One Tribe Magazine - May 2020 - Issue 30

unatribù THE DEFINITIVE STYLE MAGAZINE FOR MIND, BODY & SOUL

OneTribeMagazine.com

OTM Issue 30 – May 2020

Join the world’s most inspirational creative writers living their lives in technicolour.

onetribe THE DEFINITIVE STYLE MAGAZINE FOR MIND, BODY & SOUL

OneTribeMagazine.com

OTM Issue 30 – May 2020

Join the world’s most inspirational creative writers living their lives in technicolour.

Our cover features Ferial Puren.

Adventurer, passionate social entrepreneur, mentor, personal development coach, holistic nutritionist, Amazon #1 bestselling author of “What Makes You Come Alive”, inspirational speaker and mindful creator.

Photography by Ionut-Adrian Grigoras

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editorsletter

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Everyone at One Tribe Magazine sends heartfelt love to those affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19).

You are not alone, we are all in this together and we will get through these challenging times.

BE SAFE!

With love and gratitude, always. – Kenny Ball, Editor in Chief

One Tribe Magazine will transform the way you see yourself and the world around you. So, get ready to LOVE YOUR LIFE, as our creative writers share fresh perspectives, inspiring stories and simple, easy-to-follow steps that will help you FIND YOUR HAPPY. We would like to thank our fabulous creative writers for their amazing insights and you, our wonderful readers for your continued support over these 30 issues. Have a fabulous month and remember to share the love and live your life in glorious technicolour. With love, gratitude & happiness, always.

Please note our writers are from all over the globe where there are variations in English dialect, to preserve authenticity we have retained these variations throughout the magazine. Photos and text are Copyright to the respective authors and OTM. Articles in this magazine are for entertainment and do not substitute any medical advice. Š2020 One Tribe Magazine | OneTribeMagazine.com | OneTribe.Media

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contributors

Mandy Gibbons

Ferial Puren

Nina Sadlowsky

Larry Rosenberg

Joanna Intara

Vanessa Louise Birt

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contributors

Manisha Ramdhin

Lenny Hadassah Zulu

Liva Levica

Burt Kempner

Linda Liv Doktar

Charmaine Barber

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contributors

Ingrid Meijerink

Robert Landau

Mercy juma

Nicola Debley-Richardson

Andy Ferguson

Dawn Bates

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contents 10

Fire! – More Freaking – Fire!

Letter (Poem) To Past Me… From Me Now! Mandy Gibbons

16

Reveal Your True Self.

Inspired And Based On Patanjalis’ Yogasutra By Ralph Skuban Nina Sadlowsky

20

Airborne Burt Kempner

22

Re-Imagining The Future Beyond Covid-19 Ferial Puren

28

“Lockdown” Home, Sweet Home Livalevica

31

How To Stay Embodied In Love In A World Full Of Fear Linda Liv Doktar

36

3 Things - When You Do These Three Things, The Healing In Your Relationship And Family Will Skyrocket, Especially During This Time Of Quarantine Joanna Intara

40

Bag Of Excuses Lenny Hadassah Zulu

45

Covid-19 Pandemic An Opportunity For Personal Development Larry Rosenberg

48

Stepping Into Power Manisha Ramdhin

54

Understanding The Grief Cycle Charmaine Barber

58

Nature Is...

Vanessa Louise Birt

64

Too Young Too Old Ingrid Meijerink

66

How To Get Out Of Neutral Robert Landau

68

Awoken Mercy Juma

72

Divide And Conquer Dawn Bates

76

My Spirit Guide - Red Mountain Nicola Debley-Rrchardson

78

The Grateful Traveller Andy Ferguson [ 7 ]

on e tr ib e

THE DEFINITIVE STYLE MAGAZINE FOR MIND BODY & SOUl

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photo: charlie suriano photographer | model: mandy gibbons

mandygibbons

“

Fire! ..More Freaking Fire!

“

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Letter (poem) to past me… From me NOW!

mandygibbons

Beautiful, don’t be afraid to bring your fire.

Your heart, your soul… it’s going to split wide open.

Vulnerability… is more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

Liberation… It’s not what you think when you’re on the other side of it.

It’s more.

MORE FIRE! MORE FREAKING FIRE! You’ll find the inner warrior.

You’ll fight through the hurt and pain.

You’ll tell “judgement” to f—k off.

You’ll fall in love with yourself so damn hard…

Going back to what you were, will be impossible.

If you could only feel like I do now.

I know what it took for you to get here.

I’m so proud of you for where… and who you are.

I’m waiting for you to rise with me.

I’m here…

My hands outstretched…

Reach up to me…

Let me take you in my arms…

You’re safe in love…

It’s time.

I love you for not giving up on me I love you for reminding me of my purpose, my vision, my legacy Now that I’m here…

Ascending, growing, expanding, intense pleasure, inspiration, determination…

FIRE! MORE FIRE! It was you who got me here…

You courageous, brave, extraordinary creature, you.

Thankyou for believing in the unknown.

For jumping into it.

Thankyou for going through the darkness to bring me freedom.

C’mon, my beautiful, everything you knew you could, would and felt..

That you were…

You’re beyond that… and much more…

FIRE! MORE FIRE! Beautiful, you’ve created a God damn uprising.

A re-invention of yourself from the ashes that will blow your mind.

Don’t ever fear for one moment what you’re capable of.

Your crazy fun sexy ass unstoppable self…

Hell yes…

You’ve created a MIND TRANSFORMATION REVOLUTION.

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mandygibbons

Am empire of love…

That feels electric to the skin That connects and inspires souls That moves hearts That sparks energy It’s YOUR SOUL! That creates divine, love, abundance, wealth, health, mindset…

A higher consciousness of love…

A beautiful impact for humans and animals.

You’ve bought down mountains…

Created awakenings…

You exceptional, remarkable being of light and love.

The moments you’ve designed, allowed, bought to me.

How you hold your own, right now, with love and power.

It’s going to leap you forward to experiences that are going to fill your epic soul.

To where I’m standing now.

I love you I’ve got you.

I know what you’re made of.

I know you’ll die for your purpose.

For those you love.

That’s how we got here, beautiful.

To, the past me…

Let this empower the hell out of you For what’s ahead…

Soar through it, my love.

As I stand here now… ME NOW! Being here is everything you dreamed of, and MORE! Know that You’ve (I’ve) stepped into your super hero self.

You’re raising the freaking bar…

You’re bringing the FIRE… MORE FIRE! MORE FREAKING FIRE! Keep stepping up, my love, I’m watching over you.

It’s going to blow your mind when you get here.

(Poem / letter to past me… From me NOW) Love you, Thankyou...

Mandy xo RESILIENCE!

Mandy Gibbons

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mandygibbons

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mandygibbons

photo: charlie suriano photographer | models: mandy gibbons + jack hyslop

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photo: carolin jaskolla

| model: nina sadlowsky

ninasadlowsky

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ninasadlowsky

Reveal Your True Self.

Inspired and based on Patanjalis' Yogasutra

by Ralph Skuban

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ninasadlowsky

over time, our diamond, our true self, may begin to dust based on wrong identifications or at least identifications that we didn’t really question and hence accepted. The good news is we can start blowing off the dust, today, right here, right now. We are free to dissolve beliefs and limitations, that don’t serve as any longer, and we can create and absorb beliefs that serve us well.

By dissolving our old beliefs, we approach our true essence of being, slowly, but surely.

Reveal your true self by ‘vairagya’ I chose this topic as part of my yoga teacher presentation.

Whilst dealing with the Yogasutra in more detail, I realised just how much of a code of practice this book is for life. At least for me. This article is inspired by the book and expresses my thoughts and feelings around the very important topic of “Revealing our true self.”

The word ‘vairagya’/letting go is one of the most important words and statements in Patanjalis’ Yogasutra. Whilst it appears more than once, I focus on chapter 1, verses 12-16.

We understand that our happiness does not depend on external factors, but only on what’s within us. We will break out of the prison that we built ourselves, we will break up accepted dogmas, we will free ourselves from living the life that others want us to live and will develop back into our true essence.

However, my starting point lies in chapter 2, verses 3-4, where it’s said that we humans suffer, because we don’t know, who or what we really are. Also referred to as ‘spiritual blindness’ or ‘avidya’.

Yes, this is somehow rebellion, we rebel to get our lives back and to live the life we really desire to live. However, that’s good rebellion, if you ask me.

If we are now conscious and mindful enough, we will probably seek getting out of this suffering and spiritual blindness with the objective to reach inner freedom. For me, this means being, who we really are.

Let go To summarise, Patanjalis’ biggest calling is to practice letting go.

Start walking as to reveal your true self.

In the Yogasutra, this is a higher level of ‘vairagya’, it is ‘paravairagya’, a complete detachment of everything.

Where to start

I would recommend to start at the beginning, just like Patanjalis does in chapter 1, verses 1-11. He states to dedicate yourself to yoga, to self-realisation. Yoga is basically a way to heal, it means healing to the grounds of our being, through a process of cleansing.

• • • •

Accept what you cannot change.

Forgive as if it never happened.

Do not judge.

Let go of what is hurting you.

Imagine a full glass of water. Only by letting go and emptying your water glass, you can create space for new, beautiful things that leave you feeling lighter, freer and happier.

One way to cleanse is by calming down and quieting our thoughts and mental patterns, which are continuously changing and evolving, making it even more difficult to quiet them. The stillness of our thoughts is referred to as ‘chitta vrittis nirodhah’. And once they become still, we will be at rest, feel peaceful and find inner peace.

For me, the most beautiful effect of ‘vairagya’ is that I will be able to love and serve even more, as I develop more empathy for others, more strength to support and enthuse others and help them design their lives the way THEY love it.

How to find inner peace

A matter close to my heart

In chapter 1, verses 12-16, there are some insights on how we can quiet our mind, and the most important finding for me is that we need to understand that we are NOT our thoughts, that we are NOT our emotions and that we are NOT our memories. We mustn’t identify with our thoughts, if we want to quiet our mind and reveal our true self.

