Transformation Coaching Magazine July 2019 by Transformation Coaching Magazine

INSPIRATION & GROWTH Childhood Memories From Lifeline to Liberation It is All Stretch On Give From the Heart Peeling Potatoes The Witch Doctor’s Secret

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COACHING AND BUSINESS TOOLS Creativity and Grit FEED YOUR SPIRIT The Golden Key

COACH SPOTLIGHT Experiencing Transformation: A Healing Journey

PUBLISHERS Natalie Rivera Joeel A. Rivera, M.Ed.

EDITOR Lisa Cedrone

CONTRIBUTORS Kate Pennell, Gregg Sanderson, Terez Hartmann, Mary Boutillier, Arielle Giordano, Linda Commito, Monica Canducci, Jo Mooy, Owen K. Waters, Alan Cohen

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Creativity and Grit

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Eugen Aschenbrenner

Five steps to create momentum in your creative projects. Kate Maria Pennell Take flight — write, paint, shout “ACTION,” light your blowtorch. Step forward in faith, and create! It sounds very grand. The reality is more Steven Pressfield style, “Sit down and do your work” (from The War of Art). There is very rarely a fanfare. Just the sound of the creative mental motor and the quiet tapping of the keyboard or the scratching of tools. If it’s so simple, why don’t we do it? What is stopping us?

“Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration” —Thomas Edison Edison got it. He understood that creating is synonymous with working on something. We can tell ourselves that we just need to be more disciplined, more determined, have more willpower, and stop procrastinating! Thanks. (Note to self: This kind of pep talk leaves me feeling lacking, useless, and demoralized. I think I’ll just go game instead.) A more productive and self-empowering way to move forward is to face the core of the issues: No. 1: If we don’t understand the creative process, we cannot move ourselves and our work through it. Overlook the process, and we can become blocked or stuck in a loop. Our creative production may be in fits and spurts, leaving us feeling burnt out, frustrated, and longing to be like those “more talented than us.” No. 2: Feelings of fear and being overwhelmed act as creative brakes. Therefore, I suggest clearing out the thinking that is producing the fear and setting up some practical frameworks that f acilitates creativity. Here are five steps to help you in this process:

1. GET FEAR IN PERSPECTIVE

It seems so powerful, but what if fear wasn’t what it appears to be? What if fear was just an echo with a loud hailer?

Our grit—our applied determination to do what it takes—can be ground to sand by fear and then run through our fingers—if we let it grind us down. But only if we let it. We experience genuine fear when facing danger. The rest of the time, fear shows up under the guises of procrastination, worry, overthinking. It has a whole wardrobe of disguises. But underneath, is fear. But not the real deal. These fears are echoes from the past that we project into our present or our future, via our beliefs and our thinking, which then affect our behavior. The good news is that they’re not real. Turn on the light and these nightmares disappear. Like Harry Potter’s dementor that was just a bogeyman. The power lay in the power he gave it. Face it to see it for what it really is. Fear of failure, fear of success (my personal nemesis), fear of being alone, exposed, of seeming better than others…they all disappear with light and warmth and truth. Chocolate is optional.

2. CREATE SPACE TO CREATE

“Eighty-one percent of Americans feel that they have a book in them,” according to writer Joseph Epstein. Eighty-one percent of Americans don’t write and publish books though. The difference between those who want to create something and those who do is work. Decide and do—willpower doesn’t come into it. Create space, show up, and start to work. Give yourself the gift of time and space to work in—uncluttered physical and mental space.

Dreaming never made it so—so get practical!

Look in your schedule and mark off time to work on your projects. If you don’t manage your time, someone else will. Do you need to get up early to write 500 words before work? How about a fresh hour on Saturday mornings just for you—before shopping and kids and football tumbles upon you? Set aside sacred time to work, but also sacred space— free from distractions—so you can work smoothly and easily and, therefore, more productively. Remove physical, digital, and environmental clutter from your work environment. Can you work offline (no notifications)? Would a “Do Not Disturb, Creative Genius At Work” sign help to remind the family to respect your space? Could a work date with yourself help: a coffee shop, library, even sitting in the park or the car? We set aside time to work and respect that time because it is productive for us. Doing this with our creative projects will also increase their value and productivity.

3. DREAM BIG, PLAN SMALL

Part of what I do as a coach is to help people to have clarity on their visions. We dream big, and then we need to plan the smallest steps possible to create for ourselves the path to get there. The feeling of overwhelm can engulf us when we look at what we think we need to do. We see E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. and whoosh! Our get up and go has got up and gone. By moving forward in small steps, we build our confidence and keep our focus. And we don’t burn out like a frantic firework either. Visualize your overall goal for the week/month and then break it down into small, actionable steps. “Write a page every day. That’s about 200 words, or 1,000 words a week. Do that for two years and you’ll have a novel that’s long enough. Nothing will happen until you are producing at least one page per day.”—John Grisham. What’s your equivalent to his “page a day?”

4. GET TRACKING

Track your time working. What is tracked can be improved. We are very adept at askew perception (i.e.: kidding ourselves), so tracking the time you are actually applying yourself and working (and not on social media or just fiddling about with the

materials) can be very useful. I’ve used a spreadsheet or a small notebook. Nothing fancy. The numbers don’t lie to me, and I can clearly see whether I am doing the work or not.

5. SHOW UP.

Show up—whether you feel like it or not. Be a hero for yourself and just show up and do something. Can’t write as you have a bad cold? Then edit. Sketch out some ideas. Do some research on materials/products/influencers/market demand. Do something and keep the agreement that you made with yourself. Keeping faith with yourself builds confidence. That’s something we all need to invest in.

“Thankfully, perseverance is a good substitute for talent.” —Steve Martin We can fret over whether our stuff is “good enough.” By showing up and doing our creative work, we start to produce quantity. This, in turn, begins to create quality. “Practice in public,” as Jeff Goins says. Quantity is the key to quality. Be consistent in showing up and working, review your work, and then go to work again. Creative work can be fun. It can be exciting and exhausting and exhilarating all in the same day! We take our day job seriously and we work with the intention to produce. The same attitude benefits us with creativity, whether for profit or for pleasure. Get practical, get real, get cracking, get tracking, and get on with it. And don’t forget to enjoy it. Wouldn’t it be nice to end your day reveling in each days’ creative accomplishments, providing fuel for the next?

