MARCH 2022
EDEN T H E
MAGAZINE
MIND OVER MATTER By Kathleen Trotter
JO-ANNE MCARTHUR
Animal photojournalist and Founder & President of We Animals Media
UNIVERSAL SPIRITUAL LAWS By Ronald L. Cole M.D.
5th
DIMENSION BODY, HEALTHY NUTRITIONAL PRACTICE
By Kimberly Meredith
e t o N s ' r o Edit Welcome to our March issue,
Every issue of The Eden Magazine is very dear to my heart. The March issue, especially, has a significant impact on me for many reasons, starting with the fact that I'm a longtime animal rights activist. In looking at all the incredible photos captured by award-winning photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, I couldn't help but feel the trauma inflicted on all the animals she witnessed through the lens of her camera. On Valentine's Day, I lost my last rescue cat after having had him with me for the past 18 years. We are never prepared to say goodbye to the animals we love, but thankfully the memories we have will help heal the process of losing them. Yet knowing there are animals in shelters, farm factories, zoos, and laboratories, it's heartbreaking that these animals will never get a chance to be as loved as my little Nicholas was. When you read Jo-Anne McArthur's interview, please find a way to do your part to make a difference. No animal belongs in a cage, zoo, or laboratory and should never be used for entertainment. If we live a more conscious life, no calf shall ever be separated from its mother, just like no infant should ever be stripped from its mother. Together, I know we can do more to create a better world for all living beings. Please enjoy our March issue.
Maryam Morrison
2 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
The Eden Magazine
@The Eden Magazine
Photo by Jess Bailey
@The Eden Magazine
3 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e May 2021
DINA MORRONE
Maryam Morrison
4 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
JOE SANTOS, JR.
SASHA GARY
EDWARD HAKOPIAN
ALEXIA MELOCCHI
ARTIN MARDIROSIAN
ANGELA DUNNING
ZEE
SHERI DETERMAN
VITO TROTTA
PHYLLIS KING
GREG DOHERTY
SHERRI CORTLAND
GRETA PAZZAGLIA
ISABELLE RUEN
NANCY E. YEAROUT
MEET OUR TEAM
Photo by ISABELLE RUEN
Discover the path to a peaceful life among other living beings. We are all made of vibration and light in the universe to manifest our energy around all livingness.
EDEN T H E
MAGAZINE
Since 2010
The Eden Magazine is a free online publication focuses on spreading compassion to all Sentient Beings living in a healing and peaceful world FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MARYAM MORRISON EXECUTIVE EDITOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER DINA MORRONE COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER ALEXIA MELOCCHI CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ZEE SASHA GARY VITO TROTTA PHYLLIS KING JOE SANTOS, JR. ANGELA DUNNING NANCY E. YEAROUT SHERRI CORTLAND JAYITA BHATTACHARJEE CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST EDWARD HAKOPIAN GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY GREG DOHERTY ISABELLE RUEN SHERI DETERMAN ARTIN MARDIROSIAN (Nexision) GRETA PAZZAGLIA WEBSITE www.theedenmagazine.com 325 N. Maple Dr. Po Box 5132 Beverly Hills, CA 90209
To purchase a copy visit us in www.theedenmagazine.com
Eden Magazine is a non-profit monthly online magazine. We aim to create a better environment where we live among other living beings in peace and harmony. We support artists that their work matches 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 The Eden Magazine reviews article content for accuracy before the date of publication. The views expressed in the articles reflect the author(s) opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher and editor. The published material, adverts, editorials, and all other content is published in good faith. 5 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Table of Contents 10
JO-ANN MCARTHUR By Dina Morrone
20
34
OF MOUSY AND ELEPHANTINE CYCLES, MANAGING THE CLIMATE CRISISR AFTER GLASGOW COP26 ByDr. Rob Moir
22
SPIRIT GUIDE By Erica M. Elliott, M.D.
26
20
MIND OVE MATTER By Kathleen Trotter, MSC, CSN,
34
36
WHAT WOULD LOVE SAY? By Elisa Romeo, MFT,
36
AN INTERVIEW WITH IFAW ABOUT TIGER QUEEN & BIG CATS IN THE U.S.
42
UNIVERSAL SPIRITUAL LAWS By Ronald L. Cole M.D.
46
46
HOW TO START 2022 WITH A HEALTHY MINDSET & A HEALTHY BODY By Robert Kiltz
54
5TH DIMENSION BODY, HEALTHY NUTRITIONAL PRACTICE By Kimberly Meredith
56
EXCUSE WHO? By Joe Santos Jr.
26
6 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM eMARCH 2022
54
Cover by KYLE BEHREND
Jo-Anne McArthur with Patrick, a rescued goat at Farm Sanctuary
Life is Essential, Feel it 68
PAST LIFE REVELATIONS By Sherri Cortland
76
68
THE TRUE SELF IS BUILT ON MOMENTS OF AUTHENTICITY By Angela Dunning
82
IN THE FACE OF ALL THINGS UNKNOWN By Shilp Nanda LLB, LLM
86
ONE LIFE ANSWER I KNOW FOR SURE By Phyllis King
92
76
HOW HOPE HELPED ME FACE CANCER TWICE & THRIVE By Mike Armstrong
96
THE PRATICLE DIRECTION & OTHER THINGS By ZEE
100
RISING SEAS THREATEN TO WIPE OUT AFRICAN COASTAL HERITAGE SITES By Shawn Smilie
82 86
96
104
100
SPRING WILL BRING YOU JOY By Nancy E. Yearout
104
7 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
"Clean water, the essence of life and a birthright for everyone, must become available to all people now"
Photo by SILA BAISCH
~Jean-Michel Cousteau
8 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e Seprtember 2021
Photo by Josée Van Wissen
J
O-ANNE McArthur By Dina Morrone
J
o-Anne McArthur, the founder, president of We Animals Media (WAM) and Animal Right Activist shares her story as a renowned animal photojournalist; behind the closed door and horrors animals experience.
“It’s a very exciting time to be working in the growing field of animal photojournalism. The thousands of visuals we provide are critical contributions to animal stories at this time in history. We Animals Media helps advance important conversations in media, classrooms, law, science, and policy. There’s nowhere I’d rather be working.”
11 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Growing up in Ottawa, Canada, was there someone who guided and encouraged you to follow your current career path? It was the openness and influence of my first photography teacher, Lorraine Gilbert. I think she was so supportive because my passion was evident. At this moment, as I reflect, I'm reminded of what an enormous responsibility it is to be a teacher. Ms. Gilbert encouraged my love of photojournalism and my ideas about what I could do with it and how it could include animal stories. That was about 25 years ago, and much has changed since my scrappy early days. Now I run a non-profit photo agency whose mission is to tell the stories of animals, and, incredibly, Ms. Gilbert is a monthly donor! As we often associate PTSD with military members, you mentioned that in 2010 you were diagnosed with PTSD. Was there one significant event that triggered this? It developed because I was immersed in investigative work at factory farms. I remember waking up one morning, and the first visual to crystalize in my sleepy brain was that of a pig in a gestation crate. I could see I was slipping from a naturally happy person into some shadow. I told myself that's not where I want to live. I sought therapy and, to this day, continue to build coping mechanisms for the horrific cruelty I see. It's so hard because I am not helping the animals I meet. I'm contributing to the end of suffering through public and political change. But I leave those animals behind. It's sad, frustrating, and haunting. I don't contribute to their predicament personally because I'm vegan, but I am part of the species that perpetuates the violence.
Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
With so many organizations working to preserve and protect the world's animals and you working with many organizations, why do you think we have such a hard time changing the mindset of our fellow beings? Of the philanthropic donations in the US, only 5% are given to environmental and animal causes. While there are a growing number of animal advocacy organizations, they have so little funding! We need billions in funding to be diverted away from less pressing causes, at least for now. People are slow to change because the status quo is comfortable for some, and we see change as a threat. For example, when challenged to think about giving up eating animals, most people become defensive, thinking it could threaten one's tradition or culture or greenwashed to worry about what farmers will do if they can't farm animals. It's why humane education and critical thinking must be ever-present and developed while we're young.
12 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
You launched the We Animals Media project. Would you please tell us when and how you started? We Animals Media is the effort of my growing team and me to get as many strong visuals as possible out into the world. What used to be just me and my camera, traveling six to eight months each year taking photos of our uses and abuses of animals, has turned into a photo agency with over 60 contributors (both in photography and videography). While my animal photojournalism started in earnest in the early 2000s, the team and I only recently defined it. Many people now call themselves animal photojournalists, which is terrific. The animals need them. It's different from wildlife and conservation photography in that it includes all animals. We make the work of our contributors available for free to anyone advocating for animals via our incredible stock site, www.weanimalsmedia.org.
Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur / NEAVS / We Animals Media
When you look back at some of the events you covered, from the rattlesnake roundup in Sweetwater, Texas, to the macaque monkey chained to a windowsill in Ecuador, how do you approach each event to promote change? I keep my focus on trying to show the experience of the animals in front of me. If I can do that, then we get a glimpse of what we do to them and how they might be suffering as a result. For example, the chicken that is carried upside down to be packed into a crate. Or, the shivering piglet bleeding from his castration without anesthetic, his tail cut off on the very same day. The 20-minute old calf, still wet from birth, looking out from the veal crate with no mother to suckle or be comforted by. These are the experiences I want to connect us with. Billions of animals experience these conditions each year, out of sight.
I KEEP MY FOCUS ON TRYING TO SHOW THE EXPERIENCE OF THE ANIMALS IN FRONT OF ME. IF I CAN DO THAT, THEN WE GET A GLIMPSE OF WHAT WE DO TO THEM AND HOW THEY MIGHT BE SUFFERING AS A RESULT. FOR EXAMPLE, THE CHICKEN THAT IS CARRIED UPSIDE DOWN TO BE PACKED INTO A CRATE.
Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Necessity is the mother of invention. Sadly, the world needs a photo agency to focus on these stories, which I've now been chasing for two decades. It all began from an insatiable desire to know what harm was happening behind closed doors and to show what I had seen with the world. So, the project, We Animals, grew into We Animals Media, and we are increasingly strategic about what we do and how we do it for maximum impact.
13 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media
Please tell us about the We Animals Humane Education Program. While it is no longer a primary focus at WAM, I did spend over a decade giving presentations to school-aged people about animal stories and empathy. In addition, my speaking engagements continue globally, all of them with one goal, to educate people about what we do to animals and make the world a kinder place. You've also launched the Unbound Project, a project about women on the frontlines of animal advocates and activists. What was the energy behind it, and why is it so important to share stories of women advocating for animals? Everywhere I traveled, women were doing the bulk of the work in animal advocacy. I wondered whether it was true or if I had a bias. So, I did some research. It turned out that 60%-80% of animal advocates were women, but men often remained in positions of power and visibility in animal advocacy organizations. So, I decided to create a project highlighting women's work and pioneering efforts. My co-author, Keri Cronin, and I launched the project in 2015, and we've featured over 60 women from six continents. Lawyers, sanctuary founders, artists, veterinarians,
grassroots organizers, you name it. There's a lot to celebrate and uplift in animal advocacy, and this project does that. When did you start to become a vegetarian/vegan? On April 1st, 2003, I started a one-month internship at Farm Sanctuary. Out of respect for the animals, they require you to be vegan while there. I was vegetarian at the time and thought veganism was extreme and probably near impossible. To my surprise, though, after 24 hours of being there amongst the animals who are the survivors of farming industries and 24 hours into being vegan, I felt intellectually and psychologically aligned with who I wanted to be and how I wanted to live. I've been vegan since that day. How do you see or feel that showing more animals in media can positively change how humans treat animals? Seeing is believing. Ok, at least in part. But, seeing is also one vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to animal emancipation. An image can make an impression instantly, faster than reading an article or a book. Animal photojournalism and videography need to accompany campaigns, news, academia.
THERE'S A DANGER INHERENT IN DOING INVESTIGATIONS. WE ENTER FARMS UNDER THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT, TRESPASSING TO DOCUMENT WHAT NEEDS TO BE SEEN. INVESTIGATORS GET BEAT UP, TICKETED, TRIED, JAILED. WE GET OUR CAMERAS AND CARS SMASHED. WE PUT OURSELVES THROUGH IT OUT OF LOYALTY FOR THE ANIMALS, WHO I SEE AS OUR CLIENTS. 14 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
We need to make a lot more room for it in the media and the public conscience. I'm really pleased that WAM can contribute to advancing animal rights alongside so many diverse efforts. Was there ever a time while producing The Ghosts in our Machines that you were threatened by the people you were targeting? There's a danger inherent in doing investigations. We enter farms under the darkness of night, trespassing to document what needs to be seen. Investigators get beat up, ticketed, tried, jailed. We get our cameras and cars smashed. We put ourselves through it out of loyalty for the animals, who I see as our clients. They so badly need representatives who aren't doing the usual photography: their body parts on plates, their secretions in nice tall glasses for kids to drink.
Photo by Lissy Jayne / HIDDEN / We Animals Media
Tell us about your latest book, HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene. What did it mean for you to create this book and why is it important? Documentary photographers make books on important social issues like wars, famines, genocides, disasters of all kinds. There are books from wildlife and conservation photographers about animals in peril, but all of these books exclude the stories of animals who we raise and kill by the billions each year, and the sea creatures whose death and entrapment numbers are so high that we count them not by the individual but by the tonne. These animals, just like wild animals, and like us, are individuals who can suffer, and who wish to live free from
harm. And so their stories are worthy of a book, too. HIDDEN is a book that chronicles what is at present, and should never again be. It’s a tome of indictments. It’s unflinching and it’s painful. I hope that soon it will be considered a historical book of a dark part in our human history. HIDDEN is a statement that the animals we eat, wear, and use for labour, research, and entertainment, matter too. Readers can find out more here: https://weanimalsmedia.org/hidden/
Photo by Louise Jorgensen
Do you have any new projects on your way? Always! The team and I are building our partnerships with NGOs to strategically do more photoshoots, make more films, and reach wider audiences. I'm also very excited about telling more inspiring stories of change and progress. While the disturbing images change hearts and minds, the inspiring stories help steer us in the right direction. We live in a world of possibilities. WAM will do everything we can to move things in the kind direction. Special thanks to: Jo-Anne McArthur Photography: Louise Jorgensen Juho Kerola Lissy Jane Adam Oswell Aaron Gekoski Justin Mott Photo credits pages 18-19: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals Media 2: Luis Tato / HIDDEN / We Animals Media5: Juho Kerola/ HIDDEN / We Animals Media 10: Kelly Guerin 11: Aaron Gekoski / HIDDEN / We Animals Media
Photo by Adam Oswell / HIDDEN / We Animals Media
Photo by Luke Peron
17 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
1
2
4
3
5
9
6
7
10
8
11 19 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Of Mousy and Elephantine Cycles, Managing the CLIMATE CRISIS after Glasgow COP26
Photo by palidachan/Adobe Stock
By Dr. Rob Moir
T
he word hypocrisy has been bandied about on the heels of the Glasgow Climate Pact, reached by unanimous consent of nearly 200 nations, as goals remain unmet and the international community has failed to restructure, implement and enforce laws to do more to address climate change.
of ocean ecosystems and the "importance of protecting, conserving and restoring natures and ecosystems, including marine ecosystems. To achieve the long-term global goal of the Convention by acting as sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases and protecting biodiversity, while ensuring social and environmental safeguards."
That stated, the international community cannot make binding commitments and plans, nor are they responsible for failure to meet national goals. That's the work of nation-states—time to recalibrate expectations.
It's a further significant step forward to call for "an annual ocean-climate dialogue" to be held in June 2022 by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice to anchor the ocean within the climate negotiations formally. Nations controlling 85% of lands covered by forests have pledged to stop deforestation by 2030, yet no such measures are being taken for the ocean because much of it is international waters and beyond the jurisdictions of nations.
The centrality of the ocean to problems related to extreme weather events and climate finally has been recognized. The "Glasgow Climate Pact" directly references the need to ensure the integrity
20 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
There's no point in arguing over what biome is most important for climate. Focusing on only one, even the largest one, will NOT solve the global problem. We must practice responsible stewardship for the entire planet Earth as if it were one living ecosystem. Dramatic restructuring of international laws and institutions is a waste of energy when climate impacts are local. Solutions must be indigenous placebased, bioregion by bioregion, and watershed by watershed, to be effective. What is good for Greenland may not be best for Manhattan. Speaking of the ocean, the challenge of climate change would be addressed more effectively if a focus on restoring the hydrologic water cycles equaled the focus on fossil fuel burning. The atmospheric rise of carbon dioxide, measured as in parts per million, makes for a compelling hockey stick graph that matches the rise of the industrial revolution. Graphing the rise of desertification and the tarmacking of the land is a very similar graph. Here, the bad actor is not as clear as fossil fuel use because the water cycle is involved. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas measured by percent or parts per hundred. Water vapor, say at 40% humidity, is a much larger greenhouse gas than carbon (400 ppm) by a thousand times. The climate crisis worsens the more we destroy and separate from nature. Nature turns the elephantine water cycle, unlike a big portion of the mousy carbon cycle driven by fossil fuel burning. Researchers have calculated that heating trapping water vapor is responsible for 60% of global warming. The cycles of all greenhouse gasses are explained as turning like clockwork and devoid of life. Yet, healthy ecosystems are what make life possible on Earth. At the darkest hour, plants open stomata to release water vapor. Morning dew is actively formed by plants precisely at the coldest time of day. Condensation is an exothermic reaction when water vapor molecules come into contact with cooler molecules. Energy is given up as heat when water vapor changes state into liquid. This plant-driven hydrologic cycle brings warmth before the rising sun's rays reach the ground. You may notice that the coolest spot in the city on a hot summer day is not the shadow under an awning
but rather the shade of a big sidewalk tree. Plants release water that evaporates when it's hot. Energy is absorbed during this endothermic reaction, and the surrounding air is cooled. Restoring and increasing vegetation in neighborhoods reinvigorates local water cycles to lessen the daily hot and cold temperature swings attributed to climate change. Of all plants, grasses are the best at drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere with photosynthesis and pushing out liquid carbon as carbohydrates to build soil. An established grass lawn that is not fertilized and cut no more frequently than every two weeks may build an inch of soil in a year. (Fertilizing keeps grassroots near the surface thirsty for more and kills beneficial nematodes in the soil.) With four inches of soil, the lawn may hold seven inches of rainwater, further protecting homes from extreme weather events. Researchers have found indications that if we could retain more water in our landscapes let less storm and sewer water go into our waterways; we could reduce sea level rise by 25%. Let's restore life to both land and sea, to watersheds, and the full fresh/salt-water continuum. Only then can we experience fewer extremes in the weather and lessen the climate crisis. The learning curve is steep, given the complexity of each ecosystem. Act locally to improve the planet's global wellness, and then we may gather by the Red Sea at the next COP, perhaps virtually, to listen and learn from one another on how we can be even better stewards of the planet. Together we can.
disclaimer : The author's opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints on this article do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of The Eden Magazine. and strickly is the author's opinion.
Dr. Rob Moir is a nationallyrecognized and award-winning environmentalist. He is president & executive director of Massachusetts-based Ocean River Institute, a nonprofit providing expertise, services, resources, and information unavailable on a localized level to support the efforts of environmental organizations. Please visit www.oceanriver.org for more information.
21 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Photo by JOVANNIG/ADOBE STOCK
SPIRIT GUIDE By Erica M. Elliott, M.D.,
1971, Erica Elliott arrived on the Navajo Reservation as a newly minted schoolteacher, knowing nothing about her students or their culture. After a discouraging first week, she almost leaves in despair, unable to communicate with the children or understand cultural cues. But once she starts learning the language, the people begin to trust her, welcoming her into their homes and their hearts. As she is drawn into the mystical world of Navajo life, she has a series of profound experiences with the people, animals, and spirits of Canyon de Chelly that change her life forever.
