JOY Transformation Magazine

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Section Title

INSPIRATION 4 One Desire, One Joy 6 All How You Look at It 8 AAA Angels All Around 10 The Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love 15 Perfectly Imperfect 26 Holy Mole Cartoon TRANSFORMATION 24 Finding Your Authentic Self 25 Travel with Your Dream Body TOOLS & TIPS 7 11 Exercises to Create Happiness 9 Positive Change: Living a Joyous Life 12 Lifeline to the Angelic Realm 16 Invest in Your Future and Create Your Joy 20 Enlightened Relationships: The Art of Play 27 Ask Dr. ZZ SPIRITUALITY 13 Practical Spirituality: Love, Express, enJOY! 19 The Way It Is: Free to Be Joyful 22 Spirituality Beyond Mind 23 Spiritually Speaking: Journey into Dreamland 28 Angels & Inspirations: The Blessings of Change HEALTHY LIVING 14 How to Overcome Emotional Eating 17 The Yardstick of Happiness

© Copyright 2012 Transformation Magazine. All rights reserved.

Four decades ago, Grace gave birth to her daughter Diane amidst the wild hedonism of the Woodstock rock festival – but 1969’s spirit of togetherness never quite translated to their home life. Rejecting her unconventional upbringing, and her mother, Diane moved to New York and became an uptight, conservative lawyer and refused to even let her kids meet their mysterious grandmother – until she discovered her marriage on the rocks and she needed to get away. Diane packed up her two nearly-grown kids, Zoe and Jake, and whisked them to Woodstock to glimpse the sheer madness she came from. But to Diane’s dismay, her kids were quickly smitten with their mold-breaking granny who smokes dope, parties hard, doles out sex advice, howls at the moon – and, with a sly wit, still believes in living on her own terms and telling it like it is.

Even peaceable Woodstock was rocked by the conflict between these two women, who oppose each other in everything from politics to parenting styles. Yet, over the heated summer, both found themselves letting go of the past, as the rest of their clan embraced their own twists on the future. Vegan Zoe wrestled with her attraction to the local butcher, while Jake, a would-be Martin Scorsese, found his first love as he was making his first film about the mixed up world he found himself in. Even Diane was not immune to the change of pace, and she unexpectedly fell for a dismayingly impulsive carpenter.

As Diane and her children were exposed to the wonders and foibles of Grace’s world, all three began to see that no matter how dizzying the gaps that divide us, something vital is gained when you reach a hand across the gulf.

At the heart of Bruce Beresford’s multigenerational comedy-drama, PEACE, LOVE & MISUNDERSTANDING, are the family ties that bind us . . . and then tangle us up in crazy knots. This funny and moving portrait of an unconventional family’s chaotic reunion follows three warring generations headed by Grace (Academy Award® winner Jane Fonda) – a legendary hippie and hilariously groovy grandma about to get a second chance to glue her fractured family back together.

Find out more at: www.facebook.com/Peacelovemisunderstanding

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Transformation

Awakening

An Apple Spiritually Enlightened Relationships Speaking Dr. with the Editor aZZ Day Ask

withD.Rev. Marla Sanderson Natalie Amsden With Carol Roberts, M.D. with MarciaBender Natalie, Publisher of Transformation Magazine, has worked with thousands of people seeking to live a life of purpose and genuine relationship with their true selves, others, and their world. She is the former Director of a counseling center for at risk teenagers and their parents. She is also a public speaker and leads workshops and retreats on Practical Spirituality, Finding Joy, Discovering Your Purpose, and Enlightened Relationships. www.transformationservices.org

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One Desire, One Joy

There is only one true desire. All of our longings, goals, and motivations are reaching toward a single fulfillment. The ultimate pot of gold that we long to reach at the end of our infinitude of rainbows is joy. Embracing joy is the driving force that helps us to get out of bed each day and the reason for every choice we make—whether we consciously recognize it or not.

In one way or another, everything we choose to do is because we want to experience joy. Sometimes we take a direct route to joy, such as smelling a lovely flower or listening to a baby laugh. Other times, when we harm ourselves or others it is because we are experiencing a lack of joy, and with our limited perspective in that current moment we believe that a negative act will move us away from suffering and towards joy. This is a common misperception.

“Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God.” ~ Robert Schuller In moments where we are hurting, our souls ache to feel joy, but most often the best we can experience at the moment is a feeling of relief. It feels better to criticize someone we love than to feel abandoned. It feels better to seek retribution than to feel powerless. We feel relief any time we move further from suffering. Any upward movement is good--it’s better--but we are climbing up the wrong ladder. We are inching toward happiness, not joy. However, joy can be found at any point along the climb.

The phrases happiness and joy are interchanged often, but there is an important conceptual distinction I would like to make between the two. Most people view happiness as an emotional state—a positive affect or the absence of negative feelings. Happiness is elusive for most people in the United States.

Our culture focuses almost exclusively on happiness that is based on attaining or obtaining. Happiness is a feeling we hope to experience when we accomplish a certain task, acquire a specific item, reach a goal, or find a soul mate. Ask yourself if you’ve ever caught yourself saying, “I’ll be happy when...” We all do it, and for most of us happiness always remains something coming

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in the future. That’s not to say we don’t experience happiness in fleeting moments immediately after receiving one of the objects of our desire. We do, but all emotions are subject to the law of opposites or balance. The bad comes with the good. Energy is never created nor destroyed. For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. You get the point.

“The thing that gives you pleasure today will give you pain tomorrow or will eventually leave and cause pain.” ~ Eckhart Tolle Joy, along with love and peace, are your true self. They have no opposites. So how can you tell you are experiencing joy as opposed to happiness? Ask yourself “Would I feel lacking if this experience suddenly disappeared?” For example, if you are truly enJOYing a breathtaking sunset you are lost in the moment, in awe of the beauty. If suddenly a storm cloud blocks your view and causes you to run for cover, would you be angry? No, you would be left with a feeling of peace and gratitude for the experience you just had. Now imagine you just got a phone call from the company you had your heart set on for hiring you to take a new position. You got the job! How exciting! But, the next day you receive another phone call just as you’re in the middle of posting the good news on Facebook, and they have bad news.

You didn’t get the job. How do you feel? The opposite of how you felt the day before?

Happiness, as we commonly view it, is a feeling we experience due to an external event or object that we judge as positive and desirable. Unless you want your emotional state to constantly be at the mercy of the outside world—the actions of your family, partner, or that crazy driver who cut you off this morning or whether or not you have the nicest yard in your neighborhood or the latest fashions—you may want to consider focusing on what you REALLY want, which is joy. So, if joy is NOT the same thing as happiness, what is it and where do we find it?

When seeking an answer to such an important question, perhaps the ultimate question in life, I find comfort in the wisdom of those among us who have proven to experience the joy we all seek. The following are insights from some of the greatest teachers of our time.

LOOK WITHIN “Joy is not in things; it is in us.” ~ Richard Wagner, famous German composer. Pleasure obtained from any object is short lived, as by nature all objects are impermanent. All positive emotions are generated within you, therefore nothing external is ever responsible. “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your JOY.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, famous Buddhist monk, author, teacher. It is true that a smile, even if you are feeling sad, tricks your brain into believing you are happy and releasing feel-good chemicals into your bloodstream. Fake it ‘till you make it!

JUST DO IT! “Have you lived 10,000 or more days or have you lived one day 10,000 or more times?” ~ Wayne Dyer, author, motivational speaker. We often restrict our experiences of the joy that we so deeply seek by placing limits on ourselves. A child can

look at a grasshopper for hours – just because they enjoy it – so why can’t we?

MINDFULNESS “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” ~ Guatama Buddha, spiritual leader. Indeed, the belief that through meditation, prayer, positive thought, and mindfulness deep joy and peace can be obtained is pervasive among nearly all religions and belief systems across the globe. It would behoove us all to dedicate more of our time and energy on any activities which elicit mindfulness.

BE YOURSELF “What I know for sure is that you feel real JOY in direct proportion to how connected you are to living your truth.” ~ Oprah, television personality, inspirational leader. “If you are not living in Joy, you are out of integrity with your Soul.” ~ Michael Bernard Beckwith, new thought minister, visionary. Ironically, many of us spend a great deal of our lives trying to be who we think we have to become in order to obtain the happiness we strive for, when the most direct route to true joy is to live in integrity with who we truly are.

PRESENCE “Winning is important to me, but what brings me real joy is the experience of being fully engaged in whatever I’m doing.” ~ Phil Jackson, retired professional basketball coach. Just as athletes report euphoric, joyful experiences when they are “in the flow” we can all touch the depths of the joy that we are when we are fully present and engaged in any activity we are passionate about..

GRATITUDE “Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things are. Joy is not necessarily what happens when things unfold according to our plans.” ~ Marianne Williamson, author, motivational speaker. Gratitude for what IS is perhaps the greatest tool one can use to experience joy at any moment. By acknowledging what IS and feeling appreciation for it, we remove the requirement for some future event or object to exist in order for us to feel joy.

SERVICE “Release the joy that is inside of another, and you release the joy that is inside of you.” ~ Neal Donald Walsch, author, motivational speaker. Even when you find yourself in your darkest moments, an act of service will always bring light to your world. Studies have shown that simply being the observer of an act of kindness releases the same endorphins in your brain as both the person receiving and giving the act.

SUCCESS “The only true measure of success is the amount of joy we are feeling.” ~ Esther “Abraham” Hicks, spiritual teacher.

There is only one desire, one core goal contained within all attempts at success. The good news is we don’t have to wait.

Our joy is not limited to some future moment; it is available to us now, always, in the eternal present.

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Inspiration

By Alan Cohen I have been a vegetarian for many years for all kinds of reasons: health, morality, energy, ecology, and on and on. I don’t think everyone should be a vegetarian, and I have never proselytized. I think everyone should follow their own body’s guidance toward food that works for them. I just know what works for me.

When Dee and I grew a family of dogs, we decided to feed them meat. That was a big decision for us, since we had never had meat in the house. But we love our “kids,” and we want them to be happy. Why impose our diet on them? So we buy them canned dog food and cook meat for them.

Then our vet recommended we get our dogs a certain type of bone to chew on, which helps to keep their teeth clean. Again we had resistance, since meat on bones is even more gross than meat wrapped in cellophane at the grocery store. But we did it. The dogs loved it like cats love catnip! They spent hours gnawing on the bones and hiding them in the backyard. Some of the bones resurfaced time and again over months, looking like ancient relics, and likewise treasured. Every time I saw the blackened, decayed artifacts I would grit my teeth. Gross.

Yesterday we got the kids a new shipment of bones. This morning I came downstairs after meditating, and found all the dogs lined up in a neat line on the lawn, each chewing on their new treasure, all in a state of total delight.

