SEVEN Magazine

CHAKRA 101 CLARITY, STRESS-RELIEF AND MORE. A WIN- WIN-WIN FOR YOUR BODY MIND, AND SOUL.

#KONY2012 THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ACTIVISM.

10 RULES FOR BEING HUMAN IF LIFE CAME WITH A HANDBOOK, THIS WOULD BE IT.

ISSUE 01 - FEBRUARY 2015

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EDITORIAL Our goal is to inspire humanity, challenge the status quo, ask questions, and most importantly, promote the collective wellbeing. We do so by sharing knowledge that relates to the improvement of our lives in every way, shape, or form. We believe that we are all creators and with the right tools, each one of us can design our own world and live a life beyond our wildest dreams.

CONTACT Twitter: @JujuDesigns7 Email: JGBNeves@gmail.com

“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one person can do against the enormous array of the world's ills, misery, ignorance, and violence. Few will have the greatness to bend history, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. And in the total of all those acts will be written the history of a generation.�

- Robert F. Kennedy

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CONTENT

THE SELF 4 —THE 10 RULES OF BEING HUMAN

IF LIFE HAD A GUIDEBOOK, THIS IS WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE. WARNING: YOU WILL FORGET IT AT BIRTH. INSPIRED BY DR. CHERIE CARTER-SCOTT’S “RULES OF LIFE”.

6 —CHAKRAS 101

CLARITY, STRESS RELIEF, HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS, AND MORE. HOW UNDERSTANDING YOUR MECHANISM CAN IMPROVE YOUR LIFE'S EXPERIENCES.

ACTION AND OUR ABILITY TO HAVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER.

11 — THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN ACTIVISM A LOOK AT HOW #KONY2012 CREATED A POWERFUL MOVEMENT IN THIS NEW SOCIAL COLLABORATIVE ERA.

14 — THE MEDIA'S MISSREPRESENTATION OF WOMEN AN ANALYSIS ON HOW WOMEN ARE MISREPRESENTED IN TODAY'S MAINSTREAM MEDIA.

INSPIRATION TECH + MEDIA 8 — TECHNOLOGY X SELF

SHERRY TURKLE HAS SPENT OVER 30 YEARS STUDYING THE HUMAN-TECHNOLOGY INTER-

8 — SEVEN FAVORITE

OUR FAVORITE QUOTES THAT INSPIRES AND SPEAKS TO YOUR HIGHER SELF.

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THE 10 RULES FOR BEING HUMAN Inspired by Dr. Cherie Carter-Scott’s “Rules of Life”

How would life be if it came with manuals and instructions? How different would the world, our society, ourselves be if since our inception we had a guidebook which the outcome would be a more connected life, a healthier, more loving and accepting world?

Well, there is. Here are the rules of the engagement:

RULE # 1 YOU WILL RECEIVE A

BODY

You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth.

RULE #2

YOU WILL BE PRESENTED

RULE #3

THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, ONLY LESSONS

Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much as a part of the process as the experiments that work.

WITH LESSONS

You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life". Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. Every situation that you attract into your life will serve its purpose. There is always a silver lining, go find it.

RULE #4

A LESSON REPEATED IS A LESSON LEARNED Lessons will be repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can go on to the next lesson. #enjoytheride

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RULE #6

"THERE" IS NO BETTER THAN "HERE"

When your "there" has become "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will look better to you than your present "here". There is no green grass on the other side.

RULE #7

OTHERS ARE ONLY MIRRORS OF YOU

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself. You are your brother's and your sister's keeper.

RULE #5

LEARNING DOES NOT END

There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned. Give intentional meaning to every action and situation in your life. Whoever said learnig wasn't fun, wasn't really learning.

RULE #8

WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE IS UP TO YOU

Your life is a story that is created by your every thought, feeling, and action. You have everything you need to live the life you want. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. Let every thought be an intentional creation of your tomorrow.

RULE #9

YOUR ANSWERS

LIE INSIDE OF YOU

Give yourself more credit and believe in your intuition.. Seek within, listen, and trust.

RULE #10

YOU WILL FORGET ALL THIS AT BIRTH

You can remember it if you want by unraveling the double helix of inner-knowing. Plus, we've got your back.