Permission to Launch with Kate Pennell

Kate Pennell, English and slightly geekish, is a coach and dream catalyst who lives in Spain with three kids, various furry creatures and a patient husband. She loves nature, creativity and seeing people discover what truly makes them come alive. Kate provides the people she works with permission to launch and helps them begin to fly as they were made to. She teaches, encourages and connects with fellow travellers across our global village. Find out more at https://permissiontolaunch.website/.

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Frank McKenna

Childhood Memories

“Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they’re yours.”—Richard Bach By Gregg Sanderson I have a friend with remarkable insight. Because of his domineering father, he became a people-pleaser. His mother made him afraid of women, and a broken romance caused him to retire within his shell. He sabotages himself in every possible way, and he knows exactly how it all came about. His self-analysis makes boring conversation, but he’ll still share it whenever he can. His slogan is, “I’m workin’ on it,” which is another way of saying “I haven’t done anything about it.” Another friend also has remarkable insight. She recognizes her tendencies toward people pleasing so she becomes more self-expressive. She knows her parents weren’t ambitious, but she sets her goals higher and presses on. Her slogan is, “So what?” Which one, do you think, is more fun to be with?

Answer… The funniest line in this column has been censored by the editor, cursed with good taste.

In the World of BOB (the Being of Bliss) we have a slogan, “Principle is not bound by precedent.” It’s just another way of saying, “So what?” In other words, whatever happened in the near or distant past or in your childhood does not need to affect the way you are now, but it can cripple you emotionally if you use it to justify yourself. Misery loves justification even more than company. There are only two possible responses to any justification: “That’s why…” or “So what?” Daddy was a drunk 1) That’s why I’m a souse. 2) So what? The one I love left me for another. 1) 1) That’s why I’ll never love again. 2) So what?

A character in a book ate an apple. 1) That’s why I must atone. 2) So what? My granddaddy was a horse thief. 1) That’s why I’ll never amount to anything. 2) So what? Somebody who looked like me but wasn’t me once persecuted somebody who looked like you but wasn’t you. 1) That’s why I live with generic guilt. 2) So what? I fell in love with my mother at age four. 1) That’s why my life is a mess. 2) So what? My father was a super-achiever. 1) That’s why I’m a failure. 2) So what? I’m too (Check one or more) tall, short, fat, skinny, young, old, shy, aggressive, nice, mean, self-centered, desperate, aloof…Whatever. 1) That’s why I can’t make it with the opposite sex. 2) So what? We’re always at choice with our justifications. What’ll it be, suppress them or address them? I’m workin’ on it. So what?

Happiness is BS with Gregg Sanderson

Gregg Sanderson is author of Spirit With A Smile, The World According To BOB. He is a licensed practitioner in the Centers for Spiritual Living, and a Certified Trainer for Infinite Possibilities. His earlier books were, What Ever Happened To Happily Ever After? and Split Happens—Easing The Pain Of Divorce. His latest project is the New Thought Global Network, where subscribers can enjoy the best in New Thought presentations from anywhere at any time. You can see it at http://www.newthoughtglobal.org.

From Lifeline to Liberation

Focusing on creativity will help you THRIVE. By Terez Hartmann When I was a little girl, I once had a dream that there would come a time in my life when all things would be “perfect,” and all challenges and negative emotions would cease to be. But after many trips around the sun, I gradually began to understand—first in my head and then in my heart—that without some degree of shadow, there would be no way to fully perceive and enjoy the light in its fullest glory; without more than one option, we would not have the freedom and delight that comes with conscious choice, and without challenge, we would never get to taste the sweetness of triumph. Yet, unlike Game of Thrones-esque shows and post-apocalyptic stories of struggling to survive moment-by-moment, there are MANY paths to expansion and self-realization that do NOT have to involve life, limb, and extended periods of suffering.

If, however, you ARE working through or recovering from an intense period in time that has your body, mind, and spirit feeling as if you HAVE seen time on the battlefield, there is a path to healing and moving onward, upward, and forward that comes without weapons and armor. It even has the potential of opening you up to a sense of freedom and flow that can and will spill over into other aspects of your life—if you are open and willing to allow it. And if you are, like me, a sensitive-creative type who feels, processes, and expresses with a level of intensity that is far more than the “average” person, you know all too well that having some kind of outlet for release and way to channel your focus in constructive, productive ways can be a life-saver.

CREATIVITY AS A GATEWAY TO FREEDOM

No matter what experiences I’ve attracted and allowed in my life, I have found that EVERY time I turn my focus to a creative project of some kind, I find both solace AND evolution—so if YOU are also looking to survive and THRIVE in life (especially as a sensitive-creative type), here are some ideas for using YOUR superpowers of creativity to create a lifeline, and to even open the door to your own liberation—in more ways than one:

1. Make it your mission to discover your medium/s.

If you are not yet certain of what rocks your world as a creative being, sample the buffet of creative flavors by registering for a course in some area of the creative arts (or two or three).

“Test-drive” a few different activities by either using the tools you currently have at home in new ways or investing in a few new items that bring joy to your soul. Hang out in environments that attract creatives or that are filled with creative works of some kind, be they fine art, music, wine, craft beer or craft spirits, books and writings, gardens, metal work/woodworking shops, photography, classic car or motorcycle shows, places with amazing architecture, design/restoration, scrapbooking, restaurants that allow you to witness how meals are prepared, etc.! Pay attention to how you feel as you engage, observe, and savor these experiences, noting which ones energize and enliven you the most. If you are willing to be fully present during your times of artistic exploration, this process alone can give your mind a mission to focus in ways that help you step away from drama to feed positive, light-hearted subjects that are nonresistant AND flow-inducing in nature!

2. Choose something and make it EASY to do it.

Once you’ve discovered the creative area that speaks to you most, keep all needed supplies/tools/etc. accessible so it is easy to jump in ANY time the mood strikes.

3. To experience the true freedom, create for YOU alone, first and foremost. Share ONLY if inspired and ONLY if you know for sure that others’ opinions can be irrelevant.

tions/approval into the mix or creating something that HAS to do/produce a result other than the joy for its own sake can often inhibit you as an artist—especially when your desire is to experience a true sense freedom.