This is a topic close to my heart due to my personal experience.

Through yoga, meditation, coaching and my travels through Latin America, I became more mindful and conscious about me and my life; hence I started to reflect and question the existing.

Knots were bursting and I started going my way to reveal my true self. I began blowing off the dust of my diamond and gradually saw parts of my true self appear again, I found my inner light that I had somehow forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind.

Also, it’s beneficial to establish a ‘practice/abyhasa’ like a regular meditation and yoga practice, and most importantly we need to cultivate an inner attitude of letting go.

I don’t think we ever finish the process of de-dusting our diamond, but knowing that we have the chance to do so and break out of our chains and limitations, is already a great reason to be happy and to keep walking the path towards freedom.

Vairagya By practicing ‘abyhasa’ and ‘vairagya’, we will be led into stillness and hence closer and closer to our true self. With the help of letting go (‘vairagya’), we can find our inner light, our true essence again and we will start shining our (moon) light again, that has been hidden and covered with dust for a long enough time. We can begin to walk the way to our true self.

Would I walk it again? Yes, over and over.

Nina Sadlowsky

I love the image of a diamond here. We all are a diamond, but

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photo: carolin jaskolla

| model: nina sadlowsky

ninasadlowsky

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burtkempner

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burtkempner

Airborne When my son was very young I used to pick him up after school. When he spotted me he would race across the playground and launch himself joyously into my arms.

It broke my heart open in the best possible way each and every time and was the purest example of trust and love I’ve ever known. He never entertained the slightest doubt that I would fail to catch him and cover him with kisses. If he attempted the same feat today, at age 27, he would knock me into the next county, but I hope his trust is still mostly intact.

I’m told that my spiritual development hinges on my being able to love myself.

I sometimes struggle to separate the concept of selflove from that of narcissism, but I think I’ve come to understand the difference.

I’ve seen and learned too much to be able to leap into my own arms with the level of innocence of my boy, but to borrow a line from Paul Simon, “I have reason to believe that I will be received.”

So may we all.

Burt Kempner

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Reimagining the future beyond Covid -19 [ 22 ]

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photo: ionut-adrian grigoras | model: ferial puren

ferialpuren

“Every Ending creates the space and opportunity for an amazing new beginning.” time. It is a unique opportunity to re-evaluate our values, reset our actions and work together to re-imagine and re-design the future.

Hope filled words that we need now more than ever. I think we can all agree that the Covert-19 epidemic has thrust humanity into a world the likes of which few people alive today have ever experienced before and the effects of which will change our world in ways we are only beginning to imagine. Everyone on earth will be affected, challenged and changed in some way, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, beliefs, financial status or political stance.

In the wake of Covert-19 businesses all across our planet will be seeking bail-outs and bankruptcy protection. Once the trillions in government assistance runs out we will look for ways to rebuild our lives. As we do, we will need to examine our values, principles and practices of social, environmental and economic development and replace it with ones that will not leave us sitting ducks for the next crisis.

We are in this together whether we like it or not.

The question that we need to ask ourselves is, “how will we as individuals, and how will we as humanity show up within this forced ‘RESET’.

What we need is a plan. I believe that the plan will start with re-designing your own future beyond Covid-19. The silver lining around this darkest of clouds in recent history is that we have all been given a rare moment in time to STOP what we know is not making us come alive. Reset our values, actions and motivations. Then GO towards a life by design. One where you create from your place of purpose. When we create from purpose I believe that we will then begin to not only re-design our own future but also that of humanity because we are each part of a whole. Within each of us lay a very unique solution to a specific human and ecological challenge. as Howard Thurman once said, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” In the midst of this dark time, this still rings true.

For weeks now we have all been bombarded with covid-19 updates and stats, news reports from around the planet, naysayers and doomsayers, optimistic encouragements and pessimist predictions. It is an overload of contrasting information in the midst of an epic, global crisis with an unknown outcome that has left us all oversaturated and confused, with varied degrees of fear. Perhaps, we fear our own mortality, not seeing our loved ones again, shortage of food and resources, foul-play on the part of governments or secret societies, economic collapse and how this will affect our ability to provide for our families. Will we have jobs and businesses to go back to at the end of this? We each fear what the outcome and consequences for every aspect of our lives will be.

Fear is not the wrong response because it is the natural human response induced by perceived danger or threat.

Fear can cause us to either flee, hide or freeze in the midst of traumatic events. With thousands dying and tens of thousands infected each day whilst billions of us are in various degrees of lockdown situations across the planet, I’d say that this would certainly qualify as a traumatic event.

I invite you to join my good friend Andy Ferguson and myself in an ongoing conversation we call STOP-RESTGO that we hope will empower you to re-imagine the future and co-create solutions that will help us create the resilience we will need to survive this and any other crisis that will inevitably follow. If you want to join the conversation then just follow our social links below and we will keep you updated.

Has fear gripped your heart? Does this sound familiar?

Think about it, what have you been engaging in during your lockdown?

Covid-19 is not a death sentence for humanity. It is our wake up call. Will you join us and help co-create our better, brighter future?

Have your fears caused you to become incapacitated and unable to respond precisely at the moment that we need solutions most.

All 7.7 Billion of us are counting on you.

Ferial Puren

We don’t only need an antidote for Covid-19. Our more pressing need is an antidote for a massive cloud of deadly fear that has gripped our hearts.

The crazy thing is. We already have the antidote built right into us. It’s called Hope. Most of us might be in lockdown across the planet but this is not the time to waste our

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photo: ionut-adrian grigoras | model: ferial puren

ferialpuren

“Don’t ask what the world needs.

Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

– Howard Thurman

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ferialpuren

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ferialpuren

photo: ionut-adrian grigoras | model: ferial puren

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livalevica

model: liva levica

“LOCKDOWN” Home Home, Sweet

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livalevica

2020 will be a turning point for all of us and also in the history of humanity.

We all are forced to stay at home and so many people are struggling with it!

It’s also a place of creativity as I do some of my therapy work here and have also lots of options for being creative.

When I think about it - I can understand why they don’t like to be at home.

I wanted a place where I can BE ME and I would be SUPPORTED!

I was one of them! I didn’t like to be at home because my home wasn’t bringing me peace, joy, and harmony. It was NOT my sanctuary or place were to RECHARGE.

That’s why I can ALSO relate to people who are feeling frustrated with their homes and places they live NOW. I know some of you didn’t have a choice - you just had to go with it. But still, even then make sure you have at least a little corner that gives you happiness whenever you look at it! Make sure whatever you buy for your place, home you live in makes you feel excitement and happiness having it and taking it to your home.

It was more a place of disturbance, never-ending chaos, and frustration. For the last almost 5 years and even before that I was sharing the house. It was either my care clients I lived with, housemates, my parents or my school mates - but it was always about COMPROMISING! Don’t get me wrong I had some great times in all those homes, but at the same time, I had also a lot of struggles to overcome.

I also know whenever people come to my place they feel peace. They hang around, they want to spend more time in my place, they like to be in my home - as it gives a sense of peace and support.

You see the place where you live, exist and the environment is very, very important! Your environment helps you to develop, gives you support, gives you peace, harmony, balance and should be the place where you can be - YOU! But it is NOT always a case.

I have also a lot of things from dear people, travels and memories in my life that makes my home even more special. The energy of these things fills my home with love and affection from these people and the amazing memories I have had.

So many of us have homes full of stuff we don’t use, need or even want but they are there and we somehow can’t give them up. We also have this thought that comfort and design have to be expensive. Many of us live with the thought - I am just renting the place WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT IT!

Yes, I am renting my home now. And I have invested a bit of my salary to make it nice, but at the same time, there’s a lot of things that are just a fruit of imagination and a bit of creativity.

Since I have a place where I feel happy, in peace, loved, supported, comfortable, safe and creative I have realised that lots of other things in my life are changing. I am NOW more aware of my future and how I want it to be. Lots of relationships are changing or leaving my life as they don’t any more fit in my new model of life. But MOST of ALL I am changing - this peace, love, comfort, creativity, and support is becoming part of me. All that I created in this house and house itself is NOW implanting these values in me and my life.

I am now in my early 30 and I have been living in my own place for the last six months. YES, it took a lot of effort and determination to find the right place. Plus, I was very fussy in my choice! I wanted a place with a garden and bath - so I can take baths and do some gardening.

It took me all summer and half autumn to find a place that was just it. I saw it on the first day when it came out in the market and I knew that was it!

My new HOME was based at the end of the town, in a very peaceful area with not a lot of things going on but with nice surroundings and people around. I loved it! And you know what I did - I showed this NEW HOME of mine that I LOVE it! I spend time thinking about how I want this place to feel for me… I looked for things that would bring me joy and happiness when I would see them. I waited for some things to come as I was NOT sure what I really wanted in that free space or how I wanted. I spend a bit of money to make sure that things I was buying were good quality and interesting as I would NOT be having them otherwise.

That’s how YOUR HOME should be - a place that MAKES YOU BETTER PERSON. A place where you can be YOURSELF, but at the same time you have space and possibilities for GROWTH and DEVELOPMENT! Love YOURSELF! Love your HOME! And MAKE the life you want HAPPEN for you and around you! Start from WITHIN and then explore outside.

Liva Levica

I wanted this HOME to be part of me and give me a feeling of peace, support, comfort and escape if I needed it. I also wanted this place to mirror me and the way I lead my life.

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lindalivdoktar

How To Stay Embodied In Love In A World Full Of Fear [ 31 ]

lindalivdoktar

It’s a beautiful yet wild world out there.

Always has been, and always will be. The difference is that sometimes the world showcases more shadows than other times. And we must always remember polarity exists equally on both ends of the spectrum. And the question is - what do we choose to focus on?

Since the entire world and its life on the planet is made up of energy, it is so easy to inherit energy from other beings around us, as well as from the collective all together. We read energy and feel energy, even without consciously understanding it.

