Ghosts and people who see them are becoming common, mainstream entertainment these days. We've always had the occasional movie like, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and "Topper", "Sixth Sense" and "A Christmas Carol" but now we have prime time shows on almost every television station and they are based on real life stories of psychics and mediums. Channel 2 has James Van Praagh's, "The Ghost Whisperer". Channel 4 has Allison Dubois in "Medium". Court TV has the reality shows, "Psychic Detectives" and "Ghost Hunters". TNT has "Saving Grace". Lifetime has "Lisa Williams, Life Among the Dead." and this fall a new show on the Discovery Channel will feature psychic/medium Laurie Campbell in "Sensing Murder".
Everyday, all over the country and the world, there are healers and psychics and mediums working to help people recover from loss, trauma and illnesses. There are tens of thousands of us with a clear intention of assisting others on their path to recovery. My desire and intention, as a healer and teacher, is to assist people in recovering their peace, their passion, and their purpose.
As in every profession, there are the few spoiled apples who give us a bad name, but overall, the people I meet at retreats and conventions, are honest, intuitive talents with integrity and abilities that are sometimes astounding.
We all have the ability to see and feel energies, to communicate telepathically and to lay our hands on each other for healing. If you are reading this, you can do it. I'm hoping these television shows will open a door in the minds of the masses to bring out a desire to do exactly that, whether it is to heal a pet, a plant, a person or a lost soul. The Earth is waiting for us to wake up to our innate talents. Want to join the party?
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
I've been hearing rumors about this...had to Google it.
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.
Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City. As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming “North American Union” that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.
Celebrity Sighting
I never understood the fanatic fan response to seeing a celebrity up close and personal. You'll never see me asking anyone for their autograph unless it's on the bottom of a check. I used to have lunch with Jerry Mathers pretty regularly and people would come up to him all the time and ask him to sign their napkin or matchbook. I just didn't get it. Yet, I must admit to a bit of a thrill the other day, while walking down 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica and spotting Dustin Hoffman. He couldn't have been more than a few feet from me and nobody was bothering him. He was enjoying a beautiful summer day with his family and I may have been the only one trying to take his picture.
What happens in our heads when we see someone famous? I was nearly giddy. The Beaver didn't do it for me, maybe because we were neighbors and friends but....Dustin? He may be short, and he is, but that there man has some good vibes.
What happens in our heads when we see someone famous? I was nearly giddy. The Beaver didn't do it for me, maybe because we were neighbors and friends but....Dustin? He may be short, and he is, but that there man has some good vibes.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Drugs and Psychic Injury
Her sister had been a client of mine a few years back and had wonderful success with her issues with food and bulimia. She was very young and her mother recognized the signs before it became a fixation. She went on to USC and graduated with honors. She now lives in Africa doing wonderful work and is healthy and happy. Because of her sister's success she asked for an appointment. Her issue wasn't food related.
Ms. T. has also graduated from USC but her experience there wasn't quite the same. She experimented with Ecstasy. In fact, to call it experimentation wouldn't be accurate. She abused it and regularly. During our initial session she estimated she took it over 80 times in 18 months. She had a mental breakdown complete with hallucinations and hospitalization. The experience was so frightening she stopped using the drug but has suffered symptoms not unlike PTSD. She had a job with a great company but her work is not anything she can feel proud of. She said she's afraid she has permanent brain damage. She's depressed, lethargic and has been unsociable. Her boyfriend has been understanding and her family is very supportive but she was afraid of some of the thoughts she'd been having. Her mother referred her to me.
Ms. T. seemed eager to work through the issues but when it came to doing the work of recovery she stumbled. Something about being a victim kept coming up. She always had an excuse or reason for not completing the exercises I gave her and she often called at the last minute to cancel her appointments. After two months of little progress I changed course.
Past life regression is a tool I use rarely. I've had success with people who have specific phobias like fear of closed in spaces or fear of driving. Usually when a client can relive an experience and see for themselves the episode that created their fear it is a simple thing to move through it. I suspected Ms. T. may have had such an episode. I wasn't entirely accurate.
She closed her eyes and started her deep breathing exercise as we did with every session. This time I asked her to look back to a time when she experienced a similar feeling and reaction to her life. A belief of being a victim of life circumstances instead of a creator of experiences. Where she went was back to college. She described what she was seeing. She was upstairs in a bedroom. There was a big party going on downstairs. She was a naive freshman, an inexperienced and sheltered young girl. In the room with her are several shadows. At first she thought she was sleeping but she remembered being downstairs having fun when she suddenly blacked out. The shadows were touching her, having sex with her. She couldn't move or fight them off. She had been drugged. The next morning she had no memory of it but when she went to the bathroom there was evidence of a gang rape. She was afraid to tell anyone. Her girlfriend tried to persuade her to go to the authorities but she was embarrassed and didn't want her parents to know. Her symptoms of depression began a few months later. Anxiety at parties grew and the need to drink alcohol and take drugs that made her feel happy was born. She showed no emotion while telling me this memory.
It isn't what I expected to hear because I can usually see things like that. For whatever reason I wasn't allowed access to that information. It was for her to remember and not for me to suspect.
We spent the rest of the session going back again to earlier times when she felt out of control. It turned out her father was very controlling. From the way she described his rules and expectations it sounded like he may suffer from OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Towels had to be hung a certain way, food in the cabinets had to be facing forward with labels showing and in a specific order. I'm not a licensed psychotherapist so I would never attempt to diagnose someone with a specific illness or condition, but, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....
She remembered when she was five years old and she was taking piano lessons. Her father insisted she practice for one hour a day. He came home from work one day and she was under the piano. She wouldn't come out to practice. He lost his temper. She was dragged out and slammed down on the piano bench. She had to sit there until the timer went off, passed dinner time. She showed no emotion while remembering this incident either. It didn't seem to her to be unusual or extreme. I, of course, didn't add my two cents about it because that's not how it works. I had to keep my energy from adding to her experience.
She regressed further, to her birth. She was due on Christmas Day but that was inconvenient for the doctor and her family. They induced labor a week early. At that, she cried. She felt it, finally.
Birth trauma can take many forms. I have a friend who likes to say that cesarean births are the only civilized way to have children. It keeps your bits and pieces nice and tight and there's no sweating and screaming involved. She chose to deliver both of her children that way, not because of any medical need, simply for aesthetic reasons.
Ms. T continued our sessions up until the point of reaching her personal power and suddenly she stopped coming. For her to accept her personal power would alter her relationships, all of them, and I suspect that was more than she was ready to do. I hope she returns some day to complete our work or finds another way to reach her true nature. Maybe she already has.
Ms. T. has also graduated from USC but her experience there wasn't quite the same. She experimented with Ecstasy. In fact, to call it experimentation wouldn't be accurate. She abused it and regularly. During our initial session she estimated she took it over 80 times in 18 months. She had a mental breakdown complete with hallucinations and hospitalization. The experience was so frightening she stopped using the drug but has suffered symptoms not unlike PTSD. She had a job with a great company but her work is not anything she can feel proud of. She said she's afraid she has permanent brain damage. She's depressed, lethargic and has been unsociable. Her boyfriend has been understanding and her family is very supportive but she was afraid of some of the thoughts she'd been having. Her mother referred her to me.
Ms. T. seemed eager to work through the issues but when it came to doing the work of recovery she stumbled. Something about being a victim kept coming up. She always had an excuse or reason for not completing the exercises I gave her and she often called at the last minute to cancel her appointments. After two months of little progress I changed course.
Past life regression is a tool I use rarely. I've had success with people who have specific phobias like fear of closed in spaces or fear of driving. Usually when a client can relive an experience and see for themselves the episode that created their fear it is a simple thing to move through it. I suspected Ms. T. may have had such an episode. I wasn't entirely accurate.
She closed her eyes and started her deep breathing exercise as we did with every session. This time I asked her to look back to a time when she experienced a similar feeling and reaction to her life. A belief of being a victim of life circumstances instead of a creator of experiences. Where she went was back to college. She described what she was seeing. She was upstairs in a bedroom. There was a big party going on downstairs. She was a naive freshman, an inexperienced and sheltered young girl. In the room with her are several shadows. At first she thought she was sleeping but she remembered being downstairs having fun when she suddenly blacked out. The shadows were touching her, having sex with her. She couldn't move or fight them off. She had been drugged. The next morning she had no memory of it but when she went to the bathroom there was evidence of a gang rape. She was afraid to tell anyone. Her girlfriend tried to persuade her to go to the authorities but she was embarrassed and didn't want her parents to know. Her symptoms of depression began a few months later. Anxiety at parties grew and the need to drink alcohol and take drugs that made her feel happy was born. She showed no emotion while telling me this memory.
It isn't what I expected to hear because I can usually see things like that. For whatever reason I wasn't allowed access to that information. It was for her to remember and not for me to suspect.
We spent the rest of the session going back again to earlier times when she felt out of control. It turned out her father was very controlling. From the way she described his rules and expectations it sounded like he may suffer from OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Towels had to be hung a certain way, food in the cabinets had to be facing forward with labels showing and in a specific order. I'm not a licensed psychotherapist so I would never attempt to diagnose someone with a specific illness or condition, but, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....
She remembered when she was five years old and she was taking piano lessons. Her father insisted she practice for one hour a day. He came home from work one day and she was under the piano. She wouldn't come out to practice. He lost his temper. She was dragged out and slammed down on the piano bench. She had to sit there until the timer went off, passed dinner time. She showed no emotion while remembering this incident either. It didn't seem to her to be unusual or extreme. I, of course, didn't add my two cents about it because that's not how it works. I had to keep my energy from adding to her experience.
She regressed further, to her birth. She was due on Christmas Day but that was inconvenient for the doctor and her family. They induced labor a week early. At that, she cried. She felt it, finally.
Birth trauma can take many forms. I have a friend who likes to say that cesarean births are the only civilized way to have children. It keeps your bits and pieces nice and tight and there's no sweating and screaming involved. She chose to deliver both of her children that way, not because of any medical need, simply for aesthetic reasons.
Ms. T continued our sessions up until the point of reaching her personal power and suddenly she stopped coming. For her to accept her personal power would alter her relationships, all of them, and I suspect that was more than she was ready to do. I hope she returns some day to complete our work or finds another way to reach her true nature. Maybe she already has.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
How Old Is The Grand Canyon?
Well, that depends on who you ask. Scientists and geologists say it was created millions of years ago. Creationists say it was created a few thousand years ago during Noah's lifetime. Seriously. The employees of the park system have been ordered to answer any questions from visitors, regarding the age of the beautiful canyon, with, "No comment."
The book, compiled by Tom Vail, features colorful photographs of the canyon and essays reflecting a creationist's view of its development. "For years, as a Colorado River guide I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary time scale of millions of years," writes Vail on the Web site of his Phoenix-based Canyon Ministries about the book. "Then I met the Lord. Now, I have `a different view' of the canyon, which, according to a biblical time scale, can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old."
I feel light headed. I may have to go lay down. This topic was brought to my attention yesterday while chatting with Susan Wyatt, Ph.D. She is teaching a class on Critical Thinking and is using this as an example of the opposite of critical thinking.
After our chat I did a Google search on the topic and have found information that fuels my view of the religious idiocy in this country.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
The Haunting of Miss. M.
A very frightened girl sat across from me, in my office. Her frantic mother had called the night before looking for help for her daughter. Miss. M. is seventeen years old and has been unable to sleep in her own bed or even enter her own room, after dark, for approximately two months. She tried to keep the reason a secret because she was afraid that people would think she was losing her mind.
It started one night when she woke to the sound of a man’s voice. At first, she thought it was her mother’s boyfriend in the hallway, outside her room. On second thought, it didn’t sound like him at all, and it was coming from her closet. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, not the specific words, but the tone and whisper gave her chills. She was paralyzed with fear, afraid to move, afraid to speak, afraid to breathe. After several minutes she managed to slowly reach for the light switch. When the light came on, the voice was silenced. She knew there was no way someone was in her closet. It was very tiny and jammed packed with clothes, shoes and boxes of her things. There was barely room for one more hanger. She managed to get out of bed and open the closet door. It was exactly as she left it. She knew she wasn’t dreaming, she wasn’t hallucinating and it wasn’t her imagination, she was absolutely certain of that.
Ghost busting is not my thing, although I’ve had several cases of entities that, for a variety of reasons, deem it necessary to make uninvited contact with the living. In Ms. M’s case, the entity had not only made auditory contact, he began making physical contact, of a sexual nature. Over the course of two months he visited her regularly. He touched her and whispered things he wanted to do to her and things he wanted to have done to him.
I didn’t want to embarrass her with having to give me details about his requests, but I did want to know if his requests were things she was familiar with.
“I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re asking me.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m asking and more to the point, are the things he’s requesting you do or allow him to do to you, things you have experience with? He’s not asking you to do anything that would be considered dangerous or abnormal?”
“No. It’s just normal stuff.”
Again, without going into details of her sexual experiences, she said that the previous year she thought she was a sex addict. It scared her so she quit. She’d been abstinent from sex for over a year. That’s how she phrased it, “abstinent” like a recovering alcoholic or drug addict.
When I took her mother’s call, the night before our session, I tracked the energy she was talking about. I could see him and feel him. From the information I was getting, it didn’t feel dangerous or harmful but that depended on how Ms. M. was processing her experience. She didn’t feel she was being raped. There’s a big difference between and young girl without experience or knowledge being touched and one who is more than familiar with normal sexual activity.
So, here’s the deal. After our initial ‘interview’ I assured her that she was safe and that we could stop his visits immediately. But, before we did, I wanted her to see what it was she was doing that attracted the experience. The statement, “I’m a sex addict.” is a belief, an affirmation, a fixed idea, the vibration of which opens the door to more of the same. It is my one complaint with any twelve step program.
Oh dear….I have to run…..I’ll write more later….
Good morning, I'm back...