This time, however, perhaps because my mind was at peace after meditating, my reaction was completely different. Instead of reacting against their carnivore behavior and judging it, I took delight in their delight. The dogs were exuding extreme joy, and I felt that with them. Somehow the frequency on my tuner of perception had shifted, and I met them on an entirely different level of experience, far more pleasing than upsetting or feeling resistance. I sat for a long time watching and enjoying. What a difference.

Miracles represent shifts in perception.

So, we might say that I experienced a miracle. I moved from a terrible world of predation and fear to one of inner peace. For a long time I have struggled with the notion of predation. I would stand on a hill looking at the ocean, viewing a magnificent peaceful vista, inspiring by all accounts. Then I would consider that at this very moment

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billions and trillions of sea animals were eating each other, big fish attacking little fish, and bigger fish attacking the big fish. What a horrible universe! I have rarely been able to resolve predation with my pacifistic view of life.

Yet as I watched the dogs enjoying their bones, I recalled a Course in Miracles lesson: “Let all things be exactly as they are.” Letting things be as they are yields more peace than resisting. Try as I might, I will never get ocean (or land) creatures to stop eating each other. On some level that is a natural order. I don’t understand it or agree with it.

But God didn’t ask for my understanding or agreement on lots of things. The universe has its own idea of how it’s supposed to be, regardless of my opinion.

Then I consider the great and powerful animals who live on grasses. Horses, cows, and elephants maintain large, muscular, healthy bodies simply by eating grass.

They are the most peaceful in the animal kingdom. I hear “experts” tell us how much animal protein we humans need, and I laugh. No one told the elephant.

Each of us, in our own way, must come to peace with what we are and they way things are.

Conditions and situations do not weaken you. Resistance does.

Saying, “This should be otherwise” wears down your batteries and fixes blinders on your vision. Shifting your attention to what empowers you recharges your batteries and expands your vision. Remember the popular quote, “A mind is like a parachute — it functions only when open”.

Allowing things to be the way they are does not mean that you do not seek change or that you must condone abusive situations. There are plenty of things in our individual and collective lives that could use improvement.

A fatalistic attitude is as damaging as a resistant one. So change what is not working or could be better, but do it from a sense of vision and joy about what could be, rather than a sense of damning what is. What you condemn you continue.

Focus on where you want to go rather than what you want to get away from.

Intellectually, I don’t understand life. But I understand joy, an experience that proceeds from the heart and the spirit rather than the mind. When I keep my tuner set on the frequency of inner peace, my life has meaning. “Dog” is “God” spelled backward. I’ll just chew on that for a while.

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Alan Cohen is the author of many popular inspirational books, including the newly-released Enough Already: The Power of Radical Contentment. Join Alan for in-depth Life Coach Training beginning September 1, to become a professional life coach or apply coaching skills to your career or life. For more information about this program and Alan’s other books and free daily inspirational quotes via email, visit www.alancohen. com, email info@alancohen.com, or phone 808-572-0001.

Tools & Tips 3. Prioritize your life.

Take out a piece of paper and write down your priorities in life. During the process, contemplate what has become the most important thing in your life, the one thing upon which you place the most emphasis. Then analyze whether or not you are working on your priorities correctly. If you are not on target, chalk out a plan on how you need to work towards reorganizing your life. Knowing that you are properly focused on your priorities will help to keep you satisfied and happy.

4. Share your feelings.

Let it out! Loved ones and friends hold an important place in your life. After a hectic day, talk to them about your entire day, good or bad, and seek their advice if required.

By Megha Mukherjee Ask yourself in the moment, “Are you happy?”. If it takes more than a few seconds to say “yes,” there probably are things running at the back of your mind, feelings that are not under your control that create a moment of angst or regret. Everyone wants to break the pattern of needless worry in their lives and rejoice in the present, but why does it seem so difficult at times?

By listening to people discuss joy and studying philosophies about the word happiness, I have come to believe that happiness is not something that can be found by reading a book or taking a class. Unfortunately, there is no formula for joy. However, the good news is that daily practice can improve your odds of lifting the gloom from your life. Look at it as exercises that can be performed each day to help change your approach towards all that you do and, in turn, change your state of mind to peace, joy, and happiness.

Every individual is different in terms of needs and perceptions, but the overall desires of today’s Western society mistakenly centre on a common axis of “love, power, and money.” These things may very well provide temporary, short-lived happiness, but the permanent solution for joy resides within each individual.

There are no set criteria to be happy. A poor man can be the happiest person on earth, because his needs are limited to three meals a day. On the other hand, a wealthy man may feel unhappy because he has money but works so hard he has no time to enjoy the fruits of his labor!

Happiness truly is a state of mind, one that can be acquired by adopting a positive attitude towards life and practicing it each and every day.

Following are 10 simple steps to perform everyday that will bring joy and exuberance to your mind.

1. Love yourself.

The first step to staying happy is to love yourself and your body. No matter what you do, you are never going to feel nice if you sport a shabby outlook about yourself and your appearance. Stick to the saying “When you look good, you feel good.” Believe me, you actually do!

2. Do activities that you love.

Most of us have jobs that we don’t like and a boss that we dislike. To balance the scales, it is very important to engage in additional activities that you love to do, even if it is something simple like talking on phone, dancing, or playing a game on the computer. Make time for activities that you enjoy doing for a minimum of half an hour during each day.

5. Write it down.

When experiencing moods of frustration and depression, try writing everything you feel in a letter. Express your deepest of feelings, and you will see that at the end of the letter you have already started feeling better. When you are done, consider burning the letter to release the feelings.

6. Engage in a physical activity.

Routine physical activity helps in maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle. Exercise reduces stress hormones and increases endorphins, chemicals that improve your state of mind.

7. Hold positive thoughts in difficult times.

During bad situations/circumstances, think about even worse situations that could have happened to you and find gratitude. Also remember that challenging situations can be your biggest growth opportunities. A moment of positive thought can change your whole perception of a “bad situation!”

8. Fight the demon of negativity.

Negativity in any form, people or thoughts, can create much sadness in your life.

Stay away from people who are cynical and always talk about negative aspects of themselves or others. Also, your own negative thoughts can attract negative things into your life. Fight your negative thoughts by deciding that you have to defeat the demon inside, which tries to control your mind and cause havoc in your life.

9. Know the joy of giving.

When you do something genuinely positive and helpful for another, particularly someone in need, the feeling is exhilarating. Try doing something for another selflessly each day. Mak-

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ing a small gesture, such as feeding a stray animal or donating old clothes to the needy, will provide you with immense joy and satisfaction.

10. Always have gratitude and offer thanks for the things you have.

Think about people who don’t have what you have and who are less fortunate than you are. Thank God or your conception of the Creator for everything you have been blessed to receive in this life.

11. Use affirmations.

Keep saying to yourself, “I am a happy person.” Happi-

ness is a state of mind, and you can be happy only if you think you are happy.

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Megha Mukherjee is a writer whose happiest moments include spending time with her two-year-old daughter and husband, as well as admiring life and creation in any form. She has a degree in Information Technology from Rajasthan University in India, and she has been writing and blogging as a part of her daily routine for the past year. Megha’s writing niche consists of articles on Lifestyle, Parenting, Beauty and Technology. Visit her blogs at http://www. what-you-need-to-know.com/.

Transformation

By Janet Reynolds I was happily listening to an audio tape while driving to work recently when suddenly I heard an unexpected “pop.” I must have driven over something, as it made a loud noise. I turned the audio down to listen for any other indication of trouble. A truck was passing by, so I figured that was where the noise had come from. But as the truck passed, the noise remained and it was then I realized it was coming from my own car. I thought, “Oh no, the tire is going flat!”

Thankfully, I was approaching a gas station up ahead and drove in. When I got out of my car, I saw two men standing outside talking.

They walked over and joined me in examining my right rear tire. It was cut up quite badly. Luckily, I had stopped before the rim was damaged. As I knew from past experience, tires can be quite an expense to replace, never mind rims and wheels.

I started calling AAA for their roadside assistance. I was worried I might be late for work, because I had a 12:15 p.m. appointment scheduled and it was already 11:30 a.m. and AAA couldn’t guarantee how quickly they could arrive on the scene.

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Then in the background I could hear a voice saying, “Ma’am, I can change that tire for you.” The three of us turned around to see a man on a bicycle pedaling toward us. With a backpack, shaggy beard, and limited teeth, his “homeless” appearance led me to wonder how he could be of any help. Yet I looked at him for a moment and then heard myself saying, “Thank you, that would be great.”

I was willing to pay anyone to do it. The guys beside me let this fellow know that he would be compensated. He said that I didn’t need to pay him, but it would be appreciated nonetheless. He explained that he had worked for a tire company in Michigan and one of the gentlemen asked him from which city. Coincidentally, it was the same city he was from. Apparently, they lived down the street from each another as kids and had worked in the same area.

Coincidences indeed!

While I normally never carry cash, I found a $20 bill in my purse and decided to tip the bicyclist for his troubles. Just then one of the gentlemen interrupted and stated, “I will take care of this for you, because it isn’t often I see this type of kindness in a day.” I offered to add to it, but he said no and handed the bicycle man a $20 bill. I then shook the hand of the bicyclist and thanked him and the other gentlemen.

As I drove off to make my appointment on time, I was convinced that our meeting did not take place by chance. What a blessing it was to have met those three gentlemen, who not only helped me physically, financially, and emotionally, but also on a deeper, level spiritually.

It reminded me of how angels and guides are constantly around us, working with us, guiding us, and helping us even in the most mundane ways.

We need only recognize them, connect with them, and then thank them for all that they do for us. What blessings we find when we simply make a more caring connection with others, regardless of their physical appearance and status.

I never really needed AAA because of my very firm belief that if I ever required a rescue, I’d have Angels All Around. And so it was.

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Rev. Janet M. Reynolds is a Certified Spirit Medium and ordained minister. She specializes in practical channeled guidance from the spirit world, through private intuitive consultations and group séance gatherings. She is a graduate of the Mediumship certification program of the College of Metaphysical Studies and has also studied at The Metaphysical Academy and the Arthur Finlay College of Psychic and Mediumship in England. Certified in clinical hypnotherapy by the American Institute of Hypnotherapy, Janet obtained advanced instruction in hypnosis and past life regression at the Edgar Cayce Foundation of Virginia Beach, VA. She has studied medical intuition with Caroline Myss and Dr. Norman Shealy and is a certified Reiki Master. Contact Janet at janet@bluefeather.net.

Inspiration

Randy owns Triple 3 Marketing. He’s a long term advocate for positive change, having owned community magazines since 1999. Randy sold Positive Change Media in April 2009 and took a year off before launching Triple 3 Marketing. In addition to helping business owners, he also provides private coaching. Randy has a masters degree in communication arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he studied persuasion and attitude change. Contact Randy at randy@triple3marketing.com.

•••••••••••••••••• Living a Joyful Life

It’s inspiring to encounter someone lost in a sense of joy for life and for other people. This individual is a refreshing contrast from those who are quick to project their anger and frustrations.