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WE HAVE A PHYSICAL BODY, AND AN ENERGY BODY. THE 7 CHAKRAS ARE THE ENERGY CENTERS IN OUR BODY IN WHICH ENERGY FLOWS THROUGH. OUR WELL BEING IS NOT PURELY A PHYSICAL ISSUE. THAT IS TO SAY, WE ARE BODY, MIND AND SPIRIT AND NONE OF THESE AREAS FUNCTION ENTIRELY ALONE; EACH HAS AN EFFECT UPON THE OTHER.

CHAKRAS 101 We all have our unique life experiences that has shaped us into who we are. Some experiences will be positive and some negative. Negative experiences can manifest themselves physically over time as dis-ease. For example, maybe over the years we have been in a situation where we have felt unable, for one reason or another, to speak our mind, or to express our needs and feelings. This can manifest as a problem in the throat chakra. The throat chakra relates in the spiritual aspect to self expression. Thus, if our self expression has been blocked, the energy in this area will not be free flowing. Working with the appropriate colour/colours can help to dispel negative feelings, free blocks and re-balance the body.

So, let’s explore the 7 chakras:

01 Root Chakra (Red)

- Represents

our

foundation and feeling of being grounded.

02 Sacral Chakra (Orange) - Our connection and ability to accept others and new experiences.

03 Solar Plexus Chakra (Yellow) - Our ability to be confident and incontrol of our lives..

04 Heart Chakra (Green) - Our ability to love.

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"IF YOU WANT TO FIND THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE, THINK IN TERMS OF ENERGY, FREQUENCY AND VIBRATION." NIKOLA TESLA

05 Throat Chakra (Blue) - Our ability to communicate.

06 Third Eye Chakra (Indigo) - Our ability to focus on and see the big picture.

07 Crown Chakra (Purple) - The highest Chakra represents our ability to be fully connected spiritually.

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TECHNOLOGY

X SELF HOW TECHNOLOGY INFLUENCES OUR ABILITY TO RELATE TO OURSELVES AND EACH OTHER

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AS AN EXPERT IN MOBILE TECHNOLOGY, SOCIAL NETWORKING, AND SOCIAL ROBOTICS, SHE HAS WRITTEN SEVERAL BOOKS ABOUT HOW PEOPLE RELATE TO COMPUTATIONAL OBJECTS. SHERRY IS CURRENTLY A PROFESSOR OF THE SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AT MIT AS WELL AS THE FOUNDER AND CURRENT DIRECTOR OF THE MIT INITIATIVE ON TECHNOLOGY AND SELF.

SHERRY TURKLE HAS SPENT OVER 30 YEARS STUDYING THE HUMANTECHNOLOGY INTERACTION AND OUR ABILITY TO HAVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER.

As she would say so herself, there are many Sherry Turkle’s. There is the social scientist, the writer of books, the MIT professor and the clinical psychologist, amongst a few.

She has spent over 30 years studying the human-technology interaction and our ability to have relationships with each other.

She tells us how the computer profoundly shapes our ways of thinking and feeling, and how it doesn’t just change our lives, it changes our selves. “Alone, together” were the words used by Sherry Turkle when referring to the human interaction with technology at a recent TED talk.

Alone, together (graphic) Her approach to technology is more intimate and personal. She finds value on understanding people’s subjective experiences with technology, through their own personal narratives. She focuses on how they make sense of their ideas of self others through meaningful interactions with the social and material world.

Technology has surely come a long way. It wasn’t too long ago when we asked our-

selves “what would we use computers for”? Now the question is “how would we get anything done without machines?”

How would we survive? As Sherry would argue, we turn to new technology to fill the void, but as technology ramps up, our emotional lives ramp down.

Unlike conventional media, the Internet doesn’t offer a stable/predictable media experience. Instead, it offers different applications that call forth different perceptions, feelings and behaviors from users. It adds the novelty affect to our lives, and we come to it openly, willingly. The connection is almost always guaranteed.

Through her 30 years of study in the field, Sherry has interviewed people of all age groups. She sees teenagers that prefer texting over talking on the phone because it’s less risky, awkward, there’s no need to get involved. She has heard complains from children that their parents are always on their phones, always checking emails…

They’re there, but their minds are somewhere else. It has been estimated that the average American will spend 15.5 hours a day consuming media, including digital.