4. Be 100 percent present with your process and let your creation lead you.

When you are fully immersed in an experience—especially one conducive to flow, freedom, and joy—you are in that moment allowing, thriving, and living life on FIRE. Each and every moment spent in a state of flow (with the help of Law of Attraction and the new neural pathways you help to create in your physical brain), leads to more of the same—which can, in turn, lead you in unexpected directions that can take you from finding a simple lifeline and breath of fresh air to experiencing liberation and inspiration on more levels than you could even begin to imagine.

THE BOTTOM LINE: FROM LIFELINE TO LIBERATION

No matter what your journey of the moment may look like or how you choose to express in life, you—and every human being that lives and breathes—are wired to focus, to choose, and to create, and every time one sweet soul finds liberation for ANY reason, that individual ignites a flame of joy and possibility that can light the way for any and all who would also be open to experiencing her/his light. What if YOU got to be THAT sweet soul? Here’s to finding a life-line, no matter what, to creatEven if you are a professional creative, give yourself the gift of making something that is for your eyes, ears, pal- ing your own unique work of art, to living life on FIRE, and to ate/experience ONLY. Adding the “layer” of others’ percep- letting true freedom ring for the benefit of ALL.

ALLOWING YOUR SUCCESS with Terez “Firewoman” Hartmann

Terez “Firewoman” Hartmann,“Your catalyst for all things Fab-YOU-lous,” is the author of Allowing Your Success!, a proud contributing author of Transform Your Life! book one and two, a professional Keynote Speaker/Workshop Facilitator, Singer-Songwriter/Recording Artist, “Allowing Adventures!” & “Savor Vacation” Facilitator, and true Renaissance Woman, and Visionary. She keeps her fire lit by embracing and promoting a lifestyle of “Allowing,” and by using creative expression to elevate and ignite the human spirit, a passion that she shares with her husband, soul-mate and creative partner of over 15 years, John Victor Hartmann. Together they share “Allowing TRUE LOVE” workshops and experiences designed to help others attract, allow, and maintain extraordinary relationships, and create custom jingles and voice-overs in their studio, THE Creativity Express. Visit: http://www.TerezFirewoman.com

Photo Credit: Pixabay/EliasSch

It is All

Each path is unique, and no amount of study or insight from others can give us what we alone are seeking. Mary Boutillier Taking a deep breath, I sit here with so many thoughts swirling around in my mind. Some productive, some notâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;my puppy mind at the height of activity. Recently, I spent the day (starting at 4:30 a.m.) sitting at the hospital with a loved oneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;nothing lifethreatening thank goodness, but still exhausting for the patient, for me, and my husband as we sat waiting for the nurses and aides who came in and out of the room at regular intervals. I marveled at the efficiency and the bureaucracy of it all: an environment filled with the known and unknown, with immense suffering and sweet relief. I was struck by both the presence of death and the lullaby music

that played in the background announcing another birth. And as suffering seems to like company, I then went home and watched the news, as if I hadn’t had enough for one day! So there it is. There is my pity-party. Sometimes it’s like that. Some days are easy and effortless; sometimes it’s hard and weary and just plain stinks. This day felt like one of those days to me—like enough was enough. Then I went into my yoga space and put my legs up the wall in a pose called—you guessed it: Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose (aka Viparita Karani). Yoga Journal Magazine wrote, “There’s a general consensus among modern yogis that Viparita Karani or Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose may have the power to cure whatever ails you.” After careful consideration and about 10 minutes lingering in the pose, I started to think that they might be right! As I lay on my mat on the hard floor, legs up the wall, gazing out a window, I watched the movement of a very tall bamboo stem that was just within my view. The pointed pale green leaves rustled in the soft breeze; it’s lanky, long stem swayed back and forth but never broke. And as I watched it, I thought, “It is all.” Three simple words. This is the bamboo being present in all its bamboo-ness allowing whatever comes its way. It doesn’t feel sad for itself when a strong wind blows; it rarely breaks under pressure; it is what it is, and it does what it does in the present moment, having the experience of it’s life. As I laid there in quiet observance, watching it bob and weave against the clear blue sky, I felt myself start to settle down. For a moment, I felt my place in the world as whole and complete and full, able to ride the rollercoaster and recover, literally having the experience of my life.

This message was what I needed to “hear” that day, for pity parties really shouldn’t last too long! I allowed a softness to alight in my body, smiling at the folly of my own peculiarities, and I felt gratitude for the pose, which felt so good, and for my willingness to receive the bamboo’s simple example. It seems that we often want to pick apart our lives, labeling this as good and this as bad —pushing away or pulling in, in a constant tug of war with our own humanness. And yet, it is the cumulative experience of our existence here on Earth that makes us who we are right now. What would it feel like to embrace and move through all of it, maybe understand and gain insight from it, instead of wishing it were different? Over the last week or so, I read Hermann Hesse’s book Siddhartha. One of the many gems I gleaned from his book is the fundamental need to experience life in one’s own way. Each path is unique, and no amount of study or insight from others can give us what we alone are seeking. We might gain an intellectual understanding of how things work, but until we feel it in our bones—until our hearts break with sadness or burst with joy, there isn’t true resonance. The word “water” doesn’t feel wet, and “love” is just a four-letter word on paper until you have lived it deep within in your soul. Our experiences ripple out into the world and join with all those who have had similar experiences. For example, we don’t truly understand the death of a parent until our own beloved parent dies. Our lives are full of these moment-by-moment occurrences conveniently placed for us to learn more about ourselves, and our involvement in

them allows us to develop compassion, gratitude, empathy, strength, and more. These moments create wholeness. Sometimes I feel like the bamboo and sometimes I’m just a stick in the mud, but then I remember that even the lotus flower starts out life in the mud! The central message in Siddhartha is one of unity with every living thing in the world, that each is beautiful in it’s own right, and that there is not one voice, but the voice of “thousands” melding together into only one sound—the universal sound of Om. From Siddhartha: “And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world. All of them together was the stream of events, the music of life.” It reminds me that I’m not alone, that these follies in my life are impermanent and passing. Like the breath, they come and they go. Maybe they happen a little less each time as I gain wisdom, but life is never a straight line— there are layers to uncover, understanding to be gained, and the realization that I am all of this and more. Yoga Master Sri Swami Satchidananda said, “We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?” I take a deep breath, smile, and accept that “it is all.” It is all on purpose, it is all encompassing, it is all love.