Photo by CLAY BANKS
In this compelling memoir, the author details her time living with the Navajo, the Diné people, and her experiences with their enchanting land, healing ceremonies, and rich traditions. She shares how her love for her students transformed her life as well as the lives of the children. She reveals the miracles she witnessed during this time, including her own miracle when 22 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
the elders prayed for healing of a tumor on her neck. She survives fearsome encounters with a mountain lion and a shape-shifting “skin walker.” She learns how to herd sheep, make fry bread, and weave traditional rugs, experiencing for herself the life of a traditional Navajo woman. Fulfilling a Navajo grandmother’s prophecy, the author returns years later to serve the Navajo people as a medical doctor in an underfunded clinic, delivering numerous babies and treating sick people day and night. She also reveals how, when a medicine man offers to thank her with a ceremony, more miracles unfold. Sharing her life-changing deep dive into Navajo culture, Erica Elliott’s inspiring story reveals the transformation possible from immersion in a spiritually rich culture as well as the power of reaching out to others with joy, respect, and an open heart.
Southern Utah, spring 1972 The last manmade structure shrank to a black dot in my rearview mirror as I drove down the cracked and pitted paved highway without a car in sight. The unmarked turnoff to the left was barely visible between juniper trees and sagebrush, the place where the pavement turned to dirt. The next forty miles of deeply rutted dirt track led me into vast stretches of high desert wilderness in this remote and untouched part of Utah. Red rock slabs, towers, pinnacles, and cliffs soared into the cobalt blue sky. The crisp air smelled pungent, with the essence of piñon pine wafting into my nose. I could tell from the faintness of the ruts that this stretch of road had not been traveled for a long time. Other than the ruts in the road, I saw no evidence of human activity. My 4-wheel-drive Bronco kicked up clouds of rust-colored dust as I meandered along, daydreaming about how I ended up in this part of the world. The year before, in 1971, I left behind the life I had known back east and headed off to the Southwest, having no idea I would be entering a world I never knew existed. The Bureau of Indian Affairs hired me to work as a 4th-grade teacher at a boarding school on the Navajo Reservation. I was twenty-two. It was my first real job. The school was located in the town of Chinle, Arizona, at the mouth of Canyon de Chelly, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Many of the children in my class spoke no English. When I made an earnest effort to learn Navajo, I was instantly invited into the homes of my students and their families.
Picture of my 4th-grade classroom with my students in Chinle, Arizona, in 1971.
Below is a picture of my 4th-grade classroom in Chinle, Arizona, in 1971. I’m at the back on the right. On the weekends, when I wasn’t exploring the backcountry, I drove one or two of my Navajo students home in my 4-wheel drive vehicle to their isolated log and dirt hogans scattered throughout Canyon de Chelly. Over the course of the school year, I had driven every student in the class to their homes. As their families became comfortable with me, they invited me to participate in their lives and daily activities, including their religious ceremonies. The remoteness of their homes in the canyon kept age-old traditions alive. The food, dress, ceremonies, and outlook on life remained the same for many generations. I loved participating in the Navajo culture and learning about how my students saw their world, a view that bore little resemblance to that of white people. The culture was earth-based with a strong relationship to the natural world. Animals were seen as kin and embodied special powers. They bore messages for the people they encountered. One weekend I drove my jeep deep into the vast and remote wilderness of Southern Utah on a deeply rutted dirt road, many miles from the nearest paved road. As I drove, I day- dreamed about my life with the Navajo People. 23 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
I LOVED PARTICIPATING IN THE NAVAJO CULTURE AND LEARNING ABOUT HOW MY STUDENTS SAW THEIR WORLD, THE CULTURE WAS EARTH-BASED WITH A STRONG RELATIONSHIP TO THE NATURAL WORLD. ANIMALS WERE SEEN AS KIN AND EMBODIED SPECIAL POWERS. THEY BORE MESSAGES FOR THE PEOPLE THEY ENCOUNTERED.
I thought about how much I loved participating in the Navajo culture and learning about how my students saw their world, a view that bore little resemblance to that of white people. The culture was earth-based with a strong relationship to the natural world. Animals were seen as kin and embodied special powers. They bore messages for the people they encountered. Just as I was drifting deeper into these reflections on my life with the Navajo people, I saw something tan out of the corner of my eye. A medium-sized coyote with a long bushy tail darted in front of my slow-moving Bronco. I remembered what one of the kids in my classroom had told me during our informal discussion about Navajo mythology. He said, "If Coyote crosses your path, turn back and do not continue your trip. If you keep traveling, something terrible will happen to you. You will be in an accident, hurt, or killed." I thought about those words and wondered if I should turn around and go home. Before I could give it more thought, crimson red buttes and other fantastic geological formations started filling my windshield from both sides, pushing aside all concerns about the meaning of the Coyote crossing my path. The rutted track ended at a little spring. I kept driving a few more miles until I came to what looked like a sanctuary of rock formations, a perfect place to stop and explore. Feeling sure that no one else was near, I took off my shoes and all my clothes, relishing the warm air caressing my skin. I climbed up the sandstone slabs with 24 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
my bare feet, entranced by the red rocks, the enormous sky, the incense smell of cedar. After scrambling around the rocks, exploring caves and crevices, I came upon a little pool of water, a catchment basin for the infrequent rains—a natural bath in the middle of the desert. I cupped my hands and splashed my face, soothed by the cool water. I slipped into the pool and pointed my face directly at the sun with my eyes shut but still feeling the brightness streaming in. After what seemed like a long moment of timelessness, I lay down on a warm slab, spread eagle on my back. All my senses were alive. I turned onto my belly and spread out my arms, crazed with love for the land—and grateful for the solitude. When the sun went down, a chill quickly settled over the rocks. I put my clothes back on, but not the shoes. I wanted to continue feeling the rocks on my bare feet. I hopped from one slab to the next, on a path that seemed to be laid out for me, keeping clear of the sharp spines of the cactus. Having no flashlight, I wanted to be sure to find the perfect sleeping spot on a flat rock to spread out my pad and sleeping bag before it got dark. But it actually never got dark—the moon was full overhead, bright and electrifying. I sat up in my sleeping bag and sang songs to the moon until the goddess of sleep overpowered me. I dreamed I was in one of the sheep and goat corrals belonging to the family of a Navajo student. We were in the corral looking for a sheep to butcher for a ceremony. There were a few goats, including a Billy goat that smelled rank with the strong scent of musk they have during sexual maturity. We moved through them, trying to catch one of the sheep. The smell of the Billy goat grew stronger and stronger. The smell was so strong it began overpowering all my senses. When I felt my back on the rock, I realized I was not in a corral but wide awake and in my sleeping bag. Yet the smell of musk had followed me out of the dream and was still filling my nose. Before I could open my eyes, I heard a sniffing sound right next to me. Without moving, I opened my eyes, and— Oh My God, I am being sniffed by a mountain lion, inches from my face! His head was so close I could see his black whiskers in the moonlight, the white fur around his mouth, and the tawny-colored hair on the rest of his face. I closed my eyes, frozen in fear, waiting for his claws to dig into my skin and tear me apart. Nothing happened. Why doesn't he hurry up and eat me and get it over with?
I was barely breathing while my heart pounded loudly in my chest. I stayed paralyzed for what felt like hours. But nothing happened. By the time I found the courage to open my eyes, it was daylight; the sun had already appeared on the horizon. Amazed that I was still alive, I looked around. There were no tracks visible on the sandstone rock. When I began stuffing my sleeping bag into its sack, the distinct scent of musk wafted up to my nose—the only remaining evidence of the lion's presence. I drove to the nearest town forty miles down the road and, at a gas station, I told the attendant of my experience. He said, "Ma'am, you're one lucky gal to be alive. Them cats can rip you to shreds in no time. The reason that damn cat didn't kill you is cause you were too scared to move. Mountain lions go after things that move." Why did that mountain lion sniff me up close—right next to my face? Is there another reason he didn't rip me apart and eat me? Am I still alive simply because I didn't move? A few weeks after the encounter with the lion, one of the Navajo teacher aides in the boarding school invited me to visit her grandmother, who lived alone in a hogan deep in the canyon where she tended her sheep. My friend and her grandmother caught up with each other's news, which included the story of the mountain lion. The old Navajo woman took a few puffs from her tiny hand-carved pipe as my friend told the story. Toward the end of the story, she looked at me with a toothless smile that lit up her ancient and deeply lined face. Her dark eyes were laughing. For the first time during the visit, she looked right into my face and spoke directly to me, no longer diverting her eyes in deference. My friend translated her words. The old woman said I was "really lucky" the lion came to me. He was my spirit guide. He came to give me his courage, strength, and intense focus because I would need that for what lay ahead. She said I would face obstacles in my life, some big and life-threatening, and, if I lived through them, I would have "a strong heart and powerful medicine to give to the people." The three of us sat in silence as we watched the sun drop behind the canyon wall, followed by the fading light.
Erica M. Elliott, M.D., is a medical doctor with a busy private practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Referred to as “the Health Detective,” she has successfully treated patients from across the country with difficult-to diagnose health conditions. She served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For more about the book please go here: https:// www.innertraditions.com/books/medicine-andmiracles-in-the-high-desert
25 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
MIND OVER MATTER: By Kathleen Trotter, MSc, CSN,
WHY ADOPTING A GROWTH MINDSET IS CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF A LONG-TERM FITNESS PLAN
F
ostering a growth-oriented, productive mindset needs to be thought of as a “do it today, non-negotiable” goal. Dialing in your mindset is not a “when I have time” type of thing.
Your mindset impacts your behavior, and your behavior impacts your goals. You cannot create the “fitter future you” of your dreams with a lackluster mindset. You will not create long-term sustainable change with a mindset built on cruel, unproductive selftalk. Health requires resilience, perseverance, and patience. Reaching any goal requires a “find solutions, growth-oriented, I will not give up” mindset. No fitness journey is linear. You will have moments of low motivation. You will have moments where you want to skip a workout or binge on ice cream in front of Netflix. You will have times when you have made a choice you are not proud of and feel like spiraling down the “who cares; I give up” path littered with choices that don’t serve you. The question is not “will I have moments of frustration and low motivation; will I have moments where I falter?” The question is, “how will I act in these moments?” Will I make choices that align with my values and goals, or will I give up? Your answer depends on your mindset, i.e., your perspective—your self-talk. A huge benefit of fostering a positive mindset is that your
26 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM eMARCH 2022
mindset and positive choices are self-perpetuating—the better your mindset, the better your actions. A productive inner world inspires an upward health spiral. Every healthy action you engage in increases your self-confidence. Confidence reinforces the positive mindset, which in turn produces even more healthy actions. One wins dominoes into more wins and more wins, and the successes snowball! 5 Steps to dial-in your mindset 1. Foster a growth mindset We are human beings, not robots. We all stumble on our fitness journey. A “perfect” health process doesn’t exist. The question is, “what do you do when you fall?” The key is to get back on your horse a more informed rider. Instead of shaming or berating yourself for choices that you are not proud of, learn from the experience. Look at the experience with a growth mindset. Everything is simply “data.” For example, if you sleep in rather than work out, take a moment to reflect. Was sleeping beneficial? Did you need it more than a workout? If so, great. No guilt. If your future self would have been happier if you had worked out, then ask yourself why you made that less-than-ideal choice. Did you skip the workout because you stayed up too late the night before? Did you not have a clear plan for the workout? Once you know the answers, use them to figure out how to set yourself up for success next time. Maybe you need to move the alarm clock across the room or get a fitness buddy. For more information on how to foster a growth-oriented mindset, check out the work of Carol Dweck. Basically, understand your health process as a giant feedback loop.
2. Learn to discern the difference between “want” and “need.” Too often, what we “want” at the moment—the chocolate cake, the extra sleep, to yell at our boss, etc.—isn’t what our body actually “needs.” Learn to ask yourself, “Self, is this what my body needs, or is it what I want?” The ability to discern the difference is a key skill when adopting a healthier lifestyle. If your body NEEDS something like a rest day, go ahead and sleep in. On days you don’t legitimately need the rest, have the maturity and awareness to use productive self-talk. Say something like, “Self; my future self will be happier if I move my body.” The key is to discern the difference between momentary “wants” and actual “needs”! To paraphrase Tom Bilyeu (the host of Impact Theory) “never let momentary desires derail you from your long-term goals!” 3. Work to strengthen your “pause” button. KKnowing the difference between a “want” (a desire) and a “need” is one thing. Having the ability to follow through on the “need” is another. This is where the “pause” comes in. You must insert an intentional pause—a space—between your thoughts and your actions. Just because you have a thought or a craving (I am too busy, I am too tired, I want chocolate) does not make it accurate AND does not mean you have to act on it. You can feel you “deserve” a cookie and still say NO to having it. You are not your cravings. Thoughts are not acts. Thoughts are not facts. Thoughts are just thoughts. Just because you think it doesn’t make it true. Just because you think it doesn’t mean you HAVE to follow through. I teach my clients the NOT protocol for impulse control. N stands for note and no. When having a craving, make yourself first note the unhealthy urge (noting it inherently means you become mindful of your behavior). Then say, “NO, I will not do X. I am not my unhealthy thought. The
craving or urge is not what I do, who I am, or who I want my future self to be.” O stands for being open to change. Work to understand what is driving the craving—are you sad, bored, tired? Then work to change that why. For example, if you are eating for an energy boost because a lack of sleep has left you exhausted, you have to be open to modifying your priorities so you can sleep. You have to be open to actually changing, not just talking about changing. Ask yourself, “Where has my current thinking got me thus far?” If you are not happy with the answer, then ACT to solve. Take small steps if needed, but take steps. Don’t just “wish” for better health. Make a plan. Health is an active process! T stands for time. Make yourself hit the “pause button” on your craving. Distract yourself. Break free of your destructive thought. Play a game, go for a walk, get involved in a fun conversation, or put together a puzzle, anything that disconnects you from the thought. Also, when possible, don’t put yourself into situations where you need to use the NOT protocol. For example, don’t keep crap you don’t want to eat in the house. That way, you can’t overindulge when depressed. Keep a healthy snack in your purse, so you don’t “need” an unhealthy snack when you get “hangry” out doing errands. 4. forget“perfect” Kick any perfectionist-based self-talk to the curb! Perfectionism is simply a form of self-sabotage. You have to start. You have to gather data. Ditching “perfectionism” doesn’t equate to ditching standards. Perfectionism is NOT the same thing as having high standards; perfectionism is holding yourself to impossible standards. If you start, you can always tweak as you go, but if you never start, you not only have nothing to tweak, you also create loads of data that “proves” that you will never succeed and that your project doesn’t work—that you are worthless. I use apologetic quotation marks on “proves” because this data doesn’t actually prove anything other than that you never started. Not starting is just fertilizer for an unproductive,
27 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
cruel mindset; not starting creates corrosive, negative, and FLAWED data that our brain then uses to justify staying stuck. The solution is to START. Learn as you go. Don’t aim for perfection. Aim to show up for yourself consistently. 5. Aim for smaller pendulum swings We have already established that you will never be “perfect,” that perfect doesn’t exist, and that your fitness journey will not be linear. Your level of health awareness will ebb and flow. I vacillate in my level of awareness. I am human. You will have days where you are more aware. You are human.
consistent action. To paraphrase Aristotle, you become the builder through building stuff. So…go forth and build your positive, productive mindset one positive action and productive thought at a time!
Your pendulum will swing. The goal should not be “no swings”. It should be “smaller swings.” The trick is to make your good days better and more frequent and to make your bad days less bad and more infrequent; to make your pendulum swings smaller—to trend positive so that you are vacillating in a healthier paradigm. We are all human, and with being human comes a constant need to recalibrate, to find our balance. Sure, I swing, but my pendulum doesn’t swing as aggressively as it once did. What current Kathleen considers an “awesome health day” is different than what Kathleen would define as an A+ day. What I consider a less-than-ideal day is different. My “boom” is more consistent and exists at a higher level on the health continuum. My “busts” are softer and more controlled. I work out 4-6 days per week vs. 1-3 days per week. I have 1-3 days per week vs. daily. We all toggle slightly. Aim for your swings to be smaller and in a different paradigm. Concluding thoughts Let go of perfection and embrace consistency. Remember, thoughts are not facts. Thoughts are just thoughts. Foster a growth mindset. Every experience is data!! Working is winning! Just keep showing up for yourself! The more times you show up for yourself, the more you will believe in your ability to show up for yourself. Belief “in self ” is critical! So much of maintaining a healthier lifestyle comes down to believing that you are the type of person who can succeed. Listen, belief won’t take you all the way to your goals—action is obviously key—but without some semblance of belief, nothing is possible! You build this self-belief—this productive inner world—through
28 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Kathleen Trotter, MSc, CSN, is a fitness expert, media personality, personal trainer, writer, and author of Finding Your Fit: A Compassionate Trainer’s Guide to Making Fitness a Lifelong Habit and Your Fittest Future Self. Making Choices Today for a Happier, Healthier, Fitter Future You. She has spent more than eight years writing for The Globe and Mail and has written for various other publications including Impact Magazine, ParticipAction, Breathe, Alive, Canadian Running, Today’s Parent, Chatelaine, and Glow, and for six years, she was the featured personal trainer in The Globe and Mail’s online Fitness Basics weekly web series and included in the Globe’s weekly newsletter for subscribers. She has been a personal trainer and fitness expert for almost twenty years. https://www.kathleentrotter.com/
Life is your Creation
29 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
30 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
31 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
Make this the year you transition to an all-natural home. Cloth + Bristle is here to help you through this lifestyle change and delivers straight to your doorstep. The products are convenient, non-toxic, and a must for those that want to be more eco-conscious. In our COVID-19 environment, germs don’t stand a chance with this brand’s multi-purpose cleaner that disinfects without causing any harm to your home, your families, your pets, or the environment.
Cloth + Bristle
™
100% NATURAL
Created by entrepreneur April Sargies using her decades of experience running a cleaning company, No. 001 Household Cleaner is truly one-of-a-kind! This cleaner is 100 percent natural with just four pure ingredients. As a mother herself, April saw a need in the cleaning industry for a safe product around her children but still worked effectively thus she was born No. 001! It cleans everything from sinks and tubs to jewelry and makeup brushes while only leaving a subtle calming scent (and no headaches!). Check out this video and see how the cleaner is perfect for all housewww.clothandbristle.com hold cleaning and surfaces. Don’t let the pink aesthetic fool you. It’s Spring cleaning is soon upon us, and a clean, clutter-free home creates a welcome atmosphere, gentle on surfaces yet tough on especially since more of us are still home. Feel inspired, healthy, and motivated with Cloth + grime and bacteria. Bristle.