We see these projections everyday and especially during the national election circus every four years. The prevailing messages when it comes time to vote are about discrediting others and winning instead of presenting new ideas that actually help people.

Our joy almost always involves other people. The same people who inspire our happiness also contribute to our despair and frustration. These folks include our children, parents, friends, and colleagues. Here’s a related irony: The biggest inhibitor to joyful living is that handsome and beautiful person looking at us in the mirror.

Becoming a more conscious person involves many decades of living and reflection. All of the people we encounter are like actors in our personal movie. Imagine life as a matrix of overlapping movie scripts where everyone is playing various parts in a multitude of dramatic productions. These interchangeable roles include hero, villain, antagonist, victim, savior, contrarian, and more.

Today’s hero is tomorrow’s villain and tomorrow’s savior is our next antagonist.

One of the blessings of time is the opportunity to learn not to take other people for granted. That includes people who push our buttons or offend us because of their personalities or choices.

Conscious living is about learning from every encounter and bringing empathy and compassion into our social interactions. Not just with agreeable folks like us, but also with people who see the world differently. Yes, that includes people who belong to that other nonpatriotic political party or that less-enlightened church.

Most of us eventually learn that our love and respect for self and others is more important than our judgment and intolerance. All of the people in our lives are precious in spite of their imperfections. After all, we only have an opportunity to truly know a few hundred people in our lifetime. Even thousands of individuals are a tiny sample of the billions of people sharing our planet.

Whomever we know is important even if we don’t know why.

Many of our “teachers” are not highly competent in how

they approach parenting, managing, leading, problem solving, communicating, etc. That doesn’t diminish their value in helping to guide us to make better choices. It takes time to realize the lessons we learn from their example are more vital than our temporary frustrations.

Each of us holds each other’s hearts in the palm of our hands. This is particularly true for our loved ones. What we say and do can raise a vulnerable heart to a higher place or throw it down with predictable pain. Nothing inspires or dispirits other people more than the choices made regarding the care of their heart. Practicing compassion is the highest path for nurturing human hearts including our own.

Other indicators of a joyful life are doing things we love, helping others and associating ourselves with positive people. My dad used to tell me that having five positive friends that loved you unconditionally was more important than being rich or famous. I thought that was silly when I was 20, but now I’m sharing the same wisdom with others.

Never lose hope, even if you believe you are stuck doing things you don’t care about. Pursue your interests through your avocations and affiliations. Even though I’ve always had an interest in nature, I’m not inclined to go back to school to become a forest ranger or oceanographer. An alternative strategy is to use my communication skills and marketing experience to help clients that benefit the environment, such as the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.

I just completed the Florida Master Naturalist Program through the University of Florida. The program broadened my perspective and expanded my network of people who share my affinity for nature. I also write a couple blogs at Sarasota Bay Today and Positive Change Media that provides me an outlet for positive expression. I may never become a best-selling author, but writing regularly feeds my soul.

Another strategy for enhancing joy is any form of self care. Jogging regularly has helped me to live a more balanced life. I also play disc golf a couple times a week and spend time in nature even if it’s a brief visit to a local park. Another choice for more joy involves occasional trips around the world. My son Bryan and I are visiting Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands this month. We spent nearly a month in Italy and Switzerland on our last trip together. Sharing these adventures with him to learn more about culture, history, art, food, and new flavors of beer makes my heart soar.

If you live long enough you are going to experience depression, which is the opposite of joy. For most people, this experience is temporary and a wake up call for making positive changes.

All too often, institutions in our culture worship consumerism and materialism without acknowledging their consequences. This mantra doesn’t change the fact that far too many people live desperate lives trying to make ends meet or measure up to norms that have little to do with happiness.

Thinking of joy as it relates to aging reminds me of the term aging with grace. No doubt, joy plays a big part in the idea.

So does forgiveness, self-acceptance, gratitude, kindness, and humor. All of these qualities work well together like a finely tuned orchestra. Take a deep breath and enjoy the music of your precious life.

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Tools & Tips

By John Mathis Being an oncology nurse is like being in the Peace Corps. It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love. No matter what discord I felt in my personal circumstances, it paled in comparison to the trials and tribulations surrounding me from 7 p.m. to 7 .a.m. three nights a week. I was surrounded by such bravery, determination, and surrender that it humbled me. To share in their sacred space was a privilege that I shall remember always.

As I was making my midnight rounds one night, I entered my patient’s room. The darkened room was backlit only by the street lights below.

As my eyes adjusted, I noticed a man sitting at the foot of his wife’s bed.

Well into her 80s, the cancer had distilled this lovely woman into 90 pounds of faithful determination and pain. I was here to address the latter. In return, I would be given the former.

As my eyes adjusted, I could make out her husband. His dress shirt reflected the distress he had been under since his vigil had commenced. His white hair was in disarray as much as his life appeared to be. I then realized he was massaging her feet and softly singing church hymns to her.

I froze. I did not want to intrude into this sacred space that was before me. This was one of the purest demonstrations of love and devotion I have ever witnessed. And although there must have been thousands of similar moments before this night, there would be very few moments between them moving forward.

My patient opened her eyes, gave me the biggest smile, and invited me in to perform my duties. I made some small talk but was ruminating over the love and devotion that still encompassed them. If anything, it was more palpable and enveloping. It was a blessing to be in their presence. With my duties complete, I thanked them, apologized for the intrusion, and made a beeline for the door.

“I hear you used to sing a little bit,” she said.

I replied that I did many years ago, but that I returned to school to be a nurse. The world seemed to have more people who were sick than appreciated opera. With a mortgage, family, and student loans, it seemed the prudent thing to do. Much later in life I would realize I had traded one opera for another.

“I’d really like to hear you sing,” she stated.

My nursing experience to that point had been limited but my motto was this: If it was in my power to give, I gave. So, I sang a very soft version of How Great Thou Art for them. This song had meaning for me as I sang it at my father’s funeral a few years earlier. It had been his favorite.

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So, with my song completed, I headed to the door again.

“John, do you think God will let us keep her until Christmas,” asked the husband.

I froze again. Singing a hymn in a dark room is one thing; assisting a minister during a dark night of the soul is quite another.

“Well, her labs indicate that she is holding her own, but I feel that her Oncologist would be better suited to answer that question,” I replied.

Even as the words fell from my mouth, I could see his expression glaze over. He had heard this medical speak before so I continued without a pause.

“But you are asking me to peer into the mind of the Creator…to know His will and to be able to offer you some solace.”

His gaze cleared immediately so I continued.

“I also know that as a minister, you have had many people come to you and ask you the same question. I am not a minister. Any answer I can give you would be pure speculation. What I can tell you is that the love I see between the two of you is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

To see that love, to feel that warmth surely is a sign of God’s love and how it manifested between the two of you. There are people who live their entire lives and never feel the way that you feel for each other. God grants us only so much time in this playground before we have to return home. As long as we have lessons to teach or learn, then we know our time is not yet finished. You both have taught me a lesson here tonight. So, I think you both will be here for quite some time.”

With tear-streaked cheeks in the muted light, he whispered another question.

“She’s been with me for so many years.

What should I do?”

I sat down next to him, put my hand upon his and offered a suggestion.

“Before you were a minister, you were a

husband. I can tell you are a devoted and loving husband with fierce determination. You have fought hard for her to live with dignity. At some point though, you will have to fight just as hard for her to leave with dignity. I don’t know when that will be but when it does, you will have no regrets.”

He slid his arm around my neck and gave me a tearful hug. As I imagined a reiki symbol in my mind to promote his healing, I felt her hand on my other arm. This synergistic moment of love among three injured souls was healing for everyone. Amidst the tears came laughter and more hugs.

There was a healing in that hospital room that night and it had very little to do with the medication I had brought with me. I left the room a very different person than when I went in. I learned that no matter the illness, state of mind, or station in life, we all have access to the divine. We only need to take the time from the comic opera of our lives and invite it into our hearts.

The next time I worked, my loving couple had left and returned to their home. I silently wished them well. Another patient had occupied the room and the cycle would begin again.

Time passed and I accepted another job. As my exit interview drew to a close, my manager stated that this hospital floor was unlike most. There was usually some event that left an imprint on you. She asked me for mine. I told her of the story of me singing to a couple and the love that each demonstrated for the other. She suddenly got up, went to her file cabinet, pulled out a handwritten letter and gave it to me.

To whom it may concern, My mom was a patient here and the care she received was exceptional. I especially want to recognize the male nurse who sang to my parents one night. My parents have known each other since grade school and have never been apart. Once she got sick, the pressures of her illness and his ministerial duties were too much. He surrendered his ministry to me and focused entirely on her getting better either by medicine or miracle. When that did not happen, he lost faith in both God and his ability to help her. The nurse told him that he saw how much he loved her and that he should devote himself to her by protecting her dignity – first in living and finally, in dying. They spoke highly of him and recounted their story at our Christmas service. Please let him know what a difference he made in their lives. Please tell him she made it through Christmas.

Mom died the week before Easter.

Nursing, marriage, life…the toughest jobs you’ll ever love.

•••••••••••••••••

John Mathis is an award winning bass-baritone vocalist, author, nurse, pharmaceutical researcher, corporate trainer, reiki master, and paranormal investigator. He has survived a coma, a near death experience, bankruptcy, divorce, welfare, and the death of his last family member—all within the last 7 years. John’s hobbies include writing, carpentry, biking, and combining reiki and astral projection. Contact John at alchemists.heir@gmail.com or visit www.alchemistsheir.com.

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Tools & Tips gel called Seraph Rose Aura. From there, she continued with the series of Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.

Susan knew I had spent the past few years attempting to get to the bottom of my disconnection to life itself through several failed angelic spiritual encounters.

I also had spent a lot of money on popular resources such Angels 101 and Angel Therapy by Doreen Virtue.

However, not one of the books I purchased provided the overwhelming connection that I would receive from Susan through the AngelLink™ process.

As part of my quest to achieve greater spiritual connection, I also knew I had to overcome a blocked heart chakra.

by Chris Waugh Do you struggle trying to connect to angels, spirit guides, or archangels? Do you know what roles these angelic beings play in your life? If so, you are not alone, and there is a specific process you can use to access the angels and bring more joy into your life.

As a child, I was always taught to pray the following prayer to bring angels into my space for protection: “Angel of God, guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light to guard, to rule and guide.” For some reason, this prayer didn’t work the promised magic to bring angels rushing to my side, and for many years after that my lifeline to angelic beings was to read a book or click the mouse doing research in an attempt to invoke their presence in my life quickly when in need.