The Yoga of Life with Mary Boutieller Mary Boutieller is a Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance. She has been teaching yoga since 2005. Her work experience includes 22 years as a firefighter/paramedic and 10 years as a Licensed Massage Therapist. Mary’s knowledge and experience give her a well-rounded understanding of anatomy, alignment, health and movement in the body. She is passionate about the benefits of yoga and the ability to heal at all levels through awareness, compassion, and a willingness to explore. She can be reached at: SimplyogaOm@gmail.com.

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Katee Lue

Stretch On

Move your body and you will help stretch your limits. By Arielle Giordano The benefits of stretching are numerous and often overlooked. Stretching is the most basic form of movement that we naturally do! We stretch instinctively after waking from sleep or long periods of physical activity or inactivity. While the benefits of stretching are far less emphasized then the benefits of daily exercise—they are just as important. Balancing stretching with physical activity is the key to optimal functioning of the human body. First, performing stretching before physical activities can improve your movement by preparing the body. After exercise, stretching helps the body to recover and return to a resting state. The most important benefits of stretching are improvement in flexibility and range of motion. When muscles tighten, they can pull on the joints and cause injury. Even many hours of sitting, such as working at a desk, causes tension and tightness in the muscles. Moreover, as

the body ages, muscles can become tighter and range of motion in the joints can decrease. After age 40, you either use it or you lose it. Think about this: Your muscles can atrophy within 24 hours whether you are 2 or 92 years old! That said, no matter what your age your body needs to move. Your life depends on it, so make time to move and stretch every day. We all experience stress, and that is the perfect time to practice stretching. Why? It’s because a buildup of stress can cause your muscles to contract, tighten, and become tense. Tension can have a negative impact on the body, and stretching and flexibility exercises and movements have powerful stress-busting abilities. Take 10, 20, or even 30 minutes a day can calm your mind, provide a mental break, and give your body an opportunity to regenerate and renew. Stay flexible and stay strong in body and mind my friends!

Dancing from the Inside Out with Arielle Giordano Arielle Giordano’s new book, Dancing with Your Story from the Inside Out, was released in March 2017. With a Masters of Arts and Masters of Education, Arielle is an author, professional dancer, inspirational speaker, certified Essentrics/Aging Backwards instructor, and workshop facilitator. She enjoys sharing her gifts and talents with an authentic style rich in the grace of dance, psychology, philosophy and the expressive arts. Her career includes: provisional psychologist, guidance counselor and substance-abuse therapist. As a Lead Faculty Area Chairperson and Faculty Member for College of Humanities at the University of Phoenix, she inspired students with her creative gifts. She also writes for Tampa Bay Wellness, We Woman and Transformation Magazine.

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Freestocks.org

Give From the Heart

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”– Kahlil Gibran

By Linda Commito Gratitude is an attitude of loving acknowledgement that comes directly from the heart, a perspective that can help us to become more joyful and fulfilled in our lives. When I was compiling stories for my book Love Is the New Currency (http://www.loveisthenewcurrency.com), I found that the exchange of giving and receiving and the belief structures that we hold around this universal cycle can impact our ability to appreciate and have true gratitude for the gifts and opportunities life offers us. For example, negative emotions such as guilt often enter the mix or we start to feel that quid pro quo is necessary. The following two stories provide a new vantage point from which we can see how the flow of generosity and the energy of giving and receiving actually work in our world and, in turn, understand how to better open our hearts to experience the full blessings of love.

The Flow of Generosity

Giving in any form makes you feel rich, but especially when giving from the heart. The more

you give, the better you feel, and so you are likely to give even more. Studies have shown it’s usually the giver who reaps the highest psychological benefit from the exchange. But is this innate or conditioned? Assuming this is a conditioned response, learned through repeated reminders of the “joy of giving,” it seems reasonable that we could also learn to have gratitude for the “joy of receiving.” And if it is an innate characteristic, why wouldn’t we allow others the chance to experience joy by letting them give to us? It may be difficult to receive with graciousness and ease when one has been raised to believe that “it’s better to give than to receive,” or from a puritanical perspective, “you need to work for what you get.” Somewhere along the way, we may have gotten the message that the more powerful and better position to be in is that of the giver, whereas, the recipient is seen as needier or weaker. As the giver, we choose how, when, and what to give. Oftentimes, the recipient feels an unspoken debt that needs to be acknowledged or paid back, even when they didn’t get what they wanted, needed, or even asked for.

In our quid pro quo society, one can’t assume that a gift is given with no strings attached. A newly married young woman was asked by her in-laws to keep a list of the people who gave money and gifts to the couple, which she had planned to do in order to write thank you notes. But when she refused to share that list, her in-laws were furious, saying, “How do we know what to give to them (the wedding guests) later, if we don’t know what they gave to you?” Is it a “gift” if the donor believes that what was given should be paid back in equal measure? We may consider reciprocity an equitable solution to giving and receiving, but even the terminology indicates that there’s an accounting on both sides. When we operate from a qualified need to give back something of equal or greater value, the desire to even the balance sheet diminishes the experience for both people. Most people don’t want to be called a “taker,” with all of its negative connotations. It stems from a feeling of entitlement, a one-sided relationship that may offer immediate gratification, but eventually creates a stuck energy. On the other hand, gracious receiving originates from a place of gratitude for the chance to connect at a deeper level. In order to fully and openly receive, we have to feel worthy. We also have to be willing to allow someone to give to us without the compulsion to even the score. Ultimately, the value of a gift lies in what it represents—friendship, love, respect, and caring. When our giving and receiving derive from a source of joy, we create a balance and an equilibrium that is life-affirming. And when people give and receive with an open heart, without expectations,

it circulates loving energy that everyone wants to be a part of.