Clean Like It’s Earth Day Year-Round
Let’s hear it for no more nasty chemicals or toxins in your home. That’s worth celebrating this Earth Day and all year long! No. 001 Household Cleaner: • Takes on even the worst rust, limescale, soap scum, mold, mildew, bacteria, dirt, grease • Cleans all surfaces safely, even natural and porous surfaces such as granite, marble, hardwood, metal, plastic, natural stone, tile, glass, grout, and porcelain • Perfect for all bathrooms, kitchens, and flooring surfaces • Four masterfully blended ingredients: clay, essential oils (rose, cinnamon, and rosemary), xanthan gum, and water • Price: $15.95
Enjoy the cleaner in bundles and kits with all the accessories at your disposal to get the job done, naturally! 32 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
H
OLLYWOOD CLOSE UP
NEW FAVORITES & MUST HAVES
By Vito Trotta PLEASE ENJOY THESE FAVORITE BEAUTY PICKS FOR THIS SPRING COLUMN BY MY COLLAGE AND FELLOW FILM AND TELEVISION STYLIST, KIMBERLY CARLSON KimberlyACarlson.com IG: kimberly_a_carlson
Vito Trotta
Freelance Beauty Contributor vitotrotta.com IG: vitotrottahair
Pattern hair products and tools by Tracee Ellis Ross have become my staple for naturally textured hair. The Styling Custard has become the most versatile styling product in the line for me. It provides a hydrating hold with slip and moisture for curl definition and a healthy shine. No flakes or residue and the scent is a light, fresh cucumber. All products are cruelty-free. Pattern Styling Custard | $25 | Patternbeauty.com
Gisou’s Honey Infused Hair Oil has become my secret “weapon” for all hair types and styles. This dry oil is made with Mirsalehi Honey - the key ingredient - and is rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants. A few drops added to wet hair create a silky shine when blown out. Frizzy curls blend back into place when the oil is applied on dry hair, feeling soft and looking healthy. Sustainably sourced and cruelty free from the Mirsalehi Bee Garden. Gisou Hair Oil | $25 | Gisou.com
Dieux’s Deliverance soothing trinity serum is my new skincare favorite. It contains clinically vetted ingredients: hemp complex soothes irritation, water lily extract further calms skin, and a blend of clinically studied peptides targets the appearance of firmness and expression lines. I use Deliverance as my first skin routine layer and always finish with a full spectrum SPF. Vegan & cruelty free. Dieux Deliverance | $69 | Dieuxskin.com
33 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Photo by zolotareva_elina/Adobe Stock
An Excerpt from Holy Love by Elisa Romeo, MFT, and Adam Foley
What Would Love Say?
When we are in conflict with our partner, it feels terrible: • Broken promises elicit betrayal. • The generosity of spirit turns to defensiveness. • A sense of belonging becomes desolation. Conflicts in a relationship are unavoidable, and the way we deal with them is crucial. Some of us become masters at avoiding confrontation and vulnerability. Some of us continue to have faith in a more fulfill-
34 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
ing love and persevere in trying again. Most people find an in-between place, settling for a "take what you can get" attitude in the belief that all relationships are an awkward compromise. Soul offers a fourth solution: navigation from our Divinity. Intuition is the voice of the Soul. Much of the work of navigating relationships depends on our intuitive ability to clearly hear Soul's wisdom. Because the ego is quick to react or judge, it takes work, at times, to raise ourselves vibrationally to the love story of our intuition. And most of us live life as intuitive amateurs.
We may occasionally receive clarity through a dream, a sudden feeling of unease, or a ping in our gut. But the skill of truly hearing and heeding Soul's wisdom requires becoming an intuitive pro. Instead of waiting for moments of intuition to come to us, we consciously build the intuitive muscle and learn to listen for specific answers to life's questions whenever we need to, even if we are stressed or in crisis. Soul dialoguing occurs when we create a two-way dialogue between our ego voice and our Soul's voice, out loud or in our head. We start by asking a question from our perspective as ego, and then we listen with our intuition to receive Soul's answer. Like any new skill, this may at first feel strange and challenging as our minds adjust to a different form of internal dialogue. But anytime we speak directly to Soul, we strengthen the listening muscle of our intuition. Developing a relationship with Soul through intuitive dialogue helps the ego recognize, understand, and ultimately trust this new internal spiritual teacher. We believe the most efficient path to incarnating Soul is daily connection and practice with these techniques. Soul dialoguing is a simple technique, but it also takes practice. To hear the voice of the Soul, we must be able to clearly discern what ego (programmed narratives, society's influence, fears disguised as love) is and what is Soul. Recognizing and listening to the Soul guarantees connection to and an experience of love but also shows us how we are loved by birthright. Fully embodying the vastness of love is a process that takes time — but after we acquaint ourselves with our Divine nature, trust in our internal genius grows. Real Love or Assumption of Love Asking the Soul's advice, opinion, and direction brings Soul into our minds, hearts, and relationships. In applying Soul's wisdom, we strengthen our own ego-to-Soul bond and eventually develop conscious Soul communion with our partners. One of the simplest and most profound ways to speak to Soul is simply to ask yourself: "What would love to say?" These four magic words harness the power of intention to activate our inner remote control and tune us into the station of love. When you talk directly to love, you engage your unique version of love — in other words, your Soul. Yet as humans, we often misinterpret the internal voice of love. Depending on our upbringing, we may misinterpret needy attachment or codependency as love. We may think love and our self-worth are based solely on our ability to provide for our partner financially. We may think love is solving every single one
of our partner's problems and consistently rescuing them from their own uncomfortable feelings. We may think love is staying in a relationship till death do us part, even if we are desperately unhappy. Soul corrects these misguided beliefs by introducing us to real love. Love is not fear-based, clingy, or reactive; love is wholly and utterly complete, a force unto itself. To know love, we must take our human projections and limitations off love. We must come to the inquiry of love with an open heart, rational discernment, and a clean slate. We know this sounds simple, but it can also be extremely challenging at times. In fact, we often see clients assume they are relating to their Soul when, in fact, they are engaged in an egoic interpretation or a mental assumption of the Soul. This heady attempt does not work to actually solve the problems of the ego. Many times people think about the Soul and assume that because they are clocking "spiritual hours," they are engaging in a personal and direct relationship with the Soul. But one is intellectualism, while the other requires vulnerability and courage. Talking about love is not the same as talking to love. When we talk to love, we engage directly with the universal energy that is birthing the incarnation of our sainted self. This is not a light task; it is one of destroying illusions. Ultimately our job is to weed out whatever stands in the way of love. Soul dialoguing is a nuanced and disciplined approach to forging an intimate, accountable relationship with your higher self. When done correctly, it takes our own projections off love and reveals how love is greater than we could have ever fathomed. To do this well, we humble the ego, align with the energy of love, and become transformed by the Soul. This intimate relationship with love itself changes everything. There are no shortcuts. This spiritual skill relies completely on direct engagement with the Soul. Must be accurately summoned the Soul to have its profound and lasting effects.
Elisa Romeo, MFT, and Adam Foley are the authors of Holy Love: The Essential Guide to Soul-Fulfilling Relationships and cohosts of the Holy & Human Podcast. Together, they help individuals awaken and deepen their soulful nature within the relationship. Visit them at http://www.holyandhuman.com 35 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
An interview with IFAW about
Tiger Queens & Big Cats in the U.S.
M
ore tigers are held in captivity across the U.S. than remain in the wild globally, estimates suggest.
The Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance (BCSA) is a coalition of wildlife rescuers, reputable sanctuaries, and animal advocates working to eliminate the trade in “pet” wildcats and the commercial exploitation of exotic felines nationwide, seeking to raise awareness about the plight of captive big cats held in inhumane conditions. Tiger Queens features an in-depth discussion among incredible women who have dedicated their lives and livelihoods to operating legitimate, fully accredited sanctuaries that provide lifetime care to rescued tigers, lions, leopards, and other wild felids that have been saved from cruel conditions. Moderated by Emily McCormack, a BCSA leader and animal care expert at Arkansas’ Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge (TCWR), Tiger Queens allows viewers to listen in on a candid discussion about the extraordinary commitment required to lead a true sanctuary and the steps that we can all take to help combat the exploitation of big cats in the U.S. The “queens”—who operate sanctuaries in different states and at different scales—share an unwavering commitment to animal welfare. They include Tanya Smith (Co-founder & President at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas), Bobbi Brink (Founder & Director at Lions Tigers and Bears in California); Lisa Stoner (Cofounder at Forest Animal Rescue in Florida), and Tammy Thies (Founder & Executive Director at The Wildcat Sanctuary in Minnesota). “The poorly regulated trade in wild felines and prevalence of exploitative pseudo-sanctuaries across the U.S. leaves untold numbers of big cats abused and in desperate need of help,” said Carson Barylak, Campaigns Manager, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) “The poorly regulated trade in wild felines and prevalence of exploitative
36 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
pseudo-sanctuaries across the U.S. leaves untold numbers of big cats abused and in desperate need of help,” said Carson Barylak, Campaigns Manager, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) the organization which helped organize and supported the creation of Tiger Queens in partnership with the BCSA. “Unfortunately, pop culture depictions of captive big cats—from “Tiger King” to the emergence of ‘tiger selfies’ across social media—have glamorized the exploitation of tigers and other felines and, in turn, perpetuated cruel and exploitative practices. It is critical that we consider what is really happening to these animals. The sanctuary leaders who share their expertise in Tiger Queens are uniquely qualified to educate all of us about making responsible, humane choices and supporting federal policy reform to protect captive big cats nationwide.”
The “queens” discuss the need for broad reform in the U.S., where both exploitative big cat displays and trade among private individuals are rampant. Keeping tigers, lions, and other exotic cats as “pets” fuels abusive trading and breeding practices while also creating serious public safety challenges. Demand for cubs to be used as photo props or for ‘pay-to-play’ sessions promotes speed-breeding and devastating, premature mothercub separation and causes enormous physical and psychological suffering to the animals involved. These big cats may be subjected to physical abuse to enforce compliant behavior and are often denied basic veterinary care, proper nutrition, opportunities to engage in natural behaviors, and other basic needs. With so many big cats held in captivity outside of legitimate zoos and sanctuaries across the U.S., the public and first responders are faced with unnecessary dangers, including maulings, escapes, and even deaths. In fact, October 2021 marked the ten-year anniversary of the devastating “Zanesville Massacre,” during which first responders were forced to kill dozens of dangerous big cats following their release from a private menagerie in eastern Ohio, shocking the nation and drawing international media attention. “Risks for traumatic human injury or death are highest when big cats are kept as pets, used as props for photos, petted, or otherwise in direct contact with humans. Even when born in captivity, these cats remain wild animals with their predatory instincts intact. A big cat can attack suddenly and without warning, with disastrous results,” said John Madigan, Chair of the Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance. “Tiger Queens underscores the serious danger that exotic cats pose to the public and the fact
that it is never safe to be in direct contact with a big cat of any age, under any conditions.” Proposed federal legislation is known as the Big Cat Public Safety Act, endorsed by emergency responders and safety officials across the country, aims to put a stop to exploitative practices and protect the public from deadly encounters with wild cats. The legislation is also supported by a number of animal welfare and wildlife conservation groups, including the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Born Free USA, Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance (BCSA), Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), animal care and control department across the U.S., and many more. What role does IFAW play in helping protect big cats (what types of cats are in your care, where do the animals come from)? IFAW has worked to end the exploitation of captive wild cats for over 15 years, leading our first rescue of big cats—24 tigers—in the U.S. in 2003. Since then, IFAW has rescued more than 200 additional big cats from inhumane conditions---and counting. We work within a network of partners that make up the Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance (BCSA), an organization that works to end the ‘pet’ tiger and lion trade while also eliminating inhumane practices, including cub handling and big cat selfies IFAW also works within this network of partners to assist in the rescue of wild felids (cats) from unsafe and inhumane conditions to place them within the network of qualified sanctuaries
37 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
and ensure that they receive lifetime care. IFAW itself does not house these rescued big cats.
populations. Their only option is to be held in human care for the remainder of their lives.
On the legislative front, IFAW leads national efforts to advance policies to address the U.S. trade in big captive cats, including advocating in support of the Big Cat Public Safety Act. This Act will address the exploitation of big cats across the U.S., ending their use as ‘photo props’ and in pay-to-play “cub petting” encounters.
The allure of big cats is immense. To hold, to feed, to touch, to stare in awe. These, however, are exactly the behaviors and profit-seeking practices that exacerbate an already serious problem, continuing the negative cycle of abuse that big cats undergo. True conservation involves allowing wild animals to remain wild and teaching that concept to the public. Since they cannot be released into the wild, then they should at least be allowed to live in the conditions that most closely allow them to exhibit their natural tendencies and behaviors while minimizing human interaction.
On the animal rescue site, IFAW works to rescue as well as rehome big cats across the country. Wild felids can come from all sorts of situations and places, given the highly unregulated nature of the ‘pet’ tiger trade. Immediately prior to the pandemic, we collaborated with Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge to rescue two tigers from private owners in Oklahoma who were running a ramshackle animal exhibit in their own backyard. And in 2017, IFAW worked with multiple qualified sanctuaries to relocate and care for animals from another roadside menagerie in Colorado that housed over 100 big cats in cramped and inhumane conditions. It is never clear where or when these big cats will need rescue. We know that IFAW must work alongside its network partners to rescue these animals and ensure the cats’ welfare is a top priority. We are proud to do our part in helping to save these animals, though we hope that someday there will be no need for such rescues. Tell us more about seeking to raise awareness about the plight of captive big cats. It is difficult to raise awareness of the plight of captive big cats when social media images glamorize big cat handling. Popular series like Tiger King fail to chronicle the real wildlife trade crisis that this underworld enables --- the widespread exploitation of big cats in the United States. Subjected to severe mistreatment and miserable living conditions, these cats are often exploited and misrepresented to the general public under the guise of ‘conservation,’ when the true reality is that they are often experiencing heartbreaking abuse. So many of these roadside zoos masquerade as rescues or sanctuaries, but most are unqualified breeders and dealers operating with little or no oversight or accountability. And by buying or breeding them, they are not rescuing big cats; in fact, they are creating the very circumstances from which these animals need rescue. Nor are they advancing conservation or welfare of the animals that are the primary draw for so many. These rescued cats cannot be returned to the wild because they have learned to be reliant on humans for their survival. Their offspring also cannot be released because the vast majority of big cats outside of accredited zoos in the U.S. are of unknown origin or, in the case of tigers, are hybrids of one or more sub-species. Their release to the wild would negatively impact the genetic health of wild 38 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
For those individuals at IFAW who work with big cats, what is your favorite part of the job? Personally, I love being involved in this work and the opportunity to visit our sanctuary partners. Seeing the conditions these animals are rescued from and then visiting them in their new ‘lifetime homes’ where they receive proper care and nutrition, are treated by qualified veterinarians for injuries or illnesses, and are finally free to rest comfortably in natural conditions like soft grass -- perhaps for the very first time in their lives---makes everything I do worthwhile. Watching newly rescued cats learn to trust their caregivers and realizing that they will not cause them harm, but will allow them the space, comfort and privacy that they crave, absolutely melts my heart. Keep in mind that, originally, these cats were immensely fearful of any humans approaching their enclosure. Now there is trust and compassion. On the policy side, when working with members of Congress to advance animal protection laws like the Big Cat Public Safety Act, it is heartening to be reminded that we can all make a positive change for animals. Contacting your members of Congress and asking them to take action on behalf of wildlife really makes a difference, and it’s an important and meaningful way that we can all better the lives of captive big cats and other animals in need. -Carson Barylak, Campaign Manager at IFAW
What are some of the issues facing big cat sanctuaries today? One of the greatest issues facing big cat sanctuaries today is that most visitors don’t truly understand what makes a place a ‘true sanctuary’. True sanctuaries do not breed, allow public contact with, sell, or otherwise exploit the animals that they take in. Their well-being and the safety of the general public are top priorities of a true sanctuary. On the other hand, roadside menageries and breeding operations, sadly, often call themselves “sanctuaries,” when they are in fact perpetuating the inhumane, dangerous trade in captive big cats— creating the very problems that are true sanctuaries are trying to solve. The fact that people often believe that they are helping the animals by giving money for selfies/ petting/handling also perpetuates the horrible cycle of abuse that many of these animals are trapped in. This is often marketed as ‘conservation’ by these unscrupulous players when in fact, they are anything but. Tigers and other big cats used in, for example, cub handling displays and roadside animal parks cannot be released into the wild. These animals are raised in captivity and are not equipped to survive in the wild. Hence, high, long-term costs are associated with providing lifetime care for such animals. Sanctuaries do not receive government funding for the care of rescued animals and rely on donations and funding like that provided by ifaw to rescue cats and provide them high-quality care. The total cost for care (food, enrichment, veterinary care, enclosure maintenance) is estimated at approximately $10,000 per year per big cat. Big cats can live for 20 or more years, so the costs mount quickly. What is the significance of the Tiger Queens video? The Tiger Queens video is significant as it features an in-depth discussion among incredible women who have dedicated their lives and livelihoods to operating legitimate sanctuaries that provide lifetime care to rescued tigers, lions, leopards, and other wild felids that have been saved from cruel conditions. It is a video that allows viewers to listen in on a candid discussion about the extraordinary commitment required to lead a true sanctuary and the steps we can all take to help combat the exploitation of big cats in the U.S. This includes the need for broad reform where both exploitative big cat displays and trade among private individuals are rampant.
Please tell us more about your partnership with the Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance (BCSA) and working with its members. The Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance arose out of a series of workshops hosted by IFAW and the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) beginning in 2014. At that time, few of the current members knew one another and were often hesitant to share information or make referrals to one another if their sanctuary was unable to immediately accept a surrendered or confiscated wild cat. IFAW staff made countless visits to self-proclaimed “sanctuaries” to find the true sanctuaries – those that do not breed, buy, sell or trade animals, or allow public contact with them. IFAW and GFAS invited those true sanctuaries to learn from one another and share their common concerns and experiences. During the course of several workshops from 2014-to 2016, sanctuary leaders got to know and trust one another and came to realize that they were stronger working together as a unified community. Since 2017, the BCSA has given true sanctuaries and their partners the means to speak with one voice to end the ‘pet’ tiger and lion trade and eradicate cub handling, encouraging collaboration to continue to improve the care of captive big cats in sanctuaries all across the nation. True sanctuaries do not breed, allow public contact with, sell, or otherwise exploit the animals that they take in. Animals in true sanctuaries have found their forever homes, and their well-being and your safety are top priorities. Roadside menageries and breeding operations, sadly, often call themselves “sanctuaries,” when they are in fact perpetuating the inhumane, dangerous trade in captive big cats—creating the very problems that true sanctuaries are trying to solve.
