The Eden Magazine August 2018

EDEN Š

August, 2018

T h e

Magazine

Remembering

La Dolce Vita

By Dina Morrone

The Higher Meaning of Wealth

By Prema Lee Gurreri

Children of the Revolution

By Feroze Dada

Table of Contents 6

REMEMBERING LA DOLCE VITA

By Dina Morrone

26

THE POWER OF DREAMING

By Kim Normand

6

30

THE HIGHER MEANING OF WEALTH

By Prema Lee Gurreri

34

CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION

By Feroze Dada

40

KARINA NUVO

By Joe Santos, Jr.

46

26

WHAT YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT BUSINESS SUCCESS & WEALTH

By Jackie Lapin

50

JOHN E. FETZER & THE QUEST FOR THE NEW AGE

By Brain C. Wilson ph.D

58

DEBORAH ZARA KOBYLT

60

30

100 PRACTICES FOR GREAT RELATIONSHIP

By Charlie & Linda Bloom

64

JOURNEY TO THE HEART

By Jan Diana

68

RAIN IN THE COLLECTIVE KARMA...

By Michael White Ryan

72

THE BEAUTY OF GRACE

Dina Morrone & Raydel Caceres

72

By Jayita Bhattacharjee

Cover Photo by Kateyounger.com

3 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e July 2016

EDEN

Photo by Artin Mardirosian

T H E

MAGAZINE

Spreading compassion to all Sentient Beings and Lliving in healing and peaceful world

Maryam Morrison

FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MARYAM MORRISON CONTRIBUTING EDITOR DINA MORRONE PUBLIC RELATIONS MARIA ELENA INFANTINO SOCIALITE DIRECTOR GLORIA KISEL-HOLLIS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS JAN DIANA JOE SANTOS, JR. ANGELA DUNNING TARA-JENELLE WALSCH MICHAEL WHITE RYAN MARGARET TOMASZEWICZ ROXANA JONES & ARNAUD SAINT-PAUL CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST EDWARD HAKOPIAN GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY BRENDA SAINT HILAIRE PHOTOGRAPHY EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY SHERI DETERMAN

WEBSITE www.theedenmagazine.com FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/TheEdenMagazine To read this issue online www.issuupublishing.com To purchase a copy visit us in www.magcloud.com Eden Magazine is an non-profit & independent monthly online magazine.

Our aim is to create a better environment where we live among other living being in peace and harmony. We support artists that their work match our criteria. If you would like to submit your artwork, article or/and your Photography For our future issues please contact Maryam Morrison at; maryammorrison@theedenmagazine.com

Dina Morrone- Model Kateyounger.com photography, cuffs/stylists Inst: Vintageeyewearguy (Vintage eyewear) 6 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

Remembering

La Dolce Vita

By Dina Morrone

Romance is about the human connection and human interaction.

When this occurs romance becomes about a glance, a smile, someone’s energy, or vibe they give off.

The idea for this month’s feature piece was sparked by an observation I made while working on Gina Lollobrigida’s feature piece for last month’s special edition of the magazine. While pounding away on the keys of my computer, answering my cell phone, texting, emailing, tweeting, posting, liking and Googling, I also flipped through pages and pages of pictures of Gina in books and magazines made of actual paper, and I was struck by something… how many things have changed since Gina’s heyday during La Dolce Vita days. And I’m not just talking about things in the Eternal City, but globally.

The post-war era was a time long before major advancements in technology. The technology we know today affects our lives every single day and also makes us fully aware that we can no longer live without all of this technology; technology that has given way to groundbreaking medical advancements, or has allowed cinema to go where it has never gone before, or the field of science, space, travel, military, national security, the environment, or cyberspace. I’m not referring that technology. I’m referring to something much closer to all of us. Something we hold onto and grip tightly in our hands every day and that is our cell phones, tablets, and computers.

We now have Apps that can do virtually everything and anything. And we don’t even have to leave the house to do them. Pretty soon we will be able to eat without touching food. Not true, but hey, everything may be possible soon. We have social media sites that allow us to network on a global level and communicate with people we will never see or meet in person. With one click we can be friends, or not, like or not like, follow or un-follow.

And we can have a lot of “friends” and “followers.” But 8 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

are all these people really our friends?

Social media and our access to technology have changed, evolved, and shaped how we view romance, dating, friendship and simply getting to know each other. There are countless Apps for dating or “hooking” up. These Apps and dating sites allow you the freedom to create a whole new persona if you choose to do so. You can alter the facts about age, weight, size, and even famously Photoshop® away years of unwanted wrinkles, all from a handheld device, for the chance to impress a potential partner you may never physically meet. With romance, we can now swipe right or left. And it’s based solely on whether we like someone’s picture or not.

The simplicity and innocence of meeting someone in person, out in a public setting, a chance encounter, first impression and first connection is what’s missing when we hide behind a device instead of going out into the real world and actually trying to meet people the “old fashioned” way.

Romance is about the human connection and human interaction. When this occurs romance becomes about a glance, a smile, someone’s energy, or vibe they give off.

Then there’s that feeling you get in your gut when you first meet someone you connect with. That sensation of excitement coupled with nerves. That electricity, that spark that can only happen and be experienced in person face to face because we are made of flesh and blood and we feel with our senses. Watch animals. Other mammals.

They’re using all their senses to approach a potential partner and to communicate their feelings. They aren’t sitting behind a screen swiping, staring, or hiding behind it.

Dina Morrone- Model Raydel Caceres Principal Ballet Dancer/Model Kateyounger.com photography, cuffs/stylists Inst: Vintageeyewearguy (Vintage eyewear)

It’s of great concern to me that young children are growing up in this new reality of observing and evaluating every step they make from behind a device. Take a look at a group of young teens. They all have electronics firmly planted in their hands from the time they are toddlers. They’re living behind an image on a screen, ten inches away from their face. Communicating is texting or the latest new way to “Chat.” They don’t call each other up to actually talk, they text and send Emojis. Dialogue has become fragments of conversation, words. The whole story or entire picture of what one wishes to say or convey is difficult because it’s not easy to really say everything you mean to say with such truncated communication. How many times have you messaged someone and your words were misconstrued?

And then you had to back peddle or make the call to explain what you were really trying to say. That’s why Emojis have become so popular and an aid in communicating. We now need a happy face, a sad face, a heart, or some balloons, to tell people how we really feel.

From my years of traveling and living abroad, I have come to learn that “tutto il mondo e paese.” It’s an Italian expression that means that it’s all the same no matter where you go. More or less it’s the same. I bring this up because we all like to romanticize how Europe is this place where people are sitting around café’s and villa’s living a laid-back life sipping espresso and wine while chatting about art or kicking back for three-hour siestas. Well, that just isn’t true. It’s not the reality for people who live there. They’re hard at work for hours on end, running around just like we are in North America, trying to live life, pay bills, take care of families, and survive. They don’t have the time to sit around in piazzas anymore than we do. Of course, when you’re on vacation it seems everyone is doing just that.

My observation is that even in the most romantic of cities, it’s all changed. I recently came back from a trip to Italy. I visited my old neighborhood, and several local restaurants in a residential neighborhood, near Piazza Mazzini. I looked over at the dinner tables of parents and children and noticed that the children were glued to their devices while the parents were glancing down at their phones. This happened everywhere I went. And it’s becoming the norm all over the world.

We’re becoming a world of people who feel the need to be stimulated all the time. To escape, to be connected to something, something outside of us, something that isn’t next to us, or across from us. Not even our own family or loved ones can seem to give us what we feel a device is giving us.

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Kateyounger.com photography, cuffs/stylists Raydel Caceres Principal Ballet Dancer/Model Jennifer Hemphill Comedian/Model

Model Seth Nayes & Mandy De La Clark, Photography

by Koltz Photography

Models, Seth Nayes & Samantha Evans Photography, by Darci K

Models, Seth Nayes & Little Alice Photography, by Graffiti Photography MUA, Olga Sanina Clothing Designer, Silversark 12 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e July 2018

Models Dina Morrone & Raydel Caceres (Principal Ballet Dancer) Kateyounger.com photography, cuffs/stylists Inst: Vintageeyewearguy (Vintage eyewear)

My Parents and Grandparents grew up in an era pre devices. They didn’t even have a landline. No one in their small village did. If someone wanted to make a phone call they had to go to the one coffee shop in town. To make a phone call was a really big deal. Needless to say, my parents never used a telephone. If they needed to contact someone, they’d go knock on that person’s door. The first time they used a telephone was when they immigrated to Canada in the early 60’s. Which was also when they got their first telephone and landline. In time, when the kids were born, we got a cordless phone and were able to walk around the house while talking. Wow, what a luxury that was! Calling long distance was very expensive and so calling relatives in faraway lands only happened on special holidays, otherwise, you had to send a letter that took weeks or months to arrive. Letters were the norm in communicating with friends and relatives. Then came calling cards and suddenly you were able to make long distance calls from any phone, even from a phone booth where you once had to use bags of coins, which you’d run out of right in the middle of a conversation. Then calling plans were introduced which helped to keep phone bill costs down. Soon cell phones were introduced but only some people could afford them.

Users were suddenly giving up their landline in exchange for a cell phone. The demand for cell phones grew when smartphones were introduced - phones that could do everything! Calling became cheaper and soon Apps that allowed you to call for free were introduced. Then the World Wide Web was introduced and suddenly we had access to everything, anytime, anywhere. Life as we once knew would never be the same. And suddenly, just like that, you found yourself not being able to live without your phone. It’s mind-blowing how far we have come. I love the progress because I love my phone! But I also see the downside.

I feel we are all being indoctrinated into this new way of living where we’re becoming addicted to holding a device, and to the motion of constantly reaching for it or looking down at it. In doing so we’re missing out on so much more that’s going on around us. We’re missing out on human connection, human touch, the romance of life, and of being present. And we’re missing out on all the beauty that abounds and surrounds us every single day like people, animals, nature, trees, plants, grass, oceans, blue skies, sunsets, and rainbows.

Gina’s old black and white photographs were a starting 14 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

Model Angelica white & Seth Nayes, Photography by Harry L also Fashion Design by RFD by Rachel Frank and MUAH is Olga Sanina

When a baby cries we give it a soother to pacify it. I like to think of my device, as a soother. We need these external devices to pacify us, to pacify our children, to pass the time, to transport us and make us be somewhere other than where we are right now. The present.

point for this piece. An inspiration of a life lived beautifully, fully, and freely with no device in her hands. But that was then and this is now. Time does not stand still for anyone. Life moves on. We progress and progress takes over. And we must embrace it. I look forward to the next gadget, the next means of communicating with family members and loved ones, the next great thing! I want to keep a perspective on how rapidly things are changing but not forget the past and to rejoice in how far we’ve come.

So remember to put down that phone or device and to look up, look way up, look beyond. Look people in the eye when you talk to them. Be present in life with your partner, lover, family, friends, nature, and all the beauty that surrounds you. Every day find time to really connect.

Hold someone’s hand, hug a tree, take in a deep breath of fresh air, be thankful, and just be.

La Dolce Vita means, the sweet life. Let’s try to keep life sweet.

∑

Special Thank you to; Photography/Cuffs/Stylist Kateyounger.com Writer/Model:Dina Morrone, Principal Ballet Dancer / Model: Raydel Caceres Models: Seth Nayes. Taryn, Samantha Novak, Mandy De La Clark & Angelica White & Little Alice Vintage Glasses - Insta: Vintageeyewearguy

Model Seth Nayes & Taryn, Photography by Rob Allen

Dina Morrone- Model Raydel Caceres Principal Ballet Dancer/Model Kateyounger.com photography, cuffs/stylists Inst: Vintageeyewearguy (Vintage eyewear)

Kateyounger.com photography, cuffs/stylists Raydel Caceres Principal Ballet Dancer/Model Jennifer Hemphill Comedian/Model

THE WAY I SEE IT

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The Importance of Yes

By Joe Santos, Jr. No may mean no. But where does that leave you?

I look at life as the greatest “improv” there is. And what is the first rule in improv? Say “yes” to everything, otherwise, the scene stops and there is nowhere to go from “no!”

When we “own” or “use” no as an initial or standard reaction to everything then it loses its strength. In other words, it comes out cold, without merit or “accompaniment.” In other words, it loses its respect and legitimacy why people still take a no for yes, when in fact, “No means No.” I say yes to everything and figure it out later. Mind you I’m speaking “yes” as an energy and an exercise in positivity. It helps me to live in the moment. It keeps me present. Energized. Familiar. Interested. Active. Consistent. It also encourages me and inspires others. The ability to think and share positive thoughts, reactions, affirmations, decisions and outlooks to life and all of its challenges come from “the power of yes!”