Have you ever spent time with a group of people and then felt really drained after leaving that social outing? And on the flip side - have you ever spent time with a group of people and felt extremely elevated afterwards? This is a perfect example of a divine energy exchange. It is how energy transmits from one person to another, and also one environment to another.

This is important to know for the purposes of protecting our energetic field, and consciously choosing what we focus on and what we engage in. This comes down to personal boundaries, for example, who we choose to spend our time with, what we choose to entertain in our mind, and also what we choose to consume on social media and TV. Each and every one of us are responsible for our thoughts, feelings, vibration and energetic state. The vibrational frequency that we embody is a direct reflection of what we will continue to attract more of. And that’s the great news – We are the creator!

So, how can we choose to stay embodied in love in a world full of fear? It is important that we go within and connect to deep gratitude and appreciation within ourselves.

Gratitude and appreciation elevate our vibration and strengthens our energetic field, hence it also improves our immune system. It is important to know that fear and anxiety does the exact opposite.

With full responsibility of Self and the energetic state that we carry, we get to practice deeper discipline to stay embodied in love. We must choose thoughts and practices that help us

feel good. We must make a conscious choice to choose love, as well as choose to respond with love to all that is happening around us.

So, in a world of chaos and conflict we still have a choice. We can choose to focus on either side of polarity, either end of the spectrum. And what we focus on will continue to expand.

This goes beyond our daily 30-minute gratitude practices (if we have any in place). This has to do with how we carry ourselves and what we engage in most of the time, most of the day.

Each emotion holds a vibration, love being the highest vibration out of all. Just pause and connect to the difference between how love feels in your body compared to fear. Fear contracts, whereas love expands.

Therefore, we get to choose whether we keep contracting or expanding.

your lens and discover what wisdom each experience has brought you thus far, and what your future experiences will continue to bring.

6. Shifting Perspective: In each moment ask – “Am I currently operating from love or fear?” Allow this question to guide you in all that you speak, all that you be and all that you do.

7. Belief: Commit to rock solid belief in creating positive outcomes in all of your experiences, relationships and other manifestations. Allow your positive focus to lead your way into success.

8. Adaptability:

Below are 10 simple guidelines to help you stay embodied in love at all times:

The world continues to evolve.

Every moment continues to evolve.

See the opportunity in each evolving moment and stay open to change.

1. Practice Gratitude:

9. Detachment:

Each morning as you wake allow yourself to connect to 10 things that you are grateful for in your life. Write them down and connect to them so you feel them deeply in your being.

Detach from people, environments, habits, ways of doing things and materialistic things. Detach from all things possible, as love never brings pain – the separation from attachment does.

2. Acceptance:

10. Expression of Love:

Accept the present moment and each individual as they are. We are all doing the best we can with the knowledge, wisdom and life experiences that we carry.

Express your emotions and declare your love. Tell people that you love, why you love them and what you love about them. Do this for yourself also, as what you embody on the inside you will continue to reflect outwardly. Also ask – “What do I love about this moment?”

3. Surrender: Let go of control and resistance from the now. The more we resist and try to control, the more we keep creating what we are resisting. The moment we find the ability to let go and surrender, is the moment we experience positive transformation.

Embodying love is a choice and a commitment in every moment. Our life will continue to take shape based on our choices. So choose wisely.

4. High Vibration:

I love you,

Take responsibility for keeping your vibration high. Be mindful of the foods and drinks that you are consuming. Move your body and get some fresh air.

Linda x

5. Wisdom of Experiences: Each experience and human interaction brings us profound wisdom. Instead of judging, shift

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Doktar Linda Liv

lindalivdoktar

model: linda liv doktar

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model: linda liv doktar

lindalivdoktar

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model: linda liv doktar

lindalivdoktar

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3 joannaintara

THINGS

When You Do These THREE Things, The Healing In Your Relationship And Family Will Skyrocket, Especially During This Time Of Quarantine.

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joannaintara

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joannaintara

We had the support of many mentors, deep mature adult friendships with other couples, lots of trauma resources, and lots of support on how to literally hold presence through our hearts and our minds and our bodies, the sensations and thoughts and feelings that accompany overwhelm.

I want to really share with you, that I wasn’t the best at having parenting be easy for me.

While I was born with a lot of ability to be a good mother, learning how to do the partnership dance with my husband, and sorting out the necessary inner resources that were required to have a really good relationship and a really good family life like I have now were not something that I was just born with.

Not only did we do that, but we also learned to deeply repair and to take full responsibility for our own experience while also learning to be empathic and to care for each other’s experience as well. This is such a benefit now, especially during these times when social distancing is in full effect.

I had to learn through my own experience.

I remember a time as we were working through this, that it would be so sweet when we could really deepen into the level of maturity that was needed in order to shepherd our relationship in a good way.

With some of you, I’ve shared that I didn’t know how to do repair or deal with overwhelming feelings.

And one of the things that I understand and excel at now so deeply is that the primary job of a parent is to help their children feel regulated. And that’s especially more important now, that we all home for some undetermined period of time.

And I’m so glad that we did this, because now we have a relationship where we can attune to each other and this results along with healthy management of our feelings and sincere repair and throw in a sprinkle of good family rituals to honor the important things, that the amount of closeness and connection and intimacy skyrocketed.

What I mean by regulated is to help them process experiences so that things are neither overwhelming nor underwhelming, but to keep them at a healthy level of engagement.

– – – –

Well, given the dysfunctional family that I was born in and, there were lots of regulation issues and also my husband had regulation issues as well, when it came to dealing with emotion.

I know there are thousands more like me because I have been hearing about it for over 25 years! And I’m hearing tons from my couples about feeling overhwelmed with everything going on in the world stage right now.

And so for us, as a couple, for a long time we had to really endeavor to develop the inner resources so that we wouldn’t feel overwhelmed with any particular emotions.

We healed, We forgave each other, We learned how to master emotional regulation, We learned how to do repair in a really sincere way, and we learned how to create sacred and meaningful family rituals, like saging the house together, or pulling tarot cards together and having a family discussion about what was most helpful.

My job is to help each couple create their own family rituals that fit them and that it’s exactly what I do with my clients that help them experience closeness, family unity and collective healing and honoring amongst them. All of this leads to greater intimacy, ease and energy freed up to create the hot sex, love and closeness relationship they desire.

There were times when I would look at him and say, “This is just too big and overwhelming, I don’t know what to do.”

And then he would say, “I’m feeling that way too, I want to be bigger than this, but I just don’t know how to support you, I can barely even support myself.”

Of course, the kids, they love this, even my sweet son would say when he was three, Mama can I ‘stage’ {of course he was talking about sage...} the house? (I didn’t have the heart to correct him and tell him that the t was an extra letter), because his sweetness and sincerity were so special.

I know that I’m not alone when I speak of these things, and maybe you’ve tried your own ways to deal with overwhelm as well, and wondered how to do the management of your emotions really well.

I want you to have all these healing benefits as well, and I know that you can, when you do some of the things that I am suggesting above.

It’s something I see every week in my practice.

One of the things I know from my work is learning how to deal with emotional overwhelm, by metabolizing the sensations in the body through movement, presence and release.

I want you to feel close and connected and have the healing resources that you need because you do need them, and you cannot survive and thrive in love where both people come together with their conditioning without it.

I knew I needed to do this through all my earliest formative experiences.

I hope you’ll drink this in and take in the good nourishment that’s here, especially now.

So both my husband and I had to go back to the drawing board of our earliest experiences and literally work our way through them by addressing all the difficult emotions that needed containment, and addressing them and giving them actually what they needed. And now, we’re especially doing this.

What’s the first step that you can take this week to start getting going on this for yourself?

For me, I’m going to take an inventory of any places where I still feel there is a need for this, and going to make a list and plan a time with my hubby to connect with him and I know he’ll listen to me even if it’s uncomfortable or even if it’s difficult because we’ve done that work. Wouldn’t it feel great to know the same was possible for you, especially right now?

This meant we had to dig deep into our own ability to birth the inner mother and father that were deeply needed in order to support each one of us individually, and then we could come together as a family.

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joannaintara

And... I’ve got ONE spot (https:// freecallwithjoan na.com) open for OTM readers who are wanting to turn up the hotness, love and intimacy in their love relationship... even if you haven’t been having it for a while... get on this while there’s an opening... you can tell me any one thing you want help within your relationship... and I’ll share with you the MOST EFFECTIVE thing that will totally help you.

Joanna Intara

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lennyhadassahzulu

Have you ever met a person who has an excuse for everything?

What about the kind that has had the same excuse year in and year out? When such people are given the chance to become something greater than they already are, here come the excuses. They have every excuse in the book why it cannot be done, why it can’t be them, why it won’t work.

I know I’ve met such people, truth be told I’ve been such a person before.

It’s like you have a bag full of excuses that you carry around, and at every given opportunity you whip out one of your classic excuses, and just like that you’re out of any perceived danger zone, or are you?

BA G OF EX CUS ES

I think one of the reasons why we tend to make so many excuses as humans is because it’s easy and we can easily be let off the hook. But one thing you must realize is that it does you more harm than good. You’ve got to get to the point where you take responsibility for your life and get rid of that bag of excuses. You might get some temporal relief from swerving responsibility but it might come back to bite you in the end.

says: “You were born looking like your parents but you will die looking like your decisions.” You get to choose how you want to look at the end of your life through the decisions you make. What’s the reason you’ve given yourself why you can’t be successful?

What excuses have you bought into why it can’t be done?

Success is not reserved for a select few, it’s for all of us but what separates the successful from the unsuccessful are the decisions we make, or let me put it this way, the quality of decisions we make. See when you decide to make an excuse that’s a decision alright but it’s a low quality decision, and it can cost you. Choose to make better decisions and excuses don’t meet that criteria.

If you don’t step up no one will do that for you and at the end of your life, we will know the quality of the decisions you made. Don’t sleep on yourself, get rid of what’s trying to stop you before it stops you, get rid of your excuses.

One thing you should know is that excuses won’t take you anywhere, next year this time you might find yourself in this very same spot because you made excuses. Excuses are a dead-end street, a merry-go round ride taking you nowhere, they’re like a rocking chair; movement that’s comforting but takes you nowhere.

