious. It wasn’t something that was pushed on them; it was like ‘Oh, what’s that thing mommy is doing, let me try it, too.’

So, take the passive approach, whether it be the books or doing it yourself, let them come to you. Don’t think, Okay, I’ve got to do this because I’ve got to fix them.

Sandie Sedgbeer: The other nice thing about My Magic Breath is it also encourages the parents to be mindful as they’re trying to teach the child.

Nick Ortner: Indeed.

Sandie Sedgbeer: Nick Ortner, let’s talk a little bit more about My Magic Breath. One of the things that I love about My Magic Breath is that it’s not only beautifully illustrated, very colorful, very bright and attractive, but it also addresses the fact and brings home to parents that even small children can suffer stress and anxiety.

Nick Ortner: Yeah. That is such a big component. I think as adults, we tend to think¾and I understand the instinct¾what could kids possibly be stressed about? Right? Like, they get fed, they don’t have anything to do, if they’re younger they don’t really have homework or pressure for grades in schools, and they don’t have to hold down a job and so on. But, the reality is they’re navigating life just like we are, and they’re navigating things that, sadly, even a lot of adults haven’t mastered, but it’s brand new to kids, like how to regulate

emotions, how to interact with people, how to get what you want in the world and push away what you don’t want.

So kids absolutely are stressed. And then the other component¾and not to pile on the guilt and shame but I think it’s important for parents to recognize this¾kids feel their parents’ stress or any adult caregiver’s stress in huge ways. We all do. We all pick up on other people’s energy and emotions, but kids are so open and so vulnerable. So, if mom or dad are coming home stressed and anxious, even if they’re putting on a smile on their face or thinking that they’re not showing the stress, they are, and the kids pick up on it.

That’s why My Magic Breath is an opportunity, especially before bedtime. That’s one of my favorite times of the day when I sit with my daughter June and read storie,s and just relax and breathe; bringing this extra moment of mindfulness during that time is so valuable.

The book just came out a few months ago and I’ve heard from parents that their kids are opening up to them in Omtimes.com

ways that they weren’t before.

They’re telling me that when they do the breathing and think the sad thought and then blow it away, their child relaxes and they start sharing what’s going on.

And I’ve heard the same stories with tapping; finding the space to take a couple deep breaths, let go of what we picked up during the day, process our emotions. Then we can talk about it, we can communicate, we can make decisions, and we can move from that safe place.

Sandie Sedgbeer: Everybody’s teaching social and emotional learning these days, and My Magic Breath is a wonderful book for kindergarten teachers to read to the children at story time, to gently open up the door, as you say, for children to begin to talk about their emotions and what they can do with those emotions when they’re getting out of hand.

Nick Ortner: Absolutely. And the reason the book is called My Magic Breath is so that instead of having to say ‘Remember to take a deep breath,’ or ‘use deep breathing,’ you can just say ‘use your magic breath,’ and Omtimes.com

the kids know exactly what that means.

Sandie Sedgbeer: You’ve said that your life’s work is to help fellow seekers, those searching for a better life and those looking to create a better world in finding paths to self healing and self realization. What is it that inspires you and keeps you going?

Nick Ortner: Oh. You know, I see the potential in simple practices, because if we look at tapping and at mindfulness and breathing, they’re not complicated practices. They’re not ones that require decades of study to gain results. I think that communication is everything, and I think that’s the component that is missing.

So, I’m inspired by finding ways to communicate this message and these concepts and ideas to the world at large. These practices that existed, they’re out there, they’re available.

The question is how do we get people to use them, how do we, in essence, market self help to them, market mindfulness to them. It sounds funny, but we’ve got to do a better job of marketing mindfulness.

So, I’m driven by the opportunity to share that message. And I’m especially excited that so many more people are coming online. You know, in the more developed world we tend to forget that many people still don’t have access to these resources in any shape or form. But, that’s changing quickly. People are getting smartphones in some of the poorest parts of the world.

And, yes, for all the ills that that can bring with social media and all the challenges we face, it also provides the opportunity to bring so much good for people to connect them to the rest of the world to share these resources.

The thing that I’m spending the majority of my time right now is developing an app for The Tapping solution that should probably be ready in a few months. late fall. I’m passionate about the app because it’s a delivery vehicle for people to use tapping, to use other techniques when they need them, when they are facing challenges.

And what I love about tapping, and this is where my work is going with it, and with

breathing and mindfulness, is to ask ‘What are the small interventions that we can make on a daily basis, what are the little changes that we can make to relieve some of the anger, to relieve some of the stress?’

There’s certainly practitioners and experts out in the world that are extremely qualified at doing the deeper work when it comes to healing the self and trauma; work that I think is so valuable and so important. And I admire their work, and study and explore it. And my role is to say how do I help someone relieve a little bit of the burden that they’re carrying around and help them open the door for that deeper work. I think all too often, we try to jump in too quickly and make changes that are too radical. So, I like to just provide people with a little bit of stress relief, and that’s what gets me excited every single day.

Sandie Sedgbeer: With s excites me about your work is its potential to help children, because with statistics showing that ten million American children are annual victims of domestic violence, 25 percent of all students report bullying, 3 million adolescents age 12Omtimes.com

17 have had at least one major depressive episode in the past year, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 15-34, it’s clear that our children need help and they need resources, and what you’re doing is offering them one instant, provable solution to some of their problems. So, let’s talk about your own foundation and how you came to be involved with the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation and Scarlett Lewis.

Nick Ortner: I met Scarlett Lewis shortly after the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, where I’ve lived for the last seven years.

I grew up in the town next to here, Brookfield. I went to Brookfield High School. We played soccer against Newtown.

This has been my community for the majority of my life, since I was seven years old when I moved to Brookfield.

The Sandy Hook school shooting took place ten minutes from my house. it became even more powerful when it’s in your hometown, and so as the rest of the world watched and was shocked and grieved by the horrible tragedy, Omtimes.com

I grieved with them.

I’m sure people have seen the pictures and read the stories about Sandy Hook and about Newtown, which is what I would have considered one of the safest places in the world. People treat each other well, the Connecticut landscapes and the towns are beautiful, and as people always say, you never think it would happen here, right?

So, in the couple days of shock after the shooting happened, my first instinct was obviously, well, I know that tapping works extraordinarily well with trauma and PTSD, and here I am, and I’ve got to do something. We had been doing work helping Rwandan genocide survivors in Africa and some children with cancer in Mexico and veterans with PTSD. The business itself had been supporting those causes. So, my brother, sister and I, who all work on The Tapping Solution together, formed The Tapping Solution Foundation for just that purpose, to take that work to the next level and help this community and other communities.

So we put out an email to our

list saying we’re doing this, we’re available, we’re here in town, looking for volunteers and monetary support, seeing what we can do. And it was probably five days or so after the shooting, I remember it was a dark rainy night, when Dr, Lori Leyden who led the work in Afrida, and I went over to Scarlett Lewis’ house. Scarlett had lost her six-year-old son Jesse just a few days earlier.

We sat, we talked, we cried, and we did some tapping together.

I showed her the technique and explained that this wasn’t going to erase the sadness and the grief and the loss of her son, which, nothing can ever do, but it can help with the anxiety and the trauma, and it can help lighten some of the other burdens in life that make that challenge even more unbearable.

Scarlett had good relief from it.

Her son JT was also there in the room. He was 12 or 13 at the time and obviously devastated.

He didn’t want to go back to school, didn’t feel safe but didn’t want to tap in that moment, either. So, we let him be and kept working with Scarlett.

And then Lori had this

amazing insight, and I think this little part of the story speaks to the idea of not pushing something on someone and finding the right avenue for the healing.

Lori had been working with genocide survivors in Rwanda for several years, and she had her Project Light Ambassadors, these children who had lost their parents and family that she had trained. And she put together a Skype video call between JT and the Rwandan genocide survivors. They talked, and the Rwandans taught JT how to do the tapping, and he not only felt that burden lift, but was felt so connected to their tragedy and was so inspired by their story that he went back to school a couple days later and raised money for Project Light in Rwanda, and then started his own foundation.

And from all that energy, Scarlett started the Jesse Lewis Choose Love foundation to teach social emotional learning.

It’s been unbelievable watching her journey, and how her curriculum and all the teachings are now being brought into schools. And tapping is one of the modules that we created for Omtimes.com

her curriculum, so as her work gets out in the world, tapping gets out in the world as well.

And that is the tragic and joyous story of Scarlett and JT Lewis and the incredible work they’re doing in the world that I’m just proud to be a part of and support.

Sandie Sedgbeer: It must give you enormous satisfaction to know that you’ve contributed to that. For let’s not forget what happens when our kids do not get the help they need ¾ situations like Sandy Hook and others that have occurred since.

So, it really is critical to help them as young as possible.

Nick Ortner: 100%, I agree.

You know it’s very easy to talk about forgiveness, but when Scarlett talks about forgiving Adam Lanza, the murderer of her son, you know she means it; you feel it to the depth of your core, and it’s even more powerful when you’re with her in person. It’s her truth and it’s awe-inspiring to be around that energy. I can’t say I would be able to do what she’s done, but I aspire to it. Her book Nurturing Healing Love and the stories in it are profound. So, Omtimes.com

yeah, check out her work Sandie Sedgbeer: Is it astonishing to you to think that you were surfing the internet one day, came across tapping, and suddenly you have this family business, and the whole world opens up for you. That seems to go beyond synchronicity to something that was just meant to be.

Nick Ortner: Honestly, it feels like a fairy tale what I get to do and how the doors have opened every step of the way. That doesn’t mean we haven’t worked hard or had challenges along the way, but, yeah, it is beyond synchronicity. And I really think that we’re just getting started. I want to take tapping even further, especially to people who are usually not aware of these kinds of techniques.

We need more rigorous scientific research to take this work to the next level, especially when it comes to institutions such as Veterans Administrations, hospitals and schools. That’s why I’m excited about the app because it’ll give us the ability to deliver this content to people

around the world and be able to conduct research studies and say, hey, let’s put 1,000 people through an anxiety program or protocol or series and get that data fed right back into the app.

So, I’m excited.

Sandie Sedgbeer: The possibilities are endless.

Nick Ortner: The bottom line on tapping is that it’s so simple to learn and the basic concepts stay the same as we use them for all sorts of different things.