Energy of Giving and Receiving

Whatever we put out into the world—thoughts, actions, words or energy—comes back to us multiplied. We want to make sure that what we give out or take in is positive, and that it has a circular, rather than a one-way flow of energy. For example, when we refuse to accept gifts from others it blocks the circular flow of energy—there is only an outflow. Ernest Holmes, the founder of Science of Mind stated, “When the law of circulation is retarded, stagnation results.” That stuck energy can come from negative thoughts, self-motivated intentions, or the refusal or inability to give and receive with equanimity. The law of attraction states that what you focus on is what you draw into your life. Sometimes the best way to get more of what you want in your life is to give away whatever you want to receive, whether it is kindness, love, compassion, or your currency of choice. When you give freely and joyfully from your heart, sharing your time, knowledge, resources, and energy, according to the law of attraction, it will come back to you in abundance. What you get back, though, may come to you indirectly, in unexpected ways, or from people that you don’t know. It may show up in the form of things you need, people that cross your path at the right time, or money that turns up just when you need it. While “giving” is considered a virtue, we often forget that it’s equally important to be able to receive from

others, so that they are allowed to participate in the same circular flow of giving and receiving. My friend Jessie and I were walking into town when I noticed a man sitting on a stool on the sidewalk, with some kind of a folding tray in front of him, against which leaned a sign: VETERAN. Just before reaching him, I searched my purse for the loose dollar bill that I had seen earlier, having left my wallet in the car. I couldn’t find it, but I wanted to give him something. I dug deep and found some loose coins in the bottom of my bag. I walked up to him, half apologizing that I didn’t have more to offer. Wearing a torn tee shirt, his weathered, but ruggedly handsome face, broke into a smile as he accepted the change. When I turned to leave, he said, “Wait, I want to give this to you,” and he handed me a scroll. “It’s my artwork.” I was touched by his gracious giving and desire to share something special with me. As Jessie and I walked away I said, “I wish I could at least find that dollar bill.” I reached once more into the purse and there it was. I was so happy to turn around and offer it to him, and we smiled at each other, grateful for the heart exchange. Jessie and I continued our walk to town, and she commented, “Wow, what an awesome experience!” In just a few moments, giver and receiver (and I’m not even sure which was which), as well as the witness were changed. When we got to the car and I opened the scroll, there was a beautiful drawing of a dove, a cross, and a crown of thorns, along with the artist’s story of redemption. And it doesn’t stop there. Jessie admired the scroll, which soon found its way into the gift bag with her other birthday presents.

Love is the New Currency with Linda Commito Linda Commito, author, speaker, entrepreneur, consultant and teacher, is passionate about her vision to leave this world a kinder, more compassionate and interconnected place. Her award-winning book of inspirational stories, Love is the New Currency, demonstrates how we can each make a positive difference in the lives of others through simple acts of love and kindness. Visit http://www.loveisthenewcurrency.com for more information and/or to sign up for an uplifting monthly newsletter. Read about everyday acts of kindness on http://www.FB.com/kindnesscollaborative. Linda believes that in order to inspire a kinder world the place to start is with children. She volunteered at a Title One elementary school, working with over 500 students, to create and facilitate “Kindness Starts with Me,” a program which includes a website (http://www.kindnessstartswithme.com) and a book for children.

Experiencing Healing Journey

Transformation:

We can imagine that most of the illness and symptoms are like visitors bringing us a gift; they will leave once we have accepted their gift. By Monica Canducci We can imagine that most of the illness and symptoms are like visitors bringing us a gift. They will leave once we have accepted their gift. Since my childhood, I have been fascinated by the mysteries of the Universe and by all kinds of connections. I’m still able to spend hours looking at the starry sky to “draw” constellations—even though I know perfectly well that those stars are light years apart from each other. Connecting dots has always been one of my favorite pastimes. At the beginning of my life, I was attracted so much to exploring life on a spiritual level and being open to spiritual experiences that I needed

to do a lot of work to feel “grounded” and part of this earthly world. Then, I started experiencing how the body is the sacred space, allowing us to create a consciousness, through which we can develop spiritual awareness. I began to grow fond of learning about psychophysiology and neuroscience. Now, as a creative, certified Rolfer (a method of bodywork involving our connective tissue and aimed at reestablishing balance in the body structure), hypnosis practitioner, and NLP trainer, with both a spiritual and artistic background, I keep connecting dots. Perhaps not on paper anymore, but metaphorically, exploring the connections between our thoughts, emotions, language, body structure, and interactions with the surrounding world.

Integration became my watchword, and I was happily committed in working to help people realize their full potential in complete harmony with the world around them. At a certain point in my life, totally satisfied, I felt that I had reached my goals. I achieved a well-balanced life, which enabled me to work both as a movement coach and a bodyworker on one hand, and as a dance performer, spiritual channel, and artist on the other.

Photo Credit: Pixabay/ Melissa Angela Flor

But Life had different plans for me, and it brought me through an intense transformative process. In 2009, I faced the effects of a mild brain anoxia (absence of oxygen), due to a totally unexpected cardiac arrest. I came back from the threshold between life and death feeling like there was still so much to explore and share on this Earth. As a spiritual wanderer, I was enthusiastic about my Near Death Experience (NDE), with the tunnel, the light and everything else, but as a human being whose brain was not happy about the lack of oxygen, I experienced a variety of neurological symptoms. My body, especially while trying to relax and sleep, would act like I was suffering from mild epilepsy and restless legs syndrome. I did not want to take medications, believing so much in neuroplasticity, and I started playing with all the tools I knew in order to heal. I believed strongly that, by drawing from my inner, deepest resources, I could

restore the damaged neural networks and come back to full functionality. During the following few months, I also kept remembering the words of one of my teachers, Habiba, a spiritual healer from Uzbekistan, who used to say to her patients: â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have to turn to heal. If you want to heal from any illness or symptoms, you have to go through a process of transformation and turn into something or someone else, different than before. Then the illness, or the symptom, will be not able to recognize you anymore, and will leave you, disappearing.â&#x20AC;? These precious words accompanied me on my healing journey. I started playing with visualization, recalling all the best and happiest memories of myself dancing, perfectly in control of my body. Despite the fact that I was experiencing depression, I kept telling myself that it was not a natural state, just a consequence of

