by Carol Bedrosian

BY CAROL BEDROSIAN BY CAROL BEDROSIAN

Ialways knew the day would come when it would be time to release Spirit of Change from its corporeal body. The advertising would wane, and that would be my signal. However, I did not expect neon signs to appear! Suddenly, new requests for advertising information plummeted, while printing and delivery costs skyrocketed thirty percent, making continued printing unsustainable.

At least I did not have to agonize about the decision; it was utterly clear, yet bittersweet. It is never easy to let go of something one loves dearly, as I have loved birthing every one of the 147 issues of Spirit of Change. Like any labor of love and delivery, creation can be fiercely overwhelming at times, but once born, is its own reward.

I am grateful every day for being able to share a unique network of holistic resources and information grounded in the understanding that our bodies are self-healing. Sharing this research and personal experience is my passion.

The magazine and website network of resources grew organically from there, taking on a self-sustaining life its own. Networks do not end — they keep expanding. All the mind/body/energy healing insights hundreds of thousands of people gleaned over the years through Spirit of Change, and then shared with hundreds of thousands more, keep multiplying as they continue to be shared and practiced and developed and used.

Like Chinese medicine luo energy channels running throughout the entire body, a subtle, invisible network is formed through this shared healing intelligence. For 35 years, Spirit of Change readers have tapped this source to expand their own self-healing potential, as well as help shift the paradigm of our collective healthcare future. Yes, miraculous wonder drugs, diagnostics and surgeries are available for us as healthcare choices today, but so are miraculous self-healing therapies.

This does not mean that no one is ever supposed to get sick or die. Illness and death are natural parts of life that provide opportunities for healing and growth on all levels of body, mind, spirit and planet. Natural medicines to heal and empower are available for our use whenever needed. The biggest challenge to their access is mental — the willingness to entertain a completely new idea about healthcare focused on self-care. From there, it’s about learning and implementing new daily practices.

As if on cue, a six-page, handwritten Letter to the Editor, signed only by Deb, arrived recently in the Spirit of Change post office box to help shore up any confidence I may have lost.

Dear Carol, I thought last “Musings” was your best. I’ve known you since the beginning; you’ve always shared what’s going on with you. But finally, this Spring/Summer “Musings” was your best, because it comes home, not to a method, but of believing in yourself and your body’s amazing ability to heal beyond our understanding of how. Because we don’t know what we don’t know, and can’t see nature’s innate understanding of “how to become itself” with its interrelationships to all things. When ego/we/I get out of the way and energetically support the healing flow, then potential is possible. We are caught up in our “training”…

The problem is people don’t believe in themselves, their ability. We take it away by directing them to “over there” — the doc, the healer, the med, etc. As I’ve visited other cultures and observed methods of mind and imagination and belief, I understand how we’ve created this duality on all levels (our society’s belief). People have to read it over and over again from people like you to help pop the bubble of illusion…

I’m motivated by this phrase: Without hindrances (taught language, limited beliefs), the mind has no fear. I’ve observed multiple personalities having different medical conditions, and the body’s ability to flip physiology in a flash! When you see that, then you have to think much more is possible, real, and attainable. I’ve worked with people and expanded mind practices where I have correctly identified conditions, emotions, and scenes that I never believed possible to do and be that exact. And I’m just curious about our potential, not a seasoned practitioner of these techniques, so I know it’s possible for anyone. But not as a mimic of any method — that belongs to the person who thought it up. We are so individualized that our own method/belief/mind movement/ needs to appear to each one of us — aha — like this — connecting to that impulse. That’s it. So, it’s each of our jobs to stimulate this individual potential (no path) in self and others. Belief in yourself. All the methods are there not to cling to, but to point you in directions. I deeply believe we cannot be here without an available way to heal ourselves. — Deb

Yes, Deb. I also deeply believe with practice we can heal ourselves 90% of the time. For the other 10% when emergency medical care is called for, bring on the technology in all its life-saving grace. Western medical technology has developed over more than a century to its current levels of wonder and brilliance. Yet, the potentially unlimited network of energy medicine can surpass those levels in a flash.

To this end, the network is our greatest tool, both within and without. As Paul Stamets writes in this issue on page 27, “Networks are the rule of nature, not the exception.” Within you lies the power of your networked cells, thoughts, and actions. If you want your body and the space around you to be healing, contribute as many healing thoughts and words as possible. Choose

to say or think a positive sentiment, rather than a negative one. Each one of those choices adds up, just like dollars in a bank. You are an inexhaustible supply of good words to say and thoughts to think. You are so wealthy.

Use your cells to heal yourself. The more you savor and mentally replay your successes, rewards in life, and things you enjoy, the more the healthy hormones associated with those events circulate throughout your body, creating a more vibrant cell network, molecule by molecule. Likewise, replaying negative events, judgments or resentments over and over floods the body with inflammation-causing hormones. Consider all the damage inflammation causes — heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis — and then consciously choose to turn off the spigot when you notice a steady drip of judgment, resentment or hatred.