You could read my first book The Tapping Solution, and really, that’s all you need to go a long way with tapping.

But, people often get stuck, and they want to have an answer for their particular challenge, which means, yeah, grab the app. Say there’s a pre-surgery, here’s what you do to release the fear, the anxiety around the surgery and to allow the body to relax and heal. I mean, if you asked any surgeon or medical doctor if outcomes would be better if we release the stress and the fear before surgery, they’d say of course. Less stress in the body, the body’s gonna heal more quickly, and results are going to be better.

Sandie Sedgbeer: And you can use tapping on just about anything, whether it’s psychological, emotional, or physical.

Nick Ortner: Yeah, just anything. I mean, the physical-you know, my second book was The Tapping Solution for Pain Relief because I was astonished by the results that people got with pain relief.

So, yeah, time and again, I’m impressed by the miracles of it.

I think, at times, people think it’s too good to be true. And that’s why we’re putting more emphasis on the research and documenting it in a way that can’t be argued with. That way, we can share it with the world and get more people the help they need.

There’s so much anger and disagreement and vitriol, but I think we can create a new future and a new destiny. And tapping and mindfulness and all these other techniques are a way to make that happen.

My Magic Breath: Finding Calm Through Mindful Breathing by Nick Ortner and Alison Taylor is published by Harper Collins Children’s Books for ages 4-8.

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Health & Wellness

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

7 Ways to Recover from Emotional Burned Out

By Omtimes Learning to accept our circumstances and letting everything flow around us can be one of the best ways to avoid exhaustion and emotional fatigue.

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Feeling fatigue or emotional tiredness is pervasive no matter who you are or what you do.

This fatigue is due to our ability to think and establish our life experiences.

Each experience generates a feeling when we pay attention to it, and we become aware of it. If all this brings you negative energy, it is very likely that you have trouble staying healthy and well with life.

If you have reached this point, continue reading as we will tell you how to cope with emotional exhaustion to regain your energy. Here we give you ways to deal with this burnout.

“The Self Care Formula is simple-NITO(5R). Nutrients In & Toxins Out in the 5 Realms (Mental, Emotional, Physical, Environmental, Spiritual).”

–Nina Leavins 1. Make an inventory of your emotions We are all emotional beings, whether we live negative or positive emotions during the day. These can allow you to evolve or stagnate depending on the way you face them.

Ideally, you learn to release them to maintain your wellbeing and balance.

To control your emotions, first be aware of them. Learn to breathe deeply and try to understand what you are feeling Those are necessary steps to get a hold of useless waste of energy.

When you get used to breathing, grounding, and centering, you will be able to respond to challenges in a more well-adjusted and sensible way.

Best of all, your interpersonal relationships will also benefit from this sense of balance 2. Practice radical self-love Another way to combat emotional fatigue is to learn to love yourself. This emotion must be not only sincere but complete. Your uniqueness is a rarity, and the faster you a accept it, sooner you will be able to discover things about yourself.

For instance, get to know what is your default attitude when you are practicing Omtimes.com

negative thinking when you are criticizing yourself even for things you had no control over. These attitudes lead to a significant loss of energy and to exhaustion, not knowing how to move on and be happy.

The mind is always worried, making noise and looking for a reason for things to happen, but it is necessary that, above all else, you show love.

In the case of the reasons why you have as much difficulty in accepting yourself as it is having to do with violence or with negative messages that you have received before, you can try therapy.

3. Invest in yourself In the process of self-discovery, we get to know attitudes, skills and hidden talents we were not aware of ourselves. When we invest time getting to know who we are, we can uncover a treasure of life and purpose that can and will enrich your life with new qualities and strength Discovering, or remember, the things you are passionate about

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and that drive you to move on.

This will allow you to understand what is necessary to develop, advance and achieve your goals, leaving aside anxiety, fear, and mistrust.

Remember that you are the center of your life and the only person you must meet is yourself.

4. Cultivate a grateful Heart One of the leading causes of emotional exhaustion is complaining all the time about what you do not have, what you want to have or what you have and do not like.

If you want to recover your energy, turn the complaint into gratitude. While this sounds like a cheap philosophy, the reality is that changing your perspective influences your emotions.

Even if your life seems very bad, find something positive whenever possible.

When was the last time you told your partner that you appreciate and thank you for being with him? Did your

parents recently hear a “thank you” from you? They seem insignificant, but they mean so much in your life.

5. Find a Purpose & Unburden yourself from the past The most popular reason for emotional exhaustion is to go through life acting through reaction, instead of passion. If you have reached that point, remember that you can do what you want if you decide to do it.

Thinking about the past, or what you could not do in certain situations, reduces your energy and robs you of your emotional well-being.

Instead, seek a purpose and focus your energy on it. A Positive goal equals a purposeful life Try to make that purpose a positive thing.

This requires you to work to discover your talents and develop others that put you in the place you want to be.

You may feel fear, insecurity, and confusion, but if you can overcome them, you will achieve happiness.

“The word ‘pranayama,’ often referred to as alternate breathing, comes from the Sanskrit meaning ‘extension of life force’ or ‘extension of breath.’ At times, we are going to have days where we are bombarded with one task after another.

This simple yet effective meditation only takes a couple of minutes, and its calming qualities can be felt almost immediately. It is one of the easiest meditation techniques to apply. This practice is well worth applying at least three or four times a day (somewhere private) to develop emotional balance and evenness of mind, especially in the working environment.”

–Christopher Dines, Mindfulness Burnout Prevention 6. Give up the illusion of control God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.

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We all know the Serenity prayer, but few of us use it as a mantra for the practice of detachment.

One of the most significant problems with emotional fatigue is that it can come back all the time, even if we momentarily gave up criticism or have a goal. This is common in people who feel they should have control of everything by the minute.

Unfortunately, life is something about which you will never have absolute control. The sooner you understand this and learn to flow with the situations that are presented to you, the sooner you will be happy.

An alternative to combat emotional exhaustion, taking advantage of your need for control, is to offer help to someone else. Don’t be passive in resolving problems, create a consistent plan and act on it even if using baby steps.

“It is impossible to control

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outcomes or results, although most of us have been programmed from a very young age to believe otherwise. The idea that we can perform actual ‘magic’ causes tremendous dysfunction, unnecessary suffering and prevents the development of emotional resilience.”

–Christopher Dines, Mindfulness Burnout Prevention 7.Declutter your Mind.

We tend to associate decluttering with getting rid of physical stuff, but it also signifies to organize all the “stuff” and everything to gain clarity and space. The same principle applies to Ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Start of giving a hard look at the way you allow your energy to be compromised if you are not contributing g with your own stress enabling obsessive and recurrent thoughts. The practice of mindfulness is a good way to start a mental hygiene routine.

The Extraordinary Story Behind Former Detroit Tigers' Owner John E. Fetzer's Success in Broadcasting, Baseball and What's Beyond ...

By giving us Fetzer's spiritual biographY, Brian Wilson presents something like a condensed history of alternative., metaphysical., spiritualist., and New Age religion in the twentieth century.

Fetzer was a remarkable figure."

-Arthur Versluis, professor of religious studies at Michigan State University and author of American Gurus, Magic and Mysticism

Want to learn more about John E. Fetzer? Visit www.infinitepotential.com

l�IFl�IIT = F'QTENTIAL

Healing through Different Dimensions

By Jill Mattson

Dimensions - this word implies intellectual stuff that people are far from understanding, but surprising there is much we already know about the

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crazy idea of dimensions.

For starters, a dot belongs to the first dimension, whereas a line links to the realm of two dimensions.

Width, height and length link to the third dimension.

We add the energy of time. We have another dimension.

And seriously, would we really think that with all the possibilities that there are no other dimensions?

Even science has shown mathematically the existence of theoretical dimensions.

So, what do we know? The dot is a small part of a line.

Let’s use the lines to draw designs for a paper house that we construct that have a width, height, and depth.

If we were the dot, we would make decisions on the information contained with the dot. If we were the line, we would make

decisions based on the “line information,” and so on. But notice that more energy is contained in higher dimensions. In ancient times medicine men and mages used meditative techniques and brain entrainment processes to allow their minds and emotions to go to other dimensions, and retrieve information. Back to our example: surely the dot consciousness would benefit by knowing all of the information that the line knows - the line holding potentially infinite dots. Likewise, throughout the ages man has gone to higher dimensions to retrieve information to make a “bigger picture” decision. Perhaps our future selves reside in another dimension, or other selves live in a parallel dimension or a higher dimension. Today, perhaps we could go

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to a meditative theta brainwave state and ask to see ourselves after we have solved a problem or accomplished a big task we are just beginning now (energy follows intent think of Schrodinger’s Cat Experiment in psychics).

We could use this not only retrieve information but energy and answers to current problems.

Energy flows both ways.

We can go to a higher dimension and retrieve information as our ancestors did. We can also go to other dimensions and leave information. Why would we do this? Would the line care about the dot? The dot is a portion of the line. Another example is “do you care about your finger?” Your finger is a part of your body. And yes the safety and wellbeing of your fingers are

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important to you. So we could meditatively enter a higher dimension and leave an S.O.S. for help ( is this what prayer is?).

Perhaps we could enter an altered mental state and think of a person that we wish to do business with and leave a message with them to contact us. This is what is known today as mediumship - only in reverse! The implications and benefits of this practice are staggering!

Does what happen in one dimension affect what happens in another? Are these? Realms independent or interdependent? Look at the dimensions that we are sure of - The first to third dimensions. Let’s take the paper house that we constructed with our line drawings on a piece of paper. Now we will set fire to that paper

house. When the paper house is nothing but ashes do the line exist? Does the circumstance of one dimension affect another?

In our example about the body and the finger - if the body dies, is the finger impacted? Of course! Being very intuitive, many times I have gotten a bad feeling about a situation only later to see snippets of a past life, which was the root cause of my bad feeling.

For example, if I drown in my last life; chances are I am terrified of water in this life. There is bleed through from one dimension to another.

To understand how this works I recall my musical studies. With the process of resonance, energy from an E string of a violin will transfer to a nearby E string of another violin.