the brain shock, cultivating gratitude and recalling all the memories of the happiest days of my life. Above all, I started wondering where the process of transformation was supposed to bring me, reshaping my brain and my life. The most helpful tools at that time were curiosity and trust. I literally trained myself to immediately replace any thought or feeling of worry/fear with curiosity and trust, as if I was involved in a treasure hunt full of positive surprises. I believe that venom can be turned into medicine, just like the alchemy of turning lead into gold. With this perspective, I kept telling myself that the more venom and lead I had at my disposal, the more medicine and gold I would get during the process. Then, movement was my medicine. I kept dancing and slowly, slowly my body and mind came back to functionality. After a few months, my MRI showed no sign of damage. I felt called to connect with a larger amount of

people to share my experience. I started training other people to work in the same direction, and I kept transmitting the message about transformation. For a short time, I honored the call. I also felt a strong impulse to create a solo dance show celebrating “Death and Rebirth,” as a way to transmit the message to reach many people at one time—but it remained just a thought. Three years later my husband was offered a job in Canada, and so we moved from Italy with our 10-year-old son and our cats. It was a huge step, and I decided to present myself only as bodyworker, metaphorically leaving my creative, spiritual, and dancing side in Italy, cultivating the intention to go back there at least once a year to do work expressing myself fully. I told myself that at my age, almost 50 years old, everything was already achieved and done, so I could take some rest, working just as a Rolfer and hiding my true self. And there was the trap. I kept myself inside my comfort zone, happy in my routine with clients looking only for bodywork, consigning myself as an artist, performer, channel, and teacher to the past. I tried to convince myself that it was a new phase of my life, much calmer and focused on just one thing. My true self, or Higher Self, did not like that move. The comfort zone was definitively too narrow. Suddenly, I was hurt by such a strong shingles attack, which almost did not appear on my skin, that it literally burned my brain and nervous system. Again, I had to struggle with neurological symptoms, but this time much worse, including foggy brain, lethargy, and burning pain everywhere. I was forced to stay in my bed for months. The burning pain immediately reminded me of the fire of transformation. Among the four Elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) of Alchemy, Fire is associated with

changes of state and transformation. Again, I needed to take care of myself, this time also working to resolve the inner conflict between my tendency to stay small in the new environment in order to feel safe, and my life call toward sharing, connecting, and manifesting. I promised myself to take practical steps as soon as I recovered fully. I did recover again, but then I kept procrastinating. I knew I needed to take practical steps to express my true self, connecting with people and sharing the message, but I almost forgot to do it, or I did it too slowly. And so I relapsed, much more seriously, because beside the burning pain everywhere, I experienced all the symptoms of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia for more than one year. I am stubbornly convinced that healing is an attitude, and transformation the way to achieve it. So I have kept practicing it. Even if I was bedridden, I started working on a solo dance show that I titled “The Treasure Chest,” a celebration of transformation through the Goddess archetypes leading to a rebirth, dedicated to women experiencing life transitions. My “treasure chest” was my cocoon: a cradle for a rebirth started such a long time ago, which had became a trap when I indulged inside too long, turning the fire of transformation against myself instead of expressing it to honor my call. Finally, my symptoms became my fuel, and a few months ago—at the end of the creative process—the symptoms disappeared. And I brought my show on stage, successfully expressing my fire—the fire of passion, creativity, and communication. We can imagine that most of the illness and symptoms are like visitors bringing us a gift; they will leave once we have accepted their gift.

I started looking at my symptoms like temporary visitors, who were only waiting for me to accept their gift, before they would leave me and disappear. Despite hearing that “there is no cure,” I believed in our powerful inner resources. I believe that medicine and science are works in progress, so even when someone tells you that “there is no cure,” it only means that they don’t know what the cure is yet. I believe in proactivity. Instead of feeling as a victim, I prefer to challenge myself by finding something useful—or something to learn—in any situation. I believe in the power of good memories. Memories of the moments in which we felt perfectly healthy, memories able to awaken our inner compass, enabling our body to find a way to recover. I believe in curiosity as something that is able to replace our fears and worries. Imagine you were involved in a treasure hunt leading you to find a treasure, and you are curious about discovering the next clue. I believe that even if healing does not happen completely on a physical level, we can always remember that the true healing journey is the process of discovering our inner resources in order to express our true self. This process always brings emotional healing and insights, leading us to a higher level of consciousness. From this perspective, we can look at the world from a higher vantage point, which allows us to widen our horizons as butterflies do, flying with spread wings.

Monica Canducci is an author, speaker, artist, and performer who loves to work as a healing facilitator, movement coach, and teacher in the fields of self-development and spiritual awareness. Monica is unstoppably committed to connecting dots and “making the invisible seen” by exploring the relationships between thoughts, emotions, words, the world of archetypes, and the human body structure. She loves helping people discover their hidden resources and express their true self, in order to achieve healing and self-realization through personal transformation. E-mail Monica at monica.canducci11@gmail.com.

Peeling Potatoes

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Sharon McCutcheon

“The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities.”—Shunryu Suzuki By Jo Mooy Forty-plus years of study. Thousands of books bought. Hundreds of them read. Maybe a dozen read many times. I like to think the unread ones filling the bookcases imparted a bit of wisdom through the ether. Prior to moving, I pondered the seven overflowing bookcases and set a plan to get rid of all the books except those that would fit in one medium-sized bookcase. It became a monumental and time-consuming project.

The books were like old friends. Each occupied an exact spot on the bookcase. I knew where to find them easily. Some people keep books pristine like they came off the printer’s press. I had relationships with mine. Passages of inspired wisdom were highlighted in yellow. (A horror to many!) Notes were scrawled in the margins. In many of them I’d written topic headers in the blank white pages at the back of books. A topic like “reincarnation” would have page numbers with a short comment next to it. If something was going on in my life and I needed to reflect on it, I’d go to a specific book, open to a highlighted area, and have a chat with it. Like special friends, those books always had an answer. But how was I going to say goodbye to so many friends? The unread ones were easy to go. They identified themselves by title or author. They hadn’t been read, nor would they ever be, for I’d taken a different route on my journey since buying them. They would go to new homes. But releasing the “good ones” was heart-wrenching. How would I know which ones would continue the journey with me, and which ones would not? I opened each, read 28

the phrases highlighted in yellow, then checked the notes in back. After four hours I’d only gone through two books. This process could take years, and I needed to be packed up and gone in one month. Then I saw a familiar book with a pale yellow cover. It felt like it was calling out from the shelf. Pulling it down, I recalled the briefest of encounters with my spiritual teacher Lex Hixon. He had taken it down from his own bookcase and gifted it to me 15 years earlier. When he handed it over he said, “One day this will become your way.” The book was Shunryu Suzuki’s “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.” Sitting on the floor, hours went by as I read Suzuki’s words for the first time. There were no yellow highlighted sections. No notes in the margins. No topics in the back. It was still in the same condition as when Lex had given it to me.