Okay, where did I leave it? Oh yeah. Fixed ideas and such. Miss. M. believed she was a sex addict. Her sister told her that the 'visitor' was a sex demon. I'm smiling as I write that. People have odd notions about the disembodied. Anyway, the truth about her ghost was that he was a young man, in his late teens or early twenties. He was obsessed with sex too, as many young men are. Unfortunately he had an accident and was killed quite suddenly. He was confused and unable to move through his death experience because he was fixated. I've seen this before. I explained that he is just a boy, or young man, not unlike her, who has found someone to play with. He believes he is a sex addict too. As soon as she gets out of her state of fear and can forgive him and herself we can let him pass.
I guided her through the process, which took no more than 30 minutes. Then I asked if I could see her bedroom. I followed her home which was situated on a corner right behind Montgomery High School. Her bedroom window faced the street, which faced the direction of the football field. Her bedroom was very small and jammed packed with girl stuff. The walls were covered with photos of friends and musicians. It was cluttered and messy but what stood out to me was the position of her bed and some ceramic skulls she had on her dresser. A Feng Shui nightmare. I walked her around the room and pointed to things and asked her what she felt when she looked at them. Was the energy high or low? We determined there were many objects that were attracting a low or negative vibration. I made some suggestions about clearing out some of those things and finally cleared the space and sealed it, energetically. Her room was then off limits to uninvited visitors. Her brother and sister were waiting in the family room. They knew why I was there and were curious and maybe a bit nervous about what to expect. I gave them the all clear sign, a smile and I left.
I ran into Miss. M. at Joe's yesterday. That's what prompted the blog post. I didn't recognise her. She bounced over and sat down right next to me with a big smile on her face. She looked fresh and happy and it took a few moments for me to place her. She said, "It's me, Melinda." Her face was clear and fresh, her hair light and shiny, her smile went from ear to ear. She brought me up to date on her life and her plans for a future career. She wants to go to massage school. She wants to do what I do. After she finishes school she's going to come to me for training and fine tuning her skills. I think she'll be a wonderful healer.
It started one night when she woke to the sound of a man’s voice. At first, she thought it was her mother’s boyfriend in the hallway, outside her room. On second thought, it didn’t sound like him at all, and it was coming from her closet. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, not the specific words, but the tone and whisper gave her chills. She was paralyzed with fear, afraid to move, afraid to speak, afraid to breathe. After several minutes she managed to slowly reach for the light switch. When the light came on, the voice was silenced. She knew there was no way someone was in her closet. It was very tiny and jammed packed with clothes, shoes and boxes of her things. There was barely room for one more hanger. She managed to get out of bed and open the closet door. It was exactly as she left it. She knew she wasn’t dreaming, she wasn’t hallucinating and it wasn’t her imagination, she was absolutely certain of that.
Ghost busting is not my thing, although I’ve had several cases of entities that, for a variety of reasons, deem it necessary to make uninvited contact with the living. In Ms. M’s case, the entity had not only made auditory contact, he began making physical contact, of a sexual nature. Over the course of two months he visited her regularly. He touched her and whispered things he wanted to do to her and things he wanted to have done to him.
I didn’t want to embarrass her with having to give me details about his requests, but I did want to know if his requests were things she was familiar with.
“I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re asking me.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m asking and more to the point, are the things he’s requesting you do or allow him to do to you, things you have experience with? He’s not asking you to do anything that would be considered dangerous or abnormal?”
“No. It’s just normal stuff.”
Again, without going into details of her sexual experiences, she said that the previous year she thought she was a sex addict. It scared her so she quit. She’d been abstinent from sex for over a year. That’s how she phrased it, “abstinent” like a recovering alcoholic or drug addict.
When I took her mother’s call, the night before our session, I tracked the energy she was talking about. I could see him and feel him. From the information I was getting, it didn’t feel dangerous or harmful but that depended on how Ms. M. was processing her experience. She didn’t feel she was being raped. There’s a big difference between and young girl without experience or knowledge being touched and one who is more than familiar with normal sexual activity.
So, here’s the deal. After our initial ‘interview’ I assured her that she was safe and that we could stop his visits immediately. But, before we did, I wanted her to see what it was she was doing that attracted the experience. The statement, “I’m a sex addict.” is a belief, an affirmation, a fixed idea, the vibration of which opens the door to more of the same. It is my one complaint with any twelve step program.
Oh dear….I have to run…..I’ll write more later….
Good morning, I'm back...
Okay, where did I leave it? Oh yeah. Fixed ideas and such. Miss. M. believed she was a sex addict. Her sister told her that the 'visitor' was a sex demon. I'm smiling as I write that. People have odd notions about the disembodied. Anyway, the truth about her ghost was that he was a young man, in his late teens or early twenties. He was obsessed with sex too, as many young men are. Unfortunately he had an accident and was killed quite suddenly. He was confused and unable to move through his death experience because he was fixated. I've seen this before. I explained that he is just a boy, or young man, not unlike her, who has found someone to play with. He believes he is a sex addict too. As soon as she gets out of her state of fear and can forgive him and herself we can let him pass.
I guided her through the process, which took no more than 30 minutes. Then I asked if I could see her bedroom. I followed her home which was situated on a corner right behind Montgomery High School. Her bedroom window faced the street, which faced the direction of the football field. Her bedroom was very small and jammed packed with girl stuff. The walls were covered with photos of friends and musicians. It was cluttered and messy but what stood out to me was the position of her bed and some ceramic skulls she had on her dresser. A Feng Shui nightmare. I walked her around the room and pointed to things and asked her what she felt when she looked at them. Was the energy high or low? We determined there were many objects that were attracting a low or negative vibration. I made some suggestions about clearing out some of those things and finally cleared the space and sealed it, energetically. Her room was then off limits to uninvited visitors. Her brother and sister were waiting in the family room. They knew why I was there and were curious and maybe a bit nervous about what to expect. I gave them the all clear sign, a smile and I left.
I ran into Miss. M. at Joe's yesterday. That's what prompted the blog post. I didn't recognise her. She bounced over and sat down right next to me with a big smile on her face. She looked fresh and happy and it took a few moments for me to place her. She said, "It's me, Melinda." Her face was clear and fresh, her hair light and shiny, her smile went from ear to ear. She brought me up to date on her life and her plans for a future career. She wants to go to massage school. She wants to do what I do. After she finishes school she's going to come to me for training and fine tuning her skills. I think she'll be a wonderful healer.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Another remodel project...
My friend John calls it busy work for the feeble minded. My constant desire to create something new, whether it is art, or decorating, or cooking, or gardening. I feel most excited when creating something new. I'm taking down the brick fireplace and putting up rock. I'm getting a new slip cover for the couch, a new coffee table, new blinds, and I'm painting one wall in the dining room. We've finally come to an agreement of what we want. I'm going to have a cabinet built to hold the new flat screen LCD television and Aunt Lucy's high back chairs are going to the highest bidder or Goodwill. I'm so glad we have finalized a plan. This picture is not the size of my fireplace by any means but it shows the style of rock we're getting. I think I can do the project myself. I'm a project girl, for sure!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Judge Not
“See yourself in others, then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?” -- The Buddha
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” -- Jesus
“No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” -- Mohammed
“Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.” -- Mahabharata (a Hindu)
“What I do not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to them.” -- Confuscious
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.” -- Philo of Alexandria (a Jew)
“Can true humility and compassion exists in our words and eyes unless we know we, too, are capable of any act?” -- St. Francis of Assisi
Saturday, August 04, 2007
America Has A New Show
Great Britian has exported a television show for Americans and it can be seen on the SCI-FI channel. It's called "Mind Control with Derren Brown". If you don't think you are being influenced by what you are watching, reading, hearing....you'll be astonished! Check it out.
Have California Pedestrians Gone Stupid With Power?
If you do a Google search for 'California pedestrians' you will find a list of Attorney's. Our state legislators passed a law that gives pedestrians the right of way no matter if they are in a crosswalk or not. If they walk out from between two cars, right in front of oncoming traffic, traffic must stop. Of course, you'd think, "well of course traffic should stop....you don't want to kill anyone." This law has created a slew of attorneys primed to sue anyone injured by a moving vehicle, whether it was the drivers fault or not. Still, you might think that sounds like sound legislation. However, it has been my experience, since January, that people will walk out in front of your car without regard to their safety or yours because they believe the law protects them. A lot of good that will do if you're dead but what do I know?
Last night I was backing out of a parking space and I was half way out when a man and his wife walked right behind my car. I know they saw me backing out, they didn't care, because they have power now. He didn't seem to care that my car was there first, I was backing out, it could be dangerous, he knew the law. He stepped out in the path of a car, in the dark, without warning. I rolled down my window, because I'm that kinda woman, and I asked him why he would endanger himself and his woman by walking behind a car that was backing up, and in the dark no less. He said, "Pedestrians have the right of way! Where'd you get your license?" I swear the power has gone to our heads! I don't know about you, but if I'm walking in a parking lot and a car is backing up I would never walk behind it unless I was suicidal.
So, if you plan on coming to California, beware of the pedestrian!
Last night I was backing out of a parking space and I was half way out when a man and his wife walked right behind my car. I know they saw me backing out, they didn't care, because they have power now. He didn't seem to care that my car was there first, I was backing out, it could be dangerous, he knew the law. He stepped out in the path of a car, in the dark, without warning. I rolled down my window, because I'm that kinda woman, and I asked him why he would endanger himself and his woman by walking behind a car that was backing up, and in the dark no less. He said, "Pedestrians have the right of way! Where'd you get your license?" I swear the power has gone to our heads! I don't know about you, but if I'm walking in a parking lot and a car is backing up I would never walk behind it unless I was suicidal.
So, if you plan on coming to California, beware of the pedestrian!
Friday, August 03, 2007
Bourne Stupidity
It's Friday night and I just returned from the 7:15 showing of a newly released movie. I sat next to a 5 year old boy who was there with his mother and father to see the R rated movie, "Bourne Ultimatum", nearly two hours of intense and constant violence and murder.
Hasn't there been enough studies about the effect of these images on the little, open minds of children? What decisions was he making while eating his popcorn and watching men shooting each other? It makes me wonder what people are thinking.
Whether or not exposure to media violence causes increased levels of aggression and violence in young people is the perennial question of media effects research. Some experts, like University of Michigan professor L. Rowell Huesmann, argue that fifty years of evidence show "that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more aggressively and affects them as adults years later." Others, like Jonathan Freedman of the University of Toronto, maintain that "the scientific evidence simply does not show that watching violence either produces violence in people, or desensitizes them to it."
From Media Awareness Network
Hasn't there been enough studies about the effect of these images on the little, open minds of children? What decisions was he making while eating his popcorn and watching men shooting each other? It makes me wonder what people are thinking.
Whether or not exposure to media violence causes increased levels of aggression and violence in young people is the perennial question of media effects research. Some experts, like University of Michigan professor L. Rowell Huesmann, argue that fifty years of evidence show "that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more aggressively and affects them as adults years later." Others, like Jonathan Freedman of the University of Toronto, maintain that "the scientific evidence simply does not show that watching violence either produces violence in people, or desensitizes them to it."
From Media Awareness Network
Old Hermosa Beach
Much of this stretch of Hermosa Beach is about to change. Boots died last week. He was 85 years old and owned the property from Good Stuff to The Mermaid and up Pier Avenue almost to Hermosa Avenue. Also the owner of Scotty's died and the owner of Sea Sprite is selling off several beach front properties. I'm afraid old Hermosa Beach is about to experience a major transformation. I sure hope the city officials and the residents who will inevitably vote for a new beach front plan will try to preserve the old feel of Hermosa.
And for those of you who may remember Uncle Bills restuarant, a Manhattan Beach landmark and my father's favorite breakfast place since the 60s, is also prime for change. The owner also passed away last week. Change is coming.
Sibling Abuse
Nobody talks about sibling abuse. On daytime shows, like "Oprah" you'll hear stories of parental sexual abuse and incest, or spousal abuse and stalking but nobody ever talks about sibling abuse. Some people think that brothers and sisters fight and that it's normal and to a certain extent that is true. But what happens when it goes beyond normal bickering and into rage and torment?
I read an article in "Time" magazine about college age girls and boys who were abused and teased relentlessly by their brothers and sisters. It appeared that they were at a significantly higher risk for depression and learning disabilities.
I remember being teased to the point of hysteria. My older sisters loved to make me cry when I was three and four years old. They told me I was thrown away by my 'real' parents and that Mom and Dad found me in a garbage pail. They only kept me because they felt sorry for me. They had evidence, in fact. I was the only one with brown eyes and the only one with dark colored hair. They would repeat it and repeat it until I collapsed in tears. If they could make me cry before breakfast they knew it would be a good day.
So, here's the deal. I decided I was unworthy of love. I felt abandoned even though the story was untrue. I made decisions about my value and my position in the family because of the repeated episodes of 'teasing'.
A few years ago, a relationship I was in, ended abruptly. One day we were going to live happily ever after and the next day it was over. There were no warning signs and no talks, just "I can't do this, I'm sorry" The first thing I thought was that I was being thrown away. Those taunting words from forty years earlier were in my head.
As I shared in the last post, the decisions we make early on in our lives reassert themselves into our present time relationships.
client is here...be back soon.
I'm back...
So, as I was saying.... Present day relationships, including our relationships with ourselves, are determined by our previous beliefs, fixed ideas, decisions and experiences. And wouldn't you know, this last client was a perfect example.
In the last few moments of her massage she asked me if I could 'see' anything that might of interest to her. I looked into the space where all memories and experiences are held and I saw a tree. It was a very large tree with a huge trunk and roots spreading out on and in the ground. She was a little girl playing under the tree with a little boy. He was bigger than she was, perhaps a few years older. They were playing a chasing game. Around and around they went, until she tripped on one of the roots and fell hard injuring her back. She screamed and cried and looked to this boy for help. After all, he was a big boy and from her perspective, he should have been able to pick her up and give her aid. He didn't. He just looked at her and watched her cry. He didn't run for help, he didn't say anything, he stood there watching her cry. From that experience she made some decisions about males. "They aren't helpful, they don't take care of her, they aren't nurturing, she's on her own, she'll have to take care of herself, are just some of the fixed ideas that developed from that one experience. When I shared that with her she almost laughed. I asked her if that sounded familiar and she said, "Oh yes. As a matter of fact, that came up just yesterday in my relationship with my husband."