Invisible sound energy

transfers on the same note, an octave of it and several harmonious intervals of this root note. When we listen to peaceful and uplifting music, we change our emotions, brainwaves and even physicality. So pleasing and uplifting music that blesses us now and also has to bleed through - as all vibrations do! I imagine that the music that we like in one life comes forward in a new life as a musical preference.

And we thought music was mere entertainment?

Dimensions are subsets of information. Music is also a subset of information, shaping and influencing us - body mind and soul!

Ancient people knew this and used music to incorporate healing patterns found in nature which I have incorporated into my music!

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Late Summer and the Doyo

By Elson Haas, MD After getting my medical degree and going into practice, I began my career embracing Natural Healing and Traditional Chinese Medicine. After publishing my first book, Staying Healthy with the Seasons, I soon became a “Back to Nature” doctor who observed life cycles and seasonal changes and the natural elements of Fire, Earth, Air, Wood, and Water, and how they influence our well-being. My 45 years in practice has focused on keeping people healthy and attuned to preventive and lifestyle medicine. This focuses on eating seasonally -- mostly fresh foods that we can grow or gather at farmer’s OMTIMES | SEPTEMBER A EDITION

markets.

IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE, THERE ARE FIVE ELEMENTS AND FIVE SEASONS, WITH THE LATTER PART OF SUMMER CONSIDERED A SPECIAL TIME OF YEAR IN THE CYCLE OF SEASONS AND ELEMENTS.

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Doyo relates not only to the summer-to-autumn transition but to the times of seasonal change, which come four times a year for about two to three weeks each, basically ten days before and after each of the two solstices and equinoxes. This period of time has some aspects of all the seasons, or elements so it can seem a bit chaotic - often the weather can be “unseasonably” hot, cold or some other extreme during these periods.

Late, or Indian Summer is that fifth season – a special time between summer and autumn when there is often a glorious hot spell.

Nature is rich and full -- with apples and corn and harvests galore. This is also an important period of preparation and readiness for the work ahead and the darker half of the year.

Interestingly, for many of us who grew up in the US, this is when the new school year begins, and so we have an intuitive understanding of this time of transition starting in early childhood right through college. We know it can be both exciting and anxiety provoking.

In the Chinese system, the center is the direction associated with the Earth element and the word “Doyo,” meaning life transition, is used to describe this time.

Late Summer is a short season, but it can be a time of intense metamorphosis in Nature and within ourselves.

During transitional periods, it is especially important to stay centered, a state of being in contact with the Earth, that we call “grounded,” so as not to go into chaos when things are in motion both inwardly and outwardly when there can be nothing to hold onto. It is important to be aware of this shift from the outward expression of spring and summer to the inward focus of autumn and winter.

So what can we do for balance at this time of transition in Nature and of adjustment in our lives?

The organs relating to this Late Summertime and the Earth element are the stomach and spleen.

These two organs work together to digest our foods and distribute the resulting energy throughout the body. Nourishment is important to your energy state and wellbeing, so the proper functioning of these two organs is vital to feeling good and to preventing illness. Our eating habits, like chewing food thoroughly, are key to keeping our digestion working efficiently and maintaining a strong stomach and spleen.

Clarity in our diet will see us through many external problems and through seasonal transition. We can move from our lighter summer diet toward a bit more density, giving us more fuel and inner heat.

We may feel stronger and more able to work. This building program may include heavier protein and fat foods, whole grains, seeds, nuts, and beans. But remember, our diet has to always have a good percentage of fresh vegetables and some fruits too, for a proper alkaline balance. It’s also a good time to work on our food-combining and eating habits generally.

Exercise is another key to our vital health, so we can also start toning up in our exercise program as well as to help build our strength. Working with weights, as well as calisthenics and isometrics, are good exercise programs to begin now, but we should keep our outdoor activities and sports going as long as possible. This daily exercise will help regulate weight and balance the tendency to gain a few pounds through the fall and winter.

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These ideas are explored more fully in my book Staying Healthy with the Seasons and on my websites, ElsonHaasMD.com and PMCMarin.com.

This Doyo period and early Autumn is also a great time to consider a seasonal detox and giving your body a break from your habitual consumption patterns. For the last 40+ years, I have been offering such Autumn Detox group programs at my clinic in Northern California, and I will be leading an online version of this course starting on September 26th. You can learn more here: https://elsonhaasmd.thinkific.com/courses /autumnDetox I hope you can join us as group work is always powerful, especially in healing!

Stay Healthy, Dr. Elson Elson Haas, MD is a long-time integrative family physician who is the founder and director of Preventive Medical Center of Marin, an integrative center in San Rafael, CA. Elson is also the author of a dozen books on health, nutrition, and detox, including Staying Healthy with Nutrition, The Detox Diet, Ultimate Immunity, and Staying Healthy with New Medicine: Integrating Natural, Eastern and Western Medicines for Optimal Health.

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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.

Do You Know How Powerful You Really Are?

By John Holland

I wonder if we all really know just how powerful we really are?

The same energy that makes up the heavens, the universe, and every living thing is also the same energy that is part of our soul. As souls - we are all connected.

I’ve noticed. Lately, there are Omtimes.com

three popular words I’m seeing everywhere, namely: Intuition, Empathic, and Soul. These are hot topics, and I feel more and more people are seeking wisdom inwards instead of finding the answers in the outside material world. Let me ask you this simple, yet powerful question: “Do you

understand the workings of your own soul?”

I’d like to show you how to use and trust your soul’s sense of intuition and appreciate that the power and energy of love are vital to your soul’s wellbeing.

A great way to start living as a ‘soul’ is by acknowledging and repeating: “I am a soul.”

When you say these words, your soul resonates with what you’re expressing, and your consciousness expands even more. It’s a constant process of reminding yourself that you are more than this physical being. This will bring you back to your soul’s awareness. You will feel the effect as you make that connection.

It’s important to remember, that regardless of the image we project outwardly, it’s our inner-self that generates the responses, inspires such tender emotions, and forges lifelong connections.

I find it helpful when I have a tough decision or when I feel confused about what direction I’m supposed to take, to pause and ask: “What does my soul want me to do? What does my soul need at this time?”

No matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done, you always have the freedom of choice to begin living a spiritual life, to start living from the soul.

You may be saying: “But I really wasn’t nice to people,” or “I’ve lived such a bad life.” Whether you’ve lived a life of a tyrant or an angel, you’re still and always will be a soul. When we focus on what lies within, rather than what’s on the outside, then we become more aware of the forces that draw us together—the power of the soul.

As a soul, please remember that you have a piece of God, the Divine Source inside you always.

It’s a package deal. As you’re human, you have a soul, and as a soul, you have all the power that goes with it. It doesn’t discriminate, exclude, or condemn.

No matter how much you may ignore it —or at times abandon it—your soul will never leave you.

All it asks is that you turn to it, be open and receptive to its divine wisdom, as it only wants what’s best for you and your highest good.

Live a Soul-filled life!

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Our Soul’s Evolution through the Mind’s Eye

By Judi Lynch

As our knowledge of science, space and the human mind increases the new energy of thought is being born.

So much more is yet to be discovered about what lives

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inside the consciousness of our human brains. There is proof all around us that thoughts create energies which can heal, inspire and yes, harm. Ideas create reality, our continuous exploration and examination have given us new clues and keys to life.

If we are the kind of people who like to learn, grown and explore with an open mind, we are changing the workings of our brain and thus the properties of our DNA. Spirituality plays an incredible and necessary role in human evolution. Yes, many humans are in fast forward with the process because of their thoughts, actions, lifestyles, and attitudes.

Continually learning and growing but with the empathy, compassion and understanding that humanity depends on. Still, many others are resisting this growth by carrying

on human traditions and practices that they have always known. They also give valuable information which helps humanity by helping others to remember our history and spiritual practices.

Constant progression of the mind, body, and spirit will result in longer life and quality of life because we grow wiser all the time on how to keep our bodies in balance. We are learning how to keep the mind and the consciousness healthy as well. Our personalities can be understood, and our reactions can turn into healthy responses. Of course, this is why people go to see mental health professionals.

To help evolve their feelings into understanding and healing to live a better life.

We seek spiritual validation and connection to help us process the rapid changes in life, to help us deal with losing our loved ones.

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One important thing to remember is that we know ourselves best. Throughout our lives, it is important to have people to grow with. We need to be seen as a painting being created throughout our lives. Color, texture, and character added as we go.

Others who knew us “back then� can be judgmental about who we are now and not be respectful of our growth.

Think of how naĂŻve we were as children to certain life situations and challenges. If we were selfish, we had to learn to compromise and be mindful of the feelings of others. We had to learn how to wait our turn and share. So many habits and judgments are formed in our young years that we have to discern which are positively affecting us and those which we need to heal.

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Some people mistakenly believe that others who have less money or power are somehow lesser of mind. The truth is they may be a devoted volunteer or exceptional parent. Their contribution to others increases the love and evolutionary heart of humankind. Sometimes those with the most money and power know the least about empathy and compassion. As we lose some of our superstitions and old beliefs as new knowledge is shared, we become more collectively enlightened and accepting of change.

In the United States at this moment in time, people are divided over many things.

One group is resisting the evolutionary progress we have gained and are trying to take America back in time. This happens when fear of change or the ego

takes control and humans resist the need to become more intelligent, empathetic with the courage to move forward. When we reject other humans based on their color, their gender, sexual preference or the country they were born in, we lose our hearts. These situations have caused groups to start speaking out, rising up and demanding fair and humane treatment for everyone.

These are the people who love fiercely, are not afraid of making mistakes, care about the needs of others, act with unconditional love and passion for what and who they believe in. Therein this struggle is the key to our soul’s ascension. We are all being tested and asked to grow. We can learn to take the best of our history and embellish what we’ve learned. Our thoughts can change when we know a situation as a

whole. Everything about our spiritual evolvement revolves around the positive and light. A collective understanding that peace, health, and love for one another are the real keys to saving lives might seem closer than we think. If we also understand that shining a light on the dark side of humanity is how we heal it, we know our evolution is safe to manifest our future.

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. A writer 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 judilynch.com

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Feng Shui, Mini Mountains and Mini Lakes

by Kartar Diamond

By the time we get down to making Feng Shui recommendations for the interiors of a home or business, we are focusing on the details. And yet, this is

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what many consumers think is the grand total of a Feng Shui analysis.