The content discussed in this video offers a sharp departure from the far-too-common narrative of pop culture that glamourizes depictions of captive big cats. The Tiger Queens addresses the real issues of cruelty and abuse that have been absent from much of the current dialogue about captive big cats. The Tiger Queens are uniquely qualified to educate all of us about making responsible, humane choices. 39 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
We continue to work hand in hand with the true sanctuary community to achieve our common goals of ending private ownership and commercial exploitation of big cats and improving their care in captivity until such time that there are no longer captive big cats outside of qualified and fully accredited AZA zoos. IFAW staff currently serve on the BCSA steering committee and serve on multiple committees dedicated to advocacy, education, and rescue. Tell us about the proposed federal legislation, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and its importance. The Big Cat Public Safety Act (BCPSA) is a critical component of our ongoing efforts to protect big cats around the world. This commonsense, bipartisan legislation would restrict private ownership of big cats and bring an end to the trade-in ‘pet’ tigers, lions, and other big cats. With hundreds of dangerous incidents, including maulings, escapes, and deaths of both people and animals across the U.S., the BCPSA addresses the glaring public safety risks associated with private ownership of big cats and exhibits that allow the public to come into dangerous contact with wild felines. Responding to such emergencies is incredibly resource-intensive and puts tremendous strain on local resources and law enforcement officers. In addition to protecting communities and first responders, the BCPSA would help to address the serious animal welfare challenges associated with the trade-in ‘pet’ big cats, where these captive animals are kept in unsafe and inhumane conditions, often in cramped, unsanitary enclosures without proper veterinary care, nutrition, enrichment, or opportunity to engage in natural behaviors. This is one of the most fundamental pieces of animal welfare legislation that can be implemented to address a pressing, long-standing animal welfare problem. Do you have any advice for our young readers that may want to pursue a career helping big cats? When working with any wild animal species, it is critical to understand the science of the species and the conditions under which helping them should be pursued. Each species of animal requires significant training and understanding in terms of behavior, biology, and overall safety. Anyone interested in pursuing a career working with wild animals should consider pursuing at least a bachelor’s degree in biology, zoology, or a similar field of study. Internships and volunteering at GFAS or AZA-accredited facilities will give those interested in the field a taste of the long hours, often in harsh outdoor conditions, that the animal care field involves. For those not ready yet to make college plans, caring for a family pet like a dog or cat, watching nature shows, spending time outdoors observing wild animals in their natural habitat, and working hard at school are great 40 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
ways to prepare! What are some of the ways our readers can help protect big cats? The most critical ways to protect big cats are: • Avoid getting wild cats as pets altogether; • Avoid engaging in activities that include cub handling, cub feeding or that involves any physical contact with wild cats; • Avoid photo ops using wild cats as ‘props’---this includes avoiding any selfies and instead opting for ‘Safe Selfies’; and • Visiting only sanctuaries that have been confirmed as genuine and preferably those accredited by GFAS (Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries). And to expand on the above regarding visiting a sanctuary, check they meet the following guidelines before your visit: - Are a non-profit organization (501c3) - Provide a place of refuge for abused, neglected, unwanted, impounded, abandoned, orphaned, or displaced wildlife in need of lifetime care -Do not use animals for any commercial purposes, such as performances or off-site displays -Do not buy, sell, trade, auction, lease, or loan animals -Prevent their animals from breeding through physical separation or chemical or surgical means. -Prohibit public contact with wild animals -If they allow public visits, and educational message is delivered on why big cats do not make good pets -Never take their animals off property except for medical necessities or emergencies -Are accredited by GFAS. Other tips to keep in mind: -Look at the organization’s social media and website. Are there pictures of people posing with animals? -Do they offer opportunities to wild pet animals or pose for pictures with them? -And simply put, do the animals look healthy, and do their enclosures look large, comfortable, and clean? Anything else to share? • ake action—contact your members of Congress today and urge them to support the Big Cat Public Safety Act • Learn more about U.S. sanctuaries that rescue exploited big cats and are working together to end the cruel trade nationwide • Learn what it takes to operate a true sanctuary through this candid discussion with the brave, dedicated Tiger Queens who lead wildcat rescues across the U.S.
41 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e FEBRUARY 2022
Photo by 4MAX/ADOBESTOCK
Universal Spiritual Laws
By Ronald L. Cole, M.D.
After decades of research Ronald L. Cole, MD analyzed the major Universal Spiritual Laws in his latest book "Universal Spiritual Laws and Healing: Unbreakable God-Given Laws That Created and Govern The Universe and Guide You To Create a Loving, Healthy Life and World" .that will help readers reshape their roadmap and encourage them to improve their lives and health in an effective spiritual way. Throughout the book, he presents how to apply God's given laws, such as the primary law of unconditional love, and how the secondary laws can be used once the prior law is recognized. Readers will be captivated by the path Dr. Cole paves to letting go of negative thinking and embracing the knowledge, wisdom, and truths to enhance physical and spiritual evolution to help improve one's health and healing process. The book provides a step-by-step guide that will encourage individuals to live the life that an unconditionally loving and forgiving God always provided with the truths and answers to a more evolved physical, spiritual, and healthier self. Ronald L. Cole, MD, went from Civil Engineer (BS and MS degrees) to Obstetrician/Gynecologist to birth advocate doing underwater births in the hospital. During this time, he was a longtime spiritual researcher and author. Early on, he was a co-founder of the Spina Bifida Association of America and 42 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
assisted in developing plastic orthopedic braces in the Houston Texas Medical Center. His detailed scientific research and application of spiritual aspects of life have extended over 40 years. He was seeking the real truth, not mankind's personal version of the truth. He had a 20-year working relationship with Rev. Beverly Burdick-Carey, an ordained minister and certified medium who channeled the most highly evolved spiritual entities based on unconditional love. This source bypassed mankind's self-serving, false, and controlling "truths." Dr. Cole has given numerous presentations and written articles, including a medical journal, been featured on many radio and television shows. His first published book was titled "The Gentle Greeting," about his loving, spiritual, and family approach to pregnancy and birth. He wrote chapter 14 entitled, "Spiritual Aspects of Birth and a Physician's Evolvement" in the book "Prenatal Psychology 100 Years", written by worldwide experts in the psychology of the unborn/newborn child. His most recent book entitled "Universal Spiritual Laws and Healing" presents the unbreakable God-given laws that created and governed the universe and guide you to create a loving, healthy life and world. Dr. Cole continues his work and writing and lives in Texas with his wife, Karen.
I
n my latest published book, I present twenty-four Universal Spiritual Laws (USL) and discuss them, followed by the healing aspects of each law.
These laws are unbreakable because you will be governed by them either negatively or positively based on whether your thoughts, words, or deeds are negative or positive. So, you determine your life's path. Therefore, it's best to know the rules or laws of the life experience, as presented in my book. The primary USL is the Law of Love, and the following laws are the secondary laws that have their roots in the primary law. Also, the secondary laws relate to each other, as you will see examples below. My book indicates that the primary Universal Spiritual Law, the Law of Love, states that every aspect of the consciousness of God and Creation loves itself and every other aspect of the consciousness of God unconditionally. In simple terms, the great immutable Universal Primary Law of Love means that all of God is and ever shall be unconditional love. Unconditional, a love that asks nothing in return, is without human emotion, is without judgment, and is without expectation. It does not ask or expect to be loved in return. It does not judge its own quality or any other quality of love. It has no need to be met; it is absolute peace and harmony. It exists in and of itself in perfection and, as such, is a guiding light to all lesser love. Unconditional love is only capable of being unconditional love. In its state of perfection, it transmutes all things into unconditional love. Because it expects nothing and judges not, the only thing it is capable of being or doing is love and creating more love. It has no goal, no ambition, and no desire. Unconditional love exists as immutable, which can never be other than loving. So important is the Law of Love, that if a person or any lifeform can act in accordance with it, then it is automatically in accordance with every other Universal Spiritual Law. Love is the true essence of God. This is the basis for the Cosmic Equation, which says: All is God, God is All, and God is Love. So God is not an individual; it is the entire universe as a Oneness, so everything that exists in the universe is a part of God. Therefore, we are not
apart from God. We are a part of God. Let us take a brief look at some of the secondary laws. The Law of Attraction states that what any aspect of God sends forth in thought form will return to itself, or you reap what you sow. It gives the right for thoughts to attract the necessary elements to create. This relates to the Law of Cause and Effect, which states that for everything that happens, there is a cause. The cause of creation is thought, illustrating how the two laws relate. An even better example of the relationship between laws is the Law of Freedom of Choice and the Law of Responsibility. The Law of Freedom of Choice states that in every lifeform, the limitless choice is always available, but the Law of Responsibility adds that with the freedom to make any choice, you will be responsible for everything you think, say, or do, and you must expect the consequences of them. This illustrates a very close tie between the two laws. One last example of the tie between laws is the Law of Forgiveness which states you should extend to self and every other aspect of God, total love, and allow to become unimportant that which may have caused distress. The Law of Karma, most people think, means "an eye for an eye." But Karma is an aspect of love that is wholly positive and provides a memory pattern that can be balanced by love and forgiveness, not retribution. The balance will occur. So you can see how the USL contains great wisdom and truth and relate not only to the primary law but also to the secondary laws. See website: https://universalspirituallawsandhealing.com. So by now, you should be aware of the great importance of learning the USL to be able to greatly improve your life because you will know the laws or rules of the experience or "game" of life, both spiritual and physical. I felt that the truth, wisdom, and knowledge that I have been given over about a half of a century is far too valuable to not share it with anyone interested in advancing their spiritual level, health, and life. Know the truth, and it will set you free. I feel that you will enjoy and greatly benefit from my book. I present it to you in Love and Light.
43 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Mr. Soft Top Designs Vet-Approved Luxury Dog Fashions for a Bow-Wow 2022! mrsofttop.com
Mr. Soft Top is a New Zealand-based brand that offers high-end dog attire that would make any dog owner proud. Its fashion meets function, from Merino tees and sweaters to raincoats and woolen coats. Get the camera ready because your canine companion is going to fill up your Instagram feed in the cutest way! An assortment of accessories, bedding, and dog slings round out the collection. The premium material includes wool, cotton, lycra fabrics, and yarn from New Zealand. Founder Rachael Staples designs all the pieces, initially offering custom hand-knitted sweaters and expanding into a full line. With an emphasis on wool sourced from local suppliers, it’s the ideal layer of warmth for pups and a sustainable option. Our furry BFFs will look marvelous dressed in warm attire that greets the winter season with style and comfort. Mr. Soft Top clothing is just as important in warm-weather climates to protect from the sun, heat rashes, overheating, or allergies (pups can even swim in them, too!). Bright and colorful tees are made from highgrade swimsuit lycra with 50+ UV protection and are available in sizes XS – XXL. We sometimes forget that dogs can get sunburned too, especially those that are groomed regularly. Many breeds are susceptible to overheating in the summer, particularly short-nosed dogs, such as Frenchies or Pugs, so soaking the tee in cold water or wetting the dog while they’re wearing them helps to keep their core body temperature down. They’ll look and feel good! For dogs suffering from allergies caused by vegetation or summer heat rashes, covering them up in a cooling tee helps protect their skin from constant scratching. The natural cooling effects of Lycra reduce the need to scratch and the tees prevent dogs from licking off any necessary rash creams that need to be applied. 44 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
We sometimes forget that dogs can get sunburned too, especially those that are groomed regularly. Many breeds are susceptible to overheating in the summer, particularly short-nosed dogs, such as Frenchies or Pugs, so soaking the tee in cold water or wetting the dog while they’re wearing them helps to keep their core body temperature down. They’ll look and feel good! For dogs suffering from allergies caused by vegetation or summer heat rashes, covering them up in a cooling tee helps protect their skin from constant scratching. The natural cooling effects of Lycra reduce the need to scratch and the tees prevent dogs from licking off any necessary rash creams that need to be applied.
Vet-approved for these reasons and more, pampered pooches everywhere are barking for these must-haves all year long, with wholesale options available. MERINO TEES • The original tee, handmade from luxurious New Zealand merino wool • These tees are perfect to wear on their own or under a coat or sweater for an extra layer of warmth • They also make ideal pajamas to keep your pup warm all night long • Seasonal colors include Burnt Orange, Dark Burgundy, and Electric Orange • Cotton and Spandex tops are also available • Prices range from $35 to $74 LINED COATS • Extra soft, thick, and warm pure wool lining • Secured with a velcro strap at the belly and neck, making your dog the most stylish pup on the block • Water-resistant to stay dry if your dog gets caught in the rain while walking • Available in four styles and colorways • Price: $85 to $130 RAINCOATS • Made from a waterproof outer and lined with warm wool blend fabric • Secured with a Velcro strap at the belly and neck and featuring reflective stripes down back, neck and belly • Sizes available to fit most dogs • Offered in seven colors, including electric blue, red, and yellow • Price: $65 to $100
45 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Fertility (or lack thereof ) is generally a reflection of your overall health. As my colleagues and I like to say, "Healthy bodies are fertile bodies." Whether you're interested in getting pregnant or just improving your general health as you kick off a new year, focusing on what you eat is a great place to start. Most people are unaware or ignore the fact that what we choose to eat plays a critical role in how we feel and how our bodies perform, hence the old adage, "You are what you eat." I was certainly one of them, but the past ten years have been eye-opening when it comes to the link between food, inflammation, fertility, and feeling my best.
Photo by ANATOLIYCHERKAS
Here is an excerpt from the book Keto for Fertility Cookbook, which was co-written with keto-cooking and nutrition expert Maria Emmerich. In it, you'll find empowering information and delicious recipes drawn from Maria's gastronomical talents, shared knowledge, and Dr. Kiltz's clinical fertility practice. Together they will show you why and how a diet of low to no carbs, moderate-protein, and high-fat is the foundation of fertility and building better health.
HOW TO START
2022 WITH A HEALTHY MINDSET & A HEALTHY BODY By Dr. Robert Kiltz
46 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Dr. Kiltz's Story If you're like me, at first, you might be skeptical about the link between diet and fertility. Admittedly, I haven't always been a believer in the power of food to hurt and to heal. In my medical training, the body was reduced to mechanical parts that pokes, pills, and procedures could manipulate. In the case of fertility, this meant focusing on the hormones critical to conceiving a baby. In my years of med school and into my early career, the diet was rarely discussed and certainly never seen as having any bearing on fertility. I arrived in my profession armed only with the mainstream medical tools of the day--surgeries, injections, IUI, and IVF treatments. All too often, the mainstream medications and procedures were failing. I started to feel that the mainstream Western approach to treatment was missing something essential. Then around ten years ago, I began witnessing a new trend where patients who had previously tried and failed to get pregnant with every combination of Western and Eastern medicine suddenly began to conceive.
The calls started coming in from patients who had been to multiple doctors and multiple fertility clinics--people who I had entirely stopped treating. Months later, they'd tell me they were pregnant. Then they'd call again to tell me that they had given birth to healthy babies. What all these miraculous births had in common was that the parents were practicing an eating plan known as Paleo--the "caveman diet." While Paleo is a pretty mainstream term these days, it was only beginning to gain steam when this was taking place (pre-2010), and myself hadn't heard of it. These early observations of my patients' success motivated me to step back and learn everything I could about this seemingly miraculous cure for infertility. I read voraciously while experimenting with the diet on myself. I traveled deep into the low-carb diet world and soon found my way to the highfat, moderate protein, low-to-no-carb ketogenic, and carnivore diets. Soon I began prescribing variations of high fat, low carb diets and took note of the outcomes for those patients. Amazingly, the more carbs people cut back on, including so-called "healthy" vegetables and fruit, and the more animal fats people added to their diet, the better the outcomes. The calls started coming in from patients who had been to multiple doctors and multiple fertility clinics--people who I had entirely stopped treating. Months later, they'd tell me they were pregnant. Then they'd call again to tell me that they had given birth to healthy babies. What all these miraculous
births had in common was that the parents were practicing an eating plan known as Paleo--the "caveman diet." While Paleo is a pretty mainstream term these days, it was only beginning to gain steam when this was taking place (pre-2010), and myself hadn't heard of it. These early observations of my patients' success motivated me to step back and learn everything I could about this seemingly miraculous cure for infertility. I read voraciously while experimenting with the diet on myself. I traveled deep into the lowcarb diet world and soon found my way to the high-fat, moderate protein, low-to-no-carb ketogenic, and carnivore diets. Soon I began prescribing variations of high fat, low carb diets and took note of the outcomes for those patients. Amazingly, the more carbs people cut back on, including so-called "healthy" vegetables and fruit, and the more animal fats people added to their diet, the better the outcomes. I have also seen the standard American diet lead to chronic lowgrade inflammation, something that I, along with other leading fertility experts, am realizing is the root cause of so many "unexplained" cases. Open tubes, normal ovulation, healthy sperm, but no babies! In medicine, we call these unexplainable conditions "idiopathic," a word derived from the Greek idios "one's own," and pathos "suffering." Calling a disease idiopathic basically means we've thrown in the towel. Instead of trying to treat or even properly understand the cause, we just focus on the symptoms.
47 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
An HFLC diet improves fertility through three overarching mechanisms: -By reducing inflammation -Improving hormone function -Providing essential and hard-to-get nutrients Inflammation In the HFLC diet world, we hear a lot about reducing inflammation. But before we jump into how HFLC reduces inflammation, let's get acquainted with what inflammation is and what it has to do with your fertility. In broad strokes, inflammation is a natural response to infection or injury. When our body's immune response is functioning properly, inflammation is temporary. It turns on when we need it and off again once we are healed. Inflammation evolved as an essential process for our survival in the absence of modern medications like antibiotics. But when it doesn't turn off, inflammation simmers at a chronic level, damaging healthy cells instead of healing damaged cells. This cycle of chronic inflammation is one of the main reasons why treatments like antibiotics, steroids, aspirin, heparin, along with immune modulators like intralipids, and IVIG, are often used in conjunction with fertility treatments. They're all aimed at controlling and reducing inflammatory immune responses. While drugs like aspirin, heparin, intralipids, and IVIG have their place in a fertility clinic due to their ability to help suppress and modulate the immune system, a properly constructed fertility diet can naturally reduce inflammation while helping you reset your immune system in a sustainable way that makes drugs irrelevant. I often say, "My goal is to put doctors like me out of business." An HFLC diet is the most powerful way for you to take your fertility into your own hands.
48 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Foods to Enjoy All the Time One of the challenges of eating HFLC is that it doesn't only mean switching to eating mostly fat; it also means shedding a false belief system about nutrition that we've lived with since we were children. While at the same time, HFLC calls on us to kick our emotional and biological addiction to sugar. I know it's not easy. It takes personal motivation, and it takes help. That's why Maria and I wrote this book. For me, the beauty of an HFLC diet is in how it simplifies our entire relationship to food, freeing up tremendous amounts of time and energy that we can put towards all aspects of our lives, not only the things we eat. Our aim is to get you comfortable with HFLC living ASAP while helping you maintain consistency. One of my favorite parts of an HFLC lifestyle is that I can eat healthfully and be satisfied too. There is no need to starve or feel like you're sacrificing your culinary pleasure. We're not cutting calories, just changing their sources from junk food to superfood. Nothing brings me greater joy than gathering with friends and family, sharing about our lives, and bringing laughter while enjoying food that shows we care about ourselves just as much as we care about each other. So let's start with the exciting part—the foods you can eat freely, without restrictions or concerns.
"ONE OF THE CHALLENGES OF EATING HFLC IS THAT IT DOESN'T ONLY MEAN SWITCHING TO EATING MOSTLY FAT; IT ALSO MEANS SHEDDING A FALSE BELIEF SYSTEM ABOUT NUTRITION THAT WE'VE LIVED WITH SINCE WE WERE CHILDREN" Dr. Robert Kiltz is a board-certified OB/GYN and reproductive endocrinologist and Founder and Director of CNY Fertility, one of the country's largest and most dynamic fertility centers, featured in the Wall Street Journal, Today Show, and CNBC for helping shape the future of fertility medicine. Dr. Kiltz has earned recognition outside of the fertility world for pioneering the holistic health movement and the keto lifestyle. He is the author of several books, including The Fertile Feast, Daily Inspirations, Living Your Best Life, and his latest, Keto for Fertility Cookbook, which will be released in 2022. Check out www.doctorkiltz.com, subscribe to his YouTube Channel, or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more information.
www.sodastream.com TURN PLAIN WATER INTO FRESH SPARKLING WATER IN SECONDS
WE BELIEVE THAT SOMETHING AS SMALL AS SPARKLING YOUR WATER AT HOME CAN SPARK A HUGE CHANGE IN THE WORLD
49 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT
SHARON BROCK
Sharon Brock is a certified Mindfulness Facilitator trained at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. She is also a health-and-wellness journalist with a master's degree from Columbia University. Brock teaches mindfulness courses online, at corporations and studios and with private clients. She currently lives in Los Angeles. Bestselling author Sharon Brock has released her new book, The LOVEE Method: 5 Mindfulness Practices for the Journey of Breast Cancer. In this teaching memoir, Brock shares her journey with breast cancer and how she uses mindfulness meditation to navigate this difficult time. In the teaching chapters, Brock provides practical mindfulness tools for emotional well-being during uncertainty. The memoir chapters offer hope, encouragement, and inspiration and remind readers that they are not alone in their struggle with cancer. After being diagnosed at the age of 44 with breast cancer, an illness affecting roughly 300,000 US women a year, Brock felt a calling to help other women. As a health-and-wellness journalist and certified mindfulness teacher, Brock wondered how many of these women had a mindfulness practice or other mental health tools to handle this challenging time with emotional resilience, which ultimately led her to write this book.