Keep in mind, all relationships are a co-creation. Each of us bringing our side of the equation for the experience to be complete. Therefore, what are the beliefs and fixed ideas her husband must have in order for that conflict to take place?
Of course it's not important to concern yourself with what your partner is creating, only what your part in it is.
Here's another client's scenario. She came in for a reading last January. The first thing I saw was her in a wedding veil. I asked her if she was getting married. She looked at me like I was out to lunch. "No." Hmmm. "Really?"
I looked again and there she was, in a wedding veil. She was happily laughing and being carried in the arms of a handsome man. I asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?" Again, the face. "No." ....Okay...so I looked again and there it was. She's being carried up a mountain by this strong and rugged man. She's wearing cut-off jeans and hiking boots but she's carrying a bouquet and still wearing a veil. The message I was getting is that whoever this guy is, he's nearby and by summer she was going to be in a relationship with him and having loads of fun.
Well, here it is summer and last week she came in again for a session. She has met him and at first glance they fell head over heals. They're having a ball, she loves his 5 year old son, she loves him...but....sometimes he's mean and she doesn't know if he's the one or do I see someone else or what's going on.
This is what I saw about how they relate to each other. They start out having a great time, then he says something with a tone in his voice that reminds her of her father and how her father used to talk to her mother. They used to get into horrible arguments when she was very little. Sometimes those arguments got violent. She swore she would never, never let a man talk to her or treat her like that. When her boyfriend uses a certain tone with her, she gets defensive and tells him that they need to talk.
When he was a little boy, his father abandoned his mother and him and forever his mother blamed him for her lot in life. No matter what was going on, it was his fault. He became very defensive and swore he would ....never let a woman blame him for how she feels.
Oh dear....see the mess we make with our fixed ideas? Does this mean they can't work it out? On the contrary. It is perfect that they are together to work it out. If she leaves this guy she'll just end up with another one to dance this dance and it will continue with the same steps and rhythm as the last. He will too.
Back to sibling abuse. Most of the fights my sisters and I got into were normal aguments over who wore who's sweater and who's turn was it to wash the dishes. We were a normal family, for the most part. What we did know, and this was certain, was that we might temporarily hate a sister but if a neighborhood friend said anything against her, we'd kick their ass. We stuck together, and we protected and defended each other. That's normal. But when the teasing becomes torture, when the fighting becomes violent, I would hope parents not look at it as 'kids just being kids'. The damage can haunt a person for a lifetime.
The stories I could tell you about sibling abuse would ruin your day, so I won't. Not my stories, mind you, but stories from clients who suffer the emotional and psychic scars for their whole lives, that is, until they find a healer. >grins<
I read an article in "Time" magazine about college age girls and boys who were abused and teased relentlessly by their brothers and sisters. It appeared that they were at a significantly higher risk for depression and learning disabilities.
I remember being teased to the point of hysteria. My older sisters loved to make me cry when I was three and four years old. They told me I was thrown away by my 'real' parents and that Mom and Dad found me in a garbage pail. They only kept me because they felt sorry for me. They had evidence, in fact. I was the only one with brown eyes and the only one with dark colored hair. They would repeat it and repeat it until I collapsed in tears. If they could make me cry before breakfast they knew it would be a good day.
So, here's the deal. I decided I was unworthy of love. I felt abandoned even though the story was untrue. I made decisions about my value and my position in the family because of the repeated episodes of 'teasing'.
A few years ago, a relationship I was in, ended abruptly. One day we were going to live happily ever after and the next day it was over. There were no warning signs and no talks, just "I can't do this, I'm sorry" The first thing I thought was that I was being thrown away. Those taunting words from forty years earlier were in my head.
As I shared in the last post, the decisions we make early on in our lives reassert themselves into our present time relationships.
client is here...be back soon.
I'm back...
So, as I was saying.... Present day relationships, including our relationships with ourselves, are determined by our previous beliefs, fixed ideas, decisions and experiences. And wouldn't you know, this last client was a perfect example.
In the last few moments of her massage she asked me if I could 'see' anything that might of interest to her. I looked into the space where all memories and experiences are held and I saw a tree. It was a very large tree with a huge trunk and roots spreading out on and in the ground. She was a little girl playing under the tree with a little boy. He was bigger than she was, perhaps a few years older. They were playing a chasing game. Around and around they went, until she tripped on one of the roots and fell hard injuring her back. She screamed and cried and looked to this boy for help. After all, he was a big boy and from her perspective, he should have been able to pick her up and give her aid. He didn't. He just looked at her and watched her cry. He didn't run for help, he didn't say anything, he stood there watching her cry. From that experience she made some decisions about males. "They aren't helpful, they don't take care of her, they aren't nurturing, she's on her own, she'll have to take care of herself, are just some of the fixed ideas that developed from that one experience. When I shared that with her she almost laughed. I asked her if that sounded familiar and she said, "Oh yes. As a matter of fact, that came up just yesterday in my relationship with my husband."
Keep in mind, all relationships are a co-creation. Each of us bringing our side of the equation for the experience to be complete. Therefore, what are the beliefs and fixed ideas her husband must have in order for that conflict to take place?
Of course it's not important to concern yourself with what your partner is creating, only what your part in it is.
Here's another client's scenario. She came in for a reading last January. The first thing I saw was her in a wedding veil. I asked her if she was getting married. She looked at me like I was out to lunch. "No." Hmmm. "Really?"
I looked again and there she was, in a wedding veil. She was happily laughing and being carried in the arms of a handsome man. I asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?" Again, the face. "No." ....Okay...so I looked again and there it was. She's being carried up a mountain by this strong and rugged man. She's wearing cut-off jeans and hiking boots but she's carrying a bouquet and still wearing a veil. The message I was getting is that whoever this guy is, he's nearby and by summer she was going to be in a relationship with him and having loads of fun.
Well, here it is summer and last week she came in again for a session. She has met him and at first glance they fell head over heals. They're having a ball, she loves his 5 year old son, she loves him...but....sometimes he's mean and she doesn't know if he's the one or do I see someone else or what's going on.
This is what I saw about how they relate to each other. They start out having a great time, then he says something with a tone in his voice that reminds her of her father and how her father used to talk to her mother. They used to get into horrible arguments when she was very little. Sometimes those arguments got violent. She swore she would never, never let a man talk to her or treat her like that. When her boyfriend uses a certain tone with her, she gets defensive and tells him that they need to talk.
When he was a little boy, his father abandoned his mother and him and forever his mother blamed him for her lot in life. No matter what was going on, it was his fault. He became very defensive and swore he would ....never let a woman blame him for how she feels.
Oh dear....see the mess we make with our fixed ideas? Does this mean they can't work it out? On the contrary. It is perfect that they are together to work it out. If she leaves this guy she'll just end up with another one to dance this dance and it will continue with the same steps and rhythm as the last. He will too.
Back to sibling abuse. Most of the fights my sisters and I got into were normal aguments over who wore who's sweater and who's turn was it to wash the dishes. We were a normal family, for the most part. What we did know, and this was certain, was that we might temporarily hate a sister but if a neighborhood friend said anything against her, we'd kick their ass. We stuck together, and we protected and defended each other. That's normal. But when the teasing becomes torture, when the fighting becomes violent, I would hope parents not look at it as 'kids just being kids'. The damage can haunt a person for a lifetime.
The stories I could tell you about sibling abuse would ruin your day, so I won't. Not my stories, mind you, but stories from clients who suffer the emotional and psychic scars for their whole lives, that is, until they find a healer. >grins<
Lovely With a Capital L
A 30 year-old, successful engineer and single woman came in for guidance and counseling. She said she was suffering from almost compulsive, obsessive thinking about a relationship she knew was wrong for her, yet she seemed unable to let it go. Her therapist of eight months has told her she has to let go of this man and another one from her past if she is to find peace. But, after many months of struggling with her anxiety, she seemed to be getting worse instead of better. Her friends referred her to my office for help.
L. is a beautiful woman. She is tall, lean, fit with long lovely blond hair and a perfect complexion. Her energy was very scrambled and expanded and I noticed she had a hard time breathing because of the stress she was feeling.
I let her talk for about ten minutes then suggested we begin the healing with some deep breathing and a little relaxation exercise. During the guided session I took a look at what energy was around her. I saw her father and her mother as the source of the issue, as usual. That didn't take a psychic to figure out. I suspect any first year psychology student could have asked a few more questions and come to that conclusion. I also saw that she actually had three men who were pursuing her.
When she opened her eyes, her breathing was slow and relaxed. Her eyes were focused and she was very present. I shared with her what I had seen. I explained to her how her past experiences, memories, decisions and fixed ideas and beliefs were filters that were distorting her perception of her present circumstances. The three men I saw were not what she believes them to be and that her relationship with her father was the reason she couldn't see them as they are. I also had seen her, as a little girl, deciding her future, and so much of what she decided back then was causing her anxiety today. She had established a life timetable and it was time, in her unconscious mind, to choose one of these men and get married. It didn't matter that they were not appropriate men for her. She was trying to choose against her instincts and that is what was creating her anxiety and fear. Fear to choose and fear not to choose. Man-o-man, that'll sure put your head in a confused and chaotic scramble. She was like a hamster in an exercise wheel, running as fast as she could and getting nowhere.
I decided to do bodywork with L, massage and Reiki, and I used guided imagery to assist her in the introduction to her Higher Self. We worked through the energy of her chakras and used Avatar techniques to discreate preconceived impressions that were getting in the way of her perfect vision.
We finished the session with The Book of Runes and, as always, she was guided to the one that spoke to the heart of her issue. She was amazed.
I asked her how she was feeling and she answered with two words. "Peaceful and clear."
The entire session took 90 minutes. She booked another session in two weeks and left here with the insight and tools she needed to move out of anxiety and into a peaceful presence.
I'm looking forward to our next session to see how her relationships have shifted. I'll keep you posted on her progress.
L. is a beautiful woman. She is tall, lean, fit with long lovely blond hair and a perfect complexion. Her energy was very scrambled and expanded and I noticed she had a hard time breathing because of the stress she was feeling.
I let her talk for about ten minutes then suggested we begin the healing with some deep breathing and a little relaxation exercise. During the guided session I took a look at what energy was around her. I saw her father and her mother as the source of the issue, as usual. That didn't take a psychic to figure out. I suspect any first year psychology student could have asked a few more questions and come to that conclusion. I also saw that she actually had three men who were pursuing her.
When she opened her eyes, her breathing was slow and relaxed. Her eyes were focused and she was very present. I shared with her what I had seen. I explained to her how her past experiences, memories, decisions and fixed ideas and beliefs were filters that were distorting her perception of her present circumstances. The three men I saw were not what she believes them to be and that her relationship with her father was the reason she couldn't see them as they are. I also had seen her, as a little girl, deciding her future, and so much of what she decided back then was causing her anxiety today. She had established a life timetable and it was time, in her unconscious mind, to choose one of these men and get married. It didn't matter that they were not appropriate men for her. She was trying to choose against her instincts and that is what was creating her anxiety and fear. Fear to choose and fear not to choose. Man-o-man, that'll sure put your head in a confused and chaotic scramble. She was like a hamster in an exercise wheel, running as fast as she could and getting nowhere.
I decided to do bodywork with L, massage and Reiki, and I used guided imagery to assist her in the introduction to her Higher Self. We worked through the energy of her chakras and used Avatar techniques to discreate preconceived impressions that were getting in the way of her perfect vision.
We finished the session with The Book of Runes and, as always, she was guided to the one that spoke to the heart of her issue. She was amazed.
I asked her how she was feeling and she answered with two words. "Peaceful and clear."
The entire session took 90 minutes. She booked another session in two weeks and left here with the insight and tools she needed to move out of anxiety and into a peaceful presence.
I'm looking forward to our next session to see how her relationships have shifted. I'll keep you posted on her progress.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Karen W.
A 42 year-old, divorced woman, suffering from severe tension headaches, called for an appointment for bodywork. She said she believed her headaches were the result of a very high pressure job as an in the aerospace industry. Her executive position required her to travel to Washington D.C. regularly for meetings with government representatives and military personnel. On top of her stressful career responsibilities she was in a dramatic legal battle, with her ex-husband, for the custody of her two young boys. Her husband believed their boys should attend the fundamental Christian school were he was an acting bishop. His corporal punishment philosophy of child rearing was the source of her emotional pain. Her boys were ordered, by the judge, to be evaluated by a child psychologist. She had received the first report of many to come.
My primary intention was to relieve her headaches and to see what came up during our first session. Using massage, Reiki and acupressure techniques her pain was easily relieved. What came up during that first session was more than I expected.
My bodywork office is kept dark, lit by candles and the only sounds in the room are from a small water fountain, soft ethereal music and my voice. Using guided imagery, I talked her through a series of relaxation exercises to get her head out of the courtroom and boardroom and into the present experience. She followed easily.
Halfway through her session I recognized a presence in the room with us. I continued working on her tension points while observing the spirit at the foot of the massage table.
When someone comes in for bodywork, I rarely discuss the other work I do. But, in this case, I decided it was something I should try to bring to her attention, without freaking her out. I trust that if a spirit shows up, the client is usually ready to hear the information and as it turned out, Karen was open and willing to hear it all.
I described the energy I was seeing. As I’ve shared before, I am clairvoyant. I see images and get information telepathically. After describing the female spirit at the end of the table, Karen said, “That’s my mother. She died 12 years ago.” Her mother had been agitated when she first appeared but as soon as her daughter recognized her presence, she relaxed with a smile. I don’t recall the details of that first session with Karen and her mother but I do remember that when Karen left my office she was radiant. Her headache was gone; she said she felt relaxed and hopeful.
During the following weeks and months Karen and her mother continued their weekly sessions with me. I learned that Karen had met a man in Washington D.C. she was falling in love with but her divorce had left her feeling unsure and distrusting. The relationship was loving yet she felt unable to move forward considering the geographic distance, the issue of her boys and her unrelenting fear of another commitment. She was troubled about what to do with this new relationship. Should she break it off or grit her teeth and move forward?