“Just because we grew up with the Inter-

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WE WERE MADE TO CONNECT, AND FINDING REAL HUMAN CONNECTION IS DIFFICULT net, we think the Internet is all grown up.”

Sherry is concerned over the amount of human interaction people are happy to delegate to their phones and computers. She feels that we have reached a robotic state and are losing our human effect. But I ask: what about social networks? Weren’t they meant to keep is social and engaged with other human beings?

We’ve developed an unhealthy attachment with our machines and have become addicted to how they make us feel. All we need to do is look around…Everyone is always having their attention divided between the world of people and this ‘other’ reality. And this “other reality” as she calls it, is a lot more comfortable than having a human interaction.

The truth is that they do quite the opposite. Our emotional well being is directly connected to retweets, status updates, likes, texts, or whatever the engagement may be. We we made to connect, and finding real human connection is difficult. But technology is always there, always ready for us to sign up, or sign in and start a conversation, or pick up where we left off.

One of the biggest issues that Sherry has found is our ability to connect to ourselves when we are so connected somewhere else. Technology allows us to customize our lives; we put out the exact image that we want people to perceive us as. We have full control over what we say and how we say it. We get to edit/delete, retouch.

“Not too little, not too much just right.”

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#KONY2012 SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED THE WAY THAT WE COMMUNICATE AND CONSUME INFORMATION. SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, MICROBLOGGING SERVICES, AND CONTENTSHARING SITES HAVE INTRODUCED THE OPPORTUNITY FOR WIDE-SCALE, ONLINE SOCIAL PARTICIPATION. SOCIAL NETWORKS SUCH AS FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND INSTAGRAM ALLOWS US TO HAVE INSTANT CONNECTION TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD AS WELL AS CONTRIBUTE TO CONVERSATIONS HAPPENING IN THE DIGITAL REALM. TECHNOLOGY ENABLES US TO HAVE INSTANT CONNECTION TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD AND CREATE AWARENESS THROUGH THE CONVENIENCE OF OUR DEVICES. THIS NEW SOCIAL COLLABORATIVE ERA HAS ALLOWED US TO BECOME ACTIVE CITIZEN JOURNALISTS AND PARTICIPANTS IN SOCIETY.

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JOSEPH KONY IS THE LEADER OF THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY (LRA)

SOCIAL NETWORKS According to Media Bistro , Facebook has reached 1 billion active users around the world with 2.5 billion pieces of content shared each day. Twitter has 560 million active users that send out a total of 5,700 tweets every second. This quick growth in the use of social media means that national and international issues such as disasters, climate change, and political conflict are ever more accessible. The writer and activist Sabrina agrees that social media gives people the power to call out injustices, inaccuracies and misrepresentations and brings about better understanding of other cultures and people.

This newfound global connectivity has allowed average citizens to hunt war criminals, win the White House, overthrow dictators, and inspire social change. In each instance it was social media that facilitated broad-based social activism and empowered the aspirations of millions.

THE #KONY2012 MOVEMENT One of the largest cases that illustrate the power of social media in activism was Kony 2012. It was a short film produced by Invisible Children, Inc to bring awareness to the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its leader Joseph Kony in Central Africa. Kony 2012 aimed to promote

‘Stop Kony’ movement to make Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony internationally known in order to arrest him in 2012.

As of today, the film has received over 100 million views and 1.3 million “likes” on YouTube. Invisible Children states that within the first 6 days, 3.7 million people pledged their support for efforts to arrest Joseph Kony. Although the intent of this video and the effort to help children slaves was noble, it created a lot of criticism.

No one denied that Kony was a criminal who should be brought to justice, but many were critical of the approach considering the problem was thought to be resolved in that country. Uganda’s government spokesman even issued a statement:

“Misinterpretations of media content may lead some people to believe that the LRA is currently active in Uganda. It must be clarified that at present the LRA is not active in any part of Uganda. Successfully expelled by the Ugandan Peoples Defence Forces in mid-2006, the LRA has retreated to dense terrain within bordering countries in the Central Africa area. They are a diminished and weakened group with numbers not exceeding 300.”

The organization was also backlashed against its finances. Critics

pointed out that in the group’s 2011 financial statements, only 37 percent of its money went to services in Africa while the rest was spent on administration and filmmaking.