50 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
The LOVEE Method is a five-step mindfulness tool that individuals can use to cultivate emotional resilience and difficult process emotions, such as anxiety, anger, or depression. The meditation practices of LOVEE (Label, Observe, Value, Embrace, and Equanimity) are scientifically proven to reduce stress and help practitioners develop self-compassion and inner strength. The memoir chapters of the book are powerful and uplifting and allow the reader to learn these mindfulness practices through a compelling story. With honesty, courage, and humor, Brock weaves these practices into the emotional rollercoaster of her cancer journey – from facing the fear of death at diagnosis, experiencing drastic physical changes during chemotherapy, as well as how the illness affects her finances, her relationships, and her spiritual growth. Her engaging vulnerability makes this book not only a practical guide but also a comforting source of support for women with cancer. By sharing her personal story and the practices that helped her cope, Brock hopes to empower readers with hopeful insight and mindfulness tools backed by neuroscience. The LOVEE Method has received numerous praises. Ultimately, The LOVEE Method uniquely highlights the powerful intersections of science and spirituality. Brock's story serves as evidence that Eastern modalities and Western medicine can work together for optimal healing. With the help of The LOVEE Method, Brock grew stronger and wiser through her journey, and with this book, she hopes to help other women to experience this same awakening. www.sharonbrockmindfulness.com.
THE LOVEE METHOD:
5
MINDFULNESS PRACTICES FOR THE JOURNEY OF BREAST CANCER By Sharon Brock, M.S.
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." ~ Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor
T
he Moment Everything Changed On April 30, 2018, I got the news that no one ever wants to hear.
"I'm sorry, Sharon. You have cancer," said my doctor over the phone. Holding the phone to my ear, I sat down at my kitchen table and went into shock. My entire body froze, and my consciousness soared from sea level to thirty-thousand feet. I tried to listen to my doctor's instructions, but I couldn't understand a word. My mind was spinning with panic and disbelief. What is going on here? Is this really happening? Am I going to die? I hung up the phone and stared at the wall. Nothing made sense anymore. I was only forty-four years old, and cancer didn't run in my family. I was a health journalist and a meditation teacher, and I practiced yoga on a daily basis. Being healthy was a big part of my identity. I was the healer, not the sick person. In my life, I'd heard this message over and over again: "If you eat well and exercise, you won't get sick." Yet, here I was, someone with a healthy diet and a daily exercise routine with a life-threatening disease, the very foundation of my understanding of cause-and-effect and how the world works were shattered into a million pieces.
The emotion that was front-and-center, however, was the fear of death. It was an alarm that shook my psyche to the core. A feeling of terror that I had never experienced before. I knew that I would die someday, but now I really knew, and I feared that my final day might arrive sooner than later. Although I had experienced a fair amount of difficulties in my life, nothing had prepared me for this. I couldn't just walk away from cancer, like a bad job or flaky boyfriend. It was literally inside of me. I couldn't push it away or escape it, so I had to learn a new skill—how to be with it. Having cancer would be my reality for months, years, or possibly forever. To cope, I had to create a new consciousness that would allow me to stay still, let go of control, and fully accept the card I'd been dealt. I had to learn how to persevere and move through this challenge rather than run from it. The only way out was through. Tiny Sailboat, Torrential Waves The emotional experience of having cancer is similar to being alone on a sailboat upon stormy seas. Up until that point, my life's journey had been slightly rocky, with a few ups and downs. But the day I received that dreaded phone call from my doctor, it was as if a massive gust of wind suddenly hit my sail, tipping my boat—and my sanity—to a forty-five-degree angle and catapulting the boat to Mach speed. I held on to the side rails of that sailboat for months, not knowing where I was headed or if the boat would capsize at any moment.
51 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
I was hit with my mortality, triggering the highest level of anxiety I had ever experienced. I became laser-focused on finding ways to cope emotionally while traveling on the tumultuous voyage of cancer treatment. As a meditation teacher, I knew that meditation could help me find some peace. Even though my nervous system was perpetually on high alert, my meditation practice was the ballast that kept me from capsizing. My daily practice kept me even-keeled, hopeful, and even grateful for the good things in my life. I tried multiple types of meditation. Some worked to reduce my suffering; some didn't. Of all the meditations, I found the mindfulness practices from the Buddhist tradition to be the most effective. To be mindful means to pay attention to our present-moment experience with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is. Mindfulness practices bring our attention from the past or the future into the present moment. It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. Due to my desperate need to soothe my anxiety, I spent hours a day working with various mindfulness exercises. I found the most effective practices were labeling and observing my emotions, as well as self-compassion and equanimity. I discovered that when I sat with these practices in this specific order—Label, Observe, Value, Embrace, and Equanimity—I was able to calm the hills and valleys of my emotions and handle this dire circumstance with greater ease and strength. This process led to the organic creation of the LOVEE Method, a five-step mindfulness tool to develop emotional resilience. Over time, I realized the LOVEE Method was not only helpful for calming my emotions related to health, but it was also a useful tool to process my emotions related to any problematic situation in life. The LOVEE Method helps reduce suffering, regardless of the cause.
52 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COMe MARCH 2022
The Intersection of Science and Spirituality The goal of this book is not to replace Western medicine with meditation. The purpose is to offer a mindfulness tool to cultivate mental clarity and emotional ease while going through a challenging time, such as a health crisis. When the mind is calm, we can actively participate in the healing of the body along with our physicians and nurses. With the LOVEE Method, the mind can be a part of our healing team. During my treatments, I discovered the connection between the mind and the body. When my mind was relaxed, my body's immune system was fortified, and I was able to recover from chemotherapy sessions faster. Therefore, I was committed to keeping my mind positive with daily mindfulness practices for both mental and physical healing. I believe wholeheartedly that science and spirituality are not mutually exclusive; rather, they complement each other. This book honors both Eastern and Western modalities for comprehensive wellness of the mind, the body, and the Spirit. Throughout this book, I use the word "Spirit" when referring to an energy that I believe to be divine. I believe that Spirit is within all beings, and when we are present and expressing our authentic essence, we are expressing our Spirit. In a gesture of inclusivity, I welcome you to swap out the word Spirit for whatever concept is meaningful for you. Whatever challenge you are faced with right now—whether it's a health crisis, the loss of a loved one, or going through a painful divorce—I sincerely hope the LOVEE Method can serve to process your emotions and help you discover the infinite peace that resides within you. LOVEE is a powerful tool to address your emotions as they arise, tap into your inner wisdom and compassion, and cultivate a greater sense of ease and confidence as the captain of your sailboat on the stormy seas of life.
53 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
5th Dimension Body
Healthy Nutritional Practices
W
By Kimberly Meredith e can’t only be in alignment spiritually; we need to align our body and mind with the 5th Dimension.
Up to 85 percent of the people I scan are immune-suppressed to one extent or another. To recover from any serious immune-suppressed condition, including viruses or cancer, requires a serious commitment from you. While God can heal, you must be open to accepting the healing. You must welcome your healing by providing it a healthy home within your heart, mind, body, and Spirit. Regaining your health requires a willingness to modify habits and become open to new, healthier ways of living. In addition to having a sincere relationship with God, there are other practices you can consistently engage in to root yourself in a vibratory state of high consciousness. In the following protocols, which are the same ones I give to my Healing Trilogy clients, you will find ways to boost your immune system and oxygenate the body to help support your healing process. Many people come to me in a weakened state after having been encouraged to experiment with detoxification. These detox techniques include coffee enemas, apple cider vinegar, and turmeric. In my experience, detoxification, as currently practiced, weakens the immune system. Needless to say, I am a firm believer in boosting the immune system rather than detoxing, especially if my clients are already 54 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
immune suppressed. Eating only fruits and vegetables can result in dehydration and can cause rapid loss of weight while having high levels of sugar and low levels of oxygen in the body suppresses the immune system. The health advice I give to clients comes from a combination of guidance I receive from a high level of Spirit, from scanning some of the latest scientific literature, and from ob- serving patterns in the hundreds of clients I have worked with over the years. My approach is similar to that of a private investigator, doing diagnostics for early detection and then giving clients a preventative list of ways to boost their immune system and protect it from toxins. During the time I spend with each client, I ask them questions about such things as what kind of water they are drinking and bathing in, are they vitamin D is suppressed (the vitamin that the sun provides), what they eat, what kind of herbs and supplements and medications they are on, and the nature of their relationship to Spirit. Then I do their body scan, which brings up even more information. I blink in codes to reveal the needs of clients, and I answer their questions with coded blinking. From the patterns of evidence that I have collected, I created these categories of recommendations that I give those in need of healing to accompany their entry into 5th Dimensional states of consciousness.
Read through the following first, and then go back and start creating your own 5D health plan. My Lifestyle Healing Agreements Checklist • Agree to refrain from smoking. • Agree to refrain from abusing illicit or prescription drugs. • Agree to avoid detoxification methods that involve coffee enemas. Healing comes through boosting the immune system, and detoxification can suppress the immune system because essential minerals get removed from the body through dehydration. • Agree to avoid the use of heating pads. • Agree to live in a clean home environment while healing. • Agree to get plenty of rest, at least eight hours of sleep per night. • Agree to avoid apple cider vinegar, which causes esophageal and intestinal stress. • Agree to avoid turmeric and curcumin extracts because they inflame the body. • Agree to avoid steam rooms, saunas, spas, Jacuzzis, and so on. This includes avoiding the steam from a shower as much as possible. The water from the steam can suppress your immune system. You might also be breathing in the chlorine, which is not healthy. • Agree to avoid bathing in chlorinated water. All showers should have a chlorine filter. All bathtubs should have a chlorine filter. (See the appendix for specific brands I recommend.) • Agree to avoid exposure to mold. • Agree to protect yourself against toxic air with a HEPA air filter, such as Honeywell. • Agree to AVOID DRINKING FROM ANY PLASTIC BOTTLES. Instead, drink from a glass or food-grade steel. Almost all plastics leach chemicals, like BPA that disrupt your endocrine system. See this link for a good explanation of the safety of various plastics: https://www.glutathionediseasecure.com/safe-plastics.html. • Agree to avoid stress because stress lowers the immune system. • Agree to chant, pray, or meditate at least five minutes a day to raise consciousness into a Higher Dimension. • Agree to seek laughter and happiness and joy, as these boost the immune system and open the heart as well. • Agree to get twenty minutes of full-body sunshine a day. • Agree to refrain from drinking alcohol because it is high in sugar. • Agree to avoid all soy. • Agree to avoid bananas and oranges, and other high-sugar tropical fruits. Blueberries, blackberries,
•
• •
• •
• • •
and raspberries may be enjoyed instead. Agree to consume more raw organic honey, which is healthy and delicious. (Organic honey is a natural antibiotic and a high-quality sweetener that contains trace minerals, as opposed to table sugar, which has no nutritional value.) Agree to avoid consuming sugary foods, a.k.a. junk food, including desserts, candy, juices, sodas, and so on, because they feed cancer. Agree to avoid foods that have a high-glycemic index, such as white bread, pastries, potatoes, white sugar, white rice, bran flakes, corn flakes, and tropical fruits. Agree to eat foods that have a LOW SCORE on the glycemic index, such as sweet potatoes, oat bran, quinoa, and vegetables. Agree to avoid eating fish or marine creatures, including sharks, swordfish, shellfish, and crustaceans like shrimp, lobsters, clams, and oysters, because many studies have found that there are toxic pollutants in fish across the world’s oceans. Agree to eat fresh, healthy, whole, living, unprocessed, unpackaged, freshly prepared plant-based foods as much as possible. If eating meat, agree to eat grass-fed organic meat raised humanely. Agree to drink lots of pure spring water from a container made of glass or food-grade stainless steel. Copper may be used occasionally but not daily. (See the appendix for my specific recommendations.)
Kimberly is a world-renowned medical medium, healer, and speaker. With her remarkable abilities, she has helped thousands of people and animals to improve from all manner of medical and emotional conditions by calling in the Divine and Christ Consciousness. Kimberly can also connect with those who have crossed over to bring messages to the living. Kimberly received her miraculous healing gifts from the Holy Spirit following two Near-Death Experiences (NDEs). Through her healing mediumship and blinking eyes, Kimberly can see into the body faster and more accurately than the fastest MRI and thermography machines, accurately detecting all manner of medical conditions. Kimberly's new book Awakening to the Fifth Dimension: Discovering the Souls' Path to Healing is available now. 55 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
THE WAY I SEE IT By Joey Santos, Jr.
EXCUSE WHO?
I
t's Friday afternoon, and I'm about to begin my food shopping for the weekend. As I approach the front door of my local market, I see that an older woman is about to exit, so I politely step aside. She looks me straight in the eye and growls, "Excuse you!" My first reaction was to say something not so pleasant. But, instead, I looked her straight in the eye and smiled. Afterward, however, I did spend a large portion of my day wondering what was up with her reaction to me. I thought perhaps she was having a bad day. Or maybe she just had an odd sense of humor. Or did I remind her of someone for whom she harbored resentment? Or was she some lonely curmudgeon going about life as she bitterly pleased? Either way, my lack of complacency would not allow me to shrug her rudeness off. In a world where "hall passes" are rarely signed, and if you're lucky enough to have one, you'd better have a damn good excuse why.
56 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
I'm sorry, but haven't we all got something going on? Aren't we all carrying a bit of sadness, a touch of disappointment, a skosh of frustration, and a pocket of fear, on our backs each day simply by being human? Does that give us carte blanche to say and do as we please to those we know or don't know? Does growing old automatically grant us an allowance of rudeness insensitivity? I think not. I hope not. My prayer would be for the opposite. To be fortunate enough to see life grow around us and we around it, and finding in that, a sense of comfort, pride, wonder, joy, even awe. Yes, if we stick around long enough, our hearts will break, our bodies will ache, our hands will shake, mistakes no doubt we'll make, yet with all that, I'm still hoping the lessons from life will still carry their generous amount of give-and-take. Either way, can we hold on to a few things in life that make this journey we are all on worth the inevitable destination? Or have we abandoned all sense of fear, responsibility, faith, grace, etiquette, common courtesy, common sense? I'm too young to be walking around shaking my head at everything I don't like or understand. But I certainly don't ever want to be too old to like someone or something, and I never want to grow to become disinterested in learning. I pray I never feel so invisible to myself or too heartbroken to want to remember. We go around (as we know it) just once. Let's lighten up. There is not just good inside us but also great! Look in. Look out. It's called reflection. Bring it home. Share it.
Joey Santos is a Celebrity Chef, Life Stylist & Co-Host of The Two Guys From Hollywood Podcast on iHeart Radio. A Columnist for The Eden Magazine since 2016. Joey was raised in NYC, Malibu, and West Hollywood. He is the son of Film & Television Actor Joe Santos, and his Grandfather is WorldRenowned Latin Singer Daniel Santos. To follow Joey on IG: @jojoboy13 To contact Joey; whynotjoe@gmail.com
57 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
PAVILLON
Addiction Treatment Center in Mill Spring, NC
People seeking freedom from substance use disorder walk a fine line between progress and relapse. Admitting there is a problem and willingness to seek help are just the first steps. An effective treatment program needs to focus on a holistic approach to healing body, mind, and spirit. This approach is the heart of a six-week inpatient program at Pavillon Treatment Center. Nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina and grounded firmly in the 12-Step approach to recovery, Pavillon incorporates spiritual connection as an integral component of its programs. Pavillon's Spiritual Wellness Director, Wolf Yoxall, provides individual and group spiritual counseling to all patients, no mat- The spiritual element must be addressed. "Having a spiritual practice, whether ter their religious or spiritual beliefs. that be yoga, meditation, prayer, some kind of ritual work, is vital to any kind of mental health recovery," Wolf says. "It opens your eyes to be more connect"If you look at the 12 steps of recovery, the first ed to the greater world and finding love and compassion for yourself and for one is basically somebody has a problem," Wolf what's around you." points out. "And then the second and third ones are about having some sort of higher power or Pavillon focuses on getting each person to recognize some kind of unifying some kind of source to be able to go outside of force in the universe and trusting it to help them in their recovery. "That's themselves, and then have some faith and trust to accomplished through various tools or rituals or ceremonies," Wolf states. "It work with that. Everything else after that is about boils down to having something you can connect to for direction and support doing the emotional work and taking responsibil- so that you can go in there and do the harder work. That brings clarity and ity. Otherwise, you're just hanging off the edge of becomes your foundation for living your life and dealing with the work you a cliff by your toenails, trying to make this internal need to do on yourself. A quick example: When people have surgeries, those work, the therapy, the counseling, and everything who use their spirituality or their religion before and after surgery have a better else happen." outcome." 58 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Spiritual practices are a core component in each patient's recovery. "We have a morning yoga practice," Wolf says, "which teaches people to follow their breath and become more mindful of their physical bodies and how they're feeling. We do mindfulness meditation practices. Some of the counselors will start sessions off with a few minutes of mindfulness, finding your breath, getting settled in before doing a group." Every three weeks, Wolf conducts a spiritual workshop involving ritual and a sound journey. "It starts with guided meditation," he says. "The rest is done with tribal instruments from around the world, to take them into a deep connection that can bring about profound inner change." Letting go is essential to recovery. Wolf teaches patients to let go through a burning ritual. "Built-up emotion is actually stuck emotion," Wolf says. "For example, someone who is really angry punches a hole in the wall and feels better, not because they punched a hole in the wall; it's because they released that energy. This ritual gets in touch with whatever that stuck energy is – anger, sadness, grief, depression – and then being able to put it in writing and letting go by burning it and getting that energy out. Our goal is to help everybody identify some element of a higher power, bring that into their everyday life, and we get them to open up, explore that path, and go deeper into it as they leave Pavillon." Another unique aspect of Pavillon is its grief counseling program, led by Chris Cox. While most people see grief as something related to someone's death, Chris says it's much more than that. "We deal with grief with the families. What are the families grieving? They're grieving the loss of relationships, the loss of stability in the family; sometimes they are grieving the loss of 'I thought I knew where we were headed as a family. Now I don't.' Or 'I thought, this is the way my son or daughter was going to turn out, and then this disorder interrupted their lives and our lives.' When you bring up this concept with the families that there is so much loss connected to this disorder, then they begin to say, 'Wow, so I've been grieving, and I didn't know it.' Then, once they can tap into their grieving, they can begin healing." Patients may be grieving the loss of their relationship with the substance itself. "They've developed a very strong emotional relationship," Chris says. "They have to break up with their substance. And that's a loss, which results in grief. And they may be dealing with the loss of career, sometimes the loss of the trust of their loved ones, the loss of themselves in the midst of their disorder, loss of self-esteem, loss of integrity, and loss of time. What is grief? It's the human response to loss, the way we're built to deal with and heal from loss.