Play a little game. Ask yourself 10 very important questions.

Base them on past, present experiences and situations or intentions you’d like to meet in the future. Even if you’ve answered or reacted to these questions or instances before with a “no,” attach a “yes” to them this time. Let’s see how many come back positive or at least renewed - if nothing else, possibly a mere “what if?” Maybe, rethinking those answers alone can change your energy.

“Yes" in its simplest form is ultimate power. Does God come from yes? I believe so. And when I refer to ”God” I do out of the utmost respect, humility, and gratitude. To me, God is a sense of conscience, an energy that speaks to me in silence.

In terms that are respectful, insightful and reflected. Words, thoughts, and situations that I can actually see myself in and relate to by doing what is right with a commitment to living my best life. My prayers are from yes because they can only be answered from a place of openness and a willingness to accept. The things and decisions that measure our successes and our outlook in life are based in yes! Belief, hope, charity, and faith come from yes! Our “happy" moments come from yes and the desire to meet their commitment. Simply put, it’s a healthy way to think and feel.

When you say or think “no” most of the time (trust me we all have that person or two in our life) that starts every morning, every question or every decision with a “no.” Relationships crumble. Why? Because it’s exhausting! The sighs and the eyerolls. The complacency, laziness, attitude, insecurity, rudeness, stress, illnesses, and judgments, they all come from NO. It’s irresponsible, eliminating and lonely. My Grandmother Rose would say to me, “think before you speak”. She explained, that by taking a pause in answering to life, love, and challenge, it gives us power and a “word” to live by. Even if it’s a "no” answer, it doesn’t mean it’s a negative reaction.

Two things I work on every day. Understanding the power of both. So, I don’t wake up one morning thinking to myself “What was I thinking???” Or, "If I coulda, woulda, shoulda.”

That’s a wipeout too.

“Yes" comes from a happy place for me. As a kid, I was well adjusted and outgoing. It allowed me curiosity and spontaneity. It allowed me to maintain many friendships that I still keep close to my chest today. A million laughs, quite a few tears, many lessons, and very few regrets. There are people who carry “no” as a badge. Can you imagine being proud of negativity? Everything you say they negate, judge, ridicule.

Why? If they only knew how easy it is to fix and how empowering it is for you and everyone around you. What a difference it makes in the world. YES is power. It is light. It is strength.

I have been asked quite a few times. “Joey, why is it that I never hear you share your problems?” I always say and I believe this completely, that it’s because they are my problems.

They don’t exist to burden you. They exist to challenge me, remind me and to keep me humble as a man, friend, partner, family member. It is my responsibility to sort them, solve them. I will bring you my solutions. Those can help you, even free you, give you direction to help you recognize a few tools to use in fixing your own problems and help you to design, build, decorate and live beautifully with the windows and doors wide open, while expecting company in your bright and beautiful “spiritual house.”

2 Joe Santos, Jr. is a Celebrity Chef and Life-Stylist.

He joins The Eden Magazine as a writer sharing his unique view on life, death, love, and the avoidance of mediocrity.

Follow Joey on Instagram @jojoboy13 19 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

SOUL COURAGE

The Power of What If

By Tara-jenelle Walsch

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When my sister and I were little we played something we called What If. It wasn't an actual game, it was simply spontaneous and ongoing dialogue creating an imaginative story around something we wanted or found interesting.

Always beginning with the phrase, “what if,” these stories started as silly, far-fetched ideas crafted from childhood crushes and anything our little eyes or dreaming minds could get a hold of.

Sometimes, mid-what if, the narrative would suddenly take a detour and swerve to the dark side. Then one of us would redirect with authority, “No, no, that doesn't happen—let’s not go that way!”

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We would really get carried away at times, rambling excitedly and out-doing each other’s what if with the next wondrous thought. We’d take turns spouting out outrageously favorable scenarios, verbally stacking them until we built the most magnificent story. One of my favorites went something like this: “What if we won tickets on the radio to see Paul McCartney in concert? >Then Mom would buy us new outfits and we get to go to the city! > Yea, and then what if somehow two people who had front row seats got sick and never showed. Then we’d be up front and center! > Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, and Paul would see you instantly looking so pretty then start singing “My Love” directly in your eyes. > Yea, get this, then on intermission a security guard would come up and give us back stage tickets, courtesy of Paul. > Oh (gasp!), then we’d meet him after the concert and he would immediately fall in love with you! > Yup! Then you and Paul would introduce me to John (Lennon) and we’d go on double dates together all the time! > Totally, oh my gosh, and then we would both marry them and have a double wedding, inviting all of our friends! Soooo cool—I can’t wait!”

Ok, I’m blushing now. Lots of vulnerability revealed, but

Hearing my own thoughts took me right back to the game my sister and I used to play…only this time she wasn’t there beside me to oppose the dark-side-detour my mind had crookedly taken. Luckily something else was… …could have been spirit guidance or maybe it was even me at a deeper level; my soul, spontaneously taking the reins for inner realignment.

Whatever the source, it propelled me to play a proper game of what if and turn around the litany of consecutive fears that were dampening my dreams.

That all got me thinking…this what if thing is a pretty cool starter tool to support us in keeping our vibration raised and aligned with possibility. Geez, for that matter, it might also help to energetically attract our desires! This is when I decided it was share-worthy.

So, what is a what if story?

It’s a pinch like saying positive affirmations aloud, but not as stiff and contrived and plucked out of thin air.

And definitely not as recited. Crafting stories to support your desires is a fun way to utilize the law of attraction and a natural way to shift your thoughts and lift your

When you roll-out what if stories with another person, it’s even more liberating because there’s someone alongside of you to witness your intentions and hold space for them. Your energy also works off each other, increasing the fun and manifestation potential. that’s how the what if stories went down in our adolescence. As we got older, though, we began to spin what if ’s off things that were actually happening and/or had the potential to happen in real life.

We’d belly-laugh and get filled with adrenaline as if the upgraded story was actually in progress of becoming reality. Now that I think about it, we were basically dreaming out loud and exploring the art of possibility together.

This all came to me because the other day I realized that I was playing what if with myself, but backwards! I was anxious about something and noticed my thoughts spinning concerns into fears, trapping me smack dab in one big negativity web.

“Geez, what if this never happens—then that won’t happen!

What if nothing works out and I’m left hopeless and alone forever?”

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spirit. It’s as though you are handing the universe a script with several options for the direction in which you want your life to move.

And when you speak them out loud? Seriously. Something shifts inside. If you really get into it and go for it without editing big dreaming, it feels like you’re momentarily transported to your childhood. When you hear yourself talking out loud about all of the amazing things that are going to happen, it loosens up the serious mind that has worked so hard to protect you and keep things in control. I’m telling you, this process frees your mind to play and also lifts your mood (nice bonus).

When you roll-out what if stories with another person, it’s even more liberating because there’s someone alongside of you to witness your intentions and hold space for them. Your energy also works off each other, increasing the fun and manifestation potential.

When should you start a what if story?

Anytime! There are no prerequisites for the kick-off of a what if story. You don’t have to wait until you have a major event approaching or focus on one particular dream. You can chatter away about things on your life wish-list or even the daily things you’d like to see happen.

What you’re doing is setting the stage with the Universe for your intentions and searing possibility for their materialization into your thoughts.

4- To heighten the energy, weave your desires with your friends into the same story and have each sequence play off of each other. Even if you’re doing this alone, you can incorporate others & their dreams to make it more real and support them on an energetic level.

You can even start a what if story spontaneously with a friend. For instance, if they’re talking about something they’re working on or would like more of in their life, lead in with a big fun what if, like; “What if…you got promoted and your income tripled and you could finally move out and be closer to me?” You may be surprised at the reaction of your friend. Encourage them to dream along with you and create a scenario out loud.

6- Feel your heart open wide with possibility.

Another good time to swing into a what if is if you become aware that your thoughts are negatively spiraling down. In that moment, rather than making yourself wrong you can instead choose to turn it around and start stacking up—like I did in the real-life example above.

(Note: That was one of my shinier moments. I’m human, too, and can’t always rally the inner cheerleader.)

Creating a what if scenario is simple and playful, but don’t let that fool you—it’s also a powerful way of consciously redirecting your thoughts to attract what you’re saying. When we tell our minds what to think with genuine enthusiasm and childlike imagination, our body will react with excitement and release invisible energy that correlates with that intention, assisting in the power of creation.

Ironically, sometimes all it takes is letting go and pretending—just a little bit, for just a little while to realign our desires with opportunity. All things are possible. Crafting a positive story around your preferences directs your thoughts toward trust > which attracts energy in your favor, giving possibility wings.

RoadMap to What If-ing 1- Chose someone you feel safe with to join you or what if on your own.

2- Think of something you’d like to happen.

3- Verbally day dream around it, sentence by sentence, letting your thoughts run free without pausing or editing. If you’re with a friend, take turns creating segments of the fantasy.

5- Let loose, smile and get excited at how grandiose you can make the story.

7- Attach this feeling to your desire so the next time the desire arises, so, too, will the feeling, as your mind and body will be in cahoots to make them a reality. * Bonus: Find a what if partner and give each other permission to start up playful scenarios when you’re together. As for me, I’m going to be getting back onboard, too, and reappoint my sister as soon as she reads this and calls me (ahem!).

e Are you in a soul quandary?

Feel free to ask Tara-jenelle for courageous insight.

Submit your question to https://www.facebook.com/tarajenellewalsch

Tara-jenelle Walsch is a monthly columnist for the Eden Magazine.

She is the author of the book, Soul Courage, and the founder and spirit behind the Soulebrate greeting card company.

You will also find her speaking publicly about emotional and energetic awareness, and a sacred formula which she believes has the ability to enrich the world at large. Tara-jenelle was raised in Annapolis, Maryland and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Towson University in Baltimore. She currently lives in the beautiful hills of Ashland, Oregon. www.soulcourage.com 23 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

Reclaming Your True Self

Receiving

The Art of

with Angela Dunning

By Angela Dunning

24 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

To be able to receive is vital for healing, connection and being able to love yourself and others To receive is fundamentally feminine in nature. Women are the receivers of the seed of life in order to create new life. However, after centuries of Patriarchy and its diminishment of the value of women, and The Feminine on a profound and global scale, many of us are unable to really receive that which is truly nourishing to our wellbeing.

We have lost our ability to really connect to ourselves and others at a deep level, and to life itself including our spiritual life. Yet, in order to connect we must be able to receive. We must have strengthened our receiving muscles sufficiently, so that when life, love and connection try to reach out to us, we are able to welcome them into our very being.

How good are you currently at receiving?

1. Can you make and sustain eye-contact with people you are talking to? Can you receive their attention or does it make you uncomfortable?

2. Can you receive, feel and absorb a compliment; an act of affection or love?

3. Can you accept a gesture of sympathy, empathy or compassion? Or do you brush-away the first hint of someone else’s care and love for you?

4. Can you give yourself plenty of time to really rest, relax, replenish and just simply receive the sheer gift of being alive?

5. Can you accept gifts, opportunities and money readily?

6. Can you let your loved ones see the real you who is able and open to receiving their love and support?

7. Can you ask for help? Or are you still trying to be Super-Woman or Man? Many people today are driven by the dual compulsions to be constantly busy, and/or, are obsessed with giving of themselves, and their time and energy to others. At the same time, genuine receiving has been distorted into narcissistic selfishness where instead people take from others, the planet and all of its precious beings, while simultaneously being incapable of genuine connection with others.

To develop an ability to truly receive love, support and spiritual connections, we must practice the act of receiving regularly. We must also pay attention to our habits which cut us off from others’ well-meaning words and acts. We must learn how to ask for help and stop trying to do everything on our own. In our spiritual practice, we must actively show Spirit that we are wanting to receive

the love and support of those in other realms – to be open, vulnerable and surrendered in our practice and faith so that Spirit can reach us.

We can do this in the simplest ways on a daily basis. We can receive the gift of life each morning on waking. We can take time to be still, to sit in the sunshine and receive the love and energy of the sun into our bodies. We can receive the coolness and blessing of water as we drink and bathe. We can ask for help from others, our animals and our Spirit guides, being open and ready to receive messages, insights and support of any kind. We can reverse lifelong patterns of overly-giving of our time and energy, or people-pleasing and instead remember our needs too.

We can sit with a dear friend or lover and spend quiet time just gazing into each other’s eyes and being with each other; receiving their love in new and deep ways.