Just throw the whole bag away or better still, replace it with a bag of possibilities. It will take courage for you to stop making excuses and start living your best life, just decide to

The sad part is sometimes we’re so proud of this bag that we don’t forget to carry it and keep it like it’s a trophy.

These excuses look something like, “I’m too young”, “I’m too old”, “I’m short”, “I need more time” etc. Fear of the unknown will also cause you to make irrelevant excuses that don’t serve you for the better.

Lenny Hadassah Zulu

Are you such a person? Ducking and hiding from responsibility? One thing you must settle in your mind is that your life is your responsibility.

One quote that I think is so beautiful

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photo: njavwa namwila | model: lenny hadassah zulu

lennyhadassahzulu

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lennyhadassahzulu

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photo: njavwa namwila | model: lenny hadassah zulu

lennyhadassahzulu

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onetribe

DIF FER ENT

religions skin colours languages

ONE TRIBE – HUMANITY [ 44 ]

larryrosenberg

Covid-19 Pandemic

An Opportunity for Personal Development

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larryrosenberg

The Covid-19 pandemic has been spreading globally, wreaking havoc with human health and life, the economy and other institutions.

I invite you to ask yourself the question: Is this a good time to engage in heightened personal development?

I believe there is no better time.

A mega-crisis is when the need for the results of self-development is greatest. Feeling calm and centered, staying in the present moment (where the power is greatest), loving the people around us, finding ways to be joyful and funny, and making optimum choices (infused with wisdom) comprise essential behaviors for asserting our humanness, to help yourself and others. You can’t stop the crisis from raging around you, but don’t allow it to rage inside of you.

In the face of a hard-hitting pandemic, your focus is mainly on protection and reactions to your outer world. But it is your inner world that needs greater attention, awareness and acuity to get through and over the crisis in a holistic way – with the body, mind/emotions and spirit functioning in a healthy and

harmonious state. Shifting from frenzy mode to personal development can be done to deal fully with the crisis in real time; thus embracing a genuine opportunity to tune into your self and activate more of your human potential.

various forms severely compromise the immune system. This enables the disease to flourish and death to occur.

Upgrade your immune system with proper diet, sleep, exercise, emotional calmness, and spiritual insight.

Here is what I believe you can do to enhance your life force and develop your personal power, so you can face any crisis in as good shape as possible, and end up as a more conscious and evolved human being:

Screen out the pessimism around you.

During a pandemic, what the media is trumpeting and what people around are saying spread gloom and fear. Your goal is to not allow what your read and hear define your thoughts and feelings – as their weight can crush your very being. Minimize the quantity and question the quality of information inputs. See the game of fear and control for what it is – debilitating and deadening. Seek out positive and uplifting news as well. Exercise your right and cultivate your ability to see beyond the fog, with a balanced perspective on how to live a healthy and empowering life.

Immerse yourself in the inner game.

The pandemic’s drumbeat of bad news has been loud and unrelenting. What is going wrong and getting worse in the external world tend to take over your life, paralyze you, and bring you down. This is the time to cease the external noise, relax into quiet, and go inside to a place where you can reflect and see what is truly happening to you. The inner game enables you to gain insight, inspiration, confidence, courage, strength, creativity, possibilities, potential, spiritual awareness, and higher consciousness.

From this witness (observer) viewpoint, you can learn to view your personal situation and the outer world in a more peaceful, positive and resourceful manner.

Switch from reacting to responding.

We are creatures of our conditioning and often prisoners of our early life’s imprinting on our unconscious, which runs the vast majority of our conscious thoughts, emotions and choices. Monitor any reactions you have that upset you and lead you into terror. See this pattern of habits for what it is: Your lower (ego) self at work, in contrast to your higher (true) self. Exercise your choice to stop functioning automatically, and instead to responding in a way that generates creative options to cope and even thrive in a very tough situation.

Boost your body’s immune system.

Most of my recommendations for personal development fall in the mental, emotional and spiritual categories. However, we know that they are intimately connected to our physical condition – especially brain chemicals, nervous system, and genetic structure. To deal with the shocks of the pandemic, optimal health is imperative. Fear in its

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Infuse your thinking and conversation with positive markers. If you listen carefully to your choice of words, you may notice words that are heavy, limiting and distracting – that generate feelings of weakness and defeat. I refer, for example, to words such as problem, crisis, mistake, tragedy, worry, fear and hopeless.

Instead, develop an enabling vocabulary that leads to positive and creative options and outcomes.

I suggest favoring words such as opportunity, focused, learning, situation, issue, topic, attention, awareness and concern. These neutral and positive markers shift your mindset, broaden your horizons, reveal new positions, and energize you into grounded and constructive actions.

Yes, the risks of the Covid-19 disease are real and dangerous. But this pandemic also can be seen as a vibrant opportunity for you to inquire within, clear out thought patterns that no longer serve you, unleash creative capabilities, and elevate your consciousness and humanity. Thus, you can emerge from the pandemic with a stronger coping capacity, plus a more personally developed and illuminated you.

Larry rg Rosenbe

model: larry rosenberg

larryrosenberg

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Stepping into power

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photo: kjd photography | model: manisha ramdhin

manisharamdhin

We are so busy leading and taking control that we put ourselves last.

Let’s face it, you are pretty smart and you know exactly what to do to lose the weight, but you don’t do it! WHY? You yo-yo diet and try the next latest craze on the market. You have work deadlines, and when you get home you have to see to the children plus your big baby, your husband. Amidst Covid19, things are probably even more challenging because on top of the long list of things you needed to tick off, you now have to home school and do the household chores.

You are so used to doing things for everyone else, that at the end of the day, you don’t have time for you so you gulp down a glass of red wine and feel guilty for being so busy and not eating the healthier options during your business meetings, that you skip your dinner altogether. So goes your pattern, this is how you are conditioned to behave and unless you are proactive and invest in 30 minutes a day to sort this out, it is going to continue for the rest of your life, coupled with that it is normal for everyone to pick up 2-3kg a year.

When you stress at work at month end, cortisol adds to the lower “mommy pouch” and you can’t help but feel hopeless, helpless and unsexy. You wear slightly bigger clothing so noone will notice that you are moving up a size until that gets comfortable and then you are forced to move up a size again. At the back of your mind, you really want to lose the weight, and deep down you know exactly what to do , eat right, and go to gym, so you take a fat burner so you can have more energy, but what goes up, must come down, and you continue with this cycle of guilt, blame, ill feelings toward yourself, your body and eventually you avoid anything with a reflection

because you cannot stand the sight of you. It starts affecting your sex life and you start questioning, “is this what life is about? Surely there is much more to this!”

We are our own worst enemies. We set ourselves up for failure. Every piece of cake, sandwich or missed workout adds to your already deep wound of feeling not good enough. In each of us lies a demon that is dormant and waiting to sabotage our best efforts.

I want you to play devil’s advocate for a moment. Can you really have it all? Do you need to eat less to weigh less? Do you need to punish yourself by spending hours in the gym or on physical activity? What needs to change? If you shifted your thoughts, could you shape your reality and your body?

Stop living by default. Start taking control. For 30 minutes a day, follow a series of videos and an app on your phone and start investing in you. I will provide you with tools to get you thinking differently.

You are not your thoughts. You are not your mind. You are the observer and you are the one that is thinking the thoughts so start here and tame your mind by giving it direction. It is not your fault. Really it is not! We grow up experiencing life as it throws situations at us and our focus is just to survive. You were doing the best that you could with the knowledge that you had. Life may have been a struggle, but it is choice to continue this path or do something different.

Your sexiness and confidence levels will soar as you work through all your emotions of disgust, guilt, self -blame, hate, anger, pain and obsessions. As important as it is to get started and take that first action step toward your fitness goals, it is even more important to work on your mind so that you stay motivated and finish strong.

Are you the type of person that starts things, and does not finish them? It is because you have not combined working with your mind during these sessions. All emotions need to be validated and acknowledged. Fat is stored energy and emotion. Movement shifts emotions, and your stored fat.

Your past thoughts and conditioning have led you to believe you need to

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push yourself harder and longer at gym in order to look sexier in your clothes. Society has disillusioned us into thinking that we need to eat less to weigh less. Let’s face it, you need healthy and nutritious foods that are quick and easy to prepare for you and your family and workouts that you can do in a short burst of time that will give you maximum results with your body , making you leaner and leaving you with more energy. The right mindset is not just going to get you started but will keep you motivated to finish strong.

Don’t spend a minute more feeling guilty and obsessing over your missed workouts. Stop starving yourself to compensate for your lack of time to prepare your foods. These two actions together with alcohol will only contribute more to storing the excess energy as fat and you will remain in your same plus-sized clothing, avoiding mirrors and anything with a reflection so you don’t have to acknowledge the reality of your situation. You are thinking on average 70 000 thoughts a day, 80% of which are negative. You know your demon well and now I would like you to call up on the hero that lies inside of you.

Your mind will give up a hundred times before your body does, so train it to work for you as your partner in success.

The decision you need to make is whether you would like to continue changing what you are doing every few months with yo-yo results, and in the long term spending more on medical aid bills or whether you would like to start working on the core of your being and investing in your biggest asset – your mind, with lifetime access to the information because now you have tapped into your Inner power. Start your journey with getting to know who YOU are.

Here is a free 7 day gift which allows you to start mapping your life: www. map4life.com/ManishaRamdhin-GIFT

Manisha Ramdhin

manisharamdhin

Fat is stored energy and emotion.

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manisharamdhin

Movement shifts emotions, and your stored fat.

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manisharamdhin

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manisharamdhin

photo: kjd photography | model: manisha ramdhin

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Understanding the Grief Cycle

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charmainebarber

In times of grief whichof In times aregrief normally which when lose are we normally someone close when we lose to us,close we someone go to through us, we a cycle. go through Just like a cycle. any cycle Just like in anylife, cycle there are in life, particular there are phases that particular we need that to phases gowethrough need to in go order to through complete thatto in order cycle and complete that move cycleon. and move on.