During the fourth session, Karen’s mother appeared wearing a black scarf over her head and face, as if she was in mourning. That is not how she appeared in our past sessions as she was normally a happy energy. She told me that she wanted to talk about her death. I asked Karen about that. She told me that her mother had had an accident. She died from an accidental fall down some stairs in her home. While she told me the facts her father had told her, Karen’s mother was vehemently shaking her head, “NO”. Her father had said her mother had been up late and sometime after he had gone to sleep she must have tripped and fallen down a flight of stairs. He said he discovered her body when he woke the next morning.
The story Karen’s mother showed me was slightly different. She showed me the entire incident. Her father and mother were at the top of the stairs arguing. She had been drinking and was pointing her finger at him. He pushed her away from him and she tumbled backwards and down the stairs. He ran down after her. She was still breathing, but unconscious. He was afraid of what had happened and how it would look to the authorities. He didn’t’ know what to do. He paced back and forth trying to decide what to do. He chose to wait until she stopped breathing. It took a bit of time but by 4 am she was gone. At sunrise he called the police.
I watched the story unfold as Mother was showing me. I wasn’t sure if I should tell Karen what I was seeing but, I believe if I’m being shown something, there is a reason. I very slowly suggested that dad’s story may not have been the whole truth.
Karen said, “That wouldn’t surprise me at all. Dad’s behavior after Mom died was very strange. He has not moved a thing of hers from the house. Everything is exactly as it was the day she died. Her clothes are still in the closets, her art on the walls, and all of her furniture is still in the same place. The first couple of years after her death he would go to the cemetery, to her grave site, and take pictures of himself there and send copies to all three of his daughters.
I asked her if she wanted to know what her mother was showing me. She didn’t hesitate to answer. She wanted to know everything.
After I finished telling her what I was being shown, she said that she had suspected as much all along. She also said it was unnecessary to share that information with anyone else. Her father had been suffering with grief and guilt for all these years and bringing it up now would do only harm. She was able to forgive her father immediately. She explained that her parent’s relationship had suffered through the years because of her mother’s drinking. Every night her father would go to bed at 10, alone, and mother would stay up reading and drinking. That scenario had been the source of many arguments. Her mother nodded in agreement and didn’t seem to need any more than the truth to be told to Karen.
Weeks passed and we continued our sessions. Massage and Intuitive Healing went hand in hand. One day Mother showed up during our session and she had with her a box. She told me its contents were extremely important. The box looked like a sewing basket with a hinged lid. The top of the box had fabric on it. When her mother opened the box she did not show me what was inside but conveyed the urgency for Karen to find it.
Again, I described the box and the message. I told her I wasn’t able to see the contents but that her mother seemed to be insistent about its importance. Karen said that she didn’t know of such a box but that if it mother had anything like I described, it would still be in her father’s home in Georgia. As it turned out, she was flying back for a visit the following day. She said she would ask her father about it.
Three days later I received a long distance call from Karen. She was in a state of emotional gratitude. She told me that she and her father looked in every closet and cupboard for the box I described. They searched every room including the attic. They went down to the basement and back in a corner, under the fabric I described, was the box. Inside of it were letters and notes in her mother’s handwriting. She had written poems and had jotted down notes from services at her church. She wrote about love and trust and faith. She wrote about commitment, communion and God. In those notes and letters were the answers to the questions that Karen was struggling with, in regard to her new relationship and her fear of moving forward with her life and her love.
A month later I received a package in the mail with a personal note from Karen. She said finding those letters and notes of her mother's was an enormous gift for her, her sisters and entire family. It was the healing they were all waiting for. Karen had put all of her mothers writings in a bound book and sent copies to her sisters and friends of her mother’s and one to me. Our sessions came to an end shortly thereafter.
Karen won her custody case and decided to follow her mother’s written advice to trust and to love. She married Bob and moved to Washington. Her mother’s poetry was read at their wedding ceremony. She no longer suffers from headaches. It truly was a miraculous experience.
I don't know if what I see are spiritual apparitions or energy held in the consciousness of my clients. Whatever I am seeing, whether from this dimension or another, it is healing for all involved, including myself.
James Van Praagh is a psychic/medium. He is well known in the field of paranormal talents. He wrote the book, "Talking To Heaven" and is the producer of the television show, "Ghost Whisperer". I'm flying to Mount Shasta in two weeks to meet him for a retreat on "Mediumship and Healing With Spirit". I am very excited to be able to talk to other healers and mediums who understand what I do. You can be sure I will write all about it when I return.
My primary intention was to relieve her headaches and to see what came up during our first session. Using massage, Reiki and acupressure techniques her pain was easily relieved. What came up during that first session was more than I expected.
My bodywork office is kept dark, lit by candles and the only sounds in the room are from a small water fountain, soft ethereal music and my voice. Using guided imagery, I talked her through a series of relaxation exercises to get her head out of the courtroom and boardroom and into the present experience. She followed easily.
Halfway through her session I recognized a presence in the room with us. I continued working on her tension points while observing the spirit at the foot of the massage table.
When someone comes in for bodywork, I rarely discuss the other work I do. But, in this case, I decided it was something I should try to bring to her attention, without freaking her out. I trust that if a spirit shows up, the client is usually ready to hear the information and as it turned out, Karen was open and willing to hear it all.
I described the energy I was seeing. As I’ve shared before, I am clairvoyant. I see images and get information telepathically. After describing the female spirit at the end of the table, Karen said, “That’s my mother. She died 12 years ago.” Her mother had been agitated when she first appeared but as soon as her daughter recognized her presence, she relaxed with a smile. I don’t recall the details of that first session with Karen and her mother but I do remember that when Karen left my office she was radiant. Her headache was gone; she said she felt relaxed and hopeful.
During the following weeks and months Karen and her mother continued their weekly sessions with me. I learned that Karen had met a man in Washington D.C. she was falling in love with but her divorce had left her feeling unsure and distrusting. The relationship was loving yet she felt unable to move forward considering the geographic distance, the issue of her boys and her unrelenting fear of another commitment. She was troubled about what to do with this new relationship. Should she break it off or grit her teeth and move forward?
During the fourth session, Karen’s mother appeared wearing a black scarf over her head and face, as if she was in mourning. That is not how she appeared in our past sessions as she was normally a happy energy. She told me that she wanted to talk about her death. I asked Karen about that. She told me that her mother had had an accident. She died from an accidental fall down some stairs in her home. While she told me the facts her father had told her, Karen’s mother was vehemently shaking her head, “NO”. Her father had said her mother had been up late and sometime after he had gone to sleep she must have tripped and fallen down a flight of stairs. He said he discovered her body when he woke the next morning.
The story Karen’s mother showed me was slightly different. She showed me the entire incident. Her father and mother were at the top of the stairs arguing. She had been drinking and was pointing her finger at him. He pushed her away from him and she tumbled backwards and down the stairs. He ran down after her. She was still breathing, but unconscious. He was afraid of what had happened and how it would look to the authorities. He didn’t’ know what to do. He paced back and forth trying to decide what to do. He chose to wait until she stopped breathing. It took a bit of time but by 4 am she was gone. At sunrise he called the police.
I watched the story unfold as Mother was showing me. I wasn’t sure if I should tell Karen what I was seeing but, I believe if I’m being shown something, there is a reason. I very slowly suggested that dad’s story may not have been the whole truth.
Karen said, “That wouldn’t surprise me at all. Dad’s behavior after Mom died was very strange. He has not moved a thing of hers from the house. Everything is exactly as it was the day she died. Her clothes are still in the closets, her art on the walls, and all of her furniture is still in the same place. The first couple of years after her death he would go to the cemetery, to her grave site, and take pictures of himself there and send copies to all three of his daughters.
I asked her if she wanted to know what her mother was showing me. She didn’t hesitate to answer. She wanted to know everything.
After I finished telling her what I was being shown, she said that she had suspected as much all along. She also said it was unnecessary to share that information with anyone else. Her father had been suffering with grief and guilt for all these years and bringing it up now would do only harm. She was able to forgive her father immediately. She explained that her parent’s relationship had suffered through the years because of her mother’s drinking. Every night her father would go to bed at 10, alone, and mother would stay up reading and drinking. That scenario had been the source of many arguments. Her mother nodded in agreement and didn’t seem to need any more than the truth to be told to Karen.
Weeks passed and we continued our sessions. Massage and Intuitive Healing went hand in hand. One day Mother showed up during our session and she had with her a box. She told me its contents were extremely important. The box looked like a sewing basket with a hinged lid. The top of the box had fabric on it. When her mother opened the box she did not show me what was inside but conveyed the urgency for Karen to find it.
Again, I described the box and the message. I told her I wasn’t able to see the contents but that her mother seemed to be insistent about its importance. Karen said that she didn’t know of such a box but that if it mother had anything like I described, it would still be in her father’s home in Georgia. As it turned out, she was flying back for a visit the following day. She said she would ask her father about it.
Three days later I received a long distance call from Karen. She was in a state of emotional gratitude. She told me that she and her father looked in every closet and cupboard for the box I described. They searched every room including the attic. They went down to the basement and back in a corner, under the fabric I described, was the box. Inside of it were letters and notes in her mother’s handwriting. She had written poems and had jotted down notes from services at her church. She wrote about love and trust and faith. She wrote about commitment, communion and God. In those notes and letters were the answers to the questions that Karen was struggling with, in regard to her new relationship and her fear of moving forward with her life and her love.
A month later I received a package in the mail with a personal note from Karen. She said finding those letters and notes of her mother's was an enormous gift for her, her sisters and entire family. It was the healing they were all waiting for. Karen had put all of her mothers writings in a bound book and sent copies to her sisters and friends of her mother’s and one to me. Our sessions came to an end shortly thereafter.
Karen won her custody case and decided to follow her mother’s written advice to trust and to love. She married Bob and moved to Washington. Her mother’s poetry was read at their wedding ceremony. She no longer suffers from headaches. It truly was a miraculous experience.
I don't know if what I see are spiritual apparitions or energy held in the consciousness of my clients. Whatever I am seeing, whether from this dimension or another, it is healing for all involved, including myself.
James Van Praagh is a psychic/medium. He is well known in the field of paranormal talents. He wrote the book, "Talking To Heaven" and is the producer of the television show, "Ghost Whisperer". I'm flying to Mount Shasta in two weeks to meet him for a retreat on "Mediumship and Healing With Spirit". I am very excited to be able to talk to other healers and mediums who understand what I do. You can be sure I will write all about it when I return.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
It's all in the phrasing.
Affirmations are a powerful tool to use to get your head out of habitual thinking patterns. However, the phrasing of such needs to be precise and positive, and present tense. I've heard affirmations that went on and on and I wondered how in the world a person could remember it all.
Keep it simple. Keep it positive.
I am radiant health.
I am Source.
I am happy to be me.
Here's one I used to use: "The love and power of God flows through me and draws to me all that I need to make my life happy and complete."
"The Law of Abundance is acting in my life now."
"I am joyful, peaceful, and loving."
"My relationships grow in intimacy and honesty."
"I feel beautiful and sexy."
When your monkey brain goes off on a tangent about the El Pollo Loco cashier or the rudeness of people in service positions....(as does my little monkey brain from time to time) reel yourself back to the position and experience you prefer.
Take ten deep and fast deep breaths to energize your body with the statements of your affirmations. Ten deep breaths and "I am loving and accepting." or "I am peaceful and present." Say the affirmation a few times and feel the words soak into every cell until you experience the meaning of them.
My El Pollo experience last Sunday was a test of my patience. I was picking up picnic food for our gathering at the beach concert. By the way, next Sunday is a Doors tribute band that is outstanding and because it is the last concert of the season, there will be a fireworks display afterwards.
Back to my test. I pulled up behind a car in the drive-thru and another car pulled in behind me. We all sat there for ten minutes without moving an inch. I finally turned off my engine and began the monkey brain dialog. "Shit! I'm going to be late. There won't be any place to park and I'm going to have to carry my chair and blankets and basket for miles. What the hell is taking so long?" Blah blah blah. I was tempted to honk my horn, as if that would do any good. I was all worked up. By the time I rolled forward to the speaker to order I was all riled up. So I said, "It's taking a long time. Is everthing okay in there?" She said they had a system problem but it was being taken care of then asked for my order. She didn't say she was sorry for the delay, just wanted to get things ordered to move on. I ordered chicken, lots of chicken and a chocolate shake. Then sat for another ten minutes. Finally when I got to the window, I paid the girl and she handed me my bag of chicken and a shake. There was no apology for the long wait and, frankly, her attitude seemed that she and her friends were having fun and it didn't matter what was going on with the customers. I drove away and took a sip of the shake. It was vanilla. I hate vanilla. I turned the car around, parked it, and went inside. Instead of breathing deeply and calming myself, I handed another girl the container and said, "This is supposed to be chocolate, it's vanilla." She said, "We're out of chocolate."
I said, why didn't she tell me that when I ordered it?"
She said, "She didn't know we were out."
Now my voice became loud enough for the entire staff in the kitchen to hear me. "When I got to the window she should have said, 'we're out of chocolate would you like vanilla?' Instead of just handing out a vanilla in hopes I wouldn't notice? That nuts. Do you get that?" I looked at the staff of girls, nobody over 20 years old, and they had nothing to say. They stood there frozen. Here's the kicker.
"Would you like your money back?"
"What do you think?"
It took three of them to figure out how to give me my money back.
This scenario is a recurrent one for me. I don't know about you, but my experience is that good customer service has fallen the way of the hula hoop. You just don't see it anymore.
So, if it is a recurrent experience for me, what is the mirror? Yes, folks, that's the question I have to ask myself when I get into a snit. What's the mirror? Otherwise it wouldn't continue to appear in my reality and it wouldn't have been such an angry making scene.
The drive back to the beach gave me the opportunity to figure it out. I had to look back at the service I gave in my years as a food server and there it was. I got fired from a job for giving such poor service. I was embarrassed to admit it to anyone. I was always showing up late and had an attitude. There's the mirror. I lied about it to friends and family because I felt ashamed of the job I did. I kept that a secret. That was 32 years ago and the shadow of it keeps falling across my path to give me the opportunity to bring the truth into the light and forgive myself. It's much easier, or so it would seem, to continue to bitch and complain about the young, thoughtless servers than to look in the mirror. I could bitch and complain making me feel like I'm better, smarter, whatever.