Through recognition of their higher self and having the tools, rituals, and ceremonies to connect to that higher part of self, a practice begins to form they needed, and it's always been there for them. I have them write a breakup letter or a goodbye letter, and they begin to understand that in the beginning, the relationship was great. But boy, did it start taking things from them! They get in touch with the things that they lost because of their relationship with their substance. It became like a controlling spouse who wants to separate them from everything and everyone and make itself the most important thing in that person's life. It becomes a very harsh mistress." Pavillon's grief counseling begins a long process. "We're here to get the ball rolling, and then I hope they will continue the grief work after they leave here," Chris says. "We help them identify their most significant losses, and we work with the grieving around those losses. Stuck grieving, unresolved loss,
"For patients, dealing with grief over the loss of their substance is can be an aha moment for them and for their family. Their substance was the most important relationship in their life. And God helps you if you try to get between them and their best friend. And now they've got to grieve for their best friend. It's been their most stable relationship, giving them what they thought 59 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
or unhealthy grieving can be huge, especially early on in recovery. It's a huge trigger for relapse. Toward the end of their time here, I encourage them to write that breakup letter and then hang on to it, so they can remember why they're breaking up with the substance. They need to be reminded of that from time to time." Sometimes for patients, grieving really does deal directly with the death of a loved one. "A patient realizes Mom died five years ago and realizes, ‘I couldn’t or didn’t grieve her loss in a healthy way, because I was drinking at my grief, or I was using at my grief.' So, we look at where did your substance use interrupt your grieving and block your healing? You're told that in treatment, you're going to feel better. What that really means is you're going to feel better. You're going to start feeling things you haven't felt through years of numbing them with substance use. Then they're flooded with feelings of grief that were masked by the substance." Patients leave Pavillon with a firm grasp of what they are grieving. "Usually, by the time they exit here, they have an understanding of the losses they need to continue to grieve. Some losses we're going to continue to regret for the rest of our lives because they're so significant. And it's a matter of how can you deal with that in a healthy way?" Pavillon recently celebrated 25 years of guiding adults on the journey from addiction to recovery. Their sole purpose is to help individuals and families get to the root of addiction with an integrated mind, body, and spirit approach. Their six-week program is more effective than shorter programs. Research reveals that longer residential treatment, followed by supervised recovery, leads to far better outcomes.
RECOVERY IS WITHIN REACH TO BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY For more information, visit www.pavillon.org
60 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
James "Wolf" Yoxall, MA, CSC and Ordained Minister, is the Spiritual/Wellness Director at Pavillon. Wolf provides spiritual direction and wellness counseling, spiritual group process, and lectures on the importance of spirituality and mindfulness practices in SUD treatment. Wolf served as an adjunct professor at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia, teaching in the fields of world religions and Chinese history. Prior to that, Wolf served as the Spiritual Director for the Center of Truth and Vision, as Regional Director of an intensive in-home counseling agency, and operated a private counseling practice. A published author and artist. Wolf is certified in outdoor education and martial arts and worked extensively with Native American and Chinese cultures. Wolf has been guiding people in all walks of life with spiritual guidance and practical wellness applications for over 35 years. Chris Cox is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), a Licensed Addictions Counselor (LAC), a National Certified Counselor (NCC), a Masters Addictions Counselor (MAC), and a Psychotherapist in the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE). He is also an ordained United Methodist minister in the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. He holds a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University, an M.Div. from Duke University, and an S.T.M. from Yale University. Chris provided pastoral counseling for individuals, couples, teens, and families in the Upstate of South Carolina for over 31 years. He has been the Coordinator of the Family Program since 2011 and has provided loss and grief care for Pavillon's patients since 2020. Hank Eder is a public relations professional and freelance writer in Western North Carolina. His background includes a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Florida, experience as a newspaper reporter (including beat reporting for the Miami Herald), and experience at marketing agencies and advertising agencies. Hank can be reached at hank@thegossagency.com.
61 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
7
Photo by HANS ISAACSON
TIPS FOR CREATING CONFIDENCE IN KIDS
62 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
By Beth Brown, Ph.D.,
The most consistent finding in peak performance literature is the direct, positive relationship between confidence and success. Research doesn’t say success causes confidence, but it clearly tells us that outstanding performers are confident. “Confidence is all about believing in ourselves. It has realistic faith that we can make anything happen, fulfill our dream, and reach our goal,” says Beth Brown, Ph.D., and author of the book series, Adventures with Divot & Swish. Society teaches us we need to have successful results to become confident, and it’s natural to pass that belief on to our kids and youth sports team members. But what if I said confidence can be created through an intentional process and doesn’t have to be solely based on winning the game, match, or tournament? Brain science tells us that confidence is a choice. Helping kids choose to create their confidence doesn’t guarantee they’ll always play great, but it does give them the best opportunity to perform closer to their potential (and have more fun). Apply the following seven tips for creating confidence in kids and youth sports team members: Reinforce and reward effort. Sometimes it’s easier to reinforce effort during practice than during competition when we naturally tend to focus more on outcomes, like making a goal in soccer. By creating a plan to emphasize effort during competition and reward effort after the competition, you will increase levels of motivation and fun.. HOW? • Pre-determine regular intervals – like the end of a quarter or half-time – to check in with kids and ask them to rate their effort. • Develop a system to reward effort, like a hustle award, and not just outcomes, such as stickers for making touchdowns. • On the car ride home, ask younger kids if they tried their hardest and ask older kids to rate their effort on a scale of 1-10.
SOCIETY TEACHES US WE NEED TO HAVE SUCCESSFUL RESULTS TO BECOME CONFIDENT, AND IT’S NATURAL TO PASS THAT BELIEF ON TO OUR KIDS AND YOUTH SPORTS TEAM MEMBERS. BUT WHAT IF I SAID CONFIDENCE CAN BE CREATED THROUGH AN INTENTIONAL PROCESS AND DOESN’T HAVE TO BE SOLELY BASED ON WINNING THE GAME, MATCH, OR TOURNAMENT? Focus on self-improvement. One of the top three reasons kids play sports is to improve. To help kids improve, we need to create a mastery-oriented environment where they feel successful when they learn something new or experience skills improvement. A mastery-oriented environment is about “me vs. myself ” rather than “me compared to others.” When kids improve their skills, they also build their confidence. We can help kids accomplish both by creating optimal levels of challenge – or opportunities requiring them to stretch one level beyond their current skill or aptitude. We can model what we do after the video game industry, which gradually increases levels of challenge to keep kids engaged and builds skills and confidence in the process. HOW? • Track and celebrate progression by charting and sharing important statistics in your sport. • Ask kids to set up a practice activity or game to create their own level-up challenge. • Record videos of kids swinging, throwing, shooting, etc., to show them visible skill improvement over time.
63 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Celebrate the good and great. Emotions are like a highlighter on the brain. We best recall experiences attached to strong emotions, whether positive or negative. The more we help kids store positive memories by celebrating the good and great, the more they’ll be able to recall those positive memories the next time they need them. Keep in mind that celebrating may be visible “on the outside” in the form of a high-five or fist-bump, but it also happens “on the inside” through positive self-talk and imagery.
•
•
•
HOW? • Ask kids how they plan to celebrate the good and great. Have them show you how they plan to visibly celebrate and, for older kids, help them determine what they plan to imagine or say to themselves to help store positive memories. • At the start of each practice, have team members show you how they’ll celebrate the good and great. • During practice or throughout the day, catch kids doing something right. Model and develop a growth mindset. Dr. Carol Dweck coined the phrase and wrote a book about the growth mindset, which is seen in kids who believe new skills can be developed through practice, embrace challenges as opportunities to learn, and think the effort is essential. On the contrary, kids with a fixed mindset think skills are something you’re born with, avoid challenges out of fear of failure, and believe the effort is something you do when you’re not good enough. Her research shows young people with a growth mindset continually outperform young people who have a fixed mindset.
Practice confident body posture. Research tells us our physiology can affect our psychology. That is, how we sit and stand, as well as our facial expressions, can trigger chemicals in our body which affect how we think and feel. For example: sitting up straight in a chair gives us more confidence in our thoughts; two minutes of power poses a day can boost feelings of confidence, and choosing to smile can help us feel happier. HOW?
64 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Photo by KAYAN BABY
HOW? • Be intentional about modeling the use of the phrases “YET” and “not YET.” • Teach kids to use these phrases as they’re developing skills. For example: - “I’m on the right track, but I’m not there YET.” - “I may not be good at biking YET. But I will keep improving with practice.”
Have your child, or team members, create their own “power pose” – a physical position they stand in when they feel confident. Challenge them to use their power pose throughout practice or their school day. Lead an activity where kids experiment with different facial expressions. Ask them to notice how they feel. Encourage them to incorporate a facial expression into their power pose. Help team members develop and practice a confident walk. Ask them to think about a performer in their sport or activity who is confident – and then not confident – and walk around the room like they are that person.
Give specific, skill-based feedback. Coaches tend to give a different type and frequency of feedback to players they perceive to have different levels of ability. When we have expectations that a young person is good or has the potential to be a high performer, we tend to give improvement-focused feedback more often. On the flip side, when we believe a young person is not very good or doesn’t have potential, we give less feedback, and it’s usually “good job” feedback that doesn’t help them improve. We give feedback that can contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy where good performers get better and poor performers don’t. HOW? • Be intentional about giving specific, skill-based feedback in similar doses to each of your kids or team members. Increase your awareness of how you give feedback by asking your spouse/significant other/coaching colleagues what they notice. Also, if you’re a coach, videotape yourself coaching in practice. • At the end of a class or practice, take five minutes to get feedback from students or team members. Ask what they learned today and what feedback you gave them that will help them improve. Listen to what they say and provide specific, skill-based feedback, if needed • Based on the day’s objectives, create a coaching/ teaching cue card to carry in your pocket. Look at the card as a reminder to provide specific, skillbased feedback to each kid, or team member, regardless of their current skill level. Reframe mistakes, or losing, as learning. There are countless stories about great performers who have failed, messed up, or lost hundreds or thousands of times. They’ve been coached or learned on their own that failures and setbacks are essential for growth and development. The more we can support kids as they make mistakes and help them reframe losing as learning versus losing as failing, the more they’ll persist and improve. Helping kids separate who they are from how they perform can increase their motivation and retention. HOW? • SShare examples of well-known athletes, artists, or musicians who “failed” before they became highly successful. For example, Hall of Famer, Michael Jordan, was cut from his high school basketball team; Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb, and Oprah Winfrey was once demoted from co-anchor to a writing and reporting position.
•
•
Challenge kids to think about other sports or areas of life they’re currently good or great at. Ask them to share how good they were when they first started and what they’ve done to improve. Make the connection between effort, practice, and skill development. After every performance, tell your kids, or team members, how much you enjoyed watching them play, regardless of the outcome.
Getting confidence from winning games, or hearing positive statements from others, is great when it happens. However, it’s almost always outside of our circle of control. By intentionally and consistently applying these seven tips for creating confidence, you can help your kids, and youth sport team members CREATE CONFIDENCE today rather than WAIT TO GET CONFIDENCE that may never arrive.
Beth Brown, Ph.D., is a life-long educator on a mission to inspire families and kids to have fun, become more active and learn life lessons through sports in her children’s book series Adventures with Divot & Swish. Beth was hooked on sports after picking up a basketball at age 2 and swinging her first golf club at age 8. Her youth sports participation paved the way for her collegiate success as a member of the University of Oklahoma basketball and conference champion women’s golf teams.
65 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
We are all doing what we can to stay healthy in today's world, and Three Hermits will help us do exactly that. Three Hermits believes that food is medicine and relies on the simple principles of all-natural, plant-based ingredients to create immunity-boosting drinks that heal your body and taste delicious.
POSITIVE, FUNCTIONAL DRINKS THAT BOOST YOUR OVERALL VITALITY AND WELLBEING. Three Hermits launched in August of 2019, with one goal in mind: convenient, healthy eating. Our inspiration was our background and belief in Ayurvedic medicine. My great grandfather was an Ayurvedic doctor and started his own pharmacy in northern India, now running for almost 100 years. Ayurveda and healthy eating are a lifestyle for us, and this is how we know life.
THREE HERMITS OFFERS: Turmeric + Nirgundi: Turmeric is considered a "healer for your body" and aids in muscle recovery. Nirgundi is an anti-inflammatory and is effective in treating a multitude of symptoms, including headaches, coughs, abdominal pain, and sprains. Cinnamon + Fenugreek: Cinnamon helps manage your weight by managing your blood sugar levels and taking care of those hunger pangs. Fenugreek slows the absorption of sugars in the stomach and stimulates insulin. For those who practice intermittent fasting, this drink could give your body a boost of energy in the morning. Moringa + Ashwagandha: Moringa is also known as "The tree of life" since every component of the tree has various healing properties and increases overall vitality. Ashwagandha is used to strengthen your immune system, increase stamina, and help decrease your stress levels.
At Three Hermits, we’re all about three things. Hand-picked, wholesome ingredients, enhancing your day-to-day, and most importantly, EMPOWERMENT 66 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
67 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Spiritual Growth Checkpoint:
Past Life Revelations
Photo by ROLFFIMAGES/ADOBE STOCK
By Sherri Cortland, ND
68 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
T
he Akashic Records is a universal library that contains a permanent record of all of our incarnations, including everything that we've said, though, and done during those incarnations. Accessing the Akashic Records is a great way to get to the bottom of why we do the things we do, why we're afraid of certain things, and why we experience chronic health issues. And, oh so important to many of us, they can shed light on why we continue to attract the same relationship issues—romantic, friendship, and familial. Accessing these records is like doing research on the history of our soul, and the purpose of this kind of soul research is to help us make the most of our current incarnation. They are a tool that we can use to expedite our spiritual growth, which I why I first became interested in exploring them. The Akashic Records are also referred to as the Hall of Records and the Hall of Knowledge, and there is no right or wrong way to retrieve information from them. The great psychic Edgar Cayce pictured himself as a dot of light, some folks go into a dreamlike state, and for others, it's more like remote-viewing while some of us simply receive a series of pictures in our minds. How we do it doesn't matter; what matters is accessing information that will help us understand ourselves better. This understanding will help us make better choices and help us accelerate our spiritual growth.
Before we look at meditation to access the Akashic Records channeled by my Guides Akhnanda and Selena, let's first talk a little more about past lives. Here's the thing about past lives and why we don't come into this world awake to all of our past experiences: We must focus on the here and now because that's what's most important for our spiritual growth and the evolution of our soul. If we remembered all of our past lives, and most of us have had violent, difficult, and just plain sad incarnations, we would spend too much
of our precious time on Earth now dwelling on those lives instead of living in the present. Here's what my Guide Group, the "GG," have channeled on this subject… 1- Living in the moment and being aware of the repercussions our thoughts, words, and actions have on those around us is what propels us forward spiritually and allows us to raise our vibratory levels. 2- Being aware of what we do and say every day, and focusing on who we are now, is what will keep us from acquiring additional Karmic debt. 3- Figuring out what our mission and purpose for this life is, is much easier to do when we're not focused on who we were, what we did, and what happened to us in the past.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH IS ALL ABOUT BEING IN THE HERE AND NOW, AND FIGURING OUT OUR CURRENT MISSION IS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IF WE'RE IMMERSED IN WHO WE WERE BEFORE That said, learning about the past lives that directly affect our present lives can be a very good thing; we just have to put on our big lightworker pants and put what we learn into perspective. Here's a message from the "GG" about exploring past lives: We caution you to limit your desire to research past lives to those that directly affect your current incarnation and mission. It is easy to get caught up in the 'who was I' and 'Isn't it cool that I used to be' of past life regression and the acquired knowledge from such meditations and readings. Keep in the forefront of your mind that balance is called for when researching past lives, do not allow yourself to get caught up in these things to the extent that you lose sight of what is important. What is important is watching what you think, do, and say every day because that is how you will raise your vibrations, create positive energy, and create less future karmic debt.
69 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Here's the meditation with the intent from Akhnanda and Selena. As you work with it, please keep the following in mind: Be patient, and if you get nothing the first or second time, don't give up. Patience and perseverance are key when it comes to developing your spiritual growth tools: • Sit upright or lay down, whatever is most comfortable for you • Close your eyes and breathe deeply • Inhale and exhale (3X) • Begin to relax each part of your body, beginning with your head. • Feel your head and neck relaxing as you continue to breathe deeply and exhale deeply • Relax the muscles in your face • Next, relax your arms and hands as you take deep, cleansing, relaxing breaths • And now your legs and feet • Continue breathing in and out as you feel yourself melting into a state of peaceful relaxation and set your intention for this meditation with the words: • I am wrapped in and protected by the light as I seek the truth found in the Akashic Records. • Higher Self, I undertake this journey with the highest of intentions; please guide and assist me in comprehending and using the information I receive for the highest good of my soul. • Continue to relax as you begin to turn your attention inward and visualize your third eye chakra, on your forehead, in between your eyebrows. • Let your attention remain here as you center your attention on your third eye and watch it whirr and spin in a clockwise direction. See the vibrant indigo color of the third eye chakra as you continue to breathe in and out. • Allow yourself to separate now from the place where you're seated, and as you continue to breathe and focus on your third eye chakra, all distractions fade away. • Breathe. • Take another breath in and out as you begin to notice a stirring in your chakra as images begin to form there. • Don't question what you see; just take notice of what you see and hear as you focus on your chakra. • Now, focus your mind and specifically ask to see an event or ask a question from this lifetime or a past lifetime.
70 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
•
• •
• •
"Higher Self, with the purest of intentions for the growth of my soul and the benefit of all involved, I request knowledge from the Akashic Records about (Your Legal Name Here). Here is my question:.." Continue to breathe as you see or hear the information requested imparted to you. When you are ready, say the following: Thank you, Higher Self, for your assistance today. Know that I will use what I have learned for the spiritual growth of my soul. Slowly begin to stretch your arms and legs and move your hands and feet. When you feel ready, open your eyes. If you feel disconnected or lightheaded, continue to stretch and ground yourself fully before getting up.
If you want to use crystals to help you access the Hall of Records, try a combination of clear quartz, amethyst and moldavite—they make a very potent trio. As you master this skill, remember to stick to accessing information about the lives that directly affect your current incarnation because spiritual growth is all about being in the here and now, and figuring out our current mission is much more difficult if we're immersed in who we were before. Namaste.
Sherri Cortland has been communicating with her Guide Group, the “GG,” since 1987 via automatic writing. Much of the information she has received is included in her four books, which were originally published by Ozark Mountain Publishing and are currently available on her website and on Amazon. On Sherri’s website, you will find several free classes and meditations, along with more articles and workshops on video. www.Sherri-Cortland.com https://www.facebook.com/ChanneledGuidance
71 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
Photo by XTRAVAGANT
How mindfulness shapes
the decision making in a corporate world By Jayita Bhattacharjee
72 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
M
indfulness leads to appreciative intelligence, which reveals the way to see the giant tree in a seed. It leads the pathway to assess a situation or read a person to appreciate its positive aspects and to find out how the future will unfurl by stepping with a new perspective, an appreciative intelligence. Weeding out the negativity, if we can concentrate on positivity, we give the situation a chance to disentangle and the solutions to unroll right in front of our own eyes. The recognition of the situation, the externalities, and environmental factors in it enable us to relate to how the developing possibilities of the present can be connected directly to the future. Appreciative intelligence helps us to outstretch our imaginations, so the unrealized potentials of the future can be realized within a realm of possibility. We can emerge as large, potential, and fearless holding life in our hands while viewing the current situation through the lens of positivity. Though it is a potential, not actual still the possibilities can be actualized by engaging ourselves through appreciative intelligence. People who are empowered with significant appreciative intelligence can envision the future in the present as if placing the anticipated experience in the future to the domain of the present. They have enhanced visualization skills and are privileged with creativity. They can foresee the subsequent small steps that build one another and can further create the momentum for the desired transformation in the individuals and surroundings, leading to positive outcomes. In this context, appreciative intelligence, inquiry, and emotional intelligence play a key role. We are enabled to be appreciatively intelligent. There are diverse types of intelligence, but we are only focused on cognitive intelligence alone as opposed to the other forms of intelligence. This heavy concentration on cognitive intelligence does come at the expense of other forms of intelligence.