A simple practice to deepen your ability to receive when someone pays you a compliment or recognises your trueself in any way, is to place your hands one on top of the other on your heart; make eye contact and say: “I am receiving that; thank you!”

Ultimately and paradoxically, to receive is to give. It is a two-way, delicious exchange of energy, love and presence.

When you perceive it in this way it is clear just how vital receiving is to our individual and global healing.

e

Angela Dunning is the author of The Horse Leads the Way: Honoring the True Role of the Horse in Equine Facilitated Practice. You can learn more about Angela; her work helping people and horses reclaim their wildness, and read more of her articles at: www.thehorsestruth.co.uk You can also connect with Angela on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehorsestruth or www.thehorsestruth.co.uk

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Photography by Anka Zhuravleva

The Power

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Dreaming and utilising the power of your mind is necessary for all of us to be able to reach a state of excited creativity and fulfillment in life. Dreaming or more specifically envisioning the way we want reality to be triggers our spark within and gives us a goal to pursue that is aligned to our passion.

When I was growing up I was told to “get practical” and “ you are such a dreamer you won’t achieve anything “. Dreaming was looked upon as a negative.

It took me years to become proud of my “dreamer” status as I realized without a dream I would seriously not achieve anything in my life. If you cannot see it within yourself how can you create it ?

We all need that dream to trigger a path forward. Children should be encouraged to be creative and to use their mind in this way. If you dream of reaching the stars at least there will be a chance of getting there, maybe you’ll reach the ceiling but without the dream you will not go any where at all.

of Dreaming

By Kim Normand

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When I look back I realized one extremely important fact. I always needed someone in my dream corner, the person or people, who believed in and supported my vision. We became a team, a dream machine. It is ideal to have others understand and support your vision.

The dream machine is much more effective if everyone involved in the process supports and is willing to create a common goal. Only with this cohesion can any team reach success for all and people will be willing and dedicated to the necessary process. Creating a life we love based on our dreams can be challenging. It asks us to stand up in ways we generally could not have predicted.

It may trigger insecurity and self-doubt. When there are people or even just one person that believe in us and our dream it gives us the strength to deal with the challenges we have to face daily. It is their smile, their words of encouragement and the reality check we need that helps us to be the best we can be.

Creating a life we love based on our dreams can be challenging. It asks us to stand up in ways we generally could not have predicted. It may trigger insecurity and selfdoubt. When there are people or even just one person that believe in us and our dream it gives us the strength to deal with the challenges we have to face daily. It is their smile, their words of encouragement and the reality check we need that helps us to be the best we can be.

Having someone in your corner should push you to be better, do better, create better and deliver better than you dreamed of in the first place.

So many dreams sit in a closed vault within due to fear of failure. Fear within paralyzes and prevents dreams from materializing. We are beings that have an inner calling to search for happiness in our lives. This means different things to each of us. This is the base of our dreams. Happiness, fulfillment, and joy.

An interesting aspect of this process is learning more about yourself. Self-awareness is a natural bi-product of stepping out of your comfort zone intent on creating something that means so much to you. Creating and building dreams in not an overnight experience – it can be slow to happen and will call on you to be resilient and focused. Most times it does not have an exact end goal.

As you reach one milestone there are many more with shifting systems and realities to face.

Make sure you have “your” person or people in your corner who believe and support your dream, vision and create your own dream team that will take you on a 28 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

path to success. See yourself as part of the whole. Think about what the world needs most and use your creativity to benefit your environment and naturally, your enviroment will support your dream too. You will expereince the greatest sense of fulfilment in realizing a dream that considers the well-being of all.

Dream, visualize, create goals and go make it happen…

2 Kim Normand, author in her own right of the influential Raising Wisdom, Tomorrow, and A Mother’s Legacy books, is the immensely talented co-author of the accompanying Freeing Freddie, The Dream Weaver: Workbook and Activity Book.

Prominent in the nonprofit world for over three decades, she has been a part of many successful ventures and organizations, including Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation (now USC Shoah Foundation–The Institute for Visual History), established by Steven Spielberg.

As well, Kim is a founding director of the Apartheid Museum, sat on the board of the Human Rights Commission for Education, and was the Founder/CEO of the Tolerance Foundation.

She is a Fellow of Ashoka, the world's leading network of social entrepreneurs, and has studied at Harvard Kennedy School of International Studies. Kim is the Founder/Executive Director of Tomorrow Trust (as previously noted) supporting orphaned and vulnerable children/ youth with education, and she appears frequently on Ted Talks. Kim calls both Atlanta, Georgia and Johannesburg, SA, home. http://withlovefromfreddie.co

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The

Higher Meaning of Wealth

By Prema Lee Gurreri

Wealth is everything we need-materially, spiritually, and emotionally-in order to fulfill our purpose on Earth. It is the accumulation of everything we need, want, and desire.

More, wealth is the perception and belief that we have everything we need, want, and desire. In order to be wealthy, we have to feel wealthy. Otherwise, we just have a lot of stuff.

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This is a higher meaning of wealth than the one we usually encounter. Or, depending on your perspective, it might be a foundational meaning. After all, what we see as wealth in others’ lives is really only the superficial trappings. We can’t see how they feel, or how they are living their purpose, until we look deeper.

Often, we equate wealth solely to money, but that’s actually inaccurate. Money is simply the common energy of exchange in our world-the unit of measurement by which we value the intangible resources of time, energy, security, relationships, love, and freedom.

I think it’s safe to say that everyone, from every walk of life, wants to be wealthy. It’s a desire that we are born with, and one that we nurture as we grow. After all, I don’t know anyone who spends their time asking, “How can I be poorer? How can I have more lack in my life?”

Do you?

Your Wealth is Your “Why” When you think of being “wealthy,” what does that look like to you? Is it a numerical benchmark, like, “I’ll be wealthy when I have a million dollars in the bank”? Or is wealth more of a feeling to you, a state of being, a new and upgraded operating platform? What resources, relationships, and mindsets do you need to attract in order to live in wealth and abundance?

Wealth is very personal. It’s different for each of us. Once you know what wealth actually looks and feels like to you, you will be more able to attract it.

Another question to ask yourself is, “Why do I want to be wealthy?” Why do you want more money? What do you think money will allow you to do, be, and create?

“I want to be wealthy because …”

• I want greater security.

• I want to buy a new home (or car, boat, camper, etc.).

• I want to travel and experience the world.

• I want to create a healthier lifestyle without worrying about the price tag.

• I want to start a business.

• I want to create or assist a charity.

• I want to leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren.

• I want to live as an example to others.

• I want to start a movement.

As you explore the question of “why,” try not to judge yourself. There are no wrong reasons to desire wealth.

Whatever makes you feel wealthy is important, because

it gives you a clue as to your deeper motivations, values, and purpose. For example, if you want wealth because it will increase your prestige and visibility, it’s not something to be ashamed of. In fact, these attributes are probably tied to your greater purpose.

We live in an ever-expanding universe. Our desire for wealth is extremely personal, but it’s also part of that collective expansion energy. When we tap into that truth, and understand that our desire for wealth is innately connected to our purpose in life, we invite the universe to work on our behalf.

Acknowledging your “big why” around wealth actually opens up avenues for greater wealth to come to you. You open up pathways, make connections, and see possibilities everywhere, and are more likely to take action to acquire the resources you need to move forward.

So, right here, right now, embrace your soul’s desire for wealth and prosperity, and know that by doing so you will be empowered to actualize your purpose and greater calling in the world.

This article is excerpted from the #1 Amazon best-seller, Your Sacred Wealth Code: Unlock Your Soul Blueprint for Purpose & Prosperity, by Prema Lee Gurreri (Heart Drop Press, 2017)

g Prema Lee Gurreri is committed to creating a world where everyone is empowered to live on purpose, in a way that is aligned with their divine gifts and their birthright of true prosperity. She is a leading Vedic Astrologer, business consultant, energy practitioner, and spiritual coach with more than twenty-five years of experience, and the #1 best-selling author of Your Sacred Wealth Code: Unlock Your Soul Blueprint for Purpose & Prosperity (Heart Drop Press, 2017). Learn more about Prema’s work at www.SacredWealthCode.com.

Children of theRevolution A Spiritual Journey to Burma and Buddhism

By Feroze Dada

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‘Peace comes from within.

Do not seek it without.’ ~Buddha

Children of the Revolution, by Feroze Dada, is a story which begins with a chance meeting at a family gathering in Burma (Myanmar) with a freedom fighter from the Pa’O region in the northeast of the country, and which then takes you on to a monastery on the shores of beautiful Inle Lake in Shan State. There, at the Buddhist monastery of Phaya Taung, the head monk Phongyi is passionately caring for and teaching more than 600 orphaned and refugee children of the revolutionary wars.

But at the same time, another story is unfolding, and that is the journey of self‐discovery of Feroze Dada, who moves with his Burmese wife MuMu between his metropolitan western life and Taunggyi in the northeast of Burma, where her family live, and in doing so finds a new reality and purpose.

I first went to Burma in 2009, twenty years after the military rulers decided to change its name to Myanmar and only a few years after the first easing of travel and visa restrictions. I went there to meet my wife MuMu’s family in the northeast Shan State. It was here on the shores of the remote and beautiful Inle lake that I encountered a group of people who were to change my life. As a Muslim living in London with a Burmese wife, I was soon to find an altogether different path.

It all began when I was taken aside at a family reunion in Taunggyi by MuMu’s cousin Ahwin, one of the family elders, who is also a renowned Seer. He quietly said to me ‘If you go to the lake it will change your life completely.’

Early next morning we set off from the jetty at Nyaung Shwe with our travelling companion who was introduced to me as Major. He had spent most of his life as a freedom fighter for the Pa’O cause. Shan State had been at war with the military government for over 60 years.

We had planned to explore the Lake further south but soon we ran into trouble. The wind was getting up, and soon we were in a violent storm with visibility down to only a few feet. The canoe starting rocking dangerously and we were forced to head to the shore for shelter. All we could see through the intermittent flashes of lightning was a large dark old building looming in front of us. As we got closer we saw that it was full of children peering curiously out of the windows, watching to see who these strangers were.

Major beckoned us to keep walking up the hill for a few minutes, despite the torrential rain, until we reached 36 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

another smaller building. Standing at the entrance dressed in old saffron robes was an unusually tall Theravada monk who welcomed Major warmly. This was Phongyi, the Head monk of the Phaya Taung monastery, and he was eager to find out all about us. We talked for an hour or so and he told us that this village had been directly in the middle of fierce fighting with the government Military, involving both the Pa’O guerrillas and the BCP (communists) It was during this time that he and Major had got to know each other well. While the Pa’O guerilla fighters had done everything they could to help, the government had cut off all aid to the area and even now they lacked basic amenities.

One afternoon Phongyi asked us if he could show us around the monastery grounds and take us to a local village. During the tour we were politely probed for ideas of how to make the monastery more self-sufficient. Phongyi explained that more and more children were arriving every day from the abandoned villages, and somehow they had to feed them and educate them. These were children of the revolution.

We debated several proposals and the clear front-runner was setting up a water bottling plant using the fresh mountain spring water from behind the monastery.

Not only would this provide great health benefits for the community by reducing illnesses from water-borne diseases; it also had real significance for the monastery - water symbolises purity, clarity and calmness, and reminds us to cleanse our minds and attain the state of shamatha or calm abiding.

Commercially, too, there were big advantages in that if we could resource it properly, it would be scaleable. The monastery would be able to sell the mineral water and generate income to feed the children and provide for more facilities.

Phongyi’s widespread reputation as a wise and compassionate spiritual leader, and indeed the whole focus on the ‘pure’ image of the monastery Phaya Taung, was the key to any enterprise. The community revered him, and so anything he endorsed was likely to work as long as a consistently high standard was maintained.

The practicalities of realising this dream were extremely difficult as Phaya Taung is in the middle of nowhere and there was no electricity on the site. As well as this, the planning permission and licensing regulations in Myanmar are both highly complex and arbitrary.

Heavy machinery from Yangon had to be transported up by road and canoe. It took almost two years of planning and several trips to London to raise necessary funds, and then back to Phaya Taung to supervise all the work.

Despite these obstacles I can clearly recall the time when at last the final touches were being made to the water factory and pumping system and we were waiting anxiously.

All of a sudden, the project manager came running towards us shouting and waving. We ran over and I could see that the work team had performed a miracle – all the filters had been installed, the air conditioning was up and running, and the bacterial tests had been done. As we arrived, the engineer turned on the switch and the purified water came gushing out of the filters and poured all over the floor – we had forgotten to put the bottles in place!