In the ten minute drive to the beach I went from pissed to pleasant because I was willing to look in the mirror and forgive myself.
"I am willing and ready to see the truth of who I am." (even if the truth hurts)
"I grow and expand my awareness in every experience."
"I am a spiritual warrior."
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Covert Overt
In Royce's classes, an overt is an act not motivated by love. An act of suppression, or manipulation, dishonesty, third-party gossip, judgement, fraud, and false impersonation, are all overts.
Also, not doing something can be an overt. If you don't stop to help someone in need, when you easily could have, is an overt. Not picking up a piece of trash when you are walking by it or not showing appreciation when you could have is an overt. Withholding appreciation or love, is an overt.
A covert overt, is something you have done, an overt, that is posing as an act of kindness but is really motivated by something other than love, and you don't know you're doing it. You may be doing it everyday and not be aware that it is an overt.
I have a friend I love dearly. She is a gossip. She loves to sit and talk about how fat or how bald or how dumb or how ugly or how stuck up someone we know has become. She came back from a vacation in New York where she met up with some old classmates and all she wanted to tell me about was how fat Ginny got and how bald James is and how tacky Vicky is..... Here's the deal. I sat there and listened to her go on and on as she always does and I didn't stop it. I let it continue, as I always do. I don't enjoy the conversation but I listen. I thought that was the polite thing to do. I sat there, on the phone, feeling uncomfortable, but not saying anything. That is a covert overt. By not saying anything I allowed her beliefs and judgements to go unchallenged. By not stopping her I gave her the impression that it was okay to talk that way. I didn't know it was an overt....it was the covert overt.
All overts stimulate a sense of guilt. It may be a subtle feeling of discomfort but it is there. We may not be able to figure out why we are feeling guilty because the overts are not always the first thing we look at. We look at others for why we are feeling what we are feeling. It must be his fault or her fault that I feel this way. She's making me feel guilty or he manipulates me with guilt. That is not possible. If you are feeling guilty, then you are guilty. Someone can't make you feel it if it isn't already there to feel.
What is the antidote for guilt? Forgiveness. Learn the lesson, forgive yourself and TRUST your process.
Also, not doing something can be an overt. If you don't stop to help someone in need, when you easily could have, is an overt. Not picking up a piece of trash when you are walking by it or not showing appreciation when you could have is an overt. Withholding appreciation or love, is an overt.
A covert overt, is something you have done, an overt, that is posing as an act of kindness but is really motivated by something other than love, and you don't know you're doing it. You may be doing it everyday and not be aware that it is an overt.
I have a friend I love dearly. She is a gossip. She loves to sit and talk about how fat or how bald or how dumb or how ugly or how stuck up someone we know has become. She came back from a vacation in New York where she met up with some old classmates and all she wanted to tell me about was how fat Ginny got and how bald James is and how tacky Vicky is..... Here's the deal. I sat there and listened to her go on and on as she always does and I didn't stop it. I let it continue, as I always do. I don't enjoy the conversation but I listen. I thought that was the polite thing to do. I sat there, on the phone, feeling uncomfortable, but not saying anything. That is a covert overt. By not saying anything I allowed her beliefs and judgements to go unchallenged. By not stopping her I gave her the impression that it was okay to talk that way. I didn't know it was an overt....it was the covert overt.
All overts stimulate a sense of guilt. It may be a subtle feeling of discomfort but it is there. We may not be able to figure out why we are feeling guilty because the overts are not always the first thing we look at. We look at others for why we are feeling what we are feeling. It must be his fault or her fault that I feel this way. She's making me feel guilty or he manipulates me with guilt. That is not possible. If you are feeling guilty, then you are guilty. Someone can't make you feel it if it isn't already there to feel.
What is the antidote for guilt? Forgiveness. Learn the lesson, forgive yourself and TRUST your process.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime
Ya gotta love summertime here at the beach. There are free concerts in parks and on beaches up and down the coast. Performing tonight, on the Hermosa Beach Pier, will be, none other than, Tommy James and The Shondells. "I Think We're Alone Now" a song I remember from one summer night in 1968, when I was holding hands with Jerry Skaff in the backseat of the fastest car in Hawthorne California, Woody McCain's. I couldn't begin to tell you what make or model it was but, I do know it was the fastest because all the boys said so. When I hear that song I am transported back to that moment and the fragrance of Jerry's cologne and the sweet taste of his kisses. Man-o-man I loved kissing on that boy. I was only 16 but I knew a good kisser when I met him.
So, this evening I'll be on the beach with friends and family, having a gourmet picnic, a cold glass of wetness and the jammin sounds of sixties rock and roll. Last week we sat on the sand and listened to The Animals. Like I said, summertime on the beach, there's nothin' like it.
"I Think We're Alone Now"
Children behave
That's what they say when we're together
And watch how you play
They don't understand
And so we're running just as fast as we can
Holdin' onto one another's hand
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say
I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
Look at the way
We gotta hide what we're doin'
'Cause what would they say
If they ever knew and so we're
Running just as fast as we can
Holdin' onto one another's hand
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
Running just as fast as we can
Holdin' onto one another's hand
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
So, this evening I'll be on the beach with friends and family, having a gourmet picnic, a cold glass of wetness and the jammin sounds of sixties rock and roll. Last week we sat on the sand and listened to The Animals. Like I said, summertime on the beach, there's nothin' like it.
"I Think We're Alone Now"
Children behave
That's what they say when we're together
And watch how you play
They don't understand
And so we're running just as fast as we can
Holdin' onto one another's hand
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say
I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
Look at the way
We gotta hide what we're doin'
'Cause what would they say
If they ever knew and so we're
Running just as fast as we can
Holdin' onto one another's hand
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
Running just as fast as we can
Holdin' onto one another's hand
Tryin' to get away into the night
And then you put your arms around me
And we tumble to the ground
And then you say I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
I think we're alone now (alone now)
There doesn't seem to be anyone around
I think we're alone now (alone now)
The beating of our hearts is the only sound
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Integrating Mind, Body and Soul
A book, Body, Self, & Soul Sustaining Integration, sits on my bookshelf and is tattered and torn. I've read it and re-read it. Here, I will quote it.
One doesn't need gurus or temples or pilgrimages because the experience of God or Tao or Self is immediate. From the transpersonal perspective, there is only Self. There is no Other. All separations are artificial. "You are what you seek." as in the Hindu phrase. As one begins to understand this and direct his seeking inward, a tremendous amount of creative energy is released. This powerful expression of inner awareness and energy can cause energy in their lives. The journal becomes an even more important tool for reporting, studying, and capturing this energy. To allow a person to become more familiar with the exploding inner experience of Self, we introduce him to the practice of meditation.
One can never race toward oneself, only away
For the dazzling essence of Self is stillness
And to experience this stillness one must stay and listen.
Rev. Daniel Panger
"Thoughts and Benedictions"
Be still and listen. I love that. That will be my mantra today. So often I hear my voice inside my head go on and on about silliness. I've spent an entire afternoon worrying, needlessly, when I could have said, "Be still and listen." Always, there is the Divine guidance. Always there is Divine Direction.
I am taking a deep breath, or two or three....and remembering that I am Source. I am still.
Here's a newsflash...Radiant health begins with good nutrition and exercise....
Yep, you heard it here, folks. I know, I'm a genius. Where would you have ever heard such honesty? I mean besides every diet book and health program ever created.
Vitamin supplements, essential oils and fatty acids, minerals and herbs go a very long way to keep us on the right track to health. To me, taking supplements is like health insurance. I studied a bit about nutrition many years ago. Not much has changed in that arena since 1979. Sugar can make you depressed. Sodas are poison. Nitrates can cause cancer. And here's a good rule to follow: If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it.
Yoga is my next big adventure. I'm starting this week. Are you reading this, Margie? If I can walk my dog everyday and do yoga and pilates, I'll need little else. I'm cancelling my membership to Curves.
One doesn't need gurus or temples or pilgrimages because the experience of God or Tao or Self is immediate. From the transpersonal perspective, there is only Self. There is no Other. All separations are artificial. "You are what you seek." as in the Hindu phrase. As one begins to understand this and direct his seeking inward, a tremendous amount of creative energy is released. This powerful expression of inner awareness and energy can cause energy in their lives. The journal becomes an even more important tool for reporting, studying, and capturing this energy. To allow a person to become more familiar with the exploding inner experience of Self, we introduce him to the practice of meditation.
One can never race toward oneself, only away
For the dazzling essence of Self is stillness
And to experience this stillness one must stay and listen.
Rev. Daniel Panger
"Thoughts and Benedictions"
Be still and listen. I love that. That will be my mantra today. So often I hear my voice inside my head go on and on about silliness. I've spent an entire afternoon worrying, needlessly, when I could have said, "Be still and listen." Always, there is the Divine guidance. Always there is Divine Direction.
I am taking a deep breath, or two or three....and remembering that I am Source. I am still.
Here's a newsflash...Radiant health begins with good nutrition and exercise....
Yep, you heard it here, folks. I know, I'm a genius. Where would you have ever heard such honesty? I mean besides every diet book and health program ever created.
Vitamin supplements, essential oils and fatty acids, minerals and herbs go a very long way to keep us on the right track to health. To me, taking supplements is like health insurance. I studied a bit about nutrition many years ago. Not much has changed in that arena since 1979. Sugar can make you depressed. Sodas are poison. Nitrates can cause cancer. And here's a good rule to follow: If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it.
Yoga is my next big adventure. I'm starting this week. Are you reading this, Margie? If I can walk my dog everyday and do yoga and pilates, I'll need little else. I'm cancelling my membership to Curves.
Friday, July 20, 2007
"Sicko"
http://costofwar.com/
I saw "Sicko" last week. It made me sick. Literally. I'm not a huge fan of Michael Moore but I had heard from many friends, that whichever side of the political aisle you sit, this movie had much to say to the misinformed masses who are feeling quite content that they have health insurance, "so what's the big deal?"
Hundreds of insured are going bankrupt because claims are denied. They are denied for numerous reasons. Perhaps they didn't call ahead of time for approval for that ambulance ride from a car accident. No matter that they were nearly unconscious and their arm was bleeding. Denied!
A child became ill while on vacation and her fever was 105. She was rushed to a hospital but denied the test she needed because she wasn't at the right hospital. After hours of begging by her mother and phone calls to try to find a way to treat her, she died. True story!
A couple who had health insurance for many years, owned a home, raised their family, became ill. The husband had dementia and the wife, cancer. Their claims were denied because the insurance company found an error on their original application. She neglected to mention a previous illness, twenty years ago, therefore their claim, indeed, their entire policy was cancelled. They had to file bankruptcy and move into a small room in their daughter's home. Another true story.
A man was sawing wood in his garage. The table saw was slicing through the board like a hot knife through butter when it hit a knot and the board jumped. The saw took off the tips of two fingers. He went to the hospital and was told he didn't have insurance, therefore, to reattach his fingers would cost him $12,000 for the middle finger and $9,000 for his ring finger. Being the romantic that he is, he choose his ring finger, for his wife and their wedding vows.
Some people say, "Well, the poor have MediCal and the old have Medicare and the ones in the middle should work harder to get jobs with companies that provide health care." I swear to you this is true. I just got an email from a woman who believes that. She quoted the Bible with "the meek shall inherit the Earth" and something about Adam and Eve....frankly I didn't understand what she was meaning. Basically, she has hers, fuck everyone else. No matter that over 40 million Americans are without insurance. No matter that millions of children are being untreated because of it. People are dying and the corporations that insure Americans, are getting richer and richer and richer.
Medicine that should only cost $20 costs $200.
Moore interviewed employees of insurance companies. They explained that the more they found ways to deny claims the higher up they went in their pay scale. Bonuses and perks were delivered no matter who died or suffered.
I'll tell you a true story. Back, twenty or more years ago, when I was a massage therapist in a health club, a client came in to see me. She carried two small boxes with her. She said, "You have to see this." Inside of the first box was a pair of earrings that nearly blinded me with their brilliance. Solid diamonds in the shape of snowflakes, three for each ear. The cost? $78,000. In the second box was another pair of earrings encrusted with rubies, emeralds and sapphires. Outrageously gorgeous! Cost? $86,000. When I asked her why she had them she told me that she worked for the CEO of an insurance company. He had to leave the office early and asked her to pick them up from his jeweler. They were gifts for his wife. Now, get this.....they were gifts, not because it was her birthday, not because it was their anniversary, not because Christmas was coming, but because she noticed them in a magazine and admired them, so he tracked them down for her, just because.
I don't begrudge people from making profits in their business endeavors. In fact, it is what makes the world go around. But to make a profit, a killing, on the backs of Americans who won't be able to afford the premiums if they should be laid off or be between jobs, or simply because life happens, is a sin. To deny a child the tests and medicine she needs, to let her die so the CEO can have a second or third house or a private jet, is beyond greed. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and now I know why. That is what is happening all across America.
In Europe and Canada this is not the case. People are healthier, live longer and are better educated than the greatest country in the world. Are we the greatest country because of how we value human life? or because we are spending trillions of dollars on Armies, bombs and wars? We have a war on drugs, a war on teen pregnancy, a war on same sex marriage.
We think our veterans are covered with health care for life but do you really know the truth about what hoops they must jump through to get it? Do you know, first hand, the conditions of the service they are supposed to be receiving? A farm boy grew up to be a Marine. His legs were blown off. His lives with his parents in the middle of America, hundreds of miles from a Veterans Hospital. What do we Americans say to him? "Here's a shiney medal, thanks for your service, now go away."
What really makes us great? What have we done to the America I grew up loving? Weren't we supposed to be the ones in the white hats?
Go see "Sicko". Get the facts. See the truth. We need to insist on the changes this country had failed to make. Both political parties should be ashamed of themselves, lining their pockets with money from lobbyists and letting the corporations continue to make profits over the bodies of children and American citizens who got screwed by the corrupt system.
It's time Americans roll up their sleeves like we did during World War II. Supposedly the Greatest Generation worked hard for something great and that was the protection of our freedom and our rights as Americans. Are we less American than they were?
I am not a democrat. I am not a republican. I am a registered independant and I am an American.