As a result of KONY 2012, millions of people learned about Joseph Kony and the LRA. Regardless if Kony is still out there, this video has proven the power of social media in activism. Better yet, how powerful we can be when we join together to fight for a cause we believe in. I hope this case inspired other activists to pour our their passion through technology.

SHARING IS CARING Social media creates an opportunity for us to spread the word about various causes at a faster rate, and to a bigger number of people, than through traditional methods. When we see something online that speaks to us, we share it. That share, like, or tweet might touch another individual on a deeper level and encourage them to act upon a cause. Some people have titled online activism as “slaktivism”; I choose to believe that every click of a mouse can bring world issues closer to an end. Social media has proven to have successfully reinvented social activism, so keep on tweeting – you never know who’s on the other side.

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FACTS & FIGURES

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

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MISSREPRESENTATION MEDIA DISTORTION, INACCURACY AND BIAS IN THE US IS ACKNOWLEDGED BY MANY PEOPLE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES AND IS THANKFULLY BEING BROUGHT TO LIFE BY INDEPENDENT OUTLETS WHO ARE DESIGNED AROUND A CULTURE OF GENEROSITY AND ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE “AWAKENING” OF THIS COUNTRY.

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"WOMEN RESPOND TO ADVERTISERS’ MESSAGES OF NEVER BEING GOOD ENOUGH: AMERICAN WOMEN SPEND MORE MONEY ON THE PURSUIT OF BEAUTY THAN ON THEIR OWN EDUCATION." -MISS REPRESENTATION (2010)

The influence of mass media on public perception is widely acknowledged. We count on it for our everyday basic needs and decisions. Since its inception it has told us how to look, dress, what to buy, and where to buy. It informs us of who our politicians are and why we should vote for them, how to fight the latest epidemic, and list continues. It shapes lives, cultures, society, and rules our emotions.

Consuming media from different vehicles has become part of our daily routine and we openly welcome it through our technological devices and into our homes and lives. The problem with this media obsession and information overload is that it steers us away from important world issues as well as our ability to think for ourselves. An article from Business Insider states that 6 corporations control 90% of the media in America, this means that 232 media executives control the information diet of 277 million Americans. (http://www.businessinsider.com/these6-corporations-control-90-of-themediain-america-2012-6). These numbers are very powerful, as these major corporations have the power and influence to dominate our belief systems, how we see the world, and most importantly, how we perceive ourselves. Limiting ourselves to consuming content from these 6 media giants who are focused on huge profit margins can only have one outcome:

propaganda, manipulation, and mind control.

It is safe to say that the media has become the predominant communicator, where it is the message as well as the messenger. Fifteen hours a day is a lot of time that we are dedicating to consuming and trusting information coming from third parties. I can’t help but ask myself: what are the intents behind the content being fed from the major media conglomerates? Does it come from a place of justice, equality and kindness?

How is this message enlightening the minds of people and bringing us together, and how is it destroying us? Why does it work so hard to cause separation between people, nations, and specially gender? Why isn’t it doing the opposite?

Media distortion, inaccuracy and bias in the US is acknowledged by many people from other countries and is thankfully being brought to life by independent outlets who are designed around a culture of generosity and are contributing to the “awakening” of this country.

One great example is the documentary “Miss Representation” (2011) that explores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America, and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be

a powerful woman. (http://www.imdb. com/title/tt1784538/). It is more than a film, it is a start to a much-needed reform of education, collective thinking and a continuing of the great work of powerful women leaders in this country. It highlights the way that today’s media objectifies women and the outcomes of that objectification. The movie focuses on the important concept that you can’t be what you can’t see. It features interviews with media experts, activists, actresses, heads of state, and professors that present shocking statistics related to women and the media.

Because women are portrayed by the media as “less than”, they tend to feel unpowered therefore, they stray away from high leadership positions which causes a biased political system and a male-sided society. system and a male-sided society.