At the present time, what with the Covid-19 Virus, we are going through a very real cycle of grief, not because we have lost someone, although that may have happened to some of us. I know of an old friend who is on the autism spectrum, who lost his very close girlfriend who died recently of MND (motor neurone disease) which is a disease which robs you of your self-worth and in the end your life. I lost a school friend who was only 45 back in 2015 who also died of MND, so I know what he must be going through.

Globally, we are all going through a process of grieving because we have lost something very real, very tangible and very much taken for granted, that of our freedom of movement, of the ability to just hop in the car, on a bus, a train or a plane and just go somewhere different, somewhere with new sights, smells and people perhaps of different cultures, skin colour etc.

Freedom to move around for me, was always a given thing as it must have been for everyone.

I love my freedom and find it difficult to compromise it, but compromise we must as we work as one global collective organism protecting our very existence. I see us as some form of a bio-mollecular collective evolving under the scrutiny of something greater then us. Something or someone who is watching us as we all squirm under the watchful microscopic eye, ready to attack or protect us at a moments notice. To watch us as we break apart on that perspex slide.

According to the Kübler- Ross Grief Cycle, there are 5 stages of terminal illness which, in my opinion we can equate to the 5 stages we are going through at the present time which is so uncertain. The model was first introduced by the Swiss-American Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler Ross in a book she wrote in 1969 which was inspired by her work with terminally ill patients, called On Death and Dying. The 5 stages she spoke about are in chronological order – denial, [ 56 ]

charmainebarber

anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance.

In the first stage of denial of both grief and the Corona Virus, we find ourselves being in a confused state, trying to avoid what we know is true but not wanting to believe it. We are or have been, depending on which part of the world we live in, feeling both afraid and still in shock.

In the second stage of the cycle we started to feel angry with what is going on, frustrated with the situation, as well as probably irritated by it holding up our everyday activities such as having to go to work, take kids to school, the gym or go shopping and we have been feeling snappy with everyone, including our closest loved ones.

When the third stage of the cycle hits us we may feel overwhelmed, hostile, helpless even, or we just plain want to run away. Only we can´t because we are trapped for the moment until this passes, which it will.

suddenly started to open up to us, even if we still have a loss of freedom of movement and a sense of not knowing what will happen next.

The key to all this is to put a plan in place which we gradually will all start to do, if we haven´t already and finally move on from this.

The fourth stage of the Grief Cycle is that of bargaining, bargaining with ourselves perhaps, and others because we are struggling to find a meaning to all this, to make sense out of what is happening around us and to us because many of us are suffering through losing our jobs, less hours, worrying about how all this will impact on ourselves, health and others.

The Grief Cycle is by now a friend to us and we may still, at times, need to go back and visit one or other of the stages as our emotions swing sometimes violently, sometimes gently accepting, in a haywire direction or a gentle slight movement as we become that big sturdy oak tree which has stood for hundreds of years and weathered many a storm which has knocked off leaves, branches have cracked, snapped or broken off completely.

This is the stage of healing which is easier. It´s a place where we start to unfold from our cocoon of misery and reach out to others, albeit on the phone, by email, letter or online. We reach out because we need to connect and have contact with one another, to find love, peace and to know that we are valued and that others care about us and we can tell them that we care about them.

But all in all, we stand in our greatness to weather another day, another storm until old age sets in and we are but dust and part of the earth.

Charmaine Barber

The final and fifth stage is that of acceptance of the situation, acceptance that we can only do what we can do but do it, we can. We start to explore our options because the world has [ 57 ]

vanessalouisebirt

.

s..

i re

tu

na [ 58 ]

vanessalouisebirt

The butterfly is Mother Natures perfect example of teaching us that we have a whole new reality to discover and create. Just when the caterpillar thought her world had come to an end, she became a butterfly.

[ 59 ]

vanessalouisebirt

.

s..

ei ur

t na

The phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, thelandscape and other features and products of the earth,as opposed to human or human creations.

Everything is in perfect order and occurs with Divine timing – so nature demonstrates.

Once we accept the concept of the Law of Oneness and that we are, as individuals, one part of the same whole, surely it makes it easier for us to comprehend that everything in our Universe is made up of the same ‘stuff’, it’s the same elements that makes up all things. It’s simply different compositions of those elements that determines whether we are a star, a human being, a tree or an animal.

So, if we believe this to be true, doesn’t it make sense, therefore, that everything, including us as human beings, are all subject to the Laws of the Universe and the forces that govern our existence.

I am almost certain, that like me, you have also questioned in some way, how life works, what’s the point of it all anyway and why we are here in the first place.

There have been and still are so many conflicting theories to answer any questions we may have about life that we are excused for throwing our hands up in the air or tearing our hair out with frustration as it really shouldn’t be that confusing. But it is and I believe it doesn’t have to be!

How can an infinite and everexpanding Universe possibly orchestrate itself without something in place to hold it all together?

If we can trust that there is ‘something out there’ orchestrating all of existence or the greater tapestry as we like to call it, and that we, as human beings, are one stitch in that tapestry, surely this would simplify our lives?

I’d like to think so! However, life as we know it today in the early 21st Century, is evidence we have over complicated something somewhere with all the pain and suffering, poverty and scarcity present in the world.

Nature demonstrates perfectly how the Laws of the Universe govern The Universe and everything in it and if we choose to allow these Laws to orchestrate and govern our lives in the same way as nature, we too can live a life in totally harmony ~ creating a more peaceful and united existence.

Think about how the stars align, and all the planets, including our home planet Earth are spinning around a star we know as the sun. How the moon dictates the cycles of life and day turns into night and night into day creating weeks, months, seasons and years.

Have we ever given thought to how the weather works and why the sun shines

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or how it rains, sleets, hails or snows or how the magic of a rainbow is formed not simply for us to delight in?

Do we fully appreciate the immense water of the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers that form three quarters of our planet or the diversity of a world underwater?

Do we take time to stop and think about how a flower opens or how a snail moves without legs. How a caterpillar becomes a butterfly or trees become the pages we write on or the evolution of every species of plant, insect or animal over billions of years?

There are millions of miraculous events happening effortlessly in nature every second of every day, without our recognition or help.

Our natural world creates the most magnificent backdrop and environment for us to live in and provides all we need to thrive, so why do we, as human beings, struggle to thrive when nature thrives so beautifully without us?

Nature, AKA, Mother Nature has been here for billions of years and when she thrives, we thrive, when she falters, we falter or worse. She has fed species greater than us and starved species greater than us. Whether we regard or disregard her doesn’t matter to her, she is prepared to evolve. Are we?

vanessalouisebirt

Nature doesn’t need us but we need Mother Nature.

There are some profound lessons we can learn from Mother Nature if we are only willing to listen.

She demonstrates to us that there is so much more to us than meets the eye. Take the acorn – who would have thought that the tiny acorn had what it took to become a mighty oak tree. We are far greater than we give ourselves credit for.

If Mother Nature could speak in words, she would tell us we have done a brilliant job with the tools we’ve had available. What comes to mind is a simple Jasmine plant that likes to climb. Jasmine will still grow and flower, in the soil it’s planted in, even though she hasn’t had a wooden arch to climb up and over to show off her full potential. Her fragrance though will still delight all the same.

Mother Nature perfectly demonstrates all that we have ever dreamed of is possible. Simply look at the stars in the sky and how the planets align with each other. The vast oceans, rivers and lakes. The Universe is perfect and we are one with the Universe.

You could also argue that Mother Nature shows us the beauty of diversity and that what makes us different is our gift to the world.

Imagine if all the trees, flowers, mountains, birds, animals, insects, sunsets and clouds were the same, how boring our world would be. Your uniqueness is what makes our world beautiful.

The butterfly is Mother Natures perfect example of teaching us that we have a whole new reality to discover and create. Just when the caterpillar thought her world had come to an end, she became a butterfly.

How about the fact that Mother Nature wants you to know that when you are totally living in flow and being YOU, you are amazing. If you could only see it for yourself you would look on in

awe! How awesome a killer whale is as he leaps out of the water with a spray from his blowhole or how a peacock fans its feathers in all its glory or a snail that carries its stunning perfect home on its back.

Maybe the most profound lesson Mother Nature shows us is that we are crucial for the future of the world.

Insects are the perfect example of this because if it wasn’t for them our world would not function in harmony.

They play an important role in the food web. They pollinate many of our fruits, flowers and vegetables. They are food for many species while they also help break down waste by feeding on dead animals and plants. All in all insects help benefit the natural world and help keep Mother Nature in balance.

It is evident that spending time in Nature has a significant increase on our health and happiness. There are a growing number of studies that show when we do something in Nature consecutively for 30 days, from taking a walk, to planting a flower for the bees, to feeding the birds, to listening to water flow, our self esteem levels rise, we learn how to take risks and we unleash our creativity. In some cases it has been known to improve symptoms of ADHD having a calming influence and helping us concentrate.

For those of us suffering from physical illness and mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, by spending time in Nature and appreciating it, we will feel the benefits of feeling happier and healthier, strengthening us to be able to manage our symptoms more effectively.

Feeling part of Nature has been proven to significantly improve life satisfaction, vitality, a sense of purpose and mindfulness. All of which have a knock-on effect with our relationships and our overall wellbeing.

If these studies prove such profound

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all-round results, why do we find it a challenge to get more people involved with getting out in Nature?

We believe if we took more interest in the wonders of the world rather than the wonders of the world wide web and experienced the benefits intrinsically, Nature would become the only pharmacy we would ever need.

How handy as it’s free and available 24 hours a day.

Our magnificent world is awe inspiring and not only naturally thrives but provides all we need to thrive ourselves as human beings. Providing every resource needed from foods like fish, meat, nuts, fruits, grains, vegetables and plants to nourish our bodies, natural energy in the form of coal, oil, electricity and the weather plus trees make it possible for us to breathe. Trees provide oxygen which is essential for us to breathe.