But it hardly mattered. We were far too excited. It was magical - one of the most joyous moments of my life. I gazed on the faces of the children. Their smiles said it all.

I have come to understand that there is no beginning and no end if you follow the Dhamma. There are no accidents, the law of karma tells us, but we’re not the sole cause of our experiences either.

I realise that every single one of my experiences at the monastery was made up of both giving and receiving, finding and letting go, dreaming and being.

The prophecy that Ahwin made when I first came to Taunggyi only a few years ago echoes in my ears ‘If you go to the lake your life will change forever.’

And so it has.

2

In my own life I had been thinking a lot about what Phongyi had been teaching me and I had already decided to to deepen my practice with a Vipassana retreat. For some years now I have been friends with a spiritual master who had first introduced me to meditation, and he had taught me the principles of Zikr. Just before MuMu and I set out on our very first trip to Taunggyi, my friend had said to me ‘you cannot know the truth by reading, studying, lecturing, thinking – close those doors. Only then in stillness the doorway of the heart will begin to open up’.

I do remember feeling a sense of liberation.

The miracle of landing in a rainstorm at Phaya Taung, and the way it changed my outlook, enabled me to begin to practice what I had been taught but never experienced.

Seven years after I had first arrived at the monastery for shelter so many projects have been completed. One evening Phongyi, Major and I sat down to discuss the events of the day, and Phongyi said to me ‘The practical needs of the (now) 1200 children are now complete, Feroze. They have clean water to drink, there is money from the sale of Ko Yin mineral water to buy food. They have good education, a fine computer training facility, and now together we have installed a medical clinic and sanitation facilities.’

His words were carefully chosen, and I could sense that he was telling me the time for building was passing. It was now time for the spirit.

Feroze was born in Karachi.

He has lived and worked for most of his life in London and is married to MuMu (Farida) Maung Dada.

Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax advisor he was Managing Partner of his private client tax practice in London Mayfair for 25 years. Feroze is also a guest interviewer with TVapex, a community TV channel where he has interviewed everyone from a Buddhist monk to the legendary Andrea Bocelli on the subject of humanity.

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Excerpt from the interactive book, A Course in Mastering Alchemy Tools to Shift, Transform and Ascend

Your Light Body and Becoming the New Human

By Jim Self and Roxane Burnett

In many spiritual schools, achieving the Living Light body is thought to be the ultimate destination. It’s the finish line in the ascension race. Once achieved, you will sit next to God and have a body made of translucent glowing Light.

Many believe that the Living Light body brings with it the health, vitality and appearance of a 20-year-old, and you can live that way forever. Actually, it doesn’t work that way. Once you become one with the Living Light body, you have arrived at the starting line not the finish line.

The process of creating and then merging with your Living Light body will transform your dense carbon-based physicality into a body that is less dense.

However, transforming into that hot 20-year-old? That’s not happening. That would be too disruptive to you and those around you. Think about it. Waking up in a 20-year-old body and then having breakfast in a fear-based thirddimensional reality? You think Jesus had a difficult time? Try going to work and announcing, “I have become a fully Christed Being of Light. I can assist you in becoming one too.” Good luck with that. Plus, if you lived forever, your loved ones would notice you aren’t aging. Imagine the issues that would cause.

Some believe that with the Living Light body they will miraculously transform from what they were into a beautiful form surrounded by glowing light in the blink of an eye. Beautiful? Yes. In the blink of an eye? No. The process does bring more Light into your cells and transform them into a higher vibration of living consciousness. Your presence and presentation will flow with more grace and ease. You will draw your awareness from the higher dimensions. The opportunity to experience life on your terms will become fully available. The Light of Source will flow through you. You will glow with that Light, uplifting all those who are near you. You will come to recognize that you are a Light that makes a difference in the darkness. Your Light will be calm, inspiring and focused. You will be a new type of human.

The Living Light body is a journey not an instant manifestation. As with all the tools and skills provided here by the Teachers of Light, this experience requires intention and a managed attention point. Some assembly is required. You’ll sit at the table with the Teachers, the angels, the Masters and yes, even Creator.

You will

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Light Body New Human New Human Light Body New Human Light Body New Human

What does the Living Light body look like and where is it?

Let’s keep this very simple. The physical body has an electrical system which we call the nervons system. Electrical impulses run through this web to animate and communicate health and wellbeing to every part of your physical body. The Living Light body has a similar electrical system: an intricate network of pathways that together create a radiant field. This fine mesh or web of pathways is comprised of what are called axiatonal lines. This system operates directly above the meridians of the physical body and the lines connect up through the eighth chakra into the fourteenth. The Living Light body connects into the physical body through axial spin points located on those axiatonal lines.

The Living Light body’s axiatonal lines and spin points were disconnected during the Fall of Consciousness to prevent communication with Creator. As you begin the ascension process and enter higher and higher levels of consciousness, the body’s cells match that higher vibration and begin to hold greater levels of Light. Those highly-vibrating cells affect the entire physical body. As the axiatonal lines and the axial spin points upon them are integrated and activated, they have a direct connection to the meridian system. You might imagine the Living Light body as a fine open-woven mesh with tiny nodes at every intersection lying just above your skin. It is a garment of Light, a coat of many colours.

With the activation of your body of Light, the potential for change within the physical body is significant. The physical body regenerates cells at a regular pace. For instance red blood cells renew in approximately four months; stomach cells in two to nine days. As the energy and Light connections are created between the Living Light body’s spin points and the spin points within the cells, a resonance between the two bodies develops. The denseness begins to be eliminated and cellular regeneration occurs from that more perfected state. Newly regenerated cells vibrate at the new higher level of Light.

Jim and Roxane are authors of A Course in This interface between the Living Light body system and the Mastering Alchemy: Tools physical system is not possible while holding your attention to Shift, Transform and in a third-dimensional state. No matter how many years one Ascend and Spirit Matters: spends praying, working and studying, the only way to merge Down to Earth Tools for a the Living Light body with the physical body is in a consistent Spirited Life. fifth-dimensional state of being. One must become a body of Light before having a Light body.

They are interna-tional teachers, offering the personal energy management tools of Because of the work we have done in this course with the Mastering Alchemy. They co-create the Mastering Alchemy Teachers your ability to walk in the Living Light body and programs with the Teachers of Light, a collective of Archantherefore change the density of your physical body has in- gels and Ascended Masters whom Jim has been in creased significantly. You are demonstrating a new way of be- communication with since childhood. ing human.

MasteringAlchemy.com

39 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

Karina Nuvo

Photography by Blair Simon

A “Nuvo”day

By Joe Santos, Jr. On a sunny day in West Hollywood I sat down with Karina Nuvo, a dear friend and spiritually enlightened Mother, Singer, Grammy Nominee, Vocal Teacher, Humanitarian, and Survivor. Her story of survival and of the many bumps in the road she has had to endure have not deterred her from her focus of being a great mom, giving back to others, and coming back even better and stronger, to do what she was born to do, sing! !

JS: Welcome home from your European trip. I heard that on your way back you stayed additional weeks in Miami for some sort of surgery. Is that correct?

KN: Yes. I had to have a small surgery for TMJ. It’s a result of chronic stress on the Temporomandibular Joint (jaw). A condition caused by many other medical issues. In my case, it stemmed from something called an Acoustic Neuroma.

JS: A brain tumor?

KN: Yes. But it’s a benign tumor. Non-cancerous. They grow on the nerve. It can cause hearing loss, unsteadiness. But it can be treated with surgery and radiation.

JS: Are you ok? I mean you look amazing. Your energy is crystal clear, bright and warm.

KN: I come from a place of light. I don’t know any other way to move forward.

JS: As a single mom, how did you move forward after the divorce from your husband?

KN: I put the focus back on my music and myself. I was invited to tour 42 cities with Benise (PBS special Spanish Guitar). I began collaborating with wonderful musicians and on one particular project, I’m proud to say, it garnered for me two Grammy nominations, one of them being a Latin Grammy. But then I lost my voice for almost a year.

I could barely speak let alone sing. The anxiety and fear, the insecurity, it all came crashing over me like an avalanche. It was a terrible time and so I went inside myself almost like a miner going into a shaft. I knew there was still gold somewhere left inside of me and I was determined to bring it out.

I decided to have vocal surgery and to my incredible surprise, my voice came back stronger and more confident than ever.

It was that clear. A snap. I create my illness, my unhappiness, and my failure. If I can do all that then what stops me from creating my healing, my elation, and my success?

I established the Nuvo-Voice Workshop for different school districts around California. It empowers kids of all ages to find, honor, and protect the voice that was gifted to them. I also established Strike A Chord, where I per-

form songs and engage with the elderly and those afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. I began joining forces with different artists including America’s beloved Tenor, Daniel Rodriguez, and world-renowned soprano, Marla Kavanaugh, to create different shows. One of the shows is “Spirit and Soul” which is a collection of healing songs of hope. It’s a concert that is meant to uplift, encourage and empower those of all faiths. Another highlight in my career has been the incredible honor of singing the National Anthem at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles as well as America the Beautiful for an NFL Raiders game in Oakland, California in front of 50,000 fans. Slowly but surely I am once again finding my gold at the end of the rainbow. When a friend introduced me to Kundalini

designed by Benjamin Benoit

Yoga I was finally able to see past all my fears. This allowed me the ability to renew hope by taking ownership of my moment, as well as my moments of strength, happiness, faith, and conviction. By using and sharpening these tools, I’ve begun to chase my fears away and I started building a new “house” on a foundation of trust.

JS: I remember you saying something once about opportunities and a fear of success. Do you still carry that? Do you know when, where, how it manifested from challenge to fear?

KN: Honestly, no. I can attach feelings to a past as I suppose, we all can do. I suffered from endometriosis all through my 20s. I was married shortly thereafter and thank God, gave birth to my beautiful son. However, even though I began headlining jazz festivals around the country, the pain, and fear I was experiencing from my illness, became debilitating. Unfortunately, my marriage didn’t survive. It was a very trying time. The pain of my endometriosis was so severe I made a very difficult choice to have a hysterectomy, in hopes of beginning to live a physically pain-free life so that I could once again feel normal and productive. My biggest blessing was, of course, having my Son. He is my reason for never giving up.

JS: Keyword. Trust. The inability to trust for most has created the fear, and unworthiness in achieving success.

KN: I realize that now and I’m open to receiving.

JS: Glad to hear you are back and that you will be headlining at Vibrato Jazz Club. Congratulations.

KN. Thank you. I feel honored and blessed to be back and healthy, doing what I was born to do.

On August 19, 2018, Karina Nuvo will be headlining at Vibrato Jazz Nightclub in Los Angeles, CA. For more information visit: www.vibratogrilljazz.com.

To contact Karina Nuvo: www.karinanuvomusic.com

41 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

Photo by Mikayla Herrick

Manners Matter

By Nancy E. Yearout

There comes a time in life when you suddenly realize that manners matter. We are all different. Some of us were ingrained with proper manners from early childhood, while others became more conscious and considerate while growing up. Maybe you learned while dating. Some of us realized the importance of proper etiquette when were first married or when our first child was born. Or maybe you’re still growing and have not figured out that manners really do matter and why.

Manners are what has created and kept our society a civilized one. Politeness over ugliness is what has maintained a civilized nation. Unfortunately, as of late, many of those simple rules that have meant so much to so many people are fading. The importance of proper etiquette has been tossed aside to be cool. I propose we bring manners back because they do matter.

For example, the art of opening a door for a lady, seems to be almost lost. My husband opens the door for me and for others, he is a true gentleman. I did not realize how rare it is to see a man opening a door for a lady until I had several older folks comment to me, “Wow! you don’t see men open doors for the ladies anymore!” I felt like a princess because my guy has manners. “

Tip to the guys, girls love men with manners! The same is true with woman. Men are attracted to woman with style and grace.

Proper table manners are another simple charm that is slowly slipping away. Many restaurant chains have placed computer games on their tables to occupy your children’s time. They also want us to order our appetizers and pay on these cold computer screens. What has happened to the personal touch? For that matter what has become of intelligent dinner table conversation? Kids learn from the stories told at the dinner table by their elders, I know I did. What has happened to the simple etiquette of placing a napkin on your lap? Or not reaching across the table, holding your fork properly or excusing yourself appropriately.

The rudest act I have witnessed thus far is for someone in the group to text or answer a phone call when they are at dinner table. It does not matter if you are out to dinner or at home. When we choose to text or answer the phone when seated at the dinner table, you are basically saying, “I’m sorry you’re not as interesting or as important as my call or my text.”