Outside the body, only the power of the network can create the change we wish to see in the world. “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world,” said human rights activist Desmond Tutu. Every thought, word and action really, truly does matter.

Your vote especially matters, as we recently saw in the Kansas abortion referendum’s surprise outcome. The National Institutes of Health estimates that as many as 26% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, also known as spontaneous abortion. This means a body’s natural intelligence has decided to reject a pregnancy in order to preserve its wellbeing and health. Obviously, not every embryo is meant to be born. Who gets to make that choice? People who are pregnant, or people who believe that only your unconscious intelligence can legally make that choice? Your vote this November is momentous, and will help decide whether a national abortion ban is enacted in the United States as soon as 2025. Your vote matters.

And sure, we can walk around with 400 million firearms under our noses and declare we have rights and freedom. But who wants to live like that? It’s ugly, and it’s living in fear. Just because we can do it, doesn’t mean we should. When the tub is overflowing, what’s the first thing you do? It’s that spigot, again. Turn it off. The evidence is clear: more guns means more incidents with guns. Start with banning assault weapon sales and manufacture. Why vote for candidates who refuse to take anything less than this commonsense action?

Writing “Musings” is the final creative piece of each issue, and so the end is finally here. I especially want to thank the scores of dedicated advertisers — some over 25 years — who have kept this network humming for everyone, especially me. Thank you for the little notes of encouragement and cards of inspiration with your payments. I kept them. Those who have sustained this network as advertisers and publishing staff, in addition to their professional rewards, have also benefitted in kind through the many ways healing intelligence works beyond our knowing. I can personally attest to those extraordinary benefits. I got to explore self-healing as my day job for three decades being Spirit of Change publisher, and feel the daily thrill of riding the network’s pulse. It took almost 30 years for the ride to stop feeling like a terrifying roller coaster, but I finally discovered through lots of meditation and self-care I could plug into the energy source of the network directly. This supported me not only in healing my body, but in making every aspect of living more pleasant, less stressful, and a natural healing process. This includes the challenging ones — especially the challenging ones.

I am uncertain about the future of www.spiritofchange.org, a rich and unique library of holistic and alternative health information. Since its launch somewhere around 2000, the Spirit of Change website has never fully supported its operating costs, but is vital to maintain in our digital world. I would be delighted to continue publishing digitally, but need to earn a living! It is hard to imagine so much transformational content disappearing, so I don’t. I’m waiting to see what happens by the end of this issue in February, 2023. Time will tell.

In the meantime, you can stay connected digitally by signing up for the Spirit of Change newsletter online or with the QR code on this page!

Carol Bedrosian is the publisher of Spirit of Change Magazine.

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Despite the very best efforts of our hardworking committee members over four years and two filings of our bill, An Act Providing for Consumer Access to and the Right to Practice Complementary and Alternative Health Care Services was inexplicably scuttled in June. This safe harbor bill to protect unlicensed holistic practitioners from charges of practicing medicine without a license was “sent to study” by the Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing. Since the bill contains no financial components or costs to the State, it’s hard to fathom why it was sent to that committee in the first place, after passing favorably out of the Joint Committee on Public Health.

With our bill’s sponsor, Rep. John Lawn, as the House Chair of the Joint Committee on Healthcare Financing, we anticipated swift action all the way to the governor’s desk for signing in this session. But a swift kick is what we received. No explanation for why the bill failed was received despite repeated efforts by committee members to reach out to the bill’s sponsors. The complete lack of transparency is disheartening. The bill must be refiled again in the next session, beginning another two-year cycle of gathering testimony and attending hearings, with the possibility of ending with the same brick wall for the third time in a row.

Efforts spearheaded by the Massachusetts Attorney General have been filed in numerous sessions of the Massachusetts legislature over the past decade to license all alternative healing practitioners — the same unlicensed professions that have been operating safely and effectively for generations or even centuries, including Reiki masters, herbalists, qigong instructors and practitioners of hundreds of other natural healing modalities. My goodness…must the government intrude with oversight of every private aspect of our lives? This unnecessary, expensive, and burdensome overreach will negatively impact tens of thousands Massachusetts healthcare practitioners and millions of satisfied Massachusetts natural health clients by making fewer holistic practitioners available at higher costs to the public. Can you imagine state officials attempting to define and categorize the varieties of energy healing for the purposes of licensing? How can they possibly license what they do not even know or believe exists?!

Several groups are working to ensure health freedom and prevent licensing of holistic modalities including: • Health Freedom Action Massachusetts

• National Health Freedom Action

• Reiki Unified www.reikiunified.com/

Please take the initiative to join their efforts and get on their mailing lists so you can be part of the solution in keeping holistic practitioner choice plentiful and affordable in Massachusetts and throughout the country.