The first step would be to conceptualize appreciative intelligence as an ability. Everybody is born with appreciative intelligence, some-more compared to others. But this ability can be furthered and developed with nurturing. We can proceed gradually towards appreciative intelligence through appreciative inquiry, so we are looking forward to a better future, positive outcomes, and healthier living. Through this approach, many insights can be developed by the leader and entrepreneurs that in turn propel the future to unfurl from the present model. It becomes a dynamic world looking through the eyes of appreciative inquiry and intelligence. While engaging our mind frames appreciating the situations, we engage ourselves in the process of creativity. Through appreciative inquiry, people engage themselves in interacting with others and hence stem from creating a better future. Being consciously focused on appreciative intelligence, we become empowered to analyze and discover the environment. We begin to examine a new idea/product and its efficacy by getting the professional community to read, judge, and weigh its values as to whether or not it's innovative. These are all we do through a process of appreciative inquiry. Those who have a mindset of appreciative intelligence intentionally incorporate a part of their environment into everyday living and respond to it. While doing so, they invent it as to what it holds in terms of desired outcomes. Where and what that incorporation will lead them to. The desire to incorporate a part of that environment is based on appreciative inquiry and intelligence. Ultimately, they are engaged in the process of discovery. For people who display appreciative intelligence, their belief is their environment is consciously created. It is not something that is just existing
73 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
this amelioration in the business realm is brought by appreciative intelligence.
BEING CONSCIOUSLY FOCUSED ON APPRECIATIVE INTELLIGENCE, WE BECOME EMPOWERED TO ANALYZE AND DISCOVER THE ENVIRONMENT there beyond their control. They believe that they have a role to play in what environment they will live and thrive. It is a matter of conscious creation. A person defines their own environment. So, people are an integral part of an environment and not outside of it. The two are not independent but most definitely connected to one another. The actions of people affect the situation. In a business model, the way of seeing things can be altered instead of targeting the desired efficiency as the one and only. Workers can be taught to look at things and respond to clients in a better way so as to achieve desired outcomes and better business opportunities. This is a transformed outlook in the ways of performing business which can bring hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. It, in turn, improves the business ambiance and the relationships between the employees and managers. In an Information technology world, this can lead to a betterment of the relationship between software engineers and programmers. The inquiry can be made in an appreciative manner, and
74 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
As per management thinkers like Weick and Daft, the way to unfold the future depends on whether or not an individual believes that the present environment can be grasped or comprehended. Their belief and perspective matter. If he believes in the simplicity of the environment, then the passivity will lead to the acceptance of the environment the way it exists, and he/she will discover it the way it is out there. No better outcome will be attained due to the passive nature of the individual. Whereas those who possess high appreciative intelligence become cognizant that there are complexities involved in an environment and they will be actively engaged and be interactive with the environment to bring a positive impact. They anticipate the possibilities, and they finally become achievable. Through action, the enactment of possibilities becomes possible and through those possibilities, what was thought to be impossible finally becomes possible and attainable.
A person with high appreciative intelligence studies the events taking place in the surroundings and takes action, and that action determines how the environment is going to be shaped. That action then becomes the source of knowledge about the external ambiance. An individual engages in appreciative intelligence through conscious choices and can rebuild, rearrange, eliminate, and reconstruct many salient features of their environments. A person first tries to rationally study the events taking place in the surroundings and then takes action. A person first finds what they seek and then studies it, acts on it, and we are transformed as we learn about it. This learning comes through acting on it, and through this conscious behavior, possibilities see the light of practicability, and we reach self-fulfillment. So by making the appropriate selection of strengths first, a conscious reframing is done to shape the strengths to achieve the desired efficacy of a situation, and people of high appreciative intelligence perform this entire process.
The optimistic belief brings a realization of the potential. So ultimately, it transitioned from appreciative intelligence to positive beliefs and then focused on selection, transitioned to reframing, and finally to realization. What was anticipated to take place in the future then turns into a reality. The individual's appreciative intelligence becomes an ability to uplift others which then pulls them up and transforms their outlooks, and they, in turn, engage in altered actions, which induces a positive transformational approach. In the end, the entire organization in business or the environment gets a transformational element that becomes beneficial for all. Overall, a degree of success becomes attainable. Appreciative intelligence is the secret to success for those who have longed for it and brought their dreams to success. It is the ability in an individual not to step back in dire times, not to be pushed away by fear rather give a curious mind and eyes with the hope to look for a breakthrough while walking through the darkest times. As the future is seeded in the present and becomes visible to an individual, they become visionary. This proclivity makes an individual try it hard and do it better with the hope burning high in their heart that calls for success to show up at the doorstep. Everything can be snatched away from a man, just not the mind frame, never the predilection. It's the mind-frame that gives an individual their individuality, which stays with someone. You are born with it, and it is not an unalterable thing. It can be enhanced by proper nurturing and being emotionally intelligent. Try to move through questioning, at the same time looking through the lens of positivity. Live the fears with the hope someday they will dissipate, and the answers will break in through the questions, just like dawn breaks through the night. At your core, it might be one of the most frightening experiences, they may seem to tear you up, leaving a profound wound inside but conquer your fears before they conquer you, and the way to step out would be one step at a time raising your appreciative intelligence, knowing how your appreciation of others might bring an entire transformation in the environment/organization. This form of intelligence becomes an innovative approach in riding the waves of defeat and fears when all else fails. You keep riding them with this outlook the way a tree does, even when it has lost all its leaves in the face of bitter winter. Appreciative intelligence is a strength-based model that is bound to bring collaboration, alliance, and teamwork while wiping
away the division. This strength is reclaimed by looking at the positive core and fraternization returns in the place of division. Individuals, families, and organizations begin to build again from this place, and we see a glint of hope amid hopelessness. From this perspective, appreciative intelligence is a conscious choice and becomes mindful as we make a conscious effort to concentrate on positivity. It is an effort on our part that we make through and through. As we engage in intentional pausing to be observant of the goodness within the systems, we formulate how to build the goodness again, so it calls for success. Being mindful, we can override the tendency to focus on the failures and see the good, better, and best in all. Appreciative intelligence becomes essential to look past the faults and failures. We can build appreciative inquiry in this process as it paves the path for appreciative intelligence. Instead of being critical and judgmental, appreciative inquiry broadens the angle of vision and gives people the sight of seeing unseen things. With time, they learn to see with profundity and clarity. Rather than emerging with questions that stir up fear, greed, or confusion, we can mindfully decide to raise the questions that will bring out the best in them. Thus, what surfaces is transformational leadership.
Jayita Bhattacharjee was 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. 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."
75 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
RECLAMING YOUR TRUE SELF By Angela Dunning
W
e tend to view authenticity as some big, complex, and permanent state, something to be worked towards and attained eventually at some point. Yet, in my experience, authenticity is experienced in moments. Enormous moments nonetheless, particularly if you've spent your life hiding and running from your feelings and body sensations, stuffing your emotions away, denying them, and appeasing others. These old, old habits die very hard indeed, yet, they CAN start to die off. It is the gradual and steady accumulation of such important moments that, over time, lead to a much more solid sense of self and a return to our True Self. They are therefore vital in terms of our healing and personal growth and for building ego strength. These moments also return lost energy to us, usually in the form of suppressed anger and agency to act and protect ourselves. I want to really emphasize that to actually experience a moment of authenticity can feel nothing short of a personal revolution, and therefore, they must be honored as such. As you can now see just how far you've come and how gradually your patterns of defense, pretence, and denial have begun to unravel and transmute into something quite different. In fact, something quite strong, powerful, and beautiful.
76 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Such moments happen when what you are feeling, both emotionally and physically, is allowed simply to arise. There's no masking through your behavior and words, nor is there any tensing in your body. In fact, the opposite occurs: your body softens, your tears flow unencumbered, your manage to say what you do/don't need at that moment, and you give yourself permission and space to let this experience unfold in its own way and time. Within these complex moments, where a lot is going on simultaneously in the body and the brain, there is also a very brief window of opportunity. This is the moment where we can make a choice: We can choose to speak up. We can choose to let our emotions flow. We can choose to stay with ourselves this time and not neglect ourselves in favor of either saving face or making the other person/people feel more comfortable. As Brené Brown reminds us: Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice, to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.
To achieve this ability to stay present with all you are experiencing AND to choose in your own best interests can be a huge milestone for many people. Therefore, it should be celebrated with pride and joy. Finally, your emotions didn't desert you, and you didn't abandon them and yourself in the process. Your body didn't retreat into its old patterns of rigid defense. And equally vitally, your conscious awareness and neo-cortex stayed 'online,' active and present, enabling you to stay conscious throughout and speak your truth. Your mind didn't desert you, leaving you helpless and feeling powerless to speak or act. All of which helps you stay connected to your own personal power and to stand in this, regardless of who the other is.
THE TRUE SELF IS BUILT ON MOMENTS OF AUTHENTICITY "The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are." ~C G Jung
IN MY EXPERIENCE, AUTHENTICITY IS EXPERIENCED IN MOMENTS. ENORMOUS MOMENTS NONETHELESS, PARTICULARLY IF YOU'VE SPENT YOUR LIFE HIDING AND RUNNING FROM YOUR FEELINGS AND BODY SENSATIONS, STUFFING YOUR EMOTIONS AWAY, DENYING THEM, AND APPEASING OTHERS. THESE OLD, OLD HABITS DIE VERY HARD INDEED, YET, THEY CAN START TO DIE OFF
These moments are when mind and body come together in complete unity. And after a lifetime of dissociating and splitting off, this can feel like a tremendous achievement and turning point. Finally, the added bonus to all of this is that in such moments, not only is a deep connection to one's self-made and strengthened, but simultaneously, connection to others happens much more easily too. Because whenever anyone in any circumstances inhabits their authentic self, those around them get naturally drawn to a more authentic place themselves. Authenticity begets authenticity. So reward these moments, cherish them, and know that not only are you building your own true self back up, but you're also enabling more authenticity to flourish in the world; and we all need as much of that as possible.
Angela Dunning is a regular contributor to The Eden Magazine. She is the author of The Horse Leads the Way: Honoring the True Role of the Horse in Equine Facilitated Practice. Angela writes regularly on Facebook: ebook.com/thehorsestruth. You can learn more about Angela and her work helping people and horses at: www.thehorsestruth.co.uk. 77 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
78 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e FEBRUARY 2022
79 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e FEBRUARY 2022
80 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e FEBRUARY 2022
81 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e FEBRUARY 2022
Photo by PALDO HEIMPLATZ 82 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM eFEBRUARY 2022
Face IN THE
OF
ALL THINGS UNKNOWN By Shilpe Nanda LL.B., LL.M.
In the Face of All Things, Unknown is a story of self-discovery and the search for identity, love, and spiritual fulfillment. The story tells of a young, British Asian woman, Isha, who grows up in England behind bay windows and a public school with all the hopes and dreams typical of a young girl. With a contrasting cultural backdrop of India and the struggle to secure identity for herself, Isha is a character many women who have fallen in love and found that love to be a cold, stark place will understand. After the breakdown of Isha's marriage, she feels that every aspect of her life that had formed part of her identity had also broken away. She was depressed, she was broken, and it was time for her to take a long and hard look at herself and her life journey thus far. She wonders how despite being an attractive and intelligent woman (who in her younger days had so much going for herself and so much to look forward to in life), she had ended up here. Despite having a supportive family who wants her to be happy, she decides to stay put in an unhealthy marriage for many years. She finds herself questioning why she had chosen to stay in that marriage if she was so unhappy and therefore felt compelled to
figure out her own role in accepting to live in such a toxic and unhealthy relationship. Isha departs upon a spiritual quest to heal the inner child within her. Only after parenting that small child could she look to start forgiving herself for all the ill-informed decisions that she had made for herself and start loving the woman she had grown into and become. During this time of introspection, Isha enters a spiritual rebirth as she looks to turn her vulnerabilities into her strengths and find the path out of her pain. During this time transformative time, Isha feels particularly in - tune with her thoughts that are surfacing at this time and the spiritual downloads that were being delivered to her by her Spirit Guides. As Isha begins to walk the path of healing, a chance encounter with a handsome stranger, Krish, helps her unravel the divine messages sent to her. As Isha chooses to grow in her faith, she learns to overcome her fears and discovers her own' divine love'. It is through the eyes of Krish that she begins to find her way back home, to her authentic, fulfilled self. 83 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
W
ith the divorce behind me, I was led by a strong conviction and belief that there would be divine retribution for all the pain that I had suffered. I wasn't quite sure how this would happen, but I knew that I had to surrender my pain to God and pray for my healing. Seeking revenge for what I had endured was not my business nor my concern. I just focused on getting to a better place emotionally, physically, and within my career. I started to do all the positive things that I could physically manage, which would help me get to a better place.
I was desperately clinging on to Krish, not because of the need to feel loved, but instead, I was trying to fill a void that I had created by not loving myself. It was this lack of self-love which kept bringing me to my knees every time I found myself in a relationship. I had always jumped hoops to try and win the approval of others, and when that never came, I began to feel bitter inside.
The truth was, I had always been good enough, and I was always beautiful, and yet I had failed to see that within myself. I had refused to believe it, and more than anyone, I now had to find forgiveness for myself, for all those bad decisions I had made and which I had refused to resolve. I had to forgive myself for choosing my ego over love and lacking in care and respect for myself. I now knew that going forward, I had to learn and grow from these harsh lessons that I had unconsciously chosen for myself. I immersed myself in daily prayer. I prayed for strength and guidance, and I prayed for clarity of thought. My mind would often start to reflect upon where my life was going and where I had gone wrong in the past. With amazing clarity, my flaws became strikingly apparent to me. Bit by bit, I now started to understand myself a little better. I realized that I had been using relationships to mask my feelings of self-hatred. These were feelings where I had lacked self-love and care for myself. In many ways, I didn't feel worthy of love. I had been repeating the same pattern for the last twenty years.
84 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Photo by JULI KOSOLAPOVA
I began working out at the gym and taking pride in my appearance once again. I began eating much more consciously and carefully. I started to take care of myself in ways that I had not done before. I also threw myself into my career to gain myself a secure financial footing, as I knew this job could take me onto much better things. As I looked back at photos of yesteryear, I saw that younger version of myself in her twenties. I remember at the time being riddled with so much self-doubt and self-hatred. My body wasn't good enough, my face wasn't pretty enough, my legs weren't long enough, and I hadn't reached those pinnacles of success that my friends were flying high on. The list was endless, and the plague of self-doubt was so deeply entrenched within me. I had been a pretty young girl who was intelligent and had every reason to select only that which would have been for her greatest good, but I hadn't!
Now it had finally dawned on me that I didn't need to seek approval through the eyes of others because my eyes were good enough. They always were, but I just needed to be happy within myself for the person that I was and the person that I was growing into. I needed to be happy with my own personal growth and the trajectory that I was on. The pain that I felt from the sense of rejection in my relationships was caused by me not connecting with myself and accepting who I was. All along, I had been rejecting myself. It was this lack of connection with my own self that made me feel so alone.
All these years, my ego-self had been so engrossed in projecting the right impression to others that I hadn't even stopped to think about what was right for me. What was my soul's truest desire? Or my soul's truest expression? I had lost all sense of authentic self along the way. However, now, for the first time in my life, I felt at liberty to rediscover myself, and I felt excited at the thought of who I could become. I had always felt that I was a wildflower. A little messy and a little different, but I no longer wanted to make any excuses for my spirit that longed to dance to the beat of its own drum. I wanted to finally embrace 'Me' and let my passion burn more brightly than my fears. I wanted to be the very best of my 'authentic' self the way that God had intended all along. I wanted to fall in love with that glorious being that I always was from deep within. And so, as I began to drop the hatred that I had carried for myself for all these years, I started to accept all of me - the light, the darkness, my imperfections, and my strengths. But most of all, I had to come to terms with forgiving myself for all the years that I had wasted whilst embroiled in selfsabotage and self-hatred. Over the next few days, I found that as I began to do this, I started to fall in love with everything connected with me - my relationships, my job, my friends, my work colleagues, my city, and my country. The list was endless. I felt an overwhelming sense of appreciation and gratitude for even the smallest things around me, like the flowers in my garden that I had never noticed before and the beautiful country roads that I traveled on each morning on the way to work. I judged less. I criticized less. I just felt open and immensely content. I realized that somewhere along the line, I had become that love I was always in search of from someone else. I had become that love that I always wanted to receive. And as love replaced hatred in my heart, I found forgiveness for Krish too. As the days passed, I realized that I was no longer a hostage to my fears and self-limiting beliefs. I was not scared of being alone. Instead, I was filled with the trust and joy of knowing that love cannot be chased. It can only be experienced and felt, and I felt surrounded by love, Divine love. It is often said that the best gift in life is freedom. Freedom from the constraints imposed by others, freedom of thought, freedom of spirituality, freedom of expression. But perhaps the most precious of them all is freedom from your own self-limiting beliefs and fears because nothing can keep you stuck and imprisoned more than the four walls of your own mind.
There was a great awakening of the sleeping consciousness of the world, and a new order was set in. The pandemic had reminded us of our collective vulnerability and even our finitude. There was now a new appreciation for all that we took for granted in life - our relationships, our health, and mental wellbeing, but most of all, the appreciation for living each day as it came because tomorrow was never promised. I was happy that my children would be growing up in a world far different from the one that I had known as a child. Sometimes everything we know, and life as we know it needs to break away for something new to emerge, something even better!
Shilpe Nanda LL.B., LL.M., is a Lawyer by profession and a mother of one. She was born in October 1979, in the suburbs of North-West London, and still resides there to this day. From a young age, she had a vivid imagination and loved writing stories. However, it wasn't until her late thirties that Shilpe began to take this creative expression of hers more seriously. Writing and journaling became a place of solace for Shilpe as she navigated through uncharted waters during a turbulent and difficult period in her life. In many ways, it helped her to reconnect with herself and her surroundings. These very notes written during this time inspired Shilpe to write this novel and take you on Ishas' journey as she experiences life In The Face of All Things Unknown!. When Shilpe isn't writing, she can explore nature trails and go on hikes. She is a seeker at heart and loves adventure, travel, and meeting people from all walks of life. For more information about Shilpe, log on to www.shilpenanda.com
85 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Abundance Corner By Phyllis King
86 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
One Life
Answer
I Know for Sure
I
am famous for writing articles with specific steps and tools to help people navigate the complexity of their moments. I, too, like to see directions to solving life’s complexity. If there are ten steps that assuredly suggest I will find success, I will dedicate myself to following those ten steps. Here is the rub. No two paths are identical. No two lives are identical. We may have a similar dilemma. Our money space is challenged. Our relationships or careers are unfulfilling. We are struggling to be happy with the life we have. To solve any of these dilemmas, we must develop self-awareness to hear our inner voice and consciously flow with the greater reality. Success is a collaboration. One thing I know for sure is that when we balance listening to inner wisdom while responding to outer flow, our best life will find us. It takes the “think” work out of it.
We can be conscientious students. There is value in that skill. Absent the ability to factor in our own wisdom; success will be random or fragmented. This is not a new idea that I am bringing forward. Simply one, I am continuing to articulate. Consider the words of the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau who lived in the 19th century. If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears the beat of a different drummer. It takes courage to step away from the mass message that culture, family, and well-meaning friends want us to digest. Often, they want us to digest it so that they can feel more comfortable in their lives. Many of us have heard the saying, do not tell your dreams to someone who has given up on theirs; they will never support you. Your success can be a very threat to their complacency. They will ridicule you, put you down, and even demonize your choices.