I saw "Sicko" last week. It made me sick. Literally. I'm not a huge fan of Michael Moore but I had heard from many friends, that whichever side of the political aisle you sit, this movie had much to say to the misinformed masses who are feeling quite content that they have health insurance, "so what's the big deal?"
Hundreds of insured are going bankrupt because claims are denied. They are denied for numerous reasons. Perhaps they didn't call ahead of time for approval for that ambulance ride from a car accident. No matter that they were nearly unconscious and their arm was bleeding. Denied!
A child became ill while on vacation and her fever was 105. She was rushed to a hospital but denied the test she needed because she wasn't at the right hospital. After hours of begging by her mother and phone calls to try to find a way to treat her, she died. True story!
A couple who had health insurance for many years, owned a home, raised their family, became ill. The husband had dementia and the wife, cancer. Their claims were denied because the insurance company found an error on their original application. She neglected to mention a previous illness, twenty years ago, therefore their claim, indeed, their entire policy was cancelled. They had to file bankruptcy and move into a small room in their daughter's home. Another true story.
A man was sawing wood in his garage. The table saw was slicing through the board like a hot knife through butter when it hit a knot and the board jumped. The saw took off the tips of two fingers. He went to the hospital and was told he didn't have insurance, therefore, to reattach his fingers would cost him $12,000 for the middle finger and $9,000 for his ring finger. Being the romantic that he is, he choose his ring finger, for his wife and their wedding vows.
Some people say, "Well, the poor have MediCal and the old have Medicare and the ones in the middle should work harder to get jobs with companies that provide health care." I swear to you this is true. I just got an email from a woman who believes that. She quoted the Bible with "the meek shall inherit the Earth" and something about Adam and Eve....frankly I didn't understand what she was meaning. Basically, she has hers, fuck everyone else. No matter that over 40 million Americans are without insurance. No matter that millions of children are being untreated because of it. People are dying and the corporations that insure Americans, are getting richer and richer and richer.
Medicine that should only cost $20 costs $200.
Moore interviewed employees of insurance companies. They explained that the more they found ways to deny claims the higher up they went in their pay scale. Bonuses and perks were delivered no matter who died or suffered.
I'll tell you a true story. Back, twenty or more years ago, when I was a massage therapist in a health club, a client came in to see me. She carried two small boxes with her. She said, "You have to see this." Inside of the first box was a pair of earrings that nearly blinded me with their brilliance. Solid diamonds in the shape of snowflakes, three for each ear. The cost? $78,000. In the second box was another pair of earrings encrusted with rubies, emeralds and sapphires. Outrageously gorgeous! Cost? $86,000. When I asked her why she had them she told me that she worked for the CEO of an insurance company. He had to leave the office early and asked her to pick them up from his jeweler. They were gifts for his wife. Now, get this.....they were gifts, not because it was her birthday, not because it was their anniversary, not because Christmas was coming, but because she noticed them in a magazine and admired them, so he tracked them down for her, just because.
I don't begrudge people from making profits in their business endeavors. In fact, it is what makes the world go around. But to make a profit, a killing, on the backs of Americans who won't be able to afford the premiums if they should be laid off or be between jobs, or simply because life happens, is a sin. To deny a child the tests and medicine she needs, to let her die so the CEO can have a second or third house or a private jet, is beyond greed. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins and now I know why. That is what is happening all across America.
In Europe and Canada this is not the case. People are healthier, live longer and are better educated than the greatest country in the world. Are we the greatest country because of how we value human life? or because we are spending trillions of dollars on Armies, bombs and wars? We have a war on drugs, a war on teen pregnancy, a war on same sex marriage.
We think our veterans are covered with health care for life but do you really know the truth about what hoops they must jump through to get it? Do you know, first hand, the conditions of the service they are supposed to be receiving? A farm boy grew up to be a Marine. His legs were blown off. His lives with his parents in the middle of America, hundreds of miles from a Veterans Hospital. What do we Americans say to him? "Here's a shiney medal, thanks for your service, now go away."
What really makes us great? What have we done to the America I grew up loving? Weren't we supposed to be the ones in the white hats?
Go see "Sicko". Get the facts. See the truth. We need to insist on the changes this country had failed to make. Both political parties should be ashamed of themselves, lining their pockets with money from lobbyists and letting the corporations continue to make profits over the bodies of children and American citizens who got screwed by the corrupt system.
It's time Americans roll up their sleeves like we did during World War II. Supposedly the Greatest Generation worked hard for something great and that was the protection of our freedom and our rights as Americans. Are we less American than they were?
I am not a democrat. I am not a republican. I am a registered independant and I am an American.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Avatar Master
The word Avatar has been tossed around in Internet games and such, and consequently has lost it's original meaning. Harry Palmer, of Star's Edge International, defines Avatar as, An Enlightened Being taking on a physical form or incarnation.
And from Wikipedia:
The word "avatar" derives from the Sanskrit word Avatāra, meaning "incarnation" and usually refers to the deliberate descent of an immortal or divine being into the mortal realm for a special purpose. The term is used primarily in Hindu texts. For example, Krishna is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God. The Dasavatara are ten particular "great" incarnations of Vishnu.
However, if you take Star's Edge training, you too can become an Avatar. I am an Avatar Master. All that means is I took a couple of weeks out of my life to learn and experience a Divine protocol that allowed me to experience myself as "pure awareness floating in pure awareness." That is what I wrote in 1992 about my experience of the Avatar training. To say it was enlightening is to say the very least.
Twenty years ago, June 10th, I had a life changing trauma when I fell from my balcony into a real life, made-for -TV episode of what I call, "As My World Turns" Yes, I fell over the side of a cinder block wall, in a backwards sumersault. I remember every thought that went through my mind as I felt my fingertips lose their grip. As I write this I can feel the concrete texture slide off of my fingers. I remember every detail, every word spoken, every sensation of that day and the following months of recovery.
Five years later, almost to the day of that fall, I met Theresa Dale, my Avatar Master. I was lead to her by a friend who was trying to persuade me not to follow my doctors orders, which was surgery, but instead, to seek the help of a Naturopath. A Naturopath is a doctor of natural medicine. If I could heal my gall bladder naturally, without letting someone cut me open, I was all for it.
OOOPS! Client just arrived.....stay tuned. >grins<
Okay, I'm back.
I went to Dr. Dale's office in Westwood, California. She had me fill out a lengthy questionnaire about all kinds of my bodily functions and emotional conditions, including a description of body excretions. Does your poop float or drop to the bottom of the bowl? How often do you experience lose stools? How often do you urinate? Do wake at night to use the bathroom? How often?Rather personal, don't you think?
Her questionnaire gave her an overall idea of my state of wellness. She looked at my eyes, my tongue, my fingernails then proceeded to muscle test me for a precise diagnosis.
"You have a gall bladder disruption. Let's start with that. Take these herbs three times a day then follow these instructions for a gall bladder and liver flush." She handed me a sheet of paper then went on to say that my pituitary and thyroid were compromised and I needed these other herbs. I was to return in a week, after the flush. Since I was willing to do anything to avoid surgery I decided to follow the instruction to the letter.
It was gross. I mean really gross. After a week of taking GB Plus, I had to drink a glass of water with Epsom salts in it and go to bed. The next day I was to drink more and then before bed that day, I was to drink a cup of olive oil, chased with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Nasty, gaggy stuff, olive oil, when it isn't in a bowl with balsamic vinegar and garlic. After drinking the oil I was instructed to lie down on my right side and go to sleep. The next morning, all of my gall stones were floating in the toilet. There were hundreds of them. They looked like little green emeralds. All the pain was gone and I felt fantastic. No surgery, no chemical medications, no fuss. Well, maybe a little fuss.
After that I trusted this woman with all of my illnesses. One thing that had been bugging me was a pain I had in my upper back. After the accident and subsequent surgery, I was no longer paralysed but I did have discomfort, sometimes to the point of having to stay in bed for a day or two. My spine doctor said the rods and hardware they installed were not going to come out so I would just have to learn to live with the pain. So, for five years, I did.
Dr. Dale said, "That's just a belief. Everything you experience you are creating from a belief."
"HUH? No, didn't you hear me? I fell off of a balcony. I was paralysed from the waist down. I have steel rods in my spine. This is not a belief, it really happened." Frankly, she kind of pissed me off. How dare she say I'm creating my pain. Did she think this was all in my head? Can't she see the scar? I'm not a hypochondriac.
Then she told me about the work that Harry Palmer was doing and his amazing work called, "Avatar". I decided to sign up. She was "delivering" (they don't call it teaching) the following month so I made arrangements to be away for ten days and drive to Agoura Hills to a ranch where twenty other people shared several houses and gathered together in the big house for our sessions.
The first couple of days were a struggle. I really didn't want to believe I created all of my life experiences. Not all of them anyway. Why in the world would I do that? I was a reluctant student, resistant to the new experience. Most of the time she read from a manual, the words of Harry Palmer. Then she would send us out to practice the tools. The exercises were designed to increase our extra
sensory perception. By day three I felt different. On day five I felt amazing. I had an experiential understanding, not an intellectual knowing of the materials. I got it completely. I was pure awareness, floating in pure awareness.
I walked outside and was ready to ask the big question. What belief do I have that is creating the experience of pain in my back?
I immediately saw an incident from my past. It was a beautiful, hot summer day in August of 1965. The house was quiet because my mother had told us to turn off the television. It was all about the Watts riots that were only a few miles away. I could see the curtains in my room moving in the breeze. I heard the kitchen phone ring and my mothers high, sweet voice, "Hello?" She was quiet for a moment, then let out a little cry, "Oh no! Oh my God. Please tell him we love him and we'll see him as soon as we can."
I leaped off of my bed and ran to the kitchen. The look on my mother's face as a combination of shock, disbelief, and fear. I asked her what had happend. This is the conversation.
"It's your Uncle Herman. He's hurt his back."
"Is he going to die?"
"No, Honey, but once you hurt your back, you're in pain for the rest of your life and it gets worse as you get older."
Ta-da!
That was it. During a time of fear I heard that message and programmed it into my data base. When I hurt my back, that belief was activated and my body responded with the creation of pain. I was astounded at how simple this experience was. I immediately used the Avatar protocol and the pain went away that second. That was in April of 1992 and the pain has not returned. I dis-created it.
more on this later.....
And from Wikipedia:
The word "avatar" derives from the Sanskrit word Avatāra, meaning "incarnation" and usually refers to the deliberate descent of an immortal or divine being into the mortal realm for a special purpose. The term is used primarily in Hindu texts. For example, Krishna is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God. The Dasavatara are ten particular "great" incarnations of Vishnu.
However, if you take Star's Edge training, you too can become an Avatar. I am an Avatar Master. All that means is I took a couple of weeks out of my life to learn and experience a Divine protocol that allowed me to experience myself as "pure awareness floating in pure awareness." That is what I wrote in 1992 about my experience of the Avatar training. To say it was enlightening is to say the very least.
Twenty years ago, June 10th, I had a life changing trauma when I fell from my balcony into a real life, made-for -TV episode of what I call, "As My World Turns" Yes, I fell over the side of a cinder block wall, in a backwards sumersault. I remember every thought that went through my mind as I felt my fingertips lose their grip. As I write this I can feel the concrete texture slide off of my fingers. I remember every detail, every word spoken, every sensation of that day and the following months of recovery.
Five years later, almost to the day of that fall, I met Theresa Dale, my Avatar Master. I was lead to her by a friend who was trying to persuade me not to follow my doctors orders, which was surgery, but instead, to seek the help of a Naturopath. A Naturopath is a doctor of natural medicine. If I could heal my gall bladder naturally, without letting someone cut me open, I was all for it.
OOOPS! Client just arrived.....stay tuned. >grins<
Okay, I'm back.
I went to Dr. Dale's office in Westwood, California. She had me fill out a lengthy questionnaire about all kinds of my bodily functions and emotional conditions, including a description of body excretions. Does your poop float or drop to the bottom of the bowl? How often do you experience lose stools? How often do you urinate? Do wake at night to use the bathroom? How often?Rather personal, don't you think?
Her questionnaire gave her an overall idea of my state of wellness. She looked at my eyes, my tongue, my fingernails then proceeded to muscle test me for a precise diagnosis.
"You have a gall bladder disruption. Let's start with that. Take these herbs three times a day then follow these instructions for a gall bladder and liver flush." She handed me a sheet of paper then went on to say that my pituitary and thyroid were compromised and I needed these other herbs. I was to return in a week, after the flush. Since I was willing to do anything to avoid surgery I decided to follow the instruction to the letter.
It was gross. I mean really gross. After a week of taking GB Plus, I had to drink a glass of water with Epsom salts in it and go to bed. The next day I was to drink more and then before bed that day, I was to drink a cup of olive oil, chased with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Nasty, gaggy stuff, olive oil, when it isn't in a bowl with balsamic vinegar and garlic. After drinking the oil I was instructed to lie down on my right side and go to sleep. The next morning, all of my gall stones were floating in the toilet. There were hundreds of them. They looked like little green emeralds. All the pain was gone and I felt fantastic. No surgery, no chemical medications, no fuss. Well, maybe a little fuss.
After that I trusted this woman with all of my illnesses. One thing that had been bugging me was a pain I had in my upper back. After the accident and subsequent surgery, I was no longer paralysed but I did have discomfort, sometimes to the point of having to stay in bed for a day or two. My spine doctor said the rods and hardware they installed were not going to come out so I would just have to learn to live with the pain. So, for five years, I did.
Dr. Dale said, "That's just a belief. Everything you experience you are creating from a belief."
"HUH? No, didn't you hear me? I fell off of a balcony. I was paralysed from the waist down. I have steel rods in my spine. This is not a belief, it really happened." Frankly, she kind of pissed me off. How dare she say I'm creating my pain. Did she think this was all in my head? Can't she see the scar? I'm not a hypochondriac.
Then she told me about the work that Harry Palmer was doing and his amazing work called, "Avatar". I decided to sign up. She was "delivering" (they don't call it teaching) the following month so I made arrangements to be away for ten days and drive to Agoura Hills to a ranch where twenty other people shared several houses and gathered together in the big house for our sessions.