Opening it at random I saw this: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.” He went on to say, “Don’t try to stop your thinking—let it stop by itself.” I sat with the impressions of the first sentence a long time. Suzuki explained if you become an expert, let that go and return to the open emptiness of beginner’s mind, a mind that includes and holds everything. He said there was no “next.” There was “no enlightenment or attainment of enlightenment.” All that existed was “the movement of breathing.” His teaching was simple

and pure. It was de-cluttering. It overturned everything I thought I knew, thought I was, or thought I had to do. The lifetime collection of books on the shelves was reduced to this one. I violated the second sentence by thinking. Why did I buy all those books if there was no attainment of enlightenment? Had it all been a waste of time to follow what I thought was a spiritual journey? If there was no “next” why would I need any books where I was next going? Then I burst out laughing because “next” to the opening left by Suzuki’s book was another one called The Way of Zen by Alan Watts. It too was in pristine condition. Opening it I saw the answer to all the questions running through my head.

“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” A handful of books made the journey with me. I tucked these into cubbyholes in my Honda before heading south: Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi; King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table; The Way of Zen; and from Lex Hixon, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. I practiced peeling potatoes on I-95 as the miles sped by, remembering some of Suzuki’s words.

“You think you have an idea of time and space. You don’t. There is no “this morning” and no “this afternoon.” Time and space are the same. What you’re really doing is being aware of universal activity, which is like a swinging door. Just become a swinging door.” My thinking roamed freely. Then it stopped by itself. There were no thoughts, no miles, no highway, no car, no time, no direction. The piercing blare of a semi’s horn brought me around. I’d traveled 70 miles in an hour since thinking stopped. My breath must have slowed considerably because I gasped for air when I heard the wail of the horn. Though I recall no specific memories of any experience during that hour, it felt like I’d experienced everything. In the years since, I knew Lex had been right about my path. Suzuki’s teachings had become a way. No matter what else I studied, Zen Mind was always there like a gentle current just below the surface. It was guiding everything in my life. Understanding the mysticism of life was all about peeling potatoes. Now, all I had to do was become Beginner’s Mind when peeling potatoes. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Varun Gaba

Conscious Living with Jo Mooy

Jo Mooy has studied with many spiritual traditions over the past 40 years. The wide diversity of this training allows her to develop spiritual seminars and retreats that explore inspirational concepts, give purpose and guidance to students, and present esoteric teachings in an understandable manner. Along with Patricia Cockerill, she has guided the Women’s Meditation Circle since January 2006 where it has been honored for five years in a row as the “Favorite Meditation” group in Sarasota, FL, by Natural Awakenings Magazine. Teaching and using Sound as a retreat healing practice, Jo was certified as a Sound Healer through Jonathan Goldman’s Sound Healing Association. She writes and publishes a monthly internationally distributed e-newsletter called Spiritual Connections and is a staff writer for Spirit of Maat magazine in Sedona. For more information go to http://www.starsoundings.com or email jomooy@gmail.com.

The Golden Key

When you enter a higher state of consciousness, life’s challenges become transformed. by Owen K Waters The 1920s, the Roaring Twenties, ushered in the technologies of radio entertainment and movies with soundtracks. Before that, “the movies” had been silent moving picture dramas with subtitles. Now, with the addition of sound, they became “the talkies.” The new media of radio, as well as the newsreels that played before each movie, began providing people with new sources of information and entertainment. Henry Ford’s mass production of motorcars was creating a demand for the dirt roads of the day to be hard-covered with tarmac. Progressive towns began boasting that, as well as a hard-covered main street, they also had a traffic light! Television was still 20 years into the future, but the telephone was becoming a fashion statement, especially when glamorous starlets in the movies demonstrated its use. With the separate earpiece held up to one ear, they would loudly and clearly intone the magic words, “Hello, calling long

distance!” in order to be connected with their intended party through a relay of human telephone operators. In the movies, if not in real life, they always succeeded in getting through on the first attempt. Meanwhile, the young adults of the day, such as the fashionable flappers, showed their newfound freedom from tradition by dancing to the jazz music that reflected their sense of lightness and fun. By 1931, however, storm clouds were gathering over American society. On the one hand, construction of the Empire State building in New York City, the tallest building in the world to date, had just been completed. On the other hand, the economy was being dragged relentlessly down into the depths of the Great Depression. Bank failures were snowballing at a frightening pace as the economy collapsed inward upon itself, leading to unemployment rates in excess of 25 percent. People became deeply insecure and were desperately searching for answers. Angry mobs began to listen to even angrier speakers, who sought political

scapegoats to blame for their woes. Others, meanwhile, turned in the opposite direction, seeking solace from God. It was into this economic and social darkness that Emmet Fox (1886-1951) began speaking in the United States about a technique that he called The Golden Key to harmony and happiness. Emmet Fox was a New Thought author who proclaimed that the Golden Key technique would get you, or anyone else, out of any difficulty. The technique was simplicity itself:

Stop thinking about the difficulty and, instead, think about God. To achieve this, people were told to make a mental list of everything that they knew about God and to repeat those sentences in their heads until their attention had shifted entirely away from the difficulty and onto a focus upon God. They would repeat lists of statements, such as: God is omnipotent; God is love; God knows all; I am a child of God; God is present everywhere; God is truth; God is with me now; and so on.