Our natural world also provides us with remedies to assist our selfhealing. So whether it’s peppermint oil to relieve a headache or indigestion, lavender to calm and soothe your mind body and soul, a doc leaf to relieve itching from a stinging nettle, a vibrant violet amethyst crystal for enhancing emotional well-being, leafy green vegetables to raise your energy levels and strengthen your immune system, turmeric to reduce inflammation in your body, or prunes to relieve constipation, our natural world provides us all we need to support us as a well-being.

So if Nature demonstrates that everything is in perfect order and occurs with Divine timing – who are we to argue.

Our world is constantly evolving…why aren’t we?

Vanessa Louise Birt

vanessalouisebirt

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vanessalouisebirt

“Look deep into nature, and when you do you’ll understand everything better” – Albert

Einstein

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ingridmeijerink

Too young too old

photo: javi indy

Age is a concept of time that we have given to our humanity.

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ingridmeijerink

In recent days there has been a discussion on LinkedIn and FB about when choices should be made about who should and should not be helped when a shortage of IC beds threatens.

Suddenly the realization comes in that I belong to the target group that I think I am written off because my age limit is the lower limit according to some; 58 years.

At first, I am angry. Who are they that they dare to set that limit? But I also go back to my memory. I still remember my body shaking all over when I could ride the iron skates on the photo: javi indy

asphalt because we had a car-free Sunday. I did not realize why this was. I loved it! No cars on the road and roller skates on that beautiful smooth asphalt! What I remember most is the freedom and the carefree feeling I felt at the time.

Awesome! My parents made comparisons to the war, but I didn’t understand why. The sun was shining, and we could play outside. We hung in front of the tube on Friday with a

today. The current crisis shows this again, so many people

bag of chips, cheese or sausage and cola or Fanta. Start the

who are in financial insecurity. We are only at the beginning of

weekend by watching the All in the Family show together.

the crisis because what happens when people can no longer

The economy was picking up, and we got richer and richer.

pay their mortgage or their rent? There is already a shortage of social rental housing. We are in an unprecedented domino

We could buy things from other countries; we could travel and

effect. Only when you have to deal with it through the crisis,

discover other cultures. The plane tickets became cheaper and

you experience the consequences. For those who do not have

cheaper, so we got on the plane as if we were going to another village on the bus. Within hours you were in a completely

a job loss and then get up and continue as usual, this crisis

different world. The internet was born. What an invention! A

will be remembered differently from those in the middle of it

computer that made it easy for us to communicate with each

and dealing with the consequences. It will take years for this

other by means of mail instead of mail, telex or the telephone

wound to heal.

box on the corner of the street. I got my first contract for my

Yet it is important not to be afraid! It is important to realize

first job and started making my own money. How proud I felt.

that fear can paralyze you to get out of this. Your mind is doing

My career started, and before I knew it I was in my parents’

weird things to you. That is because you enter a “survival

pattern: little house tree animal. Money became an issue. After

mode”. It is important that the fear you feel comes partly

all, you wanted to earn enough salary to live nice and go on

from how we were raised. How were we raised? What have we

vacation. Preferably travel far, because your friends had nice

learned to survive independently in difficult times? What have

stories and you wanted to see it too.

we experienced and what can we fall back on?

Dreams... so many dreams. I have experienced beautiful

Fear paralyzes your creativity. You need that creativity to think

things, and yet I am melancholic now ...

about how to tackle and solve your “problem”. That solution

Why?

can be different for everyone because everyone has his or

I still want so much and feel that time has passed too quickly.

her own experience in this. The realization that you suddenly

I still dream as a 20-year-old, but the young people see me as

have to think or live outside your “normal” frameworks gives

older. I never wanted to realize when the elderly generation

many a feeling of fear. Realize that just now the change of

said that time would pass quickly. I always thought... you have

those familiar frameworks gives you the freedom to do what

been able to do beautiful things for so long - now is our time.

you want. Follow your heart and dare to dream! Find out how

And yes… ”they” are right!

you could do it differently. And take it from me ... time goes

The young are right that it is their time and the older ones are

fast but keep dreaming! Age is a concept of time that we have

right that time is passing quickly. I want to do so much and am

given to our humanity and is relative. Should it come to the

not finished with life!

point that choices have to be made, which of course I hope

The latest crisis has already made it clear that society would

not, then I rest in the fact that I may feel the wheels of the

consider me “too old”. It is difficult to find a job when you are

stretcher driving on the asphalt that makes my body shake

over 45 because the young generation decides on your CV. It

and I close my eyes and I imagine me back in the time of my

is difficult for the younger because, the older generation has

roller skates and think: after every end starts a new beginning!

pushed them aside under the motto “too little experience”.

And you know, it really doesn’t matter if you could do what

Ingrid Meijerink

you want to do. If you are healthy and happy, then age does not matter. What matters is how you can survive financially

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How to Get Out of Neutral

[ 66 ]

robertlandau

“Oh no, not again!” you say to yourself.

“Looks like I’m stuck. Sad to say but I guess it’s just gonna be another one of those days!”

Everyone knows what that feels like and it goes without saying that few people enjoy finding themselves in that space. It’s as if you are stuck in neutral, unable to move, with your engine idling wasting valuable fuel.

Just when you thought things were going great, the clouds block the clear blue sky and you land in what feels like a huge pothole on the road of life.

Once your car is in it, getting it out is nothing short of a major undertaking.

Feeling stuck is nothing new to any of us. Find one person who has never felt stuck and I’ll find you a person who has never experienced life. All too often it seems to be a necessary destination on the road that each one of us travels on. It’s called life.

In the world we find ourselves presently living in, it’s even easier to feel you’ve landed in a place that seems as if it’s impossible to successfully emerge from.

So here’s the question; Is the feeling of being stuck or being in neutral something that is real and tangible, or is it more of a feeling that you are indulging in because outer circumstances might not be going the way you’d like them to?

Are you allowing outer circumstances to control you or are you rising to the occasion and taking control of your cars’ wheel? Pitfalls are bound to come up and when they do, it’s all about how you choose to handle the situation at hand.

Think of the last time you felt as if you were in neutral. In other words, when was the last time you truly felt stuck?

As you continue to recall the situation, how did you end up handling it? Did you react in such a way that you were eventually able to move on, get your gear shift back into drive and continue down your road? Or, did you allow the emotion and negative aspects of being in neutral become a huge issue that literally took on a life of its own?

Being stuck is a real thing. It’s a feeling and an energy. How long you

choose to stay there makes all the difference as to whether you will emerge victorious. Remember, you are the one driving your car down the road of life. You might need to repair your car when it hits the pothole of neutrality, but then it’s up to you to get back in your car, start the engine, pay the repair bill and drive on.

When bad things happen, we often tend to attach ourselves to the situation and end up believing that we are the situation. This is how we become stuck. Our gear shift is now in the neutral position. It’s a strange place of being neither here nor there.

Rather than letting the situation pass on and move through us, we end up becoming that situation which in effect, doesn’t allow us to move on and leave the issue behind us. Choosing to stay there too long often results in feelings of loss, helplessness and disempowerment.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some easy tips to keep in mind the next time you happen to find yourself in neutral; 1. Identify the situation - Knowing what’s going on is the key to being able to acknowledge it and ultimately, move on down the road.

2. Believe that you can overcome the situation and that it’s only temporary in nature - This immediately identifies the issue as being short-lived. There won’t even be an opportunity for you to believe you are the situation because you are now taking the time to free yourself from it. You are now assuming control as opposed to letting the situation control you. Always remember that thoughts become things. It’s the way the Universe works.

Don’t ever allow yourself to attach to the emotion of an issue. Do whatever it takes to separate yourself from the negativity at hand. By so doing, you end up shifting energy which you once thought would never move on. Dorothy might very well have been stuck in Oz if she didn’t ultimately realize that her visit there was temporary. When she remembered that she had the power all along, she stopped giving it to everyone else and realized that there’s

[ 67 ]

no place like home. Home is where you return to after the dark clouds of neutrality disappear.

3. What will it take to solve the issue so you can move on? - Once you’ve devised a plan to move on, don’t forget to do it! What’s the point of having a plan if you don’t end up using it? It might not even be as complex as you think. Sometimes the simplest steps forward make the biggest waves of change. Make it easy on yourself. It’s always up to you.

Remember, all clouds are temporary.

Who and what you are is the clear and radiant blue sky behind those clouds.

4. Breathe! - How does it feel shifting from neutral back into drive? You are much more powerful than you often realize. Using your power to move you through life has many rewards.

Realizing that it can be so much easier to move on from situations that once appeared to be all-consuming is what life is all about. The joy of living in this day and age has everything to do with being able to navigate all the challenging twists and turns down the road. Sometimes things that appear to be solid are, upon closer examination, quite transparent in nature. Staying in neutral won’t do it. Choosing to keep your hand firmly on the wheel while you are driving means you’ll eventually get to where you want to be. If you veer off the road, don’t make more of it than it is. You got this. Just do what it takes to get back on the straight and narrow.

You can’t control what happens on the outside of you. Know that you have all the power you need to balance how you react to those events. The key is how you choose to process issues within yourself. The race you find yourself running is between you, yourself and you. Could it be that you’ve already won the challenge but the only person who doesn’t realize this is you?

Robert Landau

[ 68 ]

mercyjuma

awoken There she lay in the quiet night sky on the grass at the front of her porch. She stared at the sky, noting the constellations and remembering her sister once saying that dad had turned into a night star and was watching over her and though she had not believed in these kinds of things before, it sort of gave her comfort that her dad was not far away. Yet she felt empty. Her life was not making much sense now and she wondered why. Her job, her family, it all did not make any sense. Though a part of her was grateful for all these things she still felt unfulfilled. A part of the whole was missing and she could not figure out what at that time. It was as if she had eaten from the fruit of knowledge from the Garden of Eden and her eyes were open now. She no longer found fulfilment from what she once knew. Her heart wanted more. [ 69 ]

mercyjuma

And as she listened to the crickets make their sounds and watched as the wind blew past the flowers, she realized she did not know what the heck she was doing with her life. At first she had thought it was because she had lost her father and her emotions were all messed up somehow but at the moment she realized something; she had changed and there was no going back.

our unconscious there are four major archetypes namely the child, the victim, the prostitute and the saboteur. These archetypes determine the kinds of lives we live and each person is driven by woven threads of these four, each with a unique pattern.