Because of my inexperience on the journey to harmonize with angels, I wasn’t sure I was making a solid connection with prayers or reading angel books. Then I found the AngelLink™ process, and it became my lifeline for an accelerated connection to these sacred beings. Created in 1997 by The Lightarian Institute for Global Human Transformation in Sedona, AZ, AngelLink’s™ goal is to train spiritually compassionate people to provide an accelerated attunement face-toface or via conference call. These highly evolved connections are described as bright lights, lit candles, or angelic flames. The facilitators, who are caring, compassionate souls, receive a special AngelLink™ attunement and, in turn, become a provider of these attunements for others.

Making the Connection On a beautiful, sunny Monday I walked into The Chakra Center in Florida for my first attunement. I had just moved from Ohio, and it was Susan Allen, a Lightarian AngelLink™ facilitator and certified Reiki Master, who infused this angelic energy into my soul. It was my second encounter with Susan, who performed a personal healing on me with crystals and healing bowls in late 2011. It took less than ten seconds to personally connect with her twinkling angelic eyes, which pulled me into her special space.

Through the AngelLink™ process, Susan’s soft-spoken nature and angelic energy accelerated my connection to a seraphim an-

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The first treatment, I was told, was to expand my capacity to experience true unconditional love. I was convinced that this wasn’t going to be a successful exercise, and I hoped that Susan was ready for her first failed connection. Luckily, I was wrong. Once Susan put me into a deep meditative state, she began speaking through Seraph Rose Aura as if she were sitting right behind her. I was filled with joy as I immediately felt tingling in my legs and feet. I felt like I was floating to the corner of the room, and I wasn’t the least bit scared.

As if a dam had just broken open, I was filled with so much joy I cried, big, heavy tears.

The tears wouldn’t stop, drenching my neck and shirt. I worried that Susan would stop the process to tend to my needs. However, the sacred space and divine energy she had cultivated wasn’t going to let that happen.

She continued the process in her most graceful, loving way as this calming energy gifted me with a swift opening of my heart as deep as the ocean and as wide as the sky.

How it Works Each of the AngelLink™ sessions is a process of deep meditative states that a master teacher facilitates. It’s in this meditative state that the recipient is connected to four more angelic realms: 1. Archangel Michael‘s realm is all about love.

Visualize the symbol of a halo hovering above the crown chakra for a heightened experience of the self.

2. Archangel Gabriel’s connection is one of joy. Imagine a golden bow tied over the heart chakra for a heightened access to knowing and intuition.

3. Archangel Uriel’s plane is about angelic beauty. This archangel is all about a heart shaped

box as a symbol for the purest reflection of “The One,” our prime creator. This link helps to stimulate our expression of beauty through creative activities.

4. Archangel Raphael’s connection is for courage with a focus on divine healing. The symbol is that of a torch, a torch of angelic light.

I know that without the gentle embrace of a facilitator’s energy field and these attunements, I may have never fully grasped the strong connections to these ministering spirits— God’s angels. Today, the angels appear to me through a gentle stroke on my arm or a simple caress to my neck or face. Because of the heightened awareness through the AngelLink™ ex-

perience these divine being come to my aid swiftly when I need them, and I now have a joy-filled lifeline to the angelic realm.

••••••••••••••••••

Chris Waugh is a freelance writer and blogger. Her fondness of metaphysics has launched her into an investigative journey through new science developments that are closely merging with spirituality. She attends seminars, workshops, and personally receives unique healing modalities as a means of exploring new methods to self-transformation. She writes about these experiences and shares sets of building blocks for self-discovery in her blog www. mt2mt.wordpress.com/blog. For more information about the AngelLink™ connection, contact Susan Allen at skallen5223@aol.com.

Spirituality

Marla Sanderson has been a student of spiritual practice for more than 35 years. She began as Assistant Director of The Next Step, a psychic and spiritual community in a New Mexico ghost town.

As workshop leader, teacher, practitioner, and minister, she has led relationship and personal growth workshops, taught psychic development and meditation, Living Love, and the Science of Mind.

Marla is available for workshops and speaking engagements. She recently founded the New Thought Center for Creative Living. www. newthoughtctr.org

••••••••••••••••••

LOVE, EXPRESS, enJOY!

A friend and I were discussing this month’s subject, JOY, and wondered about the difference, if any, between Joy and Love. He suggested,

“Maybe joy is the delight we feel when we express our Love!”

Bingo!

But when I say “Love” I’m talking about the unconditional kind—not the kind of love that carries more needs and demands than anyone can ever meet.

To me, Unconditional Love is feeling good—about you, about me, and about everything else. Feeling good about you, no matter what you do; feeling good about me, no matter what someone else does or says; and feeling good about “what is,” no matter what “what is” is.

We must be willing to feel good about WHAT IS—to love without conditions. To free ourselves from our own limiting

ideas of what we need to be happy.

We will never get enough of anything from outside that will make us feel better for long if we don’t already feel good about ourselves. Have you noticed?

It’s one thing to FEEL Love; but the idea of showing it takes some people into fear and dread instead of a wonderful world of joy.

So what stops them? Why don’t they express their Love more freely?

Let’s look at our history on this subject: • As children, many of us were teased or humiliated, which stifled our creativity and self-expression.

• We learned to shut off feelings so we’ll “never be hurt” again.

• Resentments can keep us stuck in an unhappy state, still tied to the person or situation we blame for causing it.

• And our reasons for not loving proliferate. There’s no end to the number of reasons we can think up to keep from loving those we consider unlovable.

Does that work for you? Me, neither. Let’s turn our inner Love into outer Joy! In our teaching, life happens from the inside out. All the possibilities for life are there and you get to choose how you live it. It is natural to express yourself, and when you block selfexpression, you suffer. Repressed feelings lead to all sorts of difficulties—illness, self-consciousness, relationship problems, and a wide range of unhealthy behaviors.

What can we do to express more joy?

Appreciation adds joy to our lives, especially when we notice the small things—the color of the sky, gliding along in the car, even your next breath. When you point your mind to the countless things there are to appreciate, you open to more joy. Why not give it a try? Really get into it and see how it makes you feel.

Creative people are usually joyful. Creativity IS selfexpression. In fact, those who enjoy what they do are joyful by definition. That’s what “en-joy” means. Think of something you love to do. Even the thought of it makes you happy, doesn’t it?

Now go do it.

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Inspiration focus all of your precious life energy on trying desperately to solve the problem of your overweight condition. You can obsess about food, calories, scale numbers, and points, and give your mind something to chew on and dwell on endlessly, with few solutions to be found.

If you go back and trace the roots, you can see that the whole reason you have a weight issue is because you didn’t want to feel your original feelings of insecurity in the first place. This original inner wound may even go back to childhood, when you felt hurt or rejected or mistreated in some way. When you can realize and accept that part of being alive is experiencing pain or feelings of insecurity and then become willing to be with your experience and have compassion for yourself, you no longer need to numb yourself with foods that are poisonous to your system or with too much food. It can be very helpful to witness yourself when you are about to engage in compulsive or unproductive behavior and just step back and observe what’s going on inside your mind. Are you feeling bored, anxious, or unhappy in some way?

Is your inner voice telling you lies such as: “What’s the difference what I do now—I’m so hopeless!” “This feeling will never pass! It’s who I am.”

“I might as well eat this food [or drink this drink]—it’s the only pleasure I have.”

Just becoming aware of this negative, destructive voice can be so helpful, because it allows you to watch it without identifying with it. You can breathe into the voice and help it to dissolve into something much larger than itself—like the same loving, healing, creative force that makes a small seed grow into a majestic, beautiful tree. When you become aware of these two opposing forces, you can realize that you have a choice as to which one you allow to drive you and your decisions.

Your creative, all-knowing voice may inform you that: “This feeling will pass. I am in control of my life and my habits. I breathe the life force and healing light into every cell of my body and into every thought. I prefer healthy, nutritious food and I eat only when I am physically hungry.”

By Rena Greenberg Are you an emotional eater? Do you use food as a coping mechanism for the challenges you are facing? What if you could resign yourself to the fact that your life contains both miraculous and amazing moments of joy and, at other times, deep periods of growth?

If you truly could accept that sometimes life is difficult, would you still need to push feelings of disappointment and doubt away with food?

If you are honest with yourself, you may come to see that you often eat as a way to avoid feeling bad. Obviously, the result is that after you overeat or create an overweight condition for yourself, you feel even worse. However, your diversion tactic worked. Now, instead of focusing on, or even maintaining awareness of the original “problem” that was “eating away at you,” you can pinpoint your pain on something tangible, and you can blame yourself for being overweight. Now, you can

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Finding Acceptance and Patience I had the privilege of traveling to Lake Arrowhead, CA, four times a year for five years to complete a Master’s Degree program at the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism. One of the things that struck me when I first went to the top of the mountain where Lake Arrowhead is located was the dry lakebed.

I used to take walks around the lake, and felt the sadness of the region, seeing many boats and docks on dry land, far from the water’s edge.

This went on for two years, and I imagined how helpless the dock and boat owners must have felt about the situation. There was NOTHING they could do to bring on rain—to make the lake full again. All that was required was acceptance and patience, and coming to terms with the fact that the lake might always be this low for the rest of their lifetimes.

After two years of this drought, on my 9th trip to Lake Arrowhead, during the winter months rain poured down relentlessly for the entire week that I was there. It rained so hard that week I couldn’t even go outside.

By the following April, to my delight, the lake was full once again.

When I walked around the lake, every boat and every dock was surrounded by deep water. I could feel the deep joy and gratitude of the region, as the whole area came alive with people relishing in the blessing of this beautiful body of water.

That experience taught me, in a very profound way, the value of patience and the natural ebb and flow of nature and life. When the lake dried up, people were helpless to correct the situation. There was no denying that it was a sad situation, and all anyone could do was accept the sadness of the way things were. Often it’s the same for us in our lives. We have a difficult time so we turn to food, generally unconsciously, to soothe ourselves. Very few of us were taught how to make friends with our grief.

We’ll do anything to cover it over, including building ourselves up, being aggressive, or withdrawing. Very often we turn to food addiction as a way to mask the grief. But we need to be OK with the sadness that we experience in life. There are going to be times when life is difficult—when we feel alone. Lake Arrowhead was dry for at least two years.

During times of sadness, it’s so important to be accepting of yourself, to give yourself love, not to turn your back on yourself…to be patient with yourself and to know that this is part of being alive.

During times of hardship, instead of acting out and making things worse for yourself, have faith to know that your difficult feelings will indeed pass and that new blessings and joy are coming your way. Don’t blame yourself or others. Do what you can on the physical level to create change, but then release the situation and focus on being kind to yourself and others.

The amazing thing is that when we do finally say yes to the doubt or insecurity, and accept that it’s there while having the courage to look for the gift in it, it often transforms into something beautiful.

When you see this, you realize at a cellular level that you no longer have to mask your painful feelings by reaching for any addictive substance such as food. Beyond your pain is where you can begin to get a taste of the Deep Love, Peace, and Joy behind everything and everyone that connects you to all of life. This vast, infinite force is always available to lift you higher and help you to see that not only are you blessed, but you truly are a blessing on this earth and that everything is happening exactly as it’s supposed to unfold.