Photo Credit: Pixabay/Alexas Fotos

Then, people had to put the difficulty out of their mind until the next time that they saw fit to use the technique. Some difficulties were harder than others to resolve and required several Golden Key sessions. From extensive experience, Emmet Fox knew, without a doubt, that if the Golden Key technique were done correctly, it would work every time. The problem was, back in those days, no one really understood exactly why it worked! After all, people asked, how can you solve a problem by turning your back on it and thinking about something else? And, they wondered, why would it only work if you raised your consciousness high enough? Couldn’t God fix the problem regardless of how

high you reached in your spiritual awareness? These were just some of the unanswered questions surrounding the mystery of the powerful and effective Golden Key technique. Now, fast-forward to our current time period, and we find that the answers to such mysteries have become available. Better yet, we also have the knowledge and resources to greatly improve upon this original idea. The main lesson learned from this technique was this: When you enter a higher state of consciousness, life’s challenges become transformed. Problems become solved, almost as if by magic. Upon closer examination, you see that there are two ways that this magic happens.

1) Problem situations are energetically healed by the higher consciousness, or; 2) Solutions are seen, and these solutions are energetically created in the superconscious mind. One of the functions of the superconscious mind or soul is to create new realities as intentional energy fields that will then unfold and manifest in your physical life. Author’s note: For free access to a modern-day technique inspired by the idea behind the time-proven Golden Key, updated for the modern era with the latest insights in spiritual metaphysics, visit: https://spiritualdynamics.net/ spiritualize/subs.htm.

Spiritual Dynamics with Owen K. Waters Owen is a cofounder of the Spiritual Dynamics Academy, where a where a free spiritual growth newsletter awaits you at: http://www.SpiritualDynamics.net. He is an international spiritual teacher who has helped hundreds of thousands of spiritual seekers to understand better the nature of their spiritual potential. Owen’s life has been focused upon gaining spiritual insights through extensive research and the development of his inner vision. For the past 12 years, he has written a spiritual metaphysics newsletter which empowers people to discover their own new vistas of inspiration, love and creativity. Spiritual seekers enjoy his writings for their insight and clarity.

The Witch Doctorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Secret

We are capable of making up stories of sickness and healing, and then manifesting them in our experience.

By Alan Cohen In rural West Bengal, India, many people harbor the strange belief that if they have been bitten by a dog, they have become pregnant with its puppies. The fearful victims run to a witch doctor, who administers yogurt and herbs and tells them they are no longer pregnant. Then they go home relieved. The dynamic behind Puppy Pregnancy Syndrome illustrates what A Course in Miracles describes as “magic,” the belief that material things outside of us can hurt us or heal us. The Course takes a firm stand that our pain and healing are more a function of our thoughts than physical causes. It tells us, “You are not bound by all the strange and twisted laws you have set up to save you. You really think that. . . a small round pellet or some fluid pushed into your veins through a sharpened needle will ward off disease and death.” The Course teaches that we are sustained not by medicine, money, or lovers. We are sustained by the love of God. The Course goes on to explain that the real physician is the mind of the patient; we choose doctors as agents who play out our intentions. Because we have been invested by God with the ability to create, we are capable of making up stories of sickness and healing, and then manifesting them in our experience. Considering the Course’s bold stance on the power of the mind, Puppy Pregnancy Syndrome is not so different from the ways we manufacture and offset more accepted diseases. We dream we are sick, we go to a doctor who believes in the same dream

(or, more precisely, is an actor in our own dream), the physician prescribes dream medicine, and then we experience a dream healing. Yet in spite of the apparently solid story line, we were never really sick in the first place. We are eternal, whole, spiritual beings created in the image and likeness of a perfect God. We got mixed up thinking we are bodies, became subject to all the “laws” that govern bodies, and produced the stories that bodies go through. Yet even as this drama unfolds, we remain as God created us. Neither I nor the Course are suggesting that you should avoid, deny, or discredit doctors and medicine, all of which help in important ways. Good doctors and medicine are blessings that serve nobly to relieve suffering. We achieve healing in accord with the way we are willing to accept it. Better to get yourself out of pain than hold out until you are enlightened. Meanwhile, we can work to peel away our beliefs in magic. We must examine our thoughts and attitudes and recognize their link to the condition of our health. Edgar Cayce said, “Mind is the builder.” Thoughts build illness, and they build healing. In a sense, all disease is psychosomatic. Not that we don’t have physical symptoms, which certainly feel real in the world of the senses. Yet physical symptoms do not appear randomly. They are always connected to our consciousness. Physical illness is the last step in a progression of thought and emotion. Louise Hay did groundbreaking work identifying the relationship between belief, feeling, illness, and healing. Her books Heal Your Body and You Can Heal Your Life provide clear roadmaps tracing

obvious symptoms to more subtle causes. When I coach a client who has a physical illness, I pull one of Louise’s books from my desk drawer and read to the client the correlation between the mental pattern and the disease. In almost every case, my client has an “aha!” and hooks up cause and effect. Then we mobilize Louise’s suggested affirmation of truth that offsets the illusion to which the client has been subscribing. Yogis tell of a man who went to visit a friend in the country. During the night the visitor got up to go to the bathroom and saw a deadly snake coiled at his feet. In the morning the host found his guest dead on the ground, next to a coiled rope. The guest had gotten so frightened that he died of a heart attack. Even though there was no snake, he was just as dead as if a deadly snake had bit him. A Course in Miracles tells us, “Illusions are as strong in their effects as the truth.” No one has ever gotten pregnant from a puppy bite, but plenty of people give birth to diseases resulting from stress and fear, both of which, A Course in Miracles explains, are entirely unnecessary and founded in illusion. While we may be tempted to laugh at ignorant rural Indians, we all suffer from ignorance. Fear bites worse than any dog, and love heals more powerfully than yogurt and herbs. Rather than running to a witch doctor to cure a disease we made up, let us run to reality, the ultimate healer. Let’s not attempt to escape from one illusion by trading it for another. If we are going to escape from illusions, the only place to escape to is reality.

Get Real with Alan Cohen

Alan Cohen is the bestselling author of A Course in Miracles Made Easy. Join Alan and musician Karen Drucker in Hawaii, December 1-6, for an extraordinary retreat, “A Course in Miracles: the Easy Path.” For more information about this program, Alan’s Holistic Life Coach Training beginning January 1, his books and videos, free daily inspirational quotes, online courses, and weekly radio show, visit http://www.alancohen.com.

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