So what is an archetype? It as a symbol signifying a universal pattern which in this case is the guiding forces of our unconscious. In Jungian theory, it is a primitive mental image inherited from the earliest human ancestors and supposed to be present in the collective conscience.

At that moment a conversation she had had earlier that year flooded her mind in that instant. She was talking to her boss at her new workplace and eager to please as ever. Her boss, Mr. M, a kind man, middle built with knowing eyes and wisdom beyond his years had welcomed her into his office with a warm smile and asked her how things were. She had taken a pause for a moment and even though something did not feel right inside, she went with the words, “I’m fine sir, thank you for asking.”

At the shadow of each archetype is a fear and in this case Mercy fears following her divine voice and her intuition which are telling her that she is stepping away from her path and this is why she is feeling lost. The action required is faith in that still small voice but she is scared that she might fall hugely. Where she is, she feels a false sense of security and the risks the divine within is calling her to take feels like a huge risk even though this is where she truly finds her liberation.

From there she ratted on, “Your presentation was very deep, it has made me think deeply and what drew me in the most was that part about, either supporting the cause of the organization or going against it. I just wonder, how does one get to always fully support the cause of the organization?”

To this he knowingly replied, “Well, Mercy, you either have it inside you or you don’t. You cannot fit a square peg into a triangular hole. Deep inside you, you will know whether it is right for you or it isn’t for it will either call you in by resonating with you, or it just bounces off and leaves you with no effect or empty. Listen to that place within you, it always has the answer.”

So what do I mean when say prostitution archetype? Well what does a prostitute do? She or he sells their body or uses their body for the sake of money or some type of payment. In this case it means using any part of you, your brains/ intellect, your body, your relationships, your family, your gifts/talents ,your spirit for some type of gain which fails to resonate with your spirit because you fear that following your true intuition will not get you financial security, or any sense of security. It is allowing people to use you for their gain in a way that makes you feel guilty or used but you do it because you are getting some type of payment, material, emotional, ego fulfilment or otherwise.

In that moment it hit her. She did not think that this is where she belonged. It was a faint recognition which at that time she decided to ignore. She wanted a job and she had gotten a job, what else was there? And the fact that she would have to go back and face her mother and tell her she was turning down because it did just not feel right and she was not passionate about it gave her the jitters. Her mother had apparently been praying that she gets that job for months now, and she wanted her children to be independent and stand on their own two feet financially. How was she to have the nerve to stand in front of her mother and say, “hey mum guess what?

I quit!” oh boy oh boy oh boy she was too young to die. What she was not realizing is that her inner light was also dwindling and becoming deem the moment she failed to honor her inner feeling and please those around her instead.

So when you stay in a shitty or unfulfilling job or stay stuck in a redundant relationship because of the false sense of security it gives you then you are in a prostitution archetype. When you choose not to honor your still inner voice concerning your vocation, your relationship, your station in life, the direction you should take and decide to stick where you are because of fear holds you back, you are being driven by this archetype. It is knowing what you should be doing but because we lack faith in the divine providence of the universe, the abundance of it, knowing that the universe always provides when we need it to.

The good thing is that this archetype can set us free too. It is a guardian to faith as well. It lets us know when to have that faith that when we follow our inner promptings then we have nothing to fear and even when we recognize the fear then we can rise above it and recognize what is happening. Our divine prompting is our internal compass in this life, choose to listen and therein you will find liberation.

Funny thing is that that job did not resonate with the place within but she had not found out what did and this was another reason why she could not face her mother.

Facing the night sky she realized one part of the puzzle was illuminated. Next was her relationship. Well there was no need to go there and look deeply because within her she knew she was in it for the wrong reasons. She did not want to be alone.

Again she was fitting a square peg into a rectangular hole. But then again why the heck was she still there? It’s because she was afraid of the unknown and too afraid to let go.

Mercy was being called to find her inner compass again and allow it to guide her. Her spirit was calling out to her more urgently and it was time to listen. She was awakening to her path. It was now her decision to either have the courage and the faith to trust in the divine and follow her intuition or cower in fear and continue living an unfulfilled life. It was time to truly listen to her soul and he dad’s transitioning was awakening her to this voice once again. Would she, or would she not?

Now let’s take a pause in this story people because this is not something relatable to only Mercy, a lot of people are in a similar situation and according to science, as explained

by Caroline Myss, the author of Sacred Contracts, this is a prostitution archetype. According to her, buried deep within

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mercyjuma

Mercy Juma

[ 71 ]

dawnbates

Divide

& [ 72 ]

Co n q u e r

dawnbates Whether it is a country, a family, or a sperm entering an egg, to create change in the world, something needs to be divided to be conquered.

Families grow and expand all the time as the children grow up and find their own way in the world.

Countries are divided into regions, social classes, as well as various cultures and sub-cultures.

And we have all heard of the phrase “To make an omelette, you first need to crack an egg”.

Even this phrase is diving people of late with the increase of hard core, vigilante style vegans out there, condemning everyone who even considers using things such as honey; but I wonder how many of them still buy flowers and put in their homes, removing the opportunity for the bees to pollenate and feed?

Then there are the gun control debates raging across the States, and the debate which has been taken to a whole new level is the pro-vaccines and anti-vaccines, with people declaring to the world that if you or I are not in agreement with each other then we cannot be friends.

People are arguing, ‘trying to prove a point’ rather than being open to learning and understanding an alternative point of view, or alternative proven facts which they are simply not ready for, may never be ready for, or simply not had access to.

Friends and families are being divided and destroyed right now because the trust between us all is being tested.

Born from a deeply rooted part within ourselves which comes from a lack of self-trust and self-belief.

Beliefs that we’ve possibly misunderstood the information we have, or that the beliefs in which we’ve held onto for so long, or been spouting to the world, are now being tested to the max, leaving us with little to no belief in at all.

People learn differently, we all know this.

With different methodologies, beliefs and understanding of the world in which we live in, and the worlds which resides within us, personal attacks are being made on those with different opinions.

“My style of learning, knowledge and understanding is superior to yours” is one I have seen play out in my own personal circle over the last few weeks, and although these are not the words spoken outright, they are spoken between the lines and ‘read in the air’ and energetic fields surrounding the delivery.

It is akin to the problems we have seen over centuries with my God is Holier than your God, my religion is better than your religion, and instead of us now dividing ourselves over religion, we are dividing ourselves over vaccines, knowledge and learning styles.

Anyone who disagrees with us is a conspiracy theorist, because it is always better to dismiss someone else than listen to ideas which confront us and challenge us.

In a time when it is essential we come together and support one another, combine our heart, mind, body and soul, we are dividing not just ourselves but our families, social groups and business communities, and not just locally, but the world over.

Many of us have access to different kinds of information due to the work we do, places we have lived around the world and experiences we have had during our lifetimes.

Many of us have different coping mechanisms due to the lifestyles we have led up until this point in time, like me for example.

I sail around the world and when I am not on the ocean, I am on land pretty much by myself, working online all the time.

Being a sailor means I regularly lose track of time, day of the week, and yet ask me when something happened and I can tell you exactly when it was and which country or marina I was in, or which boat I was on.

I have been working totally online for a few years now, travel through time zones and wake up at stupid o’clock during ocean crossings for each watch I am scheduled to do.

I travel through time, bend it and exist outside of the man-made construct of it.

I have also lived under curfew during the Egyptian Uprising, and under a

[ 73 ]

dictatorship and martial law. Seeing the larger political games at play around the world and watching political agendas unfold is something I have been studying and writing about for 20 years.

Having had my freedom and my children taken away from me due to a wrongful arrest in Scotland in 2015, when I was locked in a police cell for 57.5 hours, my version of ‘having my freedom taken from me’ is very different to most peoples.

I have been spending days, weeks and months on my own, only talking to shop keepers and café staff face to face when I stop for a coffee or need to fill up on fruit and veggie.

My children and I have been chatting and laughing through a web portal now for 2 years; something my clients, friends and family are now only just getting used to with their family and friends.

Seeing people hating on each other, insulting each other and removing others simply because we have different opinions, or have access to different knowledge and experiences is similar to what I saw in Egypt during the Uprising.

Families and friends torn apart by fear.

Disagreements between partners and spouses, domestic violence, mental (and physical health issues), lifelong friendships, all tested and destroyed because we cannot learn to work together, just because choosing to come from a place of positioning and having to be right makes us feel stronger, safer, more in control.

Wanting to feel in control of the situations we now face is bringing our egos to the surface and the ego is a dangerous place to reside.

The problem with being right, and believing that we are right, is that it makes our minds lazy and our egos ugly. It also stops us from being curious, stops us from asking the right questions; and right now, we need to be asking the right questions more than ever.

Many people know what they know, but have a difficulty sharing this knowledge; but that doesn’t mean the knowledge they have is any less valuable than someone who does

dawnbates know how to articulate themselves.

Governments demanding people have vaccines, some discussing making them compulsory, combined with airports wanting proof people have been tested for COVID-19, is an abuse of Human Rights in many ways.

Where is our right to choose what goes in our bodies?

Where is our right to travel freely?

That said, where is the right for people to be free from the fear of being infected by those who may possibly been carrying a life threatening disease.

But then is this whole COVID-19 a real life threatening dis-ease or simply a manifestation of fear and the combined existing health issues and age?

Are our bodies being held to ransom by corrupt governments, the pharma industry, telecoms companies and the aviation authority?

Do they really have our best interests at heart or simply looking for more control and more profit?

Do we even need to answer any of these questions; or do we simply need to follow orders and do as we are told like good little children do?

Maybe we’ll never know for sure.