The first couple of days were a struggle. I really didn't want to believe I created all of my life experiences. Not all of them anyway. Why in the world would I do that? I was a reluctant student, resistant to the new experience. Most of the time she read from a manual, the words of Harry Palmer. Then she would send us out to practice the tools. The exercises were designed to increase our extra
sensory perception. By day three I felt different. On day five I felt amazing. I had an experiential understanding, not an intellectual knowing of the materials. I got it completely. I was pure awareness, floating in pure awareness.
I walked outside and was ready to ask the big question. What belief do I have that is creating the experience of pain in my back?
I immediately saw an incident from my past. It was a beautiful, hot summer day in August of 1965. The house was quiet because my mother had told us to turn off the television. It was all about the Watts riots that were only a few miles away. I could see the curtains in my room moving in the breeze. I heard the kitchen phone ring and my mothers high, sweet voice, "Hello?" She was quiet for a moment, then let out a little cry, "Oh no! Oh my God. Please tell him we love him and we'll see him as soon as we can."
I leaped off of my bed and ran to the kitchen. The look on my mother's face as a combination of shock, disbelief, and fear. I asked her what had happend. This is the conversation.
"It's your Uncle Herman. He's hurt his back."
"Is he going to die?"
"No, Honey, but once you hurt your back, you're in pain for the rest of your life and it gets worse as you get older."
Ta-da!
That was it. During a time of fear I heard that message and programmed it into my data base. When I hurt my back, that belief was activated and my body responded with the creation of pain. I was astounded at how simple this experience was. I immediately used the Avatar protocol and the pain went away that second. That was in April of 1992 and the pain has not returned. I dis-created it.
more on this later.....
Courage
Teiwaz Rune from "The Healing Runes" reads:
Courage is faith in action. Drawing this Rune indicates that you are being asked to recognize and honor the courage and strength of your own spirit. As you do, you will grow in the understanding necessary to continue traveling the road you have chosen, and to face with wisdom whatever challenges life brings.
Anyone who has been sorely tested-suffered through the death of a loved one, been critically ill, recovered from an addiction or broken the silence of spousal abuse- knows well the courage it takes to heal. the insight from these transforming experiences gives us hope and teaches us that the reward for courage is wisdom.
If it is the past that troubles you, know that the past is often healed by a courageous heart and mind.
Are you being asked to make a leap of faith into an uncertain future? If so, consider the Circle of the Runes, where Courage lies between Acceptance and Prayer. Thus, the Oracle is saying: If you react to the present situation with panic or denial, there is no place for courage to take hold. If the challenge confronting you feels overwhelming, think upon those who have faced great adversity with grace, and pray for their example to inspire you.
Time and again, the true test of courage is to live rather than to die, to survive the period of crisis ad complete your healing. Take comfort also from this: There is intimacy with the Divine arising from the small brave acts that help us through each day.
For some, receiving this Rune may be a reminder to reach out to ask for help. Taking the risk of reaching out is one of those brave acts of daily courage. For others, the Rune of Courage announces that the cycle of sorrow and pain has finally come to an end. Be at peace with your healing. You have walked the path of true courage; now it is time to go out in the world and live the life you were born to live.
Courage is faith in action. Drawing this Rune indicates that you are being asked to recognize and honor the courage and strength of your own spirit. As you do, you will grow in the understanding necessary to continue traveling the road you have chosen, and to face with wisdom whatever challenges life brings.
Anyone who has been sorely tested-suffered through the death of a loved one, been critically ill, recovered from an addiction or broken the silence of spousal abuse- knows well the courage it takes to heal. the insight from these transforming experiences gives us hope and teaches us that the reward for courage is wisdom.
If it is the past that troubles you, know that the past is often healed by a courageous heart and mind.
Are you being asked to make a leap of faith into an uncertain future? If so, consider the Circle of the Runes, where Courage lies between Acceptance and Prayer. Thus, the Oracle is saying: If you react to the present situation with panic or denial, there is no place for courage to take hold. If the challenge confronting you feels overwhelming, think upon those who have faced great adversity with grace, and pray for their example to inspire you.
Time and again, the true test of courage is to live rather than to die, to survive the period of crisis ad complete your healing. Take comfort also from this: There is intimacy with the Divine arising from the small brave acts that help us through each day.
For some, receiving this Rune may be a reminder to reach out to ask for help. Taking the risk of reaching out is one of those brave acts of daily courage. For others, the Rune of Courage announces that the cycle of sorrow and pain has finally come to an end. Be at peace with your healing. You have walked the path of true courage; now it is time to go out in the world and live the life you were born to live.
Darkest before the dawn.
1979 was a major turning point year for me.
Prior to that I had been in the restaurant business. It was exciting, fast paced, and like a party every night. I loved being the gracious hostess, manager, and trouble shooter. To this day I still have waitress nightmares where I'm trying to get an order from a table and I look around and suddenly there are 15 tables seated and I'm the only one on the floor. I used to be able to remember the orders of 6 guests at a table but in my nightmare I can't remember diddly squat. It's a job for the young and enthusiastic and mostly single people. The hours are torturous especially if you are a single parent. I worked at The Red Onion in Redondo Beach when it was a hoppin', crazy, pick-up club. From the five o'clock happy hour to the 1:30 a.m. last call, I was on my feet, putting out fires, cashing out waitresses, and keeping an eye on the bartenders. I loved it, except for one thing. I had a three-year-old girl at home who needed a mommy to tuck her in and say her nighttime prayers with. I was so torn. I loved the high energy of the restaurant atmosphere but I loved, so much more, my angel child. So, I quit. One day, I just couldn't do it anymore, so I left it all.
The following six months I struggled with what to do next. I began meditating every day and re-reading the many books I had on spiritual healing and psychic awareness. I read the Seth Books, and everything by Richard Bach. I never thought I would be able to do what these amazing writers were doing but, I was fascinated by all of it. I read, "Joy's Way", "Handbook to Higher Consciousness" and many others, never thinking it would lead to my next career.
My sister worked at a health club in a nearby beach town and suggested that I go to massage school and join her at the club. Back then massage school could be completed in a few months and the job paid about $19 an hour, plus tips. The hours were flexible which allowed me the luxury of creating a schedule around my daughter and not around a corporation. It was the perfect solution. I figured I would work part-time at the club and go back to college to finish my degree in psychology.
But, something happened when I started putting my hands on clients. That something was transforming. I fell in love with the calm, the peace, the love that was created when I worked. From the wild restaurant nights of noise and chaos, to the soft quiet music and candlelit room for healing. From hundreds of people a night, to one-on- one intimate sessions with people eager to connect.
My life was transformed, my career was launched and a new direction led me to the most amazing experiences. I am so grateful for the courage it took to quit my job that day. I was scared, I felt alone, I had no idea which way to turn but, I also trusted that it would be revealed. Everyday, for six months, I meditated, while the landlord waited for rent, the electric company threatened to shut off our power, and the repo guy went looking for my car. I'm sure my family and friends worried when the time passed and still I wasn't even looking for a job. They thought it was clinical depression, and maybe it was. But, I came out the other side of it, without medication. I came out the other side with clear direction.
I am relating this story because it seems to be a current theme of many of my clients. They are confused, scared, knowing it is time for change and movement, yet paralysed to take a step, not knowing which direction to turn. I understand that feeling. I've lived it. From nearly homeless, penniless and frightened to a new adventure in healing.
Many of us are being asked to step up and be the Indigos we are. We are being asked to BE our truth, to DO our primary intentions and yet we hold back out of fear. The antidote to fear is TRUST. Trust you intuition, your inner guidance system, your higher self and you will be led to the Light of your truth.
Here's a Rune for those of you who are struggling with the next move.
Teiwaz
This is the Rune of the Spiritual Warrior. Always the battle of the Spiritual Warrior is with the self. Funding the will through action, yet unattached to outcomes, remaining mindful that all you can really do is stay out of your own way and let the Will of Heaven flow through you-these are among the hallmarks of the Spiritual Warrior.
Embodied in this Rune is the sword of discrimination that enables you to cut away the old, the dead, the extraneous. And yet, with Teiwaz comes certain knowledge that the universe always has the first move. Patience is the virtue of this Rune, and it recalls the words of St. Augustine that "the reward of patience is patience."
Here, you are asked to look within, to delve down to the foundations of your life itself. Only in so doing can you hope to deal with the deepest needs of your nature and to tap into your most profound resources. The molding of character is at issue when Teiwaz appears.
Associated with this Rune are the sun, masculine energy, the active principle. The urge toward conquest is prominent here, especially self-conquest, which is a lifelong pursuit and calls for awareness, single-mindedness and the willingness to undergo your passage with compassion and in total trust.
In issues of relationship, devotion to a cause, an idea or a path of conduct, the Warrior Rune counsels perseverance, although at times the kind of perseverance required is patience.
Teiwas is a Rune of courage and dedication. In ancient times it was this glyph warriors painted on their shields before battle. Now, the same symbol strengthens your resolve in the struggle of the Self with self.
Prior to that I had been in the restaurant business. It was exciting, fast paced, and like a party every night. I loved being the gracious hostess, manager, and trouble shooter. To this day I still have waitress nightmares where I'm trying to get an order from a table and I look around and suddenly there are 15 tables seated and I'm the only one on the floor. I used to be able to remember the orders of 6 guests at a table but in my nightmare I can't remember diddly squat. It's a job for the young and enthusiastic and mostly single people. The hours are torturous especially if you are a single parent. I worked at The Red Onion in Redondo Beach when it was a hoppin', crazy, pick-up club. From the five o'clock happy hour to the 1:30 a.m. last call, I was on my feet, putting out fires, cashing out waitresses, and keeping an eye on the bartenders. I loved it, except for one thing. I had a three-year-old girl at home who needed a mommy to tuck her in and say her nighttime prayers with. I was so torn. I loved the high energy of the restaurant atmosphere but I loved, so much more, my angel child. So, I quit. One day, I just couldn't do it anymore, so I left it all.
The following six months I struggled with what to do next. I began meditating every day and re-reading the many books I had on spiritual healing and psychic awareness. I read the Seth Books, and everything by Richard Bach. I never thought I would be able to do what these amazing writers were doing but, I was fascinated by all of it. I read, "Joy's Way", "Handbook to Higher Consciousness" and many others, never thinking it would lead to my next career.
My sister worked at a health club in a nearby beach town and suggested that I go to massage school and join her at the club. Back then massage school could be completed in a few months and the job paid about $19 an hour, plus tips. The hours were flexible which allowed me the luxury of creating a schedule around my daughter and not around a corporation. It was the perfect solution. I figured I would work part-time at the club and go back to college to finish my degree in psychology.
But, something happened when I started putting my hands on clients. That something was transforming. I fell in love with the calm, the peace, the love that was created when I worked. From the wild restaurant nights of noise and chaos, to the soft quiet music and candlelit room for healing. From hundreds of people a night, to one-on- one intimate sessions with people eager to connect.
My life was transformed, my career was launched and a new direction led me to the most amazing experiences. I am so grateful for the courage it took to quit my job that day. I was scared, I felt alone, I had no idea which way to turn but, I also trusted that it would be revealed. Everyday, for six months, I meditated, while the landlord waited for rent, the electric company threatened to shut off our power, and the repo guy went looking for my car. I'm sure my family and friends worried when the time passed and still I wasn't even looking for a job. They thought it was clinical depression, and maybe it was. But, I came out the other side of it, without medication. I came out the other side with clear direction.
I am relating this story because it seems to be a current theme of many of my clients. They are confused, scared, knowing it is time for change and movement, yet paralysed to take a step, not knowing which direction to turn. I understand that feeling. I've lived it. From nearly homeless, penniless and frightened to a new adventure in healing.
Many of us are being asked to step up and be the Indigos we are. We are being asked to BE our truth, to DO our primary intentions and yet we hold back out of fear. The antidote to fear is TRUST. Trust you intuition, your inner guidance system, your higher self and you will be led to the Light of your truth.
Here's a Rune for those of you who are struggling with the next move.
Teiwaz
This is the Rune of the Spiritual Warrior. Always the battle of the Spiritual Warrior is with the self. Funding the will through action, yet unattached to outcomes, remaining mindful that all you can really do is stay out of your own way and let the Will of Heaven flow through you-these are among the hallmarks of the Spiritual Warrior.
Embodied in this Rune is the sword of discrimination that enables you to cut away the old, the dead, the extraneous. And yet, with Teiwaz comes certain knowledge that the universe always has the first move. Patience is the virtue of this Rune, and it recalls the words of St. Augustine that "the reward of patience is patience."
Here, you are asked to look within, to delve down to the foundations of your life itself. Only in so doing can you hope to deal with the deepest needs of your nature and to tap into your most profound resources. The molding of character is at issue when Teiwaz appears.
Associated with this Rune are the sun, masculine energy, the active principle. The urge toward conquest is prominent here, especially self-conquest, which is a lifelong pursuit and calls for awareness, single-mindedness and the willingness to undergo your passage with compassion and in total trust.
In issues of relationship, devotion to a cause, an idea or a path of conduct, the Warrior Rune counsels perseverance, although at times the kind of perseverance required is patience.
Teiwas is a Rune of courage and dedication. In ancient times it was this glyph warriors painted on their shields before battle. Now, the same symbol strengthens your resolve in the struggle of the Self with self.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Do you know an Indigo?
In the metaphysical and holistic fields, the term “Indigo” is like an awakening. Many of us have been waiting, patiently, and not so patiently, for the arrival of this new generation of Light Beings who are here to usher in a new world consciousness.
If you are new to the term Indigo, let me explain.
The Indigos are a special group of gifted enlightened old souls who have been born unto this planet to help transform the consciousness of this world, and to guide us all towards a higher level of evolution.
They are the “System Busters”, the “Spiritual Warriors”, here to break down all of the old traditional paradigm systems within our educational, political, religious, medical, nutritional, technological, family and all fear-based belief systems. They are the “Trail Blazers”, bringing with them Universal wisdom, Divine knowledge and a clear vision of perfection. Their mission: to help create a whole new paradigm, where we live in a world of integrity, compassion and unity.