Historically, the lay of the land was of premier importance. How a person or a whole town prospered came from the influence of nearby water features, be it the ocean, a river, lake or at least a pond. The “cement” pond, as the Beverly Hillbillies used to refer to their swimming pool, is also a sizable water feature for any property, containing thousands of gallons of water.

And yet, by the time we are introducing an interior water fountain holding mere quarts of water, this is a detail.

Likewise, large groups of people in towns or cities can be directly influenced by the hills and mountain ranges close by. Are those mountains full of animal life and greenery? (Yang mountains). Or are the mountains dry and seemingly lifeless like a sand dune? (Yin mountains). The quality and energy of a mountain can determine the health and

well-being of the people who live close by. When we get to the miniaturized “virtual” mountain such as a brick pillar mailbox in front of a house, boulders, or the raised flower bed in the backyard, this is a detail too.

When Feng Shui started its trendy craze in the 1990’s, people were using the phrase “The Art of Placement” to describe Feng Shui, and yet this was really diminishing the true scope of Feng Shui, to say the least. Feng Shui book sections were mingled with the Interior Design and Organizing sections at Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Consumers were given the impression that they could win the lottery by moving a piece of furniture.

The natural, and now manmade, the exterior landscape can have just as much, if not more influence on your life as which way your bed is turned, or your desk arranged. But we do what we have control over.

Even I, as a consultant, am not going to harp on the fact that some of my clients live

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too close to the freeway or some other negative outside feature which cannot be changed. It’s a done deal. Let’s focus on something we have control over the interiors.

flowers in the right location can jump-start your love life.

Sometimes just that aquarium in the right place can land you the job you have been praying for.

During the house hunting phase, however, I try to give my clients as many tips as possible for avoiding those big-ticket items which cannot be changed. We try to narrow the search with common sense observations that take no formal training. I even have an ebook titled Feng Shui Tips for House Hunters, to help people rule out the places you just want to avoid since there are no great counter-measures for them.

This would include living next to a cemetery or a toxic-fume emitting factory or a hospital.

How do these small maneuvers even work?

They work by changing the magnetic field that you dwell in. The chain of command is that if you balance your immediate environment, your own dwelling and your own body can then become a better satellite dish for attracting the positive and repelling the negative.

Going back to the “details” which we have control over, I must admit that I am actually impressed much of the time at how the small additions or subtractions from a living space can, in fact, make a difference in a person’s life.

Sometimes just that vase of

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There are many other disciplines and modalities where you can balance yourself and your environment, and they work similarly to improve the quality of your life and help you be more in charge of your own destiny.

Company: Feng Shui Solutions From the Feng Shui Theory Series

Love is Real

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Nurturing the Muse

by Diana Raab

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our daily goings-on that we forget to give ourselves creative nourishment. The term muse comes from the original Muses who were the nine daughters of the Greek God, Zeus. In today’s world, a muse may be thought of as a

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source of creative inspiration.

A muse can be either a person, situation or even a fantasy. In Ray Bradbury’s book, The Zen of Writing, he writes: “What is The Subconscious of every other man, in its creative aspect becomes, for writers, The Muse.” Bradbury believes that they are two names for the same thing.

It’s been said that people and situations nourish our subconscious, in fact, some people so favorably tap into our subconscious that they provide us with ongoing creative inspiration. It’s a good idea that we surround ourselves with those who inspire or nurture us—those who exude positive, creative and nourishing energy.

Another way to nurture the muse is to spend some time doing some serious people-watching. Writers often make this their past-time.

After all, being a writer is a fulltime job. Writers are professional eavesdroppers. We get inspired when we hang out in public places, such as restaurants, bars, coffeehouses, hotel lobbies, shopping malls and doctor’s offices. Fiction writer Honoré de Balzac was known for sitting in

Parisian cafes for hours, writing and watching people. So, we should back up our journals, turn up our hearing aids and head out!

When in public places, it’s a good idea to jot down nuggets of conversations as it tunes us into the everyday muses. After performing this task for a while, it becomes a habit. Before long, we notice the utterances and situations which resonate with us. Maybe we choose to write about them. It’s important to be alert and mindful of capturing these gifts from the muses in our environment.

As a writer, Bradbury says that there are many different ways to nourish the muse, and one ritual he advocates is reading poetry every day. “Poetry,” he says, “is good because it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough.

Poetry expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition.”

Poetry is the voice of the soul.

Poets help us see a slice of the world in a way in which we might not have observed it before. They highlight details to cast a light on a feeling, an image, or an event Poetry also helps offer insight Omtimes.com

into both the human psyche and human behavior and is a place where the imagination can roam free and allow the muse to enter.

It’s a good idea to keep a poetry book at our bedside to read a few poems before retiring for the night. Think of it as a daily vitamin. There’s also the possibility that this ritual not only makes us feel good but has subconsciously nurtured our urge to write poetry. Another way to nourish the muse is to read writers who inspire us and tap into our creativity.

In his book, The Muses Among Us, Kim Stafford writes, “I don’t begin, the writing does. I don’t try. I yield. I have written in trees, on planes, by flashlight, during symphonies, by the light of a movie screen, while driving (I’ve lately sworn off this), during faculty meetings, and while making dinner. Every shirt must have a pocket and every pocket a notebook and a pen. Once the muse bites, it’s delicious anywhere. For the act of writing begins before you consciously know if you have time. Your hands do it.” That’s why it’s important Omtimes.com

to carry a journal. We never know when the muse will visit with a thought which could be a seedling for the next breakthrough writing project.

Some writers also use music and art for inspiration. Music can be used to set a mood, help find an appropriate voice or establish a writing rhythm. Music can help fill the reservoir of our creativity.

Poetry, people, places, art, and music—the everyday world is a garden of nourishment for the muse. We simply need to be slow down time, be open, listen and be eager to take it all in, and before long we’ll reap unexpected benefits.

Bio Diana Raab, Ph.D., MFA, is an award-winner memoirist, poet, author, speaker, and workshop facilitator. Dr. Raab facilitates workshops in writing for transformation and empowerment, focusing on journaling, poetry, and memoir writing. Dr. Raab also writes for Psychology Today, Elephant Journal, and Thrive Global. You can find out more about Dr. Raab at www.dianaraab.com

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THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

ADVENTURE

Dan Maston goes on an epic adventure

MONSTER TRUCKS ...and where to take them

ROADTRIPS OF THE YEAR

Shakti World

Powerful Jewelry

Check out our list of some of the best trips you will take in your life

Vastu, The Yoga of Interiors By Era ChandokÂ

Symbols connect us with an idea, concept, a person, an object and more so our sacred belief and their relation to the Universe.

They were used in the ancient times to connect with the unknown and unfathomable energy of the divine cosmos. Symbols contain their own powerful energy and are like guiding stars raising our energy from the very core towards enlightenment.

Symbols are the notes of the human mind strung together Omtimes.com

they produce music that gives us the connection that we seek with the universe. The earliest language has developed from symbols. Symbols give their energy to you, positivity in your life and can help manifest your desires, balance the harmonize the energies in your space.

Vastu, as we know, is the Yoga of Interiors and we can use symbols as remedies to balance elements in a particular zone. The symbols act as a medium that establishes

a connection with the universe to create harmony within our surroundings, revitalize our homes and synchronize with the cosmic consciousness or energy.

The Sun is the vital force of life, and his symbol attracts strength, power, and energy. The sun rises in the east, so that is his zone, hanging a brass sun in the East zone of your home increases political and social connections.

Antique Indian doors, centuries old, are resplendently carved with Sun symbols and retain the energy so beautifully, use indoors as an office den door they will create an awesome connection with the Sun’s energy.

The lotus flower symbolizes the untouched form and dignity of human beings in the higher levels of existence. The Lotus flower activates positive vibrations and energies to our daily life and thereby symbolizes rising above worldly problems. Wall sculptures of Bodhi Tree and the Kalpavriksha Tree symbolize these energies as well and add a beautiful aura to your Northeast corner which is the zone of spirituality.

The center of the home is called the heart of the home, and in

the old Indian Havelis, there would be an open courtyard lined with cusped arches and columns where everybody would gather. This space should always be clean and open with the least amount of furniture.

The elephant is considered a sacred celestial animal, the most wondrous creature ever created and is greatly admired for its wisdom, strength, virility, and power. In Hinduism, Ganesha’s energy is that of the elephant, he is the ruler of the first chakra wherein in sits the kundalini energy. Magnificient wall carvings of Ganesha in multicolored hues of red and orange placed in the entrance brings in luck and good fortune and if placed in the zone of studies encourages career development of the children.

Using techniques given to us in the sacred texts of the Vastu Shastra we can bring a beautiful balance to our lives and strengthen our connection to the universe.

Wall sculptures, antique doors, furniture, hand carved with symbols of vastu, balance your interiors and create a beautiful space at http://www. mogulinterior.com Omtimes.com

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.

Personal insecurities, low self-esteem, and the need for affection lead to emotionally dependence on our partner.

Knowing how to identify the symptoms of this problem

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can prevent depression and loneliness which are challenging emotions to overcome.

Not being emotionally dependent on the partner is a state that many people have problems reaching. Those who depend emotionally on their partners engage in the relationship to the point where they believe that they are one. What’s worse, when your partner comes to be your only priority.

Those who depend emotionally on their partner need their consent to do anything, however simple it the tasks may be. They just sit still for fear of not having enough ideas. In general, there comes a time when emotional dependence is so strong that they lose autonomy over their emotions.

What do you do to not be subject

and emotionally dependent on your partner?

1. Maintain the family bond The family is the primary nucleus of people’s emotional development. Some make the grave mistake of gradually moving away from parents or siblings when they form a couple. Maybe because they do not have a firm bond or perhaps believe that all the time now belongs to their new relationship.

2. Do not turn away from friendships Friends are a precious asset that every person should care for and preserve. There are those who, when starting a relationship, begin to reject invitations that they had previously been looking forward to. They stop making plans with friends because they are already boring or a waste of time. In fact, we tend to turn them away

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turning because you are focusing your entire world on the relationship.

In many cases, jealousy is the leading cause of this terrible mistake. An unsecure companion can easily manipulate his partner when he/she is emotionally co-dependent. As a result, this, through guilt or fear of separation, the result may be the breaking or the damage of their previous friendship relations.