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Change it up! Be where you are. Be present in your current situation. When you do this your life will flow much smoother and the people around you will notice and appreciate your good manners.

It is time to turn the clocks back to the days of “Emily Post” and her wonderful words of wisdom. Let’s make it cool to be polite again. Let’s all remember to say “Please” and “thank you” and to let others go first in line or in the elevator or in line at the supermarket. We must slow down our me society with grace and ease and some good old fashion manners.

nm

Nancy E. Yearout is an author, a spiritual life coach, and a motivational speaker.

Nancy has enjoyed an extensive corporate career as a sales coordinator with one of the Big Three automakers in Detroit.

Her sales, management, and marketing skills have grown with each step of her business.

Her success has blessed her with the real life experience, knowledge, and common sense that is required to help others through life’s challenges.

Nancy has been fortunate to acquire hands-on energy healing skills from an Aztec healer from Mexico, and she has helped many balance their energy fields.

She has received guidance from religious and spiritual teachers along the way, resulting in the development of her skills as an intuitive, a tarot card reader, and a life coach.

She utilizes these tools to guide her clients to joyful and successful lives. Nancy is the author of Wake Up! The Universe Is Speaking To You. www.TheEnergyProphet.com

What You Can

Learn About

Business Success and Wealth John E. Fetzer from

Media Mogul, Philanthropist and Former Detroit Tigers' Owner 6 Invaluable Lessons for Creating an Abundant Business

By Jackie Lapin John E. Fetzer found as much joy in his quest for spiritual enrichment as he did in the wealth he acquired building a financial empire that ultimately made him the sole owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961 to 1983 and put him on Forbes Magazine's list of 400 richest Americans.

And that may be the most valuable lesson that he offers us today. He maintained that these two were not mutually exclusive and, in fact, his connection to a higher consciousness was integral to his success building wealth from the foundation of his radio and TV stations, to his investment

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in the burgeoning cable television industry and to his culminating acquisition of the Tigers.

As related in the new biography John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age, author Brian C. Wilson shows how Fetzer was a forerunner of the New Age Movement, exploring multiple paths to find true "freedom of the spirit" via the insights of emerging spiritual leaders, movements and approaches - Eastern and Western - including Theosophy, Freemasonry, UFOlogy, parapsychology and Buddhism, among others.

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After reading this revealing book, I believe the conclusions that Fetzer came to during his quest -- and personally lived by -- provide valuable guidance to anyone seeking to accelerate his or her own business growth and wealth.

Here are a few tenets that I think can be gleaned from the John E. Fetzer playbook of success: "Money is energy," he often said. For Fetzer, spirituality was a recognition that all is spirit, which he conceptualized as an eternal, conscious energy that, if one were open to it, would inevitably lead one back to the "great central source." Everything consists of this energy-even money. And if one understands this connection and taps into it psychically, then wealth and success, he believed, were within one's grasp. This meant to him that money was to be used in the service of good, since business success and wealth could only be spiritually uplifting if used for love and service. Although immensely wealthy, Fetzer and his wife Rhea always lived very frugally, spending most of their lives in a modest home in a middle-class Kalamazoo neighborhood. For Fetzer, wealth was not for self-aggrandizement, which would have embarrassed him, but rather for the pursuit of a spiritual mission in service to the world. John's approach was to serve first, and then money came back to him.

Fetzer believed in Karma, and in resolving Karma in order to reach a higher order of consciousness as one passes through the many lives of one's soul ascension. Thus, he sought to refrain from selfish, ego-driven actions that would have negative repercussions -- not only in this life, but in future lives. John's approach was to rein in his ego, seek equitable solutions for all, be generous with his workforce and partners, do his best and leave a wake of goodwill.

Fetzer trusted a higher intelligence in guiding him to good business decisions. He meditated, contemplated and sought to gain insights that he felt came directly from source. And when he needed more guidance in plotting his business strategies, he used pendulums, astrology, Tarot cards, and even the Ouija Board. Or, he would turn to trusted mediums, psychic advisors, dowsers and channelers. He found multiple ways to tap into the infinite intelligence. And he could point to specific situations which paid off handsomely. John trusted the Universe to provide answers, listened to his intuition, and tapped multiple sources for his answers.

Fetzer was still seeking to learn, grow and unravel more of the Universe's mysteries, even as he approached his 9th decade. He never stopped trying to raise his con48 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

sciousness. And in order to bring others along to a more advanced state of consciousness, so that they, too, could experience the love, compassion, and spiritual connection that creates abundance and peace, he funded some of the seminal spiritual/paranormal/scientific research of the 70s and 80s, to validate the existence of a higher power that can change our lives vibrationally. John never stopped questing, because it kept him vital--engaged in life and business.

Fetzer was a believer in "oneness," that we are all one unified force with the source of creation. So he lived by the "Golden Rule," because he knew that he was connected to each and every one he encountered. He dealt with people with a fair and even hand. He brought respect to the negotiating table. He was beloved by his players on the Tigers and the employees in his company. John sought the good in all, refrained from gossip or unkind words, treated his employees with love and regard, dealt in good faith and was a positive light wherever he went.

For Fetzer, leaving a legacy for the world was paramount.

In the 1980s, when Fetzer was beginning to wind down his business activities and sell off his holdings, including the Detroit Tigers, he used his fortune to endow the organizations that would carry his mission forward, to improve "the human and cosmic condition" through the advancement of the spiritualized science that he felt was so necessary for global transformation, and to support the programs that facilitate building a spiritual foundation for a more inclusive, loving, peaceful world. The lesson here is to weigh what legacy you can leave for the world - and while it may not be funded by great wealth - it can be the fruits of your time, efforts and gifts from which others can enjoy and prosper in the future.

WU Jackie Lapin, author, speaker and publicist, connects conscious leaders with conscious media and speaking opportunities.

To download a FREE CHAPTER of his book and learn more about how John E. Fetzer explored the interconnectedness between science and spirituality, visit www.infinitepotential.com

49 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age

By Brian C. Wilson, Ph. D

As we go through my life story, you’re going to find that the word “search” is one of the paramount activities of my life.

I’ve been searching all my life—not essentially on one subject but on many subjects. . . .You’re going to find practically in the whole history of my life that I’ve been searching and searching—the evolutionary search. ~John Fetzer (1983) 50 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

John E. Fetzer indeed lived many lives. Born in 1901 and headquartered for most of his life in the small midwestern city of Kalamazoo, Fetzer was a pioneer broadcaster who helped bring the first radio station to southwestern Michigan in the late 1920s. An astute businessman, he grew with the industry, making millions by expanding his holdings from radio into television, recording, and then cable. During this time, too, he acted on a national stage, called on by the federal government and the industry to assume positions of leadership to help manage the many aspects of an electronic media that was swiftly evolving into the dominant form of communications in the United States. By the time he died in 1991, he had been listed in Forbes magazine as one of the four hundred wealthiest people in the United States. Today in Michigan, though, Fetzer is best known not as a media mogul but as the owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team for almost thirty years beginning in 1956. There are still many people who in their mind’s eye can picture the famous photograph of the man in the business suit laughing uproariously after being dunked in a whirlpool by his players after their 1968 World Series win.

a monistic rather than dualistic cosmology, that is, one that posits that all is one, including God, as opposed to the radical separation of God and the cosmos that forms the basis for the Abrahamic traditions. In such monistic systems, the conception of God shifts from being transcendent and personal to immanent and impersonal, all of which tends to have major effects on the way one relates to the world. Despite Christian domination, there has been a continuous undercurrent of monistic thinking in the West from ancient times to the present. Indeed, in the United States, this current became fully established through a variety of traditions ranging from esoteric Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism to Spiritualism and Theosophy to the more recent spiritual synthesis called the New Age, which is simply one of the latest manifestations in the long history of spiritual monism in the West.

Fetzer’s interest in metaphysical religions began in the 1930s, but, a private man by nature, he was doubly circumspect about his study of these traditions because he was afraid it might jeopardize his business success in religiously conservative western Michigan, heavily influenced as it was by the powerful presence of the Dutch Reformed Church and its offshoots that made this part of the state a hotbed of Evangelical Christian activity.

John E. Fetzer with dorm-room radio station, Emmanuel Missionary College, Berrien Springs, Michigan (ca. 1922) John E. Fetzer as a boy (ca. 1908)

Of Fetzer’s many lives, there is one, however, that is not well known: that of his lifelong spiritual search, which led him from traditional forms of Christianity to an exploration of a variety of metaphysical religions culminating in the New Age. Although something of a misnomer, “metaphysical religion” refers to those traditions based on

And while Fetzer eventually gathered around him a small band of spiritually like-minded people in his hometown of Kalamazoo, discretion in these matters had by then become something of a habit. Even after he created the Fetzer Foundation in the 1970s to express his spiritual vision in service to the world, he was determined not to advertise this fact unduly, especially in his own backyard. Fetzer had a marked ability to compartmentalize

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his professional from his spiritual life, an ability that served him well in his desire for professional respectability. Because of this, however, the details of Fetzer’s spiritual search have not been fully documented until now.

It is for this reason that this book, while touching on aspects of Fetzer’s life in business and baseball, focuses primarily on just one of his many lives: his spiritual life.

to embrace metaphysical monism as the surest way forward to a coherent worldview that was both deeply spiritual and scientifically defensible. As I contend throughout the book, the reconciliation of science and religion was one of the primary goals of Fetzer’s spiritual seeking and one of the primary motivations for the creation of the Fetzer Institute.

Fetzer’s quest for the New Age is made all the more significant because he used his wealth to institutionalize his spiritual vision in the Fetzer Foundation, later renamed the Fetzer Institute. For Fetzer, spirituality was a recognition that all is spirit, which he conceptualized as an eternal, conscious energy that, if one were open to it, would inevitably lead one back to the “great central source,” which some people choose to call God.4 The institute was thus born of Fetzer’s desire to prove the reality of spiritual monism by funding research into the science of spirituality, which was its priority during the last years of Fetzer’s life.5 Fetzer also hoped that the institute would form a tangible and useful legacy of his spiritual search once he was gone. In this last, he was eminently successful, for long after his death in 1991, the Fetzer Institute continues to flourish, funding projects from alternative health care to holistic education to programs seeking to promote love and forgiveness around the globe. All of these activities still reflect John Fetzer’s spiritual vision, even if the connection between that vision and its contemporary manifestations has not always been fully articulated. A major task for this book is, then, to make this connection clear, thus preserving it for the long stretch of the institute’s projected fivehundred-year mission.

Another characteristic of metaphysical religion that many observers have pointed out is its inherent eclecticism, that is, the utter freedom with which its adherents pick and choose elements from discrete metaphysical traditions to craft worldviews of their own. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in John Fetzer’s spiritual search: from the 1930s until his death in 1991, Fetzer continuously evolved his worldview by combining and recombining elements from dozens of metaphysical traditions in a process he called “freedom of the spirit.” Unlike the thousands of Americans who engaged in a similar process, however, Fetzer’s synthesis can be documented step by step, thus providing us with a remarkably rich and detailed roadmap from the Spiritualism and Theosophy of the 1930s all the way to the New Age of the 1980s—and beyond.

Recent polls show that the worldview of the fastest growing demographic in the United States today—those who identify themselves as “spiritual but not religious” (SBNR)—is shot through with an eclectic mixture of metaphysical ideas and themes, and indeed, SBNR can best be described as a hyper individualistic evolution of the metaphysical and New Age movements of which Fetzer was an early pioneer.

Beyond simply documenting the fascinating story of Fetzer’s spiritual journey, which led to the creation of his foundation, I also argue that Fetzer’s quest, for all its distinctiveness, nevertheless mirrored in fundamental ways that of thousands of Americans who sought new ways of thinking and being in the evolving metaphysical movements of the twentieth century. According to the historian J. Stillson Judah, one of the major attractions of metaphysical movements has always been the fact they provide a “practical type of philosophy” that draws from both science and religion, the reconciliation of which has been an abiding theme in the religious history of the United States since the late nineteenth century.

For John Fetzer, trained as a radio engineer but steeped as a young man in the fundamentalist dogmas of Seventh-day Adventism, figuring out how to effect this reconciliation became a burning question that led him 52 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

Fetzer himself was definitely not an SBNR, but he and people like him—those of what might be called the “old New Age”—set the stage for the fluorescence of this new and influential form of metaphysical spirituality that is now swiftly reforming the American religious landscape of the twenty-first century.

Finally, by placing Fetzer’s spiritual development within the broader context of the history of metaphysical religions in the United States, we also learn that his metaphysical interests were not atypical of the Midwest, which, despite conservative “heartland” myths to the contrary, was long a center of metaphysical activity.