There is an ancient Sufi saying: “The price of an open heart is pain.”

•••••••••••••••••

Rena Greenberg is the author of The Craving Cure: Break the Hold Carbs and Sweets Have on Your Life (McGraw-Hill) and The Right Weigh: Six Steps to Permanent Weight Loss, which is used by over 100,000 People (Hay House Publishing). She conducts weight loss and stop smoking seminars and has a private hypnosis practice in Sarasota. She can be reached through her website at www.EasyWillpower.com.

Inspiration

Perfectly

by Linda Commito

“This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfection.”—St. Augustine Standing in front of the mirror one morning, I glance at my face, more exposed than usual with my hair pulled back by the reading glasses on top of my head, reminding me of the headbands I wore in my early teens.

“You look pretty today,” I say to my reflection.

And then the “little voice” says, “Yeah, except for the wrinkles on your forehead.”

“I have a ‘wabi sabi’ face,” I reply and then laugh.

Do you have conversations with yourself? Are they expressions of love and appreciation, or are they critiques and judgments supporting a quest for self-improvement—or worse—perfection!

How can we cherish the quirky things about ourselves instead of hiding or disguising them? Aren’t these imperfections a part of what makes us unique and endearing?

Somehow the subject of wabi sabi (a Japanese way of seeing the beauty in imperfection) had come up in conversation the day before. A friend had been telling me about his home remodel,

which he had put so much care into. Instead of viewing the many oddities of his handiwork as mistakes, he looked at them as creative and charming expressions of his personal style. He calls it his “wabi sabi home.”

If it’s easy to see such unexpected beauty in things, why is it so difficult to see it in ourselves or others?

Several years ago, I adopted a four-year old German shepherd, who had been raised as a show dog— “Cadence of Erinbrook” (a name that was quickly changed).

Despite his majestic appearance, he had a crooked ear, which cost him points in the dog shows. Subsequently, he was given to a young family, who later gave him to me.

His crooked ear was a part of his charm, and without it he would have remained a show dog and not have become such a special part of my life for many years.

How can we take a wabi sabi approach and appreciate the wrinkles (after all, we’ve worked hard to acquire them), the insecurities and idiosyncrasies that make us unique? And then, how can we take it up a notch, to see the beauty and joy in those things that we’ve been trying to hide or ignore, to fall in love with all sides of ourselves, and to recognize and value the perfection of imperfection?

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Linda Commito is the author of Love Is the New Currency. Go to www.loveisthenewcurrency.com for more information.

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Tools & Tips

By Jeff Gitterman I often tell people that the most important investment they can ever make is one in their future by focusing their energy and attention on learning to consciously direct their thoughts toward the outcome they want to create. When I give seminars in my role as financial advisor, I’ll often ask people, “What are you going to do differently this year than you did last year?” I often get a kind of blank look in response. “I’m going to make more money.” “I’m going to see more potential clients.” But when I ask them what they will do differently, they often ask, “What do you mean?”

There is a well known definition of insanity, which is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And when I say doing the same thing, I mean at the most fundamental level, with regard to how we spend our attention and energy. The human mind is like a bio-computer that is continually processing input and output, and so, whatever we put in is understandably what we’ll get out. Put in junk and we’ll get junk. Put in good programs, and we’ll get good results and create joy in our lives.

A metaphor I like to use is that of my car and its built-in navigation system.

If I want to go to the city to meet a new client, I can enter the address and the system guides me—turn right, turn left, drive straight ahead for three miles. This has certainly made driving much easier over the past several years, but I still have to program the navigation system with a destination in order to get where I want to go.

In a way, our subconscious mind is a like a navigation system.

It’s constantly giving us directions, but if we haven’t plugged in the right address with our conscious mind, then we’re going to be driving in circles.

The good news is that visualizing and learning to redirect our future is not as difficult as some people might think. The first step is to create a two-minute movie in your head of you in the future, being the person that you always wanted to be, and imagining that money is not an obstacle in any way. The second step then requires five minutes a night, before you go to bed. Spend a minute or two in meditation and/or doing some type of relaxation technique—anything that will best help you to focus. Then, once you feel centered and grounded, play your movie in your head.

There’s an old saying, “act as if,” or, as we often say, “fake it till you make it.”

Your movie has to be a snapshot of a day in the life of you, playing bigger in the world.

Note where and what you do at work, the relationships you have, the house you live in, the car you drive, etc. What does that vision look like three to five years out in a perfect and joyful day in the life of you? And then give it up to the Universe because in all likelihood that vision, while it may come true, will find reasons to change and grow as you make it bigger and better.

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We need to give our energy a direction to move in. It’s critical that we do that. Otherwise, we flounder.

It’s like getting in your car without a navigation system and driving around with no idea where you’re going. To overcome this problem, go from morning to night and make it as sensory as possible. Add as much detail as you can—objectively and subjectively. Whatever it is, it should be you living your fullest expression, filled with happiness and joy as you do what you love to do. Then play your movie every night for 30 days, because this is how long many people believe it takes for a new habit to form in the subconscious mind. For example, if you smoke once, it probably won’t become a habit, but if you smoke for 30 days you’re most likely hooked.

I can’t stress this point enough: If we don’t believe that our thoughts are creating the life we’re living and that we are the principal authors of our own destinies, writing our own stories every day, we’ll remain helpless audience members watching our lives go by. The visualization process gives us something far more useful to focus on than the old counterproductive messages of our minds, and over time, we’ll be amazed how quickly our outer worlds will begin to change once we’ve learned how to rewrite our scripts.

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Jeff Gitterman is an award winning financial advisor and the founder and CEO of Gitterman & Associates Wealth Management, LLC. www.gawmllc.com. He is also the co-founder of Beyond Success, www.

BeyondSuccessConsulting.com, a consulting firm that brings more holistic values to the world of business and finance.

This article is adapted from his first book, Beyond Success: Redefining the Meaning of Prosperity, which was published by AMACOM, the publishing house of the American Management Association www. amacombooks.org.

Over the past several years, Jeff has been featured in Money Magazine, CNN, Financial Advisor, London Glossy, and New Jersey Business Journal, among others. In 2004, he was honored by Fortune Small Business Magazine as One of Our Nation’s Best Bosses. Jeff also serves as chairman of the advisory board to the Autism Center of New Jersey Medical School.

Healthy Living

Christina Captain, DOM, AP, SLP, FSC is a board certified acupuncture physician and the founder of The Family Healing Center. She earned her degree in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine from the East West College of Natural Medicine, Sarasota, Florida, where she is now a senior faculty member and advisory board chairperson. Christina received additional training in acupuncture injection therapy and earned a Masters degree in Speech Language Pathology and Communication Disorders and is an expert Feng Shui practitioner and teacher.

••••••••••••••••••

The Yardstick of Happiness “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.— Mahatma Gandhi “How do you handle all the poverty and the suffering?” My husband and I get asked this question a fair amount since we own a travel company that specializes in trips throughout India. Typically this question is posed with a look of pity and a small measure of distaste, as if life must be just unbearable in that mystical land. In fact, we recently returned from a tour of India with 11 people in tow, and some of them had the same sort of questions before we left. How am I supposed to handle seeing so much misery?

If you asked them now, however, I suspect they’d be hard-pressed to recall seeing anyone in misery—or even too unhappy. In fact, the global research company Ipsos conducted a poll in late 2011 and found that India ranked second in the world in terms of happiness, with 43 percent of responders reporting being “very happy.” (In comparison, the United States clocked in at 28 percent.) In addition, India ranked 4th happiest in terms of satisfaction with the areas in which residents live. So why the expectations and projections of unhappiness?

We must be careful not to use our yardsticks for happiness on any other person or culture. What we use to gauge our own mood and attitude is not necessarily what others use as their own barometer. Coming from this culture, it is all too easy to see a street in India filled with rubble, garbage, wandering cows, and honking cars and be stunned and mortified. Because we’ve already created a story in our minds, it becomes convenient to overlook the laughing and playing children, the families eating meals together, the cooperation between shop owners. I can say with confidence that Indian people are some of the most sincere and joyful people on the planet.

That happiness goes a long way health-wise. A study

by R. Veenhoven published in the Journal of Happiness Studies finds that “the effect of happiness on longevity in healthy populations is remarkably strong. The size of the effect is comparable to that of smoking or not.” Veenhoven posits that perhaps public health policies should be geared towards affecting happiness, since this is such a large indicator of overall physical health.

A study was published in 2005 from London’s International Centre for Health and Society that measured cortisol levels, heart rate, and fibrinogen levels in the human body as they related to happiness. The less happy a person reported being, the higher the levels of the damaging “stress hormone” cortisol; the happier the person reported being, the less fibrinogen (a signal for future heart disease) was detected. In men, the happier they were, the lower their heart rate. In the past, many studies have been performed to illuminate the link between depression and disease; finally, researchers are seeking the crucial connection between a positive outlook and increased health.

In Chinese Medicine, happiness and joy are related to the Fire Element, and thus deeply interwoven with the heart organ and summertime. Summertime is the most yang of seasons—the sun is high, the days are long and bright, trees are in their full glory, and fruit is ripe for the picking. Even within our culture, summertime stereotypically brings the best opportunity for expressing and experiencing joy—picnics, fireworks, beach days, vacations, barbecues… It’s seemingly a season designed to bring joy.

In accordance with the Five Element model of Chinese Medicine, we can gauge the health of a patient’s Fire element based on his or her expression of joy. Just as too many hours of intense summer sunlight can wither crops, extreme intensity of emotion can be damaging (think mania). Conversely, a lack of joy can manifest as a dullness, a lack of spark or enthusiasm— imagine a wet blanket thrown over what should be a lively fire.

Both of these are signals to the practitioner that this patient’s Fire Element has been thrown off balance.

Know that only you can gauge your own happiness. Not only is it unfair to use our personal values to judge how happy someone else should (or should not) be, but it is devastating to measure our own happiness using someone else’s yardstick.

Genuine happiness is reflected throughout the body, creating balance and promoting longevity. You can ultimately use your happiness as a tool to affect others around you, as well. As Buddha said, “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

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Lauren Rathvon, DOM, AP is a nationally board certified Acupuncture Physician and Doctor of Oriental Medicine. She received her education at the East West College of Natural Medicine in Sarasota where she earned her degree in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine. Certified in acupuncture point injection therapy, Lauren has also been trained in Constitutional Facial Rejuvenation. She currently serves on the Oriental Medicine faculty at Mountain Meadow Massage School in Ruidoso, NM, in addition to being an adjunct professor at the East West College of Natural Medicine.

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18

Spirituality July is the perfect time to acknowledge the freedom and independence available to us all.

I have the freedom to act independently, without permission from anybody.

I have the freedom to make a mistake without fear of outside criticism.