So, there comes a day when those who solely depend emotionally on their partner are in full solitude and do not understand how it happened.

3. Have and keep your own activities Each individual is a different being that has their personal tastes and designs.

Maintaining an individuality and respecting the autonomy of others are the basis for not being emotionally dependent on the partner.

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Being together does not stop you from sitting in a cafĂŠ and reading a book without your partner or attending a sporting event alone.

Each one must have their own emotional space within the relationship. Having the courage to look in the mirror and say, “I am here,� gives confidence that strengthens every kind of bond.

Otherwise, life becomes tedious with the likelihood of falling into depression.

4. Make your own decisions The biggest problem of a person who depends emotionally on his partner is the lack of ability to make his decisions. From the preparation of the lunch to which work to choose, the many choices that only take with the approval of the other. It is essential that there is a fluid dialogue, but the decision on personal issues must be individual.

Otherwise, it is possible to fall into frustration or condemnation in the future.

Still, the partner even gets bored of a person who gives him/her on a tray all the responsibilities. It’s just not nice if you feel like you are the only adult in the relationship.

5. Detect own attitudes that lead to emotional dependence People who do not want to depend on their partner emotionally can avoid this by identifying and working with specific characteristics such as: • Impossibility to endure separations, without being attached to the person.

• Need to plan everything together.

• Be willing to please the other at all times, even though they may feel uncomfortable.

maltreatment for fear of the relationship ending.

• Apologize for thinking differently while discussing a topic.

Reflection Emotional dependence on a partner has as a direct consequence, the destruction of one’s self-esteem. The thinking that dominates in a person who depends emotionally on his partner is that they will not achieve happiness if they do not have that person by their side.

These people are victims of themselves.

You have to work mentally and emotionally to be selfreliant and confident people.

The fullness of the couple is achieved when the two halves have firm personalities and the freedom to express their thoughts, even though they are different from each other.

• Passively support

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Evolving to a Compassionate Outlook The benefit of developing a compassionate view of the other.

By Cathedral of the Soul

Compassion is the ability to understand the emotional state of another person or of oneself. Often confused with empathy, compassion has the

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additional element of having a desire to relieve or reduce the suffering of the other person.

Compassion should be as regards a verb.

Having compassion for someone involves more than putting yourself in their place and genuinely wanting to understand and to help. It consists of getting an entirely different perspective when it comes to how you may perceive others around you.

The look of compassion Through life passages, we are developing thousands of relationships that are not necessarily healthy ones. We tend to look at others, and ourselves always from narrow perspectives. We forget to recognize the other person as a free and complex being, as unique and full of experiences as we are. We tend to judge and reduce their complexity as an element disconnected from our humanity.

What is compassion?

To have compassion is precisely

to give this freedom to our feeling and others’ feelings.

It is to create responsiveness for people’s experiences unconditionally and go beyond, searching for ways to help them.

Etymologically, the word compassion originates in the Latin compassionis, which means “common feeling” or “union of feelings.”

Compassion, this junction of ours with the feeling of the other, automatically leads to solidarity, to altruism, which are essential actions to the existence and survival of humanity.

Compassion for others does not depend on the conditions, it’s not about liking someone or not. You do not have to like someone to have compassion for that person.

We must feel and do good to all, even to those who bring us negative feelings. This main characteristic, called equanimity or impartiality, is one of the most fundamental within the scope of compassionate acts.

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The Compassionate Relationship It is possible and healthy to build relationships out of compassion. When we are not relating to each other through our limited vision and limited worlds, we are able to look compassionately at suffering, to feel together with others, and from there to find more clear solutions to problems.

When we build relationships with the desire for the other to be happy regardless of their actions or our feelings about the person, we release the other from the prisons of our judgment and thus free ourselves from being a prisoner as well. Supporting and being supported by other people is one of the ways to find true happiness.

The joy that comes from this altruistic intention of compassion is a powerful remedy for our afflictions, our personal pains. To see the other as equal generates the feeling of not being alone,

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locked into our individual problems.

How to Generate a Compassionate Look When we train the compassionate look, it comes naturally as a mother’s care for her child: it is a spontaneous concern, natural for the well-being of our neighbor.

The moment we realize that all beings are seeking health, happiness, comfort and avoiding the pain and suffering, we can be more empathetic and act in favor of this movement.

The Compassionate gaze also encourages us to cultivate a genuine interest in others without being self-centering.

When a person hears what you are talking about, looking into your eyes and genuinely listening to each word you are saying, the conversation seems sincerer, more connected, does not it? There are moments where we truly open ourselves to the other, and above all, we allow the other to open

themselves sincerely to us with mindfulness.

4. Start with small kind gestures

Realizing this makes us speak less about ourselves, to think less about what our responses will be as we talk, but listen quietly, understanding openly and without judgment.

5. Control and reduce your personal feelings of sadness

“ Our attention is the best gift we can give the someone. Our ability to love depends on the quality of our attention. “

6. Approach art as a skill to be developed 7. Recognize that others have their journey and are guided by the beat of their drums.

8. Practice active spirituality

I sincerely hope that this text and these guidelines help you to be a Compassionate person and to consider others in this same way as well. Here are 13 different actions that can help you develop a more compassionate outlook on life.

1. Know and accept human nature (starting with self) 2. Seek self-knowledge and experience your emotions 3. Approach people who need compassion in fundamental aspects of life

9. Reduce your stress load 10. Practice yoga and compassionate meditation 11. Remember that we were all children and that, we will be elderly one day 12. Decrease and control critical judgment and the delivery of incisive opinions and judgments 13. Take care of yourself as your best friend would have

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Is Technology Making it Harder to Find Love?

By Maria Sirota, MD.

You’re too young to remember when people went on dates and actually talked to each other, without the intrusion of technology into their interactions. Maybe you can’t

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remember a time when people just hung out together and connected.

I can, and I have to say, I miss those days. It used to be that people could really get to know each other by spending time together. We’d talk about all sorts of things – our hopes, dreams, and fears – until we began to feel that ineffable thing known as a “connection.”

Today, technology is ubiquitous.

We bring our phones everywhere and look at them dozens, if not hundreds of times a day. We spend more time interacting with our technology than we do with the people in our lives.

And all the time we spend with our technology is making it harder for us to connect with other people. Recent studies bear out this notion. I wrote an article in 2016 about how our addiction to technology is making dating even harder than it usually is.

An NBC poll from 2015 showed that more than 70% of Americans believe that technology is making our

relationships weaker. A 2016 Time Magazine article by Mandy Oaklander quotes a study published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, which found that “people who were more dependent on their smartphones reported being less certain about their partnerships,” and that “People who felt that their partners were overly dependent on their devices said they were less satisfied with their relationship.”

Everywhere you go, you can see how technology has changed the way people interact. I was out last New Year’s Eve, having dinner in a nice restaurant.

Across from us, a young couple sat with their faces buried in their phones.

I felt so sad for these youngsters who were missing out on the fun and fulfillment of human connection because their priority was to focus on their phones.

These days fed up musicians and venue managers are more often insisting that concertgoers lock up their phones in a Yondr pouch or leave their Omtimes.com

technology at home. I’ve read several articles from people who did this, and the universal response is that these people were more able to “live in the moment” and enjoy the direct experience of the concert, rather than being caught up in documenting it for social media.

pouches whenever we entered a restaurant? Each dining establishment could have a landline to take emergency calls, but otherwise, guests would be forced to interact with one another, as opposed to spending their meal engaged primarily with their technology.

Recently, a school in California was considering having locked phone pouches for its students, so that they could disconnect from technology and be more present for the social and academic experiences available to them at school.

For daters, this would be ideal, as they’d have no other option than to get to know the person sitting across from them. They wouldn’t be able to avoid any potentially uncomfortable human contact by keeping their noses stuck in their phones.

In Philadelphia, they’re asking people who enter the courthouse to put their phones in pouches, and although some are resistant to this plan, most are willing to go along with it.

Last May, I was interviewed by Jason Osler of CBC radio about how some coffee shops have stopped providing Wifi, in the hopes that their patrons would begin talking to one another again.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were given phone-locking Omtimes.com

Yes, it might be awkward at first as everyone readjusts to having no technological buffer zone between them and the other person, but I imagine that soon enough, they’d get the hang of it; sort of like riding a bicycle.

After all, we’re communal beings, built to make connections.

It shouldn’t be that difficult to re-learn what we’ve forgotten.

Not that long ago, I wrote a couple of books for my Short and Sweet Guides to Life series. One was a book for men, entitled, “Women Decoded,” which is meant to

help men understand women and recognize certain behaviors in women that they might want to avoid.

The other is a dating book for women wanting to get “Back on the Market” after divorce or widowhood. In this book, I list some “red flags” a woman should pay attention to as she’s getting to know a new man.

If both men and women are overly focused on their technology, it’ll be impossible for them to notice the warning signs, avoid the toxic individuals and enter into positive relationships.

These days, more and more studies are showing that we’re struggling to make meaningful connections with one another.

Technology is incredibly useful, but it’s not perfect. One way I think it’s harming us is in how easy it makes it avoid the discomfort of getting to know each-other or confronting eachother over a problem.

One of the sweetest things in life is the courtship phase of a relationship in which we get to know all the weird and

wonderful things about each other and begin to feel the growing bond. Technology is ruining our courtships and making us miss out on these precious, joyful moments.

One of the best ways to deepen a connection with someone is to confront them – in a loving, respectful manner – about something they did that upset us or something they didn’t do that we needed them to do.

If they respond well, it takes our trust in them to a whole new level and creates a connection that’s rock-solid. Tragically, technology is making this increasingly difficult, as it gives us so many options for avoiding any uncomfortable interactions.

Is it too much to ask that we put down our phones and actually have a conversation? With or without the Yondr pouch, I vote to spend more time with our phones shut off so that we can communicate and commune with one another. Who knows what amazing things could come of it?

Sign up here for my free monthly newsletter.

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Metaphysics

Crystals Associated with Strength The power behind Earth’s minerals can be felt the minute you put a crystal in your hands or near your physical body. Crystals are the treasures of the earth.