For too long, as the historian Philip Jenkins has written, the “distinctiveness of California” in this regard has been “exaggerated” in both the scholarly and popular imagination to the detriment of regions such as the Midwest, which long hosted a thriving metaphysical subculture almost since its settlement.

As I document in detail in this book, when John Fetzer started his spiritual search among the metaphysical movements in the 1930s, he did not have to go far to encounter traditions as diverse as Spiritualism, Theosophy, esoteric Freemasonry, and Hermeticism, either in the flesh at such places as Indiana’s Camp Chesterfield or in the books, magazines, and pamphlets churned out by the thousands by Chicago’s many metaphysical presses.

And this midwestern metaphysical subculture only grew during Fetzer’s lifetime—in 1977, J. Gordon Melton, a historian of new religious movements, observed that there was “a larger psychic/metaphysical/mystical community functioning in Chicago than in either Los Angeles or San Francisco.” Fetzer did frequently reach beyond the Midwest for spiritual resources, but what is remarkable is how much of what he needed he found very close to home in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.

This is not to say, of course, that the metaphysical Midwest was the same as the metaphysical West and that a homogeneous metaphysical subculture pervaded both regions. That this was not the case is well attested by the specific details of Fetzer’s developing worldview. A product of a small-town Hoosier boyhood, Fetzer never shed his midwestern sensibilities, and for this reason, certain heartland themes carried over into his New Age worldview in ways they probably would not have in other regions. These included an enduring pietistic belief in the importance of Jesus; an abiding concern for the integrity of community and the responsible use of wealth; and an unabashed patriotism that saw the American experiment as the herald of a New Age that never quite lost its Christian millennialist tinge. Thus, an exploration of Fetzer’s spiritual search not only highlights the ubiquity of metaphysical currents in the United States but also begins the process of recovering the Midwest’s distinctive metaphysical culture.

John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age is thus both the story of one man’s spiritual search and a window onto the rich and complex history of metaphysical religions in the United States. The historian of American religions Catherine Albanese once wrote that her years of research had convinced her that metaphysical traditions are “a normal, recurring, and pervasive feature of the American spiritual landscape.” The correctness of this assessment can well be judged in the spiritual life of John E. Fetzer and its afterlife in the Fetzer Institute.

x

Brian C. Wilson, PhD, is the author of John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age. He is a professor of American religious history in the Department of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University. To download a FREE CHAPTER of his book and learn more about how John E. Fetzer explored the interconnectedness between science and spirituality, visit www.infinitepotential.com

53 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e August 2018

The Benefits of Showing Kindness – a metaphysical approach

By Katherine Jegede

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In the November 2017 issue of Science of Mind magazine, I share a magically simple method for reaping the benefits of kindness. Based on a deep relaxation, this immensely practical technique can be used by anyone to turn acts of kindness into a tangibly rewarding exercise, one that you can practice as often or as little as you want. As I have so often said, choosing to use your imagination for the good of others (without the need for taking any outward physical action), produces positive outcomes in our own lives.

The exercise shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete, however, I always recommend that anyone new to this type of thing should practice it at least once a day for one week following the step by step instructions. After that,anyone should be independently able to perform all the steps correctly and successfully.

Here’s how: 1. Float. The process of relaxing your entire body.

Make yourself comfortable either by lying flat on a comfortable even surface or sitting in a chair. If you’re lying down, try not to use a dense pillow. Ensure that your neck is properly supported without elevating your head too much.

Use your usual process for achieving deep relaxation.

Then, once relaxed, repeat the phrase “I AM” slowly, over and over again. The words should be treated conceptually and be repeated mentally. Do your best not to sound out the words in your head or to move any of the muscles associated with speech.

After a short while, you will feel yourself detach from your physical surroundings. This is a voluntary dissociative state, one in which you feel that even though you could move, you really don’t want to.

2. Detach. This second step is easy once you get the hang of it and is the state that immediately follows relaxation.

Be on the lookout at this stage, for what we call compressed anxiety. This is a condition described by Neville Goddard and describes the physical state that arises when attempting to focus on something specific while in a meditative state. It is characterized by a feeling of irritation that is at odds with your otherwise relaxed physical condition.

Once you become detached, you’ll feel as if you’re about to fall asleep but will be alert enough to control your thoughts.

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3. Attach. Empty your mind of negative limiting ideas by deciding on one wonderful thing that you desire for a person of your choosing.

In the Science of Mind piece I write that when I first began to experiment with this technique more than a decade ago, I would always choose someone I knew well. This made the experience more real because I was able to mentally hear their voice, or recall their features in detail. (Being persuaded of the realness of your mental activity is highly important).

Perhaps the person you have chosen to bless needs a new job, a new home, better health, more money, or a loving relationship.

Whatever it is, hear them tell you all about it and the way in which their life has changed for the better. It is important to note that you shouldn’t be able to see yourself during this mental action, only the other person. Look into their face and see them

4. Change is taking root. Use any technique for returning from a deep meditation that you like. If you don’t have one, the method outlined below works very well.

Returning to the surface: You can break this meditative state at the end or if you start to feel distressed or anxious during the process. Remaining in a relaxed, comfortable, and happy state throughout the process is crucial. It takes practice, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never forget how it’s done.

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smiling or laughing for joy. Convince yourself that you are hearing their voice as they share their happy news with you.

With each inhalation and exhalation (complete breath), you will feel a pleasurable vibration pass through your entire body, similar to how you might feel when engaged in an intimate embrace, or when you receive wonderful news, or perhaps receive an unexpected happy surprise. This vibration will begin as soon as you start to hear the voice of your friend and will build automatically as long as you remain relaxed and comfortable. Once it reaches a particular level of intensity, you will experience a spontaneous powerful surge of energy which can be a little disconcerting when it first happens. If you don’t reach the point of eruption before coming out of your meditation the first time you try it don’t worry. It takes practice and you will still have derived some benefit from the exercise.

Do this: with your eyes closed, start wiggling your toes while breathing as deeply and evenly as you can through your nose. Next, start moving your fingers along with your toes and at this point open your eyes. Don’t attempt to get up until you feel alert enough to do so!

If you have succeeded in achieving a particularly deep relaxation and find reviving yourself difficult, open your eyes and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth making a soft audible “ahhh” sound.

After a few breaths you will be fully alert.

I lay great emphasis on experimentation because it is the only way (in my view) to engage with and gain from Metaphysical law. A theory is meaningless if it cannot be practically applied and ultimately you cannot reach the truth. And so, I sincerely hope that you’ll be willing to try the technique of sowing seeds of good in the lives of others. I guarantee that if you do, you will experience something wonderful in your own life sooner than you expect.

With each inhalation and exhalation (complete breath), you will feel a pleasurable vibration pass through your entire body, similar to how you might feel when engaged in an intimate embrace, or when you receive wonderful news, or perhaps receive an unexpected happy surprise. This vibration will begin as soon as you start to hear the voice of your friend and will build automatically as long as you remain relaxed and comfortable. Once it reaches a particular level of intensity, you will experience a spontaneous powerful surge of energy which can be a little disconcerting when it first happens. If you don’t reach the point of eruption before coming out of your meditation the first time you try it don’t worry. It takes practice and you will still have derived some benefit from the exercise.

4. Change is taking root. Use any technique for returning from a deep meditation that you like. If you don’t have one, the method outlined below works very well.

Returning to the surface: You can break this meditative state at the end or if you start to feel distressed or anxious during the process. Remaining in a relaxed, comfortable, and happy state throughout the process is crucial. It takes practice, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never forget how it’s done.

Do this: with your eyes closed, start wiggling your toes while breathing as deeply and evenly as you can through your nose. Next, start moving your fingers along with your toes and at this point open your eyes. Don’t attempt to get up until you feel alert enough to do so!

If you have succeeded in achieving a particularly deep relaxation and find reviving yourself difficult, open your eyes and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth making a soft audible “ahhh” sound.

After a few breaths you will be fully alert.

I lay great emphasis on experimentation because it is the only way (in my view) to engage with and gain from Metaphysical law. A theory is meaningless if it cannot be practically applied and ultimately you cannot reach the truth. And so, I sincerely hope that you’ll be willing to

try the technique of sowing seeds of good in the lives of others. I guarantee that if you do, you will experience something wonderful in your own life sooner than you expect.

If you have succeeded in achieving a particularly deep relaxation and find reviving yourself difficult, open your eyes and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth making a soft audible “ahhh” sound. After a few breaths you will be fully alert.

Kate Jegede is a British television presenter and author with a background in science. She was first introduced to metaphysics as a teenager by her mother, a former yoga teacher and education specialist.

She developed a penetrating and enduring fondness for the self-empowering teachings of Neville Goddard, and remains just as steadfastly devoted to spreading his message today.

After completing her studies, Kate moved to Switzerland to work at the World Health Organization, developing educational resources for rural communities in Sub-Saharan African. In addition to her academic science career, Kate has worked with the BBC Science Unit and BBC Radio Oxford, and served as news editor of the international journal Africa Health, for whom she has conducted research trips, helping set up a learning resources and study center at one of Nigeria's forefront teaching hospitals. She has been published in the internationally acclaimed science journal, Nature.

Kate has also presented two science series aimed at young adults for Channel 4 in the UK, earning a BAFTA nomination. Her new book Infinite Possibility will be published by Tarcher in June 2018.

She lives in London.

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WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT

Deborah Zara Kobylt An Award Winning Journalist

Deborah Zara Kobylt is a journalist best known for her work as a correspondent on CNN and as a reporter for Fox 11 Los Angeles. She is currently hosting a popular live-streaming video podcast, Deborah Kobylt LIVE. The show records at infamous Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood.

Deborah was born in New Jersey to a lively Italian family.

She began her career in The Garden State at WMGMTV, where she covered everything from Cher to The Miss America Pagent, headlining comics like Dennis Miller and many political figures, one who is currently President of the United States. Atlantic City Magazine called her, “The girl with the Coppertone tan and Cover-girl eyes, with the grit and talent of Diane Sawyer.�

Deborah worked as a reporter for Fox-11 Los Angeles, covering the famous O.J. Simpson case and the Rodney King trial. As a corespondent for CNN Los Angeles, Deborah covered the Oscars, entertainment news and movie premieres along with the news of the day. It was fascinating.

She was asked to participate in the NoH8 Campaign among a sea of celebrities who give back and support rights for all individuals.

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Deborah has three sons and is married to the L.A.’s #1 Radio Talk Host, John Kobylt. After her third son was born, she decided to take a break from network news and focus on raising her children. When she decided to step back into work, she decided her new venture would be podcasting, reaching viewers and listeners around the world. She found the freedom to be “unfiltered” to be explicating from the pace of Network News. She launched the successful “Deborah Kobylt LIVE” video podcast seen on Facebook.

YouTube, Instagram, and heard on iHeartRadio, Applepodcasts, and on her website, DeborahKobylt.com.

Deborah Kobylt LIVE tells stories of people who have made a difference in life. Her subjects include authors, athletes, models, politicians and anyone of interest with a compelling story to share.

Deborah also has a successful media training business, focusing on video and audio interviews as well as public speaking. Deborah is also a frequent panelist on news and entertainment shows, most recently appearing on “The Issue Is:” on Fox-11 Los Angeles. As an aside, she has appeared in films such as, The Nightmare on Elm St. series, “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.”

Deborah with her husband John Kobyly

Deborah comes from humble beginnings and is proud of her Italian heritage.

Her dad, Tony Zara, worked at Tropicana Orange Juice and her mom, Edith, was a stay at home mom who often cleaned houses and waitressed for extra money.

As a kid, Deborah always asked “why” about everything. That question led her to a career as a journalist, where she has interviewed everyone from astronauts to U.S. presidents to major celebrities.

Asked what is her favorite assignment, Deborah said she likes to tell people’s backstories. Everyone has a backstory and how that backstory shaped who they are today.

Deborah loves to walk, hike, bike, and completed the Los Angeles AND New York marathons in 2017 to which she is VERY proud. As a kid she was a competitive ice skater and swimmer. She and her family love travel and have seen many corners of the world. Their favorite is

adventure travel.

Deborah also loves beaches, boating, kayaking and all things water. Most recently, Deborah has started doing stand up comedy in Los Angeles, telling stories about her eclectic life. She was a hit and has been asked back to entertain the crowd!

Her passions include telling stories about people who give back, are philanthropic and never give up. She dedicated her time and philanthropic efforts to Ava’s Heart, Stop Poaching Now, and Children’s Hospital. Deborah says we can all learn from each other. Kindness is free. Animals deserve peace, too. We’re in the journey called life together.