Gregg Sanderson has a rare view of the metaphysical universe. He traveled the road from Christian Science through Judaism, Agnosticism, Atheism, Living Love, Psychic Development, Spiritualism, Teaching of the Inner Christ, all the way to the International Centers for Spiritual Living where he is a licensed practitioner. He is the author of What Ever Happened To Happily Ever After? and Split Happens – Easing the Pain of Divorce. Gregg’s latest venture is Spirit With A Smile — The Way It Is (Unless It’s Something Else). Email to gregg@spiritwithasmile.com.

•••••••••••••••••• Free To Be Joyful Joy is what you feel when you discover that the Love you seek, you already have. --BOB

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the famous “Ode to Joy,” is miraculous as it covers the many facets of our seeking. There’s contemplation, the false starts, the glimpses, then the outpouring of joy so intense even the orchestra can’t hold it as the poetry erupts from the vast chorale.

I don’t understand a word of German, yet I relish in the feeling it raises in me. I can’t pay attention to it and not be moved. What Divine beauty must have been in Beethoven to give this glorious gift to the world!

And he never heard a note of it.

To me, Joy is about freedom: freedom from the limitations of the RACE Trap* and the inhibitions that get in the way of full expression of the Love that’s always there.

I have the freedom to be imperfect, and still love myself.

I have the freedom to express myself right down to the toes.

So do you.

But there’s a downside to freedom. It’s called consequences.

Oi Vey! This month I will have the opportunity to take advantage of my freedom and independence like never before. The beloved minister with which I work, Rev. Marla, is vacationing the last three weeks in July, and in her infinite wisdom left me in charge of the New Thought Center for Creative Living. Woo Hoo! Our subject for July is, “While The Cat’s Away...”

I get to be in charge of EVERYTHING! And I won’t worry about her speaking too long, since it’ll be me who runs overtime.

I’ll have the freedom to depart from every routine, and who knows what the content will be each week? The only thing sure is there will be love, there will be music, there will be Truth... and of course, there will be BOB. It all adds up to Joy with a capital “J”.

She may ask herself, “How much can he possibly do in just three weeks?

Heh Heh Heh. BOB did a lot, and It only had one week. *RACE Trap: Righteousness and Approval Complicate Everything.

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Transformation helped. People were mad, frustrated, and complaining. All of a sudden, this young lady joins the line with her headphones on and just starts dancing. When I say dancing, I mean it was like you in your room as a teenager when nobody was watching, except she was not a teenager and everyone was watching. Some people were making fun of her and questioning her sanity. It was as if she was from a different planet.

Joeel A. Rivera, M.Ed., Ph.D. (ABD) holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and is currently completing his dissertation for his Ph.D. in Psychology. Joeel’s extensive career as a relationship coach includes certifications in P.R.E.P, a 30-year research-based program for couples, Nurturing Father’s curriculum, and Parenting 21st Century. Contact Joeel at joeel@transformationservices.org

•••••••••••••••••• The Art of Play

Do you remember what it was like to play as a child? A time when you had no worries and completely enjoyed the now?

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and for a moment remember one of your best childhood experiences and try to relive it.

Remember what you were doing, the sounds, the people (if any), and the smells. For many, those memories bring about feelings of joy and nostalgia.

Some of my favorite memories include riding my bike around the neighborhood, telling stories around candlelight when a storm would take out the lights, dancing in public, playing cards outside, and running through the woods pretending to be Indians. One that especially stands out is pretending with my brother, Daniel, that we had super powers. We would say “power of cheetahs” and thought it made us super fast or “power of monkey” and we would climb trees, swing from vines with grace, and jump to the ground.

It makes one wonder,

“Can I truly experience that type of joy again?”

Of course I am not looking to jump out of a tall tree, for as an adult I fear that if I land wrong I may experience prolonged pain or break something. However, most of the limits that we place on our joy are based on much lesser fears. For example, I have heard many people say:

“I have always wanted to dance in the rain.”

So why haven’t they? It isn’t that hard to step outside of your house when it is raining and shake it like you mean it. Are they afraid that others would judge them? Well they’re probably right, but if they’re not hurting anyone and having a great time, then who cares?

I was at the DMV a couple of months ago, and we were being told that it may take an hour and a half before we got

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Almost everyone was miserable, but the woman dancing was in pure joy.

The lady in line next to me looked at me and said, “If she only knew that she was making a fool out of herself.” I looked at her and told her, “I think she doesn’t care, but I bet you many people here wish they had her courage to find joy anywhere.”

She looked at me with an awkward grin, confused, because I did not join in on discouraging the dancer’s behavior.

People do not fully experience joy in their lives because they have ADD (Adventure Deficit Disorder).

They are not living life; they are letting life live them.

So the question for you is, “Can I truly experience that joy that I did when I was a child?” Of course you can. You just need to eliminate that limited belief that says because you have more responsibilities you cannot take time for joy. Maybe, just maybe, as we grow older we are incorrectly taught that there is something wrong with playing.

How much time each week do you dedicate to playing?

How many people in your life do you share your joy with? At the core, every person has an inner child that is longing to come out and play once in a while. So, what would adult play look like?

Well, that depends on you and what you consider fun. If you don’t know how you would play then this is an opportunity to rediscover your inner child. Below are some of the more interesting ways that some adults play.

Flash Mobs I was watching a presenter at one of the TED conferences whose company Improve Anywhere influenced the flash mob trend. It has organized groups of people (sometimes hundreds of people) through social media who convene at a specific time to sing a song, dance, or just freeze in place. The goal is to give unsuspecting bystanders at that location a unique, positive experience that gives them something to talk about. At the same time, it allows for people to break away from their routine. It is astonishing that the people who participate are from all walks of life and range in age from teens to people in their 70s. The one thing that brings them all together is the desire to play a game, just like they did when they were little. You may think these people have a lot of time on their hands, but realistically we all take time for what we enjoy, whether we prefer to spend it in front of the TV or participating in something like this.

Playing Pretend I think all of us, at some point or another, have played pretend. I still dress up and play pretend with my daughter when she asks me to. I have even gone out with her in my Halloween costume in January to do grocery shopping because she wanted us to wear them. I don’t want her to grow up thinking that being a responsible adult means you have to stop playing. I was talking to a friend a few months ago and she was telling me that she has a group of women who get together every week and play pretend. Each person pretends that she did something that week that she wished she had, such as saying that she traveled to Fiji, got an award, or had a particular experience. They express it to the group as if they actually lived it. She says that each gettogether is life changing and filled with so much joy.

It may sound crazy, but I have personally used this activity with people through counseling, workshops, and even people who are juvenile delinquents or who are about to be released from jail.

Playing pretend, for kids and adults, is a way to open the mind to different possibilities, as well as a way to make sense of the world.

Playing a Game Playing games is a great way to release and experience joy, whether it’s a card game, board game, or one you make up.

It can also be therapeutic. I have created programs and volunteered for programs such as Challenge Day, where high school students play games to develop trust, so they can then open up and see how similar they may be regardless of their differences.

I have also used games with families and couples to help them reconnect and strengthen their bonds. It’s not only humans that benefit from play; most animals play games with each other to develop bonds.

Taking Time in Nature I remember the first time that I took my daughter on a canoe ride. She was rambunctious when we arrived, but halfway through she was lying with her hand touching the water and for the next half an hour did not say a word as she was mesmerized with her surroundings. Looking at her, I knew that she had found her inner joy. It was not until a firefly landed on her hand that she spoke to me to tell me she had a new friend. For many of us, nature provides that inner peace and joy. Connect to nature, take a bike ride, go to the beach or mountains.

Do whatever brings you to that quiet, joyful place.

True joy is not about feeling excited or having a specific experience. It is about being present and letting go of the fear of being your true self. Find your inner child and let them out to play. The more you can, the more you will find that your life will be transformed.

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Transformation

By Sophie Rose

In this age of technology and materialism, when many wonder what tomorrow will bring, the resurgence of spirituality is a normal phenomenon.

For centuries, people have turned to religions or other belief systems for support and understanding. Yet it never seems to result in a better world on a global level, an improved personal life perhaps, but not a better planet. So one can wonder why—after centuries of religious or spiritual teachings on love, forgiveness, presence, or service—the world situation has not improved spiritually. Why acts of sharing and forgiveness are the exception, not the norm. We can guess that the majority of the population wasn’t ready for these teachings. As a result, the failure to bring peace, love, or the end of suffering on earth is the failure of humanity and the human mind. After all, the spiritual realm did its job, didn’t it? So why are people not listening?

The answer lies in each one of us. Our perception of the world is a very personal thing, it involves our mind and the infinite interpretations it can make about our experiences. This is how most of us lead our lives: we base our actions on what our minds are telling us. Yet many spiritual teachings tell us to go the other way: love, meditate, watch our mind, forgive, practice compassion, open our heart. The discrepancy between the teachings and what we do with them is as wide as the gap between faith and belief.

Faith is the mysterious spiritual touch which brings a sacred dimension to our life.

Faith doesn’t abide by rules. Unlike belief, it has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with following one’s heart. Faith is our personal affair with our spiritual Self. Are we in a relationship with our soul or are we cut off from it? We can tell by the quality of our life: A person who has faith acts from a place of trust and inner knowledge. A person who doesn’t have faith acts from the mind. This person doesn’t trust life and often second-guesses himself.

Faith is this indescribable feeling of knowing what’s right for oneself and acting on it.

That’s what soul work is about, the inner knowledge of what one has to learn and do in this lifetime. Every soul has its purpose, every heart its calling. The work required to discover it is a spiritual journey some feel drawn to take. As we embark on this path, the real adventure begins, a new perspective slowly arises, old attachments vanish to leave room for new experiences. Our outlook on life shifts to incorporate spiritual realities and our inner transformation is mirrored in the outer world.

Finding a Spiritual Practice Every spiritual journey leads to a better understanding of our place in the world. Spiri-

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tual practice helps us connect with our Self, which is a drop in the sea of consciousness. As we connect with consciousness, we slowly learn that there is an intelligent design underlying our life, and that the spiritual realm contains all we need to know. So why not pick up a spiritual practice?

How do we define spiritual practice? A spiritual practice is the very simple act of getting in touch with your Self. Not with your mind, your feelings or your body, but with this sense of presence or being behind them. How to go about it is a matter of personal preference.

A few things should guide your choice: Religion or tradition do not matter, except to your heart, so it is very important to follow your intuition, not your mind (or another’s). Practice will make all the difference.

Spirituality is an experience, not an intellectual pastime.

Discouragement is common, the best way to deal with it is not to expect anything from your practice.

Flowers only bloom in the right season, provided they were cared for well.

Your spiritual practice also will bloom in the right season.

•••••••••

Sophie Rose is the author of The Way of The heart, Teachings of Jeshua and Mary Magdalene. She is a contributing author of The Sacred Shift, CoCreating your Future. Sophie is not aligned with any particular religion or tradition and has always favored a direct experience of spirituality. For more information visit www.thewayoftheheartcourse.com.