These stones are filled

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with energy to be used. Any crystal can give you strength as they are all sources of life energy! Some of the best crystals for both inner and out strength include Azurite, Chrysoprase, Citrine, Garnet, Lapis Lazuli, Rhodonite, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Selenite, Smoky Quartz, Tiger Iron, and Green Tourmaline. They can be used for awareness, inner strength, grounding, enlightenment, power, outer strength, better understanding, and transitions.

Azurite Flowers: These stones are approximately 3/4 inch each.

They activate the brow, and throat Chakra brings more assertive communication and alertness, quite, deep access to the subconscious and other times/places/lives. Psychicness, creativity, decisiveness, deeper insight, seeing the truth, reduce depression, anger, abnormal cell growth.

Referred to as the jewel of wisdom. It is said to increase psychic abilities. The deep blue stone helps you release the past and gracefully

anticipate and accept the future simultaneously.

Cultivates the ability to reach into the subconscious and examines states of mind. This cleanses the mind and makes one more capable of insight and pure thought. Helps one recognize the resources within themselves. An integral part of many crystals and gemstone-healing layouts. Also enhances meditation.

Chrysoprase: This stone allows greater flexibility, wisdom, generosity, and self-confidence. Heal’s depression, excess selffocus, emotions/sexual imbalance. Placed on heart, neck, or on brown for meditation. This stone uplifts the Heart Chakra. It soothes the energy of the heart when you are heart heavy. It, therefore, brings internal peace, harmony, and contentment. This stone symbolizes clarity of thought.

It soothes the central nervous system and creates calm.

It is a stone that leads its user to new and intellectual

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approaches. When working with Chrysoprase as a healing stone, it must be laid on the body for a long time. Helps one achieve greater personal insight, feel calmer, become less egotistical, and more open to new surroundings and situations. Stimulates creativity and draws out unknown talents. This stone provides a balance between the conscious and the unconscious.

Citrine: This stone is very versatile and is used for mental and emotional clarity, problemsolving, memory issues, will power, optimism, confidence, and self-discipline. An energizing and highly beneficial crystal, citrine absorbs, transmutes, grounds and dissolves negative energy, which makes it a very protective stone. Citrine crystals are invigorating and positive. They can surround and fill anyone with its brilliant color, energizing every aspect of life. Increases motivation and Persons involved with education or business will especially

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benefit. Can guide you to harness and utilize your creative energy. Helps us analyze events and steer them in a positive direction.

Develops inner calm and security, and makes us less sensitive and more open to constructive criticism. Can dispel negative feelings and help us to accept the flow of events. This stone is great with help in achieving goals. Because of its matrix of iron and quartz, it is most effective on the Sacral/Sexual/ Navel Chakra, the Solar plexus Chakra and Crown Chakra. Citrine energizes every level of the aura, cleansing and balancing the subtle bodies as it aligns it with the physical body. Citrine is the stone of abundance. It teaches us the lessons of achieving wealth and prosperity. Not just on a monetary level, but in all aspects of our lives.

Garnet: This stone symbolizes faith, love, devotion, and trust.

Garnet is most famous for balancing our emotional states. Therefore, garnet is

one of the best stones for soothing emotional stress and balancing out anger that is held in and not expressed.

Therefore, garnet is good for those who have anger issues directed to themselves, NOT for those who spew anger like venom or attack others with their anger (think orange or yellow stones for this condition)! Garnet is a good stone to have around for emotional drama, traumatic crisis or when you feel backed into a corner with no way out. Garnet will show you the way out. It is the perfect stone for clearing the Emotional Layer of the Aura.

Garnet encourages feelings of joy, hope, and willpower.

Its fiery color drives away fatigue and stimulates the imagination.

Lapis Lazuli: In meditation, opens Brow Chakra: higher guidance, intuition, connection to higher self, overview, decisions for the good of all.

Organizes quiets the mind.

Opens Throat/Thyroid Chakra: Self-expression, writing, creativity, dream insight,

allows total awareness...

Anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, shyness, depression, serenity, self-acceptance; pain (especially head), protection stone. It Shelters the wearer like a shield. A powerful thought-amplifier and is helpful in aligning all the elements of the body and mind. Can increase psychic abilities and will open the third eye. Can guide you in the direction of mental and spiritual purity.

Rhodonite: Rhodonite is the “Stone of Love”! This stone symbolizes “self-realization.” Rhodonite works with the Heart Chakra by soothing the heart center as well as the Root Chakra for grounding and balancing, due to the presence of black oxides in this stone. This balance of colors allows for a powerful and vibration for caring for one’s self. Rhodonite allows for confidence and self-worth. Helps us express confidence and lovingness on the physical plane in dayto-day ways. Calms and feeds the soul through the heart;

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love and service. It helps us with confusion and allows us to focus. This stone helps to strengthen mantras, chanting, affirmations, singing, and toning.

Rose Quartz: Rose Quartz represents love, beauty, peacefulness, forgiving, lovingness, selflove, and emotional balance!

Rose Quartz works with the Heart Chakra. It is a soft, gentle, soothing stone that warms the heart center. Its value as a nurturing friend cannot be overstated. Neither can it’s soothing influence.

Helps diffuse negative stimuli and uncomfortable memories.

Helps us discover the ability to love ourselves and makes us more open to other people. It is of particular value in helping us to forgive ourselves, hastening selfacceptance. Helps us realize that all change is important, even difficult change.

Stimulates love and tender appreciation of all things.

Ruby: Wealth, Joy, Love, Sexual Energy and Power. Warms

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energize after exhaustion.

Strengthens physical and emotional heart (4th chakra), love, courage, confidence, vitality, stamina, strength, leadership, success over challenges. Intensifies all emotions (passion, jealousy, impatience, love...)

Attempted use of pressure/ control (for love) backfires onto the user. Used for reproductive/root Chakra; infections, cholesterol, clots, blood detox (alcohol, caffeine), sexual blocks.

A powerful stone whose stimulating energy can bring startling things to light. It acts as an amplifier of energy-both positive and negative. Can bring anger or negativity to the surface quickly. Should be used with a knowledge of how to gain from experience. Otherwise, you are likely to be overcome by the passion it stirs up. Can also amplify positive energy.

Helps us in all matters of love, including a love of ourselves.

Stimulates motivation and visualization.

Selenite: A Gypsum. White/clear

striated crystals. Has been used to work against cancer and is known to stabilize epileptic disorders. Mental focus, growth, luck, immunity, kundalini. They are Centuries-old recordkeepers of events/information.

Soothes emotions. Holding crystal, visualize it bringing white light/energy (higher ideas/consciousness) from a transpersonal point above head down through the body, out through feet into earth/ physical plane. Place on 3rd eye for stored info. May help physical and emotional letting go. Repro; spine and nerve system, emotional and athletic flexibility. Sends healing to the earth. Expands sensitivity, the field of awareness.

Smoky Quartz: Smoky Quartz is a grounding stone. It is used most often to overcome depression, nightmares, and stress.

Quartz stimulates the natural crystal in body tissues and fluids to resonate at the highest healing frequency.

The clearest smoky quartz is the most intense, powerfully

opening the Crown Chakra emanating light down to the Root Chakra, therefore, inducing Alpha/deep meditation. Because of this situation, it benefits also include channeling higher guidance, deep relaxation and helping with unconditional love. Heightens your understanding of nature and concerns for the environment. Smoky Quartz helps store information well for easier recall. Because it is associated with the Root Chakra, it helps to alleviate fear, anxiety and associated emotional depression.

When placed opposite other smokies in a crystal grid these stone vibrate at a high energy level. It is the perfect stone for strength and grounding the Etheric Layer of the Aura.

Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac http://www.peacefulmind. com/strength Therapies for healing mind, body, spirit

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UNITY IS OUR SALVATION

by Marguerite Dar Boggia

As mentioned in the movie Thrive1, there are hundreds of organizations working for the well being of people. When they are united, we can expect the destined forecasts of our glorious future.

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We learn through science that our solar system will be entering a high-density energy cloud, wherein the evolution of humanity will be speeded up.2 Hindu and Zoroastrian Sages have forecasted a Golden Age for us. In the Hindu prophecy, the Golden Age will start to restore the balance of nature, where there will be no starvation. Then the Messiah, who they call the “Kalki” and who the Christians call “the Christ”, the Jews call “the Messiah,” the Moslems call the “Imam Madhi” and the Buddhists call “Maitreya Buddha”, will wipe out the evildoers and will be recognized by humanity as the “World Teacher”.3 Then on pages 123 and 124 of Esoteric Psychology I, the Ascended Tibetan Master, Djwhal Kuhl, (writing through Alice A. Bailey, using mental telepathy), says...” when He Whom both angels and men await, will approach near unto this physical plane, He will bring with Him not only some of the Great Ones and the Masters but some of the Devas (Angels) who stand to the deva evolution as the Masters to the human.

Forget not that the human evolution is but one of many, and that this is a period of crisis among the devas likewise. The call has gone forth for them to approach humanity, and with their heightened vibration and superior knowledge, unite their forces with those of humanity, for the progression of the two evolutions. They have much to impart anent color and sound, and their effect upon the etheric bodies of men and animals. . . .physical ills will be nullified...

They will also teach men how rightly to nourish the body and to draw from the surrounding ethers the requisite food.”4 All this can happen only when there is a unity of all organizations in the world working for peace based on goodwill, justice, and freedom.

We are One Family and have to act like it.

In Esoteric Psychology II5, the Ascended Tibetan Master, Djwhal Kuhl, writing through Alice A. Bailey, urges disciples, aspirants, and men of goodwill to meditate at the hour of the Taurus Full Moon in May and especially two days before and two days after. On pages 689Omtimes.com

693 He says: “I shall state the objectives that should be accomplished at each full Moon in May, in order of their importance, and with as much clarity and brevity as this abstruse subject permit: 1. The releasing of certain energies which can potently affect humanity, and which will, if released, stimulate the spirit of love, of brotherhood and of goodwill on the earth. These energies are as definite and as real as those energies with which science occupies itself and calls the “cosmic rays.” I am speaking of real energies and not of emotionally desired abstractions.

2. The fusion of all the men of goodwill in the world into an integrated, responsive whole.

3. The invocation and the response of certain great Beings, whose work can and will be possible if the first of the objectives are achieved through the accomplishment of the second objective.