87 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Human beings are tribal by nature. We want to belong. We want to connect. It seems wrong to go against the crowd. We often must do just that to realize our potential in life. Each of us has a unique destiny that will not be realized if we cannot find the courage to listen to the beat of our own drummer. Once we hear our voice and honor it, we can often find our way in our tribe. We can belong and be independent at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive. Unless our friends and family are toxic, following our own vision will be an enhancement to our lives, not a problem for our lives. Others will be uplifted by our expressions, not saddened by them. We will bring more to the lives of those we care for when we become more fully realized. As we look for formulas in “how-to” articles, we want to come to those articles with our own wisdom as the gatekeeper for what will become part of our inner narrative. Then extract what resonates synthesize it with our own wisdom to create the clearest vision of a path most likely to lead us to our success. If a magic pill exists, that is it.
HOW DO WE LISTEN? WE LISTEN BY SLOWING DOWN AND PAYING ATTENTION TO HOW WE FEEL. OUR FEELINGS WILL SEND A SIGNAL TO US. WHEN WE FEEL EMOTIONALLY CONTRACTED, WE MOVE AWAY FROM THE STIMULUS, CAUSING THE CONTRACTION. How do we listen? We listen by slowing down and paying attention to how we feel. Our feelings will send a signal to us. When we feel emotionally contracted, we move away from the stimulus, causing the contraction. When we feel emotionally expansive, we continue in that direction. Do you remember the guessing game we played as children, HOT AND COLD? We would ask a question, and as the other person fed us responses, we would say “warmer” or “colder.” Warmer meant they were getting close to the answer. Colder meant they were getting further away from the answer. We want to play this warmer/colder game internally. When we feel goodness go in that direction; when things feel complicated.
88 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
This is a simple idea that requires courage. Not all complex situations can be discarded immediately. We want to become proficient in orienting toward the feelings of expansion in our moments as a way of being. This proficiency will awaken us to a simplified life. Each of us has a road map inside of us that reveals itself to us when we honor how we feel. Our ego-mind will disqualify our feelings. I see this often in relationship coaching. People know and feel something is off with their partnership. They want to believe so badly that this is their happily ever after they reject their own wisdom. We do this in many ways in our life. So often, in client sessions, I will ask a person to tell me how they feel about a specific situation. They automatically respond with “I think that….” Feelings move very slowly because they work in tandem with our bodies. We must take time to be still within ourselves to know our feelings. Thoughts move very quickly and run rampant like bees buzzing around a hive. According to Observer.Com, some of us have up to 70,000 thoughts a day. Ninety-five percent of those thoughts are meaningless and fleeting. We give them a lot of power. If we begin to make our decisions from heart-centered wisdom, our lives will change massively in a positive direction. We will become our best selves. It is the only possible outcome perfectly designed by the consciousness that gave us life.
Known as the Common Sense Psychic (tm), Phyllis King has worked with tens of thousands of peoplein 25 countries. She is known for her practical and down to earth approach. She has been featured on, ABC, CBS and NBC TV, radio programs across the country, and has been published in over 70 print and online publications. She has four books, including Bouncing Back, Thriving in Changing Times, with Dr. Wayne Dyer. Her latest book The Energy of Abundance is available in bookstores now. Phyllis holds a B.A. in Sociology. www.phyllisking.com
89 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
91 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
Photo by NOAH SILLIMAN
How Hope Helped Me Face Cancer
Twice & Thrive By Mike Armstrong
I
grew up in Detroit, where I learned early on that in order to make it through high school and college, I had to hustle. I kept busy, worked part-time jobs, and steered clear of distractions. I had a goal and ironclad hope. I went on to work my way from an entry-level position at IBM to a spot as one of the company’s top executives, and later I served in CEO roles at Hughes Electronics, Comcast, and AT&T. I had firsthand knowledge of how to effectively manage tough situations, but the game changed when doctors told me I had late-stage leukemia. It was a new challenge that threatened to take everything away.
92 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Incredibly, I survived leukemia, and I thought that one life-threatening cancer experience was enough for a lifetime, but I was wrong. Fifteen years later, I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The prognosis was grim, and the harsh treatment regimen triggered another serious disease, Parsonage-Turner syndrome. I was so sick I could hardly breathe. It would have been so easy to give up and let myself fall into cancer’s dark tunnel, but instead, I did what came naturally to me and turned to hope. I made a deliberate decision not to let cancer own me.
Today, I’m 83 and thriving. If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that no matter how bad it looks, there is almost always a path to hope. With hope, we can find the strength to face adversity; hope can get us through almost anything. It can even help us heal. I write about this in my book Cancer With Hope: Facing Illness, Embracing Life, and Finding Purpose. I’m on a mission to help cancer patients everywhere find and sustain hope. While it’s true each patient is different, there are universal moments we all face:
left my wife Anne and me with the desire to support projects that advance medicine, help the disadvantaged, and make the world a better place. It’s important to us to give back because we know how much of a difference these programs make. In spite of the many challenges cancer brought into my life, it ended up teaching me just how much more I can do and what I’m capable of. At the end of the day, it’s all about hope.
What do you know? Stick with that The cancer journey is fraught with doubt and uncertainty. It’s understandable to get swept up in despair and start asking hypothetical questions. Don’t do it—the “what ifs” will drive you nuts. The only way to manage the uncertainty is, as hard as it sounds, to remain positive and be guided by hope as you deal with what is known. Trust your doctor’s experience and recommendations, research the latest data on your type of disease. Every day we know more about cancer, so don’t waste your time and energy focusing on what is unknown. Get your game plan together. Now is the time to work with your help team to develop an action and treatment plan. This is far more constructive and empowering than worrying about things outside of your control. Once the plan is in place, concentrate on executing it one step at a time without getting lost in the frightening and often confusing bigger picture of cancer. Develop a support system No one should face cancer alone. You need a resource toolkit and a circle of support. In my book, I provide detailed vetted lists of National Cancer InstituteDesignated Cancer Centers (the gold standard of cancer care), questions to ask your doctor and care team, and trusted cancer websites. All are there to help ease your journey and improve your quality of life, which will strengthen your hope. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help. Look at it as an opportunity. There’s no getting around it. Cancer dramatically shakes up your perspective on life and what you want to do with it. It’s the silver lining effect after the dark storm that makes one realize how precious it all is. There’s a strong push to use time wisely and with purpose. One patient featured in my book devoted her life to helping other cancer patients locate and enroll in clinical trials, while another launched a nonprofit to assist women with breast cancer. My own battles
Mike Armstrong is the former Chairman and CEO of Comcast, AT&T, and Hughes Electronics. He began his career at IBM, where he spent more than three decades rising through the ranks to become chairman of the IBM World Trade Corporation. Having battled leukemia and prostate cancer as well as serious illness throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he became an active supporter of Johns Hopkins Medical School and its hospitals after retiring from the corporate world in 2002. In 2005, he was named chairman of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Now fully retired, Armstrong is on a mission to share his story as a two-time cancer survivor to help others on the cancer journey find hope. He and his wife Anne are donating most of their net worth to projects that advance medicine, help the disadvantaged, and make this world a better place. 93 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
95 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
Photo by OLEG_ERMAK/ADOBE STOCK
THE
PARTICLE DIRECTION
AND OTHER THINGS By ZEE
96 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
L
isten ever so closely, take in a full breath, slowly does it, now gently close the eyes, and allow this precious moment to hear the music on the wings of the wind roll across the universe unnoticed. In this busy self-created, busy world of, I am busyness, "just allow" while in this state, become the observer. How ironic are we, in this world of wonders, the human mind extrapolates to expand external accumulative ideas and endless collectibles, rather than diving the inward depths, to become the wonder, to become one with one's self, and experience. AS IT IS Firstly let's look at this word particle, as defined: a minute quantity or fragment, a relatively small or the smallest discrete portion or amount of something. Doesn't say much? It's really nothing. You could say, what has become so painfully obvious, the size of a tiny particle, is about how much we do know about anything. Which basically comes down to it's another nothing really. Is anyone at all surprised? Direction, Jim Carey Yes Man, Which way did he go? You gotta love him. Thoughts contain direction, time, and distance, that's what information is, and when we externalize those thoughts, that's called communication. Due to the way we are constructed programmed, these incoming particles of directed information capture our human mind to grasp, absorb, then believe in an idea and personalize it into truth for one's acceptance of another human creature. It's a fascinating game to watch, the manifested role play, needing to belong. This, me hearties, is how we play the game when one is incapable of being the source of one's own true existence. Now, as we consider the other things, it's more like peeking into an open door and behold, our need and desire counterparts are actually inviting us inside to enjoy all that is on offer. Well, let's not go there, oh no, that could be, well maybe just this once. What was it the spider said to the fly? Over some lost length of time, one may re-
gain a sense of, awaken to, where am I, who am I? The realization kicks in the door; we have entered the Hotel California, thank you Eagles. Other things better left for another time are mundane notions, motions, and loud noise, lots of noise. Place them all together; it describes a level of intelligence needed to speak on secondhand information. Somehow this particular species love to thrive in their little homemade bubble. Amazingly the collective like-minded are all in there together. How wonderful it must be, they never have to contemplate what happens in the real world, yet speak of events never seen, were never there, events that never happened, not one of them. Where to next asked the carrot of himself The tide has finally turned forever; tradition and cultures will never be able to stand before the changes happening have happened within the human construct. All around the world, what today brings is tomorrow's constantly changing sunrise and strangely already stamped "people-acceptance" before the event. The human mindset is living now quite comfortably, as it tips toes through the tulips, like a programmed spacetime capsule. IMMUNITY It's interesting that we spend time and research to find answers to why we humans evolved, updated over centuries, and how we function with one another. The question never considered is what response or actions, internal or external, caused us to move in a direction that shaped the world we live in today. And now, due to surrounding circumstances, are we still capable of functioning in a system that appears to have moved beyond our human capabilities? Can our mindset stay with this self-evolving culture, or do we remain trapped, follow the few, and cross our fingers, hoping for the best? Diverse tolerance is this the new blue
97 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
OUR LITTLE PARTICLE MIND HEADING OFF IN ALL DIRECTIONS HAS LOST ITS WAY, CHASING OTHER THINGS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH WHO AND WHAT WE ARE.
Where will, does your mind go mentally, how does one now function in a boundary without fences, will your happiness disappear? Know thyself is the safety-net for tomorrow. Cactus plants, those amazing spiky creatures, are the most mathematical plants here on earth, having already flowered twice. Even nature also seems to have lost its direction. For looking out within the window frame, appear again, 11 new beautiful blooms. Is nothing the same as it was in nature, it appears not? What is it we are missing?
They are all connected as one, 15 multi-colored balloons bound together, freely enjoying each tender moment, traveling in one single direction down the street in partnership with the wind. It's a visual interlude. Now having escaped captivity, it's a day full of new experiences, floating along enjoying the afternoon sunset. The wind hedges, your lost, and blows them back to whence they came. An understanding side breeze heads our multi-colored friends into the park to hide among the trees and nature. Oh no, a car has arrived; they head up the street, with a human in hot pursuit. Now captured, they are off to function as their designers intended, to give joy and pleasure for a moment in time. Having a social identity is important, yet is this that I am, or am I a particle, mindfully traveling on the wind to a destination, falsely honoring this unknown direction. OPENNESS is that your domain How do mother earth and her elemental nature cohorts bring mankind's human mindset face to face with a real understanding that all that we see around us is not free for the taking? As the entrepreneurs often do, Shouting looks at what I am doing to create a better world while raping the forests and the sea, the idea that mankind's inability to create went out the door was overshadowed when the realization kicked in. I'll just pluck it from nature, steal an idea, and proclaim my morality. What a hero! Directional distractions in today's world have removed us from one's sense of self. Have we all been contracted into another's purpose, just to maintain one's survival income? What will happen to that self when one loses this self-proclaimed foundation?
98 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
Have we stopped evolving and taken on the creator persona just to feed the mind that one is great? We look at the world's circumstances and assume this is what is causing all the uncertainty, anxiety, and confusion among the world's inhabitants. Easy to understand, yet very short-sighted. Sadly, humans think their little universe revolves around them. They are little beings, the right word. Imagine if the earth and nature are in a partnership and their combined consciousness are fighting back against the atrocities we humans are placing on the world at large; what could, would that look like? And is it slightly possible that their influence on the seasons changing out of season, the exceptionally high tides, the addition strong winds, the heavy rains, and fires, here and everywhere, may not be manmade after all? Have we so-called evolved humans ever moved close to being mature, individually, collectively? Look around, and the answer is beyond obvious? Why are we in all our so-called evolutions, preached from a high, shouted from the rooftops at what we have accomplished, and yet as we stand here today, we are still little children pretending to be adults? Our little particle mind heading off in all directions has lost its way, chasing other things that have nothing to do with who and what we are. Ruled by few, still functioning in Neanderthal Survival Mode, oh yes, we are!
The author's opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints on this article do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of The Eden Magazine. and strickly is the author's opinion.
99 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e FEBRUARY 2022
Photo by WOLLWERTH IMAGERY
RISING SEAS THREATEN TO WIPE OUT AFRICAN COASTAL HERITAGE SITES By Shaun Smillie
In just a few decades rising sea levels and erosion are set to alter Africa’s shoreline, wiping out important heritage sites, some of which are not yet known to science, a new study shows.
A
ccelerated sea rise is threatening everything from the ancient Roman city of Tipasa in Algeria to the mouth of the Orange River, and many other cultural and natural heritage sites in between.
This is according to a study that, for the first time, has provided a comprehensive assessment of the threat that climate change, par100 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
ticularly rising sea levels, poses to Africa’s coastal heritage sites. Sea levels have been rising at a faster rate over the past three decades compared with the 20th century, a process that is expected to gather pace through the 21st century. With changing weather patterns, this is expected to intensify coastal flooding and coastal erosion, exacerbating damage to coastal zone assets, the study reports.
For a year, a global team of researchers — including the University of Cape Town’s Dr Nicholas Simpson of the African Climate and Development Initiative — mapped 284 African coastal heritage sites, both natural and cultural. They then exposed each site to future global warming scenarios. What they found does not make good reading. Currently, of the 284 African coastal heritage sites, 56 are at risk from a one-in-100-year extreme sea-level event. “You do know, because of climate change those onein-100-year events will become more frequent in the future, and just how frequent we just don’t know,” explains Professor Joanne Clarke of the University of East Anglia, who was the lead author on the study that appeared in the journal Nature Climate Change. By 2050, the number of exposed sites is expected to reach 191 of the 284, in a scenario of moderate sea rise. Under more extreme climate change modelling the number jumps to 198. In this scenario, the entire Mozambique coastline is threatened and the coastal forts in Ghana that tell the story of African slave trade are under water, while in South Africa important wetlands and their ecosystems are wiped out by the rising sea. Of most concern in South Africa, according to the report, is the Orange River Mouth in the Northern Cape. “So, in 2010, its exposure (to a one-in-100-year event) was at 30%. This increases, at the end of the century, under moderate emission scenarios, to 93%. Then to 100% at the high-end scenario. So it’s really exposed,” says Clarke of the threat facing the Orange River Mouth. Other wetlands such as De Mond in the Western Cape and the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal are also likely to be affected by what is called the bathtub effect of rising sea levels, along with coastal erosion.
“The problem is that we could only use 284 sites, which are mostly published. The African coast has thousands of sites, which are not included,” explains Clarke. For example, Somalia is not a party to the Unesco Convention and therefore its sites cannot be inscribed on the World Heritage List. One of these is Hafun, a Roman-period trading port. “But we couldn’t map it because we needed a defined methodology and it didn’t fit within that.” Dr Sue Taylor of the University of the Free State points out that climate change is just one of many threats facing heritage sites that are becoming increasingly difficult to deal with. “Climate change comes on top of this and it is a double whammy. The problem is that with some of these sites, because of limited resources, it might be a question of letting them go,” says Taylor, who wasn’t a part of the study.
IT IS NOT JUST THE COASTLINE — SMALL ISLAND HERITAGE SITES ARE ALSO AT RISK Besides the funds needed to conserve these sites, Clarke said another issue is political will. “Many don’t care, or can’t care because there are other priorities.” However, for the likes of politicians and others to make better-informed decisions to protect these heritage areas in the future, Clarke and her colleagues will be doing more detailed research. “We are planning a paper at the moment, that will look at these sites in detail, to see what heritage will be impacted. So, we might be able to say that 54% of a site will be impacted by 2050, but heritage managers will want to know what 54% will be impacted.” DM/OBP
It is not just the coastline — small island heritage sites are also at risk. These include Aldabra, the world’s second-largest coral atoll, and Kunta Kinteh Island in Gambia. South Africa’s own Robben Island too is likely to be altered by climate change, although even with high-end modelling scenarios this cultural heritage site will largely remain above sea level.
This story originally appeared in "DAILY MAVERICK” It is republished here as part of The Eden Magazine partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global journalistic collaboration to strengthen coverage of the climate story.
101 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
102 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM eFEBRUARY 2022
103 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e FEBRUARY 2022
HIGH ROAD TO HUMANITY By Nancy Yearout
104 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e JANUARY 2022
Spring Will
Bring You, Joy March has arrived, and with it comes the season of Spring. This is the perfect time of year to design your garden. Whether large or small in your yard or on your window ledge, you will need to decide what you would like to grow this year. Is it herbs, vegetables, fruits, or all three? You may look back and think about what has worked well in years gone by, or you may be open to growing something new and exciting to harvest! Many gardeners will begin with seedlings. It is planting seeds in small square holes of dirt to be transplanted after maturity. It’s a tedious process but well worth the time. I watched my father as he methodically labeled all the seedlings planted in rows and covered with the cellphone wrapping for warmth and protection. The patience it takes slows your breathing, relaxes the mind, and is therapeutic to the body and soul. I have come to discover the rewards of gardening and the meaning of the phrase “You reap what you sow.” When you spend time planting good seeds, nurturing them, and giving them love and care, they will prosper and deliver delicious vegetables, herbs, and fruits with a distinctive homegrown taste! Surprisingly, our life seems to work in a similar pattern. Although we choose where to go and what to do in the world, our free will is imprinting our energetic uniqueness on what brings us happiness, prosperity, notoriety, and pleasure. We are energetic creators planting our own seeds as we go through our life, many times without intention. If you are fortunate as you travel down your path on your journey, you will discover this simple truth; energy flows where your attention goes. But what if your intention is joy? What if you choose to create what brings you joy?
Imagine if you put a plan together of what you wanted to grow in your personal life or in your business that brought you joy? What if you planted specific seeds to accomplish those goals, watered them, and tended to them as they matured? Imagine what you could grow! And what if you did this every Spring? Wouldn’t Spring be a joyful time each year! A new gardening project for each Spring Season to promote new ideas, new fruits to be tasted, a new excitement, and appreciativeness to be alive! Spring is the perfect time to begin anew. May this Spring bring you love and laughter and, most of all, Joy.
Nancy Yearout is the voice behind the popular podcast High Road to Humanity. www.HighRoadtoHumanity.com On YouTube and Bit chute, you will find her video presence on Nancy Yearout’s High Road to Humanity. This is the platform that she uses to interview experts from across the globe in various fields of expertise, health, religion, energy healing, yoga, dream experts, astrologers, mediums, psychics, and seekers of the truth. She is the author of Wake Up! The Universe is Speaking to You. Nancy is a psychic empath and an energy healer offering assistance to all who seek the truth. You can book a session with Nancy on her website to ask her questions. She will provide insight to enhance your journey in life and guide you in creating your dreams. www.NancyYearout.com. Nancy is an Inspirational speaker and will book by appointment. Nancy is also the owner and qualifying broker of a real estate company in New Mexico. 105 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022
107 THEEDENMAGAZINE.COM e MARCH 2022