It’s no shock to anyone who has opened a magazine, watched a movie, or surfed the internet that the media’s representation of women are problematic at best.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom explains that the media has a double standard for women leaders, putting out the message that woman’s primary lies on her beauty, sexuality, and youth (sometimes subtly, sometimes explicitly). She adds that “When a female politician speaks against something, it’s reported as a ‘complaint’;

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when a male politician does the same, it’s called a ‘statement.’ (Miss Representation, 2011). Referring to the movie’s main point of “you can’t be what you can’t see”, comes the worrying idea that because of women’s perception of being “less than”, they doubt their qualifications to enter the electoral arena. Woman are 56% of the population, yet only 17% of Congress, 3% of Fortune 500 CEO’s, hold only 3% of clout positions in media. Cory Booker states, “We are short changing voices that are urgently needed in public forums from ever getting to the table.” (Miss Representation, 2011). If we want more women to run for office and more women to stay the course through Election Day, then we need to identify the sexist treatment women in politics often receive. We need to let them know that, despite the mean and sexist coverage of the media and the press, their political success is just as likely as that of their male counterparts.

HOLLYWOOD Another great influencer of the misrepresentation of women in the media is Hollywood. The idea of “perfect” is aggressively sold in movies and commercials. Geena Davis explains in the documentary that “all of Hollywood is run on one assumption: That women will watch stories about men, but men won’t watch stories about women. It is a It is a horrible indictment of our society if we assume that one half of our population is just not interested in the other half.” (Miss Representation, 2011). The media paints an unrealistic image of the “ideal woman” which translates into high numbers of depression amongst girl teenagers, eating disorders, and lack of self-esteem. The documentary Miss Representation showed an interview with several San Francisco high school students, no older than sixteen, each describes the internal and external pres-

sures they face to “look good,” and the frustration of not being appreciated for anything outside the realms of the physical. According to the film, 78% of girls hate their bodies by the age of 15.

65% have an eating disorder. 17% cut themselves, and the number of cosmetic surgeries quadrupled on women ages 17 from 1997 and 2007 and have increased six fold since. They also mention that U.S women spend $12,000 to $15,000 a year on beauty products and salon services, more than they spend on their education. The mainstream media’s mission is to increase their bottom line. They do so by selling the idea of the perfect body, which causes anxiety and insecurity, which then make consumers buy products in attempts of making themselves feel better. This has been a very profitable business model, whereas encouraging women, who have purchasing power, to feel okay with their bodies, relationships, and selves wouldn’t make nearly as much profit.

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"The American Psychological Association calls self-objectification a national epidemic: Women and girls who self-objectify are more likely to be depressed, have lower confidence, lower ambition and lower GPAs."

One example of how Hollywood backlashes women’s empowerment is by portraying them as bitchy, catty, over-sexualized, and gold-diggers in the so-called reality television. In movies, women are present as protagonists, but are really just looking for a man, looking to be saved by a man, or as body props for man viewers (the fighting F-toy, as the movie calls it). Women are seen as decoration, objects, and as eye candy.

Although women are the ones who directly suffer the consequences from these stereotypes, men also suffer. On the male side of the spectrum, we have constructed an idea of masculinity in the United State that doesn’t give young boys feel a way to feel secure in their masculinity.

As they begin their childhood, they are constantly beingtold to “act like a man”, to “toughen up and swallow their cry”. How can we expect these boys to grow up to respect women, if they were taught that women were emotional, weak, and overall “less than them”? In the movie, Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, NJ recounts his experience talking with

a female mentor about how bad women have it and she one ups him by saying ” Yes, well I think men have it much worsethey don’t even know what they are being sold and they are taught to be emotionally constipated- they are taught that their behavior is normal.”

As Katie Couric says in the film, “The media can be an instrument for change, it can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of society or it can, hopefully awaken people and change minds. I think it depends on who’s piloting the plane” (Missrepresentation.org). We are so consumed with the information overload that we receive today that it barely gives us time to think. Men and women are constantly bombarded with messages saying that they are not enough, that they only matter if they do/buy this and that.

Through media consumption, girls are learning to see themselves as objects. The movie states that the American Psychological Association calls self-objectification a national epidemic:

The movie states that the American Psychological Association calls self-objectification a national epidemic: Women and girls who self-objectify are more likely to be depressed, have lower confidence, lower ambition and lower GPAs. I think that if we are to move on as a society and evolve as humans, we need to step back and look at the media from and outsider perspective. Us women need to know that they we better than this. We don’t need reality television, or tabloid magazines. And as the famous Alice Walker says, ” The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”

We need to recognize and claim our power and work together to change and enlighten the minds of others.

We need to call out sexism and vote with our dollars. I believe the hope of the world lies in the hands of women. For this misrepresentation to change, we must change. We are better than all of this, and we definitely deserve more.