Ponder on this synthesis of the three objectives. By what Omtimes.com

name these Living forces are called is entirely immaterial.

They can be regarded as the Vice-Regents of God, Who can and will cooperate with the Spirit of Life and of Love upon our planet, the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. They may be regarded by certain thinkers as the Archangels of the Highest, Whose work has been made possible through the activity of Christ and His body of disciples, the true and living church. They may be regarded by others as the guiding heads of the planetary Hierarchy, Who stand behind our planetary evolution, and Who seldom take an active outer part in the world activity, leaving it to the Masters of the Wisdom except in the time of an emergency such as this.

4. The evocation from the inner side of a strenuous and onepointed activity on the part of the Hierarchy of Masters, those illumined Minds to Whom has been confided the work of world direction.

Responsiveness is desired and can be effective between the following three groups.

a. The waiting and at this time, anxious Hierarchy—anxious because even They cannot tell how humanity will react and whether men will be wise enough to avail themselves of the proffered opportunity.

They stand, organized under the direction of the Christ, the Master of all the Masters, and the Teacher alike of angels and of men. He has been constituted the direct intermediary between the earth and the Buddha, Who is, in His turn, the consecrated intermediary between the entire waiting Hierarchy and the attentive Forces. a. The New Group of World Servers, composed at this time of all those consecrated servers of the race whose objective is world peace, who aim at the establishing of good will on earth as the basis for future living.

Originally, this group was composed of a handful of accepted disciples and consecrated aspirants. Its ranks have been opened during the past ten months to all those men of good will who are working actively for real understanding, who are

willing to sacrifice themselves for the helping of humanity. a. The masses of men and women who have responded to the ideas which have been set forth and who react favorably to the objectives of international understanding, economic interdependence, and religious unity.

“When these three groups of thinkers are brought en rapport with each other, and when the three groups can be aligned, even momentarily, much can be accomplished; the gates of the new life can be opened, and the inflow of the new spiritual forces can take place. Such is the Group objective and idea. ”May I now make an inquiry?

Of what importance is this full moon of May to you personally?

Does it seem to you of sufficient importance to warrant your utmost effort? Do you really believe that on that day there can truly come a release of spiritual energy of sufficient potency to change world affairs, provided the sons of men play their part? Do you really believe, and can you stand practically by that belief, that the Buddha on Omtimes.com

that day, in cooperation with the Christ, and with the Hierarchy of Illumined Minds, plus the proffered aid of some of the Thrones, Principalities and Powers of Light, Who are the higher correspondence of the powers of darkness, stand waiting to carry out God’s plans, when given the right and the permission of men?

Your major job at this time is not to wrestle with the powers of evil, and the forces of darkness, but to awaken an interest in and mobilize the forces of light and the resources of men of good will and of right inclination in the world today. Resist not evil, but to organize and mobilize the good, and so strengthen the hands of the workers on the side of love, that evil will find less opportunity.

“In your effort to help the world at this time, three things of a practical nature can be done.

Purification, sacrifice, clear thinking, and an increased sensitivity must be actively desired and worked for by each of you, alone in the secret place of your own heart. The arranging of your affairs so that the week of the full moon can yield to you the fullest opportunity to cooperate must Omtimes.com

be your effort, and the use of a sane judgment and the expression of a real skill in action must be your attempted demonstration, as you seek to awaken your immediate circle to the importance of the moment. I speak here of the general effort that you can make. This falls into three categories: “One: The active instruction and mobilizing of the known aspirants and disciples of the world, no matter in what group they work, so that they may make due preparation, working in their own groups as they see fit.

“Two: The call to participate of all who can be reached advising them of the day of opportunity, mobilizing them for a vast world effort to arouse a spirit of good will afresh and calling for a united use of the Great Invocation on the day of the Wesak full moon. Every possible effort must be made by the workers in every country to increase the numbers of those who use this Invocation, and to familiarize the public with the ideals for which the New Group of World Servers stands.

All whom you can reach in the

countries of the world must be instructed and helped to spread the use of the Invocation in their own language, and with the wording that will make it acceptable, and a widespread effort must be made to organize its simultaneous use on the day of the May full moon. Those who use it must be instructed to say the words aloud, thus making a volume of the sound of real potency, and they must say it with all the power of their wills behind it. It is the invocation of the “will to good” that is the objective of the Forces Who can aid at this time. This realization is of paramount importance.”

the ISAR journal. She was a cofounder of UAC and its past Secretary and Director. Her goal is to serve humanity and the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet.

To that end, she offers FREE, online, three pages weekly of the Ageless Wisdom Teachings as was known by Pythagoras. To receive these studies, she can be contacted through her website www.FreePythagorasTeachings. com, which website, she created at the age of 90. These teachings prepare us for discipleship.

References: www.ThriveMovement.com

1

Wilcock, David, The Ascension Mysteries, Penguin Random House LLC.,2016, p. 329 2

Humanity is the Disciple who, at this time must be victorious in its trials and tribulations. We are being prepared for the next stage in our development towards the real Freedom for the Soul and eventual Oneness with Divinity.

dar Boggia, Marguerite “The Forthcoming Golden Age” www.

FreePythagorasTeachings.com under Articles.

3

Wilcock, David, The Source Field Investigations Dutton Penguin Random House 2011, pg. 111 3a

Marguerite Dar Boggia was past Secretary, Membership Secretary and Director for ISAR, the International Society for Astrological Research.

She was the Publisher of Kosmos,

Bailey, Alice A. Esoteric Psychology I, Lucis Publishing Co. 1936, pp.123-124 4

Bailey, Alice A. Esoteric Psychology II, Lucis Publishing Co. 1972, pp 689-693 5

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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

How to Access the 3 Parts of Your Core Creativity

Whenever we’re challenged to jumpstart our creative process the old technique of brainstorming or collaborating with others who are also struggling to be creative on

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demand, isn’t going to cut it.

The world is changing rapidly, and people and workplaces need true innovation ideas.

Trying to “figure out” what to do can waste valuable time because, in an ordinary state of consciousness, you end up relying on outdated formulas and patterns. When we’re in this state, it’s as if our mind’s Wi-Fi signal is too weak for the really big ideas to load. That’s when we need the strongest creative force there is, which is what I call core creativity.

Core creativity is the creativity that comes from the very center of your being – the unconscious mind. You are accessing this deep, core creativity when the ideas are flowing, and you feel as if they aren’t even coming from you but from a source that is infinitely abundant. When your mind opens the portal, core creativity can download like the ultimate software program for achieving ground-breaking creative ideas.

I’ve been coaching clients and executives, treating individual patients in my Los Angeles Institute, and doing workshops

and presentations to the public and organizations for decades.

Recently, I was speaking about mindfulness and creativity to a hundred staffers at a tech company, and I asked, “How many of you are here because you want to become more creative?” Almost everyone raised his or her hand. Then I asked, “How many of you are here so you can learn to concentrate and focus your mind?” About half raised their hand. What good are focus and concentration if you don’t know where to aim it—if you have no creative vision?

We were taught to think that creativity is only for the chosen few—“creative types” with “an artistic temperament.” Wellmeaning adults in our lives taught us to shut down our imagination and get serious about our futures very early on so we could conform to systems that were created long ago.

Now those systems are changing dramatically. We’ve got people micro dosing, taking very small doses of hallucinogenics to jumpstart their creativity at work.

The Beatles and Steve Jobs both took LSD, but they stopped Omtimes.com

after recognizing there were safer, more accessible pathways to the deepest creativity and this portal is within. One of those pathways is core creativity, which reconnects you with your creative self and can lead to profound, radical transformation.

The three-part core-creativity process is like an Internet connection far superior to any that has yet been experienced.

Core creativity allows you to progress far beyond surfacelevel tinkering that comes from the limited resources of the everyday mind. The three states of this process are Open Mind, Absorbing Mind, and Generating Mind, and to access core creativity, you progress from one zone to the next.

We first access core creativity through Open Mind. This is a state of consciousness that can be thought of like the room where core creativity appears, and ideas and insights are downloaded into your consciousness. However, the big, breakthrough “aha!” doesn’t necessarily come to you the first few times you go into open mind consciousness Omtimes.com

and download core creativity.

It takes a little practice and patience, but then a sense of expansiveness and vitality arises.

After entering the state of Open Mind consciousness, you then transition into Absorbing Mind – a mind state of receptivity in which images, words, and ideas come to you. To be in a state of absorbing mind, the selfneeds to be receptive to all the phenomena they are aware of during the day as well as to look, study, and analyze their dreams.

For example, Paul McCartney was asleep when his unconscious mind received the melody for the hit song “Yesterday” from his Absorbing Mind.

To understand the creative messages from the dream state write down the dream and then free associate by journaling the feeling, texture, and/or color of it that immediately comes to your mind.

Once you have absorbed the ideas, you then transition to Generating Mind. Here you’re not just “playing around with ideas” but instead enter a flow state of generating ideas and insights that seem to be channeled directly from a

consciousness much wiser and a source more creative than your own. When we enter into Generating Mind, we can access states of core creativity and bring forth new and original concepts or ideas.

All three of these states can be accessed through a mindfulness practice—sitting meditation and other forms of meditation such as walking meditation in nature, mantra meditation, chanting, and tai chi. They can all lead to a download, and in the pouring of core creativity. For more strategies read my article 6 Steps to Ignite Your Core Creativity. (http://ronaldalexander.com/6steps-to-ignite-your-corecreativity/) This formula for creative innovation can be adapted by anyone—whether or not they consider themselves “the creative type.” I have seen single mothers of limited means use the core creative process to reinvent their lives. As well I’ve seen my clients through the core creativity process breathe new life into old ideas, renew success, and even go far beyond the original benchmarks that they figured could never be recreated

much less surpassed.

Ronald A. Alexander, Ph.D., MFT, SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner) is a psychotherapist, leadership coach, and clinical trainer in the fields of Somatic Trauma Healing Therapies, Mindfulness Meditation, Transformational Leadership and Core Creativity. As the Executive Director of the OpenMind Training® Institute he draws upon his extensive, pioneering background in Holistic Health, Behavioral Medicine, Positive, and Self Psychology, Gestalt Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, Ericksonian Mind-Body Healing Therapies and Eastern Wisdom Traditions. He is the author of the widely acclaimed book Wise Mind, Open Mind that provides practical and innovative applications to help us through today’s challenging times plus two meditation CDs. Alexander has been conducting national & international workshops and professional clinical training that support strategies of personal, clinical and corporate excellence in the USA, Europe, Canada, Russia, Asia & Australia since 1972. To learn more about mindfulness visit www. ronaldalexander.com.