Spirituality

Marcia began her career as a school teacher, working with preschool through inner city high school students. She has worked with all aspects of Metaphysics for over 40 years and specializes in Tarot and Numerology. Marcia’s clients and students are in every state and throughout Europe. Marcia has taught over 400 students to “read” the Tarot for the purpose of self-guidance and to use the powerful symbolism of the Tarot to reach higher levels of spirituality.

Her column, Spiritually Speaking, originally ran for 8 years in Attitudes Magazine in the Sarasota area. Email marlou2000@aol.com

•••••••••••••••••• Journey into Dreamland “To Sleep, Perchance to Dream.”

—William Shakespeare

Since the dawning of humankind and before time as we know it, the “mystery of dreaming” has been a focus of fascination, confusion, fear, and psychological study. Everyone dreams.

A period of sleep always includes one or more periods of dreaming. This fact has been experimentally proven beyond any doubt.

Some people entirely forget every dream that they have and will claim that they don’t dream at all. There are others who have almost complete memory of their dreams. The “norm” for dream recall is to remember a few elements of our dreams, and sometimes remember in great detail a dream which seems to be especially important. Most psychologists insist that some dreams, if not all, have something important to say to the dreamer. The works of Freud, Jung, and others have made dream analysis an important ingredient of psychotherapy and in understanding the “subconscious” mind, and they used dream analysis to help analyze their patients.

Journey with me into the early history of dreams and their messages as studied and viewed by ancient religions and cultures. Much of the following information was gathered from a wonderful book, written in 1985 and titled The Compleat Book of Dreaming, by Derek and Julia Parker of England.

Victorians had their dream books and believed that certain symbols in a dream related to all individuals that dreamed about that particular symbol. An example of this would be that a dream of a black cat would mean good luck, or bad, depending on the book and the author. However, psychologists and psychiatrists believe that one person’s dreams do NOT mean the same as another person’s.

Going back further, the early Egyptians certainly believed that dreams were messages from the Gods, and a book of dream interpretations has been found that dates back to 1,300 BC. The Assyrians had dream books dating from 2000 B.C. The Old Testament contains numerous dreams that are familiar to

most who have attended Sunday School, the dream of Jacob and his ladder is one of the most well known. The prophet Mohammed believed dreams to be extremely important and began each day by asking his disciples if and what they had dreamed the night before. Mohammed maintained that dreams were “a conversation between man and his God.” The Greeks believed dreams to be divine messages from Zeus and also studied the Egyptian, Assyrian, Jewish, Babylonian, and Persian dream theories. There were many sacred places in Greece that were used for the “incubation” of dreams and dreamers would actually take drugs and herbal potions to induce sleep and to await the important prophecies of their dreams.

Plato stated that man’s true nature revealed itself in his dreams. Aristotle believed that dreams could often predict the onset of diseases, and Hippocrates took a similar view. Christianity revived the view that dreams were sent by God to communicate commands to humanity, such as the dreams of St. Joan of Arc. In India, the Puranas (ancient Hindu scriptures) reported dreams to be messages from the gods, and to the Buddhists they were “signs traversing the paths of thought.” In the Islamic world Mai al Mas’adi, an Arab writer felt that sleep was a “preoccupation of the soul” and that the most secret desires of the dreamer could rise to the surface, uninhibited by moral attitudes. Chinese scholars believed that dreams occurred when the spiritual soul, the hun, was temporarily separated from the body, and could communicate with spirits, the souls of the dead, or the gods.

The American Indians have always regarded dreams in the upmost importance, especially in the education of their young. The Iroquois saw dreams as the language of the soul, more important and valuable than the language of man’s waking state. The study of dreams takes us from the most ancient cultures and through the ages to the present, where experimental work is taking place in dream laboratories throughout the world.

The Great Pioneers One great pioneer of dreams, psychologist Sigmund Freud, published his book The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900.

Freud said that it was difficult for one to interpret one’s own dreams as a human becomes his/her own censor. He contended that under analysis every part of a dream could be revealed in some true sense. Freud’s disciple, Carl Jung took a more mystical view of dreams than that of his teacher. Jung said that there were two types of dreams, Great Dreams and Little Dreams. He felt that Great Dreams were more difficult to interpret and were dreamed at crucial periods of one’s life, at the time of puberty, during the crises of middle age, and not long before death. Little dreams contained symbols from everyday experience and were concerned with everyday matters. To me, that is much like the Major and Minor symbols of the Tarot, another area of Metaphysics that Jung studied and analyzed, giving us the term Archetypes for the Major Arcana cards.

There are many “common” dreams, those dream symbols that are more often remembered than others and that are dreamed by more people. Most of us have had one or more of these kinds of dreams. The most common of all dreams are dreams of Pursuit, Travel, Disasters, Sex, Weather, Birth, Death, Fire, Water, Nudity, Flying, Food, Drink, Animals, Environment,

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Color, and Crowds. There are many excellent books on dreams, both ancient and modern that will enable the reader to understand what some of these symbols mean and, more important what they may mean in one’s own personal life.

There is advantage to striving to remember our dreams.

As a teacher of Metaphysics, self-knowledge is very important to me, and I strive to give my students “tools” to use to better understand the self. Dreams are fascinating and we should not be frightened of them, rather we should attempt to understand them and use them as a tool. If you take the time to try to focus on and remember your dreams, you may learn to be the interpreter of your own dreams. You can open the door to understanding more about yourself and unlock the door to the subconscious,

that important area of YOU which is beneath the surface of your conscious mind. The more imaginative and sensitive you are, the greater the dream experience can be.

The imagery of your dream comes from your mind and nobody else can dream your dream but you. The world of our dreams can be romantic but also practical and very informative, as we take the information gleaned in sleep and apply it to our living our daily lives.

And remember, Knowledge is the Greatest Power, so Walk in the Light.

Inspiration When we live an authentic life, we are living the life that resonates with our inner being.

We will not bind ourselves with destructive habits, relationships or lifestyles. We will gain inner strength and let go of manipulation, power plays, cruelty, and hatred. We will find that our lives are being elevated to a higher spiritual level. We will be thinking of humankind, rather than self. We won’t be afraid of the truth, and we will deal with fear in a healthier way.

By Dr. Howard Peiper, N.D. The dictionary describes being authentic as being genuine and original. It could also mean being true and trustworthy. Who wouldn’t want to be authentic (real)? For most of us, there has been a time when we were young and we exhibited our true thoughts and feelings only to have someone cut them down. No wonder it’s scary to be authentic. It’s that age-old fear of not being accepted, liked, or criticized if we show the real us that has been lingering inside us just festering.

Most of us live our lives never finding our authentic self. We never find the person we were meant to be, nor do we develop ourselves to our greatest potential. Unfortunately, this is much easier said than done, for it takes time and effort to undo programmed habits and ways of living.

It is time for us to claim our authentic self and live life to our fullest potential. To be authentic means to find the key to happiness, joy, and success within one’s self, not within the society in which we live. Society usually means the external system of authority that consciously and unconsciously dictates the direction and behavior of our lives. Do we ever wonder why it is so important to live a certain way, with a certain car, house, school degree, etc.?

It is because society dictates it to be so. To live and be our authentic self, we need to free ourselves from that cultural prison. We need to think for ourselves and create our own thoughts, needs and desires. Then, and only then, are we being authentic.

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Steps to Integrating the Fear of Being Authentic (Real) 1. Determine where our fears of being authentic really lie. They lie at the heart of any belief where we feel we must be perfect in order to be accepted. These fears are the kind that cause us to feel the need to hide behind a mask. They make us feel inadequate, not good enough, and “less than”.

2. Once we understand what these fears are, express them verbally. Doing so is the first step to dissolving their power over us because now they are no longer hidden.

3. When we verbalize one of these fears, we need to ask our inner child these questions: a.

Did we survive that sharing? b.

Are we still alive? c.

Are we still intact and okay?

Each of these questions is designed to help our inner child see that being real by expressing its fears will not cause it to be rejected and die.

The inner child believes that rejection is synonymous with death and therefore, will create a false image or mask to hide any parts of us that it feels will not be accepted.

As the inner child answers each of the above questions, with a therapist, counselor, clergy person, and/or going to variwe will notice a sense of relief and calm over us. These feelings ous 12 Step meetings (i.e. Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfuncare confirmation that our inner child believes that it is now safe tional Families) also helps us find our authentic self. and as a result has been able to establish a new sense of trust and peace.

Dr. Howard Peiper, N.D., nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, has writBeing authentic is not something that happens all at ten several bestselling books on nutrition and natural health. His once; instead it is a process of discovering each fear and assistwebsite is: www.walkthetalkproductions.com. ing the inner child to integrate that fear by expressing it verbally.

And once expressed, taking it through the steps that enable it to see that it is still safe, and in fact, safer than before. Speaking

••••••••••••••••••

Spirituality

By Alysa Braceau Lucid dreaming gives you a great feeling.

When you dream consciously, you can have control over events, or at least the realization that you can control a situation. You become the dreamer and the dream, as shamans say, a living dreamweaver.

With practice, there will come a day when you can instruct yourself to dream about something; to fly like a bird or to meet a deceased loved one.

If you dream consciously—dreaming while being aware that you are dreaming—you reach a state of totality, in which you truly experience yourself as a creator of this reality. Totality is one of the teachings of the Native American sorcerer’s tradition. There are four practices that guide the apprentice into totality: stalking, hunting, the art of the warrior, and the art of dreaming.

Steps to Creating your own Reality The techniques here can help you achieve conscious dreaming in about four weeks. They will help you build energy to develop a dream body, in which you can travel outside known reality to the boundless second reality of dreaming and creativity.

This finally takes you to totality, where you experience and become aware that you are creating your own reality.

Learning to dream consciously really starts with attentiveness, being aware of your surroundings, and your actions in daily life.

Finding the Dream Stone In the following exercise you take the first step in developing a dream body.

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•

•

•

Take any kind of stone and study it in detail. You need to know it inside out, every line, every dent, every outline. Visualize the stone on your third eye or inner eye—the place between your eyebrows. Practice as long as it takes to get it in your mind and aim to find the stone in dreaming within the next 10 days. Begin counting down the days until you find it. When you don’t find it within that time, start all over again, until you get it right.

Before going to sleep, look at the stone in detail and place it somewhere near. Close your eyes and visualize the stone on the inside of your inner eye, between your eyebrows. Then become conscious of the moment right before you fall asleep. At that specific moment, visualize the stone immediately inside your inner eye—you will find out that you get dream flashes that you can fixate or stop.

Don’t worry if you can’t achieve this at first. It is actually enough to have the intention to be conscious and to stop your dreaming before falling asleep. Attempt it.

Aim to wake up consciously every morning and let your inner eye visualize the stone. Pick up the stone and move it closer towards you, from arm’s length to the tip of your nose. And do not forget to repeat to yourself that you will find the stone.