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100

Practices For Great

Relationships

How to grow a great one

By Linda and Charlie Bloom

When my husband Charlie and I conducted our study, Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Truths from Real Couples about Lasting Love, these are the practices that respondents told us had held them in good sted to grow their exemplary relationships.

www.nur.kz

As you read through the list, assess your own strengths and growing edge. Congratulate yourself for the areas where you shine.

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This list will assist you in identifying where your work is still required to become eligible for a great relationship.

1. Cultivating vision by asking yourself, “What available? What’s possible here?

2. Risking by growing courage and assertiveness 3. Showing up for what's happening 4. Accepting/Letting Go/Surrender to what is 5. Staying on top of incompletions 6. Being able to change channels is flexibility 7. Being able to distinguish truth from imagination 8. Letting go of guilt and see its source 9. Allowing yourself to receive and be supported: Being a gracious receiver 10.Creating a community of support by accepting physical and emotional support and connection 11. Practicing gratitude, especially when you’re resentful or feeling self-pity 12. Practicing compassion for yourself and others when there is mistreatment or unkindness 13. Being open and vulnerable 14. Having trusting relationships with others who can see what you can't 15. Telling the truth 16. Refusing to lie and refusing to lie to yourself 17. Practicing patience when we are tired of waiting 18. Regularly checking in with yourself and with your partner 19. Setting boundaries and stopping before you get to your limit 20. Not withholding love 21. Willingness to feel the pain 22. Creating a close primary relationship through giving and loving abundantly 23. Living with authenticity 24. Willingness to feel 25. Letting others know how you feel 26. Acknowledging vulnerability, fears, needs, and desires 27. Dis-identifying with the ego/body 28. Taking solace and comfort wherever you find it 29. Creating work that you love and that heals you as you do it 30. Being involved with your kids' friends 31. Outgrowing the need for others' approval 32. Not taking on others' projections 33. Practicing acceptance of the little pains and losses 34. Using all experiences in life to deepen spiritual practice 35. Staying current and complete with everyone in your life, all the time

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Photo by Said Mhamod

36. Trusting the truth of your experience 37. Refusing to accept a victim identity 38. Taking responsibility for everything in your life 39. Refusing to engage in blame of self or others 40. Staying away from bad therapists 41. Staying out of the mainstream 42. Making a big space for the dark shadow, to include your craziness, weakness, helplessness, vulnerability, hatred, ignorance, and prejudice 43. Taking care of your body 44. Cultivating self-love and self-acceptance 45. Practicing humility 46. Knowing how to replenish and refuel and do it!

47. Trusting your body not your mind 48. Knowing what feels right and going after it 49. Continuing to give no matter what 50. Working if you can; if you can't, don't 51. Doing whatever it takes to get you through the night 52. Practicing generosity of spirit 53. Finding something to be grateful for always 54. Accepting love from others even if you doubt you are worthy or deserving 55. Avoiding comparisons 56. Reducing attachments to preferences 57. Finding the teachings and blessings in everything 58. Saying "yes" to everything life brings you 59. Living in such a way as to be worthy of trust and respect 60. Participating fully in grief-work 61. Experiencing feelings and emotions, expressing, ac knowledging feelings through journaling, groupwork, therapy, and looking for opportunities to communicate feelings 62. Living with mindfulness, presence, meditation 63. Finding your courage, risk challenging yourself and pressing the edge 64. Going outside of your comfort zone 65. Asking for help, requesting support 66. Containing or holding feelings (this is not repressing or suppressing them) 67. Expressing spontaneously 68 Checking in with self and other 69. Checking your intention, stating intention 70. Taking down-time or soul-time 71. Living a life of service, contribution, volunteerism, generosity, giving 72. Committing to compassionate self-care 73. Drawing boundaries

74. Saying “no” without explanation, justification, rationalization or excuses 75. Uncovering and recognizing the fear 76. Making requests 77. Only making agreements you are committed to keeping 78. Going on a “should" fast 79. Checking in and only doing what you can do with out feeling obligated 80. Doing only what you want to do, rather than acting from a sense of duty or obligation. If there isn’t a desire, don’t do it 81. Playing. Doing activities for no reason other than they provide fun or pleasure 82. Looking at your motives and intentions with keen self-examination 83. Witnessing in the state of non-judging awareness 84. Allowing yourself solitude 85. Spending time in nature 86. Forgiving when you’ve been wronged or wronged another. Forgiving everyone 87. Breathing consciously 88. Identifying and cultivating and strengthening talents 89. Setting goals. What do you want to experience?

How often?

90. Slowing down and examining the fear of slowing down 91. Holding the tension of the opposites 92. Withholding opinions, advice, and philosophy unless it is solicited 93. Taking time outs such as, “I need a moment to think about that.”

94. Declining requests and invitations 95. Finding and honoring your own pace and rhythm, rather than going along with others 96. Practicing non-judgment by going on a "blame" fast . This will prompt learning to distinguish the “judge” from your authentic self 97. Building strength, both physical and intellectual 98. Discovering the gold in the shadow and befriend it rather than resist it 99. Looking for the growth opportunity in each breakdown (A breakdown is any situation, which involves a disap pointment in expectations of self or others or circum stances. Seeing it as a means of strengthening specific character traits.)

100. Becoming a better/more loving/stronger/ more whole person.

2 Married since 1972, Linda and Charlie Bloom have been working with groups, individuals, couples and organizations to enhance the quality of their relationships and communication skills since 1975. They both have Master’s degrees in Clinical Social Work and have lectured, led seminars and provided consultation at universities and learning institutes throughout the United States as well as internationally. They have written and published three books, Happily Ever After…and 39 Other Myths about Love: Breaking Through to the Relationship of Your Dreams, 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married: Simple Lessons to Make Love Last, Secrets of Great Marriages: Real Stories from Real Couples about Lasting Love, and That Which Doesn’t Kill Us: How One Couple Became Stronger in the Broken Places.

Their organization, Bloomwork is dedicated to promoting healthy, fulfilling, and successful relationships for individuals, couples and organizations. They have served as psychotherapists, marriage counselors, consultants and seminar leaders since 1975. In addition to their academic and professional training, the Blooms’ expertise in the field of relationships stems from experience in the crucible of their own committed partnership of over 45 years.

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Message from the Goddess Mother

JOURNEY TO THE HEART

By Jan Diana

My Beloved Children of Heart, “Greetings! I welcome you to our heart, our loving presence of oneness, serenity, peace and joy. Yes My Beloveds, this is our heart, our home within our heart.

As you reflect upon these words, may you feel your countenance become lighter, bringing you a sense of simplicity and completeness. The connections you are making through these words and focus will set the intention of our message today.

May peace abide with you now and always as you center yourself within the loving arms of your heart. Through your heart, you connect to the One heart, our sacred heart of one, our home.

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This is a good place to be as we commune together this day and always. It is a place that you can easily bring your focus to res, free of what may be distractions to your peaceful joyful nature.

One of the most simple ways to rest yourself within your heart is to bring to mind a joyful experience. As you relive the feelings of joy, this moves you into your heart.

Another way is through meditative practice. There are many forms of meditation. You may find one that you enjoy and are comfortable with.

You may also place your hand on your heart, breathing in a relaxed manner to your heart. Then just allow your mind to settle into the focus of heart.

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Today I will teach you another way that will be very useful for you in the days ahead. It is simple yet has profound possibilities for your personal expansion.

This meditative experience has taken you into the realms of the heart. The heart knows all truth and is a place to be in serenity, peace and joy.

Find yourself in a quiet place to be. Take a moment to focus on your breath. Take your breaths, breathing into your heart, very relaxed, very peaceful.

It is a place that reminds you of your divine nature, your authentic self. It is your place of connection to your home, our home.

Feel into the flowing energy of your breath. As you do this allow yourself to imagine being on a beautiful ship. It can be a sailboat or a ship like the ancients of Egypt floated upon the Nile many years ago. Whatever you picture is perfect.

You may use this practice whenever you desire to connect to your heart, your higher consciousness and soul. It is a tool that can be used to help with discernment of truth offering greater clarity.

Now as you are in your ship, see the waters you are floating upon as beautiful sparkling golden waters.

With each of your breaths, feel yourself floating ever so smoothly on this glorious golden river of light.

Now that you are floating peacefully, look ahead to what is before you. See a beautiful golden gateway.

As you come closer and closer to the gateway your heart feels greater joy. You have a sense of awareness as to what is about to happen as it feels very familiar to you.

Continue to breathe in a steady easy flow. Your ship moves in grace towards that golden gateway. As you become closer, you feel great joy and excitement about what lies ahead.

Now you may choose to move through the gateway.

Ponder for a moment. Will this bring me greater joy and peace? As you feel into the answer, you will know it by feeling a sense of peace that the answer is an affirmative.

You may then choose to pass through this gateway.

Know that you are allowing yourself to accept whatever gifts and blessings you are ready to receive which are being offered to you in this moment.

See yourself upon your beautiful ship moving through the gateway of golden light. Now breathe in the gifts and blessings by allowing your heart to be open to receive.

Take a moment to ponder on the gifts you are receiving for there are many. You have called these forth to assist you at this time on your life journey.

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As we move through the days ahead, many opportunities will present for you to easily find the lighter pathways. As you connect to your heart, you will find it becomes easier to more clearly know and see the pathways of ease, grace, joy and lightness.

There are many pathways and many gateways ahead.

Your ship will assist you to ride through the golden waters leading you to fulfil your destiny.

Remember always to listen to your heart. It will only offer you wisdom within the state of peace and joy.

There is no fear within the heart for it is only filled with the energy of unity, oneness and the divine love that just is truth.

Now is the time to be searching them out so that you will fulfill all that your heart desires.

You have only to be open and follow the guidance of your heart.

FREE CLASS: As a Gift I am offering you a Free Tele- Class, “Remember Who you are”.

-Restore pathways to remembering the truth of yourself using the tools of SVH, a prayer modality that can shift the old stories, old beliefs and perceptions that are not relevant to your truth.

-Receive tools that you can utilize in your life to further free yourself from the veils of forgetting -Take a journey to meet your true self and receive a priceless gift You will leave this class filled a greater vision of yourself and what is now possible for you.

This class is a great joy bringer!

Many blessings of heart be upon you My Beloveds.

May you hear and know the song of your heart as it gently guides you to remembering your sweet self, that beautiful loving essence of purity and love. Shamon,”

Note: Register by subscribing by email at: http://www.jandiana.com (if the time is not convenient, register to receive the recording when available)

Use this tool as desired My Beloveds. It will bless you greatly in the days ahead.

Seek out other tools of mastery. You have laid them out in your plan you made before your incarnation.

With great love, Your Beloved Mother

2 Jan Diana is an intuitive healer, spiritual teacher, and master practitioner.

Her mission is to assist clients & students in creating harmony, balance, heightened levels of clarity, develop innate gifts & abilities, empowering them on their personal evolution to create the dreams of their heart.

She utilizes several modalities including SVH L3M, Animal healing, GHM, Language of love, Reiki Master, and more.

Free meditation journeys, articles, & classes. http://www.jandiana.com Sessions and Classes by phone. You can reach her at website http://www.jandiana.com or by email sunsinyourheart@aol.com.

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LANGUAGE OF SPACE

RAIN IS

THE COLLECTIVE

KARMA FALLING DOWN ON US ALL

By Michael White Ryan

In past issues, I have stayed as close as possible to a single subject, even though my partner and those of you who follow my articles, may laughingly disagree.

This seemingly innocent yet powerful title suggests. We as an individual, we as collective individuals, from past centuries of generations, have blindly dealt to ourselves, a karmic hand to unknowingly govern our presence and futures. This could well be, the horror story of an evolving consciousness!!!

One of our silent struggles appears as, we are constantly emulating or at best, trying to be replicas of those persons we look up to as heroes, whom ever they may be.

There are those marvel heroes, not of this world, who have powers we may desire. Then there are the made up physical humans, and so on. Next the real mccoy, those who manifest here in the earthly plane as influencers/ motivators.

Black and white definitely exists, yet good and bad

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is nothing more than a figment of our imagination.

What’s most alarming is, these concepts become our foundation, “the well of motives” the source of all actions, behaviors and personal beliefs. There is a belief that change is the most constant thing in life, but it’s not. Why on earth would we believe such a thing, when most are afraid of change, makes no sense.

The most constant in life is FLOW!!!