Omtimes.com

The Seven Levels of Inspiration

by Daniel J. MacIntyre, M.A.

“Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see” – William Newton Clarke We all want inspiration in our daily experience, but how do we create more of it? Feeling inspired is a natural

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desire of most people, and therefore we anticipate it and eagerly await its return. Even though we can’t pinpoint its origin, we can quickly recognize when it captures our emotional state. We feel alerted, excited, creative, and full of zest!

Suddenly, we are ready to go for something new, and we’re not even sure quite why. This is the intense spiritual quality of inspiration!

Inspiration, unlike its hardworking cousin motivation, is self-propelling and often accomplishes far more significant things with far less effort, because it’s power is greater and therefore can do more with less. It’s like comparing a Boeing 747 to a private jet. The difference in power is felt in any setting, and you can easily distinguish between someone who is struggling to get motivated and someone who is truly inspired.

Like every spiritual principle, there are easy steps to transcend to higher levels of inspiration.

Here are the seven necessary levels of inspiration and how to exceed each one.

Level 1: Ideas Ideas are the starting point of all inspiration. Creative ideas and insights are the results of searching your mind for something new and different. All healthy people do this. Ironically, a sure sign someone is struggling with depression is their inability to come up with new ideas. As soon as depression subsides, there are new ideas and hope resumes.

How to transcend: Solidify your ideas by writing them down.

Have an idea journal where you can analyze your personal thoughts and intentions. Keep an ongoing dialogue with yourself about the ideas that interest you. Contemplation leads to revelation! They will ultimately give you the courage to move forward to the next level.

Level 2: Expressing Creative Ideas to Others This level requires courage because we are putting our private thoughts and intentions into the minds of others. Sharing your personal insights and new ideas is indeed a big step for many. Many of us are taught from a very young age not to do

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this. Going against the grain and expressing creative ideas is disruptive and a threat to the status quo.

How to transcend: Let go of the idea that established ways of it are the best possible ways. There is some value in the ‘tried-andtested’ ways of the past, but the world needs new and fresh ideas. Get support from positive and free-thinking people and allow them to encourage you along your path.

Level 3: Beauty, Inspiration, and Intuition This level often seems accidental, but personal choice can trigger it. When beauty strikes us in one of its many forms like music, art, nature, inspirational writings, it triggers the field of inspiration to open up. Unlike surfacelevel thinking, beauty hits the core of our being and is why hearing the perfect song and the ideal time quickly moves us into action. We suddenly feel a strong desire to accomplish something.

cross county can refresh your spirit and awaken new creative energy. Also, something as simple as playing your favorite song or your wedding song can ignite a new sense of purpose in your relationships.

Level 4: Effortless Action (flow) This level often depends on the significance and impact of the previous level. If your creative imagination is burning bright, things at this level will seem almost effortless and are why true passion and love will turn what seems impossible into the now possible. Once this level is obtained, the field of inspiration works its magic through you., and your ideas find spontaneous expression in the world.

How to transcend: Integrate your new-found skills or actions into daily life. Don’t make excuses or create distractions for your new-found interest, habit or ability. Eventually, it will become a way of life.

Level 5: Feeling On-purpose:

How to transcend: Arrange beauty into your life. A camping trip in the mountains or a trip Omtimes.com

At this level, we become more spiritually awake to our nature!

Once we master a skill, talent, or activity, we have little tolerance for being off-course. We feel more engaged in our work, and our purpose now seems obvious to us. A higher level of inspiration and sharing is achieved and, our gifts become a reward in itself.

How to transcend: Realize that joy comes from sharing your gifts. Giving others what we have attained (a sense of purpose) is an experience like no other. All great teachers help elevate their students to their level.

Level 6: Helping Others Achieve Purpose At this level, we become teachers and mentors to others.

Now, unconcerned with personal gain, we turn our attention towards helping others. We are deeply inspired to give to others what we have already attained.

We now clearly see that all we are connected much more deeply than thought before and everyone has gifts to share.

How to transcend: Surrender to something higher and be open to answers. Allow universal

intelligence to guide your thoughts and actions.

Level 7: Synchronicity Many spiritual seekers talk of experiences with this level of conscious awareness.

First introduced by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, the concept of synchronicity suggests that events are “meaningful coincidences,� yet they occur with no causal relationship. Those who have mastered the higher levels of inspiration (levels 3-6) will often experience frequent occurrences of synchronistic events. With enough spiritual work, synchronistic events become a regular occurrence, and one feels guided from moment to moment. This high level of inspiration is available to everyone (including you) who aspires for it.

BIO: Daniel MacIntyre is the author of Anything is Possible: 91 truths about what is possible for your life. He teaches human communication for Lansing Community College and business communication for Cleary University. He can be contacted at careerpathconsulting.com Omtimes.com

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

Are there Animals that are not Sentient?

BY CATHEDRAL OF THE SOUL

Sentient animals.

Do you know what that means?

The human being, in general, tends to disqualify what he does not know because there is a mental weariness in seeking to understand that which is new and, in many ways, different from us. In the same way, many people resist when others raise the flag for the struggle for recognition of animals as sentient beings because this status implies recognizing that these beings have fundamental and essential rights, such as life, freedom, dignity.

We say that a being is sentient when we recognize and accept that he is able to feel, to experience feelings as pain, anguish, loneliness, love, joy, anger and fear.Â

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"Animals

are

underlings; with

not

they

ourselves

in

brethren,

are the

Henry

other net

they

are

nations,

of

life

and

not

caught time."

Beston

EVOLUTIONARY LOGIC AND NON-ANIMAL LIVING THINGS The possession of a central nervous system is what allows animals to have feelings and To really grasp the meaning of sentience in animals, we need to define the term. The word Sentient derives from the term SENTIRE from Latin and means to FEELTo recognize that animals are able to experience feelings like pain, anguish, loneliness, love, joy, and anger and that those aren’t just the privilege of the human being, but of all animals is a step towards a more conscious and enlightened society.

experiences, only animals have such systems. No other living being has a nervous system, among all organisms present in our biosphere, no being such as plants, fungi, protists, bacteria, and archaea has such a structure. None of them has a mechanism for transmitting information similar to what is present in animals with central nervous systems.

According to Singer's definition (2002), sentience is the capability to suffer, to feel pleasure or happiness. It is the competence to receive and

Beings that do not have a central nervous system are not sentient. This includes bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, plants and some animals. There is a possibility that some animals with a simplified central nervous system are not sentient either, but this is an open question and still cannot be resolved by modern science.

react to a stimulus consciously. Being aware is synonymous with having experiences, which can be positive or negative for individuals.

It may be that beings other than animals possess different physical structures that fulfill the same function as a central nervous system, this is to be decided by scientific research. In this way, we assume that this type of organized system would be equally complicated to present the same result as a sentient organism.Â

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We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.Â

ANNA SEWELL

Plants have no experience:

This is, entirely possible. The ways an organism without a non-centralized nervous

THE FACT THAT

system can respond to stimuli can vary greatly. Yet, however, complex they may

ONLY ANIMALS ARE SENTIENT

structure that can perform a similar function, the response cannot be

know it.

support but has received some support is the opinion that plants have experienced because they respond to certain stimuli. However,

DOES NOT MEAN

explained as consciousness, not at least the way we

stimuli is not sentience An idea that has no scientific

be, with a non-centralized nervous system or a physical

the response to external

displaying such a physical response does not require the ability to have subjective

THAT ALL

experiences. For example, plants are not able to escape

The structures that allow the development of

ANIMALS ARE

food they like. These stimuli would be of no use and

consciousness appear very early in the development of

a threat or to seek a type of

SENTIENT.

animals, but never appear in

would imply an unnecessary expenditure of energy.

living creatures that are not animals. Living beings that are not animals have a simple structure. They do not have a nervous structure or any physical structure

This could happen if, in fact, the consciousness needs some degree of nervous complexity, which may very well be the case. However, since the relevant

We should explain it by assuming some alternative physical mechanism. Although nonconscious physical responses fail to reach a level

complex enough for the

scientific knowledge is lacking so far,

possession of consciousness.

the question remains open. What we

that of creatures whose

Moreover, the possession of

know from our present understanding is

consciousness allows them a

that all sentient beings are animals, but

wide variety of behaviors,

that not all animals are conscious.

nonconscious responses may

such a “construct� would not make evolutionary sense.

of complexity comparable to

have a relatively high level of

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complexity.

Non-sentient animals The fact that only animals are sentient does not mean that all animals are sentient. As explained in the section on the criteria for sentience, to have experienced it is necessary to have a central nervous system. And some animals do not have this system.

This implies that there are animals that may not be sentient. In the first place, we would include here those beings who do not have a nervous system, like the poriferous and those that have a nervous system that is not centralized, like echinoderms and cnidarians. Non-sentient animals would then include sponges, corals, anemones, and hydras.

Again, as in the case of plants, these animals may react to external stimuli, and even engage in locomotion. For example, sponges, although they do not have a nervous system, have a physical mechanism that allows them to perform precise movements (by circulating water through the cells of which they are composed). Echinoderms (such as starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers) may have a relatively complex behavior (such as for example a carnivorous plant).

But as the same in the case of plants, there is nothing in their physiology that would allow possession of sentience.

Obviously many questions remain to be asked, questions that would clarify to us the possibilities that consciousness can present itself and infuse all beings in creation in different degrees, and because of that, many may not need the presence of complex nervous structures and constructs to be manifested as sentience.

| OMTIMES • SEPTEMBER

A 2018

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September A 2018 Contributors Writers

Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac. Ascending Hearts Cathedral of the Soul Daniel J. MacIntyre, M.A. Diana Raab Elson Haas, MD Era Chandok Jill Mattson John Holland Judi Lynch Kartar Diamond Marcia Sirota, MD Marguerite Dar Boggia OMTimes Ronald Alexander PhD Sandie Sedgbeer Andrew Pacholyk MS L.Ac.

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