Making a Bridge Between Reality and Dreaming • Make a habit of observing your surroundings in detail. Try to do those things that you usually do on autopilot as consciously as possible, and imagine you are dreaming. Of all your daily tasks, even the simplest you usually do without thinking, you need to be conscious.

• Before going to sleep, rewind all the images of the previous day from the evening back to the morning. You will gradually notice that these exercises have an effect on your dreaming because you will begin to see this retrospective view of your day in your dreams. You’ll also observe every little detail in your everyday surroundings and your dreams more thoroughly.

• Your dream body has to be at full capacity to travel to the boundless second reality of dreaming and creation. You develop your dream body by bringing experiences, objects, or

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•

specific acts or movements conscious from dreaming into the reality and vice versa. For example: If you see or find a shell in your dream then you harden your dream body by taking a similar shell with you and putting it in a special place in your home where you collect these dream-items.

With that you make a bridge between reality and dreams.

Be impeccable both in everyday reality and in dreaming.

This trains your attention, which has to be perfect. Through attention you build your intention, and with that you travel into the boundless unknown.

Six Steps to Lucid Dreaming 1. Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. Even if it’s in the middle of the night. No matter how meaningless they may seem, appreciate what you receive.

2. If you wake up while you are dreaming, review the events of your dream as often as you can. This trains you to remember your dream the next morning and give it your attention.

3. Develop your dream body with the dream stone technique (see opposite) and aim to find the stone in dreaming.

4. Be aware of your surroundings and your actions in daily life.

Make a habit of observing your surroundings in detail and try to do those things that are usually done on automatic pilot as consciously as possible, and imagine you are dreaming.

5. Develop your dream body by bringing experiences, objects or specific acts or movements from dreaming into the reality and vice versa (see above, the bridge between reality and dreaming).

6. Before going to sleep, review the events of your day from the evening back to the morning. This helps you to become lucid in your dreams.

Good luck! May your dreams come true.

•••••••••••••••••

Alysa Braceau, Dreamshield, lives in the Netherlands and is mother to an eight-year old -daughter. A freelance journalist and publisher, she also has a healing practice and gives workshops on lucid dreaming. Her book, The Sorcerer’s Dream, a true story of initiation into the Native American sorcerer’s tradition, is available from bookstores and amazon. Contact Alysa at info@dreamshield.nl.

Question: As a 55-year-old divorcee, I have met and fallen in love with a 62-year old man. He is not in the best of health, and his erections have now disappeared. After an almost sexless marriage, I was delighted that he and I could make love as we did at first. Now I’m sad that it’s no longer possible. He has asked me to touch him, but I’m too embarrassed. Is he saying this because he knows I miss sex?

Dr. ZZ’s bold, upfront, directive style plays an inspirational role in the lives of people she touches. Drawing on a non-traditional Ph.D. in counseling and natural healing, ZZ works in Sarasota with shaman elder Jack Alexander (“Golden Feather”), who offers land blessings, shamanic training, Life Purpose readings, and all-faith, community-based spiritual guidance. This forum proposes potential solutions on health, emotional, and personal matters. For more, see www.shaman.mosaicglobe.com.

•••••••••••••••••

Question: I am a 31-year-old woman from Europe who is married to an American man. Right now, I am halfway through my second pregnancy and wondering why it all seems an emotional battle. My husband’s family has been quite “narky” and intolerant towards me during this difficult time.

Dr. ZZ: Many men in this situation long to be touched, held, fondled, and embraced. Your partner obviously doesn’t want to lose the special, intimate connection the two of you share. You have lost only one way of showing each other love, not the love itself. Chances are he would be delighted to see and have you still enjoy sex. Trust him to help you discover how.

Question: My mother was widowed a number of years ago, and after a few years on her own, she now has a wonderful, caring husband who does more than his share around the house. He is, in many respects a model partner, and he has been good for her in more ways than I can list. The problem is, she nags and ridicules him in front of anyone who will listen. It pains me to see what’s happening between the two of them, and I am concerned that my 13-year-old daughter is often within ears’ range. Her father and I have always made a point of treating each other with respect. Why else bother to have a mate if all you’re going to do is make them into an enemy? I’m worried that my daughter will be “warped” by seeing her Grandma treat her husband so badly.

What do you suggest I do?

I am at a loss for what to do with myself. I try to keep busy with projects, but I hate the empty moments at home. My husband is at work a lot, and I find that I have no one to turn to for fun and to de-stress. I have tried everything to get my husband to understand that I am having a revolting emotional roller coaster ride, and that I have to lean on him temporarily. I miss my family Dr. ZZ: Make no mistake, your mother’s behavior is inappropriand wish his would be different and not alienate me at my time of ate; and chances are it has a pronounced effect on you because, need. Thank you for any advice you can offer. after all, she is your mom. Generally speaking, however, it best to stay out of other couple’s interactions unless someone is in physDr. ZZ: You don’t have to be in a foreign county to feel like a ical danger. On the positive side, you can use this experience stranger. Cultural differences take place from household to when it comes up to explore important issues with your daughter. household in almost every locale of the world. Even if your in- You don’t need to condemn your mother, but you also don’t need laws were of your own nationality and were living next door to to let her behavior go without comment. After the next family getyou in your home country, there is no guarantee that they or your together, make certain to tell your daughter how uncomfortable husband would be any more supportive than the in-laws and hus- her Grandma’s put-downs make you feel. Tell her how everyone, band you have here. It is a waste of energy to fret about things including you, is sad about the way she treats this well-meaning that could be and aren’t. As miserable as you may feel, you serve man. You can even say something like, “Most grown-ups don’t yourself best when you focus attention on the results you need in belittle their mates like that,” or “I know when you’re married you order to make your life enjoyable. won’t air your problems in front of other people like Grandma does. It isn’t right.” This way, you will reinforce the idea that this From the sound of it, you can use some quality female compan- kind of mistreatment isn’t the norm, while driving home the point ionship. Getting to know other mothers with whom you can com- that Grandma’s behavior is as unacceptable as it is upsetting. pare notes would do you a world of good. Perhaps you can meet some other young moms at events and activities involving your firstborn. Daycare and nursery school programs, a likely place to Disclaimer: All information provided in this article is intended as start, may be able to point you in the direction of other pregnant general information only and is not to be misconstrued as mediwomen. With my email reply, I will send you the name and concal or psychological advice, diagnosis, treatment or cure for any tact info of a young mother in the area whose firstborn is only five condition or ailment. Send queries or comments to askDrZZ@ months old. I have chatted with her by email, and she is eager to yahoo.com. All identifying information is kept strictly confidential. be of assistance. Your mission is to remain open and receptive to your husband’s and in-laws’ support if they give it and to also be willing to stand on your own two feet and handle it if they don’t.

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Spirituality to the Divine’s collaboration in helping you through it. It leads to transformational changes that reciprocate the ease you set into motion with your intentions to be open to growth.

She added, “People are being called to rejuvenate themselves into being more honoring to the transformation being inspired by their soul.” In her message she also inspired us into action: Emily Rivera Andrews is a certified Angel Healing Practitioner, Reiki Practitioner, and an Angel Manifesting Master Practitioner. Emily shares techniques that have helped her become a Gifted Intuitive, Intuitive Channeler, Healer, Manifester, and Angel Communicator. To ask your Angels a question, attend one of Emily’s local events or email emily@LivingtoInspire.com

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Savor the Blessings of Change Taking in three breaths, I felt myself relax and become present. A sense of serenity and peace encapsulated me. Feeling loved and sheltered, she entered gently and confidently into my space of stillness. She was a large snake with bright orange eyes. Her scales illuminated a wave of brilliance like light. She was there to speak to me, she was there embodying the essence of nature and the animal kingdom. Her tongue swiftly moved in and out of her mouth, as she encouraged me to savor this moment and the moments that were ready to unfold collectively within our world.

“Savor the blessing within this time of change…Savor it, it has its purpose.”

I listened and felt her wisdom within my core. She was encouraging me to bear witness to her message from a place of peace and endless possibilities. Her presence moved closer, and she invited me to sit in her womb, and within it I was given words and wisdom for this month’s article. She was to guide clarity into my thoughts, which would provide understanding about some upcoming worldly events, truths that would be unfolding with humanity. She discussed a shift that was unfolding, which involves many profound changes for our race and our generation of humans. Some of the changes will be described as catastrophic and inhumane, while others as hopeful, intensely gratifying, and full of clarity. There will be simultaneously occurring events and situations in which light is being shared and graciously dispelled, while in other areas there will be pain, hurt, and hate.

She reiterated that we are in a state of global shifting, shifting that is being sensed by the entire universe (humans, nature, the atmosphere, the earth, and our galaxy). These changes are significant to all. There will be a shedding of old patterns that do not enable or encourage growth for the individual and collective.

She said, “Disease will move many into action, but other favorable ways will do the same.”

I encourage you to choose to embrace the ease of things. Choose to embrace the blessings within the changes that we are all experiencing. Most importantly, be open to growth and

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“Many will be called forth to love, many will be called forth to share without limits, without judgment.”

Among the many is YOU. I encourage you to invite the unconditional, ever present, everlasting love of God/Divine/Creator to consume you, to remind you what it feels like to be love.

To remind you that YOU ARE LOVE in its purest form. Your soul is that beacon of love contained within us ALL. We can easily recognize when we are misaligned from this truth. Take notice, and when you do proceed with Divine inspiration.

Love contains an indescribable power. Love is creation in its purest form. Through this love you can create healing, peace, and transformation for yourself and others. Transformation that will empower all to shift more graciously through the changes that will unfold.

We are ALL being called to action, being inspired to grow.

She ended with the words, “Willingly shifting will lead to more miracles that will heal the whole world. Some healing will be small, some will be of greater form, but ALL will be meaningful. In your willingness to be love, you will more graciously create the energetic buffer for your mind, body, and soul. This will deflect the impact of some of the chemical fumes that are part of your present and future, of your atmosphere, fumes that impact the mind and the body. Nature is collaborating in assisting the human course, but it too feels weak. Love its [nature’s] different ways of expression and empower its love for us all. Nature diligently extends its healing capabilities and offers strength.” (She then showed how she herself is doing the same, as a snake, as a representation of nature and the animal kingdom.)

“Nature itself needs to be nurtured and in doing so, it will more easily be able to nurture your soul. Create sacred space within the temple that is your body. Create sacred space within your thoughts and words, in that way your actions will follow, naturally creating sacred space for us all.”

In closing, we are all being loved. The Divine expresses its love and guidance in so many ways. Be open to be blessed, be open to be healed, be open to the circumstances that are demonstrating to you that you are being inspired to change and shift into a better representation of you. This you represents the true YOU. The YOU that your soul has come forth to be. YOU are beautifully created in the image of God/Divine, so be open to be an expression of this truth.

Much love for you here, Namaste.