It represents, that which is never ending, a continuous flow of all there is. Flow is made up of the Five Earthly Elements existing in all cultures under various names, architypes and symbols. At one end of the spectrum no flow produces a recession/stagnation. At the other extreme, everything appears unstoppable (waiting for the Bubble to burst). When in neutral, nothing much changes. As a nation we love drowning in stories. And yet we seem to have lost that “once upon a time” feeling that brought/brings wonder/magic into our beingness.

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Making the world a better place, doing good for another, paying it forward, are all actions of flow. These are formidable actions/intentions. We are grasping the idea, we, collective and individual alike, are participating/living as a singular breathing organ.

As all was, and is created equal, each country functions as a representation of each different organ, that mirrors each aspect of our human body. Commonly referred to as, “the birth of a nation”, each culture represents various cells in their different phase of mitosis. Nothing exists, that is separate from this living organism.

Travel (flow), has crosspollinated the various cultures for the sake of survival. Individual man acts from a trinity (3 is a living number) fight or flight or free-will. As does this planet!!! War is a function, nothing more than an immune system seeking survival, as is a disease functioning for survival, from a state imbalance. Neither group have any idea of actuality, due to the inability of flow (change) to exert pressure on fixed prehistoric foundational beliefs (traditions).

I don’t have the time to enter into these ideas in depth.

There are those who see, and those who recognize a lunatic.

In time, the inevitable shall descend upon us and the light of dawn will enter every cell of humanity. Awaken I say, for every man and woman, every living creature shall unbecome their beingness and ascend, not into the light at the end of the dark tunnel, for that is where we are living now.

What goes around comes around. The universes flow of actions and behaviors (repetitive patterns/seasons/nature) moves in loud or soft audible languages. Flow also stands in audible stillness, as a silent roar sweeping across the lands.

All collective human thoughts, actions, behaviors being also a state of varying audible energy frequencies, sweeps across all lands as fodder for the masses.

Science states, all energy is indestructible and hence has to go somewhere. Oh, where can it be hiding? As I have mentioned in previous articles, there is no function on this planet that is any different from any other function, no matter the person, place or country. Plant that seed in your noggin and see what you come up with? As I was saying, all energies have only one choice, join and be part of the collective whole.

We also have only one choice with a slight difference, as ours is a free-will to join or separate, either way we are

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still the collective whole. Unfortunately, ignorance/arrogance/innocence and functioning as a follower/adapter has allowed the love/hate/war mindsets, actions, behaviors, traditions to become the collective whole. Thus, we have made our surrounding human universe. Hence the inevitable consequences we find ourselves standing in today.

Unlike the past when the rains cleansed mankind, now when the rains fall to wash away the blemishes committed upon this earth and upon mankind, this 21st century human, finds him/herself standing in acid rain made of his/ her individual/collective, actions/mindset/behaviors.

Are we capable of cleansing our past patterns? Unfortunately, it’s an unknown within todays chaos? Are we capable, absolutely, there is no doubt in my mind we, individually and collectively are willingly capable of all such endeavors!! blessings one and all.

t Michael White Ryan is a co-founder with his wife Pamela Edwards of Language of Space.

They are leaders in sustainable business growth via Performance Design and Performance Code.

Sustainable design encompasses both Western and Eastern philosophies including advanced Feng Shui principles, Environmental Design, Buildings, Alternative Health, Business Advisory Consultants and 20 plus years as entrepreneurs. Recognized in the top 100 globally and are Americas Leading Feng Shui Business Consultants.

They are on faculty at CEO Space International one of the oldest business organizations in America today, currently operate in 7 countries and reside in Carlsbad CA.. www.languageofspace.com

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Photo by Katerina Plotnikova Photography

The

By Jayita Bhattacharjee

Grace overflows with thankfulness for being given, the time to behold God’s signature imprinted on this Earth. That is the blossoming of grace with humility in our hearts. It is the unspoken gratitude, the appreciation welling within at receiving kindness. When the seed of enlightenment sprouts in our souls, grace shines in the light of divinity. An awakened soul ushers the first rays of thankfulness and with it streams the eternal brook of grace from a soul, along the shorelines of this universe. The fragrance of humility ushers in the dawn of grace. When new light floods in and the universe lights up with grace and gratitude, this is the sacred space where the Light of Grace with its Holiness shines in its sanctuary. As all the sentient beings on this earth receive the miraculous creations with gratitude at heart, the awe-inspiring gifts from heaven above. And in this thankful receiving, streams grace from the deepest depths of our souls.

To welcome the golden sunrise and the blushing sunset, every day of your life--this is grace and gratitude springing from within. This is the beauty engraved in a timeless, priceless bestowal of God, enfolded in the layers of our souls.

Rain is also a grace falling from the sky that is laden with love. And grace lies in receiving those much-needed waters to soak these arid plains of weeping souls. This is the moment when the sky is descending on earth, and grace lies in welcoming this rainfall with a heart laden with thankfulness.

Grace comes with the breaking of your pain, cracking the shell that you curl in, so light can push its way, and bring you to face a heavenly dawn, in a light that you never imagined that it could flood you in, while you were plunged in the sea of grief. Now your soul can stand in the sun, even though the winters of your agony want to wither you, but you found the sunrise in your soul. Not that sunlight never fell on this earth, not that the flowers never emitted their fragrance, but that you failed to glimpse that falling light of sun, you failed to smell the flower in bloom, as you were too deep in your sea of grief. Your suffering brought this kneeling humility in you, the grace that can add beauty, the nobility that can add richness, the empathy that can add understanding, and you endured the hardness of this grief with serenity to bear all that is unbearable.

As you believe in the ultimate grace and tenderness of an unseen hand, a hand from Beyond, as you are immersed in the faith of that invisible boundless, formless divine, that shows your grace and gratitude in being thankful for the rising of light every day of your life, for waking up every new morn, for it is the divine in you that is humble to the divine signatures on this universe.

Even as the winters of your heart passed away, the grace that fell from the sky of divinity, the love that fell from your humble heart---all birthed into a beauteous grace---unfailing, undying, but perennially adding its beauty to a soul, that needed an in-depth understanding of life. Your worst times are never so worse that you are beyond the reach of a divine grace and your spring times are never so green, that you are never in need of that divine grace. At all times, at all moments of life, you are within the reach and the need of that invisible divine grace that falls upon you, in light and darkness. The thankfulness in appreciating all these wonders of universe---that is grace flowing in us.

Grace is a way of living life with humility and appreciation for all that we have been gifted with. While you wander in search of your own awakening, in the quest of your own enlightenment---a new light whispered all this time you walked asleep as you existed, but never lived. It is only in the breaking of your pain---in the cracking of your suffering, that grace emerges so beautifully in your soul. Your awakening rises as you live with grace in your everyday life.

Life may not go in a straight line, but it is how you accept it, how you show your tolerance, how you choose to live with the blessings and lessons of life, that flows you with grace. While grace never springs from suffering, but always flows in humility in all phases of life. And grace is always companioned with humility.

Grace shows itself through, even into the caves of dark-

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ness, where intellect cannot reach but the wisdom of our souls can, as it always walks with the light of grace. It is this light that enters inside our darkest caves. Grace is in understanding others suffering that is spilling out. Grace lies in extending a compassionate understanding to their struggles. Grace comes into our hearts for others, as the dawn comes with a breaking light, that forgives the last night’s darkness and still pierces the night, so we can see by that light. And then comes the morning with its bursting brilliance of gold. That is God coming through yesterday’s darkness. Grace is in giving with a grateful heart, and gratitude is something we learn as we walk by the light of God. Grace is our spiritual bread, the one that we so yearn from divine, and while we choose to hunger for it, we ourselves need to live daily with grace and gratitude.

t Jayita Bhattacharjee....born in Calcutta, India and later on pursued education from University of Houston in Economics, she had chosen her career as a trustee and teacher.

Her Indian residence is in the vicinity of the famous Belurmath. Currently, she is settled in Tampa, Florida.

Her love for writing on a journey of heart and soul was hidden all within. Looking at the moments captured in love and pain, joy and grief, the hidden tragedies of life... it was a calling of her soul to write with the ink that kept flowing from her heart. This is what gave her the fulfillment, the richness in her soul.

Her books "The Ecstatic Dance of Life', " Sacred Sanctuary", " Light of Consciousness", "Dewdrops of Compassion" are meant to shed light on what guides a person to respond to the mystical voice hidden inside, to soar in a boundless expansion with the limitless freedom of spirit.

"It is in the deepest joy that I write with every breath of mine."

Be Mindful, Be Heartful, Be Empowered

Roxana Jones Arnaud Saint-Paul

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LOS ANGELES

12

th

GREEK FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2018 ORPHEUS AWARD WINNERS The Eden Magazine family would like to express our ccondolences to our friends in Greece for the devestating tragedy of the Wildfire.

We were pleased to be able to cover The 12th Los Angeles Greek Film Festival 2018 Orpheus Award Winners.

The 12th Annual Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF) came to a close on Sunday, June 10, with a Red Carpet extravaganza. The Closing Night feature film “Perfect Strangers” preceded the star-studded Orpheus Awards Ceremony, followed by a Greek feast under the Hollywood stars at the Egyptian courtyard. This year’s Honoree George Chakiris, (Best Supporting Actor of “West Side Story”) was presented his Award by close friend, actress Rita Moreno.

“Orpheus Awards” were given to the most outstanding new films in the dramatic, documentary and short film category.

The theme of this year’s “Orpheus Awards” is “The Academy of Greeks”, paying tribute to Greek artists who have received an Academy Award or Oscar Nomination since 1935.

“This has been a very successful festival in many important areas for the future of this organization,” explains Aristotle Katopodis, Artistic & Festival Director. “We give special thanks to all the talented filmmakers as well as our entertainment on Closing Night; comedian ANT, musicians Dimitris Mann, Taso Comanescu and Alexis Cohen, and Emcee Chuck Dukas.

The five day Festival celebrated the best of new films from Greek filmmakers worldwide and promotes Greek cinema and cultural exchange while bridging the gap between the filmmakers and Hollywood. This year, a record number of film submissions (over 175) were received ranging in subjects from immigration and economy collapse to documentaries about the beauty and history of Greece.

Festival Sponsors, Patrons and Contributors: The Greek National Tourist Organization (GNTO), Aegean Entertainment & The Metropoulos Family, The Onassis Foundation USA, G.P. Kolovos & Associates, Earth Friendly Products (the maker of ECOS), West Coast, Good Greek Grill, Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), CINEMAX, and Marcus & Millichap, Jim Gianopulos, ReedSmith, and the Elios Charitable Foundation.

to the promotion of European Cinema in America.

Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (Balkan Cultural Center) is supported in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Special thanks go to ELMA, an organization dedicated

Media Sponsors: The National Herald, L.A. Hellenic Radio Station, The Greek Reporter, COSMOS FM – Hellenic Public Radio, The Pappas Post, VasGeo Media Corp., KPFK 90.7 FM, and ERT.

Special Mention: Georgos Wines, Restaurant Republic Catering, Bakersland, Petros Hellenic Cuisine, Pietris Bakery, Starbucks, Getty Villa, Icelandic Glacial, Digital Film Studios, SIMPLE DCP, Astro Burgers, Puritan Bakery, BlĂźm Beverages, Kosas Cosmetics, Korres USA, Dr. Theo Kousouli, and Pylos Poems.

Orpheus Awards Winners Best Fiction Feature Film: Polyxeni

by Dora Masclavanou Best Feature Directing: Thodoris Atheridis for Perfect Strangers Best Performance: Katia Goulioni in Polyxeni Best Documentary: Dolphin Man

by Lefteris Charitos Documentary Honorable Mention: Golden Dawn Girls by Håvard Bustnes Special Jury Award: 1968 by Tassos Boulmetis Best Short Film: Goldfish ​by Yorgos Angelopoulos The esteemed Jury Panel were Aliki Theofilopoulos, Christian Stephen, Jennifer Bertling, Beve Regas, Valorie Massalas, Thaao Penghlis, Vanessa Newell, Glenn Gebhard and Alexander Koht.

Orpheus Awards Winners (International Project Discovery Forum is the industry program of the Festival) PDF Honorable Mention Two Raccoons Writer\Director: Nasos Gatzoulis IPDF MFI Scholarship Prometheus Writer/Director: Yorgos Fourtounis IPDF AEGEAN AWARD BALAUR Writer/Director: Octav Chelaru Producer: Radu Stancu IPDF Jurors, From the American Cinemateque Gwen Deglise, Publicist Tatiana Detlofson, Producers Thanassis Karathanos and Josh Mandel, from Film Independent's Global Media Makers program Shari Page.

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Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. ~Mother Teresa