As a digital nomad, completely location free, travelling the world researching my up and coming series of books The Mermaids Guide, I am using this time to stay in one place to work on my business, expand my team and get my content automated so more people have access to it when I am out on the ocean again.

My goal is to impact the world positively and powerfully, which is why I put out so much free content across all my social media platforms and share here in the One Tribe Magazine, and the other guest blogs and magazines I write for.

I did wonder whether writing this article actually fitted with the vibe of One Tribe, but the thing is this: WE ARE ALL CONNECTED. WE ARE ALL ONE TRIBE.

the moment is more sinister than when we were divided by race, religion, ethnicity and culture.

Individuals are turning on their fellow family members, becoming tin pot dictators telling people what they should and should not think, instead of opening up a healthy dialogue with each other.

No longer is it enough for the powers that be that we are afraid of someone simply because the colour of their skin, their religion or the part of the world they come from, but now we are not being programmed to be afraid of the very people we have chosen to give birth to, live with as our spouse or parent.

People are choosing to wear the mask, without actually looking into the negative health benefits that presents.

places around the world, where health care workers, access to healthy foods, daily exercise and outdoors spaces are allowed, there are fewer cases of the COVID-19?”

“Why have I started to trust and follow instructions from the people who before all this started, I didn’t trust at all?”

“How am I using my time? Is it making me more productive and happier, or making me lazier and more fearful?”

And, “If Sir Issac Newton invented calculus during the plague, what can you invent or create, or have you been inventing and creating during these days of quarantine?”

Remember, we create our own realities, and when we live to laugh and laugh to live, life in lockdown becomes a whole lot more fun and enjoyable, as well as less fearful!

People around the world are no longer able to get hold of healthy food, having to resort to manufactured, processed food and have restricted access to health care professionals and support workers.

Wishing you all the very best of health in each and every area of your life, mind, body and soul,

Dr’s and nurses are working even longer hours than before, and being forced in some countries to lie about the cause of deaths in case they lose their jobs and careers, which they have invested so much into, and rely upon to feed, clothe and house their own families.

*For all those who would like to know more about my time in Egypt during the Uprising or the time I was arrested and kept in a police cell in Scotland, to understand how I got through it, the strategies I used, then I invite you to visit www.dawnbates.com/books-bydawn-bates and purchase The Trilogy of Life Itself.

An impossible situation for all concerned.

So, whilst this is not one of my regular style posts for One Tribe, it is something that we as a Tribe cannot overlook.

As a publication you look to for guidance and inspiration, it would be irresponsible of me not to write about this subject.

Mind, body and soul needs to be connected for us all to get through this, and if we are not filling our minds with the facts, having asked smarter questions and following the breadcrumbs (or rather money), then we fill our bodies with the wrong foods and then our soul becomes jeopardised.

THE TRIBE OF HUMANITY.

It is time to connect the dots within us, around us and globally.

And the division which is going on at

And ask ourselves this “Why in some

[ 74 ]

With love, Dawn x

Not only will it inspire you, motivate you but it will also enlighten you, leave you wanting more out of yourself and your life.

Ciao for now! x

Dawn Bates

dawnbates

“To make an omelette, you first need to crack an egg� [ 75 ]

nicoladebley-richardson

My Spirit Guide - Red Mountain I met my Guide during a Guided Meditation in my late 20’s during a development group.

intention correctly. I feel as though I owe them the honour of connecting in a certain way and following the rituals I have in place.

He came to me with strength. In my third eye I could see he was bare chested, very tall and he was wearing a long piece of silver and topaz jewellery as a necklace. He had a brown leather bag hung across his chest.

I guess since being a young child, I have always felt as though it was something very special and it has always felt very personal to me. I didn’t really share it with many people.

His hair was long, straight, and dark. I clearly remember seeing that his nose was prominent with a slightly raised bridge. He was very tall and had large rough hands. He wore a short cloth to cover his modesty and long calf length boots.

The name I was given was Red Mountain.

It has always been quite a solitude journey, and I was never looking to anyone else for confirmation or interest. The messages were very personal to me and my journey, and I didn’t need or want to allow in any doubt from others, because I was sure about what I was receiving and my certainty was unwavering.

At that stage I felt blessed to have met him. He had a gentle but assertive energy about him. There was power but in a very calm way. I was not scared or afraid and I felt very excited to have actually met and connected with my Guide. It was a very big moment in my journey. From this moment I knew things were going to be different.

Red Mountain is always with me, whether I am happy or sad.

The problem is sometimes when I have been super sad, I have lost my way and have not connected as often as I should. I have sometimes stepped away from listening and following guidance. Only when I begin to listen again – do things get back on track. They have guided me in times of uncertainty.

I had begun to meditate regularly, and I was already connecting with my Guardian Angels during Meditation. So, I guess my mind was more receptive and I believe that Spirit was recognising that the time was right for me to once again develop further.

That feeling of faith that I get from Spirit is invaluable.

They are able to alleviate many doubts and fears – and that knowingness is indescribably comforting. So often I have felt the soothing arms of Spirit (metaphorically speaking) around me, and just know that it was all going to be okay.

Throughout my life, I have been given the space to absorb each level of development, before being guided on to the next level. Like a phased journey – with time to understand and embrace each step.

Red Mountain has given me some wisdom, which I am sure will resonate with many…

Red Mountain...

Red Mountain was my Guide and advisor and I felt safe in his guidance. I was dedicated to meditating every day. If I didn’t, I became cranky; I just knew it was something I needed to do.

“It is a big world out there and you are entitled to your chunk of experiences that will help you grow and allow you to continue down your destined path. Travel is a necessity for you, it is not just a luxury, it will help you to grow and nourish your soul.

Please see it as your entitlement and allow yourself to dream of travel and distant places. There are religions for you to explore and cultures for you to live, this will help you to work out, who you are, and what are your own beliefs, not the limiting beliefs, which you have inherited. My Child you are free to roam.

To record my journey, I started to keep journals again, as I had done when I was a teenager. I would detail things I had seen during my Meditations, any signs and symbols or messages I was receiving for myself or other people.

My journals were becoming more about the wisdom I was receiving from Red Mountain. I was working full time at this time, really struggling during the day but getting great comfort from Spirit as I would write at night and Meditate in the morning before work.

Do not fear about finances to fund these explorations, for this will happen, more financial gain is coming your way, and you will free up time to be able to explore. It is time to believe that abundance is rightly yours, it is not selfish or greedy, it is needed to help you grow.

There was something about the sound of a super sharp pencil on paper, this would help me to absorb myself even more in to what I was hearing from Spirit. I would capture all that I was being told, these messages didn’t come to me at all throughout the day, it would only be when I was in my Meditation Room, candles lit, and intention and focus was with Spirit.

Listen to the ideas that pop into your head, you have so many.

Once you are free the creativity will flow. Allow this to happen there are no limitations.

Have faith My Child, you are a Child of the Universe. You are beautiful. This is an amazing chapter of your life. You will look back and create a book from your journey and people will read it.”

When I share that I am a Medium, people will often ask me if I have anything for them – any messages? But for me it isn’t like that – I have to be in the right ‘Zone’. It’s also about respect, I don’t like to just assume that Spirit will give me information willy-nilly – without setting the

Nicola Debley-Richardson

[ 76 ]

nicoladebley-richardson

Red Mountain was my Guide and advisor and I felt safe in his guidance.

[ 77 ]

andyferguson

ThTe e l h u f e l t a GrGarvaetlelfeu r TrTraveller [ 78 ]

andyferguson

It was a different time. A time when we could mingle. A time when we could travel. A time when we could explore new places and meet new people.

A time that seems like a lifetime ago. A time before Covid 19.

I am not always a grateful traveller. There are some journeys that are just too long, too exhausting, too stressful. Yet on one trip I found a balm, a sanctuary, a place of refuge that welcomed me in, took my weariness, frustration and disappointment and turned it into delight And it reminded me just how amazing life and people can be.

This particular evening I had three hours to fill until my train connection. I was beyond tired and what I needed most was to rest.

I spied a coffee shop and thought I could kill some time there. I crossed over the threshold and instantly felt better. This was no franchise, no homogenised corporate money-spinner; instead, it announced itself as a magical place, like the home a child would dream of growing up in.

I crashed down on a comfy sofa, and a friendly face appeared and asked: “what would you like?” I must have blurted out something like “to stay here a while and not have to move”. It was silly really; I knew they must be near closing, so late was the hour. “Of course” came the reply, “stay as long as you like”. I couldn’t believe my luck, and as I ordered some tea and cake, I explained that I had come here for a meeting that hadn’t gone at all well and ended much earlier than I had planned. Extremely disappointed, I now had a considerable gap until my train home, and there was nothing for me to do even if I had had the energy or inclination.

“Not to worry,” my host told me “just relax, read a book or magazine from our collection and fill up on whatever you need”. After my tea and cake, my new friend came over and said “look why don’t you lie back and have a nap, and we’ll wake you up in plenty of time to catch your train. You look exhausted”. I felt in the safest place on Earth. I was home again. I was soon fast asleep.

I have never had the opportunity to go back but in these difficult times the warmth I received from these strangers, who could have so easily treated me as a quick transaction instead of an in-need fellow human, speaks to me of the love and compassion we are all capable of. Each of us has the power to help one another. We can be a “mindful and compassionate first responder” to someone when they really need it. We can reach out and help each other get through the hard times, the exhausting times and “gap” between now and a better future.

I am the grateful traveller. Thankful of all those men and women who during my incredible lifetime’s journey had gone out of their

photo: andy ferguson

way to show kindness, when it was least expected but most needed.

Perhaps as we come out of this crisis, we will be more aware and more grateful for all those people who make our lives so much better yet who we barely notice. And perhaps we can be one of them too.

We don’t all need a uniform to serve. Let’s be mindful of those who are exhausted and looking for our help, let’s create a little bit of magic for them too.

Andy Ferguson [ 79 ]

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A tribe is a group of people connected to each other and an idea – it needs only two things to be a tribe: ~a shared interest and a way to communicate.

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