What is an Indigo?The term “Indigo” describes their life aura, which is a beautiful deep blue or “indigo” color. Every person has a life aura color. It can tell you a lot about who you are, what your mission is, what you are here to learn, as well as describe some of your traits, behaviors and the type of personality you have. The Indigos carry with them distinct traits, personalities and a global mission that is very different from any other life color that has come before.
The majority of Indigos were born from the mid 70’s into the late 90’s. But, I need to note that some of the earlier Indigos, “The Scouts or Indigo Pioneers”, as they are called, began coming to earth just after WWII. They came in smaller numbers, but carry with them the same or similar energy and traits of the Indigo generation of today. They are the Adult Indigos.
These imaginative and precocious youngsters are immensely likable and endearing. They are self-reliant, independent and strong willed. They are highly intelligent, deeply intuitive, gifted and have lots of energy. They have a high self-esteem, and an almost regal sense of entitlement. They are emotionally and environmentally sensitive. They are compassionate, and sympathetic to other living things, especially animals. They react to unfairness and have little patience for rules, discipline, authority, (especially, authority without explanation or choice), or “old” structures.
They also “know” when someone is not in integrity with them. They can read you like a book, and can spot hidden agendas or attempts to manipulate them. They are fearless, because they know who they are. They are technologically advanced, incredibly creative and are right-brained thinkers.
If you are new to the term Indigo, let me explain.
The Indigos are a special group of gifted enlightened old souls who have been born unto this planet to help transform the consciousness of this world, and to guide us all towards a higher level of evolution.
They are the “System Busters”, the “Spiritual Warriors”, here to break down all of the old traditional paradigm systems within our educational, political, religious, medical, nutritional, technological, family and all fear-based belief systems. They are the “Trail Blazers”, bringing with them Universal wisdom, Divine knowledge and a clear vision of perfection. Their mission: to help create a whole new paradigm, where we live in a world of integrity, compassion and unity.
What is an Indigo?The term “Indigo” describes their life aura, which is a beautiful deep blue or “indigo” color. Every person has a life aura color. It can tell you a lot about who you are, what your mission is, what you are here to learn, as well as describe some of your traits, behaviors and the type of personality you have. The Indigos carry with them distinct traits, personalities and a global mission that is very different from any other life color that has come before.
The majority of Indigos were born from the mid 70’s into the late 90’s. But, I need to note that some of the earlier Indigos, “The Scouts or Indigo Pioneers”, as they are called, began coming to earth just after WWII. They came in smaller numbers, but carry with them the same or similar energy and traits of the Indigo generation of today. They are the Adult Indigos.
These imaginative and precocious youngsters are immensely likable and endearing. They are self-reliant, independent and strong willed. They are highly intelligent, deeply intuitive, gifted and have lots of energy. They have a high self-esteem, and an almost regal sense of entitlement. They are emotionally and environmentally sensitive. They are compassionate, and sympathetic to other living things, especially animals. They react to unfairness and have little patience for rules, discipline, authority, (especially, authority without explanation or choice), or “old” structures.
They also “know” when someone is not in integrity with them. They can read you like a book, and can spot hidden agendas or attempts to manipulate them. They are fearless, because they know who they are. They are technologically advanced, incredibly creative and are right-brained thinkers.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
From Dr. Bruce Lipton
The Wisdom of Your Cells is a new biology that will profoundly change civilization and the world we live in. This new biology takes us from the belief that we are victims of our genes, that we are biochemical machines, that life is out of our control, into another reality, a reality where our thoughts, beliefs and mind control our genes, our behavior and the life we experience. This biology is based on current, modern science with some new perceptions added.
The new science takes us from victim to creator; we are very powerful in creating and unfolding the lives that we lead. This is actually knowledge of self and if we understand the old axiom, "Knowledge is power," then what we are really beginning to understand is the knowledge of self-power. This is what I think we will get from understanding the new biology.
My first introduction to biology was in second grade. The teacher brought in a microscope to show us cells and I remember how exciting it was. At the university I graduated from conventional microscopes into electron microscopy and had a further opportunity to look into the lives of cells. The lessons I learned profoundly changed my life and gave me insights about the world we live in that I would like to share with you.Using electron microscopy, not only did I see the cells from the outside but I was able to go through the cell's anatomy and understand the nature of its organization, its structures and its functions. As much as people talk about flying into outer space, I was flying into inner space and seeing new vistas, starting to have greater appreciation of the nature of life, the nature of cells and our involvement with our own cells.
At this time I also started training in cell culturing. In about 1968 I started cloning stem cells, doing my first cloning experiments under the guidance of Dr. Irv Konigsberg, a brilliant scientist who created the first stem cell cultures. The stem cells I was working with were called myoblasts. Myo means muscle; blast means progenitor. When I put my cells in the culture dishes with the conditions that support muscle growth, the muscle cells evolved and I would end up with giant contractile muscles. However, if I changed the environmental situation, the fate of the cells would be altered. I would start off with my same muscle precursors but in an altered environment they would actually start to form bone cells. If I further altered the conditions, those cells became adipose or fat cells. The results of these experiments were very exciting because while every one of the cells was genetically identical, the fate of the cells was controlled by the environment in which I placed them.
While I was doing these experiments I also started teaching students at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine the conventional understanding that genes controlled the fate of cells. Yet in my experiments it was clearly revealed that the fate of cells was more or less controlled by the environment. My colleagues, of course, were upset with my work. Everyone was then on the bandwagon for the human genome project and in support of the "genes-control-life" story. When my work revealed how the environment would alter the cells, they talked about it as an exception to the rule.
You Are a Community of 50 Trillion Living Cells
Now I have a completely new understanding of life and that has led to a new way to teach people about cells. When you look at yourself you see an individual person. But if you understand the nature of who you are, you realize that you are actually a community of about 50 trillion living cells. Each cell is a living individual, a sentient being that has its own life and functions but interacts with other cells in the nature of a community. If I could reduce you to the size of a cell and drop you inside your own body, you would see a very busy metropolis of trillions of individuals living within one skin. This becomes relevant when we understand that health is when there is harmony in the community and dis-ease is when there is a disharmony that tends to fracture the community relationships. So, number one, we are a community.
Fact number two: There is not one function in the human body that is not already present in every single cell. For example, you have various systems: digestive, respiratory, excretory, musculoskeletal, endocrine, reproductive, a nervous system and an immune system but every one of those functions exists in every one of your cells. In fact we are made in the image oI was teaching what is called the medical model, the perception that human biology represents a biological machine comprised of biochemicals and controlled by genes. Therefore when a patient comes in to see a doctor, the belief system is that the patient has something wrong with their biochemistry or genes, which can be adjusted and can lead them to health. At some point I realized that I had to leave the university because I found great conflict in teaching the students about what controls the cell and yet getting a completely different understanding from the cells in my cultures.
A New Understanding of Science
When I was outside the university I had a chance to read into physics. Again I found information that did not conform to the science I had been teaching. In the world of new physics, quantum physics, the mechanisms that are described completely collide with the mechanisms we were teaching, which were based on the old Newtonian physics. The new physics currently is still not introduced in medical schools. Before conventional science, science was the province of the church. It was called natural theology and was infused with the spiritual domain, teaching that God's hand was directly involved in the unfoldment and maintenance of the world, that God's image was expressed through the nature we live in. Natural theology had a mission statement: to understand the nature of the environment so we could learn to live in harmony with it. Basically this meant learning how to live in harmony with God, considering that nature and God were so well connected.
However, through the abuses of the church, their insistence on absolute knowledge and their efforts of suppressing new knowledge, there was what is called the Reformation. The Reformation, precipitated by Martin Luther, was a challenge to the church's authority. After the Reformation, when there was an opportunity to question beliefs about the universe, science became what was called modern science. Isaac Newton, the physicist whose primary studies were on the nature of gravity and the movement of the planets, provided the foundation for modern science. He invented a new mathematics called differential calculus in order to create an equation to predict the movements of the solar system. Science identified truths as things that were predictable. Newtonian physics perceives the universe as a machine made out of matter; it says that if you can understand the nature of the matter that comprises the machine, then you will understand nature itself. Therefore the mission of science was to control and dominate nature, which was completely different than the former mission of science under natural theology, which was to live in harmony with nature.
The issue of control in regard to biology becomes a very important point. What is it that controls the traits that we express? According to Newtonian physics life forms represent machines made out of matter and if you want to understand those machines you take them apart, a process called reductionism. You study the individual pieces and see how they work and when you put all the pieces together again, you have an understanding of the whole. Charles Darwin said that the traits an individual expresses are connected to the parents. The sperm and egg that come together and result in the formation of a new individual must be carrying something that controls the traits in the offspring. Studies of dividing cells began in the early 1900s and they saw string-like structures that were present in cells that were beginning to divide. These string-like structures were called chromosomes.
Interestingly enough, while chromosomes were identified around 1900, it was only in 1944 that we actually identified which of their components carried the genetic traits. The world got very excited. They said, oh, my goodness, after all these years we finally have gotten down to identifying the genetically controlling material; it appears to be the DNA. In 1953 the work of James Watson and Francis Crick revealed that each strand of DNA contained a sequence of genes. The genes are the blueprints for each of the over 100,000 different kinds of proteins that are the building blocks for making a human body. A headline announcing Watson and Crick's discovery appeared in a New York paper: "Secret of Life Discovered" and from that point on biology has been wrapped up in the genes. Scientists saw that by understanding the genetic code we could change the characters of organisms and therefore there was a big, headlong rush into the human genome project to try to understand the nature of the genes.At first they thought these genes only controlled the physical form, but the more they started to manipulate genes, they saw that there were also influences on behavior and emotion. Suddenly, the genes took on more profound meaning because all the characters and traits of a human were apparently controlled by these genes.
Are We Victims of Heredity?
Yet there was one last question: what is it that controls the DNA? That would be going up the last rung of the ladder to find out what is ultimately in control. They did an experiment and it revealed that DNA was responsible for copying itself! DNA controls the protein and the protein represents our bodies. Basically it says that life is controlled by DNA. That is the Central Dogma. It supports a concept called "the primacy of DNA" that says who and what we are and the fate of the lives we lead are already preprogrammed in the DNA that we received at conception. What is the consequence of this? That the character and fate of your life reflects the heredity you were born into; you are actually a victim of heredity.
For example, scientists looked at a group of people, scored them on the basis of happiness and tried to find out whether there was a gene that was associated with happy people that was not active in unhappy people. Sure enough, they found a particular gene that seems to be more active in happy people. Then they immediately put out a big media blip on "gene for happiness discovered." You could say, "Well, wait a minute. If I got a sucky happy gene, then my whole life is going to be predetermined. I'm a victim of my heredity." This is exactly what we teach in school and this is what I had also been teaching-that people are powerless over their own lives because they can't change their genes. But when people recognize the nature of being powerless, they also start to become irresponsible. "Well, look, Boss, you're calling me lazy but I just want you to know my father was lazy. What can you expect from me? I mean, my genes made me lazy. I can't do anything about it." Recently in Newsweek they wrote about how fat cells are waging war on our health. It's interesting because in an epidemic of obesity science stands back and says: it's your fat cells that are waging war in your life.
The Human Genome Project
To come and save us, the human genome project entered our world. The idea of the project was to identify all the genes that make up a human. It would offer the future opportunity of genetic engineering to correct the ills and problems that face humans in this world. I thought the project was a humanitarian effort but it was interesting later to find out from Paul Silverman, one of the principal architects of the human genome project, what it was actually about. It was simply this: It was estimated that there were going to be over 100,000 genes in the human genome because there are over 100,000 different proteins in our bodies; plus there were also genes that didn't make proteins but controlled the other genes. The project was actually designed by venture capitalists; they figured that since there were over 100,000 genes, by identifying these genes and then patenting the gene sequences, they could sell the gene patents to the drug industry and the drug industry would use the genes in creating health products. In fact, the program was not actually for advancing the human state as much as it was for making a lot of money.
Biologists because we can do research on cells and then apply that information to understanding the nature of the human body.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
July 2007
I spent the weekend at Steven's house in Idyllwild. He had his annual soiree Saturday night and per his usual outstanding ability to plan and execute a perfect evening with great food, a fully stocked bar, and my favorite two entertainers he succeeded to make it look effortless. He is a very gracious host, my friend.
The same two guys who played excellent blues last year, were there again this year. Both of them have wonderfully sexy voices. Every song I've ever loved was on their list. And to top off the night we all got to watch the moon peek over the mountain ridge in it's full glow. The stars were brilliant and the air was warm and clear. Man-o -man. I sure do love that place. Every time I visit Steven or go to Idyllwild to work, I leave there dreaming of buying a cabin on the mountain, just below Lilly Rock. The Idyllwild valley has such a beautiful vibration.
Phoenix is on the agenda for tomorrow. I'll be there working, playing, and babysitting for a week. Shanon and Danny are going to Vegas for a friend's wedding and extending their stay to four days. I keep telling myself that I can handle a four-year old and an infant without help. I'm tough. I'm strong. I'm a TFM. But, to tell the truth, and I must, I'm having my reservations.
Anyway, have a wonderful Fourth of July Celebration everybody.
Happy Birthday America!
P.S. Now that I have clients in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Tennessee, California, Nevada and Illinois, does that make me an interstate? Speed limit 55.
The same two guys who played excellent blues last year, were there again this year. Both of them have wonderfully sexy voices. Every song I've ever loved was on their list. And to top off the night we all got to watch the moon peek over the mountain ridge in it's full glow. The stars were brilliant and the air was warm and clear. Man-o -man. I sure do love that place. Every time I visit Steven or go to Idyllwild to work, I leave there dreaming of buying a cabin on the mountain, just below Lilly Rock. The Idyllwild valley has such a beautiful vibration.
Phoenix is on the agenda for tomorrow. I'll be there working, playing, and babysitting for a week. Shanon and Danny are going to Vegas for a friend's wedding and extending their stay to four days. I keep telling myself that I can handle a four-year old and an infant without help. I'm tough. I'm strong. I'm a TFM. But, to tell the truth, and I must, I'm having my reservations.
Anyway, have a wonderful Fourth of July Celebration everybody.
Happy Birthday America!
P.S. Now that I have clients in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Tennessee, California, Nevada and Illinois, does that make me an interstate? Speed limit 55.
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